Supercharger - Take a Hint

Take A Hint
Oh Baby Won't You Take A Hint
And Get Lost.... 

   I first heard Supercharger back in 1993 when the late, great Radio 1 dj John Peel played a song by them called Way Out. The next day I rushed out and bought their Goes Way Out! album, and what a great purchase it proved to be. Raw, garage punk at it's finest and an album everyone should own. Unfortunately they didn't stay together too long after this, imploding after a European tour with The Mummies (though the members of the band went on to make plenty more killer music with the likes of The Rip Offs, The Bobbyteens, The Brentwoods, The Zodiac Killers, The Infections etc).

  Featuring Greg Lowery (bass/vocals), Darin Raeffelli (guitar/vocals) and Karen Singletary (drums/vocals), they formed in San Francisco in 1991 and despite still learning to play pretty much immediately released their self titled debut album (on their own Radio X label). A handful of great singles followed : Sooprize Package For Mr. Mineo, Icepick, Rev It Up, Don't Mess Me Up.....

  Rough and ready production, primitive but infectious songs, Supercharger were one hell of a rock n roll band. Lowery went on to release many classic records on his Rip Off Records label whilst Raeffelli found success as a producer and songwriter for The Donnas.

  Several of the songs on Goes Way Out! (You Irritate Me, Buzz Off, Bailin' Out, Get Out Of My House...) seem to follow a theme of discontentment, a theme that was also touched upon on the Rev It Up ep on the song that I've selected to post today. This is Take A Hint.....

Jake And The Stiffs - Holly

   Hailing from Wilmington, Delaware, Jake And The Stiffs were one of those bands that should have been huge but instead seemed to slip through the cracks. Forming in 1989, they played old school pop punk/power pop and put out an album in 1992 called Love So Deep and a handful of killer 7"s; Steal This Record, Pot Belly Pete, Spike and I Like Girls. There were various other tapes and tracks on compilation albums, possibly the most interesting of which was their version of The Descendents' I'm Not A Loser (which is worth checking out on youtube).

  Headed up by songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Randy America, the other original members were Jason (Jake) Loch and Scott Goldstein. They also featured at one time or another the likes of Algy Siouxicide (aka Vince Kilpatrick), Donnie Switchblade, Matt Drastic (aka Matt Yonker), Steve Funk and Zach Hansen.

  Last year was a good one for JATS fans, not only was there the digitally remastered release of the debut album and of the previously unreleased second album LUB 84,  there was also the Kelly Bundy ep and The Singles (a compilation album of the tracks from their 4 singles). You can check some of those out here : http://jakeandthestiffs.bandcamp.com/album/the-singles.......

   The song I'm posting is probably my favourite of theirs and was on the Steal This Record 7", it's called called Holly.....

I was in kindergarten eatin glue (when I first saw ya) 
when my eyes looked up to you (ya I adored ya) 
you were holding that crayola blue (and I adored ya) 
like I'd never seen before 
I waited patiently until recess came around 
I followed you so quietly I didn't even make a sound 
Oh Holly I will give my heart to you, I'm true, yeah my first love 

I started fixing up my hair, and my friends all stopped and stared 
I didn't even care, I'd never felt these thought before 
We'd sit and share our milk until recess came and gone 
And when the day was finally over I'd hold your hand and walk you home 
Oh Holly I will give my heart to you, I'm true, yeah my first love 

One day I saw you out with Bob it's true, I didn't know what to do 
You were holding that crayola blue, like I'd seen you do before 
I finally figured out what you was all about 
you used me for my innocense so my friends would come around 
Oh Holly I now take my heart from you, we're through, yeah yeah we're done

The Muffs - Lucky Guy

One of my favourite songs today. The Muffs were formed in 1991 in Los Angeles and originally consisted of Kim Shattuck (vocals/guitar), Melanie Vammen (guitar), Ronnie Barnett (bass) and Criss Crass (drums). Their self released singles brought them to the attention of Warner Brothers and led to the release of a s/t debut album in 1993 (from which the lead track is going to be featured below). After this Vammen and Crass left the band, Jim Laspesa took up drumming duties for a short while before being replaced with Roy McDonald and they've stayed with the Shattuck, Barnett, McDonald line up ever since. They've just released their first album in 10 years, called Whoop Dee Doo, it's as infectious as their early work and deserves your attention but as mentioned earlier, I'm posting one of their all time classic songs today (and if you come back tomorrow I'm posting another of their best songs but covered by one of my favourite bands), this is Lucky Guy.....

You and I are in danger
I don't stay in love that way
And the love of a stranger
Doesn't really make my day

And you know
You have a thousand things in front of you
Doin' anything you like
And takin' it easy
Is all you ever need to do

You've no ambition and only ever sit around
I don't know why
And you know it's true and you never wanted anything
You're a lucky guy
You're a lucky guy
Oh oh oh, you're lucky

There's a time, and a reason
You could go a long, long way
And for you it's so easy
Yeah, and it's your lucky day

[Repeat Chorus]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
And you know
You've no ambition ...

The Johnnies - Barbie's A Bitch

Boston pop punkers The Johnnies  formed in 1991 and were originally called The Lobby Magnets, they changed their name to Johnny Bravo before receiving a 12,000 dollar sum to give up that name by representatives of Cars frontman, Ric Ocasek. The money came in very handy, it went towards funding the recording and release in 1999 of their classic 12 Steps To Nowhere album. Great reviews looked like catapulting the band to the next level but an over indulgence in those rock n roll staples drink and drugs pretty much saw things fall apart. From their album and featuring some awesome backing vocals, this is Barbie's A Bitch.....

The Cadavers - Tell Me A Lie

As promised in yesterday's update, today sees a banging tune by The Cadavers, the Sonoma band which were the predecessors of The Bodies. As well as having most of the same members as The Bodies they also had the singer Abe's girlfriend on backing vocals. This song, Tell Me A Lie, originally saw the light of day on a 6 track cassette in 1993, it's since been re released a few times.....