Stiletto Boys - Don't Cry For Me

"So don't cry for me, because I'm already dead, baby don't cry for me, cos I don't need anybody's sympathy..."

  Stiletto Boys were a power pop/punk band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania who were influenced by the likes of The Vapors, The Knack, Mott The Hoople, Rich Kids etc. They featured Sean Wolfe (vocals), Eric Benner (guitar/backing vocals), Eric Garvin (bass) and Casey Wolfe (drums).

  They were mainly active around the late 90's - early 2000's though they re-emerged in 2013 with the many years in production Liberator album. When comparisons are made, they usually end up being spoken of in the same breath as the likes of The Boys, The Buzzcocks, The Dickies and most of your other favourite pop punk bands from the late 70's.

  The song I'm posting today comes from their Rockets And Bombs album which was released by High Society International in 1999. A glorious slice of harmony driven pop perfection, this is Don't Cry For Me.......

The Wunder Years - Hopeless Romantic

 

  From Berkeley, California, The Wunder Years (yep, that's Wunder not Wonder) were together between 1998 and 2001 and originally featured Brian Moss (vocals/guitar), Nate Jensen (guitar), Peter Sullivan (bass) and Adam Elliot (drums). Later line ups included Josh Staples (bass/vocals), Shane Stevens (vocals/guitar) and Caitlin Love (drums).

   Their first release was the Take It Off, Let It Go, Start From Scratch ep (1998), they followed this up with an album, Pitstops On The Road Less Travelled (1999) and finally there was 2001's Function Over Fashion ep. All were on Tomato Head Records.

  Their Pitstops... album is an example of how to make top notch emotional pop punk and often reviewers offer up comparisons with Jawbreaker or The Broadways. Raw, heartfelt songs about life and being a kid it's one of those albums that passed most people by but made converts of many of those who did discover it. Brian Moss later featured in The Ghost, Hanalei, Olehole and Great Apes.

   This is Hopeless Romantic........
     

Public Toys - White Crosses

"I see countless white crosses

But they all look the same

And it's hard to be a hero

When you haven't got a name...."


  Another song from Germany today, this time around it's from Dusseldorf band Public Toys. The band were active in the 90's and featured Fozzi (vocals), Roman (bass), Uwe Umbruch (guitar), Guido (guitar) and Usenburger (drums). They recorded a couple of albums, Funf Asse and Punk! before Fosssi quit and was replaced on vocals by Pascal Briggs who sang on their excellent Safety-Pins On Television ep and on 1999's Rock N Roll Parasites album (from which today's song is taken).

  The song in question is one I can't help singing along to, it's called White Crosses......

The Insults - Her Daddy Was An S.S. Man

  Most days I don't know what I'm going to post until I actually sit down in front of my pc. I've a number of potential songs saved ready to use as updates but several of them have been sitting around unused for ages. Often though, as is the case today, a song that I add to the "to do" list will only be there for a few days before being chosen. Today I sat down and thought, "I want to listen to something raw, upbeat and maybe a little trashy," and so that's what you're going to get.
  The Insults formed in the late 70's in Watsonville, California and featured, at one time or another, Ronnie Rat (vocals), Brendon T (vocals), Richard Shively (aka Richard Sikk) (guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Tomaro (bass), Brian F (bass, backing vocals) and Richard W (drums). They released a couple of singles (Population Zero and Stiff Love) and that was more or less it. Since then the tracks have shown up on various Killed By Death compilations and Last Laugh reissues but possibly most interesting there was an album of previously unreleased material called Insults To Injury which was belatedly released in 1999 and it's from this disc that today's song comes. This is Her Daddy Was An S.S. Man.....

The Sconeheads - Larry Grayson Is A Gestapo Agent

 

Today's update features a long forgotten record that could only have been recorded in England either in the late 70's or the early 80's when this type of punky celebrity name checking briefly flared then faded away. The Skids gave a shout out to the likes of Albert Tatlock, Margaret Thatcher was much beloved of the Not Sensibles whilst John Kettley was the nation's favourite weatherman. Larry Grayson, for those young enough to not remember (or who live on foreign shores), was one of the first openly gay English comic entertainers who had imaginary friends with names such as Slack Alice and Everard and who's famous catchphrase was "Shut That Door." At he height of his fame he was the host of the BBC'S popular Generation Game and he was, according to The Sconeheads, a Gestapo Agent.
  The Sconeheads were from Cumbria and like many bands of the time, they got together, had a brief moment in the sun where they played a few gigs and recorded a few songs before disappearing as fast as they'd appeared. Their only actual release at the time was 1981's Go Buckskin ep, despite being recorded around the same time, the Larry Grayson song didn't see the light of day until 1999 due to the threat of possible legal action. If you like this sort of quintessential English punk fun, you'll love this and if you want a bit more background check out the article in Gadgie Fanzine ( https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=120138064720338&story_fbid=641445805922892 ).
  This is Sconeheads - Larry Grayson Is A Gestapo Agent.......

Groovie Ghoulies - Outbreak

How do you write a classic pop punk song? There must be a knack to it or else everyone would be doing it (actually, loads of people are doing it, or at least attempting to do it, but the majority fail). The best way seems to be keep things simple though like the majority, I'm not blessed with that rare gift of being able to pen a killer tune so what the hell do I know! One guy who is blessed with that gift is Kepi Ghoulie, who along with his wife Roach on guitars and a revolving door of other members, was the main man behind California's Groovie Ghoulies. Taking their name from the 70's tv series and inspired as much by horror and sci fi movies as they were by bubblegum rock n roll (as well as keeping things simple, many of the best pop punk bands seem to be inspired by horror and sci fi themes), they ran from 1983 to 2007 before the fallout from Kepi and Roach's divorce made keeping the band going difficult causing Kepi to go solo. During that time though, the band released an impressive body of work, it wasn't easy to single out just one track for posting but just to demonstrate the talent of creating a classic punk song by keeping things simple, this is from arguably my favourite album of theirs, Fun In The Dark, and is a cautionary tale about keeping your monkey under control. This is Outbreak.......

N.Y. Whores - Kiss Me

Featuring members of Spent Idols and Dead End Kids, N. Y. Whores (New York Whores) released a couple of singles in 1999. Aside from this, they managed a few gigs but that was about it. I could write more about them but you'd be better off checking out Angelo Ruggiero's excellent article here :  http://rawkunroll.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/pissed-off.html

Far better for me to just post the superb b side to their Play The Fool single, this is Kiss Me.......

F.Y.P. - Belittle My Brain

  Some days just a dumb, fun, pop punk song will do. F.Y.P. (stands for Five Year Plan) had a run between 1989 and 1999 where they released a slew of diy albums, eps and singles (mostly on Recess Records). After the release of their final, and most polished album, Toys That Kill, Todd Congelliere and Sean Cole moved on to form another band, Toys That Kill. From their farewell release, this is Belittle My Brain (has anyone noticed how many classic pop punk tunes there are that refer to brains!). Fans of The Misfits might want to hang around till the end.....

she only comes just to belittle my brain
she comes with her ex-boyfriend
who looks more like Mike Ness than me

she only comes just to belittle my brain
she talks to other people loud
just so i can hear how loud she is

she comes just to belittle my brain
she only comes just to belittle my brain

she only comes just to belittle my brain
she comes with my ex girlfriend
who out of nowhere now is her best friend

she only comes just to belittle my brain
she talks to me like i'm four years old
even though i paid her way for years

she comes just to belittle my brain
she only comes just to belittle my brain

she comes just to belittle my brain
(brains for breakfast, brains for lunch)
she only comes just to belittle my brain
(brains for dinner, brains for brunch)

The Oi! Scouts - Nuke The Nazis

  Lets have some hard, fast punky oi music today. The Oi! Scouts got together in the mid 90's but took a while and several line up changes before they settled down to become local favourites on the New Jersey punk scene. They didn't hang around for too long but they did put out the classic album Boots For The Breakdown in 1999. this song is from that album and is called Nuke The Nazis.....

They don’t think about their conscience, 
They do think about what’s right.
All they do is kill innocent people, 
And their stupid fucking lies!

C’mon let me hear you say, Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Send them all to hell today, Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Don’t you want to win this war? Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Show them what were fighting for! Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!

All those people that suffered
They try to brainwash me and you.
They try to brainwash all the citizens.
With their stupid points of view!

C’mon let me hear you say, Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Send them all to hell today, Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Don’t you want to win this war? Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Show them what were fighting for! Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!

Nuke the Nazis, nuke the nazis!
Nuke the Nazis, nuke the nazis!
Nuke the Nazis, nuke the nazis!
Nuke the Nazis, nuke the nazis!

All those people that suffered
They try to brainwash me and you.
They try to brainwash all the citizens.
With their stupid points of view!

C’mon let me hear you say, Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Send them all to hell today, Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Don’t you want to win this war? Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!
Show them what were fighting for! Nuke the Nazi’s Nuke the Nazi’s!

The Beltones- Fuck You Anyway

Formed in 1994, The Beltones are a street punk band, originally from Fort Lauderdale, who's gravel voiced singer, Bill McFadden, brings to mind Leatherface's Frankie Stubbs. Their discography includes a handful of singles and a couple of albums (On Deaf Ears and Cheap Trinkets). This is probably my favourite of theirs, Fuck You Anyway......                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Tonight is the night that I come unglued. No longer will the beautiful people walk the streets and smile while I sit and stew. Been waiting all of my life just to give it to you. Gonna pay back all you generous souls and when I'm done you motherfuckers will all be through. Just kidding, please forgive me, didn't realize that the whiskey would hit me so quickly. I'll just grab my death and be on my way. Didn't mean to wreck your evening, don't you worry 'bout me cos I'm only bleeding. And before I go there's just one last thing I wanna say. Always taking back the things that I say and do. I never meant to hurt anybody, but there's something inside that just won't play it cool. I wouldn't mind beating all of you black and blue. So if you want me I'll be off in the corner holding back on saying what I really think of you.

The Spaceshits - C'mon, Let's Suicide!

The Spaceshits were a rock n roll / garage punk band from Montreal who featured, amongst others, Mark Sultan and King Khan. Renowned for their short and often violent live shows they released a couple of albums and several singles before splitting, Sultan and Khan going on to collaborate on such projects as The King Khan & BBQ Show. This song, C'mon, Lets Suicide, can be found on their 1999 Misbehavin' album....

Teenage Knockouts - School Girl Desire

Another slice of late '90's American garage influenced punk n roll today. Cleveland, Ohio's Teenage Knockouts weren't around for long but they did release the Japanese, Murdercycles, Guitar's And Gun's 10" from which this song, School Girl Desire, comes. Their singer, Chic Dagger, went onto form The TKO's and is currently with The Plain Dealers.

Edit : i posted a link to this on the Plain Dealers Facebook page and they've kindly taken the time to correct me by pointing out that The TKO's were in fact before The Teenage Knockouts. If anyone sees anything i get wrong or has any other points to make, bits of info to add or recommendations of similar great bands/songs please feel free to contribute via the comments section. I'd love to discover and share new stuff

The Bodies Pack Your Bags

Once upon a time, back in the early 1990's there was a band called The Cadavers. From Sonoma, California they released 100 copies of a demo tape then 3 of the members went on to form The Bodies. I can't find anything by The Cadavers on youtube but I'll try to sort something out in time for tomorrow's update. In the meantime, The Bodies, released a self titled album and a few eps on TKO records before disappearing for the best part of a decade until they re emerged in 2010 with a single on Modern Action Records, unfortunately they appear to have vanished again. This song, Pack Your Bags, appeared on their album and is a great example of their catchy brand of street punk.....