Call The Police were a female fronted hardcore punk band from Portland, Oregon who featured Paul and Todd Burdette from Tragedy and His Hero Is Gone. Vocalist Ginger Vitus was later a member of Salted City alongside bassist Jason whilst the drummer was Jeffery Shadoan.
Their first release was a 2002 cassette on Ratpack Records called World Crashing In but today's song is taken from their 1984 in 2003 album. It was released, as the title suggests, in 2003 on Feral Ward Records.
Formed in 1993, Dirt Bike Annie are a pop punk band from Jersey City who feature Adam Rabuck (guitar/vocals), Dan Paquin (bass/vocals) and Jeanie Lee (guitar/vocals). There's been several drummers over the years including Mike Yannich (Mikey Erg), Heath Weinstein (Dirt Bike Deano), Tommy Vinton and Dennis Donaghy.
They released a string of singles and albums on cool labels such as Mutant Pop, Stardumb, Dirtnap and Whoa Oh Records before splitting in 2005 after firstly Lee and then Paquin left the band.
There was a brief reunion in 2010 for the Insubordination Fest but it's taken them until recently to return with a new record. Teaming up with another great pop punk band, The Unlovables, they've released the split album, Reunion Show. You can check it out here : http://whoaohrecords.bandcamp.com/album/reunion-show.
Also recently released is a new film transfer of one of their old music videos. Taken from their 2003 Show Us Your Demons album, this is the rather excellent Battle Lines.....
A week or so ago I posted a song by Bad Cop/Bad Cop and mentioned that one of the previous bands various members had played in were Angry Amputees. Well today I thought I'd bring you a song by them.
Forming in 2001 in San Francisco, Angry Amputees originally lined up with Stacey Dee (vocals/guitar), Erock Brim (guitar), John "Dalty" Dalton (bass/vocals) and Joann Rawkmom Gillespie (drums). Erock and Gillespie left in 2002 and were replaced by Eric Gonzales and Jen Carlson.
Voted best punk band in the Bay area at the San Francisco Weekly music awards they released the Thought I Wouldn't 7 track ep in 2001 on I'm Stumped Records but their "hit" album was 2003's Slut Bomb which came out on Dead Teenager records.
Due to other commitments the band only plays together very infrequently nowadays and it's doubtful that we'll see new material anytime soon but for those of you that aren't familiar with their brand of edgy pop punk, here's my favourite song of theirs, She Said.....
Molly likes her handjobs and Toby's just a fat slob
They get drunk all day And fuck their world away Just like we did
Toby preaches kindness and Molly's just his mattress
They smoke out all night To try and make things right But that's what she said
That's what she said
Denise don't like needles When she's face down in the street
But that's the way it goes When you've sold your soul Can't fight your demons
When you waste your life And now you're out of time But that's what she said
A song today from a band that were from Nazareth, Pennsylvania who only released one album on their own as well as a split lp with Team Spider. The album they released on their own came out in 2003 and was called Run Your Pockets.
No Cash were very similar in sound and in politics to Leftover Crack; brutal punk rock/ska-core beats, vocalist Chris Tray's uncompromising vocals and harsh critiques of the USA are very much the order of the day. They could also provide moments of beauty though, check out The Goonies sampling intro to the song I've posted below.
They split in 2005 but Chris Tray joined forces with Dan McKinney to form Mad Conductor
From Run Your Pockets, this is A Better Tomorrow......
I believe its a unanimous decision america is the worst face of terrorism supplying enemies with bombs, funding and arms its quite scary
that's why i cannot sleep this knife is in too deep i've dreamed of so much more than dying in religious war
its been a while since i cracked a smile nightmares of having a bomb strapped to my body dying for my people destroying the evil its overwhelming
I've been lucky enough to see some really great bands down the years but one name that springs to mind whenever anyone asks who were the best is Lightyear. Maybe they didn't attract the crowds or sell the amount of records of some of the other acts I've seen (eg, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Stranglers, SLF, UK Subs, PIL, Dickies, Smiths, Killing Joke, Buzzcocks etc etc etc...) but for sheer fun and enjoyment they were as good as anyone.
From Derby, they formed in 1997 and after their self released Just Another Demonstration ep and a split with Evil Macaroni, they signed to Household Name Records. Their debut album was 2001's Call Of The Weasel Clan which featured fan favourites such as Blindside, Three Basics and the absolutely wonderful Pack Of Dogs.
A seven piece, the convenient tag for them would be ska punk but they were more than that. Featuring two trumpets and a tenor sax, they had a great brass section which combined with their sense of fun and innovation made them stand out from the pack.
Album number two followed a couple of years later, Chris Gentleman's Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop was slightly more polished than the debut but no less innovative or fun. The album's final track, 2,000 kebab shops, was an indication that the end of the band was nigh ("Well yeah, I find this really hard to do. I love being in a band, there's nothing like performing and playing live, and meeting people; but sometimes it all gets a bit too much. There are a few months where you're surviving on three pounds a day, which is three portions of chips and whatever we can steal off the big headline band. I'm spending that much time in a van with other people, it's a bit of a headfuck to say the least."), they split soon after. There's been reunion shows since (including the recent Slam Dunk Festival) but no new material.
Good news though, frontman Chas Palmer-Williams will be releasing an album titled American Smile, British Teeth and you can find out more here : http://www.chaspalmerwilliams.com/home
From Lightyear's last album, this is Life Jacket Water Wings.....
Head down pretending Like you've never seen them An old street called Withdraw and you walk on Everything's a pound Everything's too loud When I try and speak to you I'm speaking Klingon Who do you talk to? I wish you were see-through Where's the "Vod's Theory"? Where's the "Cotton Weary"? I look back, you're wonderful You're wonderful
Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please?
Smile I said smile (S.M.I.L.E) In Street Fighter 2 that would be your special move Against Guile Is everything still there? Remember how we would drop anything, go everywhere? Yeah these songs say I spent my life on the motorway
Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please?
Head down pretending Like you've never seen them An old street called Withdraw and you walk on Everything's a pound Everything's too loud When I try and speak to you I'm speaking Klingon Who do you talk to? I wish you were see-through Where's the "Vod's Theory"? Where's the "Cotton Weary"? I look back, you're wonderful You're wonderful
Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please? Hold on Life jacket Water wings (Life jacket) If I promise not to listen would you talk to me please?
I've never been to Portland, Oregon, I'm sure that I'll never get the opportunity to visit but I'm guessing if I ever did that I'd be in danger of tripping over a punk band. There seems to be a factory in Portland that churns out quality bands, today's blog update features one of them. Formed in 2003 and featuring members of a band called The Flip Flops, The Minds featured Joel Jett (aka The Thinker) on vocals, Rob Felkel ( aka Bobby Brains) on guitar, Jesse Elizondo (aka The Cortex) on bass, Cera Bella Palsy on keyboards and Mike Warm (Mikey Mind) on drums. They announced themselves to the world with the double whammy of a single (Rip Out Your Eyes) and an album (Plastic Girls), reviewers at the time were blown away by their infectious, upbeat new wave influenced garage punk. Very much at the forefront of their sound is Cera Bella Palsy's "mind-boggling hypnotic candy keyboard," like a hookworm it'll burrow it's way under your skin. They went on to release a couple more singles, I think they split up and then some of them got back together again in a band called The Thought Patterns but today I'm posting their catchy as fuck debut. Released on the excellent Alien Snatch label, this is Rip Out Your Eyes.....
Formed in Portland, Oregon in 2001, The Exploding Hearts mixed the punk sounds of The Clash with their own brand of power pop and looked as though they were going to become one of the best bands around until a fatal road accident after a gig tragically resulted in the deaths of 3 members of the band. Their legacy comprises of an album, Guitar Romantic, and a compilation, Shattered. Taken from us too soon but not forgotten, this is my favourite song of theirs, Rumors In Town.....
Sometimes, when you're listening to classic oldies, they sound so fresh and so exciting that you think "even though i've already posted a song today, i need to get back on there and add this."
Recorded in a basement in Germany in 2003 and still sounding as energetic and as vital today here's Kidnappers - spanish girls....
