Top 10 Songs Chosen By Alex Howard and Gabby Dos Santos (Pardon Us)

  No strangers to this blog, Pardon Us are a melodic punk 3 piece from Liverpool formed by members of Down And Outs, Flamingo 50, Town Bike and The No Marks. They've a debut album on it's way, it'll be titled Wait and it's out in September on Everything Sucks Music (UK), Fixing A Hole (Japan) and Johann's Face (USA). They're streaming a song from it called Inconvenient Reminder and it's damn good so check it out : https://pardonus.bandcamp.com/album/wait

  Today, a couple of members of the band, bassist Alex and drummer Gabby have each chosen 5 of their favourite songs. Guitarist/vocalist Morgan Brown chose a Top 10 back in 2017 https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2017/11/top-10-songs-chosen-by-morgan-brown.html

  Alex's Top 5 

1)  LEMURIA - More Tunnel

I always look forward to new Lemuria music; partly because it’s always the most interesting thing on any playlist, and partly because they seem to get better and better with every album.

2)  PROPAGANDHI - ...And We Thought-Nation States Were A Bad Idea

For me, Less Talk More Rock was the sweet spot between Propagandhi’s early snotty punk and their recent thrash stuff. The thunderous melodic start to Nation States rolls perfectly out of a spoken word interlude, and still gives me goosebumps every time.

3)  WORRIERS - Yes All Cops

Worriers are my favourite pop punk band. Lauren Denitzio’s haunting vocal is my main influence when I occasionally take the mike for a lead. If only I could sing as well as her!

4)  BUZZCOCKS - Promises

I got into the Buzzcocks in typically ignominious style through their ‘best of’ - though Singles Going Steady must be one of the best best-ofs ever. I later found my favourite track Promises on 7-inch in Dig Vinyl in Liverpool. Love lyrics, frantic drums, buzzsaw guitar - epic.


5)  ADOLESCENTS - Amoeba

I first heard the Adolescents playing Tony Hawks Pro Skater in my teens - it was this track, and it’s still my favourite off a ridiculously strong first album.



 Gabby's Top 5

1)  THE DISTILLERS - City Of Angels

The Distillers were one if the first punk bands I got into, and this song on Sing Sing for me was just a great driving track with awesome drums and a boss melody. Honourable Mention, Gypsy Rose Lee.

2)  OFF WITH THEIR HEADS - Drive

It was pretty hard to pull a single favourite track out by OWTH, but here’s one. These guys write some amazingly powerful songs and are catchy as hell.

3)  GOOD LUCK - 1001 Open Hands

There are loads of amazing songs by Good Luck, but this one just makes me very happy! The lyrics in this song for me are awesome.

4)  THE ORGAN - Brother

Non-punk mention. Grab that Gun is probably one of my all time favourite albums, and this track is awesome. I really love all the different elements to this track, the organ adds a depth to it that I really love.

5)  THE DRIPS - 16, 16, Six

This song has stuck with me since the first time I heard it. Its punchy and has an awesome chorus. I loved Dave’s drum part then, and very much still do.

Top 10 Songs Chosen By Pete Bentham (Pete Bentham And The Dinner Ladies)

  After yesterday's song by Liverpool kitchencore band Pete Bentham And The Dinner Ladies, today you're getting a Top 10 chosen by frontman Pete Bentham. Many thanks Pete, over to you...

My Top Ten Punk Songs : 

  The arrival of Punk Rock to me was kids remembering what rock & roll was supposed to be about - No need to have lots of technical ability, have fun making your own rules - freedom to be who you want and do what you want, after the dreary corporate prog rock era. Therefore to me things that come before the punk explosion of 76/77 but share those values, count as punk. Probably the people who see punk as a uniform will disagree, but I won't join you down the Conservative Club thanks. So this is my top ten punk tunes (This week anyway)...

Louie Louie - The Kingsmen (1963)
  There's been a thousand covers of this including Motorhead, Toots & the Maytals and Iggy Pop, but this is the original hit. The Kingsmen were a garage band who made this cover of a 1955 R&B song for just $50. Considered subversive at the time, the lyrics investigated by the FBI. How many punk tunes took from this riff? Clash City Rockers. A Bomb in Wardour Street etc..

Lucifer Sam - Syd's Pink Floyd (1967)

  Syd Barrett led the psychedelic pioneers for just one album before succumbing to personality disorders, made worse by his acid intake, which left the rest of the band free to become prog giants and the epitome of everything detested by punks. But the early recordings with Syd are a big influence on many of us interested in the more exerimental end of punk who think that Syd was maybe more punk than Sid.

Roadrunner - Modern Lovers (1976)

   Like Syd Barrett, Jonathan Richman has a very simple child-like quality in his writing which is very inspirational. It was hearing him that made me realise it's OK to write about anything you like...Cats & Dogs, Lorry Drivers or whatever. The seminal album was recorded with John Cale from the Velvets in 1972 but not considered fit for human consumption in the era of concept albums and stadium rock. When it was finally released in 1976, it was a major influence on all the main punk players.

New Rose - The Damned (1976)

  Released in October 1976, this is considered to be the first ever British punk single. Like a lot of frustrated kids at the time, in the pre-punk era, they were into the proto-punk bands like the MC5, New York Dolls and The Stooges and you can really hear those influences. This was recorded in a tiny 8 track studio by Nick Lowe, who perfectly captured their raw sound. In my opinion, their debut album is one of the wildest and greatest rock & roll albums of any era.  

Plastic Bag - X Ray Spex (1977)

  Poly Styrene is the ultimate punk hero for me. She is one of those people like Joey Ramone and Ian Dury, who would never have been a pop star if it wasn't for punk's all inclusive DIY attitude. She had the whole visual concept and everything totally worked out and her lyrics were way head of her time, with songs about consumerism, celebrity culture etc, that are just as relevant today. Probably why the Dinner Ladies have a sax player.

Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill (1993)

  Kathleen Hanna and the rest of the Riot Grrrl movement were really carrying the torch on from bands like X Ray Spex, The Slits etc. That movement really had a massive, positive influence on the DIY punk scene as a whole and some of my favourite bands now have the same attitude and sound, such as Bratakus, Ill, Piss Kitti, The Twistettes. 

Touch Sensitive - The Fall (1999)

  I know a lot of people are totally baffled by the appeal of The Fall, whereas the band can easily become an obsession for those of us that 'get it'. I think that people are disappointed by them because they are expecting a rock band in the traditional sense. But that's the opposite of what he was trying to do. His influences were krautrock and 60s garage bands like The Monks so the power of the band comes from the repetitive nature of the music and his unique lyrics that came from a mind that just looked at the world differently to anybody elses. A proper genius.

Downloading Porn with Davo - Moldy Peaches (2001)

  These made one proper album that was mostly recorded in their New York apartment. It is utterly shambolic but has some of the greatest pop songs you will ever hear on it. The freedom and simplicity makes you feel like you want to pick up your guitar and write something. This made such an impression on me when it came out and is one of my favourite records of all time. It's totally punk rock in every way, even though it's mostly acoustic.

Twistettes - Suck It, Fake It (2016)

  There are so many great bands around at the moment and these are one of my favourites. Two girls from Glasgow on just drums and bass, with a dead raw stripped back sound, singing about stuff they believe in. What's not to like? I'm old enough to have been around pretty early in the punk era but I'm honestly not arsed about looking back. There are too many good bands now to go and see.

Am I Invisible Yet? - Interrobang!? (2018)

  We played just before these at Another Winter of Discontent festival and we were all mesmerised by their songs and the performance. It proves you can be a punk band and still do something interesting and intelligent. Probably my favourite band at the moment and we are now mates with them after putting them on in Liverpool, which is obviously one of the great things about the punk scene in general. 

Top 10 Songs Chosen By Will Meakins (BKS / Magogmagore)

(photo : Paulina Layton Music Photography)

  From Kent, Will Meakins pounds the drums for a number of bands including death metal outfit Magogmagore (https://magogmagore.bandcamp.com/) and the band that featured on here a couple of days ago, BKS (https://bkshardcore.bandcamp.com/). A bit of feedback from that BKS song was "54 seconds long and 5 seconds of guitar reverb at the end, fast, loud and I'll be checking out more!!"

  You probably won't be surprised to hear that Will's Top 10 features some fairly heavy songs (or to quote the man himself "It's gonna be a strange and eclectic list so don't judge me."

  Anyway, enough of me, over to Will...

This is my top 10 tunes. It always fluctuates and changes with time, but most of these songs are those that I will keep coming back to.

1: Bad Brains - Supertouch/Shitfit.

This was the first proper ‘hardcore’ song I ever heard, and it was pretty much entirely down to Bad Brains that I’m even in a hardcore band in the first place. I owe a lot to this song- the whole album in fact. It still sounds as raw and fucking angry now as it did 30+ years ago.

2: Led Zeppelin - Thank You.

I’ll probably always love Led Zep as they were one of the first bands I can remember hearing. My parents were bikers so I grew up listening to all the classics (and also Kate Bush). This song I was totally unaware of till last year when someone at work gave me Led Zeppelin 2 on vinyl, and my god, that bright guitar tone had me hooked. It’s just a shame half of that album is stolen blues riffs…

3: Knocked Loose - All my Friends.

This band are a total marmite type of thing. I personally love the urgent, (if a bit squeaky) vocals, combined with the sludgy, down tempo music. They’re most known for that song where he barks like a dog- and people take the piss, but this song is amazing to me. There’s this bit just before the end where the lyrics read: ‘All my friends have problems with themselves- they all talk about it, nothing helps. They tuck it deep inside, so no-one can see. Then they think about later in their fucking dreams…’ Love that line.

4: The Black Dahlia Murder - Funeral Thirst.

A trip into melodic black metal now- these guys I first heard in 2006 as a tender 17 year old, and I’ve always loved this song. I spent hours in my parents’ studio (dining room) trying to nail those fucking blasts. My brother and I used to try and play this with him on guitar and me on drums, and it always makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Skip to about 2 minutes for the main song if you don’t want to listen to the intro.

5: Alexisonfire - Dog’s Blood.

I have loved Alexisonfire since I was in secondary school. The Dog’s Blood EP came out in 2009ish and then they broke up. I love the way this song swells and builds towards the end.

6: The Wonder Years (not Beers) - I won’t say the Lord’s Prayer.

 This song just sums up how I feel about religion so well: ‘If we’re all just christians or lions, I think I’d rather be on the side with sharper teeth. I don’t need saving.’ Quality band and one of the very few (it seems) New pop punk bands who’s singer isn’t a piece of shit predator. Haha I even commented on the video for this. How sad.

7: Eyehategod - Blank.

Too good.

8: Beastie Boys - Girls.

Aside from the ‘Algio E Olio’ EP, this is hands down the best thing the Beastie Boys ever made. Plus, it was one of the songs we had on repeat on our (BKS) first ever weekend up north. It’s sexist, and stupid and shitty but great.

9: Six foot Ditch - Six Feet Deep.

I heard this on a beatdown playlist on spotify once and I loved the sheer ridiculousness of it. Got me into the whole Beatdown/LBU/Ruction scene in it’s own way (even If they aren’t/weren’t part of it- I don’t know).

10: Black Sabbath - Sweet Leaf.

This song is just great. Love the tempo changes and the fucking sexual bass guitar work. The whole of master of reality is basically the blueprint for every stoner band and I love it.

Top 10 Songs Chosen By Stuart Diggle (Litterbug)

  Another great Top 10 for you today courtesy of Litterbug guitarist/vocalist Stuart Diggle. You may have seen Litterbug feature on here a few days ago with a song from their highly rated new album, Countdown To Schadenfreude. Whilst chatting about his Top 10, Stuart told me this, "We probably released the 2nd album 6 months too early, as the last one came out in only June last year, but this was originally going to be an ep on vinyl only. We got carried away and I got impatient with release date as the last album has gotten very good reviews and responses so we tried to back it up to keep interest and allow new found followers to hear new songs and back track on some of our older stuff."

https://litterbug.bandcamp.com/album/countdown-to-schadenfreude

    https://www.facebook.com/litterbugblackpool/

  Not only does he select 10 cracking songs he also writes plenty of commentary to flesh out his selections "I always like geeky stuff like that..."

  Cheers Stuart, over to you....


1. The Damned - New Rose ..

As regularly discussed with my mates, this track is the only song that can outshine some tracks on Never Mind the Bollocks. New Rose being the first punk record and somehow the greatest . The drum intro just literally kicks everything else into touch

2.Sex Pistols - Bodies .. 

As a young kid hearing this for the first time, it was like seeing that horror movie that disturbs you and will probably last a lifetime in the back of your mind. The intro sounds off kilter and awkward, akin to the shower scene in Psycho or the classic Jaws theme tune. When the violent feel accompanied by industrial language is unleashed, you knew something so out there was happening. It was like the epitome of everything that Punk once upset society with.

3. Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy ..

Simply because I have to pick one classic punk pop tune by them. It’s Alive transformed the Band as a live act, whilst the studio production often searched for the perfect radio friendly pop song. There are so many to choose from, but I love the drum start and rhyming tell ‘em with cerebellum is classic da Brudders stuff.

4. Pixies - Tame ..

It would be easy to just stick with straight up punk rock labelled bands, but the dynamics on this track of the quiet loud genre they basically stumbled across and invented is at its peak with this track. The album Doolittle is possibly my fav all time record. The way the whole album ebbs and flows through the fast to slow and the wild to calm is all born out in Tame. So diverse in sound but definitively the Pixies. They are unique to this day and a shining example of being creatively leftfield whilst mastering the underground. A genius song writer that is Frank Black, Black Francis.

5. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device ..

If there is nothing surprising about these old school classics, it’s because that’s exactly what they are. I could easily have opted for the B side Wasted Life, which I nearly did. SLF brought politics into their songs and also unified a city in the best possible and positive way. Through their art. Alternative Ulster is also a fantastic song with classic intro, if not over played. That’s probably why this track edges it, apart from the fact I remember my mum saying she loved the bass on Suspect Device's production. The Stranglers were her fav punk act by the way.

6. PIL - Death Disco ..

Just for the pure bloody cheek of Lydon coming up with something most wouldn’t have expected. The voice has changed as dramatically as the music, but Wobble's bass line alongside Levene’s stunt guitar sounds, just sounded alien to everything at the time. It probably wouldn’t have got beyond the garden gate if it wasn’t for the music press and business awaiting anything the new Mr Rotten could deliver, but thankfully it came through. Metal Box was a pretentious work of art.

7. Buzzcocks - Times Up ..

They wrote brilliant pop songs filled with romantic failure that everyone could and still can relate too, but this is the track I always wait for a their live show, and sometimes don’t get. We totally ripped off the guitar intro riff for one of our songs, I Will Not Explain. Shameless plagiarism that i’m not going to apologise for.

8. Killing Joke - Pssyche ..

For me, Killing Joke are the best live act from the old school bands. Still creating , still passionately meaning every word and the original line up too. Hypnotic live act. I was tempted to plump for a lighter sentimental track, like Love Like Blood or the more recent and brilliant track In Cythera, but this track summed up the bands tribal feel and sharing the lyrics between band Members was a winning idea.

9. Nine Black Alps - Buy Nothing ..

I could have strayed into softer music , which I have penchant for, like Grandaddy, Eels or Weezer, or something from another culture perhaps, but it’s edginess and controlled anger in music that has influenced and disciplined me throughout life. This band appeared on the scene in 2005 I think. They had a few albums, but the debut, Everything Is, was a classic. This track, however, was from the second album. It’s fairly ferocious in its message and poignant in an age where corporates cash in on people’s misfortune or find other corrupt methods of beating a system “legally“ whilst hanging out the consumer to dry. Remember the day you could miss a train and jump in the next for free? Not now, you get punished even if it’s not your fault and it will cost you more when buy that second ticket. Or simply go back to the Day credit or debit card charges came in and added and inflated unnecessary postage costs for anything you bought. The flirting with false advertisement and basic rip off ventures in today’s society are far too saturated for anyone to take on the bigger guy. It’s fairly disgusting. I’ve gone off track there, but not really, if you listen to this song. I recommend listening to the first album Everything Is. Great lyrics from Sam Forrest. I could have gone for a Nirvana track, but their legacy doesn’t need to hitch a ride.

10. Cyanide Pills - Alone Tonight ..

Got to go for at least one outsider / unknown band in the top 10. Cyanide Pills, from Leeds, have 3 albums and a plethora of power pop punk singles. They are possibly the best live act of the recent 21st century punk bands. They take their image from the Ramones and stage antics from Johnny Thunders. Some argue it’s choreographed, but it’s entertaining and whilst some acts are trapped in a shell on stage a little bit, like our good selves, it’s good to see a band using presentation as an important part of their performance. It does give them an edge. They have many good songs to choose from and I don’t mind admitting that Litterbug at times, aspire to reciprocate similar ideas tunes wise. You could select a brilliant 20 track album from their back catalogue, but I’ve opted for this more gentle track for its simplistic feel and fantastic backing vocals. I was close to picking Big Mistake, also from the 3rd album. They are great tunesmiths, plain and simple.