Saturday, September 27, 2008

Donkeys, The - 1979 - What I Want-Four Letters 7''

Donkeys, The - 1979 - What I Want-Four Letters 7''
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F-Word - 1978 - Shut Down 7''

F-Word! - 1978 - Shut Down 7''
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F-Word!'s "Shut Down" - the first Posh Boy release - was recorded live at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens in '78. Picture sleeve (p/s)added 1990. "Shut Down" was a Darby Crash song that was recorded by F-Word! before The Germs had committed their version to vinyl. The 2 songs on the "B" side were to be recorded by other groups, too : the Damned influenced "Out There" was recorded by New York's Electric Frankenstein. "Government Official" was included on Swedish group Sator's "Barbie Q Killers" CD.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Gerry And The Holograms - 1979 - Meet the Dissidents 7''

Gerry And The Holograms - 1979 - Meet the Dissidents 7''
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Viletones - 1977 - Screaming Fist 12''

Viletones - 1977 - Screaming Fist 12''
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The Viletones were a Canadian punk band from Toronto, led by Steven Leckie, a.k.a. "Nazi Dog" or "Dog" on vocals. Other members from the original line-up were Freddie Pompeii, (some sources list him as 'Frederick DePasquale') on guitar/vocals; Chris Paputts, a.k.a. "Chris Hate" on bass guitar/vocals and Mike Anderson, a.k.a. "Motor X" on the drums/vocals. They were active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their music was similar to that of the Sex Pistols and The Damned.
For a while, The Viletones were quite infamous in punk circles. Leckie himself was infamous for cutting himself up on stage, à la Iggy Pop. Footage of such can be found at the CBC Archives. They appeared in magazines all over the world.
From July 7-10, 1977 the group joined The Diodes and Teenage Head at famed New York punk club CBGB at a showcase featuring "three outrageous punk bands from Toronto, Canada". Eminent rock critic Lester Bangs described the show in an April 29, 1981 article for the Village Voice: "This guy Natzee Dog hung from the rafters, crawled all over the stage, and hurled himself on the first row until his body was one huge sore. Somebody asked me what I thought and I said, 'Fine with me - in 1972 every band in the world was Grand Funk, now every band in the world is the Stooges.' I didn't tell Natzee Dog that, though; I told him: 'You guys were cooler with hockey haircuts.'"
Also that year, The Viletones released their first single, "Screamin (sic) Fist" b/w "Possibilities" and "Rebel" on their own Vile Records.
In 1978, they released Look Back In Anger, which featured the songs "Don't You Lie" and "Dirty Feeling", b/w "Back Door To Hell", "Swastika Girl" and "Danger Boy". The same year Pompeii, Hate and X abrubtly left The Viletones. The now former Viletones joined up with ex-Diode John Hamilton in The Secrets.
In 1983, a reunited Viletones released their first full-length album, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, recorded live at Larry's Hideaway in Toronto. Later that decade, they released a U.S.-only release, Live At Max's. In 1994, a record label, Other Peoples Music, released a retrospective, A Taste Of Honey. In 1998, Leckie released the What It Feels Like To Kill album, which featured among its 18 songs the 1995 Nailed EP, under the Viletones name. He currently runs an art gallery in Toronto called Fleurs Du Mal and made a brief appearance in the film, American Psycho.
A reference to their song, "Screamin Fist", turned up in the pages of Neuromancer, a novel by William Gibson.
The Viletones 2007 line-up consists of Steven Leckie (vocals), Steve Scarlet/The Sinisters/Drunkula (guitar)[1] and Jeff Zurba (drums.)
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source Wikipedia (link)
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Para os brasileiros e portugueses, algumas informações sobre o Viletones aqui.

Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers - 1984 - Furious Party 7''

Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers - 1984 - Furious Party 7''
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Flys, The - 1978 - Love and a Molotov Cocktaill 7''

Flys, The - 1978 - Love and a Molotov Cocktaill 7''
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This Coventry, based band, were originally called Midnight Circus(their image was slightly hippy). Singer and guitarist Neil O'Connor (brother of Hazel O'Connor ) met school kids David Freeman (guitar, vocals) and Joe Hughes (bass, vocals) in the mid-70s, and recruiting Pete King on drums. After a name change to The Flys The band recorded a demo in 1977 that failed to attract much attention from record companies, so they formed their own Lama label and put out an EP, Bunch of Five, around the end of the year. That caught the fancy of EMI, which signed them up in a hurry and put out the EP's "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" as a single. The album Waikiki Beach Refugees appeared in 1978. Several Flys singles appeared in early 1979, culminating in the release of the second album, Own. Intraband quarreling had led to King's departure and the arrival of Graham Deakin, the former drummer of John Entwistle's Ox. A move to Parlophone Records did little to salve the bickering, and the Flys broke up in 1980. O'Connor joined his sister Hazel's band and then took his skills behind the scenes as producer, arranger, and engineer; Freeman performed on Alison Moyet's Raindancing album, played briefly with Roddy Radiation and the Tearjerkers, and then formed The Lover Speaks with Hughes; Pete King went on to join After the Fire before his untimely death at age 26.
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Thanks to The ModPopPunk Archives (link)

Johnny Dole And The Scabs - 1977 - Scab Animal

Johnny Dole And The Scabs - 1977 - Scab Animal
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Richard Lloyd - 1979 - Alchemy

Richard Lloyd - 1979 - Alchemy
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Alchemy is the debut solo album of Television guitarist, Richard Lloyd. It was released in 1979, one year after the break up of Television and the release of their second album, Adventure. Trouser Press called it "a gem of a solo album." Its title track was a minor New York FM radio hit.
It features Lloyd on lead guitar, harmonica, piano and vocals, Matthew Mackenzie on guitar, piano and background vocals, James Mastro (later of the Bongos) on guitar, Fred Smith (of Television) on bass, "Heineken bass" and background vocals, and Vinny DeNunzio (formerly of the Feelies) on drums and background vocals. Producer Michael Young later added guitar and synthesizer overdubs to some tracks, which Lloyd has stated that he strenuously opposed.
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source Wikipedia (link)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hitler Ss-Tampax Split (1979)


Hitler Ss-Tampax Split (1979)
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Both bands came from Pordenone. Awesome Italian punk record. 500 copies i think, most of which have hand written and colouring done by the band on the sleeve. As far as i can think this is the only Hitler SS stuff but Tampax have quite a few other records. On the inserts, of which i konw of 3 different ones, Hitler SS pretend to be ex-members of London SS and the 101-ers which i thought was quite funny.This 45 is really anoying as the sides play on different speeds, although on some copies both sides play the same speed! Tampax singer Ado now manages a rock band called Prozac, and their drummer is now a drum instructor at a music college.
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source Punk Rock Picture Sleeve (link)

Pathetix - 1978 - Don't Touch My Machine 7''

Pathetix - 1978 - Don't Touch My Machine 7''
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Nelson, Lancashire band, formed as early as 1976, initially by Nicholson and Husband. Nicholson, now a producer for the BBC, had first chanced upon punk while doing his paper round. “I was a 15-year-old paperboy delivering someone’s NME when I noticed a photo of some bloke called Johnny Rotten sporting a bondage suit. It thrilled and frightened me. I wasn't sure what to think. I'd grown out of Slade and had been desperately looking for something to like. I bought shit album after shit album in a forlorn hope that this might be the one - it never was. I still hadn't heard the Pistols but even the way they looked was enough to hook my attention. Then sitting at home one night watching So It Goes on Granada Television, there they were, it was a seismic moment and although it sounds corny, things really would never be the same again. When ‘Anarchy In The UK’ came out, I went to the local record shop to buy it. The shop owner wouldn't even say the band’s name. He called them the SP's - already this was more exciting than anything else that had ever happened to me and I hadn't even listened to the record yet. At home I had one of those record players that if you left the arm up, it would keep on playing the same record time after time. I put on my headphones and as my mum and dad watched Nationwide, I listened to it 15 times. It was and still is the most powerful manifesto any band has ever managed to put down on to seven inches of vinyl. I went straight over to my friend Philip across the road, who I'd been writing songs with, and played it to him. It was obvious that this is what we'd been waiting for. That record redefined everything.”
Thus enthused, Husband and Nicholson set about putting a set together. “We wrote lots of songs, and approached a time when we needed to play them to someone, but there was just the two of us. My brother told me he knew another punk called Star (Terry Sanders) who lived in Nelson so we asked him through my brother if he wanted to be in a band, not knowing whether he could actually play anything. As it turns out, he couldn't, but somehow it didn't seem to matter. We were booked to do a gig at Bold Street Working Men’s Club in Accrington, where we'd seen a local skinhead/punk band called Schoolgirl Bitch support Eater the week before. Star was going to play bass but was so bad he changed to drums two days before the gig. He bought his kit for the princely sum of a pint of Mild - I kid you not.”
So how did their debut gig go? “The soundcheck for the gig was really good, I think we surprised ourselves. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. Philip and Terry got very nervous and drank far too much. We went on stage and Philip turned everything up and to appalling feedback, we announced the birth of the Pathetix. After two songs I said to Philip: ‘This is shit, let’s get off.’ Philip ripped all the strings off his guitar, Terry kicked his kit all over the stage and we walked off, feedback still reverberating around the room to huge cheers. Everyone thought it was some kind of stage act and wanted us back on. But Philip didn't have any more strings so that was that. To cut this interminable story slightly short, we added Gary Brown to the band, got a lot better then added Pete Rowlands on lead guitar and Peter Leeper on saxophone.”
The band played a lot of gigs during the summer of 1978, until eventually “we thought it was time to make a record”. However, the major labels were not beating a path to their door. “As no-one showed the slightest interest in signing us, we embraced the DIY ethic and went into Smile Studios in Liverpool. The track we chose for the a-side was a song that had been written one boring evening after the band and a bunch of friends had taken out a ouija board and attempted to contact the spirit world. To this day I still don't know who around that table knew who Aleister Crowley was, but I sure as hell didn't. Who knows - perhaps it really was the man himself. After a sleepless night waiting to die, Philip, myself, and a friend called Quentin, wrote ‘Aleister Crowley’.
The EP was duly released on their own No Records label, and its drunken séance diorama seemed to hit a chord, which was more than some of their peers were capable of at this stage. “These six sprightly young sprogs deserve encouragement for going it alone,” stated Max Bell in the NME. “A good idea brilliantly realised.” Both Giovanni Dadomo at Sounds and Mark Perry of Sniffing Glue were similarly impressed. The good press saw them reach the Top 10 of the (then unofficial) Independent Charts after the single was picked up for distribution by Rough Trade (ie they took 500 copies off their hands).
After a further batch of gigs they signed with Manchester’s TJM label, which was “without a doubt the worst thing the band ever did". We thought it was going to change everything and sure enough it did, we never really recovered from the experience. We'd have been better looking after ourselves, what momentum we'd built up (admittedly not exactly turbo-charged but people were beginning to know who we were) was lost over a period where Tony [Davidson] played at being Richard Branson with his dad's money.” A further single emerged, by which time Leeper had left to join the theatre and Brown had joined the Notsensibles. He’d been practising with them and received an ultimatum from the band. ’Love in Decay’ should have been great but Tony wouldn't pay for a producer and just when we should have been sounding better and getting a push there was a big nothing. At a time when every single had a picture sleeve, ours didn't. I've only ever seen one copy of the picture sleeve and that's framed on Philip's wall. This sleeve was allegedly sent to the band by Tony Davidson with a note stating this is how the sleeve will look! Not, here is the single sleeve, does the band approve? (Phil Husband adds: Since then, I have been led to believe that a handful of sleeves do exist! They were all mock-up proof sleeves BUT apparently Tony Davidson never paid the photographer for the photo session and therefore he put a stop to all his photos from being used!! So that is the story why our single came out without a picture sleeve! I was lucky enough to have been sent one which I have kept safe over the years until I recently sold it to Dizzy !!!) ”It did at least garner some vaguely positive reviews. Mancunian fanzine City Fun, edited by the notorious duo of Cath Carroll and Liz Naylor, saluted its “great sound”.
TJM did at least organise a package tour for them (See advert below). “It included a band called the Frantic Elevators with a flame-haired eejit as vocalist. He used to go bright red whenever he sang. They did lots of covers and I remember watching him singing ‘Don't Let Me Down’ thinking his head was going to explode. His name was Mick Hucknall. Imagine my surprise years later etc.” Hucknall was a big fan of the Pathetix’s ‘Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down’, and once sang it back to its co-author verbatim in a drunken moment while doing an interview for Music Box. “The tour was a real Tony event. No hotels for us, we used to do the gig, jump on the coach and drive all the way back to Manchester. Then next morning meet up again and drive off to wherever we were playing that night for the whole routine to repeat itself.” But there were encouraging reviews. “The Pathetix take to the stage – instant improvement,” noted Ian Ravendale in Sounds. “This lot have style, panache, power and punch. A shower to watch out for.” By now, that shower’s set had expanded to include, in addition to their recorded material, the aforementioned ‘Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down’, ‘What Do You Expect From Me’, ‘Teenage Idol’, ‘Pressure Drop’ (not the reggae staple) and ‘My Friend’s A Moron’. Nicholson’s favourite, though, was ‘Soldier Tommy’, about Northern Ireland. “It’s one of the first songs Philip and I wrote and it’s a song I regret never recording.”
TJM’s only saving grace, apparently, was its rehearsal studio. “It was an old warehouse on Little Peter Street in Manchester and because we were on his label, we got to rehearse there for free. Amongst the other bands that had to pay for the privilege was a local Manchester band called Joy Division. Philip and Terry were interested in starting a fanzine and interviewed three of the band members; Bernard, Peter and Stephen. Philip still has the tape. It's hilarious. Amongst the searching questions they ask are: ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ and ‘How do you get gigs?’ But my favourite moment is where they ask them to say their names into the mic, and say what they do in the band. Very sweetly, the band oblige.”
Thereafter the line-up of the Pathetix shuffled. Gary Brown left to join the Notsensibles and Pete Leeper became an actor, appearing as Malcolm Parrot on Grange Hill. But the band weren’t satisfied that TJM were delivering on their promises and promoting their single nationally, and instead signed a deal with French independent (with Mancunian connections) Sordide Sentimental. They ground to a halt soon after, though they were joined for a while by keyboard player John Finch. They’d also grown a bit tired of punk’s self-regulation. “It was ‘79 by now. We all felt that punk was a moment in time, a moment that had gone. Bands like Discharge, the Angelic Upstarts and Crass were about as far away from what punk had meant to us as it was possible to be. To me punk was about limitless possibilities and not accepting your lot in life. The interesting bands were trying to articulate themselves in new ways and so did we - it didn't last long and maybe we were wrong. We made one last record for Sordide Sentimental [as Citizen UK, by which time Pete Rowlands had left and John Finch had joined on keyboards] and that was that. By 1981 it was all over.”
There was a further cassette as Citizen UK while Husband and Nicholson were also involved in the aforementioned punk-hip-hop hybrid Trash Culture. And as the man says, that was that. All over. But not quite. Nicholson: “In 1998 I was working as a director at the BBC. Noel's House Party needed a last-minute replacement for the NTV section of the show [in which viewers are unknowingly filmed in their own living room]. By this time, Peter Leeper was an actor and was pretty well known as Malcolm Parrot, a teacher on Grange Hill, so it was arranged for Peter to be the 'guest' on NTV that week. Noel clicked his fingers to reveal Peter apparently sitting at home utterly shocked. But once Noel mentioned the Pathetix, Peter dismantled the hidden camera by his TV set, and with the words ‘I'm not up for this, Noel’, put it in a cup of tea he was drinking.”
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source Bored Teenagers (link)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Raped - 1977 - Pretty Paedophiles 7''

Raped - 1977 - Pretty Paedophiles 7''
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Fits, The - 1982 - The Last Laugh 7''

Fits, The - 1982 - The Last Laugh 7''
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The Fits formed in Blackpool in October 1979, with an initial line-up of Mick Crudge (vocals), Andy Baron (bass guitar), Kev Halliday (drums), and "Big Bill" (guitar).[1] They played their first gig only four days after forming, supporting Section 25 at a community centre in Bispham.[1] After four gigs, Big Bill was replaced by Steve Withers. The band's first single, "You Said We'd Never Make It" was recorded in June 1980. Local second-hand record shop owner Barry Lights sold it in his shop, and when the initial run of 1,500 had sold out, reissued it on his Beat The System label, the single eventually reaching number 2 in the Sounds Punk Chart.[1] Increasing exposure saw the band supporting more established punk bands such as the UK Subs around the UK, and they were signed by the Rondelet label in November 1981. Rondelet issued their second single, "Think For Yourself" on New Year's Day 1982. In March 1982, the band entered the studio to record their album You're Nothing, You're Nowhere. The band were not happy with the album, and Halliday and Baron left the band shortly afterwards, to be replaced by Tez McDonald of One Way System and Ricky McGuire of Chaotic Youth.[1] The new line-up had immediate success with the Last Laugh EP, which entered the UK Indie Chart in December 1982 and peaked at number 44.[2] McGuire left the band in February 1983 (he would later join UK Subs and The Men They Couldn't Hang), his eventual replacement being Gaz Ivin.[1] The band struggled to capitalise on the success of their last EP, not helped by McDonald's drug problem, but their career was kickstarted when John Robb suggested that they might find a suitable home at Crass'/John Loder's Corpus Christi Records. After travelling to meet Crass, the label took them on and released the Tears of a Nation EP, which spent eight weeks in the indie chart, peaking at number 15.[2] The success of the EP led Crudge and Withers to relocate to London. McDonald remained in Fleetwood with his family, and did not travel to all of the band's gigs, with Ogs from Peter and the Test Tube Babies standing in.[1] A split EP, Pressed For Cash was issued on the Babies' Trapper label, and the band would play several times on the same bill as PTTB. Trapper released two more singles, "Action" and "Fact or Fiction", both of which were indie hits, but the violence that was common at punk gigs at the time affected the band, and they split up in November 1985.[1]
Crudge, Withers, and Ivin went on to play in Pure Pressure, before all three moved abroad.
In 1995, Captain Oi! records released a 27-track retrospective, The Fits Punk Collection, and this was followed in 1997 by the Too Many Rules collection on the Italian Get Back label.
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source Wikipedia (link)

Exile, The - 1978 - The Real People 7''

Exile, The - 1978 - The Real People 7''
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Thanks to NDN Records for the cover!