Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
V.A. - 1982 - Sudden Death LP (US)
V.A. - 1982 - Sudden Death LP (US)download
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AWESOME 1982 classic hardcore compilation of LA/Southwest bands, from Phoenix proto-skate punks JFA to glam wierdos Red Kross.Also includes obscure band Sin-34 which was one of the few woman-fronted hardcore bands ever.
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tracklist
1. JFA "Low Rider"
2. JFA "Guess What"
3. JFA "American Buttfucker"
4. SIN 34 "Only Love"
5. SIN 34 "Nuclear War"6. SIN 34 "Who Needs Them"
7. MORAL DECAY "America"
8. MORAL DECAY "TV News"
9. CRANKSHAFT "Life is Getting Faster"
10. CRANKSHAFT "Massacre Killer"
11. SADIST FACTION "Twisted Cross"
12. SADIST FACTION "Peace Corpse"
13. THE SINS "Rat Society"
14. THE SINS "All Your Tomorrows"
15. THE SINS "Sins Prayer"
16. THE DEMENTED "Back to the Bed"
17. THE DEMENTED "Deadly Game"
18. THE DEMENTED "How Can I Kill You"
19. REDD KROSS "Tatum O'Tot and the Fried Vegetables"
20. REDD KROSS "St. Lita Ford Blues"
21. YOUTH GONE MAD "Ode to Darby"
22. YOUTH GONE MAD "Diaperhead"
23. YOUTH GONE MAD "Homo Mommy"
24. NAUGHTY WOMEN "Linda is a Monster"
25. NAUGHTY WOMEN "Jealousy"
26. DEAD YOUTH "Phantom Citizen"
27. DEAD YOUTH "Kern County"
28. DEAD YOUTH "Radiation Fall Out"
Jags, The - 1979 - Back Of My Hand 12'' (UK)
Jags, The - 1979 - Back Of My Hand 12'' (UK)download
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The Jags were a British rock band formed in London in 1978, and composed of Nick Watkinson (vocals), John Alder (guitar/backing vocals), Steve Prudence (bass) and Alex Baird (drums).
They signed to Island Records in July 1978 and initially released a promising four-track EP.
On 8 September 1979, the powerpop single "Back of My Hand", written by Nick Watkinson & left-handed guitarist John Alder, entered the UK Singles Chart. It had a chart life of 10 weeks and peaked at Number 17. "Back of My Hand" was included on their debut album Evening Standards, which was released the following year. Their follow-up single "Woman's World" entered the UK Chart on 2 February 1980 at Number 75 - dropping out the next week.
1981 saw the release of their second, and what proved to be, final album, No Tie Like a Present. The Jags disbanded in 1982.
They signed to Island Records in July 1978 and initially released a promising four-track EP.
On 8 September 1979, the powerpop single "Back of My Hand", written by Nick Watkinson & left-handed guitarist John Alder, entered the UK Singles Chart. It had a chart life of 10 weeks and peaked at Number 17. "Back of My Hand" was included on their debut album Evening Standards, which was released the following year. Their follow-up single "Woman's World" entered the UK Chart on 2 February 1980 at Number 75 - dropping out the next week.
1981 saw the release of their second, and what proved to be, final album, No Tie Like a Present. The Jags disbanded in 1982.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Asphalt Jungle - 1978 - Poly Magoo 7'' (FRA)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Tazers, The - 1982 - Don't Classify Me 7'' (US)
The Tazers is a punk rock band that was formed in 1979 in the city of La Habra, California. The group was a part of the Orange County music scene. The band members included Charlie Glancy on lead guitar and metal trash can, Craig Brisco on drums, Mitch McNally, and Sean Brown on vocals and guitar.
Weirdotronix Southern California Punk Gig Diary remembers Tazers in 1982 as "a Fullerton bar band, who had recently made the transition from main stream rock to punk. They were competent musicians, with lots of performing experience, but their approach to punk was rather cliché and formulaic." The review goes on to say that the group apparently decided on having purple hair, torn clothes and sneering after watching the film Valley Girl. In a later review, Tazers are remembered as "well practiced (and well-equipped) musicians, yet there seemed to be something missing from their act. They lacked a powerful stage presence; they were really more new wave than punk, and their original material sounded too much like covers of other bands' songs."
In 1982, the group released a 7" vinyl single called Don't Classify Me!, featuring five tracks with titles like "Neo Natal Hospital" and "Microwave Mother." Two years later, the group put forth their self-titled LP in which new comer to the band, Dave Brown, played lead guitar.
During their peak of popularity, while drawing crowds of 400 to 500 people at shows, the band was promoted by using airtime on southern Californian radio stations such as, KNAC and KROQ. Most of the band's legitimate and paying shows were Ichabod's in Fullerton with bands like Chequered Past, D.I. and 45 Grave. The band played mostly undocumented backyard and house parties, often being paid only in beer and alcohol. Undoubtedly, their most prestigious gig was a slot opening for the heavy metal comedy group, Spinal Tap. The Tazers song "Alcoholic’s Anthem" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1987 film Surf Nazis Must Die, commonly recognized as one of the worst movies of all time.
The group disbanded in the late 1980s, with Glancy and Brisco continuing on to play in a new band called D/Railed. Mitch McNally currently plays bass in the group Mama Hagglin.
The group disbanded in the late 1980s, with Glancy and Brisco continuing on to play in a new band called D/Railed. Mitch McNally currently plays bass in the group Mama Hagglin.
Following the turn of the century, the Tazers became somewhat of a legend in the Orange County punk scene, and their original records began to routinely sell on eBay for hundreds of dollars. [1] In the early 2000s, Rave Up Records announced that they would be re-releasing Don't Classify Me! on vinyl, with a package including vintage photos and extensive liner notes written by the lead guitarist Charlie Glancy. Around the same time, a CD titled Where Has All the Vinyl Gone?, compiling the bands complete discography of one LP and two EPs was self-released.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Bill Nelson's Red Noise - 1979 - Sound On Sound (UK)
Bill Nelson's Red Noise - 1979 - Sound On Sound (UK)download
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Bill Nelson's Red Noise, or called simply Red Noise, was a "synthpop/new-wave" band, formed by Bill Nelson (lead vocals, guitar), his brother Ian (saxophone), Andy Clark (keyboards), Rick Ford (bass) and Steve Peer (drums), around 1978.
Nelson formed the band after dissolving Be-Bop Deluxe, while he was metamorphosing from blues, progressive and glam rock to more New Wave and electronic sounds, after the last Be-Bop Deluxe album, Drastic Plastic, released early 1978. Clark also was a member of Nelson's previous band, and Ian Nelson collaborated with that group on the song "Ships In The Night", from the Sunburst Finish album (1976). Peer was previously in TV Toy Channel.
Red Noise released only one album, the seminal Sound On Sound, plus a two singles, Furniture Music and Revolt Into Style, in 1979. After that, Bill Nelson continued as a solo artist, with the collaboration of Clark and his brother Ian. Rick Ford played with Hazel O'Connor and Joe Jackson, and now he composes sountrack music for the entertainment industry in California; and Steve Peer is now with a band called Puzzle Monkey.
Red Noise is also considered as being a Be-Bop Deluxe continuation. Material written during the last days of Be Bop Deluxe was included on Sound On Sound.
Nelson formed the band after dissolving Be-Bop Deluxe, while he was metamorphosing from blues, progressive and glam rock to more New Wave and electronic sounds, after the last Be-Bop Deluxe album, Drastic Plastic, released early 1978. Clark also was a member of Nelson's previous band, and Ian Nelson collaborated with that group on the song "Ships In The Night", from the Sunburst Finish album (1976). Peer was previously in TV Toy Channel.
Red Noise released only one album, the seminal Sound On Sound, plus a two singles, Furniture Music and Revolt Into Style, in 1979. After that, Bill Nelson continued as a solo artist, with the collaboration of Clark and his brother Ian. Rick Ford played with Hazel O'Connor and Joe Jackson, and now he composes sountrack music for the entertainment industry in California; and Steve Peer is now with a band called Puzzle Monkey.
Red Noise is also considered as being a Be-Bop Deluxe continuation. Material written during the last days of Be Bop Deluxe was included on Sound On Sound.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Go, The - 2005 - Instant Reaction (US)
Go, The - 2005 - Instant Reaction (US).
Have you ever had one of those bad days when situations at work just snowball out of control? You tackle one problem only to discover another. Well if it were not for music, I don’t know where I would be in this life. Music can fill in large voids and bring you places that most designer drugs makers would only dream that they could capture. This brings me to The Go. I was more than happy to blare this CD on my way home from work; let me tell you!
The Go are one of those great-lost power pop bands that have at last been released on cd. Never failing to excite, this release comes from the great Wizzard In Vinyl label out of Japan (I can’t stop praising this label!).
Jangley guitars and a driving back beat will keep you Powerpop enthusiasts coming back for another dose. Reminiscent of bands such as “The Beat”, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick, and The Shoes etc (I could go on and on-pick your fave Powerpop band and insert here). Yes, The Go are that good.
Now, stop interrupting me and read on! This CD is comprised of the original Instant Reaction 7“ (which probably sells for a hefty sum on ebay), as well as 20 other timeless treasures from the period of 1979 to 1982. The Go fall into the category of one of the bands that got away. Some record label execs were caught snoozing! Powerpop nirvana and definitely a CD to take to a deserted island.
10 striped t-shirts out of 10!
The Go are one of those great-lost power pop bands that have at last been released on cd. Never failing to excite, this release comes from the great Wizzard In Vinyl label out of Japan (I can’t stop praising this label!).
Jangley guitars and a driving back beat will keep you Powerpop enthusiasts coming back for another dose. Reminiscent of bands such as “The Beat”, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick, and The Shoes etc (I could go on and on-pick your fave Powerpop band and insert here). Yes, The Go are that good.
Now, stop interrupting me and read on! This CD is comprised of the original Instant Reaction 7“ (which probably sells for a hefty sum on ebay), as well as 20 other timeless treasures from the period of 1979 to 1982. The Go fall into the category of one of the bands that got away. Some record label execs were caught snoozing! Powerpop nirvana and definitely a CD to take to a deserted island.
10 striped t-shirts out of 10!
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source Sugarbuzz Magazine (link)
Youth Gone Mad - 1982 - Life, Sweet Life 7'' (US)
Youth Gone Mad - 1982 - Life, Sweet Life 7'' (US)download
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Originally recorded in 1982. First pressing on clear green vinyl. Reissue in 1990.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Xdreamysts - 1980 - Xdreamysts LP (UK)
Xdreamysts - 1980 - Xdreamysts LP (UK)download
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Northern Irish Rock/Pub rock band with some punk/new wave moves, active for several years in the late 70s and early 1980s. They debuted on the legendary Good Vibrations label in 1978 and were signed by Polydor Records in early 1979 along with Protex, who were scouted at the same gig.
They released three singles on Polydor which failed to set the world alight and the band was dropped in 1980. The last of these singles was "Stay The Way You Are" which was later covered by Paul Young & The Q-Tips on a single in 1981 (released on Chrysalis Records, CHS 2518). The Xdreamysts had supported Paul Young & The Q-Tips when they played in Northern Ireland, which is how they came to hear it.
Unlike Protex, The Xdreamysts did manage to get their album out on Polydor though it was only released in Holland. The album includes all six tracks from the singles plus six new tracks. It has become hard to find and is a minor collectable.
Roe Butcher was later in the Mighty Shamrocks. Two members later turned up in Codie playing sweet country music.
They released three singles on Polydor which failed to set the world alight and the band was dropped in 1980. The last of these singles was "Stay The Way You Are" which was later covered by Paul Young & The Q-Tips on a single in 1981 (released on Chrysalis Records, CHS 2518). The Xdreamysts had supported Paul Young & The Q-Tips when they played in Northern Ireland, which is how they came to hear it.
Unlike Protex, The Xdreamysts did manage to get their album out on Polydor though it was only released in Holland. The album includes all six tracks from the singles plus six new tracks. It has become hard to find and is a minor collectable.
Roe Butcher was later in the Mighty Shamrocks. Two members later turned up in Codie playing sweet country music.
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source Irish Punk & New Wave Discography (link)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Roller Ball - 1977 - Savage Eyes [7''] [192k] (BE)
Roller Ball - 1977 - Savage Eyes [7''] [192k] (BE)download
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No, nothing to do with the "Teach Me To Rock'n'Roll" lot, it's way more important than that. This Rollerball was a pre-Elton Motello thing involving Alan Ward and Mike Butcher (Jet Staxx). If Mike himself hadn't tipped me off about this then I'd still be in the dark about it. Here's what Mike revealed...'Rollerball was just a one off, with me on guitar, Alan on vocals and 2 studio assistants, Alex on bass and his brother Pascal on drums. Pascal also played the drums on the Jet Staxx singles. We never played a gig and I don't think we even got many radio plays.'"Savage Eyes" and B-side "Lay You Down", both Ward/Butcher compositions, were recorded late 1976 in their adopted home of Brussels, Belgium (the mecca of pseudo punk), with a production credited to Rollerball as a band. It seems that it was only released in Holland on CNR Records in the first half of 1977 with the Dutch copies also being distributed in Belgium.The B-side is a decent rock number with a few New York Dolls moves, but the real action is on the glorious glam/punk of "Savage Eyes". Considering who was behind this record and how great it is, it's a total mystery why it's remained unknown for over 30 years.
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source Worthless Trash (link)
Brutality,Religion And A Dance 7'' (1977) (UK)
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Brutality,Religion And A Dance 7'' (1977) (UK).
"Brutality Religion and a Dance Beat" was a 7" single compilation of two songs. It contained the songs "Big in Japan", by eponymous band Big in Japan, and "Do The Chud", by The Chuddy Nuddies (later Yachts), both groups formed in the 1970's punk scene of Liverpool. It was released by the Eric's label in September 1977.
The side-A song, "Big in Japan", was an eponymous song of the band Big in Japan. It was a power-pop/punk oriented song, in which the singer, Jayne Casey, sang saying only the song name, plus a chorus. The band comprised future and past successful musician then Jayne Casey, guitarists Bill Drummond (later with The KLF), Ian Broudie (later of Care and The Lightning Seeds) and Clive Langer (of Deaf School), bassist Kev Ward and drummer Phil Allen.
The side-B song, was "Do The Chud", by The Chuddy Nuddies, who later changed their name to Yachts. The song was a bit synthpop oriented, with a synthesizer use, which only was a style of The Stranglers.
The side-A song, "Big in Japan", was an eponymous song of the band Big in Japan. It was a power-pop/punk oriented song, in which the singer, Jayne Casey, sang saying only the song name, plus a chorus. The band comprised future and past successful musician then Jayne Casey, guitarists Bill Drummond (later with The KLF), Ian Broudie (later of Care and The Lightning Seeds) and Clive Langer (of Deaf School), bassist Kev Ward and drummer Phil Allen.
The side-B song, was "Do The Chud", by The Chuddy Nuddies, who later changed their name to Yachts. The song was a bit synthpop oriented, with a synthesizer use, which only was a style of The Stranglers.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monte Cazazza - 1979 - To Mon on Mother's Day 7'' (UK)
Monte Cazazza - 1979 - To Mon on Mother's Day 7'' (UK).
Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape the early landscape of industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s.
Cazazza, based primarily in San Francisco during his early career, is credited with coining the phrase "Industrial Music for Industrial People". This was later used to encapsulate the record label and the artists representing it. Later, the noise collages and experimental sound manipulation coming out of Industrial records came to be known as industrial music. Cazazza had built up an underground reputation as a particularly volatile performer with a potentially dangerous and antisocial aesthetic. Re/Search Magazine's Industrial Culture Handbook described his work as "insanity-outbreaks thinly disguised as art events". The Futurist Sintesi show near the end of 1975 was heralded on a promo flier as "Sex - religious show; giant statue of Jesus got chainsawed and gang raped into oblivion".
Cazazza did not limit his "performances" to the familiar dynamic of stage, audience and audience reaction. Much of his work involved acts designed for maximum shock value. In a well known incident, while a student at the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts, Cazazza created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building. He once created a 15'x15' screw-together metal swastika and was known to visit his friends with a dead cat and formaldehyde that he would use to set the cat alight.
Much of his early work is considered obscene and virtually impossible to find. He worked with both print and sound collage, film, performance, and presentation. He was also heavily involved in the "Mail art" movement of the mid-1970s to early '80s. His recordings with Throbbing Gristle in early 1977 are highly regarded among collectors and continue to be esteemed as some of the most significant to come out of that period. Some of his early output was collected and released by The Grey Area of Mute in 1992 under the title, The Worst of Monte Cazazza.
Cazazza worked frequently with Factrix, an early industrial and experimental group from San Francisco, and recorded soundtracks for Mark Pauline and Survival Research Laboratories. More recent activity has included co-creating the independent distribution and film company, MMFilms with Michelle Handelman and various soundtrack recordings.
Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore's execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions/Throbbing Gristle members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution.
Cazazza did not limit his "performances" to the familiar dynamic of stage, audience and audience reaction. Much of his work involved acts designed for maximum shock value. In a well known incident, while a student at the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts, Cazazza created a cement waterfall that permanently disabled the main stairway of the building. He once created a 15'x15' screw-together metal swastika and was known to visit his friends with a dead cat and formaldehyde that he would use to set the cat alight.
Much of his early work is considered obscene and virtually impossible to find. He worked with both print and sound collage, film, performance, and presentation. He was also heavily involved in the "Mail art" movement of the mid-1970s to early '80s. His recordings with Throbbing Gristle in early 1977 are highly regarded among collectors and continue to be esteemed as some of the most significant to come out of that period. Some of his early output was collected and released by The Grey Area of Mute in 1992 under the title, The Worst of Monte Cazazza.
Cazazza worked frequently with Factrix, an early industrial and experimental group from San Francisco, and recorded soundtracks for Mark Pauline and Survival Research Laboratories. More recent activity has included co-creating the independent distribution and film company, MMFilms with Michelle Handelman and various soundtrack recordings.
Cazazza sent out photos of himself in an electric chair on the day of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore's execution. One of these was mistakenly printed in a Hong Kong newspaper as the real execution. Cazazza was also photographed alongside COUM Transmissions/Throbbing Gristle members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti for the "Gary Gilmore Memorial Society" postcard, in which the three artists posed blindfolded and tied to chairs with actual loaded guns pointed at them to depict Gilmore's execution.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Los Reactors - 2004 - Dead In The Suburbs (US)
Los Reactors - 2004 - Dead In The Suburbs (US)download
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Rip Off Records has scored its first archival band of our history, putting out the legendary 1980 Oklahoma band LOS REACTORS for the first time ever on CD. Their catchy keyboard sound has been stolen and copied by numerous bands, and many bands like THE BRIEFS frequently cover their songs, like "Dead in The Suburbs". LOS REACTORS put out a vinyl version of this release out on the Italian Rave Up Records, but this CD has additional songs, enhanced video footage of news clips & interviews of Los Reactors and hilarious footage of the "punk scene" of Oklahoma in the early 80's. The video also has the band performing "Dead in the Suburbs", and a previously unreleased song, "It's a Wonderful Life". The CD has both the classic singles and hits, "Dead in the Suburbs", "Culture Shock", "Laboratory Baby", along with a live set from the band. If you want to hear what the original new wave of bands sounded like, instead of the current crop of imitatation "keyboard" bands buy this enhanced CD of a truly legendary band.
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source Rip Off (link)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Suburban Reptiles - 1977 - Megaton 12'' (NZ)
Suburban Reptiles - 1977 - Megaton 12'' (NZ)download
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The Suburban Reptiles and The Scavengers were the first punk bands to form in New Zealand.
The Suburban Reptiles were first conceptualised by Auckland students Simon Grigg and Brett Salter in late 1976, with some encouragement from filmmaker David Blyth. Grigg and Salter had originally planned to form a jazz band but Grigg was redirected by Blyth after he saw a live review of The Sex Pistols in the New Musical Express.
Grigg, seeing himself as the manager, explained the concept to Salter, who played the saxophone, and other students, William Pendergrast, bass guitar; Clare Elliot, (Salter's partner), vocals; Trish Scott, guitar; Brian Nicholls, guitar; and Kim Smith, backing vocals, were invited to join. Grigg found a drummer, an apprentice butcher and part time juggler, Des Edwards and the original lineup was complete. This group only lasted the first few practices in a basement in Auckland's inner suburb, Ponsonby, before both Smith and Edwards departed. The first practices however produced a nucleus of a live set with a mix of covers (including songs from Roxy Music, The Damned and The Modern Lovers) and a number of originals.
The only live performance from this lineup was an aborted late night set in Auckland University's Student Quadrangle, with the power being pulled by University custodians after one song to a bemused crowd fresh from a concert by Th'Dudes.
Having thought they were the only punks in town, The Suburban Reptiles had a chance encounter in an Auckland pub, The Globe, that night with The Scavengers, who likewise had believed they were the only ones.
A drummer was now needed and Salter and Elliot had a chance encounter with Mark Hough, who had been playing in a band called After Hours, with Neil Finn. Hough, an art student at Elam (Auckland University's Fine Arts School), was asked to join and the first serious lineup was formed. The members then, in the tradition of punk bands the world over, took stage names: Salter became, initially Jimmy Vinyl and later Jimmy Joy and Lino Clone; Elliot took Sally Slag but quickly became simply Zero (although to the band she was simply Zed); Nicholls was Shaun Anfrayd; Pendergrast was Billy Planet; Scott was Sissy Spunk; and Hough was, initially Buzz, but soon, Buster Stiggs. Grigg used the name Partizan Politik as a management coverall.
The first performances were at a variety of private parties in April 1977, but the first major public performance was in June when they, with The Scavengers, and another newly found band, The Masochists, played a party put on by Grigg and David Blyth, for Blyth's forthcoming film, Angel Mine.
Over the next couple of months the band played regularly although Scott and Nicholls left, with The Scavengers' Johnny Volume playing from time to time before Pendergrast moved to guitar and Wayne 'Bones Hillman' Stevens, from The Masochists, joined on bass, the name Hillman coming from the brand of car he drove. Over the period the band was fired from a Catholic Boys School; was pursued and vilfied by a hungry media, repeatedly making the front pages of various newspapers; and were attacked by a vigilante mob at a student arts festival in Wellington.
They also, during this period, recorded their first single, a double A side, 12" (the first released in New Zealand). The first recording sessions were nominally produced by Tim Finn (although he slept through much of the session) at Harlequin Studios in Mt. Eden, and produced four tracks, at the time unreleased. The second session a few weeks later, produced by the band and Doug Rogers, re-recorded two of those songs, Megaton and Desert Patrol, and these, after some gestation came out on Phonogram's Vertigo label in January 1978, selling about 500 copies at the time.
In late 1977 Grigg departed and Hough became the defacto manager, with the band taking on the role of a more conventional touring act thereafter. However, in mid 1978 Zero was arrested for swearing on stage at the Riverhead Rock Festival. The subsequent court case and her acquittal set a legal precedent as to what could be said and where. Over that period, both Tony Baldock and Rolland Killeen played bass for the band at various times.
For the second single, the band brought in former Split Enz guitarist, Phil Judd, to produce and Judd became more and more part of the band over the following months. His arrival caused a great deal of friction between the members who effectively divided into two camps, with Judd and Hough on one side and Pendegrast and Salter in the other, with Zero in the middle. Drug issues also caused problems. However the resultant single, Saturday Night Stay at Home, with Judd's soaring guitar was an instant classic. A Student Radio survey in the early 2000s named it the greatest NZ single of all time.
“ We started off recording on low quality sixes between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning, when the recording studios charged the least. As our first songs became popular, we were able to record high quality twenty-fours, in good studios at reasonable times. -Brett Salter ”
It was too late for the Suburban Reptiles however and at the premier of Angel Mine in October 1978 two bands both played under that name. The Hough / Judd led band re-emerged some months later as The Swingers.
Grigg, seeing himself as the manager, explained the concept to Salter, who played the saxophone, and other students, William Pendergrast, bass guitar; Clare Elliot, (Salter's partner), vocals; Trish Scott, guitar; Brian Nicholls, guitar; and Kim Smith, backing vocals, were invited to join. Grigg found a drummer, an apprentice butcher and part time juggler, Des Edwards and the original lineup was complete. This group only lasted the first few practices in a basement in Auckland's inner suburb, Ponsonby, before both Smith and Edwards departed. The first practices however produced a nucleus of a live set with a mix of covers (including songs from Roxy Music, The Damned and The Modern Lovers) and a number of originals.
The only live performance from this lineup was an aborted late night set in Auckland University's Student Quadrangle, with the power being pulled by University custodians after one song to a bemused crowd fresh from a concert by Th'Dudes.
Having thought they were the only punks in town, The Suburban Reptiles had a chance encounter in an Auckland pub, The Globe, that night with The Scavengers, who likewise had believed they were the only ones.
A drummer was now needed and Salter and Elliot had a chance encounter with Mark Hough, who had been playing in a band called After Hours, with Neil Finn. Hough, an art student at Elam (Auckland University's Fine Arts School), was asked to join and the first serious lineup was formed. The members then, in the tradition of punk bands the world over, took stage names: Salter became, initially Jimmy Vinyl and later Jimmy Joy and Lino Clone; Elliot took Sally Slag but quickly became simply Zero (although to the band she was simply Zed); Nicholls was Shaun Anfrayd; Pendergrast was Billy Planet; Scott was Sissy Spunk; and Hough was, initially Buzz, but soon, Buster Stiggs. Grigg used the name Partizan Politik as a management coverall.
The first performances were at a variety of private parties in April 1977, but the first major public performance was in June when they, with The Scavengers, and another newly found band, The Masochists, played a party put on by Grigg and David Blyth, for Blyth's forthcoming film, Angel Mine.
Over the next couple of months the band played regularly although Scott and Nicholls left, with The Scavengers' Johnny Volume playing from time to time before Pendergrast moved to guitar and Wayne 'Bones Hillman' Stevens, from The Masochists, joined on bass, the name Hillman coming from the brand of car he drove. Over the period the band was fired from a Catholic Boys School; was pursued and vilfied by a hungry media, repeatedly making the front pages of various newspapers; and were attacked by a vigilante mob at a student arts festival in Wellington.
They also, during this period, recorded their first single, a double A side, 12" (the first released in New Zealand). The first recording sessions were nominally produced by Tim Finn (although he slept through much of the session) at Harlequin Studios in Mt. Eden, and produced four tracks, at the time unreleased. The second session a few weeks later, produced by the band and Doug Rogers, re-recorded two of those songs, Megaton and Desert Patrol, and these, after some gestation came out on Phonogram's Vertigo label in January 1978, selling about 500 copies at the time.
In late 1977 Grigg departed and Hough became the defacto manager, with the band taking on the role of a more conventional touring act thereafter. However, in mid 1978 Zero was arrested for swearing on stage at the Riverhead Rock Festival. The subsequent court case and her acquittal set a legal precedent as to what could be said and where. Over that period, both Tony Baldock and Rolland Killeen played bass for the band at various times.
For the second single, the band brought in former Split Enz guitarist, Phil Judd, to produce and Judd became more and more part of the band over the following months. His arrival caused a great deal of friction between the members who effectively divided into two camps, with Judd and Hough on one side and Pendegrast and Salter in the other, with Zero in the middle. Drug issues also caused problems. However the resultant single, Saturday Night Stay at Home, with Judd's soaring guitar was an instant classic. A Student Radio survey in the early 2000s named it the greatest NZ single of all time.
“ We started off recording on low quality sixes between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning, when the recording studios charged the least. As our first songs became popular, we were able to record high quality twenty-fours, in good studios at reasonable times. -Brett Salter ”
It was too late for the Suburban Reptiles however and at the premier of Angel Mine in October 1978 two bands both played under that name. The Hough / Judd led band re-emerged some months later as The Swingers.
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source Wikipedia (link)
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