12/25/2013

ROB TYNER - Blood Brothers


ROB TYNER  Blood Brothers  cd  1990
It's Only Rock And Roll / Renegade / Let's Rock / Disturbing The Peace / Out Of My Hands / Blood Brothers / Taboo / Taking On The Night / Grande Days / D.A.N.A. / Interview With Rob Tyner.
Produced by Rob Tyner & Pete Bankert for B.R.O.

Engineer: Pete Bankert - Arranger: Joey Gaydos
Recorded at the Old Schoolhouse - Ann Arbor, MI.
Backing Vocal: Scott Morgan - Design: Sue Raleigh
Photography by Patrick Davey and Mark Arminski.
All Songs By Rob Tyner for Warrior Nation Songs (BMI)Except "Out Of My Hands" & "Taboo" R.Tyner, R.Gillespie & "Taking On The Night" R.Tyner, P.Bankert, J.Gaydos for Warior Nation Songs (BMI). "It's Only Rock And Roll" M.Jagger, K.Richards for Colgems-EMI Music (BMI)
Special thanks: Dave Dixon, Dick Williams, Henry Wreck and Ben Edmonds.
In loving memory of Lester Bangs.
Rob Tyner: lead vocals, harmonica / Pete Pankert: bass, backing vocals / Joey Gaydos: guitars, backing vocals / Fred Schmidt: drums, backing vocals.
A vast expanse of desolation, the flattened scrubble of the shattered city stretches to the horizon. Rising over the panorama of twisted steel and broken dreams stand the monolithic towers of glass, dominating the landscape as they do the lives of the people who scrabble for existance in this stricken world. The rich and the powerful live in their shiny fortresses surrounded by the violent ruins of the city below. Onto this volatile stage steps Rob Tyner and his band of warriors, standing in silhouette against the sky as they swear allegience to the liberation of people.


Rob Tyner (December 12, 1944 – September 17, 1991) was an American musician best known as lead singer for the proto-punk rock band MC5. Born Robert Derminer, his adopted surname was in tribute to the jazz pianist McCoy Tyner. It was Tyner who issued the infamous rallying cry of "kick out the jams, motherfuckers" at the MC5's live concerts. Tyner had originally auditioned as the bass player, but the band felt his talents would be best used as a lead vocalist.


In 1977, Tyner collaborated with Eddie & the Hot Rods for a 7-inch release coinciding with a promotional UK tour to promote MC5 vinyl reissues. Simultaneously back in the United States, Tyner had launched "the New MC5" which later operated as the Rob Tyner Band and laid the foundation for "Rob Tyner & the National Rock Group", a project which was prolific but issued no recordings. In 1985, Tyner donated his talents to a benefit LP for Vietnam Veterans. Tyner dipped into the song catalog of the National Rock Group for his Blood Brothers CD (1990) and plans were afoot to play more live shows, (including plans with Blackfoot drummer Jakson Spires) when he died in 1991.
On September 17, 1991, Tyner suffered a heart attack in his home town of Berkley, Michigan. He was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where he died, leaving his wife, Becky, and three children.
Thanks to Mr D.!
& MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY !!!

12/24/2013

THE GEORGIA SATELLITES - Keep The Faith


THE GEORGIA SATELLITES  Keep The Faith  LP/CD 1985
Tell My Fortune / Red Light / Six Years Gone / Keep Your Hands To Yourself / Crazy / The Race Is On.
Produced by Jeff Glixman.
The Georgia Satellites: Dan Baird: guitar, vocals / Rick Richards: guitar, vocals + Dave Hewitt: bass / Randy Delay: drums.

In 1980, Dan Baird (formerly guitarist for the Atlanta band, the Nasty Bucks), along with lead guitarist Rick Richards, bass player Keith Christopher and drummer David Michaelson formed a band named Keith and the Satellites in Atlanta, Georgia. After performing in local Southern bars, the band's line-up changed. Dan Baird became lead singer and guitarist and Rick Richards became singer and lead guitarist. With a new bassist, Dave Hewitt and a new drummer, Randy Delay; they recorded a six-track demo at Axis Studios in Atlanta. During this time, the band changed their name to Georgia Satellites and played every Monday at Hedgen's, a beer-stained bar in the otherwise tony Atlanta neighborhood of Buckhead.
Jeff Glixman who had produced, mixed and remastered artists such as Paul Stanley, Kansas, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen and Black Sabbath was enlisted for production. However, soon after the demo was recorded, the band broke up in the summer of 1984. Drummer Randy DeLay later performed with the Tony Sarno Band and the Hell Hounds around the Atlanta music circuit, before dying of cancer in 1993.
Yet, while the band felt they weren't making any progress on their musical path and had disbanded, their English manager, Kevin Jennings, took the demo to a small Yorkshire record label, Making Waves, who liked the material and released the demo as the Keep the Faith EP in 1985. The press response to the EP was positive and prompted the band to regroup in the United States. Baird had been playing with the Woodpeckers in North Carolina. Richards remained in Atlanta with the Hell Hounds, which included both Mauro Magellan (drums) and Rick Price (bass, formerly of The Brains). With Baird essentially joining the Hell Hounds, the Georgia Satellites were reborn and American record labels started taking notice of the band.


In 1986, the group signed with Elektra Records and reunited with Glixman to record their debut full-length album at Cheshire Sound Studios in Atlanta. The album, Georgia Satellites, was their most successful LP; featuring the track "Keep Your Hands to Yourself". The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, topped only by Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer". It went into heavy rotation on MTV. Other lesser-known songs included "Battleship Chains" (#86), written by Terry Anderson and "Can't Stand the Pain", but the Georgia Satellites never had another Top 40 hit. That same year the MTV Video Music Awards came into being. Mary Deacon won for Best Art Director on the music video "Keep Your Hands to Yourself".
In 1988, the band recorded a cover of The Swinging Blue Jeans' 1964 hit "Hippy Hippy Shake" for the movie Cocktail. Released as a single, the song reached No. 45 on the Billboard chart. During that year, the band released their second album, Open All Night; which included a cover of the Ringo Starr-written Beatles song "Don't Pass Me By", although the album was not as successful as their debut. A single, "Open All Night" backed with "Dunk 'n' Dine", failed to chart.
A third studio album, In the Land of Salvation and Sin, was released in 1989, which included re-recordings of "Six Years Gone" and "Crazy" from the 1985 EP. Although the album received very positive reviews, it too failed to do well commercially, and Baird left the band in 1990 to pursue a solo career.
The band's 1993 compilation Let It Rock: The Best of the Georgia Satellites included a selection of the best tracks from the three studio albums and bonus material that had been released on the Another Chance EP (1989): "Saddle Up", "That Woman", and "I'm Waiting for the Man". Also included was a live version of Chuck Berry's "Let It Rock". Source
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12/13/2013

THE HORNY TOADS - Con Anima Con Forza


THE HORNY TOADS  Con Anima Con Forza   Mini LP   1988
New Age / Aftermath / Hit + Miss / Walk Away / Bouncing' Betty / Snake.
Produced by Rene Roth.

The Horny Toads: Marky: vocals / Joe James: rhythm guitar, vocals / Glen James: lead guitar, vocals / Mikey J. Hornytoad: drums, vocals / Maurice Dillinger: bass, vocals.

The Horny Toads was an australian band from Brisbane formed in 1985. These excellent sons of Radio Birdman played a rock full of speed with a twin guitar attack. Their first release was a mini lp on Green Fez Records (owned by Citadel Rds) titled "Con Anima Con Forza" ‎ in which they covered "Snake" a Deniz Tek song from the "Burn My Eye" EP. Before they disbanded, The Horny Toads have recorded another fine mini lp in 1989 on  Amplexus Records: "Wired" which was produced by Rob Younger, himself !
If you like Radio Birdman it's sure that you will also like The Horny Toads !!!




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Thanks to Mr D !

11/30/2013

THE TWEEZERS - Already!

THE TWEEZERS  Already!  cd  1997
Get That Girl / Walking With The Radio On / T.V. Romance / I'm The One / The Glory Girls / Someday / Dance The Night Away / Saturday Night / She Said / Teen Machinery / Pretty Boy / Next Time Around / Bad Time / Prove It.
Produced by The Tweezers.
The Tweezers: Kogi: guitar & vocals / Fifi: guitar & vocals / Tomoko: bass & vocals / Uganda: drums.

"...BG: Fifi, while Teengenerate was going on you started the Tweezers. Why did you decide to go for such a change in sound?
Fifi:  Because you know the music called power pop?  I have been really into power pop for many years. Stuff like the Raspberries and Cheap Trick…  Actually, in Japan there was no music called power pop.  In Japan people called Generation X and the Jam power pop. But since we were teenagers we have been into the Raspberries.  When we saw the Devil Dogs they covered the Raspberries songs and we where really surprised because we have been loving them for so long.
Fink:  Actually, Andy from the Devil Dogs is younger than us, so I was surprised that such a young American played the Raspberries.  I thought nobody knew about them.
Fifi:  Nobody cared.  I used to have an American girlfriend, she was kind of a student, she was from Cleveland, Ohio.  And I asked her, “do you know the Raspberries,” and she just laughed.  Just laughed and asked me, “ How come you know a band like the Raspberries?  They are really not popular now.”  I tried to ask her about the song “I Wanna Be With You” and she just laughed.  She thought it was boring.  “Why don’t you listen to Elvis Costello instead,” she insisted.  “Elvis Costello is much cooler than the Raspberries.”  And I just hated her opinion…  Because she came from Cleveland… I just wanted information about the Raspberries from her.  When we were doing Teengenerate we went to Cleveland and tried to find traces of the Raspberries…nobody cared!  Nobody cared.  And I thought it was a shame, really a shame, because we still really loved the Raspberries.  Why such a great band and no one cared.  But when we met New Bomb Turks they all loved the Raspberries. They were really big fans.
BG:  Americans usually have pretty bad taste.
Fifi:  Currently.  Yeah, yeah, yeah I know.  Have you ever seen the picture from Bomp Magazine with Jimmy Zero from the Dead Boys holding a Raspberries album?  The Dead Boys were really influenced by the Raspberries.  They ripped off the Raspberries’ songs.
BG:  Really?  Which songs?
Fifi:  Do you know the song called “ All This And More?”  It was ripped off from the Raspberries.  And Stiv Bators first solo album…  He confessed that he ripped off songs from the Raspberries.  Do you know the song called “Tonight” by the Raspberries?   They ripped it off, but in a good way.
BG:  They changed it?
Fifi:  Yeah, changed it.  That’s important.  Because they really loved the Raspberries songs.
Fink:  Do you know the song called “Its Cold Outside?”  It’s ripped off from the Raspberries too.
Fifi:  Here is Jimmy Zero holding the Raspberries.  (Shows Steve the picture from an old issue of Bomp!)
BG:  And that record is on the cover of the Tweezers album.  That, the Nerves, and I don’t remember what else…
Fink:  Flashcubes.
Fifi:  Actually, I brought many records for the sleeve.  That picture was taken in the park.
Fink:  Anyway, he started the Tweezers, and I think something changed, because all the punk kids started to care about pop music like that.  Steve Baise heard the Tweezers album in my room.  He came to join a Japanese band for a while and he stayed at my apartment.  So I played the Tweezers single for him.
BG:  There’s a Tweezers single?  I didn’t know that!
Fink:  Yeah.  Very expensive.
Fifi:  I only have one.  It’s boring.
Fink:  I think Steve Baise got an idea. Basically, he had it before, but after the Devil Dogs he didn’t know what he wanted to play and I think he got an idea from the Tweezers.
BG:  Fifi, why do you think that the Tweezers were so boring?
Fifi:  I don’t know but…just boring.  When we did shows it was really boring because the Tweezers were much less rock n roll than Teengenerate.  I just want rock n roll even if I am playing power pop.  Power pop is good melody with a real wild rock n roll heart.  To me power pop is rock n roll.  Now I think the Tweezers aren’t so rock n roll.
Fink:  I think during the Tweezers years Fifi tried to assimilate the power pop style.
Fifi:  I just tried to imitate good seventies American power pop for fun.  I wasn’t so serious..."

Interview by Steven Strange on Terminal Boredom

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11/22/2013

GUN CRAZY - Dropping Like Flies


GUN CRAZY   Dropping Like Flies  CD  2003
Edge Of Town / Hotel Room / Talk To Jane / Factory Line / Red China Queen / Cannonball / Waitin' For A Ride° / Private Affair / Twenty Dollar Man* / Third Time Down.
Produced by Mike Mariconda.
Gun Crazy: Gary Rhodes: drums / Jimmy Sanchez: guitar & vocals / Clint Shay: lead guitar / Greg Putman: bass + Mike Mariconda: 1st guitar solo on */ Alan Nelson (The Materialistics): backing vocals on °

"On their debut album, produced by Mike Mariconda (Devil Dogs, New Bomb Turks), Houston's Gun Crazy come off like an amped-up combination of Bloodbrothers-era Dictators, the Saints, and Lazy Cowgirls."
" Ten punk ravers loaded with buzzsaw guitars, sneering attitude, and ragged but right singing. Some rippin’ punk rock’n’roll from Austin, struttin’, swaggerin’ and slangin’ its charm like a high-end call girl in the midst of a ship full of horny sailors. I’ve been a bit burned out on this genre for a while now, but when something this cool comes along, you can’t help but pay attention, and this is worthy of frequent listens."
"What do you consider to be your primary musical influences?
Jimmy Sanchez (guitar, vocals): That’s always a hard question. As far the band goes, we’re influenced by anything from the obvious punk rock stuff like the Saints, X, the Weirdos, the Real Kids…to earlier bands like the New York Dolls, Iggy and the Stooges, MC5, and Dr. Feelgood to 60s bands like the Yardbirds, Pretty Things and the Small Faces…to even older stuff like Chuck Berry, Larry Williams, and Eddie Cochran. I mean, we definitely don’t sound like any of these bands…we just kind of get inspiration from them. It’s not really a secret or anything new, we’re just taking rootsy rock and roll and playing it faster and louder."
You can read the complete interview HERE.
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11/17/2013

THE OUTCASTS - Self Conscious Over You


THE OUTCASTS   Self Conscious Over You  cd  1994
Self Conscious Over You / Clinical Love / One Day / Love Is For Sops / You're A Disease / Love You For Never / The Princess Grew Up A Frog / Cyborg / School Teacher / Spiteful Sue / The Cops Are Coming / Just Another Teenage Rebel.
Produced by The Outcasts.
The Outcasts: Colin Cowan: drums / Martin Cowan: rhythm guitar & vocals / Greg Cowan: lead vocals & bass / Getty: lead guitar.

The band formed in early 1977, with an initial line up of Blair Hamilton (vocals), Greg Cowan (bass), Colin "Getty" Getgood (lead guitar), and Greg's brothers Colin Cowan (drums), and Martin Cowan (rhythm guitar). According to Greg Cowan, their name derived from the fact that they were banned from five clubs in one week. Hamilton left the band within a month of its formation, with Greg Cowan taking over vocals.
The band played their first gig in May 1977, playing a mixture of their own songs and cover versions of songs by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and The Ramones. After building a strong local following, they were picked up by the local It record label, who released the band's debut single, "Frustration", in May 1978. They were then signed to Terri Hooley's Good Vibrations label, who released "Justa Nother Teenage Rebel" in November 1978, which saw the band receiving airplay on national radio from John Peel.


A further single and the band's debut album, "Self Conscious Over You" followed in 1979. Shortly before the album was released, Greg Cowan was involved in a serious car crash that left him in traction for fourteen weeks and unable to play bass, so Gordy Blair (of another Belfast band, Rudi) joined, with Raymond Falls also joining on drums, because, according to Cowan, "Colin was such a bad drummer".Trouble followed the band around, and this led to them being sacked from Good Vibrations, so their next release was on their own GBH label in 1981, the "Magnum Force" single. This was followed by the band's first Peel Session for BBC Radio 1. GBH became Outcasts Only, and their next releases was the Programme Love EP in 1981. In 1982 they released a cover of The Glitter Band's "Angel Face", which spent over two months in the UK Indie Chart, peaking at number 21. The band were struck a massive blow when Colin Cowan was killed in a car crash. Colin was described by his brother Greg as "the core of the band. He started The Outcasts, he even gave the band its name".


The large attendance at Colin's funeral prompted the band to play a thankyou gig at the Harp Bar, and the positive reaction convinced the band that they should carry on. They recorded a second Peel session and released the "Blood and Thunder" album on Abstract Records, which reached number 20 in the indie album chart.  A few more singles and the "Seven Deadly Sins" mini-album followed, but the band split up in early 1985. Greg Cowan, Martin and Getty started a new band, Time To Pray, but this only lasted until 1986. Ray Falls joined the army. Greg Cowan returned in 2003 with an "Irish punk supergroup" along with members of Rudi and Stalag 17, performing at the book launch of It Makes You Want to Spit!, which is still going as Shame Academy. In August 2011 The Outcasts played on Rebellion festival in Blackpool. Source
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11/14/2013

LATEX NOVELTIES - A Girl's Best Friend


LATEX NOVELTIES  A Girl's Best Friend  CD  2007
Teenage Idol / Surf Bandits / High Cost Of Lovin' / Nervous Wreck / Kiss And Make Up / I Don't Wanna Look Like No Ramone / I Do I Own Thing / Tangerine Hair / Just Meat / Retaliation / We Don't Wanna Go Home / Born To Destroy / Falling Down / The Solution / We Don't Wanna Go Home (live 1979).

Formed in Indianapolis, in the summer of 1978, Latex Novelties came as a shock to some, but a welcome relief to Midwest music fans hungering for more than radio rock and over-produced record company darlings. Latex Novelties provided a ray of hope, proving that fans didn’t have to take the ponderous, pretentious, acts that had become more corporation than musicians.
The Novelties could, and did, bring the new punk sound from New York and the UK to Indianapolis for the very first time. They immediately became the “must-see” band for every person seeking an escape from the endless string of cover bands that ruled the Indiana music scene.
Their attraction to bands such as the Ramones, the Dolls, the Sex Pistols, the Vibrators, and the Damned, influenced the Novelties to create some of the most original songs of the time. The Novelties have always had strong and uncompromising ideas about their live shows and their outrageous and often extreme act awakened a sleepy Midwestern town like a boot to the head. The door was opened and a vibrant and active punk scene exists in Indianapolis that none had ever thought possible. The Novelties have earned their position in the history of punk rock and this release proves why!  Source


Formed in 1978, Latex Novelties were the first punk band in in Indianapolis! Influenced by glam greats (NY Dolls/Bowie) and early british punk bands such Vibrators and Sex Pistols, they became immediately "the must-see" band for every person seeking an escape from the terrible musical scene in town during those days.
Dedicated to Pat Grindstaff  & Pelado Records!
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11/11/2013

WAYNE KRAMER - Ramblin' Rose


WAYNE KRAMER  Ramblin' Rose  7''  1978
Ramblin' Rose / Get Some.

"...K. Shimamoto: Was Mick (Farren) involved in that single of "Ramblin' Rose" you did in England around '78?

Wayne Kramer: Yeah. While I was in the penitentiary, he wrote me at one point that all the bands over there were outraged that I had to go to prison and a couple of labels had gotten together -- Stiff Records and Chiswick Records -- and they were gonna put out two of those tracks as a benefit for me, and they were gonna give me all the money when I got out of prison, which was really a brotherly thing for them to do, considering that most people come out of prison with what they have when they go into prison, which is nothing, and that's generally the reason they wind up going back to prison. But when I came out, I had like 2000 dollars as a cushion to help me adjust to life back on the street. It really, really made the difference for me...not that I would have gone back to dealing drugs or selling stolen TVs or guns or whatever, but it really did...a couple grand, y'know, straightens you out. Takes the pressure off..."
Source: Working To A Plan: Brother Wayne Kramer
Interview by Ken Shimamoto October 16, 1999 in  I-94 Bar


Stiffwick was the fruit of a brief liason between the Stiff and Chiswick companies, two of the premier independents of the Punk / New Wave era.  Its only release was 'Ramblin' Rose', by Wayne Kramer, founder of the MC 5.  The single's catalogue number was DEA/SUK-1; it came out in October 1977, and was distributed by Lightning. Source

11/03/2013

THE BLACKJACKS - (That's Why I Always) Dress In Black


THE BLACKJACKS  (That's Why I Always) Dress In Black  7'' SP  1985
(That's Why I Always) Dress In Black / Generic NYC Woman.
Produced by Johnny Angel.
The Blackjacks: Johnny Angel: vocals & guitars / Jeffrey Erna: drums / Whitey: bass & backing vocals / Rafael Mabry: guitar & backing vocals.

''By 1983, hard rock in Boston was a dead issue. The metal scene that began making waves in LA early in the decade hadn't really reached New England yet, the punk scene was dead, and the hardcore movement had begun to devolve into art-metal and noise. The notion of aggressive yet sexy music was deceased, and for all intents and purposes, there were three distinct camps in Boston: The would-be Angloid synth-pop, foo-foo haired sons and daughters of Boy George, the pseudo roots types who sucked Buds and wore flannel and claimed Hank Williams as god (but were really just collegiate simps trying to glom onto Americana and trailer-park culture, but as such were scruffier beatnik-y versions of their true role models, Britain's Teddy Boys), and dull bar bands. 'Til Tuesday were the big hype, as were the Del Fuegos, both fine groups, but hardly the spiritual heirs of Chuck Berry, the Stones and all the nitty-gritty societal bilge that tends to make the angriest and most heartfelt noise.
In June of 1983, Johnny Angel had returned to Boston a broken and beaten dude. His prior group, Thrills, had relocated to Manhattan with wide-eyed dreams of a new life in the Apple, only to find New York even less receptive to the straight-ahead charge than Boston. Besides, in B-Town, he could chill in a cushy job in the family business. His last bit of employ in New York was hauling boxes in a stinking Broadway warehouse, where he'd had a vision that the only time he'd ever ride down the magic boulevard in a limo would be in his own coffin, so it was NYC toodaloo!
Horrified at the total de-evolution of rock and roll at home, he hooked up with Whitey, ex-bassist with the Outlets, who was similarly bored and angered by Boston's local music scene. Whitey knew a former Outlets fan named Jeffrey Erna who was reputed to be a great drummer, and the three hooked up, bashing out Outlets songs at their first rehearsal, August, 1983.
Combining Angel's love of primal 60's psych and 70's punk with White's basic approach and Erna's speedy, rushed rhythms, the Blackjacks begun gigging a month later. Angel's year and change in exile in New York had provided wads of inspiration for new songs. "Generic New York City Woman" was a hate screed aimed at art-gallery inhabiting Manhattanite know-it-alls. "Junk Train" was a thinly veiled swipe at former Thrills singer Barb Kitson, who'd become seriously strung out on dope in New York. "Dreaming Of Saturday Again," was written about the horror of warehouse life. The latter song had been written with the intent of being a new Thrills single before that band broke up in 1983, and was to be produced by Tommy Erdelyi, but Thrills called it quits first! ..." Source
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