DIG IT! N° 53

REMEMBER THAT DIG IT! IS THE BEST !!!
Yes sir, I can dig it !
JE M'ABONNE A DIG IT !
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THE BRAGS - The Brags

THE BRAGS The Brags cd 1996
Vinyl / Trust / Happily Vacant / Jilted / Pretty Girls (Don't Notice Me) / Leaving / Less Than 1% / If I Was A Girl / Stereotype / War Between Us.
Produced by S. Rosental & The Brags
The Brags: C. Carroll: vocals, guitar / J. Marano: guitar, backing vocals / F. Carroll: bass, backing vocals / T. Davis: drums.
"A great Pop / Punk record. Raw production, lots of energy with a classic sense of melody. I especially loved "Trust". It's about a ten chord song that the band cleverly tricks you into thinking it's a three chord banger. Some of the tracks remind me of early Who, tongue in cheek, rough around the edges with snotty lyrical twists. It's much closer to the original sixties British pop, than the recent deluded nineties rehash." Marky Ramone
"Best Power Pop band I've heard in years. The Brags remind me of a time when bands could really write memorable songs, with a live show that really kicks out the jams." Denis Dinken (Smithereens)
"All right!!! Uh, huh, baaabby! The Brags play glamy, St. Marks, Hanoi Rocks rock 'n' roll in the finest Continental fashion. The best thing here is the first song "Vinyl", which has a great buildup into a crazy catchy "Let the DJ play my song...toooniight" chorus. This is not the most cerebral stuff around, but The Brags play extroverted and well crafted music. It's kinda' good to be reminded that rock bands used to be fun." J. White (Pit Report - Boston, MA)
Source: The Brags Myspace
Thanks to Franck !

BITERS - It's All Chewed Up OK ?

The Biters are proud to present, for the first time on WAX, EP's 2 and 3 combined as one on colored vinyl. They will also include a full CD of the both EP's music and a rad 11x22 poster of four dudes who look exactly like the Biters. The "official" release date in going to be December 6th-ish. We have a partnership between 3 awesome labels. Underrated Records (click here to pre-order) in the USA. In Canada, Yeah Right! (click here to pre-order). Here in France, Pop The Balloon (click here to pre-order). These three labels all have their own color wax as well; with Underrated's a clear blue, Yeah Right!'s solid pink, and Pop The Balloon solid red. Each has the same contents; color wax, CD, and poster. It's a single limited pressing of each of these releases so it's available as a pre-order, to be mailed all at once as they arrive, so that everyone can have there's by X-mas.
**There is only one rule to all of this awesomeness: If you live in Canada, USA, or most of Europe, you need to buy the version released where you live before buying from another label. Each label will only have their color and if you want blue, for example, but live in Canada, you gotta get Yeah Right!'s pink first or explain in great detail, 5 paragraph essay style, why the label should sell you a blue or red one. This was the best way to do it and only under special circumstances will the labels allow for a buyer to purchase a copy if from another labels turf. Collectors, people who are allergic to blue, etc etc. Seems fair, right? All Biters music supports are sold out (the 8 tracks too)...and this was their way of restocking in grand style. SOURCE

THE CHEAP THRILLS - I Gotta Get Away

The Cheap Thrills are a new band from Montreal with members of the Bators, the Fishnet Stalkers and the Heart Attacks. They are bringing back that catchy 70's glam powerpop sound with a fresh energy. The band is a four-piece but they kick out the jams with a bunch of musicians (harmonica, percussion, piano, saxophone) and female vocalists on stage. With a 5 song EP coming soon and their first music video on its way, get ready for some rock 'n' roll at its finest.REVERBNATION

PERSONALITY CRISIS - Texas Trash

PERSONALITY CRISIS Texas Trash cd 1994
Debutante Dolly / Lester Blues / Lone Star Loretta / Parts Unknown / Trouble Again / Holly Baby / Shot Down / I Don't Wanna Know / Those Days Are Gone / Long Way To Go / Take Us Down / One Track Mind.
Produced by W. Dunivan.
Personality Crisis: D. Carpenter: guitar / W. Dunivan: vocals / D. P. West: bass / D. Bloching: drums.
Personality Crisis was a glam rock band from Houston, Texas during the 90's. Fronted by W. Dunivan, who will be, a little later, the singer of Pure Rubbish, a band created with his two sons...
For Dolls & Thunders fans !!!
"...If you’ve been around the Tejas music scene in the last few decades, you have probably come across a project fronted by Willie D. Over the years, you may have seen him perform with or share the stage with such recovering alcoholics as Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys, Motörhead, Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls, Michael Bruce of Alice Cooper Band, Joe Ely, and plenty of other burnouts from bands such as Guns'n'Roses, The Ramones, Hanoi Rocks, The Dogs D’Amour, and lots more. He fronted ’90s Houston staple Personality Crisis, as well as inspired me and my brother Derek to pick up some instruments and start a band we had for years called Pure Rubbish. My dad fronted that band for many years as well..." Source

Pure Rubbish began in 1995 when brothers Derek (guitar) and Evan (drums) Dunivan were only 11 and 9 years old. The young Dunivan brothers were self-taught musicians and learned to play their instruments by listening to records. They recruited their dad Willie Dunivan on lead vocals in late 1995. Willie, at 34, was already a veteran musician of the local Houston music scene with his own band Personality Crisis as well as stints in short lived bands including Cheetah Chrome Project with the former Dead Boys guitarist and Michael Bruce Band with the former Alice Cooper Band guitarist. Willie Dunivan's earliest bands included the 1980s rock bands Apeshit and Hip Cat's Alley and he also played drums for the Houston 1990s punk band Stinkerbell. A charismatic frontman and great songwriter, Willie D. was responsible for launching Pure Rubbish into reality. Musically, the Dunivan brothers were exposed to a wide range of influences. Their main influences were 1960's & 1970's rock, 1970's glam, and 1970's punk rock, but also absorbed the music of 1950's rock n roll, blues, r & b, and 1950's & 1960's country. These influences were culled from years of sifting through Willie's huge music collection. The band's sound was self labeled "trash rock" and "glam punk" and was a combination of all their musical influences. Source
Thanks to Franckie !
Buy it : not find...try eBay, Gemm, etc!

THE FARMERS - Loaded

THE FARMERS Loaded cd 2005
Lost in My Car / Brujo / Look into Your Eyes / Hard Knot / Shadows of Glory / Impressed / Sunbeam Lake / Watching the River / Uncle Stinky / Walk It Away / What Would Skalman Do? / Beans N' Weenies.
Produced by S.E. Seaholm.
The Farmers: B. Blue: vocals, guitars, banjo, harp / J. B. Kmak: drums, percussions, background vocals / R. Love: bass / J. Raney: vocals, guitars + S. Poltz: background vocals / S. Roper: electric mandolin / S.E. Seaholm: keys, background vocals, guitar.
In 1984, Billboard tagged the Beat Farmers "the best American band to come down the pike since Creedence." Last year, No Depression said they "meshed together with grit and nerve every good style of American music with greater versatility than the Blasters or Rank & File." After 20 years, founding members B. Blue, J. Raney and R. Love have finally reunited under the abbreviated name, The Farmers, to record a new album of chooglin' country rock, throbbin' swamp blues and meltdown psychedelia.
"There are great things about this album. The interplay between the musicians is fantastic, and Buddy Blue's slide guitar weaves in and out of the mix, bringing a lot of songs that tasty "Tales of the New West/Glad'n'Greasy" feel that made it such a terrific record. Blue and Raney's vocals are as clear, emotive, and expressive as they ever were on those early BF albums, and the songwriting is good, if only occasionally inspired." Source
BUY IT HERE !

SUICIDE KING - New York

SUICIDE KING New York cd 2001
Get On Up (Off The Floor) / Runaway / I Don't Think So / Shadow Girl / Yeah / Loosie / Get Outta Town / Circle Bitch / Money Honey / Hold Tight / Black Magic Junkie.
Produced by Jim Sabella & Suicide King.
Suicide King: 4-Way: vocals / N. Marden: bass / C. English: drums / Shige: guitar.
"Suicide King is a quartet of punk rock stalwarts, led by 7-foot maniacal lead singer 4-Way (formerly of Bad Posture). Bass player Nick Marden played bass for New York City legends, The Stimulators. Shige, transplanted from Tokyo and joined up as a Suicide King after playing guitar for 4 years in the Hip Nips. Drummer Chip English (formerly of The Lunachicks) is their latest addition. Suicide King first hit the scene in 1994 and after producing a self-title 7", a self-titled LP and touring for years their sound hits harder than ever. Lead singer 4-Way credits his concoction of ass kicking band mates for their sound. Flipside Magazine describes their sound as "so hot that it melts in your face" and Annex says Suicide King is "Raunchy, dirty, crude obnoxious punk!"
Suicide King's live set has been regarded as a not-to-be-missed event of heavy, hot rod punk rock played at breakneck speeds.Their songs constantly threaten danger and they stay together as each one explodes. They are absolute warped lunacy. Their two full-length albums showcase the wreckless world they live in. Even in their recordings Suicide King captured the aggressive fury of their, now famous, live shows. If Motörhead and the Dead Boys were ever thrown into a blender, made into a spicy paste, all you had to do is sprinkle on a little Johnny Thunders powder and there it would be ... Suicide King."
If you take an old Motörhead record and throw it in a blender with the Dead Boys and Johnny Thunders you would have Suicide King. Their sound is brutal and honest. They have done four US tours, and have played shows with The Ramones, Nashville Pussy, Zeke, Dinosaur Jr., The Candy Snatchers and many others.
The gorgeous full color cover art was painted by the famous New York City tattoo artist Koz, who´s considered the top tattooist in NYC. The LP version comes with an inner bag full of pics and stuff from the band´s scrapbook.
This is their second full length, a total sonic assault you can´t miss where Suicide King have managed to capture the aggressive fury of their live shows!"Source

THE DARK RAGS - The Dark Rags

The Dark Rags are a Garage/Punk/Rock 'n' Roll band from Athens, Greece that formed in May of 2010. A few weeks later recorded their first self released limited edition E.P titled, "Drunken Angel E.P". Influenced by 60’s garage and rock’n’roll, 70’s New York punk, and the Australian garage revival scene of the 80’s as well contemporary bands of the genre, The Dark Rags deliver a set filled with catchy power pop, heartbroken junky ballads and straight up in-your-face rock’n’roll... In between their live performances, the group got in the studio for the second time to record their follow up self titled LP with participation from Mike Strauss on the organ. The album was released by Fuzz Overdose Records in October 2011 on CD and is scheduled to be released on vinyl at the end of the year. It contains 11 original compositions, a great mixture of garage punk and power-pop and is sure to be one of the best Greek releases of the year !!!
A real Rock ’n’ Roll dynamite...DIG IT & BUY IT HERE !!!!

Future plans of the band, besides further shows inside Greece include a tour abroad for the promotion of their album. Stay tuned.

MEGAWATTS - A Garage Punk'n'Roll Radio Show

MEGAWATTS is a garage punk'n'roll radio show born in 1993.promos records are welcome for high play in our show.contact us for more infos.
MEGAWATTS est une émission rock garage punk'n'roll créée en 1993. Elle a pour but de promouvoir le Rock & Roll sous ses formes les plus diverses.Elle a lieu mercredi de 21h à 22h30 sur RADIO AUBE ET SEINE 98.2 fm ( www.radioaubeetseine.fr ).
région Romilly Sur Seine , Troyes et alentour.
Plongez dans le bain décapant du real rawk’n’roll ! un dangereux cocktail de garage / punk'n'roll / power pop / surf etc... vous y attend ! poussez le volume à fond et passez la soirée avec nous ! .pendant l'émission : 03-25-21-47-47

MEGAWATTS.ROCK@WANADOO.FR.
pour envoyer vos promos etc :
RADIO AUBE ET SEINE
Emission MEGAWATTS
2 RUE JULIAN GRIMAU
BP 13
10100 ROMILLY SUR SEINE
FRANCE

contacts : www.myspace.com/jefrockmegawatts http://garagepunk.ning.com/profile/megawattsradioshow

CHRISTOPHE J. (featuring The Inmates) - Sons Of Waterloo

CHRISTOPHE J. Sons Of Waterlo lp 1983 cd 1992
01 Wall Of Kampa /02 The Girl I Want /03 Heat Of The War /04 Ukraine* /05 I Say Yeah /06 A Man* /07 Dreams Of Hamburg*° /08 Nathalie Weeps /09 Makes No Difference* /10 The Sunny Side Of The Moon /11 Sister Sara /12 Train To The U.K.* /13 Another Girl, Another World / 14 Getting Old /15 Step Into The Night* /16 What's The Next Step*°.
*cd bonus songs °7'' bonus songs
Produced by J. Smetana, except 04 & 07 by B. Clarke, 15 J.Alanski, 06 & 09 by B.Bonello.
Christophe J.: lead (except 05 & 11) & backing vocals,bass, acoustic guitar / J. Smetana: lead vocals (01 & 05), keyboards & backing vocals / Pete Gunn (Peter Staines): lead vocal on 11, electric guitars except 04, 06, 07, 09, 12 & acoustic guitar 11 / Eddie: all drums & percussions except 04, 06 & 09 / Ben Donnelly: bass on 01, 03, 05, 08, 10 & 11 / Johnny Guitar: guitar on 04 & 07 / B. Clarke: keyboards on 04 & 07 / M. Hughes: drums & percussions on 04 & 07 / M.Robbins: organ on 08 & 10 / P. Parfitt: sax on 14 / P. Bailey: sax on 07 / J. Nataf: lead vocals & keyboards on 12 / J. Alanski: keyboards & backing vocals on 15 / B. Bonello: keyboards & percussion on 06 / Jean- Chri: all guitars on 09 & 12, keyboards on 12.

I don't know so much about Christophe J. It seems that he has studied in Voltaire highschool in Paris, a friend of Jay Alanski. In 1975, donning the band name The Beautiful Losers, Christophe J.(vocals, bass, guitar) and Jay recorded the album “Nobody Knows The Heaven”, influenced by decadent glam rockers. In 1983, Christophe J. recorded for RCA "Sons Of Waterloo".The album is produced by J. Smetana (the man behind the famous Gibus Club until 1996) who also sing two of his own songs : the nostalgic "The Wall Of Kampa" and "I Said Yeah". A famous rockin' band is backing Christophe J. all along the album: The Inmates: Peter Gunn on guitars & backing vocals who also sing his song "Sister Sarah", Eddie on drums & Ben Donnely on bass.
In 1985, Jay Alanski will produce the last single of Christophe J. (Johnson): “What the next step”. Christophe has also worked with Joan Asherton & with the band The Wantones for the album "I Want You".
A great power pop album !!! Try it ...
En 1983, quand sortit "Sons Of Waterloo", on ne savait pas grand chose sur Christophe J. et je ne suis pas sûr qu'on en sache davantage aujourd'hui... Quelques bribes d'histoire en plus peut-être.
Christophe J. (Jacq) qu'on dit havrais, rencontre Jay Alansky au lycée Voltaire à Paris. Les deux, accompagnés d'un percussionniste, enregistrent en 1975, sous le nom de The Beautiful Losers, un album "culte" "Nobody Knows The Heaven" réédité il y a peu par le label Martyrs Of Pop. Christophe J. y tient la basse, joue aussi de la guitare et chante. Et ça il le fait parfaitement comme on s'en apercevra à l'écoute de"Sons Of Waterloo".
Jay A., touche à tout de génie, parti vers d'autres aventures (en solo ou comme producteur pour Les Innocents, Lio etc mais aussi photographe...) c'est Jiří Smetana, d'origine tchèque, exilé en France et programmateur du fameux Gibus Club parisien qui produira l'album enregistré dans les désormais mythiques studio Chiswick. Le groupe qui servira de backing band est tout simplement rien moins que les Inmates...enfin presque puisque il manque à l'appel Tony Oliver mais Peter Gunn (Staines), Ben Donelly et Eddie sont présents. Peter lui se reserve le droit de chanter son "Sister Sarah". Jiri qui est aussi musicien nous offre deux de ses chansons "I Said Yeah" et le lennonien "Wall of Kampa" qui parle de ce mur que la jeunesse de Prague utilisa comme un symbole contre l'oppression grâce aux graffitis, dessins et portaits, lyrics des Beatles et de John Lennon que la police, tous les matins, tentait d'effacer (voir la photo du mur utilisée pour le verso du lp). De cet album chanté dans un anglais parfait (assez rare ici) émane l'ombre des Beatles, des Kinks: une certaine power pop sous influence anglaise !
En 1985 , Christophe J., cette fois-ci sous le nom de Christophe Johnson enregistre, à ma connaissance son dernier disque solo. En face A de ce simple, "What the next step" est une ballade vaporeuse portée par un piano mélancolique. Ce qui aurait du être un hit à ranger entre "I'm not in Love" "Sister Jane" et même j'ose "Without You", n'apportera pas la reconnaissance à son auteur. C'est Jay Alansky qu'on retrouve à la production de ce single tandis que Johnny Guitar (Count Bishops, Dr Feelgood) tient la guitare. Puis éclipse ... (durant laquelle notre homme exerce son métier de traducteur ?)
En 1996, Johan Asherton le choisit pour figurer sur une compilation titrée "Songwriter" où il cotoie entre autres Andy White et Open Road avec deux chansons ,"A Man" et "Ukraine" déjà présents sur la version cd (1992) de "Sons of Waterloo". Le cd comporte six inédits par rapport au lp. On y retrouve "Dreams Of Hamburg" b side du simple "What's The Next Step".
Parallèlement Johan invite notre homme à l'imperméable à le rejoindre régulièrement sur scène à la basse et au chant. En 2000 ,Christophe J. participe à un titre "Alive in the Sky"du nouvel album de Johan A. "Trystero’s Empire".
Last trace for me ... en 2008 Christophe J. participe au projet "I Want You", un album constitué de reprises du titre "I Want You" (à l'origine des titres d' artistes aussi différents que Kiss, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits ou Costello) jouées par un groupe du nom de The Wantones (c.a.d. J. Nataf, A. de la Simone, B. Bonello ...et John Christopher Jacq alias Christophe J.). Tout lecteur pouvant nous en dire plus est le bienvenu !
A lire les deux posts sur Christophe J. (ici et là) dans l'excellent blog de François Gorin: "Les disques rayés"