The unusual format of this CD packaging makes it interesting from the start since it fits very well the comic book illustration cover art. It is a compilation of songs of the mid-80s Norwood Park (Chicago) glam/punk scene. BLUE EYED PASTIE WHITES opens the record with a great glam rock song “Coulda Woulda Shoulda”, followed by The TARGADENS‘ “Funk Face” that also has strong 70s glitter influences. “The Addiction” and “Danish Home Girls” by CHERRY BOY have a great ROXY MUSIC/70s ENO vibe with sax and cool arrangements while THROTTLE BODY‘s “23 (Listen For It”) sounds as wild and snotty as a DEAD BOYS song. You’ll also get some hints of American new wave with “Jumpstart” by VAGIANT, and even some funky groove with The SUPREME HUSTLE. It’s a mystery why some of these bands didn”t get any bigger… When you think about it, a song like”129″ by The CEILING INSPECTORS is not that different from early NO DOUBT! Powerpop fans will love The BLACK HERMITS‘ “Watershed” and if you’re more into rockabilly/country/blues influenced stuff, then you’ll get into The CHOCITA BANDITS, CRINKUM CRANKUM, The GADDERWALLS, PATRON TAINTS or PUSS ‘N BOOTS. BACKYARD PROWLERS have a bit of a cryptic blues CRAMPS-like feel, The OUTER RING and LIL JOE & The HOSSTONES are more sci-fi garage/soundtrack, BREAK & ENTER could fit in the death rock scene, and on the punk/hardcore side, you’ll find HELLSTORM with “Something Special”, TURA, GOD MONSTER FLATS and The CHATTERERS (although their song “Scream Blackula Scream” sounds darker.)
27 songs might be a bit long, but this compilation is an interesting document, they weren’t meant to last, but bringing these bands to a wider audience is largely deserved. Better late then never! /Laurent C.
New York City’s best new rock’n’roll band is back with two songs on a 7″ record released by Spaghetty Town Records. The great black and white photo on the cover brings the NEW YORK DOLLS to mind, but The SWEET THINGS actually dig their influences from even deeper, and from the best of The ROLLING STONES. “Slather” has a bit of QUIREBOYS in it, it leaves the same impression as when the formerly known QUEERBOYS released “A Bit Of What You Fancy”!
B-side is actually as good, if not even better as A-side, and you’ll be sure to have “Dustianne” stuck in your head after playing it just once. The vocals have this great nonchalant JOHNNY THUNDERS/IZZY STRADLIN thing, and on this song you’ll also get some great female vocals by Liza Colby, bringing even more soul to the band.
If you miss The THROBS, then you also need to get this 7″ for Christmas, or to celebrate Keith Richards’ birthday! /Laurent C.
An official release date for COMPULSIONS‘ album Ferocious has yet to be announced, however Carlyle & Co. give their fans a quick sample with a video for “Dirtbag Blues,” an especially raunchy and rowdy new cut from the group’s forthcoming album. “[‘Dirtbag Blues’] is less than a minute long but it’s got enough sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll to fill an entire album” says Carlyle. “I challenged myself to write a song that ‘tells a story’ in 60 seconds or less. It wasn’t easy but it was a good songwriting exercise and it was a blast to record. We basically tried to combine MOTÖRHEAD with CHUCK BERRY and maybe a little Sunset Strip-style sleaze.”
The promo is an obvious homage to the video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues” by BOB DYLAN, and features Carlyle with pals Jonny Dambrosio and Jaster Leon from New York band, The Nasty Things. Incidentally, Dambrosio and Leon also portrayed beloved NEW YORK DOLLS guitarists, Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain respectively, in the short-lived, Mick Jagger and Martin
Scorsese-produced HBO series, Vinyl.
“The video is just a little something to give fans while we finish up the new album. Like the recording, we had a lot of fun filming this. We did three or four takes in about 20 minutes. Then we went to lunch for a couple of hours,” tells Carlyle. “Dirtbag Blues” is most definitely NSFW and features raucous musical performances by Carlyle, Delaney, Morton and Slick. More COMPULSIONS news is promised soon. Check thecompulsionsnyc.com for regular updates.
Squib Kick Record is a new record label specializing in hair metal/glam/bubblergum bands. Their three latest releases are:
ATOMIC LIP BOMB “Blow It Up” (single)
Sleaze rock that first started as a studio project with vocals that remind me of FASTER PUSSYCAT although the band’s music sounds more hard rock than Taime Down’s gang. Keep an eye on these cats! https://www.facebook.com/atomiclipbomb/
THE BAD SOMETHINGS “Along For The Ride” (single)
Hard rock’n’roll with strong 70s influences such as AEROSMITH, KISS, CHEAP TRICK, etc. Quite promising! https://www.facebook.com/thebadsomethings/
“Social Rejects” is a sing-along powerpop anthem dedicated to all the outsiders of the world and the first single from their forthcoming album. With a killer riff and a chorus that immediately gets stuck in your head, the band invites us into a world of alienation, insecurity and unrequited love. But maybe there’s hope after all?
Two years ago Razorbats released the single “Kids of the 70s” and got a lot of airplay on rock radio in Europe, college radio in the US and mainstream radio back home. The album it was taken from, Camp Rock, received great reviews from rock critics all over the world and was named album of the year by American rockzine Glitter 2 Gutter, in addition to featuring on several music journalists best of list for 2015.
If you come from fabulous wealth and live in some big city, showbiz dynasty, gentrification bubble and take selfies with the name brand bar owners and replacement members of soldout hair metal bands eight days a week, you might incorrectly assume that music scenes have always been dominated exclusively by ultra affluent surgically enhanced twenty something skinny ingénues and their creepy Svengali producers, because that is what we have all been inundated with, for years now-unhappy girls with lip jobs and techno-pop beats. Nobody really has angry, or rebellious, or energetic rocknroll groups anymore, partly because all the kids are in that consumerist gadget spell, and techno and DJ festival culture prevails among the upperclass unreality show heiresses and Mimosa sippers, but when we were kids, we always had you know-basement bands that played at garage shows and backyard parties, so even the brokest forty ounce leather punks still had a venue, an outlet, our own temporary autonomous zone turf–even if some elitist prick controlled the barscene, but nowadays, there are no spare garages, they are all being rented for $900 a month to some vegan non smoking nursing student. The powers that be have so relentlessly gentrified every former underground art safehaven, pushing out the working class with obscenely jacked up rents and tedious lectures and scoldings about manners and sensitivity-the rich fauxgressive fake liberal college people keep showing up in our shitty neighborhoods with their obligatory pitbulls and college degrees and first it’s bicycle racks everywhere, and artisanal cupcakes, then, it’s the fake dive bar where all the bartenders are like upwardly mobile actress stripper models. Next thing ya know, they are calling the cops on people for smoking tobacco, even outside. Tech money moves in from white flight urban meccas and the class patrols start profiling poor people–criminalizing poverty, houselessness, busking, they start checking poor people’s dog licenses, they outlaw smoking, impose crazy penalties for any public intox, or open container, or improper slouching or dress code infractions, they persecute free speech in public spaces, arrest skateboarders for loitering, beat-up panhandlers, etc., all so the fabulous children of hedge fund managers can feel cozy over cocktails while pursuing overpriced degrees in the liberal arts. Broken window policies are strictly enforced where a kid with a silver paint pen will get the book thrown at him for tagging a wall, but the rich “vibrant and diverse” real estate people hire their grad school honky associates to paint big “hip-hop influenced” murals on the side of high-rise condos that used to be neighborhood bodegas. It’s fucked. DJ Wonderbread is in the house, yo.
Meanwhile, the majority of the country is struggling like hell to just barely even make rent, selling off their prized possessions, pawning the old band p.a., I know good guitarists who no longer own guitars, ya know? So there is just no extra money for rehearsal spaces, guitar strings, recording studios, or insurance on band vans, anymore-just slaving and saving to keep the man off your back. It’s sad. The rich college people who continue to pursue their arty hobbyist NPR rock groups like keeping their tight monopoly on Saturday Night, so there ain’t a lot of shared resources, or communal workspaces, or mutual-aid, anymore, they mostly all deliberately employ the Starbucks strategies of their awful greenhead fathers, to drive out competition, silence other voices, so you got the dominant capitalist scene-rulers whose dad’s are all corporate CEO’s, and their assistants and waiters, ya know? “More Ice! More lemon! Extra olive-oil! Where is that waitress???” Personally, I don’t wanna hear the chubby guys with fuzzy sweaters and mandolins weep about their backyard chickens and rooftop koi pond problems, or pretend they are Barry White lady killers, and I can’t really connect to all the disco waifs with their dieting and one thousand dollar handbag Taylor Swifting. I miss the underground scene from years ago, when real working class zeroes could join forces and pile in a van and go somewhere. Now there ain’t nowhere to go, certainly nowhere affordable to park the van, once you get there.
Those of us who pay attention, have been amazed and inspired by all the real-deal, nitty-gritty, soulful rocknroll that still comes from Australia. It seems like regular everyday people can still afford to congregate in lively bars and share some pints and laughs and conversation and maybe even shake a leg at real live and in person dancehalls where wild rock groups perform. It is a genuine thrill to see some battle hardened, fast travelin’, dangerous, road warrior rocker dudes tear it the fuck up in the latest DARK CLOUDS video, which is a crazy, non-stop rockin’, action packed, hundred miles per hour, Mad Max meets Smoky and The Bandit, Death Proof, Tarantino outlaw freakout like Guns N Roses woulda made, if they didn’t suck. Remember when your older brother used to turn you on to primo stoner-punk classic-rawk like UFO and Thin Lizzy and AC/DC and Alice Cooper, way back in the golden days? DARK CLOUDS are like some great band from another era you just discovered under the bed with the vintage “OUI” porn mags while snoopin’ around for his dope stash. EXACTLY the kind of heavy rock with memorable tunes some of us washed-up yank battle-axes would be aspiring to crank out if we weren’t all so impossibly behind the 8-ball, living in cars with three legged dogs, or pawning off our last few collectible rocknroll books to ripoff record store owners for pennies who will sell them for top dollar on fucking E-Bay. If you were ever a longhaired, whiskey drinkin’, old vinyl blasting rocknroll animal with a bad reputation and a pocket full of pills, DARK CLOUDS is really the still-standing, modern day band for you. These fellas can all take a punch, finish the gallon jug, beat you at pool, stay awake for nine days at a time, and play their asses off, absolutely untamed and unafraid outlaw bluespunk scumbaggery from the land of the lost, where the wild the wild things are. Not for gentrification pussies or trust funded safe spacers.
After opening for ADAM ANT, L.A. glitter rock’n’roll band GLAM SKANKS are now touring in Europe. They answered a few questions about the band, glam rock, and Los Angeles in 2017. Don’t miss them if they are playing anywhere near you!
Can you give us a bit of history? How did you meet and get the idea to start GLAM SKANKS?
Sure! V Volume and Ali Cat met by posting almost the same add on Craigslist ! We both wanted to start an all female rock n roll band and turned out we had the same influences from the 70’s Rock n Roll scene. We met at V’s dads studio and jammed on some covers. We then played our first show starting out as a cover band! We are both inspired by over the top stage shows and outfits so we wanted to incorporate that in our band as well ! We later met Cassie and Millie through mutual friends. They share the same dreams as us and we all love music with such a passion so it works well !
You’ve just opened for ADAM ANT on his last tour. How did that happen? How was it?
Yes! We actually opened up for him on his last three tours! It’s been a wild ride for sure. Riding in a van packed with people, driving through EVERY kind of weather, meeting every kind of person, playing theatres and arenas! It’s been amazing! We definitely gained a bigger following by playing with Adam. They seem to respond to us very well! And we absolutely love Adam and his band and crew. We have learned so much from them and consider them family !
Opening for ADAM ANT means playing in big venues, did you feel comfortable from the start on these big stages? How do you feel about getting back to smaller clubs on your upcoming European tour?
We were definitely nervous at first but knew we were ready for big stages. We are a very energetic band so we loved having the freedom of getting to strut around on a big stage. But we did come from playing in small bars so we are super comfortable with that. We are excited to go back to playing smaller clubs. There is a certain energy in a rock n roll bar that you can’t get in a theatre. We love the sweaty, grimy underground feel of a hole in the wall club !
Your Euro tour has just started, how is it goin’ so far?
It’s going great! Each show has been wildly fun with a passionate audience! And the hospitality and friendliness of all the promoters and people we have been staying with has been unforgettable ! We are so grateful to all the open arms! We are most importantly greatful for Ludo at Adrenaline Fix Music for putting our tour together! He has worked hard and has made our album on Vinyl which you can now buy on Adrenalin Fix Music website ! 🙂 We did have our first bump in the road .. we were in the snow in France and Veronica Volume and her huge muscles ripped the van door off! We sat in a Burger King for a few hours and waited for someone to fix it !
Most people in Europe (and especially in non-English speaking countries) probably won’t care about the meaning of your band name, but how do people usually react to it in the US?
Yes it’s funny, people in the states are shocked but usually love it! We originally used the name temporarily and just thought it was funny but we noticed people were really taken away by it, which is a good thing because you know they can never forget it !
Los Angeles is mostly famous for its 80s Sunset Strip glam metal scene, but people sometimes forget that in the early 70s, Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco started it all in the US when it comes to glam/glitter rock. How did you first get into this style/music?
Ya exactly ! Sometime people see us and immediately thing of 80’s hair metal but that’s not what we are at all! We are very influenced by the likes of David Bowie, Queen, Alice Cooper, TRex. I’m not sure how we got into it .. I think it comes from Ali and V’s fathers, they loved all of that kind of music and educated us! We were drawn to the raw feel of the music and the outlandish stage performance and show! We think it is all important for a good band and makes it a full package .
Glam aesthetics and references have never really disappeared since they can be found in the work of people like PEACHES, MARILYN MANSON, or LADY GAGA to an extent, but more surprisingly, glam and glitter rock music has also made its come back these last years with bands like GIUDA or BITERS among others, do you see it as a kind of revival that could appeal to younger generations?
Yes, I think kids are always looking for that rebellious shock factor in music. That’s what stands out to us as well ! Putting on a show that makes you go “woah did that just happen?” All of those artists that you mentioned have that. They smack you in the face with their music, show and outfits and make you want to be apart of the madness! We just do what we think is cool and what we would like to see!, and we hope we can influence kids and especially young girls to want to do the same!
What’s your favourite…
BOWIE album?
“The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust”
IGGY POP/STOOGES album?
“Raw Power”
T.REX song?
“Jeepster”
NEW YORK DOLLS song?
“Lookin for a Kiss”
JOAN JETT song?
“Playin with Fire”
SUZIE QUATRO song?
“Wild One”
There’s been a lot going on lately about sexual harassment on social networks. You recently posted something on Facebook about some guy that sent you a pic of his “private parts.” As a female band, have you ever dealt with such behaviours before?
Ya unfortunately, we get the occasional creepy dudes that won’t leave us alone at shows or get offended when we don’t accept their drink offer. It’s misogyny at its finest! We would like to be treated as profession musicians not just pieces of meat wearing fishnets. The clothes aren’t an invitation they are an artistic expression .
How is the L.A. scene these days? Any bands we should check out?
The scene is kind of over saturated with too many bands that sound the same or don’t really have an image. We are kinda over bands getting away with not have to sound good or have good songs and still be popular because it’s a “trend”, you almost don’t need to even be good musicians anymore to be known, it’s pretty sad . But on a brighter note there is a side that is soo inspiring and you can find super raw artistic talent playing at warehouses or small clubs in LA! Some bands that stand out to us right now are The Vista Kicks ( great rock n roll songs with super soulful vocals) Lauren Ruthward (a wild child with true passion in her vocals) & The Lemon Twigs ( they tour in Europe all the time so you may have heard of them but they are like The Beatles of our generation.. when it comes to songwriting )
What are the best places to buy cool glam/glitter clothes in L.A. in 2017?
Hmmm we all get our clothes different places or sometimes even craft up our own clothes ! We love to go to Vintage stores such as Iguana, JetRag, and American Vintage. We also like to find clothes on our travels !
The movie Velvet Goldmine suggests that Oscar Wilde was the first glam rocker, what do you think about that?
LOVE that movie!!! It makes sense because he’s an artist. Glam Rock is performance art rock with some glitter thrown on top ! It is a very poetic and romantic lifestyle and that’s what Oscar Wilde is . He told stories and was a walking talking piece of art. It all coincides with each other!
Have you started working on a new album? Are you going to play any new songs on your upcoming Euro tour?
Yes we have started writing new songs and working on some new jams. We are very excited to go back into the studio and be in the creative process again. We aren’t sure if we will release an EP first or just come out with a whole album!! What do you all think? 😉
CHOKE CHAINS are back with a second album, 11 songs available on beautiful limited edition green vinyl. CHOKE CHAINS‘ music is full of punk/noise/psych references, but they manage to mix them all, and create something very personal. Opener “Big Data Skeptic” is epileptic in a NO MEANS NO way, “Mayan Starship” has a bit of CRAMPS in it, while you’ll hear some punk rock in “Cairo Scolars”, and some garage in “Rat Ladder.” CHOKE CHAINS like their rock’n’roll full of distorted vocals, noisy guitars and larsens, they actually sometimes remind me of GIRLS AGAINST BOYS on “Android Sex Worker”, “Put Your Hands”, or “Lie From Hell” for instance. On this new album, the band knows how to get chaotic without forgetting how to rock, you can even sing along on “Galactic Overlord” or dance to “I Will Break You.”
“Android Sex Worker” also brings early MUDHONEY to mind at times although it definitely has a more apocalyptic, darker vibe, which must be something to experience live. Hound Gawd! Records has brought us a great record again! /Laurent C.
Veglam 