Unfortunately, I only first heard about GUNFIRE DANCE in the 00s when my friend Franckie sent me a few songs of their demos and then later reviewed their collection CD “Archway Of Thorns” (2007.) GUNFIRE DANCE are one of these 80s bands who didn’t end up signing a record deal despite their great songs and wonderful image. These decadent dandies from Birmingham recorded with Brian James (The DAMNED, The LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH) and shared stages with the best bands in that genre at the time (The DOGS D’AMOUR, The THROBS, D GENERATION, Thee HYPNOTICS…) but it seems like it wasn’t even enough to make it so they kinda became one of the best kept glam rock’n’roll secrets… Easy Action Records had the good idea to finally release these songs on vinyl, one more reason to enjoy the dirty rock’n’roll of “Blue” and “Pretty As Sin”, the JOHNNY THUNDERS influenced “Bliss Street” and “Burnin’ Ambition”. You’ll also hear a bit of STOOGES in “Bird Doggin'” as well as in “Break It Up” and some chaotic HANOÏ ROCKS in the fabulous “Suit And Tie” and in the powerpop tainted “Gimme Back My Heart”. The band even had his CLASH moments with “Make You Cry” but their real force was to mix all of these influences in style in order to create their own identity. Our friend J.D Monroe was the best person to write the sleevenote of “Witness To The Crime” and he says “They had a seductive mystique about them, a proud, almost regal sense of noble tradition and rocknroll coolness matched by few others” and JEFF DAHL once said “Gunfire Dance were everything righteous, sexy and dangerous that rock’n’roll was all about!!! God bless Ant” and I couldn’t agree more with these quotes. Well, t’s never too late, so this is the right time to get your hands on this record! /Laurent C.
“When two scorpions are in a bottle, they both lose. This is the preventable danger that is growing daily, with no end game in sight between the two nuclear superpowers, led by dictator Vladimir Putin and de facto sole decider, Joe Biden.
Putin’s first argument is, Washington invented the model of aggressive, illegal invasions, and destruction of distant countries that never threatened U.S. security. Millions have died, been injured, and sickened in defenseless countries attacked by U.S. armed forces. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney killed over a million innocent Iraqis and devastated the country in so many ways that scholars called it a “sociocide.”
Putin’s second argument is that Russia is being threatened on its sensitive western border, which had been invaded twice by Germany and caused the loss of 50 million Russian lives. Soon after the Soviet Union collapsed, the West’s military alliance against Russia began moving east. Under Bill Clinton, NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) signed up Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in 1999 leading to major arms sales by the U.S. giant munitions corporations.” (-Ralph Nader)
“The Cold War, from 1945 to 1989, was a wild Bacchanalia for arms manufacturers, the Pentagon, the C.I.A., the diplomats who played one country off another on the world’s chess board, and the global corporations able to loot and pillage by equating predatory capitalism with freedom. In the name of national security, the Cold Warriors, many of them self-identified liberals, demonized labor, independent media, human rights organizations, and those who opposed the permanent war economy and the militarization of American society as soft on communism.
That is why they have resurrected it.
The decision to spurn the possibility of peaceful coexistence with Russia at the end of the Cold War is one of the most egregious crimes of the late 20th century. The danger of provoking Russia was universally understood with the collapse of the Soviet Union, including by political elites as diverse as Henry Kissinger and George F. Kennan, who called the expansion of NATO into Central Europe “the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.”
This provocation, a violation of a promise not to expand NATO beyond the borders of a unified Germany, has seen Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia inducted into the Western military alliance.
This betrayal was compounded by a decision to station NATO troops, including thousands of U.S. troops, in Eastern Europe, another violation of an agreement made by Washington with Moscow. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, perhaps a cynical goal of the Western alliance, has now solidified an expanding and resurgent NATO and a rampant, uncontrollable militarism. The masters of war may be ecstatic, but the potential consequences, including a global conflagration, are terrifying.
Peace has been sacrificed for U.S. global hegemony. It has been sacrificed for the billions in profits made by the arms industry. Peace could have seen state resources invested in people rather than systems of control. It could have allowed us to address the climate emergency. But we cry peace, peace, and there is no peace. Nations frantically rearm, threatening nuclear war. They prepare for the worst, ensuring that the worst will happen.” (-Chris Hedges)
“The hostile faceoff with Russia causes that and is entirely misplaced–led by war hawks in Obama administration–especially Victoria Nuland, who cheered on an overthrow in Ukraine.
I think this is an issue where something does need to be said–but it’s important to understand where they are coming from. The United States, under Bush 1, had an agreement when Germany joined NATO; Russia agreed with the understanding that NATO would not move one inch to the east. Since then NATO has pursued a policy of basically encircling Russia, including the threat of nukes and drones and so on.” (-Jill Stein)
“Obama & his liberal buddies at Media Matters legitimized censorship. The target, as always for liberals, was supposed to be the “right.” But, as always, the real target was going to be critical left voices. His tour is just a continuation of that neoliberal assault on democracy.” (-Ajamu Baraka)
It was clear we’d reached a whole new level of Orwellian doublethink when it turned out liberals will call literally anyone in the world a Nazi except actual, literal Nazis.
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You know capitalism is totally working when there are people getting paid millions to help start wars by people who make billions from wars while Silicon Valley megacorporations are censoring those who try to end wars and everyone’s praying the world’s richest man will stop this.
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There are no “private” companies worth billions of dollars. In a corporatist system it is impossible to grow that big without becoming intertwined with ruling power structures. This is especially true for corporations of immense political consequence, like social media platforms.
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We are surrounded by propaganda at all times. Our entire civilization is saturated with it. When you say you support internet censorship to stop “Russian propaganda”, what you are really saying is that you only want your own rulers propagandizing you.
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The notion that some opinions are Russian is one of the most mind-destroying beliefs ever circulated in a secular society.”
❖(-Caitlyn Johnstone)
THE HUMMAS PUNX
A Chick-Pea is what we call capitalist got-mine, ex punks, who still wear a Max’s Kansas City t shirt, but no longer stand for, or embody, even one single core value, or egalitarian, rebellious and inclusive, corner stoop principle of punk, aside from (snicker) Owning Shit, and perhaps, a contrarian tendency to seek negative attention by pretend-liking Trump, ala Johnny Rotten, a rather shit move, just to get up pronoun fixated, show me your papers, see something/say something people’s noses, since nothing else they do distinguishes them from your run of the mill, imperialist, conservative, police state, elitist, tv believing, brunch-band, Shit-Lib. I avoid all gentrification brunchers. Get lost, chick-peas!
Mainstream middleclass Murkkkans are still addicted to monopoly media, there is always talk of breaking up the monopolies, but that’s a joke, Congress is owned by them. So ya know, all day and all night here, it is Big 5 official narrative war propaganda, and public relations consent manufacturing about how these billionaire despots are your FriendsTM who want you to be healthy and own nothing, but be happy. Both of Chuck Schumer’s kids are tech lobbyists. Factcheck that, Zuckerberg. So it really has become a Big Brother shit show. Brought to you by Pfizer. Dummy slogan repeaters all cheer, each day, when Gropey Joe announces another Eight hundred million dollar giveaway to his mercenary coup rightwing proxy army in the Ukraine, or for Israel to buy more weapons to steal more land from peasants, but no relief is forthcoming for people in this country, USA! USA!, who have not received their food stamps in months. One welfare mother waited an hour and a half to talk to a welfare worker on the phone who said they were months behind simply digitally replenishing the cards, because, “nobody wants to work”TM, but that the benefits might, be given, retroactively, in the future, to struggling families, but she is not sure. No word from MSNBC Psaki who is tearing-up, child cages under Trump style AOC weeping, over the idea of some airlines no longer requiring masks. Meanwhile, Wal Mart, where all the food stamps are spent, has RAISED all their prices by twenty-five percent and millionaire tv propagandists just say, “Blame Putin”. That’s your government and it’s Official State Media. All the money goes to rich as fuck billionaire Great Reset surveillance capitalists, Blackwater regime change mercenaries, and weapons manufacturers. Fuck you, poor people. You should have married up and inherited your Airbandb the hard way, by the bootstraps, like I did. God bless Hunter Biden(D), he’s just so… misunderstood. These dirty panhandlers loitering near my Whole Foods, though, they need to be PUNISHED! They are probably doing….DRUGS! Silly wabbits, dwugs are for rich people! Oil company vice presidents, fortunate sons, and biolab consultants. For SCIENCE! And DIVERSITY!TM
“USA! USA! USA! USA!” Like George Carlin, I’ve arrived at the point where I no longer believe anything on tv and have to presume that whatever the HONKY DEATH MACHINE has to say, the opposite is almost always, the irrefutable hard fact, on the ground. All the most reliable journalists have been purged by Tech lords, not Just Assange and Hersh. Abby Martin, Glen Greenwald, Cait Johnstone, Jeremy Scahill, Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate from Gray Zone. Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberly from Black Agenda Report-they are all being banned and purged, censored and deplatformed. Big 5 corporate whores are even going after Chomsky for saying a diplomatically negotiated settlement between warring countries is always preferable to sacrificing the innocent population of a country to the richman’s dogs of war. So yeah, I’m sick of fake music, fake news, revised history, the unquestioned rule of the One Percent. The evil empire does not love you. The billionaire despots are not your friends. The Pentagram, I mean, Pentagon, is not your friend.
A CIA lady torturer is now running a Gwenyth Paltrow style wellness brand as a health and beauty coach, she’s gonna help you realign your chakras for feminism and healing. Only in Amurkkka!
FIRST YOU MUST CURE YOUR TEMPER AND FIND A JOB IN THE PAPER
I think it’s good to take breaks from unprecedented propaganda juggernaut. I know I’m happier since I been locked outta Facebook, it’s a poison pill. On one hand, I had likeminded activists to talk to about what’s really happening in this mad unreality show world, on the other hand, we’re all being spied on, sold to governments and corporations, and censored like crazy. Of course, that means having to dig ever deeper over my morning cups of coffee for any scraps of real news that ain’t just “Rah-Rah Murkkka’s #1” war propaganda, billionaires with surgical enhancements and product lines make believe for tv problems, or works every time like Colt 45 basic bullshit like Guiliani on “The Masked Singer”. So you know, I kinda need a new notebook to write lyrics in, a new rocknroll book to escape into. Ideally, a James Calvin Wilsey or Mike Martt like guitarist to help me save rocknroll for the generations to come before it’s too late. It is getting real intensely hot where I live and I am already depleted from being out in the sun this morning. Coffee sick, alienated from most of humanity, crazy from the heat. Wishing I had like a day off and an air conditioner and maybe ten or fifteen of those Cucumber vodka spritzers, but I am always on the clock, now. There aint no weekends off. Maybe I’ll lose some of that Covid Quarantine weight gain. Kinda makes me smile, how people are still whining about being forced to social distance for like a month a year ago, I been social distancing since about 1997! People who are unaware that they have been relentlessly propagandized are the scariest. The virtue signalers, or as I call ’em, the obedience signalers, waving their Ukraine flag, talking about “democracy”, enthusing about Kanye or the Foo Fighters, AOC and Lady Gaga have utterly no idea what they are talking about. I abhor the true tragedy of the commons which is all the innocents caught in the crossfire of super power wars, but for me, it’s not a selective outrage, I’m as sickened by the atrocities of Libya which shitlib evil Hillary still laughs her ass off about, of actual genocide in Yemen, of Palestine, of Iraq and Afghanistan. It still pisses me off that Big-Jet Inside Traitor, Pelosi and her gross fake liberal friends, applauded that Juan Guiado guy trained by Schwab, who the USA! USA! tried to thrust upon Venezuela. USA! USA! is still trying to overthrow Cuba, they knew what they were doing installing white nationalist rightwing mercenaries in the Ukraine. They knew innocents would die. Shit-Libs say what? “I would have stormed offstage, if I was a judge on the Masked Singer, too!” Not because Guiliani helped kill the soul of NYC, murdering the melting pot tradition of being accessible to everyone from all over the world, by hardon “broken windows theory” policing and making it only affordable to Obscenely rich people, not because he is a total stop and frisk, granny groping, TSA cop from hell, not because he helped cover up who the real culprits behind the bombed buildings in NYC were, but because, he was friends with an always useful, all purpose boogeyman fuckfaceTrump, who talked some sexist shit to Billy Bush on tv, the only issue that mattered to shitlibs besides Covid and the flag waving for Ukraine. Before I got locked out of the surveillance panopticon, my leftist anarchist friends were all saying the Oscars were sponsored by Pfizer, so it was entirely possible the whole ongoing meme viral weapon of mass distraction, wag the doggy, Will Smith controversy was more empty-theater to promote Pfizer’s new Alopecia drug. I dunno man, but all these middle class gender warriors identifying with Johnny Depp or Amber Heard are more worried about the fate of famous millionaires’ feelings than the human rights, or lives of any of us disposable poor people who they all hate and fear and loathe and plagiarize and look down on.
I HAD A DREAM OR WAS IT TRUE?
All the assimilated trustarfari haves on the hill are frightened like hell that they’re gonna catch the Poverty from one of us. They love their bosses, though, and Official Sources. They love their higher ups, their “Superiors”. Kinda like all those scene queens who defend bad behavior of aggressive dickhead nightclub owners, cause they are chronic kissasses who want to DJ Tuesday nights, headline that hipster club on weekends, and shmooze for free drinks, I got nothing in common with people who defend muscle bound rich people punching out mentally ill, scrawny, homeless people. I am way closer to being a homeless person (again) myself, than I am to ever, ever, even in, 100 years, becoming a millionaire nightclub owning, cocaine swaggering, free with his fists, punch out the little guy macho bigman, or even a suckup hipster scene honcho with a fancy pants, managed band to promote out of some gentrified zipcode. I’ve known a lot of nightclub owners, they were all in bed with crooked cops, the mob, gangs, they are not nice people. My favorite one is the Republikkkan punk who owns a fat actor bar, and charges twenty bucks per beer, who groans and moans, and moans and groans, all day, everyday from his barstool, about welfare mothers, even though his bar was basically given to him as a handout by some rich actor/rockstars, and even still, he complains non stop about people with drug problems, because he helpfully insists that alcohol is not a drug, see? Hipsters, though, they like being, pay to be seen, faux celebrities, and do not like being spoken to by pesky transients. Sheesh. I understand what Johnny Thunders meant when he sang, “Alone In A Crowd”. I can’t relate to none of those people with the Johnny Thunders tattoos with big hats who dress like me.
Flick-flick-flickin’ through that nonsense Netflix brainwash garbage, I tried to watch this seemingly camp Lindsey Lohan show about running a hipster resort on an island in Greece, reminding me of a long dead former Lip Service plastic pants wearing old drinking buddy named Jack Taylor, and the whole thing was like shockingly for real–ridiculously glorifying model-hooker-bottle opener-servants of the rich. I had to turn it off like six minutes into it. I know motherfuckers who emulate that kinda gentrification VIP slobbering hooker slavery bullshit. Wanna get their selfie with some replacement member of some sucky poser, milking the dead carcass of a long dead brand. Get massaged by two incense burning, Asian ladies on Friday night at the all-night health spa for enlightenment and vibrant and diverse Buddhism “because they’re worth it!” Not my scene, man. I gotta go burn some sage just thinking about it.
I’m watching a Lou Reed concert past my bedtime already but it’s too hot to sleep and I sure do miss fearless and original artists like him and Robert Quine. Sometimes, when I think of all the Urban Outfitted mobs of hipster rich people who claimed to like all these same bands I do, I’m always like, “were they listening to some other records I never heard?” ‘Cause none of their actions or choices or own art or beliefs reflect their love for the Clash or Nick Cave or whoever in any meaningful way besides like, hairdos and shoes, I guess. I suppose I better take some melatonin and quit typing and retreat to my dreams where I’ll see a few of you there.
NEXT DAY: If you know me, you know I’m a total lifelong devoted fan of Duran Duran, who Black Bomber, Dave Twist grew up collaborating with, always have been, that group soundtracked my early teen years. “Like An Angel”, “Last Chance On The Stairway”, “Hold Back The Rain”, man, I loved all that shit. Slow danced with a girl I loved to “Save A Prayer”. Ya know? “Ordinary World” and “Do You Believe In Shame”, that shit speaks to summa the most sentimental and sincere parts in me. One of my best friends died a couple years ago-Bobby Cloyd, and he was bassist of my first real band, a celebrity DJ and wouldbe frontman, played Andy Taylor in a D2 tribute act. He was who I sang INXS and Duran Duran songs all night long with, in my first apartment that we painted purple. Emptied endless bottles of champagne and Jack Daniels with. Took road trips with, shared my early lyrics with, and trusted. So that’s been awful, just wretchedly sad and painful just endlessly missing that guy, not only was it a horribly unexpected death of a true soul brother, someone who understood me like few others, but it was also the death of a dream. I was hoping to reunite with the motherfucker, finish our operation, kinda like how Nick Rhodes reunited with Stephen Duffy. Ahhh, so yeah, I’m not one of those people who think Duran‘s the same without Andy, or that his empty chair can be replaced with Amy Winehouse’s dumb shmuck hipster producer. I’m an Andy Taylor fan. Truth is, I love a lot of Birmingham rocknroll. ‘Big Jacobites and Bounty Hunters enthusiast. I used to work at an Ohio record store called Mind Dust Music with an older hippie dude who taught me everything about the Stooges, Doors and Stones, and sixties garage and psychedelia, who I loved dearly named Dave Andra. He was one of my lifetime’s biggest influences and sincerest friends and he died two Christmases ago and I’m just not over it, at all. I used to be allowed to smoke at Mind Dust and flip through all the imported metal magazines like Kerrang! and even got paid for it! I even got laid in that store. Some chick from Gomer, Ohio showed up outta nowhere and asked me nicely! I putta “back in 15 minutes” sign on the door and took her downstairs! God bless you, Randy Springer, wherever you are now! When we discovered Gunfire Dance, in our late teens or early twenties, they got us all excited that we could follow in their blackhaired, frilly shirted, speed snortin’, tear it up style, cowboy glam boots-steps! I discovered the Jacobites when I first moved to Boston in my early 20’s to make it big in show business, ha ha. Dave Kusworth‘s “English Disco” was one of my fave records when my middle children were small, they’re grownup now, and faraway. I don’t know if I’ll even see ’em again. I interviewed Twist, Kusworth, Sudden, various other Bounty Hunters and Jacobites for Sugarbuzz and Sleazegrinder fanzines, online. Fuck. I was not prepared for the death of Kusworth, to me, he had one of the best voices in rocknroll, right up there with Chrissie Hynde, Chris Isaak, Tex Perkins, and Peter Perrett. I loved that guy. All his stuff. These streets aint paved with gold no more, it’s all kinda vanishing in front of me. Aint no such thing as rocknroll where I live, there’s a lotta fakeass cash-in, mama money posers, but the real shit is mostly obsolete. Take a bite outta this apple:
I still don’t know why I’m not on the Easy Action promo list, but let me tell ya somethin’, “LAST BITE” is what straight up, real deal, no shit, kickass punk rock sounds like, what summa my early bands woulda sounded like, had various lineups not mutinied in different cities, chasing ska, or hot rod garage, or Pussy Galore, or grunge bandwagons, looking for some cheapass shortcut to fame, a blonde vocalist, a richer vocalist, someone not as inflammatory or contentious or strongwilled or provocative, an eager beaver bruncher like the rest. Someone who could pay for plane tickets and hotels. Khaki shorts and chain wallets, baseball caps and big truck ownership.
Man, the BLACK BOMBERS are everything. If you like real rocknroll, they got it. If you love the kinda punk rock I love, you go outta your way to find all their records, right? Steve Crittall was in the Godfathers when they were making a big bad beautiful noise and he brings it here with the Prefects and Tenderhooks and Subterranean Hawks drummer, Dave Twist. The Legendary Birchie from Gunfire Dance(!!!) and a commanding vocalist, Alan Byron. “LAST BITE” is a big middle finger to establishment oppressors and evil politicians. I’m gonna go blast it again, in the garage, and jump up and down a little bit in front of the mirror. Wear my most ridiculously oversized, Rev. Norb sunglasses and furry hat, and pretend I still have some rebellious fuck you bandmates! All that and a fucking astonishingly badass DAMNED COVER! THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT! THIS IS THE REAL THING! THIS IS WHAT WE ARE THIRSTY FOR IN A TIME OF LIES AND BULLSHIT DECEPTIVE FABRICATIONS! Smart motherfuckers who can really play, all sincerely throwing down with real pathos and genuine article gutsy soul power. All that and they dedicated the snazzy as hell rocknroll 45 to Dave Kusworth and Walter Lure! The thing about these guys is not only have I always resonated with all their music, I’ve spent much of my life, trying to find like minded musicians, like them, to make this kinda real dangerous, non compliant, disobedient rocknroll with. You know-Lords Of The New Church, Damned, Deviants, Pink Fairies, Motorhead influenced absolute motherfuckery!!!
British rockers TREMENDOUS introduced their music with a few digital singles last year and they finally release their first album on May 15th. While “Don’t Leave Our Love (Open For Closing)” or “Rock’n’Roll Satellite” have obvious UK 70s glam rock influences, you’ll also hear some 80s American metal in “Bag Of Nails”, “Copycat Killer” or “Daniela.” The band took their time to deliver their debut album and you can hear that they worked hard on these songs but also managed to avoid sounding too polished and they kept the tracks short. “Take a Good Look at My Good” is not that far from 90s grunge ballads and you’ll even find some punk traces in “Heart Sinker” and in “Fightin’ To Lose.”
Whether you like classic rock, glam or indie, you’ll sure find something to your tastes in “Relentless.” /Laurent C
“Bag Of Nails” taken off TREMENDOUS‘ debut album “Relentless” due for release in September is available as a giveaway if you send a blank email to tremendoustrack@gmail.com
TREMENDOUS (Birmingham, UK) release their third single “Open For Closing” on April 12th.
It is produced by Gavin Monaghan (Kings Of Leon/Robert Plant/The Editors etc)
An album will be out in September. Catch them live in London on April 4 at Dublin Castle!
Veglam 