bubblegum glam

Psycho Barbies “Stupid Cupid” EP

Published on 4 Jun 2019 by veglamLeave a comment

I can’t really remember when was the last time I reviewed a bubblegum glam punk band. Unfortunately, the style has disappeared quite a long time ago, so it’s good to see a band from Italy bringing the pink glittery corpse of bubblegum glam punk back to life! PSYCHO BARBIES first released a 4 song demo CD in 2017 and are now back with better songs and this CD EP. Their image remind me a bit of TRASHCAN DARLINGS, but their music has more to do with the late 80s/early 90s Californian glam punk scene. This being said, opening song “Go On” makes me think of Germany’s HOLLYWOOD TEASZE, but “DARE” has more of a GLAMOUR PUNKS taste to it. We can also hear a bit of SUGAR SHOCK in the punky sugar sweet “She’s Insane” and the influence of HEART THROB MOB and PEPPERMINT CREEPS can also be heard in “Lollipop Superstar”, “Punky Lullaby” or in “Mayday”. This is quite amazing how these 6 songs sound just like a cassette from the Sunset Strip glam punk golden days (raw drums, loud backing vocals…), I’ve always thought that “cheap” productions were an important thing of the style, just like cut and paste flyers! If you’re reading this, big chances are you’ve been missing bands like this, so get a sugar fix with PSYCHO BARBIES! /Laurent C.

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Sugar Shock (2000)

Published on 6 Aug 201218 Oct 2012 by veglamLeave a comment

“Sugar Shock personify the snotty stage of the teens. With a cockiness not seen since Guns ´n Roses, these boys give their nailpolished mighty middlefinger to the rest of the world. These brats are the rebel rousers of the 21st Century.” Yeah ! it sounds like a good introduction for this Swedish band. Put on your make-up and start a bubblegum diet ’cause you won’t resist their glitter charm.

So, was it difficult to get the line-up of SUGAR SHOCK ? How did you met ? Did you play in other bands before ?

Starlet/ Sugar Shock: Yeah, it’s always difficult when you are doing something new and have a high ambition. Cristy and Cherry met via Cristy’s brother who is an old friend of Cherry’s (he is also the drummer in Elasmo (http://come.to/elasmo). They mailed Glitzine – an on-line glam/glitter magazine which I run – and asked if I knew anyone that may be interested in creating the ultimate glitter sensation. They were looking for a vocalist and a bassist. I answered that I got a candy-coated voice and twinkeling eyes. We met and it was love at first sight. Everything happened really fast. We had seven songs after seven rehearsals. We shared the same basic thoughts on how Rock n Roll should sound… and look! Simply put, it was an amazing first date! It doesn’t happened often. I’ve been looking for some alleycats with attitude for years! Cherry and Cristy had also played in bands they weren’t comfortable in. Finally, everything felt right. We started looking for a bassist and that’s when the problems started. Bassists are not easy to find. We wanted someone who was just like us, a fourth sugarsweet kid. He/She also had to play tight of course. We tried about six bassist and we’re still looking for a bassist (interested parties should mail info@sugar-shock.com) eventhough we can go on very well as a threepiece.

Are you satisfied with your new cd “First Date” ? Did you put it out on your own label ? How do you distribute it (Internet ? shops ? independent mailorders ?…) ?

We are very satisfied with “First Date”. It’s getting raving reviews and everyone seems to like it, punks as well as glamsters. There are always things that you can do better and different but “First Date” contains four hits with a capital H. It’s one of my favourite albums which says a lot! I love the sound and the attitude. It’s exactly how we want to be. Jukeboxpunk with a teenage twist. I was curious how the masses would react to it. After all, glitter and kisses haven’t been that popular during the nineties. Was the world ready for a revival of rebellion? The Answer is yes! Actually the world begged on it’s knees to be revamped and rocked again. We grabbed a bunch of krayolas and painted a rainbow all across the glitterglobe. We are gonna distribute “First Date” ourselves through our website ( http://www.sugar-shock.com) . We will try to get some distribution deal but this is basically a promoCD. We are looking for a major deal and we just won’t quit. There are some publishing/Record companies that are interested in us already. Things are looking very bright at the moment. We will enter the studio again in feb/mars and record our next E.P.

I’ve heard that you use to throw bubblegums at your audience during concerts, how do people react ?

Bubblegum yum yum. There is only one way to react to it isn’t there? Drastic Plastic Superfantastic!! Some are trying to catch as many gums as possible, others are just blowing bubbles and looking cool. Some just don’t have a clue what to do! We want our shows to be something to remember and come back to.

Is it easy for a band like you to play in Sweden ? Are the conditions good generally ? Would you accept any kind of show ?

Sugar Shock is a pretty new band. We haven’t had any problems with booking shows so far. Sweden is the ultimate scene for a band to start. Lots of culture, tradition, ambition, great bands and an impressive underground network. There’s no place I’d rather be! Sweden’s got one of the best rock at the moment eventhough it’s more punk than glitter. The conditions are good but people in general aren’t that familiar with shock rock. Initially, they look a bit confused but if Sugar Shock doesn’t get your feet moving… you’re already dead! Hey, even stiff kittens got claws! We accept any show as long as there is free glitterglue, marshmallows and mintchocolate. Mail: booking@sugar-shock.com

What do your families think about the band and the way you look ?

Our parents love Sugar Shock. Everyone’s a sucker for sweet stuff right? They are all very proud of what we’re doing. They’re the best! Regarding our looks; in the beginning my parents weren’t that fond of me wearing make-up. I come from a small-town. Lots of prejudices and the tails grown on taller all down the line. Anyway, I can’t and don’t want to be any other than myself so they had to accept it. Which they did. They’ve realized that am still the same person eventhough I have make-up smeared all over my face. They realized that I’m a glitterkid and that my life’s a neonfairytale. I may grow up someday but I will never grow old.

Starlet, when did you start your webzine (“Glitzine”) ? Does it take a lot of your time ? You also run a mailorder, what kind of stuff (cd ? 7″? zines ? what styles ?) do you carry ?

I started Glitzine three years ago. There weren’t any good glam resources on the Net so I started my own (with a lot of help from my old friend Johan Plate). It took a lot of my time and it still does but I’m working more with Sugar Shock now. That is my main priority. I have other writers for Glitzine nowadays who have decreased my workload. The Mailorder was just an idea because I wanted to expand and develope Glitzine. However; I got addicted to Sugar Shocks so I had to put that idea on hold. I used to do a little but a little wouldn’t do so a little got more and more…

Many American bands come to Europe, and on the contrary, just a few European bands can afford to play in the USA. What’s your opinion about that ?

We have considering touring in the U.S. later in our career. I have a lot of contacts and it would be major cool. America isn’t our main priority right now of course. We are focusing on Sweden and Europe. Internet has however reduced the distance and we got a lot of American fans who we would love to play for and meet. America is not the land of opportunities anymore but it would be a blast to play there.

I’ve already interviewed many Swedish bands for my paper zine, and almost every time, they said to me that there is a lot of interesting bands (no matter the musical style) in Sweden, do you agree ? Do you think that there are more bands in Sweden than in any other European country ?

I think Sweden’s got the most interesting rockscene right now. There are several glitter/punk bands with a lot of potential (The Jackals, Hardcore Superstar, Scarecrows, Plan 9, Highschool Hellcats etc). I don’t know any other country with such a good and flourishing underground scene. All bands are ambitious and are trying to help each other. Sugar Shock, Plan 9, Scarecrows and The Jackals are trying to put together a Glittertour this spring. We’ll spread the glitter all over Sweden.

Most people who say that glam is back often refer to industrial/neo-metal bands with glam influences mainly in their look. Do you think that glam is better when it contains a good dose of punk/rock’n’roll ?

Everything is better with a dose of punk/rock n roll. I know what you mean though. There are several different approaches right now, all claiming to be ”Glam”. So what do Suede and Psycho Gypsy have in common? I don’t know and I don’t care. Glamrock to me, is all about attitude. It’s about decadence and disrespect. It’s about fashion, flamboyance and flair. It’s about having fun. Sugar Shock is focusing on the sweet boy-meets-girl approach because that is what we stand for. Teenage-lipstick-traces. We are the last great daydreamers. I don’t like to put label on things. We never call ourselves ”glamrock” because it means so many things these days.

So, I won’t bother you more, what are your projects ?

You are NOT bothering us bro! We are very thankful for your interest towards us. We will push our CD and spreading the Sugar Shockwave all around the GlitterGlobe. We have some label/publishing -interest and we’ll work more to generate a deal. We will record seven new songs in late February. The New promoCD will be even better than ”First Date”. Everyone who’s starving for Sugar, get a taste of SUGAR SHOCK. Check out our website: http://www.sugar-shock. Mail us: info@sugar-shock.com. Call us: + 46 19 33 02 12. Write us: Sugar Shock, c/o Persson, Tybblegatan 110E:304, 702 19 Orebro, Sweden. Stay young at heart and don’t forget to dream your life away !

Supergroupies (2002)

Published on 5 Aug 201214 Aug 2012 by veglamLeave a comment

They have the look, the style and they have songs that you’ll sing again and again after listening to their first and promising demo CD ‘La Musique Pornographique’. Kim (vocals/guitar) tells us more about the GROUPIES and their future…

So could you tell us a bit about the history of the band?
Before Supergroupies I played guitar in various heavy metal bands. At that time I was into playing technical and aggressive, true to the style of heavy metal. However; I was never really happy with the songs nor the image. I wanted to form a band with songs that prioritize the vocal melodies to go with a pronounced visual image. Being brought up on the Stones, Beatles, Kiss and Abba, it was kind of going back to my roots, both musically and imagewise. I started to write songs and looking for musicians. First in was Micael [Grimm; bassist], then John [Linden; drummer]. The three of us began to reherse and did our first show in June, 2001. Though it’s a lot of fun playing lead guitar, I had gone from being a downright guitarist to more of a lead vocalist. We wanted someone who could concentrate on the guitarplaying a 100%. Finally [it wasn’t easy] we found the fourth groupie and guitarist in Robin Berner.

Do you think that it is an advantage to live in Sweden where some rock bands got famous lately?
Yes, Sweden is now the third largest exporter of music in the world, [after the the US and Britain]. Therefore, I believe the music industry really has got their eyes and ears set on bands from Sweden. So, it’s probably easier to get known worldwide if you’re a band from Sweden than e.g France.

Are you satisfied with the songs on your demo CD “La Musique Pornographique”? Why this title in French? Yes, we’re really happy about how the songs turned out on the cd, especially the songwriting and arrangements. The sound quality of the recordings, technically, can get a lot better though. But that’s a question of studioequipment and working with the right tecnichian.The title came up when John was joking around with titles in general. And we have always thought that the french language has a certain glamorous sound to it.

SUPERGROUPIES seem to be inspired by the early glam bands, what are the other influences of the band?
We’ve been inspired by the early glambands such as Sweet, T-Rex, and David Bowie, but also by later glambands like Motley Crue and Poison. We all listen to a broad variety of music that has been, or is inspirational, e.g Micael is hugely influenced by the Ramones, my main influence is the Beatles, Robin was a jazz musican before he got into rock ‘n’ roll, and John has always been a huge Led Zeppelin fan.

You should have put out your full-lenght on Fastlane records but you told me that it won’t happen, have you found another label?
Not yet, but there are a couple of labels who’s interested – we are negotiating with one of them.

Do you often play live? Have you already been on tour?
We’ve been concentrating on writing songs and trying to get a label to put out our debut album – that has been our main priority. We’ve done a couple of shows in Sweden, but no tour as yet. We’re definitely looking forward to it – we love to play live!

Have you got a lot of media support in your country and abroad?
In Sweden, the media has been supportive, they really love what we do, but abroad there hasn’t been much so far. A couple of radio station has contacted us, mainly in Italy and the US, wanting to play our songs. Most of the rock ‘n’ roll/glam www-sites has reviewed our demo-cd or put up a link to the Supergroupies site. On the whole, the support and interest in Supergroupies has been, and is great.

What are your projects?
To put out a record as soon as possible. With a record out, it’s so much easier to get to play live and flourish as a band.

Anything else to add?
That we’re really looking forward to do shows all around Europe – to share what Supergroupies is all about; unlimited, unconditional, tremendous LOVE and having a good time!!