Thee Oh Sees, Burnt Ones, The Wooden Shjips, Guantanamo Baywatch, The Pack A.D., Boom Chick, The Surf Zombies, The Ramblin' Ambassadors, The Cosmonauts...

Wobbly Lamps from the UK. Check their new single here

I hear you all on the disposable income issue.  I had the advantage of being near a good college radio station and lots of used record stores where I knew the owners real good.  A lot of the Voxx bands were pretty formulaic and tried too hard to recreate the 60's garage movement.  Funny thing is, as with the Cramps, the original songs these bands covers where a lot move interesting and better than their cover versions. You just can't recreate the energy that horny, adolescent teens at the dawn of the sexual revolution had.  It was all new, fresh and original in the pre-summer of love 60's.  I will say that the 80's garage revival was a welcome diversion for me from the overly political and cynical hardcore punk movement of the time.  The garage scene was a lot more fun, plus that audience had a lot more women with it, which was OK by me.  lol

Cool vid Mel, haven't seen that one before!

And i still haven't left the garage since entering in the early 80's....saw as many of those bands as was possible back then, and bought as many records as i could afford. Still digging most of that stuff to this day as well as most of the new garagepunk stuff. We did a zine in the 80's/90's that covered the garage zine from a Canadian perspective...ie Gruesomes, 10 Commandments, UIC, Deja Voodoo etc. Even releasing some records and many compilation cassettes that came with the zine.

Like John says about Plan 9, they were just amazing live, and each time you'd see them they would be different. First time we saw them they were straight 60's punk, next time some psych influences, then some jazz influences and last time more rock'n'roll. One of the best live bands from that era, but overlooked by many as they weren't straight 60's clones.

Some of my fave bands from that era include; Miracle Workers, Crawdaddys, Gruesomes, Tell-Tale Hearts, Fuzztones, Fleshtones, Morlocks, Hypstrz, Barracudas, Plasticland, Brood and so many more....gotta go spin some vinyl now that i've whet may appetite!

melissa scott said:

Some of us were hanging out in the garage in the early '80's. And some of us never left ;) Check out this interview from Boston with the Prime Movers.

Some of us were hanging out in the garage in the early '80's. And some of us never left ;) Check out this interview from Boston with the Prime Movers.

I guess , by that , we'd be more like middle aged. I was around then , but , did'nt have the income to be buying a lot of untested product. I loved The Fleshtones from the word "Go". My Brother had their first album . I was hearing some of the Voxx stuff on George Gimarc's radio show in Dallas , like The Crawdaddys , Chesterfield Kings , and I was reading about those bands , as well as The Tell Tale Hearts  and others in some of the bigger rock mags , and maybe the exceptional New York Rocker , too. But , it seemes like that stuff peaked around '84 , but , it was'nt until '86 that I was getting caught up with more of it.....

But , in Punk Rock TERMS , TWO YEARS WAS'NT A BIG DEAL. I MEAN , AGAIN , YOU HAD THE INNATE HIPNESS AND THE DISPOSABLE INCOME TO BUY 76 -77 PUNK ROCK RECORDS , OR YOU LISTENED TO IT WHEN YOU COULD , AND BOUGHT IT , LATER. SAME WITH GARAGE REVIVAL RECORDS......I LOVED THE PANDORAS' FIRST TWO RECORDS (THO , I FEEL THE BROOD LATER BEAT THEM AT WHAT USED TO BE THEIR OWN GAME.). For all the hatin' The Fuzztones get , they presented their thing in such a way that fans of just straight ahead Rock'n'Roll could get into it. That said , I think "Salt For Zombies" is their best release , and that was only , what ? 6 or 7 years ago?

Plan 9 had something unique , especially in Eric Stumpo's exceptional vocals and lead guitar. They did'nt care if they were accepted into the clubhouse or not. I only saw them once, when live Garage shows were VERY rare , and they were great.     A little later , or about the same time , I liked The Nomads , Stems , Stomachmouths , Thee Fourgiven , Royal Nonesuch , Cynics , and English Garage /Trash bands (Pron. "Gare - edge") like The Stingrays , Vibes , Huns (American , based in England) , Milkshakes (Billy Childish , before someone named him God.), Prisoners , Tall Boys, X-Men , etc.          Now , some of this stuff I still like , but , some of these bands that tried too hard to sound like The Pebbles Reissues , not so much. If you look around , The Fuzztones were'nt the only band preoccupied with their image.

I was digging through some old vinyl and reminiscing on the 80's garage revival.  Voxx records put out some great stuff during that time.  Some of my favorites are:

Gravedigger V - All Black and Hairy

Pandoras - It's About Time

Dwarves - Horror Stories

Miracle Workers - Inside Out

Stomachmouths - Wild Trip

Anyway, any old timers up here?  What were you digging on?

Download or stream the July 13 show right here.

Memphis – Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger – Bo Diddley
Hey Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley
Old Smokey – Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley’s Dog – Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley is a Dead – The Jam Messengers
Lucky Day – The Ding Dongs
Ding Dong Twist – The Quests
Shake That Thing – Hasil Adkins
Baptize Me in Wine – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Chicken, Baby, Chicken – MFC Chicken
Psycho Daises – Evil Eyes

Ain’t Gonna Stop – Natural Child
Crawlin’ Kingsnake – Roy Head
Sundown – El Pathos
Sympathy for the Devil – Chris Wilson

Local Lunchbox
Big Street Time – Ramma Lamma
Like I Do – Sugar Stems
Did You Ever – Sugar Stems
Mean Mary – Head on Electric

Call Me Trouble – Mighty Fine
Leave Me Alone #2 – Esquerita
I Was True (But I Won’t Be More) – The Phantom Keys
Never Take Me Back – The Jay Vons
Everything I Do is Wrong – Reigning Sound

California – The Golden Boys
I Will Change Your Mind – The Wrong Words
Blind – Two Bit Dezperados

I’ll Give You Everything – The White Wires
You’re Gonna Kill That Girl (live) – The Ramones
Hangin’ Tuff – Mean Jeans
Late Summer Goner – Sonic Avenues
Cheater, Cheater – The Vacant Lot

Cigarette – The Shirley MacLaines
Derby Crush – The Gay Sportscasters
Answer Me Tonight – The Mess Around
Baby Please – Guantanamo Baywatch
Rock’n’Roll Must Die – Atomic Suplex
Brad Cruise – Dusty Mush

Monkey Grip – The Meltdowns
Elevator to Later – The Electric Mess
When I’m With You – The Alarm Clocks
Goblins I – Cyclops
Bad Luck – The Primates

Gang War – Gene Maltais
Love Me – The Phantom
In the Hands of a Madman – Thee Fine Lines
Music City USA – Million Sellers
Don’t Need Your Lovin’ – Jake Starr & the Delicious Fullness
If 6 Was 9 – James Leg & Left Lane Cruiser
Fire Up – Dynamite Pussy Club
Lookin’ For Someone – The Go Wows

Yes!  A Hohner copy of the horrible Steinberger bass.  Extremely uncool.  
Hafensabine♥ said:

What about this baby?

What about this baby?

While we're on the subject of more than one bass...

When a band has more than one bassist, or drummer, I'll be damned if I can tell the difference. Either live or on record. It still sounds the same to me.

There is one Melvins CD I have where the sound is noticeably fatter with the additional bass/drums in the mix, but with everybody else, it doesn't really change the sound much. So you have two bass players? May as well have stuck to just one for all the good it did...

YOW ! I saw Deke Dickerson lead seven or eight stand up bass players , together , once. It was painful. that was the idea. Actually , your concept reminds me of a friend's band in Denton , Texas called Charred. They usually played customized guitars (Using TV parts instead of strings , for example.) , but , they'd also stage public performances , encouraging anyone that was handy to beat out a rhythm on pieces of metal. One time , they got about 50 people beating out a rhythm on the sides of a house !
 
jason cook said:

I was in a band back in the 90's called Headbutt. We had four bassists and four drummers playing lumps of metal broken cymbals and floor toms. We put out several singles and a few lps. Now that was insane!

 

Do you mean like the instrument used on Hugo Montenegro's soundtrack work ? That CAN more than compensate for the lack of a bass. I've heardit done.
 
Wipeout! said:

Hate to sound like I'm swingin' fer both teams but my current garage-slop band, the Get Wets, started out as just bass, organ & drums (NO guitars allowed)...we wailed & the bassist often usta fuzz out this sound (as did the organ-pounder)

...fast-forward to now, same band but different instrumentation: baritone sax, baritone guitar & drums (NO bass no mo')...it sounds mighty trashy in a how-low-can-ya-go sorta low-end-bop but not a bassist to be found...even tho in a perfect party world I'd love to have a bass (& combo-organ fer that matter) back in the mix we really don't miss 'em...

Last Night said:

What about a bariton guitar ?

You're probably right , but , they seemed to have their guitars tuned funny to compensate (Not all 3 of them) , but , if you listen to them , live , on Beat! Beat ! Beat ! , they more than make up for the lack of bass.....They had their personalities , the underrated guitar mastery of one Eddy Grant , and the fact that they were probably the only English /Guayanese / Jamaican  outfit to hit the international charts, in their favor ....not to mention ,they were often anachronisms , and proud of it ("I Can See But You Don't Know " , the only Freakbeat single released in 1970 , barring The Troggs' "Feels Like A Woman".
 
James Porter said:

I think the Equals had to have had a bass player in the studio. That instrument was usually the loudest thing heard on their records.
 
John Battles said:

The Equals , three Guitars , no Bass....centuries before it was cool.

 

i actually sort of dislike bass...... i'm in a two piece guitar /drums band on purpose. i like to point out certain things (to whoever will listen) at our shows on the subject.  the bands we play with often are perfect example of what i dislike.  i see it all the time , awesome gritty, sincerely angry guitar intro for two measures. then the bass comes in and shmeers the  edges of the thing. in our band (because we have tried out many bass player that though they could "add" to it) we call it chopping the tops off. all the edgy- ness goes in the "wall of sound". sure, you went out and "saw" a band.... there were decibles thrown at you, but its all too comfortable to me. i like thin. maybe if i we making music to make people nod, and say what i nice young man i've become. but not while i'm in a garage rock band, and trying to stay good and angry.

Not at all. There's some really good ones , depends on what era you're most interested in. Some people have no preference.

G. Wood said:

Thanks, John.

Thanks, John.

TWO OF THE EARLIEST , AND MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOTS WERE "Live'R' Than You'll Ever Be" ,"European Tour 1969"(Both '69. Close enough.) , I'll try to think of some others , But this LP , LIVE IN PERTH , AUSTRALIA , 1973, only came out a few years ago.
 I FOUND IT FOR ABOUT $13 OR 15 , AND i KNOW i'VE SEEN IT MORE THAN ONCE , BUT , i DON'T KNOW HOW MANY WERE PRESSED , OFFHAND.  I'm sure whoever it is is asking that price because Keef signed it. If he did . I'm just sayin'. I don't know.
G. Wood said:

How about this one? Apparently it's rare, I've found only one copy listed for sale anywhere, and it was some crazy figure over $1000--but that one was signed by Keef. I found this one at an estate sale a few months ago. Any info about rarity or desirability appreciated.

BPG said:

What are some good 70's boots to look for?

Apparently this has been out for years but I wasn't aware of it until recently. I haven't been able to come across any mention of the book here. I was just wondering if this book is worth reading. Also any suggestions for any other Detroit rock-centric books (beyond books about only The MC5 or only The Stooges).

Playlist 07/14/12

I will be on the air and the web Saturday July 14th from 1:00-3:00PM EST.  You can listen on 89.7 WITR-FM in Rochester, NY or steaming live at http://witr.rit.edu .

Killer footage!

Does anyone know if Radio Heartbeat is still putting out records, I haven't seen anything of there's in a store in FOREVER and their shopping cart system is down on their website. Plus I heard form a friend that they had folded, which means that that those awesome 20/20 and Ambulance albums wont see the light of day, any thoughts on this or is it just a stupid rumor?

THE MOBBS! http://garagepunk.ning.com/profile/TheMobbs

Fellow East-Midlanders (England), raucous, retro, rocketfuelled Britishness, like the Kinks on Crack! Great live.