October 13, 2014 5:50 PM CDT
....OHHHH , CRAP. I forgot the guy's name. I was going to write it down , the Japanese Elvis , Kirao somebody? No..... Well , I'd say keep trying , but , if you're making ANY money to do ANYTHING Rock 'n ' Roll , these days , you're one of the few , the proud......
October 13, 2014 4:42 PM CDT
I get paid commissions to come up with this stuff. Shame no one 's been commissioned to come up with a radio or TV. Show for teen and tween garage, psych, freakbeat, Shibuya-Kei or power pop acts . No, I'm not talking about Minipops.
October 13, 2014 3:33 PM CDT
"DISBELIEBERS" , THAT'S GOOD.You should patent that. There probably are enough kids in The UK , if their parents are about our age , and turned them on to this stuff.....OR , if their parents hate cool music , and this is the only way they can rebel....
October 13, 2014 3:08 PM CDT
John Battles said:They might , here in the states , Chris , but it'd be all or mostly Mainstream Rock crap.....Still , I'm glad to see kids getting enthusiastic about starting bands. It's very formulaic ,now , the "School of Rock" thing , but , my friend's son is in one of those bands , are they're actually learning about presentation , and the business end of the music. Nothing wrong with that , if they aim to stay with it , later on.
If you're looking at it on a national or international scale , there must be teen and pre - teen bands doing Garage , Surf or Rockabilly as opposed to Alt - Rock or mainstream Metal.
In Austin , Freddie Krc (Roky's former Drummer.) , teaches a School of Rock program , and he's taught kids to do songs like "Pushin' Too Hard" , "You're Gonna Miss Me" and "Two Headed Dog". Some of that turned up on You Tube.
October 13, 2014 2:49 PM CDT
They might , here in the states , Chris , but it'd be all or mostly Mainstream Rock crap.....Still , I'm glad to see kids getting enthusiastic about starting bands. It's very formulaic ,now , the "School of Rock" thing , but , my friend's son is in one of those bands , are they're actually learning about presentation , and the business end of the music. Nothing wrong with that , if they aim to stay with it , later on.
If you're looking at it on a national or international scale , there must be teen and pre - teen bands doing Garage , Surf or Rockabilly as opposed to Alt - Rock or mainstream Metal.
In Austin , Freddie Krc (Roky's former Drummer.) , teaches a School of Rock program , and he's taught kids to do songs like "Pushin' Too Hard" , "You're Gonna Miss Me" and "Two Headed Dog". Some of that turned up on You Tube.
October 13, 2014 9:05 AM CDT
Earlier this year, I was interning with the Good Toy Guide and bench raced with someone from Fun Kids Radio about what they did at the British Toy and Hobby Fair. They play child friendly top 40, with the more racy stuff cut out, as well as stuff for toddlers in the daytime. I even suggested a battle of the young bands, saying it would be great to hear kids form a surf band and get a station to showcase what talent they have.
Are there any freakish talents you know of knee high to a grasshopper and what do you make of them? Also, would a kids radio station do this?
October 13, 2014 4:52 PM CDT
October 13, 2014 3:50 PM CDT
Born in Essex ? I wonder who that is ? I'd recommend Yuzo Kayawa , AND , what's that guy's name , the "Japanese Elvis" (Late 50's)...His material was recently released on CD and on a full length 10" LP.
Group Sound - Spiders , Carnabeats , Dynamites (Feat. Allan Merrill.) , Tigers , Beavers , and .....there's a lot of others...I HAVE A FEW COMPS WITH LESSER - KNOWN BANDS WHOSE NAMES I FORGET.....
i GOT TYHAT RECENT "Flowers Acid and Poetry" or whatever the Hell it's called , a volume dedicated to early Japanese Hard Rock/Psych , like Glue , Speed and Shin . It's a fine series , but , that particular volume stands out. Flower Travelling Band's first album was re - released a few years ago. I could'nt see paying $25 for it , though.....
I still like a group called Mescaline Drive , an all - female band from the mid - late 80's (Pre - Japanese Garage craze.). Kinda Psychedelic Power Pop , or something , lotsa good hooks.
October 13, 2014 3:16 PM CDT
I've got quite a few Japanese group sounds artists in my collection, one singer was born (apparently) in Essex. I've got a few Japanese Bossa Novas, The Mops, Takashi Terauchi and The Golden Cups. Who else would you recommend?
October 13, 2014 2:39 PM CDT
YES !!! I always forget how to say or spell his name. I have two Terauchi collections on Ace , but , Yuzo Kayawa is generally considered the forebearer of the Elecki movement....He got into some crazy movie soundtrack music and fuzzed out Space Age Bachelor Pad Rock , later on. He'sstill active. There's footage of him with The Ventures on YouTube. I guess teh two of them were closely connected , but , rivals , all the same. That's kind of what I would have expected , re. Savile. He was virtually unknown in America , even after the scandal. I only knew him via "Go Go Mania"when I was younger.
October 13, 2014 5:55 AM CDT
I'm quite into Tekashi Terauchi, as he is second to none.
By the way, Savile lies in an unmarked grave after his ornate headstone was pulled down due to public pressure on his family.
October 12, 2014 11:44 PM CDT
Chris , Well , your own Alec Palao and Ace Records have been doing the great "G.S.(Group Sound) I Love You"series. I used to go see bands like Guitar Wolf , 5,6,7,8's , Teengenerate , King Bros. , etc , but , in my mind , that stuff has'nt aged well. Jackie and The Cedrics were insane when I saw them about 15 years ago , but , I've always been more interested in Group Sound , and even early Japanese "Rockabiri" and Elecki (Surf and Ventures - influenced Instrumental Rock.).
Does Jimmy Saville even have a public gravesite ?
October 12, 2014 3:05 PM CDT
I think this sounds quite promising, especially the Japanese bands that need to be heard in Britain. Come on BBC, show what you are made of and get Godzilla to trample Jimmy Savile's grave. Atone, before it's too late, and play some good J-rock on 6Music.
October 12, 2014 11:55 AM CDT
It was an interesting read, alright.
October 11, 2014 7:27 PM CDT
....People used to tell me they did'nt like the UK PSYCHOBILLY BANDS "BECAUSE THEY SOUNDED TOO MUCH LIKE THE cRAMPS". I did'nt hear that at all , but, I could readily see why the same people would like both The Cramps and The Meteors. The Cramps were using the term "Psychobilly"( Which they admitted they'd derived from Johnny Cash's "One Piece at a Time". ) to describe their sound in the 70's, but , I got the impression they thought their connection to the UK PSYCHOBILLY SCENE IN THE EARLY 80'S as a shotgun marriage. They distanced themselves from all that , even if it did help introduce them to a wider audience. They'd stopped calling themselves "Psychobilly" by then , anyway. But , they were diplomatic enough on "120 MINUTES" in 1990 , discussing what had gone on in England at that time , saying "We've been influenced by everying from The Sex Pistols to Charlie Feathers" , and , "The best Rockabilly has always been Psychobilly , even back when it started.".
It's not surprising the early Meteors would draw from a lot of the same material as The Cramps , but , what of The Bananamen ? THERE was a true progenitor to the classic Cramps sound.....
.....yes , I'm kidding.
October 11, 2014 6:03 PM CDT
True, true with reference to The Polecats 'Glam' influences....I actually am persuaded that the first and only relevant incarnation of The Meteors (all other line-ups are irrelevant) are as important as the Cramps. The initial line up fragmented in late 81 and officially split early 82, far more 'Rockabilly' than anything which came after....they brought to light the likes of The Phantom, Johnny Carroll, Peanuts Wilson, Johnny Powers etc etc....in fact they had a huge impact on the Cramps being adopted in the UK and in France in particular as the foundations had been layed and a lot of what the Cramps did was instantly recognisable to the fans, if you can get your hands on it, grab a copy of the Meteors 'Lost Album' which was originally funded by EMI, but they shelved it considering it to be a little too 'out there' for general release.....the track listing is virtually interchangable with a Cramps set list and it was no surprise they were lumped together and the whole debacle over 'psychobilly' started....it was Johnny Cash who first coined the phrase...apparently, but I'm sure some hick had probably come up with the term psycho rockabilly long before that without the kudos !!! And where as Fenech ran off with the name and some kind of vision to perpetuate and dominate the so called 'psychobilly scene' (I lost interest mid 80's when it became uncomfortably cliched) Nigel Lewis went off in the direction that the Meteors had already been steering to, that of Garage punk (the original line up had already covered 'Get me to The World On Time' as the Clapham South Escalators and with his Tall Boys, Nigel Lewis totally embraced the Garage Punk thing, albeit with a very British 'Trash Twist' to it,...christ this could go on forever !
October 11, 2014 5:27 PM CDT
I guess it does (Constitute a rant) , but , it's your right. I caught up with a lot of the Teddy Boy stuff later. If I'd grown up with it , I might have felt different. I was'nt crazy about a lot of it , when I first heard it .
I would'nt say Gordon (And , especially , Link Wray.) had anything to do with Teds (Tho' they may have liked him , Don't know.). he just did his own , slick , New York version of Rockabilly (But , not as slick as The Stray Cats' New York version . Gordon made some inroads at a time when you could'nt GIVE Rockabilly away in America , even commercialized RAB , but he was an afterthought by the time The Stray Cats returned from The UK and plundered The US (Same strategy as Hendrix.).
I liked The Meteors , I was probably one of the first people to play 'em on the radio in The US , but , after 10 or 12 years , I lost interest. Psychobilly did'nt start to catch on in the states until less than 10 years ago. By that time, I was long past caring , but , I saw The Meteors , once , in '96 . They played to about 40 people , and it was a great show , even tho' it was like nostalgia, to me , by then. Fenech turned out to be a very nice guy , too , tho' I'd always heard the opposite , even from him.
Yeah , I know about Hank Mizell's fluke hit in '75 (?) . This would'nt have happened here , obviously , tho' there were a few reissues and re- recordings that charted , here , during the early 70's R'n'R revival. Not Rockabilly , of course.
I bought some the White Label and Bison Bomp comps , mainly because they were so fucking cheap , here. THE ROCKABILLIES ONLY WANTED SETZER AND THE MOST OBVIOUS SUN RECORDS stuff , here. SOME OF 'EM WERE CRAP , BUT , i FOUND SOME GOOD ONESl. It's only been fairly recent that comps are coming out with GOOD sound and great song selection from The UK , and making their way , here , largely because the copyright laws have been lifted on that stuff , and the tightarsed collector types are coming up with better material , , and with better sound....even on You Tube .
Levi does 'Get it" , I've talked to him a couple of times , good cat. Of course , when Levi and The Rockats relocated to New York , nothing happened , tho' they were accepted by the local club scene , and , he told me , Johnny Thunders was fiercely loyal to them ( And , Jerry Nolan toured with them.). I saw Levi and The Rockats at the last Green Bay festival , they killed it ,man .
I met The Polecats , once , but , I did'nt recognize them. I thought they were British tourists , buying records. Then , I found out they were touring with that rockin' hellcat , Morrissey (Who at least has hired good bands , The Polecats and The Planet Rockers. TALK ABOUT SOMEONE I , MYSELF , WOULD WALK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET FROM .) . Good guys , tho' , enjoyed meeting them . I kind of liked the fact that they did'nt bring attention to their band. But , I like that about them , too , that they did Glam songs like "Jeepster " and "John , I'm Only Dancing" that already had a 'Billy base , anyway.
I just found the (Canadian) Bop Cats record , it sure holds up better than that band that rehashed "Blank Generation" !
October 11, 2014 4:49 PM CDT
Aww shit, I remember only too well that awful teddy boy revival thing going on, Robert Gordon and Link Wray, Robert Gordon and Willem Defoe in The Loveless ('Grease' for grown ups), Crazy Cavan and that most irritable of Welshmen 'Shakin Stevens' (he covered Green Door in the early 80's) awful, really awful drivel....worse than the stray cats (only just)....Call it chance, call it whatever you like (plain and simple good taste) but I had the good luck to stumble across the Meteors quite early on and they really kicked arse compared to the revival and straight forward imitation stuff that was knocking around at the time, remember that Jim Bobo's (aka Hank Mizell) Jungle Rock had been #1 in nearly every European country during the mid 70's and the European collectors plundered the wharehouses in the US looking for Rockabilly cuts to compile on those god awful white label comps (much of which was to resurface later on the Born Bad series)...all hand drawn representations of teddy boys and the like, makes me shudder even now....Luckily, there were some pretty cool guys who actually 'got it' the likes of Levi Dexter, Lux & Ivy, Nigel Lewis & (Dare I say it, at the beginning) P.Paul Fenech even Canada's Bopcats....that was another really F****** annoying thing about that period, every bloody wannabe postfixed their name with 'cats'....puerile. Apart from The Polecats who actually changed their name from 'Cult Heroes' to The Polecats as their first moniker was toooooo 'New Wave' for a 'Rockin' audience....personally, I loved The Polecats, they were kitsch, they loved T-Rex and Mott The Hoople as well as having the balls to cover a Dave Bowie song for Rockabillies....cool as f***. Dave Phillips version of Tainted Love is a CLASSIC even though I have the Gloria Jones version it's alway the Hot Rod Gang version I listen to........As for Matchbox and their ilk, I would quite happily have set fire to them, crossed the road so as not to have been close enough to P*** on them to put out the blaze ! Harsh, maybe.....however !............Does this constitute a rant ?
October 11, 2014 3:53 PM CDT
ha ha ha ha ha ....That last sentence says it all ! Admittedly , I found out about The Stray Cats and The Cramps around the same time (Spring , 1981.) . I was just interested in anything that had to do with Rockabilly at the time , because it was new to me , even tho' I knew about Perkins , Cochran , Vincent , etc. , even that stuff , if you did'nt own it , you would'nt have heard it , much. Of course , you could her Elvis , but , not so much "The Sun Sessions". Of course , before The Stray Cats' brief ascent to fame , there were Punk Rockers who say the connection to the original raw Rockabilly (And 60's Garage.) , but , those were the BIG kids , I was still in High School.... Today , sadly , The Stray Cats have gone back to being the template , along with Big Sandy ( Who's a super nice guy , and always has great players in his band , but only really delivers the good when he's singing Mexican R'n'R with Los Straijackets.). The wildness ain't there a - tall , with a few exceptions (Hi , Lisa. Hi , Jill .).
In hindsight , "Steppin' Stone" really was the first important Garage Punk Protest song (That , and "Pushin' Too Hard.".). The Raiders' original , of course , was pure balls. I met Mark Lindsay , briefly , and someone asked him what he thought of The Monkees having a big hit with the song they did first (OK , SOME SAY IT WAS THE LIVERPOOL FIVE , IF SO , IT WAS CLOSE.) . Mark replied" Ah , The Monkees were cool....They MIMED well..
As you know , there was this serious "Clash" between Teds and Punks , even though they liked some of the same music and variations on the same clothes. The Pistols , of course , were attacked for wearing creepers and drape jackets , and , not even disrespectfully. Those Teds were probably too young to remember when they were the ones who looked strange in the public eye. I like the Teddy Boy stuff , Crazy Cavan , Matchbox , Flying Saucers , etc.... But , the VERY early 80's were an exciting time , to me , because there was so much going on , or that had gone on in the past 5 years , and you did'nt have to swear allegience to just one genre.
Ramones fans not liking The Cramps , HA HA. Of course , they've been my top two bands for well over 30 years. I read about how , when The Ramones took The Cramps under their wing in '76-77 , and got them as many opening spots as they could , they did it at the cost of alienating their own fans , who found The Cramps' music "Repetitive". HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA....
But , you know , I'm sure , who that was at the beginning of The Ramones' "Substitute" video.......
And you must have read about how The Cramps were pissed off at Robert Gordon for covering "The Way I Walk " shortly after they released their version. "At least , when The Ramones did "Surfin' Bird" , they asked for our permission , first !" Lux.
October 11, 2014 3:21 PM CDT
For me it was a combination of things, having a pretty cool (in hindsight) older brother, an easily irritated father who liked Cochran, Vincent and Elvis but hated that scareligious thing called punk....and being a fan of The Monkees TV show, STEPPING STONE was the gateway drug so to speak. As a cheeky and somewhat mischevious 13 year old I had bought The Sex Pistols singles C'Mon Everybody and Something Else more to annoy my dad rather than for any musical inclinations and the flipside of Something Else, Friggin In The Riggin was the mantra of every single schoolboy between the age of 10 and 16 for many a year. The B-side of C'Mon Everybody was a blinding version of Whatcha Gonna Do about It which I guess had a bit of influence on my eventual musical tastes but when The Pistols version of Stepping Stone came out it kind of sealed it for me as I had found a copy of Gravest Hits in Virgin records on import at about the same time (at HUGE expense....to my dad !)...which was really cool as I could piss off not only my dad, but my brother who was a serious Ramones fan and all my soppy buddies who thought that the stray cats were the dogs bollox !!!!
October 11, 2014 2:39 PM CDT
Playlist 10/11/14
Attack Strange House
Reigning Sound Falling Rain
Embrooks Emilia Burrows
Q'65 Cry In the Night
Love Sculpture In The Land of the Few
Norvins TV Program
Satelliters You Turned in My World
Narco States Jailbird
Bang Bang Bang y Los Espectos No Puedo Mas
Ty Segall Susie Thumb
OBN IIIs No Time For the Blues
Useless Eaters American Cars
Zig Zags Brainded Warrior
Paul Revere & The Raiders Hungry
Lyres Don't Tell Me Lies
Riviera Playboys Warning
Mysteios Planet Action
A Brood of Vipers Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)
Audio Kings of the Third World Jupiter
Electric Mind Machine Electric Mind Machine
Bass Drum Of Death Burns My Eye
King Tuff Magic Mirror
Broncho Deena
Vines Reincarnation
Wax Witches Social Introvert
Cool Whips Tickle Me With a Feather Duster
Nick Piunti 13 In My Head
Sensibles My Mattress
Miriam So You Say You Lost Your Baby
Evil Idols Something To Do
Yowl I Do Wrong
Electromags Cool 100 Bucks
Landia Algo Pasa
Vaselines One Lost Year
Buzzcocks People Are Strange Machines
Mobbs Get Your Hair Cut
Husker Du Pink Turns To Blue
Fuzztones Heathen Set
Cramps Mean Machine
Weirdos Solitary Confinement
Manic Hispanic Manic Hispanic
Godfathers Gone to Texas
October 11, 2014 7:09 AM CDT
The Jeff of the Future Radio Show will be on the air and the web on Saturday October 11th from 1:00-3:00PM EST. You can listen at 89.7 WITR in Rochester, NY or streaming live at http://witr.rit.edu
October 11, 2014 9:15 AM CDT
We only got to see Paul Revere and The Raiders once, it was the early 80's and going in, we weren't expecting a whole lot. It was at the Western Fair, a yearly family event in sleepy London Ontario and the band was at the main horse race stadium that probably sat several thousand. They played on a temporary stage that was quite elaborate and had lots of room for the band to move around on.
And move they did, choreographed moves, the high kicking dance steps, the uniforms and Paul pushing around his organ that had the grille of a classic car attached to the front...headlights, horns and all that were put to good use! These guys absolutely rocked out and played so many of the hits it was incredible!! And between songs, lots of jokes and in stories about the band and what they did back when they were major stars! And the band members had all been with Paul for years and years making for an incredibly tight show! This ranks up there in one of my all time fave shows!!!
RIP Paul Revere!!! And thanx for giving the American music scene a kick in the ass when it was needed!!
October 11, 2014 9:06 AM CDT
Radio What Wave Playlist, Oct 8/2014. Paul Revere RIP
A brief hiatus from the Knights Of Fuzz As Heard On 7" Records series as we pay tribute to Paul Revere of Paul Revere and The Raiders. A HUGELY influential combo on the garage music scene as well as on popular music in the mid 60's. Paul Revere passed away last weekend at the age of 76, just recently retired (Aug 2014 due to poor health) from his life long committment.
And a quick tribute to Lou Whitney (The Symptoms, Skeletons, Morrells as well as producer/enginner to everyone from Dave Alvin, Jonathan Richman, Del Lords, Andy Shernoff and so many others) the midwest based musical genius who gave so much to rock'n'roll.
1. The Original Symptoms....Hey....from a 1980 7" on Ambition Records, featuring our hero, Lou Whitney on bass and song writing.
2. Evil Hoodoos....Just Like Me....recorded live at the Electric Banana 6/20/1991, another short lived and long forgotten venue here in sleepy London Ontario. Evil Hoodoos featured James Bond on the keyboards (check facebook for the picture of James and Paul Revere!) and Wailin' Wayne Pattern on vocals. Wayne was in legendary Toronto combo The Cheshyres and is back playing with a new band in Vancouver.
3. Legend Killers...Steppin' Stone...1986 demo and the most demented and best cover of this song that Paul Revere and The Raiders recorded first (prior to The Monkees).
4. Paul Revere and the Raiders....Like Long Hair....from a rarities cassette and their first semi hit.
5. Paul Revere and The Raiders....Legend Of Paul Revere....from a Columbia 7" and this tells the story of the band from its humble beginnings.
6. Paul Revere and The Raiders....Kicks...from the Midnight Ride LP and this is from a mono version of the LP.
7. Paul Revere and The Raiders....There's Always Tomorrow...as above.
8. Paul Revere and The Raiders....You Can't Sit Down....from the Here They Come! LP, again in mono. This is the band live and on fire!
9. Paul Revere and The Raiders...Good Thing....from the Spirit of 67 LP, again in mono. Just love the guitar work on this song and The Ventures also covered this tune on their Guitar Freakout LP.
10. Paul Revere and the Raiders....Hungry....from a stereo 7" as i had to flip the above LP over to play the song following....remember, this is live radio, fuckups and all!
11. Paul Revere and the Raiders...The Great Airplane Strike...again, from the mono Spirit of 67 LP.
12. Paul Revere and The Raiders....Louie Louie...from the Greatest Hits LP, one of the best rock records ever! The Raiders and Kingsmen both recorded Louie Louie around the same time, The Kingsmen had the hit!
13. Paul Revere and The Raiders....Louie Go Home...as above.
14. Paul Revere and The Raiders....Steppin' Out....as above.
15. Paul Revere and The Raiders....Just Like Me... as above.
And that's a wrap as our show was shortened due to Mustang Sports happening. Huge thanx to all the phone ins during this show, the phone just kept lighting up as so many of us are big Paul Revere and The Raiders fans!! We only got to see them once, right here in London Ontario at the yearly Western Fair. The band was playing the grandstand and it was a packed and appreciative audience! The band rocked and rolled, told jokes, told stories and the history of not only the band, but the 60's pop scene and how they fit in! One of the best and most memorable shows ever!!
We'll be back next week with Part 4 of The Knights Of Fuzz As Heard On 7" Records.
Here's a link to the archived show:
http://chrwradio.ca/programs/radio-what-wave
October 10, 2014 5:46 AM CDT
Pink Street Boys - Evel Knievel