Radio What Wave Playlist Sept 11/2014 Part 1 of The Knights Of Fuzz As Heard on 7" Records
Well that title is a real mouthful and speaking of full, we've got the brand new The Knights Of Fuzz book by Timothy Gassen which is absolutely full of garage music info!!! A thick 500 pager, brick sized volume, that we're going to dedicate the next several Radio WW's to!! Starting with this show, we're only going to be playing 7" records of the garagepunk variety! And this show we'll play a few bands that were highly influential to the 80's garage movement and then a few of the earlier bands (from the late 70's and onwards) that were influenced by the sounds of 60's garagepunk. Almost all of these bands are either mentioned or profiled in The Knights Of Fuzz. And we'll also have author Timothy Gassen in a phone interview to talk about the book and all things garage! But first a couple of things we didn't play last week and then we'll launch into the special
1. Great Dismal Swamis.....Phantom Tollbooth....from the 7" of the same name and we met these guys on the garagepunk hideout. From Norfolk Virginia and they rock!
2. Frankie And Jimmy....Just Like A Woman....from the just released Scream The Blues LP. We've been waiting for this duo from Hamilton Ontario to finally release this LP and here it is!! Record release show is happening next month.
3. Marshmallow Overcoat....The Knights Of Fuzz...from the recently released double LP, The Very Best Of. And it's the name of the brand new book!
4. The Flamin' Groovies...Shake Some Action...this particular version was released in 1980 on Line Records from Germany. Line Records released many, many fine 80's garage records as well as many 60's re-issues back in the late 70's and early 80's. The Flamin' Groovies were one of the few, if not only combo that were full on 60's sounds in the mid 70's. Outcast from the mainstream sounds in the US and treated with only a little more respect from the beginnings of the punk scene in the UK, they were always a band out of step with the times! But that sure didn't stop them from remaining true to their sounds and to us diehard fans!! They 've been around since the late 60's and as recently as a few months ago, were touring the world once again. I finally got to see them in Toronto last fall and they did NOT disappoint!!! One of my fave shows of all time!!!
5. The Flamin' Groovies....You Tore Me Down....from Bomp Records (1975) and the very first record on this label!! Head Bomper Greg Shaw was managing The Flamin' Groovies at the time and was predicting big things for them! The big thing was the start of a new record label that would spawn tons of garage, powerpop, punk and new wave records and become a highly influential label in the North American punk/new wave scene! Greg would go on to form the VOXX label that would release literally tons of garage and psychedelic records in the 80's and into the 90's. Greg Shaw was also the guy behind the highly influential zine, Who Put The Bomp (try and grab some original copies from the late 70's/early 80's and be prepared to be amazed! Or grab either of the 2 books on Bomp that came out in the last couple of years). Greg was also the guy behind the Pebbles series of re-issue LP's of 60's garage and psych that started coming out in the late 70's. The Knights Of Fuzz is dedicated to Greg who passed away in 2004.
6. The Flamin' Groovies...Him Or Me...the flip side of the above 7".
7. Ramones....I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend....Norton Records and from a 1975 Marty Thau produced demo. Another combo that was influential to many many bands and this demo has that cool 60's sound to it as the Ramones were huge fans of 60's bubble gum and girl group sounds! Norton is another excellent record label that has released some 60's compilations and TONS of other cool and essential sounds!! Never a dud on this record label!
8. The Cramps....Surfin' Bird....1978 Vengeance. The Cramps were another hugely influential band to many, not just the garage and psych combos that came after! Spin their second LP, Psychedelic Jungle (from 1981) and you'll hear fuzz oozing out all over your floor!! One of my all time fave LP's.
9. DMZ....You're Gonna Miss Me...Crypt Records from 1986 but recorded live in 1978. One of the first combos to tie 60's and 70's punk together to come up with their unique for the time sound!! An adreneline rush each spin! DMZ made it onto a major label, but the sound was tamed down a notch or so! Vocalist/keyboardist Monoman surfaced in the highly rated Lyres whom you'll be hearing on a later edition of this special. From Boston. And Crypt Records is the home of my alltime fave 60's compilation series, Back From The Grave!! New volumes coming out this fall!!
Right around this time, we had Timothy Gassen on to talk and talk and talk about the brand new The Knights Of Fuzz Book. Thanx for taking time out of your busy day to talk to us Timothy!!
10. The Slickee Boys....Gotta Tell Me Why....1979 on Limp Records. These guys (and gal) started with the 60's sounds in the mid 70's and released many, many fine records over the years. Based in Washington DC, they toured very rarely but did really well on home turf! One of the earliest to play these sounds and this particular song blows me away every time i hear it!
11. The Diodes...Red Rubber Ball...CBS Records 1977. This was the first of the so called punk/new wave records to come out of Canada and it sounds way more like 60's garage to these ears!! The Diodes were from Toronto and definitely had a 60's influence to their powerpop/new wave sounds!
12. The B Girls...Fun At The Beach....1979 Bomp Records. Toronto all girl combo that were grouped in with the punk/new wave combos of the time, but listening now, they sure do sound like a 60's combo to me. There was supposed to be an LP released on Bomp, but that never happened and in the late 90's, there was a CD released on OPM Records called Who Says Girls Can't Rock? that collected some unreleased, live and the 2 songs from this single. Drummer Marcy Saddy was from right here in sleepy London Ontario!
13. Hi-Fis....I Don't Know Why....Show Time Records late 70's/early 80's...Only 7" this combo released and it sure sounds like a certain British combo from the early to mid 60's! This Toronto band broke up and a couple of the members formed the long running Blue Rodeo that is still around.
14. Segarini....People Are Strange....1979 Bomb Records....Bob Segarini had previously been in The Wackers and then moved to Toronto to start a solo career with a powerpop sound. This is a live track and many of his recordings have some 60's sounds to them. His first solo LP, Gotta Have Pop is the one to start with.
15. Count Bishops....Route 66...from the Speedball EP from 1975 on Chiswick Records.....The Count Bishops released several LP's, all of which have that 60's punk sounds and this is their very first release. Features vocalist Mike Spenser who later went on to form The Cannibals who will start our next show in this series!
Big Thanx to Timothy Gassen for phoning in to talk about The Knights Of Fuzz book! And thanx for all the crazy phone calls, emails, facebook messages and Heys!!!
I've been having a blast digging throught my 7" records to find stuff to play for this series, and there's a TON of stuff that i've just gotta play over the next few show!! So many cool records you gotta hear!!
Ryan In The Red will be filling in next week, and you can catch his regular show, Rock City Madness on the garagepunk hideout. Part 2 of this series will resume on Thursday Sept 25th at 6PM ET!!
And here's a link to the podcast which will only be up 2 weeks:
http://chrwradio.ca/programs/radio-what-wave