I have a separate source than Rob's that told me this news a few months ago, but I was not sure if it was true.

Hey Rob, if you possibly come across any links announcing this, please post it here. It really sucks it's the end for these guys, so any news clearing up the fog would be great!

Bummer. They're one of those bands who everyone into "garage rock" knows about... and they either seem to be loved or hated. I always had a lot of respect for them, and thought their music was pretty cool and solidified the whole Rochester, NY garage scene. I have all of their early LPs and there's some great stuff on those, and I also really liked their "Mindbending Sounds" LP that came out on Sundazed several years back. I don't think I ever heard their last one on Wicked Cool (Little Steven's label)... probably should try and find that one. Got to see them live open for the New York Dolls several years back, too, and they stole the show. Great live band.

Unfortunate, but it doesn't surprise me, though...Wonder what the story is?

i love being the bearer of this bad news. i was told from a very inside source that the Chesterfield Kings have (finally) called it a day. :)

it's really well done & funny & amazing! I was really honored to be in the comic! They didn't tell me in advance...they just waited till i read it (on the plane home from ny from deejaying at the norton 25th anniversary shows) where i totally flipped! hahaha...

I haven't seen it yet, but I'll be ordering a copy soon. 

Dan Electreau said:

I was looking at this on the Norton Blog yesterday and was enticed. Has anyone seen it ?

I was looking at this on the Norton Blog yesterday and was enticed. Has anyone seen it ?

We all love Norton, right?

Check this out:

http://www.rockerzine.com/index.php/2012/01/kicksville-confidential-1-the-story-of-norton-records-now-as-a-comic-book/

Kicksville Confidential #1: The Story of Norton Records Now As A Comic Book!

 I was led to the punk, garage music because it was the opposite of what I was told was acceptable. I was raised in a Pentecostal household where all I could listen to were spiritual songs. Everything else was from Satan himself and if I listened to it I would burn in Hell for all eternity.

 But FM radio, the Animals, and cream magazine changed that.  Cream led me to Blue Cheer , MC5, and the Stooges. It went quickly down hill from that point. I'm sure if they were right I have a special place in hell waiting for me.

I'll try and keep this simple:

I saw some tv show special about 'new music' around 1980, it had Blondie, Gary Numan, etc, but what stood out to me was the Devo, Adam and the Ants and Lene Lovich stuff, they were total weirdo's from outer space and I wanted more - hey I was 13 and from the 'burbs.

Around 1981/82 I saw RUDE BOY on cable and picked up The Clash's Give Them Enough Rope shortly after that.

Met a guy in high school that had the Sex Pistols and Generation X stuff around '83, we borrowed each others records and became friends.

Then came skateboarding/Blag Flag/Dead Kennedy/etc. various hardcore albums/comps/etc. and finally going to as many punk/hardcore shows as possible.

Getting drunk on cheap German wine and listening to the Sex Pistols and The Dead Kennedy's. The Dead Kennedy's are still my favourite band to this day : )

Mr. Rotten

I'm pretty sure this was the first photo I ever saw of Johnny Rotten. My friend Trixie came into homeroom and showed me a news article -- she'd clipped it to show me. Pretty sure I have the article plastered in a book somewhere. Around Dec '76 or Jan '77? I read the article, stared at the photo, then refused to give it back to her. Got told off by the teacher for wrestling over it. The rest of the school year was pretty much wasted on me.

She and I had already been hooked on old Who LP's -- and when the Ramones lp came out, we both went on an all-day mission to find our copies. Success!

So we were ready for The Pistols. There was an awesome newsagent in Evanston, IL who stocked PUNK. Seriously, the only one in town:

Wish I'd been the one to buy 'em. Read hers. :-(

I've checked my school diaries from '78-'81 and there are photos pasted in of The Clash on almost every other page for 2 years running. Wow. What an impression they made. I'm sure if I hadn't seen 'em live, I wouldn't have been so stuck on them for so long.

Funny, there aren't there any homework listings, but almost every show or gig I attended is marked in girlish handwriting. I love how many pictures I have of Blondie. And Mick Jones! I guess The Rose came out that year, huh?

Remember The Effigies? DV8? The Special Affect? Don't know why, but I had a habit of clipping the show ads from The Reader (Chicago) and pasting them in. At the time, it seemed like overkill, but now I'm glad I did it.

Thanks Dave for the trip down cloudy memory lane. Mel

...and my favourite sound of guitar is in "The Calico Wall-I`m a Living Sickness".

if you are patient there is the posiibility to buy great sounding fuzz clones (!) cheap on ebay.

I bought for example a clone of the mosrite fuzzrite for 50 bucks (the original from the 60`s costs up to 400 Euros!) and it sounds perfect.

Not a lot of 60's mod bands around these days that I'm aware of...(besides ourselves!). Love to hear from others that don't peg their sound to late 70's revival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxc7q6CfT3w&feature=related

I've not heard the Pizzicato Five in years.

Marty Shane, Pacifiction Records said:

The Mods Revival in Japan solidified in 1981 with a big scooter run and festival called Mods Mayday (taken from the '79 comp). And they've been going strong every year since. A lot of the bands have been quite a mixture of garage punk, indie pop, shibuya kei, ska, along with some more pure Mods groups like The Collectors, The Fave Raves, The Neat Beats, The Shamrock... There's a 25th anniversary comp full of this stuff. There's also regular events connected to these organizers like March of the Mods. This site poorly needs updating, but it's done by the Mods Mayday people:

http://www.thisismodernworld.com/

Some of currently popular Japanese mods bands include:

THE MINNESOTA VOODOO MEN (suits with a garage edge)

THE BAWDIES (Beatles influence, huge right now, will support The Sonics this year)

THE MERCIES (like The Bawdies but all girls and much raunchier!)

THE SHALLOWS (Mods sound with a touch of GS)

THE SCARLETTES (from Osaka, Who covers and such)

And a bunch of girl groups come to mind SHANGHAI BABIES, THAT'S A NO-NO, SIX, THE PHANTASMS...

Some others mentionable are The Playmates, les Cappuccino even Pizzicato Five, known for mixing Mod fashion & sounds with Shibuya Kei electro-pop.

I'm probably missing a bunch but these are the ones that mind at the moment.

SKYLAR GREY

YEah man fucken EH!

Cheers Al !

Alan Creed said:

Onya Wig ... good stuff mate.

Onya Wig ... good stuff mate.

What would be a "worst video contest" without Jan Terri?

according to northern soul, there is a wonderful comp on "psychic circle" called "hide and seek".