I might add , too , The Hideout  , partly , lost it's sheen (Just for me.), because it's next to impossible to order a drink there , unless you're sitting at the bar , and , even that's no guarantee. I almost got into a fight there once , because some big hardass guy left his barstool , so I moved up to the bar , just long enough to get a drink and go. After all , he said nothing about coming back , but when he did , he opened a tallboy can of testosterone. I merely told him the truth , that he was acting like a dick , and then ,I realized it was'nt a real good idea to stay. I normally don't say stuff like that , but , he worked my last good nerve. Another guy was giving me a lot of crap for no good reason while we were still waiting to get into the show. His buddy actually intervened , telling him  , " Look , if this guy wanted to insult YOU , he's got a lot of material to work with.".    I said , "Nah , it's OK. I used to have a beard , too , and I'll probably go bald , eventually.". Shut HIS ass up , anyway , but , I DON'T GO TO A SHOW OR A CLUB FOR THAT , ESPECIALLY A PLACE WITH A REP AS THE HAPPY GOODTIME FUN COTTON CANDY PALACE of Chicago.
 
John Battles said:

Hey , Joe ! Sorry I missed you at that Fleshtones show...Long , boring story behind that. Being that I live in Chicago , sometimes my take on things , clubwise , does'nt always keep up with popular opinion....OK , frequently. I'm not as into The Hideout as a lot of people are .... It's a really cool LOOKING place , for anybody that has'nt been there. And , yes , I have seen some really good shows there (Not even that many , as Insurgent Country , and some of the other music they showcase , is'nt my scene.). The first few years they were open , I liked 'em better than I do , now , but , again , that's just me.

Similarly with The Bottle , loved 'em the first 5 or 6 years they were open , but , they were booking a lot more bands that I'm personally interested in. People I meet , now , talk about them like they just opened last month. That's actually GOOD , But , being as how they opened about (Exactly?) 20 years ago , it does'nt seem so new to me. I liked it , best , when Lounge Ax was still open and both clubs gave each other healthy competition , and both venues were coughing up the shows. I still like 'em just fine , but I really only go there maybe 3 times a year , only because that's how often there's a show I feel like making the trek out there to see. I do want to say , tho' , I've played there maybe 5 times , mostly Roctober - related reviews where I only did short sets , 10 minutes on average (But , I was very glad to do them.). You know , all of those things went fine , low pressure gigs , where my Editor , Jake Austen , handled most of the arrangements. But , the first BIG show I played on there was with The Gories , last October , and I do have to say , everything about the way everybody there treated me , and handled the situation as a whole , was 100 % top notch , from a performer's point of view. I was blown away by how professional everything was being run , so , of course , I'd love to play there again  , especially if I'm lucky enough to be in a situation like that.
 
Joe Bonomo said:

The old 9:30 Club in Washington DC, Empty Bottle and the Hideout in Chicago.

By "Dance Club" , BTW , I just mean a BARN where DJs played Rock and Pop music of the day ('82 or '83.)....Already too square for me , but there is'nt much to do in a town so small
 , that for years you had to buy your records at WAL-MART (They did have The Fleshtones' First LP.). I was accosted , and told to get off the floor , for dancing with myself (Uh - huh - huh - ho.).
John Battles said:

I guess I forgot to say what else I liked about The Hot Klub. There was a remarkable energy about the place , when the band would come on , you'd instantly have a packed dance floor , or , at least , a respectable showing. Now , it is'nt cool to dance to Rock'n'Roll .You can get people dancing like their nads are on fire , but , usually , only with totally UNdanceable music.But , The Hot Klub was the kind of place where people just wanted to rock out , and it did'nt matter if you were a very good dancer , or if you did'nt have a partner , or if you danced with a member of the same gender (None of these things would bat an eye , today , but , 30 years ago , sheesh !).  I was told to stop dancing at a "Dance" club one time , why? Because I was'nt dancing with a partner. That , and the decor was kind of low rent , but artistically pleasing enough. Above the stage , the club's name was written in spraypaint (The spraypaint "Mural " , mostly of band logos , by the bands themselves, at the front entrance was priceless. Bands like X, Big Boys , Circle Jerks , Misfits , and others , sprayed their name in big "Fonts" on the wall. In fact , Black Flag spraypainted their own name (During guess which song?) below the "Hot Klub" logo . One witty individual painted out the "l" in "Flag". The walls , mostly black , with artistically arranged mirror glass shards , looked down on a cool black and white tile dance floor (Very 50's looking , tho the floor itself was probably laid out before talking pictures.). It had an atmosphere that was seedy but arty , too. Art should have a seedy quality , anyway.
 
John Battles said:

Some of my faves , in this life , include The Hot Klub in Dallas. Not the first , but the second Punk/NewWave WHATEVER venue in Dallas (ca. 80 - 83.), and the first real club I got to go to , tho' nowhere nearly as often as I wish I had , because I was still underage.

The Purple Onion in San Francisco. This venue has undergone MANY changes , in terms of location and theme , and Many LONG gaps between different versions of the club.

But , I went there , once , in 1999 (I think.) while visiting friends and family in The Bay area.

I saw The Loons , Dukes of Hamburg and Tee and The Crumpets , great show all around , and yes , the club at that time was very cool - looking , but , the bottom line was , people came there to have fun , I mean a LOT of fun. Women were coming up to me and asking me to dance. That used to happen all the time in  the early 80's , but , rarely today. I'm just as guilty , I generally don't ask ladies I don't know to dance anymore , tho' it's been known to happen.... The whole atmosphere was like being on the set of "Riot on Sunset Strip". The barmaid was go - go dancing up on the bar  . Russell Quan was eating a banana and an orange , leaving the peels on the floor , pissing himself laughing whenever someone stepped on the banana peel , meeting Dominic Priore , and my good friends , Mike and Anja Stax (It was the first time we'd met in person , tho' we'd been in touch for a while.).

Anja looked stunning , of course , but also stunningly familiar , I could'nt place it , where I would have seen her or her picture before. She told me she had played in a band in England a couple of years previously , but , I misunderstood her when she told me the band's name. I thought "What's a nice girl like this doing in a band called DOG BOLLOCKS ?!". Twenty minutes into my ride back to my friend's house , it hit me. She said DIABOLIKS !!! No wonder I thought I recognized her , I have their records.  But , even stronger and stranger deja vu occured when I saw this older guy , brooding , but enjoying the show. It was kind of dark , but , he looked very familiar , like someone I think I met in the early 80's. Well , he should have , that's when I met Jello Biafra.

Best clubs for R´n´R shows?? Hafenklang,Grosse Freiheit in Hamburg or Paradiso(Amsterdam).Wild at Heart and SO36 in Berlin.

I concur!  CHEERS Paul!

Paul Messis said:

Guys.... shameless self promotion here... But I feel my sounds are pretty good NEW garage.

www.paulmessis.moonfruit.com.... on arsebook too.

Paul

Hi John,

what you said bout the Nervebreakers is absolutly true-do you have their live cd with (good-ole)ROKY ERICKSON.WONDERFULL!!!Live in Dallas ´79-perhaps Rokys best live cd ever.Superb......no more to say!
 
John Battles said:

I'm not hearing much , personally. Wait , did I already answer this ? If not ,Sons of Hercules (Around roughly 20 years , tho' , and I do mean roughly.) , Ugly Beats , Velveteen Loveseat , The Dyes (Rockabilly meets Garage by way of The Cramps and Wanda Jacksonmeets the eternally great , but , public interest could go spiraling into oblivion , AGAIN ,  due to people thinking they're the ONLY band of their kind , The Sonics ,  and no longer obscure Rockabilly covers - tho' no one else will DO most of 'em.) , Woggles , ? and The Mysterians , New Colony Six , Alarm Clocks , Remains , Kenny and The Kasuals (On a good night.) , Love Me Nots (Tho' not all of their most recent stuff.) , Wooly Bandits ( Ditto.) , Nervebreakers ( Too garage for The Punk Scene , Too Punk for The Garage Scene. What higher praise do you need?) Eve and The Exiles (Austin , Blues / Garage Rock'n'Roll. Ex - members of Sir Douglas Quintet and Neurotic Sheep.), Gories , Msr. Jeffrey Evans , and probably some other cool stuff.

Guys.... shameless self promotion here... But I feel my sounds are pretty good NEW garage.

www.paulmessis.moonfruit.com.... on arsebook too.

Paul

I think you mean "Ugly Things" magazine. Also check out bands on Soundflat Records in Germany for a good mix of new European bands.

Duke Of Earl said:

It's hard to keep out of the past because I generally like old bands better(even the obsurities) but I figure the more current bands, the more live shows. Do the Nervebreakers, and Remains still play live. That would get me out. With the Ugly Beats it appears your referring to the band, though I really liked the magazine. I would want to read more of those. I can tell that you have similar interest in wild rock bands.

-StayCool

It's hard to keep out of the past because I generally like old bands better(even the obsurities) but I figure the more current bands, the more live shows. Do the Nervebreakers, and Remains still play live. That would get me out. With the Ugly Beats it appears your referring to the band, though I really liked the magazine. I would want to read more of those. I can tell that you have similar interest in wild rock bands.

-StayCool

John Battles said:

I'm not hearing much , personally. Wait , did I already answer this ? If not ,Sons of Hercules (Around roughly 20 years , tho' , and I do mean roughly.) , Ugly Beats , Velveteen Loveseat , The Dyes (Rockabilly meets Garage by way of The Cramps and Wanda Jacksonmeets the eternally great , but , public interest could go spiraling into oblivion , AGAIN ,  due to people thinking they're the ONLY band of their kind , The Sonics ,  and no longer obscure Rockabilly covers - tho' no one else will DO most of 'em.) , Woggles , ? and The Mysterians , New Colony Six , Alarm Clocks , Remains , Kenny and The Kasuals (On a good night.) , Love Me Nots (Tho' not all of their most recent stuff.) , Wooly Bandits ( Ditto.) , Nervebreakers ( Too garage for The Punk Scene , Too Punk for The Garage Scene. What higher praise do you need?) Eve and The Exiles (Austin , Blues / Garage Rock'n'Roll. Ex - members of Sir Douglas Quintet and Neurotic Sheep.), Gories , Msr. Jeffrey Evans , and probably some other cool stuff.

I knew I should have bookmarked the website I saw announcing the reissue of The Gizmos split with Dow Jones & The Industrials "Hoosier Hysteria." Early this year I was on a website that said the record would be repressed by, what I believe was, this past October. I have been unable to track down any confirmation of that.

I was excited that it would be out on vinyl, not CD.

http://www.slippytown.com/gizmos.htm  Seems to be the go-to site for The Gizmos, but nothing on the Hoosier album.

Anyone know if this is actually in the works or out already?

You don't want to put stuff in the boot of a Mini; it gets wet! Mind you, stuff gets wet on the floor too, best just put it all on the seats.... the old Ludwig kit - bass drum, floor tom/rack tom (inside it - top skins only) went on the back seat, cymbals on top of bass drum, snare on top of that, suitacase full of things on the front seat, hi-hat sand and big boom cymbal stand on floor in back.

I'd quite like another Mini.....

I recently picked up a 1963 Silvertone Head/Cab and a Fender Esquire w/ a hot 50s pickup, and a Colorsound OverDriver. This set up can take me from 60s Stones to 72 at Madison Square Garden. The pickup almost makes the Esquire sound like a Les Paul Jr with more twang.

It balances out nicely with my SG and Traynor. Though I have modded my Traynor so it combines elements of Vox, Marshall, and Hiwatt. For any kind of gritty rock it can't be beat. I use a modded DOD 250 and LPB-1 at times too. Any crude transistor based pedal and a tube amp will get you great rock tones from fuzzed out Black Keys to stringy twangy Black Lips and everything in between.

cool

Hell YEAH-great stuff.THIS is R´n´R-history.

chuckle

Even better.

You should be able to buy the DVD from J. Michael McCarthy (Guerrilla Monster films). Try emailing him: mike@guerrillamonsterfilms.com

http://www.guerrillamonster.com/movies/sore_losers/index.html

Thanks for posting!  I have never seen the film but I have the soundtrack on vinyl. I do not know where to stream unfortunately.

know any sites to stream this movie?

A better experiment might be to buy a cheap speaker for your current amp to modify into Swiss-cheese. Smaller inexpensive amps tend to distort all on their lonesome. A franken-speaker in yer gigin' amp may give you a better idea when played at gig volume. Link Wray use ta' poke holes in his speakers and keep the volume ALL the way up.

Jamie said:

Cool choices. Have you ever tried the infamous "poke holes in your amp" trick? I haven't yet, but one of these days I'm going to get a small amp and try it out. I heard that Dave Davies had a small amp that he then ran through Vox AC30 I believe. If I could find a small cheap amp I would try it.

Scratch that. it's been resecheduled AGAIN for the 8th instead. What a network.

Andy Seven said:

"Oil City Confidential" will be on the Documentary Channel this coming Wednesday, December 7th. Hot diggity dawg.

'When You Find Out' may well be one of my all time favorite pop tunes. Here's another:

Gotta check out this video by Just Jeffery (of Tranzmitors) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2I71e3mwl0

Check out Vancouver's 'Vicious Cycles' 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J1JBuckGs0