well, there's actually been a few people either from playing with them or after said person's gig:
Joe Strummer and Mick Jones; Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian; Glen Mattlock; Sylvain Sylvain and Arthur "killer" Kane ( literally just one month before he passed away, backstage at their first reunion gig); Jayne County; Lenny Kaye; Alan Vega; Shane McGowan;
and a few more that at the moment don't sping to mind.

I have met alot of cool 'celebs' of the punk new wave scene.....to name a few
Bruce Foxton of The Jam
Micheal Stipe REM....early indie REM !
Marky Ramone
Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers
etc..
All great experiences too!

cool responses

lots of good ideas

4 seems like a cool number to start with

yeah it's like an ep - and it just struck me as a good target

In your band, stick to what you are good at.

For example, I'm normally pretty good with coming up with an theme or idea for a song and the bassist fills in the rest.

I also find picking a chord progression (just like A G A C) then elaborating it to make it original and your own. I'm also a big fan of tempo and volume changes and fewer riffs, but that depends what sort of stuff you're into.

so who are all the name checked bands you have in mind? there are quite a few of them. best way to start with a garage rock song is to have a title (which usually turns into your chorus) or a set of situations around a common theme or a catchy riff of some sort, either a melody or a guitar riff. if you have any or all of the above, you should be set to write some songs. why 4? you planning to put out a 4 song EP ? spike P.

Hey

I sit here writing this really not knowing where to start with song writing.

I'd love to write 4 or so Garage Rock songs in the vein of all the usual name checked bands with a view to jamming with friends and seeing if we can have a little combo with a couple of originals.

I'm a pretty good prose writer and stuff, doing a humanities degree and stuff so I really feel ought to be able to write nice simple songs.

Any tips, exercises would be more than welcome - no matter how basic they might seem to you!

Thanks for anything,

George

I will be using mobineko for the first 45 with thee Gravemen, they are cheap and hopefully good quality, will let you know how it sounds in a month or so

Hi, I just found this place the other day: http://www.mobineko.com/ Have anyone tried them? It looks very cheap but I have no idea on the quality. cheers! Andreas

The Sonics is meant to be all amps - and technique of course!

I still don't know how Parypa got that toppy tone even off of the 6th string on 'The Witch,' it bugs me a bit because it's as if he's the only man that can play the damn song. That's fair I suppose.

My current Fuzz is now an Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff - which is great. It's better for the more "modern" stuff I'm into though. QOTSA and Smashing Pumpkins etc.

A friend and I are going to look into assembling our own pedals, so I'd definitely get some 60s fuzz kits to put together.

I'd like to try the Tonebender and the Fuzzrite for sure.

just seen him in greensboro last night great show. although sarah was not there. she was in LA with her jazz band. great show never the less.

Michael Kaiser said:

Grrtch said:

or come to Atl Mar 13! ain't THAT far from ya...

Gretchen, I don't leave my house!

Driving an hour up to Nashville is axin' a bunch out of me. Hahaaha!

I'll keep watchin' for it.

Grrtch said:

or come to Atl Mar 13! ain't THAT far from ya...

the tour's not done... they are trying to plan a swing up into KC and StL region which would presumably incl Nashville and Memph - essential stops. keep tabs on their myspace... www.myspace.com/dexterromweberduo or come to Atl Mar 13! ain't THAT far from ya...

I've looked over the list several times, but as of yet haven't seen the Nashville, or Middle Tennessee dates... Please help me find them so I can mark my calendar!

I spied this on their myspace blog... looks like a sweet deal. Dex Romweber Duo Street Team Wants You! We're looking for fans who will help us put up tour posters, put out flyers and post digital posters on Myspace and blogs in any of the cities on this tour. In return you will get passes to the show in your town. Extra promotional efforts get you backstage after the show to meet Dex and Sara. All work will be required to be verified. Please contact me for more information. Thanks, Brett Steele Steele Management 7002 124th Terrace N. Largo, FL 33773 727/953-9277 phone/fax 727/420-1547 cell brsmgt@tampabay.rr.com www.myspace.com/steelemanagement Feb 5 2009 8:00P Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York Feb 6 2009 8:00P Apollo Theater New York, New York Feb 7 2009 8:00P Apollo Theater New York, New York Feb 8 2009 8:00P 9:30 Club Washington, Washington DC Feb 10 2009 6:00P In-store Schoolkids Records Raleigh, North Carolina Feb 14 2009 9:30P CD Release Party at Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC Feb 21 2009 8:00P The Jinx Savannah, Georgia Feb 26 2009 8:00P The Blind Tiger Greensboro, North Carolina Mar 11 2009 9:00P Snug Harbor Charlotte, North Carolina Mar 12 2009 4:00P In-store Horizon Records Greenville, South Carolina Mar 12 2009 9:00P Bohemian Cafe Greenville, South Carolina Mar 13 2009 9:00P Star Bar Atlanta, Georgia Mar 14 2009 8:00P Southgate House Newport, Kentucky Mar 15 2009 8:00P The Dame Lexington, Kentucky Mar 17 2009 8:00P Crazy Mel’s Clarksdale, Mississippi Mar 25 2009 8:00P Bronco’s Sports Bar and Grill Hurst, Texas Mar 28 2009 9:00P The Hut Tucson, Arizona Mar 30 2009 8:00P Rhythm Room Phoenix, Arizona Apr 2 2009 9:00P Radio Room San Diego, California Apr 4 2009 8:00P Redwood Bar Los Anegles, California Apr 9 2009 8:00P The Parkside San Francisco, California Apr 10 2009 8:00P Kennel Club Sacramento, California Apr 11 2009 8:00P Whiskey Dicks South Lake Tahoe, California Apr 18 2009 8:00P The Winterland Bremerton, Washington DC

Anyone heard "200 Million Thousand" yet?

Total psych freak-out.

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican February 20, 2009 Bet you didn't know that one of the original Rolling Stones used to live in Taos. No, not Mick or Keith or any of those other limeys who popped up in the '60s. I'm talking about Andy Anderson, the founder of a first-generation rockabilly band by that name, which sprang out of Clarksdale, Mississippi, in the mid-1950s; he sang songs like "Johnny Valentine" and "Tough, Tough, Tough." He never sold a fraction of the records the latter-day Stones did. But Mick Jagger can't say he helped build a New Mexico state fish hatchery, now can he? I recently received a package of CDs with a personal note from Andy. "Many of these songs were written when we lived in Taos. Many great memories from Santa Fe and the area." He went on to write that he lived in Taos between 1976 and 1988. The CDs he sent are all titled One Man's Rock & Roll. My favorite is subtitled The Early Years 1955-1965. The other two, which also include some dang good tracks, are more recent recordings. They are subtitled Anthology Vol. 1 and Anthology Vol. 2: Party Down. Like many ascended masters of the blues, Anderson grew up on a Mississippi plantation. One big difference: he wasn't a sharecropper. His parents owned the plantation. The liner notes for The Early Years say that as a child he actually went to live shows featuring the likes of Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, and B.B. King. Anderson formed The Rolling Stones during his college years at Mississippi State University. A 2005 interview with The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, quotes the singer talking about his early years with The Stones: "Nobody drank. We were clean livin' rock 'n' rollers, good old boys who just wanted to make music and took everything for granted. We didn't want a million dollars, we wanted more gigs." Clean living? That doesn't sound like the Rolling Stones most of us know. The group cut a lot of records, even some at Sun Studio with Jack Clement as producer. Alas, those songs have yet to be released. The Early Years, however, is a great sampler of Anderson's Rolling Stones years and of his work with his next band, The Dawn Breakers (from 1959 on). Though you never hear them on oldies radio, Anderson had some extremely cool tunes. There's "Johnny Valentine" — three versions of which are included in this collection — a song about a rockin' Romeo who "goes out with the girls all of the time/He's in love with 'em all; he goes out every night/He's got about a hundred; he likes to hold 'em tight." "I-I-I Love You" is simple and greasier than Kookie's comb. And "Tough, Tough, Tough," is a punchy little rocker that lives up to its name. Unlike the golden gods of rockabilly whose names we all cherish, Anderson had some regional hits, but he never quite caught on. He kept his day job as manager of an electrical- supply store and kept recording through the late '60s. The later songs on The Early Years show Anderson progressing beyond rockabilly, incorporating elements of soul, R & B, and country. He worked the business end of the music biz too. During a stint in California in the late '60s, he was part of a management company whose clients included Jefferson Airplane, The Seeds, and Canned Heat. Anderson had all but given up on music by the early 1970s. But then he hooked up with a songwriter named J.J. Hettinger and started a band called The Eagle and the Hawk. The group relocated to New Mexico in the mid-'70s — perhaps because they heard our music industry was for the birds. Not only did Anderson play music in Taos, he also sold real estate. And though he didn't mention it in his note to me, he spent some time in Albuquerque building custom homes. Shortly after moving to Taos, Anderson lost a finger in a mishap with a hydraulic lift. That was the end of The Eagle and the Hawk. Anderson started a construction company called Big Valley Land & Construction. According to his biography in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame Web site, the company was subcontracted to help build the state fish hatchery near Questa. But Anderson's hard luck continued. "The general contractor on the project went bankrupt," the Web site says. "This cost Andy his profit from the job and forced him to liquidate his company to pay off all of his debts." By this time, Anderson was doing some gigs and even some recording with local musicians. But he returned to Mississippi by the end of the '80s, reportedly so he could work with hard-core Southern rockers. The two anthologies are from his post-New Mexico period. While they aren't as much fun as the '50s and '60s recordings on The Early Years, there are some great blues-drenched boogie stompers here. These include "Wichita Watchita Omaha Cowboy," "Red Dog Cider," "Sweet Imogene," and "Damned Old Ford." Then there's "Fuzzy Stuff," which starts out "I went on down to the fabric store." Anderson's voice has gotten rougher and gruffer with age, and it suits these songs well. Never has a trip to the fabric store sounded more fun or nastier. Unfortunately, too many slow ballads on these albums are sappy. Andy's more convincing as a tough old rocker than an old softie.

Sounds like you're probably missing an audio player-type plugin for your browser (something like QuickTime or RealPlayer). But all that will do is open the file and start it playing in a new window for you. If you're trying to download the file, then you'll need to right-click on the "DOWNLOAD" link, which should give you a menu for you to select a way of saving the file to your computer. At least that's the way it is on a Mac! ;) Leister Crow said:

well I was trying to have them downloaded in that manner however the browser kept coming up saying "Internet Explorer can't read page". I'm still living in an analogue age and this computer stuff is still kinda foreign to me, I'll give it another go hopefully it works. Thanks for your help.

If you find you struggle with a song try to change the key you play it in... And try eating some extra strong mints... They open up yah lungs fer extra power...

drink rotgut whiskey. chainsmoke.

ad nauseum.

Some punk singer dude told me to pull your set of songs thru when you rehearse - either with your band or alone - just in one go, like you would do at a show live. Take time, go wild, jump around, mess up, go crazy, yell! Put in more calm tones, high, low, grunts, everything you can think off. Breath the max outta your lungs.
If you are so inclined you can record that stuff on a tape or something, to hear how you sound.

It's about seeing how your voice reacts in all the circumstances you put yourseld thru. You'll see what's possible and where you can go and where you wanna push yerself for where you wanna go.

I hope this is somewhat helpfull!

IDON

Well, at the moment I'm a pretty terrible singer, which I know in the world of trash is far from the end of the world.

However, as we are going into the studio soonish, I'd like to improve somewhat.

Any useful tips out there? Any exercises? All I do atm is sing pretty much all day. Makes me look crazy as shit.

Thanks in advance

Gun Club - Miami
I lived in Fredericton New Brunwsick, with my girlfriend ( now wife ) while she attended school. I listened to that record every day.... and if Fredericton ain't all but a desert island, I don't know what is.
~T

The Electronic Hole album - raw, droning, hypnotizing and chock-full of fuzz - but housed in a an Electric Ladyland cover (you know which one).

"living on an island" by status quo(but don't ask me how it got there,ok!!!)

then with all the empty bottles i've emptied,i'd be writing a thousand messages for each and lobbing them back in the sea..
the quo song will drive me to a permanent alcoholic daze,and drive me to drink and write even faster than ever!

what would happen first?
would i die of alcoholic poisoning,exhaustion,or be saved?
only smarties have the answer.