The Gruesomes , how could I forget.....I saw the reformed band a few years back , sounded great. Deja Voodoo were hilarious. Their first LP was like a Cramps bootleg (The Cramps are plenty hot'n'horny with me, bt , it's cool.). Bloodshot Bill played drums at a "Reunion" show a while back. We were all just watching the sexual revolution slip right out of our hands , and listening to our older friends BRAG about it. Nothing revolutionary about that . Yeah , Hardcore alienated people that were'nt into the violence, the asexual stance, and the refusal to be influenced by anything pre- 1980.  Now, I liked some of it , to a point , but , it had a short shelf like with me , and there was so much more going on , IF you were willing to look......    Someone else got the memo , because , when The Butthole Surfers started to become popular , the press and the patrons alike mistook them for a Hardcore band ,all because of their name.   They were slow as HELL I when I first saw'em , in 1982.  But , they found their thing , and it was very Psychedelic .Evenif it had a short shelf life , too.  

Next thing you knew , more bands were moving away from Hardcore and more toward Psych.  In Dallas , where I lived , we had two key Psych bands ,The Peyote Cowboys and Lithium Xmas , but there was no Garage scene at all , except the Shitty Beatles (The originals. accept no substitute.) , but ,they were'nt widely accepted at  the time , as they were in their mid 30's , looked nerdy , wore glasses and , well , some of 'em were a bit on the  heavy side , and did'nt have that "Underground" look , you know , Led Zeppelin locks , but that made them more human. Of course , to look like that , NOW , and maybe throw in a baseball cap or some sweatpants , the ladies would have to take a number , you'd be booked solid !      I've mentioned those bands before.....Burning Rain , Hash Palace , and a revamped Other Side (Who were previously more Hendrix/Cream HARD ROCK) formed in my absence , AND TRIED TO KEEP THE PSYCH GAME GOING , But  , without stealing the still - active Lithium Xmas' thunder. ....... SO , WHEN i FINALLY GOT TO WHAT Garage  fans called "The Promised Land" , L.A. , IN 1987 , IMAGINE MY SURPRISE , Cruisin ' The  Sunset Strip , seeing none of the "Bogus Sky Saxons" promised me in "KICKS " MAGAZINE, but , instead a lot of Bogus ROBERT PLANTS. BAD METAL WAS KICKING PUNK , ROCKABILLY , AND GARAGE OUT TO THE CURB.  Some of those bands could gig on occasion , but , it was METAL UBER ALLES.

THIS was rebellion?!!! Oh , well. Sorry to get so longwinded. yeah , I have one of your magazines , Dave. Very cool.

whatwave dave said:

Cool vid Mel, haven't seen that one before!

And i still haven't left the garage since entering in the early 80's....saw as many of those bands as was possible back then, and bought as many records as i could afford. Still digging most of that stuff to this day as well as most of the new garagepunk stuff. We did a zine in the 80's/90's that covered the garage zine from a Canadian perspective...ie Gruesomes, 10 Commandments, UIC, Deja Voodoo etc. Even releasing some records and many compilation cassettes that came with the zine.

Like John says about Plan 9, they were just amazing live, and each time you'd see them they would be different. First time we saw them they were straight 60's punk, next time some psych influences, then some jazz influences and last time more rock'n'roll. One of the best live bands from that era, but overlooked by many as they weren't straight 60's clones.

Some of my fave bands from that era include; Miracle Workers, Crawdaddys, Gruesomes, Tell-Tale Hearts, Fuzztones, Fleshtones, Morlocks, Hypstrz, Barracudas, Plasticland, Brood and so many more....gotta go spin some vinyl now that i've whet may appetite!

melissa scott said:

Some of us were hanging out in the garage in the early '80's. And some of us never left ;) Check out this interview from Boston with the Prime Movers.

I hear you all on the disposable income issue.  I had the advantage of being near a good college radio station and lots of used record stores where I knew the owners real good.  A lot of the Voxx bands were pretty formulaic and tried too hard to recreate the 60's garage movement.  Funny thing is, as with the Cramps, the original songs these bands covers where a lot move interesting and better than their cover versions. You just can't recreate the energy that horny, adolescent teens at the dawn of the sexual revolution had.  It was all new, fresh and original in the pre-summer of love 60's.  I will say that the 80's garage revival was a welcome diversion for me from the overly political and cynical hardcore punk movement of the time.  The garage scene was a lot more fun, plus that audience had a lot more women with it, which was OK by me.  lol

Cool vid Mel, haven't seen that one before!

And i still haven't left the garage since entering in the early 80's....saw as many of those bands as was possible back then, and bought as many records as i could afford. Still digging most of that stuff to this day as well as most of the new garagepunk stuff. We did a zine in the 80's/90's that covered the garage zine from a Canadian perspective...ie Gruesomes, 10 Commandments, UIC, Deja Voodoo etc. Even releasing some records and many compilation cassettes that came with the zine.

Like John says about Plan 9, they were just amazing live, and each time you'd see them they would be different. First time we saw them they were straight 60's punk, next time some psych influences, then some jazz influences and last time more rock'n'roll. One of the best live bands from that era, but overlooked by many as they weren't straight 60's clones.

Some of my fave bands from that era include; Miracle Workers, Crawdaddys, Gruesomes, Tell-Tale Hearts, Fuzztones, Fleshtones, Morlocks, Hypstrz, Barracudas, Plasticland, Brood and so many more....gotta go spin some vinyl now that i've whet may appetite!

melissa scott said:

Some of us were hanging out in the garage in the early '80's. And some of us never left ;) Check out this interview from Boston with the Prime Movers.

Some of us were hanging out in the garage in the early '80's. And some of us never left ;) Check out this interview from Boston with the Prime Movers.

I guess , by that , we'd be more like middle aged. I was around then , but , did'nt have the income to be buying a lot of untested product. I loved The Fleshtones from the word "Go". My Brother had their first album . I was hearing some of the Voxx stuff on George Gimarc's radio show in Dallas , like The Crawdaddys , Chesterfield Kings , and I was reading about those bands , as well as The Tell Tale Hearts  and others in some of the bigger rock mags , and maybe the exceptional New York Rocker , too. But , it seemes like that stuff peaked around '84 , but , it was'nt until '86 that I was getting caught up with more of it.....

But , in Punk Rock TERMS , TWO YEARS WAS'NT A BIG DEAL. I MEAN , AGAIN , YOU HAD THE INNATE HIPNESS AND THE DISPOSABLE INCOME TO BUY 76 -77 PUNK ROCK RECORDS , OR YOU LISTENED TO IT WHEN YOU COULD , AND BOUGHT IT , LATER. SAME WITH GARAGE REVIVAL RECORDS......I LOVED THE PANDORAS' FIRST TWO RECORDS (THO , I FEEL THE BROOD LATER BEAT THEM AT WHAT USED TO BE THEIR OWN GAME.). For all the hatin' The Fuzztones get , they presented their thing in such a way that fans of just straight ahead Rock'n'Roll could get into it. That said , I think "Salt For Zombies" is their best release , and that was only , what ? 6 or 7 years ago?

Plan 9 had something unique , especially in Eric Stumpo's exceptional vocals and lead guitar. They did'nt care if they were accepted into the clubhouse or not. I only saw them once, when live Garage shows were VERY rare , and they were great.     A little later , or about the same time , I liked The Nomads , Stems , Stomachmouths , Thee Fourgiven , Royal Nonesuch , Cynics , and English Garage /Trash bands (Pron. "Gare - edge") like The Stingrays , Vibes , Huns (American , based in England) , Milkshakes (Billy Childish , before someone named him God.), Prisoners , Tall Boys, X-Men , etc.          Now , some of this stuff I still like , but , some of these bands that tried too hard to sound like The Pebbles Reissues , not so much. If you look around , The Fuzztones were'nt the only band preoccupied with their image.

my comment was deleted........I was a little bit too young to have witnessed the first Garage revival , but, remember , that really started as early as '74 with Greg Shaw and Bomp magazine. The Droogs were around as early as '73 , and tried to become Sky Saxon's backing band , but found him too far gone to work with.

MYSELF , I first saw The Fleshtones in '84. I was living in Dallas , so not many bands that you'd call "Garage " came thru ,  barring The Lyres (Who I missed) , Plan 9  (Who I missed , once , but saw in '86. I got in for free , because I was mistaken for a member of the band.) , The Pandoras (Who'd discarded the dayglo minis and Vox gear , but brought the rock , just the same.) , and not much else. These were the dark ages of teh Garage revival , or so it seemed.......

We had one Garage band , The Shitty Beatles (The originals) , though they were a lot more diverse that the average Garage band. They did Nuggets- era covers , Elvis covers ,Beatles covers , movie soundtrack songs , and their own insane repertoirre of originals. Everything that worked against them would have made them huge stars , today. They were nerdy , primarily overweight guys in their mid - 30's , they all wore glasss , and , the original Bassist had unfortunate facial hair Steam Punks would kill for. Dallas was a youth market at the time. It even took Reverend Horton Heat a while to get over , because he was over 25 and did'nt have Led Zeppelin hair.  A Psych/Garage movement was well on it's was by 84 - 85 , led by Lithium Xmas , whose singer/ Bassist , Mark Ridlen , had fronted the underrated Psych/Post Punk band ,   Quad Pi , and had evenappeared in Ron Howard's now - celebrated TV movie , "Cotton Candy". he classic lineup also featured Guitarist , Mark Griffin , late of The Telefones and The Jetsons. He'd have his biggest success as MC 900 Ft. Jesus. Primary Guitarist , Greg Sinodis , relocated to Seattle and still plays in bands there , today. IF HE WAS'NT SUCH A GOOD gUITAR PLAYER , HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN CREDITED FOR CREATING TEH GRUNGE SOUND. In reality , Cobain was a fan of the band , but , never said so.

The band plodded on for 12 years , picking up new members like Chris Merlick (Fireworks), my Brother, Tom Battles (T. Tex Edwards' Swingin' Cornflake Killers , Howling Dervishes , Jetsons.), Kimberly Pendleton (Backsliders.)and many others. In fact , the band once had 9 members , surely matching Plan 9 at their peak.   The band were masters of mind - melting Heavy Psych , but were on their way out when   Austin began to take credit for the new Texas Psych sound.....

The Peyote Cowboys started out as a six - piece utter mindfuck trainwreck of a band. They were glorious . Eventually , they paired it down to a three piece , decidedly more melodic brand of Psychedelia , still highly enjoyable. Like Lithium Xmas , The Butthole Surfers took them under their their wing , and the three bands often shared bills. The McDonald Bros. from Red Kross were slated to produce their first album. But , despite all this , teh band never turned out a commercial release . Guitarist/Singer , Murray Hammond , went on to bigger things as The Old 97's Bassist. Bassist , Brad Featherstone , appears to have dropped out of music , but is now well known for taping the infamous incident where  Kurt Cobain brained security guy , Tyner Blarcum (sic) , with his guitar, and was pummeled for his efforts. Drummer , Lorna Hicks , dropped out of music when the band broke up , but went on to be Roky Erickson's caretaker when he was at his worst. I believe people like Lorna , in their unselfishness , kept Roky going until he could get back on his feet. She's now happily married.

Later area Psych bands included Hash Palace and Burning Rain , as well as The Other Side , who'd been at it since about '85.

Neo-garage "old timers"? I'll get out my walker and declare, "YES! I was there and I still am."  ;)  

I'm proud to have remained in the garage underground since the early 1980s(!?!), in garage bands, making lots of records, touring the globe, doing radio shows, writing books about it, shooting videos and releasing DVDs, etc.

I surely hope some of the newcomers to garage will still be carrying the paisley flag 30 years from now so they can be called, with pride, an "old-timer"! :)

And my KNIGHTS OF FUZZ book -- which details the garage-psych rebirth @1980-now -- is being updated and will be avbailable Spring 2014. The original has long been OOP.

So bands & labels: get in your info updates and new sounds to me ASAP!
http://www.purple-cactus.tv/garage-nation/knightsoffuzz.html

Thanks and keep bringing the FUZZ! :)

What he said. It's too easy to find out about the original stuff , today. We had crappy books , shit liner notes (EVA records , anyone?) , and GOOD zines that were very difficult to find .....Reissues are generally much bette r, too , so , I hope the younger fans will stay with it . In 30 YEARS' TIME , THEY'LL each KNOW ENOUGH TO WRITE A BOOK....OR SEVERAL.

btw , DID'NT MEAN TO MAKE MY LAST COMMENT on "The Adventures of ME" SO LONG. iT WAS LATE. I will say , when I moved to Chicago , i quickly learned that there was a happening Garage scene (There were about FIVE of us !).... The Cynics , ChesterfiELD kINGS (wHO WERE GETTING AWAY FROM THAT SOUND BY THEN , but had a good balance of 60's and 70's Punk , first time I saw them.), Lyres  - Sorry. Pretty unexciting . I know there are more Supercentaurians (People who've lived to be 110 AND OVER.) THAN PEOPLE WHO AGREE....Royal Nonesuch , From St. Louis , all these bands played out quite a bit. We had one Garage band in the late 80's , Fang Beach. Virtually all (Obvious) covers , with a sorta Pop approach. They meant well. There've been MAYBE 10 or 12 local bands I'd call "Garage" since.

Western Mass. 1984