guests MIKEY COLLINS, LEE MILLER & FRENCH FRED. £10, 10pm-10am ,ORLEANS WINEBAR.
13th MY BLOODY VALENTINE Live 6pm. HAMMERSMITH APOLLO
16th “CAVE CLUB” Sometimes, we all have GREAT drunk ideas, BUT 99% of the time, It’s long forgotten by the next morning... but on this rare occasion, we actually remembered the idea long enough to follow through... or maybe we’re just still drunk. The conviction that drove the fanzines we are all inspired by, seems to be long gone, but we feel like there is still something special going on here, and we want to talk about it. We hope you all like what we have to say, and if you don’t who give’s a shit, you didn’t pay for this. RAISSA & ADRIAN
Djset by Spider Webb, Tom Furse, Coffin Joe, Chris Hoodoo, Bad Seed Steve. 10pm, £6, BUFFALO BAR
17th THE FRINGES Live
at s.u.b.c.u.l.t.u.r.e.s., free entry, 3pm, NETIL HOUSE
19th THE MEN Live at 7.30 pm, GARAGE 21st NEIL’S CHILDREN Album Launch 8pm, sPOWER LUNCHES
22nd “SOME WEIRD SIN” 5, London special
Jonny Cola and The A-Grades + The Fallen Leaves Live. Guest dj Heidi Heelz. £4, 9pm, BUFFALO BAR
22nd STIFF LITTLE FINGERS Live 7.30 pm, THE FORUM
23rd “DIRTY WATER CLUB”
2nd
“ONE WAY TICKET RELEASE PARTY Free entry night. 16 Hole Boots live. Raissa, Adrian and Daniel djset. 8pm @ CAKEY MUTO
7th “YEAH AND SHE HAS RED LIPS TOO
release TWO singles, “We Don’t Want To Have To Fight You” and “(Get Down And) Disconnect”. £4, 8pm, HOPE AND ANCHOR
8th “GARAGELAND 70’s PUNK ROCK/
GARAGEPUNK CLUB” The Ricky C Quartet + The November Five + The Ladykillers + Spanking Machine. Special Guest Djs Jimmy Jones, Sam Hall, Katia & Adrian. Free entry, 8pm-4am, THE UNICORN CAMDEN LIVE
9th “MOUSETRAP R&B ALLNIGHTER
22 ANNIVERSARY” with free 45! RESIDENT DJ’s Chris Dale & Rob Bailey, special
Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds + The Dustaphonics LIve. 8pm, £12,50, SHACKLEWELL ARMS
24th ORDEN MUNDIAL Live £5, 8 pm, THE GROSVENOR
25th BEACH HOUSE Live
6.30 pm, O2 SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE
28th “LE BEAT BESPOKE”
Cornershop + Alfa 9 +Allnighter £15/20, 7.30pm, 229 THE VENUE
29th “BLACKADDER AND FRIENDS”
Djset Raissa and Oli paget-Moon. free entry, 8pm, BLACKSMITH & TOFFEEMAKER
31st “LE BEAT BESPOKE”
Jacco Gardner + The Beatroots+ Allnighter £15/20, 8.30 pm, 229 THE VENUE
Before you read any more of this article, please listen to the song… Go on, I’ll wait.
BY ADRIAN
First off, I’m a music nerd. I’ve spent endless hours from my teen years onwards doing nothing other than burrowing through the depths of the internet and finding as much music as possible. Learning as much about the bands I hear as I can lay my grubby mitts on. There really is nothing I love more than music… Maybe pizza? No, no. Definitely music. Anyway, with all the time I’ve spent listening to music, and immersing myself in power pop, it has to be said that a lot of songs are very similar. Considering there are only seven major chords to begin with, and the source point for near enough all power pop stemmed from The Beatles (harmony sung twangy guitar strummed melodic sugar coated sickly songs about girls and boys in love). It’s rare for me to be caught off guard by a power pop album.
Listened to it? Great, I’m glad you liked it. Now guess what? That was all performed, recorded, and produced by one man, Mr Tom Marolda back in 1979, long before the days of Garageband and pro tools, the convenience of MP3’s and the internet. Tom loved music, and was obsessed with learning how to play all the instruments he grew to love. He was disconnected to where he saw music was at, sat on his porch with his guitar and roughly composed about 40 songs. Then in a weekend recorded the majority of them, pressed a thousand or so LP’s of his favourites from the songs. The album has a great mix of songs staying fresh all the way through the album. With slow sweet songs and up-tempo punchy songs with great hooks, in fact the song “the Hook” is about, yes you guessed it hooks. It goes “repeat this hook line over and over – until you’ve got it memorised”, and trust me you will, I can’t remember many songs this catchy. The song “you must have crossed my mind” is one of the sweetest songs. With well used overdubs showing off Tom’s great vocal harmonising with himself, adding a real depth to all the sound of the song, whilst the lyrics get you with their sweet sentiment. If you’re at all mushy the song will get to you. With a good mix of fast and slow songs and a good mix of clever and fun lyrics this album really stands up in the ranks amongst such albums as The Records’ “shades in bed/ST”, and Paul Collins’ Beat “Self-titled” LP. It was a 100% DIY effort by Tom Marolda, making many several other punk/new wave/ power pop professional recordings sound dull in comparison. I hope reading this has convinced you to find the whole album and have a listen. If not, your loss. Cheers, Adrian
Not as obvious a classic as many others, criminally underrated and unknown, and for some reason The Toms don’t appear in any of the obscure “powerpearls” compilations. The Toms Selftitled Debut LP is without a doubt one of the best, catchiest, and original sounding power pop records of all time. Thanks to the internet it’s not even that hard to find, and some of you may already know it. If you do, good for you, if you don’t, and power pop is your thing I suggest finding it and having a listen. You should love it! Starting strong with “Let’s be friends again”, this song sets hits harder than five beefed up lads walking down Hoxton St. (Ask Dr. Fishlove). This song would make one hell of a 7”. The song has strong melodies, vocal harmonies, the sound of the guitar, the hooks, the enthusiastic playing, all the energy. Just a really great song and sets the tone for what’s in store on the rest of the album.
BY MAURO
Dictators: MANIFEST DESTINY This album has been so completely written out of history that you can even go to Manitoba’s bar in New York (run by the
band’s legendary frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba), which has a superlative selection of rock’n’roll on the jukebox, including everything by the Dictators – BUT NOT THIS ALBUM! I was actually lucky enough to be drinking there one night when Dick himself was behind the bar, and asked him why the hell this was - to be honest, I totally fail to remember what his answer was, either it didn’t make sense or nothing was making much sense at the time. Anyway, so this is the Difficult Second Album. And the Dictators had a lot of difficulties. Stuff like the Manitoba-Wayne County fracas probably didn’t help. They clearly got on the wrong side of a lot of people. Ungrateful sods, the lot of ‘em after all, the ‘Taters helped kickstart the whole scene with “Go Girl Crazy!” in ‘75 (a cartoonish riot of songs about cars & girls, teengenerates and two-tub men). The fact that the debut had leant fairly heavily on the band’s unique brand of Jewish Bronx hooligan humour probably created problems for their less jokey follow-up. I guess people liked the Dictators goofing off, and weren’t up for hearing them pouring out their tough-guy hearts on the likes of “Hey Boys”. But as is so often the case, people got it WRONG!
The period after “Go Girl Crazy!” was no laughing matter, anyway - the band found themselves dumped by their label due to poor sales, songwriter Adny “I Call The Shots” Shernoff had quit, and then was persuaded to rejoin. (They must’ve wanted Mark “The Animal” Mendoza on bass BADLY, cos it meant Shernoff moving over to keyboards - an odd move in retrospect, and probably another thing which didn’t help this album’s case. Punk rock legends led by the KEYBOARD player?!) But what about the SONGS? Ah you see, this is the point/problem. “Manifest Destiny” is so much more song-orientated than any other ‘Taters album. Some tracks even have pretty tasty harmonies (executed enthusiastically rather than perfectly). “Exposed” sounds like an attempt to crack FM radio, and is all the better for it. As a slice of butch powerpop, it’s flawless (as are Ross the Boss’s lead licks), with the band’s maverick lyrical bent still intact... “I gotta get away/I don’t wanna meet my maker/I gotta get away/I think I’ll become a Quaker”. And say what you like about Handsome Dick’s vocal abilities (though for Christ’s sake don’t do it to his face), he perhaps struggles with the more melodic material – but this just increases the album’s charm, far as I’m concerned!
“So pass the beer while I shed a tear/My heart was tawssed again”… Man, “Hey Boys” gets me every time. We’ve all been there, fellas - sometimes you just need your buddies and a night on the tiles to get over it. The other standouts (“Sleepin’ With The TV On” and “Steppin’ Out”) reveal Shernoff to be a topnotch songwriter and are up there with any powerpop you care to throw at me. If there’s one track I tend to skip, it’s “Disease”, which is too long and a bit of a pain in the arse. In fact, I’m skipping it now. I have no idea where the sudden fixation with science on Side Two comes from. What I do know is that “Science Gone Too Far!” and “Young, Fast, Scientific” (high-octane anthems closer in style to the first album) were the only ones that would still find their way into Dictators live sets years later. And yeah, the album closes with a respectably raucous rendition of “Search & Destroy”, but it feels like an afterthought to me – I’m sure it was more of a big deal hearing that song covered in 1977 than it is now. Anyway, all this pop didn’t work, the album sold dismally, and by the time the Dictators got round to making another (“Blood Brothers”) they’d pretty much given up on tunes in disgust. I think I accidentally gave Handsome Dick a $20 tip that night in his bar, y’know. I pointed this out to my drinking buddy, who assured me Dick wouldn’t have batted an eyelid – “He’s OLD school”. I thought better of mentioning it again, anyway – I figured it was the least I could do, considering my love for this album...
“I am so happy to have released my first record on Bomp, it has been in print since 1980, quite a testament!!! In the early days of Bomp, Greg Shaw was a musical visionary. There was so much new, good music being pioneered there an there were always cool bands and musicians hanging out. It was one of the first and most important indie labels then and still is today. As time went on, I had some well documented ‘differences’ with Greg and some of his choices for the band and eventually left under not great terms. When he contacted me about releasing the ‘Nikki and The Corvettes’ album as a CD in 2000, we resolved a lot of those issues and I am very happy to say that I have a great relationship with Suzy Shaw and Patrick Boissel who are now running Bomp/Alive and have talked about releasing a new record with them!” NIKKI from Nikki And The Corvettes
Modern Pets recently played in London and have since recorded a new 7” and LP. The 7” is coming out this month on This Charming Man-Records.
BY DANIEL
My name is Daniel Husayn, i’ve been playing in punk bands and involved with the punk scene for more than 20 years. I play in or have played in Thee Spivs, Red Dons, Role Models, Suspect Parts, Clorox Girls, Thee Chemicals. I’m originally from Portland Oregon and moved to London 5 years ago. Since then I have founded my own Mixing and Mastering studio where I work on new and old punk bands from all over the world. In this column I will write about some of the more interesting new records that come through my studio as well shows and tours of my bands and groups I enjoy passing through London. First off I’ve just come out of the studio where we have been working on Thee Spivs new LP out this summer once again on Damaged Goods. Looks like the next show we will play will be for the release of this. Lets save up our energy and see if we can make it as crazy as the last one. Another recording finished is a new Role Models single for Charity. Andy Brook of Strummers Recording Studio donated time and all the sales will go toward the National Autistic Society Haringey branch. It is also rumoured the Red Dons will be recording and playing in London soon. Thee Chemicals from Portland Oregon will be touring and will play Ryans bar at the beginning of April. The front man Jonny Cat’s performance is a spectical. For those of you in need of garage punk chaos in Stoke Newington and could use some Peppermint Schnapps don’t miss it. Their first Lp is getting repressed on Taken by Surprise for the occasion as well as a new LP to boot. I’ve been working with some great bands the past few months and here are just a few. For those of you who don’t know Strange Attractor from Canada check them out the S/T LP. I’ve just finished mastering their new record and it should be coming out sometime this year If you like the first one this will be more of the same. Another Canadian band whose record just came out is Zebrassieres. P.Trash is releasing the LP here in Europe. If your into “synth-driven frantic power-pop” this record will hit the spot. Local band on a local label. Amazing record. Sauna Youth’s new 7” on Static Shock Records blew my socks off. Think of all the great British Punk 7”s you love from 1978, then file this record in the middle.
Piss Test. What can I say about Piss tests. I my opinion best new band out of Portland Oregon. Ken from Dirtnap Records agrees or at least posits the question “Best new band in Portland?” Zach from Soda Pop Kids on vox and guitar, Samantha on bass, not bad for her first band and shredding on a left handed bass, and Rodrigo on drums who is also the guy you call late at night for a taxi home (next time your in Portland wasted at Star Bar look him up). 550 on milky white vinyl on Jonny Cat Records (from the afore mentioned Chemicals). Try to find this because when your wasted at a party and your friend puts this record on you will be sorry. Now that you’ve had your fill of Portland and London gossip, new records passing through my studio, and shows to hit up listen to some of the bands listed here or get a sneak preview of records yet to come out on my blog. At the very least there should be a link for you find what your after. Until next issue. http://hajjihusaynmastering.wordpress.com/ NLBFMastering@hotmail.com
BY CRETIN CROWLEY
1. I can’t bear to look knowing that Mick could go into cardiac arrest at any moment doing that rooster strut. 2. Bombardment, too much of a good thing can turn a good thing bad 3. Tickets were £106-£1140. That’s £16million in their pocket. 4. Lady Gaga supported. 5. The awesome gorilla got my hopes up about everything. 6. The new ‘album’ was just a best of with two new songs. 7. The Simpsons made a joke about this tour 10 years ago and no one noticed when the tour actually happened. 8. Collective age 273. 9. I can’t turn on a TV without seeing them being interviewed on the One show about their favourite tea blend. 10. Why won’t the black guy (Darryl Jones) get any recognition??
BY RAISSA
If you think you like American music just because you believe americans made it better, but you also think the english perfected it as well, you’ll need something else in-between. Although miles away geographically from America and the UK. The answer is Australia. Australia was a country that, moved by the fear of being too far and disconnected from the rest of the world, on the contrary it used this aspect to be stronger and were more motivated to growing and building a real and proper underground scene. With a strong and interesting garage-punk and psych music background, bands like The Easybeats (than later moved on to the UK), Missin’ Link, Zoot, The Cheerokes, Australia brewed an upcoming and brand new promising future music scene based on a proto-punk attitude with bands like Rats, TV John (later known as Oxford Funhouse), Radio Birdman, and The Saints. Sydney and Brisbane already had a strong alternative musiccircuit in 1978. The approach of bands from Sydney and Brisbane was really in the DIY style, and was influenced by a strong and political way of thinking: the Anarchy. So here we go with the punk. It was August 1976 when Kim Salmon formed The Cheap Nasties and The Manikins, Radio Birdman released their first EP Burn my eyes and The Saints put out the single I’m Stranded, all coincidental to The Ramones and the NY punk rock scene. But soon the feeling of the first DIY EP of The Saints was gone after being signed by major label EMI. SInce that moment, other melodic punk bands, like The Scientists, started to play around Australia and even appearing on TV. With their first single Frantic Romantic on DNA in 1979, The Scientists had a really brief career and ended in 1981 when part of the band formed The Hoodoo Gurus with part of The Victims too.
second EP. Then other bands like the Detroit sound influenced Lipstick Killers from Sydney, the more jungle pop sounding Go-Between, lo-fi Chosen Few from Melbourne, Nick Cave’s first band The Boys Next Doors, The Hitmen, the more wave and post punk Moodist, Fun Things, Vampire Lover and Leftover from Queensland, all dominated the scene till ‘83. Some power pop arrived with The Innocents with their single Come Tonight, The Loaded Dice, The Sports and especially important to the garage revival was Dom Mariani from Perth, who’s most well known for The Stems, DM3, The Neptunes and The Chevelles. Last but not least the neo psych form Australia was some of the best ever come into existence, notably The Exploding White Mice (who’s name is a reference to RnR High School) putting on 5 albums and 5 singles from ‘85 through till ‘96, and I’ll end it there because their single Fear is one of the best 7’’s i’ve ever bought. RECOMMENDED RECORDS THE MISSIN’ LINK - Come my way ZOOT - Flying SAINTS - No, your product SCIENTISTS - Last night LIPSTICK KILLERS - Shake down USA CHOSEN FEW - Do the maniac FUN THINGS - Savage LEFTOVERS - I only panic when there’s nothing to do STEMS - Tears me in two EXPLODING WHITE MICE - Fear and the comp WHERE BIRDMEN FLEW (on Taz Devil Records)
BY DR. FISHLOVE
The Victims (first known as The Jacks) realized their first 7’’ Television Addict in 1977, then later realising their self titled,
Good evening, come in, wipe your feet and help yourself to nibbles. You may know me as the loveable rogue getting asked to leave pubs for being a right tight cunt and bringing my own booze in but there are more layers to me, dear reader. Given as I am often doubling as a shoulder to cry on for people I don’t even like, I was the obvious choice to step into the role of an Agony Aunt for this 12 page piece of toilet paper. It is common knowledge that my compassion for my fellow man comes 2nd only to my intelligence & wit further making me the Sexual Tyrannosaurus I am today. The outpouring of raw emotion from you all was immense,
heartbreaking and, at times, amazingly dull and ill informed, fuck, I mean study tips for GCSE’s?! AND it was for a Sociology exam. Bloomin’ queer. But, in all honesty the response was incredible and it has led to some Dr. Fishlove detractors claiming I’m not ‘qualified,’ a ‘nice enough person,’ and ‘too much of a sociopath,’ to be an Agony Uncle. Well, my response to that, Joseph Parks, is that your Mother drinks too much and got locked up for benefit fraud so do one. The reality is that I am well travelled and have experienced much in the short time I’ve been on this earth, I soak up information and foreign trains of thought like a sordid little sponge. For example, when I was seeing this Nigerian prostitute called Black Magic I was taught a thing or two, to be fair, I could hardly understand anything the bloody woman said but, fuck me, the things she could do with her elbows.
Ramones based their whole career on “Hey Ho, Let’s Go!”, and as a fan of music I’ve done my research and all cues go back to Glam.. you know “Clap Your Hands and Stamp Your Feet!”, it’s just terrific electrifying rock n’ roll. I’ve wanted to do a record with a glam sound and I’ve begun to write some songs with that vibe.. It’d be nice to change it up a little bit for the next record.. Keep things fresh! If there is a current band that really blows me away and I may tap for inspiration, it’d be Giuda. “Racey Roller” is one of the best albums to come out in a long while.” KURT BAKER
Anyway, I digress and, alas, I seem to have used up most of my word allowance so I’m afraid this issues column will be shorter than normal. Don’t fret, I’ll back next month in… whatever zine this is to make your lives seem vaguely worthwhile again. Now come over here, sit on my lap, brush the hair out of your eyes and suckle at my milky, joy dispensing teat. DEAR DR. FISHLOVE. MY husband is a control freak – he is stuck in the Eighties and can’t adapt to the new generation. We are in our fifties and South African. Our son, who’s 23, still lives at home and they row all the time. My husband recently lent our son the money to buy a laptop and they agreed on the repayments. When my son asked to make more staggered repayments a month later my husband started yelling and screaming that our son can never keep his word. We live in a very quiet neighbourhood and it is very embarrassing when he shouts like this. When I tried to calm the row he turned on me. It is sad and painful the way he talks and behaves – it is affecting our relationship but he will not go for counselling. What should I do? Dunno, mate.
“I definitely have been listening to a lot of glam rock as of late.. I love the sound of the recordings, the catchy hooks.. it’s very much like 60’s bubblegum music but played with more attitude! I’ve always been a HUGE fan of the Sweet, but recently I’ve dug into a lot more of the junkshop glam.. with the help of great compilations like the Glitterbest and others.. there was so much great Glam Rock being produced in the 70’s.. a lot of it is obscure but it really really amazing. Gary Glitter is a fucking pervert, but he wrote some amazing anthems back in the day. Having a tune that has a sing along chorus is very powerful element of songwriting. The
CLASSICS
Secondhand Daylight - MAGAZINE Field Day - MARSHALL CRENSHAW Slayed? - SLADE San Francisco’s First And Only Rock N Roll Band - CRIME Defiance - DEAD MOON The Human Menagerie - COCKNEY REBEL Planecrash EP - INSPIRAL CARPETS Bongo Rock - INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND Wild Gift - X The Jolt - THE JOLT Try It - THE STANDELLS This Nation’s Saving Grace - THE FALL Don’t push me around - THE ZEROS
MODERN CLASSICS Cabinet of curiosities - JACCO GARDNER Piss Test 7’’ - PISS TEST Raw Pie - PERSONAL AND THE PIZZAS 12 Boring Blats - The About:Blanks Fidlar - FIDLAR Lysandre - CHRISTOPHER OWENS Matador Singles ‘08 - JAY REATARD Leaving Atlanta - GENTLEMAN JESSE Racey Roller - GIUDA
BY CRETIN CROWLEY
The Richmond Sluts – S/T (2001) Sleazing up the Richmond District of San Francisco, The Richmond Sluts featuring Brad Artly, formerly the drummer of Brian Jonestown Massacre, have only this full length for us to fight over. Sounding like Raw Power-esque Stooges, New York Dolls and Hollywood Brats but only much seedier and faster. It’s a shame there weren’t more records. Stand out tracks #1 Take You Home & #8 Paddy Wagon
BY CRETIN CROWLEY
The Cynics – Rock n Roll (1989) This is the third album from the Cynics that they released on their own label Get Hip Records. From the opening track ‘Baby What’s Wrong’ comes high energy, big muffed up fuzzy guitars and snarling done with high energy. The Cynics were early pioneers of the 1980s garage rock revival movement and this album gets straight to the point and rejects any question of garage revivalism becoming irrelevant. Stand out tracks 1# Baby What’s Wrong & 6# Business as Usual.
“There really was no big scene here believe it or not. Maybe 3040 regulars all friends of ours in other groups. I remember once a guy flopped his dick out on trents oragn while the mummies were playing a house party so its not us thats nuts its everyone else. We are normal” RUSSELL QUAN from The Mummies
BY NEUS
Welcome to the first edition of ONE WAY TICKET fanzine. I’m pleased to join this enthusiastic team, who every month will aim to bring you something special and hot about underground
music. So you landed in the interview section, oh boy ain’t you lucky? This month we bring you THE GRISWALDS - not to be confused with some psychobilly band with the same name. Ben Nuthink- Bass/vocals, Steve Legend- Guitar/vocals and Daz Reject- Drums/b-vocals are the best discovery from Orpington in Kent, since the Stone Age tools. This three-piece pop-punk gangster band were once “Ramones worshipping teenage losers” – certainly the teenage part must have changed - influenced by beer, pizza, flying saucers, b-movies and the limited luck with girls, they decided to form a band. Their inspirations range between Ramones, The Queers and Screeching Weasel, and after more than 10 years of “kicking lame pop-punk ass” they have refused to accommodate their sound into the new tendencies. Neus: Hello guys, let’s start from the beginning. After your former drummer, Paul Spazm, left to pursue some other plans, your current drummer, Daz Reject, joined the band, so how did you three meet? Were any of you in other bands prior to the Griswalds? Daz: Well I was in the band GROUNDWIRE with my schoolmates, we was all influenced by the Seattle scene. Then you start discovering smaller punk labels and bands, and I would spend my weekends round Berwick Street going through shit loads of records, picking up cheap stuff that looked cool. There was a flyer in the punk rack in sister ray record shop, it was for TOAST`s last ever gig upstairs at the garage, I never heard of them before but just went because it was a cheap punk gig. Griswalds were supporting. I just remember them coming out on stage blasting through 15 songs in 20 minutes and jumping about and having fun, and having some girl coming out on stage wearing this monster mask. She was waving a banner and getting the crowd to sing along. A few months later they had a new split out and it got a great review in KERRANG, so I went down to the legendary SHAKE SOME ACTION punk record shop in Croydon and got myself a copy. I was talking to the owner James and asking if the Griswalds had any upcoming gigs. He said their drummer had left to go traveling for a year, so until they got a new drummer there’d be no shows. I jokingly said “ill drum for them”, and he gave me Ben’s phone number. Next day I rang the number, turned out he gave me the wrong number and I kept getting through to Bettys Launderette. A few weeks passed and i went to see RIPPING TEETH at the Bull & Gate and a guy walked in front of me with ZITFACE & GRISWALDS ORPINGTON PUNK ROCK painted on the back of his leather jacket. I told him the story about wanting to audition for the band. We spoke about music, he was impressed I knew of MTX and that I was wearing chuck Taylors. We swapped phone numbers, and the rest is history. Steve Legend: Yeah, it was cool. This skinny little kid who didn’t like the Ramones, came down to practice with us, and we played those songs off out first 7” with him but he seemed to know the songs better than us (we’d not practiced for a few weeks), so we decided to take him out and get him pissed at a Yo Yo’s gig. For us, it was more important that we could have a good laugh with this guy, than how good he was on the drums, and that turned
out to be a pretty legendary night so we took him on. Also, a good decision and we’ve never looked back! Neus: The Griswalds started gigging in 1996, how would you describe your music? What were your goals when you started and have these changed over the years? Steve Legend: In the early days, we was all about STUPID SNOT SLOPPY POP PUNK totally trying to be early Queers, Ramones SW etc. We weren’t bothered about being tight or great and all we ever hoped for was to do a gig one day, so our aims were pretty low. We’d get pissed, fuck up all the time and would be generally pretty bad. For me, of the biggest changes happened when we started playing with all the awesome European and American bands we’ve been lucky enough to play with. We started to realize that we had to buck our ideas up a bit, because they we’re all so tight. If we wanted to get any gigs we had to get a bit better, still SNOT POP PUNK but hopefully a bit tighter ha ha!
Neus: You have talked before about not compromising your sound with what is hip and you sound proud that “you remain untouched”. At any point as a band, have you felt the pressure to change your sound? Steve Legend: No pressure at all. We’re not in this band to be big, famous and get lots of chicks. We’re 3 great mates having a blast playing stuff we love. Even if we could change, I don’t think we would. We’re also limited by our complete lack of any musical talent so 3 chord punk is just about all we can manage. I hate bands/people that jump from scene to scene hoping to get “big” on the next bandwagon. Pop Punk till we die!! Daz: We can proudly say we have never gave two shits about fitting in. If people enjoy us, Clap, dance, buy a record that’s all a bonus. We have been there when skate punk was huge, then cheesy Ska with bands running around in Hawaiian shirts covering YMCA and thinking it’s hilarious. Then the Emo Dischord sound, then KERRANG starts naming all this shit pop/ metal bands Emo and Pop Punk, so when promoters start asking what music you play you have to start saying Ramones core coz you don’t want to be linked in with that shit. Now, crust punk is huge and everyone’s signing about politics and we are still signing about horror films ha ha! I haven’t got a problem with none of the above genres of music. I listen to everything,
but we have always been the black sheep on most punk bills, but in Europe and America pop punk is still alive and kicking arse. Neus: Also, the band is very active in the London scene and I suppose you get to hang out with new younger generations. In your opinion, how has the scene changed since you started? Is there anything you miss that was different? Which other bands you play with that are similar? Daz - Well when I first got in the scene it was all Epitaph/Fat Wreck sounding bands and smaller crustie old school gigs, The Garage scene was great with bands like - New Bomb Turks - Dwarves - Nashville Pussy - Zeke - Rocket From The Crypt Coming over a lot. Now the scene has gone more back to political 80s anarcho ways Squat gigs and real underground. But then on the other hand, I know 90% of people reading this will be the GARAGELAND punks, Its weird because we are all punks but the two scenes are completely dived in my option. The squatter punks will sit outside a gig and drink their offy beers and garage punks will go on ebay and bid on rare old punk records and cool clothes, seems to me half the scene want to squat and couldn’t imagine having to get up every morning to work a shit job, and then us lot couldn’t imagine walking past a record shop and not browsing the racks. Everyone’s different even in the scene. I miss the days of £2.30 beers, the good thing with punk scene is we are all outcasts and 99% of the scene is happy go lucky music fans as long as that don’t change. I’m happy - UK Bands still going strong THE ATOMS & ZATOPEKS. Steve Legend: The biggest change is either we got older or the scene got lamer. We’d turn up pissed, sneak a bunch of beers into the clubs, have no equipment and fall off the stage. I remember one promoter telling us after a gig that he wouldn’t book us again until our drummer (Spaz) could use the bass drum and he gave us a pedal, a stool and a floor tom too. Ha ha ha, funny as hell. Next gig that guy put us on I think he beat up one of the bands, kicked them out, cancelled the gig and we played to an empty room. Punk Rock! That kinda sillyness doesn’t happen now so maybe it’s us getting older or the scene got a little less punk. There’s not too many bands similar to us now. There’s a new band called ‘We Come First’ and they remind me a little of us when we was younger. You’ve still got Skimmer, Murderburgers, Wonk Unit, The Hotlines, W.O.R.M and a few more Pop Punkers around that we play with. Lots more bands in Europe now though from the Stardumb era and from Monster Zero etc. The European Pop Punk scene is amazing! Neus: In 2000 Steve self-released ‘Absoludicrous!?’ CD EP and in 2001 another 7” split called ‘Immature Ejaculation’. You say, after Daz joined, you started taking the band more seriously and after a while you recorded the long-awaited album debut ‘Fall in Line’, self-released by Daz, splits, singles and also a few songs recorded in 2012. What’s new in your music? Any new releases coming soon? Tours? Side projects? Steve Legend: Yeah, new album is coming together. We’ve taken a little longer over it partly to get it right and partly cos we’re usually skint, so can’t afford the sessions. We’ve learnt a lot this
time, we’ve experimented with harmonies and more layers. We’re always writing new songs though and always getting better. We’ve probably written enough for another split or 2 since we started the album. We’re getting plenty of gig offers and have a few ideas of a tour or 2 later in the year but we’ll see how far we get. Things take a while in Griswalds land. I’m currently playing bass with a couple of friends in our band The Write Off’s. Daz: Ben has been writing a few darker songs, especially in the lyric department. I still drum in JAKAL, this will be our 11th year. We play Dub,Reggae,Ska Punk. I also drum and sing in the Unreleasables, after all these years of drumming for other peoples songs I thought its time I started to write my own ha ha! .Also, Ben has recently started a side project with friends called THE TELEPHONE DECEIVERS. It’s another Ramones influenced pop punk band Neus: What’s the latest records you guys have bought? Any recommendations? Steve Legend: Newest cool band I’ve been checking out are The Kingons in Japan. I’ve been watching their videos after seeing Skimmer and The Queers posting about them on their Japan tour this year. Daz: Ashtray - Gaggers - Blasted - Alabama Shakes.
they sound like a sleazy underground Soho club full of randy rockabillies at 5am. Stand out tracks - #5 Good God & #8 No More
BY CRETIN CROWLEY
FIDLAR – S/T (2013) This is the debut album from lo-fi garage/pop punk rock band FIDLAR from Los Angeles, California. FIDLAR has a lot of different sounds going on which pretty effortlessly melts together to make one solid album. At one end you gots songs such as ‘No Waves’ and ‘Wake Bake Skate’ which have more of a pop punk feel reminding of you of that time in the early 90s which no one wants to remember and then you have ‘Blackout Stout’ and ‘Whore’ which have a more mature sounding 60s garage vibe with clever hooks. Do not miss this band next time they come to town. Stand out tracks #5 Whore & #7 Blackout Stout
Neus: Favourite drink? Favourite bar? Daz: Coke - rots the teeth but cleans your bog (so I’ve heard). Fav Bar was the TRASH BAR, R.I.P. Steve Legend: Favorite drink? You only need 2. Tea and Beer. Favorite bar? There’s hundreds in London, but The Big Red, The 12 Bar, The Intrepid fox and The Cro-Bar are good Rock bars in town. Best cheap(ish) bars are Sam Smiths, they’re all over the place. Favourite bar I can’t afford to go too very often is Trader Vics, but for other Tiki fun check out South London Pacific and Sugar Cane. Favorite bar in the world, maybe Tiki-Ti’s in LA. Check THE GRISWALDS live next 13th of April at Cambridge- The Corner House, with America’s Masked Intruder.
BY CRETIN CROWLEY
The Ladykillers – #INTRODUCINGTHELADYKILLERS (2013) Here we gots the self released debut album from The Ladykillers who reign from the glorious Essex. This record is an energetic union of garage & punk. Catchy choruses and slick guitar riffs are paired with fuzzy ‘put up or shut up’ vocals and swagger;
BY RAISSA
THE NORTH WILL RISE AGAIN MANCHESTER MUSIC CITY 1977-1996 John Robb Oh well, we all know that John Robb isn’t the funniest guy ever, we all know that he tries to act like a teacher and comes off as a bit of snob, but actually this book is not BY him, he was just trying to compile the best snippets from interviews, stories or whatever else from the golden era of Manchester. It will be at home for anyone that’s read Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil. In fact, as in Please Kill Me the stories are directly told by the people who were there, Mancunians like Howard Devoto, Morrisey, Ian Brown, Peter Hook, Johnny Marr, reveal to us some weird curiosities and stuff about them and all the people that were around them. What we can remark and notice again from this book is that the Manchester scene was built from the ashes of a real industrial discomfort, far away from the known London of the late seventies. But it could use this aspect as it’s main force and temper to give it the power to create one of the longest and most interesting undergournd music scene of all time.
Rapt Records is a London based record distributor/label, and a place where we share, expose and promote the music they love. This month Gal recommends:
Regal - Misery, Redemption & Love LP
Mujeres – Soft Gems LP
Sierra Leona – L.A.R.R.A LP
Black Bug - Self Titled LP
here we go with some friends