On a positive tip, some info on a real combo that deserves to sell records. Nomads fans should check out "Skolssangen" by Dom Galna Hundara (The Mad Dogs), a rip stonkin' humdinger of an anthem with Stockholm's finest providing the crunch. A fine tune which appears to be available only as a single song cd. No filler on this rascal. www.honkytonkform.com

Re Cap'n J's Turgidneger posting, just too bad they all weren't lifted. Why are so many people gulled by these boring shysters? I know the pickin's out there can be thin' but c'mon...

Turbonegro get landed in chokey for arms smuggling. GO!.

It's too bloody hot. I can't function in these conditions and (my old buddy, Miettinen will get a chortle outta this) my hayfever is giving me gyp. Even people who never suffer the bloody condition are sneezing and snorting all over the shop, but I digress... Top girl combo Voladoras blew through Glasgow again last night on another ill-fitting bill.
They deserve a few breaks these lassies. As straight ahead undulating garage rock action goes, they batter it out with a gusto that most of those NME-hyped nonentities will ever sniff. Check their site www.voladoras.com and buy their records. It's an excellent cause. Hopefully their next circuit will be with The Gore Gore Girls in October. An altogether better fit.

New on the web: the mighty Telstar label;

"Telstar Records hit the ground running in 1985. Head honcho Todd Abramson caught the Ben Vaughn Combo playing around N.Y.C. and thought they were so damn great that somebody should put a record out on them. So he took matters into his own hands and put out their debut release, “My First Band” in January of that year.

The Ben Vaughn Combo boasted the criteria that has become Telstar’s stock in trade. Bands like The Mummies, Swingin’ Neckbreakers, Greenhornes and Woggles embrace the elements of garage, r’n’b, soul, surf, punk and more that once made music so enjoyable, and put their own unique individual stamps on it to come up with something new and exciting. You can’t lose with the stuff we use! We’re happy to do all the work of tracking these bands down. All you have to do is buy their records and cd’s. This is a good deal for everyone involved".

Munster records from Spain has some cool stuff lined up for release:
Black Lips - Ain't Coming Back 7", Legendary Tiger Man (featuring Mick Collins and Jim Diamond) - Big Black Rusty Pussyboat 7", v/a - Freakbeat from Down Under (South American 60s comp), Gun Club - Fire Of Love (Heavyweight vinyl re-issue of this all-time classic, w/ liner notes by a certain Mr L. Hutton), Arthur Lee & Love - Five String Serenade (Re-issue of 1993 LP), Real Kids - The New Rose Years (220gm Vinyl 2LP, this includes their second album 'Outtaplace', and their most sought after record, the French only 'Hit you hard'. This has not been reissued since 1983. On top of this you get 8 tracks from their 1983 "All kinda jerks live"). Rubber City Rebels - Pierce My Brain (Euro/vinyl edition of their recent disc). And finally a vinyl edition of the recent Link Wray tribute disc featurin' the Fleshtones (ao).

A couple o' new books that are doin' the rounds here in Holland that I'd figured would be worth mentioning even if you don't speak the lingo. First off is 'De Naald Erin!', a collection of short stories by John Schoorl all revolving 'round a particular LP, that is really too lame for words. And I wouldn't even mention this snore fest if it wasn't for the fact that one of the discs involved is the Nomads' 'Temptation Pays Double' in which even a certain Mr Vahlberg makes a cameo appearance (!), this is the book's sole redeemin' value. Of much more interest is Nothing Going On In The City a book documenting 40 years of pop/rock history in Groningen (or Grunnen as the locals call it). Not a story as such, but a chronological overview detailin' certain eras, bands or scenes thru' short descriptions and a massive amount of illustrations (Pictures, posters, flyers, newspapercuttings etc) that should make this one easily digestible for you foreigners as well. Immaculately layed-out, this one's well worth checkin' out. Same goes for Het Beste Uit Hitweek '65-'69, an overview of Hollands main 60s music mag Hitweek, as essential a part of the Dutch six-o scene as the Outsiders or Cuby. No lookin' back or hindsight, just page after (original-) page of tales about long hairs vs straights, provos, beat groups (even tho' one can already spot the roots of Holland's longtime fascination w/ Zappa and country rock in here), and browsin' thru' this really brings the era back to life. Essential !.

Radio Birdman dates:

AUGUST
Sat 30th: Jerez - Serie Z Festival  (Espanol)
Sun 31st: Nottingham - Rescue Room (UK)
SEPTEMBER
Wed 3rd: Nancy - Le Terminal Export (Fr)
Sat 6th: Perugia - Medicine Show Festival (It)
Sun 7th: Bologna - Independent Days Festival (It)
Wed 10th: Bielefeld - Forum (Deutschland) w/ Hydromatics
Fri 12th: Oslo - Cosmopolite (Norway)
Sat 13th: London - Mean Fiddler (UK)

Three more dates to come and they'll probably be announced in the first week
of July.

The (new) official band site:
radio-birdman.com

The Maggots, The Dirty Water Club, London (20th June) - You can invariably tell a great band by the onstage preparations they make. Excitement builds while cables are checked, guitars tuned, and kick-drum peddles adjusted as their eagerness to play spreads around venue like a contagion. Such was the appearance by the Maggots at The Dirty Water Club last Friday night. The Swedish power trio proceeded to deliver a set full of all-killer-no-filler originals such as “Cannibal Woman” and “Do The Maggot!” while dipping into their record collection for “Let’s Go ‘69” (Pebbles #?) and “Circle Sky” (the Monkees). A forty-five minute blasterama where the drums pounded and the guitar screamed as the bass nailed the songs to a suffering PA system. Wail baby, wail! So many back-to-basics bands are currently grabbing the “Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!” pseudo-gospel shtick without the suss or nerve to deliver that all important ingredient: Showmanship. The MC5 were not ashamed to put on a show while delivering their almighty racket and nor are the Maggots. The end result, the kind of rockin’ perfection of which Rob Tyner, bless his maraca shaking soul, would be proud.

Third time lucky... been trying to update this thing to yeah hup you to the fact that Radio Birdman also have a show at The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham on August 31st in addition to the one at The Mean Fiddler in September.

The Bunker offers a great collection of rare videos for downloading, incl; The Buzzcocks, Cramps, Damned, Jam, Kraftwerk, Only Ones, Saints and T Rex.

I guess everybody is aware that Radio Birdman are playing the Serie Z festival in Spain this September, but I just noticed that they are also scheduled at the Mean Fiddler in London on Sept 13 (w/ tickets on sale already !). Not confirmed yet but 95% certain are two German dates (Dortmund; Sept 10 and Berlin; Sept 11. Both w/ the Hydromatics), while a Dutch show (Groningen?) is rumoured as well. Yeah Hup !.

Svengirly.com is a pretty hip site documenting the current activities of both Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson.

Just got back from Amsterdam where Alice 'n me went to see the Seeds. The Seeds?, better make that Sky Saxon plus backin' band as he was the sole original member to appear. After last year's triumphant European track by Arthur Lee's Love hopes were up for something of equal magnitude, but alas, it was not to be. A modest crowd (including original Outsider Ronnie Splinter) got to see a band that was capable enough at deliverin' a sound close to the original, but it was Sky himself who was the weakest link. Hiding behind his shades and dressed in a way that would have been deemed fashionable by former hippies circa 1981, his flat/low voice has lost all the anger/sneer that so typifies those old Seeds discs. His moves were stiff 'n lifeless as if dozin' off on Prozac, or maybe he spend the afternoon samplin' the wares in one of A'dam's coffee shops, who knows?. He mentioned something about pullin' energy from the air by hand, but whatever was in the air tonight, it was obvious he wasn't able to grab it.

"Our Saviour," Little Steven Van Zandt was guest DJ on BBC London last Friday night and played a rather good selection of discs - Young Rascals, Fleshtones, Count Five, New York Dolls et al - while blathering on about "garaaaaage rock" and his Underground Garage US radio show. Yup, I very nearly choked on my dinner when he spun "Hard Luvin' Man" from Do You Swing? Of course the link man (who thought the 'tones were ancient history) was wetting his underpants about hearing "real RnR" on the radio although he neglected to explain why he had no doubt been playing anaemic-UK-indie-pop for a career. Tis but one small step, my friends.

Turbotubbies !. GO!.

Updated: The ever cool I-94 Bar; "Sydney Rock Action via The Bowery and Motor City". GO!.

Future/Now Films is excited to announce that MC5 * A True Testimonial has
accepted an invitation to appear at the upcoming Internationale Filmfest
München in Munich, Germany.

The film will screen as part of the "American Independents" program
alongside other great new American movies such as Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
and Bill Siegel and Sam Green's Weather Underground.

The festival runs from June 28th to July 5th. Ticket info is at
http://www.filmfest-muenchen.de

MC5 * A True Testimonial will be shown at the MAXX 5 Theater at these times:

Sunday, June 29th 20:00 (8:00 pm)
Tuesday, July 1st 15:00 (3:00 pm)

Director David C. Thomas and producer Laurel Legler will be in Munich June
28th to July 3rd and are available for press interviews. Contact the
festival press office for details.

The conquest of Europe continues! The Future is Now! Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa!

(FW:)
Saturday 28 June
MOIRA presents @ EKKO [Bemuurde Weerd 3 Utrecht/Holland]
THE HARD FEELINGS
Support: LOS IDIOTAS
Doors: 20.00 hours
Damage: 6 euro

Once again MOIRA on location @ EKKO. This time bringing you the fantastic HARD FEELINGS from Austin Texas. John Schooley, former frontman of The Revelators, rocks hard with Hard Feelings, the Rootsiest Punk or the Rawest Roots Band from the USA. Sounds like Hound Dog Taylor meets The Stooges.
Support band LOS IDIOTAS, a two-piece from Spain, once again show that Spain is El Pais del Rock 'n Roll. Punkrock with a bite. Unos, Dos, Tres Vamos!

Caught Mary Lee's Corvette in Edinburgh when she blew through the other night. Her band consisted of a drummer and a bassplayer and they swung in a groovy Smithereens kinda fashion. She's a top songsmith with a mind to take it the whole road who's has been on tour throughout Europe with Joe Jackson who does nowt for me but there y'go. Look out for her new album, 700 miles - Available on the Southbound imprint, produced by the one and only Eric "Roscoe" Ambel.
Much ado has been made of their rendition of Dylan's "Blood On The Tracks" and rightly so. I think it's better than the original and I ain't saying that to be controversial. Check her out at www.maryleescorvette.com.

The Blasters are coming to Glasgow on July 28th for a show at The Renfrew Ferry, an old ferryboat moored on the River Clyde.
Ticket details are available at www.soundsfine.co.uk and if anybody needs the heads up on getting to the city for the show then gimme a holler. I'm gonna compile a list of accomodation and travel details for those who are making the trek. It's gonna be quite a night. This will be followed by two shows in London on 29th and 30th July. I think the two prior shows are at The Paradiso in Brother J's locale and at El Sol in Madrid. The original line-up of one of the greatest rockin' machines ever to grace a stage, I urge you to catch this because it's unlikely that said combo will be doing any European shows for a while after this.
Additional info on the tour is also available on www.blastersnewsletter.com.

This Month's releases from Ace. GO!

RIP: Dave Rowber (Animals). GO!.

(Brother) Wayne Kramer dropped into Edinburgh last night for a hastily arranged show at the last place on earth one would have expected. Said jams were well and truly kicked oot (as opposed to out) and he's packing one helluva combo. If it'd have been Glasgow it woulda been packed to the rafters I'm sure. Anyway, Mother Superior declined to come here and we got some proficient, angular, noisenik local pish to contend with which drove us outside for a while. By the time Wayne came on, everybody was in the market for some real rock action and that's what they bloomin' got. Starting with "Looking At You" he marked out the territory pretty good. The next couple hours was a rollercoaster of styles that trew up a real blend. Some of it veered close to being a Blue Oyster E-street Cult kinda deal and recalled our dear-departed friend David Roter so there's nowt wrong with that. One thing for sure, this guy has still got it and his axe-shredding will have you in raptures. Hopefully next time the fireworks will be on the ol' West Coast. That oughtta rule in some entertainment for the guys onstage too. But hey, he came and it's not often that Sunday night gets its butt kicked like this.

Nomads tour dates;
03-06-26 S/S Blidosund - Stockholm,
03-05-30 Umea - Umeafesten,
03-05-31 Karlskoga - Nobelfesten,
03-07-04 Halmstad - Stadsfesten,
03-07-05 Borlange - Peace & Love,
03-08-01 Ostersund - Storsjoyran,
03-08-11 Goteborg - Liseberg,
03-08-19 Malmo - Malmofestivalen.

sixtiesgaragemp3, now there's a concept I can get behind !.

God (Dog?) knows what these will amount to, but anyone in or near Holland next weekend is advised to check out the Sky Saxon & the Seeds shows either in The Hague (June 14) or Amsterdam (June 15). For all I know this could be a disaster, but just think; how often does a band like this play in your neck of the woods, and are you gonna miss 'em when they finally do?. I thought not...

The complete line-up for Spain's Serie Z festival set for late August, now includes Radio Birdman, Hoodoo Gurus, Nine Pound Hammer, Hydromatics and the Hellacopters !.

A number o' folks have been axin' about the Cramps Euro dates recently. Martin Percival was kind enough to land us a link where to whole shebang is listed (ticketsale for the lone Dutch show has already started BTW). GO!.

Seems that ace comicbook publishers Fantagraphics (Peter Bagge, Los Bros Hernandez, Daniel Clowes etc.) are in serious financial trouble and in dire need of some extra patronage. So get out those credit cards and order BIG!. GO!

LINK: (via Dubbelmono) Vintage Detroit rock photos by Sue Rynski (Rob Tyner, Destroy All Monsters, Sonic's Rendezvous Band etc.). GO!

Hey. Care to pitch in on a wee idea? To mark 26+ years of NBT, I've got a mind to assemble something called "WHO WILL SAVE ROCK'N'ROLL?" and would like to include your good or bad self (Delete as applicable) havering on about anything, everything or nothing at all. The beastie itself will be a binder (bit of found object-ness goin' on here...). A totally DIY type deal in the spirit of how it all started and lets face it print is still the preferred medium to this guy. I'd like to donate at least $1 per copy (hopefully more) sold to The Lymphoma Charity in Joey's name. Being that so far we've never got the UK version of his Birthday Bash together just yet. So how about it? Feel free to pass the invitation to anybody who you'd like to see participate also. My e-dress book is a tad muddled and several crashes have consigned much e-contact to the cyber dumper. My overwhelming desire to ditch AOL will peak soon and then I'll shift my arse into gear with regard to switching ISP. Anyway let me know whatcha think. I'm obviously way older but none the bloody wiser so let's go to conventional print. The only way to go... Ungawa an' that!

Saw The Thanes launch their new album "Downbeat and Folked Up" on Friday past at the Cafe Royal in Edinburgh. Just out on Screaming Apple, it finds the band in typical devotion to their profession. "There are few other groups with a collective age of 145 that have the talent to arrange an album of this scope." sez the sleevenote. It's true. The Thanes are true to their school to the point of kamikaze. Lenny Helsing is indeed the Laird of the boss racket supreme and a damn fine geezer to boot. Way more worthy than yon gink Childish and his deerstalking posse. The Thanes are solid, bankable exponents who play music which is a religion to them. They're unfettered by the alleged "garage" upsurge and will be doing this long after it's the LBT. Until the idiots who think The White Stripes are the bee's knees recognise that The Fleshtones should be shifting twice the amount of "units" that they do they can just bloomin' well fook aff. Support The Thanes and all who sail in 'em then. The venue was pretty good too. Ideally situated and a good size and not a hovel. Let's hope that Angus McPake gets something going here on a regular basis. Edinburgh could sorely use it. The capital is lagging way behing it's West Coast rival on that score.

Was sorry to hear about the death of Mickie Most who lost his battle with cancer on Friday past also. His output on RAK was an incredible array of glitter pop/glam garage madness which is now gaining ground in collector circles. Look out for an album called "Velvet Tinmine" which celebrates the very pinnacle of this teen D-U-M-B greatness.