The SCREECHING WEASEL reissue program is in full swing. Get the set...

Another Radio veteran is off to that great station in the sky... RIP - Tommy Vance

Aha... of course it should have been obvious and my recognition faculties are evidently at a low ebb but "I Don't Wanna Go To The Party Tonight" is a RIVERDALES song which appeared on their "Storm The Streets" album. These Australian SpaZZ lassies evidently have good taste...

Something else I've thus far failed to do in my unravelling state is to plug the Rev Davie Scott's programme on BBC Radio Scotland entitled "CLASSIC SCOTTISH ALBUMS". 1st one was Bert Jansch, the most recent AWB's (Average White Band) "White Album" and comin' up Teenage Fanclub's "Bandwagonesque". If you have the technology to do the ol' internet on demand thing then these are very entertaining half hour snapshots that don't rely on you being familiar with the subject matter.

Nearly time for the mind-boggling SXSW in Austin where Laura Cantrell will play on Friday March 18th. From the program info... "Born in Nashville and based in NYC, Laura Cantrell has built a dedicated following on both sides of the Atlantic by combining a love of traditional country and folk music with a modern sensibility that informs a sound both timeless and thoroughly original. She recently completed her third album "Humming By the Flowered Vine", which will be released by Matador Records this Spring. She continues to host the weekly "Radio Thrift Shop" program on freeform WFMU in Jersey City, NJ."

Also at SXSW... The Rezillos on Thursday March 17th as part of a Scots Showcase Event (The lord deliver us...)which will run from 23:30 - 04:00 at the Tillery Street Theatre, Austin, Tejas. The self-same 'zillos will also appear on a bill at Elysium the very next evening (18th) with Shonen Knife (yay!), The Alarm (yay not!), New Model Army (you're kidding right?) and Wreckless Eric (saved at last!)

From Mod to Odd

These are some of the better pictures I took in and around New York & Jersey City last year. Mostly of rock and roll bands, but some cityscapes and what I like to call “barscapes”. The bands run the gamut, from Mod (The Insomniacs) to Odd (Pink Steel, New York’s Premiere Gay Heavy Metal Combo).

Others include (in no particular order) The Martinets, George & the Giblets, The Waldos, The Master Plan (featuring Keith Streng of the Fleshtones and Andy Shernoff of the Dictators), The Woggles, Muck & the Mires, The Billy Filo Starship masquerading as The Dead Boys for a special Halloween show, Holmes, the Dansettes and more!

The pictures were taken with a Canon Powershot SD10 Elph, a camera so small it can fit in a cigarette pack. Then I tweaked the pics in Photoshop to give’em that Roberta Bayley/CBGB’s vibe.

Comments? Feel free to contact me at fuzzco66@yahoo.com

Rather than churn out an “authentic” two-D garage sound, these Texan kids who call themselves THE UGLY BEATS but indulge in anything but, have seen fit to ingest a healthy dose of their own high-octane enthusiasm into this Get Hip mix. The result is "Bring On The Beats" - a seriously infectious party down that could well reinstate their musical form with the respect it once had. Their version of The Easybeats “I’ll Make You Happy” indicates that The Cramps used this song as the undercarriage for their “Mean Machine” and also throw in a cheeky wee Human Fly run just to bolster their recognition. Good call.

It all started off with a seemingly harmless slice of Ramonophonic abandon on the Rock and Roll Disease set where they trounced the competition easily. How was I to know that the song, “I Don’t Wanna Go To The Party” would lead to my becoming a full blown Spazzy addict in such a short space of time? Their album Aloha! Go Bananas on the Fur imprint is just about as infectious a short sharp set as I’ve heard since The Boonaraaas. Recorded big and loud and blowing a raspberry in the direction of anybody that isn’t captivated by its spell. This Aussie lass 3-piece has picked up the baton dropped by The Eastern Dark and they’re gonna shimmy all the way to the finish line. THE SPAZZYS would get top grades in the R&R High School for their crisp line in 1-2-3-4 abandon. What's not to like about a band that closes their album with the gloriously stupid statement of intent that is "I Wanna Cut My Hair Like Marky Ramone"?

Slovenian hillbluesgaragebilly and beyond combo Crazed Farmers have harvested a swinging monster with their gloriously frenzied debut entitled First Crop (Nika Records). While there are influences to be found there, I can’t recall them being poured outta the sonic blender quite like this. Choppy but never in that grating angular fashion, these guys put their back into their land with more gusto than it's perhaps safe to consider, to sound like something that ain’t quite playing with a full deck. These boys will puree and pummel just about anything to full tilt. Whatever they spray their produce with out there then I'd like a regular supply.

Howard Wall reports that Glasgow's ain Beat Poets dust off their equipment for an appearance at The Pearce Hall in Govan, Weegieville on Friday March 18th. Described in the draft programme as "twanngy", this is the local pronunciation of "twangy".