IT'S A HIT!

COMING UP IN JULY...

RIP - JACK LEE

RIP - TONY McPHEE (The Groundhogs)

RIP - PHILIPPE MARCADE (THE SENDERS)

RIP - ASTRUD GILBERTO

OUT TODAY!

THIS WAS A SURPRISE!

IT'S A HIT! (especially VENEZIA)

NEW TEENAGE FANCLUB ALBUM IN SEPTEMBER... THE FIRST "SINGLE"...

RIP - TINA TURNER

RIP - KENNETH ANGER

RIP - PETE BROWN

QUITE A LARGE AMOUNT OF MAGIC!

LOSE YOURSELF IN 90's MADRID!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE ARE FLOATING THROUGH WHATEVER DIMENSION THIS IS...

I’m sure that folks type ‘the next big thing’ into whatever search engine and end up on the blog. How long they kick about on there is open to conjecture but that’s my explanation of the statistic. Anyway, the 2 million mark has been breached while I was MIA, according to the dashboard. Sometimes I wonder if I should just can this but I manage to talk myself out of doing so. It can float through space for all eternity. If it provides a bolt hole for bona fide visitors then who am I to bring down the curtain. Muchas gracias por venir to quote a favourite band of mine.

 

MADRID - AUGUST 31st 2023...

 

MORON-O-PHONIC LIFE

This Life: Moron-O-Phonics from Carol Lynn on Vimeo.

ALAN VEGA VS VIC REEVES!

IT'S BITHAMMER! FRIDAY!!

LC IS EIGHT WEEKS AWAY...

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY - 100 LUCKY BLIGHTERS WILL SEE...

KATHLEEN TURNER OVERDRIVE!

ROLL UP, ROLL UP... DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND!

 

RIP - KRIS GUIDIO

 

DON"T SAY YOU NEVER WANTED THE RECIPE!

LC IN THE UK

 

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

TIP SHEET REVIVED! I'M SURPRISED TOO!! BETTER LATE ETC.

Here’s the tip sheet thing. Turns out there was nearly another a few months ago and then I forgot about it. I’m easily distracted. Found a version of a mailing list but not wishing to breach data protection, if you’d rather receive a PDF, message me your email. If you’re fine with downloading from here or the blog then it should be legible.

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THE MADRID SHOW!

 

LAURA'S BACK

 

 PRE-ORDER LINK

BILLIE MAX IS OUT TODAY!

BLOGSPOTTING AND OTHER GUFF

All sorts of round figure stuff kicks off today. It’s 20 years since Jeroen Vedder facilitated the transition to blogspotting. He and Steve Coleman were responsible for that seismic shift back in 2003. As it is, the stats tell me that later this year, 2 mil will have made the hit scene. I’m retiring the tnbt.co.uk address and sticking with the original URL. It’ll continue to mostly be a video jukebox with info on tours, etc. Pontification with be kept to a peep. 

The “Thing” itself turns 46 on Saturday (April 1st, not an April Fool). In closing, Tis also 4 decades come August since the LOTC hit the wall. There have been many other adventures and I have to admit that I can’t believe anybody gives a shit about any of it but I appreciate the indulgence. I've genuinely never grown up beyond the reality that the hardware is beginning to fail. Let’s see how long it might putter. 

Reactivating the tip sheet this weekend because there’s a big release (to me) happening! Will post the info when it 'appen.

SHOWS UP TO MADRID WITH GUS... BEYOND THAT TOTALLY SOLO!

 

A PURE MUST LISTEN!!

The world comes full circle tomorrow when Miriam Linna joins Howard Thompson on his PURE show. 

I met HT via Miriam in late 1978 during her Red Star Records stint and my planet would be considerably different if it wasn’t for these exemplary human beings being in it. Listen live during 1pm to 4pm EST. 6 until 9 on Plague Island and 19.00 to 22.00 across Europe. 

Show archived for two weeks for catch up/listen again.

RIP - JIM GORDON

RIP - DIX DENNEY (THE WEIRDOS)

EUROPAVISION

START MAKING PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER...

 

RIP - GARY ROSSINGTON

THE 'RONA YOU CAN TRUST!

SUNDAY MARCH 19th AT THE DUBLIN CASTLE, (THE) LONDON

THE TIME THE KIDS WENT TO ABBEY ROAD

NEW ON YOUTUBE... NEVER SAW THIS BEFORE! YOU LIKELY DIDN'T EITHER?

RIP - BURT BACHARACH

BABY DOLL VIDEO CLIP

RIP - CINDY WILLIAMS

RIP - LISA LORING

EUROVISIONTASTIC!

COMING TO A SEVEN INCH SINGLE FORMAT NEAR YOU...

RIP - JERRY BLAVAT (THE GEATOR)

IT'S A HIT!

RIP - ROBBIE BACHMAN

BITHAMMER! BANGER!!

KNBT EPISODE 12 - WINTER (GLOBAL) WARMER

EPISODE 12 - WINTER (GLOBAL) WARMER

The Zantees Lost Highway (intro) (Bomp/Charly)

Bad Scene C'mon Let's Go (Bandcamp)

Rob Sweeney Lucky Punch (Bandcamp)

Bithammer! Fucked Up and Stupid (That's Entertainment!)

Lio Les Brunes Comptent Pas Pour Des Prunes (Polydor)

Fran Parea (featuring Ginebras) La Chica de la Habitación de al Lado (Vanana)

Amor Liquido La Chica que me gusta (Amor Liquido)

Axolotes Mexicana Astor (Elefant)

Kate Clover Crime Raid (self-released)

Kid Gulliver Kiss And Tell (Sugar Snow)

Sex Museum Bailaré Sobre Tu Tumba (Family Spree)

Los Malinches Tipi Dulce Tipi (Family Spree)

Siniestro Total Rock en Samil (DRO)

Glutamato Ye Yé Todos los Negritos Tienen Hambre (Y Frío) (DRO)

Púlsar Noche de lluvia en Madrid (Ventilador)

The Dracu-Las Fever Dream (Bandcamp)

LHD Stage Bomb (Dirty Old Label/Bandcamp)

Simon Juliff Stars (Dog Meat)

Josephine Network He Still Calls Me Baby (Bandcamp)

Juniper Baby Doll (Confidential Recordings/Fabcom)

The Dahlmanns I Love You Baby (But I Hate Your Friends) (Pop Detective)

Carol Hodge Best Thing In This Town (Bandcamp)

Lisa Miskovsky Jag som vann (Bandcamp)

Annika Norlin Hydra (Razzia)

Les Rencards Le Risque A ta Vie (Groovie)

Tequila Dime Que Me Quieres (Zafiro)

The Prize Don’t Know You (Anti-Fade)

The Zantees Lost Highway (outro) (Bomp/Charly)

I tried a different method of putting this together. The fidelity of the music is better to my ears, it doesn't matter about the gab. One cannae unscramble eggs. Let me know if you hear any difference or if I'm imagining it. Update... there's no link so if you want an mp3 sent via WeTransfer then send me a message or comment with your e-mail and I'll hook you up. The file is 153MB.

LEMON POUND CAKE

THE BELLSHILL BEAT

ELVIS WOULD HAVE BEEN 88 TODAY!

FIRST SPANISH COMBO I EVER HEARD...

RIP - BOB URH

IT'S A HIT!

RIP JOHN NEFF

BEST THING I'VE SEEN ON NETFLIX FOR AGES

SEASONAL MUSIC - 2

SEASONAL MUSIC

THE STAR SPANGLES RE-ASSEMBLE IN (JANUARY) 2023

GINEBRAMANIA

RIP - ANGELO BADALAMENTI (ANDY BADELE)

FROM THE MONORAIL 20th ANNIVERSARY BASH

FOR THE LAST TIME EVER ANYWHERE (PROBABLY)

 

ESPINAFEST 2023

 

TOP FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT (Cheers Tony)

RIP - FRANK MINARIK

LYRICS BY ANNIKA NORLIN

ORDER YOUR COPY NOW! (CLICK IMAGE)

 

IT'S A HIT!

RIP - WILKO

KICKSVILLE RADIO - THEM KICKS JUST GOT EASIER TO FIND!

 

RIP - GORDON DAIR (THE VALVES)

CROWDFUNDER FOR EDINBURGH FILMHOUSE (CLICK IMAGE)

 

GOING GOING GOING TO SOME GOOD HOMES...

These are risograph print reproductions of the NBT covers in the SCENES exhibit. 

Sets are available to good homes that would like to adopt such a thing. The print process dictated that it wasn't economically viable to run just one so there are 21. One could call it a limited edition. Yes, there aren’t many but demand will determine desirability. These look better than the real thing, like the photos of those commemorative plates in the Sunday paper supplements, but in reverse. 

The short of all this is, do you care? They're collected in an A3 plastic zip top pocket comprising 15 prints. I’m not sure what you’ll do with them but they’re nice. Too groovy for the recycle bin but I’m under no illusion that they’re just ‘stuff’.Thanks to Paul Choi for sorting out the wee overrun and to Good Press in Glasgow for the excellent repro quality. I’m not numbering them so you don't have to worry about that. When they’re gone...

I'm not selling them, we can sort out postage and you make a donation to a food bank or some other charity that isn't headed up by a parasite sucking up some big salary. Send me a message if you're interested and we'll figure the detail out.

ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE IN FULL EFFECT

DICTATORS FULL SET FROM LAST WEEK (GRACIAS RICH NESIN)

RIP - DAN McCAFFERTY

BACK TO THE BENIDROME - FUNTASTIC REPORT 2022

You’ll likely notice that I don’t really blather here much but that silence needs to be broken in order to give you my skinny on the premier annual punk rock, power popping clan gathering that was FUNTASTIC DRACULA CARNIVAL Episode 17 in Benidorm. Making my way from the pre-shindig aperatif session, I wandered by Backstage Bar as the strains of “Heading For The Texas Border” blared forth. Me myself? I was heading for the Flamingo hotel so this signalled to me that the spirit of Roy Loney was present and that all was well. Something that crossed my mind was that maybe it would be an idea for a bunch of us to buy the old KU UFO and turn it into a retirement complex.

The Wildebeests

I found out that the popular holiday destination is referred to by locals as Zonaguiri. Guiris are those ugly foreign visitors that stink up the resorts along that coast and further afield, they’re often Plague Islanders. Friday’s highlight was The Wildebeests who were there at the behest of headliner Wild Billy Childish and CTMF. The intrepid trio acted as a conduit to make this long-pursued appearance happen and Medway enthusiasts witnessed a unique spectacle that was available for that one night only. in my head, I was yelling the words to "La Ciudad Huele a Sudor" at La Riviera in Madrid where my favourite band was playing the second of two shows before they made their debut in Mexico. I realise this may be considered sacrilege in some quarters but I can’t lie about something this important. 

Wild Billy Childish and CTMF

One of the absolute top notch aspects of attending Funtastic is that you meet people you’ve known for verging on forever but have never been in the same vicinity. Meeting Mike and Anja Stax with the rest of The Loons was one such escapade and gracias Lenny Helsing for making that happen. In addition, their full-blooded beat attack was a highlight and a half of Saturday night. Earlier, Los Retumbes started the proceedings doing what they do so well. The Josephine Network brought a Laurel Canyon-style pop and drizzled it with a Lower East Side New York pop/soul element that really stood out to an almost orchestral degree. In addition, Rata Negra specialised in post-punk that swings and The Zodiac Killers also delivered the goods. Seeing an empty Buckfast bottle on the way to the venue made me wonder about the rocket that might have discarded it.

Los Retumbes

The Josephine Network

Rata Negra

The Loons

I don’t know which DJ was served up the Eddie and The Hot Rods, Dr Feelgood, Bilbo Baggins sequence but they’re doing excellent missionary work. And Eloy played "Downtown" as interpreted by The Cuban Heels. On the third night, The Scientists "Swampland" was playing as I walked in. Another positive omen. 

The festivities in Penelope end at 8am each morning after the night before. That gives the revellers time to get almost no rest before it’s time to take in the Sunday lunchtime entertainment at Rockstar Bar. La Moto de Fernan blew away the cobwebs in the basement of said establishment as did Metalleg who I missed because I was keen to attend the launch Pepe Kubrick’s book “El único juego en la ciudad” (The Only Game In The City) with Ivan from Chopper Monster in MadToon and publisher Tony DevilDog who is also the man that runs Family Spree Recordings (see picture to your immediate right).

On Sunday night, Los Malinches cross fertilised a Fleshtone-y garage romp with early Santana to come up with my pick of that night. They set a bloody high bar for anybody to follow. Those guys put Vanessa Varona and I through our paces doen in the ‘pit’. Uni Boys were the hot ticket and they’re almost nearly pretty good, earning bonus points for pitching in with a version of The Ramones "Slug". Biznaga was one of the acts that represented what is perhaps the dawning of the next intake. Having young bands to attract a younger audience is a good move. They have a song called “Madrid” with a video that that was filmed in Weirdo! Bar so obviously I approve of that. They remind me of The Gaslight Anthem or something. I get why they’re popular but they ain’t no Ginebras. I’d never seen The Meanies but have followed their oeuvre forever, they did the business when I was flagging a bit. As ever, Daddy Long Legs brought the roof in. The place was jumping and then some when I left on Dia 3 having taken a flier down a ‘surprise’ step. Entirely my own eejit fault. 

Los Malinches

Uni Boys

El Coche Funtastico will rev up again next year (12/13/14 October 2023) leaving all other attempts to create such a party in the dust. ECF is what Knight Rider is called in Spain but I’m sure the Hoff would approve of this adaptation to mark the occasion of the greatest event of its type to happens over the course of any year. Many have tried but no actual cigar has been won. It’s all about the good natured delinquency of the attendees. That's what makes it. The facilitators of the madness, Paloma, Varo, Mikael and their crew did us proud again. The monster turns 18 next year, almost old enough to drink. Eeek!

Rock ‘n roll kicks for teenagers of all ages. It was a real pleasure to see so many familiar faces again and I really hope I’m around and able to make the scene again in the ’23. I'll post the link to the ZigPix when it becomes available.

Terrible snaps by me.

GOOD OLD DAYS... YAY! BAD OLD DAYS BOO!

CURRENTLY TAKING MEXICO BY STORM!

COMING RIGHT UP!

 

MY FUNTASTIC HIT PICKS WHILE I FIND MY MIND - LOS MALINCHES

AMY ALLISON IN NEW YORK SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

SOMEHOW I MISSED THIS... MADTOON LAG IS TO BLAME!

TOO MUCH REVOLUTION?

RIP - ROBERT GORDON

POWERED BY VARONAS

PARTY ANTHEM!

EDINBURGH WEDNESDAY 19th OCTOBER...

 

RIP - JOHN "MORT" MORTENSEN (MONO MEN)

KIDDA KOVER

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER TWEAK!

 

SCIENTISTS RECONVENE TO HALT CLIMATE CHANGE