Those Scandanavian kids have all the fun...



Mods and mockers fight it out!

Mans P. Mansson (The Maggots) vs. Peter Rosén (The Moving Sounds) at Bröderna Olsson's Garlic & Shots, Folkungagatan 84, fri 15/4 21-01 while out in Horway....



The Crypt presents:

THE LAUNDERETTES (Oslo) + THE RETARDOS (Oslo)

Friday 15. april 2005 kl. 21.00 Dis Cafe, Fredrikstad, Norway

I'm not sure what the official phrase for waking up on a Tuesday thinking that it's Saturday. Methinks it's taking this "Everyday is Saturday" credo too far. No strong drink or narcotic of any description was involved in this at all. Merely the power of wishful thinking... Anyway, is the poster above too small for you folks to read? Or maybe your eyesight is better than mine??

A benefit will be held this Sunday (the 17th) at Amsterdam's Paradiso club to raise funds for Wally Tax's funeral. More details as they develop...

OK, I'll tell you why I've been hardly prolific here in recent weeks; first up is the acquisition of various hi-fi elements like a new amp, speakers and a stylus for my trusty Torens, which has led me to enjoy such long forgotten experiences like actual stereo and low-end sounds. Aaah, the wonder! And there's always books to keep me away from this here blog of course. Moanin' At Midnight (Pantheon) by James Sergest and Mark Hoffman is a long overdue biography on the life and times of Howlin' Wolf. Extremely detailed and a true labor of love, this is mandatory stuff for any NBT reader. Let The Good Times Rock (Music Mentor) is a great collection of magazine articles and liner notes by Bill Millar. Sub-titled 'A fan's notes on post-war American roots music' it is is fact a lot more exciting than just that, with topics ranging from Benny Joy and Etta James to Young Jessie, Jerry Lee Lewis , Major Bill Smith, Link Wray and much, much more. This book serves as a virtual bible for those of us raised on Kicks magazine. Simon Reynold's Rip It Up And Start Again (Faber and Faber) will obviously be of less interest to most of you, as it documents the postpunk years 1978-1984 from a seriously non-rockin' POV. But as it is, I gotta admit that I really enjoyed reading this and pulled records from the shelves that I'd hadn't bothered with in the past two decades. Half of the music involved is absolute rubbish (remember ZZT, The Associates or "postive punk"?), but the general picture is refreshing enough to serve as fine follow-up to Jon Savage's England's Dreaming...

R.I.P.:Wally Tax.

In recent weeks, something that has pissed me off is the lukewarm to lame reviews of the new Stereo Total album, "Do The Bambi". Then some investigation turns up the news that they're bound for Edinburgh on Thursday the 21st of this month for a show at The Venue. A well kept secret but not for long... more later...

If you ever wondered what it might have been like to have Blue Oyster Cult collaborate with Zappa soaked on Primus to come up with a re-score of Carnival of Souls then Mike Watt's new opus "The Secondman's Middle Stand" might just offer such an insight. It's a complex, yet strangely amenable collection coming from a place that's decidedly off, away from any beaten track I've been down lately. Available now on Easy Action Records, a release date of June 13th is quoted on the blurb sheet but the man is at present on a lengthy European tour and if you hit up his SITE, then you can catch all the dates there. He's on the road until May 13th and in the UK between May 2nd and 7th (Mono in Glasgow on May 5th)then Ireland at the tail end. He'll be back with The Stooges to do festivals in the summer but I'd urge you to devote your attention to this project instead. Watt's "Stand" is a million miles away from crunching out what are now over-ripe standards in a field to lifestyle zombies that couldn't actually give a fuck. The package also includes a dvd which has two clips which you'll most likely never see on MTV. More's the pity...

Papal (not to be confused with paypal) funerals, royal weddings and general elections. These are the things currently being dragged through the neighbourhood here in the rapidly failing UK. I know that first one played out further afield but you get the picture. The big news, that a Boonaraaa (Hey Tine!) will be in Edinburgh for a couple of days somehow didn't make the news this morning but that's the important scoop on my telly. Coming at the end of a week with some relative highs, more general lows and the prospect of folks losing their "livelihoods" due to the raging incompetence which appears to be at epedemic levels and running amuck through the country. However, the bigger picture will undoubtedly reveal itself in due course. These are peculiar times and they are a-changin' (yr not wrong Bob) which may be no bad thing. The many US citizens who apologised for their country re-electing Wee George would do well to feast ther attention on the charabang of utter losers that are up for taking us one step closer to some kind of advanced zombification, consigning institutions like the BBC to the dumper along the way. The word on the pavey is that Auntie Beeb is geared up to ditch its record libraries, replacing these with one big George Lucas-like hard drive to serve what's left of the organisation after the bones have been picked clean. Lucky Scotland has its own "Parliament" to shield us from this rank meglomania, er, ain't it?

Suicide is painless right enough (in financial terms) Mr Rafferty reports that FOPP is selling the following Rev - Vega delights at a fiver each for the nice blast first doublepacks :

Suicide, with live at cgbgb's 1977 and 23 minutes over brussels

and

The Second Suicide Album with The First Rehearsal Tapes

cannae be bad...

Pete Myers was the mad, MAD DADDY... (thanks to Larry Shell for the tip off)

and Ben has just made me aware of this MICHAEL WELDON Hillbilly Hollywood story on the WFMU site.

TIJUANA HERCULES extol a hybrid blues scufflebilly which combines a Van Vlietesque rasp with some skewed skiffle and inebriated New Orleans flavoured swing. A sometimes ugly, yet strangely satisfying racket which should push the buttons of Gun Club and Panther Burns afficianados. Talking of Mr Falco's combo, who played in London last week and are headed for Newcastle in May, Mr Thewlis (of London) was telling me that their current skinbasher has great "paradiddles". Boom boom tish!

Ah, procrastination... seems like i'm firmly in the grip of that condition at the minute although that will give way later tonight to the all-enveloping dread of returning to Tosspotville tomorrow. And have I made inroads into all of the areas that I promised myself I would during this much required down-time? Well not exactly but some progress can be reported. In the direction of punting my old man's "Tunes From The Glen", contact has been made with radio stations in the farthest reaches of Scotia. A means of making it available over the web here and in North America is also in the process of coming together. This morning, I meant to get in about some recently received releases but was sidelined listening to the great RADIO STUDENT in Ljubljana. One thing that has made itself alarmingly clear this past few days is that I don't really care for leaving the house. Or if I do it has to be early in order to bodyswerve the masses. I'm not sure what this escalation in my inability to tholl the hurly-burly means but will endeavour to make some sense of it.

The long-awaited programme for BIG BIG COUNTRY came in this morning though so check out the fare that Mr Kelly is serving up this annum. Your appearance at the Southern Culture On The Skids show in Oran Mor on Friday May 13th is mandatory.

THE FALLEN LEAVES will again host and play at a 3rd sitting of THE PARLIAMENT CLUB on Friday 15th April. With headliners THE PRISCILLAS and main support THE FALLEN LEAVES who feature two of the original members of the Subway Sect.

THE PARLIAMENT CLUB is on Friday 15th April 2005 At The Black Horse
181 Sheen Road, Richmond, London. 020 8940 0424. Entry £6.00 on the door.

Doors open at 8pm – finishing at 11.30 for trains and night buses.

All enquiries to: thefallenleaves@f2s.com

LOS FABULOUS COYOTEMEN ARE BACK IN ACTION BIG TIME!

CATCH THE SULTANS OF THE SQUARED CIRCLE AT THESE GOOD FER NOWT BOUTS..

FRI 13TH MAY THE DIRTY WATER CLUB LONDON:W/ LOS CHICOS, MAGNETIX 'N' THE PHOBICS

SAT 14TH MAY THE CLUNY NEWCASTLE: W/ S.C.O.T'S , LOS CHICOS

FRI 3RD JUNE SIRROCO MADRID(ESPANIA) W/ KING KAHN 'N' B.B.Q

SAT 4TH JUNE EL MUGUMBO VALENCIA (ESPANIA) W/ LOS CHICOS

A BEST OF CD OF OUT OF PRINT COYOTES SWAG (ESTRUS/LARSEN ETC..) SHOULD HIT THE MAT 'ROUND SHOWTIME ON H-RECORDS.

Murray Ramone's fractured punkruckin' duo, dunno if he's "Shock" or "Awe" but what The Banana Peel Sessions lack in fidelity is more than made up for in spirit. "Come and see the Kentucky Fried Children indeed"... anything that cajoles me into digging out my Angry Samoans records can be no bad thing. This guy should be writing songs for McFly.

I'm a little pissed off with the whole Ebay phenomenon right now. A large proportion of this is down to the spoof mails that arrive two or three times a day from parasites eager to get bank, credit card or whatever details. A victim of its own success, the TV advertising and general media boom created round the site now is squeezing the pus out of the boil in terms of the lengths that thieving scum will go to. Anyway, that said - there are still bargains to be had. Classics that have yet to enjoy the status of being so and PARLOR JAMES "Dreadful Sorry" EP and "Old Dreams" album fall into that category. There are copies on there now for virtually nowt. As you may or may not know, these discs feature the early works of Amy Allison. The production could be described as iffy but "Hell to Pay" on the ep in particular is more than worth the entrance fee. Just go to ebay, search on Parlor james and take a wee flutter. It'll be fun.

A missive from Mr Spence... it's a GREASE MONKEY world!

"Howdy Folks! I know it's late notice, but we only found out today that we were playing...

THURSDAY 7TH APRIL- KING TUT'S WAH WAH HUT, ST VINCENT ST., GLASGOW Tickets - £11(!!!)*; Doors - probably 8pm
TH' LEGENDARY SHACK SHAKERS - seminal roots rockabilly from Kentucky, rated by Hank Williams III, Jason Ringenberg, the Reverent Horton Heat, and Jello Biafra! - and - THE GREASE MONKEYS we're getting tickets to sell for it tomorrow (yeah great - thanks Tuts!) which we can sell to you at a cheaper price. So drop me a line back if you want tickets kept by on the door for you at Monkeys discount price.

(If you want to do this e-mail NBT and I'll pass the info to Jim)

Also, later this month we've got the (sorta) Bronx Cheer Fest.....

MONDAY 25TH APRIL - THE BARFLY, CLYDE ST., GLASGOW
Tickets - £7; Doors: 8pm

THE BELLRAYS - maximum rock'n'soul from LA - current LP, "The Red, White & Black" is out on both Poptones and Alternative Tentacles...
SUNSHINE - nope, me neither. Probably a corporate buy-on w/ a name like that! - and - THE GREASE MONKEYS

TUESDAY 26TH APRIL - NICE 'N' SLEAZY, SAUCHIEHALL ST., GLASGOW
Tickets - (probably) £7; Doors: 8pm (I think)

THE IMMORTAL LEE COUNTY KILLERS III - the essential fucked-up blues, all the way from Auburn, Alabama w/ releases on Estrus & Sweet Nothing - now w/ additional keyboards! HIGH PLANE DRIFTERS - nope, me neither - but they're playing the Barfly this Weds w/ the Soledad Brothers, Kain, etc, if you wanna preview - and - THE GREASE MONKEYS

Anyways, hope to see y'all at a show this month.

All the Best....................Jim 'n' the Grease Monkeys!"

The Jason Pierce curated event, a kind of Meltdown in the North (Meltdoon even) in Newcastle Upon Tyne in May goes as follows... Thanks to Mr Campbell for the info...

Tav Falco Sat 21st May w/ DJ Andy Weatherall
The Dirtbombs Mon 23rd May w/ DJ Jason Pierce
Daniel Johnston Thur 26th May w/ DJ Jason Pierce
The Flaming Stars Sun 29th May

also showing Robert Gordon films on the afternoons

and of course SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS on Sat 14th with Los Coyotes.

All of this action takes place at

The Head Of Steam At The Cluny
36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. NE1 2PQ

New from Crypt Records: "VARIOUS ARTISTS The Ikon Records Story: America's #1 Unsung Garage Label: 1964-1966 Double 180-gram LP CRYPT-09629 tracks (22 originals and 7 cover versions) (plus 2 radio adverts) of never reissued 1964-1966 garage punk, surf instros, frat stomp and folk-punk from 20 teenage bands recorded at Sacramento's IKON STUDIO. These 28 cuts, culled from the to-be-simultaneously-released 60-song double CD on the FRANTIC RECORDS label, are the result of FRANTIC RECORDS' Joey D and ACE RECORDS' Alec Palao having spent the last 6 years tracking down every band, every master tape, and (often without luck) the impossible-to-find 7" singles released on Ikon. This vinyl version is housed in a deluxe full-color inside-and-out gatefold jacket crammed with color and b&w photos, label shots, and extensive liner notes.

After 27 years of extensive reissues of 60s garage punk rarities, only ONE Ikon track has ever made it to a reissue - WHY? Because almost NOBODY even owns any of the original Ikon 45s... The sole KNIGHTSMEN copy is in a collection in Seattle, 2 fiends in Petaluma and Australia have 12 or so Ikons, 2 in Connecticut, 4 in NJ... TUFF stuff to find, baby!

Well... prepare yourselves for an ass-whomping BOOM when you drop the needle on any of these 4 sides, baby! MARAUDERS "Surf Jam", SHONDELLS "Something's Got A Hold Of Me", DENNY & KENNY DUO "Meet My Little Sweetie In The Night Time", AVANTIS "Too Much", JOHN ROSASCO QUARTET "The Shift", PROPHETS "It's All Over Now", BRISTOLS "She's Gone Away", KNIGHTSMEN "Daddy Was A Rolling Stone", MADD INC "I'll Be The One", PARISH HALL BLUES QUINTET "I Can Never Say", UNKNOWN GROUP "Searching", SHONDELLS "It's True", PROPHETS "You Wonder Why", MYMES "You Lose Girl", BOBBIES "Orangutang", TOWNSMEN "High Heel Sneakers", MADD INC "Sooperspy", AVANTIS "Countdown", BOBBIES "Truck". RC & THE TAMBOURINES "The Quirk", KNIGHTSMEN "Fever", MYMES "I've Got Better Things To Do", MERGERS "Love, You Funny Thing", TOWNSMEN "Leaving Me", SONS OF SOUND "I'm Coming Home", CAUTIONS "Groovin", SHONDELLS "I Cried Last Night", MADD INC "Batman", KEE-NOTES "St James Infirmary"