A trip through the hearts and minds of today's most uncompromising artists! Includes exclusive 70-minute CD!

Midnight Mavericks features the most eclectic assortment of artists ever gathered between two covers. From angry stand-up comedians and cutting edge exploitation filmmakers to hardcore crime novelists and controversial cartoonists, the book casts a bright light on underground culture. Featuring four dozen artists whose work is significant in its purity and uncompromising attitudes, this heavily illustrated book features comes with a FREE CD, featuring interview excerpts and rare tracks from The Kills, Lydia Lunch, The Flesh Eaters, Sturgis Nikides, Steve Wynn, Jim Goad, Simon Stokes and many more!

Filmmakers interviewed include: JOHN WATERS, JÖRG BUTTGEREIT, STUART GORDON, NICK ZEDD, RICHARD STANLEY, BUDDY GIOVINAZZO, ABEL FERRARA and more...

Musicians interviewed include: THE KILLS, SIMON STOKES, STEVE WYNN, ANDREW W.K., JOHNETTE NAPOLITANO, RENNIE SPARKS, STURGIS NIKIDES and more...

Other noted underground figures interviewed include: JOE R. LANSDALE, LECH KOWALSKI, MARY WORONOV, J.K. POTTER, ROCKETS REDGLARE, DAVID PEACE, RON ATHEY, JACK KETCHUM, MIKE DIANA, NICK TOSCHES, JIM GOAD, LYDIA LUNCH and more...

Click here for a full list of contents, and to order this ground-breaking book, which is in stock and shipping now!

DIRTY WATER RECORDS

The new release on Dirty Water Records will be in the shops at the end of this month.

The first on our new "Excavated Archives" series, this is a re-issue of the debut Lyres single from 1979 - "Don't Give It Up Now" c/w "How Do You Know?"

The original recordings have been re-mastered so the new release will sound loads better than the original, which was issued back in '79 in a pressing of just 200 copies. The sleeve comes with a never-before-seen photo of the band playing live at The Space in Boston around the time this single was recorded.

A number of other releases are planned for the coming year, including other bands from the USA, plus one South America and Europe, as well as some home-grown British talent of course.

International distribution has been set up so you will be able to buy it in dozens of countries (including the USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Spain, Germany, Italy and France - and with new countries being added all the time) as well as good record shops in the UK.

In fact, so many copies of this new record have been ordered by shops already we've just called the factory to tell them to increase the amount they're making for us!

Copies will be on sale at the club, naturally, on the Friday before its release date.

I'm not altogether sure where all the time is going? There must be a leak someplace because it's pissing away something wicked. Anyway tomorrow is the first Friday of the month, and in Stockholm, that means GEARCLUB!

BOOGIEFEST

Even with the preventional shot in the arm from the doctors the flu still caught up with me this season... so here I am, sittin' bleary eyed, fever-ish an unable to sleep, tryin' to find some joy in these Youtube Nuggets; Amboy Dukes, Barbarians, Castaways, Chocolate Watchband, Electric Prunes, Knickerbockers, Nazz, Seeds, Shadows Of Knight, Standells, Strangeloves, 13th Floor Elevators.

I think the new TripTych bill is announced today(?)... it includes Billy Childish show at The Panoptican in Argyle Street.

Caught the Scott Walker documentary 30th Century Man on Sunday. He's an interesting geezer that doesn't seem in the slightest bit insane despite his strange, dark leanings. Don't expect to learn much of anything about him just sit back and soak it in. The mystery of his oeuvre is what makes it tick and that is left pretty much intact. Hopefully the terrible sound on the print or digital media isn't something that will be evident when it does the rounds. I expect it'll be screened on BBC4 before too long. Now I need to seek out Pola X...

A brief upswing arrived yesterday in the form of a new Hello Saferide track "I Was Definitely Made For These Times". This will appear as a limited edition release on Regal/Parlophone on May 14th. Cd and vinyl, get ready to pre-order...

It's a dark foreboding morning and it's pissing down. It'll take something like the arrival of The Boonaraaas album to counter the gloom. Fingers crossed then...

And that's about it... oh yeah, Paul Burch is in Edinburgh a week from today at The Pleasance.

YouTube - Punk In Cleethorpes, 1976

Punk In Cleethorpes, 1976...

I know, the archive seems to be "down". Being too much of a dope to be able to fix it myself, i've contacted the cavalry so hopefully we can keep the marauders at bay until things can be rectified. Info still seems to be available via Googling so i'm hornswaggled if I know what's up. Thanks to everybody who let it be known though...

Thanks to all those who responded to last week's Dr. Feelgood post... Just located two more youtube links from the same TV show (1 & 2).

Anybody out there has similar material by the Count Bishops, Ducks Deluxe and their ilk?

So let’s see, before anything else there are a few things I’ve been meaning to mention here but for one reason and another never got around to.

A new “season” of Classic Scottish Albums started on BBC Radio Scotland this week with the subject of the first Proclaimers album. Reminded me of seeing them open for The Cateran at The Onion Cellar or whatever it was called in Edinburgh. Trying to get people to believe that these two bespectacled chaps were “a Scots Everly Brothers” fell on deaf ears at the time and the rest is history. As always the great David Scott Esq. is the glue that holds these things together and next weeks programme is about Alex Harvey. Tune in via the RS play it again feature, click the listen again link at the top RH and scroll to "Classic Scottish Albums". I’m sure you know the drill by now.

Brijitte West of the New York Loose has a new venture which those of you who are parents might like to check out. Cool Kids Music kicks off with an artist called Mr Ray. Whether or not he took his name from the Suicide song is not known. Incidentally, the NYL album has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances that are frustrating for all of us. When Cargo have the problems ironed out then we’ll clue you in immediately.


Maia Hirasawa’s debut single on Razzia is out on March 7th entitled “And I Met This Boy”. It’s as sweet a pop nugget as you’re likely to find and serves as a taster for the album “Though, I’m Just Me” on April 4th. Have a listen at her myspace dovecot.

Got a “sneak” mp3 of the title track of Lucky Soul’s “The Great Unwanted” and now I remember who singer Ali Howard reminded me of, Aimee MacDonald. So I googled the Sixties comedy siren’s name and y’know? I couldn’t find more than one mention. And no photos. When you consider the obscure guff you can dig up on almost anything this is peculiar. But anyways, things got even weirder this morning when Janice Forsyth actually mentioned AM on the bloody wireless. Anyway, this is all concurrent to the music. The LS cut is a lush, husky affair of the first order. Somewhat retro-futuristic and (hopefully) headed for the airwaves soon. Meanwhile, why not have a toot around their site.

In a more rock’n’roll vein, today those fine Girl Trouble folks are hosting the following show in Tacoma…


The great Rich Stim has been instrumental in making my father’s album of Pipe tuneage available in itunes. Hopefully I’ve not made an arse of conveying the info and blurb to the cdbaby site to make it all go smoothly. To have had Davie Scott play and produce the thing and then have a member of MX80 whap it onto the internet isn’t something any of us foresaw.
Thanks guys.

And do you think I can find the scribbles with regard to the other stuff I meant to mention? Of course not but it’ll all come out in the, er, wash.

Whilst I'll never be mistaken for a teenager, I am frequently bored. And there'll be no waffling on from me tonight on account of me being the chairman, innit!? Might feel more like prattling on tomorrow, maybe's not. Catch you on the flipside...

And not related musically but keeping up the TV theme, the next instalment of Sounds Of Sweden is these two guys with televisions on their nappers ala Man or Astroman.

SOS (Sounds of Sweden) presents:
Sweden's answer to The Postal Service, TELEVISION KEEPS US APART and quirky Glasgow troubadours ZOEY VAN GOEY
Friday, March 23, 9PM, 4GBP entry - Bacchus, 80 Glassford Street, G1 1UR, 0141 572 0080

For our April outing, we're showcasing the freshest in fresh young talent!

Television Keeps Us Apart has been compared to The Postal Service, and justifiably so. They combine mechanical beats with backing tracks and poppy hooks to create some truly infectious tunes. Single 'Ticket out of here' is irresistibly catchy tender pop with upbeat electronics. Not much is known about the young duo of Carl Sunesson and Axel Yngvell, who met as students in Linköping, a university town south of Stockholm. They toured Sweden in autumn 2006, but have been hidden away in the studio recording their debut album, so this will be their first outing of 2007.

Zoey Van Goey is a band made up of Matt Brennan, Michael John McCarthy, and Kim Moore. Hailing from Canada, Ireland, and England respectively, they assembled rather accidentally in Glasgow and now happily make music together. Making their debut performance in September 2006, this band is brand new but already drawing favourable comparisons to adventurous trios like Yo La Tengo and Deerhoof. Packing out shows in Glasgow, Zoey Van Goey are quickly gaining a reputation for their beguiling live performances and onstage banter. Quirky, talented, and cheerfully subversive, the three multi-instrumentalist ragamuffins trio flirt with Casio keyboards, laptops, violas, and accordions, in addition to the more traditional fare of guitars, drums, and vocals.

Internet resources:

http://www.myspace.com/televisionkeepsusapart
http://www.myspace.com/zoeyvangoey
http://www.myspace.com/soundsofsweden
http://www.soundsofsweden.com

Forget the RRHOF corporate piffle and get The Dictators inducted/indicted into the White Castle Hall of Fame. After all, they put the company on the map way before Saturday Night Fever came along.

Slip, slyd and sign up for Mr Gene Suttle's campaign HERE!

There's only one thing better than this live Fleshtones DVD and that's to catch them in person. Where of course, you can pick up a copy of this fine momento of what is easily one of the greatest live acts on earth. They'll happily administer that super-rock jag that at the following venues...

24 March - Magnetic Fields, Brooklyn, NY
11 April - Grand Mix, Tourcoing, France
12 April - La Coope, Cleremont Ferrand, France
13 April - La Nef, Angouleme, France
14 April - Gagarine, Athens, Greece
15 April - L'ampli, Pau, France
17 April - Astrolabe, Orleans, France
18 April - Le Plan, Ris Orangis, Paris
19 April - L'autre Canal, Nancy, France

I quite literally just received this (Thanks Laura!). The long-awaited follow up to "Go Get Goo Goo" is "Five Steps Ahead" and it's gonna be walking all over us courtesy of Sounds of Subterranea in March!! More info as it becomes available...

Mr Helsing wishes it to be known that...

THE THANES - A NIGHT IN GREAT KING STREET 10" LP - LARSEN (LZ079) It's here...NOW! The new 10" live LP by Scottish garage-beat purveyors THE THANES - A NIGHT IN GREAT KING STREET - issued on fabulous French label Larsen (LZ079). Features never before issued tracks, such as the group's urgent cover of the Q65 nugget "I Despise You", plus many on-stage favourites, including "The Lovely Laura-Anne", "It's Just A Fear" and "The Next One". Start bugging your local record shoppe to order your copy, like now!"

Other news... Got an e-mail from Tony Blair this morning. Me and 1.8 million+ others. It had to be rescued from my junk mail. This was because I signed the road pricing petition that's been in the headlines. And actually, I'm not so much against road pricing as I am agin the tracking that it would allow the all-enveloping surveillance industry to undertake. Lord knows, is the mobile phone epidemic not hellish enough. Not that there's much to glean about my comings and goings but it's the principle. Actually, if there was a halfway decent public transport infrastructure then I wouldn't even have a bloody car. However, the likelihood of such a thing in this backwater is slimmer than a very slim thing on the proverbial slim-athon slimfast diet.

Taken to yon logical conclusion, if I didn't have to earn a crust then I'd seldom leave the house at all. But anyway, all this guff with carbon footprints, etc., until our co-habitees in burgeoning economies start screwing the napper then there's little or nothing our hapless attempts to restrict climate change can do. We're on the rocket people, but what you can do is resolve not to waste energy for your own self. Nobody else. Just you. I also had to listen to some bollocks about "ethical trading" from someone who gets printing done in China rather than here in the UK where the triple standard and creative accountancy reign supreme. Pity about my fellow travellers who are just trying to get by. Anyway, I guess Tony didn't catch any of the Hold Steady shows because there was no mention of them in his message. Or maybe they're not britpop enough. That could be it. I'm tempted to make a sinking shjips crack but I can't be arsed.

Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. says "hail to the chief" this week with a presidential performance worthy of William Henry Harrison -- all within the ever-stately confines of Otto's Shrunken Head, naturally!

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd / (And the last Thursday of every month)

OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD TIKI BAR & LOUNGE / http://www.OttosShrunkenHead.com /
538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in ol' Manhattan, NY / Two BIG shows, from 8:00 sharp until 10:00 / No cover! /
Yours in the oval office- Michael, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"
http://www.SITandDieCo.com

Lindsay's Alice Cooper ticket reminded me of this bizarre little item that was reprinted in a Dutch music mag way back in '71; a pet registration card from the Amsterdam Hilton...

For one reason and another, I don't have the energy or the inkling to rabbit on the keyboard tonight. Found some old ticket stubs yesterday and thought we'd go for a little nostalgia instead... Article #1 - my first REAL rock'n'roll concert... November 1972.

Article # 2 - In honour of the wee frisson that ran through J's YouTube post of last week...

And finally - Article #3 - a certified classic, another example of a CBGB's bill hitting up the UK.
Cheetah Chrome was toting Glen Buxton's guitar at the time...

Thankyou and Goodnight...