Here is a gig by The Jam played 21-03-1978 played at The El Mocambo Club, Toronto. The Jam were on fire that night and the songs sound twice as powerful as they do on record.
Get it here:
Friday 28 February 2014
COCKNEY REJECTS
Cannot say much about this East London band that has not been said better elsewhere. For about three years, they breathed new life into punk rock in the UK, are generally credited for the name given to a new breed of stripped down, working class punk rock.
Here are the two John Peel sessions recorded by the band in 1979 and 1980.
My copy of the 1979 Peel Session is in mono. Here is a youtube link to a much better copy:
Download the 1980 Peel Session here:
Thursday 27 February 2014
OTHER PEOPLES MUSIC (RECORD LABEL)
Other Peoples Music is a record label active since 1981 run by producer and archivist Jan Haust that specializes mainly in compiling and reissuing obscure or out of print material by a number of Canadian artists as well as recording new material with such artists as Dee Dee Ramone and The Ugly Ducklings. During the period of 1994 to 1997, the label focused heavily on compiling previously unreleased material and long out of print releases by early Toronto punk bands (the few exceptions being a 1979 Iggy Pop live show called "My Girl Hates My Heroin" and Victoria, BC's Dishrags "Love/Hate").
The foresight and hard work of Jan Haust as proprietor of small independent label OPM, along with film maker Colin Brunton (The Last Pogo), and photographer Don Pyle (Trouble at The Camera Club) has ensured that the incredible music that developed in Southern Ontario between 1976-1979 will not disappear into obscurity but will remain a vital part of Toronto, Hamilton and London's cultural history. While there have been others in recent times who have produced excellent books attempting to reconstruct and document the Southern Ontario music scene of the time, Haust, Brunton & Pyle were there much like the bands as active participants and not treating their projects from the perspective of posthumous chroniclers.
At present, it appears the "Punk Hole Of Fame Series" produced by Other Peoples Music has gone out of print so the best bet for those interested in tracking down copies of these albums is to dig through your local used cd shop or search ebay. Check out Other Peoples Music's website and perhaps a polite email might turn up an unsold straggler (or enough interest might encourage a reissue of these essential pieces of Canadian punk rock history)
The foresight and hard work of Jan Haust as proprietor of small independent label OPM, along with film maker Colin Brunton (The Last Pogo), and photographer Don Pyle (Trouble at The Camera Club) has ensured that the incredible music that developed in Southern Ontario between 1976-1979 will not disappear into obscurity but will remain a vital part of Toronto, Hamilton and London's cultural history. While there have been others in recent times who have produced excellent books attempting to reconstruct and document the Southern Ontario music scene of the time, Haust, Brunton & Pyle were there much like the bands as active participants and not treating their projects from the perspective of posthumous chroniclers.
At present, it appears the "Punk Hole Of Fame Series" produced by Other Peoples Music has gone out of print so the best bet for those interested in tracking down copies of these albums is to dig through your local used cd shop or search ebay. Check out Other Peoples Music's website and perhaps a polite email might turn up an unsold straggler (or enough interest might encourage a reissue of these essential pieces of Canadian punk rock history)
Here is a sampling of some of the fantastic releases. Every one of them essential:
Viletones - Taste Of Honey
The Mods - Twenty 2 Months
The Ugly - Disorder
The Demics - New York City
The Curse - Teenage Meat
The 'B' Girls - Who Says Girls Can't Rock
The Dishrags - Love/Hate
The Secrets - Teenage Rampage
Forgotten Rebels - Tomorrow Belongs To Us
THE LAST POGO (1978, TORONTO PUNK DOCUMENTARY, DIR: COLIN BRUNTON)
This 1978 Toronto punk documentary directed by Colin Brunton and filmed at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern does for Canadian punk what Don Lett's The Punk Rock Movie does for UK punk. Absolutely indispensable. It features Toronto's Viletones, The Ugly, The Secrets & The Cardboard Brains, Scarborough's The Mods and Hamilton's Teenage Head & The Scenics.
Below are a few clips the film others have posted on youtube:
The video is still available for sale on Colin Brunton's website and is easily the best $12 you will ever spend on a music purchase. To grab a copy and find out more about Brunton's most recent project, The Last Pogo Jumps Again, a three hour plus ambitious documentary picking up on where The Last Pogo left off thirty some years later through archival materials and recent interviews, visit his site:
In 1979, Bomb Records released a soundtrack for the film featuring several other bands that played the event and who were not featured in the film such as Drastic Measures, The Everglades and the Ishan Band but sadly leaving off Viletones and Teenage Head. The record is long out of print, and despite rumours that Canada's most important punk archivists, Other People's Music (another post in itself) were slated to re-release the record with bonus tracks, I've never come across a copy.
Get the original record here:
CRASH'N'BURN: DADA'S BOYS (1977 TORONTO PUNK DOCUMENTARY, DIR: PETER VRONSKY)
This is the second of two Toronto punk documentaries called Crash and Burn, this one directed by Peter Vronsky and filmed at New Yorker Theater and Crash'n'Burn Club in Toronto and CBGBs and Times Square Motor Inn in NYC. It focuses more on interviews with bands and organizers and audience footage but features live footage of Toronto's The Diodes, The Dishes and The Viletones as well as UK footage of 999.
Peter Vronsky has posted his presently commercially unavailable film on youtube in four parts.
For more information on Crash and Burn: Dada's Boys and other works by Vronsky, visit his site:
To watch Crash and Burn: Dada's Boys, go here:
CRASH AND BURN (1977 TORONTO PUNK DOCUMENTARY, DIR: ROSS MCLAREN)
This is the first of two documentaries about the Toronto punk scene called Crash and Burn produced in 1977. Named after and filmed at Toronto's first punk rock club, this one was directed by Ross McLaren and is strictly live footage filmed in black & white at the Crash and Burn club. Bands featured are Toronto's The Diodes, Hamilton's Teenage Head, Cleveland's Dead Boys and NYC's The Boyfriends.
Watch it on youtube here:
Wednesday 26 February 2014
BLONDIE
Blondie needs no introduction. But what I have here are two sets from CBGB's from 1975 that not everyone has heard. Sure, this is a year before the self-limiting time frame of this blog, but these shows are so good I am now changing the time range. Blondie are so raw here and Debbie Harry's vocals are so good it leaves you feeling that however great their records were, they didn't do the band justice.
Here is a great video clip from 1975 at CBGB's:
Download the shows here:
MONT-DE-MARSAN PUNK FESTIVAL AUGUST 5TH-6TH, 1977
Legendary 2nd Mont-de-Marsan Punk Festival.
Could not find the entire video on youtube and don't think it is very widely circulated so I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to figure out how to turn a DVD into an MPEG.
Features The Police, The Boys, The Damned, The Clash, Shakin' Street and Eddie & The Hot Rods. Video and audio is on the dodgy side, but the fact that somebody had the foresight to film it is fucking brilliant.
Could not find the entire video on youtube and don't think it is very widely circulated so I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to figure out how to turn a DVD into an MPEG.
Features The Police, The Boys, The Damned, The Clash, Shakin' Street and Eddie & The Hot Rods. Video and audio is on the dodgy side, but the fact that somebody had the foresight to film it is fucking brilliant.
Tuesday 25 February 2014
SNEEKY FEELIN'S / THE GAS
Despite the A-side of their one and only single being one of my all time favourite UK power pop records, Sneeky Feelin's is a band I know very little about. They formed from the ashes of 1977 pub rock group Sounder, took their name Sneeky Feelin's from an Elvis Costello song and released the brilliant "Private Mail" single in 1979. In 1980, Donnie Burke (guitars/vocals) and Dell Vickers (bass/vocals) formed a group called The Gas and put out "It Shows In Your Face". The Gas recorded five more singles and two long players between 1981-83, picking up where Sneeky Feelin's left off but with a more mod revival direction and taking influences such as reggae and soul into their sound. Those records are a bit outside of the time line I am covering here but are quite good and can be found over at Noise Addiction II
Get The Record Here:
Get The Record Here:
VARICOSE VEINS
The text below has been taken from the web site Bored Teenagers , an indispensable source of information for obscure UK punk rock:
Varicose Veins was formed in early 1977 by five school mates living in and around a small town called Arlesey in Bedfordshire.
The band members were Phil Parfitt, (aka Henry Crank), vocals (later on sax); Alison Pate (aka Alison), lead guitar/backing vocals; Peter Ellison (aka PEL), amped up stylophone (later keyboards)/backing vocals; Wayne Bebb (aka Wayne Shaft) bass guitar; Roger Simpson (aka Stan Stump) drums.
Influences in 1977:- Musical London Punk Scene, Velvet Underground, Stooges.
Dr Feelgood, Eddie and The Hotrods.
Others influences:- Fairfield Lunatic Asylum near Arlesey, Labour Government, Boredom.
Musical Experience:- No one had been in a Band previously.
Geographical Problem:- Arlesey is 40 miles north of London, no money, most gigs were in London.
Varicose Veins so named after a landlady’s legs from a local pub (This is what was reported by a local newspaper resulting in us being banned from the pub)
The band members were Phil Parfitt, (aka Henry Crank), vocals (later on sax); Alison Pate (aka Alison), lead guitar/backing vocals; Peter Ellison (aka PEL), amped up stylophone (later keyboards)/backing vocals; Wayne Bebb (aka Wayne Shaft) bass guitar; Roger Simpson (aka Stan Stump) drums.
Influences in 1977:- Musical London Punk Scene, Velvet Underground, Stooges.
Dr Feelgood, Eddie and The Hotrods.
Others influences:- Fairfield Lunatic Asylum near Arlesey, Labour Government, Boredom.
Musical Experience:- No one had been in a Band previously.
Geographical Problem:- Arlesey is 40 miles north of London, no money, most gigs were in London.
Varicose Veins so named after a landlady’s legs from a local pub (This is what was reported by a local newspaper resulting in us being banned from the pub)
Alison Pate who was originally from Glasgow was responsible for teaching 'Gary Numan' the chords to 'White Light White Heat' after one of our Roxy gigs!
A Typical Track list included:
"Nothing Nothing Nothing to Do" (About where we Lived), "Electric Shock Treatment" (People we knew), "Just Because" (Punk Love Song), "Hiroshima" (The Nuclear Threat), "I’m in Bad Shape" (Political scene at the Time), "Johnny Machine Gun Teeth" (Taking Speed), "Going Like a Rocket", "Stretcher case", "So Shy", "No Response", "White Light White Heat" (Velvets).
Gigs remembered, help we were drunk a lot:-
??/??/77 - 1st gig, "Arlesey Village Hall", ended in a punch up; We know who threw the eggs!!!
A Typical Track list included:
"Nothing Nothing Nothing to Do" (About where we Lived), "Electric Shock Treatment" (People we knew), "Just Because" (Punk Love Song), "Hiroshima" (The Nuclear Threat), "I’m in Bad Shape" (Political scene at the Time), "Johnny Machine Gun Teeth" (Taking Speed), "Going Like a Rocket", "Stretcher case", "So Shy", "No Response", "White Light White Heat" (Velvets).
Gigs remembered, help we were drunk a lot:-
??/??/77 - 1st gig, "Arlesey Village Hall", ended in a punch up; We know who threw the eggs!!!
10-8-77 - "Roxy", Neal St, London (Audition night with 'Bleach' & 'Vile Bodies')
25-8-77 - "Roxy", Neal St, London (supporting 'Slaughter and the Dogs').
31-12-78 - "Moonlight Club" at the Railway Tavern, West Hampstead (supporting 'Psychedelic Furs')
Wednesday 12th July 1978 - White Hart Acton (Last Bastion of Punk)
??/??/78 - Youth Club, Neal Street, London (near the "Roxy Club") (This small gig took place just after the band had finished recording their demo in a recording studio which was also in Neal Street)
Band deformed in 1979.
Band deformed in 1979.
Download the record here:
INTRAVEIN / THE VEINS
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In 1978, Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent band Intravein released the fantastic record "Speed of The City". A year later, they released a second record called "Complete Control Rock'n'Roll" under the name The Veins.
The excellent blog Shotgun Solution posted "Complete Control Rock'n'Roll" a few years back but the link no longer works, so I have re-posted it here. "Speed of The City" can be found along with way more information about the band at another favourite music blog of mine, Punk Business Manager .
THE PRIMATES
Fantastic band and shamefully obscure. One of Bristol's very first punk bands from 1977 and to my knowledge the band never recorded in a studio and had no releases during their lifetime. I know nothing about the band beyond the bio at Bristol Archive Records:
http://www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/The_Primates_Bio.html
Below are a few tracks from a 1977 gig at Barton Hill Youth Club:
White Lies
Parrot Fashion
My Genitals
I've not posted the whole show as Bristol Archive Records has recently released this gig and another and it is the sale of music which allows them to continue doing the brilliant job they do with chronicling the unreleased and largely unheard material of early Bristol punk bands. If you like what you hear, support the label and buy music by The Primates here:
http://www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/The_Primates.html
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
Very first performance of Siouxsie & The Bansheess at 100 Club Punk Festival. Terrible audio quality but quite the piece of punk history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKzT5hHNa54
Download the gig here:
Live At The 100 Club 1976-09-20
Here are a couple more early Banshees gigs:
Roxy Club, London 1977-03-26
Vortex Club, London 1977-11-07
GENERATION X
I am sure everyone is familiar with Generation X. Here are a couple of unreleased songs recorded live at the Roundhouse in 1977.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx29mBMKcR8
Get the whole show here:
Roundhouse, London 1977-04-10
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