The Kidnappers are back!

The Kidnappers have been one of my favorite bands for over a decade, so naturally I howled in sheer delight when I heard they had a new single out. You should, too! Considering that this is a band that has released exactly three albums in 11 years, it's always a huge deal when we get any new music from these German greats. In recent years, The Kidnappers seemed to evolve slightly in a more power pop direction. But with this new record, they've taken it full circle and returned to the snotty and aggressive garage-punk sound that built their brand. And holy shit, I LOVE it!

Out on the hot new label Secret Mission Records, "Pills" is the first Kidnappers 7" since "Spanish Girls" was released in 2003. The title track is classic Kidnappers - straight-ahead rockin' punk with a guitar riff that sounds like it's trying to smash your face in. What a ripper! If your favorite Kidnappers album is Ransom Notes & Telephone Calls, this song will be music to your ears (literally). "East Berlin [Ost-Berlin]" is in a similar vein and brings to mind some of the great late '70s Euro punk bands (think The Kids, Pack, etc.). The boys save the best track for last with "Diamonds" - a poppy punk rock n' roll number that's as catchy as hell and sure to get you shaking.

Given how long it's been since we last heard from The Kidnappers, I would have been happy with anything they decided to put out. They could have read the terms of The Reinheitsgebot out loud or done three Leif Garrett covers with flute and ukulele, and I would have been on board. But this is The motherfucking Kidnappers - they weren't going to put out anything less than a stellar record! "Pills" is as good as anything the band has ever done. Clearly, they're not kidding when they say they're better than ever! They've delivered a record that will delight old fans and win over plenty of new ones. Get on it!


-L.R.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-KIDNAPPERS/127187810628194
http://secretmissionrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/secretmissionrecords

Gotta Love The Love Triangle!

Over the last 18 years of reviewing records, I might have mentioned once or twice that I enjoy '77 U.K. punk. If you know me, and you've heard The Love Triangle's debut album, you probably figured I was going to go bananas for this particular release. Well, you figured right! Moving away from its signature scuzzy garage style, the London trio has turned out a record that sounds like it could have come out in the heyday of English punk. The band's sound retains its raw and aggressive character, but Clever Clever displays a flair for melody reminiscent of early punk groups such as The Boys, Buzzcocks, and Carpettes. Perhaps mainly because of Louis's very "English" vocals, this band sounds less like an imitator of the '77 U.K. sound and more like the genuine article. I hear nothing in this record that would suggest that The Love Triangle has been influenced by the past 35 years of "progress" in popular music. And while lots of bands today are doing the punk/powerpop thing, few mix the punk and power pop together as thoroughly and pleasingly as The Love Triangle. The bass and drums bring to mind the smashing alacrity of the first Damned album, and all in all it's pretty amazing how tuneful these songs sound considering the speed and fury of the playing. The songwriting is aces, and the recording skillfully accentuates the adrenaline rush of the band's attack without burying all of those catchy melodies. Seriously, you could play "Be Old Soon" or "Do You Think That You've Found Love?" for just about anyone and easily convince them that this album was recorded in 1978. Ditto for "Red Button" - the greatest song The Lurkers never wrote! And the fantastic "I'm Still Waiting For A Buzz" reminds us that '60s garage rock and '70s punk were more or less the same thing. Packed full of huge choruses, top-notch melodic guitar work, and smartly crafted hooks, Clever Clever mirrors both the style and the quality of countless classic U.K. punk albums. It's a legitimate album of the year contender. Get it from Sorry State Records in the U.S. and Static Shock Records overseas!



-L.R.

http://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/clever-clever

Retro Reviews: The Simpletones - I Have A Date

If you start naming all the most underrated and overlooked bands of first wave punk, you turn to southern California and the list starts to fill up fast. While maybe not as good as The Gears, or as important as The Dils, or as influential as The Crowd, Rosemead, California's Simpletones may have been more underrated than all of the above. Among the band's members were Snickers of The Klan, Jerry Koskie and Rabit from The Cheifs, and Jay Lansford of the Stepmothers, Channel 3, and Rik L Rik. Considering that they were kind of precursors to what would be later termed "pop-punk" (albeit with an authentic early punk edge), the Simpletones merit a special place in history. It's absolutely shocking, then, that their music has not been kept in print. Immortalized on Poshboy's 1979 Beach Blvd compilation, the Simpletones are loved by record collectors and original So-Cal punks but completely unknown to the more casual fan. That's a damn shame.

I can't tell you for sure if The Simpletones were an influence on the Descendents, but I'll bet you a six-pack that Milo, Bill Stevenson, et al owned Beach Blvd and played it 'til it wore out. While a number of bands beyond the sea were incorporating melody into the punk rock sound, the Simpletones were one of few American punk groups of their era to be overtly "pop" both in sound and sensibility- wearing a Beach Boys influence on their sleeves and writing songs about girls. But while these lads were typically hormonally-driven teens with designs on the fairer sex, they weren't nice, clean-cut kids…they were punks! If the Beach Boys in the '60s typified the bright sun and innocent fun of Southern California life, the Simpletones were like their wayward sons a generation later – going to school high on drugs, chasing girls of ill repute, and unable to really enjoy the beach because of all the smog polluting the air. And although the band's anthem "California" reads lyrically like an early Beach Boys song, it's sung with such disdain and irony that it leaves no doubt that these kids believed they lived in a shithole. As redolent as "Tiger Beat Twist" and "Kirsty Q" may be of Dick Clark approved teen idol rock n' roll, this was not your grandfather's beach band. "I Have a Date" is so wholesome and cute on the surface, but you just know that this date is going to end not with a kiss on the front porch, but rather with a sordid coupling under the boardwalk or a drug binge at some stranger's house. And like the Ramones, whom they clearly emulated, the Simpletones were not against using the three-minute pop song as a vehicle for twisted social commentary. Note the black-humored environmentalism of "Dead Meat (Killer Smog)" or the way-ahead-of-its-time statement "TV Love".

Released back in 2002, the 22-track retrospective I Have a Date gives you EVERYTHING the Simpletones recorded during their original run – the Beach Blvd tracks, the "Kirsty Q" 45 (which was Poshboy #2 – how's that for historic?!), and all sorts of outtakes, which if not quite first-rate, are still a hell of a lot of fun (e.g. "Nasty Nazi" and a disco rendition of the Dickies' "You Drive Me Ape"). Featuring three different lead singers but held together by Lansford's superb songwriting and guitar work, these songs just sound like late '70s southern California – the half-spoken vocals that manage to convey boredom and anger, the melodic sensibility that's practically imbedded in the Californian's DNA, and the chip on your shoulder that can only come from having to watch entitled tourists frantically descend upon your home turf like they own it. As such, these songs have as much in common with the Adolescents or early Social Distortion as they do with any modern pop-punk band you could name. The best of these songs – "I Like Drugs", "I Have a Date", "Don't Bother Me" – are as classic as anything in the annals of punk rock. Lansford reformed the band a few years ago, and they even released a new album in 2010. But there's nothing like the classic material. Considering that dozens upon dozens of lesser bands have been given the full reissue/anthology treatment, it seems high time for I Have a Date to return to print. In the meantime, happy hunting. Land yourself a copy of the 1991 CD reissue of Beach Blvd, and that will do you almost as well!





-L.R.

Be My Guest

Can you believe it's December already?! That means it's time to start working on your list. Your Christmas list? No - your year-end top ten list! In the grand tradition of last year, I will be inviting guest contributors to send me their top ten lists for 2013. It's been one heck of a year for new music, so I want to give you all a few weeks to go through your records and sort out all the awesomeness. I will be doing the same! You can list your top ten LPs, your top ten singles/EPs, or any combination of the two. Check out last year's top ten post if you're wondering what I'm looking for. If you're interested in contributing to this project, email me your list at fasterandlouderblog@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions is December 24th. Thanks!

-L.R.

The No Tomorrow Boys rock it again!

Holy smokes! The long-awaited debut LP from The No Tomorrow Boys is an absolute ripper! Coming on the heels of three incredible singles, Bad Luck Baby Put The Jinx On Me was an album I figured would be great. I just didn't realize it would be this great! Without veering in the slightest from their trademark "wild and frantic teenage rock n' roll" style, the boys have turned out their hottest slab of wax to date! From start to finish, this is an exhilarating rock n' roll record that begs to be played loud and thoroughly enjoyed. Seriously: if this album doesn't make you want to jump up and down and dance around your room like a total maniac, you probably own the new One Direction. 

The No Tomorrow Boys continue to do their thing: a punked-up take on roots rock n' roll that will light your ass on fire! They tear through 14 tracks here with such abandon that I could swear they all got hopped up on Jolt Cola and recorded this thing in a single afternoon. Like all the best rock n' roll bands, The No Tomorrow Boys focus on the true essentials: a killer beat, sizzling guitar playing, and bad-ass lead vocals. Singer Danny Dodge is as good as any rock n' roll vocalist working today, howling every note as if his life depended on it and summoning the soul-on-fire ferocity of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis when they were young and wild. This kind of music, because it makes such an ideal soundtrack for exceeding the speed limit in a motor vehicle or engaging in sinful sexual relations, really benefits from the long playing format. You can put this record on and count on it energizing whatever activity you're involved in for nearly a half hour (or 15 minutes if you have to flip the vinyl). And let me tell you: the action never lulls. It's full-on rip-roaring fun from wire to wire. The effort the band has been putting into writing new material is really apparent in the consistent quality of the songs. Unless you're a rock n' roll historian of the highest order, you probably won't be able to differentiate the originals from the covers (The Bobby Peterson Quintet's firecracker B-side "Mama Get Your Hammer" and Mike Fern's 1959 ode to doomsday shagging, "A-Bomb Bop"). The covers are amazing, but tracks like "Rosie Rose", "I Wanna Lot (Not A Little)", and "Teen Dream" are every bit as good. And because you've been good this year, the boys have been gracious enough to also reprise a couple of their finest A-sides! Hot dog!

I still suspect that The No Tomorrow Boys may be time traveling teen rebels from the '50s who got their hands on some classic punk records and arrived in the present day with the intention of stealing our women. Someone check the tags on their leather jackets! There's not a single track on this LP that would sound out of place on a mix with the likes of Link Wray and Eddie Cochran. The only thing that's not completely period authentic about the album is that it's totally devoid of filler! It even sounds like it was recorded in an oldtime music studio. Whether you're 77, 17, or any age in between, you gotta have this record if you love rock n' roll! 



-L.R. 

https://www.facebook.com/thenotomorrowboys
http://thenotomorrowboys.bandcamp.com/

L.A. Drugz drop some vinyl!

Woo-hoo! The debut 12" from L.A. Drugz has arrived, and it has totally made my year! The first time I played it, my jaw dropped so far that I required minor facial surgery. What kind of crazy times are we living in when a band can create music of this caliber and not make the cover of Rolling Stone or at least Tiger Beat? And why did my local radio D.J. rudely hang up on me last night when I called and asked him to play "Marina"? Shouldn't a man of his occupation be keeping up with all the hot new tunes? I raved about a few of these tracks earlier this year, and I consequently built up expectations for the band's debut EP that were going to be very hard to meet. But this is L.A. Drugz, man! They didn't just meet my expectations - they exceeded them! I will not reveal my selection for album of the year for a few more weeks. But I'll gladly tell you that Outside Place is my favorite overall release of 2013.

L.A. Drugz is the latest band from Justin Maurer of Clorox Girls fame. With James Carman from Maniac and Images, Cezar Mora from Bad Machine, and Johnny "JD" Reyes (ex Images and Bad Machine) joining him in the lineup, this is somewhat of a punk/powerpop super group. And the word "super" is right! I would not be surprised to hear that these dudes wear capes (because, you know, they're quite fashionable). I did not review the Clorox Girls as many times as I should have when I was doing Now Wave Magazine. It's one of my greatest regrets in life, right up there with voting for Ralph Nader and declining a date with Susie Kitzenbaumer because she wanted to go see Forrest Gump. My penance will include a 5,000 word retro review of J'aime Les Filles and continuing coverage of Maurer's current musical projects. L.A. Drugz in particular hit my sweet spot with their right-on blend of classic power pop and melodic '70s style punk. There are some obvious similarities to the Clorox Girls, but with considerably more '60s pop influence in the songwriting and vocal harmonizing. The title track is a knockout punch of Ramones/Buzzcocks/Dickies goodness that has me bouncing off the walls. If I had heard it when I was 26, I would have gone out that very day and gotten an L.A. Drugz tattoo! The hauntingly infectious "Vampire" could pass for a lost Clorox Girls track, while "All The Time" is as close as you can get to mid-'70s California without a time machine and a new hairdo. "Ooh Ooh Ooh", which sounds like a missing track off the Rhino Shake It Up! compilation, would probably be the "hit" if it weren't up against the sheer pop perfection of "Marina". Maurer is the primary songwriter here, while Mora is responsible for all those catchy guitar leads. And Carman, the Clem Burke of his generation, is the band's secret weapon. He excels on backing vocals, and his drumming style is perfect for this kind of music. I don't think it's a coincidence that every band he plays in is awesome!

In my previous write-up on L.A. Drugz, I predicted that they'd be my favorite band by year's end. I can't say I was wrong about that! This group is the perfect combination of all the things I love in music. They are modern day heirs to L.A. power pop greats like The Knack and The Nerves, yet they also mix in that classic punk style that I can never get enough of. Whether you're talking about a hook worthy of a K-tel commercial ("Ooh Ooh Ooh") or a melody destined to be stuck in your head all day ("Marina"), Maurer knows what it takes to craft a great pop song. In addition, he and his band mates really nail crucial touches such as the harmonies and guitar solos. And let's not overlook the simple fact that this record sounds great. It was produced by the band at the home studio of "Kid" Kevin Carle (ex Clorox Girls) and mastered by Red Dons' bassist Hadji Husayn at North London Bomb Factory. The result is a warm analog sound with plenty of punch - the kind of recording that always sounds amazing on vinyl! And while it's perfectly natural to speculate on what kind of album L.A. Drugz might be capable of making, there's something about the extended play format that really seems suited to power pop. With only six songs on the record, you're getting less quantity but way more quality. No doubt about it, every track could have been an A-side. All killer, no filler: if that's not the American way, it sure should be!



-L.R. 

http://ladrugz.bandcamp.com/album/outside-place-ep
https://www.facebook.com/L.A.DRUGZ

Retro Reviews: The Many Moods Of The Vindictives

"As you wait for your lobotomy in line/
 The cranky little clones wet at once and cry/
 But mommy says it's always better to obey/
 And the tiny lights burn out more and more every day"

I often talk about the '90s being the second golden age of punk rock. If I ever got around to doing it, I could fill multiple volumes of books with write-ups on all the great punk bands of the '90s. It was a wonderful time to be a young writer coming up in the punk world. And all these years later, those bands and their music still hold up incredibly well. A few of the great bands of that time received the acclaim they justly deserved. Others toiled in obscurity and were totally overlooked. In between were the bands who got some recognition, but should have been way bigger. I'd put The Vindictives in that latter category. Signing to Lookout! Records at the height of the label's popularity, the Chicago band didn't exactly go unnoticed. But I've always maintained that most people failed to grasp just how incredible The Vindictives were in their prime. They were, to my mind, criminally underrated. They shoulda been huge. If I had to make a list of the ten greatest punk bands of the '90s, that would be really, really hard. But for sure, The Vindictives would have to be on that list.

If you weren't particularly paying attention, you might have dismissed The Vindictives as a typical '90s pop-punk band. But while they were definitely in the top tier of bands to be associated with that whole scene, there was nothing even remotely "typical" about The Vindictives. Sure, they had the melodic sensibility and unassailable Ramones influence of their well-known peers. But they were an incredibly unique band - creating manic and neurotic punk music full of fiercely intelligent ruminations on alienation, madness, and the general hollowness of respectable society. While the band's contemporaries mostly waxed pathetic on love and infatuation, The Vindictives tackled far more troubling subject matter with smarts and humor. With his deranged, snot-nosed vocals, Joey Vindictive would have been a distinctive artist even if he hadn't written such brilliant & bizarre lyrics. I'd put him up there with the greatest punk rock singers.

I can still remember where I was the first time I heard The Vindictives: sitting in my bedroom by the turntable, delighted and completely stunned by what I'd just heard. I thought to myself, "Holy shit, that guy's nuts...and I love it!" Rocks In My Head, the band's first EP for Lookout!, was one of a handful of recordings that propelled me into a "career" of writing about punk music. I yearned for much more, and Lookout! came through in 1995 with The Many Moods Of The Vindictives, a deluxe 28-song collection of the band's recorded output circa 1991-93 (their first six EPs plus a few comp cuts). While the band did release several more EPs in between 1994 and 1996, I always reach for The Many Moods Of... when I want to hear "vintage" Vindictives. Rather than make the mistake of trying to re-record their classic 7" tracks for a "proper" studio album, the band simply remixed and re-released all the original recordings. The result was one of the best punk albums of its time. Compared to a lot of stuff that I raved about back then, it stands the test of time way better. I consider The Vindictives to be not just one of the greatest punk bands of the early '90s, but also one of the greatest punk bands ever. That may sound like hyperbole, but the proof is in the pudding. How often do you hear a 28-song compilaton that isn't at least half garbage? The Many Moods Of... is almost all gold and features legendary tracks like "...And The World Isn't Flat Anymore", "Ugly American", "The Terrible Monster", "I Know People", "The Invisible Man", "I'm Sick", and "Circles". I fondly remember listening to it multiple times a day for weeks on end. And when I put it on today, I don't have to wonder why I loved it so much. It still kills.

The Vindictives called it a day in 1996 due to a serious health crisis that threatened Joey's life. The band would eventually re-unite and in 1999 released the wildly inventive concept album Hypno-Punko, which may have been too "out there" for fans who were expecting the same old Vindictives. After a handful releases in the early 2000s, the band was largely inactive until the release of last December's mono-flexi EP. The band is currently working on a new full-length album which will surely be great. I wholeheartedly recommend any and every thing The Vindictives have ever put their name on (their rendition of Leave Home was by far my favorite of the Ramones covers LPs). But The Many Moods Of The Vindictives is definitely where you'll want to start if you are currently unfamiliar with this incredible band. It's jam-packed with classic songs and primarily features the vintage Vindictives lineup of P.J. Parti on drums and Billy Blastoff on guitar joining Joey on vocals, Johnny Personality on bass, and the late Dr. Bob on guitar. If you've written off The Vindictives as a mere footnote of '90s pop-punk, check these clips below and prepare to be turned to the dark side!





-L.R.

http://vindictivesmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theVINDICTIVES