Ten Punk Bands Essential To Me: The 1990s

So ever since my friend Jay Castro and I tandem-posted on our favorite records of 1996, I've been on a huge '90s punk rock kick. I got to thinking about how much punk rock meant to me circa 1995-2000. And then I wondered if this was just some kind of "you had to be there" type situation or if the music I loved so much back then genuinely holds up today. So I pitched another tandem post to Jay: if a visitor from another planet approached you and asked you to explain why you loved punk rock in the '90s so much, which bands would you tell them to listen to? If you were trying to enlighten younger fans of punk music on some '90s bands to add to their music collections, which ones would you deem the most essential? And so here we are! 

I know some people consider listicles to be the lowest form of online publishing, but Jay and I are not doing this for the purposes of generating clicks with hot takes. We wanted to reflect on some bands we've been listening to for 25-35 years that you might A) fondly remember, B) vaguely remember, or C) never have heard before. I'm not saying these are my ten favorite or the ten "greatest" or the ten most influential '90s punk bands. But these are the bands I'd tell you to check out first if you wanted to know why the punk rock music of that decade was so important to me. And I hope that some of you will check out some of these bands and like what you hear. I'm purposely leaving out certain bands like The Humpers, Beat Angels, and Bobbyteens that I would not become huge fans of until the early 2000s. I really wanted to focus on the bands I was digging in real time in the '90s.  

Given that the combined number of extraterrestrials and Gen Z punk rock enthusiasts who read this blog is probably not much larger than zero, it's likely that this article is mainly an exercise in preaching to the choir. But, hey! Anything I can do to get people thinking and talking about '90s punk rock is a worthy endeavor.    

Here we go (in no particular order)! 

The Stitches 

Jay and I have not revealed any of our selections to each other, but I know The Stitches will be on his list as well. If you were into throwback old school punk rock any time from the mid-to-late '90s, a new Stitches release was always a major, highly celebrated event. At the time, The Stitches may have been dismissed by some as '77 punk copyists. But to me, they helped define a new era of punk rock — one that took inspiration from the past but still felt like something new and different. The Stitches were a force of nature, and I'd put Michael Lohrman up there with the greatest punk vocalists of any era. By the time they finally got a proper album out the door in 2002, they had changed quite a bit stylistically. But their singles (later compiled on the Unzip My Baby LP) and their 8 x 12 EP are rightfully the stuff of legend. All those classic tracks still explode out of the speakers! 

The Prostitutes 

Obviously this is a band I've been championing from day one. After The Prostitutes imploded in 1998, Kevin McGovern rebooted the band numerous times with numerous different lineups in numerous locations, finally retiring the brand in 2022 with the release of the "last two" digital single. For the purposes of this feature, I'm focusing on the original iteration of The Prostitutes, which released the singles "Get Me Sick," "Living Wreck," and "Twenty-Two" plus the full-length album Can't Teach Kids Responsibility. When it comes to snotty punk rock with a genuine air of danger and post-adolescent rage, it simply doesn't get any better than this band. If you could buy only one punk collection from the '90s, I would urge you to go with The Prostitutes' Complete Recordings 1995-98.

Loli and the Chones 

If I could name the single most essential punk rock album of the '90s, it would be P.S. We Hate You by Loli and the Chones. That record is punk rock perfection. Marrying the Angry Samoans and the Ramones to the budget rock ethos of the times, this trio took the idea of snotty, hate-fueled punk and somehow made it catchier and more fun than ever. A follow-up titled Total Fucking Genocide was pretty great as well and certainly lived up to its title!

Moral Crux 

Like a lot of people, I first heard Moral Crux on the Lookout! Records Punk USA compilation. The band had been going strong since the '80s but seemed to really hit its stride in the '90s with the albums ...And Nothing But The Truth, I Was a Teenage Teenager, and Something More Dangerous. I cannot emphasize enough how important this band was to me — not just because of its urgent, politically-minded punk-pop anthems but also because of its influence on my punk rock education. Moral Crux was one of a couple of bands (along with Boris the Sprinkler) that was my gateway to first wave punk  — to this day, my favorite music of my entire life. Some people may have found it odd that a band that a band so closely tied to the '90s pop-punk scene was writing songs about revolution, resistance, and the rejection of the status quo. But the magic of this band was that it demonstrated that punk music could have a message and melody. Political punk rock could make you think and inspire you to act and still be enjoyable to listen to. Seriously: why bother writing anthems if they're not going to be catchy?

The Muffs 

Whether or not The Muffs qualified as a "punk" band is a matter of debate for the sort of people who love to debate about musical genres. I am not that sort of person. The Muffs were punk rock to me and also on my personal Mt. Rushmore of bands. Hearing them for the first time after their first album came out was a game-changer for me. If not a "pop-punk" band per se, they were certainly poppy and punky and the absolute antithesis of the miserable, overly serious rock music that was all the rage in the '90s. I loved their first two major label releases and could never figure out how why weren't massive commercial successes. But as I've re-explored their catalog this year, I've found that the less polished, more simply produced Happy Birthday To Me and Alert Today Alive Tomorrow sound even better to me now than they did back then. Kim Shattuck is remembered as perhaps the greatest screamer in all of rock 'n' roll, and that she was. But she was also a superb songwriter with a remarkable ear for melody and quite a flair for smart, often hilariously scathing lyrics. The world is far less awesome without her in it. 

Dimestore Haloes 

If you go way back with me, you know this was my band in the '90s. I took some flack (and deservedly so) for how fervently I sang this band's praises. Restraint was certainly not my forte in those days. But when I go back and listen to all those records and ask myself if I still love them, the answer is a resounding yes. Here was a band throwing the best parts of '77-style punk and early American rock 'n' roll into a blender with a splash of glam culture and a dash of beat literature. You still can't convince me that Thrill City Crime Control wasn't one of the best punk rock albums of the '90s. I still frequently blast the hell out of Revolt Into Style and Long Ride To Nowhere. Didn't I once predict I'd still be listening to these records 25 years later? Ha, I was low on my estimate!

Stiletto Boys

The Stiletto Boys were something remarkable in their day — a band with the edge and the snarl of the Dead Boys, the furious power of Radio Birdman, and the pure melodic joy of The Dickies. Their first EP 8-Track was one of the best 7-inch records of the decade. And from the raw attack of that debut, the band continued to refine its craft without ever going soft. The full-length albums Rockets And Bombs (1999) and Buzzbomb Sounds (aka A Company Of Wolves) (2000) still hit as hard as ever and serve as shining examples of what killer melodic punk rock ought to sound like. I would recommend starting with the compilation album When Wolves Emerge and working your way through the catalog, taking it all the way through 2013's overlooked masterpiece Liberator. RIP Sean Wolfe. 

The Beltones

While their recorded output was limited to just a few releases, The Beltones in my book rate as a legendary punk rock band. Bill McFadden was absolutely the most underrated and underappreciated punk rock songwriter of his generation. He went deeper than almost all his peers, writing about things like battling trauma and wrestling with personal demons with a wisdom and honesty that was truly extraordinary for such a young man. Reviewers frequently likened The Beltones to Stiff Little Fingers, but that was really only a small part of the band's appeal. This was gritty, real music with heart and guts, and for my money, "My Old Man" b/w "Fuck You Anyway" (Just Add Water Records) was the best punk rock single of the '90s. With TKO Records, the band would go on to release the classic mini-album On Deaf Ears and the superb full-length Cheap Trinkets. While The Beltones have remained active as a live band, they have not released music in 25 years. TKO recently gave Cheap Trinkets the reissue treatment, so this might be a good time to revisit The Beltones.

The Dead End Cruisers

How could I do a recollection of '90s punk rock and NOT talk about Deep Six Holiday, the fantastic debut album by Austin, Texas's mighty Dead End Cruisers? The Cruisers, a '77-style punk band with a real-deal British vocalist, added a touch of glam and straight-up rock 'n' roll influence into the mix. They were also amazing live. While this band was short-lived, its legacy was profound. Friday Nights, the EP that preceded Deep Six Holiday, was a classic in its own right. Neil Curran was a brilliant lyricist and immensely underrated songwriter, and it always bummed me out that this band didn't stick around longer.

Jake and the Stiffs

I often talk of bands deserving more attention, but the lack of recognition for Jake and the Stiffs was downright criminal. Seriously, there were several significant record labels in the '90s that should have been heavily fined for not signing these old school punk power pop sensations from The First State. Their singles collection is a $6 download from Bandcamp, and that's the most fun you could have for so little money without breaking federal and state laws.

So that's my stroll down memory lane. Be sure to check out Jay's companion post over at Shock Treatment!  

-L.R.

Ridel High - B-Sides + Demos

When it comes to favorite eras of mine for music, the '90s were hard to beat. Sure, the majority of my all-time favorite music was probably released in the late '70s and early '80s. But the '90s were truly formidable. You had the glory days of pop-punk, the '70s punk revival, early '90s college radio, the new wave of new wave, and the prime years of lo-fi garage punk all thriving. One particularly underrated musical movement was one I still can't quite put a name to. You had a bunch of alternative rock bands with loud guitars and massive hooks. They didn't necessarily identify as power pop, but that's fundamentally what they were. Major labels were quick to snatch them up and even quicker to drop them when they didn't become overnight sensations. Their CDs were fixtures of cut-out bins for a few years and then more or less disappeared from the face of the Earth. And a lot of those releases that fell into the dustbin of history were really damn good. Emotional Rollercoaster by Los Angeles-based trio Ridel High was one of them. If you happen to come across it at a yard sale, in a thrift store, or in the attic of your childhood home, it's worth snagging. Even better, you can head on over to Bandcamp and purchase a brand-new Ridel High release comprised of B-sides and demos. Conveniently, it's called B-Sides + Demos! 

The thing that struck me about B-Sides + Demos is that it's all killer, no filler. This is not one of those cases where an old band is dusting off a bunch of tracks "just because." These songs are hits. Listening to this EP, I can say with complete confidence that out of all those almost famous later '90s alt-rock power pop bands, Ridel High was one of the very best. The band consisted of Kevin Ridel (vocals/bass), Steve LeRoy (guitar/backing vocals) and Steve Coulter (drums/backing vocals). Ridel High signed to Joey Cape's My Records and released its debut long player Hi Scores in 1997. A&M Records later signed the band and re-issued Hi Scores under the title Emotional Rollercoaster (that should have been the first sign that A&M didn't know what the hell it was doing — why change a perfect title?). Once A&M dropped the band, that was pretty much all she wrote. Ridel and LeRoy went on to form Peel, and later Ridel formed AM Radio. Coulter joined Tsar and now runs one of the best music sites on the internet. 

B-Sides + Demos consists of tracks recorded in 1995, 1997, and 1998. Opening tracks "Facelift" and "Mindblower" sound so much like the '90s with their cranked-up distorted guitars and melody-forward approach. It becomes obvious that bands like this (that had mostly contemporary influences) were an important link between "classic" power pop and modern-day power pop. If we didn't necessarily call this power pop in 1997, we certainly do now. "Motorboat" was one of the first songs the band wrote but one of the last it recorded. It's quintessential '90s SoCal geek rock, and it holds up fantastically well. There was a time when I would have wanted to fight anyone who put "Weezer" and "power pop" in the same sentence. Clearly things have changed. "Winona Ryder," which the band demoed in 1995, was later used as the B-side to its first 7", "A Mouthful Of You." In contrast to the more power poppy material on the EP, this is vintage buzzing slacker rock and a forgotten classic of its time. Although with its re-release, maybe we won't be able to call it "forgotten" anymore! If you forgot what it felt like to be twentysomething in the early-to-mid '90s, this song will take you back! The lyrics are hilariously on-point in reflecting on a very specific cultural moment. Given what culture is today, I find myself missing those days. 

Whether you fondly recall, barely remember, or never heard of Ridel High, B-Sides + Demos is sure to be up your alley if you dig quality power pop that will give you all those '90s feels without sounding like it should have been left in the past. The band was wise to focus on quality over quantity, and this is a blast from the past that ought to be fully welcomed.

-L.R.   

https://ridelhigh.bandcamp.com/album/b-sides-demos  
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6jF0L9kxLIeM9WBJ6NRK6U

Stars Like Ours - self titled

Out now on Rum Bar Records is the self-titled debut album from Stars Like Ours  — a CD compilation of three digital EPs released from 2015 to 2018. Hearing this release, I'm a little sad that I'm so late in discovering Stars Like Ours. But I've definitely been making up for lost time; this CD has been living in my car player for the past month! This album and this band take me back to those days in the early '90s when indie/alternative rock ruled. Remember a time when you could tune into a college radio station and hear Sugar, Superchunk, The Breeders, and Dinosaur Jr. in the same block? You could seamlessly slot any of these nine tracks into the same block. 

When the Stars Like Ours disc first arrived on my doorstep, I was excited by the band personnel. Michelle Paulhus (The Decals, The Dents, etc.) is on bass and lead vocals. Kristin Holliday (DRAGO, The Downhauls, etc.) is on guitar. Eric "Rice" Edmonston (Darkbuster, Abbie Barrett Band, etc.) is on drums. That's a powerhouse lineup, and I would have been happy to hear this trio tackle any genre of music. But Stars Like Ours really hits a sweet spot for me with its loud, hooky old school indie rock sound. They are doing their own version of a musical aesthetic that was my gateway to the underground three decades ago. Although the influences are obvious, the band manages to update them for modern times. In a completely unpretentious way, this band simply oozes cool. Holliday nails that crunching guitar sound, and Edmonston is an absolute monster on drums. There's also a rule in music that if Michelle Paulhus is writing and singing songs, those are tunes you need to own. In fact, this is as good of an album as she's ever put her name on. And, yes, I know that's saying something. Given that this disc was culled from three separate releases, it's not surprising that the song quality is so exceptional. I keep listening through to try and identify individual tracks that stand out, but every song sounds like a hit to my ears! And yet when you put all this material together, it still flows like a singular album (I didn't even realize it was a compilation until I'd heard it several times!). Without trying to relive the '90s, Stars Like Ours remind us why we loved that music so much. The songs, playing, production, and (of course) vocals are absolutely top-shelf.  

Stars Like Ours — a contemporary band reminiscent of a moment when Boston was the center of the indie rock universe — is the perfect addition to Rum Bar Records' growing stable of extraordinary hometown talent. If you like buzzing indie rock with a strong pop sensibility, you too may find yourself wondering where this band has been all your life!  

-L.R.

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/stars-like-ours
https://starslikeours.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/starslikeours
https://www.instagram.com/starslikeours/

https://www.facebook.com/RumBarRecords

The Dummies/Gargoyles - split 7"

I generally don't write about a release if I can't provide you all with clear information on how to purchase it. That's kind of the point of this blog, right? I write about music, and if you dig it you can click a link and go buy it. But I must make an exception for a new split 7" released by the legendary Swedish garage punk label Ken Rock Records. This single features "new vintage" early '90s cuts from The Dummies and Gargoyles. The Dummies (1990-96) were Pennsylvania's greatest garage punk band before their relocation to New York. They released music on some of the top punk rock labels of the day such as Get Hip, Bag of Hammers, and Empty Records. In Central Pennsylvania, they remain the stuff of legend. Gargoyles (1989-95) hailed from San Francisco and were at the forefront of the '90s revival of '77 punk rock and roll. They had several releases on the iconic Sympathy For The Record Industry. Lead singer Tim Storm went on to be in the very excellent Reclusives. Somehow Ken Rock has managed to unearth a pair of lost gems from both of these fabled bands. Seriously, these are both primo tunes! Gargoyles' "5 Million Years To Earth" could almost pass for an outtake from Raw Power. This is OG action rock! The Dummies' "Roundtop Rock" is a furious blast of trashed-out degenerate rock and roll that ranks up there with the band's most essential songs. The Cliff Mott cover art, set at the The Dummies' old home base in Lewisberry (a former gun shop), depicts a true life incident involving excessive drinking and an inflatable raft being set on fire. For the legal protection of everyone involved, I will say no more. Longtime fans will be delighted to hear this track. And if The Dummies were before your time, "Roundtop Rock" is as good of an introduction as any! Unfortunately, I do not possess any ordering information for this record at the moment. Ken Rock strangely has no Internet presence at all: no web site, no social media, and no web store. But if you should happen to encounter this split release while perusing a record store, you should definitely buy it! In the meantime, you can purchase The Dummies' one and only LP from the Get Hip Recordings Bandcamp. And be sure to like Gargoyles' Facebook page! Happy hunting, folks. Additional info will be provided as it becomes available! 

-L.R.

https://www.facebook.com/Gargoyles-SF-921654841353596/

Various artists - 44 Golden Greats

Had Poppy Robbie not double-dog dared me to tackle the 44-track Mutant Pop Records tribute compiled by Grath Madden and Chadd Derkins, I might not have even bothered. I have presumed that anyone who would be interested in hearing a quadruple album Mutant Pop tribute has already purchased it. That's how passionate the fan base remains after all of these years. And so here we have 44 Golden Greats -- lovingly assembled by two of the most passionate of all of those fans. 

While a 44-track tribute album is a grand and ambitious project, anything less might have seemed unsatisfactory. We're talking about a label with over 100 releases! Mutant Pop was a label I steadfastly championed throughout my up-and-coming years in the record reviewing racket. 20-25 years later, it's fun to look back at particular MP releases and examine which ones I still really like and which ones I can't believe I ever liked in the first place! Today I rank The Kung Fu Monkeys as my #1 favorite Mutant Pop band by far --- followed by The Automatics and Ruth's Hat. I was excited to see all three bands well represented on 44 Golden Greats. But as a true fan of the label, I was also stoked that this tribute doesn't neglect lesser-known and overlooked players in the Mutant Pop story. This collection would have been far less cool without representation for the likes of Spodie, The Beldons, Dead Like Elvis, and The Hitchcocks. And holy smokes: there are two Buglite covers on this release! 

What I like about 44 Golden Greats is that the majority of the bands/artists went to the trouble to creatively interpret the original songs. Obviously we're all pop-punk fans here (otherwise you wouldn't have read this far!). But I doubt any of us wanted to hear 44 cover songs that sounded exactly like the original. Probably the most "faithful" cover that actually works here is Doc Hopper's ripping rendition of Boris the Sprinkler's "Drugs and Masturbation", and that's largely due to the track opening with Joe Keller's brilliant and truly hilarious spoof of a Rev. Norb monologue. You'd have to have a heart of stone to not be delighted by The Steinways' version of Dirt Bike Annie's "What's Happening, Hot Stuff?". But the real highlights for me are the versions that honor the originals by transforming them. It almost goes without saying that the Kung Fu Monkeys' interpretation of The Hissyfits' "In My Dreams" is beautiful and perfect and extraordinary in every way. Poppy Robbie gets points for covering one of the best Automatics songs ("No Big Deal") and making it sound like...a Poppy Robbie song! I was previously unfamiliar with Nicky Reynolds and his Pushers, but I love, love, love, love the band's take on After School Special's "Kelly Burkett"! Jeanie Lee's version of Egghead's "Donna's Always Mad At Me" is a royal treat for all of us who can never get enough of Jeanie Lee...or Egghead! Also really excellent are covers by Andrew Furtal (Dirt Bike Annie's "All Systems Go"), P.J. Sloan of Ruth's Hat (The Proms' "May I Cut In"), and Dr. Princess (The Wanna-Bes' "ATM"). And you've gotta love Skinny Genes (which is Azeem from The Steinways) doing a clever mashup of Moral Crux's "Firing Squad" and the Ramones' "She's the One"!  

Chances are that if you're a Mutant Pop Records fan, you don't need me to tell you that 44 Golden Greats is worth buying -- because you've already bought it! But if you haven't bought it yet, you certainly should. It's a wonderful reminder that a lot of incredible music was released on the Mutant Pop label. And you can feel the love that went into the creation of this project. Many of the artists appearing on this collection are Mutant Pop alumni paying tribute to other Mutant Pop artists. A few others represent the best of the generation of pop-punk that was directly inspired by Mutant Pop. And seriously: 44 tracks for five bucks is a deal and a steal! All proceeds from this digital release go to the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs.

-L.R.

https://worstidea.bandcamp.com/album/44-golden-greats

Trash Brats - self titled (30th anniversary vinyl reissue)

Detroit's legendary Trash Brats have been a huge part of my musical universe going back to my early days in the record-reviewing racket. Here was a band that was too punk for the glam rockers, too glam for the punks, and probably too pop for either! If nowadays "glam-punk" is a thing, that's largely because the Trash Brats and a few like-minded bands made it a thing through years of exciting live performances and stellar releases that attracted devoted fans the old-fashioned way. It all started 30 years ago with the release of the Trash Brats' self titled debut album. This would be the first of four proper albums released by the Trash Brats. It was originally released on cassette but had never come out on vinyl until earlier this month. The 30th anniversary vinyl reissue of Trash Brats is the first release on Jim Rinn's I-94 Recordings in nearly 20 years! The bubblegum pink vinyl sold out in 24 hours, and the fancy wax mage art vinyl sold out in a few days (I wasn't joking about the fans being devoted!). The album is still available on 180-gram black vinyl and well worth owning whether you're a longtime Trash Brats fan or just discovering the band for the first time. It's also available from the streaming sites if you just want to hear the songs again. Featuring fan favorite cuts like "Don't Wanna Dance", "Bubblegum Girl", "3873 Marlborough Street", "Gas Boy", and "S-M-U-T", this remains the definitive Trash Brats release. Grab a copy while you can!

-L.R.

https://i-94recordings.com/collections/frontpage/products/trash-brats-s-t-lp-preorder-ships-in-december-2020
https://www.facebook.com/I-94-Recordings-113204123938004/
https://open.spotify.com/album/0GrjvFHdDE4LJ2WdxGisLM

The Prostitutes - Complete Recordings 1995​-​1998

Here's today's public service announcement: the complete recordings of the original Prostitutes lineup have been remastered and reissued for your listening pleasure. And this digital collection is a name-your-price download from Bandcamp! I've written about these recordings so many times that there isn't much more that I can say. If you asked me to name the greatest American punk rock band of this particular era (1995-98), The Prostitutes would be at least in the conversation if not my #1 answer.

Amazingly, Kevin McGovern has revived The Prostitutes numerous times in numerous locations with numerous lineups. But there will always be something special about the original incarnation based out of nearby (to me) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This lineup featuring McGovern on lead vocals, Dave Cohen on bass, Justin Haley on guitar, Brian Shuey on guitar, and Jeff Peterson on drums released three incredible singles and a classic LP in a period of just a couple of years. And then just like that, the band broke up (much to my disappointment at the time). As the title suggests, Complete Recordings includes everything The Prostitutes released in the '90s: the "Get Me Sick" debut 7" on Pelado Records, the "Twenty-Two" 7", on Philly label Black Hole Records, the "Living Wreck" 7" on the legendary American Punk Records, two tracks from the Pelado CD compilation This Is It... Punk Rock That's Real, and the entirety of  the band's 1997 LP Can't Teach Kids Responsibility. I once likened The Prostitutes to a combination of The Pagans, Jabbers, Stitches, and Humpers. That's a description I'll still stand behind (maybe I would throw The Germs in there as well). As I listen now, I'm struck by how well these songs hold up. Among these 25 tracks, there are so many songs that are classics in my book. This is the authentic sound of bored, drug-addled youth railing against Central Pennsylvanian conservatism in the later '90s. These wild, angry, and darkly humorous songs were part of the soundtrack to my 20s. They sound just as good today to my middle-aged ears. Now you too can enjoy timeless punk anthems like "Twenty-Two", "Get Me Sick", and "No Good" in all their degenerate glory. It's almost criminal that you can download this anthology for free!



-L.R.

https://theprostitutes1.bandcamp.com/album/complete-recordings-1995-1998-remastered
https://www.facebook.com/tutespunk
https://www.instagram.com/tutespunk/

Moral Crux - The digital reissues!

Oh my god! Moral Crux has a Bandcamp?! I've been waiting for years for the Moral Crux catalog to make it to this particular platform - especially those earlier titles that have been out of print for a very long time. This is a very important band in my musical life. Back in the '90s, Moral Crux was my bridge from poppier punk stuff to the '77-style punk that would ultimately become my favorite music of all-time. And I guarantee that a lot of people who came up on pop-punk around the time I did have a similar story. Moral Crux is often associated with '90s pop-punk, and they even did a 7" with Mutant Pop Records. But they actually started in the early '80s, and to me they always had more of a pure '77 sound. James Farris and company took the melody-based punk style of the Ramones, Buzzcocks, and Generation X and combined it with the heart and mind of The Clash. For over 35 years, James has used this band as a platform to rail against injustice, abuses of power, and the dumbing down of American culture. Eventually Moral Crux got signed to Panic Button/Lookout! Records and released the excellent albums Something More Dangerous and Pop Culture Assassins. The titles now available on Bandcamp are earlier, much rawer-sounding releases and probably my three favorite Moral Crux albums. The self-titled album from 1987 is a total classic. ...And Nothing But The Truth (1993) and I Was A Teenage Teenager (1994) have been criminally overlooked for decades. I am stoked that these albums have been remastered and revived for our listening pleasure! Who ever said that political punk rock can't be catchy? If you like what you hear, be sure to also check out Moral Crux's most recent EP on Mooster Records! 



-L.R.

https://moralcrux.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/moralcruxofficial/

Know Your '90s Punk: The Stitches

For a long time I've toyed with the idea of doing a book on all of the punk bands I loved in the 1990s. While there was all kinds of great punk music being made in the '90s, I personally gravitated to the more '77-inspired bands of that period. I began touting those bands, and here we all are 25 years later! While I may never actually write my book, a cooler project would be to feature a lot of those bands here - where I can embed some of the actual music. For my "F & L Hall of Fame" series, I've already written about a lot of those groups such as the Dimestore Haloes, Moral Crux, and Dead End Cruisers. So now that I have a little extra time on my hands, I would like to go further with this project. And when it comes to bands of the '90s that sounded like '70s punk, you can't talk too long without bringing up The Stitches. They may have been the best out of that whole lot!

It's kind of weird to be referring to The Stitches in the past tense since they are still an active band. But my focus here is on the band's incredible run of releases from 1994 through 1997. The group's debut 7" "Sixteen" came out in '94 and in my book is one of the greatest punk singles ever released. It was as if the Sex Pistols, Pagans, Dead Boys, and countless Killed By Death favorites had coalesced into one wild and explosive band. The energy, power, and guts just bled out of your turntable speakers! In a single moment, Michael Lohrman and Johnny Witmer emerged as a vocal/guitar tandem of legendary proportion. "Sixteen" arrived at a time when nothing that sounded quite like it had been heard in years, and it inspired the growth of "snotty punk rock" as a genre onto itself in the later '90s and beyond. Six more singles and EPs followed over the next several years, and many of us can recall a time when the arrival of a new Stitches record was always an event (remember how they dominated those Maximumrocknroll top ten lists?!).

While The Stitches never released a proper album until 2002 (at a point when their sound had evolved considerably), their 8 x 12 EP from 1995 is a bona fide classic and still well worth seeking out. I have assembled a YouTube playlist that compiles most of the band's early output. It's basically a '90s Stitches singles collection plus all of 8 x 12. Listening to all of these song comped together definitely brings back memories of a time when my musical education in punk rock was really just beginning. At the same time, I can say that these recordings still hold up after a quarter of a century. If I ever compile my ultimate compilation of '90s punk rock, "Sixteen" will be track one for sure. Listen and love!




-L.R.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqH36mfe77ObVUaX8GLUaXdd-oRtbRvZB
https://www.facebook.com/thestitches/
https://www.discogs.com/artist/759397-The-Stitches

The Candy Snatchers - Moronic Pleasures

Lately I've been feeling the urge to revisit The Candy Snatchers. It's not that I think the band was at all overlooked back in its late '90s/early 2000s heyday. It's just that so much of what we made of Larry May and company always came down to how wild, chaotic, and flat-out incredible their live performances were. But even if you set the Snatchers' stage show aside and just focused on their studio releases, I'd say they ought to be remembered for producing some of greatest garage punk rock n' roll music ever committed to record. Their self-titled debut album from 1996 is an absolute classic of sleazy and destructive punk rock n' roll. Compared to a lot of similar albums of its time, I think it holds up far better. I can put it on today, and my immediate response is still "Holy shit!". This may have been as close as the '90s got to recreating Iggy and the Stooges - with echoes of the Dead Boys, Misfits, and New York Dolls thrown in for good measure. Subsequently, The Candy Snatchers went to Compactor Studio in Brooklyn in 1997 and tracked what was arguably an even better second LP. It was to be called Moronic Pleasures. And for reasons I still cannot fathom, these recordings were rejected. After a second failed attempt to make this album, the band re-recorded many of the same songs in New York with Dean Rispler in 1998. This became the second Candy Snatchers LP, Human Zoo. Human Zoo is a beast of a record in its own right, but it never sat right with Snatchers super-fan Jake Starr that Moronic Pleasures had gone unheard all of those years. He took upon the task of rescuing this unheard Candy Snatchers album, which he released digitally on his label Fandango two years ago. And now thanks to Hound Gawd! Records, Moronic Pleasures has finally been released on LP. If it hasn't crossed your mind to buy a Candy Snatchers record in a couple decades, this sure is the one to get!

Jake Starr sums it up perfectly: "Don't get me wrong. Human Zoo rocks like a motherfucker. But Moronic Pleasures as recorded at Compactor Studio is the Candy Snatchers at their zenith." If I were trying to explain the greatness of The Candy Snatchers to someone, I would just play them Moronic Pleasures. The band has never sounded rawer, wilder, or meaner than it does here. Larry May sounds like a freak of nature on lead vocals - wailing away as if he's starring in some sort of psychotic opera. The guitar work from Matthew Odietus (RIP) is straight out of the Johnny Thunders and James Williamson playbooks. And with then-new drummer Sergio Ponce pounding the kit, the "classic" era Candy Snatchers sound is in full force. 11 of the 19 songs captured here were re-recorded for Human Zoo, but by no means does that make the purchase of this album unnecessary. Signature tracks like "No Time To Waste", "Burn It To The Ground", and "Pissed Off, Ripped Off, Screwed" burn even hotter in their original form. And then there are eight more songs here that did not appear on Human Zoo. Fans will surely recognize songs like "Run You Down", "Ass Casserole", and the Stooges cover "Fresh Rag" from later Snatchers releases. They fit in perfectly here - creating a 19-track scorcher of an album that is your definitive Candy Snatchers long player.

Jake Starr knew what he was doing when he brought Moronic Pleasures back from the dead. And he did it right - securing the original masters from the Compactor sessions and enlisting Dennis Kane to mix and master the album. The "lost" classic second album from The Candy Snatchers is no longer mere legend or rumor. Thanks to Oliver at Hound Gawd!, it's an actual vinyl record that you can order today and soon play on your turntable. This record proves that no conversation of the greatest garage-punk rock n' roll bands of the '90s can exclude The Candy Snatchers. And with the band back and playing live shows with a new lineup featuring Johnny Yeagher on guitar and Doug "Goose" Duncan on bass, let's be sure not to limit The Candy Snatchers to the past tense!



-L.R.

https://www.houndgawd.com/shop/en/SHOP/Vinyl/The-Candy-Snatchers-Moronic-Pleasures.html 
https://www.facebook.com/thecandysnatchers/ 
https://www.facebook.com/HoundGawdRecords/ 
https://fandangorecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-candy-snatchers-moronic-pleasures-the-lost-album-fr-040 
 

The Prissteens - Almost 24

What's this, another Prissteens collection from Girlsville? Well kind of. Almost 24 is essentially a re-vamped version of 2016's long out-of-print Demos and Rarities cassette - with the live cuts and 7" tracks replaced by additional demos covering the years 1996-99. If you missed out on Demos and Rarities, Almost 24 retains the most intriguing aspect of that collection: the nine tracks The Prissteens demoed in 1999 in preparation for their second album. That album was never made, but Lori Lindsay and Leslie Day reemerged a few years later with their new band Purple Wizard. Songs like "If You Really Loved Me" and "Sugarboy" bridge the gap between both bands and suggest that a second Prissteens album would likely have sounded quite different from the first. Minus the live cuts and studio tracks, Almost 24 has a nice flow to it. This is the most inclusive collection of Prissteens demos ever assembled, with songs representing the full span of the band's career. And even if you already own both volumes of Demos and Rarities,  you will definitely want to shell out a buck for a download of the previously unreleased "Don't Think About You". I wondered after the release of Demos and Rarities Volume 2 if there could possibly be any more "A"-list Prissteens demos lying around. Apparently there was at least one! "Don't Think About You" is what I like to think of as the "true" Prissteens sound - raw garage rock inspired by '60s pop and girl groups. If you're a Prissteens super-fan, "Don't Think About You" is a must-own track. And come on: you'll want to own the cassette since it's just so freaking cool! For those of you who still own nothing by The Prissteens, I'd probably say start with the Demos and Rarities Volume 2 download and work your way out from there. Either way, we are talking about one of the greatest rock and roll bands to come out of New York City (or anywhere else, for that matter!) in the '90s. I will always jump on any opportunity to write about The Prissteens!



-L.R.

https://girlsville.bandcamp.com/album/the-prissteens-almost-24 
https://www.facebook.com/GirlsvilleRecords 

The Safes - A Tribute To Juliana Hatfield

So this really happened! The Safes, one of my favorite bands, went into the studio with the rhythm section from Material freaking Issue (one of my three favorite bands EVER)! And the producer was Steve Albini?! Holy smokes! Even if I did not enjoy the music of Juliana Hatfield, I would have been super stoked about this record! But let's not bury the lede here. What stands out the most to me about A Tribute To Juliana Hatfield is that these are such great songs! Ultimately the whole point of a successful tribute project is to honor the source material, and this one does that brilliantly.

When presented with the opportunity to record this single for American Laundromat Records, the brothers O'Malley jumped at the chance. They are huge fans of Juliana Hatfield and the label as well. The involvement of Ted Ansani, Mike Zelenko, and Albini was just a (really cool) bonus! For this project, they chose to cover "Universal Heart-Beat" from 1995's Only Everything and "I See You" from 1992's Hey Babe. I appreciate that The Safes managed to put their own signature on these songs while still remaining largely faithful to the original versions. "Universal Heart-Beat" is a bona fide alt-rock classic, and The Safes don't mess with it too much. I like the cool, Lou Reed-ish vocals, but otherwise the original style of the song is followed to a T. There's just no point in playing around with that chorus - one of the catchiest and most memorable of its time. And I love that little sprinkling of Wurlitzer. In preparation for this review, I went back and listened to the original several times. What really strikes me is how well it holds up after 23 years and just how underrated Juliana Hatfield is as a songwriter. "I See You" goes back even further to Hatfield's first solo album. I would say it's a hidden gem of her catalog. But being huge fans, The Safes were well aware of that! Again they follow the general melody and structure of the original, but they really do put a Safes stamp on the song. The original sounds so innocent and bubbly, whereas the O'Malleys give it a more mature and modern reading. If you didn't already know this was a Juliana Hatfield song, you could easily believe this was something The Safes wrote themselves. And of course after multiple listens to both versions this week, what really sticks with me is what an earworm that melody is! If you didn't know it already, know it now: Juliana Hatfield writes damn good pop songs!

A Tribute To Juliana Hatfield is available only on vinyl from American Laundromat Records, and it's limited to just 500 copies. Given that these are songs from twenty-some years ago, this might be an opportunity for a whole new generation to discover Hatfield's back catalog. And certainly some of Hatfield's fans might end up coming to love The Safes - in my opinion one of the greatest American rock n' roll bands going. Hatfield herself was thrilled with these two tracks, and no doubt she sensed the tremendous affection the O'Malleys have for the original versions. This whole project is all about a genuine love for music, and that's something I can always get behind. Did I get goosebumps hearing those drums and bass? You betcha!



-L.R.

https://www.alr-music.com/products/the-safes-a-tribute-to-juliana-hatfield-seven-inch 
https://www.facebook.com/thesafesmusic/ 
https://www.facebook.com/americanlaundromatrecords/ 

The Hormones - Legendary Junk (1994-2017)

I recently received a nice note from Owen from Dirtyflair Record Company in Australia. He thought I might like a few of his label's releases and sent me a Bandcamp link to check them out. I went ahead and explored the Bandcamp page. Sure enough, I took an immediate liking to this label and the music it has released. The first thing I noticed (quickly!) was that Dirtyflair's catalog includes a compilation album of songs by The Hormones, one of my favorite bands from back in the '90s. I knew of the existence of this collection, but I had no idea it was available in a digital format. I'm thrilled to finally be able to share a couple of these tracks on F & L! When I talk about how 1995 was my 1977, The Hormones are one of the bands I'm referring to. They led a resurgence of Clash/Sex Pistols/Johnny Thunders inspired punk rock in the mid '90s that was hugely influential on my life and writings. Legendary Junk (1994-2017) collects the songs from the band's classic singles along with some comp cuts, unreleased demos from 1997, and a new live version of signature song "Sell Out Young". Altogether, this comprises the first-ever Hormones full-length! It's available from Dirtyflair on LP and CD, which both include a zine penned by Tim Stegall chronicling the history of The Hormones.

In addition to the release of Legendary Junk, The Hormones are poised for their first release of new music since the '90s. The band, which reformed in 2013 after a 15-year hiatus, has set up a Go Fund Me page for anyone with an interest in investing in this project. The new record, called Sing, will be released as a six-song 12". The band will be working again with Dirtyflair on the release of this EP. You can even order Legendary Junk directly from the Go Fund Me page - which will help the band get Sing made!

Some of you will be well acquainted with The Hormones. Others may have never heard the band before. Either way, I highly recommend Legendary Junk to anyone who loves '77 style punk. I'll have lots more to say about Dirtyflair Record Company in the near future, so stay tuned!



-L.R.

https://www.gofundme.com/help-the-hormones-make-a-record 
https://dirtyflairrecordcompany.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/selloutyoung/ 
https://www.facebook.com/dirtyflairrecordcompany/ 

Retro Reviews: Los Primos/Andy G & The Roller Kings- recorded output

Review by Rob Sheley

I would like to do this as a 2-fer. It makes the most sense because it covers all of Andy G's post-Devil Dogs recorded output. Sadly there is a limited but very essential amount of material; it is also listened to with a hint of what might have been.

We will start with Los Primos - of which there only are five songs. Los Primos was basically the Devil Dogs without Steve Baise. Sonically they were a continuation of what the band was doing around the ...Stereodrive! record. The prominence of saxophone as the lead instrument is what differentiates the two bands. Andy was moving towards almost a Little Richard type sound (without piano) mixed with the run-off-the-rails fury of the Devil Dogs. Think the immediacy of Saturday Night Fever with a lead sax, and you have Los Primos. While Steve Baise was in Norway working on the Vikings record, Andy was creating this project with Mighty Joe Vincent on drums, Candy Del Mar (Cramps) on bass, and Pete Linzell (Raunch Hands) on sax .

Crypt & Sympathy For The Record Industry both stepped up to the plate when Andy came around with his new project. In 1995 Crypt released Los Primos' "On My Floor" 7", which was Andy's 1st post-Devil Dogs recordings. The A-side is "On My Floor", a trashy, two-minute, rollicking, scorching original. The B-side is a clean, jangly cover of Manfred Mann's "Pretty Flamingo". One year later in 1996, the band released its second and final single on Sympathy. It follows the same format as the first: original A-side, cover on the B-side. This one may up the ante because the B-side is even better than the first. "Summertime Girls" follows the same trashy, sax-filled, adrenalized sleaze that you would expect from Andy G. The B-side is the Beatles' "Hard Day's Night". As a music fan, garage fan, Beatles fan, or Devil Dogs fan, get the single just for that. Wailing sax and a wall of NY sound create one of the best Beatles covers ever recorded, completely essential. In late(r) 1996, a compilation CD was released celebrating the famous NYC rock club Brownies. The disc features The Waldos, Turbo A.C.s, and Pillbox. The lost Los Primos track "Here She Comes" is included on the comp. With that release, the band was finished. Joe Vincent left to form The Prissteens, and Andy reloaded for his next phase.

With the end or demise of Los Primos, Andy kept the core of Los Primos: himself on guitar & vox, Candy on bass, and Pete on tenor sax. He added a baritone sax player named Steve Greenfield who previously worked with The Fleshtones. The exit of Joe Vincent opened the door for drummer Ron Salvo, and Andy G & The Roller Kings are born. Debuting four years later on March 25th, 2000 at NYC's famous Continental Club, the band would once again tap Long Gone John from Sympathy to do its first release. That Kings County Sound was released as a CDEP & 10" in 2001. Five songs (three new originals, one re-record, one cover), and the Roller Kings hit the ground running. Expanding on the Los Primos sax driven garage trash, The Roller Kings sound is bigger and more refined (but only slightly). It is still trashy with a '60s New York Dolls flair, what you'd expect from Andy. The addition of the baritone sax adds some bottom end that helps the overall sound. "Dance Last Night", "Feelin' So Good", and "My GTO" are the three originals you'd hope for from the mind of Andy G. "Summertime Girls" from the second Los Primos 7" is the re-record. There was nothing wrong with the original version. I would rather have any other song, be it an original or cover. There was no need to re-cut this track. The EP closes with a cover of Dusty Springfield's "Stay Awhile". It is not the first time Andy dipped into the '60s girl group cannon. The Devil Dogs covered The Ronettes' "Best Part Of Breaking Up" on their first record to similar success.

The band toured a bit outside of NYC shortly after the release, so very few people saw this incredible band slay audiences in the same way the Devil Dogs did. The band was relatively silent as far as releases go. It reemerged in 2005 on a Gun Club compilation called Salvo Of 24 Gunshots. The track the band chose to cover was "Bad India". The rest of the comp includes Dirtbombs, Come Ons, Demolition Doll Rods, and plenty of other good stuff. Later in 2005, the band released its final track called "Party Shoes" on the Rapid Pulse Records compilation Let's Have Some God Damn Fun! Just like that, the band was done. Nothing has been re-released since, and nothing has surfaced. It is a total shame.

As an epilogue to this story, Andy G & The Roller Kings did do a live session for WFMU on June 7, 2001. It is archived on the WFMU site under the show Three Chord Monte. They did an interview and played live on the radio. The live performance does include two songs not available anywhere else: "No Good Annie" (1910 Fruit Gum Company) and "Dead End Street" (Lou Rawls). Both songs are perfect choices to cover: sax driven songs easily adapted to Andy G's unique interpretation.

Between both bands, it is only 14 songs counting the WFMU live stuff and 12 if you don't. It is the great mystery on what happened, especially since the band was together at least five years. I would have to think with that amount of time together, there is an album's worth of material or a few singles that got recorded but couldn't find a home due to the band breaking up, not wanting to tour to promote them, or the changing of the industry in the mid-2000s. If there is something that exists, I hope that it comes out sooner rather than later. Andy G is one of the few artists that there are no bad songs that have his imprint on them. He really is that good and that important to garage music and music in general. His style has spawned countless bands, some better than others but none better than the original. God Bless Andy G.



-Rob Sheley

Retro Reviews: The Vikings – Go Berserk

Review by Rob Sheley

For my opinion, there is a big five of '90s garage rock & roll. Everything these five bands did and what they morphed into is necessary in every collection. They are The Devil Dogs, New Bomb Turks, The Humpers, Lazy Cowgirls, and The Dirtbombs. No five more perfect bands from that era have existed in similar friendly competition, each release more essential than the last. I will eventually focus on them. But as you know, all good things must come to an end. So I'm interested in focusing on their next big things.

Enter The Vikings, originally conceived as a two single side project that morphed into a more complete (albeit short) project with some of Norway's finest. When the Devil Dogs toured Norway in 1991, bass player Steve Baise met Morten Henriksen of the Yum Yums. Morten convinced Steve to come over and do some shows as a pickup band called the Devil Frogs. The band would do Devil Dogs songs and some choice covers. By 1993 Steve made a return trip, and Morten recruited two new members to the band to do five shows and record four songs. Those members were Happy Tom (Thomas Seltzer) on drums and an 18-year-old second guitar player named Euroboy (Knute Schreiner) - who of course went on to join Turbonegro a few years later. They cut the singles (one original & three covers) for two separate releases on Sympathy and Screaming Apple and changed their name to The Vikings. Released in 1994 to great reviews, the Vikings' "Rock All" & "Savage" singles were perhaps the warning signs that may have ended the Devil Dogs. By early 1995, the Devil Dogs had called it a day. Steve had eight songs (that would have been the next Devil Dogs record) and a budding relationship with a girl and new band in Norway. He took his songs and a bag full of covers to record what would become The Vikings' lone album Go Berserk.

Go Berserk is a flawless album. It is everything that is great about garage rock in general. A great formula to make a killer record is a balance of strong originals and a few covers (famous or obscure) peppered in. The trick is to interpret the covers in your style so that no matter how iconic the song, it becomes yours. Look at the early Stones, Beatles, Little Richard, Jerry Lee, Elvis (both of them), The Sonics, and Otis Redding. All were great writers and great interpreters. The Vikings followed that similar path of blending influences with originals; it gives you as a listener a spyglass look into the band's record collection and how they craft their songs and their sound. I'm a big fan of covers and how bands choose those covers, how they change or play them straight and how well they fit. As a side note, The Dirtbombs' Ultraglide In Black exemplifies this point. But that is another entry altogether.

Released in 1995, Go Berserk was a monster of record. The power of the band jumps off the record with the first track, "My Friend’s Little Sister". Clocking in at two minutes, it is the best song that the Devil Dogs never recorded. Big drums, crisp cutting distortion, and immediate vocals propel the record forward at a very live aggressive pace. Similar to the way the Devil Dogs made records, but this is different and not a copy of what they did. In hindsight, you can hear the power pop leanings of the Yum Yums and the best parts of what made Turbonegro great coming through in the performances - making this a unique entity unto itself. "Bad To Be Good", "Hard Knox High", "Strikeout King", "Summer of Hate", "Stop It", "(5-4-3-2) Baby You're The 1", and the debut single "Rock All" are everything that one would expect from Steve Baise as a songwriter. Catchy, fast, and big hooks that get stuck in your head. It takes great skill to write songs this good and this consistent.

The other story on this record is what is brought to the table by way of covers. None of the covers are big hits (with the exception of "Surrender" by Cheap Trick). I would say that they are more unique rather than completely obscure. An astute collector would know most if not all of the bands but not necessarily the song choices by those bands. "It's Cool To Rock" by the Accelerators is the one cover that could be mistaken for an original because they stay rather faithful to the original. There was no need to improve upon the original; it is just that good. "Let's Go" by Bay City Rollers is a WTF moment, but it works perfectly, played at triple speed of the original. It takes on a very Slade-like feel and removes all of the schmaltz you may be thinking it would contain. The back to back of "The Fly" by Chubby Checker and "Push & Stomp" by Joan Jett are rollicking versions of the originals, a double paring of songs about dancing that is a very nice touch. The record closes with a triple threat of goodness: "Surrender" followed by the Nervous Eaters' "Just Head" and closing with "Savage", one of the four lone songs by Australia's Fun Things. The opening verse says everything you need to know. "I am the rock & roll kamikaze, and you know that I'd die for you. When you're paying your bills to see me, I gotta do what you want me to." Pure rock & roll poetry and a perfect ending!

Go Berserk was released in 1995 on Sympathy on CD. The CD includes both the "Rock All" (also on Sympathy) and "Savage" (originally on Screaming Apple) singles. The record was released a year later on vinyl by Roto records out of Spain. In 2005, Just Add Water Records re-released Go Berserk as a double CD called Best Head Ever. It includes everything from the Sympathy release and four more songs from a 7" called High Time on Hit Me! out of Norway. It includes a very early version of "Good Head" - later made famous by Turbonegro. The two-CD set also includes a 12-song live record from Oslo. To the best of my knowledge, that is everything they recorded.

Though short lived, The Vikings are a crucial sign post of '90s garage rock. Even if the members never recorded another note, this still would rank as a masterpiece. It is surprising that more bands from both the states and Scandinavia didn't pick this up as a copycat project and do something similar in terms of sound and the blend of covers and originals. I implore you to track this down and make it one of your favorites; I assure you that you will not be disappointed in the least. You will only wish you could have discovered it to sooner to have the pleasure of enjoying it longer.



-Rob Sheley

Retro Reviews: The Lillingtons - Death By Television

Review By Mick Fletcher

I was born in '64 in a northern English city and grew up listening to whatever chart fodder the radio deemed fit to play. This was back in the days before the internet provided easy access to music - even the UK music papers like Sounds, Melody Maker, and The New Musical Express still used quills on parchment. Then at age 13, I was introduced to a new type of music by one of the real cool kids in my class at school and my tastes changed overnight. For many years after that, if anyone was to ask me what my favourite album was, I'd either say The Clash's debut (or London Calling) or Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material. Those seminal LPs are still pretty much perfect. But nowadays when I get asked that question, the answer is gonna be the album I'm reviewing today.

The Lillingtons are a pop punk band (as in proper old school pop punk, not the anodyne type that's so popular at the moment) from Newcastle, Wyoming who formed in 1995 and who despite long periods of inactivity are still around today (watch out for a new album later this year!!!). They released a debut album on Clearview Records in 1996 called Shit Out Of Luck. But it wasn't until three years later that they unleashed their piece de resistance, Death By Television. Produced by Mass Giorgini, it was released on March 30th, 1999 on the Ben Weasel/John Jughead owned Panic Button Records (Fat Wreck Chords wanted to release it but have had to wait almost 20 years to add The Lillingtons to their roster of acts. Fat Mike has said Death By Television is the best pop punk record of all time, and I ain't gonna argue with him). The lineup of the band has undergone several changes down the years, but on this album it featured ever present vocalist/guitarist Kody Templeman as well as bassist Cory Laurence and drummer Timmy V (Tim O'Hara).

The Lillingtons are often compared to the likes of The Ramones, Queers, and Screeching Weasel. But on Death By Television, they blow all their peers out of the water. The album is comprised of 14 (mostly) sci-fi themed classics. Cast your mind back to outlandish Saturday morning kids' TV shows, EC comics, '50s B movies...Think back to when you were a kid growing up desperately wanting the x ray spex that you saw advertised in your favourite comics ("lots of laughs and fun at parties"). Run and hide as the saucermen attack at lightning pace. Look up at the moon- there's an apeman up there having a bad day. There are so many fun things on there: aliens in flying silver discs that want to see us die, a crimefighting maggot that aspires to be a fly, plus songs about wanting to bang your head against the wall and the everyday horrors of a dead end job. It's not just the lyrical content that makes Death By Television so great. Lyrics would be nothing without a great backbeat, and the music on the album is pretty much perfect. Granted it doesn't deviate much from your typical Ramones-core low slung bass/guitar/drum template, but that's the beauty of it. It's simple, basic, and oh so effective. So many bands play this kind of music, but none do it as well as The Lillingtons.

Death By Television is just FUN FUN FUN. To paraphrase one of the songs, when I get up, you know I'm going to spend another 30 minutes with you. It never gets old; it never fails to thrill. The new album will be great. Whether it will come close to their masterpiece...that's virtually an impossible task, but fingers crossed!



-Mick Fletcher 

https://www.facebook.com/TheLillingtons/
https://thelillingtons.bandcamp.com/

Retro Reviews: Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds – self titled

Review by Rob Sheley

November 1991: it is announced that Izzy Stradlin has left Guns N Roses. No one could have predicted what would happen next. Izzy has been called the heart and soul of the band that he helped form. It is no doubt that he was the Stones, Hanoi, Faces element that blended with Slash's love of Aerosmith and Duff's Damned & Heartbreakers leanings to create that unique sound. Upon his departure, what would they sound like and more importantly what would HE sound like? He was 29, finally clean, and rich enough to either retire comfortably or do whatever he wanted. He chose the latter.

Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds stands up as one of the best debut records in rock history, but it is not the players' first rodeo. Izzy recruited a brilliant band with a murderers' row of side men to assist. He ran as far away from Guns' direction as he could. Izzy's longest musical sidekick is Georgia Satellites guitarist Rick Richards - he has played on every single solo recording that he has released. Along with drummer Charlie Quintana (Plugz, Cruzados, and later Social Distortion) and bassist Jimmy Ashhurst (Broken Homes), that became the lineup. Sonically Izzy was to draw primarily from his love for The Rolling Stones, Faces, and The Clash- much more of the roll than rock and far removed from anything he had done before. Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds was released in October 1992, less than one year after his leaving the Illusion tour. The record is a combination of originals and influences. From the opening swagger of "Somebody Knocking" to the Clash informed cover of "Pressure Drop", the record is bursting with energy and uniqueness for the time. Supporting the band on seven of the 12 songs was Faces organ player, the great Ian McLagan. His contributions really aligned him as the unsung fifth member of the band. Special guest number two is Ron Wood performing on their cover of his solo track "Take A look A The Guy". Rounding out this star-studded list is Nicky Hopkins's incredible piano work on "Come On Now Inside"- a track that could have easily been an outtake from side 4 of Exile On Main St. It is really that good.

One must remember that in 1992, the musical landscape, despite Izzy's cache, was not ready to support a rock & roll record influenced by songs and bands from 20 years prior to its release. Even though the Black Crowes were enjoying success with their second record, I believe the public and the label were expecting and hoping for something closer to Appetite than Exile. Lead single "Shuffle It All" did catch a slight bit of MTV airplay, but the blazing rocker "Train Tracks" much less so. Despite a lack of commercial success, the band did tour the world with wider success coming from Europe and Japan. America was not so supportive. And due to this disappointment, Izzy stopped touring altogether to focus solely on recording.

Because of drug issues with Jimmy Ashhurst, the band was dissolved - with Izzy only keeping Rick along for the future. The record (and subsequent singles and live EP) is an all too brief snapshot. Their recorded output as this unit is incredible, no bad songs at all. The live Japanese EP is a much more stripped-down, raw, powerful version of the band. It contains a great version of the Stones' B-side "Jivin' Sister Fanny". And with all of the B-Sides and live tracks, there are enough songs to make what would have been a second record. The original record was re-pressed in 2016 on vinyl by the label Music On Vinyl with remastered sound. It is fairly easy to find. CD versions can be tracked down on eBay or Discogs for cheap. Try and get the version with the extra EP for three more songs.

Izzy has continued to record ever since 1992. Most of his work has been released in Japan, and later records have gone straight to iTunes. He has recorded nine records on his own. All spring forth from the groundwork laid down with this original lineup. Every time I see a used copy of the self-titled album, I buy it and keep in in my car to pass on to a like-minded individual. I'm shocked that the record is off everyone's radar despite the name printed on the top. This is the best place to start. And the sooner you do, the longer you will have to enjoy this nearly lost album.


-Rob Sheley