Well, I'm back from London! The whole trip was a blast, although I only managed to catch two of the shows I initially planned on seeing. The Buzzcocks were pretty amazing, as was the gig at the Dirty Water Club (Chinese Lungs, Thee Jenerators & The Cynics). The
Dirty Water Club (Fridays at the Bostom Music Room in Tuffnell Park) really does play some awesome music - if you're ever in London, you should go check it out!
Anyways, this week's theme is
ALCOHOL. Really cheesy, I know... but fitting, seeing as I probably managed to ruin my liver for good over this last week.
1.
The Business - "Drinking & Driving"This one's a classic taken off early eighties British street punk/Oi! band, The Business' undoubtedly best album,
Suburban Rebels. To download from the album, check out a recent post on
100 Records. The Business are playing CBGB's on Cinco de Mayo (May 5th if you don't habla espanol)... I already have my ticket!
2.
The Sleazies - "Wild Turkey's Not A Meat"For such a small city, Providence seems to have a really great scene - the Midnight Creeps, Sasquatch & The Sick-a-Billys, and
The Sleazies all hail from Rhode Island's wonderful capital city. Luckily for those of us in NYC, all these bands are coming down over the next month or so. Sasquatch & The Sick-A-Billys are playing at
Rezombified, the Troma fundraiser at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn on Thurs March 30 ($5, 7:30PM ) while the Midnight Creeps and the Sleazies are playing CBGB the following day.
3.
Dee Dee King - "2 Much 2 Drink"Dee Dee is my favorite Ramone purely because of his solo rap effort as Dee Dee King. I happen to have King's entire album,
Standing in the Spotlight, and I may just post it one day. For now though, here's another quality track called
"German Kid", along with this awesomely styling album art.
Dee Dee King's Standing in the Spotlight4.
The Adicts - "Who Spilt My Beer?"Ah, this one's another classic. The Adicts are one of the longest standing punk bands with all original members, a great feat since they've been around since 1975. They're probably one of the best bands I've ever seen live - their songs are perfect for singing along and bouncing around too and the beach balls, streamers, playing cards, glitter and confetti they throw into the audience I suppose only help encourage audience participation. The band manage to pull off their Clockwork Orange
droog image without looking too campy and gimmicky, although whether this is true of lead singer Monkey's stage outfits is another matter entirely.
5.
The Leftovers - "Cigarettes & Alcohol"I can't claim to have found this one on my own - I got this track from another really great mp3 blog
Something I Learned Today, so go click on the link to find out more! (Yeah, I know.. this is just me being lazy!)
6.
Lunachicks - "Down at the Pub"The Lunachicks have sadly been on hiatus since 2002, but they are by far one of the best girl punk bands that have come out (semi) recently. It's really no holds barred with these ladies, they talk about buttplugs, PMS, hating people, puking, female masturbation and, oh yeah, donuts. Their stage show could almost be considered gross-out performance art - I know that lead singer Theo's been in a couple Troma films! Hey, they're not as bad as they seem though - their tunes are catchy and they're pretty fuckin funny...
7.
Radio Reelers - "Bad Whiskey"To tell you the truth, I don't know much about the Radio Reelers yet, but I'm really digging what I'm hearing. The band come from San Francisco and play good old punk rock 'n' roll. Their most recent full length release,
The Next Best Thing, was touted by Lord Rutledge of Now Wave magazine as the best album of 2005, and is described as being "everything that great rock n' roll should be". Check out the band's website
here.
8.
Rose Tattoo - "One More Drink with the Boys"Rose Tattoo hail from good old Sydney, Australia (Aussie Aussie Oi Oi!). This hard rock band is probably one the most underrated bands from the late seventies. Check them out if you like AC/DC or any kind of eighties hair metal - they're the precursor to that genre. Guns 'n' Roses covered a song, "Nice Boys" off their 1978 self-titled (This album was released only in Australia and re-released in international markets in 1980 as
Rock 'n' Roll Outlaws.) "One More Drink with the Boys" is taken off a more recent effort, 2002's
Pain9.
Teenage Head - "Teenage Beer Drinkin Party"This Canadian band who take their name from a Flaming Groovies song is sometimes often referred to as the Canadian Ramones and I can really see the similarities with their goofy teenage lyrics, although Teenage Head's sound is more a throwback to fifties rock 'n' roll rather than the sixties pop like the Ramones were influenced by. Although their live performances are supposedly just as brutal - A 1981 Teenage Head show in Ontario caused a riot which then caused the venue to ban rock acts permanently. Notable releases are the
Frantic City and
Some Kinda Fun LPs which were both reissued in 1990.
