I just found out that The Saints have cancelled their US tour and am thoroughly bummed. With that being said, here are a couple of songs from the early Australian punk band.

The Saints - I'm Stranded
The Saints - Lipstick On Your Collar
The Saints - Know Your Product

Wikipedia says:

The Saints are an influential Australian punk band, formed in Brisbane in 1972 (see 1972 in music). The original members were schoolmates Chris Bailey (a singer-songwriter, later a guitarist); Ed Kuepper (guitarist-songwriter) and; Ivor Hay (drummer). The Saints, who have never officially broken up, continue to inspire numerous other rock acts. Bailey is the only member who has lasted the distance, although the original line-up is regarded by many fans and critics as the most talented and influential.

Their musical inspiration came from sources as diverse as 1950s rock 'n' roll and 1960s Detroit punk band The Stooges. The Saints pre-empted the fast tempos and buzzing guitars of more widely-known punk acts like The Ramones and the Sex Pistols.

Oh man you know I'm getting lazy when I'm getting my info off Wikipedia. The Saints are well known for being the Australian Ramones but I think I've posted so many bands with that comparison (The Zeros were the Mexican Ramones, Teenage Head were the Canadian Ramones) that it's kinda lost it's meaning.

The Saints were supposed to play with The Bamboo Kids at Maxwell's on May 7th. Ah well, at least I'll get to see that rockin' NYC band at some point this summer.

The Bamboo Kids - Ain't No Fun
The Bamboo Kids - Caught In New York City

"Ain't No Fun" especially is a top notch song. Straight up rock 'n' roll, great for dancin' to! Myspace it: http://www.myspace.com/thebambookids or take the traditional route (?) and visit their website at http://www.thebambookids.com

Ah, at least the Buzzcocks are touring the States this year. They're playing June 12 at Irving Plaza (NYC), June 14 at the North Star Bar (Philly) before heading off on the Warped Tour for the rest of June as well as a headlining tour in July. Here's the first single from their latest album, Flat Pack Philosophy, "Wish I Never Loved You":

The Buzzcocks - Wish I Never Loved You

I bought the 7" of this single while I was in London last month and was really impressed. I'm usually pretty skeptical of old bands bringing out new stuff, but The Buzzcocks know what they're good at and continue to excel in classic harmony driven pop punk! http://www.thebuzzcocks.com

Well, if you let the rain get to you this weekend, you missed some awesome shows. The Briefs last night were great as usual and I managed to discover a couple really great bands at the New York Shitty Comp release this Saturday!

1. WWIX were just too awesome firstly because they were giving away a ton of free shit at the show and secondly because they're just a tight punk rock band. They covered one of my favorite songs, "I Was Drunk When I Met You" from the Let's Have Some Goddamn Fun Rapid Pulse Records comp, by another NYC band, The Yams.

Here are some tracks from their full length, Panic Attack:



WWIX - Thank God It's Monday
WWIX - Body Dump
WWIX - New York City Tonight (GG Allin cover)
WWIX - Panic Attack

Website: http://www.worldwarix.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/worldwarix
Buy Panic Attack: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/wwix

2. Sammytown Jones play a great blend of psychobilly and hardcore punk. I only managed to catch the last half of their set, but definitely liked what I saw. Here's a track taken off their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/sammytownjones

Sammytown Jones - 5 Shots of Whiskey (written by Hank Williams III)

Website: http://www.sammytownjones.com

3. The Spunks are not really a new discovery for me, but they rock too fuckin' hard to miss out. Their live show is akin to Guitar Wolf's (RIP) but the better thing about it is that this Japanese band is New York based so we US based people get to experience it far more often. Those little dudes are really a powerhouse of energy. Amazing stuff!

The Spunks - Jet Blue
The Spunks - Hey Hey Hay
The Spunks - Roadrunner

Website: http://www.thespunks.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thespunks

No theme this week. But here's a couple cool things:

1. The Briefs Set Live on WFMU - December 14, 2001 [zip]

The Briefs are probably one of my favorite bands (definitely my favorite CURRENT band) and for good reason. Their songs are great to dance to, their lyrics are funny and clever and they kick ass live. This is a live set from just after they released their first, and still probably their best, album, Hit After Hit. It's on WFMU too, which is a great radio station and one of the few not owned by Clear Channel or the like. If you're in the New York area, tune in on 91.1FM. Or if you're not, they stream live on their website at http://www.wfmu.org. Great shows especially are Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic (Saturdays 3-6PM), Pat Duncan's Loud Live Acts (Thursdays 11PM-2AM) and Music to Spazz By (Thursdays 8-11PM).

P.S. The Briefs are playing this Sunday with Horrorpops at the Knitting Factory (NY)!

2. Exploding Hearts - Pink Demo [zip]

The story of the Exploding Hearts is probably too often retold, but here we go. The Exploding Hearts are a great Portland, OR band who met an untimely end in 2004 after a fatal car crash. I don't know anybody whose heard their music and doesn't at the very least like it; their LP, Guitar Romantic, plays more like a greatest hits compilation than a debut album. This one is demo pre-Guitar Romantic - one of the six tracks is a Paul Collins' Beat cover, "Walking Out On Love".

This week: Classic 7"s from underrated punk bands!



1. The Shivvers - Teen Line b/w When I Was Younger
Teen Line | When I Was Younger

This 7" - the long defunct Milwaukee power pop band's only real release - is extremely hard to find on vinyl. For those of us who can't afford to shell out $200 on a 7", I highly recommend Hyped to Death's "Lost Hits" compilation!



2. The Valves - Robot Love b/w For Adolfs Only
Robot Love | For Adolfs Only

This first and undoubtedly best out of three 7" releases from this late seventies Scottish band is definitely a classic - especially its B-side, "For Adolphs Only". Unfortunately, the band broke up just as they were planning to put out a full length on Albion. On a side note, Monty Oxy Moron of the Damned says the band loved The Valves, describing them as "Punk Bonzo-dog Band". Indeed, with songs about falling in love with robots and being a disgruntled Nazi youth, this description's pretty accurate.



3. Nastyfacts - Drive My Car b/w Get To You & Crazy About You
Drive My Car | Get To You | Crazy About You

Nastyfacts were a pretty successful Brooklyn based new wave/punk band from the early 80s. This group of teenagers played all the New York haunts (CBGB and Maxwell's for example) and managed to release a single on Jimboco before they disbanded. Oh and by the way, Nastyfacts is one word. I didn't realize that until I read the somewhat reformed band's new official website. They've recently released a 5 song EP featuring mostly original members. Worth checking out.



4. Nipple Erectors - King of the Bop b/w Nervous Wreck
King of the Bop | Nervous Wreck

The Nipple Erectors are a punk band who mixed it up with rockabilly to give us early punkabilly at it's best! This is the band's only release as they soon shortened their name to the much less offensive The Nips. There's a great bootleg compilation of all their releases (under both names) out called "Tits of Soho" but unfortunately it's quite hard to find. Much easier to get a hold of is the collection of Nips/Nipple Erectors singles, "Bops, Babes, Booze and Bovver" out on Big Beat/Ace Records

This post is pretty much a very late post for last week... so expect more this weekend!

This week's theme: International Rock & Roll!

1. The Hate Pinks - Tupperware Love [France]

I recently got a hold of both The Hahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifte Pinks' full lengths, Sehr Gut Rock & Roll and Plastic Bag Ambitions and am loving them both. The Punk News review of the latter album really sums up the Hate Pink's sound: "One big, fast, repetitive punk party." The band definitely knows how to party; even though I have no clue most of the time what lead singer Olivier is saying (and when I do, I have no idea why he's saying it - "My City is Sick of Pizzas", for example) the hard pumped beats and riffs definteily make me want to spazz out and dance! Check out their website at http://hatepinks.free.fr.

2. Shakin Nasties - When Your Head Hits the Floor [Germany]

Every review I've read of Bremen, Germany's recently disbanded Shakin Nasties seems to describe them as "snotty", so there you go. Anyways, in my own words, the band plays a great brand of garage/'77 punk/rock 'n' roll and have released a few LPs as well as a split single with the aforementioned Hate Pinks. Other German bands of note are The Shocks and Moorat Fingers.

3. Zombie Ghost Train - R.I.P. [Australia]

This band from Sydney, Australia play quality psychobilly, with each of their songs featuring some kind of horror movie reference. Singer Stu Arkoff has a deep and flexible voice that makes you think of a country western crooner. Their debut album, Glad Rags & Body Bags, features a psychobilly rendition of the Devo track "Girl U Want". The band really do some unique covers - I heard they've covered Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (re-titled "Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun")and when I saw them play last fall they covered the Johnny Kid & The Pirates track I featured last week. Oh yeah, they're pretty amazing live too!

4. Gito Gito Hustler - N Waka [Japan]

It's no secret that Japan is full of great bands, from all sorts of genres. But Gito Gito Hustler are touring the states now with Japanese/NYC punk band The Spunks, so I thought I'd give them a mention. They're probably the cutest rock 'n' rollers around and this track definitely shows it!

5. A.C.A.B. - Skinhead 4 Life [Malaysia]

For one reason or another, Oi! is really big in South East Asia. I think I've seen more skinheads there than I have in any other place else, including London itself. This Kuala Lumpur band's name is taken from the 4 Skins' song (an acronym for "All Cops Are Bastards") so you can see where the band's influences lie. A.C.A.B. are probably one of the region's premier Oi! bands, having opened for The Business in Malaysia in 2004.

6. The Moderns - Got to Have Pop [Sweden]

The Moderns are a rather short lived mod band (1978 - 1981) from Malmö, Sweden. Pretty much the only information I could garner about them comes in the form of this bio. You can really hear the Who and Jam influences in this band; they're pretty much mod through and through. Check out this compilation of Moderns songs from Japanese label 1977 records!

7. New Town Animals - Forgotten Generation [Canada]

New Town Animals are from Vancouver, BC. Or, rather, they were from Vancouver, seeing as how the goofy pop punk band has long since split up (Guitarist Jeffie Pop now has a new band, Jeff Genetic and His Clones while Nick Newtown and Bobby Beefy are now in The Split Singles and Stevie Kicks plays bass for The Briefs.) I can definitely see some Dickies or Smugglers influences in the band. This track's off Dirtnap Records' Dirtnap Across the NorthWest compilation but check out their full length, 2001's Is Your Radio Active?

8. Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias - Fuck You

Okay, so Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias aren't very international. They're a British comedy band from the late 70s who parodied different genres of music - punk rock being one of them, as illustrated by this track and their Stiff Records Release, Snuff Rock EP.