Long time no see, huh? I'm not going to bore you guys with excuses, but I'm just gonna say here that I'm changing the format of my blog. I think I'm going to limit myself to a band a post and maybe have a theme every week or bi-weekly. Hopefully this will mean less procrastination (and more posts).

With that being said, I guess the theme of this post is girl fronted bands with the front person's name in the band name? I don't know, I just wanted to post some Nikki & the Corvettes stuff because the power pop super woman just completed an American tour in support of her new album, Back to Detroit.

1. Nikki & The Corvettes were an all-girl band from Detroit MI. They play cute, fun bubblegum power pop and sing about all your teenage topics - rock 'n' roll, sex, boys and cars. If you wanna compare them to bands of today, I'd say they're a (MUCH) better version of The Donnas. The almost sickeningly sweet voiced Nikki Corvette is still around today though (I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the Corvettes - I'm sure there were some line up changes) but she just released a new album, Back to Detroit, under Nikki Corvette & The Stingrays available from Dollar Record Records. This album is the first with all new originals since their 1980 self-titled.

From Nikki & The Corvettes: Boys, Boys, Boys Young & Crazy Just What I Need Backseat Love

Check out Nikki Corvette and The Stingrays on her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nikkiandthecorvettes. A track from her latest album is on the myspace - Nikki's voice has definitely matured, but it's still pure pop-rock much like her earlier stuff.

2. I love Anna & The Psychomen and not only because they have a frontwoman with my namesake. The Milano, Italy band combine fast garage punk with B-movie themed lyrics to something that sounds like Misfits meets the Ramones. Really raw punk rock.

Wild Mama EP Wild Mama Kill The Brian and You Kill The Ghoul You're Nothin But A Stupid Girl

Check out their website at http://www.psychomen.org or their myspace at http://www.myspace.com/annaandthepsychomen.

3. Holly & The Italians are another great 80s power pop band. They've got the pop sound like Nikki & The Corvettes, but they're definitely a lot spunkier, something like Joan Jett. This great track got the band a record deal with Virgin and they recorded their album, The Right to Be Italian in 1981. The record didn't get much success but Holly later released a solo album called Holly & The Italians (even though it didn't have any of the other members in it) and recorded a cover of "I Got You Babe" with Joey Ramone.

Tell That Girl to Shut Up Chapel of Love

Theme again: Mod Revival!

1. It's strange that Secret Affair aren't as universally known as The Jam since this band were definitely at the forefront of the mod revival scene. They did very well in the charts, especially with their first single, "Time for Action", and album Glory Boys which they released themselves on their own label, i-Spy. They also gained fans by supporting The Jam at a few dates, and ended up headlining the Mods Mayday festival in 1979.

Here are their first two singles, "A Time for Action" and "Let Your Heart Dance"

	A Time for Action Soho Strut
	Let Your Heart Dance Sorry, Wrong Number

The band fizzled after the mod revival movement lost momentum. Drummer Seb Shelton went on to join Dexy's Midnight Runners, while charismatic singer Ian Page is now involved in a new project, Ian Page and The Affair, which he claims is a "a much more Soulful version of Secret Affair". Check out their website here.

2. Basically, the reason Part II of We Are The Mods! took so long is because I was waiting for my Moderns CD to arrive in the mail. The Moderns are a mod/power pop band from Malmö in the south of Sweden, formed in 1978 by four Swedish teens. In 1979, they released their debut self-produced and self-financed EP, Got to Have Pop, bringing the mod-revival to Sweden. They toured Europe, had several line up changes and finally signed to EMI and recorded a full length completely in Swedish, Tro, Hopp & Fruktan, a couple years later but this effort didn't do particularly well.

Here's their debut EP:

Got to Have Pop EP (1979) Got to Have Pop The Year of Today When the Time Comes Say Yes

You can get this EP plus more of The Moderns' earlier stuff over at CD Baby!

3. The Chords are another great mod revival band that started off as school boys in 1978. They were fairly successful in the UK, supporting bands such as The Undertones and The Jam and gaining relative chart success, especially with their first album, So Far Away and second single, "Maybe Tomorrow". Reaching no. 40, this single got them on Top of the Pops). They actually almost starred in cult mod movie, Quadrophenia, but apparently were too loud. There's a great Chords fan site here with a much more extensive biography on the band.

Maybe Tomorrow I Don't Wanna Know Hey Girl

I will probably post another Mod-Revival themed post next week... featuring Squire, The Cigarettes (by request of Joe over at Last Days of Man on Earth) and more. If you got any mod band requests (or otherwise) send em over and I'll see what I can do!

I'm still working on that mod post - been busy this week - but here's something differen to tide you over. Got a couple promos recently, great live tracks from The Dickie & The Dictators compiled by the good people at ROIR!

1. The Dickies Still Got Live, Even if You Don't Want It is a 1999 re-issue of a 1986 ROIR cassette featuring Dickies performances between 1977 and 1982. It's got all the Dickies greats and even includes the four song demo that got them their first deal. Here's that demo:

4-track demo, Nov 1977 Hideous I'm OK, You're OK You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla) Walk Like an Egg

2. The Dictators New York, New York is a New York Live performance from Feb 11, 1981.

Next Big Thing Rock 'n' Roll Made A Man Out of Me Loyola Search & Destroy (Stooges Cover)

Both are seriously great albums and both can be purchased at http://www.roir-usa.com.

Theme for the week thanks to Nneka: Mod-Revival! This one's going to be a two-parter.

1. Gotta kick things off with The Jam, who are undoubtedly the most successful Mod-Revival band to come out of the late seventies scene. Do they really need introduction? Well, The Jam were a highly successful British band who put out 6 albums and several hit singles in their day. The two must-have albums in my opinion are their first and third efforts, In the City (1977) and All Mod Cons (1979).

Lately I've been obsessed with the B-Side to All Mod Cons, and am thus posting it. It contains the brilliant, "Down at the Tube Station at Midnight", an eerie song about violence that has some amazing bass lines. My other favorites are "Billy Hunt" (great to sing along to) and "A Bomb in Wardour Street" (cowbell!).

From All Mod Cons (1979): Billy Hunt It's Too Bad The Fly A Place I Love A Bomb in Wardour Street Down at the Tube Station at Midnight

You can find a plethora of Jam releases at Amazon.com.

2. Essex band, The Purple Hearts were a bunch of Mod teenagers named after a popular sixties drug, who became fairly successful with their 1979 single, "Millions Like Us". They had album Beat That! out in 1980 which did pretty well but unfortunately soon after that, the Mod Revival peaked out and the Purple Hearts were dropped from their label. They were picked up by Safari to release another full length, My Life's a Jigsaw but Beat That! is by far the better of the two.

The Purple Hearts started off in 1977 as a punk band called The Sockets and you can definitely hear the punk influence in their songs. Here is "Millions Like Us" and their third single, "Jimmy" (which also did moderately well in the charts and which I personally prefer):

	Millions Like Us | Beat That!
	Jimmy | What Am I Gonna Do

3. The Merton Parkas got their name from their London neighborhood, Merton Park, and I suppose also from the parkas they wore. Although they recieved a lot of hype from the press, the Parkas really didn't do anything groundbreaking in the mod-revival scene - but they were a solid band nevertheless. Their second single, "You Need Wheels" (Begger Banquet Records, 1979) from their only full length, Face in the Crowd was a pretty big hit in the UK charts. Keyboardist Mick Talbot went on to join Dexy's Midnight Runners and later formed the Style Council with Paul Weller (The Jam).

The Merton Parkas seem to incorporate more of the '60s sound than other Mod-Revival bands. "You Need Wheels" is a fun pop track - here's the single as well as a couple other tracks from their album (which were actually also released as singles):

	You Need Wheels | I Don't Want to Know You
	From Face in the Crowd (1979): Give it To Me Now Plastic Smile

"The Complete Mod Collection", a compilation of everything the Merton Parkas ever released is available through Anagram Records (UK).

Oh, and of course I have to end this with one of my favorite songs The Who's "My Generation". A classic mod track!

Next time, look out for some Secret Affair, The Chords and a couple more!