Best of 2005, Pt. 2

Host: Kopper

Here’s the second of three episodes showcasing some of the best full-length albums of 2005… Tune into this show to hear the likes of The King Kahn & BBQ Show, M.O.T.O., The Flakes, The Ponys, The Subsonics, The Deadly Snakes, The Fleshtones, Sons of Cyrus, The Konks, the Reatards, and much more. Grab the giggle juice and prepare to get punked yet again.

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Host: Blair B.

…In which I can finally put vinyl on this sucker. Yeah, That’s right, I dug a working turntable out of the basement mess and hooked it up to the stereo amp in the bedroom, then stuck a Y-cable out of it. For that matter, there’s also a cassette player, which means I’ve also got the ability to play a bunch of my old live tapes on here.

The Original Sins – “Now’s The Time” – The Hardest Way (Psonik)
There are tons of reasons The Original Sounds are one of my favorite bands of all time; this song is just one of them. “Now’s The Time” rocks like mad, but also has a killer melody. This disc remains my favorite Sins’ full-length record, although Big Soul is just barely behind it. Hope you don’t hate CDs, ‘cuz this one’s got extra tracks that are well worth having. Pretty sure those made it to a separate vinyl EP at some point, though time’s dimming some of my memories.

The Original Sins kicked into gear for real once JT split from The Creatures (now “Of The Golden Dawn”) in ’86 or ’87, after he did the “Just 14″ single with a couple friends as The Original Sins. (JT had used the name once in about ’85 for another single, more in the bittersweet pop vein.) When JT split the Creatures, bassist Ken Bussiere and drummer Dave Ferrara followed him. Dan McKinney signed on as organ player and the band was born. Over the next few years, they’d put out a number of discs, but by 1990 or ’91, Ferrara split to become a full-time professional drummer backing oldies acts. He was replaced by Seth Baer of Nixon’s Head and the Sins soldiered on. By the end of the ’90s, though, the Sins decided to call it a day, especially since Ken had decided to move to Florida and also back up oldies acts. (Hey, what would you rather do — play gigs throughout the Northeast, drive home a couple hundred miles, then wake up an hour later to work at Subway, or move down where it’s warm and make a living playing ’50s/’60s songs you enjoy, anyway?) Dan McKinney opened his own recording studio, Dan’s House. JT played with various bands (including going back to The Creatures of the Golden Dawn), but concentrated on the Brother JT material he’d been doing since about ’91.

BBQ – “Waddlin’ Around” – Tie Your Noose (Bomp)
I first met Mark Sultan a.k.a. BBQ when he was in The Spaceshits. I think I saw that bunch on what may have been their first NYC-area show back around ’95 at the Continental on 3rd Ave. A few years later they were gone, but a couple of them soldiered on with some new friends in Les Sexareenos, one of the most fun bands around. Mark appears to be the busiest of all the Sexareenos, but his ex-Spaceshit buddy King Khan is probably neck and neck with him. Considering they’ve got their own thing together, as well, I’d say competition isn’t what it’s about. Anyway, “Waddlin’ Around” is one of those kinda ’50s-sounding songs that sends me into the realm of pure bliss.

The Twistaroos – “Do the Twistaroo” (N/A)
After years of listening to Morten Henriksen’s music (Cosmic Dropouts, Yum-Yums, Vikings, and more), corresponding a bunch in the late ’90s, etc., we finally met in person at Maxwell’s in Hoboken in October of 2005. Actually, I’d seen him and his girlfriend a couple nights earlier that week (at the other NYC-area dates by The Reigning Sound and The Detroit Cobras) and wondered why this guy looked so familiar. My girlfriend started talking to his whilst he was at the bar getting drinks and so I ended up finding out from her that she was from Oslo. I mentioned The Yum-Yums and she said, “My boyfriend is in The Yum-Yums.” And then I found out her boyfriend was Morten. And so we met.

The next afternoon was the surprise birthday party for Miriam Linna at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn. Morten brought me a CD of a new project of his, The Twistaroos. I listened to it in the car when I left for my gig that night with one of my bands, The Coal Gems. I went wild. WOW!!! So here’s your chance to understand.

The Yum-Yums/Morten Henriksen – “New York City” (demo)
There were a couple non-Twistaroos tracks on the disc Morten gave me. I’m still a bit confused whether it’s just him playing everything or if it’s the full Yum-Yums. Anyway, it turns out that Morten, like me, was a big fan of the mid-’90s Vancouver girl-trio Cub. This version is more of a pop-punk kinda take. Sounds great.

The Misanthropes – “Why Do You Treat Me So Bad” – Why Do You Treat Me So Bad? 3-song 7″ (Get Hip)
This 7″ EP — one of the very early Get Hip releases — represents the entire known (to me, anyway) discography of this Harrisburg, PA foursome. Sad, too, ‘cuz this is a monster. The guitar intro is absolutely insane. A couple of these guys — Danny Soriano & Mike Musmanno — were previously in a group called The Cool Italians. Maybe it’s best these guys never did anything else, ‘cuz it puts them alongside all those great lost garage bands of the mid-’60s who also did one 45 and faded into the woodwork, only to be rediscovered 15-20 years later by garagehounds everywhere. Looks like Get Hip still has copies, so if you want to hear it the way it should sound (rather than a bad recording from my turntable to my computer), grab it.

The Ka-Nives – “Let’s Dance” Shakin’ in My Boots (Licorice Tree)
Dave Rhoden (Hi-Balls, Stacks, All-Night Movers) told me tonight that The Ka-Nives are his favorite band EVER to see live. Many of you know Matt Murillo from previous bands like the ever-fun Junior Varsity, but this is completely different, wild and insane.

The Easys – “Baby Don’t You Do It” – I Want You Back 45 (Just Add Water)
Russell Quan rocks. More killer rock’n'roll from him and his compatriots in The Easys, with this side being a Holland-Dozier-Holland number.

The Ribeye Brothers – “D.W.I.” – If I Had A Horse – (All Indie)
When I first saw this bunch some years back, they didn’t move me. Time went on, though, and something clicked with me. While I don’t go to every gig The Ribeye Brothers play, I’m always happy to see them. They’re quite different than most of what’s out there, from their songwriting to mountain-of-a-man presence of vocalist Tim Cronin.

This Jersey band includes Jon Kleiman, ex-Monster Magnet, as well as members of other area bands, Lord Sterling and Butterflies of Love. Drummer Neil O’Brien also deejays at the coolest nightspot in the Garden State, Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, where the band also plays quite often. (Most recently, they opened for — and then backed up — Andre Williams.) Note: This same disc also includes a rollicking — yes, rollicking! — version of The Creation’s “How Does It Feel To Feel.”

Lyres – “Buried Alive” – AHS 1005 (Ace of Hearts / Matador)
No, I didn’t grab this one off the record, but rather off the Matador CD re-ish (which includes lots of extra stuff). DAMN! I love this band. It’s weird for me to think that I’ve been seeing them 21 years now… And they’d been around for 5 years before that! They’re still great. So, as happy as it makes me to know there are always great new bands out there, it’s even more important to me to know that some people just keep doing it year after year, and doing it so well. In fact, I’d like to thank Jeff for creating such great music and performing it year after year for so long.

Edison Rocket Train – “This Train” (CD-R)
Hanging out at a show one night, I ran into Mike Edison (ex-Sharky’s Machine, Raunch Hands, GG Allin, Pleasure Fuckers, etc.) for the first time in awhile and he handed me this CD-R. It was his current project with special guests Jon Spencer and Mr. Airplane Man. This is another disc I threw into the car on the way home and got way into. And, since it’s just a one-song thing, it just kept repeating, making me a VERY happy guy.

Read Edison’s “How Punk Rock Ruined My Life” (Part 1) here. It comes complete with an MP3 comp. Or just hit the main page.

The final song is a bonus track; it’s more of a demo than anything else. It’s unmastered and maybe not quite where it needs to be, but I like it. The group? You tell me and I can probably get the band to send you a CD with the rest of the stuff from that session… If you ask nicely.

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NEW SHOW!

Host: R. Fink

Rock’n'Roll Suicide… the first attempt. Your host, R. Fink, slings little records with big holes (a few larger ones, too) your way at a frantic pace. Focusing on some newer offerings this time ’round, we have wax from the likes of Sweden’s answer to Teengenerate… the Heartattacks, as well as the Busy Signals, the Four Slicks, the Flakes and a whole lot more. To quote the Young People With Faces, “Fuck Art, Let’s Rock!”

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Host: Central Computer

Central Computer refutes Time and defies Space to bring you a selection of garage, surf, punk and trash, compiled according to the whim of a broken robot.

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Florida Folk Rock

This jangly installment of Florida Rocks Again! features a flock of fine folk rockers from F-L-A, including Sir Michael & the Sounds, the Nightcrawlers, and the Non-Pareils. An hour’s worth of 12-string guitars and deep lyrics from the swamps, beaches, and backwaters of ’60s Florida. Hosted by MalThursday.

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Best of 2005, Pt. 1

Host: Kopper

The first installment of Kopper’s hardboiled Savage Kick show of 2006 is the first of three episodes that will focus on the best full-length albums of 2005… Some of the bands featured on this one include The Black Lips, The Dee Rangers, The Time Flys, The Fevers, The Gentleman Callers, The Turpentine Brothers, The Guilty Hearts, The Feelers, The Real Losers, Demon’s Claws, and much more. Grab the giggle juice and prepare to get punked.

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Congratulations to GaragePunk.com’s co-admin Bill Streeter on being this week’s coverboy in the Riverfront Times! I could go on and on and tell you what it’s all about and how great it is, but why the hell should I do that when you can just click the link and read Mike Seely’s article for yourself?

So click here and read it already!

Host: MalThursday

Florida Rocks Again! is back on GaragePunk.com. This week’s rockin’ installment is the hour-long “Tampa Bay Teen Scene” episode, featuring some of the area’s greatest bands of the ’60s, including the Tropics, the Split Ends, and Blues Image, as well as a tribute to the late, great John Delise (Rovin’ Flames, Outsiders, etc.). There’s also a little ’70s action from make-up-wearin’ weirdos White Witch and some modern-day garage from The Unrequited Loves. Enjoy!

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Just an FYI: From this point on, all GaragePunk.com Podcast shows will be posted on this blog, not on the old blog at podcast.garagepunk.com. The old blog will be going bye-bye and that URL will be redirected here eventually. It just didn’t make much sense to have two separate blogs on the same site, so we’ve merged them into one and there’s now a new Podcast category here. However, there are still two separate RSS feeds, one for this blog and one for the podcast. You can subscribe to one or both if you’d like to be updated anytime a new post or podcast is published. The info on subscribing is in the sidebar on the right, but basically it’s like this:
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That’s all for now!

Anyone who tried to watch that crap on ESPN last night knows what I’m bellyachin’ about. It was a complete JOKE. A farce. A few minutes of live rock’n'roll interspersed with DOZENS of minutes of commercials and SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS of the past year (yawn)… and what the hell was A Puddle of Mud doing on there? Ugh… I guess I shouldn’t really have expected anymore out of ESPN. Really, why would I think it would be any different? Well, because “Mr. Underground Garage Rock Radio,” Little Steven Van Zandt, was involved, of course. He is, after all, the new SAVIOUR of ROCK’n'ROLL, ain’t he? Anything Miami Stevie touches turns to pure RETRO GOLD, right? Harumph. I guess somehow I had held out hope that they might actually feature a live show and not interrupt everything with cheesy “sports moments” and tons of commercials. What a fuckin’ wake-up call. A few minutes of semi-swallowable live rock’n'roll (The Troggs so-so live reincarnate version of “Wild Thing”) spread over an entire HOUR of CRAP SPORTS PROGRAMMING makes for good publicity for those bands, eh? Fuck that. Fuck the Hard Rock Cafe. And motherfuck Little Fuckin’ Steven and ESP-fuckin’-N and whoever the hell thought this thing would actually be a good programming concept. And Happy New Year to each and every one of you that come to this site in search of REAL rock’n'roll salvation.