The Wayback Machine

I’m starting to realize that I live in the black hole of garage punk—the land that REAL rock’n'roll forgot. That’s right, welcome to St. Louis, Missouri, USA. You’d think with roots so firmly planted in blues and R&B, as well as being home to such respected rock’n'roll pioneers as Chuck Berry, Johnnie
Johnson, Ike Turner, Screamin’ Joe Neal and various others that we’d have at least a halfway decent scene here, not to mention scores of rock’n'roll heathens of all ages actively out there pounding the pavement, going to shows, starting bands, putting out ‘zines, and preachin’ the primitive rawk gospel, but sadly that’s not really the case. Instead, what we seem to have is just a few scattered bands and a few scattered fans. And I *do* mean “a few.” But I’ve been going through Myspace profiles of people around the area for the past several weeks, trying to find some folks with similar music tastes, and I’ve never felt so much like an outsider in my own city before. It’s fucking pathetic. Those of you reading this who I’m already “friends” with are obviously exempt, but I’m talking about the rest of them. Where are the Cretins? The Goners? The Terminally Bored? The Sore Losers? The Horizontal Action-types of River City? Did they all fucking flee to Chicago and Memphis? Sorry if I sound down in the dumps about this, but it really bums me out. Why do these other cities have all the luck, all the bands, all the fans? Is there something in the water here that causes people to repel primal, fucked up music? All of this just sort of underscores what I’ve suspected for a long, long time. I mean, hell, I’ve been spinning this music on the St. Louis airwaves now for almost 10 years, but I’m still lucky to get one or two (appropriate) requests every week. I usually just chalk the lack of calls and requests up to people’s laziness, complacency, or shyness or whatever. Not really wanting to bother with a call in to the station. But now I’m really starting to fear the worst: People here have no clue. I have over 650 people and/or bands listed in my Myspace friends list, and I’d wager that 90f them are from outside the St. Louis area. I wish there was a way to sort your friends by location so I could get an exact percentage (if anyone has an idea on how to do this, by all means let me know!). I’m not really sure I understand WHY it is that people here would seem to have an aversion towards trashy, primitive rock’n'roll, but the proof is in the pudding… or maybe the mud… whatever. So I’m taking my DJ thing to the bars. I’m not going to call a place like the Lemmons a “club” because too many of the snobby scenesters around here claim it’s too “quaint” to be a club. So be it. It’s a bar, then. Big fuckin’ deal. But I happen to like the place and the people who work there, and it seems to have done really well in hosting the Carnaby Street DJ spins up ’til now, so who knows? Maybe I can win over a few converts. That’s where I’ll be spinning my music this Thursday night. I guess we’ll see how well this experiment works. I’m not holding my breath, though. So far I’ve only received *one* RSVP to the MySpace event invitation I sent out last week.

Not giving up just yet, DJ kopper of The Wayback Machine/The Bug House.

Playlist for April 25, 2005

The Lively Ones: Pipeline (Heads Up! The Best of… Vol. 2/Del-Fi)
Mark and The Escorts: Get Your Baby (V/A: Jump, Jive and Harmonize/Teenage Shutdown)
Piano Red: Big Rock Joe (V/A: Desperate Rock’n'Roll Pt. 1/Flame)
Watson and The Sherlocks: Standing on a Corner (V/A: All Night Soul Stomp!/Stomp)
The Trashmen: Talk About Love (Bird Call! box/Sundazed)
Richard Berry: Have Love Will Travel (Have “Louie” Will Travel/Ace)
Johnny Kidd and The Pirates: Restless (Johnny Kidd and The Pirates/no label)
Singing Guitars: Torpedo (V/A: Surfbeat Behind the Iron Curtain Pt. 2/AIP)
Wild Knights: Beaver Patrol (V/A: Pebbles Vol. 1/AIP)
Curly and The Jades: Boom Stix (V/A: Madness Invasion/Eva)
Alarm Clocks: Yeah (Yeah!/Norton)
One Way Streets: We All Love Peanut Butter (V/A: Back From the Grave Pt. 1/Crypt)
Sir Raleigh and The Cupons: Whitcomb Street (V/A: Riot City! Rocking Northwest Instrumentals/Ace)
Small Faces: What’cha Gonna Do About It (The Anthology 1965-1967/Deram)
The Jury: Who Dat? (V/A: Nuggets II box/Rhino)
The Shags: Breathe in My Ear (V/A: Fuzz, Flaykes, & Shakes Vol. 1/Bacchus Archives)
The Herd: Things Won’t Change (V/A: Music for Abnormal People – Forum CD 3/Bosshoss)
The Answer: Why You Smile (V/A: Garage Beat ’66 Vol. 3/Sundazed)
The Surf Riders: Panel Five (V/A: Board Boogie – Surf ‘n’ Twang From Down Under/Big Beat)
MC5: Shakin’ Street (V/A: The Roots of the Sex Pistols/Mojo)
The Flamin’ Groovies: Comin’ After Me (Flamingo/Buddha)
Hypstrz: Midnight Hour (Hypstrization!/Bomp!)
The Vipers: Dust in My Pants (Outta the Nest!/Cavestomp!)
The Original Sins: Out of My Mind (The Hardest Way/Psonik)
The Langhorns: Chicken Race (Mission Exotica/Bad Taste)
The Mummies: Justine (Never Been Caught/Telstar)
The Revelators: Ain’t Got a Thing (We Told You Not to Cross Us/Crypt)
The Hate Bombs: Ghoul Girl (Ghoul Girl 7″/Baby Doll)
The Vikings: Let’s Go (Go Berserk!/SFTRI)
The Mistreaters: SC Twist (Grab Them Cakes/Big Neck)
The Cave 4: House on Haunted Hill (Bikini Crash!/MuSick)
The Tearjerkers: Stupid Cupid (Bad Moon Rising/SFTRI)
The Little Killers: Volume (The Little Killers/Crypt)
Mystery Girls: Autumn Turns to Fall (Something in the Water/In the Red)
The Spits: Tired and Lonely (The Spits/Nickel & Dime)
The Diamondheads: Wavos Rancheros (Surf Guitar Instrumentals/Single Coil)
Hexxers: Like What, Me Worry? (Freaks With the Savage Beat/Golly Gee)
Bassholes: Daughter (The Bassholes/Dead Canary)
Bassholes: Jelly Belly (Broke Chamber Music/Secret Keeper)
Les Breastfeeders: Mini-Jupe et Watusi (V/A: Bonsound Sampler/Bonsound)
The Feelers: Intro/Peasants and Lepers (Learn to Hate the Feelers/Dead Beat)
Night Terrors: I Have (Night Terrors) (7″/Goodbye Boozy)
The Reluctant Aquanauts: The Kook (Introducing the High Voltage Sounds of…/no label)
The Mojomatics: The Last Train (Ballads in the Suitcase 7″/Shake Your Ass)
Scat Rag Boosters: Charlie’s Dirt Road (7″/Goodbye Boozy)
The Kill-A-Watts: New Things (7″/Goodbye Boozy)

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Playlist for April 18, 2005

The Geargrinders: The Wayback Machine (V/A: Landlocked & Loaded!/TIRC)
The In Crowd: Speed Queen (V/A: Madness Invasion/Eva)
Gene Maltais: Gangwar (V/A: Teen-Age Riot!!!/Atomic Passion)
Link Wray and The Raymen: Rumble (Rumble! The Best of…/Rhino)
Link Wray and The Wraymen: Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby (Slinky! The Epic Sessions ’58-’61/Sundazed)
Link Wray and The Raymen: The Black Widow (Rumble! The Best of…/Rhino)
Link Wray and The Wraymen: Comanche (Slinky! The Epic Sessions ’58-’61/Sundazed)
The Blue Van: Product of DK (The Art of Rolling/TVT)
The Strollers: Don’t Try to Change Me (Captain of My Ship/Low Impact)
Dean Carter: Mary Sue (Call of the Wild!/Big Beat)
Larry Williams: Let Me Tell You Baby (At His Finest – The Specialty Rock’n'Roll Years/Ace)
Times 5: Is Your Radio Active (V/A: 415 Music Compilation/415)
The Paybacks: When I’m Gone (Harder and Harder/Get Hip)
The Royal Coachmen: Loophole (V/A: Lost Legends of Surf Guitar I/Sundazed)
The Ponys: We Shot the World (Celebration Castle/In the Red)
The Mainliners: Sinkin’ Feeling (Bring on the Sweetlife/Get Hip)
The Husbands: I’m Doing Fine (The Husbands/Swami)
Bohemian Vendetta: Enough (V/A: Ear-Piercing Punk/AIP)
The Preachers: Stay Out of My World (V/A: Garage Beat ’66 Vol. 3/Sundazed)
The Ventures: Underground Fire (Walk-Don’t Run – The Best of…/EMI)
The Charms: Don’t Bring it Down (Pussycat 2-Song Advance CD EP/Red Car)
The Cherry Splits: Paisley Fields (The Cherry Splits/Root Beer)
Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers: Can’t Keep My Eyes on You (L.A.M.F./Track/Jungle)
The Miracle Workers: Hey Little Bird (Inside Out/Voxx)
The Cramps: Sunglasses After Dark (Songs the Lord Taught Us/IRS)
The Jesters: Alki Point (V/A: Riot City! Rocking Northwest Instrumentals/Ace)
The Gris Gris: Everytime (The Gris Gris/Birdman)
The Satans: Makin’ Deals (V/A: Pebbles Vol. 2/AIP)
Jolly Green Giants: Caught You Red Handed (V/A: I’m a No-Count/Teenage Shutdown)
New Bomb Turks: Professional Againster (Scared Straight/Epitaph)
The Bomboras: Surfin’ Bull (Swingin’ Singles/Dionysus)
The Reigning Sound: Brown Paper Sack (Time Bomb High School/In the Red)
The Masonics: You Never Let Your Feelings Show (Down Among the Dead Men/SFTRI)
Tarheel Slim: Wildcat Tamer (V/A: Rockin’ From Coast to Coast Vol. 2/Ace)
The Deacons: The Baldie Beat (V/A: Party Party Party/Arf! Arf!)
The Torquays: Pit Stop (Return Engagement/Golly Gee)
A. Jacks and The Cleansers: Stronger Than Dirt (V/A: Gamma Knee Kappa/Satan)
The Konks: 29 Fingers (The Konks/Bomp!)
Menster Phip and The Phipsters: Wiped Out (Phip City!/Telstar)
Dexter Romweber: Rockin’ Dead Man (Blues That Defy My Soul/Yep Roc)
BBQ: Burn This Town (Tie Your Noose/Bomp!)
Hipbone Slim and The Knee Tremblers: I Fell Off the Wagon (Have Knees Will Tremble/Voodoo Rhythm)
Fury 161: Git Some (Los Reyes de la Carretera/Tear it Up)
The Reluctant Aquanauts: High Voltage (Introducing the High Voltage Sounds of…/no label)
Jet Boys: You Are Lukewarm, More Blitzkrieg Bop (Jet Patrol!!/Discus)
The Reatards: I Gotta Rock’n'Roll (Bed Room Disasters/Empty)
Thee Headcoats: Every Bit of Me (Conundrum/Hangman’s Daughter)
The Registrators: I Hate You (Terminal Boredom/Rip Off)
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant: Baby, Please Go Home (Collection/Alive)
The Incredible Sucking Spongies: Sputniks Thema (V/A: Diggin’ for Gold!/Double Crown)

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Playlist for April 11, 2005

The Waistcoats: Little MGB (Stark Raving Mod!/Wildebeest)
Devo: Big Mess (Oh, No! It’s Devo/Warner Bros.)
The Sonics: Walkin’ the Dog (Here Are The Sonics!!!/Norton)
King Coleman: Hang it Up (V/A: All Night Soul Stomp!/Stomp)
The Woggles: Get Down With It (Soul Sizzling 7″ Meltdown/Chicken Ranch)
The Insomniacs: Switched On! (Switched On!/Estrus)
Kenny and The Ho-Daddies: Goofy Guitar (V/A: Beach Party – Garpax Surf ‘n’ Drag/Ace)
The Outsiders: Lying All the Time (The Outsiders/Pseudonym)
The Outsiders: Touch (Strange Things Are Happening/RPM)
The Outsiders: Don’t You Cry (The Outsiders/Pseudonym)
The A-Bones: She Said Yeah (Daddy Wants a Cold Beer… and Other Million Sellers/Norton)
The Mojomatics: My Evil Eye on You (A Sweet Mama Gonna Hoodoo Me/Alien Snatch)
The Classics: Aces High (V/A: Riot City! Rocking Northwest Instrumentals/Ace)
Deacon and The Rock’n'Rollers: I Don’t Wanna Leave (V/A: Desperate Rock’n'Roll Pt. 1/Flame)
Supercharger: Are You a Boy/Girl? (Supercharger/Radio X/Estrus)
Fallen Angels: Bad Woman (V/A: I’m a No-Count/Teenage Shutdown)
The Kaisers: Liquorice Twitch (Beat it Up!/No Hit)
The Monsters: The Love I Never Had (I See Dead People/Voodoo Rhythm)
Sleazy Surfers: The Cape (V/A: Mad Fabricators Society Soundtrack Vol. 1/Mad Society)
The Lobsters: All Night Lovin’ Man (7″/Magpie)
Lazy Cowgirls: Don’t Turn Your Back on Me (Rank Outsider/SFTRI)
Stiv Bators: It’s Cold Outside (L.A. Confidential/Bomp!)
Andy and The Manhattans: Double Mirror (V/A: Madness Invasion/Eva)
The Mainliners: Bring on the Sweet Life (Bring on the Sweetlife/Get Hip)
The Langhorns: Spybeat (Mission Exotica/Bad Taste)
The Strand: Kids Today (Seconds Waiting/WASP)
Bassholes: Broke Down Engine (The Bassholes/Dead Canary)
Baby Woodrose: Can’t Explain (Dropout!/Bad Afro)
Night Kings: Complaints Dept. (Increasing Our High/Super Electro)
The Cave 4: Blast Off (Bikini Crash!/MuSick)
Jack Eden with The Sundowners: Come Back Baby (V/A: Music for Abnormal People/Bosshoss)
The Tallysmen: Little By Little (V/A: New England Teen Scene/El Diablo)
Lord High Fixers: One Way Ticket (The Beginning of the End… the End of the Beginning/In the Red)
Jack O’ Fire: Judgment Day (The Destruction of Squaresville/Estrus)
Poison 13: Seventh Son (Wine Is Red, Poison Is Blue/Sub Pop)
The Dynotones: Blue’s Theme (V/A: Diggin’ for Gold!/Double Crown)
The Ugly Beats: I’ll Close My Eyes (Bring on the Beats!/Get Hip)
The Ponys: Glass Conversation (Celebration Castle/In the Red)
BBQ: Take a Message (7″/Goodbye Boozy)
BBQ: Record Machine (Tie Your Noose/Bomp!)
The Calico Wall: I’m a Living Sickness (V/A: Free Flight/Get Hip)
The Classics: Mean Woman (V/A: Quagmire Vol. 1/Finest Hour)
Coachwhips: Body and Brains (Peanut Butter and Jelly Live at the Ginger Minge/Narnack)
Shop Fronts: Bored to Death (Split 7″ w/ The DC Snipers/Your Permanent)

Playlist for April 4, 2005

Eddie Angel: Thunder (Guitar Party/MuSick)
The Konks: Let the Music Do the Talking (The Konks/Bomp!)
The 5.6.7.8′s: Teenage Mojo Workout (Teenage Mojo Workout/Time Bomb)
The Ponys: I’m With You (Celebration Castle/In the Red)
Davie Allan and The Arrows: Pete’s Orgy (Devil’s Rumble Anthology ’64-’68/Sundazed)
Richard Berry: Louie Louie (Have “Louie” Will Travel/Ace)
Gino Washington: Out of This World (Out of This World/Norton)
The Pretty Things: Rosalyn (The Pretty Things/Snapper)
The Alohas: The Headhunter (Get Leid With…/Off the Hip)
Guitar Wolf: Black Rock’n'Roll (LoveRock/Narnack)
Clone Defects: Ain’t No New Buzz (Shapes of Venus/In the Red)
The Black Lips: M.I.A. (We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow/Bomp!)
Link Wray and The Raymen: Rumble (Rumble – The Best of…/Rhino)
The Cynics: Turn Me Loose (Living Is the Best Revenge/Get Hip)
The Blue Van: Revelation of Love (The Art of Rolling/TVT)
The Chesterfield Kings: Running Through My Nightmares (The Mindbending Sounds of…/Sundazed)
The Vibrants: Scorpion (V/A: Lost Legends of Surf Guitar III/Sundazed)
Monks: We Do Wie Du (Black Monk Time/Infinite Zero)
The Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) (Lost Dreams/Birdman)
The Seeds: I Can’t Seem to Make You Mine (The Seeds/GNP Crescendo)
Randy Alvey & Green Fuz: Green Fuz (V/A: Pebbles Vol. 2/AIP)
Atomic 7: Devil’s Mittens (…en Hillbilly Caliente/Mint)
The Cramps: Rockin’ Bones (Gravest Hits/IRS)
The Vultures: Pleasure to Burn (Live at KDHX CDR/no label)
The Mummies: Stronger Than Dirt (Death by Unga Bunga!!/Estrus)
The Swingin’ Neckbreakers: The Girl Can’t Help It (Shake Break!/Telstar)
The Crossfires: Silver Bullet (Out of Control/Sundazed)
Gore Gore Girls: Sweet Potato (7×4 EP/no label)
13th Floor Elevators: You’re Gonna Miss Me (Absolutely the Best of…/Fuel 2000)
Roky Erickson and The Aliens: I Walked With a Zombie (The Evil One [Plus One]/SFTRI)
The Space Cossacks: Journey to the Stars (V/A: Swingin’ Creepers/MuSick)
Thee Lordly Serpents: But You Think So (Thee Lordly Serpents/Pro-Vel)
The Reigning Sound: When You Touch Me (Too Much Guitar/In the Red)
The Saints: (I’m) Misunderstood (All Times Through Paradise box/EMI Australia)
P.J. & Artie: (They Call the Wind) Maria (V/A: Lost Legends of Surf Guitar III/Sundazed)
The Chocolate Watchband: Let’s Talk About Girls (No Way Out/Sundazed)
The Buff Medways: All My Feelings Denied (1914/Transcopic)
Thee Headcoats: Loathesome and Wild (Brother Is Dead… But Fly Is Gone!/Vinyl Japan)
The Devil Dogs: Baby I’m a King (30 Sizzling Slabs!/Crypt)
Thom Starr and The Galaxys: Strange Fever (V/A: Lost Legends of Surf Guitar III/Sundazed)
The Dirtbombs: 21st Century Fox (Dangerous Magical Noise/In the Red)
The Fells: She’s Alright (The Fells LP/Estrus)
Oblivians: Bad Man (Popular Favorites/Crypt)