The Vice Creems ... Danger Love & Show # 406

Kris Needs is primarily known as a journalist and author, he has written about several happenings and bands starting in the 70s onwards. He has written biographies on Joe Strummer, Keith Richards, Primal Scream and others, but some people may not know that he has also produced music. In the middle of 1977 he formed a group with Colin Keinch called The Vice Creems. The groups sound reflected a Power Pop/Punk dynamic and would have their origins in Aylesbury. Needs would cover the vocal duties while Keinch supplied the guitar, but the band went through many line ups. During this time Needs also served as the editor for Zig Zag Magazine and balanced releases and gigs with The Vice Creems. Vice Creems were first included on a compilation album entitled called Aylesbury Goes Flaccid, with their song “No Passion”. In June of 1978 a seven inch single followed that was released on Tiger Records, the single was Won’t You Be My Girl?/01-01-212.

The bands second and final single proves to be one of interest not just musically, but also historically. Danger Love was recorded for the inclusion in Needs Zig Zag Magazine, but at the time Needs did not have a band, he only had Keinch on guitar. Prior to the recording sessions, the band minus Colin and Needs left, so Needs contacted Mick Jones of The Clash who offered not only to produce the single for him, but also to find a band for him to complete the recordings. The band that was used for these sessions which were recorded at Olympic studios were none other than Topper Headon of The Clash on drums and Tony James of Generation X on bass.

The band quickly worked up two songs and Mick recorded them. It was one of the first examples of Mick Jones producing capabilities, a skill he was still developing at the time and would later utilize with The Clash and his post Clash bands. The single also serves as historical significance to not only fans of The Clash and Generation X, but also for the UK Punk music scene at the time, the single is an often overlooked nugget in the late 70s UK music scene world. The song “Danger Love” reflects the Power Pop sound that band developed on their earlier single, but with Mick Jones in the producer seat and an all-star rhythm section, the song sounded like it took on elements of Glam Rock from bands like David Bowie and Mott The Hoople. The B-side was “Like A Tiger” a rocked up version of the early Rock and Roll classic of the same name.

Overall, the single reflects elements that Mick Jones was known for.  Just off of the release of Give’ Em Enough Rope, the songs reflect that sound, Vice Creems guitarist Colin Keinch even used Mick Jones Les Paul guitar on the recordings. Also it is rumoured that Billy Idol even sings some back up vocals along with all the others involved, the guitar work sounds undeniably like Mick Jones at times as well. To prevent legal hassles from their record companies Mick Jones changed his name to Michael Blair, Topper Headon to Nicholas Kahn, and Tony James is credited as Anthony Ross. Danger Love remained out of print for years until 2010, when it appeared on the Dirty Water 2: More Birth of Punk Attitude compilation album.

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This week marked the last time that I will be covering Some Folks Get The Blues (which I renamed Revolution Blues) for a while. Next week I will return to hosting just Revolution Rock from 10:30 - Noon on CJAM 99.1 FM. Download links and play lists below.

Part One - Revolution Blues

1. Tim Harden – Black Sheep Boy
2. Dan Vacon – My Scene’s Better Than Your Scene
3. Sumner Brothers – Big Rock Candy Mountain
4. Ray Condo & The Hard Rock Goners – Rock Island Line
5. Stingin’ Hornets – Hornet Hive Hop
6. Billy Childs - Call Me Shorty
7. Bobby Allen – Mean Woman Blues
8. Bloodshot Bill – Rattle My Brain
9. Henry Priestman - Did I Fight The Punk Wars For This?
10. Kris Kristofferson – Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
11. Jack White – Blunderbuss
12. Buster Brown – Doctor Brown
13. Peppermint Harris – Wait Until It Happens To You
14. Wilbert Harrison – Kansas City
15. Chuck Berry – Things I Used To Do
16. The Ten Commandments – Not True
17. Reigning Sound – Watching My Baby
18. Ry Cooder – El Corrido De Jesse James
19. The Smiths – Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
20. Ed Kuepper – Car Headlights
21. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – The Long Shadow
22. Matthew Barber - Got That Lonesome Feeling On My Mind
23. Long Distance Runners - Election Day
24. Maps & Atlases - Remote & Dark Years
25. Alex Chilton – Alligator Man
26. The Clash – Lonesome Me

Download part one (Revolution Blues) here!

Part Two - Revolution Rock

27. Crash 80s – Waiting For The Heat
28. The Dream Dates – The Mess You’re In
29. B-Girls – “B” Side
30. Thee Oh Sees – Heavy Doctor
31. Long Weekends – Quarter Sticks
32. Lollipop Shoppe – You Must Be A Witch
33. Sam The Sham & The Pharrohs – Ain’t Gonna Move
34. Spacecraft 7 – Santa Domingo
35. New Kind of Mambo – New Kind of Mambo
36. Wavves – In The Sand (Live)
37. Thrush Hermit – Hated It
38. Hater – Down Undershoe
39. The Soles – Candles
40. The Visitors – Sad TV
41. Rich Kids – Ghosts of Princes In Towers
42. Nick Lowe – So It Goes
43. Bonus Boys – Wasting Our Time
44. The Testors – Time Is Mine
45. U2 – Streetmission
46. Vice Creems – Like A Tiger
47. Vice Creems – Danger Love
48. The Bell Peppers – Bell Pepper Hop
49. Link Wray – Dueces Wild

Download part two (Revolution Rock) here!

Subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Take Another Look ... The Secrets & Show # 405

In the middle of the Canadian Punk scene in the late 70s, guitarists Freddy Pompeii, Chris Haight and drummer Mike Anderson left The Viletones after disagreements with the direction that the band was going in and joined up with John Hamilton, a bassist that previous played in another Canadian Punk band The Diodes. Still trying to keep true to their Punk ethics, they went in a completely different direction. Calling themselves The Secrets (not to be confused with the 60s band of the same name from Canada) they absorbed Rockabilly, Blues and 50s Rock influences and started playing gigs around town. They quickly signed to an independent Toronto Label Bomb Records in 1979 and recorded two live tracks “Teenage Rampage” and their version of “Shout” for inclusion on the compilation album for the documentary film The Last Pogo that would be released in the fall of 1979. Titled And Now Live From Toronto ... The Last Pogo, these were the first recordings that The Secrets made.

The Secrets then began work on their full length debut which would be entitled Success Without College that was released in 1980. The album was an eclectic album which has often been described as part Punk part early 50’s Rock and Roll. The album featured songs such as the studio version of “Teenage Rampage”, “Suzie Peroxide”, “Strictly From Cough Syrup” a song which addressed Pompeii’s own person demons, and a cover of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”. The first single released to promote the album was “Tattoo City” backed with “Pretty Woman” which did get decent airplay in Southern Ontario and the album did get good reviews, but it did not translate well into sales. Following a live show Pompeii was busted on drug related charges. The band split at this time, Pompeii moved to the US, eventually forming Immaculate Hearts and released a few 45’s before becoming a successful freelance artist. Hamilton joined a reformed version of The Ugly Ducklings before forming Daily Planet.

While The Secrets time as a band may have been brief they were sustained in the public consciousness via numerous compilation albums in the 80s/90s. In 1997, the label Other People’s Music released the album Teenage Rampage which compiled the bands first album Success Without College along with the live version of “Shout” from The Last Pogo compilation album and six previously unreleased tracks. The Secrets are an example of one of those bands that pop up and disappear so quickly that most people may not even have heard of them, or maybe they even had negative things to say about them. Like many Punk bands have done they expanded into different areas musically, but The Secrets are one of those bands that are an important document to the Canadian Punk scene of the late 70s, even if they weren’t completely falling into the so called “Punk” category.

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This week once again, I Filled in for Some Folks Get The Blues (from 9-10:30 AM), which I will be doing until the end of May. The show will be Folk, Country and Blues centric, but will also include glimpses of other Rock and Roll forms. Revolution Rock will follow this program from 10:30 to Noon featuring my usual blend of Garage, 70s Punk/New Wave, and Indie Rock.

Part One - Revolution Blues (Some Folks Get The Blues Fill-In) Play List:

1. Rosco Gordon – No More Doggin’
2. Jimmy Reed – Shame, Shame, Shame
3. Junior Wells – Come On In The House
4. Frank Frost – Harp and Soul
5. Toussaint McCall – Shimmy
6. Deer Tick – Friday XII
7. Joel Plaskett Emergency – Somewhere Else
8. Twin Library – Archives
9. Leeroy Stagger – Travelling Over Water
10. Indian Wars – Won’t Do A Thing
11. Pow Wows – No, Thirteen
12. The Angry Dead Pirates – Being
13. The Nevermores – Like A Pill
14. Wolfy & The Bat Clubs – Guy Like Me
15. The Molting Vultures – Cool Right Down
16. Allen Wayne – Chills & Fever
17. Grey Kingdom – When Seasons Drown
18. Woody Guthrie – Ranger’s Command
19. Leland Sundries - VFW Hall
20. The Mark Inside – The Bottom Line
21. Neil Young – Revolution Blues
22. Bob Dylan & The Band – Ballad Of A Thin Man (Live Liverpool Odeon Theatre May 14 1966)

Download part one (Revolution Blues) here!

Part Two - Revolution Rock Play List:

23. Holograms – Chasing My Mind
24. Rotten Tropics – Spectre Tectonics
25. Dum Dum Girls – Just A Creep
26. The Imagineers – The Legend of John The Terror (Notorious)
27. Is/Is - Moon Dropping
28. Bittersweet Draw – Leavin’ Hinton (CJSW Session)
29. The Gerry Alvarez Odyssey – In the Garden
30. Little Roosters – I Need A Witness
31. The Pygmies – She Lied (CJSW Session)
32. Ex-Boyfriends – Bubblegum (CJSW Session)
33. The Ugly – All Because of You (Live)
34. Blue Peter – Time & Money
35. The Secrets – Teenage Rampage
36. Dik Van Dykes - Pterodactyl
37. Blue Orchids – House That Faded Out
38. 101’ers – 5 Star Rock N’ Roll Petrol
39. Thee Mighty Caesars – Now I Know
40. Brian James – I Can Make You Cry
41. Iggy Pop – Some Weird Sin
42. The Hives – The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime
43. Generation X – From The Heart
44. Wire - Please Take (Black Session)
45. The Strangeloves - Night Time
46. The Vagrants - Respect
47. Square Root of Margaret - Attack of Giant Problem vs. the Creature from the Planet of the Incredible Sinking Solution
48. Black lips – Fairy Stories

Download part two (Revolution Rock) here!

Subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Rockabilly Psychosis ... The Phantom & Show # 404

The Phantom was a 50’s Rockabilly artist that is best known for his song “Love Me”. While being initially a Country musician, it was the music of Elvis Presley that changed Jerry Lott’s style. The song is a rare, but frantic, explosive song caught in the moment. It is a song that could never be replicated twice, although it was the second take of the song that was released, the song that pre dates Punk falling under the Proto Punk category with enough attitude and energy that it sounds almost like The Cramps. From the first moments of the opening banshee wail, the listener is drawn into a wild Rock and Roll moment. It was recorded in 1958 by Jerry Lott and his band at Gulf Coast Studio in Mobile, Alabama, there were only two takes ever recorded of the song. Jerry Lott had this to say of the recording of “Love Me” in an interview with Derek Glenister in 1980:

"I'd worked three months on the other side of the record", he told Derek Glenister. "Somebody said, 'what you gonna put on the flip-side' I hadn't even thought about it. Someone suggested I wrote something like Elvis 'cause he was just a little on the wane and everybody was beginning to turn against rock 'n' roll. They said, 'See if you spark rock 'n' roll a little bit'... so that's when I put all the fire and fury I could utter into it. I was satisfied with the first take, but everybody said, 'let's try it one more time'. I didn't yell on the first take, but I yelled on the second, and blew one of the controls off the wall."

After recording the song, Jerry took the master tapes to Pat Boone, who was at the time on his way to church, Jerry convinced him to listen to the tape and Pat suggested Jerry change his name to The Phantom and agreed to release the song through his own label Cooga Mooga, but after signing a contract with Dot it was released in 1960. Much later an LP titled The Phantom Jamie Coe (that mislabeled Jerry Lott as Nick Todd) was compiled by Revival Records compiling nine songs by The Phantom and ten songs by Jamie Coe a 1950’s Rock musician from Detroit, Michigan.

Unfortunately Jerry would not make anymore recordings after 1966, when he fell off a 600 foot mountain side while driving in South Carolina that left him paralyzed, he passed away in 1983. But Rockabilly enthusiasts will always remember The Phantom from the mesmerizing “Love Me” song and the mysterious photograph that is featured on the singles cover. “Love Me” was later covered by The Cramps on their album Songs The Lord Taught Us and countless other artists since then. Jerry had this to say of the songs wildness that was captured on tape from the same interview with Derek Glenister from 1980:

"I'm telling ya", Lott continued, "it was wild. The drummer lost one of his sticks, the piano player screamed and knocked his stool over, the guitar player's glasses were hanging sideways over his eyes."

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This week I Filled in for Some Folks Get The Blues (from 9-10:30 AM), which I will be doing for the next two weeks until the end of May. The show will be Folk, Country and Blues centric, but will also include glimpses of other Rock and Roll forms. Revolution Rock will follow this program from 10:30 to Noon featuring my usual blend of Garage, 70s Punk/New Wave, and Indie Rock.


Part One
Revolution Blues (Some Folks Get The Blues Fill In) Play List:

1. Lee Hazelwood – Run Boy Run
2. Dan Sartain – I Don't Want To Go To The Party
3. Dan Sartain - Love Is Crimosn
4. James OL & The Villains – Late Night Drive (Demo)
5. Johnny West – The Son Is A Red Ball Of Lies Tonight
6. The Lonesome Weekends - Wheels
7. Andre Williams & The Sadies - One Eyed Jack
8. Magnificent Bastards – White Noize
9. Johnny Cash – I Like The 309
10. Diamond Rugs – Out On My Own
11. John Mayal’s Bluesbreakers – Double Crossing Time
12. The Yardbirds – Psycho Daises
13. Tay Falco’s Panther Burns – Dateless Night
14. Jamie Coe – How Low Is Low
15. The Phantom – Tiger
16. Permanent Collection – It’s Alright
17. Ty Segall & White Fence – I Am Not A Game
18. The Spooky But Nice – Through The Night
19. Lost Patrol – You Just Care About Looks
20. Pointed Sticks – All That Matters (Stiff Sessions Version)
21. Hot Nasties – Lookin’ 4 U (Live)
22. The Meteors – Radioactive Kid
23. Visions – The Ghost
24. The Ride Theory – Devil In My Heart

Download part one here!

Part Two
Revolution Rock Play List:

25. The Phantom – Love Me
26. The Cramps – Mystery Plane
27. Modernettes – Won’t Have To Worry
28. The Black Angels – I’d Rather Be Lonely
29. The Kinks – Naggin’ Woman
30. The Gruesomes – Three Men One Coffin (Live)
31. Ramblin’ Ambassadors – Standoff At Calf Rrobe Bridge
32. The Space Plan – Trail The Rails
33. The Features – City Scenes
34. The Carbonas – Hate You
35. Actual Water – Pencil Legged
36. The Cigarettes – All They Want Is Your Money
37. The Laughing Clowns – Laughing Clowns
38. Rotten Tropics – Nightmare Index
39. The Strokes – Life Is Simple In The Moonlight
40. Light Bulb Alley – Tonight
41. Seven Story Redhead - There's A Time To Get Down
42. The Locusts Have No King - Come One, Come All
43. Dirty Pretty Things - Plasttk Hearts
44. The Damned – She’s So Messed Up (Live)
45. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers – London Boys
46. Xena Zerox - Seconds
47. Jam – Billy Hunt
48. The Adverts - Safety In Numbers
49. True Lovers – Love and Affection

Download part two (Revolution Rock) here!

Subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Blunderbuss & Show # 403

Jack White's first solo release Blunderbuss was officially released at the end of April 2012. The album taps into Jack’s roots absorbing many Country, Folk and Blues influences, but the album began organically during one of the many recording sessions at Whites own studio in Nashville. The album unlike previous albums was written from scratch when Jack was planning to recording RZA from Wu Tang Clan, RZA couldn’t make the sessions and there was a band in the studio, so Jack took the opportunity to record several tracks in last few months of 2011. Jack White had this to say of Blunderbuss when speaking to Rolling Stone magazine

"I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas.”

The first single released to promote this album was “Love Interruption” in February 2012 with the B-Side “Machine Gun Silhouette”, it quickly climbed singles charts. The album Blunderbuss is a thirteen track affair that explores Jack White’s song writing make up, the result is several well crafted songs that emphasizes a certain mood, one that differs from previous releases that Jack has produced in the past with his bands. The only track that is reminiscent of Jack White’s White Stripe days is “Sixteen Saltines”, a song that was also released as the second single for the album, with a music video directed by Gary Oldham. All of the compositions here were written by White, with the exception of “I’m Shakin’” a song originally by Little Willie John executed in a woozy Blues fashion. Overall the album absorbs elements Jack has displayed with The White Stripes from Get Behind Me Satan and The Raconteurs while at the same time venturing into new territory. It’s obvious that Jack has learned some new tricks in the last five years recording and producing bands at his studio in Nashville. If you pick up Blunderbuss and expect a White Stripes album, that is not what you will get and why would you? On Blunderbuss Jack White displays a different side of himself musically and lyrically. Blunderbuss is a poignant well crafted album that furthers the mystique of Jack White by putting us into a different frame of mind

Blunderbuss if you look up the meaning is one of two things that can both be applicable here. Blunderbuss is one, a short musket that is used to scatter shots at short range and two a clumsy person that is often regarded as dumb or stupid. In terms of this album, the songs seem to scatter at a short range for the listener addressing many issues, while at the same time maybe that’s how Jack felt when expressing himself lyrically when writing these songs. Perhaps this was Whites intention when creating the album, but regardless Blunderbuss is a statement from Jack White, one that can fascinate even the most casual listener. Blunderbuss debuted at number one the US Billboard top 200 charts and across and went to number one in Canada, the UK and Switzerland.

This Week's Play List:

1. Beastie Boys – Gratitude
2. Beastie Boys – Remote Control
3. The Reply – I Must Stop
4. Frankenstein 5 – Go Away
5. Terrible Twos – Negative Drip
6. The Students – Somebody New Everyday
7. The Pin Group – Ambivalence
8. The Chills – Pink Frost
9. Doublehappys – Needles and Plastic
10. Leland Sundries – Monitor Arms
11. The Dandy Warhols – I Am Free
12. The City Streets – For All The (Doomed) Lovers
13. The Diamond Rugs – Gimme A Beer
14. Teenage Head – Wild One
15. Deja Voodoo – Big Pile Of Mud
16. 63 Monroe – Yumpin’
17. Teenanger – Tired Of You
18. Mystics – Play Your Game
19. MC5 – Over and Over
20. Nirvana – Dive
21. Jack White – Missing Pieces
22. Jack White – Sixteen Saltines

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for May 8. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Light Bulb Alley Interview & Show # 402

Light Bulb Alley is a three piece Rock band that formed in 2007 in Montreal. The band draws upon 60s Garage Rock, 70s Punk and newer groups such as King Khan & BBQ Show for their influences. Fronted by Allister Booth on vocals and guitar, Karlo Sno on bass and Ockert Greeff this three piece band played for a few years in Montreal building up a fan base. After about three years, Light Bulb Alley signed to Ricochet Sound a label that also features music from Montreal’s Garage Rock legends The Gruesomes, The Hook Up, The Gerry Alvarez Odyssey and Fuad & The Feztones. In 2011, the band recorded and released their album The Sound of Things. The sound on the album can be best described as “Swampy, Punk, Psychedelic, Live, Country, Blues, Trash. Melodic, & Dirty jingles to listen to on your rocking chair! “ as stated in the bands biography on their official website. The album contains songs such as “Pepper Spray”, “Long Time Coming” and reworked version of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love?’ which puts the songs into a new context. Recently the group added a new drummer Sébastien de Champlain to their line up.

Light Bulb Alley plays the FM Lounge in Windsor on Thursday May 3rd along with Raised By Weeds, Weirdonia, Busker Bros, and Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O.

The following interview was done between myself Dave Konstantino (host of Revolution Rock) and Allister Booth of the Montreal band LIght Bulb Alley.

RR: How would you describe your music? One site described your sound as neo garage/psych music do you think this is accurate?

Allister: I think Rock N Roll is the best term like a nice smooth un-mossy rolling stone!

RR: What are some of the bands influences musically?

Allister: Anything that has desperation and Soul! A lot of 70's punk. As well as other stuff like The Troggs. Pretty Things, King Khan & BBQ Show, The Gruesomes

RR: The band formed in 2007, how did the band start and before forming this band were you involved with any other groups?

Allister: Me and Karlo had a mutual disrespect for our Nazi boss at our job and decided to write songs about it.

RR: How did you come up with the name Light Bulb Alley?

Allister: I cannot remember

RR: How and when did you get involved with Ricochet Sound?

Allister: Raye Biffen from Ricochet sound checked out our myspace. He came to one of our shows and we ended up signing a contract in blood!

RR: Where/when did you record your LP The Sound of Things? Who did you work with (ie: producers, engineers, etc.)?

Allister: Our Friend Andrew David helped produce it in his apartment. We had to stop at 5pm because his roommate was getting pissy, maybe he was inviting his parents over or something.

RR: What was the main inspiration lyrically behind the songs that make up The Sound of Things?

Allister: I really don't know, love gained and love lost I suppose.

RR: Are you working on any new recordings at the moment? What do you plan your for your next release? Will you work with anyone different or record it in a similar fashion?

Allister: we are planning to record in the near future. We hope to work David Andrew who produced 4 or 5 songs from our CD.

RR: Your band just added a new member recently, a drummer. What led to finding a new drummer and how did you find him?

Allister: Sebastien was an ex-Walnut Kid and he stepped in when our previous drummer (Ockert) decided to leave.

RR: What are your future plans for Light Bulb Alley and how can people access your music?

Allister: We would like to play a 500 000 people arena and take our shirts off to delirious fans!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lightbulballey2
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Light-Bulb-Alley-New-Site/178335695553489
www.myspace.com/lightbulballey
http://garagepunk.ning.com/profile/LightBulbAlley

And all you kids make sure to tune into Revolution Rock!

This Week's Play List:

1. Cold Warps – Hang Up On You
2. Brazilian Money – Should’ve Known
3. Ghost Bikini – Summer Heat
4. Bo Diddley – Pills
5. The Pretty Things – Get The Picture?
6. The Black Sharks – Jokers Wild
7. The Bell Peppers – Golf Shack
8. The Ventures – Wipe Out
9. Exploding Hearts – Throwaway Style
10. The Mods – Step Out Tonight
11. Klark Kent – Too Kool To Kalypso
12. Jack Antonio Project – Sleeping Dogs Lie
13. Grinderman – Worm Tamer (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)
14. The Count Five – The World
15. Weirdonia – Green Tables
16. Raised By Weeds – My Word (CJAM Session)
17. Light Bulb Alley – Long Time Coming
18. Light Bulb Alley – Who Do You Love?
19. Heroes & Villains – SDWC
20. Radio Birdman – Hand of Law
21. Skids – The Saints Are Coming
22. Sex Pistols – Problems
23. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - The Kid With The Replaceable Head
24. White Stripes - I Think I Smell A Rat
25. Ramones – Wart Hog

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for May 1. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.