CJAM FM Pledge Drive 2015 & Show # 584

Every year CJAM FM, a non-profit based campus/community radio station in the Windsor/Detroit area holds an annual pledge drive. One week during the year CJAM asks for support from the communities in which it serves on a daily basis. Over the most recent years due in part to help from the Windsor/Detroit communities, CJAM FM managed to secure a new frequency as 99.1 FM under protected status, something that during its run when it was on 91.5 on the FM dial it never had. Most recently the station increased their wattage from 500 watts to 2, 084 watts, reaching more people and branching out further than it ever has before.

The content that CJAM FM provides is an alternative to the mainstream. Artists local and independent find a voice throughout the station’s variety of programs and content. Musically, local and independent bands get exposure that they otherwise wouldn’t and CJAM’s spoken word programming provides differing points of view to issues amongst the Windsor/Detroit communities that would not get coverage if it were not for campus/community radio stations like CJAM. Weekly, DJs and volunteers put in their time to provide programs and content that is unique, different and provides the listener with something different from what you might find in the mainstream media. On many occasions, artists have been discovered through CJAM first and their DJs, volunteers and staff dig deep to provide valuable content. In a world that has streaming and the Internet at your fingertips, CJAM FM (which was one of the first stations to offer a live stream of its radio feed in 1996 and still does so online) continues to provide content that is relevant regardless of musical genre or background.

If you have ever tuned into the station, whether online or on 99.1 FM in the Windsor/Detroit area and have heard something that interested you or lead you to discovering something new, that is a great reason to show your support to CJAM FM. If you would like to support the station and help CJAM continue to grow, there are many options available and a variety of incentives available as a thank you for your support. This can be done by calling 519-971-3630 (in Windsor) or 1-855-344-2526 (in Detroit/out of town) or by donating online at www.cjam.ca or at https://grouprev.com/cjam-revolution-rock

Since this year's program fell on Halloween, all of the songs in my playlist this week were Halloween themed. You can view the play list below.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. The Moontrekkers - Night Of The Vampire
2. Deja Voodoo - Skeleton At My Party
3. 3-D Invisibles - Jump Off The Screen
4. Kip Tyler - She's My Witch
5. X-Ray Cat Trio - Wolf Cop
6. Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages - She’s Fallen In Love With A Monster Man
7. The Spooks - Now I'm Gonna Steal Your Soul
8. The Ordinaires - Virgo Intactica
9. The Bambi Molesters - Beach Murder Mystery
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jack The Ripper
11. Indian Wars - Comanche Killer
12. The Brains - Train
13. Pow Wows - Car Cemetery
14. Bob Hafner - Surf Creature
15. The Deadly Ones - It’s Monster Surfing Time
16. The Mummies - The Fly
17. Los Salcos - (Fugitvo De) Alcatraz
18. The Misfits - Return Of The Fly
19. The Cramps - Sunglasses After Dark
20. The Stolen Minks - Black Widow
21. King Khan & BBQ Show - Killing The Wolfman
22. The Sonics - The Witch

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 31. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Mike Krol Turkey & Show # 583

Turkey is the newest release by Mike Krol. A musician that relocated to Los Angeles from Milwaukee, Krol left behind his graphic design career and in 2014 began recording his most focused effort to date, Turkey. This album is his third full-length release (I Hate Jazz and Trust Fund were released on Counter Counter Culture records), but his first release on Merge Records. The sound on the record blends elements of power pop with lo-fi garage and a punk rock edge. The sense of chaotic, shambolic energy from his first two releases are still present on Turkey. Krol dons the album cover for Turkey in a cop uniform, looking kind of like American actor Jason Schwartzman, but Krol showcases a sense of humour and doesn’t take himself too seriously on this album. Songs such as “Cactuses” and “Piano Shit” are examples of this as he blends his lo-fi sounds with elastic pop melodies.

There could be multiple metaphors relating to the album’s title, Turkey. A turkey is when you get three consecutive strikes in a row in bowling, but also turkey could be used in a derogatory fashion. Krol most likely used this title because this is his third album in the bowling game of music that he has been playing since I Hate Jazz was first released in 2011. But, on Turkey, Krol proves that he is no “turkey”. He may not be that well known, but on Turkey, Krol throws his ball towards the pins and gets his third strike in a row.



Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Coke Weed - New Jive
2. Cellos - The New Religion
3. KEN Mode - The Owl...
4. Shellac - Spoke
5. Protomatyr - Uncle Mother's
3. The Dead Weather - Lose The Right
6. Tommy Stinson - Not This Time
7. Deerhunter - Snakeskin
8. Meghan Hamilton - 4am
9. Long Distance Runners - Wolves
10. The Triffids - In The Pines
11. Snake River - I Saw You
12. The Deadly Hearts - Moon Walk
13. Fire Engines - Hungry Beat
14. Mick Futures - You Want It All
15. Titus Andronicus - Dimed Out
16. The Fits - Just Lust
17. The Scenics - Gotta Come Back Here
18. Public Image Limited - Selfish Rubbish
19. Joy Division - Colony (John Peel Session 1979)
20. The Pixies - Motorway To Roswell (John Peel Session 1991)
21. Elvis Costello - Mystery Dance (John Peel Session 1977)
22. The Undertones - Top 20 (John Peel Session 1977)
23. Ty Segall - Mr. Face
24. Link Wray - White Lightning
25. The Zils - Don't Ever Change
26. The Terminals - Do It Today
27. Mike Krol - La La La
28. The Damned - Stab Your Back

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 24. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Bops, Babes, Booze, The Nips & Show # 582

Many bands were formed and dissolved as a result of the UK punk scene of the late 70s. Several bands are well known such as Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned, but there are other bands that featured musicians that would later get recognition, surpassing their punk roots. One such band was The Nipple Erectors. Formed by female artist Shanne Bradley, the band also featured a young vocalist then known as Shane O’Hooligan, whose real name was Shane MacGowan. The initial line-up consisted of Shane MacGowan on vocals, Shanne Bradley on bass, guitarist Rodger Towndrow and Arcane Vendetta on drums. The band mixed the attitude of punk with the influence of rockabilly and 60s garage rock, which set them apart from many other contemporary bands at the time. The band’s first single was “King Of The Bop” backed with the song “Nervous Wreck” released in 1978 on Soho Records. The song merged scratchy garage guitar rhythms with rockabilly and reverb soaked vocals and some feel is the best example of the bands early and intriguing sound. It was coined in the press as punkabilly. The band released one more single under their original band name, “All The Time In The World” backed with “Private Eye” before changing their name to The Nips.

For the remainder for the band’s two singles they went by the name The Nips with an altered band line-up. Band line-up changes were something that occurred throughout the band’s recorded history. The band’s third single “Gabrielle”/”Vengeance” released in 1980 reflected more of a power pop influence, while the band’s 1981 single “Happy Song”/”Nobody To Love” produced by Paul Weller of The Jam, moved more towards a pop direction. While on tour with The Purple Hearts, The Nips recorded a live album that would be released as Only The End Of The Beginning. By the time the band’s last single was released, they were on the outs. Shane MacGowan was composing songs that were more in the vein of traditional Irish music and he would take this sound and form The Pogues. In 1984, Shanne Bradley co-founded the folk-punk oriented group The Men They Couldn't Hang. In 1987, Big Beat compiled many of the band’s recordings along with some outtakes and released the compilation album entitled Bops, Babes, Booze & Bovver under the name Nips ‘N’ Nipple Erectors. If anything, The Nips brief time as a band burned in a bright flash of influences with the attitude and energy of 70s punk rock. The Nips recorded output is yet another example of the range of influences that were brought into music of the late 70s punk scene and how diverse it actually could be sonically despite the traditional punk look and sound.



Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Pangea - Looked In Too
2. Kieran Douglas - Something To Bleed
3. Lime Spiders - Nine Miles High
4. Born Ruffians - Stupid Dreams
5. The Nips - All The Time In The World
6. The Standells - Why Did you Hurt Me
7. The Gruesomes - One Good Reason
8. The Chandelles - El Gato
9. Cold Country - A Letter To My Daughters
10. Holy Ruth & The Grey Jays - What More
11. The Deslondes - The Real Deal
12. The Sadies - Another Year Again
13. Indian Wars - George Ellis
14. Neil Young - It Might Have Been (Live)
15. Shannon & The Clams - Corvette
16. Teenanger - Alone On Acid
17. The Stooges - 1970 (Take 1)
18. The Wipers - Over The Edge
19. Mudhoney - Not Goin’ Down That Road Again
20. What Seas What Shores - The Ibex
21. Chris Crossroads - The Wolf
22. Tay Falco’s Panther Burns - Come On Little Mama
23. Thee Rum Coves - Nasty Evil Sickness
24. The D4 - Running On Empty
25. The Pointed Sticks - Real Thing (Alternate Version)
26. Buzzcocks - Lester Sands (A Drop In The Ocean)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 17. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

La Luz Weirdo Shrine & Show # 581

Recorded in an old surf shop by Ty Segall, La Luz’s second full-length album comes off with more of a hazier mood to it as opposed to this Seattle band’s first album, It’s Alive. In addition to the hazy feeling that glides across all of the tracks on Weirdo Shrine, the lyrical subject matter is also darker. Inspired by the Charles Burns graphic novel Black Hole, many of the themes that were found across its pages seep their way into Weirdo Shrine’s lyrics and overall mood. La Luz’s undeniable 60s surf rock influence from bands such as Dick Dale and The Ventures are still apparent, but the band combines this with their strong vocal harmonies ala The Shangri-Las or The Ronnettes, adding a bit of doo-wop and subtle soul influences in with their love of surf music for a sound that is uniquely their own.

The album opens with the slow guitar arpeggios and layered vocal harmonies of “Sleep Till They Die”, a track that juxtaposes a feeling of unease lyrically, while “You Disappear” comes in with a more upbeat drum fill surrounded by hazy, humming organ parts mixed with clean guitars. The song also showcases La Luz’s use of guitar fuzz distortion for their solos. It appears in the middle of this song and subtly at the beginning of the album’s opening track. Mostly known for their cleaner guitar sounds, La Luz employ the distortion that they do use in small doses, not overloading songs with it. Lyrically, words such as “Lost in the city/So far from what you knew” and “No one can tell what direction you’ll go/Your eyes don’t show”, seem to come from the mutated characters of Burns’ Black Hole and come alive in the lyrics and in between the music. But the song also takes on several other meanings, such as one of loneliness or of a fleeting relationship. “With Davey” starts with the fuzzy ambient sounds of the surf shop in which this album was recorded in and a bouncy bassline. Amongst the organ, drum fills, clean guitars and reverb soaked vocals, the song’s distortion creeps in as it ends.

Surf noir is a term that could be used to describe the particular brand of surf music influences that La Luz brings forward on this album. “Don’t Wanna Be Anywhere”, was apparently inspired by the passing of a friend of La Luz guitarist Shana Cleveland and emphasizes an otherworldly feeling, one that would fit into the surf noir description. “Hey Papi” provides a short instrumental break in the album before “I Wanna Be Alone (With You)” comes in with its energetic drums, erratic maracas and an up-tempo groove. “I’ll Be True” showcases drummer Marian Li Pino and bassist Lena Simon’s ability to lock into the groove as the rest of the band plays a descending musical pattern that sounds like the song is drifting or floating. “Oohs and ahhs” along with the dominate lyric “I’ll be true to you/Just as long as you want me to” take on a hypnotizing effect throughout the song. “Black Hole, Weirdo Shrine” continues in the more up-tempo fashion of the later parts of this album. Digging in deep musically and lyrically, the song once again touches on themes from Charles Burns’ graphic novel Black Hole but also on themes of obsession. Keyboardist Alice Sandhal recently provided some insight on this song in an interview for Rookie Magazine:

I was thinking about things that people obsess about in life, like love or religion or spirituality. Things people build up with all this personal meaning, which nobody could understand the way they do. A lot of songs end up being love songs or songs about obsession, like you’re making this weird shrine, like it’s not even a person it’s just this idea of someone that you’ve created in your head that nobody could understand in the same way.

Along with the earlier track “You Disappear”, “Oranges” was inspired in part by the Washington poet Richard Brautigan. “Oranges” is the second instrumental track found on Weirdo Shrine and it provides a break, bringing down the tempo just before the album’s closing track, “True Love Knows”. With lyrics such as “True love knows when it’s left alone”, this song evokes a haunting melody by Cleveland and themes of escape seem to buoy their way throughout Weirdo Shrine’s last track.

When thinking of 60s surf rock, the image of being on a beach in the sun as surfers explore the ocean waves are often conjured up. For La Luz, they trade sunlight for dusk, as the band plays on Weirdo Shrine one could imagine the band playing as the sun is going down as opposed to it shining bright. La Luz bounces back and forth between cool nighttime vibes and beams of sunlight tackling and overcoming the sophomore slump that bands sometimes fall into with their second album. On Weirdo Shrine, La Luz builds their own sound and identity. This album takes on a smooth cinematic landscape, providing a layered, hazy, surf- influenced sound with a northwest twist.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Babysitter - Exploding Youth
2. Tough Age - Flying Carpet
3. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Living In Paradise
4. The Riptides - 77 Sunset Strip
5. Sunnyboys - Love To Rule
6. Alex G - Kicker
7. Kurt Vile - I'm An Outlaw
8. Tea Leaves - I Want To Live In The Dirt
9. The Hellbound Hepcats - Black Cats
10. X-Ray Cat Trio - Rockero Fantasma
11. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Exit From Vince Lombardi High School
12. U.S Girls - Sed Knife
13. Slim Twig - Live In, Live On Your Era
14. The Boys Next Door - The Night Watchmen
15. The Boys Next Door - The Voice
16. Courtney Barnett - Shivers
17. Mike Krol Cactuses
18. Blind Doctors - You've Got A Drinking Friend
19. Middle Sister Finer Things Cries Of The Wild
20. The 3-D Invisibles - The Blob
21. Ought - The Combo
22. The Famines - Attack Machine Blues
23. The Gories - Hidden Charms
24. The Leftovers - I Only Panic When There’s Nothing To Do
25. The Saints - (I’m) Stranded
26. The Saints - A Minor Aversion
27. La Luz - I Don’t Wanna Be Anywhere
28. La Luz - Black Hole, Weirdo Shrine

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 10. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Road Gore: The Band That Drank Too Much, Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra & Show # 580

Road Gore: The Band That Drank Too Much is the debut album released by Edmonton, Alberta’s Jerry Jerry & The Sons of Rhythm Orchestra. Although the album was released in 1985 on OG Records (and on CD in 1990), the band first got their start in 1982. Their first release was an EP in 1984 entitled Fighting Socialism put out on Rubber Records. Apparently the only release on this label, Rubber Records was an independent label put together by the band’s soundman, Barry Peters. However, it wasn’t until after opening for Deja Voodoo at the Edmonton Ski Club that Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra were signed to OG. Reportedly the band drank six cases of beer, smoked several packs of cigarettes and played for approximately 45 minutes, but something about the band’s uninhibited sound and energy drew in the members of Deja Voodoo. Road Gore emphasizes that alone in its title, but the music contained on the record is something else entirely. In thirteen tracks, the band blasts through rockabilly, country, surf, gospel, and garage musical styles with a feral energy that some might also call punk rock.

The album opens with a surf song called “Gospel Surf” a short ramshackle song adhering to the elements of the surf music genre, but at the same time adding elements of garage rock and rockabilly music, featuring sound effects and random hollering from lead vocalist Jerry Woods. This song in its reckless abandon is a calling card for what was to come from the band and on the album. “Rhythm Crazy” comes in as song number two on this album with a clean rockabilly tone and tongue-in-cheek lyrics telling the story of a partying dancer with “soul in her big fat feet”. A more upbeat tempo comes in for the third song on this album “Color TV”, a song that touches on the commercialism of TV culture at the time and a character that becomes so transfixed by television she doesn’t notice a burglary that takes place in her house. The choppy rhythms of “Baby’s On Fire” recalls scratchy garage rock burning with lyrics relating to jealousy, “Livin’ On Top” looks at the US culture through a Canadian lens and “Daddy Was A Peacock” is a sloppy R&B take on a story that recalls a fathers glory days.

Side of two of Road Gore starts with the song “Happy Nun” with fuzzy guitar riffs and lyrics that juxtapose a happy nuns demeanor vs. a more raucous lifestyle, “Bad Idea” echoes with sleazy roots rock and country influences with an anti-socialism message, as the ramped up country of “Rancher King” seems to question the traditions of the rancher lifestyle. Songs such as “You Make Me Blue” travels into bluesier pastures before “Judgment Date”, which after several songs dealing with mischievous drinking related activities, brings us to an Armageddon-gospel themed track that builds and burns with as much intensity as the album’s first track. Following two more songs featured on the It Came From Canada compilation albums on OG Records (“Radical Look” and “Yap Yap”), the band relocated to Montreal in 1986 and released their second full-length album, the critically acclaimed follow-up Battle Hymn of the Apartment in 1987.

According to an interview with Exclaim in 2000, the album’s title was inspired by a road trip to Saskatoon with another band featuring Moe Berg (later of The Pursuit Of Happiness), but it was also around this time that the band made the connection with Deja Voodoo and OG Records and were put on the path towards their sound and ethos. Jerry Woods has often said that when The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra started he didn’t take them that seriously, but on Road Gore: The Band That Drank Too Much, there are a multitude of different things growing beneath the surface. Whether it is the cow-punk dynamics of the music that also featured elements of garage, surf and blues or the lyrics, on Road Gore: The Band Who Drank Too Much, Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra started on a road less travelled with something different to say and to spread their own gospel.



Saturday Night Playlist:

1.  Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra - Gospel Surfer
2.  Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra -  Rhythm Crazy
3.  The Syndicats - Crawdaddy Simone
4.  The Dirty Pretty Things - Don’t Bring Me Down
5.  Monomyth - Transmission
6.  Telstar Drugs - Pulley
7.  Ought - Celebration
8.  The Buttons - I’ve Been Lookin’
9.  The Colonials - Crawdad
10. The Sadies - The First 5 Minutes
11. The Sadies - Leave This World Behind
12. Johnny Cash - Train Of Love
13. Richard “Rabbit” Brown - James Alley Blues
14. The Space Plan - Tread Lightly
15. The New Dimensions - Chicky Run
16. The Sentinals - Exotic
17. The Libertines - Heart Of The Matter
18. The Intelligence - Refuse To Pay The Dues
19. Shannon & The Clams - It’s Too Late
20. Rock “N’ Roll Monkey & The Robots - Love Is Chemical
21. Neon Boys - High Heeled Wheels
22. Simply Saucer - I Take It (Demo)
23. The Verlaines - You Say You
24. David Kilgour - Living In Space
25. The Slit Plasters - The Dung Fly
26. Fake Tears - Heart Break Loud
27. MC5 - Baby Won’t Ya

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 3. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

As a side note and for those keeping count, episode 579 of Revolution Rock was a repeat episode that originally aired back in August 2015. You can download that episode here and find the playlist in this post.