The Ruby Spirit & The White Stripes & Show # 374

This week I will post a few videos for a change of pace. First up a quirky, peculiar video from a Canadian Indie Rock band with a dash of Garage and a peppering of Pop called The Ruby Spirit. The band currently has a six track EP available titled Born under a Veil. The video for "Cagliari" is a stop motion created video that was done by Mike Walter. For more info you can visit http://www.therubyspirit.com/. 

The Ruby Spirit - Caligari from THE RUBY SPIRIT on Vimeo.

Here's another cool music video that may or may not be stop motion based:

Also Revolution Rock is now on facebook.  Like Revolution Rock on facebook!!!

The Play List:

1. The Stomach Mouths - Eegah
2. The Rationals - I Need You
3. ? and The Mysterians - It's Not Easy
4. The Barracudas - Rendez-Vous
5. Invasions - Out Of Touch
6. The Remedials - That Look
7. Finks - Can't Say No
8. Martha & The Muffins - Copacabana
9. Southern Culture on the Skids - Zombified
10. The Ruby Spirit - Caligari
11. Magnificent Bastards - She Won't Do It Anymore
12. Bad Vibrations - Losing Time
13. Mad Ones - Behaviour
14. Shimmering Stars - I'm Gonna Try
15. Bear Vs. Shark - Catamaran
16. The Specials - Little Bitch
17. The Equators - Baby Come Back
18. The Ruts - Babylon's Burning
19. The Skids - Night And Day
20. Famous Names - Blind Date
21. Exits - Going Places
22. The Jam - When You're Young
23. The Professionals - Just Another Dream
24. Guided By Voices - Teenage FBI
25. The Hives - Thousand Answers

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 18. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Not Now No Way ... The Pagans & Show # 373

Coming from Cleveland, Ohio in 1977 The Pagans are often a largely ignored band that came from the first wave of American Punk bands alongside acts such as The Dead Boys. The Pagans consisted of Mike Hudson (vocals), Brian Hudson (drums), Mike “Tommy Gunn” Metoff (guitar) and Tim Allee on bass. The band played a unique blend of grimy Garage influenced Punk music, which was filled with venomous attitude. They released their first recordings as a 45 single that contained two of the same songs on side A and side B, “Six and Change”. The sneerful and bone rattling Street Where Nobody Lives was the bands second single, it was backed with the self explanatory, but equally gnarly “What’s This Shit Called Love?” It was followed up by the Not Now No Way single in 1979 and the Dead End America single in the same year. The band split initially in 1979, which along with their anti-famous image and lyrical subject matter put the band to a halt, but not for long. The Pagans reformed again in 1982 and disbanded yet again in 1983.

The band released a self titled album in 1983, and continued to release music off and on. A compilation album of the bands recordings was released in 1986 titled Buried Alive, which is often regarded as the best compilation and release from The Pagans to ever be released. The compilation compiled the band in their nasty, snotty glory featuring all of the bands early seven inch recordings and several unreleased tracks. The first CD compilation was released in 1994 entitled Everybody Hates You, and several other compilation albums cataloging The Pagans material has been released since then. A book was released by Mike Hudson titled Diary of Punk in 2008 chronicling his time with The Pagans. The band while they reformed several times, have released numerous recordings that at the time of its initial release was greatly under looked. They have now come to be more recognized by others Hudson’s lyrical style often attacked society related issues and at times came off with a stark lyrical imagery that when combined with the bands anti-star attitude made them not only a unique and at times offensive band, but one that were truly original

The Play List:

1. The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog (Alternate Vocal Version)
2. DOA - Smash the State
3. Existers - Telex Love
4. Plan Nine - I Ain't No Robot
5. Rage - I've Got Your Number
6. Sports - Side Effect of Talk
7. Dum Dum Girls - Always Looking
8. Kasabian - Let's Roll Like We Used To
9. Television - I'm Gonna Find You (1974 Unreleased Song)
10. The Strollers - I Fell Right Down
11. Thee Mighty Caesars - Little By Little
12. Chang-A-Lang - Lay By Your Side
13. Neil Young - Vampire Blues
14. The Locusts Have No King - Last Night In My Favorite Bar And The Reprocussions Thereof
15. Johnny Cash - Locomotive Man
16. Will Currie & The County French - Railroad
17. Johnny Thunders - (She's So) Untouchable
18. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - New Pleasure
19. Generation X - New Order
20. The Bears - Fun, Fun, Fun
21. The Pagans - I Don't Understand
22. The Pagans - Not Now No Way
23. The Dead Boys - Ain't Nothing To Do
24. Compulsive Gamblers - Whole Lotta Woman
25. True Lovers - Obsession

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 11. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

(Return to) Friday at the Hideout

This Friday I filled in for CJAM's Willy Wilson on the program Friday's At The Hideout. A few months back I filled in for the very same show, my play list on this program reflected the Surf, Garage, Punk, and Folk genres. Willy Wilson also hosts the program The Motorcity is Burning every Tuesday at 7 PM, Friday's At The Hideout can be heard every Friday from 8-10 PM.  The program can be downloaded below.

The Play List:

1. Link Wray - Law of the Jungle
2. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Shake Some Evil
3. The Collectors - Eyes
4. The Townsmen - Back Yards
5. Prehistoric Cave Strokers - You're In You're Out
6. The Fuse - Sad Eyes
7. The Hi-Fi's - Look What You've Done
8. Sports - Played Yourself
9. Dum Dum Girls - Hold Your Hand
10. Kasabian - Neon Noon
11. Drew Smith - Smoke & Mirrors
12. Will Currie & The County French - Railroad
13. The Mekons - Geeshie
14. John Doe - Walking Out The Door
15. Twin Library - I Asked Her To Build Me A Phone
16. Chang-A-Lang - Japanese Eyes
17. The Remains - Don't Look Back
18. The Uniques - You Ain't Tuff
19. The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction
20. Square Root of Margaret - Attack of the Giant Problem vs. The Creature From The Planet of the Incredible Shrinking Solution
21. Mark Sultan - Mortal Man
22. Radio Birdman - Do The Pop!
23. The Misfits - Hollywood Babylon
24. Ramones - You Should Never Have Opened That Door
25. The Adverts - Safety In Numbers
26. Buzzcocks - I Don't Mind
27. The Exploding Hearts - I'm A Pretender
28. The D4 - Joe 90
29. The Clash - The Leader (Live Amsterdam 1981)
30. Dex Romweber Duo - Climb Down
31. Dave Allan & The Arrows - Outer Surf
32. Velvet Underground - I Found A Reason (Demo)

The show can be downloaded here. 

Nirvana ... Newermind & Show # 372

Twenty years ago Nirvana released their second full length album Nevermind. Prior to the album being recorded the band nor their record label (then Sub Pop, before signing to Geffen) had no idea of the impact that the album would have. While initially it was pressed in smaller quantities, the album quickly climbed the Billboard top 200 charts eventually knocking Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album off the top spot. But would the album have had the same impact if it had been not re-mixed by Andy Wallace? The super deluxe edition of Nevermind that was released on September 27th of 2011 provides an inside look and insight into the events leading up to Nevermind’s success and also provides the listener with a plethora of material to wrap their heads around as Nirvana’s Nevermind hits the 20 year mark. It should also be noted that currently, Nevermind has re-entered the UK top ten album charts.

The set comes in a large vinyl sized book featuring glossy colour photos cataloguing Nirvana’s adventures mostly in picture form. Inside there are budget breakdowns, press releases, previously unseen photos, screenshots from Nevermind-era music videos, and the album cover shoot, and a reprint of a Melody Maker magazine feature on Nirvana and the Seattle scene at the time. If that isn’t enough there is the music which is provided in a variety of formats – one in CD form. There are four CD’s in the set and one DVD featuring a previously unreleased Nirvana Concert from the Paramount Theatre in 1991. The first CD features a remaster of the actual Nevermind album, and a collection of B-sides, that if you have been a die-hard Nirvana fan have most likely heard before.

The second CD is where the super deluxe set gets interesting. First it starts off with the eight song Smart Studios Sessions that Nirvana Did with Butch Vig (who would also produce Nevermind) in April of 1990. Through these eight songs we hear Nirvana with Chad Channing on drums, and in an early primalistic form, the songs sound like they come from Bleach-era Nirvana, which they do in a sense, but this form of Nirvana is one that is in transition. The listener is taken through early versions of songs such as “Lithium”, “Breed” (then titled “Immodium”), “In Bloom”, “Pay To Play” (which would become the song “Breed”), and a cover of the Velvet Underground song “Here She Comes Now”, “Dive”, and “Sappy”. From these demos the band decided to shop around in hopes of moving to a major label, but following the demos the listener is thrown right into yet another, early version of the Nevermind album. There are eight boom box demos, which were recorded by Nirvana in their rehearsal space in Tacoma, Washington in March 1991. Here we have yet more early versions of songs that would find their way onto Nevermind, with different lyrics and two tracks which never made the final cut of the album “Old Age” and “Verse Chorus Verse”. Ever since a snippet of the boombox demo of “Old Age” was leaked onto the internet many years ago, these demos have been greatly in demand by Nirvana fans. It should also be noted that on the 2004 Nirvana With The Lights Out box set, there are the studio outtake versions from the Nevermind album sessions of “Old Age” and “Verse Chorus Verse”, they do not appear on this set. Additionally, there was a version the band did of “Sappy”, which would be re-recorded and released at a later date, but the Nevermind recorded version remains unreleased. After listening to Nirvana playing some of the same songs back to back with different drummers (Channing on the Smart Demos and Grohl on the boombox) there is an immediate change in chemistry to the bands energy. Through this CD we hear Nirvana’s evolution. At the end of this CD, two songs from a BBC session are tacked on “Something In The Way” and “Drain You”.

The third CD provides the listener with what is called The Devonshire Mixes. These are the infamous mixes that Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain had referenced in the past, saying that they were rawer and less polished than the final released Andy Wallace mixed version. The songs found on this CD are a more stripped down version of the Nevermind we have all come to recognize. While some of the tracks appear to not have much changes, several of the songs have noticeable differences, such as “Lounge Act”, Territorial Pissings”, and “On A Plain”. “Come As You Are” is noticeably less produced that the album version, while “Drain You” is different, yet doesn't have the same impact of the Wallace mixed version. The songs seem to have clearer vocals, a more raw/live feel to them, which when compared to the Wallace version is less produced, but at times lacks the impact that the final officially released version has. These were rough mixes that were put together by Producer for Butch Vig for the band to hear, which in this set provides us with yet another fascinating evolutionary stage of the album. Finally we are provided with a CD version of a live concert that is also provided in DVD form, which can be argued for its significance. But after delving through many demos, alternate/early versions of songs and alternate mixes, the 20th anniversary super deluxe edition of Nevermind ends with the band in its rawest aural form, live. Finally there is the Live At The Paramount DVD, which is a previously unreleased live concert of the band from October 31st, 1991.

This limited edition release is pricey but if you are a big Nirvana fan it is something that you will enjoy. Hearing the evolution of a band coming from the Seattle underground into the mainstream, we are provided with a lot of material to listen to and watch. There are also different versions of the release, such as the two CD deluxe edition of the album, a four LP vinyl box set, and a Blu Ray version of the Live At The Paramount concert. So what if the album was never re-mixed by Andy Wallace would it have had the same impact? The songs are there, they were being crafted by Cobain and the band in preparation. This is a question that at this point is irrelevant, it could be argued for on either side, but regardless of which you prefer the songs are there and the music is there. Good music is good music, oh well whatever Nevermind.

For more info on the band you can visit http://www.nirvana.com/ or Kerrang! Radio's 20 Facts about Nevermind.

The Play List:

1. The Libertines - The Boy Looked At Johnny
2. Dream Dates - Heartattack Rhythm
3. Psychotic Pineapples - Stranded
4. The Polymorphines - Bring Your Love Back Home
5. Wild Flag - Short Version
6. The Strokes - Two Kinds of Happiness
7. Nick Lowe - 36 Inches High
8. Brian James - Ain't That A Shame
9. Result - Suburban Addicts
10. Wayouts - Wild At The Beach
11. B-Girls - Angel Doesn't Shoot A Gun
12. The Dishrags - Can't Wait
13. Brazilian Money - Slowly Soaking Up Some Rays On A Sofa
14. Wilco - I Might
15. The Saints - Memories Are Made of This
16. The Velvet Underground - Beginning To See The Light
17. Nirvana - Sappy (Smart Studios Demo Version)
18. Nirvana - Territorial Pissings (Devonshire Mix)
19. Nirvana - Drain You (Live At The Paramount)
20. The Teardrops - Seeing Double
21. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Hold Me Tight
22. The Lyrics - So What!!
23. The Hentchmen - Ham & Oil
23. The Black Lips - Not A Problem

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 4. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

The Pack A.D... Unpersons & Show 371

I first heard of and saw The Pack A.D. when they were performing in Windsor, Ontario at The Phog Lounge. Since then I have come to see them perform on numerous other occasions. Initially known as The Pack, The Pack A.D. are a two piece female Garage/Blues Rock duo that has just released their third full length album Unpersons. The band originates from Vancouver and features Becky Black on guitar/vocals, and Maya Miller on drums. The bands first full length album Tin Type was self released in April of 2007, and then re-released when the group were signed to Mint Records. A second full length followed quickly titled Funeral Mixtape also in 2008, which showed the band broadening their sound. Tin Type their first album featured seventeen Blues Rock songs that also contained elements of Garage Rock and Punk Rock. Songs such as “Gold Rush” and “All Damn Day Long” reflected their raw Garage/Blues inflections, which along with the rest of the album generated strong reviews and acclaim.

The band has toured heavily behind their albums and gained the reputation as being an explosive live act. In 2010, The Pack A.D. released the album We Kill Computers, an album which took two years to make, but one that was recorded live to analog tape in under two weeks, it was also the longest gap between releases for the band. But this does not deter or take away from the album, one that was essentially born on the road and one that focused more on the bands Garage and Punk influences and it reflects that. The album featured songs such as “Deer’, “B.C. Is On Fire”, and “Catch” all add to the overall heavier Rock dynamics of We Kill Computers.

In September 2011, The Pack A.D released Unpersons. This album further displays the bands evolving sound and adds different elements into the mix. Unpersons elevates the Pack A.D’s sound making them sound bigger most likely due to Detroit producer Jim Diamond, who adds edge to the bands sound. On this album the band truly have evolved at a sound that is both different and as fascinating as their past. The albums title originates from the novel 1984, which is a form of “newspeak” meaning someone who has been stripped of rights, identity or humanity. While The Pack A.D have not been stripped of their musical identity, they do venture into new and different music territory and lyrically the songs reflect a dystopian view and plays into the titles meaning. Unpersons finds the band exploring the very elements of their sound, reconstructing themselves with their brand of raw Blues, Garage and Punk which have made them a Mint Records artist to watch. The Pack A.D. play the Phog Lounge again on Wednesday October 19th, with The Locusts Have No King.

This Week's Play List:

1. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Luxembourg
2. The Drums - Book of Revelations
3. The Stranglers - Sometimes
4. Ringo Deathstarr - Some Kind of Sad
5. Norbiton Surfers - Ivor The Engine
6. Public Image Limited - Lou Reed Pt.2
7. The Rings - I Wanna Be Free
8. The Spy's - Been Through The Mill
9. The Pack AD - Seasick
10. The Pack AD - 8
11. Canadian VIPs - I Know
12. Big Town Boys - August 32nd
13. Missing Links - Don't Give Me No Friction
14. Thee Oh Sees - Corprophagist
15. Les Jaguars - Shake
16. The Centurions - Surfin' at Mazatland
17. Eddie Angel - Casbah
18. Link Wray - 5 and 10
19. Wydle Rattz - Hollow
20. The Androids - Roller Derby Queen
21. Mix - Break Up, Shake Up
22. The Paperboys - Looking For Sharon
23. Sloan - Oh Dear Diary
24. The Boys - First Time
25. The Ettes - The Pendulum
26. The Sonics - Strychnine

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for September 27. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

I Wear White Jeans Fill In

On Friday I filled in for the I Wear White Jeans program which usually airs every Friday night from 6:30 to 8 PM on CJAM FM. with host Jan Blondin.  The program can be downloaded below.

The Play List:

1. The Rezillos - Mystery Action
2. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Baby Talk
3. The Pack AD - Sirens
4. The Polymorphines - Anna Lee
5. Invasions - Atlantic Blvd
6. The Nightcrawlers - Little Black Egg
7. Thee Dueces - You've Gotta Try
8. Blitzen Trapper - Might Find It Cheap
9. The Living Kills - My Gun's A Fist
10. Disband - One Man Army
11. The Government - Flat Tire
12. The Verdix - Lookin' Around
13. Dee Dee Ramone & the Chinese Dragons - What About Me?
14. Bok Bok - Come Back To Me
15. The Fall - Stepping Out
16. Terrorways - Never Been To Borstal
17. The Primmers - You're Gonna Get Done
18. Wreckless Eric - Reconnez Cherie
19. The Beachnuts - Cycle Annie
20. Dik Van Dykes - Garage Sale
21. The Stomach Mouths - Wild Trip
22. Painted Ship - And She Said Yes
23. Brazilian Money - Give Up That Dog
24. Thee Oh Sees - I Need Seed
25. The Hentchmen - Yesterday's Trash

The show can be downloaded here.

AK79 & Show # 370

The UK Punk scene of the late seventies inspired numerous bands all around the world to pick up their instruments and create their own music playing into the attitude and DIY ethic. One such place that is perhaps not always mentioned is the New Zealand Punk scene of the late seventies, specifically the Auckland, New Zealand Punk scene. There were numerous bands that popped up, many short lived that would only last what seemed like a second before moving onto different bands and expanding into different genres. A compilation album was compiled of this scene by Bryan Staff and released on Ripper Records in 1979. The compilation which was tilted AK79, was released just in time for Christmas of 1980, but as the New Year approached and the compilation was released the local Punk scene was evolving and changing thus having AK79 serve as a document of the New Zealand scene that lasted from roughly 1977 to 1980.

The compilation had its birth when Bryan Staff, a local Auckland radio DJ started developing a growing interest in the local scene at the time. Since there was hardly a recording industry in New Zealand then, Staff came up with the idea of compiling an album of these acts and releasing it. Bands were encouraged to bring in their own recordings and several recorded at radio NZ, Bryan would form his own label Ripper Records. The albums cover was designed by Terence Hogan and the picture on the cover is a close up shot of one of the members of the band Terrorways. The album was initially pressed in a limited 500 edition run. The albums sold quickly and as a result AK79 moved its distribution to CBS in 1981 where it was re-pressed on vinyl and cassette. By 1983 the album went out of print, following this point the album became greatly sought after and copies sold for a considerable value. In 1994 the album was re-issued and re-mastered by Simon Grigg (of Suburban Reptiles) with an expanded track listing and was released via Flying Nun and Propeller Records.

The result of the album is a collection of bands such as The Scavengers, The Swingers, Terrorways, Proud Scum, The Primmers, The Features and Toy Love. The expanded re-issue featured additional tracks from these group including previously unreleased tracks from bands such as Suburban Reptiles, The Scavengers and Toy Love. Several of the bands on this compilation would go onto form other groups one example is The Scavengers who are featured in two incarnations on this album first as The Scavengers and then as Marching Girls. When the band moved to Australia in 1980 they renamed themselves Marching Girls. One of the band members Brendan Perry would also briefly play with Nick Cave's The Birthday Party before forming Dead Can Dance, which was quite different from his previous groups. While many of the bands from this short Auckland, New Zealand era from about 1977 to 1980 would move on along with the scene, AK79 serves as a document of a interesting and short lived time in Auckland’s music history. The album features songs such as "Mysterex" a song about working in the nine to five world, the anthemic Reggae/Punk of The Primmers "You're Gonna Get Done" a song addressing street violence in New Zealand, music from The Spelling Mistakes, Toy Love and more that are worthy of being all time Punk classics. A reunion gig was held on November 21st and 22nd of 2008 that reunited several of the bands found on the AK79 compliation, many of which hadn't played together since 1980. A special two LP limited edition of AK79 was sold at the shows featuring additional unreleased tracks. More info on the album and the bands featured on the album can be found at http://www.simongrigg.info/AK79.htm

This Week's Play List:

1. The Litter - Action Woman
2. The Magicians - An Invitation To Cry
3. Cold Coffee & Salty Boots - Lost In Material
4. The Last Assassins - Bad Crystal
5. White Cats - Second Time Around
6. The Demics - I Won't See You No More
7. The Hi Fi's - I Don't Know Why (You Love Me)
8. The Nocturnals - Because You're Gone
9. Magic Hall of Mirrors - Helicopter (Live Phog Phest 2010)
10. Witnesss Inc. - Not You Girl
11. The Horrors - I Can See Through You
12. The Features - Content
13. Suburban Reptiles - Saturday Night, Stay At Home
14. The Scavengers - Mysterex
15. The Primmers - Funny Stories
16. Dik Van Dykes - Curling
17. Wire - I Am The Fly
18. Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty (BBC Session)
19. The Teardrops - Colours
20. Nothing At All - Busted
21. Dirty Pretty Things - Last of the Small Town Playboys
22. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Can't Keep My Eyes On You
23. Ed Kuepper - Told Myself
24. Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna (Alternate Take)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for September 20. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Pearl Jam's No Code & Show # 369

The recording of Pearl Jam's No Code took place at a strange time in the bands career. After a tour for their 1994 release Vitalogy, Pearl Jam headed into the studio amongst other factors that all added to what was become the album No Code. At the time the band were going through difficulties due to the constant touring, arguments in the creative process and an on going battle with Ticketmaster.  To further add to matters the albums recording sessions first began in the infamous 1995 Chicago heat wave, during a break in the bands touring schedule. Tensions would build amongst the band and as a result many of the songs began as jams according to Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. The rest of the album would be recorded over the course of six weeks in 1996 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Seattle, Washington, and Atlanta, Georgia. No Code which would be Pearl Jam’s fourth full length album, was recorded with producer Brendan O’Brien

When No Code was finally released in 1996, it went to number one on the Billboard 200 album charts (it would be the last Pearl Jam album to go to number one until 2009's Backspacer), but despite this it alienated several Pearl Jam fans. While the record did not initially sell as well as their previous studio efforts No Code would be one of the first of many albums in which the band ventured on in a different direction separate from their early heavier “Grunge” associated sounds. The songs on the album incorporated elements of Garage Rock, Worldbeat and elements of experimentation that resulted in a truly unique album from Pearl Jam. The album contained hard hitting Rock songs such as “Hail, Hail”, “Habit”, “Lukin”, as well as other tracks such as “Sometimes”, “Who You Are?”, “Present Tense”, “I’m Open”, “Mankind” and “Around the Bend”, which initially started out as a lullaby written by Eddie Vedder for new Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons’ son, all of which jumped into different territories musically. The album was panned by several critics, despite its good sales people reacted negatively to No Code.

Some people were perplexed by the different direction that Pearl Jam ventured into on this album, but was it really that different? The songs seem to be a reflection of the times and the bands ongoing tensions during the recording process and that point in their career, but it is still a Rock album. It is ironic that the album was titled No Code and packaged with photograph based artwork symbolizing its lack of adherence to the typical codes of music at the time. The truth is for Pearl Jam No Code had no rules or no “codes” for lack of a better term and while there was a lot of tension and turmoil that began during that first heat wave of July of 1995 in Chicago where the album began its life, the result was a strong original release from the band and the beginnings of Pearl Jam’s long career in music. As vocalist Eddie Vedder has stated “Making No Code was all about gaining perspective”, the trouble that initially surrounded the sessions in the long run produced out a stronger band.  It was during the period follwing this albums release that Pearl Jam stepped out of the mainstream spotlight so to speak and the albums leading up to recent 2009 release Backspacer where Pearl Jam found a new voice for their music and a devout and die-hard fan base that remains strong to this day.

Recently Pearl Jam is the subject of a documentary titled Pearl Jam 20, which is about Pearl Jam, it also marks thier 20th anniversary. A soundtrack also accompanies the film and you can download a new Pearl Jam song called "Ole" via http://www.pearljam.com/

This Week's Play List:

1. Magnificent Bastards - Famous When I Die
2. Luke & The Apostles - Been Burnt
3. The Coasts - Handshakers
4. Deja Voodoo - Lonely Motel
5. Neon Boys - High Heeled Wheels
6. Boy With A Fish - I Wish I Had A Plan
7. Ry Cooder - Quick Sand
8. James OL & The Villains - Both To Blame
9. Orphan Choir - Untitled
10. The Polymorphines - Poor Sicko
11. Crocodiles - Summer of Hate
12. Fire Engines - Hungry Beat
13. Pointed Sticks - The Witch
14. Mudhoney - Into Yer Shtik
15. The Wipers - Is This Real?
16. Pearl Jam - Lukin
17. Limes - Into A Tree
18. Young Rival - Another Nobody
19. Talking Heads - Stay Hungry (1975 CBS Demo)
20. Subway Sect - Nobody's Scared
21. Undertones - Smarter Than You
22. Ramones - Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio (Live US Festival 1982)
23. Motorhead - No Class
24. Private School - Rock & Roll Radio
25. The D4 - North Shore Bitch

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for September 13. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Fire of Love ... The Gun Club & Show # 368

The Gun Club were a very unique band that blended elements of Roots Rock, Blues, Country, Rockabilly and Punk for a style completely their own. Starting out in 1980 in LA, the band was formed by singer/guitarist Jeffery Lee Pierce, Brian Tristan on Lead Guitar, Don Snowden on bass and Brad Dunning on drums. The band initially started out as The Cyclones with Pleasant Gehman on vocals and played Rockabilly, but the singer left after one show and the group continued on as The Creeping Ritual. It was around this time during the bands early beginnings where Don Snowden and Brad Dunning left the group, they would be replaced by Rob Ritter (bass) and Terry Graham (drums) from the band The Bags. After growing tired of their band name they changed it to The Gun Club upon suggestion from Keith Morris of Black Flag/Circle Jerks. The bands first album came out in 1981 and it was titled Fire of Love, but before it came out there yet another line up change. Brian Tristan would leave the group to join The Cramps where he would remain for three years and gain the new name Kid Congo Powers. Following his time with The Cramps he rejoined The Gun Club, but when his first departed Ward Dotson replaced him on guitar.

When the band headed into the studio to record Fire of Love, what was captured on tape was a stripped down primal, original classic album that redefined a genre of Punk. Fire of Love was recorded with Chris D of The Flesh Eaters and Tito Larriva who applied a stripped down, live sounding production style to the songs that made up Fire of Love. The album mixed a haunting voodoo like intensity of American Roots, Blues and Country with Punk Rock for something completely original. The Gun Club is captured in top from the upbeat opener “Sex Beat” to the album closer “Goodbye Johnny”. The album features reworked versions of “Preaching the Blues” a song originally by Robert Johnson, that at howls and roars with the haunting vocals and the energetic guitar bursts of Dotson, while “Cool Drink of Water” is a soulful reworking of a Delta Blues song originally by Tommy Johnson. The album is also fuelled by the addictive Punk-Blues classic “She’s Like Heroin To Me”, the terrifying “Ghost On The Highway”, and “For The Love of Ivy” a song co-written with original Gun Club guitarist Kid Congo Powers. All of the eleven tracks on this album contribute to its atmosphere, whether you refer to "Sex Beat" or the steam engine driving drums and vocals of "Black Train". 

Fire of Love was the debut album of a band that helped rejuvenate the LA Rock music scene and an album that stands on its own as an underground classic. The music has been called a number of things such as Punk Rock Blues, Tribal Psychobilly Blues and many other things falling into a number of subgenres. The album has also been said to have been fuelled not only by the sum of its parts, but by the soulful tormented voice of its wild man lead singer Jeffery Lee Pierce which cannot be avoided. The band would continue to make albums until the mid 90s, until lead singer Jeffery Lee Pierce passed away at the age of 37 in 1996. The album and bands spirit live on and Fire of Love continues to burn with a gritty intensity that was first ignited when it was originally released in 1981. 

This Weeks Play List:

1. Jacuzzi Boys - Cool Vapors
2. The Hentchmen - Some Other Guy
3. Supergrass - What Went Wrong (In Your Head)
4. Richard Hawley - Tonight The Streets Are Ours
5. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - I'm Your Man
6. Iceage - Collapse
7. Rotten Tropics - The Commissioner of Sewers
8. Anagram - Those Were The Days
9. The Government - Following You
10. The Ted Clark Five - No Respect To Lose
11. Johnny Cash - Big River
12. Lonesome Lefty - Texas Blues
13. Locusts Have No King - Anna's Smoke
14. Box Car Guitars - My Love Is Blue
15. Free Boat Rentals - Fourth Thrice
16. Indian Wars - 20,000 Cans
17. Iggy Pop & James Williamson - Lucky Monkeys 
18. Sex Pistols - Did You No Wrong 
19. Radio Birdman - What Gives?
20. Lip Service - Jimmy Brown
21. The True Lovers - Masters Apprentice
22. The Gun Club - Sex Beat 
23. The Gun Club - For The Love of Ivy
24. The Gun Club - Fire Spirit

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for September 6. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Interview with Henry Priestman & Show # 367

Henry Priestman first appeared in the UK New Wave/Power Pop act Yachts.  The band released two full length albums and a collection of singles before splitting up in 1981. The band is perhaps best known for their song "Suffice To Say", following Yachts Priestman co-founded the group It's Immaterial. He then went on to play with the group The Christians. In 2008 he released his first solo album Chronicles of Modern Life on Stiff Records, which received great critical acclaim in the UK and was then picked up by Island Records for a major label re-release. He is currently working on a follow up to Chronicles.

The following interview was done between myself Dave Konstantino (host of Revolution Rock) and musician Henry Priestman. In the interview Henry discusses his time with Yachts, his post-Yachts bands and his current musical projects.

RR: What was it that inspired you to start making music? Were there any artists in particular and what are some of your favourite albums?

HP: Ever since hearing The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Tamla, Stax etc as a kid I knew I wanted to do something to do with music...my mates were buying comics and I was buying Disc & Music Echo, and NME..I thought I would probably end up working in a record shop (remember them?). Started playing guitar aged 14, then when I left school I decide to go to Art School (as all the bands I loved seem to have an Art School link - again Beatles, Who, Kinks etc), thought it would help me get into a band. Which is what Yachts were: the archetypal Art School band, all 4 of us were in the same year at Liverpool Art College (John Lennon’s old Art College).

Clive Langer, who was in the 3rd year at college when I was in 1st & in a Warners band called Deaf School, was the first person to say to me, “why don’t you write your own songs?”...Clive would go on to be a very successful producer on both side of the Atlantic, with number ones with Madness, Dexys, Bush etc. So I suppose he, and Roger Eagle who ran a very influential punk/New Wave club in Liverpool “Eric’s” are the ones I credit for getting me into this biz.

With Yachts we were listening to all those Nuggets bands, and scouring the remainder bins for obscure 60’s psych and garage albums, then trying to write in the same style (musically) and occasionally covering obscure 60’s bands (Look back in Love Not In Anger was originally by Bay State band Teddy and the Pandas). Lyrically we tried to make it very English, which ironically possibly worked against us in UK, but had the opposite effect in US.

RR: Before you were called Yachts, various members of the band played in Albert Dock, even opening for Sex Pistols at one gig. What prompted the name change and where did the name Yachts come from?

HP: Well, Albert Dock was a bit of a crazy, quite theatrical Art School band with around 8 members, mostly doing obscure covers...then we decided we should perhaps take it a bit more seriously, slim down the band, write our own stuff and therefore a name change seemed to be the next step....Yachts just seemed to fit the image, visually and lyrically, that we’d decided on.

RR: How did the band come up with "Suffice To Say"? Did the music or lyrics come first and why do you think people respond to that song so well?

HP: I think it was the first or second song I EVER wrote, and I actually wrote it on holiday in France in summer 1976, for my then girlfriend, and 33 years on she’s my wife, and we’re still together (ahhhh!); probably music came before the lyric (nicked the chords off an old Zappa track!)...then, despite the lyric stating “I never wrote a middle 8”, John Campbell (the original singer) came up with a great middle 8, and hence his name is in the brackets too!

Don’t know why people still like it...it gets called “quirky”, and “charming”, and the “cheesey” organ always gets mentioned..I still do it in my solo set (and there’s a new version as a secret track on my “Chronicles of Modern Life” album)

RR: The band always seemed to have a unique lyrical style, how did you decide on using lyrics? Such as on songs like "Suffice To Say", "Mantovani's Hits”, "Yachting Types", "Box 202" etc.?

HP: As mentioned above, we were deliberately trying to write very English lyrics, and ones that really nobody in their right mind would put in a pop song!..when I heard a word like “Tantamount”, I thought, oo that’s a good word to get into a title...but also as mentioned above, it slightly backfired over here in Britain...perhaps people thought we didn’t RAWWWKKK enough!..that said, the live shows were much more raw than the recorded versions (and probably better for it).

RR: What do you remember from recording Yachts first two albums? What was it like working with Martin Rushent as a producer on Without Radar (1980)?

HP: First album was recorded in 2 weeks at Radio City in New York, with Richard Gottehrer (writer of Hang On Sloopy, and producer of Blondie’s first album), so that was just so exciting for 4 lads from the North of England, who’d never really travelled much before...picked up at JFK by a limo, we thought we were “it”!

With hindsight, I think we lost the plot a bit on second album..not Martin Rushent’s fault, he was a joy to work with..songs weren’t as good, I think we were taking ourselves a bit too seriously on that record.

RR: What are some of the bands/projects you worked on following the split of Yachts up until now for example I know that you were with another band called The Christians?

HP: I left Yachts because this “hobby band” I was in, “It’s Immaterial” (re-united with original Yachts singer John Campbell) started being more fun, and more interesting musically than Yachts (even tho’ I wasn’t involved in the writing)...”Itsy” went on to record 2 albums for Warners, and had top 20 single chart success in UK...meanwhile I’d started to learn how to engineer in a small studio in Liverpool: we used this singing troop of 5 brothers (with surname Christian) to sing harmonies on an It’s Immaterial song “Ed’s Funky Diner”, and I plucked up courage at the session to ask them if they’d like to hear some of my songs – 2 couldn’t be bothered, 3 stayed around, and we worked on demos for the next year, and signed to Island records in 1986. By then I was over 30, and had never tasted any chart success, so it was quite a surprise when the first Christians album went straight in to the UK charts at #2, and went triple platinum!

The Christians recorded 3 albums for Island...remind me never to join a band with brothers in it!...by 1994 we’d all had enough...I’d started branching out into music for BBC TV (wildlife documentaries), and also doing sessions/tours with the likes of Echo and The Bunnymen, Ian McNabb, Ian Broudie’s Lightening seeds etc...and also got more into co-writing/production...then in 1999 we, The Christians, reformed for an acoustic tour (and an album) and managed to stay together till 2006 until once again the rot set in (the same with any band..)

RR: How did you come to record Chronicles of Modern Life? Who did you work with on this album (musicians/producers, etc.)?

HP: After leaving The Christians I suddenly thought “what the hell am I going to do now?”...so threw myself into writing and producing mostly acoustic-y singer-songwriter artists in my small studio set-up. On one of these writing occasions I worked with writer Tom Gilbert (who’s around the same age as me) and we just sat around musing on the ageing process (I was then 53) and came up with a song “Old”, which we thought we might try to get to Nashville.

Now, I hadn’t sung since 1981 (Yachts) and had assumed Tom would sing, but as he’s bigger than me, he bullied me into doing it, so the only way I could get through it, was to affect this “bad Bob Dylan”-type voice. Next morning we woke up listened to the track, and suddenly thought “Hang on, this great..this is me singing about my life”..and came up with another 10 songs in a similar slightly world-weary yet still poignant vein.

RR: Where/how was it recorded and why do you think it has got such a good response in the UK?

HP: I produced/engineered and basically played everything on the album, quickly, in my own tiny studio, with a few friends helping out on the tricky stuff (like strings/cello, or a slide guitar solo etc) and the odd backing vocal. This probably helped it sound like “an album of rough-hewn charm” as The Sunday Times called it... I think people liked the honesty of the album, musically and lyrically...and also it seemed to appeal to people “of a certain age”...and it was lucky that some of those people were producers and DJ’s on BBC’s national (and most-listened to station) Radio 2.

RR: Your current music has been described as “music for grumpy old men” by BBC Radio 2. Do you feel that is accurate? How would you describe your music?

HP: Yes, one of the aforementioned DJ’s came up with that phrase...”Grumpy Old Men” was a very successful light-hearted, wry documentary series here in the UK (about the trials and tribulations of getting older), featuring actors, comedians and even well respected DJ the late John Peel, so I didn’t really mind people saying it, if it helped them give me a genre...but I wouldn’t necessarily agree..there’s a lot of hope in the record.

RR: What are you currently up to musically? Is there a planned follow to Chronicles of Modern Life in the works? If so how will it sound as compared to Chronicles?

HP: I’m always writing with/for other people, and have continued to do that, and managed to get a few cuts on albums this year. I actually started on the follow up to Chronicles last year, but what with losing my Mum and a few other things, I downed-tools on the project, but am now ready to pick up the gauntlet again...I think if I’d have finished it last year it would have sounded more like Chronicles...now I want to make it a bit different..I don’t want to bore people with the same stuff again...nobody’s exactly waiting for it, so I may as well make it as good as poss..in the meantime I’ve discovered the joys of live performance (just me, a guitar and a uke) and am loving it!

These days the 'net has opened up things recording -wise so much, and on the forthcoming album (probably due in spring 2012), I've got Probyn Gregory from Brian Wilson's band playing French Horn, and trombone...I never met him, just sent him the tracks and two days later his brass parts came back over the 'net...it's amazing isn't it?...otherwise it's mainly me playing the usual guitar, bass, keys and drums stuff.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Pack AD - Rid of Me
2. The Milkshakes - Jaguar and Thunderbird
3. Modern Lovers - I'm Straight
4. Verdix - Looking Around
5. The Calling - The World
6. The Unusuals - Hit and Run
7. The Singles - T.V. Deceives
8. It's Immaterial - Driving Away From Home
9. Yachts - Yachting Types
10. The Videodromes - Steve Mcqueen
11. Klark Kent - Don't Care
12. Wreckless Eric - Semaphore Signals
13. The Clash - Overpowered By Funk
14. Magazine - Look What Fears Done To My Body (Peel Session)
15. Siskiyou - Keep Away The Dead
16. Elliot Brood - West End Shy
17. Henry Priestman - Grey's The New Blonde
18. Henry Priestman - It's Called A Heart
19. Them - I Can Only Give You Everything
20. The Ugly Ducklings - Girl Out of Time
21. The Kinks - Come On Now (Alternate Vocal Version)
22. Harlem - Spray Paint
23. The Rezillos - I Can't Stand My Baby
24. The Damned - Fan Club

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 30. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Luger Boa Jimmy Christmas Interview & Show # 366

In November of 2008, New Zealand Rock band Luger Boa released their first full length album titled Mutate or Die! The album and band was formed out of the ashes of New Zealand Garage Rock band The D4 and following the release of this album, the band toured extensively playing festivals and all over New Zealand. The album even charted here in Canada in January of 2009 on CJAM’s Earshot! Charts at number ten on the top 30 album charts. Luger Boa received a positive critical acclaim locally in New Zealand even winning an award for the Best Local Rock song in 2009 for the song “On My Mind”. The new album was released in May of 2011 and was entitled New Hot Nights.  It loosely revolves around the concept of an extreme night out of drinking and the repercussions there of. New Hot Nights still maintains the Hard Rock/Glam Rock influence that the band first built upon, while at the same time adding more Pop and other elements into the mix for a unique sound.

Recently I was fortunate enough to get an interview with front man Jimmy Christmas to talk about the band.  The following interview was done between myself (Dave Konstantino of Revolution Rock) and Jimmy Christmas (of Luger Boa). He touches on the recording of New Hot Nights, the current band line up, his favourite albums, and more.

RR: Luger Boa's first album, Mutate or Die! was released in 2008. How has the band changed since then and how has the support been for the band in New Zealand?

JC: Support for Luger Boa has been incredible in NZ, we seem to attract a really diehard following who, once committed, are unrelenting (and sometimes unsettling!) in their dedication to the cause. Which is great. Live shows therefore tend to be very intense, high energy, and unpredictable. I really love that.

RR: The band line up has changed a few times, who is in the current line up of Luger Boa?
 JC: Luger Boa is Jimmy Xmas - Vox/Guitar, Sam Lockley - Guitar, Simon Nicholls - Bass, Joe Mac - Drums, Johnny Lyon - Guitar. Johnny is the newest addition to a line-up that has been pretty solid for the past 2 years and the core of which played on the latest album. His arrival seems to have injected us with even more energy and the whole machine has picked up ferocity and pace. It's feeling really good right now.

RR: Mutate or Die! had a Glam Rock and Pop influence, what influences did you draw from when making New Hot Nights?

JC: I think we are still working the Glam influence, Bowie, Iggy, a touch of the Sweet perhaps? I've always been a sucker for injecting small fragments of War of The Worlds here and there, and of course there's all the garage, punk, and rock n roll that makes us who we are. I think we even might of had a few Cars and Talking Heads moments from time to time, but again, as with then first album, the goal was always to build a Frankenstein’s monster made of all those twisted little flavors we love.

RR: Where was New Hot Nights recorded and when did the recording process begin?

JC: The bulk of the album was tracked at a residential studio in the countryside, in an old converted sheep barn. That sells it a bit short though cos all the equipment had come from one of the countries world standard studios, so the place felt and sounded incredible. There was even a bar in the main recording room, which suited us just fine! We tracked the core of it over a ten day period, then I took it all back to a secret laboratory in Melbourne where we twisted it up, turned it on its head, and tied the stories to the music, and vice versa.

RR: Who did you work with when making this album (ie: Producers, engineers, etc.)?

JC: We were joined once again by the incomparable Barry Palmer, wearing his snug fitting Producers cap. This time however, it was he that suffered the now obligatory physical damage, in the form of a broken nose and black eye. Last record I got glassed on the forehead and wear a little smiley faced scar to this day. The album was engineered by Andy Baldwin, resident of NYC and a man of culture and refinement. He's the type who always travels with a bottle of Tabasco sauce in his pocket, and is a mad genius when it comes to twiddling knobs and getting sweet sounds.

RR: What type of gear did you use when recording this record? (ie: guitars/amps, etc.)

JC: We had access to an amazing array of amplification on this album, and used a whole myriad of sounds depending on what we were after. Ryan Thomas, long time member and electronic wizard, runs a business where he imports boutique valve amps, so the options where many. My favourite though was probably a little 2 watt valve head he made himself. Its sounds like a cornered Tasmanian devil, so it fit in perfectly. Between the band members we have a pretty sweet array of old fender and Gibson guitars, the odd musicman, and a crazy 70's lawsuit series Ibanez I found abandoned on the street one night.

RR: You have described New Hot Nights as "12 deliciously twisted tales from the concrete jungle" and I have also read that is loosely based around a concept. Could you elaborate on this?

JC: During the creative period for the album, I was spending a lot of time in a bar on Auckland infamous red lights strip, known locally as K'Rd. Smoking cigarettes and talking on the street outside the bar meant I was a witness to a whole mass of humanity passing each other by, feeling each other up, and crashing into one another at strange hours of the night. It got me thinking about all the stories and characters that were inhabiting that small corner of the world, and how diverse and intense it was at those hours. So I guess the lyrical ideas were drawn from observations of the people on the street, and are attempts to inhabit the minds of a whole mess of characters at various stages of one long night out. Loosely anyway. Heh. We had a great time with the artwork too, photographing the street, then re-editing the layout and shop names to create our own fictional environment, which we then populated with the creatures from the stories. The whole process involved a lot of crazy nights in, on, around and beneath K'Rd. We loved every minute.

RR: Has the song writing process changed at all as opposed to the last album or recordings that you have made in the past?

JC: Not really, it still pretty much involves a lot of alcohol, volume, and damn good times!

RR: What are some of your all time favourite albums and what are some other bands that you are currently listening to?

JC: The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics, The Litter - Distortions, The Stooges - Fun House, David Bowie - The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars, The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady, Iron Maiden - The Number of The Beast, ACDC - If You Want Blood (or to be honest, any Bon Scott era album), Radio Birdman - Radios Appear, and that’s just today heh.

Right now though, I'm listening to a lot of T- Bone Walker & early Ike & Tina. I also just rediscovered a live version of Al Green singing Belle, which is probably one of the best things I've seen on the interweb lately. Oh, and some great footage of Kiss playing at Winterland in 1975. Rock n fucking roll.

RR: What are your plans for the future musically?

JC: Right now, we are focussed on getting this beast offshore. We have done great here, but with no forward momentum there is no future, and I really believe we have something a certain kind of person is gonna wanna see, so we feel a responsibility to bring it to them.

This Week's Play List:

1. White Stripes - Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine
2. The Cliques - She Ain't No Good
3. The Stomach Mouths - Don't Put Me Down
4. The Speaking Tongues - Looking In Your Window (Live Third Floor Session)
5. The Express & Co. - Montreal
6. John Jenkins' Small Town Revival - Small Town Revival
7. The Schomburg Fair - Some Things Never Change
8. The Pagans - Yeah Yeah
9. The Cosmonauts - Little Honda
10. XX Teens - Onkawara
11. The Rapture - Whoo! Alright Yeah ... Uh Huh
12. The Killermeters - Twisted Wheel 
13. The Purple Hearts - My Life's A Jigsaw
14. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Crawling To The USA 
15. The Only Ones - Me And My Shadow
16. The Braineaters - Rock Rock
17. 222's - Always Around
18. The Squad - Millionaire
19. Young Canadians - No Escape
20. Luger Boa - 1000 Hooks 
21. Luger Boa - Lazy
22. Albert Hammond Jr. - Everyone Gets A Star
23. Queens of The Stone Age - Into The Hollow
24. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed (Live Acton Town Hall 2002)


To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 23. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

They're Back Again ... The Cigarettes Story & Show # 365

In 1978 a band came out of Lincoln in the UK, they gained a good degree of local success, but on a major scale they were largely ignored. While they did receive airplay on the John Peel radio show in the UK, as well as recording some Peel Sessions for the program the band The Cigarettes only ever released an EP and a single while they were still active. The Cigarettes were a trio of musicians consisting of Rob Smith on guitar/vocals/piano, Steve Taylor on bass/vocals and Adam Palmer on drums. The band was also difficult to pinpoint due to the fact that they mixed a variety of styles and a public image that was not easily defined. Were they Punk? Were they Mod? Were they Power Pop? You could argue for either avenue of musical justification, but the truth is they were all of the above. They looked kind of like Mod’s their music mixed a variety of elements that at times sounded like Power Pop topped off with a Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch flare, but in other circumstances they also sounded like a straight up 77 era UK Punk band or a Mod Rock band. 

In 1979, The Cigarettes released a three track EP featuring the songs “They’re Back Again, Here They Come”, “I’ve Forgot My Number (Now I’m Telling You My Name)” and “All We Want Is Your Money”. This EP which was titled They're Back Again, Here They Come, mixed the previously aforementioned genres and proves to be the strongest release in the bands catalogue while they were still active. A single followed in 1980 called “I Can’t Sleep At Night”, it would be one of their last releases. The band split in 1981. The Cigarettes were also featured on a few compilations, which over the years kept them in the knowledge of the few underground musicologists. In 2002, The Cigarettes released a 30 track album compiling material from their 1979 EP, 1980 single, unreleased studio tracks, live tracks and John Peel Session tracks. The Cigarettes – Will Damage Your Health was released on Detour Records and is the definitive compilation of a short lived UK band that no matter what ingredients made up their recipe for music, the results speak for themselves.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Polymorphines - Anna Lee
2. CHAPPO - Petrified Sand
3. The Gruesomes - Your Lies
4. The Ugly - Stranded In The Laneway
5. Sneak Peak - Walk All Over Me (Live)
6. The Skeletones Four - Pick Up The Pieces
7. The British Columbians - Teeth of The Sea
8. Dog Day - Nothing To Do
9. John Doe - Never Enough
10. Mark Broadie & The Beaver Patrol - Phantom Wave
11. The Tornadoes - Moon Dawg
12. Takeshi Terauchi - The Theme of Terry
13. Chang-A-Lang - Save The Environment
14. Little Girls - Delaware
15. The Bagg Team - Flip, Flip, Flip
16. The Passengers - Face With No Name
17. The Hitmen - I Don't Mind
18. The Fun Things - Savage
19. The Primmers - You're Gonna Get Done
20. The Spelling Mistakes - Hate Me Hate Me
21. Terrorways - Short Haired Rock n' Roll
22. The Cigarettes - I've Forgot My Number (Now I'm Telling You My Name)
23. The Cigarettes - They're Back Again, Here They Come
24. The Vores - Forget That Guy
25. The MC5 - Call Me Animal
26. Devo - Uncontrollable Urge

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 16. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Johnny Cash ... From Memphis To Hollywood (Five Minutes To Live) & Show # 364

In 1961 a low budget Crime Thriller film was released, it starred Johnny Cash and was entitled Five Minutes To Live. The story portrays a character Johnny Cabot, who gets entangled with a mobster as part of a plan involving the wife of a bank vice president being held hostage. The film also stars a young then unknown Ron Howard, Vic Tayback, and Merle Travis. In addition to this, the story revolves around a gang of people that ring the door bell of an unsuspecting household, killing whoever answers. There is one problem for Cash’s character, while he is a deranged killer, he will not deal with children or harm them for that matter. Johnny Cash also plays guitar throughout the film, as well as providing music for the films soundtrack. There was some confusion to the films title when it was re-released in the late 60s as Door-To-Dorr Maniac. This was not the only film to feature Johnny Cash as an actor, but it was one of the first films to feature him as an actor. He was later in numerous TV movies and shows such as Columbo, The Little House On The Prairie, The Simpsons, Renegade and more. Johnny Cash was not always known for his acting ability, he has appeared in so many things, but they are not all good.  This movie while it itsn't the most elaborate film ever made, it is a strange unique one at that.  The movie, which is now under public domain status, lives on. It is available not only online, but on DVD as well. This is cult classic B-movie material.

What is interesting about the song “Five Minutes To Live” is that it is a seemingly forgotten track in the Cash catalogue, it is briefly mentioned in the linear notes for the Johnny Cash - Bootleg Volume II: Memphis To Hollywood album. The notes make no refrence to the movie of the same name, but the song "Five Minutes To Live" and "The Losing Kind" were recorded for the films soundtrack in November of 1960. The song "Five Minutes To Live" is also sung and played on guitar by Johnny Cash in the film. The rest of the Bootleg Volume II album covers various points in Johnny's early career, ranging from early acoustic demos of songs such as "I Walk The Line", to outtakes and hard to find singles, some of which have never been released in the US in CD or digital form. The album features 57 tracks and is a good showcase of Cash's talents.

This week's program was three hours! I filled in for Some Folk Get The Blues, which usually airs from 9 AM to 10:30 AM. So this week my program was extended by an hour and a half and this week it can be downloaded in two parts. The download links can be found after the play lists below.

This Week's Play List:

Part One
Revolution Blues (Some Folk Get The Blues Fill In)

1. The Stooges - TV Eye (Takes 7 & 8)
2. Sonny Boy Williamson - Eyesight To The Blind
3. Robert Johnson - Milkcow's Calf Blues
4. John Faely - Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace of King Phillip XIV of Spain
5. Joan Baez - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
6. Stingin' Hornets - Hornet Hive Hop
7. Crooked Brothers - 17 Horses
8. Johnny West - I'm Not Your Dirty Little Secret Anymore
9. Lonesome Lefty - Millonaires
10. Johnny Cash - Five Minutes To Live
11. Johnny Cash - The Losing Kind
12. The Locusts Have No King - Trench Song (Live)
13. The Ettes - I Stayed Too Late
14. Toques and Beards - Stand Tall
15. Big Sugar - Come A Little Closer
16. Paul Revere & The Raiders - I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone
17. The Modern Lovers - Road Runner
18. Klark Kent - Thrills
19. The Fall - Psykick Dancehall
20. Crocodiles - Flash of Light
21. Rotten Tropics - The Dross
22. Public Image Limited - Pop Tones
23. Twilight Hotel - Viva La Vinyl

Download Part One here.

Part Two
Revolution Rock

24. XTC - Beatdown
25. Crash 80s - Waiting For The Heat
26. The Enigmas - Bad Meat
27. Spiral Scratch - Jimmy Was A Virus
28. The Users - Kicks In Style
29. Terminal Sunglasses - Antenna Dilemma
30. Generation X - This Heat
31. ATV - Action Time Vision
32. Surfer Blood - Territorial Pissings
33. Indian Wars - George Ellis
34. Hoa Hoas - All The Time
35. Papermaps - Forever
36. Simply Saucer - Dance The Mutation
37. The Saints - Erotic Neurotic
38. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dead Man In My Bed
39. The Velvet Underground - Some Kinda Love (Live At Max's Kansas City)
40. Nothing At All - Confused
41. The Hives - Love In Plaster
42. The Black Swans - My Brother
43. The Black Angels - Yellow Elevator # 2
44. Arctic Monkeys - Black Treacle
45. The Black Lips - Leroy Faster

Download Part Two here.

Subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Ballad Of A Thin Man ... Revisited & Show # 363

Originally released in 1965 as part of the Highway 61 Revisited album, "Ballad of A Thin Man" is a song that seems to be surrounded by mystery and question the very definition of what it is to be an artist and not understood by the media. The song, while in album form clocks in around six minutes, when played live (which is still being done) would stretch out to seven minutes and beyond. The song tells the story of a confused Mr. Jones who seems to be lost in a world of people of freaks, not unlike a circus in a bewildered state. Musically the song takes on a darker sophistication, featuring heavy piano, haunting organ, guitar lines that crawl in out of nowhere and a plodding drum pattern. In between all this Dylan unravels a story only like he can attacking while at the same time conveying Mr. Jones and the errors of his ways. So what is this song about? Like great literature it is left open to interpretation, but the song proves, like all of Highway 61 Revisited does that Rock music can be sophisticated and literate. It has been said by Dylan himself that there have been many “Mr. Joneses”.

Speculation has led people to claim that this song originated around the journalist/reporter Jeffery Jones, who interviewed Bob Dylan just before his infamous performance at the 1965 Newport Music Festival, where he went electric. He even claimed so in a Rolling Stone interview at one point, but Dylan had this to say about who is the alleged Mr. Jones in an interview:

"He's a pinboy. He also wears suspenders. He's a real person. You know him, but not by that name... I saw him come into the room one night and he looked like a camel. He proceeded to put his eyes in his pocket. I asked this guy who he was and he said, "That's Mr. Jones." Then I asked this cat, "Doesn't he do anything but put his eyes in his pocket?" And he told me, "He puts his nose on the ground." It's all there, it's a true story."

Anyone who listens to Dylan would come to the realization that like a lot of his songs, this one is open to interpretation. To dissect the song and analyze its meanings is perhaps the very definition of being a “Mr. Jones”. So while some may see it as an outright statement of opinion and a musicians artistic statements, it could also be seen as a song about certain people who hide behind their so called credentials, not really seeing things as they are, instead criticizing and asking why when it is not really relevant. It could also be seen as the world around Mr. Jones being a bizarre circus, because of his close minded perceptions, while in reality it is just the opposite, he is out of touch with the world around him. Then again, "Ballad of A Thin Man" could also be said to just be a great song with a story open to interpretation. It’s up to you.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Lurkers - Mass Media Believer
2. The Jam - Pretty Green
3. The Mods - Wasting My Time
4. The Dishrags - Love/Hate
5. Color Me Psycho - Black Corveir
6. The Ten Commandments - Not True
7. The Haunted - Horror Show
8. 101ers - Sweet Revenge
9. Guided By Voices - Postal Blowfish
10. Lime Spiders - 25th Hour
11. Katalina Kicks - Revolution
12. Brilliant Colors - How Much Younger
13. Deja Voodoo - Red Garlic Shoes
14. Dik Van Dykes - Obvious Filler
15. Rotten Tropics - Murky
16. The Stranglers - Outside Tokyo
17. Johnny West - A Puppet Playing Possum
18. Neil Young International Harvesters - Bound For Glory
19. Television - Marquee Moon (Alternate Version)
20. The Pagans - Not Now, No Way
21. Bob Dylan - Ballad Of A Thin Man (Live ABC Theater Edinburgh, Scotland 1966)

Tanz Der Youth & Show # 362

Following his departure from The Damned in 1978, Brian James (former Damned guitarist) formed a new group featuring members of Hawkwind and Warsaw Pakt. This band was called Tanz Der Youth. The group consisted of Brian James on guitar/vocals, Andy Colqhoun on bass, Allen Powell on drums and Tony Moor on Keyboards. Brian once described the band as "Transmagical; the sound of the eighties." The bands sound was not like the Damend per-se, but their sound built upon the foundations that James set for the group in their early days, also with the addition of keyboards, the songs seem to have more space and a New Wave Stranglers-like feel.

In September of 1978, Tanz Der Youth released their one and only single as a group, I’m Sorry I’m Sorry” backed with “Delay” on Radar. The band was very short lived, but they did play some live dates with Hard Rock group Black Sabbath, after seven live dates on a supporting slot for Sabbath on a major tour the band backed out partially due to the negative reaction from fans. In terms of recording the band never made any other official recordings before disbanding, with the exception of a John Peel BBC Session, which featured the band playing four tracks. The tracks included were the two from their 1978 single, “I’m Sorry I’m Sorry” , “Delay” and two additional previously unreleased tracks “Why I Die”, and “Mistaken” which can be currently found floating around the internet. Following the split James went on to form two other short lived groups, Brian James & The Brains featuring a variety of Punk personal including John Towe, Alan Lee Shaw, Alvin Gibbs and Stewart Copeland of The Police (who appeared on some recorded tracks). He would later play in the band Lords of New Church with Stiv Bators, one of his longest running post-Damned bands.  Currently Brian James plays in his new group The Brian James Gang. 

This Week's Play List:

1. Hot Nasties - Invasion of the Tribbles!
2. 63 Monroe - The Battle
3. Buzzcocks - Why She's A Girl From The Chainstore
4. City Sweethearts - War In My Head (Radio 3 Session)
5. Baby Shambles - French Dog Blues
6. Jerry Jerry & The Sons of Rhythm Orchestra - Radical Look
7. The Brains - We Gotta Go
8. Johnny Cash - The Man In Black (Live On The Johnny Cash Show 1971)
9. The Disappeared - Some Truths (Are Self Evident)
10. Speaking Tongues - Going Back To Memphis (Third Floor Session)
11. Dex Romweber Duo - Nowhere
12. Eddie Vedder - Once In A While
13. Portugal The Man - Floating
14. The Horrors - Monica Gems
15. Le Butcherettes - Tonight
16. Tanz Der Youth - I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry
17. Tanz Der Youth - Delay
18. UIC - 2+2=?
19. 999 - I'm Alive
20. Ramones - Havana Affair
21. Luger Boa - Lazy
22. Luger Boa - The Same Things
23. The Hook Up - Radar
24. Lou Reed - Crazy Feeling (Alternate Version)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 26. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Friday At The Hideout

This Friday I filled in for CJAM's Willy Wilson on the program Friday's At The Hideout. In the hideout this week at CJAM we took shelter in a collection of Garage Rock, Surf and Punk Rock. Willy Wilson also hosts the program The Motorcity is Burning every Tuesday at 7 PM, Friday's At The Hideout can be heard every Friday from 8-10 PM.  The program can be downloaded below.

Friday's At The Hideout Play List:

1. The Stooges - Real Cool Time (Alternate Version)
2. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - I Wanna Be Your Dog (Live Max's Kansas City 1978)
3. Thee Oh Sees - I Need Seed
4. The Sonics - Psycho
5. The Black Lips - Mad Dog
6. Ty Segall - My Head Explodes
7. Hooded Fang - Vacationation
8. Link Wray - Dueces Wild
9. The Surfdusters - Save The Waves
10. Les Jaguars - Shake
11. The Tornadoes - Moon Dawg
12. Jan Davis - Watusi Zombie
13. The Black Lips - Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah
14. Solomon Burke - Detroit City
15. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Ramshackle Day Parade
16. Undertones - Here Comes The Summer
17. Wire - Sand In My Joints
18. The Diodes - Behind Those Eyes
19. The Red Squares - Ottawa Today
20. Pointed Sticks - Lies
21. The Gruesomes - Cave-in!
22. The Invasions - She'll Let you Know
23. The Shakers - Baby It's True
24. Deja Voodoo - Cheese and Crackers
25. The Cramps - TV Set
26. Nirvana - Very Ape
27. Alex Chilton - Lost My Job
28. Magic Hall of Mirrors - Your Mountaintop
29. Compulsive Gamblers - Don't Haunt Me
30. The Black Angels - 18 Years
31. Fire Engines - Get Up and Use Me
32. Public Image Limited - Analisa
33. New Clientelle - Shades
34. The Fall - Fiery Jack

Download the show here.

Johnny Thunders So Alone & Show # 361

Following the split of his Punk Rock group Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers after the recording of their L.A.M.F. album, Johnny Thunders (real name Anthony Genzale Jr.) recorded his first solo effort with Steve Lillywhite producing. For this effort Johnny showed off his own style of heroin soaked Blues and Rock music. It blended elements of 60s Rock, Doo Wop, Soul and Punk, in Johnny’s unique sloppy fashion he pulls off not only one of the best releases in his musical legacy, but also one of his most focused. The album featured reworkings of songs originally by The New York Dolls, such as “Leave Me Alone” (originally recorded as “Chatterbox” with the Dolls), and “Subway Train”. Along with these songs the album featured a cover of The Chantays Surf classic “Pipeline”, and R&B rave ups of “Daddy Rollin’ Stone” (Otis Blackwell), “Great Big Kiss” (The Shangri-Las). There is also a version of “London Boys”, which comes off sounding like a Heartbreakers outtake (which it was), the song was written in response to “New York” by the Sex Pistols, which poked fun at The New York Dolls. Ironically and perhaps purposely the song features both Paul Cook (drums) and Steve Jones (guitar) of the Sex Pistols in instrumental form. The album also featured an all-star cast of guest musicians such as Steve Jones and Paul Cook of Sex Pistols (as previously mentioned), Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, Steve Marriot of The Faces, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Peter Perrett of The Only Ones, as well as some of the members of The Heartbreakers (Walter Lure & Billy Rath) and of course Johnny Thunders himself who weaves in and out amongst the songs.

One of the standout tracks is the ballad “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory”, which is a song that is seemingly about Johnny’s battles with drug addiction. But the song has its origins in Johnny’s past, it was apparently written when he was 19 years old and before he was a member of The New York Dolls. The title also was taken from a line in the classic TV show The Honeymooners and written for a close friend of his Fabienne Shine. Regardless of these facts, the song which features backing guitar/vocals by Only Ones member Peter Perrett is a lost classic. So Alone was originally released with ten tracks in 1978, but when it was reissued on CD the album was appended to include four additional tracks, “Dead Or Alive" which was a 1978 single very much in the vein of a “London Boys” styled track was recorded with a backing band referred to as The Living Dead that featured members of The Sex Pistols, The Only Ones, and Eddie & The Hotrods (all of who are featured on different tracks found on So Alone). There is also the non album track “Hurtin’” and two previously unreleased album tracks the haunting “So Alone”, and the harmonica and almost Rockabilly fuelled “The Wizard”.

So Alone blends elements of Thunders musical projects up to that point, there are elements of The New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers and a sense of his R&B roots. The album is a mix of originals and covers, some of which at that point were just features of live sets that he played with The Heartbreakers. While it may not be as fast paced as The Heartbreakers L.A.M.F., So Alone displays Johnny Thunders at his musical best. Unfortunately Johnny’s later recordings were not as consistent, but So Alone stills stands as pure Rock and Roll moment in Johnny Thunders history.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Rezillos - Flying Saucer Attack
2. The Computers -Blood Is Thicker
3. The Ex-Boyfriends - Never Been Happier
4. Golden Hands Before God - Communist Party
5. Ride Theory - Motel Woman
6. The Staccatos - You Only Live Once
7. Standells - Sometimes Goodguys Don't Wear White (Album Version)
8. Thee Oh Sees - A Wall, A Century 2
9. Ty Segall - California Commercial
10. Surf City - Retro
11. Peter Kernel - Anthem of Hearts
12. Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
13. Sons & Daughters - Breaking Fun
14. Square Root of Margaret - Run For The Door
15. Blam Blam Blam - Battleship Grey
16. The Demics - The News
17. Blue Peter - Cloak & Dagger
18. Secrets - Take Another Look
19. Radio Birdman - Breaks My Heart
20. Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory
21. Johnny Thunders - Dead or Alive
22. The Pixies - River Euphrates
23. Klark Kent - Thrills
24. The Black Lips - Noc-A-Homa
25. King Khan & BBQ Show - Truth or Dare
26. The D4 - Joe Orton's Wedding

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 19. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Interesting and Controversial Moments on SNL & Show # 360

This week I thought I would visit three interesting and exciting moments in the musical history of the television program Saturday Night Live. While a whole radio show could be made out of the excellent musical performances that this show has produced over the years its beginnings, and numerous TV specials have been made surrouding such performances, i'm not sure if a radio program has focused on these performances.  Today I will focus on three moments, two of which created controversy with the show and the shows producer Lorne Michaels.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Less Than Zero/Radio Radio (1977)

In December of 1977, Elvis Costello & The Attractions appeared on Saturday Night Live as a last minute replacement for the Sex Pistols, who were unable to get passports. This is perhaps the most infamous appearance that a band had on the show. There have been a few reasons thrown around as to why the band were not supposed to play the song “Radio Radio”. It has been said that his US record label wanted Costello to play an already known song “Less Than Zero” for an audience for better promotional purposes of the American release of My Aim is True and This Years Model. Another reason given was that SNL producer Lorne Michaels did not want the song to be broadcast because of its lyrics which negatively portrayed the commercialized state of radio and media, and also that it would put the show off schedule. Regardless of what happened, in true Punk Rock fashion Costello stopped the band from playing “Less Than Zero” after a few bars and then launched into a furious rendition of the then unreleased “Radio, Radio”. Costello was banned from the show for 25 years, until 1989. Also in 1999 as part of SNL’s 25th anniversary The Beastie Boys began playing “Sabotage” only to be stopped by Elvis Costello, they then ran through an energy high version of “Radio Radio”.

The Replacements – Bastards of Young (1986)

In January of 1986, The Minneapolis Punk band The Replacements appeared on Saturday Night Live to promote their new album Tim, released on Sire Records. They got banned after their performance, but it was due to a few factors. For one, they showed up wasted for their performance, the second thing that occurred was apparently during the performance of this song and the second song (“Kiss Me On The Bus”) the band were uttering profanities. While they may have been off mic and not heard very clearly, this was most definitely due to their inebriations. The most obvious slip was apparently before the solo of “Bastards of Young” where singer Paul Westerberg said the F-word to the audience. As a result, the band were banned from Saturday Night Live. In re-runs of the episode this part was edited out. Paul Westerberg appeared on the program later on to promote his solo career, redeeming himself.

The Specials – Gangsters (1980)

The Ska revival act The Specials appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1980. This performance was not controversial per-se, but rather a highly energetic and fascinating live moment that occurred in the TV show’s history. This version of the bands then single “Gangsters” featured a band jumping around with excitement and guitar solos that grip you and suck you in. The band is clearly on playing excellently, they would also perform the song “Too Much Too Young” in a similar fashion. After watching this performance you can see and feel the energy of not only Punk attitude, but Rock and Roll.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Dundrells - Big Chunk of Fudge
2. The Cassettes - Reverberate
3. The Dials - Get Up and Dance
4. Planet Smashers - Hippopotamus
5. The Specials - Gangsters (Live SNL)
6. Bob Marley - Punky Reggae Party
7. King Tubby - Dub Seven
8. Arctic Monkeys - The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala
9. Hooded Fang - ESP
10. Pink Mountaintops - Single Life
11. Invasions - Rat Bastard
12. The Davey Parker Radio Sound - I Gotta Know
13. Chang A-Lang - Listen Up Buttercup
14. Young Circles - 2012
15. Audrey and The Agents - Don't Think Twice
16. Sloan - I've Gotta Know
17. Luger Boa - New Hot Nights
18. Dirty Pretty Things - Run Fatboy Run
19. Harlem - Gay Human Bones
20. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Radio Radio (Live SNL)
21. The Replacements - Bastards of Young (Live SNL)
22. Motorhead - Too Late, Too Late
23. Nick Lowe - American Squirm
24. Magazine - My Mind Ain't So Open

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 12. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.