Tommy Ramone (1949-2014) & Show # 519

On July 11th, 2014 Tommy Ramone (real name Thomas Erdeyi) passed away due to complications with bile duct cancer, he was 65. Best known as the drummer of the influential punk band the Ramones from 1974-1978, Tommy helped to define the band’s early sound that has since become vastly influential on music. Prior to playing in Ramones, Tommy played guitar in a high school garage rock band in 1966 with John Cummings (later known as Johnny Ramone). The band was known as The Tangerine Puppets and Tommy actually played guitar in the group, Johnny played bass. The group split up in 1967. Tommy reconnected with Johnny during the embryotic stages of the Ramones. Starting as a three-piece band, with Joey Ramone on drums, Dee Dee Ramone bass/vocals and Johnny Ramone on guitar, Tommy was initially supposed to manage the group.  After Joey put down his drumsticks to take up vocals, Tommy Ramone stepped in to become the group’s drummer. Tommy played drums on Ramones first three albums (Ramones, Leave Home and Rocket To Russia) and would also serve as co-producer on those albums. He assisted in producing 1978’s Road To Ruin, the first album to feature Marky Ramone on drums. He also has production credits for the band's live album, It's Alive and 1984’s Too Tough To Die. It's Alive was recorded in 1977, but not released until 1979.

Tommy left the Ramones to focus more on his interest in music production. He apparently first worked as an assistant engineer at the age of 18 on Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies album in 1970. Tommy would also produce The Replacements 1985 album Tim, Neurotica by Red Kross in 1987 and a few others such as Talking Heads “Love --> Building On Fire” single in 1977. Tommy also released an album as Uncle Monk a blue grass country group in 2006, featuring Claudia Tienan a guitarist, bassist and vocalist that was formerly in The Simplistics. While he has been involved in music production, he is still known as one of the four founding members of the Ramones, all of which now have unfortunately passed away. Tommy’s drum style mixed with the Ramones brand of music that would later be called punk music, but the music also featured strong melodies and can be traced back to influences of 60s pop music, surf music and 70s proto punk.

In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1975, Tommy described the band’s sound, which was drastically differed during a period of over indulgent mainstream music: "Our music is an answer to the early Seventies when artsy people with big egos would do vocal harmonies and play long guitar, solos and get called geniuses. That was bullshit. We play rock & roll. We don't do solos. Our only harmonics are in the overtones from the guitar chords." Although the Ramones did not receive mainstream commercial success during their time, the effects of their loud, fast and abrasive songs that are attached with catchy melodies are still heard throughout music today.

Saturday Night Play List:

1. The Gears - Don’t Be Afraid To Pogo
2. The Kids - Do You Wanna Know
3. Zig Zags - The Fog
4. C’mon - Easier Said Than Done
5. Mark Lofgren - Pocketful Of Bliss
6. Vibrant Fiasco - Lizard LIps
7. The Walkabouts - Got No Chains
8. Anagram - Evil
9. Le Butcherettes - Tonight
10. Fakes - Sabrina
11. Walrus - Glam Returns
12. The Bell Peppers - Campfire Waltz
13. The Specials - Do Nothing
14. The English Beat - Click Click
15. Holy Wave - Surfin’ MTA
16. Sixpence - In The Building
17. Inexpensive Handmade Look - What Good Is Up?
18. The Pretty Things - You Don’t Believe Me
19. The Flaming Lips - Can’t Let It Go
20. Indian Wars - Bullfrog
21. The Standells - Try It
22. Ugly Ducklings - Just In Case You Wonder
23. Light Bulb Alley - Eye In The Sky
24. Lost Patrol - Sellin’ My Mind
25. Elvis Costello - I'm Not Angry
26. Undertones - I Told You So
27. Protex - Listening In
28. Nirvana - Sappy
29. Ramones - Swallow My Pride
30. Ramones - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
31. Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy

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.

Paul Jacobs Mouldy Love EP & Show # 518

Last we heard of Windsor artist Paul Jacobs he was heading out to Montreal, now he is in Paris France. Just before he took off for France, Paul came back to Windsor and laid down some recordings for his new EP entitled Mouldy Love. Working once again with his Jimmy Miller-like producer Josh Kaiser, Paul recorded again with Kaiser Sound Productions offering something different from April’s full length I Need A Place To Keep My Stuff. Normally playing as a one man band with a foot drum set up so that he can play guitar, drums and vocals all at once, this time around he went for a more full band approach. Mouldy Love was recorded with a full drum kit and bass, something that hasn’t been featured on any of Paul’s recent solo recordings in a traditional form.

The EP starts with the title track “Mouldy Love”, which comes off with a 60’s Kinks guitar sound, a collection of infectious handclaps and a bit of vocal delay. All of these elements bounce in between the primal drumbeats throughout this track. This song is probably one of the catchiest songs Paul has laid down yet. “That Feeling” features acoustic guitar blended with staccato electric guitar parts and driving bass rhythms. Lyrically the song seems to convey a feeling of strangeness brought on by insomnia with lyrics such as “I hear those church bells ringing it’s the strangest thing/All the people they’re staring waiting for more” and “I see an old man yelling at the TV screen/He never took a step outside his door”. The lyrics in the chorus “I’m so tired/It’s not fair/They can’t see me/They don’t care/I never want to wake up here no more” seem to further back up this strange feeling that is conveyed lyrically, musically the song is as strong as the distorted guitar solo that ends out this track.

The third track on this EP, “You Got Soul” first appeared on Paul Jacobs first self-titled solo album back in 2013, but actually dates back to his days playing with his three piece band Raised By Weeds. With the assistance of bass and a bit of re-arranging on Paul’s part, it is not as frenetic as the earlier version of this song. “You Got Soul” appears here with more space and builds up to the louder parts rather than crashing together all at once, while lyrically it tells us that “It don’t matter” what you do as long as “You got soul” you can do it your way. “Ocean City” ends the Mouldy Love EP on a more mid-tempo note. The song is dominated by a steady bassline and guitar that fills in the gaps of the spaces though out this song. At the halfway point, the song slows down and builds up into a force of riffs, drums and vocals with delay/reverb emulating the effect of a vicious tidal wave before it fades out with tense vibrations of feedback.

The Mouldy Love EP changes the process so to speak in terms of how Paul Jacobs has been executing his solo albums. While his previous releases were all unique in their own way, Mouldy Love takes those sounds and adds the bass element. This seems to combine both elements of Paul’s previous band Raised By Weeds and the sounds that have been dominating his albums and releases since Paul Jacobs first self-titled album in 2013. With bass it doesn’t sound too different to be drastically different. With the Mouldy Love EP, Paul Jacobs creates a new mould for his own sound, one that sounds fresh.



Saturday Night Play List:

1. Generation X - Kiss Me Deadly
2. Toni McCann - No
3. The Small Faces - All Or Nothing
4. Night Beats - Hex
5. Wolf Mountains - Hold Yr Girl #2
6. Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra - Yap Yap
7. DA SLYME - Crazy Glue
8. The Cure - Grinding Halt
9. Crocodiles - Summer Of Hate
10. The Vaporettos - Fortress
11. Total Control - Expensive Dog
12. Jimmy and The Smack - Come Down
13. The V.I.P.'s - Who Knows
14. The Zeros - Radio Fun
15. The Normals - Almost Ready
16. Jerry Nolan - Pretty Baby
17. Guitar Army - I Am Going To Detroit
18. The MC5 - Thunder Express
19. The Kinks - Come On Now
20. The Stems - Move Me
21. Monomyth - Candleholder
22. Wedge - 400 Blows
23. The Replacements - Little Mascara
24. The Modernettes - I Can Only Give You Everything (Live)
25. The M-80s - Seeing Things
26. The Strokes - What Ever Happened?
27. Cousins - At Odds
28. Paul Jacobs - Mouldy Love
29. Paul Jacobs - Ocean City
30. The Damned - Neat Neat Neat (BBC Session)
31. Young Rival - Elevator
32. Dirty Pretty Things - The Gentry Cove
33. Dirty Pretty Things - Blood Thirsty Bastards

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.

Kestrels Interview & Show # 517

Remember in the 90’s when you turned on the radio and the term “alternative” didn’t mean overproduced pseudo-metal with auto tune? Well even if you don’t, Kestrels captures a certain moment of time before that when “alternative” was a new thing and was just as memorable as riding your bike around in the summer time with cutoff jean shorts and bright neon colours. On Kestrel’s newest EP The Moon Is Shining Our Way, the band pulls in influences of bands such as My Bloody Valentine, early Smeared-era Sloan, Dinosaur Jr., and even a bit of Eric’s Trip. Kestrels takes these influences into consideration, but they do not sound like a carbon copy of these bands, they add their own dynamic to the mix as well, creating their own sound. With just four tracks, The Moon Is Shining Our Way captures a certain hazy fuzziness that sticks with you like the summer heat. “Eternal and Debased” starts off the EP with the hazy fuzziness I just spoke of, while the vocals feature just enough echo and reverb to not get lost in the mix. “Wide Eyes” blends the band’s shoegaze sound with their mix of fuzziness, the song is catchy as well. The EP’s title track is a bit heavier, but with lyrics such as “Useful, strange and missing everything” that taps into a subconscious thought, it strikes a certain chord, making this a standout track on this EP. “The Double” features a slow heavy drone throughout before ending the EP.

When listening to The Moon Is Shining Our way it is noisy, but it is not too noisy. You can tell that the band took their time with the mastering not making it sound too loud, because having seen this band live in Windsor a few times they definitely are loud. The overall sound comes off with a warm analog groove, not modern or digital sounding. Originating from Halifax, on The Moon Is Shining Our Way, Kestrels captures a certain melodic noise, but they also emphasize a new exciting growth within the band’s dynamic.

Listen to the interview I did with Kestrels here:



Saturday Night Play List:

1. The Ventures - No Trespassing
2. Habibi - Detroit Baby
3. Sheer Luxury - Depressing Song
4. The Violent Femmes - Gimme That Car
5. Tongan Death Grip - Watching You
6. Queen’s Rug - File Footage
7. Teleman - In Your Fur
8. Bo Diddley - Sixteen Tons
9. The UFO Club - Bo Diddley Was The 7th Son
10. Little Walter & His Jukes -Hate To See You Go
11. The Rolling Stones - Route 66 (Live)
12. Tom Waits - Satisfied
13. Greys - Use Your Delusion

Kestrels Interview

14. Kestrels - The Moon Is Shining Our Way
15. White Lung - Snake Jaw
16. The Vindicators - Searching For My Baby
17. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Today's Lesson
18. Thick As Thieves - Lie Cheat Steal
19. James OL & The Villains - Till The Morning Light
20. Uncle Monk - Round The Bend
21. Ramones - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Demo)
22. Ramones - Chainsaw
23. Don’t Touch The Dancers - My Conscience
24. Ty Segall & White Fence - Crybaby
25. Lou Reed - Lady Day
26. Chuck Berry - How High The Moon? (Demo)
27. Guided By Voices - Bad Love Is Easy To Do
28. The Black Lips - Family Tree

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.

The Black Angels Clear Lake Forest & Show # 516

In 2010, The Black Angels took us through a Phosphene Dream. “Phosphenes” are flashes of light brought on by movement, this was followed up with a collection of outtakes from this album called Phosgene Nightmare, which was named after the infamous chemical gas Phosgene used in WWII. In 2013, The Black Angels released Indigo Meadow and finally in April 2014 we were brought to Clear Lake Forest. It seems as if this Austin psych band has been taking us through a journey of body and mind, combining a mixture of strange psychedelic garage rock sounds. Indigo Meadow was a strong offering that featured some heavier psychedelic sounds, but on Clear Lake Forest we are taken to a place where the band has increased their sense of vocal melodies. The Black Angels also blend elements of the psychedelic sounds that they have been known for with a bit of grimy blues and 60s pop.

“Sunday Evening” starts off Clear Lake Forest with fuzzy 60s garage styled riffs with a bassline reminiscent of The Beatles “Rain”, as the song builds up to its chorus and the songs tempo speeds up. The song sounds as if you are walking through a hazy fog, before you reach a clearing in the chorus. With lyrics such as “I’m so tired of your fears you have dear/I am tired of those fears we have dear/we’re on fire cause those fears they have dear” the band displays a sense of positivity in the lyrics to the opener of this EP. “Diamond Eyes” is a bit slower, playing into the band’s lethargic side. The guitars feature vibrations mixed in with light organ and lyrics that tells a relationship of two people getting both people’s point of view. With lyrics such as “It’s better than letting things die” and “I’ve seen him cut diamonds with her eyes/I’ve seen her cut diamonds with her eyes/They both cut diamonds with their mind”, Alex Maas and The Black Angels display a certain ugliness within these two characters. A diamond can represent a lot of things spiritually, one of which is it can reveal the inner truths of people. In this song it seems to reveals these characters unknowingness of each other and the beauty they try to project on each other, but one that falls short.

“The Flop” comes in next with its 60s driving garage organ and vibrations, while “An Occurrence At 4507 South Third Street” delivers short organ stabs and drums, pulsing bass and sprawling guitar lines supplied by Christian Bland that fills in the spaces that this song brings forth. “The Executioner” displays yet another character, the one in its title who revels in his job and shows no sympathy. With the lyrics “If it feels good do it again/Twist in the wind/Do it again” and other lyrics in this song, they take on menacing connotations throughout. Musically the song features psychedelic guitar arpeggios with a hint of an underlying blues influence and a breakdown with vocals and guitar lost amongst a mass amount of delay and echo.

The album ends with the lengthy track “Linda’s Gone”. It is difficult to listen to this song without bringing up The Velvet Underground, as with all the band’s records there is an element of The Velvets. This song sounds like “Venus In Furs” and echoes of The Velvet Underground & Nico album mixed in with yet another blues element, but it also has a sort of Middle Eastern vibe. The song is a hazy and lethargic song that builds in its six minute and thirty-six second journey. This song also ends the album with an intense uneasy calmness. On Clear Lake Forest, The Black Angels once again display their strong dynamics as a band not changing their psychedelic sound too much, but by adding in a strong sense of melody and a bit of as mentioned earlier, grimy blues. The characters in the songs on Clear Lake Forest struggle with many different things, but at the end of the EP as we are told “Now Linda’s gone/And she’s moving on” we can see that the listener as well as the content of the album have finished their journey in seven songs at twenty eight minutes. As we reach the final clearing of Clear Lake Forest, we are left wondering where The Black Angels will lead us next.

Clear Lake Forest is being re-issued on July 22nd, 2014 on 12-inch clear vinyl.

Saturday Night Play List:

1. The Missing Links - You’re Drivin' Me Insane
2. Parquet Courts - Always Back In Town
3. The Lime Spiders - Slave Girl
4. Guided By Voices - Bulletin Borders
5. The Fresh And Onlys - Animal Of One
6. Television Personalities - Part Time Punks
7. The Only Ones - Breaking Down
8. Papermaps - Shadow Theatre
9. The Rapture - Pieces of The People That We Love
10. Damaged Bug - Sic Bay Surprise
11. Jaill - Stone Froze Mascot
12. David Bowie - Drive-In Saturday
13. The Clues - Almost Framed
14. The Marble Index - I Believe
15. Pointed Sticks - Telephone Song
16. Neil Young - Crazy
17. Locusts Have No King - Shotgun Wedding
18. Bob Mould - Little Glass Pill
19. Johnny Terrien and the Bad Lieutenants - Back To The Beach
20. 222’s - Always Around
21. Queens Of The Stone Age - In The Fade
22. Teenanger - Zons
23. The Visitors - Sad TV
24. The Police - Contact
25. Chelsea - I’m On Fire
26. The D4 - Exit To The City
27. UIC - Nashville Dreamin'
28. Ten Commandments - Feel It
29. Rumors - Hold Me Now
30. White Fence - Like That
31. The Black Angels - An Occurrence At 4507 South Third Street

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 5. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Television's Adventure & Show # 515

Television’s second full-length album Adventure was originally released in 1978 and was panned by critics. Comparisons were made to the band’s debut album Marquee Moon, which captured a certain raw quirkiness. Marquee Moon also had the benefit of featuring the best songs from the bands live set, which they had been playing for a few years. On Adventure the band went for something different. With more of a budget than the previous album, Adventure features a more laidback approach to the overall songs found on the album and several songs that were made up in the studio. As guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Tom Verlaine stated in the 2003 Rhino reissue linear notes “The tempos [on Adventure] aren’t as pushed. We thought maybe some of the songs on Marquee Moon were a little too fast, and I was thinking about Memphis beats, pretending the studio was like 110 degrees and we were sloppin’ around playing in a thumpy kind of way.” As a result Adventure comes off with a more textured sound. There are keyboards, backing vocals and a more layered sound overall.

Adventure was recorded at Record Plant NYC and Soundmixers in New York from September of 1977 to November of 1977 and then released in April of 1978. The band worked with producer John Jansen. The songs still feature the sound that Television had been known for such as the intertwining guitar work of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, but the rough edges that cornered the songs on Marquee Moon have been rounded off a bit. Adventure features eight songs, as did its predecessor, starting off with the track “Glory”. This song called one of the band’s most accessible commercial sounding tracks, features reverb laden drums, staccato guitar rhythms simultaneously mixed in with intertwining Television guitar leads and an R&B bass groove. The layered textured sounds also work in conjunction with Verlaine’s lyrics that seem to portray a sort of epiphany with lines such as “When I see the glory/I ain’t gotta worry” and “How could I argue with a mirror/She looked at me. Yes I hear her”. “Days” features some intricate guitar work from Verlaine and Lloyd that come together like interlocking gears amongst the song’s pop sensibilities. The song’s reflective lyrics come to fruition in the chorus with its lush layered vocals that repeat the word “Days”.

“Foxhole” is one of the more aggressive songs on Adventure. The song actually dates back to the band’s live set pre-dating this album. The song recalls a “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” roughness and deals with a war-like atmosphere lyrically with lyrics portraying a character jumping for cover amongst the chaos. “Careful” follows completing the second and final song on this album that is pulled from the band’s early live set staples. This song goes all the way back to when Richard Hell was still in the band. Portraying a theme of indifference lyrically, the song also features almost country-like guitar rhythm parts at times. Another interesting point about this song is that the vocals were recorded approximately twelve feet away from the microphone adding a certain creative strangeness to its overall vibe. As Verlaine stated once again in the 2003 Rhino reissue linear notes “Years ago people sang like 12 feet away from the microphone. I wanted to see what that sounded like. I did it, but then wouldn’t sing it again [laughs]. It’s a very strange sound.”

“The Fire” showcases the band stepping into experimental territory. The song was written during the recording sessions for Adventure and features keyboard and Ondes Martenot, an instrument with a sound eerily similar to the Theremin. The song also features what Tom Verlaine calls an “Eastern European” vibe. To add to the song’s darker textures apparently Verlaine used a knife for a guitar slide part in the song, instead of a traditional guitar slide. “Ain’t That Nothin” features stop and start structures and a middle section that has the same chords as The Kinks “I Need You” as a guitar solo and bassline add to the other elements at play here. “Ain’t That Nothin’” wouldn’t have been out of place on Marquee Moon. “The Dream’s Dream” closes out Adventure. Originally an instrumental track entitled “Cairo”, Verlaine tried to capture a “Middle Eastern” sound on this track. The song is a mini-epic clocking in at six minutes and forty-five seconds with complex time signatures, creating an overall moody piece to end out Adventure.

The band also recorded a song called “Adventure” which is where the album’s title originates from, but this track was left off of the album. This has caused some fans of the band to debate on whether the track “Adventure” was left off the album due to time restraints of the vinyl record, its not being fully finished or because of a loss in fidelity on the track due to “groove cramming” discovered during the album’s test pressing process. The track itself found it’s way onto the 2003 reissue with a few other bonus tracks and features blues rhythm’s executed raunchily by guitarist Richard Lloyd. Lyrically, the song boasts lyrics stating “I love adventure/I need a new adventure now”, which describes what the band was going for on this album. Television could have easily made another album like Marquee Moon, but they didn’t. This album is not drastically different from the sound that Television was known for, it is just more produced and in some parts less raw than the beams of mysterious light that illuminated audiences on 1977’s Marquee Moon. Adventure breaks from the mysterious light and heads to a new setting, one that is not too different from Marquee Moon. Adventure brings in new shades of light to Television’s developed sound.



Saturday Night Play List:

1. True Lovers - Guilty Pleasure # 9
2. Tijuana Panthers - Torpedo
3. The Howlies - Dirty Woman
4. Library Voices - Windsor Hum
5. The Schomberg Fair - Drunkard's Prayer
6. The Orwells - Southern Comfort
7. Swans - A Little God In My Hands
8. Perky Pat — The Coloniel
9. Antheads - Think Fast
10. Crystal Swells - Kelly Does Bayside
11. Bad Brains - The Regulator
12. The Jesus And Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up
13. Kestrels - Wild Eyes
14. Telstar Drugs - Unglued
15. Alex Chilton - Lost My Job
16. Jack White - High Ball Stepper
17. The Rockatones - Everythings Gone Wrong
18. One Way Street - In My Eyes
19. Canadian Squires - Leave Me Alone
20. The Iguanas - Outer Limits
21. Mach Kung-Fu - Hit Nation
22. The Deadly Ones - The Moonlight Surfer
23. Beck - Orphans
24. The Clash - Wrong'Em Boyo
25. Undertones - Teenaged Kicks (Live Amsterdam Paradiso 1980)
26. The Scavengers - Money In The Bank
27. The Government - Zippers Of Fire
28. Wire - The 15th
29. Franz Ferdinand - All For You Sophia
30. Television - Glory
31. Television - Ain't That Nothin' (Single Version)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 28. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Revolution Rock (Revisited) Public Image Limited's Albatross & Show # 514

Originally released in November 1979, Public Image Limited’s Metal Box (or Second Edition in the US) was the band’s second full-length album. Following their trend of post punk music from their 1978 release First Issue, Public Image Limited found themselves diving into experimental territory as they took their sound into a more experimental direction. Bassist Jah Wobble’s reggae and dub-influenced basslines were evident on First Issue as was guitarist Keith Levine’s angular neurotic guitar style and John Lydon’s cryptic vocals, but they were pushed to greater depths on this album. Metal Box found PiL’s experimentation featuring a multitude of drummers such as Richard Dudanski (previously in The 101’ers), David Humphrey, guitarist Keith Levine and bassist Jah Wobble even played drums on some of songs that made up Metal Box. But it is the album’s first track that clearly portrays the avant-garde, experimental post punk sounds that the band was aiming for on Metal Box.

“Albatross” clocks in at ten minutes and 34 seconds, making it not only a long album opener, but also a unique starting track. The song itself was recorded live in one take at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, England. When initially recorded, the band was unsure whether it would make the final track listing for this release. The song featured heavy dub influenced basslines, metallic sounding guitar stabs and drum cymbal crashes that float amongst John Lydon’s visceral lyrics that are commonly misconstrued as a reference to the Sex Pistols. The song was as John Lydon said himself “free-formed” in and interview with Scott Murphy for fodderstompf.com in 2004. He also elaborated more on the extent of the free-form tendencies of “Albatross” stating that the band “All did, and that's how it should be when the mood is right." An albatross can refer to the bird at sea or also a burden. PiL definitely was going through changes and challenges during the album's recording sessions and during this time period.  This song and album, captures a certain calmer mood, one that is more laid back than the sounds found on First Issue, but just as effective.

This week’s program was a repeat of program # 511 that originally aired on May 31st, 2014. My blog post for that week featured a write up on the LA punk band The Weirdos. You can find that post here.

The Play List:

1. The Black Angels - Sunday Evening
2. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Running Meredith
3. The Sonics - It’s All Right
4. The Spits - 2018
5. Moondogs - Ya Don’t Do Ya?
6. Ian Rubbish & The Bizzaros - Living In The Gutter
7. No Fun - Fall For A Cliche
8. The Demics - The Least You Can Do
9. Dik Van Dykes - Road Warrior
10. Talking Heads - The Big Country (Live)
11. Twin Library - A Cruel Rodeo
12. Tire Swing Co - Forgive Me
13. James OL - Bastimentos
14. Salmon Breath - Cadillac
15. Alex Chilton - Waltz Across Texas
16. Iggy & The Stooges - Cry For Me (Pin Point Eyes)
17. Modern Lovers - I’m Straight
18. Public Image Limited - Albatross
19. Laughing Clowns - I Want To Scream
20. Spizzenergi - Where’s Captain Kirk?
21. Tanz Der Youth - Delay
22. The Soft Pack - Head On Ice
23. Tay Falco’s Panther Burns - Where The Rio De Rosa Flows
24. Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - Cream
25. The Weirdos - We Got The Neutron Bomb
26. Radio Birdman - Descent Into The Maelstrom

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 21. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Cousins The Halls Of Wickwire & Show # 513

Cousins highly anticipated follow up to 2012’s Palm At The End of The Mind was released recently. The ten-track album entitled The Halls Of Wickwire was released via Hand Drawn Dracula in Canada. The album features a stripped down garage sound with strong vocal harmonies and was recorded at Candle Studios in Toronto by Graham Walsh (of Holy Fuck) and Josh Korody (of Beliefs). Cousins originate from Halifax, Nova Scotia and features members Aaron Mangle on guitar, bass, vocals, vocals and Leigh Dotey on drums and vocals. When describing their music in a recent press release it was described as:

“A ramshackle monument built over a steady spring of melancholy. Electricity and blood in the lines. Guitar and drums. A musical avalanche set apart from the macho and debaucherous posturing and fictions of rock culture.”

In the music for the video “Ocean” (posted below), one can hear a hazy laidback garage sound with sun baked vocal harmonies. Other songs on the album include the riff heavy “Mess” that at times dips into elements of post punk, “Other Ocean” blends elements of layering guitar effects and prominent bass, “At Odds” features surf-like songscapes, “Body” is a building track with a fuzzy melodic tension, while “What’s Your Name?” displays a punk driven sound. Overall, The Halls Of Wickwire showcases the songwriting skills of Cousins that are often viewed as complex. The songs found on The Halls Of Wickwire feature layered arrangements of noise and melodies at times, but it also showcases the band at their strongest. The Halls Of Wickwire is Cousins third album and is also available through Ba Da Bing Records in the US.



Saturday Night Playlist:

1. The Standells - Dirty Water (Live University of Michigan, October 22nd, 1966)
2. The Churls - Trying To Get You Off My Mind
3. The Spectres - I Never Had A Love Like That
4. False Poets - Call The Doctor
5. Husker Du - Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
6. Ought - Habit
7. Doug Gillard - Upper Hand
8. The Birthday Party - The Dim Locator
9. Joy Division - Interzone
10. Invasions - Black Lagoon
11. Vaguess - Shadow People
12. Seven Story Redhead - Shake It Out!
13. Cellos - White Swans
14. The Walkmen - The Rat
15. The Shilohs - Queen Light Queen Dark
16. The Ghost Wolves - Shotgun Pistol Grip
17. Cold Warps - Dream Creepin’
18. Mac DeMarco - Passing Out The Pieces
19. Spoon - Yougot Yr Cherry Bomb
20. The Users - Listen
21. Iggy Pop - I'm A Conservative
22. Actual Water - Brighton
23. The Stomach Mouths - Coming Back Alive
24. The White Stripes - Death Letter
25. Thee Oh Sees - Penetrating Eye
26. Cousins - Death Man
27. Sun Kil Moon - I Love My Dad
28. OFF! - I Won't Be A Casualty
29. Buzzcocks - Time’s Up

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 14. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

The Velvet Underground Scepter Studio Sessions & Show # 512

Discovering a rare piece of music from a band is an extremely rare occurrence, but it does happen. That’s what happened to a Velvet Underground fan from Montreal, Canada when he visited a garage sale in New York City in 2002. What he found was an acetate from the first studio sessions that The Velvet Underground did in April 1966 at Sceptor Studios, prior to completing The Velvet Underground & Nico album. The acetate originated from studio engineer Norman Dolph and was purchased at the garage sale for a mere 75 cents. The recordings were digitally transferred and put online in all their raw hiss and pop glory, but a bid was put in on e-bay for this rare document of The Velvet Underground’s first studio recordings in 2006. A bid was put in for around the sum of $155,000 dollars, but the bid turned out to be a fake and the buyer did not pay. It was put up on auction again and sold for around $25,000. The recordings were eventually released officially, but more on that later.

What makes these recordings unique is that they differ from the original recordings that would be released on the Velvet Underground & Nico album in 1967. The acetate features different mixes of the already released songs and alternate versions and takes of already released songs. There were only nine songs found on the acetate, they were cut on April 25th, 1966, shortly after the recordings which took place from April 18-April 23, 1966. The actetate was made to serve as demos of some sort in hopes of getting a record deal with Columbia Records. Columbia wound up passing on the band. The Velvet Underground were eventually picked up by Verve. “European Son” is extended here and goes beyond the length of the officially released studio version by the band. “All Tomorrow’s Parties”, “Femme Fatale”, and “I’ll Be You Mirror” all feature different mixes and are noticeable in terms of vocals/vocal harmonies, while songs such as “I’m Waiting For The Man”, “Venus In Furs” and “Heroin” are completely different takes from the album versions entirely. Not counting the alternate versions of the three just aforementioned tracks, the remaining six tracks from these sessions were used after some remixing and editing on the 1967 album, commonly referred to as the “banana album” due to Andy Warhol’s album art.

The Scepter Studios recordings from this acetate were eventually cleaned up and released as part of the 45th anniversary 6 CD super deluxe edition of The Velvet Underground & Nico in 2012, along with numerous other bonus tracks and live material. The Scepter Studio sessions were also released as a Record Store Day limited edition vinyl release in 2013. But, these recordings serve as a document of glimpses of works into a band in progress. The discovery of these recordings also prove that you never know what you might find if you stumble into a garage sale.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Link Wray - Big City After Dark
2. Dream Dates - The Mess You’re In
3. Cousins - Other Ocean
4. Fuzz Kings -Republican Haircuts
5. Blitzen Trapper - Fletcher
6. Neil Young - My Hometown
7. Wanda Jackson - Tunnel Of Love
8. North By North - Break Some Bones
9. M.G & The Escorts - A Someday Fool
10. Cool Rays - Diary Of You
11. Wylde Rattz - Take LSD
12. She Wolf - Going Back Home
13. The Cramps - Lonesome Town
14. Cream - From Four Until Late
15. Nature Boys - No Subject
16. Mystics - Can’t Be Happy
17. Paul Jacobs - A Place To Stay
18. Tele Novella - Stephanie Says
19. The Carbonas - Count Me Out
20. The Modernettes - Confidential
21. The Spy’s - Machine Shop
22. Paul Westerberg - Got You Down
23. Paul Westerberg - Silent Film Star
24. Pow Wows - Plastic Factory
25. The Replacements - I’m In Trouble
26. Black Lips - Dog Years
27. The Almighty Defenders - Ghost With The Most
28. Dead Ghosts - I Sleep Alone
29. Plimsouls - Zero Hour
30. Nervus Rex - There She Goes
31. Velvet Underground - Heroin (Different Take) (1966 Scepter Session)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 7. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

The Weirdos We Got The Neutron Bomb Single & Show # 511

Released in 1978, the We Got The Neutron Bomb/Solitary Confinement single was the second single released by The Weirdos. Part of LA’s first wave of punk bands alongside bands such as The Germs and The Nerves, The Weirdos were started by lead vocalist John Denney and his brother Dix Denney who would play guitar. The rest of the band members would be in a state of flux from the band’s initial 1977-1981 run. Some of the band’s other personnel would be Dave Trout who would also play bass briefly and drummer Nickey Alexander on drums. Cliff Roman also played guitar and bass and wrote some material with the band. "We Got The Neutron Bomb" is often seen as a strong and classic single in the band’s catalog. The track itself seems to lend itself to proto punk influence such as Iggy & The Stooges, New York Dolls and Ramones while lyrically it taps into Cold War paranoia with lyrics such as “We don’t want it/Don’t blame me” and “We don’t want it/But we got it anyway” showcasing the band’s political leanings at the time. The B-side “Solitary Confinement” is a more aggressive rant. When hearing this song, one seems to think of the band’s preshow ritual, which was to cover themselves in paint and sometimes garbage.

While the band never did release a full-length album during their initial run as a band from 1977-1981, they did record a collection of demos, some with Kim Fowley. To further add to the band’s “weird” reputation, vocalist John Denney apparently delivered the band’s demos to their record label dressed in an astronaut suit, the label did not find it so humorous. After the band’s initial split in 1981, they did reform for several reunions throughout the 80s and even released a full-length album of new material in 1990 entitled Condor. A collection of the band’s early material and demos was put together on the Weird World: 1977-1981 Time Capsule compilation album and was originally released in 1991 on the Frontier record label. A second volume featuring early 1977 material and later post 1981 material was released in 2003. Both of these compilations were re-issued via Burger Records on cassette recently. Thirty-seven years after its initial release, fans can still feel the effects of The Weirdos music and second single, We Got The Neutron Bomb, minus the spacesuit or with it depending, which way you look at it.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. The Black Angels - Sunday Evening
2. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Running Meredith
3. The Sonics - It’s All Right
4. The Spits - 2018
5. Moondogs - Ya Don’t Do Ya?
6. Ian Rubbish & The Bizzaros - Living In The Gutter
7. No Fun - Fall For A Cliche
8. The Demics - The Least You Can Do
9. Dik Van Dykes - Road Warrior
10. Talking Heads - The Big Country (Live)
11. Twin Library - A Cruel Rodeo
12. Tire Swing Co - Forgive Me
13. James OL - Bastimentos
14. Salmon Breath - Cadillac
15. Alex Chilton - Waltz Across Texas
16. Iggy & The Stooges - Cry For Me (Pin Point Eyes)
17. Modern Lovers - I’m Straight
18. Public Image Limited - Albatross
19. Laughing Clowns - I Want To Scream
20. Spizzenergi - Where’s Captain Kirk?
21. Tanz Der Youth - Delay
22. The Soft Pack - Head On Ice
23. Tay Falco’s Panther Burns - Where The Rio De Rosa Flows
24. Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - Cream
25. The Weirdos - We Got The Neutron Bomb
26. Radio Birdman - Descent Into The Maelstrom

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

XTC 3D EP & Show # 510

XTC released the 3D EP in 1977, this being the debut release from the new wave pop group. While often being lumped in with the new wave and punk scene of the late 70s in the UK, XTC are often considered a pop band first, drawing influences from artists such as The Beatles, The Kinks and The Beach Boys. The sound displayed on the bands early recordings and especially the 3D EP have an undeniable punk influence that seems to shake the bands early sound with a frenetic energy, despite their pop influences. XTC is fronted by two main songwriters, Andy Partridge on guitar/vocals and Colin Moulding on bass/vocals. It has been said that Partridge writes/performs two thirds of XTC material while Moulding writes/performs one third of the band’s material. The track listing on the 3D EP further emphasizes this, as it features two songs written by Partridge and one by Moulding. It should also be noted that prior to being issued as an EP, two songs, “Science Friction” and “She’s So Square,” were issued as a single briefly before being withdrawn in favour of the EP.

The band on the EP consisted of Andy Partridge (guitar/vocals), Colin Moulding (bass/vocals), Terry Chambers (drums) and Barry Andrews on keyboards/vocals. The songs found on the 3D EP were produced and engineered by John Leckie at Abbey Road in London, England and released in October of 1977 via Virgin Records. The EP starts with the quirky “Science Friction” apparently inspired by Partridge’s astrophobia, comic books and aliens. The song features a frenzied pace, slashing guitars and erratic, yet melodic keyboard parts supplied by Barry Andrews. With lyrics such as “Science friction burns my fingers/Electricity still lingers/Hey put that ray away/How do you Martians say I love you”, the listener is transported into a world of astronomy, aliens and a quirkiness that still seems to have an unnerving paranoid effect.

“She’s So Square” is a different tempo, but still keyboard-driven and sounds influenced by the proto-punk sounds of Roxy Music. The song is rumoured to be lyrically about Kathy McGowan of the UK music television program Ready, Steady, Go! “Dance Band” and ends the EP with midi sounding synthesizers, staccato guitars, heavy bass and a catchy chorus featuring shouts of “Don’t step on my toes”. This song compliments the two prior tracks and ends the EP on a catchy, yet odd note. The 3D EP is the beginning of what would become a series of singles and albums released by the band. The music would develop on a deeper level on future releases such as Oranges & Lemons and Skylarking, but the 3D EP resembles its anaglyph-like 3D artwork made up of what looks like green and red razorblades. The songs are sharp and if you look at them right, they just might catch you off guard.



Saturday night play list:

1. The Bell Peppers - The Hokey Cokey
2. Pink Mountaintops - Wheels
3. Snake River - Hours I: Don’t Hide Things Anymore
4. Chad Vangaalen - Lila
5. Temples - Keep In The Dark
6. Holy Wave - Night Tripper
7. Magazine - Definitive Gaze
8. Iggy Pop - Dum Dum Boys
9. Big Audio Dynamite - Get It All From My TV
10. Klark Kent - Don’t Care
11. Damaged Bug - Gloves For Garbage
12. The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
13. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Clubland
14. Colour Me Psycho - Black Covair
15. The Hentchmen - Virginia Dare
16. Demon’s Claws - It’s Over (Roy Orbison Cover)
17. Ray Condo - Jumps, Giggles & Shouts
18. Takeshi Terauchi & The Bunnys - The Glamour Of The Sun
19. Indian Wars - Denny
20. Ramones - I'm Makin’ Monsters For My Friends
21. Teenanger - Teenanger
22. The Victims -TV Freak
23. The Pagans - Not Now, No Way
24. Deja Voodoo - I Wish That Cat Would Shut Up
25. Deja Voodoo - Rock Therapy
26. Thee Oh Sees - Camera (Queer Sound)
27. Lou Reed - Average Guy
28. Guided By Voices - Shine (Tomahawk Breath)
29. Guided By Voices - Hat of Flames
30. XTC - Science Friction

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

The Chessmen Time Machine & Show # 509

This week marked the last Tuesday episode of Revolution Rock to air on CJAM FM. From now on Revolution Rock can be heard every Saturday night from 7-9 PM. Join me this Saturday May 24th to hear the first Saturday edition of the program!

The Chessmen - Time Machine



The following video is for the song “Time Machine” by The Chessmen. The Chessmen were a garage rock band from Hamilton, Ontario (not to be confused with The Chessman from Texas in the 60s). The Hamilton band blended elements of R&B, garage and psychedelic sounds into their music. They only released one full length self titled album in 1989. They have since been featured on numerous garage rock compilations most notably Mister Garager’s Neighbourhood on Og Records, What’s All The Fuzz About through What Wave magazine and the Time Machine compilation out on Stomp! Records in 1996.

The play list:

1. The Chessmen - Time Machine
2. Huevos Rancheros - Raunchy
3. BBQ — I Wanna Be The Only One
4. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Hold Me Tight
5. Ex-Cult - Shattered Circle
6. The Coathangers - I Wait
7. Dum Dum Girls - Everybody’s Out
8. The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
9. The Horrors - I See You
10. The Delmonas - Comin’ Home Baby
11. The Howlin’ Brothers - Night And Day
12. Eels - Parallels
13. Neil Young - Journey Through The Past
14. Sloan - Dignified & Old
15. Exploding Hearts - Rumours In Town
16. Sonny Knight & The Lakers - Hey Girl
17. Jolly Green Giants - Caught You Red Handed
18. Gentlemen Of Horror - Overhead Projector
19. Lost Patrol - Dead Or Alive
20. Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant (1976 Denmark Street Demo)
21. The Adverts - We Who Wait
22. The Undertones - Let's Talk About Girls
23. Beck - Say Goodbye

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

Thee Oh Sees Drop & Show # 508

After announcing that the band will be taking a hiatus last year, Thee Oh Sees released their eighth full-length album at the end of April. Entitled Drop, the album brings in an intense focus to the band’s already established San Franciscan psychedelic garage sound. There’s gritty garage sounds with scruffy guitars, psychedelic solos, a bit of kraut rock and elements found on 2012’s Putrifiers II and 2013’s Floating Coffin.

“Penetrating Eye” opens with a dungeon-like synthesizer that sounds as if it was lifted from an 8-bit NES video game, before scuzzy, sludgy guitars, drums and vocals kick in. The lurking and spooky synthesizer sounds as if it came out of one of the dungeon levels found in the original Legend of Zelda video game for NES. Each song on this nine-track album is a battle, with a myriad of murky and delightful garage noises ranging from the psychedelic sounds of 60’s garage nuggets compilations, the sounds of early Pink Floyd, to the intensity of the solos once performed by The Stooges. “Penetrating Eye” is one of the heaviest songs in the bands catalog to date, featuring catchy “la la la la la la’s” throughout. There is also a pop element to this track and it starts the album in a somewhat symbolic way. The song seems to start off the album in a sound not unlike the noises explored on the track “Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster” from 2013’s Floating Coffin album. The penetrating eye discussed in this track lurks all over this album bringing along a spooky goodness, that only John Dwyer and Thee Oh Sees could deliver.

“Encrypted Bounce” the second track on Drop, is also the longest song found on this release. Musically the song sounds like a battle of Beatles sounding backwards guitars, early Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, and Thee Oh Sees unrelenting punk psych energy, one that was displayed in excellent form on 2011’s Carrion Crawler/The Dream. Lyrically the song seems to reference San Francisco, perhaps it is an ode to the city, as John Dwyer recently relocated to Los Angeles. “Savage Victory” begins with its prominent tension filled bassline and bouncy snare drum, before being flooded with synthesizer and ultra fuzzy guitars as sharp as a knife’s edge. The lyrics in this song which emphasize a victory by attack with words such as “I will wait for you someplace/Where you can’t see my face” this, in conjunction with the lyrics found in “Put Some Reverb On My Brother” “I can’t see you/you can’t see me/I can’t feel you/you can’t feel me” both contrast with a feeling of hiding in waiting. The later track could also reference Dwyer’s San Francisco garage rock brethren Ty Segall. The album’s title track “Drop” attacks with a garage punk romp, while lyrics such as “I don’t expect to see them again” in the opening verses of this song and “I expect to see them again” in last verse of this song, could perhaps indicate the current situation of Thee Oh Sees hiatus. It was however announced that Thee Oh Sees would perform live shows as a three piece in May 2014, minus Brigid Dawson and Petey Dammit.

The song “Camera (Queer Sound)” brings us to just about the half way point of Drop, which was for the most part recorded with John Dwyer on most of the instrumentation in a banana ripening warehouse. The catchy vocal dualities and harmonies of Brigid Dawson are absent here, as are the frenetic guitar stylings of Petey Dammit, but there are contributions from Chris Woodhouse on drums, Mikal Cronin on saxophone and others. It is at this point when “Camera (Queer Sound)” comes in that if we were really in a dungeon in the original Legend of Zelda for NES, that things would get more quiet and intense. As such, the lyrics in the pop fuzz chorus of this track seem to portray a search for an identity with words “I try to wear the faces of other men/But Life is a camera/And I cannot get near ya” and also have been said to be a comment on the infamous selfie. “Transparent World” is a song of building noises consisting of heavy synthesizers, bass and inaudible vocals sounds. It is like the final battle in the dungeon for our quest in this Legend of Zelda like comparison before we are taken to the conclusion that would be the song “The Lens”. This cello driven song is much indebted to The Beatles as the catchy chorus draws an undeniable influence. The lyrics such as “And then we both arrive/At the same time again/Then we’re both alive at the same time again” and ”You look through the lens today/All is cracked and hazy/here, there/hand in hand we will survive” emphasize a victory of sorts here. But John Dwyer may also be reflecting on Thee Oh Sees past and present. “The Lens” takes us to the end of our quest through the metaphorical dungeon from the depths of a world of psychedelic garage sounds provided by Thee Oh Sees. Drop is victorious in its savage, primitive and unrelenting garage psych riffs, while the pop elements sink in deeper amongst the synthesizers and crude album cover artwork. But as Drop ends, we know that at the end of this quest another begins.



The Play List:

1. Thee Mighty Caesars - I Was Led To Believe
2. The Castaways - Liar, Liar
3. Guitar Army - Let’s Go To The Beach
4. The Hellacopters - Born Broke
5. Sonic Avenues - Waiting For A Change
6. The Challengers - Asphalt Spinner
7. Nick Lowe - 36 Inches High
8. Katlina Cowan - Cocaine
8. The Zellots - Soldier
9. Sheep Look Up - Civil Disobedience
10. The Legend Killers - Strychnine
11. Paul Jacobs - Drug Theaters
12. Paul Jacobs - Morphine Daydream
13. Survival Knife - Fell Runner
14. Pink Mountaintops - Ambulance City
15. Lou Reed - Sally Can’t Dance
16. Andre Williams - Pass The Biscuits, Please
17. The Who - Don’t Look Away
18. The Meltones - You’ll Never Surf In This Town Again
19. Black Lips - Smiling
20. The Bears - Frank Nitty
21. Thee Oh Sees - Savage Victory
22. Thee Oh Sees - Drop

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

Chad Vangaalen Shrink Dust & Show # 507

Shrink Dust is the follow up to 2011’s Diaper Island by Chad Vangaalen, an artist from Calgary, Alberta. The songs that make up Shrink Dust are difficult to pin down, as are a majority of the songs by Chad Vangaalen. He calls this album his “country album” and although it isn’t a standard country album per se, you can hear the underlying influences of artists such as The Flying Burritos Brothers, as Vangaalen has stated in interviews for this album. There is also pedal steel work throughout this album that pops up, Vangaalen recently acquired and taught himself how to play this instrument recently. Recorded entirely in his home studio in Alberta, Shrink Dust seems to come off with a mood or feeling resembling that feeling just before you fall asleep, crossed with a nightmare.

Vangaalen has his own unique style of songwriting. When he sings, it comes off in a way with haunting vocals that have been compared to the likes of Thom Yorke and Daniel Johnston. Shrink Dust is also loosely based on a feature length sci-fi animation styled film that Chad has been working on to be titled Translated Log Of Inhabitants. Apparently it will be released later this year and it is a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Strange Brew, in terms of subject matter.

The album begins with the song “Cut Off My Hands”, a song that sets the tone for this album, music and lyric wise it will be dark at times. “Doused in waves of static haze” is sung at one point during this acoustic folk track, but then a weird synthesizer effect, sounding like garbled ocean noises comes in. Throughout the song there are strange instruments adding to its esoteric textures, the pedal steel comes in near the end of the song with a haunting echo. “Where Are You?” was the first single released for this album. It features an eerie sounding synthesizer, fuzz bass sounds, an almost hip hop drum beat and other texturizing sound effects that add to its soundscape, while a song like “Frozen Palace” features many elements in addition to Vangaalen’s psychedelic folk sound. Including some electronic and hip hop elements, “Frozen Place” sounds like it could have been recorded in an arctic snowstorm. “Lila” once again displays Vangaalen’s own folk influenced sound, but features a highly catchy layered chorus. “Monster” has a shuffle-like beat and tells the story of transforming into another life form. I would imagine this could be the basis of the artwork found on the album cover for Shrink Dust, but once again is extremely catchy and creepy at the same time.

Songs such as “Weighted Sin” and “Hangman’s Son” both cater to Chad Vangaalen’s country sound as he would call it, but they come off here with their dark imagery and sonic dynamics as psychedelic country. “Hangman’s Son” in particular seems to draw from the well that Neil Young once drank from on Harvest Moon. The imaginary sounds kick in on the drone-like “Evil”, while “Leaning On Bells” picks up the pace in a groove that was once explored on the more psych garage sounds found on 2011’s Diaper Island. “Cosmic Destroyer” ends the album, bringing in a relaxed vibe, with pedal steel, with Chad Vangaalen’s layered expansive sound. The lyrics to this track “When the world in your head/is the world where you live/the people seem stranger there/paranoid dreams it goes on and on” seem to stick out as a relevant point of interest when discussing Shrink Dust. This album, while loosely based as a score for his forthcoming animation feature that is to feature 150 characters, takes us on a weird journey with lush psychedelic sounds with dominant acoustic guitars, pedal steel and layered vocals. Shrink Dust is a strange and beautiful look into the world of music and characters in which Chad Vangaalen creates that goes on and on like a paranoid dream.

The Play List:

1. Ramones - Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio?
2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - White Palms
3. The Black Angels - The Flop
4. The Sunsets - I Want Love
5. Hot Snakes - Kreative Kontrol
6. Lame Brain - Sleeping King
7. Ty Segall - Son Of Same (Chain Gang)
8. The Modernettes - Red Nails
9. Hot Nasties - I Am A Confused Teenager
10. Pointed Sticks - No Use For U
11. Twin Library - Kick It Apart
12. Sun Parlour Players - By Your Side
13. Denney & The Jets - Water To Wine
14. Chad Vangaalen -Evil
15. Chad Vangaalen - Leaning On Bells
16. Death - North Street
17. Japandroids - For The Love Of Ivy
18. Young Rival - Too Hip
19. Shotgun Jimmie - Onomatopeia
20. Dee Dee Ramone & The Chinese Dragons - Chatterbox
21. The Weirdos - Life Of Crime
22. The Replacements - Hootenanny

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

Our Boy Roy & Show # 506

In 2010, Telephone Explosion, a record label based out of Toronto, Ontario put out a tribute album to Roy Orbison. Titled Our Boy Roy, this was not your average tribute album, it was a Garage Rock tribute to Mr. Roy Orbison. The album featured many bands from the labels roster such as Teenanger, Holy Cobras, and other popular newer Garage artists such as Ty Segall, Charlie & The Moonhearts, Jacuzzi Boys and six others. For those of you who are not familiar with the label or the above aforementioned bands, they are not only Garage bands, but they also venture into noisy, distorted territory at times pushing high thresholds of volume and Punk Rock attitude.

The first track on this eleven-song album “Problem Child” originally appeared on Roy Orbison’s 1961 album At The Rock House. Camero Werewolf Band covers this track in a gritty, lo-fi take on the Orbison original and starts the album off on an offbeat note. This one track, which at times sounds like a bootleg recording sets the tone of what to expect on the Our Boy Roy compilation. It's going to be dirty, loud and different from what you might expect from a Roy Orbison tribute album. Jacuzzi Boys offer up their take on “You Got It” as the next track. This lush cover is one of the highlights of the album with its clean scratchy guitar in the verses and fuzzy guitar lines at the end of each of the catchy choruses. Montrealer Bloodshot Bill covers the obscure 1958 Orbison song “Cause of It All” in his Garage/Rockabilly style following this.

Throughout each of the eleven tracks found on Our Boy Roy, we travel from distorted, noisy versions of Orbison songs, classics and some obscure. On the noisy, sludgy side we have Haunted George’s version of “Rock House” that has garbled vocals and oozes with a primitive sludge that sounds like a cross between The Phantom, The Sonics and something that has crawled out of a radioactive sewer. There is also the Holy Cobras version of “Domino” almost unrecognizable as a Roy Orbison song here. It sounds musically as if it was recorded with one microphone at the back of a room, while slightly more audible vocals rest on top. Ty Segall tackles “Pretty Woman” adding his trademark fuzz, echo and reverberations to this track with the addition of psychedelic yelps that pop up at various points before leading us in to “You’re My Baby”. This song is done by Toronto’s Garage Punkers Teenanger.  They deliver this track with the original soul and emotion that Roy Orbison first showed us back in 1956, but with a dash of Garage and a pinch of Rockabilly showcasing an edge similar to early music by The Gun Club. Oh and if that isn’t enough this song was originally written by Johnny Cash, but performed by Roy Orbison.

Demon Claws add depth to this album with their jangly Garage/Indie take on “It’s Over”, providing a wonderful rendition of this Orbison ballad deterring us from what we might expect based on their ominous band name. Cheater Sticks perform an aggressive version of “Crying”, while still maintaining the melody and emotion of the original. This version musically sounds like a mixture of early Velvet Underground and a Surf band. Surf licks lay overtop the Garage Rock foundation of this song. Charlie & The Moonhearts, a band featuring Mikal Cronin, who is not only a solo artist, but he also plays frequently with Ty Segall’s live band and has recorded some material with Ty cover “Chicken Hearted”. This track is a bastardized version of the original “Chicken Hearted” and comes off with the feel of something on the Reverse Shark Attack album by Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin.

1000 copies of Our Boy Roy were originally pressed in 2010 on vinyl only by Telephone Explosion. It sold out quickly. But the thought of Roy Orbison and Garage Rock is not something completely foreign. Back in 1966, Roy Orbison released the single “Twinkle Toes” for the MGM record label, reportedly in an attempt to sound current at the time. The song features a prominent and ominous fuzz guitar line amongst the rowdy crowd noise filling in the background of this track. On this tribute album, Roy Orbison’s complex and dark ballads take on a new life just as it did on his song “Twinkle Toes” in 1966. The rowdy crowd noise and ominous fuzz guitar is pushed forward from the background into the foreground on this compilation album and it was all inspired by our boy Roy Orbison.

The Play List:

1. The Stand GT - Cool As Me
2. Famines - Faux Famous (Live July 14, 2008)
3. The Ugly - Alley Cat
4. OFF! - Void You Out
5. The Coathangers - Merry Go Round
6. Sabers - Big Fish
7. Natural Child - Rounder
8. Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos (2012 Movie Mix)
10. Big Star - September Gurls (2012 Movie Mix)
11. Roxy Music - Street Life
12. Scattered Bodies - Rain On The Red Tin Roof
13. Particle Wave - Grand Unifier
14. Laughing Clowns - Diabolic Creature
15. Roy Orbison - Twinkle Toes
16. Bloodshot Bill - Cause Of It All (Roy Orbison Cover)
17. Teenanger - You’re My Baby (Roy Orbison Cover)
18. Mystics - So Cold
19. Ty Segall - Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison Cover)
20. Raised By Weeds - Fun And Games
21. Sex Pistols - Whatcha Gonna Do About It
22. Supergrass - Mansize Rooster
23. Ramones - Teenage Lobotomy
24. Radiohead - Bodysnatchers
25. Weirdonia - Don't Move To New York
26. Fergus & Geronimo - Uncanny Vision/Spies
27. Nirvana - Stain

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for April 29. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Revolution Rock (Revisited) Detroit Garage Rock & Show # 505

This week’s episode was a repeat of a program that first aired in February 2014. The program focused entirely on music from Detroit featuring primarily Garage Rock, but also other genres from Detroit and the surrounding areas. My original post was on The Hentchmen’s Hentch Forth-Five.

Here are some other bands/music featured on the program:

The Gories – You Little Nothing

This now legendary Detroit Garage Rock band featuring Mick Collins (who would later go on to play in The Dirtbombs and numerous other groups) had one of their first recordings featured on the 1987 Detroit compilation album It Came From The Garage Volume II. “You Little Nothing” was one of the first Gories recording to be released. "Give Me Love" another Gories song was also featured on this compilation. "You Little Nothing" would be re-issued with two other recordings on the Bug House Waterbug And Roach Traps EP in 1995 via Get Hip Recordings. There were only ever two It Came From The Garage compilation albums, Volume 1 was released in 1986 and Volume 2, as previously mentioned in 1987. Each of these compilations along with featuring a variety of Detroit bands such as Zombie Surfers and 3D Invisibles, also featured the Windsor bands Prehistoric Cave Strokers and Lost Patrol.



Detroit Garage Play List:

1. Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – City Slang (City Slang Single - 1978)
2. Blue Squares – Stop And Wonder Why (Live At GBS Studio, Detroit - 2011)
3. Two Star Tabernacle – Hotel Yorba (Live at the Gold Dollar - 1998)
4. The Von Bondies – Lack of Communication (Lack Of Communication - 2001)
5. The Fishcats – My Lips Are On Fire (It Came From The Garage II - 1987)
6. John Lee Hooker – Sally Mae (Boogie Chilen' - 1948)
7. Joe Weaver & The Don Juans – Baby, I Love You So (Baby, I Love You So - 1956)
8. Outrageous Cherry – ‘Til I Run Out (Outrageou Cherry - 1994)
9. The Sights – Send Your Loving To Me (Live) (Ghettoblaster Volume 2 - 2002)
10. Hysteric Narcotics – Anna (It Came From The Garage - 1986)
11. The Rationals – Look What You’re Doing (To Me) (Look What You're Doing Single - 1965)
12. The Go – Keep On Trash (Whatcha Doin' - 1999)
13. The Gories – You Little Nothing (It Came From The Garage II - 1987)
14. 3-D Invisibles – I Married A Monster From Outer Space (It Came From The Garage - 1986)
15. Chit Chat – Attitude (Chit Chat EP - 2012)
16. King Sound Quartet - Annihilate This Week (Annihilate This Week Single - 1996)
17. Fake Surfers – Nonsense (Fake Surfers - 2012)
18. Death – Freakin Out (... For The Whole World To See - 2009)
19. Destroy All Monsters – Nobody Knows (What Do I Get? Single - 1979)
20. The Dirtbombs – Cedar Point '76 (White Stripes/Dirtbombs Split Single - 2000)
21. MC5 – Looking At You (Back In The USA - 1970)
22. White Stripes – Little Bird (De Stijl - 2000)
23. Andre Williams – Bobby Jean (Mr. Rhythm Is Movin'!. The Original 1955-1960 Fortune Recordings - 2011)
24. Mary Wells – I’m So Sorry (I Don't Want To Take A Chance Single - 1961)
25. Hentchmen – Late Model Ford (Hentch Forth Five - 2007)
26. The Stooges – Down On The Street (Single Mix) (Fun House Deluxe Edition - 2005)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for April 22. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Black Lips Underneath The Rainbow & Show # 504

In April 2014, Black Lips released their seventh full-length album. Underneath The Rainbow followed their last album Arabia Mountain, the sixteen track Mick Ronson produced (for the most part) album that showed us Black Lips could have a higher fidelity produced LP and still keep their raunchy Garage “Flower Punk” sleaze. For this release Black Lips recorded with Patrick Carney drummer of The Black Keys and Tommy Brenneck of the Budos Band on a few tracks. The tracks on Underneath The Rainbow have a cleaner production style, but don’t let that fool you as it has for some reviewers, who have written Black Lips off as cleaning up their sound too much. For this release, Black Lips have pulled in some Country Rock and Southern influences in conjunction with the sound they have been known for.

“Drive By Buddy” begins Underneath The Rainbow with its Country/Garage twang and lyrics such as “Well brother what’s the matter/Do you hate the life you chose/Well I hope it doesn’t flatter/When you’re bathing with a hose” and “We’re hanging on a broken T-Bird hood” sung by guitarist Cole Alexander. It starts the album starts off with a sleazy vibe on all fronts setting the tone of the album, and also drawing some comparisons in some reviews to The Monkees’ “Last Train To Clarksville”. “Smiling” is a sloppy Psychedelic Garage track that recollects being thrown in jail, sung by bassist Jared Swilley based on a real life incident that occurred last year, “Make You Mine” is a catchy jangly Garage Pop track that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on 2011’s Arabia Mountain, while “Funny” brings 80s styled synthesizers into the Black Lips fuzzy Garage mix. “Dorner Party” is a fizzy Garage Punk track that is sung by drummer Joe Bradley and is followed by “Justice After All”, another fuzzed out song also sung by Bradley.  It is a more laid back Garage styled track, complete with fuzzed out guitar riffs and lyrics such as “What’s your name? Who you after? Where you gonna go?” and “We’ll take you name and get back to ya/Serve it up/Justice after all”, this song seemingly evokes a social commentary that has musically drawn comparisons to music from Neil Young.

Other highlights include “Boys In The Woods” that attacks with its Southern Blues/Soul drawl regaling us in a tale of drinking bathtub gin and causing mischief. “Waiting” echoes production techniques of The Black Keys, while “I Don’t Wanna Go Home” is a Jared Swilley sung track complete with guitar fuzz a la early 60s Rolling Stones. “Dandelion Dust” features a Blues raunchiness and “Dog Years” ends the album with an agitated weirdness, that comes off as natural within its Psych Garage dynamics. Overall, Underneath The Rainbow comes off with a production style not unlike 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil, but with more twang.

There is a brief moment in the music video that was created for the song “Justice After All” that perfectly describes what to expect from Black Lips on this album and more than likely in the future. In the video, we see shots of the band performing live and running down a street. At one point during the solo we see a shot of guitarist Ian Saint Pe playing a solo as another shot of guitarist Cole Alexander slides in and he pukes on the ground. This moment shows the listener and viewer that while they are trying new things, they are still the same band that we have all known. They may have branched out on Underneath The Rainbow, showcasing a slightly different spectrum of sound with Southern twang influences, but they are still the same Black Lips.

The Play List:

1. Outrageous Cherry - Sign Of The Times
2. The Spooky But Nice - Everytime
3. Guided By Voices - Writer’s Bloc (Psycho All The Time)
4. Bagg Team - Twentieth Century Dog Faced Boy
5. Condition - Wet Shoes
6. Beck - Country Down
7. Tire Swing Co - Pelee Island # 2
8. The Men - Different Days
9. Jacuzzi Boys - You Got It (Roy Orbison Cover)
10. The Rich Kids -Young Girls
11. Damaged Bug - Eggs At Night
12. Female Hands - No One Likes Me
13. The Painted Ship - Audience Reflections
14. Vaguess - Company Ink
15. Paul Jacobs - I Want More
16. The Bureaucrats - The Game
17. Lost Patrol - Grown Up Hard
18. The Professionals - Too Far Too Fall
19. The Drones - The Underdog
20. The Damned - I Feel Alright
21. Victim - Strange Thing By Night
22. Black Lips - Drive By Buddy
23. Black Lips - Dorner Party

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for April 15. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Mac DeMarco Salad Days & Show # 503

Mac DeMarco is a Canadian artist who is known for his strange prankster live antics and lyrical content. Currently residing in Brooklyn, New York, but originally from British Columbia, DeMarco has released an EP (Rock And Roll Night Club) and an album entitled 2. The album 2, showed a change in musical style, but still catered to DeMarco’s style. With his newest release, Salad Days, DeMarco shows a growth in his song writing ability still keeping true to his original style, but gravitating more towards maturity at the same time. A good way to describe Salad Days would be that it is maturely playful with more perspective. DeMarco has mentioned Jonathan Richman and Steely Dan as influences, among others. However, he is commonly lumped into the Indie Rock genre. The first single from Salad Days "Passing Out The Pieces" features lazy melodies and synthesizers sounding as if they were slowed down on purpose, but originally recorded at a faster speed. Salad Days was released on April 1st, 2014 on the Captured Tracks label.



This Week's Play List:

1. Pow Wows - You Haven’t Got Me (Live)
2. Fruit Tones - Will My Life Live Without Me
3. 13th Floor Elevators - Thru The Rhythm
4. Jim O'Rourke - Therefore I Am
5. Could Nothings - No Thoughts
6. PJ Harvey - The Letter
7. Jale - 3 Days
8. Jellyfishbabies - Never Really Knew
9. Death - Keep On Knocking
10. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Dang
11. Holy Cobra - Feed Yr Head
12. The Dishrags - Love/Hate
13. Teenanger - Off The Beaten Path
14. Dick Dale - Eight ‘Till Midnight
15. The Bell Peppers - Whiskey And Cigarette Blues
16. The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction
17. Parquet Courts - Stoned And Starving
18. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
19. Mac DeMarco - Let Her Go
20. The Saints - Untitled
21. The Hives - Insane
22. The Gun Club - Sex Beat

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

Repo Man Soundtrack Revisited & Show # 502

In 1984, Alex Cox released his cult classic film Repo Man, a film that he wrote and directed that took the seedy underworld of a repo man and wrapped it around Punk Rock music and Science Fiction. The film stars a young Emilio Estevez who portrays a visceral performance alongside Harry Dean Stanton who is his mentor throughout the film. Along with the film’s strong memorable characters, there were quotable lines such as: “The life of a repo man is always intense.” “Put it on a plate, son. You’ll enjoy it more.” “The more you drive, the less intelligent you are” and “Look at those assholes, ordinary people. I hate’em.” Repo Man also has a very interesting soundtrack.

The Repo Man soundtrack documents the LA Punk scene at the time, featuring music from The Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Fear, The Plugz and others. The Circle Jerks have two tracks featured on the soundtrack “Coup d’Etat” from their 1983 album Golden Shower Of Hits and a lounge/acoustic version of “When The Shit Hits The Fan” also from the same album originally. In the film, the band also makes an appearance as a lounge act performing the soundtrack version of “When The Shit Hits The Fan”. The Plugz also provide quite a few tracks to not only the soundtrack, but also in the film. The band puts their Punk noir spin on Surf Rock covering “Secret Agent Man” and the songs “Reel Ten” and “El Clavo Y La Cruz”. “Reel Ten” significantly creeps in and out of the film, especially in the films ending sequence. It should be noted that along with being a part of the soundtrack, Tito Larriva and Steven Hufsteter of The Plugz created the film score for Repo Man. Along with these tracks there is also the films “Repo Man” theme that drifts in and out of the film like the demented character Dr. J Frank Parnell in his radioactive 1964 Chevy Malibu. The film’s main theme was written and performed by Iggy Pop. When the films director Alex Cox approached Pop, he advised him to do what he felt like for the film’s soundtrack. The result was a song influenced by Davie Allan & The Arrows as Pop mentions on the Criterion edition of the film.

The recording sessions for the theme by Pop, were tracked and done quickly. On the website repomanfilm.com, assistant engineer Chas Ferry discusses the session which took two days to record. The other musicians involved in the recording of the “Repo Man” song were Clem Burke on drums and Nigel Harrison both of which made up the rhythm section of Blondie and Steve Jones on guitar from Sex Pistols. With Pop as director the collection of musicians quickly came up with the parts necessary for the song and laid the track down in two takes. Chas conveyed his excitement:

“We began setting up with the engineer, Bev Jones, and the musicians started to arrive. Clem Burke from Blondie arrived to Play Drums. Then Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols and Nigel Harrison of Blondie arrived. I couldn't believe I was going to be involved in this. Iggy arrived. He came up to me and said, "Hi I'm Jim, nice to meet you". Then he started talking with the band. “

The vocals were recorded the next day due to a drug related misstep. The vocals were recorded in a similar fashion to how they were done on Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life album, which was run through a Fender Champ amplifier and Space Echo. Chas elaborated a bit more on this for his piece once again on repomanfilm.com:

“I knew about the Lust for Life setup and had it ready in the booth. Iggy was totally excited about that and ready for lots of distortion on his voice. Bev Jones arrived and Iggy excitedly told him about the setup. I realized by the look on Bev’s face that I'd just totally screwed up and put him in a very bad position. Now Bev was stuck with Iggy wanting to record his voice through an old Fender Champ and a Space Echo. Bev knew this was probably going to sound like shit, but if he didn't agree to it he might offend Iggy. Bev, being a very cool character, calmly suggested that we put up a good Neumann for Iggy, move the Champ to the bathroom and route the vocal back to the Space Echo/Champ through an aux send. Iggy consulted with Sachi (his wife at the time), and she agreed that it was probably a good idea.”

In 2012, a tribute version of the soundtrack was recorded featuring new artists. While the original 1984 version is long out of print, the soundtrack, along with the film has grown in status since its original release. The film leads fans to the soundtrack and vice versa. Repo Man the film stands as both a document of the LA Punk scene in the 80s, but also a story that is both bizarre, funny, was unconventional and defied classification. The film also pays tribute to the film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly. Its radiating glow was different showing a sense of detachment from mainstream culture and the films soundtrack took us for a ride along the way.



The Play List:

1. The False Poets - A Girl I Know
2. Your 33 Black Angels - Patient Love
3. Dum Dum Girls - Under These Hands
4. Old And Weird - Lamps
5. Os Tartaros - Tartaria
6. The Plugz - Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)
7. The Circle Jerks - When The Shit Hits The Fan
8. The Folk - In Silence
9. The Mods - Coming In And Out Of The Rain
10. The Young Canadians - Don’t Bother Me
11. Teenage Head - Some Kinda Fun
12. BA Johnston & The Moby Dicks - McDonald's Coupon Day
13. Korean Gut - Your Misery, Our Benefit
14. Topless Mongos - Hey My My
15. The Ketamines - You Can't Serve Two Masters
16. Frustrations - Damaged Goods Make History
17. Silicone Injection - At War With Peace
18. Radio Birdman - Do The Pop
19. Generation X - 100 Punks
20. The Libertines - The Good Old Days
21. The Modern Lovers - Old World
22. The Teardrops - Teardrops And Heartaches
23. Iggy Pop - Repo Man Theme
24. The D4 - Mysterex
25. The Rolling Stones - Factory Girl

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