Youtube really does unearth some interesting tv clips from the past…
Category Archives: Punk
Ear Candy – Break My Heart
Ok, so you’ve all been good sports and suffered through my Stones lists, rock lists, garage noise, rock / punk heavy A-list, axe wank list, etc. So i thought that as you were all probably dreading my week for the Spill Game, i’d put up something a bit different. Some of you may remember that i have a not-so-secret hankering for a pretty pop tune. So in honor of VD (i was supposed to be next week, but i switched off with DsD), i did a list of some pretty ear candy instead of the usual ear-splitting stuff. You know the drill – toss one or all, or keep as you see fit.
Will that do?
(Look, there are going to be guitars. There just are. It comes with the turf. But they’re gorgeous Byrds-y, Las-y, melodic, reverby, distorty, feedbacky, groovy, and even maybe some acoustic-y. Maybe a bit of saminess at the beginning of the list, but how can you complain when it’s this easy on the ears. Huh? I do promise that there’s nothing like Jimmy Page taking a dump on a Telecaster.)
Happy VD to all!
Update Required To Play MediaUpdate your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
(Did this the new player way because a) it cut down on buffering problems, and b) makes it easier to find a specific song.)
Groovy Garage
Grab bag of groovy garage / punk / psych / indie / powerpop / whatever tunes that caught my ear, now that i seem to be able to listen to music again.
Update Required To Play MediaUpdate your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
WHAT WAS WYNGATE LISTENING TO IN 2012?…PART 2
Remember 2012? Seems like a long time ago now doesn’t it? My plan was to post Part 1 followed shortly by Part 2 at the end of December. It then shifted to the beginning of January and I managed to post Part 1, confident that Part 2 would follow just a few days later. Anyway here it is. Part 3 is a theoretical possibility, depending on youtube links, but don’t hold your breath…
WHAT WAS WYNGATE LISTENING TO IN 2012?…PART 1
I’m sure you’ve all been wondering that. The answer is more of the same of course. There are ageing punks out there still releasing records, and that’s what I’ve been buying. That said it’s not been the best year for me for music. Part of that has been due to wyngate jnr of course, who is generally either wanting attention or asleep – neither are ideal for giving a pile of 7”s a proper listen (7”s still a favourite format for old punks). For some reason it also seems to be getting harder to find stuff with the continued rise of the internet. I know the opposite is supposed to be true, but the diy distros that stocked loads of stuff have gradually disappeared and everything seems to be more fragmented. I’ve also not heard many new bands that have done much for me, and those that have are usually new bands formed by people who have been around for years in other bands so that doesn’t quite count. Anyway here’s some of the stuff I’ve been sneaking off to listen to on flimsy pretexts
BACK TO NO FUTURE – THE EJECTED
I haven’t really covered a bona fide Oi band (apart from maybe Anti-Establishment) so far in this intermittent series, so it’s about time I did. The Ejected should fit the bill: they came from Dagenham; Garry Bushell liked them ; their early songs sounded a bit like football chants. Almost the definition of an Oi! Band!
‘Spill Game Week 14: Don’t Bother Trying To Explain, Angel…
Michelle Nolan (now Michelle DaRosa) of Straylight Run and Destry. The line “Don’t bother trying…” in the title of this post is probably about her…
As per a discussion that took place here and on RR a few weeks ago, I decided to theme my playlist for the ‘Spill game around infidelity, just for the lolz. In terms of the tracks I’ve picked, I have a few general points to make:
- I could have chosen eleven songs by Brand New, Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run, so entangled and messy were those three bands’ love lives. But I figured that would be pointless in terms of the game…
- I have a sneaking suspicion I know which song is most likely to be kept.
- I feel obliged to follow Aba last week in saying that your problem is likely to be finding a song you’d want to listen to!
He Said – She Said . . . It’s The J-Factor ! ! !
What do we do with the winners Mr P?
Exploit them ruthlessly like everyone else Ms S ! ! !
She Says:
Welcome to the J- factor ! ! ! This post is based on a popular TV series which maybe some of you have seen. Basically we have three categories. Solo, Group and Oldie. I will nominate one track for each category and Mr P will nominate one for each category and then you will have the chance to vote for your favourite. We hope you have fun listening to the tracks and voting for your favourites ! ! !
He Says:
Call me S*mon C**ell and pass me a pair of high waisted trousers. It’s time for a head to head J-Factor contsest. The rules are clear ( vote for me) and the gloves are off !
BACK TO NO FUTURE – THE FITS
Where was I again? That’s it – I was doing a series on lesser known punk bands from the early 80s. I’m now going to get the series up & running again (I hope). It’s been derailed by a variety of things, starting off with my trip to Blackpool, so it seems appropriate to start again with imho Blackpool’s best punk band. The Fits were formed in 1979, many years before Blackpool became the official holiday destination for the UK punk scene. They were influenced by the early punk version of Adam & The Ants, but didn’t have the ability. But this was punk after all, and limited ability didn’t stop them having a go. Despite some dodgy early recordings they persisted and went onto release a handful of classic records.
Why Are You Being So Toquiwa Now?
Tokyo all female three-piece TOQUIWA release their hi-energy J-punk in the UK on October the 22nd, 2012. Scopitones announced TOQUIWA’s self-titled debut on digital release and limited edition tour CD.
They begin touring the UK on 26/10 in Bournemouth – I’m going to be there (in a home made bright orange TOQUIWA T-shirt) – I also made a T-shirt using the ticket from a live Wedding Presents Ukrainian Sessions gig. But I can’t wear both.
This is the track listing and below the review are Smash Hits style questions sportingly answered by the band.
(I want to post this today – so I will have to ask Sakura to advise if I’ve got anything in the wrong places)
Photograph of the band used with permission – all designs created by arTEEsane are not for profit – please don’t use.
illustrative track from Music Ripple recorded as Pinky Piglets
The self titled album by Toquiwa on the Wedding Presents Scopitones label, should almost be called go out and get ‘em girl – such is the frantic pace that they erupt with perfect pop rock. The first 13 seconds set up the album (you heard right – 13 seconds sets out their manifesto) – Fantasticly playing the many influences and condensing them into a tight Toquiwa package.
Strangely managing to be extremely talented musicians yet still exuding that punk ethic of innocence and naivety.
The tracks have so many astonishingly catchy segments and hooks, you wonder how the pace can be kept up, but keep up they do, building and building, twisting styles and era’s together as if timelines were squeezed, squashed and smashed into their musical brains. Until in comes out sounding as though these things should always have sat together (superbly) in each 3 minute track.
Not only that, they know how to sequence an album – just as your head might explode keeping up – (ten second bar room blues, into superfly 70′s style, into a quiet millisecond break – roaring back into .. you get the drift – I’m loath to compare because it all sounds so Toquiwa – but as reference you could detect The Animals merging with a Curtis Mayfield track with hints of Kirsty MacColl’s weariness and wonder, while a Status Quo repetitive rock riff underpins a track – and quite loud quiet indie rock aesthetics jostle in) they take a breather with a ballad – and then we are invited to party hard once again, ending with an enthusiastic Wedding Present adaption to thrill and inspire while closing the album out.
It’s fantastic fun – superbly performed and feverishly played. Total enjoyment.
Would they be happy to answer my frivolous questions linking to each song on the album?:
各曲に関連した私のくだらない質問に答えていただけたら幸いです。
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Every so often I come across a song that would surely be destined for the A List …if only the appropriate topic hadn’t already been and gone. Here courtesy of Mr Wanky’s youtube channel is one such track, spot on for last year’s Anti Christmas Songs topic. It appears to be by a Japanese band called The Injections…enjoy (warning : contains rude words, and images that may be distressing for young children)
The Pinky Piglets become TOQUIWA ! ! ! . . . . .. say what ? ? ?
Japanese girl pop punksters changed thier name last year from Pinky Piglets to TOQUIWA and currently touring the UK supporting a UK band called The Wedding Present.
Shane and I will be writing a post about them including an exclusive virtual interview and a review of the latest album very soon. . . .
The Current State of UK Rock
The latest lineup of Guildford punk band Hearts Under Fire
So here it is. After nearly a year of the Guardian running ‘is rock music dead?’ stories and readers’ polls to find Britain’s best band with results that make me weep for humanity, this punk fan is finally hitting back. I could go on a rant about major media outlets refusing to interview The King Blues because they were ‘too political’, I could talk about the Guardian beginning their pattern of dismissing UK rock last year with a story on the death of guitar music a few days before Sheffield metalcore torchbearers Bring Me The Horizon released their critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful third album There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It, There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret… but I won’t. Instead, I’ll introduce you to some of the UK’s leading lights and rising stars, and let you judge them for yourselves. Please note that this list is selective: I don’t listen to much metal, and wouldn’t feel qualified to talk about it, so I’ll mostly be focusing on punk, pop-punk, emo and post-hardcore. Maybe Chinny would do a piece on modern British metal? (hint, hint…)
Black Lips
It sure does warm my heart to hear some young whippersnapper college garage punkers that have done their Stones homework. They don’t have to fake the southern accents either. Here’s a little mini sampler.
REBELLION 2012 – SUNDAY
Some photos that someone’s posted. I am somewhere in these photos, but will deny all knowledge if identified
One more day to go. I manage to get to breakfast with minutes to spare. I now have The Cravats debacle in more perspective. Today is a much quieter day for me. The main event for most is the headlining slot by 90s punk royalty Rancid. I saw them back in the day – they were nothing special. There, I’ve always wanted to say that. I feel like I’ve graduated to being a proper old punk git now.
REBELLION 2012 – SATURDAY
John Lydon sees the funny side when the mystery person who threw a pint during PIL’s set reveals herself.
It’s Saturday morning and the BBC pundits are chattering away excitedly about it being “super Saturday”. And they’re right. Today turns out to be the best day of the weekend. Several favourites, the intriguing prospect of a set by Ruts DC, and the much anticipated appearance of Public Image Limited. How will they go down? More later….
REBELLION 2012 – FRIDAY
“Is this the way to 1982?”
I’m struggling for the obligatory Olympic metaphor for today. It would probably be the decathlon or something and would involve a lot of sprinting as today has the most bands that I want to see, and a lot of them are on different stages overlapping. There are tough choices to be made. Not a good day to wake up having failed to actually get into bed and not feeling particularly well. Never mind, a good fry up sorts that out, and I have a relaxing morning watching TV in my room. For some reason the TV automatically puts up subtitles when you switch on or change channel. Watching BBC Olympic coverage with subtitles I see an interview with swimmer “Rebecca Alan Linton”!
REBELLION FESTIVAL 2012 – THURSDAY
“OI! WYNGATE! WAKE UP!”
As you might have realised there has been a major event going on in the UK attracting visitors from all over the world. Of course I’m talking about the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. Yes it’s that time of year again and I know you’d be disappointed if I didn’t give you a full, day by day report. There has been some banter at “chez carpenter” about this being my equivalent of the Olympics, concern about whether I’m in good enough physical condition etc (answer – no). However a performer that I get chatting to about the Olympics on the coach to Blackpool offers a different perspective – the Olympics is the world’s equivalent of the Rebellion Festival!
BACK TO NO FUTURE – INSTANT AGONY
This time round I’m writing about about 4 lads from Merseyside whose music has gone on to influence bands around the world. Of course I mean the “fab four” – Hockey, Tabby, Bazza, Ant – better known as Instant Agony. I suppose there are other bands I could be talking about, but I can’t think of them just now
BACK TO NO FUTURE – CHAOS UK
“Typical – twenty years of punk .. “Ooh,I like the Sex Pistols” – Fuck the Sex Pistols!”
The words of Chaos,by then vocalist of Chaos UK, on stage in 1996*, but I’m sure there are many in the punk scene expressing similar sentiments this weekend as we witness the official history of punk rocktrotted out again, declaring it dead by 1979. There were many bands that helped to drag punk kicking and screaming through the 80s and 90s and a prominent one that you may not be aware of are Chaos UK.
BACK TO NO FUTURE – THE DARK
You might have noticed a recently in the news that sections of Einstein’s grey matter have been brought to the UK for the first time for an exhibition. You might have thought “That’s interesting, it would make a great subject for a song. I wonder if anyone’s ever written one?” You might have thought that, but you probably didn’t. If you did though, the answer is yes, The Dark released a classic single in 1981 on exactly that subject. They were a band that managed to combine punk energy, the ability to write a catchy pop song, and a moody quality that saw them gradually move towards “the genre that dare not speak its name” (goth in case you’re wondering).
BACK TO NO FUTURE: THE SAMPLES
The output of the early 80s wave of punk bands is often sneered at now as naive and dated. This is easy to do, but you have to remember what life for young people in the early 80s was like: high unemployment, a right wing government determined to cut public services, riots, royal weddings, tension between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands – hard to imagine now isn’t it?!. This was the backdrop for bands like The Samples who released one of the classic singles of the period, Dead Hero.
He Said ~ She Said – Japanese Lock Chicks ! ! !
Ms S it is Rock not Lock!!!
But Mr P - that is what I said - Lock ! ! !
She Says:
We have wanted to this post for a long time and now at last we can ! ! ! Japanese girls are very active in all genres of rock, much more I think than girls in the west. We want to show you some of the great things Japanese girls are doing these days in rock – it is loud and little crazy maybe, but we think you will enjoy it!!!
He Says:
Last time we introduced you to some Japanese girls from the pink, fluffy end of the spectrum. This week it’s girls with balls. Big, fat, hairy rocky balls ( figuratively speaking, not really, I think you have to go to Thailand for that sort of thing). Wild girls making wild music in a wild way. Girls, doing for themselves. Go, go gyaru ! Continue reading
BACK TO NO FUTURE – EXTERNAL MENACE
I don’t suppose I’m the only person who has ever jumped to a conclusion about a band based on their name. I nearly saw External Menace play in Edinburgh at a huge 10 day punx picnic. They were support band at one of the week’s gigs but I didn’t bother to get there in time. Based on their name it seemed obvious that they were some kind of “crustcore” band. There seemed to be loads of these around at the time with their sub-Slayer riffs, dreads and grunted vocals, and I didn’t need to see another. A few months later I actually got to hear External Menace on an 80s compilation and started kicking myself repeatedly. At the risk of getting a savage beating from a certain infamous frontman, I would say External Menace are the best ever Scottish punk band whose name begins “Ex”.
BACK TO NO FUTURE – COURT MARTIAL
Court Martial were another short lived band that most of you probably haven’t heard of but in their own way they almost the definitive punk band – a bunch of teenagers with hardly any musical ability and no hope of stardom who made a racket, released two singles, and disappeared again. It may not be the best record ever made, but Court Martial’s first EP is one of the records I might play to someone if they were struggling to grasp the concept of punk.
