A Mike Mariconda interview, a legendary route in rock'n'roll.

It is quite hard to listen to this kind of music, reading this blog space and still not recognize his name, isnt' it? The original A-Bones guitarist, then in The Raunch Hands and The Devil Dogs. He has produced hundreds of records since 1984 and has recorded countless garage-punk and rhythm & blues outfits around the world (USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia and Europe). He was a student of electronic music pioneer Reynold Weidenaar and one of the first producers to graduate with a  Bachelor of Science in Music Technology from New York University. He currently lives in Spain. Mike Mariconda is a living legend of the underground rock'n'roll scene globally as you might already know or guess. 

Many thanks Mike for taking a few moments to answer my questions. I usually start with this: What actually got you involved with rock'n'roll? I'd like to know if there was anything before The Raunch Hands.

Well, thanks for asking as I have been a fan of your writing and the White Trash Soul website for many years. I had been playing in bands since 1977, I started when I was 15 years old with friends from High School..We started out doing covers of The Who then we heard the first The Damned record and The Victims (NOT the Australian band,) the one from NJ near where I grew up who did one LP called "Real Wild Child", for or Golden Disc )-a label from a Doo Wop record store in Greenwich Village where Lenny Kaye worked) and we got into a more punk style. I joined the Raunch Hands in winter of 1984 after seeing them play their first gig at some funky illegal after hours club called No Se No. Shortly before that they were just a duo called Tchang and Chandler so we put a full band behind them. They played as a duo at Tim Warren's wedding in late 1983 and Club 57 on St, Marks place a few times.

Is it true that you stole Mike Chandler from Outta Place in order to create a band similar to Peter Greenberg's original Barrence Whitfield and the Savages?

No, not true, Chandler was in both bands but playing more with The Outta Place and the other 3 members of The Raunch Hands were frustrated and jealous and  approached me to do an instrumental band without a singer called The Slaymen as Chandler got busy when The Outta Place LP came out on Midnight Records in 1984... After a few weeks we integrated The Raunch Hands and The Slaymen into one group and we had 10 songs total, 5 originals and 5 instrumental covers, enough to play a full show. We learned "What I Say" and " I Got a Woman" (The Maddox Brothers and Rose's version) to make it 12 although the group was better writing originals as they weren't at the musical level to do cover versions very well. We only saw The Savages about a year later when we played with them at Irving Plaza and they made us look like fools. We had to have a special band meeting the next day and we decided to play faster with more R and B screaming and sax and promised we would never let a band step all over us like they did that night.

What's the story behind Raunch Hands appearance on Back From the Grave Vol. 3? Was it a Tim Warren's joke or an attempt for making the Hands more known?

Well Tim loved us and knew Tchang and Chandler for years and I guess he was hungry for new bands and we fit the bill. We had just recorded our first 3 songs and he flipped out. I owe a lot to him, he really changed my life.

Did the Raunch Hands borrowed their name from Link Wray?

No. Vince came up with that as PJ Proby did a single under the pseudonym Jett Powers with Vince Parle and The Raunch Hands called " Go, Girl, Go" so he named us after that one-off single.

I'd like to know any worth mentioning untold stories from the Hands and Devil Dogs life. By the way, on the Dogs fist LP you've been credited as additional musician, when you officially joined the band? 

There are too many stories to tell and with time it gets difficult to remember..What happened was when Tim did The Bad Music Seminar "Music Festival" in NYC he was the first to bring Billy Childish to the USA... Billy  agreed to record the Double Naught Spies, The Gravediggers and The Rat Bastards at Coyote Studios out in Brooklyn, Those 2 records came out but The Rat Bastards (who later transformed into The Devil Dogs),thought the recording was too trashy and lo-fi sounding, Tim got me to try to remix it, but they still hated it. So I went into the studio with them to re-record the LP and after a few days the group split into 2 as Pete didn't think Andy saying "Fuck" on the songs would get played on the radio. This was my first real production job after a few songs by the Raunch Hands and we were all in a panic. As guitarist Pete Ciccone left the group but the drummer, Paul Corrio, (the group always had Italian/Americans or Jewish guys in it. Sometimes we disagree, haha) stayed on just to finish the recording and me and Andy overdubbed the 2nd guitar parts as Pete didn't want to be on the record. They had a gig booked the following week at The Pyramid Club as The Rat Bastards and they were going to cancel as they didn't have a drummer or second guitarist- but as the engineer Albert Caiati from Coyote Studios was a great drummer and I was a guitarist we said "Hey- keep the show, me and Albert can play with you (Steve and Andy)" as we had been listening to the songs all week. So that was the first Devil Dogs gig after they changed the name from The Rat Bastards. As I was a member of The Raunch Hands I didn't want to be in the photos or credited as guitarist to avoid confusion, but I did do all the gigs with them and several European and a Japanese tour with them and played on most of the Crypt records up until they did "Saturday Night Fever" as a trio. I stayed in the band but Albert didn't so after trying out a few drummers we took on David Turetsky who was previously in The Headless Horsemen and Justin Trouble.

Are they any unreleased recordings from both bands with you playing in (or not)?

Yes, but as we can't get authorization from the other  group members to release them they remain on cassettes I have at home and there are some great moments that unfortunately the public will probably never hear it. Tim paid for the sessions, maybe someday he will release them, if he gets permission from the "artists" haha...

So you're telling me that there are somewhere Rat Bastards recordings still sitting unreleased in some drawer or something that been produced by Billy Childish and remixed by you? Wow! I thought that session never took place.

Yes-Billy wrote Suck The Dog, Hosebag and Pussywhipped on the spot. The titles came from American slang he heard as it was his first time in the USA. The group played them a few times and record them a few hours later.

I guess I’ll have to ask someone from The Mummies about it, but you know why you’ve been immortalized on these loonies song? Has anything to do with the rejected recording by Tim Warren?

Tim flew me out to San Francisco to record them. I guess they were a little disappointed as they wanted Billy Childish but Tim wasn't paying to fly him from the UK. I had never met them and they weren't particularly friendly when I did. They wasted a lot of time and said their guitarist Larry was in Utah on vacation, so we didn't get much done except recording on 8 track in a cold warehouse a couple of days. We really didn't get beyond recording about 10-12 songs which I didn't have time to mix. Tim paid for a finished LP, which he didn't get and wanted a more guitar oriented punk record with less organ and less 60s retro garage sound which they didn't seem to agree on. As much as their fans really love them I thought they were extremely unwelcoming, gimmicky and didn't really have any anything but stupid costumes and a lot of show. I don't think Tim rejected them so much because he didn't like the songs, which were OK. He felt they were problematic to work with which was my impression. I'm not sure if I was "immortalized" but happy someone disliked me enough to write about me. Good or bad response to something is always better than being ignored.

Speaking of your work as a producer, you’ve been behind the desk for countless garage punk and R&B/Soul outfits; tell me the main reason that got you choosing this as a post-musician job. Tell me also the recordings you enjoyed the most working as an engineer or a producer.

Well, after The Raunch Hands split up I had already started moving more towards producing... I was tired of the touring and being in 2 groups that were always on the road. Plus I started to develop a problem with the nerves in my hand and had difficulty playing.

The most memorable sessions and groups were The Phantom Keys (done in a house in Galicia), all of The Limboos stuff I did. Recording Sonny Burgess in Spain, live in the studio in one day. New Bomb Turks was a great 2 day session. Los Assdraggers another fast, fun and really drunk session and The Devil Dogs sessions were always a blast, I like when we are all having fun and laughing in the studio and working without any doubts... Recently Nervous Shakes from Brussels was a great session.. Fun and laughs all day and an excellent record. The best sessions always are the groups that do their job well as musicians and let me do my job as a producer and we can all relax, drink and have a good time without it feeling like work... stuff that just comes together fast and naturally. I don't show up with an attitude, so I don't expect to get that in return from anyone I work with-don't care if you are a "star" or a 15 year old kid making his first record. I treat anyone who is not full of shit with respect and would like the same. I currently moved to Valencia and am starting to play live again with a group called O.J.O. after swearing I never would get on stage again. But like smoking or eating, playing music is a tough habit to quit. And why should you quit something  if it gives you pleasure no matter how bad it is for you? Haha.

I know you’re hipped as me to the idea of different pressings with different mixes by bands. Which are the most interesting you ever crashed on? Are you a Mono or Stereo pressings fan btw and what's the reason behind this?

When I was working at Venus Records in NYC in 1984, I remember record collectors discussing mid 60s mono pressings had different mixes than the stereo pressings. For a few years records were mixed completely differently for the 2 formats and in some cases sounded quite different.Later we started realizing that European pressings of USA bands USA pressings of UK bands were also very different as the EQ curve standard (RIAA/Teldec/IEC) was different. You must remember that the master tape had to be sent by mail across the Atlantic, then they would be mastered and pressed in their respective country. These masters were often 2nd or 3rd generation analog "safety masters" 1/4" tapes (it was too risky to send the first generation mix tapes by mail-they could get lost or damaged) that could also sound different depending on what machine they were recorded and what machine they were played back on. With all of these variables pressings in various countries sound different. "I Can See For Miles" by The Who is a good example. It was pressed as a 45 (which also sounds different from the 33 RPM LP version) in about 8 different countries and they all sound a bit different and also sometimes the speed is slightly different. And the quality of the vinyl also accounts for a different sound. Chess LP vinyl was not that great so sometimes Chuck Berry records sound better on the French pressings.Also of course the artwork and photos differ from county to country, along with the track sequence. The Rolling Stones "Between The Buttons" US has different songs than the original UK version, and there are stereo and mono copies from both countries that sound very different. The vinyl made today, 60% of like sounds like shit and better in digital if you listen with the right equipment.

I need to know your thoughts on Tim Warren and Billy Miller. I believe they are as important to rock'n'roll as many artists and bands.

That's true. Their impact on bringing unknown artists and obscure styles of rock and roll is overwhelming. Not only as fantastic people and great friends they educated a lot of bands after they started putting out compilation records in the 1980s. They turned the unknown  losers into the heroes. Their endless search for the weird, the different, the craziest records every recorded that no one seemed to have known about certainly changed my life along with many others. Being close to both of them, also in a band with Billy and being Tim's "technical and production support," haha, was a blessing. I am very lucky to have been around them and still talk to Tim all the time.

Tell me a few bands that you wish had you as a producer.

Most of the bands that are currently active that I like I have worked with already but new groups are coming all the time. I am currently talking to Barrence Whitfield and The Savages and The Peewees about doing some records in the future and I like and respect both bands. I would have loved to do The Deadly Snakes or 68 Comeback when they were around but never got the chance. I wanted to do The Rolling Stones but without Charlie, I wouldn't do. I would maybe work with Keith on a solo record but not on Mick's next solo record. Now you tell me a few bands that would wish they had me as a producer! I bet you can't.

Haha, The Sonics are the first that comes in me mind. They're still great fuckin' dirty oldmen, aren't they? I'll definitely handed you the tape of L.A.M.F. also for a possible upgrade sounding reissue if I was sitting on the band's rights. The Coyote Men or Teengenerate were some bands taylor made for you also. There are many man. So, any recordings with you as a guitarist in The A-Bones?

No, I left before they recorded the first EP. I gave the job to my college friend Bruce Bennett who stayed with the group the whole time. I was getting busy as the Raunch Hands started making records and touring I couldn't be in both bands.

I'm sitting on an unreleased LP by Los Primos, Andy gave it to The Thing fanzine editor back then and Demetrius passed it to me too - he knew I was such a big fan. What happened and this one stayed in the can? I believe it's still one of your best productions. Tell me more about this band, they're definitely underrated. 

During the last Devil Dogs tour of the USA (I had already left the band) Andy met Candy Del Mar in L.A. Steve and Andy were having huge fights and Steve left to play with The Vikings and some other projects. Joe stayed with Andy and Candy came in then they used Pete Linzell as sax player as he was free, The Raunch Hands had already split up. They came down to Austin to record with me at Sweatbox and left me to mix it after they went back to New York. After they heard the dry rough mixes I did for a month they hated the final mix i did, they said it had too much reverb and effects and wanted it to sound dry like The Ramones (?), which was weird because they were moving away from punk into almost Brill Building/Bert Berns /Raspberries/Glam kinds of songs, so they remixed that at Coyote in Brooklyn... A few of the songs came out on 2 singles then Andy and Candy started fighting with Mighty Joe and threw him out of the group. They brought in Ron Salvo on Drums and Steve Greenfield on second sax and called it Andy G and The Roller Kings and a 10" was released. As far as I know, these are Andy's last recordings before he disappeared.

Are you still in touch with the other surviving Raunch Hands guys? 

We wrote to each other after Michael Chandler died, then we kinda lost contact.

Have you ever met Johnny Thunders or any other form the Dolls/Heartbreakers gang? 

Yeah, only Johnny and Walter. Walter was very nice, cultured and funny, he a a Wall Street job during the day and enjoyed going to the opera. A real gentleman. Johnny on the other hand was funny but somewhat dangerous. Me and Stevie Baise saw the last show he ever played shortly before he moved to New Orleans and died. He was hanging out at the Pyramid club after he had gotten back from playing in Europe. Jack Tragic was working there and talked him into playing an unannounced show (surely for drug money)... I think there were less than 30 people there, It was on a Tuesday, unannounced. He played good but physically he looked terrible, really sickly with almost green skin. Johnny loved The Senders (and why not? they were one of NYC's finest) and he would usually turn up at their gigs and play "Daddy Rolling Stone" with them. One night around 1990 it was a freezing winter night with snow and he showed up at the Continental Club near St. Marks and played with them. The "backstage" of The Continental was in the basement, where they kept the stuff for the restaurant which they tried to serve some kind of "food" in order to avoid paying the bar tax or something. Anyway we went backstage after the show to say Hi  and Johnny was doing cocaine of the top of a guitar. He asked us if we had a joint and Stevie did so we smoked a joint with him then it was getting late like 6 AM and we were getting ready to leave. Johnny had on this big vintage overcoat and as he stumbled up the stairs he bumped into the bouncer and 2 frozen chickens fell out which he stole from the freezer. The bouncer grabbed him and threw him out the door into the snow. Pretty typical Johnny. David Jo and Sylvain were always nice guys, David was cleaning up with his Buster Poindexter lounge thing at the time. He was playing a lot at Tramps and being somewhat professional, avoiding the rock and roll scene.

A last one, what's your thoughts on the so-called 80s garage revival? Any bands you dug except of The Outta Place?

There were pretty good groups playing at The Dive near Midnight Records at the time. The Tryfles, Vipers and Optic Nerve were both OK, but a little soft. Fuzztones always bad and silly, Lyres always great. Chesterfield Kings didnt move me too much...

Cheers mate!

Various Artists - "Copy Cats, The Originals" (WAIL TAPE 03)

Johnny was a very cool person. Even as a kid. He knew his shit about how to get dressed to kill and of course he knew where's a cool song when he heard one. From the New York Dolls days to the Heartbreakers and the later solo period, his mind about music was always on the right track, chemistry couldn't kill this. A steady diet of Rhythm and Blues, Rock & Roll (even Surf) was always there. That's why Johnny was such a cool motherfucker throughout his sort passage on this world. He wasn't a cool cat, he was born a real cool cat.
The "COPY CATS" LP with long time friend, Patti Palladin was perhaps the last cool thing he'd done. A set of "oldies" toons (hahaha, I hate the term, fuck it, this is the devil's music man), when most of them were totally forgotten and "uncool". He was a revivalist in its purest term. Not unlike what the Chesterfield Kings did back then or the Tell Tale Hearts, but instead for the Nuggets comps and the USA garage teens' 45s, Johnny and Patti look on the basis of rock & roll music (OK, they have gone for Sky Saxon and The Seeds but no "Pushing Too Hard" here, sorry folks). They picked on Elvis for instance, but they were so ahead of their time to chose not a Sun Records song or a hit but a forgotten piece of motherfuckerness from a movie, man!!! I mean, who else did that except maybe for the Cramps? They chose the King of the New Yawk streets, Dion. They could have chose a well known Little Richard or a Chuck Berry hit or even a more smart ass one but fuck no, they went for Screaming Jay Hawkins' voodoo shit or The Chamber Brothers!!! Anyway, I guess you get what I'm trying to say, right? So here's the easy way to hear them originals all gathered up for you listening pleasure.

Till next time, faithfully yours

Mihaleez

Various Artists - "Songs The Senders Taught Us" (WAIL TAPE 02)

It's been a while, huh?

OK, I'm a lazy bastard lately I confess. There are many excuses for it, but I'm as bored to story them as you probably reading them, so... That's from my vault of shit. Things I'm doing constantly for my own pleasure. I'm almost done with Philippe Marcade's excellent rock & roll memoir, Punk Avenue and came to my mind that I had somewhere this self made compilation, so why not sharing it? I'm not going (of course) to remind you who The Senders are/were. That's an insult. If my memory serves me well, I created this right after Wild Bill's passing, so here's a properly sloppy and drunken tribute to the Senders' axeman, full of the greasy originals the mighty pub-rock New Yawkers tried through their lifetime, to cover. Hope not forget something, but if I did, feel free to correct me.

'Till next time, take care people and keep the rocks rollin'!!!

Various Artists - "Songs The Missing Souls Taught Us" (WAIL TAPE 01)

Hi there! Hope 2017 will be a far better year for each and every single one of you guys and gals.

I know it's been a while since the last time but you know... Not much spare time, not much appetite, not much in general. It seems that I lost my mojo (or interest) for bloggin' matters, but I'm not shutting down the damn thing, cause I love it so much and it gave me even more the last 7 years. And maybe it's for better to post something when I'm really in the mood for it. So keep checkin' people, I'm sure from time to time will pop up something cool from your old hang out.

Anyway, on our subject: Some of the things that failed to renew my faith on modern bands lately, is the lack of fantasy and passion. Most of 'em seem to stay on the "looking good" concerns and they're recycling the same old cliches. I mean OK, you're not going to re-invent the wheel by playing rock & roll, but if you don't have faith, passion and...sex in your music, fuckin' leave it man, try something else for your own good (and ours)... Maybe I'm an old fart now, but I'd rather listen to Slim Harpo or The Pretty Things than to place an LP by the Tell Tale Hearts, and believe me I dig A LOT Mike Stax's old comrades. So, if I'm bored with a band like the Hearts lately, go figure what happens with a much newer combo who choose to play R&B or garage with a much less passion...

The Missing Souls outta Lyon, France are the real shit though, trust me! After three singles and a full album, these soulful fuzz-nuts made me ask for more every single time I put one of their slices on my turntable, man and believe me that's an often repeated procedure the last few months. They don't write songs of their own, but who fuckin' cares with a taste like this!!? Their ability to choose and rebuild amazing 60s garage-frat-punk and obscure soul classics having me not caring at all for not owning "original" material. In fact, I'm praying to stay that way!

If you haven't bought some (if not all) of their stuff already, stop reading now and go place an order. I mean, NOW brothers and sisters! In any other case, you definitely understand why I'm raving so much about them and decided to make a comp with all the original versions they have picked on so far. Again, this was at first for my own listening pleasure, but it's such a good selection of songs that I had to share it with you people.

Woooo, my (missing) soul!!!!

Cheers!

The Real Kids - "The Real Kids" (LP, Red Star Records / Bronze Records - 1977)

Hmmmm... It's quite difficult to write something 'new' for a band like The Real Kids, especially if you have done it already in the past... I mean, really now, is there anyone in here not knowing who the Real Kids are/were and what they've done? Come on! And I'm sure many of you lads and ladies, have this and the other Real Kids stuff already by the Norton reissue program just like me, am I right? So why this?! Because The Real Kids' 1977 debut is the perfect rock 'n' roll record, that's why! Recorded in three nights at the Ultima studios in New York City and it's the perfect blend of captivating power pop melodies and fiery teen punk energy. And this is the UK pressing of their debut monument, ripped by the man with the best ears and equipment around, the mighty Jean-Phillipe! A reason enough to grab this one more time and crank it up to your fuckin' boring neighbors!

Various Artists - "Garage Punk Unknowns Parts 1 & 2, Mid-Sixties America's Teen Garage Rock Action Blast! 1965-1967" (CD, No Label / Crypt? - 199?)

Hey there!
Bought the other day the "remastered" CD from Crypt of what was once upon a time, "Back From The Grave" Volumes 1 & 2 LPs and I'm telling you people, I was very GLAD that the master of primitivism the great in many levels Tim Warren have finally decided to update sound and packaging on the ol' classic bibles of RAW sixties punk that many of us here grew up with! And that led me to post these...
For some strange reason, probably due to (then) problems with rights, there's no Crypt logo on 'em. The whole design and attitude though betrays that Tim had a hand (or two...) in putting together these, he-he. Anyway and just for geeking reasons I'm telling this, I think the only time "Garage Punk Unknowns" had a Crypt mark on was on this 4 vinyl box. But then again, the box got out in 1998 and these CDs in 1999 (I think)... Who knows? Tim works in mysterious ways.
So for the newbies, "Garage Punk Unknowns" were the spinoffs of "Back from The Grave" volumes (along with the "Teenage Shutdown" series that I totally worship). Crude, unpsychedelic 60s punk raunch from the teens that tried to imitate the Stones and the Kinks (and thank God) they utterly failed! If you're looking for the original proto-punks in rock & roll history, these pricks in here are the ones man. Cheap guitars, pounding drums, screams and adolescent snark all the way!
Fuck Hippies. Amen.

Jack O' Fire - "The Destruction Of Squaresville" (CD, Estrus - 1994)

If you're really into this 'blues punk' thing there are good chances to know or sitting on this CD already. Jack O' Fire were made of the same clothe the Oblivians, the Raunch Hands and the archetype Blues Explosion been made also. If my memory serves me well, Tim Warren is a huge Jack O' Fire fan if that says something (I know it says actually). They've been created to create mayhem by doing punkish covers on blues and soul standards and bluesy renditions of punk rock stiffs. And they had Tim Kerr on guitar and Walter Daniels on harp and vocals. Any gang with these two punks involved worth its salt, right? As Big Daddy Soul putted once (whoever this BDS guy is anyway): "Jack O' Fire is on a mission to educate, liberate and inspire the young masses by the only means necessary... Rhythm & Blues". Dig?

Various Artists - "Savage Evangelists, The GaragePunk Gospel According to..." (WAILCD 02)

Heeeeeyyyyy, everything's OK? Hope so! Quickly: as you can easily guess, that's another shitty WTS compilation for your listening pleasure! Don't know about your neighbors' though, he-he... Anyway, the process remains the s(h)ame. Your host here in a dervish kinda mode, opens the vaults and rips the stuff the way exactly he listens to them! Ooops, I've gone too far this time, right? I'm so way out of ma head that I speak for myself in third person, not a good thing... So, I tried to keep a balance and not to include "mainstream hits" like Psychotic Reaction or Pushin' Too Hard but not go the other way too with stuff way to geeky. Fuck man, we're talking 'bout garagepunk here, rock and roll's ultra crude, primitive and mindless prick so no fuckin' geeks allowed!!! Hope you enjoy yourself with this as much I did when I was creating this obviously Tim Warren influenced little monster!!! 100% Teen Unpsychedelic 60s Teen Punk!!! Cheers!!!

Slovenly Recordings presents: WE'RE LOUD FESTIVAL with NEW BOMB TURKS, THE KIDS, THE RIPPERS, WAU Y LOS ARRRGHS!!! and many, many more!!! (Athens Greece, 17 - 20 September 2015)

Click here to reserve your place and see more 'bout the line-ups and the after gig parties!!!

 

Various Artists - "Teenage Shutdown: Jump, Jive and Harmonize" (CD, Teenage Shutdown / Crypt in reality - 1995)

Howdy people! Back from a couple of days off (thankfully there are few more on September's starting) but still in a slacking mood... You know, Greece's having many reasons to be in heat except for the summer, he-he...

Anyway as most (if not all of them) posts here are the results of things I'm crashing in daily and kick me to write and present to you stuff I had previously led my hands on and wasted my ears to and so is this one. My good friend JP once introduced me to the Steve Hoffman forum and even though I hate purists, it has many interesting moments if not educational or funny!

I came yesterday across a TEENAGE SHUTDOWN discussion that if these semi-boot Crypt series are any good and as most conversations ends up, it got bigger and wider on garage/60s punk comps mixing along (what else?) the sound qualities matter... Don't know if any of these guys there are following this jerk behind this blog, but if they do please do yourself a favor and go somewhere else guys for sounding matters. I mean, rock and roll is everything else but fidelity! And even if these next words sound/look/are a cliché, are 100% true as well. Rock and roll is sweat, sex, rawness and sloppiness. It's moving and grooving and having a good time. How this old mod punk song goes? Ah yeh: FUCK ART, LET'S DANCE! 

For me the Shutdowns, are even better than BACK FROM THE GRAVE volumes! Actually Shutdowns are better from anything else except for the iconic NUGGETS (yep, PEBBLES included).  I'm not going to enter into the 'legit' discussion. Of course there lying many well pointed opinions, but firstly I don't know actually what's what and secondly, I don't care as long as these are so well packaged and mastered (yes, even if it's from the bands 45s directly and not from the master tapes).

Here's the first volume and probably my fave one! The "Pounding, Pulverizing, All-Out Punk Dance Ravers" sub sets from the word go, the recipe for this. And what I like THE MOST on these (as the legend says, Moptop Mike owned but Tim Warren chosen) 45s it's the all American feeling into! These frat punks are deeply rooted on the black R&B and Soul acts of their country and day than the British Invasion gangs. Chuckster, Bo, Little Richard and the less known Rhythm and Soul acts (listen to the Shandells' "Gorilla" version or the Us Four "Alligator"). And of course it includes some very well known now tracks like the comp's subtitle of the east L.A. garage legends Thee Midniters or the Lyres well covered and strongly Kingsmen influenced "Busy Body" from the Jolly Green Giants. For fuck's sake it has a prime Del-Shannon mover also!

Don't know if they're still around but if they are, grab 'em with no second thoughts. Trust me, I know my rock and roll... 

The Sonics - "Don't Believe In Christmas/Santa Claus" (7"single, Norton - 1997)

*** Have a Very Loud Christmas!!! ***

 

Thanks for the Kicks! Paul Revere, RIP

-Vox Guitars ad with Paul Revere & The Raiders, 1966-

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion! - "Orange" (CD, Crypt - 1994)

Ahhhhh, The Blues Explosion! Still much controversy about them, right? OK right from the start, I dig them and I dig them A LOT! They're in many ways responsible for the younger generations to turn their heads into black music again (rock & roll, blues, funk, soul etc). And they were awfully sexy once upon a time... Actually just as sexy and raunchy will get black music, which is again, A LOT! Hmmmm, come to think of it, actually ONLY black music is sexy but anyway, I think you got it!

So, purists are fuckin' jerks - period! They always were. They're nazis in everything and their thinking is similar if not the identical to those bastards but life and art luckily had taught us that without mixing bloods, no wonder's going to happen and those stupid "purists" attacked/accused the Blues Explosion in the beginning at least, for not being "authentic". Andre Williams, R.L. Burnside and Rufus Thomas though had no problems as history proved just like Bo, Muddy or Chuck had no problems for the Rolling Stones back in the 60s.

Nevertheless I'm still scratching my head in oddity with this record... I mean, is sooooooooo brilliant but quite extremist as well for people like Tim Warren, don't you think (here as you can see for yourself in the original Crypt jacket and not the lame aluminum of Matador!)? With "Orange" the Blues Explosion added scratches and dance beats to their "Meters going Stones having James Brown and Lux Interior" formula with an enormously marvelous end result! Still fresh, neat and funky as fuck as it was 20 years back when at first came out... This is Blues Power!!!

The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Cutmedeadnailmedownandkickmyhead" (LP, No Label JMC 10 - 1985)

For the Mary Chain diehards, probably THE BEST ever bootleg on vinyl! And quite rare as I checked on the net. I found many requests, many questions but very little information about it. Allegedly a 'Live at Westminster Abbey' recording but as I far as I know actually from a mini Creation Records tour of 1984. Anyway, I'm a big Mary Chain fan but not as huge to know such details, so if there's something wrong here, please advice. No track-list printed on the beautiful psych-punk sleeves or the labels, but it's almost sure that contains recordings from two (still unknown) different venues. Overall, a brilliant sounding boot (with an even better rip courtesy of Jean Philippe as usual!), from the classic line up (I assume) of Reid/Reid/Hart and Gillespie with great guitar mix and well chosen covers ("Barracuda", "Ambition", "Vegetable Man") alongside classic now toons. Early Chain at its most chaotic and fuzziest! Dig now, thank us later!

-Early Chain with McGee-

The Plimsouls - "The Plimsouls...Plus" (CD, RCA/Rhino - 1992)

I'm going back and forth for an hour or so, staring at the screen having absolutely no idea what to write... I mean, come on you jerk, that's one of your fave bands ever and you don't know what to tell people about? I guess all this has something to do with their importance of course... 'Cause Peter Case's post-Nerves garage pop outfit still remains the untouchable "people need to know" band in my book. Yeah even better than Paul Collins Beat! The legend says for a moment Plimsouls were the hottest band in L.A. but Knack's success backfired the whole thing... So sad, cause unlike 99% of powerpop bands, Plimsouls seem to had their radars turned on the Stones early rock & soul ferocious dynamics than the Beatles sha-la-las. And that's why I guess I love 'em so much... That's the excellent 1992 Rhino reissue (don't know if there's another newer out-there) which collects their classic synonymous first album, the even more important and quite rare "Zero Hour" EP plus a bunch of B-sides. You don't need more at least for a start...

The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Upside Down/Vegetable Man" (7" Single, Creation - 1984)

Fuck shoegaze this is pure rock & roll! And when I say rock & roll, I mean ROCK &
ROLL! As pure, dirty, sexy and violent as it meant to be originally. I know there's this old cliche about Mary Chain's sound, you know Beach Boys meet Velvets or the Ronettes fronting the Suicide or Neubauten nailing the Shangri-Las, but this is totally true. William Reid's chaotic, manic industrial noises are probably the closest thing ever to Ron Asheton, period. I really don't get all this art-fag nonsense about them... If the Cramps were from the Highlands they will sound and look just like the Reid brothers.
This single kick-started Creation's dignity and re-established Britain's proud on producing genuine rock & roll acts/records. And it's no exaggeration saying this single's one of the most important ever in rock & roll.
Don't know how many re-prints officially came out, the first one was surely dressed in black with red fonts but there's more as you can see in here changing main image's black color with pink, red and yellow. This copy as far as I know though, has to be the formal second UK pressing but I'm quite lost and no expert in this... Who cares anyway?  A guy called Neil Taylor who used to write for the NME said to Primal Scream leader, and Mary Chain's drummer during 'Psychocandy' era Bobby Gillespie, that they were the best band since the Pistols... And still remains I should add... 'Upside Down' stands still as a landmark JAMC song and Syd Barrett's 'Vegetable Man' is incredible as well. Dig!

[Re-Up!!!] Flamin' Groovies - "Shake Some Action" (LP, Philips - 1976 ~ French original pressing)

From Kicksville66

Flamin' Groovies - "Shake Some Action" (LP, Philips - 1976 ~ French original pressing)

You know, taking breaks from something you REALLY love, doesn't mean necessarily you won't be interested anymore. Something like this, happened to both of us here at WTS the previous months. I've started a new blog the previous year exclusively dedicated to my fave basketball team and as the games were getting tougher and the attention on this bigger, I naturally turned my head more into it (the back to back European Championship title didn't help things either but you know, I'm not complaining at all!). Same thing for JP. He had found a place (a 'sonic-masonic temple' in fact as I like to call it, I'm teasing you bro, he-he!) to share his knowledge and passion on all things technical that I'm not able to understand and get right and as a result of all these was more or less, this site to have fewer posts as it used to had...
But we're back! We sit our lazy ass down once again for a double shot of WAX love and some mo' cool things for your listening pleasure, starting with this!
Perfect timing's everything in life, right?! I had in my mind to 'reply' to my friend Gyro and his great recent  Flamin' Groovies posts on Twilight Zone with something 'rare', but JP and without knowing it gave me something even better! A European (French) pressing of the 'Shake Some Action' masterpiece!! "Big deal" some might say, "who needs another SSA post"? Well, everyone! As my buddy mailed me:

This French pressing sounds different from the US or Canada LP I've heard (and also different from CD). They are quite muddy. Not as bad as LAMF UK, but too much bass and not much highs.The French version solves this issue.

Boom! The basterd was right once again!! I've had it in two supposedly different CD versions previously (mind you, the one a Jap) and never ( I mean, NEVER!) heard before this POP jewel sounding SOOOOO good and fresh! I was totally aware of the good job Philips did back then with the single (who handled Sire releases in Europe and picked mysteriously on the amazing Capitol 'version 2' take for the single - a BRILLIANT MOVE!) but not for the long play!!! Do I need to say more?

PS: Stay tuned and check constantly for re-ups...

The Nomads - "Powerstrip" (CD, World Service/Rough Trade - 1994)

Hi there!

I just figured it out but it's almost a month since the last post...Sorry guys and gals, but too much things going on and naturally no spare time. I'd like to ask for forgiveness all of you guys who sent me an email and haven't replied back yet (I will though) and especially our friend Steve (thanks so much man for the GF stuff, I know I owe you something I promised LONG time ago, but hopefully I'll make it up this weekend). I'm slow sometimes but I never forget. Anyway, this cursed LAMF stuff has haunted us in a way and ever since whatever we tried with JP to touch with our hands stayed in the can. I'm not gonna say much but yes we're almost done for the next WAX hit and we already have another one in plans, so I guess there's life on the planet White Trash Soul/WAX, he he!
The past weekend I went to see the Nomads for the third time. It was pretty good. I mean no-one can mess with time it's obvious and it was quite frustrating seeing them aged, but they made me quickly forget all these stupid thoughts with just one song, actually my fave song ever and these Swedes are totally responsible for saving it from time's lethe! "16 Forever" man and I was such a jerk forgetting a statement supposedly is my life moto..! So, at the end I'm saying just this: If the Nomads ever come to your town don't have second thoughts, go see them. Satisfaction guaranteed as the old song says.
That's my fave Nomads record and the strange thing's that even a 90s release, has the fewer posts around and with dubious quality. I recently found the LP but I'm c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y useless in vinyl rips so here's what a friend of WTS, Pubbi had offered me some months back!

See ya in few days (probably...)

The Real Kids - "No Place Fast" (CD, Norton - 1999)

Hi there! Happy New Year to everyone!
Hope this year be better than the previous but the chances so far are not with our side (at least here in Greece). We got our families, our friends, our books, our rock & roll , quite a lot if you think to all  have a happy life, so fuck the rest.
Mmmm, I noticed many of you guys and gals want some re-ups. Even though I said I'm not going to do it, I will. It's not that easy cause my spare time is limited but in the next few days a first "package" hopefully gonna take place in the 'clouds'.
The limited spare time as well has halted all WAX confections for a while, cause JP just like me had too much things to take care, but hey, we're not giving up. And we are going to hit quite soon hopefully with two 'releases', an EP at first (for the first time in WAX's history) with the true-born survived material of a legendary record and a GREAT live tape our friend Steve handed us, a huge surprise for all the friends of real rock & roll, just be patient!
So, to our subject I was always a big Real Kids fanatic. But I never understood the reason why most people don't equal in quality matters the early 80s works of the band with the CLASSIC debut? I mean, sorry, but "Senseless" and "She" and "Can't Talk to that Girl" are among my fave rock & roll or power pop (you know, raw rock & roll with la-la-las as my buddy Vex used to say) tunes ever! 1999 Norton's compilation offers in one package these brilliant songs. The Taxi Boys side project on the legendary Bomp label that lead to reformation and the "Outta Place" second LP (produced by Andy Paley!!!) are here in all their garage-punk-pop furious glory! For my money only the Boys (UK) can match Real Kids' chop.

PS: Real Kids photo that used here as front sleeve it's one of the best ever captured on camera, I LOVE IT!

BUY IT HERE!