Rock’n’Roll explosion from across the Pond

Jonny Magus

This Detroit band, sadly now defunct, put the party back into pop, for a full on swinging shindigging dance freak out. Phil Spectre, early Beatles, late 50’s dance crazes, Motown and a muscular Steve Marriott style guitar (from Eddie Baranek of the Sights) and you’ve got this fine little combo. Ko Shih former member of the Come Ons and presently with the Dirtbombs, sings with such a sugar sweet voice you could almost feel that wall of sound vibe pumping though. Give me ‘The Twisting Postman’ any day of the week, lets be groovy children. Check out their one and only album Ko and The Knockouts on Sympathy For the Record Industry, you’ll have a gas.

Recommended ReleasesKo and The Knockouts - Sympathy for the Recordc Industry 2002

The Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit compilation - Sympathy For the Record Industry 2002................................................

The Insomniacs will blast you with mod pop bubbles until you burst with melodic joy. Harmonies sigh, Rickenbackers ring and an upbeat cheery air slips you into a blissed mood that is simply life affirming. From the sprite early recordings compiled on Wake Up! till the mad Indian vibes of the recent album Switched On!, you’re gonna go for a magical mystery carpet ride to tunesville city and get a big grin on your face. Maryanne Lightly, Sylvia Grey, And The Candle Burns and even a cover of The Carnabys Jump and Dance, these are tunes with a timeless pristine quality. The Insomniacs mine the more crystalline elements of mid 60s garage and mod, rather than the dirt and grime of the sleazy garage punks, though their Rickenbackers carry a power pop punch. The Insomniacs have so many great songs; they will get the sun shining and the switch flicking. Do you dig?

Recommended Releases...Switched On!, Estrus 2004...Get Something Going, Estrus 2000..Out Of It, Estrus 1997

Wake Up! (Compilation of early singles and eps), Estrus 1995

http://www.estrus.com/bands/Insomniacs/Insomniacs.html

Maverick DJ – Bill Kelly Teenage Wasteland WFMU

Since the late 60s, maverick DJ and proud Irish American, Bill Kelly has ploughed a unique furrow by playing rrrrreal rock n roll from every era. His tenure at WFMU started in August 1978 and is one of the longest in this New Jersey’s freeform radio stations history. Teenage Wasteland is one of the most essential radio shows anywhere on the planet.

The self-proclaimed Guru of the Garage, Viceroy of Vinyl has kept the flame shining by spinning great tunes through these dark days of mediocre commercial radio. Bill is known as a collector of rare 60s garage rock, but is also a connoisseur on American pop music (doo-wopps, r & b, rockabilly) from 1955 to 1975 and has great knowledge on garage, Brit invasion and surf music. As well as his archivist abilities, he spends many hours a week listening to material by new outfits, keeping up with contemporary happenings. He gave the 80s garage revivalists an outlet in the 80s and continues to support new talent coming through today. If their tunes cut the mustard, signed or unsigned, he’ll give a band a spin. Most of the bands mentioned on this guide have had the seal of approval from Bill.

Off the wall, challenging, but also supportive of the new retro outfits, Bill Kelly is a true champion of the familiar, the new and the obscure. His ‘you can’t pin me down’ personality means that Elton John is amongst his favourite live experiences along with The Ventures and The Chesterfield Kings.

Over the years many classic garage greats have appeared on his show including Sky Saxon (Seeds), Peppy Castro (Blues Magoos), Jim Sohns (Shadows of Knight), Wire (the entire band), Little Steven, The Syndicate of Sound, Richard & The Young Lions, Question Mark (Mysterians), Mono Man (Lyres), Fuzztones (entire band except for Rudy the turd), Tim Warren (Crypt Records) and Eric Lindgren (Arf Arf Records). Recent outfits have chewed the fat with Bill too, including the Insomniacs and Creatures of the Golden Dawn (soon to be seen in part 2 of my guide). The Creatures of The Golden Dawn are the only band ever had play live on Bill’s show, as he prefers to do the archivist shtick with guests.

When Bill is not doing radio, he is the co-owner and chief sales administrator of an electrical hardware distributor since 1987 and has a Puerto Rican wife and two kids, aged 19 and 20. All through the years Bill has been a DJ, he has done for the sheer love of it, never getting paid. Luckily though Bill is now involved DJ’ing in a part time professional capacity on a new radio satellite channel set up by Little Steven. This new Sirius channel, Underground Garage on channel 25, is specifically geared towards garage rock music through the ages. Fellow DJs include ex Rolling Stones manger and immediate record owner Andrew Loog Oldham, mad 60s producer performer Kim Fowley, "Handsome" Dick Manitoba, lead singer of punk innovators The Dictators and "Kid Leo" Travagliante, a radio legend from Cleveland, the DJ who discovered Springsteen outside of the NY-NJ metro area back in the 70's.

Though his mastery of obscure great music is without parallel, it is his endorsement of the new breed that makes Bill Kelly such an important figure in rrreal rock n roll. When a new band hears Bill proclaim the immortal words ‘rrreal rock n roll’ about their tune, ecstasy descends. I know. All hail the chief.

Random Bill facts

Bill’s new talent tip - The Charms, Thee Fine Lines

Bill considers Liverpool’s The Coral to be one of the best pop rock acts he’s heard in a very long time (when they’re not lost to psychedelic strangeness).

His favourite Brit rocker is Billy Childish, though he admits thee mighty one has done a lot of crap in between doing great inventive raunchy rock n roll.

Favourite band – The Ramones, nuff said

http://wfmu.org/blackhole/...........................

If you want the most chaotic party at the end of time to go off with a bang, there is only one band for the job, Montreal’s Les Sexareenos. Unfortunately this Canadian band have recently party’ed company, but a huge lucrative offer for the greatest shimmy down in the universe may tempt em back to the fray, as this band rocked and rolled. Beers, boobs and just all round madness blow your wits into the wind. If their dance crazed farfisa frat sozzled R&B garage soul stomp doesn’t turn you into a deranged chicken dog sandwich fuck, well, check your pulse. Everybody Sexareenos! (Live In a Bed) is simply the greatest rave up tune of the last 20 years, no competition, a masterpiece. The Sonics style revelry of the ‘Live in a Bed’ album is a finger popping, legs a hopping ‘Wild Wild Wild’ bacchanal twisting and shaking celebration of sordid decadent el cheap luxury. Those who like their sounds really raw may dig the gutbucket zero-fi of the extremely primitive 14 Frenzied Shakers. 14 Frenzied Shakers is not for those with a weak constitution, as this is a pure piece a primal savagery ‘Ruuuuubyiiiii D’.

Live in a Bed - Sympathy for the Record Industry 2000

14 Frenzied Shakers – Sympathy for the Record Industry 2001

http://drink.to/sexareenos............................

Freddy and The Fore-gone Conclusions

Detroit combo, Freddy and The Fore-gone Conclusions are unashamed 60’s nugget garage revivalists. They weave songs with Beatles like tunesmith mischief, Byrdsian 12 string chiming and really roughshod fuzz punkers. There is a huge nod to Del Shannon on their crazed version of his classic ’Stand Up’, even featuring Del Shannon sideman/producer Max Crook on his "Musitron" organ. A huge mess of Love, The Dovers and Count Five, jangled up Bo Diddley. English R&B influences knitted with pop melodies. Really loud clashing chords contrasted with happy go lucky melodies. An ace band, jangle with the fuzz brothers and sisters.

recommended Releases

Wigged Out Sounds - Get Hip 2003

http://www.schmiddy.com/band..........................

The Singles are yet another great Detroit band, but this time they ply their trade as a fine power pop band. The Singles sound steamrolls along with the early Beatles, Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, The Hollies and The Kinks. Add a little mean guitar and you’re gonna get some serious action. Not the grubby sweat of the blues driven Detroit garage rock scene, but a smiley bubbling rollicking pop outlook, that is both determined and memorable. The sheer energy of the band almost gives them a punkish edge, similar to the lovepunk pop of The Buzzcocks. The Singles, a cocktail of jingle jangle, harmonies and crunchy guitar that blend nicely. Get out your skinny ties cause these boys are gonna snap at your heels, catch onto your ears and whack you with their new guitar pop sound. Recommended Releases

Better Than Before – Rainbow Quartz 2003

http://www.thesingles.us/

http://www.rainbowquartz.com/artists.asp?BC=SG................

If one man can encapsulate the spirit of the recent Detroit garage rock upsurge, it has to be Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs. A true rock n roll eccentric, he soldered on for years in mega lo-fi trash punk bands like The Gories, Blacktop and The Screws. One day Mick decided that he wanted to form a band with two drummers and two bass players with himself as the lone guitarist making a racket. The idea was spun around for years, like some sort of deep-seated Detroit myth, but then one day Mick created his modern Prometheus. A five piece monster of a band with two drummers, two bass players and Mick in middle, riffing and wailing, a new righteous noise was born. The Dirtbombs are a band with an ever-shifting line-up, but Mick Collins is the constant eye of this rock n roll hurricane. The initial album carried on his roots in noisy lo-fi trashy noise, but with one fell swoop the Dirtbombs transformed into a glam soul fizz punk band.

Not unlike a mid 60s fuzz garage band fronted by a Motown singer, The Dirtbombs are pure Blakean joy. The ‘Ultraglide in Black’ album bears the fruits of this transformation with a unique take on a set of soul of covers. The Rubicon had been crossed and demented versions of Sly and Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and Phil Lynott paved the way for the Dirtbombs sound, huge pounding drums, scuzzy bass lines and cheap ass Hendrix guitar through the nastiest squire strat. The star of the show is Mick’s impassioned punk soul vocals, elegant and deranged. This sorbet of trashy glam soul has been fulfilled with their recent magnum opus ‘Dangerous Magical noise’, an awesome album. Hear the T-rex shuffle on ‘Motor City Baby’, the tough street rock attitude on ‘I’m through with White Girls’ and listen to the sweetest of soul with ‘The Sun is Shining’. The Dirtbombs are from the greasy, grimy, sweaty and sloppy R&B side of town, but they’ll get you shimmying and shuffling. Whatever you do, check out ‘em out, its rock n roll baby.

Recommended Releases

Horndog Fest - In The Red 1998

Ultraglide in Black - In The Red 2001

Dangerous Magical Noise - In The Red 2003.............

Greenhornes

Friends of Jack White and the backing back on Loretta Lynn’s and Holly Golightly’s recent albums, this Cincinnati combo have been weaned on a diet of early 60’s R&B and mid 60s nuggets garage rock cooking up a noise of righteous vigour. Their tunes gather up lots of heart giving The Spencer Davis Group or The Animals a good run for their money. The first two albums sizzled with a rhythm and blues vibe, but the recent effort Dual Mono cuts with a garage kind of urgency. Stomping fuzz tunes like ‘Lies’ off The Greenhornes self-titled album on Telstar, is a real buzz that makes you wanna stomp. Join Craig, Patrick with Jack and have yourself a real cool time

Recommended releases Gun For You - Prince Records 1999..The Greenhornes - Telstar 2001..Dual Mono - Telstar

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