In a better world

The Screamers were one of the first and one of the most original of the LA punk groups, around from about 1977-1981.

They replaced guitars in their line up with synthesisers and as such were one of the originators of synth-punk.

You hear very little about the Screamers, part of this must be down to the fact they never released any recordings of their music during their lifetime. All that exists are various bootleg live recordings and demo tracks such as the 40-track collection here – In A Better World.

This was partly because as well as their innovative approach to playing music they also only wanted to release their recordings on video only, quite a forward looking idea in the late-70s, however this never came to fruition.

However I can’t help think that some of the obscurity that envelops the Screamers is down to the fact they are from LA, rather than say a “hipper” music scene like New York. There is plenty of coverage of New York synth-punk group Suicide giving them their place in history.

In general the LA punk scene of the late-70s, with groups such as X, Dickies, Weirdoes, FEAR or the Germs, doesn’t seem to get much credit at all compared to somewhere like New York.

Screamers Part 1

Screamers Part 2

Since it was always their intention to release their material on video here is a selection of video recordings of the Screamers.

Screamers – Vertigo

Screamers – Eva Braun

Screamers – 122 Hours Of Fear

The folk-punk roots of The Kills

Well, I was planning on going to see The Kills the other week, which would have made it three gigs in three weeks – which is a bit of a record for me these days – but unfortunately things fell through at the last minute.

Anyway, I kind of had this post in mind to follow that up and it ties in a bit with my previous post.

The Kills are made up of Alison Mosshart, who was previously in American punk group Discount and Jamie Hince, who was in British groups Scarfo and, for a while, Blyth Power.

Blyth Power play a crossover of folk and punk music with a subtle political edge to it and have been doing it for 25 years now. They, of course, have excellent punk credentials as drummer Josef Porta has previously being in anarcho-punk groups Zounds and The Mob.

While I haven’t seen much of them recently – as previously mentioned my gig going is severely limited these days – at one time they seemed to be permanently on tour and I have must have seen them numerous times in the small back rooms of pubs across the north of England. They always seemed to draw an interesting mix of people to their shows from folk fans, crusties and punks.

The record I’m putting up here, Pont Au-Dessus De La Brue, is a collection of their early singles. Jamie Hince plays on the last five tracks, he also played on the Alnwick & Tyne album I believe. There have been at least a dozen Blyth Power albums released.

Pont Au-Dessus De La Brue

01. Chevy Chase 02. My Lady’s Games 03. God Has Gone Wrong Again 04. Song Of The Third Cause 05. Sordid Tales From The Ffucke Masticke Room 06. Junction Signal 07. Emmanuel 08. Coriolanus 09. A Tale Of a Cock And A Bull 10. Blow The Man Down 11. The Rookery 12. Father O’Brien 13. McArthur

Discount, meanwhile, are another group from Gainesville, Florida. They played a catchy, melodic style of punk with thoughtful lyrics, the great vocals being provided by Alison Mosshart. They released three albums and a whole host of singles.

What I’m putting up here is their tribute to Billy Bragg, an EP with five cover tracks of his songs.

Love, Billy

01. Accident Waiting To Happen 02. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards 03. A Pict Song 04. Help Save The Youth Of America 05. North Sea Bubble

The roots of folk-punk!?

I went to see Flogging Molly this weekend and had a great time, the band was fantastic live and drinking excessively seems to be par for the course when watching these sort of Irish folk-punk bands.

So, I wanted to do something on my blog this week to tie in with this.

The Pogues were probably the group who pioneered this type of music and again they are another fantastic live act who I’ve been lucky enough to see.

Of course Shane MacGowan first started off in The Nipple Erectors – later The Nips – who played a typical late 70s style punk but with a rockabilly influence.

But what’s interesting is that fellow band member Shanne Bradley also went on to be in another folk/punk group around in the 80s – The Men They Couldn’t Hang.

I guess maybe the idea of crossing folk with punk may have first started within The Nips?

The Nips

01. King Of The Bop 02. Nervous Wreck 03. So Pissed Off 04. Stavordale Rd, N5 05. Venus In Bother Boots 06. Fuss & Bother 07. All The Time In The World 08. Private Eye 09. Gabrielle 10. Vengeance

Also, when I was thinking about this blog I discovered that Flogging Molly front man Dave King was previously in another band, in this case heavy metal group Fastway – which also featured Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke.

Now I recognised the group immediately because they had done the soundtrack to this cheesy horror film from 1986 called Trick or Treat which had enjoyed a certain kitsch vogue among me and my friends.

The reason for this was because it was just so ‘Heavy Metal’ – the basic story line was something like metal star sells his soul to the devil and dies, but can come back to life if the secret occult message in his last record is played backwards. Teenage fan goes and does just that with ‘hilarious consequences’. The film even had a cameo from Ozzy Osbourne.

So in danger of turning my blog into a film soundtrack site here is the soundtrack to Trick Or Treat – just don’t play it backwards.

Trick Or Treat

01. Trick Or Treat 02. After Midnight 03. Don’t Stop The Fight 04. Stand Up 05. Tear Down The Walls 06. Get Tough 07. Hold On The Night 08. Heft 09. If You Could See