80'S GARAGE REVIVAL

Upstate New York's Chesterfield Kings landed upon the growing punk/new wave scene in the late '70s with an unbelievably raw '60s rhythm & blues sound that borrowed heavily from pre-1966 Rolling Stones. The group, so unlike any other underground sensations of the period, arguably kickstarted the entire '80s garage rock revival, which flourished in small circles until the end of the decade.After releasing two scene-defining LPs, Here Are the Chesterfield Kings and Stop!, the combo changed its lineup and sound. With only singer Greg Prevost and bassist Andy Babiuk remaining from the Kings' 1979 incarnation, the band rescinded its promise never to sound like anything from rock's post-1966 history, and began to generate a '70s Rolling Stones/Flamin' Groovies hard rock image and sheen, which culminated in its 1994 LP, Let's Go Get Stoned, a sendup/tribute of post-Aftermath Rolling Stones. Still, the Kings have never drifted too far from their garage band roots, and the group's subsequent albums, which include Don't Open Til Doomsday (1997), Where the Action Is (1999), The Mindbending Sounds of the Chesterfield Kings (2003), and Psychedelic Sunrise (2007), have all been cut from the same fabric.

TIMES NEW VIKING

Breath in: snuff a line speed, a half hour jump on your cheap amplifiers, salad yet once a half hour with you yet cheaper guitar against the wall. Write eleven popliedjes, lay the emphasis on cryptic and forget everything your song teacher you ever learned has. Seek your neighbor girl on and tell her that your musics will make. Lay her emphatically from that she must not try to sing. Stick, now that you it really are, also just your tongue between her lips till you certainly are that they that rather has not. Give her then you eleven popliedjes and (optioneel) a guitar. Question her these eleven popliedjes with you together to not to sing, expect of it surplus. Mess what with the buttons on the amplifier, let the hamster of your neighbor girl also once over the strings run, sign the head of the father of your neighbor girl on the skins of a Bears Smit drumstel, call her feather ten-year-old little brother and lay from that its father him really real hatred. Breath out: and voila, Yourself Summoned. Sounds good? Sounds in it really yet better. Blessed with a delicious dose ADHD-spontaneity and a fine nose for popmelodieën know Tim New Viking on Summoned Yourself a particular charming pot borrow-fi garagepop down to dump. A kind of contemporary version of The Shaggs, but then without the implicit family tie. More a neighbor boy-neighbor girl tie thus.

DO THE MILKSHAKE

The Oblivians’ sound was much harsher than the Compulsive Gambler’s sound had been, owing both to Friedl’s influence on the band, and to some of the music the members had taken to heart since the Gamblers disbanded, including Thee Headcoats and The Gories. The music was also much more stripped-down than that of the Compulsive Gamblers; the Oblivians had no bass player and no bass drum on their drum kit, instead using only two guitars and a standard drum kit between the three of them. All three members shared songwriting responsibilities, and each member of the group supplied vocals, guitar, and drums, when recording. During live performances, it was not uncommon for members to switch back and forth multiple times between a shared set of instruments. The band did catch a certain amount of flack for their unconventional setup; while the band was working at Sun Studios the group was refused a space to record until they procured a bassist. Despite being offered a chance to record at sun records for free, with the only condition being that they add a bass player to the lineup, the band opted to record elsewhere rather than conform to the request.

BUDGET ROCK

In 1998, Budget Rock™ headquarters in John Daly City, California tumbled into the God Damn Pacific ocean as a result of the El Niño storms, claiming the lives of two of The Mummies and the entire Pre-B.S. archive of original master tapes. Now, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, the two surviving members of The Mummies have traveled back in time to right this terrible tragedy--they've rescued the master tapes.

For the first time ever: 22 tracks of pure fool's gold, like you've never heard them before... now, with bass! That's right. Apparently, The Mummies did have a bass player, as these master tapes have revealed. Listen and marvel at the Kings of Budget Rock™ as they define what was to be a world-wide revolution of retardo rock. Slopehead slop like 'Food, Sickles & Girls' and 'I'm Gonna Kill My Baby Tonight' and barnyard classics such as 'Zip A Dee Doo Dah' and 'Stronger Than Dirt.'

Yup, 22 tracks culled from their now ridiculously overpriced, collector's item 45's, including a very special, never before released, hide-the-salami hidden bonus track... The Mummies say "Fuck vinyl, 'cause this CD shit is soundee so good." So what are you waiting for, jackass? It just don't get any easier than this.

GOT A RECORD

The Rip Offs featuring Greg Lowery of Supercharger. Get it. You know it has to be good. There is a great history of the band written by Greg Lowery on their myspace page.

AMERICAS WORST ROCK'N'ROLL BAND

Brought together by a love of rock & roll and a newly purchased drum set Supercharger rocked the early '90s with trashy guitar riffs and a full-throttle misfit punk attack. Based on the cretin hop of the Ramones and the Angry Samoans with a good knowledge of rock & roll's two-minute pop nugget history, Supercharger deconstructed songs till only the essentials of beat and hooks remained. Filling in the gaps with power and volume the music comes across like a cold slap in the face. Teenage mayhem and a general antisocial sentiment cast the band as delinquent savants like those that created the music originally in the 1950s. Calling San Francisco central headquarters, Greg Lowery (bass/vocals), Darin Raeffelli (guitar/vocals), and Karen Singletary (drums/vocals) formed in 1991 and before playing out or mastering singing and playing at the same time, they recorded their debut platter Supercharger and released it on their own label Radio X. As Lowery says of the record, "we basically were learning as we were writing the songs." A limited vinyl pressing of 500 created a collectors item, rumor has it fans/collectors in Japan pay upwards of 500 bucks a pop. Supercharger was later reissued on Bellingham, WA, Garage Punk label Estrus Records in 1997 with two bonus tracks to trump the bootleggers. After a handful of singles the band was back recording their second and final long player Goes Way Out, this time given a wide release on Estrus in 1993. Standing as their masterwork, Goes Way Out was also their swan song as it was their last release and basically came out as the band was folding. The band imploded after a 1993 tour of Europe with the fabulous Mummies where both bands took their budget rock manifesto to places like Holland and Belgium. After the death of the band, the individual members continued to D.I.Y. themselves into punk rock history. Singletary and Raeffelli formed the short-lived Brentwoods and than Raeffelli went on to do a Kim Fowley trip with teenage all-girl band the Donnas. Lowery played in the Rip Offs (with Jon Von who had recently departed the Mr. T Experience), the Infections, and currently the Zodiac Killers. He also started and runs the punk rock label Rip Off Records, which continues to champion the visual, musical, and attitudinal style employed by Supercharger.

ARE YOU A BOY OR ARE YOU A GIRL ?

The Barbarians were a moderately successful American garage band of the 1960s with a few nationally charted hits. They had their biggest hit with the novelty single "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?," but are probably best known today for being led by a one-armed drummer, Victor "Moulty" Moulton.
The Barbarians formed in 1964 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Original members included Bruce Benson, Ronnie Enos, and Jerry Causi. While their debut single, "Hey Little Bird" produced by Al Ham,(on Joy Records) bombed, two of their next three singles (on Laurie) charted on Billboard, (with "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" peaking at #55) and also made the Cash Box charts. "Are you a Boy" was co-written by Doug Morris, who went on to head Universal Music Group.
They received their biggest break when featured on The T.A.M.I. Show (performing "Hey Little Bird") alongside other artists such as The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, Lesley Gore, Chuck Berry, James Brown, and Marvin Gaye.
As their name implies, their image relied heavily on looking barbaric. They wore leather sandals and grew their hair longer than most of their contemporaries. One-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton used a prosthetic hook on his left arm. He had lost part of his left arm in an explosion at the age of 14. Moulty was able to play drums using the prosthesis to hold a drum stick. Their minor hit "Moulty" was a humorous and melodramatic autobiographical song chronicling the drummer's life and the loss of his hand. In 1965 Boston guitarist, Geoffrey Morris replaced Ronnie Enos on lead guitar. It was Morris' arrangement of "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl", that is heard on the single. The Barbarians disbanded in 1968.