Silver Screams - Defective Machines 12" EP

Silver Screams - Defective Machines 12" EP

It is hard to believe that the Boston area band, Silver Screams, has been together for 5 years now.  Defective Machines, was released this month (May 13, 2017) and is their follow up to the 2014 CD EP, Creep Joint Scratch.  This 6 song DIY recording comes on a beautiful radioactive orange 12 inch vinyl that compliments the color on the cover art.  The artwork reflects the dark, moody, apocalyptic tones of the lyrics.

The band has upped the anti on their sound since their first release.  While they both have dark vocals, the first release was more up tempo post punk with splashes of The Church, The Stranglers, and UK Subs Flood of Lies era sprinkled in.  "Dead Air", the opening track on this beauty, punches you in the face with its driving bass and drums.  This continues through the remaining 2 tracks on the A-side.  It is over in about 8 minutes and you feel wore out from the pace.  It throws me back to the reunion show I saw of The Effigies at the Empty Bottle in Chicago in 2004.

Side 2 has more guitars than its flip side, but still has a nice back beat. The tempo decreases and the songs get a bit longer.  I hear touches of The Church, The Bomb, and the experimental B-side of the UK Subs Endangered Species LP.  Finishing off the record is a cover of Joy Division's "Disorder" from their 1979 Unknown Pleasures LP.

If you checkout their Bandcamp site, you can get an additional two songs on the EP download.  Silver Screams adds some punch to cover songs from the 1995 release "Freak Show" by The Freeze and the 1980 debut of "Crocodiles" by Echo & The Bunnymen.  Interestingly enough, the range of influences of the band covers the spectrum between these two songs.

When you mix the style of the music with the darkness of the lyrics, you get a new genre of punk rock - POWER GOTH!  I have enjoyed the growth of the sound of the band over the years.  I can't wait to get up to Boston to witness their power live.  Keep up the good work boys.  Looking forward to the next release.  Don't take so long to get it out this time.

To keep up with where the band will be playing live follow them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SilverScreamsBoston.  To buy their music, follow them on their Bandcamp page - https://silverscreams.bandcamp.com/music.

Boycott Cancer - John Stabb GI Benefit

https://www.gofundme.com/boycottcancer

Please donate if you can.  A lot of our punk rock heroes have not had the luxury of having corporate sponsored medical insurance nor have been able to make a living off of their music proceeds.

John Stabb, lead singer of Government Issue has not had fun and games lately as he was recently diagnosed with stomach cancer.  Boycott Cancer not Boycott Stabb.

UK Subs - Another Kind of Blues

Artist: UK Subs

Title: Another Kind of Blues

Format: Vinyl (light blue, 180g)

Year Released: 2015

Label: Demon Records

Cat. No.: DEMREC69

# Tracks: 17

Genre: Punk - UK 70’s

Origin: London, England

Similar Artists: Vibrators, Urban Dogs, Chelsea

Rating: 5

Rating Scale:

5 = Classic

4 = Worthwhile Owning

3 = Some Decent Tracks

2 = Collector’s Only

1 = Trashbin

This is a re-issued version of the first UK Subs LP that was originally released on September 14, 1979 on GEMS Records (GEMLP 100) and recorded in May-June 1979 at Kingsway Recorders Ltd.  Demon Records in association with Captain Oi! released this in 2015 as part of the reissue of the first four UK Subs LPs.  This version is on heavy 180g vinyl and is a light blue color that matches nicely with the blue, deluxe gatefold cover.  The inner portion of the gatefold has the lyrics for the LP printed on it.  This also comes with record sleeve cover art.

The lyrics on the LP cover the usual for the era - crime, war, sex, poverty, and drugs.  Three singles were released from this LP - C.I.D. (all 3 tracks), Tomorrow’s Girls (title track), and Stranglehold (all 3 tracks).

Overall, this LP has a great sound that I feel has held up well over the years.  There are a few tracks in the middle that I just never got into (I.O.D., TV Blues, Blues), but the rest are classics that over shadow those few numbers.  I really wish that they would have added the B-sides from the Tomorrow’s Girls 7in to the original LP (Scum of the Earth and Telephone Numbers).  But, back in those days they tried to sell singles with non-LP tracks to make some dough too so I get why they were not included.  In fact, I am quite surprised that the other two singles from this LP had their b-sides included.

Vocals, Harmonica - Charlie Harper

Guitar - Nicky Garratt

Bass - Paul Slack

Drums - Pete Davies

Track Listing:

1. C.I.D.
2. I Couldn’t Be You
3. I Live in a Car
4. Tomorrow’s Girls
5. Killer
6. World War
7. Rockers
8. I.O.D.
9. TV Blues
10. Blues
11. Lady Esquire
12. All I Wanna Know
13. Crash Course
14. Young Criminals
15. B.I.C.
16. Disease
17. Stranglehold

Alphabet City

Check out my new website.

https://sites.google.com/site/alphabetcitypunk/

Hope to have new letters every two weeks or so.

Welch Boys November 15, 2014

I went to the Welch Boys benefit show last year, and had a blast.  I need to figure out how to make it to this one.  I can't believe the Blue Bloods, Beantown Boozehounds, and the Welch Boys all on the same bill.

2014 Riot Fest Compilation

Unfortunately, I am unable to make it to Riot Fest this year.  The reality is that I lost interest when it became a circus and 25,000 people started showing up and crowding my space.  I like to see my bands in an intimate venue.  I don't like being a block away from the stage.

Anyway, while those 25k are in the rain watching the bands tonight, I am sitting at home drinking a beer and listening to some tunes by some of the bands that are playing there this weekend.  Here are two discs to entertain you too.

Disc One:
01 Victory - Built to Last
02 Descendents - Myage
03 Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
04 Bouncing Souls - The Gold Song
05 Rise Against - Heaven Knows
06 All - Million Bucks
07 Offspring - Bad Habit
08 Anti-Flag - Drink Drank Punk
09 Cure - Grinding Halt
10 Face to Face - AOK
11 NOFX - The Brews
12 Social Distortion - Far Behind
13 Naked Raygun - New Dreams
14 Only Crime - Take Me
15 7 Seconds - Young Til I Die
16 Buzzcocks - Oh Shit!
17 Dropkick Murphys - Dirty Water
18 Cock Sparrer - England Belongs To Me
19 Bad Religion - Give You Nothing
20 Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Mr. Moran

Disc Two:
01 New Found Glory - Better Off Dead
02 Jane's Addiction - Stop!
03 Motion City Soundtrack - When You're Around
04 Slayer - Reign in Blood
05 Senses Fail - Calling All Cars
06 Lucero - I Don't Wanna Be the One
07 Cerebral Ballzy - Don't Tell Me What To Do
08 Ex Friends - Model Minority
09 Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
10 Samhain - He Who Can Not Be Named
11 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - I've Done Everything for You
12 Menzingers - The Talk
13 Silverstein - Born Dead
14 Weezer - Hash Pipe
15 Murder City Devils - Murder City Riot
16 Patti Smith - Rock n Roll Nigger
17 I Am the Avalanche - Holy Shit!
18 Streetlight Manifesto - What a Wicked Gang Are We Below
19 Andrew WK - It's Time to Party
20 Primus - Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
21 Mudhoney - Into the Drink
22 Lawrence Arms - The Old Timers 2x4
23 Billy Bragg - To Have and To Have Not
24 GWAR - U Ain't Shit

http://gofile.me/27gNj/0dUYifby

Punk Rock n Roll Volume 04

I made another volume of my infamous Punk Rock n Roll compilations a few weeks ago.  I forgot that I had not posted it on here.  As always, this is a collection of tunes I have been listening to for a few months.  You may have noticed a theme.  I try to start every one with "Punk Rock and Roll" and end every one "Going Out in Style."  In the middle you will see a trio of songs started with "Institutionalized" and two others that pay homage to the Suicidal Tendencies song.  There are some new songs by some old school bands from both the USA and the UK.  While I was finishing this up, I got the news that Tommy Ramone had died so I had to add "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." to the comp in honor of him and the band.  They are all no longer with us.  Enjoy, and drop me a comment to let me know what you think about this.

01 Street Dogs - Punk Rock and Roll
02 Beer Intro: Heineken
03 Ray Gradys - If You're Buying, I'm Drinking
04 Tim Timebomb - She's Drunk All the Time
05 Anger Flares - Let's Get Drunk
06 Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
07 Surrounded by Thieves - Riot
08 Body Count - Institutionalized 2014
09 No Problem - We Got Secrets
10 Meatmen - Dinosaur
11 OFF! - Exorcised
12 Dead Ending - Lifetime
13 7 Seconds - Exceptional
14 The Gears - Everything's Alright
15 Masked Intruder - Crime Spree
16 Bob Mould - I Don't Know You Anymore
17 Lenny Lashley's Gang of One - Hooligans
18 Street Dogs - We're Still Here
19 Hooligan - Cops and Robbers
20 Bishops Green - Another Door
21 Hard Evidence - Bled Dry
22 Last Resort - Fuck 'em All
23 Infa Riot - I'm More Punk Than You
24 Business - Back in the Day
25 Stiff Little Fingers - Liar's Club
26 Stiff Little Fingers - My Dark Places
27 Anti-Nowhere League - So What 2014
28 Pennywise - Violence Never Ending
29 Ramones - R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
30 Dropkick Murphys - Going Out in Style

http://gofile.me/27gNj/5MpCqXNf

2014 North East Calling (Durham Punkfest)

There was another great punk rock festival on Labor Day weekend, but it was on the other side of the pond.  North East Calling (formerly Durham PunkFest) featured some old school and new school UK punk bands. Here is another compilation that I made in honor of this festival.

01 Loaded 44 - Last Drink
02 Loaded 44 - When I'm With You
03 Control - Punk Rock Ruined My Life
04 Control - Hooligan Rock n Roll
05 Control - I'm Not Doing It
06 Dirt Box Disco - My Life Is Shit
07 Dirt Box Disco - Smackhead
08 Dirt Box Disco - Let's Get Wasted
09 Crashed Out - Get A Life
10 Crashed Out - Just Another Gig
11 Crashed Out - Devil On My Back
12 Gimp Fist - Skinhead Not a Bonehead
13 Gimp Fist - (Don't Wanna) Be Like You
14 Gimp Fist - Which Side Are You On?
15 Business - Guinness Boys
16 Business - Hell 2 Pay
17 Business - Hardcore Hooligan
18 Business - Smash the Discos
19 Business - Harry May
20 GBH - Unique
21 GBH - Kids Get Down
22 GBH - Maniac
23 GBH - City Baby Attacked By Rats
24 Angelic Upstarts - Machine Gun Kelly
25 Angelic Upstarts - You're Nicked
26 Angelic Upstarts - I'm An Upstart
27 Angelic Upstarts - Lust for Glory
28 Damned - Neat Neat Neat
29 Damned - Dozen Girls
30 Damned - Drinking About My Baby
31 Damned - Anti-Pope
32 Damned - I Think I'm Wonderful
33 Damned - Love Song


http://gofile.me/27gNj/MgG7SmPw

2004 - 2000 Tons of TNT Festival Compilation

I was unable to attend the 2000 Tons of TNT Festival in Hartford, CT this weekend so I made a compilation CD with one song by each of the bands that were supposed to perform at the festival.

01 Drug Shock - Burn the Bastards
02 Hub City Stompers - Skins Don't Cry
03 Thulsa Doom - Material Takeover
04 Oxymoron - Trouble Bound
05 Defiance - Shit System
06 Negative Approach - Tied Down
07 X - Los Angeles
08 Justice Blocc - It's Nothing New
09 No Resistance - Hope That Works Out for You
10 Damn Garrison - Pride & Honor
11 Tailgunner - Tailgunner
12 Duffy's Cut - Leavin' Here
13 Broken Heroes - Drink
14 Panzerbastard - Panzerbastard
15 Hard Evidence - Last One Standing
16 Traditionals - Weekend Is Here Again
17 Lenny Lashley's Gang of One - Re-Covering
18 Patriot - See You in Hell
19 Bad Co. Project - Raise Your Voice
20 Wisdom in Chains - Write My Name on the Wall
21 Cro-Mags - Street Justice
22 Judge - Fed Up!
23 Bloodshot Hooligans - Bloodshot Hooligans
24 45 Adapters - Dress Well, Drink Heavily
25 Chosen Ones - I Am Waiting
26 Yellow Stitches - Fat Bastards
27 Lion's Law - I Don't Give a Damn
28 Sydney Ducks - A Little Bit of Urban Rock
29 Limecell - Room Keeps Spinning
30 Templars - Never Fade Away
31 Stars & Stripes - S.T.F.U.
32 Ejected - East End Kids
33 Sheer Terror - Ain't Alright
34 Jook - Watch Your Step

http://gofile.me/27gNj/3RfDQmaS

2014 Midwest Live and Loud Compilation

While I was in Vegas at Punk Rock Bowling, this festival was going on in Chicago.  It would have been nice if they were on different weekends so I could have attended both.  Anyways, here is a compilation CD I put together of some of the bands that played the festival for those that may be interested in listening to what style of music was on display at the festival.  The festival featured a lot of up and coming street punk bands from the Midwest area.

01 Hex Bombs - Midwest Punk
02 Victory - Midwest Unrest
03 Bad Assets - Midwest Fuck the Rest
04 Assault & Battery - Proud and Free
05 Bishops Green - Another Door
06 Brass Tacks - Grind 'Em Down
07 Dog Company - Not Dead Yet
08 Fatskins - Fatskin Hooligan
09 Fear City - Old Glory
10 Gestalts - Made to Pay
11 Hard Evidence - Last One Standing
12 Make Your Mark - Where's the Youth?
13 Noi!se - Reason Why
14 Pressure Point - Get Out
15 Virgin Whores - Watch Your Back
16 Those Unknown - Going Strong
17 Squared Off - One of Those Days
18 Pist-N-Broke - Pist-N-Broke
19 The Shame - Daytime Drinking
20 Sniper 66 - Let's Go Have a Drink
21 The DUI's - We Will Get Drunk!


2014 Midwest Live and Loud.
http://67.173.20.84:5000/fbsharing/m07428WR

2014 Punk Rock Bowling Compilation

01 Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas
02 Angelic Upstarts - I'm An Upstart
03 Anti-Nowhere League - We Are the League
04 Cock Sparrer - Last Orders
05 One Way System - Jerusalem
06 Peter and the Test Tube Babies - Maniac
07 The Adicts - Let's Go
08 Church of Confidence - (Whatever Happened To) West Berlin
09 SNFU - She's Not on the Menu
10 Face to Face - You've Done Nothing
11 H2O - Guilty by Association
12 NOFX - Don't Call Me White
13 The Forgotten - Nothing To Lose
14 Against Me! - Drinking with the Jocks
15 CJ Ramone - What We Gonna Do Now?
16 Devils Brigade - I'm Movin Through
17 Good Riddance - Darkest Days
18 Masked Intruder - Stick 'em Up
19 Night Birds - Born to Die in Suburbia
20 Off With Their Heads - Janie
21 The Briefs - New Shoes
22 The Generators - Summer of Unrest
23 Western Addiction - Mailer, Meet Jim
24 OFF! - Red White and Black
25 Cro-Mags - Street Justice
26 Descendents - I'm Not a Loser
27 ALL - Carnage
28 Final Conflict - What Kind of Future?
29 Freeze - Broken Bones
30 Gang Green - Let's Drink Some Beer
31 Naked Raygun - Only in America
32 Poison Idea - Lifestyles
33 Stalag 13 - The Choice Is Yours
34 The GRIM - Old Enough
35 The Meatmen - Dinosaur
36 Noi!se - The Bottom Rungs
37 Youth Brigade - Where Are All the Old Man Bars

http://buffalonas.com/lewdd33buff/axs/u:97ae9049d90347a2a156b6d8a224c316/2014%20PRB.rar

2014 Punk Rock Bowling Wrap Up

Here is my ranking for the weekend based on the bands that I watched most or all of their set.

1 Descendents
2 Angelic Upstarts
3 Cock Sparrer
4 The Adicts
5 Peter & the Test Tube Babies
6 Naked Raygun
7 Anti-Nowhere League
8 OFF!
9 Masked Intruder
10 NOFX
11 CJ Ramone
12 Night Birds
13 Good Riddance
14 Generators
15 SNFU
16 Church of Confidence
17 Devils Brigade
18 Radkey

SNFU was the biggest disappointment for me of the weekend. Even more so than missing ALL, the Meatmen, and the Cock Sparrer club show because I am too fat and couldn't stand on my feet anymore.

Biggest surprise was CJ Ramone joining Naked Raygun to sing "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg."

I must admit, I purposefully did not watch the following bands during the festival.

Gashers
Black Market Syndicate
Slackers
Objex
Lost in Society
La Plebe
The Dwarves
Rats in the Wall
Clepto
Bad Cop / Bad Cop
Cerebral Ballzy
Leftover Crack
Face to Face (only caught the last half of the set)
Against Me (only caught last 3-4 songs)

There are more pics on my Flickr album here for 2014 Punk Rock Bowling.

Videos to be posted soon.

2014-05-26 Punk Rock Bowling

Day 4 - Monday, May 26, 2014

Instead of going to the pool party to watch The Dogs and The Pool Boys (members of lots of PRB bands doing cover songs), we stopped by Claim Jumper for some lunch for the last time.  While sitting there, we noticed the guitar player from the Adicts at a table across from us.  More members of their entourage and band would show up later.  Earthdog also saw Stephen Egerton from the Descendents/ALL running down the hall with guitar in hand most likely heading to the pool party.

This would be the hottest day of the festival with temps topping 102°, but it was a dry heat.  Dry heat my ass!  If felt like when you open up the oven door when you are cooking a pizza at 450°.

Thus, we once again arrived at the outdoor venue (which was a paved parking lot this year instead of the rough gravel that it had been in previous years) around 5pm.  We only had to suffer through a few hours of the heat before the sun started to set and it cooled down slightly.  Purposefully, we missed Rats in the Wall, Clepto, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, and Cerebral Ballzy.

We made it in time to see Good Riddance who I have never seen play live nor have I spent much time listening to their recorded catalog.  Russ Rankin, their singer, also sings in Only Crime a band I am more familiar with due to their drummer being Bill Stevenson of Descendents/ALL.  I enjoyed the set, and I am glad we got their in time to see it.

OFF! were next.  They had too much time on the schedule so Keith Morris, their singer, spent a fair amount of time chatting between songs.  They were great as expected.  We ran into Keith checking out of the Golden Nugget the following morning.  He mentioned it was their last show of their USA tour and their next tour would be in Japan.  Here is the setlist based on a pic I took that was taped to the side of the speakers on stage.

It was now time to get some food so it was off for another buffalo burger while we skipped the noise that was Leftover Crack.  I also stayed behind at the tent for most of the Against Me! set too as I was not too fond of their studio recordings.  I did meander toward the stage to catch the last 5-6 songs of the set and was pleasantly surprised.  I do recall hearing “Drinking with the Jocks.”

1. Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
2. FuckMyLife666
3. Cliché Guevara
4. New Wave
5. Walking Is Still Honest
6. True Trans Soul Rebel
7. Don't Lose Touch
8. I Was a Teenage Anarchist
9. Unconditional Love
10. Pretty Girls (The Mover)
11. Drinking With the Jocks
12. Black Me Out
13. Thrash Unreal
14. Sink, Florida, Sink
15. We Laugh at Danger (And Break All the Rules)

NOFX would close out the festival.  As always, Fat Mike and El Hefe trade barbs and jokes with each other and the crowd throughout their set.  They were very entertaining.  They did have a few impromptu tunes that appeared they made up on stage to add to their list of too many reggae influenced songs on the setlist.  Maybe one day they will play “Liza & Louise” when I am at one of their shows.  I do recall them playing the following songs in no particular order.

Linoleum

Seeing Double at the Triple Rock

Stickin in My Eye

Ronnie and Mags

Quitter

72 Hookers

We March to the Beat of an Indifferent Drum

Franco-Unamerican

Who Will O’d 1st at PRB?

Bottles to the Ground

It’s My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite

Don’t Call Me White

Murder the Government

Bob

Kill All the White Man

War on Errorism

The Shortest Pier

So there you have it, the end of the weekend.  We had tickets to go see The Last, but decided to skip it to get some sleep.  Our expectation was that they would play until around 2am like the other club shows.  Much to our dismay when we found out Tuesday morning that The Last had a 6-7 song setlist that went for about 25-30 minutes and ended before midnight.  In hindsight, maybe we would have toughed it out and watched them before heading back to the Golden Nugget.

Many thanks to Earthdog for traveling out from the Boston area for the weekend, for splitting the cost of the hotel room, and for going on line to buy most of the club show tix that sold out almost immediately.  Thanks again to Ben for being a gracious host while we were in his hometown of Las Vegas.

Here is Earthdog's wrap up.

DAY 4: GUITARS FOR BREAKFAST? Last day of the show and as we sat down to eat at the restaurant inside the Golden Nugget, we noticed that The Adicts guitarists were right behind us. Their roadie brought one of their guitars down, as they were playing a pool party. We actually bagged this since we didn’t want to get shut out like the Peter and the Test Tube Babies event. But it was funny seeing them whip out a guitar as they were downing their OJ! Side of grapefruit with that boys? Anyway, first band we saw on the last day of the festival was Good Riddance. Had never seen this band either. I thought they put on a rocking set. I just think the crowd was still struggling with the heat for the most part. Next was OFF! They were on fire and played stuff from all 3 of their records. Lewdd would chat with Keith Morris the next morning in the hotel check-out line. But today it was all about the rawk! I checked out Against Me!’s set. Drummer Atom Willard was impressive. Laura Jane Grace’s bra was cute. That is all. NOFX closed out the night. Although the guys should have played half the amount of reggae tunes they did, it was still totally entertaining. The music and the wisecracks in between songs both made me happy. Fat Mike said he had been awake for 4 days-he may have looked it, but the band still came up with the goods. Stick it in my eye! Well, that pretty much wraps it up my friends. I won’t bore you with additional mundane facts like we didn’t catch The Last, even though we had tickets. Or that my return flight was delayed and it took me fucking forever to get home. No, I will just leave you with this-Punk Rock Bowling rules and we can all thank the Stern brothers from BYO for that. So don’t be a wallflower-make sure you go in 2015. End transmission.