DESTROYING EVERYTHING

Random selected images from Ricky Adam's photo-book DESTROYING EVERYTHING. More info HERE

BAIL-BOND: Ricky Adam photography

A few initial shots from the BAIL-BOND and SSS 'secret' show this past weekend. I feel privileged to have Ricky Adam come over and shoot for us. We have known Ricky since the very late 80's when Jailcell Recipes (previous incarnation of Bail-Bond) travelled to Ireland to play gigs organised by The Belfast Music Collective. It's a nice feeling to be surrounded by people who have a shared history with the band.
Ricky is an outstanding photographer, completely in tune with the subject matter. He's made a name for himself shooting BMX and has an art book DESTROYING EVERYTHING that has just about sold out it's first edition. If you fancy a copy.....happy hunting....he's also thinking about printing a second run.

SKATEBOARDS? .....I ALMOST MADE THEM RESPECTABLE

What we got here are 3 bands/artists generally regarded as 'plastic punk' by most punk obsessives but as these videos show.... these bands could really rock!

First up is JOE JACKSON in 1979 with the title track off his 2nd album 'I'm the man'...this fully rips along!
This song has the classic line 'Skateboards?....I almost made them respectable' ..a strong enough reason to love this song for this single fact alone.

Following this is ELVIS COSTELLO in 1978 with 'Pump it up'
When my dad saw this routine on Top of the Pops ....it made him feel sick and wanted to write to the BBC to complain.......good job he never got to witness the Sex Pistols.

To finish it's THE BOOMTOWN RATS with a spirited live performance in 1978 of a great album track 'Don't believe what you read'.
This clip is from the short-lived, brilliant REVOLVER tv show that had PETER COOK as the host.

It seems to me a shame that these bands had their heads turned and for whatever reasons got themselves ran through the mainstream 'Music Machine' to to lose all the sharp edges and become the acceptable face of punk at the time.....New Wave.

PROJECT:ODDJOB

Whilst plebbing around on Myspace (first time in a long time) I stumbled upon this dormant page for a  band we put together for one gig only back in 2005. The recordings are intentionally crude and fizz with energy. We only recorded 4 songs: DIRTY ROBBER, I DON'T LIKE YOU, HEATSEEKER and RIP YER HEART. All covers by The Wailers, Skrewdriver and The Rip-Offs respectively.

 I don't entirely remember what we played in the set but I vividly remember a stonking version of MY BABY DOES THE HANKY PANKY with Topsy Stag on vocals.

Here is the blurb from the page:

 "FOUR TRAINED ASSASSINS....... UNDERCOVER AGENTS........... ARMED WITH GUITARS ......... PLYING THEIR DEADLY TRADE......EXECUTING CRUDE, SNARLING, UGLY GARAGE-PUNK!! "

 THIS IS PROJECT:ODDJOB ................... A SMALL BAND PUT TOGETHER FOR OUR OWN AMUSEMENT AND DISTRACTION......FEATURING EX-MEMBERS/CURRENT MEMBERS OF.........THE STAGS, DOKTOR COMBOVER, JAILCELL RECIPES, DRIVE. OUR MISSION IS TO PLAY OFF THE CUFF, THICK-NECKED, SAUSAGE-FINGERED THUG-ROCK. AMPED UP, IN THE RED, ROCK 'N' ROLL .....A TIP OF THE STEEL-BRIMMED BOWLER HAT TO THE TOUGHEST SIXTIES GARAGE BANDS AND BEST '77 ERA PUNK BANDS

Listen to the songs HERE

POLY STYRENE PASSES AWAY ....."OH CANCER UP YOURS!!"

Another idol of mine claimed by cancer at the age of 53. With her band X-RAY SPEX she really was a unque artist. I played the early singles to death IDENTITY, OH BONDAGE and DAY THE WORLD TURNED DAYGLO.

I met her backstage once in London in 1989 on a Youth of Today/Jailcell Recipes tour . She had Krishna beliefs and was friends with Y.O.T. vocalist Ray Cappo, a new Krishna convert. She came down to see what the current punk scene was like. I remember her being very positive about the gig...very sweet and soft spoken and not looking any older than she did in 1977!

SEVENTY-SIXTIES

Had a pretty crappy day today. I came home and cheered up when I found this cool set of pics I took in 1999 when US BOMBS came to stay with us for a couple of days.I gave the prints to Duane the next time I saw him at the Blackpool punk weekender in 2000 and the shots finally see the light of day on his official website http://duanepeters.net/
There is shots of our kitchen (hasn't changed at all) my chopper, the backyard ramp, my Evel Knievel BMX and even my little Honda CM200 flat tracker being built in the workshop!!

UPDATE:
I actually did a more indepth post about the time The U.S. Bombs came to stay when I first started this blog, Almost a year to the day!
Read it HERE

Billy Childish and Tracy Emin

Unbelievable footage from 1997 of Billy and Tracy publicly deconstructing Billy's writings about their relationship in Billy's "novel" MY FAULT.
If you are familiar with the history between these two, then it makes compelling viewing.

Duane Peters.....Lowdown on the leg

Straight from the horses mouth!!


Duane Peters Actions Realized from dlxsf on Vimeo.

Duane Peters "benefit" wheels

Great example of folks looking out for each other. OJ wheels are producing a wheel with all proceeds going towards helping to pay Duanes crippling medical bills following a serious staph infection in his left leg (which he almost lost). For the full story see here
If you skate, do the right thing and hunt these wheels down  and run 'em on yer board....if ya don't skate but dig what DP is about then buy a set and put 'em on the mantlepiece, use 'em as a paperweight, give 'em to the dog to chew etc.
All being well, Duane will be on a Euro tour which includes 2 UK dates 24th Nov. London Underworld and 25th Derby, The Old Bell........

UPDATE:
I've been corresponding with Big Woody and he can confirm that he is able to supply these wheels here in the UK when they become available....He thinks the cost will be £36 per set (in line with all OJ wheels prices) If you want a set, then get in touch at www.bigwoodys.co.uk/

MOTORCYCHO MAILSHOT

Lots of thanks to Norman McFuzzybutt over at MOTORCYCHO magazine for a package through my letterbox today! A big bunch of 45's, stickers, buttons etc. This mag has been in existence for 15 years now and also has a blog page that you can visit HERE

R.I.P. PEK....THE KING OF PUNK

SAD BUT TRUE.......The death of Pek...punkest guy in Liverpool. Dead at only 44 years old, I don't know any details other than he suffered a stroke a few weeks back but was reported to be making good progress. Pek was one of the guys behind UNDER SIEGE promoters booking all the Punk/HC/Crust gigs in Liverpool, mostly staged at PLANET X in its various incarnations. He put on some amazing gigs for touring US and European punk bands and also local bands too...my own band included. Before taking up running the gigs and almost single-handedly creating a "Scene" Pek was also vocalist for DISATTACK  precurser to CARCASS..here is a youtube clip

"I dont give a damn about my bad reputation......!"

My mate Jamie went to see JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS in London on Monday night.

She played the 100 club, which is a small intimate venue......and he told me she was really great!!

Bad reputation, Crimson and clover, I love rock 'n' roll along with Cherry bomb and other Runaways songs.

Tonight she is playing Manchester supporting GREEN DAY at a stadium gig at Old Trafford Cricket ground....Wilky #99 was going and told me there was still cheap tickets available....I declined his offer...I reckon the Monday night small show woulda been a better bet and anyways I seen Green Day before..Ha Ha!!

Here is something on my shopping list....it's a Joan Jett official Barbie doll....

Here is a couple of promo vids for "Bad reputation" and a cover of Gary Glitters "Do ya wanna touch me"

SICK SIDEBOTTOM

Sad news today that Frank Sidebottom has been diagnosed with cancer. Anyone that knows me will tell you I have been a massive fan for over 20 years and that for the last 4 or 5 years, I have somehow ended up being Frank's road manager, driver, roadie, merch guy and bass player in his backing group THE OH-BLIMEY BIG BAND.

Its seems weird to me...as a fan, that someone who never gets older than 35 and has never suffered with anything more than an ear infection or a head cold could fall foul of such a serious disease....it's almost surreal.

Frank is insisting the show will go on (a few gigs and appearances cancelled over the next few weeks whilst he has some surgery) and as of now, the OH-BLIMEYS are booked to play with Frank on Sunday July 4th at the LMRCA in Timperley. I will update on this blog as and when I get any news.

Above is a picture I took of Frank with Billy Childish and the MBE's, backstage at the Dirty Water Club, London. This was a proud moment for me, I switched Frank onto the magic of Billy Childish, constantly playing his music in the car on the long journeys through the night trying to get Frank back home before his mum found out he was out doing some show business.

Frank soon picked up on the brilliance of Billys music and poetry.

After an Xmas Frank gig in London, we whizzed over to Dirty Water to catch the last couple of numbers of an MBE's show that coincided with ours. This very quickly led on to a support slot with Billy (not something that is easy to get, I can tell you)

A brilliant evening only slightly marred by the fact that Frank accidently dropped his "wages" for his gig, 500 pounds, rolled up in an elastic band, whilst dancing down the front .....a good Xmas present for somebody!

heres some footage:

Here's Frank and the Oh-Blimey Big Band doing "Beastie Puppets" from Xmas 2009

I AIN'T THICK...IT'S JUST A TRICK

I first read about CRASS in a fanzine in 1978 and went out and bought THE FEEDING OF THE 5000 album at the first opportunity.That introduction to Crass and their ideals as a 14 year old has shaped the way I think and conduct myself today. The "D.I.Y." ethic, questioning authority, vegetarianism and endeavoring to "not fit in" and be proud of it, all come directly from Crass. Here was a band that actually practised what they preached, they lived together in a punk open-house in the country and took the ideas they sang about of anarchism, peace and liberty and really did put them into action.
The band really did achieve what it set out to do and even had the politicians talking about them in the house of commons along with the KGB!
I was lucky enough to see Crass live a couple of times along with other like-minded bands FLUX OF PINK INDIANS, D.I.R.T., OMEGA TRIBE, THE SYSTEM, THE SUBHUMANS, ANNIE ANXIETY, THE ALTERNATIVE.

 Here is a  really great 1 hour long documentary from 2006.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME......(AND SID)

It's our birthdays!!!

 10TH MAY 1964 for me and 10TH MAY 1957 for Sid.

I'm very happy to share this date posthumously with Sid. My Grandad, on the other hand, shared his birthday with Adolf Hitler, which he wasn't happy about at all.......

By the way... coincidentally, this also happens to be my 100th FULL FROKKUL post......

My Grandad, Eric and my nephew Jake, track side back in 2003.

JOHNNY MOPED

Just downloaded a file converter so now I can post any audio formats that happen to be on my computer..

Here is Johnny Moped "Panic Button" from the Cycledelic album April 1978 on Chiswick Records....

This never gets old!

THE WEIRDOS

Late 70'S L.A. punk rock at it's very best..

Listen to SOLITARY CONFINEMENT