Brioles
XL Vinyl LP
(El Toro Records)
Recommended: "It's Love," "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White," "I Don't Care," "I'm Going Crazy," "No Feelings," "Drifting Heart," "Raska-Yu," "Down in the Cellar," "Ella Es Tan Extraña," "Bo Was Right (Pretty Thing)"
Videos: "It's Love" "I Don't Care" "No Feelings" "Drifting Heart" "Bo Was Right (Pretty Thing"
Dead City
Out on Bail EP
(Self-issued)
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Punch up these dense bombardments. The sardonicism enjoyed from this ripsaw assault unit angrily accents harsh existence on the sidelines. Shoved away, they became a community. (Kind of a graffitied Australia.) Fuck everybody on the outside.
Recommended: "Out on Bail," "Cut Down to Size," "Skidrow Creep"
Video: "Out on Bail" (live at Riff Audio)
Mark Malibu and The Wasagas
Knock Me Out
(Sharawaji Records)
Big Kahuna Malibu heads up this Dawn Patrol w/tremolo bars, managing both the important business of illustrating sundry aspects of Surf-fretboard angling and the more essential matter of kicks all around, in which gaga go-goer's go native and completely dig the racing-striped, wigged-out moment.
This is the band's fifth full-length disc, all on the UK's Sharawaji. Members first shot curls from '79 - '82, split the scene temporarily, and resurfaced in 2014 (with all first go-around personnel). Their upsplash into the hodad-hating hullabaloo engendered beach-blanket shenanigans, foamy navigations, and hand-holding, swim-suited couples disappearing down the sand into setting Sol.
Recommended: "Knock Me Out," "Reef Break," "Love in Liverpool," "Night Stalker," "The Swerve," "Pepper Stomp," "Mini Chopper," "Jibbed Again," "Surfer's Cross," "Moonstone Surfer," "On the Way to Warrington"
Videos: "Love in Liverpool" (Official video) "Pepper Stomp!" (Official video) live (2:56 2024)
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Split Dogs
Nice N' Rough
(Venn Records)
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Soph wax is crucial -- it reveals whether the combo under analysis can maintain whatever specialness their debut spotlighted. (Or, if their maiden endeavor exhibited weaknesses, LP #2 can assert seasoning.) Split Dogs -- Bristol's burly alacrity squad -- now builds upon an impressive incipient outing, surging with muscular directness that slaps with chutzpah. Flying colors violate night skies.
Recommended: "Be Somebody," "Born Too Loose," "Breaker," "Speed Demon," "Shake Sum Action," "Rock N Roll Business," "I Wanna," "Dirty Denim"
Videos: "Be Somebody" "Speed Demon" "Rock N Roll Business"
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Eastside Dogs / Bootboys
Effectively slams down the uni-dimensional spleneticism that once fueled "Punk-Bashing Boogie." To paraphrase Nick Tosches, nothing brings mates of diverse stripes together like placing a chord barrage betwixt them.
Video: "Punx and Skins Unity Worldwide"
Instagram (Eastside Dogs)
Facebook (Bootboys)
The Skunts
"Leave your troubles far behind!" is always sound counsel, especially when the evening has only just begun, the place is packed with convivial mugs, and a bottle's at hand. Comes next an advisory of somewhat sterner sort. But since each is grounded in absolutely unabashed free-for-allism, grins fired by the first will not be doused by the second.
Videos: "Let's Get Pissed" "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad"
George Dubose: Pictures worth a thousand choruses
Now retired and living in Germany, photographer George Dubose contributed work to numerous musical ventures. NYC Punk kingpins the Ramones topped the list ((in my estimation).
George executed several classic covers, including Too Tough To Die, Animal Boy, and Mondo Bizarro. He later published a collection of beautiful b/w and color photos of the band, plus his own invaluable first-hand recollections of the photo shoots and what it was like working with Punk's preeminent time bombs.
George remains active. Gallery exhibitions and book compilations are among his present efforts. The below passages are excerpted from a 2010 online interview:
I see you began in photography around '77 (or was it earlier?) and that among your pre-Ramones subjects were Lydia Lunch and Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Any other early subjects/credits you'd care to mention?
I moved to NYC to apprentice myself to fashion photographers to gain training to be a portrait photographer, a la Yousef Karsch. I was invited to see the B 52s at Max's Kansas City and fell in love with the band's music from the first two bars. They played "Planet Claire" the music of which was "The Peter Gunn Theme" from my childhood's exposure to that television show.
Funny enough, Lydia Lunch and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks was the opening act that night at Max's and I didn't care for them at all. I didn't understand what Punk Rock was at that time.
I asked the B's to come to the studio where I was an apprentice, for a photo shoot that I wanted to present to Andy Warhol's magazine Interview. Unfortunately, Cindy Wilson had returned to Athens, GA, so Maureen the manager stood in for her in the photo. Interview published the photo and licensed it to a Japanese magazine called Studio Voice.
The next time I got the B's to come to "my" studio, the band was complete and I printed 1000 16 x 20 B&W posters, gave half to the band and sniped some of the rest to advertise the band's upcoming gigs. The posters, however, were stolen as fast as I could tape them up (I didn't know about wheat paste). I started selling the posters for 52 cents each or two for a dollar.
Two years later, I was contacted by Tony Wright from Island Records and asked to show my collection of the band photos I had from concerts and in the photo studio. I didn't know that the band had already decided on one photo from the second studio shoot.
Tony asked me to sepia tone the b&w photo and then he cut film overlays to colorized their clothing.
Tony hated the group and used the pseudonym "Sue Absurd" as the art director's name.
You did a number of cool covers for the Ramones. Any one particular favorite?
