Siberian Mad Dogs
Psych (live) Digital EP
(Monkey Temple Production)
The seething and snaking "Slip Slip Slippin' In" and "Psych" were on the Dogs' Vodka and Kalashnikov, also issued in 2024. Poison-pen missives, offered now in versions more frequently than not in slo-mo venomousness, they typify the menace amassing formidability cut by cut. It's magnetic in its malfigurement. It's Psychobilly.
Prahúa 13
30 almas y un dia (30 Souls and a Day) EP
(Self-issued)
Before us are unveiled compositions unpretentious and wonderfully of the common man. Vocals adopt no showy airs. Properly absent are studio affectations that so often detract from relatability. In their place is austerity that conveys human sensibilities and perspectives, as only it can. They prove adept at ruggedness. But elsewhere, strings are well plucked, ivories touched off in dignified fashion, and percussion administered with solicitude.
Recommended: "Canción del adiós," "La memoria de los peces," "Olvidado" "Sombras"
Videos: "La memoria de los peces" "Sombras"
Billy Cobb
Halloween X Digital EP
(Please Sign Me)
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In but a clawed handful of fortnights, Jack Pierce willing, All Hallows Eve's shadowy silhouette will fall across our thorny paths. Composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Billy has issued trick-or-treat discs in past years, and this crispest unfurls characteristically macabre pleasantries. ("Vampire Girls" suggests that Teen Angel might have had pointed ears all along.) SEE misshaped aberrances lurch at dusk! HEAR Rock'n'Roll agitate gravel as materializes the orgy of the dead! THRILL as vampire girls undulate mesmerizingly!
Recommended: "13 Knocks," "The Werewolf Feeds," "Vampire Girl," "Psycho," "Mysterious Mose"
Videos: "13 Knocks" "Vampire Girl" "Mysterious Mose"
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Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer's Gang War!
s/t
(Skydog Records / Jungle)
In a moment here that captures Johnny's too-cool-for-any-a'you attitude, he prefaces "These Boots Are Made for Walking" by offhandedly snorting at the audience: "Shut up, shut up. You're gonna get what you get anyway. So shut up!"
(I recall a Creem magazine bit from the time. Wayne recounted a Gang War gig incident in which Johnny emptied a full pitcher of beer on the heads of front-row fans, who loved it. "I thought, 'We've got something here,'" the former MC5er laughed.)
July, 1980: I was in the crowd at Minneapolis' Sam's, and Gang War were headliners. Local legends The Hypsterz, who ignited 1960s fun tunes with post-'77 Punk flamethrowers, had opened to raucous acclaim.
The headliners gave raving attendees (who came in all technicolor descriptions) all the slapdash icy-kool Rock'n'Roll we'd shelled out for. Wayne's MC5 heritage and Johnny's Dolls dream/nightmare background collided and made spectacular messes we thrilled to, all over the club later immortalized in Prince movie Purple Rain.
The night previous to the Sam's show I witnessed (having managed to be in the second, stage-front pogoing row), Wayne/Johnny/Gang War had played in the same building's crackerbox 7th Street Entry club. That gig had surely featured identically hep phenomena: Rousing and electricity charged performances from Wayne and the rhythm players; a truly kicky string of tunes transmogrified into new creatures with sneering talons; and Johnny's characteristic loveable shambolism (which Walter Lure told an interviewer was at times affected -- y'know, image.)
Wayne's calculatedly fierce guitar lent sinew to the curled-lip enterprise. It was offset, in skewed counterpoint, by the wreckless-crazy careening up-and-down the neck for which Mr. Thunders was globally infamous. As a graffiti-note stylist, he was, and will forever be, without peer. (Who knew treble strings could sound like razor blades?)
Issued by Skydog in 1992, and rereleased last year as a limited-edition, red/black splatter vinyl LP by Jungle, this has since been produced as a compact disc. Barreling sideways from its grooves are the magic that JFK-era teens dug from ear-pressed transister devices, but wonderfully twisted and thrown out LOUDER by leathery Punk Godfathers who'd not just tooled around the Rock'n'Roll block, but were also wise to its alley's perils -- and were entirely cool with them.
(In closing, Johnny blasts the audience: "You kids have been disgusting!")
Recommended: "Ramblin' Rose," "London Boys," "These Boots Are Made for Walking," "M.I.A.,," "The Harder They Come," "I'd Much Rather Be With the Boys," "Hey Thanks," "Courageous Cat theme," "Around and Around," "Do You Love Me"
Videos: "London Boys" "M.I.A." "The Harder They Come" "Hey Thanks"
Facebook (Wayne)
Facebook (Johnny)
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Squelette
Within night clouds overhead brews a wicked, lightning-streaked torrent. Oi! street soldiers, inured by city impersonality and with splenetic notes jarring in hearts, strike back instinctively at pretty much everyone and everything.
Video: "Soir d'Orage"
Wayne Hancock
Within the twanged echo of Americana troubadour Wayne's inimitable phrasing can be heard (and must be respected) his decades of zig-zagging across our glorious land, spreading common-folks' musics as only he can. On his tour bus as we speak. One of the greats.
Video: "Lonesome Whistle" (live 2026)
The Phantom A.D. - Torment or Treats (and Torment)
In a months-long spree only just begun, the Phantom A.D.'s Horrorween Tour will storm its maliciously lunatic way across Norman Rockwell's placid states. (Have a care, square ones: Attending these sinister soirees may well bring premature persishment to the unhip.)
Included on the invasion itinerary are Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas, and the rocker-from-beyond's own California.
For the monsterman, every night is All Hallow's Eve. It's like 1993 movie Groundhog Day, but if it had been scripted by Curt Siodmak.
A chill gust chases off twisted and spindly tree branches' remaining withered leaves; witching-hour streets are barren, save for ghosts busying themselves with grotesque diversions; a pale blood-moon shines unforgiving glare on the innocent orb mortal men call Earth...
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And The Phantom A.D. couldn't be happier -- in the cruelest of manners. As a composer, he cleverly interlaces forbidden poetry and charging Rock'n'Roll birthed in some netherworldly jukebox. His frenzied guitar summons forth a remorselessly-lashed, phantasmagoric creature stitched from fret-stranglers who preceded, and who knew how best to contrive raucous infectiousness.
To all that, he ladles on idiosyncratic manueverings that ring precisely right.
And in his guttural intonations, one hears the testimony of a man who not only sat through innumerable drive-in scare-flicks, but probably dove into the screen to gleefully abet the deviance.
As this writer puts quill to parchment, crazed acolytes in slated environs will soon revel in the straight-from-the-fridge madness he unleashes at perilous volumes. Finger-popping bizzaritude can be reliably predicted to ravish ears, whether they dig it or not.
His crusade of the freakish has sordid history. A part-time substitute teacher, Harley Isaac Rother intuits his destiny is to tear apart temporal distance from eerie dimensions uncharted, through Rock'n'Roll that respects no reasonable stricture.
Albums documenting his dire mission include 2015's The Unspeakable Horror of Isaac Rother and the Phantoms and The Terrifying Return of Isaac Rother and the Phantoms. Later assuming his rightful title, The Phantom A.D., he issued The Phantom A.D. Plays Ghoulish Rock'n'Roll and this year's Revenge of the Phantom. (All were released by Rock N Rhythm Records.)
As ever, in that latest wax, The Phantom A.D.'s cobwebbed, latex-monster hood features darkness as a 24/7 proposition. Splenetic chords race like risen-from-beneath, demolition terrors, hip to the ways of lost avenues Rock'n'Roll. Swirling his cape while surfing atop a saucer, The Phantom A.D. growls enunciations that bespeak horrors good men know not.
Martin Milner scrambles for exit, though Mickey "Bip Bop Boom" Hawks and Shadowman Link stick around where the action is.
In 2025, he greeted creature cogniscenti, shared his swinging hideousness, and mongered merch at the Famous Monsters of Filmland convention in Pennsylvania. That costumed spectacle befit a man whose prodigious lurkings amidst midnight spook-show haunts feature catchy songs suited variously to mausoleum exhumations, TV cathode rays, and beach party bingo.
In a Facebook post at the time, the caped archfiend said: "This is such an honor to be included, given the incredible legacy of Famous Monsters. In the pre-internet world, Famous Monsters Of Filmland was THE place to learn about horror movies. Its legacy is unmatched."
Those souls thronging to The Phantom A.D.'s Horrorween Tour 2026 appearences may snap cell-phone photos, but should not be flabbergasted when they later find that his image has not been preserved.
Videos: live in San Francisco (2025, 10:50) "Chainsaw Rock" "I Go Where the Party Takes Me" "The Brain that Wouldn't Die" "MK Ultra Rock" "Even Sasquatch Wants to Rock"
London Cowboys
Animal Pleasure + Tall in the Saddle + three unissued tracks
(Jungle Records)
Introductory moments may prompt misapprehension, but no, Marc Bolan does not appear. Answering the call instead is a roster that should have accrued far larger renown: Names like Glen Matlock, Mike Monroe, Terry Chimes, and Tony James hailed from and went on to more illustrious associations, though their combined toils here resound with all the stomping, song archcitecture, and fucking ace-high instrumental aptitude characteristic of men who not only survived the summer of '77, but were immensely bettered by it: Careening merrily are 12 stimulating mergers of crunch and catchiness that recall the top-hatted maestro alluded to previously.
Jungle's limited-edition, red-double vinyl reissue is comprised of the 1982 LP, 1984 mini-LP, plus unreleased tunes "Candy," "Little Misfire," and "Die for Your Love"
Recommended: "Hook Line and Sinker," "Going Through the Motions," "That's Luxury Man," "Doris Day," "Catcher in the Rye," "Design for Living"
Videos: "Hook Line and Sinker" "That's Luxury Man" "Design for Living"
Messer Chups
The Incredible Crocotiger (10-year anniversary)
(Hi-Tide Recordings)
Having dared tread every enshadowed room, both above and below stairs, of the old manse on the forlorn hill, the swinging evil ones of Messer Chups now unspool all the unspeakable facts -- let us condemn the guilty, let us reward the innocent -- in predominently six-string instrumental vernaculars as much of Saturnian deeds, four-color POW!, and legends of shifting sandscapes as the phantasmagoric lair they've infested.
Recommended: "Magneto," "Moon Race," "Flesh and Blood," "War Party," "Jokermobile," "Titi Caca Titi," "Insomnia of the Mummies," "Son of Chupacabra," "Crocotiger," "Curse of Stephen Kong"
Videos: "Magneto" "Moonrace" "Son of Chupacabra" "Curse of Stephen Kong" (official video)
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Full Moon Freaks
B-Movies for the Blind (The Maddest Story Ever Told)
(Wreckin' Bones)
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Recommended: "Martian Men," "King Cobra Snake," "Strontium Dogs," "Full Moon Rising," "Tequila Frenzy," "Spider Baby," "Prey," "Surfboard Song," "Rip Tide," "Crazy House"
Video: promo clip (1:25) "Martian Men" (official video) "Surfboard Song" "Rip Tide"
Wreckin' Bones (site under construction)
The Bootleggers
Rust, Bones, & Rock and Roll
(Self-issued)
Several cuts in, a paean to noble warriors to whom so much is owed nearly overwhelms, with passionate sentiment equaled by instrumentation in moments pensive and massive. Its quiet sincerity is underscored by surrounding tracks' dissimilarity; they rip and snort, as Country rockers alway do when free of leash and tearing down badlands highways. Call it respite amidst bust out.
Some forty years of barndoor-booting experience bellow. Jumping up and out elsewhere are all the factors our lives in the fast lane have taught us to hold dear: Moving constructions of majesty and depth; guitars raising up glorious disorder that takes no shit; yowling vocals too fired up to pause for breath; saxophone that embellishes passages with ripping tonal hues; and a rhythm section that absolutely refuses to let up.
Rust, Bones, and Rock'n'Roll was partially crowd-funded. During its recording, singer/guitarist/founder Didier Cere had told Artez, My Village: "To support us, if you enjoy music played by real musicians, recorded in a real studio, you can participate and help make this final album a reality."
He added: "We are totally independent, artistically and economically. We finance all our projects, albums and music videos through record sales."
Recommended: "Austin Texas Let Me Stay Awhile," "Teddy Boy Stomp," "Rock'n'Roll in the Bayou," "Redneck Rock'n'Roll," "Tex Avery Wolf," "For U Vietnam Vet," "Rock'n'Roll Radio"
Videos: promo (:53) Previous clips: "Jumpin' From 6 to 6" (live) "Made in Rock'n'Roll"
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Haymaker
"Even an angel can become a hooligan!" is the angry/happy/don't-much-care notion at the heart of skinhead Oi! power-source Haymaker's anthem for neer-do-wells aprowl for blistering, splintering, smash-skull bacchanalia. Knuckles are no friends of dentistry. "'Cause when we drink too much, we all become a fool again!"
Video: "Hooligan"
The Obscuritones
"Keep on running and I’m always out of breath, my body is hurting, heart is pumping out my chest / My bags are heavy and my shoes are getting tight, as I run through the city in the middle of the night!"
No-compromise Rockabilly entirely in touch with its Country heritage, yet channeling pulse-dashing spirit, may well be the only proper soundtrack for this headlong predicament. But that dialogue is insignificant, 'cause the music's pounding steadily and the iron horse is PULLING OUT -- NOW!
Video: "Runnin' for the Train" (live 2025)
Marky Ramone: Superhero in Chuck Taylors
"I will keep doing this 'til my body tells me to stop," now 74 year-old Marky told Balkan Rock, last November.
Who among the obstreperous class of '78 knew that, in addition to putting a swift sneaker to increasingly moribund Corporate Rock Product and jazzing a generation of avenue-crawling outsiders and misfits with faith that they're not only valid but probably the most so, Punk, as birthed by the cretins of CBGB (da brudders at the fore), offered the youth-sustaining thaumaturgy Ponce de Leon craved?
In order to be productive, of course, drive requires purpose.
Again, Punk proves itself: A sincere, gut-harbored belief smolders at the core of Marky's essence. Of seventies leather-mileau survivors -- iconic talents, groupies, visionaries, trendies, and operators -- Marky looms perhaps tallest. He circles the 2026 globe, spreading the blitzkrieg gospel to every far-flung megalopolis and thatched-hut village, deflowering puritan notions of genre propriety and respectable decorum wherever he smashes a cymbal.
His career as the dyna-wrist sparkplug behind Johnny, Joey, and Dee Dee (subsequently CJ) is the stuff of carbonated lore. And his ongoing exploits in the identical capacity for successive assault assemblages not only burnishes credentials, but demonstrates strapping strength to endure.
Each of Marky's post-Ramones efforts have been true to the model. He always surrounds himself with hardy agitators easily up to the TNT task. Together, they drive fists through graffitied brick walls.
In 2024 EP Punkin' Out the Classics (Dog Snout), various erstwhile chart hits were subjected to psycho therapy. Strapped to a gurney were generational staples like "It's Not Unusual," "New York, New York," and "Octopus's Garden".
Marky's artistic instinct to revisit standards was that of actors desiring to interpret Shakespearean protagonists, to impress personal imprints.
"Keep on Dancing" is a nonstop raver that probably plays on an endless loop in some party dimension we can only hope to reach. (The Avantis and Gentrys had waxed it, in the sixties.) As accounts at the time had it, songwriters had but a scrap; it was elongated by appending a drum solo / fake fade-out, then simply replaying the singalong scrap.
In their accelerated reading, Marky et al repeated the artifice. Picture (with askew camera perspective) a top-down Mustang flying down a stretch of summertime white line, or a passel of heedless teens writhing in dance crazes at ocean's edge.
The bubbly anthem was injected with a hundred surplus gallons of urban joy juice by Marky and his fast-footwork fellows, and meant 'good times for everyone.' It aligns with latter-day reinventions of JFK-era fare like "California Sun" (Dictators), "Seven Day Weekend" (Heartbreakers), and "Party Lights" (Walter Lure).
"Even when people say Punk is dead, there's a new kid in a garage playing three chords," Marky famously said. That common-sense optimism -- and the man's evergreen existence -- give us all reason to toast the morning sun.
Videos: Marky's drum technique (3:34) Ramones "Touring" Marky Ramone & the Intruders: "Three Cheers for You" Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg "Keep on Dancing" Live at RiotFest (Sept. 20th, 2025)
The Black Moon Boys
Lockdown Boogie EP
(Self-issued)
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Languor bookends duel slices of rewarding romp. Though this is the combo's maiden disc, the reason for their command of electrified sounds is simple: there's an abundance of major associations on members' resumes, including Ray Condo, the Hillbilly Rockets, and Ordures Ioniques. (Jeff Ray Holmes' six-string is a lethal device.) Every chair in the place will sit vacant; so firebreathing is the hellzapoppin' Goneism, even onlookers of the cube variety will surely lose themselves in "#rockabilly's" carbonated pandemonium.
Recommended: "No Jivin' Tonight," "#rockabilly," "Technicolor"
Videos: "No Jivin' Tonight" "#rockabilly" "Technicolor"
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Sinéad X Sanders
Them Shadows
(Self-issued)
So infrequent is encountering songcraft that combines melodiousness with Brill Building/Motown confectional entrapments, that pulling up short and radiating appreciation isn't choice so much as reflex. Honey tones intensify mesmerism. As enchantments caress ears, Dusty, Dionne, and Nancy airs that sashayed atop 1960s Pop charts shift aside for fresh company.
Recommended: "Extraordinary," "Let Me Go the Right Way," "Up-Top Mystery Man," "I've Been Waiting," "Head," "Wishes to the Fishes," "Them Shadows," "Coca Cola"
Videos: "Extraordinary" (live) "Let Me Go the Right Way" "Up-Top Mystery Man" "I've Been Waiting" (live)
The James Oliver Band
The Bubble Has Burst
(The Last Music Co.)
Never having witnessed James demolish stages, I'm nonetheless certain innumerable orange-and-blue sparks ricochet from his Tele in all kinds of frantic directions -- so alarming are the masterful attacks the man rips screaming with joy from the Blues bible. Classics well-covered always enjoy welcome. Players at his elbow are of first-order rank (and include Mr. Geraint Watkins), turning on dimes as miles flash past. And the casualness with which James tosses off lyrics? Why, that only attests to his natural-born fluency.
Recommended: "Baby What You Want Me to Do," "Messin' with the Kid," "Killing Floor," "Matchbox," "Boom Boom," "My Way," "Red Hot Mama," "Flip Flop and Fly," "Blues in C Natural"
Video: "Messin' with the Kid" (live April 2026) "Killing Floor" (live 2021) "My Way"
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Tanpa Kelas
Dibungkam EP
(SoundPOV)
Bassist Feri made clear the group's social egalitarianism in a 2024 interview with Tribun Kaltim: "We don't want to pigeonhole anyone. Because, in essence, everyone is the same and equal. So, there are no classes, like the rich and the poor, because everyone is the same."
That open outlook -- and eminently run-and-shout-along songs with surplus sinew -- make for jet-forward Punk angry only at deserving foes.
Recommended: "Di Bungkam," "Iblis dan malaikat," "Jackpot," "Rusak"
Videos: "Di bungkam" "Jackpot" live 2025
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Buddy Bass
Rock'n'Roll being a global tongue, including when phrased en espanol, no linguistic impediment prevented the gang from fractured delight on black and white tiles, as the blinking Rock-Ola went crazy, way out loud.
Video: "O Tal" (Acústica)
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The Cavaleros
Drop the needle to "Supersonic," and what races forth is the onrush of a Jazzmaster being ridden hard, tickin' past milemarkers, a 61 P bass and Rising Sun skins steadily maintaining headlong pace. "Slinky" exacts formidability at more measured tempo, though no less effectively. (Rumbleman lives.)
Video: "Slinky"
