Notes From the Underground
Tur
Turbonegro's got a new" picture disc out
on Sympathy, and although the two songs
are out on their recent LP, this smokes in the
1998 Swedish Punk Rawk vein with a smearing;
of the Ramones...SF's The Shifters put out a
killer 7" on Radio Records: straight up punk
ock and roll played with a whole lotta
heart...Extolling the virtues of a fast food diet
and convenience in general comes the new sin-
gle by the Mach 5 Overdrive, "Quickie Mart."
File under wailing garage punk; we'll see what
the new lineup brings...One more to add to the
"Spastic Girl Punk" file: The Foxations may be
MACH 5 OVERDRIVE
appealing...Goner is a label run by one of them
Oblivians fellers. Not too prolific, but high in
quality. Their latest is an LP by The Reatards
(not to be confused with The Retards or The
Retardos). This is dirty rock and roll, right
down to the Fear song makes me want to
drink and smoke and fuck and that is a good
thing Unfortunately for those who missed 'em
Helldorado is no longer. Consolation exists,
however, in the form of their brand spanking
new, gloriously posthumously released elpee I
Can Quit Anytime on fabulous eMpTy records.
Buzzsaw punk with no bass and no apolo-
with just a first 7" to their name. But after
extensive touring and the release of their first
full length, US Songs, the Louisville band,
which features former members of Falling
Forward, By the Grace of God, and
Empathy, has finally arrived. Chris Higdon's
vocals are still sweet, desolate, and grinding,
and he tends to whisper, croon, and scream
often within the same song. However, the rest
▾ of the quartet, bassist Jonathan Mobley, gui-
tarist Jay Palumbo, and drummer Kevin
Ratterman, have begun to assert themselves
with complex changes and a wide menu of
"THIS IS DIRTY ROCK & ROLL...'
too cute for their own good. Look for their new
7" on Scooch Pooch, who, coincidentally, just
put out the new Nashville Pussy single,
"Kicked in the Teeth." Yes, it's an AC/DC cover.
Yes, it rocks... Who the hell is Neil Hamburger?
Wouldn't you like to know. Check out his dead-
pan stand-up on his two 7"s, "A Tribute to
Princess Diana" and "Looking for Laughs."
You...might...laugh...Last on the 7" front are two
singles by The Downer Boys. This is pent-up
aggression released and expressed with what
sounds to me like a rather large dose of LSD.
They even have a disturbing song entitled "Rob
Roskopp." The first one will blow your head off,
and the second one will eat it...Moving up
notch in size, we come to the new 10" by The
Gimmicks. It's angst-ridden garage punk at its
finest, yelping vocals over fuzzed-out rock...The
Toilet Boys are to be considered next; and
they kinda freak me out. They're a '77-ish two
guitar assault fronted by a cross-dressing singer
named Guy. It rocks... Another worthy 10 is
The Hookers, on Man's Ruin Unapologetically
heavy metal (they do a Uriah Heel
cover
these guys are smokin dope and fuckin in, the
streets for sure. On to the LPS: The Spastics
are a few faces you might recognize associated
with SF punk Their new band plays some inno-
cent yet punk 70s garage punk that's quite
gies!...On the 'zine front, there's a new issue of
Concussion out that's killer as usual. Them guys
take no shit. Keep your eyes out for Smut, a
full color 'zine (obvious Kinko's connections)
from Vancouver, WA. They got what it takes.
Send 'em a couple bucks: PO Box 567,
Vancouver, WA 98666...Finally, a video that
may take some tracking down, but will be infi-
nitely worth the effort: Grenade, Punk rock
music and skating to match by bands and
skaters that you'd better have already heard
about, with some tricktacular shit thrown in.
Write to Homeslice Videos, 1351 Egret Dr,
Sunnyvale, CA 94087. Bands, labels and 'zines,
you think your shit's got what it takes, send
it directly to me: PO Box 419, Tempe, AZ
85280 Wez Lundry...Lifetime? We don't
need no stinkin' Lifetime. Saves the Day has
become New Jersey's Best Dancers with their
debut Can't Slow Down. Yep, this quartet doesn't
stray too far from the well-tested love and
friendship formula and sound a lot like that
other New Jersey band. But that's fine. The
band plays a familiar brand of catchy, guitar-
driven hardcore. And after recording their demo
in the spring of 1997, the band's first show was
opening for MC Lyte, so you know they know
how to shake the rump...When we last wrote
about Elliot, they were an up and coming outfit
textured sounds.
Joseph Epstein...Blake
Schwarzenbach, for-
mer singer/guitarist
of the late
Jawbreaker, has a
new project out of
NYC called Jets To
Brazil. If you were
one of the rare souls
who could appreciate
Jawbreaker in their
musically intellectual
Dear You era, then
check this out. Many
of the songs seem to
pick up where that
album left off. The
Jade Tree Records
debut is called Orange
Rhyming Dictionary,
soon to be supported
by a Jets tour featur-
ing fellow labelmates
and Emo champions
The Promise
Ring... The Greek
Theatre in Berkeley
recently played host
to a long-awaited
Rancid homecoming show, more rightfully
referred to by some as "Scenester Paradise 98."
Notable occurrences included Lint, sans
mohawk, performing lone, post-song guitar
solos while perched on the front monitors and
lots of underage kids partaking in lots of under-
age drinking. When the band played a couple
songs from their long-forgotten first 7", one of
the leather-clad youngsters was overheard say-
ing. "That's one of their new ones. You have to
be a US Thug to get it...Fuck you, I am too a US
Thug." But all vibing aside, Rancid pretty much
killed it as usual, with the open air venue prov-
ing to be eerily reminiscent of the Cloyne co-op
days...Although they never reached the super-
star status that some of their peers bought into,
Ill Repute have remained a steady force in the
type of punk most commonly referred to as
melodic hardcore. Sixteen years of Oxnard
pride has lead to IR's latest full speed, hard-hit-
ting album entitled And Now, on The Edge
Records. It's nice when a band really only
sounds like themselves, instead of ten other
bands that have come before them-Ill Repute
are testament to this. The only drawback to
hearing this record at work is being subjected to
the constant "back in the day" type stories from
NardCore veterans/Thrasher and Slap ad guys
Eben and Dean. -Ryan Henry
ALEX CHALMERS
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