O.K., so the last post got me listening to more Australian shit. Specifically The Exploding White Mice.
When I first started really getting into Punk Rock and bands from smaller labels and such, one of the first bands that really made an impact on me was The Mice. Funny too because it was them and the Hard-Ons that quickly became my two favorites of the time. Both were from Australia.
I guess they took their name from the mouse scene in "Rock And Roll High School".
A Friend of mine Kevin, had brought over a pile of records for me to check out, and we ended up listening to his some-what small, but awesome catalog for that entire summer.
Included on the soundtrack from that summer ('88) was Dayglow Abortions - "Feed Us A Foetus", Rudimentary Peni - "Death Church", a couple records by the Lime Spiders, Peace Corpse - "Terror Of History", a bunch of Dead Kennedys, a shit-ton of Ramones, The Exploding White Mice - "In A Nest Of Vipers", and The Hard-Ons self titled L.P. which was an American issue of "Smell My Finger" with The Girl In The Sweater" single added to it.
I associated the "Mice" with the Ramones a lot, because I thought of them as "The Australian Ramones", some time later I would learn that I wasn't the only one with this particular point of view.
I just assumed it was because we were listening to a lot of Ramones as well.
Both the Hard-Ons L.P., and the Mice L.P. (E.P.?) were on Bigtime Records. Which I'm assuming had some deal with Aussie labels like Greasy and Waterfront since that's what both of these records were on. "In a Nest Of Vipers" was originally released in Australia on Greasy in 1985 titled "A Nest Of Vipers".
A local record store called Northern Lights, had just gone out of business and they ended up throwing a lot of new imports out at a buck or two a piece. I picked up brand new copies of "Black Metal" by Venom (original on Neat), Motorhead "Iron Fist" (Bronze), Motorhead "Bomber" (Bronze) and "Brute Force And Ignorance" (1988) by the Expolding White Mice, on Greasy Records.
Upon my second trip to the blowout sale I found my copy of "In A Nest Of Vipers" (Bigtime). This record really blew me away! It was raw, simple, noisy, everything that was essential to me in a new band. By the time I got into "Brute Force.." I was a full fledged "Mice fuckin' NUT". I still really love them, in fact, I still look them up on regular rounds.
This was a really cool summer for me, 1988. Good people, great memories. And this band provided a large portion of the soundtrack of that period. It's one of those bands that will take me right back to that place and that time, anytime, everytime. Probably forever.
Later on I found two 7" E.p.'s. "Make It" b/w "Ain't It Sad" and "I Just Want My Fun" b/w "The First Time Is The Best Time" and "Do The Crunch"
The latter single seemed a bit more mellow to me at the time, but upon recent spins, it still does the exact same thing to me that the Mice have always done. Not as raw as "Nest", but true to formula.
Somewhere down the line I found a copy of the "Breakdown #2" b/w "Bury Me" 7" that I read a review for. It used to drive me crazy trying to find that 7" after I read about it, but most people I talked to around here didn't really know all that much about the band. Both songs are from "Brute force..", and "Breakdown #2" in my opinion, is probably one of the highest points of the album. And there are a lot!
Just finding articles on the band was hard enough. And even still, I've only found one more copy of "In A Nest.." since. together with the copy that Kevin owned I've only seen three, ever! And I've never found anything else since.
There's two more older 7" singles that I don't have, "Blaze Of Glory" b/w "He's Gonna Step On You Again" (1987), and "Fear (Late At Night)" b/w "Without Warning" (1988).
After Greasy went out of business, they released a half studio/half live album in 1990. It was released on Normal Records from Germany, and NKVD Records in the U.S.A. It was after this release that Paul Gilchrist, the lead vocalist left the group and I've never herd them without him. Those can be testy waters. I know replacing a front man can greatly effect the sound of a band, but I remain optimistic, and eager to hear them without him.
In 1992 thet released an album called "Colateral Damage", and their final album "We Walk Alone" came out in 1994 on Au-Go-Go.
Odds are I'll write something here whenever I find them.
The following post is from another blog I do from time to time called, "The Sickness - Confessions of a vinyl junkie". From time to time I think I should only be writing one stupid blog, and the fact of it is I just can't make up my mind just how I'd like to mesh the two... either way, whatever...
Voilla! (or "Wallah!") I'm not a very strong speller in English, let alone French, either way....Ta Da!
Two Days Ago, I finally completed my Thin Lizzy collection with the purchase of their first eponymous L.P. It set me back $50, BUT, like I said, it was the final piece of my Thin Lizzy vinyl L.P. collection AND.... It was in really great shape. So I rolled over for it. No bartering required.
I began my quest for a complete Lizzy collection quite recently actually. I'd say the last four years. And that's without specifically searching via Ebay and the like. But It's been a regular inquiry on every outting since. The next step for a dork like me is imported pressings.
And that's where my next issue comes in to play.
U.S. L.P. Cover
All of my copies are U.S. pressings. With the addition of a copy of "Black Rose" from Germany, and a couple other doubles. Goldmine only lists U.S. issues, so that's kinda what I've been going on. But I have seen some alternate cover art on foriegn C.D. jackets (specifically "Fighting").
C.D. cover, English I believe.
I do however, have a discography that was printed in Classic Rock from the U.K. and they list another album that I don't know of ever being pressed in the U.s. According to this discography, the first three Lizzy albums were all first issued on Decca. Whereas the first two from the same period were released in America on London.
The first L.P., "Thin Lizzy" was released on Decca in the U.K., and London in the U.S. and both were released in 1971.
"Thin Lizzy" Decca - U.K.
The second album, according to Classic Rock, was "Shades of a Blue Orphanage" named after the previous groups of Eric Bell (Shades Of Blue) and Phil Lynott and Brian Downey (Orphanage) came out in 1972.
"Shades of a Blue Orphanage"
The Third, "Vagabonds of the Western World", again, was released simultaneously on Decca (U.K.) and London (U.S.)in 1973.
And here I thought I was finished!
Well, kind of. See, Vertigo is such a cool label, I'm committed to fining Lizzy's entire catalog on Vertigo. Which they all are after "Vagabonds".
At least I think a couple, (the first two anyway) should be on the highly collectable "swirly" Vertigo label. (Sexy!) But I do not have, nor have I ever seen "Shades of a Blue Orphanage". I'm very curious about this, yes. Which brings me to "The Rocker 1971-1974".
It's apparent that this compilation contains song off the 1st L.P., as well as "Vagabonds...". With other tracks that were only available as singles and their B-sides, as well as one unreleased song.
The English discography, at least this one, excludes "the Rocker 1971-1974", Live and Dangerous", and "Life" - Live". All of which I think were left out because they all contain previously released material.
Already I know I'm gonna go nuts looking for this album. As I said, I've never seen it outside of this particular discography. To those of you "in the know", your all probably laughing at me. Which is fine. This, to me, is the fun part.
I've so far only bought one of the 180 gram re-issues "Jailbreak". And I bought that to replace my original (in the shrink no-doubt) that was heisted from me in "The Great Vinyl Heist of '09".
I guess what I'm getting at is, I've only just begun to collect Thin Lizzy. Especially since while editing this post, and adding pictures, it looks as if "Shades..." appears as if it says "Derham" on the cover. Really?!
I generally have a rule when it comes to original pressings. And from what I can tell, It's both unique, and frustrating for people.
Almost allways, people who are specifically looking for original pressings tend to look for the first issue from the country they reside in. For instance, for all my American friends, next time you have the chance to compare, see how much an original press from Canada is compared to an original U.S. press.
It's a bit (or sometimes a lot!) cheaper. I'm (speaking strictly monetarily, not quality)
At least that's what I've observed at shps and record fairs.
But my guideline for originals is, I look for the first pressing from the country that the band is from. And this is just a rule I apply when I'm not sure what the origin of the first pressing is. A lot of times, bands are picked up by foreign labels LONG before they have domestic appeal. But in most cases, especially when dealing with indie or punk bands, their first release is either put out by the band in small numbers, or a label from their scene and they tend to be from the same country and in a lot of cases, the same city.
But this is very different when dealing with bands that start out on majors.
So, I got a little bit off track with this post. That's gonna happen when I'm writing about records. I only wish I could type quicker, as thoughts pop up and maybe I wouldn't lose direction as easily.
My other purchase, The Music Machine's first album, was exiting to me for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that it's in wonderful shape, and, the stereo version. I actually started listening to this band a lot lately, thanks to Machine Gun Thompson's blog and his "Jukebox". But it was right there staring me in the face as I walked into the store. That's almost always the sign of a good record store day. And, I did in fact end up having to put a few things back. BUT.......
The first is, it's not often I come across a new scene or open up doors to a whole new genre that I haven't spent at least a little time with, but lately, I've been getting into a lot of 60's Freak Beat Garage Punk kinda stuff, and for the first time in a long time, I'm finding myself getting into a whole new thing with tremendous enthusiasm. I'm finding myself digging deeper than I ever have in this area and yet have only scratched the surface. Really, It's exciting!
It started with the 13th Floor Elevators and a recent Rocky Erickson kick I fell into the last time I saw Antiseen. I bought a copy of their "Two Headed Dog" single, an original from a batch they dug up before they went on tour. I bought one of the last three.
After You-tubing 13th F.E., I started following the links on the right side of the screen and found myself listening to The Sonics, The Renegades, The Seeds, The Music Machine, and what looks to be a billion others I've yet to discover.
Now, most of these are bands I've heard of, and even heard to some extent in the past but only now, have I began paying much attention to them. The Music Machine was familliar to me because Alice Cooper covered "Talk Talk" on "Flush The Fashion". And for the longest time, I never knew that was a cover. Nor did I know that "7 and 7 is" from "Special Forces" was a cover of Love. I found that out when I saw them open up for D.K.T./MC5.
I once heard the original "Talk Talk" at a record store and asked who it was, but had long since forgot.
But the second reason is, I'm going to look back after five years of collecting this new, (to me!) exciting music from what must be a hundred thousand small, obscure, wild fucking bands and say, "that was my whole introduction to this shit!"
What's even cooler, is there seems to be a resurgence in new bands popping up playing this type of R'n'R! Fuck yeah...
Not only do I now have plenty of catching up to do, (which is one of the funnest parts!) but, I can also ride this other "New Wave" for the first time since the '80's!
Went and saw OFF1 at the T-Rock on Sunday. One of the best I've seen in a while (coming from a guy who see's live bands all week!) It was pretty cool seeing Keith Morris (who is now 55 years old) jump around and tear a fucking stage up like he was 15...
He spouted off about a few current affairs, not so much in-depth, but rather just elaborated a bit on his contempt for our government (what used to be a staple of every punk show way back when...) with a relieving touch of humor (I got kinda scared when things were seemingly turning slightly "Propagandhi").
the best part came at the end of their admitedly short set of 16 songs when he mentioned that he'd been in this situation before in Black flag; "when I left Black Flag we only had 16 songs, so to satisfy audience members who wanted more we would just play our set again. so we're gonna play our set again!"
I wished it were true, they only made it through the first two songs of it. I would have stayed for the rest...
-m
It is with a heavy heart that I'm writing of the passing of Gary Moore. After waking this afternoon and making the usual facebook rounds it really wasn't long before I learned that Gary passed while on holiday in Spain. He was 58 years old.
Shortly afterward, and after the standard posting of a great piece of video from Dublin, at the celebration for the unveiling of the statue of bandmate and friend Phillip Lynott in '05, with the letters R.I.P. as the comment to it, I began yet another long day of back to back Thin Lizzy.
And it was with full intention of guiding my own bandmates toward an impromptu set of Lizzy covers that I showed up to band rehearsal tonight with, although after the standard workload of our own material it never came to pass.
Instead I could write about what fleeting memories I have of seeing Gary as the opener for the Rush tour I saw in the '80's, I believe it was "Grace Under Pressure."
But those are few and thin as it was so long ago.
So, heres that vid from earlier, and it fucking rips! Just kinda sit back and let it play out. Imagine that you're there. Watching, feeling it, singing along. And let Gary play for you again....
Cheers mate... Say "hi" to Philo from all of us, and rip one out with yer mate!
Watching this video reminded me of how fucking hilarious Bad News was. Any self respecting fan of "The Young Ones" knows full well who Bad News were.
Or they should.
Adrian Edmondson a.k.a."Vim Fuego" a.k.a. "Vyvyann", Rik Mayall a.k.a "Colin Grigson" a.k.a. "Rik", and Nigel Planner a.k.a. "Den Dennis" a.k.a. "Neil" star with "Spyder Webb" in their version of "This is Spinal Tap". But whereas "Tap" were a mock-English take on the heavy metal musician everyman, Bad News were the real deal.
Sort of...
Neil - "Hole in My Shoe" 7" single
"The Young Ones" was already popular in England in 1983, and Neil (Nigel Planner) had released a single, "Hole In My Shoe", and an album "Neils Heavy Concept Album".
I have never found a copy of either of these (hint-hint), and believe me, I've tried.
There was at one point, a copy of the "hole in My Shoe" 7" on the wall at Hymies. When I asked how much it was gonna take to bring it home with me, the woman who was working said she had just found Neil at a recent record show, and felt it was a little too soon to part with him. And I would see him every time I was in the store. I haven't been to the new store yet, (I know, bad customer!) so I'm not sure if he still has a home on the wall.
If so, maybe now she'd be willing? Hmmmmm...
Meanwhile... when we last left our Heroes, the band (Bad News) started out as an episode of "The Comic Strip Presents",(called "Bad News Tour") in 1983. An English sort of 1/2 hour skit show (each episode was it's own different skit, as opposed to many skits per episode) and it was so popular that "The Comic Strip" did a sequel "More Bad News", which is available on video.
In the film, the band signs a record contract and plays the Festival at Castle Donnington which they did for real. In the film, they interview proper "Rock Stars", the likes of Joe Elliot, Ozzy Osbourne, even Lemmy, about their thoughts on Bad News. Some of which, are "Shit Sandwich" hilarious.
A full length album and a single was released in 1987. The single "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen went to #44 on the British charts. A second single, "Cashing In On Christmas", was also on the album. The single the band was hyping in the film "Warriors of Gengis Kahn, was awesome. In Fact, I wish a copy of the video that they show them filming for it existed. (it was part of the plot, not a real video)
"No Dennis, you've got to look MEAN..."
It took me a while to find this album on vinyl, but I did have the C.D. (which has a bunch of bonus material) at the time that I attended the world premiere of "Drop Dead Fred", a movie starring Rick Mayall, and filmed here in Minneapolis. Because of the fact that it was filmed here, this is where they had the 'World Premiere" ("Word" being probably about seven cities...) and I forget how, but I scored a pair of tickets.
Maybe I bought them...
This movie is fucking hilarious, and is worth checking out if you haven't. The event itself was a little too bourgeois for my liking, but Rick Mayall was about to put an end to the stiff discomfort I was experiencing .
I saw him from across the bar and he looked just like I thought he would. Bored, tired, and struggling to put on what were not very convincing smiles for all the weird fuckers in Minnesota who think they're king shit of the film society.
Most of which I think would would return home sticky, broke, and confused if they ever actually set foot in Hollywood, or anywhere else for that matter.
So when I approached him, he began to go through the motions, (eye contact, quick nod, flash the smile, extend the hand, repeat the name...) but when I produced the Bad News disc from my pocket, his face lit up and he immediately emerged himself into the "Colin Grigson" character.
He seemed relieved, almost excited.
And what seemed to me to be, unexpectedly happy.
After a couple of beers and a thorough Q&A session about Bad News, The Young Ones, and the film we had just seen, I asked that he sign my C.D.
"Do you want me to sign it Collen Grigson?" he asked me in the same tone of the character.
"Sure." I told him.
He signed it "Colen Grigson" and Rick Mayall.
My introduction to Motorhead came when I was 11 years old. An older guy in my neighborhood, Tim, was kinda this guy I looked up to when I was young, and he had the biggest record collection I'd ever seen. He used to let us kids hang out in his room with his stereo and play his records all day.
One day, he handed me an album and said, "here, you can KEEP this one". "Wow," I said, "how come I can just have it?" I asked him totally confused.
"I don't want that shit to ruin my speakers!" he said in a tone that made me fell like he had just handed me a hand-full of dog shit.
That album was Motorhead's "No Sleep 'till Hammersmith", and it had me hooked like a bug to neon within the first half of side one.
I'd never heard anything like it. We were listening to Hendrix, The Doors, and Led Zeppelin, nothing like what I heard on this L.P. It was raw, abrasive, and fucking LOUD. And after the first time you hear Lemmy sing, you never forget his name.
Needless to say, I've always had a very special spot in my heart for Motorhead. Never duplicated. Ever. And I've held that band in the highest regard, with the utmost respect, I've ever given to anyone or anything, for my entire life since.
Flash forward fifteen years later, 1997. I was surfing the internet looking up random Motorhead shit and came across a letter, written by Lemmy, to some kid who was writing for some Metal rag either he or his buddy was starting, about an interview.
The kid must have thought this was absolutely the coolest thing ever, that Lemmy had wrote him a hand-written letter, that he posted a picture of it. At the bottom, Good 'ole Lem had also included his phone number.
Ha, you kidding? I mean, I had too. Right? If anything, just to see if it was real...
It was.
I was a bit sketchy about it because it was an American number. I hadn't known then that he'd been living in Hollywood for some time, because, as he said, "it's cheaper".
I called around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. "Hey ya..", the voice on the other end said. "Hello?" I said.
"Yeah... what?" they replied.
"Is this Lemmy?" I asked,
"Well who are you calling?" they said.
I said "I'm calling Lemmy",
"well that's who you got then, nice one." he said and an this point, there was no denying it, I was on the phone with Lemmy Killmister.
I explained to him that I was nothing more than a fan of his band and how I came across his number. He seemed fine with that and asked me what I wanted to talk about. So I told him I'd like to talk about Motorhead.
"Oh, well I'm always willing to talk about that" he said to my relief, then went on to say, "I'll make you a deal, we'll chat 'bout the band a bit, and you can just politely lose the number. Deal?" I said "of course. Done."
Only it wasn't finished there. It seemed the more we talked, the more he didn't mind me having his number. Eventually "just don't give it out" turned into "give us a call next week then!" Fuck. I was astounded how cool he was. And how much of a pain in the ass I wasn't.
In 1998 I had seen that Motorhead was coming to town. A friend of mine who worked at a "Gentlemen's Club", had mentioned that he sees Lemmy in his club every time they're in town. So I gave Lemmy a call and left a message on his voicemail saying when they get to town, if they want, he could call me and we'd go to the club together and my buddy will hook us up.
(Not in any way you may be thinking. Trust me, those "back-rooms" don't exist or I wouldn't be writing a blog right now)
I knew the Motorhead show wasn't for a couple of days yet, so you can imagine my surprise when my wife's cell phone rang while I was bowling and she said "it's for you", "well who is it?",
"He said It's Lemmy from Motorhead",
she had this incredibly confused look on her face and said "why would he have to say 'from Motorhead'" as she handed me the phone.
Now, I can't begin to describe the "cool kid on the block" feeling I got from receiving that phone call. And I would be pressed to describe the look on the faces of the others at the bowling alley when I told them why I had to leave. But there we went, off to the tittie bar with Motorhead!
As soon as we walked in to the club, two people I knew came rushing up to me and said "Mike, there's some people from England here looking for you!" I was led to the table and seated with Lemmy, three crew guys, my friend and band-mate Bob, and my wife.
Somehow, even sitting at the "Rock Star" table, I managed to burn through about three hundred bucks in alcohol and tits.
The night of the show, afterward, we decided to go to a different club. Lemmy, David (the merch dude), my wife, and myself all hopped in my car and we took off from the front of First Avenue together.
I tried to be polite and get Lemmy to sit in the front seat, but my wife was driving and he insisted on the back.
At the time, I was working for a concrete restoration & repair company and I had a lot of tools in the back seat. Lemmy had found a ten pound little sledge hammer I kept in there and began wielding it out of the rear window as we drove through downtown Minneapolis. He said, "with this, who needs a car alarm. Just set this on the dash as a deterrent!" So there we were, driving through downtown Minneapolis, with Lemmy swinging a sledge hammer out the back window yelling "Thee Hammer!"
Priceless experience.
And so it began. What turned into a bit of a regular visitation every time they came to town. I'd always call, they'd always leave me a couple passes.
Around this time I became friends with the lighting engineer, Tony.
Tony was a rabid record collector and would always fly here from England in the off season to go around to stores and hit some vinyl fairs/conventions/ swaps, whatever you want to call them.
I had a lot of fun running around buying records with him, or visiting what he called "Junk Shops" a.k.a. antique stores. He collected old school portable record players as well. I've still got one he left behind years ago when he couldn't fit it on the plane with the other two he'd purchased while in town.
It waas on the "We Are Motorhead" tour, when Motorhead got to town minus their drum tech. Vito DeVito had worked for Mikki Dee for years when he decided he was done at the end of their Canadian Dates. As Tony put it, "He just fucked off in the middle of the night". I was standing inside First Avenue waiting to bring their bus driver to a shop to patch one of their trailer tires and playing pinball with Lemmy, when Tony, Hobbsie, and a few other crew came over and Tony said, "Mike's a drummer, he'll do it."
Freddie, the tour manager, looked at me as if to say, "can you?" I returned with a look of my own that said nothing less than "Fucking A Right I can!" So we sat down with Mikki, Yogi, the monitor guy, and myself, and I got a crash course in "hand signals 101".
They taught me a bunch of different hand signals to give Yogi throughout the set whenever Mikki wanted them adjusted. That's right, I'm not just setting up and tearing down, but I was on the stage right behind Mikki the entire show. I walked on to the stage right before the show and saw a guitar rack full of Lemmy's Rickenbacher's. All the ones that I've seen in all the pictures of him on stage. And at that moment, I was nearly knocked over by the realization that, fuck, THIS IS MOTORHEAD.
The more I began to realize this was a childhood dream come true, the more nervous I got. "This is too fucking cool, I'm bound to fuck SOMETHING up!" I kept thinking to myself. But it went off without a hitch. Great time, and the best seats in the house!
Afterward, Roger and myself (Phil's guitar tech.) spent a lot of time marking all the stands with tape so it would be known how to set it up again at the next show.
I remember feeling really good that I was able to introduce Lemmy and Ollie Stench, who has always shared my affinity for Motorhead. I used to go to the Triple Rock and hang out with him all night as he worked the door and many of those nights were spent discussing this band.
The completely unexpected part for me was that I never even took into consideration the fact that I was being paid for this new temp job of mine. I was so busy in awe of the whole situation, I really didn't expect Freddie to hand me cash at the end of the night.
I'm sure I was cheap, comparatively, but they could have got me for a lot cheaper!
Dave, Lem, and myself - Chicago, 2000
I knew they were going to contact me about going out with them, and they did. However, right after the Minneapolis show, Vito had decided to return. So with that, I got an invitation and some all access passes to go down to Chicago and at least see another show. I brought Dave DePriest with me and we had a good time. No sleep, but a good time.
Mikki Dee has gone ouy of his way to be a really great guy to me since I temped for him. And he was really great to work for.
Throughout recent years I've missed a few shows locally, and haven't spoken with Lemmy with any real regularity since about '04. We went out for drinks second to the last time they were here, but it's not likely I'll be spending all night on the bus after the shows any longer. I don't have it in me to close the bar and hang out on the bus 'till five a.m. these days.
The best part of this whole thing is I got the opportunity to tell Lemmy the story of how I got into Motorhead. He thought it was the funniest thing ever that this guy actually thought Motorhead would ruin his speakers.
And I'll never forget his reaction to Foghat's version of "I Just Wanna Make Love to You". We were sitting in The Seville, a gentleman's club in Minneapolis, and that song was playing. Lemmy picked up on the lyrics right away and recognized it, and turned to me and said, "who the fuck is murdering this song?" I told him "Foghat", "Ugh" he replied, "I never want to hear that one again."
It's still just as great to see them play as it ever was. And if all the other shit would've never happened. I can still go see Motorhead, and say, "Fuck! I LOVE this band!!!"
A lot of things can be said about Lemmy. And to sorta "pal around" with a living legend is something in it's own. But the first thing that you notice is how friendly, soft spoken, and personable he is. Honest, intelligent, and fucking genuine.
