2015. A pretty good year for music and 2016 looking even better !

Classic.

Yep, plenty of fine releases during 2015 means there's a lot less shelf space than this time last year in the Ross household. A couple of great albums from Marcel Bontempi, a heap of Cramps releases due mainly to a loophole in EU laws concerning radio broadcasts which has allowed some UK & German labels to put out a few better than average, semi-official albums, the truly stunning Trash Is Neat 6  featuring a ton of mega rare tracks and how could anyone not be happy with the release on DVD at last of The Cramps gig at the legendary Hacienda. Our friends in Russia have been no slouches either with albums from Messer Chups and The Guitaraculas, while down in Spain a bunch of vinyl came out for The Smoggers and Charm Bag, and the excellent Ghost Highway Records put out the latest vinyl offering by Sweden's The Nomads in the form of the live LP 'Demolicion'.

Absolutely Essential.

Speaking of The Nomads, easily one of my top 5 releases of this year was the long awaited vinyl edition of 'Stagger In The Snow' and we only had to wait 31 years for it !!! For those of you that only know the Nomads from their later 'heavier' output this will come as a complete surprise ! In the early 80's these guys were at the front of the Swedish Garage/Trashabilly wave...along with bands like The Stomach Mouths, Crimson Shadows, Bottle Ups and the like. What we got with this truly amazing release was 30 tracks of pure delight with an almost even split of Rockabilly and 60's Garage Punk covers. The guys down at Bang ! Records have done a remarkable job remastering this and even managed to dig up original artwork...Brilliant considering that original copies of the cassette go for daft prices ! 

 I love this album !

There were also great releases from Diablo Records following on from the awful closure of their studio & record shop in Camden, and I can only imagine it wasn't a very nice time for 'Doyley' (Ex-Klingonz, Zorchmen and current honcho with The Guitar Slingers) trying to keep things afloat as well getting his releases out...Anyway, he did it with a couple of 12" slabs of lovely vinyl from The Guitar Slingers, including the sublime and trashy as hell...'Carnevil Of Souls' and the first new LP from the legendary 'Deltas' in many a year ! Other good news was seeing that Mark Robertson (Yes, that one !...The original drummer of The Meteors) is back behind a drum kit and will be playing gigs during 2016 with The Zorchmen !

Rockabilly Madman.

Not entirely unexpected, it's been the German labels that have been unleashing the bulk of cool vinyl on the world, couple of new volumes of 'Back From The Grave' and those brilliant revamped back-catalogue editions from Crypt, The Fuzztones 30th anniversary re-edition of Lysergic Emanations. Part Records gave us 2..Yes two volumes of the truly awesome, grand daddy of Trash, 'Johnny Legend'. Screaming Apple put out a few cool LPs and a turkey of an album by 'Cozy' (it happens sometimes but it's not to my taste at all). A shedload of quality limited editions at Squoodge from some of my fave artists kept me happy as did a few of the records released by old reliable 'Soundflat'. News of Stag O Lee's 'R-Man' being hospitalised was a low point earlier on in the year but we all hope that he's out of the woods now to keep releasing all of that fantastic stuff he digs up !

Would make the perfect LP sleeve.

One of 2015's highlight's for me was seeing the vastly under-rated 'Hillmans' get their first official release on Western Star, it's real shame it only came out on CD but then, who knows what may transpire during 2016 ? If you haven't got this album, you're really missing out on something special, Their mix of Old Scool Psychobilly, Garage Trash with a healthy dose of Cramps sensibilities gives them a remarkably fresh sound which puts them apart from a lot of the clone type bands....Yeah, you need this !



Little taster of what is coming in 2016, just the tip of the Iceberg but enough to get me looking forward to seeing the postman !
- Messer Chups : Spooky Hook LP......Coming out in early March (maybe earlier)
- Marcel Bontempi : Wolfcall 7"..........Coming out on Migraine Records during Spring.
- The Smoggers : LP.............................Coming out on Soundflat early 2016.
- The Go Go Cult : Headhunter 10".....Coming out on Western Star in mid January.
- Dr Bontempi's Snake Oil Co :  CD....Coming out on Squoodge in mid January.
- The Monsters : New LP ....................Coming out on Voodoo Rhythm during 2016.
- The Charity Case : How To Fall LP...Coming out in Spring 2016.
- Rev Beatman : New LP......................Coming out on Voodoo Rhythm during 2016.
- Empti Fish : Anthology LP.................Coming out in Spring.

And here at Trash Wax we've a whole heap of releases which should keep your turntable spinning throughout the year, so keep your eyes peeled and your ears open !  And don't forget to go and buy something from the Trash Wax Webstore....the more you buy, the more we can release ! : www.trashwax.com

And if you don't see anything interesting at the webstore, go get your friggin' eyes checked !....or more reasonably go to our Discogs store where all the one off records are.....over a thousand of the buggers !:  www.discogs.com/seller/Darrenross

Have a great end to 2015, Party like there's no tomorrow ! Wishing you all a Rockin' new year, Fuzz On and Stay Sick folks.