Sarah Vista...London, Chrome Reverse...Paris !

3rd 7" (Kizmiaz Records).

Some serious talent coming to the fore recently in both London and Paris (NY was covered by Twin Guns not too long ago)...Could be simply that I haven't moved out of my comfort zone too much in a good while, musically speaking that is, but I really get the impression that there's a lot happening out there and these guys & gals, while not exactly household names, are prime movers in their respective scenes, so if by any chance you haven't picked up on them yet ?  It's a good time to acquaint yourselves with them, neither have an album out, although plans afoot no doubt, but both do have a bunch of 7"s out now which deserve a place in anyones vinyl stash. So if you do miss the early bus, you only have yourself to blame when you find yourself trawling Evilbay for them later !

Out late August.

What a great pairing this is, Sarah Vista teamed up with the legendary Boz Boorer to cover and revamp an all time Polecats classic 'Make A Circuit With Me'...This little beauty will be out in a few weeks time and will be available in both black and coloured vinyl. This was recorded in Boz's Portugaul based studio, Serra Vista,  for his upcoming album 'Age Of Boom' which should see the light of day in September.....You could hardly escape noticing that Sarah is not only a rather talented gal herself but that she also has some amazing folk behind her with the likes of Terry Edwards from the mighty GALLON DRUNK providing the requisite brass as well as former SHILLELAGH SISTER Lyn Halpin (you probably know her better as Mrs Boorer) stepping in on bass for the flipside of the 'I Wish You Hell' 7" and if that wasn't enough, Jeff Mead, former CANNIBAL who has also played with The STING RAYS & IMELDA MAY  among others, not failing to mention that our pal Marcel B provided the artwork......Not exactly your standard debut single affair.

A Heart Full Of Hate !

Sarah Vista's debut platter is a little taster of a forthcoming album that will be released earlyish next year and if you like Spaghetti Western tinged, revenge soaked R'n'R that moves along to a hillbilly beat ?  then this will not disappoint...BUT, it's a little more than simply another play on a Western Swing/Cowbilly theme, the album that is on it's way is called 'Killing Fever' and will include tracks that have been used as part of the soundtrack for an upcoming movie (Western of course) and I believe that the bones of a second album are already being prepped. These aren't a bunch of Death Country tunes or anything like that, more like the finely crafted thoughts of many a spurned woman set to some rather great music..anthems to kill your (ex) lover by !


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7rNGZTDfOU

To launch her first single, Sarah played an acoustic set in the hippest record shop in Camden, Sounds That Swing/No Hit, needless to say there were a few folk that couldn't get in due to the fact the place was jammers, although someone well positioned did manage to capture a bit of film footage (with their phone) of her singing the title track...It's hardly Spielberg but not bad at all really considering you get to see the lovely lady and her acoustic Gretsch (not sure which one is the more attractive to be honest!).   
You can get yourself a copy direct from Sarah Vista (Check out Facebook & Discogs) or you can get a copy from Sounds That Swing/No Hit Records and from our goodselves.

Sarah Vista at Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/sarahvistamusic/

2nd EP.

Woah !!! Chrome Reverse (Who ? I hear you ask)....What you have here fine folk, is basically French R'n'R royalty....I shit you not! It's got to be at least 25 years that some of the members first came out of Parisian Garages and cellars in various combos such as The No Talents, Les Terribles, The Splash Four who had releases on some of the most influential labels around at the time including Estrus, Dionysus, Lookout, 1+2, Larsen, Soundflat as well as releasing stuff on their own labels Wild Wild Recs & Royal Recs. Iwan & Lili being the senior veterans here, it's really no surprise that their releases to date have been right up there on the awesome scale ! Pure rock 'n' roll with a very cool sound that is far less punk rawk than much of what they did in previous incarnations...The Chrome Reverse sound has that primitive 50's feel to it but without sounding dated...They're not trying to be some kind of revivalist clone, far more Crypt Recs than Wild Recs.

As I've already said, a couple the members have been around the block and they shouldn't have any problems in building a decent enough rep, I'd be expecting to see them playing a good few festivals next year on the back of the releases so far and judging from what I've seen online to date, I'll be making a trip or two to catch them. I thought that the upcoming release on Kizmiaz was an LP but was only a small bit disappointed when Yannick (of Kizmiaz) told me it was 4 track EP, it's due out in mid August so another to put in the diary....If you're into The 5678's (It's Lili's vocals), The Fireworks and Trashy R'n'R in general...let me introduce you to your new fave band ! Don't take my word for it, go check them out up there ! 

Available from most quality outlets including Born Bad Record Shop in Paris, Cool & Crazy/Crypt in Hamburg and from our goodselves too.....Happy Hunting.

Stay Sick Peeps.

Alan Vega...Gone ! Messer Chups...USA Tour dates.

CLICK ME !

So, our American friends are in for a real treat during August ! Oleg, Svetty and Boris, collectively known as 'Messer Chups' are ambarking on a 23 date tour of the USA, kicking off the tour with a first date in Milwaukee on the 4th August and finishing up in Cambridge (Massachusetts) on the29th August.
Been a long time coming but now the Americans will be able to experience these crazy Russians first hand and see what all the fuss is about !
Apparently, part of the visa application process involved being interviewed by consular staff in regard to the musical influences of the band (trying to catch them out no doubt)...So Mr Gitaracula, which American guitar players would you say have had the most influence on your style ?......Response : Link Wray & Dick Dale !.........OK, you can come in !
I only wish that my circumstances had allowed me to catch a couple of the US dates, unfortunately it's not the case but I am looking forward to seeing some of the crowd responses on social media as I'm sure that the folk seeing them for the first time will be totally blown away and leave them clamouring for more !!!  Enjoy the tour guys.......

Gone, but what a legacy !

Today is a pretty sad day as we learned of Alan Vega's death this morning, a truly iconic figure and one whose influence stretched far and wide, both with 'Suicide' and as a solo artist in his own right ! Innovator, Agitator, Protopunk pioneer, Shit....the guy even dragged Rockabilly into areas thought by many to be borderline blasphemy....I for one loved his minimalist treatment of many standards and his FUCK YOU stance to the whinging detractors.....Rock On Ghost Rider !
Today we'll be listening to a lot of Vega & Suicide......Tomorrow too !


Stay Sick.

Oh! Gunquit, Smoggers, Marcel Bontempi....More from Trash Wax.

Includes added Catman ! 1st 100 copies GREEN Vinyl

A few folk have asked recently if there will be 'record club' of some description for Trash Wax releases but to be honest there aren't any plans for one, not that we haven't toyed with the idea, it's just an organisational nightmare which would involve getting the factories to stick to a delivery schedule and this just isn't happening at the moment. What we are doing though, is getting the first 100 copies of  each release pressed in a coloured vinyl which are available exclusively through the website, these will be put up for pre-order approx 6 weeks before expected release date and once they are gone...that's it, there won't be a second chance.

www.trashwax.com

We've some nice releases already at the factory and we're expecting the 1st Messer Chups LP release (we have 2 in production) on the 15th July, then there's The Cheating Hearts LP, the Smoggers/Charm Bag 7", Oh! Gunquit 7" and the 2nd Messer Chups LP. That's without mentioning the Marcel Bontempi EP and a 7" from Scotland's The Strange Blue Dreams (More about this later but it's very special)....Awesome stuff !

While we're on the subject, there is an absolutely stunning project we're working on at the moment with the legendary Boz Boorer !  Back in the very early 80's, Boz was a very busy (Rockabilly....tish, boom!) guy indeed, not only was he the guitarist of The Polecats & Shillelagh Sisters, he was also moonlighting with a bunch of lads that would become The Vibes (Yes...Lloyd Tripp (on Bass), Gary Boniface (on Drums) and Bob Martin (vocals)....nothing was ever released by this combo who went under the name of THE MEGATONS but they did manage to get into the studio....TWICE and we've found the sessions (Boz did actually)..the first one from around '82 is having a bit of restoration but sounds like some lost Sun Session, real savage Rockabilly...the 2nd session which was recorded a few years later during an impromptu reunion in the USA (different drummer) is crystal clear and absolutely sensational....not saying anymore except that it's some of the wildest and best Rockabilly I've heard in a long while..Hopefully, this will be out before the end of the year !  In the meantime, enjoy the only known footage to exist of The Megatons : https://www.facebook.com/lloyd.tripp.5/videos/10153112030116175/

Out in August (2016)

For those of you that like a bit of scuzzy, fuzz garage punk, The Smoggers won't disappoint !  After 4 albums, the latest being the brilliant 'Shadows In My Mind' which came out on Lutz Rauber's  ever cool label 'Soundflat, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this is the first Smoggers slab of 7" vinyl...actually it's their fifth and what a track it is too...It's My Time takes you on a bit a roller coaster ride with Fernando's demented wailings duelling with the Farfisa while Anna beats out a pounding rhythm on the skins, building to great finish...

Out in August (2016)

Now, this is a split 7" with Charm Bag but....Charm Bag are actually Fernando & Anna so you could argue that they're the same group only the styles are totally different ! Charm Bag are a CRAMPED duo with a distinct penchant for rather dark Link Wray styled Trash.....I caught them live at last years Munster Raving Loony Party and their live set just blew me away, and if you like this when you hear it, they have another couple of mini LPs out already, well worth the investment !
The first 100 copies of this 7" will be on Orange vinyl !

 

CHARM BAG : An Andalusian Dog 

Limited edition of 300.

Also out in August will be the first full length LP from Hamburg's Uber cool The Cheating Hearts, 12 tracks of love induced misery, heartbreak and heartache...FUCK LOVE ! This is snotty as hell and the guy & gal from St Pauli deliver a soundtrack for anyone whose lovelife has gone down the drain, forget the sugary, country & western sentimental nonsense...this is where it's truly at, as it says on the tin (Sleeve), this is 'Primitive, Trash, Rock'n'Roll !
The entire album has been re-recorded to analogue and tweaked by our noisemeister Mondosean and the sound is fricken amazing...must be said. The fab sleeve was done by the Voodoo scribbler himself, Mr Chris 'Sick' Moore. Don't put off delaying on this one as it's strictly limited to 300 copies !

7" Nomads Of The Lost.

I'm guessing that the major record labels go on holiday for the month of August as we've been told (with the arse covering 'provisionally') to expect another great release (Yep, we've been busy little beavers) from London's Trashy, Rumble Rocking Party animals OH! GUNQUIT....2 brand new stunning tracks from their latest recording sessions, If you can get your head around this? you'll kind of get where this is coming from...just imagine a big messy mix of The Delmonas, The Detroit Cobras, a big guitar sound and a wailing sax...throw it all together and out comes OH! GUNQUIT...The A-side is 'Nomads Of The Lost' with the flip being a rather Delmonasesque 'Walking The Street'....The 1st 100 copies of this will be a rather fetching shade of green (Like the cover......for those of unfortunate enough not to be familiar with either of their previous singles or the magnificent LP released by Dirty Water Records not too long ago....Here's the A-side to their very first 7" release.

 

Oh! Gunquit : Bad Bad Milk.

Check this baby out !

Here is a long awaited album and we're making it a special one to boot, 16 Tracks in total from Messer Chups with a couple from their alter ego Rockabilly band The Bonecollectors, what's different ?  Well apart from that they've all been remixed by Oleg, they feature the vocals of Zombierella on all of them ! Not only that but the artwork is by Solrac and features our fave bass player on the front AND the rear....a real Zombierella fest ! Heavyweight sleeve, heavyweight vinyl and the 1st 100 copies are Black & White SPLATTER in translucent red vinyl....This has been guaranteed for a September delivery. Are we excited by this.....just a wee bit !  

Now you've finished reading and oggling....wipe up the drool and go buy some records so we have the funds to actually pay for all this stuff !

We've got (literally) ton's of stuff that you need or really should have in your record collection, so head on over to website and treat yourself !  HERE : www.trashwax.com

And the otherplace at Discogs, jam packed with goodies ! : https://www.discogs.com/seller/Darrenross


Thanks for looking and Stay Sick folks.

 

The Cramps..........and their record collection !

Sinking to new depths !

Well, The Cramps franchise is most certainly alive and kicking out there judging by the choice of various Cramps associated releases which have been made available in recent times....be it the lovely packaged 10" LP series from Stag-O-Lee in Germany or the rather less interesting CD only releases from Cherry Red (UK) sub-label 'Righteous' which can also boast some the poorest artwork seen on the 'official' releases....It should also be pointed out that none of these are bootlegs as the artists copyright has lapsed....most of these tracks are OLD ! (Pre-1966).
To a degree, it's almost as much fun collecting these releases as it is collecting Cramps stuff, especially as there's also a market out there for reproductions (copies) of the original 7"s too, which only adds to the starin on my wallet.

Really ?

I suppose that really, this area of Cramps 'associated' releases falls into 2 parts, the compilations of original tracks which the Cramps used to make their 'own' songs and the more recent releases claiming to be compilations of records in Lux & Ivy's personal record collection....To be honest, the most reliable source for these tracks would be at 'Kogar the Swingin' Ape's' blogsite....Over the years the guy (who has infinitely more patience than me) has tracked down any reference to records in Lux & Ivy's record collection, be it mentions in magazine and radio interviews, mix tapes put together by Lux or anecdotal. All of these tracks are there to be appreciated and can be downloaded for free....Cynical of me probably, but I imagine that the compilers of the recent and recentish releases make this source their first port of call !     

Sophia Loren...Cramps fan extraordinaire !

I'm not too sure how I feel about actually buying these records (& CDs), although sucker that I am, if it has 'The Cramps' on it, I'll pick it up and give it a home ! Ivy, (notoriously private) has never actually published or publicly listed the contents of their record collection even when the annual rumour of an impending auction crops up. So it's never sure that what's being put out, is in reality, somewhere among their boxes of vinyl.....maybe a forthcoming title will be 'Songs we thought The Cramps may like' ?  
Personally, I'd much rather see 'Vengeance' release a series of compilations compiled by Ivy, and obviously on vinyl...least ways there would be no doubting the source and I'm sure that the liner notes would make a far more interesting read too.

Best sleeve of the series.

The upside about these comps is that they're fairly cheap and relatively easy to get hold of, 10 minutes on Google and you could probably have most of them in your collection within the week. The Cramps association aside, they're generally good comps, to my taste at any rate....apart from the repetition of a few tracks, the CDs in particular make car journeys that bit more enjoyable. The artwork on the CD releases (as I already mentioned) is pretty lame and poorly conceived but the sleeves on the 'Beat From Badsville' series are rather decent and actually tie into the theme for the most part. However, I did find that Vol 4 was a bit of a stinker truth be told.....can't be a winner every time. The 10" format forces me to make the purchase without fail though !

Crap sleeve, has to be said !

If you want more stuff to take with you on that Cramps trip and you find that the Born Bad series and the Songs The Cramps Taught Us series, just ain't enough then you could do worse than pick a few (or all of them) up...You've plenty of choice !  'Smell Of The Cramps' The Cramps Jukebox', Spirit Of The Cramps' 'What The Cramps Ate For Breakfast'..........
I had considered putting up the track listings for these releases but then why should I spoil your fun ?......Seriously though, you can have a bit of fun hunting these all out and waiting for the postman or you can just Google....'Kogar's Jungle Juice' and get 'em for free !

Double LP, Orange vinyl.

Shameless plug time :  The Trash Wax website has never been fuller, shitloads of new stuff, restocks and probably one of the best selections of Trash out there....New Cramps stuff, a few boots (We have 6-7 copies of The Cramps 'King Is Back' LP from Russia), The new semi-official, Double LP on Orange vinyl 'Do The Clam'...if you can't see it, just email me directly. Stunning releases from 'Jungle Jim' Chandlers band 'Twin Guns'....you need their records, brilliant stuff  even if I say so myself !

Go on, treat yourself : www.trashwax.com

And for an even bigger selection of single item stuf, head on over to the discogs page here :
https://www.discogs.com/seller/Darrenross

You're sure to find something you want !



Laters folk and Stay Sick !    

Vinyl Overdose !...Rockin' Records, Pre-In Heaven Meteors, The Cramps, OHA Recs.

Ltd Edition of 1000 copies.

It's been a great month for record buying I must say, dozens of way cool releases and discoveries from far and wide, including a UK Cramps LP (Unofficial ?) release, one from Russia, two 10" LPs of the classic, original Meteors line up (Pre-In Heaven too), three class 7"s from Canada's Rockin' label, more one sided Rockabilly Dementia from German label OHA Recs, a new Smoggers LP and the long awaited Almon Loos LP on Sleazy to name but a few........Oh, and Record Store Day happened......literally a shed load of stuff !

Not sure on the legitimacy of these releases coming out of The UK & Germany, my understanding of the situation is that if the gig had been broadcast outside of the UK & EU then it isn't subject to copyright and publishing legislation (Anyone feel like making a precision, please do so). This is a neat item but only 8 tracks so more of a mini album, coloured vinyl, nice insert and limited to a 1000 copies (so not exactly a future mega rarity). The downside is that as this was touted as an official Record Store Day release, it actually appeared on EvilBay the same day at £50.00 ! now that's profiteering !

www.trashwax.com

Equally great (if not better) is the Russian release of 'The King Is Back' from the CSR folk, lovely artwork, quality sleeve, green vinyl and at just 300 copies this'll be well saught after, contents wise, all the tracks are taken from sessions recorded during the UK leg of the 1986 'A Date With Elvis' tour, pretty fine quality and there's even Lux telling a joke on it. It's a great album and a welcome addition in my collection, not a shabby thrown together thing at all...it seems that the folk behind all the unofficial Cramps releases over the last couple of years,  Coast To Coast, Weekend On Mars, Club 57 et al, at least make an effort, the days of a photocopy page stuck on a generic sleeve seem to be long gone thank fuck and the sound quality overall can be pretty amazing at times....It's a shame there will never be a 'new' Cramps album released but as a fan and a collector.....I'll carry on buying regardless of the irritation.

7"s of Awesome !

Whilst on the subject of The Cramps, their former drummer 'Jungle' Jim Chandler and his band 'Twin Guns' are just going from strength to strength, I spoke about their 3rd album 'The Last Picture Show' previously and I was just a bit thrilled when their 2nd 7" 'Attack Of The Zombie Girls' came out on the fab Canadian label 'Rockin' (when our little supply arrived for the Trash Wax website, they sold out the same day !) a lovely 7" which comes in 3 shades of mixed red/black and mauve. A killer mix of garage, dark overtones and as only expected, there's a nice hint of The Cramps in there too. I'd strongly recommend any of their releases and for the time being they aren't rare, can't see it staying that way for long though.

Eye, eye !

Another equally cool release on the Rockin' label and probably more in line with the labels name, is the 7" by Australian rockers, The Margraves, 2 sides with competing aproaches 'Guilty' is sleazy, darker slice of 50's trash, a bit like The wailers meet Link Wray while the flip 'Not Guilty' is more upbeat with a touch of modern, neo-rockabilly to it, and not are these releases only hyper limited, they're all quasi unique as the pressings vary the colours, with this one varying somewhere between gold and grey !   The 3rd one, (actually the first release) to date is also a rather snazzy little rocker called 'Crazy, Crazy, Crazy, Crazy' which has a pounding rhythm to it and what seems to me, a little nod to early Levi Dexter but that could be just some of the lyrics....Can't wait for next batch of releases from this class label.

Just a 150 copies !

More primitive and seriously cool Rockabilly came out earlier on in April from Olaf Haspel's sub-label (of Migraine Records) called OHA Recs, these are really rather special, not least as they're only pressed in quantities of a 150 pieces and the flipsides are all rip off's of that stunning JJ Cale masterpiece....my personal fave so far has to be the Rookie Finn track 'It Ain't About' and is just so cool you could freeze water with it, opening bars made me think of the start of Weekend On Mars before the echoed vocals kick in, has a very slight tinnyness to it which really lends an authentic feel to it, yep..loving this alright. Not to outdone, the other release, by The Royal Flush 'Moonshine Truck' is a Double Bass driven stomper of a track, the guitar break in the middle is a smidgen too short but if this record doesn't make you twitch you're probably starting to smell !  There's a great sense of urgency in the vocals and the whole thing comes together so well, again, it's more of an authentic approach to Rockabilly rather than a 'produced' sound, like a lot of contemporary stuff out there. I bought a bunch of these and buried them in the garden as I thought it has to be better than any pension scheme out there !.....you just may want to get yourself copies too.

Iconic.

Most folk that have read any part of this blog would have noticed that I like The Cramps, naturally enough but I have more than just a simple appreciation for the classic line-up of Lewis/Fenech/Robertson as The Meteors, I won't bother going into the why's & wherefores of why anything which came after only had limited appeal as it's well trodden territory elsewhere....what I will say is that these guys put the balls into the dogs bollox at the time and I was totally blown away when the UK label Raucous announced that they were releasing 2 (two) 10" mini lps which would be the full recordings made for EMI, way back in November of 1980. Quite some time before the mighty 'In Heaven' was released. 16 tracks in total, each disc has 8 tracks,....some of these tracks (not these recordings) went on to appear on the subsequent release of In Heaven but some them you only ever got on dodgy cassettes sold after, outside at gigs. It's just great to have the likes of 'Domino', 'Red Headed Woman', 'Honey Roll' and 'Love Me' on vinyl at last (even though it came out on CD a few years ago). Even though the vocal duties were split between Fenech & Lewis, it's Fenech that gets the cream on this as he counts 10 tracks whilst Mr Lewis plough through only 6......bit unfair if you ask me, But Hey !...I'm not complaining......

How could we talk about new releases without mentioning the long awaited Soundflat release of The Smoggers 4th album 'Shadows In My Mind' a pure Fuzzfest of gargantuan garage proportions...Fernando and the guys are really riding the crest of the current 60's styled Garage Punk bands and justly so, non-stop touring throughout Europe (UK included), headlining at festivals and bringing their fuzzed out mayhem to hordes of new fans as well as the (slightly) older crowd, to the point that their preceeding album 'Join The Riot' had to be repressed to meet demand, now that's something a lot of bands would love to have happen ! Demented caveman vocals, Fuzz & Farfisa, it's all there and an absolutely killer version of The Lust-O-Rama's Why ?.......right up there alongside the classic Sex Museum album 'Fuzzface' (Incidently just re-isshed by Munster so you don't have to pay €100+ for it anymore !)......Grab a copy of this as it really is one of the best in a very, very long time.


Check out the webstore !  You may just get lucky ! : www.trashwax.com    


Stay Sick folks, there's plenty more to come.

TRASH WAX.........Year one, pretty good so far !

The limited Green vinyl edition of TWLP001.

The idea behind Trash Wax as a label is to release material that we feel was unjustly overlooked at the time, mainly from the early 80's to the mid 90's, and there are heaps of shelved projects, demos and unreleased material just waiting to be rediscovered as we have been finding out. We also wanted to make Trash Wax a platform if you like, to release current bands that we rate highly, one of the upsides to DIY is you get to make records that you actually like and would buy yourself rather than make records you hope won't bomb too badly ! So far, so good !
Although The Vibes LP (the first Trash Wax release) came out at the end of May last year (2015) we had actually had started preparing it in February ! principally because of the long lead times at the pressing plants (currently around 10-16 weeks). Anyway we had a gas working with Chris 'Sick' Moore on the sleeve design and getting an acceptable sound from the source tape was an eye opener ! 

The rushed out TWCD001.

One of the funny things that we discovered was the opportunistic nature of some cheeky fuckers out there, within a week of The Vibes LP going on sale someone was selling CDR copies on Ebay for more than the cost of the vinyl album itself !  So we rushed out a CD edition in an attempt to give the folk that wanted a shiny beermat, something a little better than a CDR and photocopy of the album sleeve !......The vinyl only ethos lay in tatters from day one. Yep, originally we imagined releasing only vinyl but that was kind of shot down pretty quickly for a few reasons but in the main, practical ones such as finding factories that can keep to a deadline for vinyl and at a reasonable cost....    

TW7001.

The second release on Trash Wax was a 7" effort from Vince Ripper & The Rodent Show, basically DJ Vince Cornwall and Andy 'Ratfink' Wilson late of Alien Sex Fiend, both of whom are big fans of The Cramps...basically it's ASF go Rockabilly.............'Ex-ASF guitarist ‘Rodent’ unleashes his inner Cramp and delivers the goods with this fantastic cover. It’s the flipside ‘Rippersville’ which steals the show though, think wigged out ‘Peter Gunn’ meets The Meteors ‘Attack Of The Zorchmen’ on acid' quoting the blurb. There were just under 500 copies pressed with a 100 copies on Purple/Lilac vinyl....There will be a new 12" release from VRATRS later in the year (2016) which I guess you could call a homage to The Cramps 'Gravest Hits'.
They've been in the studio recently and their 3rd full length album should be released at the end of 2016......

In Go Go We Trust !

The third slab of lovely wax to see the day highlighted our amateur status in that it was a bit premature, coming out almost a year before due ! TWLP007  Mondo A Go Go's 'In Go Go We Trust' is their anthology from 1996 to 2016, so when it turned up in the latter part of 2015 we were a little embarrrassed but not at all unhappy. A really snazzy package was put together by resident ideas (and all round good) guy 'Mondosean', limited to just 300 hand numbered copies, alternative artworks included, digital download (whatever that is ?) and pressed on a pretty cool shade of red vinyl.
This went down really well in France where they received a full page review in the fab music mag 'DIG IT' ......This little gem ticked all the boxes for me, a bit of Rockabilly, a bit of Garage and even some Revillos/Rezillos type thing going on and way under produced to perfection as well !

Bontempi sleeve for TWLP002

The next one that we pulled out of the bag was 'Into The Valley Of' by Reading's very own Trash dealers 'The Go Go Cult'. We actually licensed this from Rockabilly/Psychobilly label 'Western Star' as they had initially released it as a CD a couple of years previously and I had loved the cool mix of Garage, Surf and Rockabilly. To make it distinct from the CD release a couple of the tracks were omitted and some of the others were messed around with (or maybe it was just one of the tracks ?) We also got 'Artiste and Scenester Extraordinaire' Marcel Bontempi to re-imagine the artworks while still keeping the themes in the original release, then we asked Go Go Nige to write some liner notes and Voila....Sorted !  No release order problems this time around either, TWLP002 was one of the easiest releases to do, Alan Wilson (the guy that owns Western Star) was just so straight forward and organised that everything was done without really noticing.....Way to go.

Seriously Cool !

The Guitaraculas LP 'Two Bottles Of Blood' (TWLP003) came next and for me, this was something fairly special as I'd been a fan of Messer Chups for a good few years and never thought for a moment that I'd actually get the chance to do anything with Oleg and the guys ! However....This album is absolutely amazing considering that it started out as a jam session but they ran with the concept and produced the full album as well as making several videos for tracks on the album, I'd highly recommend checking out the vid they made for the 'Coil' cover ' Loves Secret Domain' where Sasha (Bassferatu) gets to do the vocals...A brilliantly atmospheric clip indeed. Taking a touch of Surf, a bit of Rockabilly and a dash of movie scores (There are a couple of John Barry tracks in the mix) they came up with one killer LP....Even if I say so myself.

TWCD002. Supergroup in the making !

Next came a couple of CDs....Hmm, yeah well due to that global phenomena that is Record Store Day, trying to get any kind of commitment from a pressing plant is almost impossible, from about mid December to the second weekend in April it's majors first I'm afraid...So, we decided to put out a couple of CDs as a stop gap, first of these was a recording from way back in 1987 by The Shockwaves, it was actually recorded by Never Mind The Bollocks producer Dave Goodman for a release on Mike Spenser's (of The Cannibals) label. Anyways, we got to pick it up and put it out as it justly deserves, The Vibes & The Purple things are the over-riding influences here and they get it on the nail !  

TWCD003. The Hillbilly Werewolf.

Volume 3 in what appears to be turning into a 'Trash From The Vaults' series, is Germany's legendary 'The Raymen' these veterans of the Trashabilly sound have been releasing records since 1985 and we were really happy to get Hank on board in order to release their very first recordings.....dating to the latter part of 1984, these studio recordings were the ones used as demos in order to secure their initial album deal !  And includes one of the first covers of the Cramps version of Goo Goo Muck, the guys at the time thought that it was a Cramps original (they weren't alone in that regard...I did too). 

28 Years wait !  TWLP005.

Back on track with the vinyl releases, we saw the long thought lost album of The Charity Case, 'How To Fall' come out in Mid-March (2016) this really is Jonny/Charlie's labour of love, originally a set of demos which were recorded in 1988 by 3 ex-Sting Rays and the rather charming She Rocola they were critically feted and described as 'Psychedelic Goo Goo Trash' by none other than the NME at the time, unfortunately they only ever released one 7" but hopefully this release makes up for the lack of material.....you'll have to decide on that for yourselves ! At just 350 copies this is a beautiful item and deserves a place in any collection of UK garage/trash on it's own merits as well as having the obvious Sting Rays connection.
TWLP005 was released on the 14th March and if you like the idea of late era Sting Rays being fronted by a Surrealistic Pillow era Grace Slick then you won't be disappointed by this, you can read about the band in more detail elsewhere on the blogsite here.




Here's the discography so far and links to where you can get them :

LP   The Vibes : Voodoo Ju Ju.                        SOLD OUT.

CD  The Vibes : Voodoo Ju Ju.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/cd-the-vibes-voodoo-juju-ltd-edition-250-copies

7"  Vince Ripper & The Rodent Show : I Was A Teenage Werewolf    (Purple Vinyl SOLD OUT).
http://www.trashwax.com/product/example-3

LP  Mondo A Go Go : In Go Go We Trust.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/lp-mondo-a-go-go-in-go-go-we-trust-ltd-edt-300-copies-red-vinyl

LP  The Go Go Cult : Into The Valley Of.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/pre-orders-taken-release-date-2nd-october-2015-the-go-go-cult-into-the-valley-of

LP  The Guitaraculas :  Two Bottles Of Blood.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/lp-pre-orders-taken-release-date-16th-october-2015-the-guitaraculas-two-bottles-of-blood

CD  The Shockwaves  :  No Way In, No Way Out.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/pre-order-cd-the-shockwaves-no-way-in-no-way-out-ltd-edition-250-copies

CD The Raymen  :  The Goo Goo Muck Sessions.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/pre-order-cd-the-raymen-the-goo-goo-muck-sessions-ltd-edition-250-copies

LP  The Charity Case :  How To Fall.
http://www.trashwax.com/product/pre-order-lp-the-charity-case-how-to-fall-ltd-edition-350-copies


Next post will let you know what most of the releases that are coming out in 2016 will be, and there are a few real beauties in there !

Enjoy !

Mad Mike Metrovich.......Moldies & Bootlegging.

Original 1st pressing sleeve.

Mad Mike Metro: obscurities officianado, collector of the wonderful and obscure , DJ at WZUM (Pittsburgh), occasional promoter (He apparently had The Sonics play their only East coast show during their heyday) and crate digger extraordinaire. The guy's record collection was legendary and his secrecy around them notorious. He would often remove band names and song titles or relabel  particularly coveted items, make up band names and song titles to throw off listeners and talk over tracks being played on air so as to prevent folk recording them to bootleg later.
Proving that there is very little new under the sun, Mad Mike was prone to producing the occaisonal bootleg himself. (He owned a suitcase case cutter, basically a machine for making what would be called Dub-Plates these days).

2nd pressing sleeve.

Up until the mid-60's the medium of the compilation had been more or less restricted to soundtracks of movies and in particular musicals but in 1965, Mad Mike embarked on a little project, releasing a series of compilation albums put together from his own collection entitled 'Mad Mike's Moldies'.....The Grand-Daddy of Born Bad et al, I guess you could say he was a pioneer of the concept and layed down a lot of the general guidelines which are still followed to this day by the folk who make fan-club releases, bootlegs and unsanctioned releases. His 'comps' included Garage Punk, Surf, Doo Wop and Rockabilly tracks in the main (Sound familiar ?) which would have been fairly radical and a brave move in context of the time, it being the mid-60's and the 'British Invasion' in full swing.....

Volume 2.

Another of the cooler aspects to Mad Mike's releases was that he released them on coloured vinyl, pretty neat for the time, (something which makes them highly desirable to collectors today) and he wasn't above being caught out either ! There are printing errors and labelling mistakes on various volumes and volume three was apparently blocked over a breach of rights ownership which didn't stop him as he went ahead and pressed it anyway.     
In 2008 Norton Records, those purveyors of all fine things rockin' released 3 volumes of  'Mad Mikes Monsters' which include some amazing liner notes as well as an interview with Miriam Linna for 'Kicks' which I'd urge you to pick up as it's a great read and way more informative than this little piece......

Below is a piece from the Pittsburgh Music History website and hopefully you'll be tempted to go and dig up more about this demented nutter (He once blew himself up with a home-made bomb aged 14)....
 

Promo poster for the Norton releases.

Pittsburgh DJ Mad Mike is known to record collectors and oldies fans around the world for his five album series of oldies compilations entitled “Mad Mike’s Moldy Oldies”.  His albums feature an eclectic mix of R&B, Rockabilly, and garage rock tunes by little known small label bands that he played on his radio shows and at record hops.  During the 1960’s Mad Mike was a DJ on WZUM in Carnegie. Pa and he hosted packed teen dances around the Pittsburgh area.  Looking to unearth interesting tunes, he rummaged from coast to coast through stacks of 45s buried in record store bargain bins and in the back rooms of record distributors.  With his keen ear he searched for unique never heard of wild underground records. buy 10,000 overstock records at a penny or two a shot.    He introduced his listeners to the punk songs “The Witch” and “Psycho” by the Sonics of Tacoma, "Wooly Bully" and “Little Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs of Memphis, and “Hanky Panky” by Tommy James. He often did not announce the names of the obscure groups that he played, making it difficult to go out and buy copies.  Cleverly he built fan loyalty as his listeners had to keep tuning in or go to his dances to hear those wild songs again.  No one else had his records.  To keep his songs shrouded in mystery he scratched out or glued comics over the names of the bands on his 45 records.  Some songs he played only once.  He’d announced "Listen in - you may never hear this song again”.
Mad Mike Metrovich, who was born in 1936 in the Manchester section of Pittsburgh, grew up in Overbrook.  Mike became a fan of Fats Domino and Big Joe Turner in the 1950s while he stationed at a Brooklyn navel base.   Leaving the Navy in 1959, Mike hosted record hops for a living.  He regularly DJ’d dances at West View's Teen Danceland, Mt. Lebanon's Lebanon Lodge, Castle Shannon's Linden Grove, North Park's Wildwood, and McKeesport's White Elephant.  He was so popular in 1964 that he drew 2,000 dancers to Westview Park’s Danceland, while the young Rolling Stones played for only 200 people next door.  In their leather jackets with their greased back Mad Mike’s fans danced on tables to his hand picked crazy new secret tunes.
As his popularity as a DJ grew, he landed his first radio DJ job at WPIT-AM in 1964.  He switched over to WZUM-AM on August 2, 1964 staying there until 1972.  He later hosted oldies shows on Sunday nights on WYEP-FM in the 1980s and on WEDO-AM and WWCS-AM,"   After a hiatus from on air work, he returned to WZUM in 2000.  Mike played two segments on his shows.  During the Mad Mike's Moldies segment he played floor pounding R&B and weird doo-wop tunes.  On the second Mad Mike's Monsters segment he featured garage rock, surf music, and wild instrumentals that would get his listeners ‘ movin' and ‘booty shakin'.  While the English Invasion ran it’s blitzkrieg over radio, Mad Mike introduced Pittsburgh to garage rock, proto-punk and rockabilly. 
Mike was a studio electronics wizard with a first class FCC license who worked as a studio engineer at several stations.  He troubleshot and repaired radio transmitters and broadcast equipment. He also taught local broadcasters.
During the 1960’s, Pittsburgh’s National Record Mart chain (NRM), first released Mad Mike’s Moldies & Monsters albums.  They were comprised of Mike’s secret songs whose identities had been uncovered.   Norton Records reissued Mad Mike compilations on CDs in 2006?  "Mad Mike" Metrovich signed off from planet Earth in Oct 31, 2000, leaving behind a broadcasting legacy and a collection of wild music. 

Big thanks goes to Stephen Jaye for some of the images used and check out the website www.janceemusic.com for more info on Mad Mike.

Stay Sick Folks.

And don't forget to head over to the Trash Wax website for bunch of whigged out sounds : www.trashwax.com 
And here for a load more : https://www.discogs.com/seller/Darrenross 

The Charity Case......After The Sting Rays.

Here's a little insight into what some of the former members of The Sting Rays got up to following their split in 1987.

THE CHARITY CASE – PART 1 (1987-88) BY VOCALIST, SHE ROCOLA

She Rocola.

Well, it all started in the spring of 1987 when Joe (Whitney) answered an advert in an issue of 'Sounds' (UK music paper). It read, "Keith Moon, Clem Burke, John Maher style drummer wanted for 60's influenced band."

I thought "That's the job for me!” I didn't have the money to buy the paper at the time so I had to find a newsagent who had a copy left after payday…were it not for that ad virtually everything that followed in my life wouldn't have happened for better or worserer!" (Joe Whitney/Drums)

Joe.

So, off he went to the audition and lo and behold returned a Sting-Ray! Which was pretty cool as I remembered having seen them along with another memorable band called "The Prisoners" in an episode of The Tube a while beforehand and had really liked both combos!

As Joe's girlfriend at the time I went along to his first gig with the band and enjoyed every minute of it! I decided Mark was my my new favourite guitarist and Bal was one of the best front men ever! And the songs were just great! On the way home that night, sitting in the back of the band's van I recall Joe nipping out to puke up on Camden Road and Bal leaping on his back as he did so yelling "Wahey! Now you're really one of us!" Indeed!

Alec.

Sadly though The Sting-Rays were to release only one more album, a live recording of their last ever gig in June 1987 at the Blow-Up Club, London. A fine packed and sweaty finale as I recall. The album was fittingly titled "Goodbye To All That."

So, this is where I came in…It was Autumn 1987, Alec and Mark had started to write new songs with a more melodic feel to them, as we were in the same ball park musically and because I looked the part in my 'fab gear', they asked me if I'd like to fill the vacancy for a lead singer.

Think Grace Slick! (Alec Palao/Bass)

The Charity Case. 1988.

So I gave it a go and before too long we were rehearsing on a regular basis which then led to a recording session at the now legendary Pathway Studios in Islington. It was here where most of the songs (but not all), on the forthcoming Trash Wax LP 'How To Fall' were recorded, including "Safe in the Mind" which was duly released as a 7" single in early '88 and received great reviews in the music press!

Gigwise, our first was at The Camden Falcon in January 1988 and our last (with Alec) was in the September of the same year, on a boat going up and down the River Thames! I seem to recall the drum kit (and us) sliding across the floor mid-gig at the Houses of Parliament, or wherever the turnaround point was in those days!

Mark.

She dealing so majestically with hecklers....

Joe cocking a snoot at any sound-man foolish enough to suggest damping down the snare or a stuffing a pillow in the bass drum....

Alec railing against pretty much the whole musical world - but totally justified by his song-writing..... (Mark Hosking/Guitar)

In the Autumn of 1988, Alec had decided to fulfil his ambition to live at the the centre of all things groovy (ie. San Francisco),  and asked if we would move there too hence allowing us to carry on with the band. But we all liked London too much, so had to decline.

The Charity Case did continue however and with much to report I'm happy to say but I shall leave that scintillating second half of the story to accompany any further releases from us in the future… keep watching this space as they say!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Order it here : www.trashwax.com

'How To Fall' (released by Trash Wax 14/03/2016) comprises of twelve tracks recorded over a number of sessions from 1988 & encompasses a variety of different sounds & styles. The record pulls on influences from 60's Psychedelia, Folk Rock, Pop, Beat, Garage Rock & New Wave to create a kaleidoscope of sound, best appreciated at volume.

Tracks like Don't Worry, Victory Gin, Positively Negative, How To Fall & Sandie Shaw – World War will have you jumping around the room in various animated states (depending on your level of intoxication & by what substances), so it's just as well that tracks like Only Lovers Left Alive, Goodbye To All That & In My Mind are there to calm things down. Goodbye To All That, incidentally was the last song Alec ever wrote for the Sting-Rays!

To Sting-Rays fans, the guitar of Mark Hosking will be instantly recognisable as will some of the odd & uneven chord structures that you'll find within songs on this treasure chest on wax. If you grew to love 'Cryptic & Coffee Time' you will see this recording as another natural progression in sound from where The Sting-Rays ended & The Charity Case begin.... Goodbye To All That..... Hello To All This!

Charlie (March 2016)