donderdag 5 september 2019

Last Train to Tokyo - New Michael Monroe video


The second single of the upcoming Michael Monroe Album One Man Gang was just released. Last Train to Tokyo is accompanied with a cool video with footage shot on their recent Japanese tour. 

One Man Gang will be released Oct 18.

Pre Order here.

zondag 1 september 2019

Monthly Mixtape #2




It’s been about a month since the first Mixtape, that means it’s time for the second one. Man can I count or what?!


01. Michael Monroe - One Man Gang (One Man Gang 2019)
Monroe opened last months mixtape as well. The latest Michael Monroe single is so hot I had to do it again. Plus, this one’s got Captain Sensible on it!

02. The Tough Shits - Hombre de la Cocaina (The Tough Shits 2015)
I’m Waiting For The Man” for a new generation. This song is cooler than wearing sunglasses indoors. Quiero mucho las Mierdas Duras!

03. The Hip Priests - Nihilist twist (Deja F.U./Nihilist Twist Single 2019)
This track is more badass than slam dancing while pissing into the wind. If it’s the end of the world we might as well make a party out of it. The perfect bang before the whimper.

04. The Ponys - Let’s Kill Ourselves (Laced With Romance 2004)
Staying on the subject of nihilism, no one is as poetic about it than the Ponys were. “I'm full of rage / The song of violence sings inside of my mind / And it will tell me things / About the pain of life and how the sad will die.

05. The Dahmers - Blood on My Hands (Down in the Basement 2018)
Sweden’s favorite horror themed punks The Dahmers rip through your eardrums with this 60’s flavored garage punk track. The catchy chorus will be stuck in your head for years to come. 

06. Crystal Pistol - XXIII (Crystal Pistol 2006)
My favorite CP track, as mentioned before. Gets you off your ass and hopefully makes you stop complaining. 

07. The Cruel Intentions - Borderline Crazy (No Sign of Relief 2018)
The best voice in Scandinavian sleaze is back. First single released by the band, a fun straight-up rocker. Turn up to 11 for full effect.

08. Last Joint - The Tip (The Tip 2015)
I shamefully admit I only found out about The Tip the day I started writing my two-cents on them. What I’m not ashamed of is that I fell head-over heels for this band after the first song I heard. This was that song. It’s about smoking dope. 

09. Criminal Kids - Little Bitch (Criminal Kids 2018)
Criminal Kids lay down another track with their signature “nasty riffs and an attitude problem”. 

10. The Dead Tricks - Don’t Get High (Without Me) (You Should Have Worried About It 2011)
The Dead Tricks is one of those perfect buried gems. This track, as I mentioned before, is a perfectly written and executed instant punk classic, the struggles and drags of getting high and going through withdrawal often make for great songs

11. The Wildhearts - Let ‘Em Go (Renaissance Men 2019)
This year The Wildhearts gloriously returned with Renaissance Men. This track is my favorite of the album. “Let ‘em go, let 'em go / Let the shit filled rivers flow / While your belly burns in anger no one ever needs to know” ‘Nuff said.

12. Trashcan Darlings - I Just Wanna Die (On a Chemical High) (Real Fucking Make-Up 2008)
11 years ago Norway’s legendary Trashcan Darlings released a compilation of their singles and E.P.’s. The same year the band broke up after singer Strange? Gentle said he wanted to quit due to lack of inspiration. Which is the best reason to quit a band I’ve ever heard. This was their first single.

13. The Kids Don’t Want No Rock N’ Roll - The Sharp Lads (Blackout Offensive 2015)
From the Sharp Lads last album Blackout Offensive. Perfect gut-punching punk n’ roll. In one of my latest articles I brown-nosed the band enough for me not to feel obliged to write more about them here.

14. Born to Raise Hell - Bad Mother (Gone 2017)
Chicago’s Bad Mother released their first E.P. 2 years ago, 4 tracks of pure down n’ dirty rock n’ roll. To me, Born to Raise Hell is the best song on the E.P. Hope these guys are still kicking around somewhere.

15. The Humpers - Plastique Valentine (Plastique Valentine 1997)
Starting with a bassline that will make your heart race followed by piano tinkering so fast it will de-age Jerry Lee Lewis. The Humpers are here to make you (slam) dance.

zaterdag 31 augustus 2019

The Sweet Things




If ever there was a Rolling Stones and New York Dolls love child, it would be The Sweet Things.

This is one of those rare instances that I found a new place at the right time. Right around when they started teasing the recording of their first album. With about 5 songs released on Spotify, I played the shit out of them for months, hungry for more. 

First thing I listened to was the Slather/Dustianne release. From the guitars to the handclaps to the organs by Rob Clores to the awesome guest vocals by Liza Colby, the boogie in the drum & bass and the instantly recognizable vocals of Dave Tierney, I couldn’t believe how complete these songs sounded! This is rock n’ roll at its best.

But what did I know? I hadn’t heard first single Love to Leave yet! Again I was blown away by the sheer brilliance of the Sweet Things. You can actually hear the smoke and whiskey on this song, like the classic 70’s bands before they either started to suck or got old. There’s pure joy dripping of this record. If whiskey and smoke wasn’t enough, there’s cocaine to be found on footstompin’ b-side Cocaine Asslicker Blues. 

Then in May this year debut album In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time was released. As far as debut albums go, this is one of the best ever in my opinion. There’s not one weak song or moment to be found here. 

When opening track Liquor Lighting starts you know you’re in for a good time, baby. The clinging of bottles and Chuck Berry-esque guitars sits you down and prepares you for the ride of a lifetime. Dead or Worse has a lot of things going on and it’s perfectly arranged. The harmonica, slide guitar and organs make for an instant classic rock n’ roll song that wouldn’t feel misplaced on Exile on Main Street.

Title track In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time slows things down for a bit. A melancholy blues ballad to listen to while you cry into your Jack Daniel’s at your local watering hole. The beautiful horns here and on other songs are provided by legendary The Uptown Horns (The Rolling Stones & Robert Plant are among the names on their resumé).

The party pick up again with Almost Faded, a dirty rocker 

Dr. Crazy Girl takes you to a whole new world of cool, if you thought only the Dolls could pull this off, you thought wrong. Heavy use of wah pedals over a tight as fuck backbeat and a 60’s doowhop backing choir added for extra flavor, and speaking of the Dolls, the spirit of Johnny Thunders is alive and well on the guitar solo here.

They keep up the booze-fueled rock n’ roll goodness with Drained, Coke’n (featured on my first Mixtape) the epic Through the Cracks of the City and the cocksure snotty Fix to Kick. 

The record closes with the melancholy masterpiece that is Feed My Dog. Not only does Feed My Dog feature guest vocals by Alejandro Escovedo, the arrangements here are spot on, harps, slide guitars and organs are all perfectly placed. This song will make a Hell’s Angel cry.

Long story short, The Sweet Things is one of the best band around these days and everyone should keep a close eye on them as they will soar to unprecedented heights in the coming years and records. 

Buy their records here.

Listen to In Borrowed Shoes, On Borrowed Time on Spotify:



donderdag 15 augustus 2019

ShouldaWouldaCoulda #4 - The Sharp Lads




Playing their own brand of bone-snappingly loud in-your-face punk n’ roll The Sharp Lads kicked ass and took names from 2009 until 2015. Released 3 records and made friends and enemies everywhere they played. I think this excerpt of their bio describes the band better than I ever could:

“Dave Tierney leads the charge with schizo vocals alternating between desperate screams and genre bending melodies. Rob Fudge shreds alien riffs that make you feel like your first time all over again while Kurt Wahlstrom holds down the bowel shaking bottom end playing a bass carved from a Jamaican treehouse. Driving the beat like a hell spawned hot rod with its brake lines cut, Steve Dios is blasting these songs with a frightening fury all the way to their grisly finish. 
Surrender your sons and daughters. It’s already too late.”

In 2011 the Sharp Lads gave the world the self-released debut album Something to Scream About. The opening track might be one of the heinously funny things ever put on record. The nefariously titled Drugs, Booze and Your Little Sister is as juvenile a punk song as it gets. I love it. You Don’t Have to Join a Traveling Freakshow has guitars that could make Johnny Thunders blush, Machine Separated Man has some great JT style riffs as well. The wonderfully weird Spatula is a song about a spatula. Now I have to admit that these are the only four songs of Something to Scream About I’ve heard (via their youtube chanel).

Second album Death By Misadventure was released in 2014 after a line-up change and touring the States. Kicking off with Tierney yelling “Baby baby baby” as band goes straight into full gear with screaming guitars a full use of all the frets on the bass and what can only be described as a demon playing the drums. The dust kicked up by opening track Inventing the Future has barely settled down when the band floors it even more on title track Death By Misadventure. Guitar licks flying all over the place and Dave Tierney screaming out nihilistic lyrics with the grace of a Tasmanian Devil. St. Mark’s Hotel is another banger with a bit of a Ramones feel to it. They don’t really slow down on the rest of the album, with more awesome riffs, weird lyrics and bpm to be found.



Final album Blackout Offensive was released a year later, featuring more wild punk n’ roll and even 2 songs passing the 6 minute mark! In Motorbike Brain Fuel ’s case it’s because of an awesome near 3 minutes jam culminating in repeating the frantic chorus. No slowing down there. Follow the Buzzards is the Sharp Lads being a bit more experimental, slowly starting off with bluesy guitar solo’s followed by the band banging the hell out of their instruments and Tierney basically ripping his vocal chords to shreds. 

Phist Phight With Fil Anselmo is so heavy it could’ve up a comatose deaf person and the Sharp Lads sound like they would actually win such fist fight. Opening track The Kids Don’t Want No Rock N’ Roll, New Orleans (Seems Like a Nice Place to Die) and Bury Me At Sea are my favorite tracks by the band and are perfect punk n’ roll tracks in my book. The whole album is great and sounds like a band on the verge of perfecting their craft. 

But the band called it quits the same year. 

Fear not though, talking about perfection, there were sweet things (pun definitely intended) on the horizon for anyone who loves rock n’ roll. 

Buy their records here.
Listen on Spotify:


maandag 12 augustus 2019

ShouldaWouldaCoulda #3 - The Dead Tricks




From the Universal Church of Bators came The Dead Tricks. These New York punks released an E.P. and two singles before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2014.

From what I can find on the web, singer James Donovan is a bonafide old-school rock n’ roll wild-man onstage, thrashing around until he bleeds and eating snot all while screaming his lungs out. 

2011’s E.P. “You Should Have Worried About It” (great title btw) was produced by Agnostic Front’s Mike Gallo. The Dead Tricks released the record themselves and pretty much nailed it. It’s kinda Undertones meet the Dead Boys but so much more than a 70’s revival band, eardrum blistering guitar solo’s with big hooks and catchy choruses. Tight and loose at the same time, if that makes any sense..

While “Worm Travesty” is delightfully weird and feral, “Don’t Get High (Without Me)” is a perfectly written and executed instant punk classic, the struggles and drags of getting high and going through withdrawal often make for great songs. “Chocha Wave” is The Vaselines on steroids, a cool snotty song that invites you to yell along with the chorus. Funny story, with me being from the Netherlands, I had to look up what chocha means, thanks for that. More walls of guitars, bassrumble, drum pounding, weirdness and outrageousness are to be found in opening tracks “Heat Burns the One-Eyed Monster” and “Go-Go the Bone Mobile”.   

Two years later the band released two more adrenaline rushes of songs. “The Despicable Summer” & “Serf” show the band had gained momentum and started writing even better songs. Donovan especially is on fire here, switching between cool and absolutely berserk like Jeckyll and Hyde with a microphone. The guitars on “The Despicable Summer” have an awesome Cheetah Chrome vibe to them, the whole band is freaking tight. This is should’ve been a breakthrough hit if anything.

This excerpt from their biography sums it up best: 

“This is a gang that obsesses over The Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders, The Dictators, as well as The Stooges, The Damned, MC5, Link Wray, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Hanoi Rocks, Dead Kennedy’s, and The Misfits, but also realizes, hey it’s 2012— best way to show you love your influences is to try to equal them in songwriting quality and musicianship. It’s called inspiration.”

I can’t believe these guys didn’t pop up on my radar sooner. Indefinite hiatus means there’s hope though, right..?

Buy their records here.
Listen on Spotify:



zaterdag 10 augustus 2019

Open up and let The Tip in.




There’s a party going on and everyone’s invited, and once again I’m late to the party, but this time not too late. These guys from Nashville fucking rawk! They look and sound the part, walk the walk and talk the talk.

Formed in the summer of 2014. releasing first album and going on tour the next year, and second album the year after that, The Tip isn’t fucking around. 

Singer Benny Carl sounds like he’s put on this planet to be a rockstar, his raw roaring voice is astounding. In fact this entire band sounds like they were born for this purpose, each and every song is played with so much pizzazz and wild abandon, it’s hard to comprehend this band is from this decade. 

Rock N’ Roll Man” from their S/T debut record pretty much says it all. From the Hey Ho gang chants and Benny screaming his heart out claiming he’s “Just a Rock n’ Roll man in a Rock n’ Roll band”. Nothing wrong with that. “Outta Control” is pretty self-explanatory, a stompin’ rocker to lose your shit on.  Beautifully juvenile lyrics about sex, drugs, rock n’ roll and fast cars. Nothing wrong with that either. As opening track welcomes us to the night, I can’t help but think about another band that welcomed us to the jungle on their opening track on their debut album. Like GN’R before them, the Tip invites us to come party and never look back, and I don’t think I ever wanna look back on my existence before I found The Tip.



2016’s sophomore album “Sailor’s Grave” is another great rock n’ roll record. Opener “Struttin’” has a great groove to it and just hearing it makes you cooler than you actually are. After taking you to “Rock N’ Roll Heaven” the band assures us, rather unnecessarily that they “Ain’t Fakin’ It”. The band gets down and dirty on blues stomper “Corner Bag Blues”, the riff, piano tinkerin’ and harmonica gel together perfectly resulting in a thick, thick wall of sound that’d blow the roof off of any sleazy honky tonk they play in.

Whiskey and Coke” starts with an intro reminiscent of Motörhead’s “Rock ’N’ Roll”, I wasn’t checking the track-listing while listening and first thought it was a cover. Seeing the title, maybe it’s a tribute to Lemmy, I don’t have a physical copy yet so maybe it’s in the liner notes or something. If it is, it’s a fitting one, if it isn’t, it’s still a cool song.

Closing the album is title-track “Sailor’s Grave” a lament for all who died at sea. The sing-along chorus sounds like an actual 1700’s pirate song. The beautiful guitar arrangements and haunting outro make this the perfect album closer. 

There’s one thing that bothers me about this record, it’s too short. But then again, maybe they made the right choice by not putting 2 or 3 filler tracks in there.

Can’t wait too hear what they’re gonna put out next.

The Tip is: Benny Carl - Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica. Myles Baker - Guitar. Robby Bote - Bass. Dixie Carl - Drums.

Buy their records here.
Sailor's Grave on Spotify:


vrijdag 9 augustus 2019

I love Criminal Kids




Whoever said punk is dead clearly never heard these guys from Chicago. 

Criminal Kids say they play punk rock “With nasty riffs and an attitude problem”, and I found out that they ain’t lyin’. Last year they released their first E.P. on Spaghetty Town Records (USA) & God's Candy Records (Canada).

The self-titled release is a blast. Imagine Bryan Johnson era AC/DC on speed with a bit of Circle Jerks added for extra flavor, these tracks are tight, fast and need to be played at outrageously high volumes.

They went for quality over quantity on this disc, as it’s just over a quarter of an hour long. It’s fine though because for 16 minutes Criminal Kids take you out of your own boring little life and lets you free-fall through a wall of guitar violence, screaming vocals, pounding drums and a rumble of high speed bass lines. If you think it’s too short you can easily leave it on repeat for a while because I’ve been doing it for the past 2 hours or so and I haven’t got bored of it yet. 

I love the L.A.M.F. inspired spray-paint letters on the cover, I love the high energy rock n’ roll inside, I love the Criminal Kids.

Criminal Kids are: Ryan - Guitar/Vocals, Mike Van Kley - Guitar, Chris - Bass/Vocals, Anthony - Drums

Buy their E.P. here.
Listen on Spotify: