HARMONY IN MY HEAD

Jerome Robinson – Education Rap: This is one of the many gems I rescued from my lawyer’s outbox in the eighties. She was always getting tapes in and I always went through them in hopes of either some great music or some good quality cassettes. I didn’t get many tapes I could use but I sure got some great music. This is Jerome Robinson and he’s going to break it down for the kids and let them know where it’s at. Word to your mother!

The Ramones - Time Bomb: Great song with Dee Dee on lead vocal. I was about to leave for a tour and a few hours before I was going to ship out, I was told that Joey was looking really bad and he could be near the end of his life. Before I went to the airport, I put on the Ramones Subterranean Jungle album. I play that one a lot. On the flight to Australia, I thought of the times I had hung out with him and wondered where I would be and how I would feel when he passed away. Several hours later I got off the plane in Melbourne and the press person who picked me up gave me the local paper that had the notice that Joey had slipped away. I guess it happened when I was on the flight. This album and the Pleasant Dreams albums are really cool and often overlooked.

The Stains – Get Revenge: Due to popular demand from the listeners, another track from the Stains LP on SST. I played Sick and Crazy on the first broadcast. Another record that should be in print. It’s rare and it shouldn’t be. Great band.

Middle Class – Situations: From the Out of Vogue EP on Joke Records. I don’t know much about this band except that Mike Patton (no not that one) the band’s bass player, worked with the Minutemen at one point. I remember the tape floating around SST as the Patton Sessions tape. Anyway, all four songs on this EP are great. They have a couple more tracks, Love is Just a Tool and Above Suspicion on a long out of print and great comp. LP called Tooth and Nail on Upsetter Records. On one site, I read that someone has put all six songs on a single as a bootleg in 2000. Makes me wonder what’s up with these bands. You have a cool single and all these people would like to hear it, put it out again, come on! I’ll bring in some of the stuff from Tooth and Nail at some point. The Flesh Eaters are on there and the good folks at Touch and Go have put out a Flesh Eaters CD that has the Tooth and Nail stuff I think.

Hank Mizell – Jungle Rock: Hank released this one in 1958 and nothing happened. Almost twenty-five years after the fact, it became a hit. I did some hunting around for some of his stuff and I found the Jungle Rock single but apparently the Jungle Rock CD is hard to find. I have this song on a really cool rockabilly comp. called King-Federal Rockabillys that Nathan from the Teen Idles turned me onto about twenty-five years ago. The Fall did a version of this song on their 1997 Levitate album. It’s pretty cool.

Mentors – Get Up and Die: I saw the Mentors play with Vox Pop and the Teen Idles in 1980 when the Teen Idles were playing two shows in California. The Mentors came out, Heathen Scum, Sickie Wifebeater and El Duce. Klan hoods and underwear with brown shoe polish stains in the back. They played this song. It left a lasting impression on me. They scared me some. I bought this 12” EP a couple of summers later. I don’t see this one around much. They did some records after this one but this is the one I play most often. You might recall El Duce when he made the news some years back as the man who claimed Courtney Love offered him money to kill Kurt Cobain. You also might remember that he somehow managed to get decapitated by a train. I had some great run-ins with El Duce. He was always really cool to me. He once asked me to make him a tape of Blowfly and I did and every time he’d see me he’d thank me.

Dils – You’re Not Blank: A great song from the Kinman brothers. This is one of the great songs of the 80’s. Hard to find for a long time, this is back in print on the What? Records comp. What? Hits. Also, there’s a cool web page about them: http://vcp-inc.com/dos/kinman/dils/thedils.htm

The Killjoys – Naïve: The b-side of the Johnny Won’t Get to Heaven single. Kevin Rowland before he was in Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Not the easiest to find single. I got it for a few bucks in the late 70’s. Still playing it. The single has been re-issued on a Raw Records comp. Two other songs have also found the light of day. For more info, type in Killjoys into the search line at: http://www.punk77.co.uk/ and you will find out more about the band and see the picture sleeve of the single.

Rites of Spring – Hidden Wheel: The Rites of Spring LP and four song EP, both on Dischord are two of my most played records. All of its on one CD and it’s all great I think. Hidden Wheel is from the EP. The band was around for almost three years, 1984-1986. They later re-formed as Happy Go Licky, and then lost Mike Fellows, picked up Mike Hampton and formed One Last Wish. After that, Brendan Canty and Guy Picciotto went onto be in Fugazi. If you go to the Dischord website Dischord.com, it has all the info. I have all these records, play them a lot and we will get to all this stuff on the show.

Bad Brains – I: One of my favortie Bad Brains songs. I watched them work on this song as well as Right Brigade in Nathan Teen Idles basement many years ago. When they would play it, the place would go nuts. If you ever get a chance to check out the Bad Brains stuff, Black Dots, Rock for Light, I Against I and the ROIR Sessions are recommended.

The Enzymes – Speedwash: One of the great Washington DC bands who never got a record out. They were from the same era as Bad Brains, Teen Idles, Untouchables, etc. A great meeting of hyper intellectuals and eccentrics, the band was great live. You never knew what you were going to get. They made a tape in 1980 I think, they called it The Spanish Food Tape and it made the rounds but never came out. Chris Haskett of the Rollins Band was a guitar player in the band and in 1997 found the actual multitracks and made a mix of this song Speedwash. The lead vocals were done by Dave Byers who is dead now. It was a great band. Could this be the first broadcast of this song? Hello, Dubious Honor Department, may I help you? What a cool song. I wish Dave was still around.

David Lee Roth – US Festival Interview: I taped this off the radio in 1983. What a rap! I’ve played this a lot over the years. DLR’s so amped. I have a CD set of the show I found in Tokyo I think and they played pretty great. I’m glad I got to see these guys play.

Glaxo Babies - Who Killed Bruce Lee?: I have a lot of Glaxo Babies stuff. I don’t know anyone who really knows anything about them. This is my favorite song by them. If you want to see what the records look like and learn a little more, here you go:
http://www.tigersushi.com/site/frameset.jsp?page=Art.jsp&ArtId=10881

Slayer – Stain of Mind: My favorite song off the Diabolus in Musica album. What a band. Talk about no sellout. This song is so relentlessly killing it should get an award.

Saccharine Trust - We Don't Need Freedom: From the first record Paginicons on SST. Black Flag did a lot of shows with this band. What a great band. The records are good but live it’s unbelievable. The combination of vocalist Jack Brewer and guitarist Joe Baiza, amazing. Dukowski told me they’re doing shows these days and it’s really good. I will try and catch them. Really worth checking out. I got a few letters about the third show in wondering why I hadn’t played them yet. There’s a lot of great tunes to get to, let’s hope this show lasts a while.

The Panik - Modern Politics: From the three track It Won’t Sell EP on Rainy City Records. The other tracks on this EP, Urban Damnation and Murder are great as well. The tracks are re-issued on the Punk Rock Rarities Vol. 1 CD on Anagram. The songs are also issued on another comp. called Short Sharp Shcok. Yet another great Manchester England band.

Cuban Heels – Smok Walk: Nathan Strejcek, singer of the Teen Idles turned me onto this single in 1979 or 1980. The b-side is a version of Downtown. It’s the only Heels record I have. I went to the www.punk77.co.uk site (really good for information) and looked them up and it says Johnny and the Self Abusers split in two and one half became the Heels and the other half became part of the Simple Minds. Talk about a bad choice. Apparently there’s a Dutch blues band under the same name and I can’t find any other recordings by the original Scottish outfit. I thought I saw another single in a record store in Tokyo once.

Skunks – Good from the Bad: First heard this on the Labels Unlimited comp. LP. Been playing this one for years. Single was released in a black and white sleeve in June 1978, a run of 2000. A song called Back Street Fighting was on the flip. Pete Townsend of the Who produced it. They got a deal, I think in part due to the Townsend connection and re-named themselves the Craze. They released two singles under that name and then I don’t know what they did next. Great song.

Andre Williams – Jailbait: I don’t know much about this guy. I heard this song about twenty yers ago on KCRW FM and found this LP of his really cheap. I have been looking around for this song on CD but can’t find it. If you know of its existence somewhere, please let me know. I know that he was doing shows awhile ago, I think he was getting a helping hand from Jon Spencer. A cool song.

Oil Tasters – That’s When the Brick Goes Through the Window: Great 80’s band from Milwaukee WI. An album, a couple of singles and some compilation cuts and that’s about it. I got to see these guys once, it was cool. They were friends of Black Flag, that’s how I found out about them. At one point, Joe Carducci who worked at SST put out their album on his label Thermidor. I just looked up their records on Gemm.com and boy, are they expensive. It’s strange to think back to the times when this song actually was college airplay fodder. Can you imagine this song being on the radio these days? Why, it would be a miracle!

Those Naughty Lumps – Iggy Pop’s Jacket: The A-side of their first single. I first heard this song on a compilation called Labels Unlimited many years ago and ran into the single at some point somewhere. I found their second single in Belgium a few years ago. Cool song. I went looking for more info and found a cool page that has re-pros of all the artwork and a short history of the band. 1977 to 1979 was a great time for singles. All these records were coming out and the bands were breaking up as the records were getting pressed it seemed. Anyway, here’s the site if you want to know more:
http://www.btinternet.com/~kev.wilkinson/nlumps.htm

Roky Erickson – I Think of Demons: This is off the Evil One album. As you probably know, Roky was in a band called the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. I‘m no critic but I always liked Roky’s solo stuff better. There’s a lot of Roky stuff out there, it’s all good as far as I can tell. I can’t think of one Roky song I don’t like. The idea of this lyric really gets me. He’s basically saying that he thinks of demons so you won’t have to. I was told by Sumner, Rok’s brother, that there is going to be a movie made about Roky’s life and Jack Black will be Roky. Perhaps it will be Jack black who get Rok some recognition. It’s funny, you mention Roky to someone who knows how amazing this guy is and it’s a given. He’s a genius and that’s that. When you meet someone who hasn’t heard him, you want to sit that person down and start playing the music!

The Mad – Fried Egg: Great NYC band. I saw them do a couple of sets with the Bad Brains in the late 70’s. The singer, Screaming Mad George was great, he had this jacket with a pair of fake arms sewn on and they were attached to his real arms by strings so he looked like he had four arms, it looked great. The two singles are not all that easy to find.