Schminkie

Most Fat Wreck bands do nought for me but Fat Mike signed a far better band than NOFX(although that's hardly a difficult chore) in Uk punk band Snuff. The Fat Wreck site calls Snuff the best British punk band ever but while they're good, there are plenty past British bands like The Toy Dolls who could easily contest that tag.

Over 'ere, guv'ner.

Snuff Said

Delaney Davidson

Since my last post was about an act I missed on Saturday night. This one is about an act I missed on Sunday night due to visiting friends and relatives. Delaney Davidson played ten minutes from where I live and I was unable to attend. The guy, who like the Transistors is also originally from Christchurch and is signed to Swiss label Voodoo Rythm, which inludes BoB Log III among others.



There's an interesting video interview with Delaney Davidson giving his life story here.

The Transistors - Real Kids

Saw in the paper that Christchurch band The Transistors were playing Saturday night in Wellington at Mighty Mighty. It would have been nice to see them play again as the last time I saw them was a support band for The Datsuns and The Dirtbombs. Not many people caught them and really missed out. Unfortunately I couldn't make it on Saturday night due to other commitments. Here's a sample of what I missed out on....to my ears this song falls somewhere between The Undertones "Teenage Kicks" and just about every Buzzzcocks song.

On U2

U2 are playing two Auckland shows in the next few days. I saw U2 play in Wellington back in 1989 when they were touring "Rattle and Hum" with BB King and because I was used to small venue shows I felt disappointed by the lack of intimacy and the outdoors sound. I vowed never to see the band again even though I still liked a lot of their music. I confess that I haven't bought a U2 album since "All That You Can't Leave Behind" which I was listening to last night on my Ipod and realized that none of the songs really do anything for me anymore. The U2 I like existed in the eighties and lasted 4 albums if you exclude "Under A Blood Red Sky"(which served as my introduction to the band). I'll admit the Joshua Tree isn't a bad album but personally I never liked the final two songs unlike previous efforts where I liked every song.
Here's a couple of U2 songs that highly likely won't be played at the concert. The first one because it's dreadful and the second because it has more or less disappeared from their catalogue.





U2 are a band that divides opinion and I can leave them more easy than take them these days.

The Goops

It seems that once a year I get a request to repost this album. I'm happy to comply because I think the album is awesome even if the complete plonker that requested it didn't leave an email so I could let them know that it was re-upped.

Here's what I wrote about it a couple of years ago.

Another New York punk band that absolutely rocks. This four piece band is female fronted and once again I don't know too much about them but a google search reveals they have at least two albums and a song on the Mallrats soundtrack. The music is punk and there are shades of the punker Blondie and I'm also reminded of both Throwing Muses(particularly on the last song I am Legend) and Transvision Vamp at times.
Third song The Day I Met Iggy is classic punk rawk with its catchy chorus and autobiographical lyrics about not impressing Mr Pop.

This now defunct band have a myspace site where you can hear a couple of songs from their self titled album. There they state that their influences as The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, Iggy Pop, The Clash, Blondie, The Avengers, MC5, Radio Birdman and listening to the self titled album that does nail their sound and they cover MC5's City Slang on this album. It is also stated that their first album is as much rock as punk and the second one is more pop.
Songs:
Dead/Alive
I Don't Care
The Day I Met Iggy
City Slang
Use No Hooks
Nobody Goes To Waste
Never Live It Down
Island Earth
Booze Cabana
I am Legend

Get it!

The Winebirds - Seance Hill

Indie folksters Winebirds herald from Portland, Oregon and are made up of two girls and three guys and make the most of this line-up vocally with male and female vocals. The female vocals dominate and at times bring to mind the strenth of the harmonies are reminiscent ofThe Corrs.

It's not all female vocals though there's a Mick Jagger style rasping at the forefront on "The Solution" and "Out in The Van which the accompanying female voice softens. Upbeat chirpy female voice lend "Hit Machine" a happy indie pop feel. "Tideman" sways in and out with searching melacholic undertones. That one song is titled "Cassandra" offers a clue as "Vanity" travels back from modern folk to the sixties courtesy of Mamas and The Papas. To say that Jagger style vocals take the role of Nancy Sinatra's boots and walk all over the song is understating it.

While the switch between female and vocals often doesn't work for me and the band's direction is uncertain. Possibly this is simply because "Seance Hill" doesn't really fit with my usual listening diet so I can't identify find a bad song on it. It'll be interesting to see which direction this band go in the future.

3/5

The Winebirds on myspace.

Ninjas!

If you're over thirty you can probably when the abbreviation FTW was somewhat shocking. With a change of pace, psychobillies from the Rising Sun, Battle of the Ninjamanz are living within that time period. What they lack in imagination they make up for in pace whether this is a good or bad thing is up to the listener personally I think it's a good thang.

Ninjas are better than Pirates.