45s


LORD ROCHESTER Hey Little Jermyn/Chuck ’n’ Bo/Deadly Daddy


Queensbury www.lordrochester.com


Lord Rochester leads a trio of Edinburgh- based beat devotees who like their rock ’n’ roll stripped and baring teeth. Their debut 45 provides three hits of


their Diddley beat-inspired primitivism. ‘Hey Little Jermyn’ sets the tone, which is as


close to the sound of Bo in the ’50s as you could possibly get, but then I doubt the band give two hoots for trying to be original. This is faux-tribute music played with panache and passion. Second up is my personal favourite ‘Chuck ’n’ Bo’, with its boogie-woogie piano and whistling giving it a wilder spirit that approaches the frat-rock sound. Finally up, ‘Deadly Daddy’ features Circo Perrotti studios’? main man Jorge on harmonica, and shuffles along nicely without saying much. The first two tracks here can be found on


last year’s Hey! album, which Diddley fans should check out immediately. Non-partisan folk are probably best staying away though. Phil Istine


THE RIGHT NOWS Sunny Day 10” THE ZOMBIE VALENTINES LOS INRASERES Sunny Day 7”


garagepunk.ning.com/profile/sunnydayrecords Holed up in the Spanish far west – Caceres to


be precise – Sunny Day Records flies the flag for guitar driven, fuzz laden garage- punk. The label’s first three releases – all extremely limited vinyl


only offerings – set the scene and the bar high. The Right Nows’ self-titled debut mini-LP is


a (flamin’) groovy affair – all riffs and reverb, frenetic beat rhythms and “sticky refrains”. ‘Nothing To Say’ and ‘Tough Girls’ in particular are blistering slices of Nuggets-y delirium. The excellent Zombie Valentines mine


similar territory albeit with more powerpop sensibilities. Plangent guitars and close-knit harmonies underpin ‘Horas Bajas’ whilst ‘La Flor Mas Rara’ comes on like The Monkees on speed.


While the Zombies sing in Spanish, Los


Infraseres on the frenetic, frat-rock title track come over all Neanderthal. Raw and primitive, Ungaga Unga Unga is a riot whilst ‘Satan Red’ is sax and surf dementia. Mucho gusto compadres! Gary Thorogood


SPEAK & THE SPELLS She’s Dead EP Robot Elephant www.robotelephant.co.uk Popular on the London scene, this is Speak & The Spells’ debut. The title cut has the singer digging up his girlfriend from the grave, to the accompaniment of screams and a backing of surf-trash guitar. But even the squabs of reverb can’t do much to hide the horribly clinical


Mojo’s In The Garage OK, our editor beat Lenny to the goodies this time, but Mr Helsing will be back next time.


Australian label Off The Hip have continually released all manner of home grown powerpop and contemporary garage, but with THE


FROWNING CLOUDS they have stumbled upon the most authentic mid-60s garage this side of Paul Messis (more on him in a mo’). Listen Closelier (OffThe Hip) features 12 originals and a note-for-note cover of The Uncalled For’s ‘Do Like Me’. And it’s 100% accurate ’65/66 teen garage with Jaggeresque vocals all the way.They also do a nice line in moody numbers alongside the wilder beat- punk. To discover this was unreleased Sunshine label material would be quite easy! Think Ugly Things comps and ’80s/90s torch carriers like The Beatpack and you’re there. Fuck the new shit that has for nigh on 10 years been called garage. This is the real thing!


Jay Wiseman of The Hoods fame returns with THEE WYLDE OSCARS after what seems like a lengthy sojourn. Right Yeah (OffThe Hip) doesn’t


have the same innocent, authentic approach of the young Oz lads, but in middle-age, Wiseman’s voice has gained depth and his young backing band support his powerhouse vocalising with a suitable garage-rock approach equal parts ’60s punk and ’70s


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Stooges proto-punk. Their overall sound is not unlike The Swinging Neckbreakers. Although there are some great numbers, which really shake the room, by track 13 it has become a bit of a one trick pony. If, however, you like raunchy new garage this will thrill!


Now back to PAUL MESSIS, a fine young fellow from the wilds of West Sussex. Not only does this kid sing songs and play music in an authentic


Shutdown 66/New England Teen Scene style, he also genuinely lives the life of the outsider. ‘Lost And Found’ features some almighty 12- string and down at heel yelping vocals about a life of drudgery only saved by the grace of dream-laden sleep. A moody garage classic? Oh yes. Flipside, ‘I Gotta Go’ turns the speed up a notch, with some one-fingered organ, choppy guitars and a slurred vocal about another of those bad girls. Housed within a moody shot of the one-man band, this is a 45 all real garage hounds need. Out now on 13’O Clock Records.


Also out on the same label are Messis’ musically adoptive parents THE HIGHER STATE who may have reached nirvana with their latest 45. ‘Song


Of The Autumn’ (check out the video online) once again shows that these guys do the best


The Nomads: ain’t got no home. Photo by Calvero.


LA folk-rock this side of 1967. Back then this would have had “hit” written all over it. And people like me would be happy to see it to sit at #1 today! The flip ‘Precious Rings And Stones’ may be even better with the graceful harmonies, slow pace, echoey tambourine and guitar recalling none other than The Strawberry Alarm Clock at their finest. All hail the State!


Finally, it’s about time the Swedish garage scene of the ’80s gets the attention it deserves. But is this the best way? With a whopping 40 tracks


(and due to space limitations), we aren’t going to be able to give A Real Cool Time Revisted:


Swedish Punk, Pop And Garage Rock 1982- 1989 (Amigo 2-CD) the full attention it deserves. The uninitiated may want this to hear the likes of The Nomads, The Backdoor Men, The Crimson Shadows, Watermelon Men, The Wylde Mammoths, The Stomach Mouths, The Creeps, The Maryland Cookies, Cornflake Zoo, The Highspeed V and The Livingstones, but chances are most ’80s garage fans will know and own these already. Many of the other acts play a soupy Cramps sub-psychobilly noise that soon becomes tiresome. Although fans of new goth-garage mongers The Horrors may want to take note. www.offthehip.com.au 13oclockrecords.blogspot.com www.amigo.se


TROUBLED HORSE Bring My Horses Home/Shirleen Crusher www.crusherrecords.com


Sweden’s latest sensations Troubled Horse stick with the early ’70s hard sound that has inspired so many bands this century, and they


have the beards and hair to prove it. Oddly enough the A-side of their debut,


‘Bring My Horses Home’, is a rather dull mid-paced late ’60s psych-rock song that serves as a poor introduction to this act’s wares. Flip it over though and ‘Shirleen’


veneer that deadens the drums and coats the overall sound. Too bad!


Best of the three


is the new-wave punk-styled ‘Brianna’,


about a girl suffering terminal online syndrome where, thankfully, those earlier elements of modern goth garage-rock are less to the fore, thus (for me anyway) upping the enjoyment factor considerably. The PR blurb says file next to The 13th


Floor Elevators but in all honesty – unless they get some seriously shaking sounds together – that’s wishful thinking. However, time is definitely on the side of this young three piece and I do hope they sound better live. Lenny Helsing


pummels the living hell out of the unwise lead track. A riff-laden heavy-rocker with fabulous guitar interplay and some astounding shifts in tempo, it’s an incredible concoction which will have fans of Dust quaking in their flares! Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills


THE UNITED SPACE LEAGUE You Told Me A Lie/Water Under The Bridge Sound Camera www.myspace.com/theunitedspaceleague Over the past 20 years Freddy Fortune has been the lynchpin behind such garage luminaries as Freddy & The Four- Gone Conclusions,


The Covingtons and Fortune & Maltese & The Phabulous Pallbearers. We can now add The United Space League to that enviable resume. Their first 45 is this killer double-header.


‘You Told Me A Lie’ is straight outta the ‘99th Floor’ school of muscular fuzztone garage-rock delivered with that familiar Fortune growl. ‘Water Under The Bridge’ is even better – a razor-sharp collision of Stonesy swagger and no-nonsense West Coast acid-rock with Freddy’s vocal eerily reminiscent of Gary L Yoder (The Oxford Circle, Kak). “Stacks of vinyl are in the planning stage,”


claims their blurb and I for one can’t wait to hear more. Andy Morten


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