Tag: garage rock

FMF Episode #58 – War

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    DJ: Happy Memorial Day Weekend, FMF fans! War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’. We’ll hear that lyric a bit later, as I’m sure you may have expected. Today’s episode reflects Memorial Day’s subject matter. War. Memorial Day is when we as Americans remember all of the fallen veterans that have served our armed forces throughout history. Whether or not you agree with the military, there absolutely have been veterans who have fought for certain aspects of your freedom. Whether it be regarding slavery during the American Civil War, the battle of superpowers during World War 1, the genocidal Nazi movement of World War 2, the anti-Communist farce of the Vietnam war, or any of the Middle Eastern conflicts that have been ongoing since the 80s, war has been around this country for far too long. Most of the war songs we hear today will be anti-war, as they should be. As Hawkeye from MASH told us, “War is war and hell is hell, and of the two war is a lot worse.”. Let’s jump right into things with a song about the Northern Ireland conflict. Stiff Little Fingers have written a plethora of poignant tunes about The Troubles as it’s known in Ireland. “Wasted Life” is one of many tracks on the band’s debut 1979 LP Inflammable Material that deals with The Troubles, and more specifically gives a middle finger to fighting in an unjust conflict. Here’s Jake Burns leading the ‘Fingers in our first war cut of the day.​

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    DJ: P.F. Sloan, an L.A.-based songwriter and member of The Wrecking Crew, wrote “Eve of Destruction” as an anti-war song in mid-1964. The song flew up the charts to #1 one month after its release in August 1965. It also spurred some answer records by conservative musicians like SSgt. Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Berets” and The Spokesmen doing “Dawn of Corruption”. Kinda makes you wonder. Is anyone really pro-war? Or are they just so patriotic that they’ll go along with whatever their country’s leaders ask of them? Nevertheless, there are two sides to every conflict. Barry McGuire recorded the most popular version of “Eve”, the one we played today and the one that hit #1 54 years ago this summer.

    Bob Seger played us his anti-Vietnam anthem “2+2=?” just before Mr. McGuire. The cut comes from The Bob Seger System’s debut 1969 LP Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man. “2+2=?” was released in January of 1968 and marked a shift in Bob’s political attitude. It made a minor splash in the Detroit area, but it wasn’t until the LP came out and the title track shot him into the national spotlight. In Denise Sullivan’s White Stripes biography book Sweethearts of The Blues, she mentions that Jack White was a fan of the early Seger stuff, being from the Detroit area himself. There’s even speculation that the White Stripes’ song “Seven Nation Army”’s bassline was inspired by “2+2=?”.

    We weren’t going to make it through today’s show without one of the more well-known anti-war songs from CCR. “Fortunate Son” not only criticized the ongoing Vietnam War, but also showed solidarity with the soldiers drafted to fight in it. It spoke to the age-old quip about rich men starting wars and poor men fighting them. This time, John Fogerty wanted to call out Senator’s sons. The track was covered by Boston Celtic-punk band Dropkick Murphys on a split EP they did with Face To Face in 2002. Face To Face also covered Stiff Little Fingers’ “Wasted Life” on that EP.

    In Paul Trynka’s Iggy Pop biography Open Up And Bleed, Iggy states that the title for “Search And Destroy” was derived from a column heading in a Time article about the Vietnam War. The lyrics of the song also reference quite a bit of war terms, like his “heart full of napalm”. Raw Power was The Stooges’ third LP and for over 30 years thought to be their last. That is, until 2007 when they reunited to record The Weirdness. The remix of Raw Power drew plenty of flak from music fans, criticizing its loudness and overall bad sound. Even though the original mix was lacking a nice drum sound, David Bowie actually did a decent job with it. We played that original mix, but feel free to check out the remix yourself. Kurt Cobain mentioned Raw Power in his journal many times and its thought to have been his favorite album ever.

    Up next, we have a band that was surely influenced by The Stooges. Bad Religion has written a grip of anti-war songs, not to mention their vast selection of anti-religion songs. One of the longest running punk outfits ever, the band formed in 1980. Save for a minor split in the mid-80s, they’ve been putting out music consistently ever since then – nearly 40 years! Singer Greg Graffin is the only consistent member, though founders Jay Bentley and Brett Gurewitz have quit and rejoined several times, with Jay accumulating 35 years and Brett 28 years. After the success of The Process of Belief in 2002, the band headed back into the studio to follow it up with The Empire Strikes First. The LP featured a few guest appearances, including Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers playing guitar on “Los Angeles Is Burning”. Apparently the other three guitarists in the band needed help, haha. Sage Francis also stepped in to rap a few bars for “Let Them Eat War”. Let’s check it out.

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    DJ: You probably heard that Temptations song and thought to yourself, “Hey, this sounds different from the version I know”. The most popular version was done by Edwin Starr, whom we just heard finish the set. Edwin’s version of “War” was so popular that it was put on two of his albums. First on 1970’s War & Peace and then again on 1971’s Involved. Involved features another anti-war single, too, with “Stop The War Now”. “Stop The War Now” catches Edwin souting “Good God” again, just like on “War”.

    The Temptations and the Motown label were both hesitant to release “War” as a single due to its political subject matter. The group and label didn’t want to risk their image. Psh. How wrong were they? The public embraced the anti-war anthem. The song was included on the Temptations’ 1970 album Psychedelic Shack, the album that took the group in a new direction after their successful formula of the 60s became overdone. As you may have guessed, the LP also featured some rather psychedelic nuances and subjects, too.

    Black Sabbath’s epic 8-minute jam “War Pigs” was the zenith of our second set. Bassist Geezer Butler has stated that the song was about Vietnam and the rich men sending the poor men to fight for them. Ozzy, on the other hand, said they knew nothing about Vietnam and that it was just a general anti-war song. Regardless, it stands as a pioneer in heavy metal/punk anti-war anthems and one of the most hard-hitting jams of its time. The track leads off the group’s second album Paranoid with an assault and North American releases title it “War Pigs / Luke’s Wall” to officially name the last half instrumental part. Paranoid also features the title track as a single and the song that every single rock band first learns how to play when they form – “Iron Man”.

    Alkaline Trio chipped in an Iraq War-era tune with “Warbrain”. The song originally appeared on the 2004 Rock Against Bush Vol. 1 compilation, a collection of politically charged songs both released and unreleased to support Fat Mike of NOFX/Fat Wreck Chords’ political PunkVoter movement. While some may say he was a sell out for supporting a candidate like John Kerry during that time, I can understand Mike’s point of view wanting to rid America of Dubya. The post-911 wars still linger on and the Middle East is still torn up. Something had to be done, though the efforts didn’t amount to what he had hoped. A second Rock Against Bush album was released in August of 2004, closer to election season. That compilation featured Bad Religion’s “Let Them Eat War”.

    Our next set focuses on the tragedy that was the Vietnam War. Not that all wars aren’t tragedies, but I suppose some have more merit to them than others. Like defeating Nazis seems a bit more important than routing someone’s oil fields for profit, but to each their own I suppose. We’ll hear some garage rock followed by a couple of great 80s bands that fit into the punk scene well without sounding like your cliche punk rock band, then we’ll cap it off with a classic punk jam followed by one of that band’s biggest fans. Detroit’s Oblivians are no strangers to the show. Here’s Greg Oblivian and the gang doing “Viet Nam War Blues” off of the 1995 LP Soul Food. 

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    DJ: The Bastards really drove home the point with that chant, wrapping up Lars Frederiksen & their tune “Vietnam”. The track comes from the debut solo effort from the Rancid singer-songwriter. Much like many of the Vietnam-centric songs out there, it focuses on the treatment of veterans after the war. The Vietnam War veterans were some of the worst cared for and worst treated soldiers in American history, up until the more recent conflict’s survivors. We’ll deal a bit more with war losses and casualties in our last set.

    Rancid heroes The Ramones played us “Commando” from their sophomore LP Leave Home. The album followed their debut by just under 8 months and was followed by Rocket To Russia in the fall of ’77. While “Commando” isn’t exclusively about Vietnam, it sure does mention in a lot. It also deals with Dee Dee Ramones’ German upbringing and Nazi propaganda. 

    When The Stooges reformed in 2007 for The Weirdness, they added legendary punk bassist Mike Watt of Minutemen fame. Mike and D. Boon led the punk trio in the 80s along with George Hurley keeping time. The group’s magnum opus Double Nickels On The Dime served up the track “Viet Nam” along with 43 other short-ish punk tracks. Not particularly known for their speed or distortion, the band almost sounds like punk jazz.

    Another 80s punk band that didn’t really fall into the fast and loud aesthetic that punk encapsulates was The Dead Milkmen. Their single “Punk Rock Girl” featured clean guitars with lyrics about living in the punk scene. The 1986 LP Eat Your Paisley! yielded one single; “The Thing That Only Eats Hippies”/”Beach Party Vietnam”. Two years later the band would hit it big with “Punk Rock Girl” off of Beelzebubba.

    Our next set starts off with this episode’s Set 4 Score. Auckland, New Zealand’s P.H.F. (Perfect Hair Forever) put out I Hate Myself in July of 2018. The next track features Dylan Thinnes from Danger Collective Records. Here’s P.H.F. with “Not Ur War”.

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    DJ: It’s pretty difficult to fight a war without a military. Although, these days you could be at war via Facebook. Former Hollies singer Graham Nash would team up with Byrds guitarist David Crosby and Buffalo Springfield members Stephen Stills and Neil Young to form Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young in the early 70s. After CSNY’s incredibly successful album Déjà Vu in 1970, each of the members would put out solo albums that were on point. Neil Young had released After The Gold Rush in September of 1970, Stephen Stills released his self-titled solo debut in November, David Crosby released If I Could Only Remember My Name in February of 1971, and finally Graham Nash would follow in May 1971 with Songs For Beginners. The album’s lead track “Military Madness” capped our 4th set.

    Who doesn’t love that King Crimson jam? We played the single edit of “21st Century Schizoid Man”, mainly because the album version isn’t available on streaming services at this time. The song made waves with the Millennial generation in the 21st century after Kanye West sampled it for his largely successful single “Power”. The original tune does reference the political climate of the late 60s, though, and also the napalm used during Vietnam.

    Dutch rock band Cobra put out four 7″ singles between 1971-1972 but never cut an album. The band was based in The Hague and played a sort of Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath type heavy rock. Their second single, “The War Will Soon Be Over (My Love) was produced by Fred Haayen, the manager of Golden Earring. You know, “Radar Love“?  

    Before Cobra was Seattle garage rockers Night Beats doing a tune from their self-titled debut album. The track “War Games” is one of two war-titled songs along with “Little War In The Midwest” closing out the LP. We featured Night Beats’ “Sunday Mourning” on our FMF Episode – The Month. A show that plays songs titled after the days of the week, 31 of them, in order.

    Coming up in our 5th set we get back to the aforementioned Byrds. After kicking David Crosby out in 1967 due to some disagreements and his actions of the Monterey Pop Festeival, The Byrds would release The Notorious Byrd Brothers in 1968. The LP featured the single “Goin’ Back” a Goffin-King tune made famous by Dusty Springfield. The album also featured “Draft Morning”, a song about the juxtaposition of a beautiful morning crossed with killing someone in the name of a politician’s war. Tragic. Here’s that song.

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    DJ: Every single person killed in war is “Too Young To Die”. That last song was a one-two punch of war themes, with the title being focused on dying before your time and also the band’s name. Agent Orange was named after the herbicidal warfare defoliant used by the US government during the Vietnam War. Imagine being sent to war for a bullshit reason and while fighting for that reason your own leaders spray toxic chemicals all over the jungle you’re fighting in. I’d be a little pissed, too. The US faced massive legal consequences for the use of the chemical that left millions of Vietnamese and American people in extremely rough shape, if not killed.

    Lee Ving and FEAR dropped by with their proclamation that there’s too many of us and how we need a war to thin out the numbers. The tongue-in-cheek statement takes a sarcastic stance of the rich politicians’ view of the proletariat. “There’s too many poor people that might cause an uprising, let’s thin the numbers a bit…”. “Let’s Have A War” comes from the infamous 1982 debut album by Fear and was covered by A Perfect Circle on their anti-war primarily covers album eMOTIVe. That album also featured the original cut “Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums”, a tune that deserves a spot on this show.

    Another New York punk/New Wave group chimed in with their post-apocalyptic single “Life During Wartime”. Talking Heads played CBGB before Fear made their way onto the stage, but not much earlier. The late 70s in New York was a punk-ripe haven that spawned countless new acts and Talking Heads were perhaps the artsiest of them all. Well, they’re probably the most successful art punks out of the that era. It’s hard to classify them as a punk group due to the sound, but the DIY ethic and groups they played with should get them a bit of street cred. “Life During Wartime” comes from 1979’s Fear of Music. 

    The Doors’ first single from 1968’s Waiting For The Sun was an anti-Vietnam War track titled “The Unknown Soldier”. In the middle of the song, a marching cadence plays before you hear loading guns ready to fire. During live shows, the band was act this out with Robby Krieger pointing his guitar like a gun at Jim Morrison. Drummer John Densmore would slap the drum sounding like a gunshot and Jim would fall to the ground like he was shot. Theatrical and intense, just like Jim Morrison’s lyrics.

    Our last set of the day focuses on the heartbreak of war aftermath. More specifically, the losses of loved ones either due to being killed in action or extremely traumatized a la Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many of the soldiers who return from war suffer from dibilitating disorders and will use drugs as a coping mechanism. Regardless of how these soldiers end up, we’re told that we should be proud of them. As Martha Reeves & The Vandellas are about to remind us, when that telegram comes carrying bad news, pride just won’t due. Losing someone to an unjust war is still losing someone. Here’s Martha doing “I Should Be Proud” from 1970’s Natural Resources.

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    DJ: “Rooster” was the nickname of Jerry Cantrell Sr., the father of famed Alice In Chains songwriter and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Jerry wanted to write a song from his father’s perspective after seeing how he turned out after the Vietnam War. Apparently, when Alice In Chains performed that song in front of Jerry Sr., he raised his cowboy hat in the air while weeping. 

    New Order played us “Love Vigilantes from their 1985 LP Low-life. The lead track focuses on a Vietnam War soldier returning home to find his wife thinking he had died. She had taken her own life with the telegram of his fate in her hand. War is brutal. Not only for those involved, but for the loved ones of those involved.

    The Kinks referenced World War 1 with the tragedy track “Some Mother’s Son”. The song comes from Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), the Kinks’ concept album. Perhaps one of the most real and heartbreaking songs we play today, the song is a clear glimpse into what war really accomplishes. Death. These soldiers are sons, brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, mothers, sisters, aunts, you name it. They are real people and should never be looked at as expendable.

    Swamp Dogg covered another heartbreaker of a song with John Prine’s “Sam Stone”. The Prine tune focuses on a man who returns home from war with sever PTSD and turns to drugs to ease his suffering. It tells us how Sam’s family suffers through his pain as well, and ultimately finds him overdosed and dead in his living room. “Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose”.

    Take this Memorial Day and think about all of those lost to countless wars fought over trivial issues. Yes, there were evils that needed to be stopped in some wars; Nazis, Confederates, etc. But regardless of the reason, the outcomes all remain the same. Some mother’s son or daughter was killed and will never come home. Rest in piece all you soldiers. Next time on Feel Me Flow we dig into the opposite of war; Peace. Until then, spread the love!

    Check out our Discogs_logo List for all of the releases featured!


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    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #57 – Radio

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    DJ: Don’t touch that dial! We’re about to get real wavy in here! Hello everyone and welcome to another round of Feel Me Flow. Today we’re digging into the medium that broadcasts our favorite sounds – radio. Radio technology has been around since the 19th century and to this day is still used in it’s most basic form – broadcasting radio waves via transmitters to receivers all across the globe. Although, these days we have this thing called the internet which basically does away with the old AM/FM signals and streams via the online connection.

    As I’m sure you’re about to call in and tell us, there are a bazillion radio songs, most of which we didn’t put on this list. We wanted to dig a little deeper and try to showcase some “radio” songs you might not have heard yet. Sure, you’ll hear a few staples, but let’s get it going and see what we hear!

    First up is a tribute to the song that kicked off MTV. The Buggles, which we’ll hear a little later. Joyce Manor’s 2012 LP Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired borrows elements from the legendary Germs’ blue circle logo and font. The music itself also borrows from Germs elements, though more in the vein of new age punk rock then the early 80s sloppy punk that was The Germs. We lost Germs bassist Lorna Doom in 2019 to cancer, and the infamous Darby Crash took his own life in 1980. As for Joyce Manor, their 2018 release Million Dollars To Kill Me was named after Travis Barker’s memoir Can I Say in which Travis recounts offering a friend a million bucks to end his suffering after his horrific 2008 plane crash that injured him and DJAM as well as killing the rest of the entourage on board. DJAM died from an overdose the following year. Are you bummed out yet about the deaths of these radio stars? You should be, cuz it’s sad as hell. Anyway, here is Joyce Manor doing “Video Killed The Radio Star” do lift us up a bit and start off our Radio episode!

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    DJ: Austin, Texas’ Spoon have been locked in indie rock legacy ever since the turn of the century, but it was probably thanks to some mid-to-late-90s solid releases that helped them climb there. The band’s sophomore effort A Series Of Sneaks was at the time met with flat acceptance, but since has grown into a cult classic of an album. Just goes to show you how some bands are ahead of their time and in the words of Marty McFly, “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet…but your kids are gonna love it.

    Washington D.C. native Mary Timony released her third solo LP Ex Hex way back in 2005 on the legendary Lookout! Records, but would take the album title and form a band under the moniker almost ten years later. Rather than the dark sounds of her solo work, the new Ex Hex channels the Pacific Northwest punk rock sounds of Sleater-Kinney, which makes sense. Mary was apart of the Carrie Brownstein/Janet Weiss side project Wild Flag. Ex Hex has a new LP coming out on March 22, 2019, so keep an eye out for that. We played a cut from the Ex Hex 2014 debut, though, with “Radio On”.

    Speaking of the PNW, the reunion of Bikini Kill has people all riled up – whether it be positively or negatively. Of course, you’ve got your shit talkers like Courtney Love who has been feuding with the band since the mid-90s, but most people are ecstatic to have a chance at seeing the band again. Though their Hollywood Palladium shows sold out in minutes and resale prices were up immediately at staggeringly high ($300+) ticket prices. From 1993’s New Radio single, we played the title track, a lyrical force of sexuality and rebellion.

    And one of the more famous acts of rebellion in live music may have been when Elvis Costello stopped his band 10 seconds into “Less Than Zero” to change tunes and sing the anti-corporate radio anthem “Radio, Radio”. Lorne Michaels was not amused and banned Elvis from Saturday Night Live. K, Lorne. 

    Coming up in our next set we have The Shazam. Little Steven’s Underground Garage named this song their “Coolest Song Of The Week” back in 2006, though the song was actually released in 2000.  Little Steven called it the “coolest fucking thing (he’s) heard in 20 years”. The song is super legit, but to say that about the decades 1980-2000 seems a bit…irresponsible? Nevertheless, let’s get to it. Taken from The Shazam’s 2000 EP Rev9, named after the Beatles’ “Revolution 9” which the band covered on that EP, here’s “On The Airwaves”.

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    DJ: Jonny Greenwood’s playing behind us right now, member of Radiohead and soundtrack extraordinaire. Radiohead, of course, took their name from the Talking Heads song we just heard, which itself is featured on a soundtrack…sort of. David Byrne directed and starred in the feature film True Stories, along with John Goodman and Swoosie Kurtz.  Talking Heads re-recorded studio versions of the songs they played in the film and released the album True Stories to coincide with the movie. There was also a different soundtrack album released with various artists like Terry Allen & The Panhandler Mystery Band and Steve Jordan on it. Steve played the accordion on “Radio Head”.

    The Ramones questioned our memories of the days of old when rock and roll ruled the radio. The imagery of ” lying in bed with your covers pulled up over your head, radio playin’ so no one can see.” is just so perfect for the age of great radio.  How appropriate a song, too, being that the 1979 LP End Of The Century was produced by Phil Spector. Hear that Wall of Sound?

    Osaka, Japan’s Shonen Knife formed roughly 6 months after the release of The Ramones’ following LP, 1981’s Pleasant Dreams. Shonen Knife’s debut release is an ultimate holy grail rare cassette-only album. Minna Tanoshiku was put out by the band in 1982 with some tape cases having the ban’ds lip prints on them, and only 50 made. They did a Ramones tribute album, Osaka Ramones to celebrate the band’s 30-year tenure which was released almost exactly 30 years after Pleasant Dreams.

    The Vines timed their American debut juuuust right with the release of their 2001 debut LP Highly Evolved. Riding the garage rock wave created by The Strokes and The White Stripes and The Hives and The “The” bands alike, The Vines would hit it big with “Get Free”, a tune they completely demolished on the Late Show With David Letterman. When Craig Nicholls did a somersault after the first verse he knocked the guitar out of tune and oh boy did things fall apart after that! Awesome performance though. We played the first single off of their third album Vision Valley, “Don’t Listen To The Radio”.

    Up next we have Brooklyn, New York band Nude Beach with the album opener off of their 2012 sophomore LP II. As the song is about to explain, sometimes there’s just not much worse than a radio playing a song you just don’t wanna hear. This was especially true in the days before the internet when you lived out in the sticks and could only get a few stations which were probably country or gospel, or the standard classic rock. Anyway, here’s one of Brooklyn’s best garage bands Nude Beach with “Radio”.

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    DJ: Boulder, Colorado’s Zephyr launched the career Tommy Bolin, an guitar virtuoso who would go on to joined the James Gang and Deep Purple. Zephyr also featured the Givenses, David and Candy.  Tommy died early, at 25, in 1976 after a drug overdose. Sadly, Candy would also succumb to an O.D. in a jacuzzi in 1984. I used to work with someone who was apart of local Boulder scene in the 70s, and the rumor then was that since Candy was dead for so long in the hot bubbling water of the jacuzzi, the local paramedics had to remove her body in “clumps”. Yikes. His description was, “have you ever poached a chicken for too long?”.  How horrifically tragic. We heard both Tommy and Candy showcasing their abilities on “The Radio Song” from Zephyr’s sophomore LP, 1972’s Going Back To Colorado.

    Bobby Bloom was another poor soul to meet an early, untimely death. At just age 28, Bobby was apparently cleaning his gun when it went off and shot him in the face, killing him instantly. The family didn’t believe it was a suicide and the case was closed. Bobby was famous for his own hit “Montego Bay”, along with co-writing many Kama Sutra releases such as “Mony Mony”. Early in his career though, he recorded under the moniker Bobby Man, and put out a single titled “Make The Radio A Little Louder”.

    If you’re a bit older, you might remember Raphael Saadiq from his days with Tony! Toni! Toné!, more specifically him singing lead vocal on their smash hit “Feels Good”. Saadiq released two solo albums before changing his sound a bit and moving toward a more neo-retro-soul sound with The Way I See It. His fourth LP, Stone Rollin’ would continue this vibe, which gave us the twisty track “Radio”

    Were you taken aback a bit hearing Smash Mouth on the show? I bet you didn’t know that’s who was playing when you heard it follow up that Nude Beach track. That’s because, as we’ve said before, Astro Lounge is a fantastic garage pop throwback album, albeit a bit overproduced and polished. If that LP had a bit more dust on its tape (and maybe remove “All Star”), I’m telling you, garage heads would’ve loved it! We played the deep cut “Radio” from that album.

    We’ve got a super special Set 4 Score this week! Instead of showcasing newer great artists, we did some digging for a few old school punk rock tracks that you might not have heard before. Starting the set off is REM doing “Radio Free Europe” from 1983’s Murmur which is a lead-in to the four European punk rock bands that follow. We’ll talk a bit about them after the set, but for now let’s crank up the debut single from Athens, Georgia’s REM.  They played their debut on Letterman too, about 20 years prior to The Vines’ massacre of the set.

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    DJ: The Cortinas were the Bristol, UK group that paired up nicely with The Clash in 1977, but were nowhere near as successful as them. Coincidentally, though, Cortinas guitarist Nick Sheppard would go on to play on The Clash’s Cut The Crap album after Mick Jones and Topper Headon were fired form the band. The Cortinas debut album signaled the end of them, however, with the band breaking up after its release. From that 1978 album True Romances, we played “Radio Rape”, a song about making love to the radio, but the band would mostly be known for their debut single “Fascist Dictator”.

    The Kids, from Belgium, were another early punk rock band that are known for their anti-fascism anthem “Fascist Cops”. They released their debut self-titled album in 1978 on Dutch company Philips Records. Yes, that same Philips that made radios that you may well have played, or perhaps you’ve used their light bulbs? They’re sophomore release was also put out in 1978, from which we played “Radio Radio”.

    Ivy Green were actually from the Netherlands where Philips Records was founded. They were one of the few Dutch punk bands to land a major record deal and released their self-titled debut on Pogo Records in 1978. The cut “Sex On The Radio”, another weird ode to aural love, is almost a note-for-note mimic of Black Flag’s “Black Coffee“, but that track didn’t come out for another 6 years. Coincidence or ripoff? You decide! Ivy Green was the name of Hellen Keller’s childhood home in Alabama.

    And last but surely not least we have the British punk band The Carpettes. Their 1977 debut self-titled EP featured the track “Radio Wunderbar” and some issues of it list that as being the title of the EP. The Carpettes lasted all but four years before breaking up in 1981. They briefly reunited in 1996 and then again after the turn of the millennium eventually touring the USA in 2011. Nothing touches the greatness of that debut EP, though!

    Alright, after a nice lofi punk set let’s hear a bit of polished alternative rock, or “false metal” maybe? Don’t worry, we’ll get back to the punx in a bit. Weezer did something a bit neat with the release of their odds and ends album Death To False Metal. Most of the album compiled some, well, odds and ends from their career, but the lead track “Turning Up The Radio” was actually composed by a plethora of contributing artists via back-and-forth collaboration on the YouTube. The song has 17 songwriter credits due to this. Fun! Here’s that Weezer tune before we jump back into the late ’70s England. I mean we can’t just mention the Clash and not play them…

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    DJ: Ok, not gonna lie, that Euro punk set was just too much of a tease and we wanted a bit more. Ireland’s Stiff Little Finger nearly broke into the mainstream with their 1980 single “Straw Dogs” narrowly missing the Top of the Pops charts which is fairly ironic considering the b-side to “Straw Dogs” was the anti-mainstream radio anthem “You Can’t Say Crap On The Radio”, which borrowed the main riff from The Clash’s “Capital Radio” as a bit of an outro.

    German psychobilly band Mad Sin contributed their version of Rancid’s legendary punk anthem “Radio” to the Hellcat Records, Tim Timebomb-sequenced Hooligans United: A Tribute To Rancid compilation, as well as our show.  That comp features some great takes on Rancid tunes, with some bands staying true to the songs and some taking them in an entirely new direction or language.  Psychobilly “Radio” works well, though!

    Of course, we had to squish some Rancid in between a cover of them and their heroes – The Clash. When Rancid recorded their 2000 self-titled fifth album, they did it one full take. Well, two full times run-through, with the second take being used. I love that! It brought such a personal feel to the record, and when Tim sings the final lines of the album you can hear him “signing off” and thanking everyone for listening. “Radio Havana” was the longest song on the LP clocking in at 3:42.

    The Clash’s debut EP was a jab at the radio industry released with an interview comprising most of the EP and the one song finishing it off. The only way to get this EP was to mail in a coupon printed in NME, plus the red sticker found on the band’s debut studio album The Clash which had been released just that week. After hearing that the EP was being sold for unbelievably high prices, they re-recorded the song and released “Capital Radio Two” on their 2nd EP The Cost Of Living. We played the second version, as that’s the version that was added to their later compilations.

    Speaking of early demos and rare recordings, have you ever listened to The Flaming Lips and thought, “Wow, what a great punk band!”? Chances are, no. After the ’90s were kind to their alternative rock style, the Lips turned full psychedelia and would become international superstars with their Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles The Punk Robots albums. With the release of Scratching the Door: The First Recordings of the Flaming Lips, we finally got an official output of their first cassette demo. The only original song on the demo was “Killer On The Radio”, followed by a cover of the “Batman Theme”, The Who’s “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”, and Richie Havens’ “Handsome Johnny”. Here’s that original, “Killer On The Radio”.

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    DJ: “You are the radio star”!  The Buggles’ self-fulfilling prophetic music video anti-anthem started the 80s phenomenon that was MTV with irony.  The song was originally recorded by Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club and featured Thomas Dolby on keyboards. It wasn’t until Bruce and fellow “Video” writers Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes formed The Buggles that he song would find it’s role. Check out the original sometime. If you’re into New Wave you’d probably prefer that version, which we kinda do.

    The Replacements played us a shoutout to indie radio or college radio as it was known in the 80s. The term “left of the dial” comes from those stations being so low on the transmitter dials, usually with frequencies like 88.1 and 90.7. The band’s 1985 LP Tim would land them a slot on Saturday Night Live and just like Elvis Costello – they’d get banned.  Let’s be honest, they had no place being on that stage anyway!

    The Ergs! dropped in with an ode to The Replacements’ hometown college radio station Radio K. The University of Minnesota’s station KUOM was formed in 1993 and has been solidly playing the best up and coming tunes ever since. The Ergs! must have enjoyed it enough to write about it. The tune comes from their 2007 EP Jersey’s Best Dancers.

    Just a short half hour drive south of Radio K’s headquarters would get you to Cannon Falls, MN’s Pachyderm Studio where Nirvana recorded their third and final studio album In Utero. “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” was originally titled “Nine Month Media Blackout” and was a collage of poetry thrown back at the success of Nirvana in ’91. Kurt is known to have hated the success, but others contest that view. In February of 1993, the band headed to the small Minnesota town and were “locked in” by the snow to get their work done and get out of there. Steve Albini brought the powerful sound and the studio’s notoriously amazing drum sounds were also captured. The result was a masterpiece in grunge and the band would dissipate only a year later following Kurt’s suicide. 

    We began and ended with “Video Killed The Radio Star” along with a few stories of rock stars who died young. Coincidentally, Pat Smear was in both the Germs and Nirvana, surviving many a rock star acquaintance. Go, go, golden boy… Until next time, friends, we hope you enjoyed this Radio episode of Feel Me Flow!

    Check out ourList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #56 – Nights Pt. 1

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    DJ: “It’s night time in the big city…” Remember that? Ellen Birkin introducing the legendary Theme Time Radio Hour? I sure do. Hello everyone and welcome to Feel Me Flow’s Nights episode. 

    Whether it be in the long, cold, dark nights of the Winter or the short, hot summer nights, the nighttime brings out all kinds of attitudes for people. You’ve got the night owl, one who thrives on darkness and enjoys the sunless situations. Then you’ve got the early birds, who are up before the dawn and have completed half their day’s duties before you eat breakfast. For those of you who thrive during the night, this episode is for you!

    “Nights” are quite possibly one of the most fruitful and readily available topics to create a theme about. You’d be hard-pressed to find any artist who hasn’t composed some sort of ode to the nocturne. I mean, consider going back hundreds of years to classical composers like Chopin doing his solo piano nocturnes or Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”. The night inspires across generations and today we’re going to sample a bit of it.

    Leading the show off is the 1980 cut from The Scientists.  The Perth, Australia band’s 1980 self-titled EP features a lead off track that fits in somewhere between early AC/DC and Deep Purple with a splash of The Raspberries thrown in. Perfect early punk rock before punk rock took off. Let’s get to the music now, with The Scientists doing “Last Night” from 1980. 

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    DJ: The first single released from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ debut 2003 album Fever To Tell was that disco-y punk jam we just heard; “Date With The Night”. The album was produced by TV On The Radio top talent Dave Sitek and was met with critical acclaim. The band exploded onto the international scene when the single “Maps” was released nearly 10 months later. “Maps” made it onto people’s prom night playlists back then. “Date With The Night” should have.

    The Black Lips dropped by with a take on the Nazi’s antisemitic night of destroying everything Jewish. Kristallnacht, the night in November 1938 where Nazi forces smashed so many windows of Jewish businesses and synagogues that the glass shards reminded citizens of “crystal”, was just one of many atrocious acts committed by the German forces. The Black Lips music video for “Crystal Night” showcases an interracial couple being separated by armed forces at a high school dance. As bizarre as the song and video (directed by Sean Lennon) might seem, this tune breaks my heart every time I hear it.

    Just 29 years after that night, the world would see a more “loving” vibe enter the atmosphere with the 1967 Summer of Love. Released on January 4th of that year, The Doors’ debut album would be the first in a surge of love-centric, psychedelic-soaked LPs that would submerse the Summer of Love in sunshine. The debut single “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” featured the b-side “End Of The Night”, a spooky sounding cut that blended well with “Crystal Night”.

    Another debut smash album, 2001’s Is This It by The Strokes, would catapult a whole new wave of sound in the new millennium. Many “The” bands would follow after the band debuted on SNL that year. Although The White Stripes and The Black Keys were there first, The Strokes would be the band that made garage cool again. One of their best known hits from that debut was “Last Nite” which we heard earlier.

    The Growlers are part of yet another new generation of garage rock with their signature beach-goth sound helping push surf-garage back into the spotlight. Their 2016 album City Club was co-produced by Strokes’ front-man Julian Casablancas. If you’ve heard Julian’s solo work, you’d know why City Club sounds so…neon? Either way, good stuff. Let’s get to “Night Ride” from The Growlers.

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    DJ: Holy Wave are agreat neo-psych band out of Austin, Texas. They released Adult Fear in 2018 through Reverberation Appreciation Society, but their 2014 Relax still sticks out to us as a gem. Though, Adult Fear is excellent, too. From Relax, we played “Night Tripper”, which is perhaps a slight homage to Dr. John The Night Tripper? I mean, you’d think so, right?

    The Night Tripper, himself, showed up with the second single released from his 1973 album In The Right Place. The album features New Orleans funk group The Meters on rhythm and percussion as well as the legendary Allen Toussaint on piano, production, arrangement, and many other credits. “Such A Night” was also featured on The Band’s live epic The Last Waltz.

    Allen Toussaint worked behind the scenes with many artists, including The Wrecking Crew alum Glen Campbell. Glen ventured into a solo career in 1965, and in 1977 recorded Allen’s song “Southern Nights”, albeit in a disco-fied version. The original version was feature on Allen’s 1975 album of the same name.

    Another Southern-inspired act played before Allen with the Nashville garage rockers Kings of Leon. Before hitting mainstream success in the modern rock world, Kings recorded two amazingly innovative and unique Southern Garage Rock albums to showcase their Southern heritage. Aha Shake Heartbreak even made it into the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The lead track from that album, “Slow Night, So Long” played in our set.

    Coming up on FMF, we’ve got one of two songs that claims to be the origin of “doo-wop”. “I Still Remember (In The Still Of The Night)” was recorded in a church basement in Connecticut in 1956 by The Five Satins. Unbeknownst to the group at the time, the song would spark an entire genre of vocal groups singing rhythm and blues in a slowed down, almost a capella, style. Here’s that legendary track now.

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    DJ:  The Moving Sidewalks formed in the mid-60s in Houston, Texas and were led by local guitarist Bill Gibbons. Bill would write the group’s first three releases, but had help with b-side to their second single “Need Me”. The b-side, “Every Night A New Surprise” brought in producer Steve Ames for a bit of help. After two members of the group were drafted into the Army, Bill would reform the group with new members and start going by the name Billy. That new group was ZZ Top.

    Atlanta, Georgia had a nice surge of garage punk happen in the mid-to-late-2000s, with The Black Lips helping fuel the fire. One of the groups that was constantly around then but didn’t gain the national audience that the Black Lips did was Carbonas. Carbonas even shared releases with the Black Lips, like the Live At…Rob’s House EP that we took the track “Day Turns Into Night” from.

    Canada’s Deadly Snakes dropped by with an insomniac anthem about staying awake. “I Can’t Sleep At Night” was the second track off of their 2003 LP Ode To Joy. The band has worked with within the Detroit garage scene a bit too, garnering help from Oblivians/Reigning Sound mastermind Greg Cartwright.

    We mentioned The Wrecking Crew earlier when we were talking about Glen Campbell. In 1962, when Sam Cooke went into the studio to record an album of “twist” themed songs to capitalize on the dance craze twirling around the nation at the time, the producers enlisted in the Wrecking Crew to record the music for Sam. “Twistin’ The Night Away” features some of the most prominent members, including Tommy Tedesco on guitar and Earl Palmer on drums. Gotta love those Wrecking Crew jams, every one of them is so solid.

    Speaking of studio musicians, this next track features a musician who did some studio work in the late 60s before starting his own band where he could really shine. Van Morrison and Them would launch their careers after the success of the single “Gloria” from their debut LP, but on their second single, “Here Comes The Night”, the very first guitar strum you hear is played by Jimmy Page. Jimmy has a ton of credits on other people’s work throughout the late 60s, including that amazing guitar sound heard on the beginning of Joe Cocker’s “With A Little Help From My Friends” cover. Here’s Jimmy, Van, and the rest of Them with “Here Comes The Night”.

     

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    DJ: When the Stones were asked to perform “Ruby Tuesday” and “Let’s Spend The Night Together” on the Ed Sullivan Show, Ed personally told the group the lyrics needed to be sang as “let’s spend some time together” or the band wouldn’t be on the show. Jagger finally acquiesced and can be seen rolling his eyes while singing the altered lyrics.

    Giles, Miles, and Niles Strange of The Strangeloves were three brothers from Australia who were raised on a sheep farm and struck it rich after inventing a new form of sheep crossbreeding. Bullshit. Sheepshit, rather. The backstory was itself the invention of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer, three songwriters from New York looking to capitalize on the British Invasion. They were able to pull the story off for a bit, until “I Want Candy” made it big which forced the three to recruit a touring band that would act like the Aussie concoction. Another hit single for them, “Night-Time”, followed our Set 4 Score of the episode.

    “Night-Time” bears a striking resemblance to our Set 4 Score, Mrs. Magician’s “Nightlife”. Well, the genre, the pulsing drumbeat, and the two-hit chorus line are about as much as they have in common, but nonetheless characteristics are shared. The San Diego, California band released the single “You’ll Fall In Love” in 2016 along the the full length album Bermuda, both of which are really f’in fun releases. But their 2012 LP Strange Heaven has held a place in our hearts for so long that we wanted to give it a proper feature. “Nightlife” may have well been the best song to come out that year. Check out their bandcamp and pick up some great surf rock anthems for this summer!

    More SoCal garage rock played before Mrs. Magician with their Los Angeles counterparts together PANGEA. The band’s third LP Badillac and titular single accompanying it garnered attention from MTV when it was released in 2014. With good reason, too. Badillac is a badass album, and fits in perfectly among the sun-bleached-yet-oil-stained floors of LA’s garage rock scene. One of the deeper cuts from that LP, “Where The Night Ends” graced our set.

    Up next is some more Canadian garage rock followed by some sweet soul music. We played Regina, Saskatchewan band Surf Dads on our California epsiode with a track from their debut EP, and today we’re playing the lead track from their debut LP. From Surf Dads’ 2017 debut album All Day Breakfast (perhaps an homage to their debut Denny’s EP), here’s “Up All Night”.

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    DJ: La Luz was the Set 4 Score featured artist of our California episode. The band’s 2018 LP Floating Features was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and helped the band dive further into the broader audience pool. Lead singer Shana Cleveland has her debut solo LP slated for release in April of 2019, so keep an eye out for that! We heard “Clear Night Sky” from their Damp Face EP.

    Some lesser-known psychedelia gallivanted its way through the set with the 1967 cut “Night Sounds Loud” by Clear Light. Clear Light had minor success before disbanding after just the one album. Bass player Douglass Lubahn, however, would go on to be invited to play bass as a fulltime member of The Doors, but declined. Drummer Dallas Taylor found success playing with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and even sat in with The Doors accompanying John Densmore in 1970. Dallas died January 18th, 2015, exactly 4 years ago today.

    Philly soul singer Billy Harner dropped by with the only single he released via Parkway Records, “All Through The Night”. Well, technically “All Through The Night” was the b-side to “Let’s Get In Line”, but we’ll take it. Harner never found the success he pursued, but persisted hard through the 60s. After finally calling it quits, Billy opened up a barber shop in Camden, New Jersey.

    Wilson Pickett stopped by with the b-side to his 1970 single “Hey Joe”. Though “Hey Joe” came from the 1970 LP Right On, the b-side “Night Owl” came from the previous album Hey Jude. Hey Jude, of course is famous for catapulting what is now known as Southern Rock due to Duane Allman’s epic guitar solo in the song. 

    The final set of our Nights episode begins and ends with The Beatles, much like many rock and roll discussions. Swedish band Mando Diao covered The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” for their 2006 single TV & Me. Giving the track a fresh spin and real garage vibe, here’s Mando Diao.

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    DJ: Ahhh. How peaceful. The finale to the Beatles’ best album (in my opinion), “Good Night” closes out our Nights Pt. 1 episode. Twelve violins, three violas, three cellos, one harp, three flutes, one clarinet, one horn, one vibraphone, and one string bass accompany Ringo Starr on vocals. John Lennon wrote the tune as a lullaby for his son Julian and wanted it to sound real cheesy. It worked. Sure was pretty, though.

    Spooner Oldham, Roger Hawkins, and Jimmy Johnson of Muscle Shoals notoriety showed up again, this time backing up Aretha Franklin on her 1968 Aretha Now LP. “Night Time Is The Right Time” had been recorded by Ray Charles a few years prior, but the origination of the song dates back further than 1938. Roosevelt Sykes recorded “Night Time Is the Right Time” in 1937, and more versions than we can list have morphed their way along the charts throughout the years, including versions by CCR and The Sonics. 

    Melbourne, Australia’s Drunk Mums dropped by with a brand new track off of their Urban Cowboy release. “Rockin’ All Night” not only encapsulated Drunk Mums persona as a band but also projects a perfect image of the guitar god era of rock and roll. The track rips like a b-side off of Exile On Mainstreet impregnated someone from the KISS army. Great rock and roll!

    The Greenhornes’ debut 1999 album was a true-to-form effort out of Detroit’s thriving garage rock revival scene. The Greenhornes, The Gories/Dirtbombs, The Go, and Oblivians were just handful of amazing bands that rocked the 90s in Detroit. But it wasn’t until a furniture upholsterer named John Gillis started a little duo-band called The White Stripes that the world would finally recognize the Motor City’s garage mecca role. The lead track to that debut LP, “The End Of The Night” played before Drunk Mums.

    Well everyone, the sun is coming up soon and it’s nearly day time. We really enjoyed spending the night with you tonight, and hope you’ll join us on our Nights Pt. 2 whenever that may be. Until next time, thanks for listening!

    Check out ourDiscogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    Heard To Find: The Jon-Lee Group – “Pork Chops”

    Artist: The Jon-Lee Group
    Track:“Pork Chops”
    Release: Bring It Down Front / Pork Chops (7″)
    Year: 1967
    Duration: 2:10


    Our featured find was buried in a box of beat up and thrown out 7″ records from a former coworker of mine. Most of the records were part of a lot sold on eBay from an old diner in California coupled with some books. The coworker wanted the books, the records came with them. So, naturally, he gave the wax to his record-loving pal; moi. 

    Now for a little backstory on the band.

    John Finley would seem like just another revolving member of The Checkmates by the time he met with the band in 1964. The Checkmates formed as Lee Jackson & The Checkmates in 1962, before experiencing a few lineup changes throughout the next few years. As Jon and Lee & The Checkmates, the band would snag some mild local scene success and even score a few huge opportunities to perform for national audiences (opening for the Rolling Stones and some ABC TV slots), but both chances fell apart. By 1967, now evolved into The Jon-Lee Group, the band would record 4 songs, two of which made it to wax. We’re featuring the soul-based instrumental B-side from that debut single, “Pork Chops”. 

    The track has a down-up-down strum pattern similar to a sped up version of Otis Redding & Carla Thomas’ “Tramp“, “Good Stuff” from The B-52s’ 1992 LP of the same name,  and among others, another Paul Rothchild connection – The Doors’ “The Changeling”. Rothchild was one of the first to offer the Jon-Lee Group a contract with his “indie” label, Elektra Records. The band declined and would shortly thereafter break up. John Finley and Paul Rothchild would continue their relationship, though, with Paul recruiting John and fellow Checkmate Michael Fonfora to form his new super-group Rhinoceros.  

    As far as we know, this cut and it’s A-side companion never saw a re-release, even after The Checkmates reformed in 1999. Even though it’s a bit obscure, we’re holding out hope for a repress with it at least being distributed by a large label like ABC Records. It’s not like this was just some small private pressing, someone knows where those tapes are! In the meantime, all we have are some hard-to-find 7″ records and the glorious YouTube rips from vinyl heads across the world. Enjoy the “Pork Chops”, bon appetit!

    Check out a full bio and history of the band as well as some insight into Rhinoceros at http://www.rhinoceros-group.com/checkmates.html!

    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #55 – Gypsys, Tramps, & Thieves

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    DJ: Hello and welcome to another round of Feel Me Flow! This week we took an old Cher song and created an entire episode out of it! Our theme today is Gypsys, Tramps, & Thieves! It’s weird how they spell Gypsys on the song and album version of Cher’s song. I mean, Y?! What gives?

    Though it isn’t the greatest song ever written by any means, it sure makes for a great playlist topic! Many a tune has been written in the name of the roving persons known as gypsies, plenty of songs about gypsy women, frustrated singers lamenting over tramps who’ve done them wrong, or songs about a thief stealing your heart or other prized good. We’re gonna sample all three flavors today, starting off with the title track to today’s theme.

    Cher’s self-titled 1970 album would be renamed to include the title track after the single became an instant hit. Songwriter Bob Stone had originally penned it as “Gypsys, Tramps, and White Trash, but producer Snuff Garrett advised him to change it to “thieves”. Landing Cher her first solo #1 single, here’s the title track to the renamed album by Cher.

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    DJ: Beach Slang’s 2016 LP A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings was recorded during the rockiest part of the band’s history, with two members leaving before its release. Earlier that year, during a show in Salt Lake City, the band tried covering The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” but fell apart. After the song, lead singer James Alex stated “We were Beach Slang, Natalie give them their money back.” which prompted then-guitarist Ruben Gallego to throw his guitar down and quit. James told the audience they were done shortly after that. The band, though, did not completely dissolve, and James released a “quiet” interpretation of their songs titled Everything Matters But No One Is Listening in 2018.

    The Clash submitted their Junior Murvin cover to our theme today. “Police & Thieves” was originally done as a slow reggae tune before Strummer and the boys go a hold of it. Joe was a known reggae fan and helped created the bridge over the gap that connects punk and ska still to this day. We played the Junior original on our Crime & Punishment episode if you want to hear it in some context.

    Perhaps the best known “Tramp” song that exists, we played the well-known cover of Lowell Fulson’s 1967 song. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas pushed their cover out just 4 months after the release of Lowell’s, and boy did they cast a shadow. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know this wasn’t an Otis song. Nevertheless, the jam from King & Queen finds its way to our first set.

    Mr. Band of Gypsies, himself, Jimi Hendrix stopped by before Otis and Carla. The 1968 masterpiece Electric Ladyland featured smash singles “All Along The Watchtower”, “Crosstown Traffic” and “Voodoo Chile” among others, but it was the album-cut “Gypsy Eyes” that soaked up 3 recording sessions and 50 takes. Can you imagine spending that much time on ONE SONG? Well, that’s why it’s a masterpiece.

    Hendrix fans Wolfmother exploded onto the scene with their debut self-titled album in 2005/2006. The “Joker & The Thief” references the “joker” and “thief” from Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”, the tune Jimi launched into interstellar superfame 38 years prior. Don’t you just love how these things connect? Here’s Aussie’s best hard rock throwback band Wolfmother. Turn this one up!

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    DJ: Sticking with the Hendrix topic, let’s bring in a little Betty Davis. Betty Davis, born Betty Mabry, was a model and songwriter from New York in 1967 when she met Miles Davis. Miles, who we’re hearing behind us now, would marry Betty the following year. By 1969, though the couple would divorce after Miles accused Betty of cheating on him…with Jimi Hendrix. Jimi and Miles had grown close in 1968, which is why Jimi’s music started sound like it was fused with jazz and Miles incorporated more rock elements into his songs. Crazy huh? Back to Betty though, her sophomore LP included the funk jam “Don’t Call Her No Tramp”, which we gladly played today.

    We weren’t going to make it through a gypsy playlist without the infamous Gypsy Punks, Gogol Bordello. In an interview with NPR in 2006, lead singer Eugene Hutz described his musical influences as Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies record (which he had no idea at the time that it was called that, a huge coincidence), and Parliament Funkadelic. His dad was a musician and friends with African students studying in Kiev who would get him all kinds of bootlegged Western music on tape. Thank you, whoever you are, students of Kiev, and to the rest of you bootleggers who risk punishment or incarceration to simply hear great music where it isn’t available! We played “Sally” from the band’s breakthrough album, 2005’s Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike.

     JJ Cale’s 1976 LP Troubador included what would become one of his most famous songs, thanks to Eric Clapton; “Cocaine”. But the song that followed it on the album, “I’m A Gypsy Man” was a cover of Sonny Curtis’ b-side to his single “I Wanna Go Bummin’ Around”. The same man who produced Cher’s titular theme song for our episode, Snuff Garrett, also produced that Sonny Curtis single.

    If you like the fuzzy, blues-country sounds of that Troubador album, you might enjoy the fuzzy, blues-country rock sounds of Blitzen Trapper. Blitzen Trapper are a huge favorite of FMF. If you’re into punk rock but want to try country, try Blitzen Trapper. If you’re into country but are feeling a bit rock and roll. Try Blitzen Trapper. From the band’s 2007 Sub Pop release, Wild Mountain Nation, that was “Miss Spiritual Tramp”, a reference to the JD Salinger short story “A Perfect Day For Bananafish”.

    Our next set gets a little psychedelic. Starting things off is Danish band Iceage with a track from their critically acclaimed 2018 album Beyondless. Icecage toured with the Black Lips throughout Europe in 2018 to support the effort. Here’s “Thieves Like Us”.

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    DJ: Man. Can, sure can jam. The Krautrock pioneers recorded a slough of tracks in 1968 with the hopes of releasing their debut Prepare To Meet Thy Pnoom. After no label would take on the project, they persisted in their recording and eventually released Monster Movie in 1969. The 1968 demos would surface officially in 1981 as Delay 1968, which included the track “The Thief”.

    A couple “quieter” years came after Habibi released their debut self-titeld album on Burger Records in 2014. Touring and supporting the music would be the main focus, along with releasing a couple of EPs. One EP was a split with previous Set 4 Score artist La Luz, and another, titled Cardamom Garden would surface in 2018. Rumor has it the band is working on releasing a new album along with a repressing of the original debut. From their 2018 EP, we heard “Gypsy Love”.

    Another previously featured Set 4 Score artist occupied the middle of our set. Bummers played us “Lucky” during our Luck episode and donated another album cut from their self-titled debut, “Gypsies And Drugs”, to this show. The band released Dolores in 2017 and according to their Facebook page have big plans for 2019. Let’s hope those plans include some more great music!

    Crocodiles, the psych-gaze sworn enemies of Sherrif Joe Arpaio, yes that Sherriff, chimed in with a cut from 2015’s Boys. “The Boy Is A Tramp” channels The Jesus And Mary Chain’s “Just Like Honey” with it’s “On Broadway”-like bass line and spacey snares and swells. Don’t you just love that 60s style melody thrust into the spacey sounds of the New Millennium?

    Our Set 4 this week starts with a couple Fleetwood Mac covers. Woodstock alumni Santana took the British band’s voodoo-esque track and put their own Latin spin on it, adding a cover of Gábor Szabó’s “Gypsy Queen” to the end of their version for a double cover delight. Gábor has an entire album about the themed “gypsy”, titled Gypsy ’66. Gábor was Hungarian, born and raised not far from where Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello grew up albeit many years apart. Here’s Santana doing “Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen” from Abraxas.

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    DJ: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) morphed into the classic rock  outfit that we know today after the lineup change of The Guess Who in the late 60s. Randy Bachman left the band to form Brave Belt with his brother and original Guess Who singer Chad Allan. After evolving into a more rock-oriented outfit and renaming themselves Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the sky was the limit. Fans loved the upbeat music, something to dance to! From that smash sophomore release Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, we played the deep cut “Tramp”.

    Arctic Monkeys swung in with a b-side deep cut from their single “Fluorescent Adolescent”. “Plastic Tramp” has its own entry in the Urban Dictionary in direct reference to the song’s lyrics Apparently a plastic tramp is a traveling hobo who wears Crocs and recycles plastic bottles. I’m not quite sure why Alex is so upset with him, though? 

    Our Set 4 Score this week comes from Montreal band UBT, or Uncle Bad Touch. The unique dancing guitar lick that leads the song off travels up and down the scale almost like a snake charmer raising the reptile from its basket. Coupled with double-time tambourine smacks and a bit of “technology” the song “Gypsy Woman” makes for one hell of a score. From the band’s most recent output Ego Orientation, that was UBT with “Gypsy Woman”.

    And following up the Santana cover was Tigers Jaw covering a bit of Fleetwood. “Gypsy” was originally written in 1979 by Stevie Nicks with the hopes of it possibly being included on her debut solo album Bella Donna. After her friend Robin Anderson died of leukemia in the early 80s, Stevie held it over for Fleetwood Mac’s album Mirage. Tigers Jaw recorded a cover of “Gypsy” in 2011 for a one-off single which we played today.

    Coming up next is the Seattle prog-math-indie band Minus The Bear. After a 17 year career, 6 albums and 4 EPs, the band announced their retirement in July of 2018. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them live more than once and can tell you first hand that if you missed them, you truly missed something amazing. Precision is a word that comes to mind. From their 2010 album OMNI, here’s Minus The Bear doing “The Thief”.

     

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    DJ: From that little Minnesota town! Dylan’s 1970 album New Morning was a return to his normal vocal styling after a couple years in country crooner land. The album is chock-full of great songs, too! Well, what Dylan album isn’t, though, really? “Went To See The Gypsy” was often thought to have been about Bob meeting Elvis Presley. The lyrics to the song might point you there, but he told Rolling Stone in 2009 that he never met the guy. As is true with Dylan, the song had loosely based truths skewed into fantastical stories with characters becoming more interesting as Bob’s pen laid more ink down. He does throw a nice little reference to Hibbing in there, though.

    Compulsive Gamblers dropped by with the album-ender to Crystal Gazing Luck Amazing, “Two Thieves”. The Hives are said to had covered that song live before. The song tells the story of two outcasts whose paths should never have crossed and represents the Wild West mentality of that idea by soaking the music in a Country/Western bath.

    After Brian Hyland found fame as a teeny-bop star with the smash single “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” and “Sealed With A Kiss”, he would start to lean toward a more country-tinged sound. In 1966, he recorded The Joker Went Wild with producer Snuff Garrett and session musicians Leon Russell and JJ Cale. In 1969 he scored a minor hit with a cover of The Impressions’ 1961 song “Gypsy Woman” produced by Del Shannon.

    When Rolling Stone got their hands on Uriah Heep’s Very ‘eavy, Very ‘umble, the review written by Melissa Mills would end up creating more of a Streisand effect than any other. Melissa’s review begins with “If this group makes it I’ll have to commit suicide. From the first note you know you don’t want to hear any more.” Typical Rolling Stone holier-than-thou and very wrong review. See their Led Zeppelin reviews or Top 500 lists for more on that.

    Alright, from that country-tinged ending of the fifth set we move on to some country punk. Ok just some punk rock. Though, the Swingin’ Utters are well-versed in country music. Lead singer Johnny “Peebucks” Bonnel takes plenty of inspiration from the Outlaw country artists like Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. Peebucks fronts the Filthy Thieving Bastards as well, a country punk outfit. From the Utters’ 2011 LP Here, Under Protest, here’s “Lepers, Thieves, and Whores”.

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    DJ: Ol’ Blue Eyes winds down our final set with a rendition of the 1935 showtune “The Lady Is A Tramp”. Frank recorded his take just after the release of Disney’s Lady And The Tramp, released in 1955. From his 1957 LP A Swingin’ Affair!, that was “The Lady Is A Tramp”.

    We got a bit quieter with Siren frontman Kevin Coyne doing some bedroom demos. According to this review of his 1999 release Sugar Candy Taxi, when Jim Morrison died, Elektra Records offered Kevin the role of his replacement. Kevin responded with a no, citing he “didn’t like the leather trousers”. Probably a good thing. Doors fans would’ve freaked. After Siren, Kevin recorded some home demos on a reel-to-reel at home for future release on his solo debut. The 1972 debut Case History showcased the outsider writings that Kevin did so well, and transformed his demo “Tramp’s Song” into “Uggy’s Song” and sang an octave up. I prefer the demo.

    Actress Zooey Deschanel teamed up with M. Ward to form She & Him in 2006. Zooey had been writing material throughout her life but let the music side of things fall by the wayside when acting took off. The group was a success, churning out beach-friendly sun-kissed tunes that every California could tan to. They continue to crank out music, including a Christmas LP in 2011. We played “Thieves” from Volume Two.

    108 years ago this week, Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Louise Hovick) was born in Seattle, Washington. One of the most famous, if not the most famously well-known ecdysiast and burlesque dancers in history, Lee served as inspiration to Brody Dalle as she was growing up. Brody turned 18, married Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in punk rock. The debut Distillers album features the Dalle-penned homage to Gypsy Rose.

    And that, friends, is the end. We hope you enjoyed our show today! In no way were we looking to offend anyone, and do understand the connotations and connections that the words of our theme have to certain people around the world. It’s just a theme, from a Cher song. We plan on doing similar themes later this season, so stay tuned if this was something you enjoyed! See you next time on Feel Me Flow!

     

    Check out ourDiscogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #54 – Giving Thanks

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    DJ: Welcome back, theme fiends, to another round of Feel Me Flow! Happy New Year! With the new year comes new hopes, but we also want to look back on last year a bit. For our first episode of this year, we are going to give some thanks where thanks are due.

    Sometimes we give thanks sarcastically, like ‘Hey, thanks a lot for stepping on my toes.”. Sometimes we want to thank someone for loving us. Many times we’re just thankful in a general sense.  It’s important to stop and be thankful for the things you DO have. A loving family, caring friends, a happy career, a nice cold glass of ice water, the air that you breathe; all it takes is reflection.

    Kicking off our thankful theme today is a song about a mice elf. Ok, that’s just not true.  But the track title might make you wonder. Sly and The Family Stone put out some of the best political soul and funk music of the late 60s.  After the release of 1969’s Stand!, Sly and the band would face some tumultuous times in drug land. Living neck-deep in PCP and cocaine addiction might be enough to deter you from working. Maybe. Either way, they released one single during the 1969-1971 session and were clearly thankful for something. Here’s Sly & The Family Stone doing their smash single “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”.

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    DJ: Ahhh. What a smooth finish.  Our first set began and ends with a couple of thankful 1969 tracks. From Zeppelin’s II, that was “Thank You”. The song brings the magical melodic vibe that other Bonham-less tracks would do in later years, featuring only John Paul Jones’ Hammond organ and Jimmy Page’s guitar under Robert Plant’s vocals.

    We were graced with the last single The Damned recorded with Captain Sensible still in the group. “Thanks For The Night” was released in 1984 as a standalone single before the band rearranged themselves. Another version of the song was released on Captain Sensible’s 1983 solo album The Power Of Love. Listen to that version if you’d prefer cheesy 80s synths layered over the track.

    More British garage rock played before The Damned with Kaiser Chiefs’ sophomore effort being showcased. In an interview with NME in 2006, the band mentioned Led Zeppelin’s sophomore album selling 23 million copies and wanting to mimic that with their own release. I don’t think they hit that number, but a solid effort nonetheless! We played “Thank You Very Much” from Yours Truly, Angry Mob; their second album.

    Gary Lewis & The Playboys asked “How Can I Thank You” with their 1968 deep cut. The band found huge success in 1965 with their debut single “This Diamond Ring”, but sales slowly tapered away with the evolution of 60s rock music. By the beginning of the 70s, the band had been released from Liberty Records and would dissolve not long afterward. 

    Our next set starts with one of those annoying pop punk tracks you used to hear on the radio back in 2007. Fall Out Boy rode that pop punk popularity wave as long as the fad would let them, reaching new heights with the release of their 3rd album Infinity On High. The album starts off with Jay-Z introducing them. What an achievement for a pop punk band that was virtually unheard of only 4 years earlier! Anyway, here’ one of the smash singles from that album, “Thnks fr th Mmrs“.

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    DJ: My Morning Jacket wraps up our second set with a pretty little ditty thanking someone. The track “Thank You Too!” comes from their 4th LP Evil Urges. The album was a the second to showcase the band’s new funkier sound after forming as more of an alt country / indie rock group. They still incorporate the lap steel guitar to this day, though.

    Perhaps one of MMJ’s influences preceded their gratuitous endeavor with Big Star doing “Thank You Friends”. Alex Chilton makes appearances regularly on FMF; from his debut with the Box Tops to Big Star to solo work and even some Replacements cameos. Hell, we’ve even played this particular track before on our Best Friends episode!

    Half Japanese made their way onto the infamous Top 50 by Nirvana list that Kurt Cobain wrote in his journal. The art punk band has been consistently releasing music since 1980, with another album announced for 2019 – Invincible.  We heard “Overjoyed And Thankful” from their 2014 effort Overjoyed.

    Ty Segall dropped in with “Thank God For Sinners” from his fifth album. 2012’s Twins was apparently influenced by Nirvana and The Doors among other rock legends. The poetic heavy doesn’t go unnoticed. In fact, it pairs nicely with Half Japanese’s artsy approach. Almost like a Cobain sandwich.

    Up next is the classic soul jam from Sam Moore & Dave Prater; the “Soul Men” known as Sam & Dave. Mopping up a few hits in the late 60s, the duo saw a resurgence in attention in 1978 when Dan Akroyd and John Belushi performed a cover of their song “Soul Man” during the cold open of Saturday Night Live as their soul revival group The Blues Brothers. You might even know “Soul Man” as a Blues Brothers song. Here’s another one that was covered by countless artists; “I Thank You”.

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    DJ:  Seattle technical indie rock band Minus The Bear’s debut album fell in line with other indie bands’ style when it came to titling their songs. For some reason, bands in the early 2000s thought it was cool to use a quirky, out of context quote or reference as a song title – breaking the form of yesteryear. Some of these ended up being pretty great, but then some ended up going too far. See: Sufjan Stevens. Many of the titles referenced on this album were from Starship Troopers.  From 2002’s Highly Refined Pirates, that was the lead track “Thanks For The Killer Game Of Crisco Twister”.

    Before Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips started singing like Neil Young, the band would struggle to breakthrough onto the mainstream (not that they really wanted to). After he switched, the band would release their major label debut Hit To Death In The Future Head. From their sophomore 1987 album Oh My Gawd!!! and prior to the high pitched singing, that was “Thanks To You”.

    More psychedelic rock played before the Lips with White Denim’s bluesy trip “Thank You”. The song comes from the 2016 album Stiff, the band’s first without original drummer Josh Block and guitarist Austin Jenkins. They left to work on Leon Bridges’ debut album Coming Home the previous year. 

    An early b-side from The Beatles followed Sam & Dave. We heard “Thank You Girl”, the b-side to The Beatles’ 4th single “From Me To You”. “Thank You Girl”, although released in 1963, wouldn’t see an LP release until the 1978 compilation Rarities.

    Our Set 4 Score this week comes from the Swedish garage punkabilly band The Peacocks. Even though they’ve been crushing out albums since 1995, you may be just as unaware of them as we were until recently. From the 2010 album After All, this is “Thank You For The Young Ideas”. 

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    DJ:  Oooh I love how soulful that set became. What do you say we keep it going? First let’s talk about what we heard. Capping off our set was the neo-soul smash act Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. There was a swing in soul on the pop charts around 2015 and forward with Leon Bridges, Nathaniel Rateliff, and others, some being produced by Dan Auerbach like Shannon Shaw. From the debut release of Nathaniel with The Night Sweats (earlier released were solo efforts), that was “Thank You”.

    William DeVaughn reminded us to “Be Thankful For What You Got” with is 1974 single. The song was originally titled “A Cadillac Don’t Come Easy” before being rewritten and smoothed out to a cool 7-minute single. The truncated single would go on to sell over 2 million copies and become an anthem for cruising. Diamond in the back, sunroof on top, diggin’ the scene with a gangsta lean…

    Reigning Sound played us a perfect transition song from garage to street with their track “I’m So Thankful”. The album marked a new sound for Greg Cartwright after his work with Oblivians and Compulsive Gamblers. The track we heard closes out the album Break Up, Break Down, released in 2001.

    Paul Revere & The Raiders enjoyed fame as a garage rock band in the mid 60’s but would succumb to the fate that many of their peers did in the latter part of the decade. Psychedelia. Drugs, maybe. From the clean cut image they originally portrayed to album titles like Hard N’ Heavy (With Marshmallow) and Alias Pink Puzz in 1969, the band would fade out briefly before returning as Raiders in 1971 with the big single “Indian Reservation”. We heard “Thank You” from Alias Pink Puzz.

    Alright back to that soul session. Our next set starts off with Donny Hathaway. Donny’s debut single “I Thank You Baby” with June Conquest under the duo June & Donnie was co-written by Curtis Mayfield and Hathaway in 1969. Donny would break it big the following couple of years with “The Ghetto” and a cover of Leon Russell’s “A Song For You”. Right when he was making a comeback in 1979, he was found on the street below the Essex Hotel in New York City, presumably having jumped. Apparently he had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Poor guy. Let’s remember the light of him with that debut, though. “I Thank You Baby”!

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    DJ: That harmonica, though. Stevie Wonder’s signature sound tails our soul set with “Thank You Love” from Down To Earth. Like the album before it, Up-tight, the album marked a change in Stevie’s sound toward a the Motown hitmaker role as opposed to a teen pop star.

    If you felt like that Solomon Burke song was a little too much for you, maybe a little too risque or a little too…I don’t know. Innuendo-y? That might be due to “Thanks, I Needed That” coming from his 1975 album Music To Make Love By. Hey, sometimes you just need that.

    Oh man, a super cool cut from Barbara Lynn strummed the middle of our set. “This Is The Thanks I Get” was a complete opposite vibe from the Burke song that followed it. The track comes from Barbara’s 1968 Atlantic Records debut Here Is Barbara Lynn. She had a few fairly successful singles in the years prior before Atlantic took a gamble on her. Her LP didn’t hit the mark and she was released by 1969. One of those successful singles was the 1967 Tribe Records single “You Left The Water Running”, which Otis Redding covered.

    In 1965, Otis teamed up with Booker T. & The MG’s to record The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads. Rumors have long circulated that this was the first recording to feature Isaac Hayes, but due to him not being credited it hasn’t really been proven true. From that ballad album, we heard “I Want To Thank You”.

    Our final set starts off with a Joe Walsh-penned prayer of sorts. James Gang’s Rides Again launched the band into the mainstream and helped create an even bigger name for Walsh. “Funk #49” drew fans towards the blues rock gem, and acoustic/electric jams like “Thanks” were great gap fillers. Let’s hear Joe’s prayer with James Gang doing “Thanks”.

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    DJ: I mean it’s pretty hard to argue with Bing here. Even though he had plenty to be thankful for, we all can take a minute to think about what we have in our lives that make them worth living. In 1942, Irving Berlin would pen 12 songs for the musical Holiday Inn. Though “I’ve Got Plenty To Be Thankful For” is a catchy tune, it was the films finale song “White Christmas” that would go on to win a Grammy and become a legend in time. The film is also known for its controversial blackface act during the performance of “Abraham”. Most TV versions edit this out during holiday broadcasts now, and for good reason.

    More Swedish garage rock blasted our way with The Hellacopters doing “Thanks For Nothing”. This, here, is a prime example of one of those sarcastic thank yous we mentioned in the intro. Unlike it’s sarcastic counterpart “thanks a lot”, “thanks for nothing” directly indicated negativity. You could possibly hear “thanks a lot” in a positive and sincere way, though. The more you know. 

    Scottish indie garage band The Pastels would begin their journey in the mid 80s before taking a stab at the international market in the 90s alternative rock world. Their final release before signing to Domino Records was a single for Paperhouse Records titled “Thank You For Being You” in 1993.

    Michigan psych-rockers Heaters gave us a little taste of “Thanksgiving I” before the Scots. The song is part one of two and opens the 2017 album Matterhorn.  The band released their fifth album Suspended Youth in Nobemver of 2018, continuing on the epic sounds they’ve come tobe known for.

    Thank you. Just thank you so much. We’re wrapping up our Giving Thanks episode with one phrase and it’s an important one. THANK YOU! We’ll see you next time on Feel Me Flow!

    Check out ourDiscogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #53 – School

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    DJ: Rah rah sis boom bah! Holy post-war-wholesome-school chant Batman! Welcome back to school and another episode of Feel Me Flow! Labor Day typically represents the unofficial end to Summer and the day after it is typically the first day of school for many kids. Many start much earlier these days, though. Some even the first week of August!

    Today we’re gonna take a trip down the squeaky waxed halls of high school before moving onto college campus and eventually graduating. Welcome to debt. Student Loan debt is unimaginably huge right now in America and nearly every college attendee graduates in debt, something we need to fix fast. How can people spend money on consumables if all they can afford is to pay loans? Yikes!

    Kicking things off with a classic, we’ve got the Ramones doing their End Of The Century track “Rock And Roll High School”. The song also scored the soundtrack to the 1979 film of the same name in which the Ramones played themselves. It’s not Scorsese material, but a fun watch if you’re a Ramones fan. Here we go with the Ramones and “Rock And Roll High School”!

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    DJ:  That Cayucas song was huge for a while back in 2013. I think it even made its way onto a beer commercial, if I’m not mistaken. Catchy as hell, though. Cayucas’ debut album under their newly acquired name (previously known as Oregon Bike Trails) was produced by the late Richard Swift. This would probably explain the soulful touch places in the sound. We heard “High School Lover” from that debut.

    San Francisco garage throwback pioneer Ty Segall showed up with fellow garage head Mikal Cronin to play a track off of their first collaboration together, Reverse Shark Attack. Ty’s production has been everywhere since he started making waves in the scene in the 2000s, including Ex-Cult’s debut album which we’ll get to a little later. We heard “High School” from that collaborative album.

    Bass Drum Of Death fits in well next to Ty and Mikal with that late 2000s garage fuzz sound that we love so much here at Feel Me Flow. BDOD released Just Business in July of 2018, the 4th LP from the Oxford, Mississippi group. We played “High School Roaches” from the debut album GB City.

    Chuck Berry rang our bell with an ode to school. It’s funny how artists used to love their schools, and then as time went on more and more rock artists were singing about how much school sucked. I wonder what gives? Did education quality drop that much? Or did the attitude towards learning just shift? Who knows. Chuck played “School Day (Ring Ring Goes The Bell)” from his 1957 LP After School Session.

    Now about that love/hate relationship with school. Let’s hear it in full effect. Starting things off is Nirvana with “School” from their debut album Bleach. As we move towards the middle of the set you’ll hear some very poppy and positive school tunes before we get back to hating it again. Let’s hear Kurt Cobain scream “No recess” a few times, here’s Nirvana.

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    DJ: So, Paul Westerberg wasn’t really a fan of school.  The second release from The Replacements was an EP titled Stink (“Kids Don’t Follow” Plus Seven). When the band went to press the album, they went straight for DIY punk ethic and pressed blank white sleeves. The first batch of pressings were stamped with hand carved potatoes dipped in ink! Love it! We heard “Fuck School” from that EP.

    Before Paul, we heard his idol, Alex Chilton. Alex covered an old Jan and Dean song from the squeaky clean surf era of 1962-3. Those surf “ooh-eeee-ooohs” are just so silly sometimes haha! The cover comes from Alex’s 1995 album A Man Called Destruction, and the original Jan and Dean version was B-side to “Dead Man’s Curve”.

    The band that took what Jan and Dean started and made it internationally known played right before Alex. The Beach Boys are often credited with the surf music phenomenon, but Jan and Dean were there first! From the Beach Boys’ 1963 concept album Little Deuce Coupe, which was released only 3 weeks after Surfer Girl, that was “Be True To Your School”. Rah-rah-sis-boom-bah!

    Some more recent surf rock came from Southern California’s The Frights. We featured The Frights in our Surfing episode, actually! From the band’s early in their career Fur Sure EP, we heard “High School Girl”. Something about surf music and the new girl in school just seems to work, no?

    We’ve got another rocking garage set ahead with The Hives blowing the doors off the first track. “High School Shuffle” was released as a bonus track to the band’s 2012 LP Lex Hives. It sure does have that bouncy, pep rally-type feel to it, too! Sweden’s swingin’ shufflers are up next. Here are The Hives!

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    DJ:  As we listen to RJD2’s instrumental track “The Girls From Art School”, let’s talk about “Art School”. The side 1, track 1 explosion from the debut album In The City. 1977 ushered in so much more punk rock than most people realize. It wasn’t just The Ramones and the Sex Pistols who put music out, but rather hundreds, if not thousands of punk bands all sounding fairly close to the same style. Perfection. Three chords played at high speed. The Jam took inspiration from the Mod movement and The Who, but fit in very well in the early days of punk.

    Another group associate with the early days of punk rock is Detroit, Michigan band the MC5, or Motor City 5. Thanks to fellow Detroiter Iggy Pop, the MC5 landed themselves on Elektra Records along with The Stooges in the late 60s, only to be booted after some personelle changes the following year. We heard “High School” from the band’s 1970 album Back In The USA.

    Greg Cartwright and Reigning Sound chimed in with the title track to their 2002 LP Time Bomb High School. In true garage rock fashion, the song clocks in at under two minutes, almost 90 seconds. What more do you need? Verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, goodnight!

    The greatest punk rock cover and bowling band to ever grace a stage stopped in with a track from their debut 1997 album Have A Ball. The band chooses a theme for each album, with the first being singer-songwriter hits from the 60s and 70s. James Taylor, Elton John, Paul Simon and more are represented on the album, with latter’s song “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” gracing our set’s presence today. I love how lead singer Spike Slawson starts singing Julio with a hard J towards the end of the song. Just, why? Haha,

    Coming up in our Set 4, we move onto Colleges and Universities. High education can be an amazing thing, and we all could benefit from a little more knowledge. But as AC Slater taught us, there’s just something wrong with being a “preppie”. Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys are going to tell us why. Here’s “Terminal Preppie” from their 1982 LP Plastic Surgery Disasters.

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    DJ:  One of our Set 4 Score artists featured this week comes from Baltimore, Maryland. The 5 piece rock band dabbles in a few different genres, mainly sticking to that broad indie rock spectrum, though. With the release of 2016’s Peel, the band channeled a lot of the 90’s pysch movement in creating their album. You can hear notes of early Flaming Lips and bits of My Bloody Valentine strewn throughout. We heard “University” from that album, but they release Mr. Big Picture earlier this year.

    Cheatahs are another shoegaze-y throwback sort of band coming out of London. This band also channels that My Bloody Valentine aesthetic and plays a sort of indie rock that’s washed in dream pop. From their Sunne EP, we heard “Campus”.

    Teenage Bottlerocket put out a covers album of songs that practically no one has ever heard before and did a great job with it! What an idea! Cover a bunch of lesser-known artists’ songs that you love in hopes of giving them a little credit. We played their cover of Bay Area punk band Juke’s “College Town”. The original song comes from the Lookout! Records compilation Can Of Pork.

    The Woolen Men hail from the Pacific Northwestern United States. Portland, Oregon to be exact. If you enjoyed previous Set 4 Score artist Wimps out of Seattle, you might be into Woolen Men. Short punk songs with clean styles and a knack for the obscure. Woolen Men just released Post in September of 2018, though we took “University” from their 2015 effort Temporary Monument.

    Our next  set keeps us in college. “Ya know, a lot of people go to college for seven years” – “Yeah, they’re called doctors.” Before the Chicago, Illinois punk band Dwarves became the extreme and provacative band they are today, they started as a dirty garage rock band reminiscent of The Sonics out of Seattle. In fact, the band even spent some time on Seattle labe Sub Pop before pissing them off on a hoax that the guitarist was stabbed and being dropped from the label. From their 1986 debut album Horror Stories, though, we heard “College Town”.

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    DJ: Rogue Wave are a super fun indie rock band that got their start on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records. Capitalizing on the indie rock craze of the late 2000s, the band fit in perfectly with reverb-laden vocal-fronted acts like Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket. In their more recent years, however, they’ve taken on a bit more of an electronic sound. I mean, who hasn’t right? From the 2013 album Nightingale Floors, we heard the single “College”.

    More late 2000s indie rock played before Rogue Wave with one of the most known acts of that time, Vampire Weekend. The Ivy League band turned the rock world on its head producing some of the best music around all coming from three upper-class scholars. Ezra Koenig and Rostam went on to produce countless works from other artists as well, including the amazing 2016 collaboration between Rostam and Hamilton Lighthouser; I Had This Dream 1000 Times. We played “Campus” from their self-titled debut.

    Another common name around here is The Barracudas. The 1980s saw a nice grouping of artists who missed the days of Rickenbacker guitars and practicing in the garage. Bands like The Cynics, The Barracudas, and more were channeling Roger McGuinn’s Byrds-style guitar with simple pop songs to join along. Garage rock may have taken a back seat in the 1980s, but it definitely was still alive and well! We heard “Campus Tramp” from Drop Out With The Barracudas.

    Mark Hoppus wrote “Going Away To College” from the perspective of dating in senior high and having to say goodbye. That is a tough time for anyone, for sure, but you’ll get over it. The track comes from the band’s breakthrough 1999 album Enema Of The State.

    Our final set of the show focuses on that final step of growing up; graduation.  Ty Segall discovered Ex-Cult when they were still called Sex Cult before helping them with a rebrand and producing their debut. The punk band channels Ty’s dirty garage sound while adding their own gritty flavor. Let’s hear “Post-Graduate” from that debut. Hit it!

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    DJ: That cheeseball of a track comes from the Daryl Palumbo side project Head Automatica. Daryl got his vocal start fronting the post-hardcore band Glassjaw before starting the more dance-pop friendly side project. After a scoring some big hits with their debut album, Decadence , the band’s sophomore attempt failed to capture the attention of its fans and left the band’s future up in the air. That debut album, though. Amazing! It even includes a visit from Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong.

    SPeedy Ortiz played before we got poppy. The band has been making big waves in 2018 with the release of their third LP Twerp Verse. Their sophomore album Foil Deer brought the same relaxed slacker vibe that Major Arcana did, and with “The Graduates” we were able to sample of that slack sauce.

    Seattle band Math And Physics Club put out a compilation of b-sides and demo recordings in 2016. Among those deeper cuts was a nice little ditty about “Graduation Day”. Pitchfork slapped this band with a label of “music to hold hands to”, which is not at all an insult. They fit in well in the twee pop scene with acts like The Lucksmiths and older Belle and Sebastian.

    A little 1990’s throwback action happened with the Bay Area pop rockers Third Eye Blind. The band had major success in the late 1990s with this album led by the single “Semi-Charmed Life”. After 4 more singles from the album carried them to stardom, the band’s next effort would start their downward spiral to less-fame. The music was solid on both records, but the times changed and pop rock/adult contemporary music faded out as EDM and hip-hop changed the charts. From that smash album, we heard “Graduate”.

    Well everyone, we hope your school year goes well and you make lots of friends. If you’re not in school, hope you enjoyed the theme! We’ll see you next time!

    Check out ourDiscogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    InFlowences: Double Grave

    After featuring them as the Set 4 Score in our Road Trip Part 1 episode, we spoke with Jeremy from Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Double Grave to discuss some of the artists and songs that have influenced him throughout his music career.  Listen to the entire playlist or each song individually and read each pick’s backstory below! (📷 by Tessa Loeffler)


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    Jeremy Warden:  “The first time I heard this album, it was like stepping into another world. It really opened me up into what an album could be like, and what a “band” could be. It doesn’t have to just be a collection of separate songs by a group of four people, in can move like a movie, and involve dozens of contributors. I still strive to make a record like this, that isn’t afraid of scope, that creates it’s own world. I also continue to be inspired by how, despite the lush production of these songs, they stand alone just as strong when played by one person with a guitar. It’s really impressive to me still. “

    Jeremy Warden:  “When I was in middle school beginning to play with other people, this record is what really inspired me to actually start a real band and try to write songs/book shows together. I learned every part of every instrument on this record so that I could play whatever was needed to keep bands moving. It had an emotional rawness and huge sound that just really captivated and influenced me for a long time.”

    Jeremy Warden: “It’s hard to know what to say about this record. Every time I listen to it I love it a little bit more. It’s been hugely influential just to the way I look at/approach/play guitar. It almost feels like rather than molding the guitar around the songs, the songs are molded around the guitar sounds, if that makes sense. The first time I listened to it I was like, “What are these sounds? Are these guitars? How do I make sounds like this?!”, and have more or less never stopped feeling that way. Even though I’ve never tried to make “true shoegaze” music like this, it’s definitely guided the general textures/methods of playing for me.”

    Jeremy Warden: “This record really changed the game for me. I was thirsty for stranger music, for weirder sounds. I’d always loved just making weird noises with the instruments I had collected, but it wasn’t until Animal Collective that I realized you could turn weird sounds into actual songs. That anything could be an instrument, and that there were actually no rules to music at all. They sparked a long road of weird, fearless, exploratory song writing for me. Another album worth mentioning here is HyperMagicMountain by Lightning Bolt, which had a similar impact but instead of breaking all the rules with weird psych sounds, they just used loud bass and wild drums. They inspired me to play loud and shreddy and use noise and feedback in music more melodically.”

    Jeremy Warden: “This was the first record/band I heard associated with the work “punk” so, that’s pretty huge to me, as I always say that Punk is the school/church that I grew up in in terms of music, and guides my approach to music on many levels. Before hearing The Clash, I mostly just stuck to whatever came on the radio, so, they were the first older band I listened to as well that wasn’t inherited from my parents. From here I’d fall in love with all offshoots of punk, from hardcore, to pop punk, to skater punk, ska, metal, crust, you name it, I love it all, and continue to turn to punk art and ethics for inspiration and guidance, and it all started here.”

    We at Feel Me Flow want to thank Jeremy and Double Grave for taking the time to chat with us about their InFlowences.  Double Grave is headed out on an East Coast tour starting tomorrow in Minneapolis! Also, don’t forget to head over to DG’s Bandcamp page and pick up their latest effort Empty Hands released via Forged Artifacts! You can stream the EP below via their Bandcamp.


    Check out our Discogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #52 – Road Trip Pt. 2

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    DJ: Get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway! Hello everyone and welcome back to Feel Me Flow where we’re on round two of our Road Trip episode!  Last week we kicked off the end-of-summer road trip with Part 1 and a Set 4 Score from Double Grave. We’ll have a lot more deep cuts for you this week, but don’t worry, you’ll get to hear some of those staples of classic rock road tripdom. 

    In fact, that’s how the show starts off today! Some bluesy-rock jams to move those tires as we roll on down the highway. The highway. Although for many of us it’s only a short drive away, it seems to also live on as a mythical place of adventure, sorrow, worry,  freedom, and loads of other emotions. Rock songs often revolve around the “highway” because that’s where most of those touring artists live.

    Deep Purple’s Machine Head album was integral in the development of heavy metal. The combination of heavy drums, heavy guitars, screeching solos, and that deep distorted-almost sounding organ that ccarried with it a chugging responsibility made for a sound bearing much more weight than the songs of previous “rock” artists like Buddy Holly and The Beach Boys. “Highway Star” leads off the album  and our show today. So put the pedal to the medal and let’s go!

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    DJ:  If you’ve ever read up on the story of Robert Johnson, you might know about the “Crossroads”. Legend has it that Robert Johnson “sold his soul for rock and roll”, well, blues in this case. The guitarist, who died at age 27 due to a poisoning by a scorned acquaintance, recorded “Cross Road Blues” in 1936 in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. Eric Clapton and Cream played us perhaps the most famous revamp of the classic tune.

    Iggy and the Stooges stopped by with a cut from Fun House. The album was named for the new house that the band had bought when they were signed by Elektra.  Iggy pointed out in an interview with Rolling Stone that he drew inspiration from Howlin’ Wolf quite a bit with this record, and boy is it obvious. Howlin’ was known for his drone like blues songs that chugged along on one note, just like “Down In The Street” does.

    Greta Van Fleet, or the band that everyone showed their parents and asked if they thought it was Led Zeppelin, stopped by with their debut smash single “Highway Tune”. The song borrows licks from bands like Zeppelin or any other 1970’s rock band influenced by old blues players. It’s great to see a new generation jamming like their grandpa’s used to. The circle of rock.

    The Black Keys’ frontman Dan Auerback stopped by with a track from his first solo record Keep It Hid. Dan clearly draws from old blues players as well, citing artists like R. L.  Burnside and Junior Kimbrough as directly influencing them. They even recorded a Junior Kimbrough covers EP titled Chulahoma.

    The next set kicks off our tribute to Rancid with Avenues and Alleyways, a song from their …And Out Come The Wolves Album. Our Avenues set starts with Jacuzzi Boys and a cut from their debut album No Seasons. Here’s the Florida “glazers” with “Island Ave”.

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    DJ: If Roy Orbison’s favorite color wasn’t black I’d bet my life it was blue. It’s almost like Roy was a bruised man, obsessing over black and blue.  Roy’s got songs like “California Blue” which we played on our California show, “Blue Bayou”, and of course “Blue Avenue”, from Sings Lonely And Blue. 

    The Boss stopped by with one of the big singles from Born To Run. Bruce is another artist who has a seemingly endless plethora of playables referencing that glorious “road” we’re so destined to travel down. We went with one of his bigger hits, if not his biggest about a street of some sort. That was “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out”.

    We heard a Bay Area one-two punk punch from Green Day and Rancid. Billie Joe Armstrong and Tim Armstrong, though not related, both cut their teeth at the legendary 924 Gilman St. club in Berkely while growing up. If you were to head down to a show there in 1989 you might have seen the two play, although not with Green Day or Rancid. Tim was first in Operation Ivy with fellow Rancid member Matt Freeman before breaking up to form the latter band in the ’90s.  Billie Joe cited Op Ivy as a major influence on him and he started a band called Sweet Children. SC changed to Green Day not long after forming and would join Rancid in the mid-’90s punk explosion.

    Green Day’s “Stuart and The Avenue” references the intersection of Stuart St. and Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California. Tim wrote “Telegraph Avenue” for his second solo effort, but upon hearing some of the songs he had recorded Brett Gurewitz urged him to get the band together and record a proper full length. I wonder if Billie Joe and Tim ever cross paths at that intersection anymore…?

    Our next set focuses on those shady back streets between buildings known as alleys. The Mamas & The Papas recorded an ode to a club in the Virgin Islands with their track “Creeque Alley”, though they never mention it. The tune does mention Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Barry McGuire of the New Christy Minstrels, John Sebation of the Lovin Spoon’ful and a few more. Here’s the happy-go-lucky 1967 song from Deliverin’, “Creeque Alley”.

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    DJ: From Dead Ghosts’ LP Can’t Get No, that was “Hanging (In The Alley)”.  Their garage rock throwback sound echoes that of their Burger Records labelmates and other late 2000s-early 2010s lo-fi wave surfers. The band hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, home of the infamous Nardwuar.

    The horn section stopped by the middle of our set for some alley brass. Gainesville, Florida ska band Less Than Jake were at the top of skate park cool in the 90s with the release of their albums Losing Streak and Hello Rockview. The latter would be the band’s last for Capitol Records before jumping to Warner Bros. for Anthem. From Hello Rockiew, that was “Nervous In The Alley”.

    Lee Dorsey dropped by with my favorite song about an alley, “Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley”. I’ll admit it was years before I had heard his original version. I was always familiar with the Robert Palmer/Lowell George/The Meters version. Those are all the same version by the way, just an amazing group of players. 

    Elephant 6 Collective band The Apples In Stereo referenced one of the more famous alleys of the world, “Tin Pan Alley”. The term eventually became synonomous with the music industry of the time, but Tin Pan Alley was originally an area in Manhattan, New York City, where a strong prescence of artists, songwriters, and musicians resided. The Apples In Stereo song comes from their second album; Tone Soul Evolution.

    Set 4 this week is full of garage rock jams, perfect for the building that houses the machine used for road trips; a vehicle. Leading off the pack is The Shangri-Las outta Queens, New York. The “girl group” found huge success with their debut single “Remember (Walking In The Sand)” and “Leader Of The Pack” in the mid 1960s.  40 years later, Shangri-La member Mary Weiss would record a solo album backed by Greg Cartwright and The Reigning Sound. More on that later. Here’s The Shangri-Las with “Out In The Streets” from The Shangri-Las – ’65.

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    DJ:  “One Way Street”, track 2 off of the debut album from Australian punk pioneers The Saints, packs just as much punch as track one, but has more street references in it. Ha!  The band took big cues from The Stooges and rock and roll acts like Little Richard and were very early to the punk scene, releasing “(I’m) Stranded” in June of 1976 just 4 months after the Ramones’ “Blitzkried Bop” single hit shelves.

    When Danny Fields traveled to Detroit to see the MC5 in hopes of possibly signed them to Elektra Records, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer told him to go see The Stooges. So, he did, and by September 1968 both bands were signed to Elektra! Crazy.  MC5 also has strong ties to The Boss. Fred “Sonic” Smith, who sand on “Shakin’ Street”, married Patti Smith. Yes, that Patti Smith, the one who recorded Bruce’s song “Because The Night”. Also Jon Landau, Bruce’s longtime collaborator and mentor produced the MC5’s second LP Back In The USA, as well as Bruce’s Born To Run. All these songs are connected!!

    Our Set 4 Score this week goes to  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Needle Points. Yes, technically they’re no longer a band, but that doesn’t make this tune any less of a banger. After a couple albums and singles, the band amicably split up in 2017 when half of the members moved to the west coast and others wanted to pursue other projects. Nonetheless, we ‘re still left sifting through the wake of their existence in garageland. The non-album track “Cripple Street” played before MC5.

    As we had mentioned earlier, Greg Cartwright of Oblivians notoriety also plays in the Reigning Sound, who backed Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las on her 2007 solo album. So it would be rather fitting to play Greg after the Shangri-Las. It seems like quite the jump from 1965 to 2013, but there’s still a connection there!

    Set 5 starts off with Tijuana Panthers before switching gears and tuning in a couple classic road songs. The band’s sophomore album Wayne Interest features production work from Richard Swift. Richard worked some of the best indie rock bands of our time, The Black Keys/Arcs, The Shins, Guster, and yes Tijuana Panthers. Richard even spent some time in my neck of the woods working in International Falls, Minnesota as a teen. Unfortunately, Swift died at 41 this year due to complications from hepatitis as well as liver and kidney distress. But let’s celebrate the amazing work of the man and one of the many bands he helped sound great. Here’s Tijuana Panthers with “Cherry Street”.

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    DJ: More great garage rock from Sweden comes our way with Mando Diao and “Mean Street”.  The 2009 traack was asctually on the Need For Speed: Shift video game soundtrack, which is a racing game for all you weirdos out there with your heads in the sand.  So of course it makes sense that we play it on a road episode. Cars, streets, duh. Also it’s a nice lead in to our Main Street set coming up next.

    Australian punks The Saints actually opened for AC/DC on their Aussie tours in the mid-late 1970s.  AC/DC, however, soared to massive heights and landed themselves among the rock gods, especially after overcoming the death of Bon Scott. Whether or not you’re a fan, I’d be hard pressed to find another rock band out there whose lead singer dies and they somehow become even MORE successful. We played one of the staples of classic rock radio, “Highway To Hell”.

    Last week, in Part 1 of our Road Trip special episode, we played the Circle Jerks’ debut recording of “Wild In The Streets”. This week, we played the original. Singer/songwriter Garland Jeffreys had some notable names help him out with this track. That bwomp,womp clavicle doing a bass line? That’s played by Mac Rebennack Dr. John. Backup vocals include David Peel, the marijuana troubador we’ve featured on our Mother’s Day and 420 episodes.

    Heading back down under, we caught a “one-hit wonder” of sorts with Brisbane, Australia’s The Go-Betweens. From the thoroughfarely named 16 Lovers Lane, the big single “Streets Of Your Town” crossed the oceans and made its way onto international shores in the late 80s, fitting in well with the jangly indie pop that was leaking into the mainstream via college radio.

    Our final set of the day is all about Main Street. That drive through towns or cities that hosts all the hot spots, hangouts and hubcaps. The Astronauts’ “Main Street” was not only co-produced by the legendary Leon Russell, but apparently he had a part in writing it. Being a Russell fan, I can absolutely hear his influence here. Check out some of the Asylum Choir stuff for more Leon psychedelic sounds. Here are the clean up crew cuts The Astronauts doing “Main Street”.

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    DJ: Yeah, Seger. Doesn’t that song just make you want to sit on a main street bench on a hot summer night and watch the lights blur by? Faintly smelling cigarette smoke wafting its way by you from the nearest watering hole. Bob wrote the song about Ann Street in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. There was a pool hall down on there that had girls dancing in the windows and R&B bands playing on weekends. Perfect!

    We’ve featured some great tracks by early Jeff Lynne groups like The Move and The Idle Race on previous episodes, but never jumped into the other side of the spectrum with Roy Wood. Roy formed ELO with Jeff after The Move dissolved, but only lasted a couple years and one album before splitting off and doing solo work. He also formed Wizzard, a similar to ELO orchestral rock band. Roy falls into the same category of weird white eclectic musicians who look like muppets at one point or another in their career, sharing the trait with Dr. John and Leon Russell. Here, see for yourself. Here’s a shot of Roy, Leon, and Dr. John.

    For those of you who like to rock out and get hammered, maybe check out Guided By Voices. While many a rockstar enjoys the sauce before, during,  and/or after a live set, GBV frontman Robert Pollard would hall an Igloo cooler full of ice and Budwiesers onto stage for easy access. From the most “proggy” sounding album in the lo-fi rock band’s career, 2003’s Earthquake Glue, that was “The Main Street Wizards”. So much wizardry!

    The Zeros first major gig was in 1977 at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. The Germs’ first show ever was opening this gig. What a time! Alejandro Escovedo’s younger brother sang for the band and they were seminal in the forefront of west coast punk in those early days. How amazing it would’ve been to be in LA in the late 70s for the start of punk’s second wave. Sure, New York had plenty of punk rock. And the UK, well they did too. But LA in those days, wow!

    Alright everyone, we really hope you enjoyed this super-duper long two part Road Trip episode! Get that road trip in before summer ends and we all go back to school and work and whatever else it is that Autumn brings. Thanks for stopping by and we’ll see you next time on Feel Me Flow!

    Check out ourDiscogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF

    FMF Episode #51 – Road Trip Pt. 1

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    DJ: Ohhhh yeah it’s time to hit the road! Summer’s nearing it’s unofficial end, but that still leaves plenty of time for one last road trip! Hello everyone and welcome to Feel Me Flow. Today is the first in a two-part episode all about that mighty thoroughfare we love to travel on – the road. The vast library of music dedicated to the streets or named after a certain road is amazing and left us with plenty to pluck from. As is our modus operandi around here, we dug deep for some stuff you’re really gonna love, however, you’ll recognize plenty.

    We’re turning up the energy right off out of the gates with the Dutch pop punk band Travoltas.  The band made waves in the early 2000s in America when they released the Beach Boys homage/tribute album Travoltas Party!. Much like the Beach Boys’ recording, the Travoltas album featured the band with acoustic instruments in a party like setting, complete with the background singers and bottles clanking. The album also featured a cover of Bad Religion’s “Sorrow”, which turned the song into a ballad. From the classic pop-punk LP Endless Summer, here’s the lead track “One For The Road”. 

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    DJ: Vancouver, British Columbia has such a stellar music scene. So stellar, in fact, that some dude from a college radio station wanted to tell the world about it and created a persona to do so some 30 years ago. That dude is Narwuar. Dead Ghosts hail from Vancouver. In the Nardwuar interview with Spanish band Hinds, he gifts them Dead Ghosts’ rare “1000 Joints” 7″. Hinds and Dead Ghosts are Burger Records labelmates. We heard “Girl Across The Street” from DG’s self-titled debut.

    New Zealand’s Unknown Mortal Orchestra played a cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” before that. UMO relocated to Portland, Oregon recently in pursuit of a broader audience in the US. We took that cover from the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series compilation Day Of The Dead, a Grateful Dead covers album.

    Arthur Conley stopped by with “Funky Street” from his 1967 Sweet  Soul Music album. The title track was basically a cover of the Sam Cooke tune “Yeah Man” (one we played on our Yeah episode). Instead of Sam Cooke’s lyrics being about dances, Arthur changed it up to be about famous soul singers and songs.

    Prior to the soul explosion of the late 60s, the early 60s R&B scene would be bubbling in anticipation. Ray Charles led that scene out of the 50s and into the swingin’ sixties with hits like his 1961 classic “Hit The Road Jack”. The back and forth between Ray and Margie Hendrix there is so amazing. So much attitude!

    Sticking with the funky soul theme, we’re headed back to Muscle Shoals for some Wilson Pickett. Wilson recorded a cover of Dyke & The Blazers’ signature hit “Funky Broadway” just a few weeks after Arthur Conley recorded “Funky Street” there. There must have been something funky in the swamp… Kicking off our Broadway set is “Funky Broadway”; hit it, Pickett!

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    DJ: Ahhh Neil. I love how passively aggressively snarky this cover is. We weren’t going to be able to do a Broadway set without featuring the classic show tune in some form or another.  Why not go with a cover from the anti-capitalist, anti-American album Freedom?! Perfect.

    Foxboro Hottubs’ song “Broadway” may have been titled and constructed as such from the chord progression in it alone. Its a muddled take on the two-chord back and forth that comprises “On Broadway”, but goes in other directions. Regardless, the Billie Joe Armstrong side-project landed itself in our big street set.

    We had a riot on the streets of Melbourne in the middle of our set. The Living End is a rockabilly, punkabilly, psychobilly, whateverabilly band from down under that features the ol’ stand up bass and Gretsch guitar vibe the genre holds so dearly. The difference, here, being a distortion pedal and some seriously talented guitar playing. From the band’s highest selling album Roll On, that was “Riot On Broadway”.

    Although the Goo Goo Dolls ended up being your mom’s favorite rock band, they definitely didn’t start out that way. Have you ever dug into their early LPs? Lead singer Johnny Rzeznik even said they were ripping off The Replacements. If you like the ‘Mats, though, check out Superstar Car Wash, which features songs co-written by Paul Westerberg. From the Dolls’ platinum-selling album Dizzy Up The Girl, that was “Broadway”.

    We’re gonna get a bit groovier with James Mercer and Danger Mouse’s project Broken Bells. The 2009 smash hit debut LP The High Road and the title track single launched the side project into a fully functioning machine. Danger Mouse’s beats and production set the bar high and combining those features with proper songwriting is a recipe for serious success. See The Black Keys or Jack White. Here’s “The High Road”.

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    DJ: White Fence rounds out our third set with a cover of the Gin Blossoms’ song “Allison Road” from the Laginappe Sessions, Vol. 1..  White Fence is the moniker of Tim Presley and is one of the many collaborative outfits that Ty Segall has involvement with. Ty and Tim put out the album Joy in 2018 using the White Fence name again, their second together since 2012’s Hair.

    One of the first garage rock covers ever recorded was the Stones’ doing Nat King Cole’s song for a legendary American thoroughfare, “Route 66”. It’s where you get your kicks, you know. Unfortunately, US Route 66 is barely around anymore thanks to the Interstate Highway system.  If you’ve ever seen the movie Cars, you might remember the scene where the highway comes along and the little town’s prosperity fades away. First, the towns died, then the road died. There are still drive-able sections these days, and some sections that are declared National Scenic Byways, so you’re not out of luck should you want to relive the old days.

    Natural Child’s debut album 1971 was ominous in the name as well as the cover art. This was a time machine. The Nashville band released their debut album on JEFF The Brotherhood’s Infinity Cat Recordings in 2011. Leading off that LP was “Easy Street”, sandwiched in the middle of our set.

    There’s just no way we could avoid playing the Bobby Womack classic we named an FMFFM station after. The soul soundtrack to the 1972 crime drama Across 110th Street was written and performed by Bobby Womack and Peace, with the score songs being composed by J. J. Johnson. Tarantino used the title track a few times in his blaxploitation throwback Jackie Brown.

    Coming up in Set 4, we’re at a Dead End. Well, just for the set. Starting things off is the legendary Lou Rawls, who was referenced in Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music”. Lou must’ve really enjoyed beer. Starting in the mid-60s, he appeared in commercials for Spur Malt Liquor and Rainier Brewing Company as well as working with Budweiser throughout the 70s. One of Lou’s signature tunes is up next. Here’s “Dead End Street”.

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    DJ: The Kinks’ “Dead End Street” showcased Ray Davies’ love for British Music Hall. Much like their tune “Sunny Afternoon” the bouncing piano and sulky lyrics combine for a juxtaposition of jolly and joyless. Singing about being poor while adding a happy sound to it seems to be what rock and roll is all about. The blues is the genre you’re looking for if you want to feel bad.

    The dead Kennedy brothers are interred next to each other in a double grave of sorts, and some say they’re together in the Heavens. That was my weird sentence connecting all 3 artists played. Heavens was the side project of Alkaline Trio/Blink 182 frontman Matt Skiba and producer Josiah Steinbrick. Josiah produced White Fence’s Live In L.A. cassette which would make sense considering he played bass on the recording. From their one and only LP, that we heard Heavens with “Dead End Girl”.

    Our Set 4 Score this week goes to Minneapolis’ Minnesota’s Double Grave. DG just released the 4 song strong Empty Hands EP in April of 2018 and are playing shows supporting the release throughout the summer and fall. The band shares a bassist (Bree Meyer) with fellow Set 4 Score featured artists Scrunchies. We played “Deadend” from their latest EP, but sure to check out their Bandcamp page for more music!

    Dead Kennedys played “Dead End” from their sophomore 1982 release Plastic Surgery Disasters. The East Bay Ray penned tune laments about how nothing really matters because we all die in the end anyway, a dead end. Not the most uplifting of tunes, but it rocks out. 

    Next up is swamp pop from Bobby Charles. Charles hung around with the guys from the Band and Dr. John, being from the New Orleans area. Bobby also played “Down South In New Orleans” during The Band’s farewell show The Last Waltz. His performance didn’t make the cut for Scorcese’s movie, but the song can be found on the triple-LP soundtrack. From Bobby’s self-titled solo debut, here’s the lead track “Street People”.

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    DJ: Moar punk covers! It’s been tradition in punk rock to cover pop songs since the very beginning. See The Ramones doing “California Sun” or the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious singing “My Way. Circle Jerks recorded the Garland Jefferys song “Wild In The Streets” in 1980 and it made its way to Rodney Bingenheimer. The Posh Boy Rodney On The Roq compilation featured the original version of “Wild” along with some of the most legendary punk songs ever. “Amoeba” from Adolescents, “Bloodstains” from Agent Orange.

    There was a time in the late 90s/early 2000s when every punk cover you could find was “done by” Me First And The Gimme Gimmes; on Limewire and Napster, that is. Hell, I even saw the Gimme Gimmes labeled as Blink 182 doing “Seasons In The Sun”. How does that even sound remotely the same? Anyway, the punk party boys donated the John Denver song “Country Roads” to us from their 1995 Denver 7″, or the Have Another Ball B-sides LP.

    Jimi Hendrix dropped by with “Highway Chile”, the B-side to “The Wind Cries Mary”. The track was an autobiographical story of Jimi’s journey through America to become who he eventually became. The Animals’ Chas Chandler produced the record.

    The climbing guitar riffs of Big Star’s “In The Street” played well off of Bobby Charles’ “Street People”. The tune is perhaps best known nowadays as the theme song to That 70’s Show after Cheap Trick recorded a cover for it.  Lots of covers on our road trip! The original comes from Big Star’s #1 Record.

    Our final set starts off with some Irish road music followed by Bob Dylan’s highway legacy. Shane McGowan and The Pogues made Celtic music cool again with the fringe punk rock they incorporated into. By the 90s, the band was on the outs, and Hell’s Ditch would be the last album with Shane. Joe Strummer produced the LP and stood in for Shane on tour. From the last “true” Pogues LP, here’s “The Sunnyside Of The Street”.

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    DJ: Sometimes that last track is a bit of a “no apologies” track, and today might be a perfect example.  Bob Dylan’s son Jakob found success of his own in the late 90’s with his band The Wallflowers. Their sophomore album Bringing Down The Horse scored big with the adult contemporary/adult alternative crowd and sent them mainstream fast. We played one of their biggest selling tunes “6th Avenue Heartache”, a precursor to Part 2 of our Road Trip which will have both an Avenues and an Alleyways set.

    Jack Frost himself showed up for his zippingly perfect “Highway 61 Revisited”. The title track off of the album that spawned “Like A Rolling Stone” is nestled up nicely amongst some of the finest writing any person, of musical nature or poetic, has ever written. Yes, I’m a big Dylan fan.

    X actually covered “Highway 61 Revisited” during the sessions for their 1987 LP See How We Are. The lead single “4th Of July” included another Dylan cover recorded during those sessions, “Positively 4th Street”, as the B-side. They must have really been in a Dylan mood in the late 80s, eh?

    Dropkick Murphys rounded out the one-two punch of Irish punk for our road trip. Taking big inspiration from The Pogues, yet turning up the distortion a bit more, the Boston Celtic punk band has survived many lineup changes and mainstream success. Remember how big they got after their song “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” was featured in Scorcese’s The Departed? That song seems to play at every sporting arena nowadays.

    We hope you enjoyed Part one of our two-part Road Trip episode! Next week we’ll cross the finish line with some more songs about roads, streets, alleys, avenues, highways, bi-ways, my ways, and your ways. We’ll see you then!

    Check out ourDiscogs_logo.svgList for all of the releases featured!


    by Nick FMF