Day 5 and here’s your fact kids.
THE DWARVES have been stabbed, bludgeoned, swarmed, arrested, shut down, sabotaged and even fellated onstage and much of it is available on video, like the compilations FEFU, Fuck You Up & Get Live and Salt Lake City.
Those south coast Glam slammin punk rockers The DeRellas release a brand new video for the excellent ‘Sonic Detonator’ lifted from their excellent long player ‘Somethings Gotta Give‘ Buy the album Here
South Wales is alive with the sound of music and thunder or is it musical thunder? Mistakes Were Made are a trio of rockers fueled by the riff-a-rama of classic DC mixed with more Grungy elements and a healthy stoner grind happening. ‘Dice’ has the feel of Powerage mixed with classic Kauss and a twist of Helmet just for added sonic welly.
Mistakes Were Made aren’t fresh-faced youngsters, It’s fair to say that each member has been round the block a couple of times, with both Lino and Lee forming part of late 90s/early 00s outfit Ruby Cruiser. They were Signed to One Little Indian and with a Chris (Foo Fighters) Sheldon- produced debut album under their belt, they were on their way to bigger things – before the gods of rock’n’roll fate hoofed them in the stones and everything fell apart. Lee was also a member of Newcastle-based noise-mongers Whatever and toured with heavyweights such as The Wildhearts and Bruce Dickinson in the mid-90s. Huw’s been at it a fair old while too, providing low end for a selection of bands in different styles and genres – though he’s happiest when he gets to deploy his collection of distortion pedals in service of The Riff.
‘No Way Back’ is a dark heaving thump with the Heaviness of Helmet but a melodic delivery on the vocals in a dark twisting way that covers genres but has a cohesive sound that is fluid and engaging. These are the first recordings from the band and to sample their wears head over to their soundcloud and get on board as they add more music when it’s done. The band’s aim is to have a good time rocking out and playing music that makes them happy and that’s always a great starting point and this pair of tracks show exactly what they can deliver then bring it on let’s have more and some live shows. The hills are definitely alive with the sound of rumbling thunder Rock on Mistakes Were Made you might be onto something.
Fact 4 – THE DWARVES have recorded for visionary independent labels including Sympathy For The Record Industry, Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords, Sub Pop, Bomp!, Amphetamine Reptile, Man’s Ruin, Recess, Theologian, Glitterhouse, Burning Heart, White Jazz, High Voltage, No Balls, Zodiac Killer, MVD, Midnight, Reptilian, Riotstyle, Burger and Greedy Worldwide. Some of them even paid royalties.
| The Dwarves Are Young & Good Looking (1997); Must Die (2004); Born Again (2011); Invented Rock & Roll (2014); Take Back the Night (2018) and the compilations Lick It (1983-1986) and Free Cocaine (1986-1988). And the rest of the unique Greedy Records catalog: Penetration Moon (1993); Earl Lee Grace (1996); and Candy Now (2007). |
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| Socials:Dwarves Website: http://www.thedwarves.comBlag Dahlia Website: http://www.blagdahlia.comFB: https://www.facebook.com/TheDwarvesTW: https://twitter.com/thedwarvesbandIG: https://www.instagram.com/blag_dahliaIG: https://www.instagram.com/thedwarves |
Shake off those festive cobwebs with some rollicking hard rock n roll courtesy of Small Town Saviours. This no holds-barred debut is a loud guitars to the max slice of hard rock. With no Wildhearts, those gaps are being filled with hard rockin’ mofos with tunes and hooks trying to get their barbs into our ears and Small Town Saviours have entered the ring and are coming out swinging.
Its upbeat for sure, Big riffs galore and hooks left right and centre. Its got that big choruses mixed with bombastic riffs left right and centre. They call out influences from familiar places with hooks like the Wildies, Choruses like Kiss attitude like Guns n Roses and some Ramones for good measure and to take the edge into a punkier direction. Songs about drinking (‘The Drinking Song’) Geography (‘Wild West'(Berkshire) ), with its countrified wheeze. there are a few familiar faces in Small town Saviours in Lance and Carl who prevously have graced the pages of RPM this time they come out swinging (‘London Aint Calling’) with its Pistols edge it’ll be a swinging night out whereas there is a DC edge to the riff-a-rama of ‘Translation Invariant’ as the guitars weave around the rhythm with its transatlantic groove making for a mixed record with lots to please many genre hoppers but keeping it all tightly joined up together so it’s not at all patchy and flows nicely.
If you’re looking for a high point then I’d suggest ‘Drama Queens’ with its attitude and rampaging rhythm it’ll punch you squarely on the beak if you’re not dancing like prime time Axl. To follow it up with ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ is impressive.
2023 is shaping up nicely so look out for this fourpiece raging through your town with an impressive debut offering.
https://www.facebook.com/smalltownsaviours / https://www.instagram.com/smalltownsaviours
Author: Dom Daley
Fact 3 – THE DWARVES began in the 1980’s as an Illinois punk garage band, covering everything from the Seeds and Moving Sidewalks to Gang of Four and Devo. They still have skinny ties and tight pants to prove it.
The LP’s Thank Heaven For Little Girls (1991) and
Sugarfix (1993) solidified the basic lineup of vocalist Blag Jesus, bassist Sgt. Saltpeter and drummer Vadge Moore.
Following the death of guitarist HeWhoCanNotBeNamed, the Dwarves made singles for Recess and Man’s Ruin, then signed
to Epitaph and proceeded to do for pop-punk what they had done for grunge and garage, making The Dwarves Are Young & Good Looking (1997) and The Dwarves Come Clean (2000) definitive LPs of the skateboard punk era.
By the turn of the century, the Dwarves had toured Europe, Canada and the US extensively as well as Japan and Australia.
Appearances on television and radio and dozens of song placements in film and TV solidified their legendary status. In 2005, The Dwarves Must Die (Sympathy) was hailed as their most eclectic album yet, with producer Eric Valentine and a cast of underground notables featured in cameos that had the dying recording industry buzzing. 2011 saw the release of The Dwarves Are Born Again (MVD), returning to the punk ferocity
of yesteryear, but continuing the genre-defying experiments their fans now demanded.
2014 brought The Dwarves Invented Rock & Roll on DIY punk label Recess and the Gentleman Blag 7” on Fat Wreck Chords. 2015 produced Radio Free Dwarves, featuring live European radio
performances that capture the Dwarves at their fire-breathing, old school best.
A slew of reissues and unreleased gems produced by Blag Dahlia followed on the Greedy Media imprint, including the glam punk Penetration Moon, retro girl pop Candy Now and even the bluegrass Earl Lee Grace LP’s reissued by Burger. The Dwarves early garage, noise punk and unreleased sides were repackaged as the double LPs Lick It and Free Cocaine and the masters of mayhem returned in 2018 with The Dwarves Take
Back the Night LP (Burger) and Julio 7,” featuring a supergroup of past and future Dwarves, including HeWhoCanNotBeNamed, The Fresh Prince of Darkness, Rex Everything, Nick Oliveri, Hunter Down, Andy Now, and Black Josh Freese.
Once again, the Dwarves delivered the goods on wax skewering garage, punk, hardcore, electronica, doo-wop and noise music.
In 2022 Blag authored his third novel Highland Falls (Rare Bird) and released his first full length solo record, Introducing Ralph Champagne, showcasing his retro crooner alter ego.
As 2022 draws to a close, an avalanche of reissues brings back the entire Dwarves catalog on wax through Greedy/MVD and a double LP’s worth of brand new Dwarves material is slated for release in autumn 2023!
The relentless middle finger drive, catchy songwriting and deft production that set the Dwarves apart have never sounded better and with way over a thousand shows to their credit, there’s really only one punk band left that matters! Catch the Dwarves soon at a theater, nightclub or crack house near you, and check out our groundbreaking LPs online or at your local record store.
THE DWARVES ARE ROCK LEGENDS!
Fact 2. THE DWARVES first tour in 1988 covered over 6,000 miles and highlights were featured in the Village Voice. The tour consisted of 3 cities, 4 shows and $165 dollars cash. The band slept in a cargo van and booked gigs on stolen telephone cards.
Not only is Blag a supreme songwriter he also writes books made out of paper like ‘Highland Falls’ available Here
Formed at school in the mid-70s, Kim McAuliffe and bassist Enid Williams joined forces as Painted Lady. It wasn’t until 78 that Girlschool formed. Guitarist Kelly Johnson and drummer Denise Dufort in April of ’78.
With their Debut album ‘Demolition’ breaking into the UK Top 30 a couple of years later, it was their follow-up ‘Hit And Run’ (1981) where I got interested. As a teenager, I couldn’t get enough of their EP ‘Valentines Day Massacre’ recorded with label mates Motörhead as HeadGirl. 1982’s ‘Wildlife’ EP would be Enid’s last outing with Girlschool for a while, as she was replaced on bass by Gil Weston for ‘Screaming Blue Murder’ (1982). Listening back to the two albums and EP many years later they were really onto something with their punky attitude mixed with the hard-rocking delivery they were playing by their own rules in a very difficult market with only The Runaways on the other side of the pond offering all-female line ups a fighting chance and they certainly had the chops to stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers.
There is a lot of music to get through and with a steady swirl of players through the ever-revolving door saw a dip in the quality of the music with the real high points being those first two albums by what has to be the classic lineup. There is however a whole load of interest in Disc 4 in this set featuring many rare B-Sides and non-album songs, as well as demos dating way back in 1978 right up to 2002, as well as Disc 5, being a really rare live outing from pre-Girlschool Painted Lady that is a must own for any fans of the band and hearing what they sounded like pre ‘Demolition’. To round off this excellent deep dive you also get sleeve notes from NWOBHM expert John Tucker, as well as plenty of rare photos from the band’s archive.
Buy Here
Author: Dom Daley
Throughout the whole of January RPM Online are giving you a Dwarves fact and video every day of the Motherfuckin Month – Seeing as they’ve just reissued all their albums on vinyl with extras it seemed only fair.
Were starting with the handsome Blag The Ripper and his alter ego Ralph Champagne and the lounge banger ‘Lolita Goodbye’ Buy the album Here
Fact 1 – THE DWARVES play music that crosses all rock genres including hardcore, garage, punk, surf, noise, death metal, experimental, industrial, hip/hop, grunge and good old-fashioned pop. Even their modesty is legendary.
Blag Dahlia- ‘Introducing Ralph Champagne’ (MVD Records)
He’s a naughty boy is that Blag Dahlia, Blag The Ripper or Ralph Champagne. With a cheeky smile and probably a packet of sweets, Blag goes lounge with this latest offering. Whilst it was released in late 2022 I wanted to save my review and use it as part of my January homage to the Dwarves and all things Dwarve. I cooked Christmas dinner with Ralph on as the go-to lift music or Shopping Mall tunage if you like. I was going to baste the bird with beer or Jager and then I’d have blamed Blag it would seem like the right thing to do.
Drop the needle at the top and Blags dulcet tones break through like a cheeky schoolboy as ‘It’s Over’ fills the air with a cheeky smile but its ‘Contraband’ that sent me all in from the softly spoken verses to that insanely catchy countrified singalong chorus.
Hell ‘Lolita Goodbye’ is classic Blag – Americana, outlaw country, ’70s pop, it’s genius. you could play it in front of your gran and she’d never know. Written in lockdown Blag the crooner hit the jackpot as he runs through the gentle fields of ‘Summer Rain’ with his Roger Whittaker whistle and gentle breezy vocals much like the outlaw country of ‘Don’t Tread On Me’. ‘Elementry Love Song’ is that 70s pop song the kind you’d hear at the Diner before the Fonz walks in.
He signs off with the balladeering of ‘Shes All Mine’ with its cheeky lyrics and chorus to die for – of course we saw it coming its Blag The Ripper the filthy swine. Gift it to someone who hasn’t got a clue or just simply play it on the school run Blag rocks even when hes not Rockin’ Welcome to the fold Ralph you are most welcome.
Buy Here
Kula Shaker – ‘1st Congegational Church Of Eternal Love & Free Hugs’ (Strangefolk Records)
Viagra Boys – ‘Cave World’ (YEAR0001)
Jo Dog & Paul Blacks Sonic Boom – ‘Everybody Rains On My Parade’ (Black City Records)
Urban Voodoo Machine – ‘Snake Oil’ (Gypsy Hotel Records)
Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners – ‘Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners’ (Wicked Cool Records)
Butch Walker – ‘Glenn’ (Ruby Red Records)
Starcrawler – ‘She Said’ (Big Machine Records)
Gyasi – ‘Pronounced Jah-See’ (Alive Records)
Valhalla Awaits – ‘Reckoning EP’
Saxon – ‘Carpe Diem’ (Silver Lining Music)
Scorpions – ‘Rock Believer’ (Spinefarm Records)
Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Patient Number 9’ (Sony Music)
Black Lakes – ‘For All We’ve Left Behind’
Skid Row – ‘The Gangs All Here’ (Absolute)
Bob Vylan – ‘The Price OF Life (Ghost Theatre Records)
Mother Vulture – ‘Mother Knows Best’ (
Sergeant Thunderhoof – This Sceptred Veil’
The Hellacopters – ‘Eyes Of Oblivion’ (Nuclear Blast Records)
Dream Widow – ‘Dream Widow’ (Roswell Records)
The Dowling Poole – ‘Refuse’ (369 Music)
Paul Draper – ‘Cult Leader Tactics’ (Kscope)
Voivod – ‘Syncro Anarchy’ (Century Media Records)
SV & The Eruptions – ‘Knackers Yard’ (Avenue Recordz)
Deathtraps – ‘Appetite For Prescriptions’ (Spirit Of Disaster Records)
The Black Halos – ‘How The Darkness Doubled’ (Stomp Records)
OFF! – ‘Free LSD’ (Fat Possum Records)
Kid Kapichi – ‘Here’s What You Could Have Won’ (Kid Kapichi Limited)
Elvis Costello & The Imposters- ‘The Boy Named If’ (Universal Music)
Scenen Killers – ‘Beat Beat Beat’ (Brassneck Records / Lavasock Records)
Gyasi – ‘Pronounced Jah-See’ (Alive Records)
Swami John Reis – ‘Ride the Wild Night’ (Swami)
Michael Monroe – ‘I Live Too Fast To Die young’ (Silver Lining Music)
Midnight – Let There Be Witchery’ (Metal Blade Records)
Then Comes Silence- ‘Hunger’ (Nexilis/Schubert Music)
Crows – ‘Beware Believers’ (Bad Vibrations Records)
Bubbling just outsdie a top ten would be Suede, JJ & The Real Jerks, Peteer Doherty & Frederick Lo, Marc Valentine, Slyder Smith & The Oblivion Kids, Midnight, John Reis, The Afghan Whigs, The Vibrators, and so many more.
Whitespade – ‘Whitespade’ (Iron Grip)
Jo Dog & Paul Blacks Sonic Boom – ‘Everybody Rains On My Parade’ (Black City Records)
The Chats – ‘Get Fucked’ (Bargain Bin Records)
Ravagers – ‘Badlands’ (Spaghetty Town Records)
More Kicks – ‘Punch Drunk’ (Stardumb Records)
Rough Gutts – ‘Part 1 & 2’ (Boss Tuneage)
UK Subs – ‘Reverse Engineering’ (Cleopatra Records)
Michael Monroe – Live Too Fast To Die Young’ (Silver Lining Records)
Suzi Moon – ‘Dumb & In Luv’ (Pirates Press Records)
Simon Love & The Old Romantics – ‘Love Sex Death ETC’ (Tapete Records)
Deathtraps – ‘Appetite For Prescription’ (Spirit Of Disaster Records)
Michael Monroe – ‘I Live Too Fast To Die Young’ (Silver Lining Records)
Whitespade – ‘WhiteSpade’ (Iron Grip)
The Vibrators – ‘Fall Into The Sky’ (Cleopatra Records)
Dr Feelgood – ‘Damn Right’ (Grand Records)
Swami John Reis – Ride The Wild Night’ (Swami)
The Speedways – ‘Talk Of The Town’ (Beluga Records)
Suede – ‘Autofiction’ (BMG)
Paul-Ronney Angel- ‘London Texas Lockdown’ (Gypsy Hotel Records)
Gogol Borello – ‘Solidaratine’ (Cooking Vinyl)
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard – ‘Backhand Deals’ (Communion Records)
Dub War – ‘Westgate Under Fire’ (Earache Records)
Ferocious Dog – ‘The Hope’ (Graphite)
Urban Voodoo Machine – ‘Snake Oil Engine’ (Gypsy Hotel Records)
Dystopian Future Movies – ‘War Of The Ether’ (Septaphonic Records)
The Ruts – ‘Counterculture’ (Sosumi Recordings)
Bob Vylan – ‘The Price Of Life’ (Ghost Theatre Records)
Dry Retch – ‘Operation Uranus’
Mysterines – ‘Reeling’ (Universal Music)
The Black Halos – ‘How The Darkness Doubled’ (Stomp Records)
Suede – ‘Autofiction’ (BMG)
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