Dinosaur Jr – ‘Puke & Cry-(The Sire Years 1990-1997)’ (Cherry Red Records)

Dinosaur Jr – ‘Puke & Cry-(The Sire Years 1990-1997)’ (Cherry Red Records)

Undisputed kings of the clamshell box set Cherry Red have put together the ultimate CD clam shell box of Dinosaur Jr from 1990-97 or the hits years when they were signed to Sire. On the four CDs, you get all four albums plus a plethora of B-sides and more. Albums, Singles, and rarities are pretty much the Jewson lot.

The booklet has a heap of awesome artwork to accompany the releases as well as extensive sleevenotes from Mojo Magazines Keith Cameron based on his interviews with J Mascis.

Born in the mid-80s post-punk and pre-Grungers Dinosaur Jr was the brainchild of Mascis and his unique guitar style. To be fair the run of sire records are an amazing body of work and a commercial success to boot. ‘Green Mind’ with its cool cover was intriguing at the time (pre-internet) but as soon as the needle dropped it was a sonic scalping. Songs like ‘The Wagon’ and ‘Whatevers Cool With Me’ were and still are fantastic songs.

To follow it up a year later with ‘Where You Been’ with its lead track ‘Start Choppin’ was nothing short of brilliant and deserved its commercial success proving that ‘Green Mind’ wasn’t a one-off or flash in the pan. The beauty here is pulling in all the bonus material onto one disc with its corresponding album with ‘Missing Link’ ending disc two which was the pick of the soundtrack ‘Judgement Night’ which pulled together some amazing collaborations.

Continuing the upward trajectory ‘Without A Sound’ and ‘Hand It Over’ wrapped up a real golden period for the band. They might not have reached the dizzy heights of the first two in the set but I’ve always loved ‘Feel The Pain’ and it still sounds amazing all these years later but again its the bonus tracks that are the main draw here Instrumentals, Acoustic live tracks all filling out this set.

With almost 80 tracks this is a superb box set that’s a fantastic in for new fans or people too young first time around and a great accompaniment for the vinyl reissues that broke the band when they came out a few years ago.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

The Stripp – ‘Aint No Crime To Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (Lux Noise Records)

The Stripp – ‘Aint No Crime To Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (Lux Noise Records)

Australia, Australia, Australia! It seems that anything top-notch is coming from afar these days and powering through 2022 “Down under” has delivered time after time and it seems flipping off the year was the MO of Melbourne Rockers The Stripp.

From the great cartoon artwork, it’s obvious these rockers are all about having a good time and rockin’ out. Ten tunes between two and three minutes long keeping it short and sweet. They kick things off in style with a rollicking title track that puts the foot down and goes for it. You don’t need to concentrate to hard just know the title and shout out ‘Aint No Crime To Rock N Roll’ with your thumbs in your bullet belt and your head nodding back and forth. It’s part Scandi rock part old-school hard rock and a heap of Aussie attitude and a little bit of Bosh!

‘The Bitter End’ has a stinking attitude as the riff just cuts through the solid rhythm. Hold on a gawd damn minute it’s the backbeat of Joan Jett meets the bass grunt of Quatro that’s shoved down your ears on Ghost Town. I’m hearing comparisons of Sally Cato and her Smashed Gladys going on here. The songs come thick and fast and sound like they were born out of playing shitty venues left right and center and grinding out a style and sound born out of who they are and all they know.

The fact that Lux Noise are handling the record in Europe makes perfect sense and they should get over here pronto and hit the road with Bitch Queens and slay some audiences around the globe. ‘Witch Hunt’ has got some swing Whilst ‘Back In Action’ tunes into some fine Action Rock.

There’s no reinventing the wheel here and that’s not what The Stripp are about – They’re about picking up the blazing baton and carrying it forward – making a noise and doing it well and hopefully turning some young pups onto some good old loud hard rocking music. There’s no time for a power ballad its just foot-on wedge rockin’ out from the top to the bottom finally signing off with the shuffle of ‘Don’t Feed Me Your Lies’ with its hard n heavy tip of the hat to those who’ve gone before them and blazing a path to oblivion. Rock hard brothers and sisters and turn it fuckin’ up! The Stripp are in da house drink up.

Buy Here (Down Under) Buy Here (Europe)

Author: Dom Daley

The Stripp Facebook

The Hold Steady – Announce new album ‘The Price of Progress’

The Hold Steady – Announce new album ‘The Price of Progress’

The Hold Steady have announced the release of their ninth studio album, The Price of Progress, arriving everywhere on the band’s Positive Jams label via Thirty Tigers on 31st March 2023. It will be available digitally as well as on CD, standard black vinyl, translucent green-colored vinyl (band store), metallic gold (indie retail), metallic silver (Vinyl Me, Please), and white (Rough Trade). Pre-orders are available now. The Price of Progress is heralded by today’s premiere of the first song, ‘Sideways Skull’, available now at all DSPs and streaming services.

“Sideways Skull is a rocking song about rock and rollers,” says frontman Craig Finn. “In this case, they’ve been taken out of the game for a bit of rest, but still keep their dreams alive as they discuss past glories. We loved the big sound of this when Tad Kubler brought it into the band, and the studio performance of it felt especially joyful. We’re happy to put this forth as a first look at The Price of Progress, and the album’s title even comes from this song.”

Pre-order The Price of Progress here

Photo credit Shervin Lainez.tif

THE HOLD STEADY – UK LIVE 2023

MARCH 2023

Mar 10 – The Weekender at Electric Ballroom, London, UK
Mar 11 – The Weekender at Electric Ballroom, London, UK
Mar 12 – Colours Hoxton, London, UK (SOLD OUT)

Girlschool – ‘The School Report’ (HNE Records)

Girlschool – ‘The School Report’ (HNE Records)
  • In-depth box set, delving right back to the band’s pub rock roots right up until the present.
  • A celebration of Girlschool’s 40 plus years of rocking the globe, kicking off with their independently released 45 ‘Take It All Away’ b/w ‘It Could Be Better’.

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

The Best albums of 2022 courtesy of RPM Online

The Best albums of 2022 courtesy of RPM Online

Ben Hughes

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)

Sloan – Steady’ (Yep Rock)

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)

The Interrupters – ‘In The Wild’ (Hellcat Records)

Kenny Kendrick

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’

Ghost – ‘Impera’ (Spinefarm Records)

Johnny Hayward

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)

Plosivs – ‘Plosivs’ (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)

Suede – ‘Autofiction’ (BMG)

Dom Daley

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)

The Black Halos – ‘How The Darkness Doubled’ (Stomp Records)

Martin Chamarette

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)

Luke Haines & Peter Buck – ‘All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out’ (Cherry Red Records)

Nev Brooks

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)

Gyasi – ‘Pronounced Jah-See’ (Alive Records)

Dan Kasm

Dry Retch – ‘Operation Uranus’

Mysterines – ‘Reeling’ (Universal Music)

The Black Halos – ‘How The Darkness Doubled’ (Stomp Records)

Suede – ‘Autofiction’ (BMG)

Michael Monroe – ‘I Live Too Fast To Die Young’ (Silver Lining Records)

Rainy Days & Tigertailz

Rainy Days & Tigertailz

When Metal Collides…

Tigertailz welcome phenomenal hard-hitting Power Quest / Dendera front man Ashley Edison as their new vocalist.

It’s said certain metals cannot be mixed, they cause corrosion. Surely this is true when trying to meld together a power metal vocalist and the UK’s most prolific Glam Metal band?

Jay Pepper: ‘Some things should never happen, and yet when Ashley came to the studio and began singing ‘Sick Sex’, the mountains in Wales started to rumble, an earthquake was happening, and his voice was causing it! From that moment I knew people had to hear it. Ashley singing Tigertailz songs is like a jet engine running on Nitroglycerin!’

Ashley Edison: ‘I am SO excited to be joining the legends in Tigertailz! A band that not only inspired so many but still put on a hell of a show! When I was with Jay singing Sick Sex, everything just felt right and fell into place perfectly! The guys have been so incredible to work with and I can’t wait to get going on some exciting future projects together!’

The Sick Sex single is available digitally from all usual outlets.

Click here to listen on Spotify. They also announce our first live show for 2023. The Underworld, Camden, London Saturday June 3rd 2023.

Tickets available here.

The City Kids – ‘Filth’ (Very Fried Artists records)

The City Kids – ‘Filth’ (Very Fried Artists records)

Those Northern herberts The City Kids are back with a new album under their collective studded bullet belts, and you best believe they mean business this time around. With Covid putting the brakes on any promotion and touring of their debut long player ‘Things That Never Were’, the four-piece punk n’ rollers (led by former Main Grains guitar slinger JJ Watt), avoided becoming ‘the band that never were’ by battening down the hatches during lockdown and planning their sophomore album remotely.

Whereas the debut City Kids album was a collection of songs that frontman JJ had already written and arranged himself, the resulting follow up album ‘Filth’ is a collaborative effort and a step up both sonically, creatively and artistically.

Berty Burton’s bass rumble on the opening title track, paired with Dave Sanders urgent beats ensure the listener is paying attention from the off. JJ’s unmistakable growl has the grit of a 40 a day habit and the stench of last night’s rum & coke session still on his breath, while the metallic licks of former Warrior Soul man Dennis Post seal the deal. ‘Filth’ is…. well, it’s downright filthy from the word go!

Next, the upbeat ‘Alone’ rides along on a glorious melody and some killer guitar work, its over before you’ve had time to sink another drink. Things are certainly cooking in the world of The City Kids two tracks deep.

The overall sound is raw and ramshackle, but with the guidance of a certain Dave Draper overseeing JJ and Andy Brook in the production and mixing department, it is also a bit of a monster. The delivery is cool and collected and the songs are as memorable as the heroes the band aim to channel. Their punk n’ roll sound is a mash of Social Distortion and The Yo-Yo’s with hints of JJ’s previous band to the fore. As with the debut, melody is prevalent and the hooks are there for all to savour.

The gritty, high energy single ‘It Should Have Been You’ is as much fun as you can have with your clothes on and the punchy, Wildhearts-esque ‘You Wanna?’ is an early stand out that sinks its teeth into the subconscious and stays there for good. There’s something overly familiar in the pop-tastic melodies of ‘Scars’ that sits well, and the pub rock goodness of ‘Self-Righteous’ will have you coming back for more time and time again.

Is it me, or have JJ’s vocals got rawer over the past few years? Maybe the dude’s been chewing glass over lockdown to get that authentic Lemmy / Mike Ness rasp! Shout out to the backing vocal department on this album, the likes of ‘Something Faster’ and ‘Ghosts’ have a quality you don’t hear every day. Full band vocals and memorable choruses go a long way to elevate the tunes to anthemic sing-a-longs.

Ten tracks of no-frills filth, job done!

If you like your music with dirt under the fingernails and grease in the hair, if you dig no frills rock n’ roll with 3 chords and tons of attitude then The City Kids could be right up your street. ‘Filth’ is a step in the right direction for JJ and the boys and is available now to purchase on a shiny spinning disc with a cool cover. I suggest you click on the link below and add it to your collection. Hell, buy a few for Xmas pressies, RPM Santa insists!

Buy Here

Author: Ben Hughes

DC Spectres – Vol 4 (Bootikirecords)

DC Spectres – Vol 4 (Bootikirecords)

As the bell tolls an eerie deathly silence is about to be shattered with some diabolical grunting bass and a shimmering blast of Garage Rock and Roll as it spews forth from the speakers with a creepy crawly menace as ‘Ms. Understanding’ hits the speakers. What a fantastic sounding opener that got an air of controlled chaos about it with the thumping Bass piercing through the guitars to grab the listener as it lurches with menace.

With eleven tracks packed onto this album, you better strap yourself in for a rocket ride of power and controlled aggression but with an overwhelming whiff of Garage rock n roll. ‘Bad Connection’ kicks ass right out of the blocks and I like this a lot already. The thrust and adrenalin continue at pace as ‘Shake You Down’ thunders in. ‘Inbred Respect’ has the beating heart of the Damned era ‘Machine Gun Ettiquete’ on its harder more punchy tunes like ‘Love Song’.

With a spoken intro ‘Action Volume’ turns up a bastardised ‘Iron Man’ on a fuzzed-out distorted electric guitar. The song sounds like a hell of a night out with its rolling rhythm before smashing out on the chorus. ‘Born To Die In 73’ is straight out 77 punk rock. Its the snotty distant cousin of early Damned, UK Subs and SLF and a real fist-pumping thumper. Guitars being rinsed, snare getting a thrashing and full-bodied rhythm – nice!

‘The Revolution Is Dead’ tells the story of Lennon’s assassination and why the future is/was bleak, but pop culture is alive and kicking and The Revolution might well be around the next corner who knows? Signing off with the super fuzz of ‘Lone Astronaut’ this has been a treat on the ears and brain food for the Garage Rock connoisseur.

There has always been great music and this DC Spectres album is a fantastic offering tipping the hat to what’s gone before and picking up that torch and running into the future with it hopefully inspiring others to play Rock n Roll – loud, hard, fast and with this much passion and a love of the fine art of the Garage band and what it means. Play on my friends Vol 4 is a mighty fine album that is worthy of being classed as All Killer no Filler! Buy it!

Buy Here

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Two for Tuesday +1

Two for Tuesday +1

First up Nancy Boy performs a cover of the lost classic “Rosies are coming to town” by the band ROSIE. Check em out on Facebook / Instagram they rock!

Next up we have the new single from The Empty Page. ‘Dry Ice’ is the first single from their upcoming second album. It’s a disco goth banger. Dry Ice was inspired by the alluring stench that pours out the back door of a club, beckoning you in as you walk past. The chorus celebrates ‘the crush of the warm crowd’ – the joy of moving as one to loud music in a roomful of people. It’s about writing together unselfconsciously. Get an earful on the bands Bandcamp page Here

The +1 is our South Wales friends Deathtraps with a video for the ‘Still Fucked Up’ tune lifted from their latest long player ‘Appetite For Prescription’ Which you can purchase Here – Its potty-mouthed punk n roll and its bloody good. Check it out

Fake Names – Delete Myself

Fake Names – Delete Myself

FAKE NAMES ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM

‘EXPENDABLES’ OUT ON MARCH 3rd

 VIA EPITAPH RECORDS

Today, post-hardcore dream team – Fake Names – announce their second studio album, ‘Expendables’for release on March 3rd, 2023 via Epitaph Records.

The band is comprised of members Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty), Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace), Dennis Lyxzén (Refused, INVSN, The [International] Noise Conspiracy), Johnny Temple (Girls Against Boys, Soulside) and newest addition Brendan Canty (Fugazi, Rites of Spring). It’s the latest exchange in a musical conversation that spans four decades, but instead of rehashing the past, ‘Expendables’ is a reinvention that sees the band dialing back the distortion and leaning into the melodies.

Today they share lead single “Delete Myself,” a high energy craft cocktail comprised of Punk and Garage, finished with unforgettable riffs.

LISTEN TO “DELETE MYSELF” NOW

Forming in 2016, Brian Baker describes Fake Names as a “mutual admiration society,” saying that once the five members got in the same room together, it felt as if they had already been in the band together for years. “There’s this intangible energy, a clairvoyance that comes from our shared experience,” he explains. On ‘Expendables,’ the result pairs their unparalleled pedigree with a pop sensibility that’s slightly unexpected and wholly satisfying.

Melding 70’s U.K. punk with power-pop and classic rock, the Fake Names’ self-titled debut album (2020) was actually a demo that Epitaph founder and Baker’s Bad Religion bandmate, Brett Gurewitz, wanted to release as is. After releasing a three-track EP in 2021, the band enlisted producer Adam “Atom” Greenspan (IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) who helmed a surprisingly cleaner sound for Expendables. Baker says, “The pop influences are a little more out front on this one and the production really helps it shine. It sounds more direct, more urgent.”

There’s also an economy to these songs that’s rooted in the fact that they were recorded in the span of a week, eliminating the option to add excess instrumentation or arrangements. What ensues is an album that retains the members’ purity of vision in a strikingly refreshing way.

Speaking to lyrical themes, Baker discloses, “In general, Dennis writes about revolution, and Michael and I write pop songs. I’m amazed at how it works, but somehow it strikes the right balance of salty and sweet.” This imagery is paralleled in the album artwork which Baker describes as “70’s dystopian” and features an eerie army of mannequins set against a cold urban backdrop. That dichotomy of lively music and bleak imagery is an important thematic element of Expendables because the album is more than just a collection of catchy songs: it’s an artistic statement about our own impermanence.

For more information on Fake Names, visit:

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE

Fake Names – Press Photo by Danny Clinch