The Dwarves “Keep It Reel” mini LP on VINYL is available at thedwarves Friday June 7. Get the ultra super limited green/clear splatter vinyl w-updated Who Killed HeWho? boardgame; or get the super limited Silver vinyl w-Magical Mystery Parody wraparound cover, or get the shiny black vinyl edition! No matter which version you always get SEVEN brand new UNRELEASED songs, two REMIXES and one snappy number from the Dwarves CONCEPT Album!
It was Christmas week and RPM Online was lucky enough to have a video chat across the ocean with none other than Blag Dahlia about his recent records ‘Ralph Champagne’ and the brand new Dwarves album ‘Concept’. Blag also spoke about a new release that completes the ‘Concept’ collection set to come out before they hit the European touring circuit this summer.
We also talk about being cancelled, Vadge Moore, and what’s next. Hit us up at the link for the edited interview along with plenty of music both old and new.
After the blast off and the countdown, Blag and the gang are feeling great with a little slice of punk rock sunshine complete with lush harmonies and a melody to die for. How could The Dwarves ever be cancelled with songs this happy? It’s sunshine, rainbows and unicorns and a melodic guitar solo to swing your pants to. oh yes, and lyrics about masterbating (well it is the motherfuckin Dwarves for Gawds Sake). He’ll its the Dwarves boys n girls and if you don’t like it fuck you! Go listen to Nickelback. They’ve never been PC and anyone whose followed them or read Vadges book knows that this is who they are a bunch of depraved guys who happen to write awesome music and seriously dangerous live shows. Hell they’ve got a big pile of books made out of paper on the cover n all what more could you possibly want?
How haven’t the cancel culture warriors from the right not taken a swing at Blag and the gang. Tits on the artwork, songs about wanking and Satan and fucking. Oh and terrorism. Go Blag you crazy fucker I ain’t been this excited since dessert storm either.
‘Terrorist’ is full throttle don’t fuck with us Dwarves in full flight. The band sounds magnificent and the effortless energy is a joy to behold. In true Dwarves fashion its turns the amps up and let’s go, It’s off like a fuckin rocket. ‘Ages Ago’ goes through the gears before any chance of pausing for breath.
Wait what’s this, some horns honking, hand claps, and surfing chops on the guitar as ‘Dead To Me’ tells a twisted tale on this most fucked up of duets. Pure Blag genius and the organ is like they’ve kidnapped some prime-time Rudi Petruddi and his Fuzztones.
‘Do It All The Time’ is heavy as fuck chugging riff through a grinding rhythm like being high on spice when the weather hits 110 – intense. A couple of twists and turns through safe Dwarves territory and we hit the halfway point of this twenty-track masterpiece. Oh yeah, tipper stickers are ready to warn the kids of the content of this record as ‘ Everybody Squirts’ makes way via a seaway of testimony about a typical Dwarves day on the road before ‘Kill Or Be Killed’ kicks down some doors.
‘You Lose We Win’ is as hard and heavy as the Dwarves get Thrashing away like prize fighters. One of the highlights is ‘Parasite’ with its swirling organ (oh er mrs) and hand claps and some great licks from the guitars.
Wrecks everything ‘Comes Unglued’ on the unhinged brain fuck of a track. ‘We Will Dare’ just glides by on one of those Dwarves’ melodies. It’s familiar territory but they do it so well. ‘Lean’ is punk if Slayer were to return as punks. It’ll fuck with your brain but I think it’s a Dwarves interlude to let the listener regain their composure before sailing off on ‘Ain’t Playing With You’ We’re in the home straight now as ‘Sixteen’ rocks out before Thrashing about on ‘Stabbed My Dad’, yeah perfect, what a pleasant title for a frenzied fling before signing off this beast of a record with ‘All For You’ and you know that Blag is being sincere here and bowing out letting us know why these depraved individuals who make up the Dwarves are true altruistic punk rockers who only do it for us the fans and nothing to do with sex, drugs, and money or self-gratification it’s all about giving and on ‘Concept’ The Dwarves have delivered once again. Give give give. And on behalf of Joe Public can I say thank you so much for delivering again and again. The concept is a winner and over time might well grow to be up there with one off their finest most consistent records yet. Just don’t die or get canceled. Buy it!
From THE DWARVES CONCEPT ALBUM out the middle of November sees a return of the last great punk rockers The motherfuckin Dwarves. Its a spooktacular offering from Blag and the gang especially for Halloween so get your fangs into this bad boy but not whilst your having tea. The Dwarves are Rex Everything, The Fresh Prince of Darkness, Snupac, Andy Now, Black Josh Freese, Sgt. Saltpeter & Blag Jesus.
The Hip Priests announce UK Tour in support of new album ‘Roden House Blues’.
Continuing what has been another very busy year and hot on the heels of their recent storming shows supporting Zeke, the band have just announced a string of UK headline dates in Sept/Oct. Returning to venues they’ve previously played on tours with Supersuckers and Dwarves, as well as hitting some new towns they’ve never visited, they’ll be preaching their sermon of nihilistic Rock N’ Roll on the following dates –
Weds 27th Sept – The Parish, Huddersfield Thurs 28th Sept – Trillians, Newcastle Fri 29th Sept – Bannermans, Edinburgh Sat 30th Sept – The Waterloo, Blackpool Fri 6th Oct – The Black Heart, London Sat 7th Oct – The Hope And Ruin, Brighton Sun 8th Oct – Tough Love Records, Hastings (Lunchtime Show)
Sun 8th Oct – Lady Luck, Canterbury
In addition, they have also been asked to support Wolfsbane at their Nottingham and London shows at the end of the year.
Following these shows the band will begin work on their next album, meaning that this will be the last chance to catch them live in the UK for some time. So grab your tickets as soon as possible from venue websites or check links on Facebook events.
Limited to 1000 copies and released in May ‘Turbonegro Must Be Destroyed’ is a wholly independent release for one of the finest underground Punk Rock Garage bands ever to grace the earth. Not many other punk rock band, that never was part of the mainstream, left such a footmark like Turbonegro did. Bars in Mexico and Spain are named after the band. The Turbojugend, the fan club of the band, is only comparable with the fan clubs of old rock giants such as Motorhead or Kiss with as many hipsters wanting the levi denim with their name on it as genuine lovers of the band and boy are the Turbojugend a loyal lot.
There have been many tribute records made so why not another one from a bunch of bands many of us are familiar with and some new ones no doubt? In the very best DIY manner, this album is not released by a label and will be distributed by the bands only. The drawings of Hank and Tony on the sleeve have been made by Warren Mancini, a tattoo artist from the USA. The layout has been created by Javier Villalpando. Javier already created the TUR30NEGRO lettering for the band’s 30th anniversary in 2019. So who and what’s on it?
Familiar to regular readers will be the likes of Christmas, The Dwarves, Stacy Crowne & Scumbag Millionaire. Opening up the album is a truly brutal “knocked out of the motherfuckin’ park” take of ‘I Gotta Knife’ from the zero fucks given combo that is Christmas. A band that got what Turbonegro was all about and carried the very same DNA coursing through their veins. That’s how to open a tribute album and make the listener sit up and pay attention. Bosh! job done.
How to follow that up? Ah, I know Scumbag Millionaire. Yup, ‘Just Flesh’ is a clap of thunder that scorches your speakers. Taking the spirit of the song and turbocharging it to the max. This is sounding like a top tribute already and we’re only two songs deep. I reach for the volume this deserves to be turned up louder as a sleazy ‘Du Mongo’ makes my skin crawl for all the right reasons as its creepy crawl through my speakers. Hang on it’s The motherfuckin’ Dwarves putting their sleazy slap on ‘Blow Me (Like The Wind)’ like only the Dwarves know-how. Dripping in sex appeal and slithering through the broken glass floorboards of some damp dark dungeon this is a blast and exactly how a tribute album should roll.
Notable bands I’ve not heard before would be CatEater taking on ‘Hurry Up And Die’
Stacy Crowne gets the tone spot on for their romp through ‘Humiliation Street’ getting the thin line between Street Punk and big glorious Glam Rock. I am quietly glad the bands stayed away from a lot of the big-ticket turbo tunes and went for deeper cuts. I know there are a lot of top trumps with cult bands seeing who can pick the most obscure to cover but I don’t think that’s the case here the songs are treated with the right amount of respect and bands have taken ownership in their styles which is fantastic.
‘Selfdestructo Bust’ from Alarmstufe Rot is a riot whilst Deviltrain walks on the sleazy wild side with ‘Rendezvous With Anus’. Syff takes a buckin’ bronco ride on the frantic smasher that is ‘Prince Of The Rodeo’ delivered with an air of “have some of that” and in keeping with the rest of this album is a top turn. Hell even Christmas main man Max delivers a sleazy ‘Everybody Loves A Chubby Dude’ Feed Me Feed Me, Feed me more of this more like, inject this sleazy punk rock right into my bloodstream.
The Dogs dish up a romping ‘Armed And Fairly Well Equipped’ with parping keys added to the thuggish riff for good measure. Finally signing off this monumental tribute is a Schreng Schreng & La La with a Haunting ‘Sailor Man’ in the style of Johnny Cash and his American recordings style twisting your Mellon in true Turbo style.
Listen, I know there will be detractors of tribute albums but Turbonegro was way out there with the greats of the underground and the original lineup with Hank was a very special band to many many people the flame will be kept burning as long as bands like these keep rolling out records as good as this one. Get it, listen to it, investigate the bands that deliver the goods and then bow down to Turbonegro and all who sailed in her for they were an exceptional band and they spawned many fine bands who followed in their footsteps and continue to do so. Buy It! Then check out the bands who make this such a great record they deserve your support.
THE DWARVES have been members of groups like KMFDM, Gnarls Barkley, Mondo Generator, Kyuss, Motochrist, Penetration Moon, The Queers, Scream, Bloodclot, Decent Criminal and The Uncontrollable. Don’t hold it against them.
THE DWARVES are OG’s (Original Grunge) appearing with Nirvana, Mudhoney, L7, Supersuckers, Rev. Horton Heat and the Fluid. They appeared in the film Kurt and Courtney where they were described as “one of the more violent bands.”
THE DWARVES were attacked by a disturbed person enraged over the band’s lyrics. The first rock ‘n’ roll battle record, ‘Massacre’ proved the old adage that the truth hurts, but so does being assaulted.
THE DWARVES were one of the first hardcore bands to regularly use samples, drum loops and found sounds, even on their earliest recordings where they used cassette tapes to generate them.
THE DWARVES teamed up with Top Ten producer Eric Valentine (Third Eye Blind, All American Rejects, Slash) to make their last 5 studio albums. He even showed up to some of the sessions! Valentine and Blag Dahlia helped write songs for Smashmouth and Skye Sweetnam.
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 have been thrashing concert halls and destroying eardrums for four decades, but all of their records have never never been in print at the same time…until now! Greedy Media is proud to present a slate of reissues guaranteed to turn on music fans and Dwarves heads as well!
These reissues join the rest of the Dwarves discography – classics like: 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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