Glo - Diskoackel and Nerv EP Reissues

Glo - Diskoackel EP

Label: Re-Ken-Records; Year: 2019; Format: 7" EP

Back in the '90s Barny of Incognito Records from Stuttgart in Germany released a bunch of brilliant Compilation LPs entitled Back To Front. That's when I first heard of Glo from Asa near Gothenburg in Sweden as the song "Du For som Dom Vill" appeared on Volume 5 of above mentioned Comp Series. With both songs on this originally in 1979 released EP you get value for your money in form of upbeat drunken punk rock smashers with singer Patrik shouting on top of his lungs. Think Ramones meets Rude Kids and you know what I mean. Oh, and yes there is a third "song" on here but it's only 18 seconds long hence no need to mention it. One of the many great early Swedish punk rock gems. 

Glo - Nerv EP

Label: Re-Ken-Records; Year: 2019; Format: 7" EP

Thanks to Ken Records you get to enjoy the second Glo EP as well without having to dig deep into your pension fund. Personally I prefer this one over the first one and originally this came out in 1980. The production on this one is superior and louder and less muddy hence the songs are just more in your face. Musically this isn't any different from the first EP with all three songs (yes there is a fourth and it's 5 seconds long) being obnoxious straight forward punk rock hits. According to the Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk by Peter Jandreus these guys not only sounded punk but also had the look and were quite a heavy drinking bunch. Apparently on the way to a gig in Sundsvall the band managed to take apart an entire train compartment. So much for the well behaved Scandinavian youth listening to Abba... If you like your punk loud and snotty this is for you. 

Inocentes - Panico em S.P. Mini-LP

Label: WEA Brazil; Year: 1986; Format: 12" Mini-LP

In 1983 Inocentes from Sao Paolo in Brazil self-released a fantastic raw hardcore punk 7" titled "Miseria E Fome". Unfortunately even the reissue is so rare that at this point I won't be reviewing said classic. This Mini-LP was gifted to me by a good friend in Europe and while their self-titled EP was put out by the band itself, three years later Inocentes found themselves on WEA Brazil, a major. While their earlier output was influenced by Discharge, Rattus and the likes, three years later the band went much more melodic without losing its edge. The six songs on here are well produced mid-tempo punk rock smashers with great hooks and really brilliant songwriting. One can definitely hear a Clash influence but I would also compare them to '80s French bands like Camera Silens or Komintern Sect. It's pretty obvious that the members went through a phase where they started to listen to more melodic bands while taking that direction with their own songs. Interestingly enough not only UK's The Insane have a song called "El Salvador" but so do Inocentes and it's a hit as well. From the little I have heard from here on the band's releases gradually started to get poppier and far more mainstream sounding hence nothing I would seek out. This one though is a true gem and will have you pogo in your living room!

Nickey & The Warriors - Wild Cherry EP

Label: S.E.X Records; Year: 1986; Format: 12" EP

When I visited Tokyo in 1997 a Japanese friend of mine made me a tape with bands such as Sheena & The Rokkets, Nukey Pikes, Cobra or the herein reviewed Nickey & The Warriors. He obviously preferred the more melodic side of Punk Rock from Nippon and I loved that cassette. I instantly fell in love with the sound of Nickey & The Warriors and one day back in '97 above mentioned friend took me on a wild motorcycle ride with his Yokohama through Tokyo with me on the backseat fearing for my fuckin' life. When I listened to this 4-song EP today for some reason I was instantly taken back to that memory. Nickey & The Warriors started out in 1983 as the Road Warriors originally without Nickey on the mic but with Keigo of Stalin, G-Zet, Cobra fame on vocals. It was a little later that the teenage singer Nickey, who was a friend of then wife of Michiro Endo (The Stalin) joined the band. This EP and the "Born To Ride" 7" from the same year have some of the best material ever recorded by them in my honest opinion. All four songs here are well produced upbeat Bubble Punk smashers with lots of hooks and ooh ooh's and aaah aah's in the background, obviously heavily influenced by the Ramones but by no means were they ever a copycat band. Nickey's vocals could be described as cute, and they definitely have a lot of charm. As a matter of fact "I wanna be yourself" is one of my favorite songs by them, just a fantastic mid-tempo pop punk song from the '80s. At some point I will review the "Born To Ride" 7" as it's equally good. 

Label: S.E.X Records; Year: 1986; Format: Flexi One Sided 7"

This one-sided Flexi 7" was inside my copy of above reviewed 12" so when I pulled it off of the shelve today I was wondering whether it was originally included with the EP but from what I read on Discogs this Flexi was a promo from the short-lived Nickey & The Warriors official Fan Club and was sent out with the "Warriors Times" zine. The previous owner was nice enough to slip it into the 12" hence I consider myself a lucky bastard owning this one as well. Feel Good is yet another upbeat bubble punk smasher in the vein of the other songs on the 12". Definitely made my day today. 

Rutto - Ei Paluuta and Ilmastoitu Painajainen EP Reissues

Rutto - Ei Paluuta EP

Label: Final Doomsday Records; Year: 2022; Format: 7" EP

When I was a teenager back in Switzerland I loved bands like Rattus, Bastards, Riistetyt et al. The sound, the Finnish language and the way the punks from this northern country looked just appealed to me on all levels. I don't remember ever hearing about Rutto, a band from the town of Tornio where also much better known Terveet Kadet came from. With Piasky filling in on bass and the original having been released in 1983 on Laja's of TK fame IKBAL Records it is pretty clear that Rutto were close to TK. What we get on this EP is mid-paced rudimentary female fronted punk rock that reminds be a bit of UK bands like Anti Pasti or Action Pact. The tracks all sound a bit alike and if there is one stand out song then I'd pick "Sa Et Haluu" which has a nice 77' punk feel to it. By no means one of those classic '80s Finnish hardcore punk records but nice to have a reissue and Final Doomsday have done a nice job in that regard. 

Rutto - Ilmastoitu Painajainen EP

Label: Final Doomsday Records; Year: 2022; Format: 7" EP

Just like above EP the second Rutto EP was originally released on IKBAL, this one in 1984. A-Side has in my opinion the best songs Rutto recorded as those thrashers are as fast, frantic and chaotic as any Terveet Kadet song to make the comparison since Piasky served on bass. Guitarist Makinen (also of Kuolema) rips through those songs while Kana struggles to keep up screaming but the end result was as good as many of the far better known acts from the land of thousand lakes. It's a shame that the B-Side is a letdown and contains a badly produced mid-tempo punk song that quite frankly should have never made it onto vinyl. Still, if you are like me and can never get enough of that chaotic '80s hardcore punk from Finland then this is worth picking up for that one side only. As mentioned above I don't think anyone will place Rutto in the same league as Rattus, TK, Kaaos et al. but these reissues are nevertheless worth your hard earned cash. 

Civil Dissident - Menzies' Crack LP 

Label: Prank Records; Year: 1996: Format: Vinyl LP

What we have here is a little known gem of a band from the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Australia is a goldmine when it comes to loud, obnoxious and primitive Rock'N'Roll. What the land "Down Under" is not really known for that well is straight forward bludgeoning hardcore punk. Civil Dissident released officially just one 7" EP in 1985 and the songs on this LP are all from 1982, 1984 and 1985 when they disbanded. The inlay has a nice write up by Scotti from Resistant Harmony Fanzine and Civil Dissident's most consistent line up basically evolved out of three bands: Civil Dissident, Society's Victim and Mad Flowers. As a matter of fact Civil Dissident and Mad Flowers supported the Dead Kennedys in 1983 in Melbourne. Listening to the songs contained on this record I couldn't help thinking of UK bands like Icons of Filth or Antisect. Scotti's liner notes mention that the band drew influences from UK bands such as Crass or Discharge as well as Euro/Japan bands like Stalin or Negazione and of course US hardcore acts like SS Decontrol, Faith or Jerry's Kids. It makes sense as some songs have a heavy Boston influenced sound and are straight fast paced hardcore punk smashers whereas other songs are slower, heavier and lean more towards the UK Anarcho Punk bands. All in all this is a great time document of a band that I am sure does not get mentioned all that often. It is worthwhile to mention that Civil Dissident did end up on internationally quite well known compilation LPs such as Pushead's Cleanse the Bacteria or Life is a Joke on Germany's Weird System Records amongst others, meaning you might have come across this band more often than you think. Cracking LP! 

Update February 7, 2023 to a photo post on Instagram where I posted the link to this review in the comment section. This is what drummer Dave Ross had to say: "thanks for the review, mate! The same lineup did three recording sessions. The first was the officially released our “Fourth Rate American Thrash” in 1984. A limited release, each cassette cover was different, hand drawn by each band member. The tape was wrapped in a polystyrene meat tray! Second session was songs for the “Eat Your Head” and “Cleanse the Bacteria” comps. Third session was meant to be an album but we didn’t have enough money to release it ourselves so we put out the “First Blood” 7” EP ourselves instead. The rest of the songs from that session made it on various overseas compilations and “Menzies Crack”, organised by Scotti and released by a San Francisco label. I hope that helps fill in some blanks. Thanks for your interest!"

V/A - Digging in Water LP 

Label: Manic Ears Records/COR Records; Year: 1987; Format: Vinyl LP

My previous entry to this blog having reviewed Bob Suren's book made me think that there were a number of records back in the '80s that I used to spin over and over. A lot of them were Compilations as they were easily available and for a youngster with a limited budget they offered value for money. Digging in Water from 1987 is one of those LPs I dearly loved to bits and tonight was the first time in a long time I put this record on while enjoying a trip down memory lane. The A Side is the noisier and faster side of the two with great tracks my the likes of Chaos U.K., Concrete Sox, Extreme Noise Terror or Ripcord to name a few. Only Italy's CCM and Aussies Vicious Circle are not from the UK on this Comp. but they both deliver really strong songs with CCM's Ultracore one of the best in my opinion. Side B offers more variety and isn't as full on Stenchcore as the other side. One of the best songs on the entire record is Civilized Society's "The Fairer Sex", a superb melodic yet forward driving song. Also great are Depraved or the far lesser known Eyes on You, of which song I probably didn't enjoy as much back then as it's got almost a post-punk feel to it but being in my 50's now I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe the best song is Oi Polloi's "Pigs For Slaughter". This was their best phase if I dare to say with a brutal and loud bass sound making those songs instant pogo smashers. One little anecdote about ENT's fantastic contribution with the song "Bullshit Propaganda". Their sadly deceased shouter Phil (RIP) lived in Switzerland for a number of years, the country where I also lived for the most part of my life. Phil worked at Rec Rec Distribution in the Drum'N'Bass department as he was knowledgeable in that genre. A close punk friend of mine worked there as well and told me about Phil as he knew I liked ENT. One evening at a show I was drunk out of my mind and Phil was in the attendance. My friend introduced me to him and all I was capable of that night was shouting "Bullshit Propaganda!!!!!" all night at poor ole' Phil. A week or so later my friend told me that Phil asked him who his weird and crazy friend was. After Phil had relocated back to the UK and I myself moved to London Phil was nice enough to invite me to their shows when they were in London and I will always remember him as a funny and bright guy who I am sure is missed by many. 

Bob Suren - Crate Digger (An Obsession with Punk Records)

Publisher: Microcosm Publishing; Year: 2015; Format: Book

I am absolutely positive that the name Bob Suren will sound familiar to anyone that has gotten into punk either in the '80s or '90s as Bob was a very active guy on an international level with his record store/distribution/label out of Florida. Crate Digger is a fantastic little book revolving around 30 years of collecting punk records with the book divided up into chapters containing the name of a certain band's record. This way stories around records by the likes of the Misfits, Rattus, Stalin, DOA etc. take us from the humble beginnings of Bob discovering punk rock through his many years running Sound Idea and everything connected to the store all the way up to him selling his entire record collection. Each little chapter revolves not just around the band's record but a certain period in the author's life. As one would expect there are just hilarious stories where for instance the FBI gets involved in a record trade gone wrong between Bob and a fellow in Oregon, or that one time when a drug addict enters Bob's stores with several boxes of rare records selling them on the cheap only to realize after the drugs have worn off that he made a big mistake. A lot of the chapters have real personal stories enabling readers to participate on this wild punk rock journey with its ups and downs. I wish there were more books like this one as it's just a fun read with passion and dedication seeping through each page.

Interview with Bob on the Publisher's website from 2015: https://microcosmpublishing.com/blog/2015/05/an-interview-with-bob-suren/