King Snake Roost / Bloodloss – School's Out / Nutbush City Limits [7''] (1988, Aberrant Records)

The split 7-inch pairing King Snake Roost and Bloodloss brought together two Australian underground acts whose music grew out of the country's punk and post-punk scenes. Released in 1988 on Aberrant Records, the single featured versions of “School's Out” and “Nutbush City Limits”, songs originally associated with Alice Cooper and Ike & Tina Turner, respectively. Both tracks offered an opportunity to approach familiar rock material from the perspective of Australia's increasingly abrasive noise-rock underground. 

Formed in Adelaide in 1985, King Snake Roost relocated to Sydney in 1987, developing a sound built around distorted guitars, raw vocals and an unruly mixture of punk, blues and noise. Guitarist Charlie Tolnay, previously a member of Adelaide punk outfit Grong Grong, was central to the group's history and also connected King Snake Roost with the wider local underground. The band released its debut album, 'From Barbarism To Christian Manhood', through Aberrant in 1987, followed by 'Things That Play Themselves' in 1988. Their music placed them alongside Australian noise-rock contemporaries such as feedtime and Lubricated Goat, while their live appearances with American groups including Big Black, Sonic Youth and Mudhoney helped connect the Australian scene with the international underground.

 
Bloodloss had formed in Sydney in the early 1980s, with Sharron Weatherill, Renestair E.J., Jim Selene and Martin Bland among the original members. After an early period of activity and a spell under the name Zulu Rattle, the group reformed in Adelaide in 1986. The new line-up included Charlie Tolnay on guitar, creating a direct link with King Snake Roost. Bloodloss combined post-punk abrasion with blues, jazz and primitive rock influences, and its 1988 album 'Human Skin Suit' appeared around the same time as the split single. Their changing line-ups and connections with musicians from bands such as Lubricated Goat reflected the close-knit, frequently overlapping nature of Australia's underground music community.

 
Aberrant Records was closely associated with this Adelaide and Sydney network, releasing records by King Snake Roost and other Australian punk and noise-rock acts. Its catalogue documented a strain of independent music that favoured rough-edged production, unconventional songwriting and uncompromising performances over mainstream polish. 

 

Label: Aberrant Records – Crack 1 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single 

Country: Australia 

Released: 1988 

Style: Punk, Garage Rock, Noise Rock, Pigfuck 

 

Tracklist: 

A King Snake Roost – School's Out 

B Bloodloss – Nutbush City Limits 

 

Notes:  

Released by Aberrant Records though there is no label logo nor any further information on the release itself. This single was given away free with issue #22 of the Australian 'B Side' magazine/fanzine. It doesn't have a cover date but it came out in the first quarter of 1988. Copies of the single alone were also available (later) from Aberrant. As noted, there is barely any information on the labels or picture sleeve but this is rectified in the magazine which provides lineups and recording dates. 

 

King Snake Roost track recorded Sept 6 1987 at Sound Barrier Studios, courtesy of Aberrant Records.

Bloodloss track recorded July 1987 at Soundtrack, courtest of Greasy Pop Records. 

 

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James M. Shepard – Collisions [Cass] (1988, Iron Press)

Released in 1988 on Iron Press, 'Collisions' belongs to the cassette-based side of Jim Shepard’s musical output, rooted in the underground scene of Columbus, Ohio. Shepard was best known for founding Vertical Slit in the late 1970s and later forming V-3, but his solo recordings gave him plenty of room to explore rougher, more experimental territory outside the usual band format. His approach combined abrasive guitar, feedback, unconventional song structures and lo-fi recording techniques, often blurring the line between rock music, noise and sound collage. 

Iron Press was closely associated with Shepard’s independent recording activities, providing an outlet for material that circulated far from the mainstream record industry. Small-run cassettes and self-produced releases were an important part of his working method, allowing him to document ideas and experiments without the restrictions of conventional studio production. This DIY approach also connected his solo work with the wider Columbus underground, where musicians moved between punk, art-rock and experimental projects. 

By the late 1980s, Shepard had spent years developing this distinctive recording style through Vertical Slit and a growing body of solo material. His subsequent work with V-3 carried many of the same elements into a band setting, combining jagged guitar playing and unconventional arrangements with a more recognisable rock framework. Shepard continued recording prolifically until his death on October 16, 1998, leaving behind a large catalogue of releases, demos and recordings that extended well beyond his better-known projects. 

 

Label: Iron Press – none 

Format: Cassette, Compilation 

Country: US 

Released: 1988 

Style: Lo-Fi 

 

Tracklist:  

Collisions 

A1 The Voice 

A2 Collisions Cut-Up 

A3 Union View 

A4 Hostpital.. Hostpital 

A5 Bedview 

A6 All Dreams Must End 

A7 The Elevator 

A8 In The City Of Union (There Are No Trains) 

Strange Rifle Range 

B1 Clay Figurine 

B2 Something About The Queen 

B3 Bad Taste 

B4 Francis Bacon 

B5 Frontier Radio 

B6 A Crucial Glimpse Into The Nearest Hole 

B7 Havana Whore 

B8 Havana Sandwich 

B9 The Chinese Whores Living In Havana Beckon The Sailor Boys 

B10 You're In Pieces Fighting Life 

B11 The Great Collapsing Head Finale 

B12 One Minute She's On 

B13 Acid Bath 

 

Notes:  

Cassette came with a novella called "Collisions", the 2nd installment in the "Drapez" trilogy. Although the release is referred to as "Collisions", the tracklisting on the cover makes a distinction between "Collisions" on side A and "Strange Rifle Range" on side B. 

Tracks B2-B3, B5-B11 & B13 recorded in an abondoned bomb shelter in Munich. 

 

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Impact Test – Kill Kill Kill [LP] (1992, RRRecords, Damned Ship Works)

Formed in Wisconsin by Darren Brown during a period of inactivity for Boy Dirt Car, Impact Test provided another outlet for the industrial experiments associated with the American underground scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Karl J. Paloucek, also involved with Boy Dirt Car, joined Brown in the project, carrying a connection to the group’s earlier work into a different musical setting.

 
Released in 1992, 'Kill Kill Kill' appeared through RRRecords and Damned Ship Works, two independent imprints connected with the experimental underground. Based in Lowell, Massachusetts, RRRecords was run by Ron Lessard and had built a substantial catalogue of noise, industrial and experimental music since the 1980s, including releases by American underground artists and Japanese noise musicians. Its catalogue frequently explored the boundaries between conventional records and more unconventional sound experiments. 

 
Damned Ship Works provided a further independent outlet for the LP, placing Impact Test within the small-label network that sustained industrial and experimental music outside the mainstream record industry. The collaboration between the two imprints reflects the distribution networks through which obscure American projects circulated their work during this period, with releases often reaching listeners through specialist shops, mail-order catalogues and connections between underground musicians. 

 

 

Label: RRRecords – RRR 083, Damned Ship Works – DS 08, RRRecords – R R R #83 

Format: Vinyl, LP 

Country: US 

Released: 1992 

Style: Abstract, Industrial, Experimental 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 She Wears The Name Of God 

A2 Kisses For Blows 

A3 Devil's Rope 

A4 Darkest Afternoon 

A5 This Will KILL That 

B1 The Zone 

B2 Waiting Is As Waiting Does 

B3 Industria 

B4 Wise Shall Be The Bearers Of Light 

 

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Hostages Of Ayatollah / Manson Youth – Kaaba Kaaba Hey / Only Time Will Tell [LP] (1986, Zorro)

 

Recorded and released in 1986 on Berlin’s Zorro label, 'Kaaba Kaaba Hey / Only Time Will Tell' brought together two very different sides of the German hardcore scene. Hostages Of Ayatollah came from Velbert, near Düsseldorf, and had been active since 1981, while Manson Youth were a short-lived Berlin project whose members would soon become better known through Jingo De Lunch and other groups. The record appeared at a time when the German DIY network was increasingly connecting local hardcore bands with scenes elsewhere in Europe and North America, with fanzines, mailorder catalogues, independent labels and live exchanges doing much of the work. The split was also reviewed in the November 1986 issue of Maximum Rocknroll, giving both groups some exposure outside Germany. 

Hostages Of Ayatollah had settled into the Jah-Jah, Jacho, Micha and Torso line-up by 1982. Their early sound was heavily influenced by American hardcore and skate punk, but they generally worked with German lyrics and developed a fast, tightly played style that stood apart from more traditional Deutschpunk. Their '…Aha' demo appeared in 1983, followed by the 'Hallo Nachbar' EP in 1984, which helped them move from the local Velbert scene into a much wider network of shows around Germany and beyond. By the time of the split LP they were playing regularly in alternative youth centres, squats and autonomous spaces, and had become a familiar name in the German hardcore circuit.

 
The Hostages side of the LP was recorded during a difficult period for the band. Their momentum from the previous couple of years was beginning to run into the more mundane problems of work, training and military or civilian service, which made rehearsing and playing regularly harder. The recording was also badly affected by the mixing: guitarist Jacho later recalled that the whole album was mixed in roughly an hour and a half, and the original sound was considered so poor that the recordings were eventually remixed many years later. The material still documents the group's aggressive, thrashy approach, with Jah-Jah's vocals pushed over Jacho's guitar, Micha's bass and Torso's driving drums. 

Manson Youth were a rather different proposition. They were essentially a short-lived Berlin project involving Tom Schwoll, Sepp Ehrensberger, Finne and drummer Uwe, with Canadian-born singer Yvonne Ducksworth joining the line-up. Ducksworth was already involved with Combat Not Conform, while Schwoll and Ehrensberger had connections with other Berlin punk groups. The band did not spend much time functioning as a conventional live group: much of the instrumental material was recorded before Ducksworth worked out her vocal parts from tapes, and Sepp joined around the studio sessions. Her voice became a particularly distinctive part of the recordings, moving between urgent hardcore delivery, unusual phrasing and more melodic passages. 

The Manson Youth recordings are especially interesting because they sit directly between the early Berlin hardcore scene and what followed. After the split with Hostages Of Ayatollah, Ducksworth, Schwoll and Ehrensberger went on to form Jingo De Lunch in 1987 with Henning Menke and Steve Hahn. Schwoll had also been involved with Combat Not Conform, while Ehrensberger had played in Vorkriegsjugend and Zerstörte Jugend. The Manson Youth material therefore captures a brief moment just before several of these musicians moved into a more established Berlin punk and hardcore network. 

Zorro Records was based in Berlin and operated very much within the independent infrastructure of the period. Contemporary Trust fanzine adverts list Zorro releases alongside records by Vorkriegsjugend and other international and German hardcore acts, with mailorder handled from Petra Ostertag's address in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The label's catalogue reflects the way small German imprints functioned as part of a wider DIY network rather than simply as conventional record companies, putting local bands onto vinyl and distributing records through fanzines, mailorder and independent shops. 

The split's importance within that network is also reflected in the contemporary reception. Maximum Rocknroll described Hostages Of Ayatollah as pounding, tight and forceful, while singling out Manson Youth for their guitar work, urgent female vocals and lyrics. The record also circulated beyond Germany: it later appeared in John Peel's 1987 playlist, where "Der Spion" from the Hostages Of Ayatollah side was identified as coming from the shared LP. 

 

Label: Zorro – none 

Format: Vinyl, LP 

Country: Germany 

Released: 1986 

Style: Hardcore Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

Manson Youth Side:  

A1 Lineal / Set Up 

A2 Relations 

A3 Don't Lock Me Up 

A4 So Bored 

A5 Time Will Tell 

A6 Division 

A7 Sad Story 

A8 Food For Thought 

Hostages Of Ayatollah Side: 

B1 Barbara 

B2 Amok Bei Aldi 

B3 Schon Genug 

B4 Der Spion 

B5 Teheran 

B6 Nichts Zu Tun 

B7 Frontbericht 

B8 Im Park 

B9 Braucht Euch Nicht 

B10 Mullah Mullah 

 

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Genocide – Images Of Delusion [7''] (1979, Safari Records)

 

The four-track 'Images Of Delusion' 7" appeared on Safari Records at the end of 1979, although some discographies and later reissues give 1980. The original UK pressing is SAP 2, with “Images Of Delusion” and “Pre Set Future” on the A-side and “Last Day On Earth” and “Plastic People In Stereo” on the B-side. The record was issued as a 33⅓ rpm 7" EP and was listed among the new British releases dated 14 December 1979.

 
Genocide were a short-lived British electronic/new wave group built around Greg Jung, Mark Schiller and Teoman Irmak. The available documentation is pretty sparse, but the three names are consistently associated with the record, while the songwriting credits identify Jung and Irmak on the four tracks. The sound sits in that fascinating period when punk's DIY attitude was beginning to intersect with cheap synthesizers, primitive electronic textures and increasingly detached forms of new wave. “Images Of Delusion” in particular later found a place in compilations documenting the early synth-pop period, including Cherry Red's 'Musik Music Musique – 1980: The Dawn Of Synth Pop'. 

 
Safari Records provided an interesting home for a release like this. The London independent label had been established in 1977 by Tony Edwards, Andreas Budde and John Craig, with Edwards bringing experience from his work with Deep Purple. Safari operated across pop, punk and new wave rather than sticking to a single style, releasing records by acts such as Wayne County & The Electric Chairs, The Boys and Toyah alongside more obscure material. Its distribution initially involved Pye and later Spartan, while by 1979 the label was actively presenting itself as an independent alternative to the major-label system. 

  
For a group with so little documented history, the four tracks on 'Images Of Delusion' are essentially the complete recorded statement of Genocide. There was no substantial catalogue to follow, making the Safari EP a particularly compact document of that late-70s British moment when synthesizers, experimental recording techniques and the stripped-down mentality of new wave were beginning to overlap. 

 

 

Label: Safari Records – SAP 2 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 33 ⅓ RPM 

Country: UK 

Released: Nov 1979 

Style: New Wave, Electro, Synth-pop, Minimal Synth

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Images Of Delusion 

A2 Pre Set Future 

B1 Last Day On Earth 

B2 Plastic People In Stereo 

 

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Fidelity Jones – Piltdown Lad [12''] (1989, Dischord Records)

 

Formed in Washington, D.C. in 1988, Fidelity Jones grew out of the local Dischord circle at a point when the city’s punk scene was already moving well beyond the stripped-down hardcore sound of the early ’80s. The group was built around Tomas Squip Jones on vocals and Dug E. Bird on bass, both of whom had previously played in Beefeater. After Beefeater broke up, the two began working on a new project and became early residents of the Positive Force House, where they started playing with fellow residents Maria Jones and Jerry Busher. Maria soon left to join the Holy Rollers, and guitarist Andy Charneco came into the second line-up. Charneco had already been involved with several D.C. underground groups, including White Boy and On Beyond Zebra. 

That line-up of Tomas Squip Jones, Andy Charneco, Dug E. Bird and Jerry Busher recorded 'Piltdown Lad', Fidelity Jones’ debut EP, at Inner Ear Studios in 1989. The record contains six tracks: “The Emperors’,” “He Lives,” “Where Are We Now,” “Fountain of Youth,” “Feeling the Screw” and “Force of Evil Plans.” Andy Charneco and the band handled production, while the recording took place at Inner Ear, one of the central studios in the D.C. underground network. 

Musically, 'Piltdown Lad' reflects the more eclectic direction that was developing around Dischord in the second half of the ’80s. Fidelity Jones were still connected to the punk infrastructure of Washington, but their approach was less tied to the short, aggressive hardcore format associated with the label’s earliest records. Tomas Squip Jones also brought a distinctive lyrical perspective to the group; “He Lives,” for example, deals explicitly with religious themes. A contemporary Washington Post review from January 1990 described the song as more openly religious than Jones’ earlier work and also singled out “Feeling the Screw” for its Elvis Costello-style vocal approach. 

The record appeared as Dischord 041 in 1989, with the label also issuing it on cassette. It was followed by the 'Venus/Destructor' single in 1990, and Fidelity Jones broke up in the spring of that year. The band also appeared on the 'State of the Union' benefit compilation, connected to Positive Force D.C., and later on '20 Years of Dischord'. Their live activity included a 1989 appearance with Fugazi and Lungfish at Positive Force’s Alternatives Festival in Washington. 

The Positive Force connection is particularly relevant to the setting around 'Piltdown Lad'. Positive Force D.C. was a punk activist group that organized benefit concerts, protests and other projects, and its house became an important meeting point for musicians from the Washington scene. Dischord’s own history places Fidelity Jones among a wave of late-’80s D.C. groups that included Shudder to Think, Three, Jawbox, One Last Wish, Lungfish, Nation of Ulysses, Holy Rollers and Fugazi. This was also the period when Dischord was handling more releases than ever before and had started Dischord Direct to distribute D.C. records more widely. 

Dischord Records had begun much earlier, in 1980, when Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson decided to document their recently disbanded group Teen Idles. The first release, 'Minor Disturbance', became Dischord #1, and the label gradually expanded into a way of documenting the Washington punk community rather than simply operating as a conventional record company. By the late ’80s, that network had broadened considerably, and 'Piltdown Lad' sits within this later period when the label was documenting a much wider range of sounds and approaches coming out of D.C. 

 

Label: Dischord Records – Dischord 41 

Format: Vinyl, 12" 

Country: US 

Released: 1989 

Style: Hardcore Punk, Indie Rock, Post-Hardcore, Post-Punk, Funk Rock, Hard Rock, D.C. Hardcore

 

Tracklist: 

A1 The Emperors' 

A2 He Lives 

A3 Where Are We Now 

B1 Fountain Of Youth 

B2 Feeling The Screw 

B3 Force Of Evil Plans 

 

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