Vandykes were a Post-Punk band from Boston formed by Craig Kutner (later in Tall Paul), Frank Dehler (The Chord Rockers, The Gremies, Tomato Monkey, Unnatural Axe, Tall Paul), Roger Tripp (La Peste, The Mighty Ions, Unnatural Axe, The Transplants) and Kurt Henry. They only released the 7" single 'Breakin My Heart / Heaven Will Fall' on Black Records, a Boston-area label that released also the La Peste 7".
Label:
Black Records – CB 411
Format:
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Country:
US
Released:
1984
Style:
Power Pop, Punk, Indie Rock, Post-Punk, Jangle Pop
The Untamed Youth were a mid-1980s garage rock band from Columbia, Missouri, United States, led by Deke Dickerson, who is best known as the frontman for Deke Dickerson & the Eccofonics. Original members (1986) were Deke Dickerson, Steve Mace, Doug Walker and Joel Trueblood (Alcohol Funnycar, Neko Case).
The Untamed Youth first performed in Columbia at local club The Blue Note in January 1987, and quickly started playing locations throughout the United States between the years 1988–1993. The group disbanded in August 1993, but later reformed for a European tour in 1996 and to record two studio albums for both the Estrus and Norton labels in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
The Youth were primarily a '60s-styled surf/frat rock band known for their wild stage antics such as spraying the audience with cans of beer and for their self-deprecating sense of humor (most notably to be found on their last album for Norton, 'Youth Runs Wild'). All this, while holding a true reverence for their influences.
While their live shows were generally hard-edged, their albums are notably well-produced and arranged particularly their early Norton work, which was produced by Billy Miller of Norton Records and Andy Shernoff of The Dictators. Despite considerable local success and strong critical acclaim (including album reviews in Goldmine, Alternative Press, and Maximum Rock & Roll), the band followed many of their garage rock brethren into obscurity due to the (at the time) limited appeal of 1960’s retro music. However, as has often been the case with bands of this genre, the Youth gradually acquired a cult status as is evidenced by their reuniting recently for festivals in both the U.S. and Europe. The band's first albums, 'Some Kinda Fun' and 'More Gone Gassers' are now highly sought after collector’s items on vinyl. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
The Tapes were a band from Amsterdam, Netherlands, active between 1977 and 1982. Singer / guitarist Rolf Hermsen and guitarist Michiel Brandes met at the Rietveld Academy, and the group started in late 1977 with bassist Igor Roovers and drummer Dick van der Vaart. The influences came from emerging new wave bands like Talking Heads, XTC, Wire and Scritti Politti -especially with Talking Heads, with which the band was often compared. With its short and quirky songs, the debut album 'You Just Can't Sleep' (1978) was well received, and the band attracted interest from record labels, and abroad. The LP 'Party' was recorded on a larger budget, and distributed by Passport / WEA. There was a new drummer (Peter Meuris), and they work at Music Farm Studio in Baambrugge, under the direction of producer Don Willard (Beach Boys, Ron Wood, Steve Marriott). The album received good reviews in the country and abroad in 1980.
For this album -and the last one- producer John Leckie (XTC, Magazine, Simple Minds) was cast. The group gained identity, ceasing to be "the Dutch Talking Heads". On this record they received participations from Henk Hofstede and Michiel Peters (Nits), Dennis Duchhart (Minny Pops -who would continue to perform with the band, replacing keyboardist Huba de Graaff), and from the pop and jazz singer Mathilde Santing (all artists who achieved recognition abroad). But The Tapes did not receive financial support to pursue an international career (although the record was released in the USA), and decided to stop.
Soft Drinks was a Minimal Synth unit formed by members of Rudimentary Peni (Jon Greville, drums, also in The Snake Corps) and Sad Lovers And Giants (Cliff Silver, vocals, also in Gambit Of Shame) with Lee Greville (keyboards), coming together for an angsty early electro punk mod minimal wave project. They only released the 'Popstars In Their Pyjamas' 7" Single on Outer Himalayan Records in 1982.
Label:
Outer Himalayan Records – OH 004
Format:
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single
Country:
UK
Released:
1982
Style:
New Wave, Post-Punk, Minimal Synth, Synth Punk
The Reflections were a parallel group of Alternative TV members. From 1981 to 1982 Mark Perry had this new project, a band with Nag from The Door and the Window, Karl Blake (of Lemon Kittens) and Grant Showbiz, among others. They released one album, 'Slugs and Toads', and a single, '4 Countries', before disintegrating. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
The Questions formed in the summer of 1977 at St. Augustine's High School in Edinburgh, and performed their first gig in December of that year at St. Margaret's Church Hall in Davidson's Mains, a suburb of Edinburgh. The following year, they sent a demo tape of rehearsals to Bruce Findlay of Bruce's Record Shop, which led to signing a recording contract with Zoom Records in Edinburgh in 1978. The band's first single was "Some Other Guy" backed with "Rock & Roll Ain't Dead" (August 1978). They were crowned Young Band of the Year by Southern Television on Saturday Banana in December 1978. "I Can't Get Over You" b/w "Answers" followed in January 1979. The band subsequently left school in June 1980 and came to the attention of Paul Weller, with "Get Away From it All", a track that was never officially released. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Los Pistones were a Madrid-based pop-rock band formed in 1980 by Agustín Jiménez (vocals), Ricardo Chirinos (guitar and vocals), Fran López (keyboards and vocals), José Marín (guitar), Enrique Martín (bass) and Ramón López (drums). The origin of the group's name comes from the fusion of the names "Sex Pistols" and "Ramones", two of the favorite groups of drummer Ramon Lopez.
With this formation they recorded their first demo thanks to the work of Fran López and the radio announcer Gonzalo Garrido, who financed it. This first demo was broadcasted in some radio stations, especially in Radio España - Onda 2, one of the most influential in the Madrid scene and in clubs like El Penta, getting the support of Paco Martín who, together with Julio Ruiz, founded a new record label called MR.
After the recording of the first demo, José Marín left the group and Agustín Jiménez, after separating from the group, founded Opera Pop. Later on Enrique Martin left the group to join Los Esqueletos, being replaced by Juan Luis Ambite on bass.
In 1982, Los Pistones that gained a recording contract were formed by Ricardo Chirinos, Fran López, Juan Luis Ambite and Ramón López, recording their first vinyl, a 7'' single entitled 'Las Siete Menos Cuarto', edited by MR. It contained four songs of a pop style very influenced by the British new wave. In the same year their second 7'' single was released, entitled 'Voces', an album more eclectic than the previous one and with pop, funk and soul songs, with the track "Metadona" standing out. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Label:
Producciones Twins – T3001
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country:
Spain
Released:
1984
Style:
Pop Rock, New Wave, Power Pop, Movida Madrileña
The Ordinary was a British band formed by luminaries of the indie and post-punk such Anthony Clough (bassist, keyboards, flute) member of A.D.H., Andy Boot Quartet, Casual Labourers, New 7th Music, Spiral Sky, Sun Dial, The Door And The Window and WeR7), Ashleigh Marsh (keyboards and percussion), member of Casual Labourers, New 7th Music and WITS), Dave Morgan (drums), member of Alternative TV, Casual Labourers, Kandide, Primal Scream, Schuman The Human, Spacemen 3, Sun Dial, Take It, The Jazz Butcher, The Loft, The Physics House Band, The Weather Prophets, Twelve Cubic Feet and Western Electric) and Gary Ramon (guitarist and vocals), most famous for his Sun Dial project. Besides this 'Conventional Sound' cassette, The Ordinary released the 'Ad Ordinary' cassette, with archival studio recordings from 1981-1983.
Label:
Not On Label (The Ordinary Self-released) – ORD 1
Format:
Cassette, Album, C60
Country:
UK
Released:
1981
Style:
Experimental, Krautrock
Tracklist:
A1 Airwaves 9:36
A2 Silent Night (In Africa) 4:46
A3 Rules 5:01
A4 One Step Behind 1:20
A5 Hello/Goodbye 7:40
B1 I'm Warning You 2:37
B2 Health And Disturbance 5:30
B3 Arrived 5:52
B4 Shaking All Over (Dub) 4:37
B5 War On What? 9:53
Notes:
"Rock radicals" are busy preaching liberation through unliberated music and the un-pretentious are the most pretentious of all. What makes them think that they have found "the answer"? Such is the world in which we work.
"But all this comes as an after-thought. Please accept this in the spirit in which it was intended - a selection from the past (coincidences noted) to bring us to the present. We now wish to play live and record in private considering release afterwards. We are also interested in playing with other people. If you are interested in any way please write to..."
Nuvo Bloc formed in 1980 when members of Adelaide groups Terminal Twist, The U-Bombs and Lemme Caution grew tired of playing straight-ahead punk rock. With Vonni Rollan on vocals, the six piece band quickly attracted a large audience and released their self-financed first single 'Atomic Fiction' later the same year. The dark new wave sounds of the single could almost be an entirely different band to the tribal stylings of "Never Mind", released on '5MMM's Compilation Album of Adelaide Bands 1980' by the local public radio station. Frustrated by music industry disinterest, the band soon splintered, with three members heading to Sydney to continue briefly as an electronic trio. [SOURCE: LAST.FM]
Label:
Not On Label (Nuvo Bloc Self-released) – 13022
The Moondogs are a Northern Irish rock band formed in 1979, and consisting of Gerry McCandless, Austin Barrett and Jackie Hamilton. Their career spans three albums, four singles and two television programmes, "Shellshock Rock" (1979 film, featuring The Moondogs, The Outcasts, Rudi, Ruefrex, Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones and Protex), and "Moondogs Matinee" (The Moondogs television programme that ran for approximately seven shows in early 1981, and featured them playing live mixed with pop videos of the day. The theme tune to the show was their song, "Powerpop"). Besides The Moondogs had four of their songs featured in the film "Dead Long Enough". [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
