Thunderstick

Vinyl Rip 12" ep

---

I guess it's NWOBHM week here at Blog the Jerk! headquarters, and I don't mind a bit, especially when it comes to Thunderstick. Yes, you know him and love him as the adorable drumming gimp from Samson, but maybe not all of you have heard his self-titled female-fronted rock 'n' roll band. I honestly hadn't 'till I came across this EP recently. Since there's no real "NWOBHM sound" that I can tell (most bands sound either: metal, pub rock, prog, pop, punkish, or a combination of to me), I'd say Thunderstick sound like a new wave band with metal guitars and minus the synth (I could totally hear "Runaround" on the Valley Girl soundtrack) though the title song sounds a bit like early Golden Earring meets Sweet. It's a pretty interesting mix of styles and some hooky songwriting. Of course my favorite thing about Thunderstick is the band photos...

Head On

---

Silverwing

Vinyl Rip 7"

---

Holy Balls! This is one of my favorite NWOBHM singles and since I just got a new needle for my record player, I thought I'd share (not that my vinyl ripping abilities have gotten any better).
When Silverwing claims a "double A-side" single, they really mean it. Containing the best bits of Raven and Sweet, both tunes kick major ass and feature some hilarious lyrics if you can make 'em out under the wall of fuzz. If you haven't guessed by now, I don't know anything about the band but if you do, please leave a comment! 'Till then enjoy this 7 inch pink monster, while I hunt down more of their shit...

(I just fixed the link 4/1/11. Before I had the link to the Shiva 7")

Flashbomb Fever

---

Shiva

VINYL RIP 7"

---

Formed in Bristol, England in 1979, Shiva was a NWOBHM band that wanted to reach the top of the charts and rule the universe, even firing their original guitar player and drummer for more seasoned musicians to do it. While it may have helped the band's sound, they unfortunately never saw the success their music deserved. The band considers this single their best and it's easy to see why. It might be too proggy for some of you, but after a few spins I really started digging it.

Rock Lives On

---

R.I.P. Zoogz Rift

Repost from July 19 2009

What can you say about a guy like Zoogz Rift? He's a self-described DADA artist that flows like water; he's an ex-professional wrestling manager; he's written some amazingly catchy and complex songs -as well as some splendidly annoying ones. What ever you say about him, the sad truth is that after 30 years, he is only a footnote in rock history. In a world filled with Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, it's a travesty to say the least.
My friend Nick and I drove down to Los Angeles to catch what I think may have been his last show some years ago at Mr. T's Bowl (check out the video I uploaded to youtube). He wasn't well enough to play guitar and his eyesight was failing him. He still put on a great, funny show. Unfortunatly, bandmate Richie Haas lost his battle with cancer recently, so Zoogz and the Amazing Shitheads are sadly no more.
From the psycho "Ostriches have sex too you know" to the mellow, but biting "What can we feed to the lions", "Idiots on a Miniature Golf Course" has been an album on permanent rotation since my high school days.

Liquid Maomo

D.I.

---

If you follow the goings on of the internets, you know that Japan had some bad weather recently, and Casey of D.I. ran into a spot of bad luck.
D.I. were a hugely important band for me as a kid, and my old (like 1991-92) band covered "Tragedy Again" off the 1989 album of the same name. Horse Bites Dog Cries is my favorite of their records though, even if a couple songs are recycled from Ancient Artifacts.

Someone's Got A Problem

---

Noir City

---

So maybe you're wondering what the severed penis scene in Street Trash has to do with film noir. Well, some time in 10th grade my mom walked in while I was watching that scene and in a moment of punishment-genius declared that for every violent, trashy horror movie I rented, I'd also have to rent and watch a "classic" film. Well, it was her credit card on the account after all.
Having already been a fan of The Third Man (I can still fake my way through Anton Karas' theme on piano) and D.O.A., many of the "classics" I rented were noirs. they're not trashy or violent, right?

Many years later, thanks to people like Arthur Lyons (RIP), Eddie Muller, Alan K Rode and others, these great — don't call them B-movies! — pictures have been preserved and projected in the theater where they belong. I've only missed one or two of the 11 Palm Springs Noir Festivals, have been to a few in Los Angeles, and try to go to as many nights as I can here in S.F.

This comp was made for the Noir City 9 festival and was compiled and given to me by my friend Ben who volunteered. The theme this year was "who's crazy now"? and the comp more or less follows the same. A couple tracks are a little out of place being newer than what most consider the latest noir — The Killing (1956) and Blast of Silence (1960) for example — and there's a couple really great old-timey songs that are maybe a little too early...but it's still a skillfully put together comp that'll have you pouring out a glass of whiskey and lighting up an unfiltered lucky before you can say "belly full of lead".

Gun Crazy

(down load track list here)

---

TAD

---

Remember when you didn't give a shit what color vinyl the record you bought was on? Hell, I'd even quit buying records and switched to those damn convenient cassette tapes (that got eaten, lost or magnetized over the years) but sometime 'round 1989 Sub Pop convinced me that I needed to be collecting records, not just listening to them. In fact I should buy more 7" records than I even have time to listen to. And on every stupid color of vinyl they felt like pressing.

Tad's "8-Way Santa" (with the original cover and on green vinyl of course) on the other hand wasn't just a "limited edition collector's item". This record WAS Sub Pop. Sure the Dwarves' "Blood Guts and Pussy", the self titled Mudhoney and Soundgarden's "Screaming Life/Fopp" comp were essential listening for me back then as well, but when I think of the classic late '80s/early '90s "Seattle Sound" — or just any heavy rock music from that time — I think of this record...and I think very fondly of it. In fact I'm playing it right now. Why don't you?

God's Balls

---