Retrosonic Podcast Episode 49 "A Tonic For The Soul" - 21 Song New Release Special with Graham Day, Giuda, The Coolies, Cyanide Pills and Much More...

Steve from Retro Man Blog picks out 21 of the best new Garage Rock, Psych, Indie, Power Pop and Punk releases from as far apart as the U.K., Canada, Sweden, Italy, USA, Japan and the Medway Delta! Includes spotlights on some of our favourite record labels Spinout Nuggets, Chaputa, Beluga and Damaged Goods and the episode is packed with killer tracks from former Prisoners frontman Graham Day's debut solo album, The Coolies featuring special guests Clem Burke from Blondie and Kathy Valentine from The Go-Go's and an unreleased song from Les Envahisseurs. Then there's Mimi & The Miseries, The Sound Station, Los Pepes, Deviation Days, Smalltown Tigers, Giuda, The Mourning After, The Sellwoods, The Speedways, Thee Escapees, K.S. & The Mystery Jet Set, Kurt Shirt, Dirt Royal, Cyanide Pills, Thee Moot, Cat & The Underdogs, Thee Strawberry Mynde and a sublime song from Paper Lips, the new solo project by Mike Whittaker of The Baron Four and The Jack Cades. Please support these fantastic bands, artists and record labels so do check out the highlighted links below for further information on how you can buy all this wonderful music. You can subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at Spotify, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and SoundCloud and you can stream and download direct from the SoundCloud archive below:

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 49 "A Tonic For The Soul"

Track-listing & Links

Graham Day - A Rose Thorn Sticking In Your Mind's Eye

Mimi & The Miseries - Security

Thee Moot - Tonic For The Soul

Paper Lips - Monday Morning

Les Envahisseurs - Back 266

Thee Escapees - Lose Your Head

Thee Strawberry Mynde - Try As I Might

Cyanide Pills - The Kids Can't Be Trusted With Rock 'n' Roll

Los Pepes - Never Get It Right

The Sellwoods - Searchin'

The Sound Station - Wild One

The Coolies - King of Confusion

The Mourning After - She Left Me Today

Kurt Shirt - Imaginary Friend

Dirt Royal - Shoot Me Now

K.S. & The Mystery Jet Set - Downtime

Cat & The Underdogs - Rich Kids

Deviation Days - Well of Trouble

Smalltown Tigers - Just Friends

The Speedways - Shoulda Known

Giuda - Roll On (live)

With thanks to Lee at Spinout Nuggets, Ian at Damaged Goods, Esgar at Chaputa Records, Melissa from The Sellwoods, Trevor at Beluga Records, Ake from Cat & The Underdogs and Hans Selander.

Retrosonic Podcast Lockdown Lowdown Episode 16 with Gaye (Advert) Black

For the latest episode of our Lockdown Lowdown Podcast series we welcome former bassist with The Adverts, Gaye Black into the virtual Retrosonic studio to discuss her life in Music and Art. In this thoroughly entertaining episode, Gaye takes us on a musical journey from growing up in a small town in north Devon and discovering music for the first time to buying her first record. We then discover what lured her into Rock 'n' Roll and what inspired her to play the bass. There are tales of her experiences of moving to London, being right at the heart of the early Punk Rock explosion and of course her time with The Adverts. This leads onto the bands and the characters she met and toured with along the way such as Iggy Pop, Lemmy and The Damned. We also cover her DJ'ing and the inspirations on her own Art as well as curating Art Exhibitions and working on the artwork for record covers by U.K. Subs bassist Alvin Gibbs. The episode is sound-tracked by Gaye's personal selection of her favourite songs from The Adverts and some of Gaye's most inspirational musical moments including Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Beatles, Mayhem, Motorhead, The Phobics, Mayhem, Turbonegro, Cyanide Pills, The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Iggy Pop, The Stooges, A Place To Bury Strangers, U.K. Subs and the Fireball XL5 Theme...! So, crank up the volume, sit back and enjoy!

Retrosonic Podcast · Gaye (Advert) Black of The Adverts

Track-listing (click on the highlighted band name for further information)

The Beatles "She Loves You"

Don Spencer "Theme From Fireball XL5"

The Rolling Stones "19th Nervous Breakdown"

Black Sabbath "Paranoid"

The Adverts "Gary Gilmore's Eyes"

The Stranglers "Walk On By"

The Adverts "One Chord Wonders"

The Adverts "Bored Teenagers"

Motorhead "Motorhead"

The Damned "Neat Neat Neat"

Iggy Pop "Lust For Life"

Iggy Pop "Tonight"

The Adverts "Love Songs"

The Adverts "Great British Mistake"

Mayhem "Freezing Moon"

Turbonegro "Are You Ready (For Some Darkness)"

The Phobics "When You're Dead"

Ramones "Teenage Lobotomy"

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing "Victoria's Secret"

Iggy & The Stooges "Search & Destroy"

Cyanide Pills "Suicide Bomber"

A Place To Bury Strangers "I Know I'll See You"

U.K. Subs "Warhead"

With many thanks to Gaye. For further information on Gaye's Artwork please check out her official Gaye Black Art web-site here. Retrosonic theme tune by Adam Donovan. Podcover photos and artwork by Minna Waring (top left), Retro Man Blog & Gaye Black. You can subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at Soundcloud, Spotify or Apple Podcasts/iTunes. 

Correction from Gaye: "I meant the Marquee, not the 100 Club when I was talking about The Stranglers!" (22mins:23secs)

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads, Cyanide Pills & The WitchDoktors - Photos & Videos from The 100 Club London Friday May 24th

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Here are some photos and videos of a thoroughly enjoyable night of Punk Rock at London's iconic 100 Club featuring a top-notch three band line-up. Headliner Duncan Reid & The Big Heads were unfortunately missing regular guitarist Sophie due to illness so Mauro Venegas from The Speedways stepped in at the last minute to cover admirably. Mauro had an immediate chemistry with Duncan and his bandmates, the excellent drummer Karen Jones and impressive lead guitarist Nick Hughes. As promising as they sounded, Duncan didn't make Mauro's job any easier by including a couple of new songs in the set. And what a set it was...packed full of timeless Punk Pop, or Power Pop or whatever you want to call it - that took in the best of his debut solo album and those with The Big Heads including songs such as "Bombs Away", "Let's Skip To The Good Bit" and "Montevideo". Duncan is a non-stop blur of purple clad energy and he barely gives himself time to finish singing a line before he's off jumping around the stage again. Of course there's a pick of classics by The Boys including "First Time", "Brickfield Nights", "TCP" and "Sick On You" which got everyone singing along. Duncan mentions how lucky he was to be in The Boys with such talented songwriters and cheekily comments that's why his new songs are so good! He's not wrong though, as songs such as "Don't Stop" and "C'mon Josephine" certainly match the melodic genius of his previous employers.

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Duncan Reid & The Big Heads at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Leeds band Cyanide Pills put on an all-action show with a set crammed full of their fast and naggingly memorable Punk tunes. Although some of the humourous songs such as "Suicide Bomber", "Mail Order Bride" and "Can't Get It Up" might at first put them firmly in The Toy Dolls and The Dickies camp, the quality of their superb songwriting, particularly on excellent tracks like "Government", "Sit Tight" and "Shallow" for example, prove there is much more depth to the band. A personal highlight of the night was the classic "Johnny Thunders Lived In Leeds" which boasts one of the greatest lines ever - 'I'm a Yorkshireman not a New York junkie'. The merchandise table was bulging with their already impressive back catalogue of multicoloured vinyl singles and if you didn't snap up the lot on the night then you can order them from Damaged Goods Records here. 

Cyanide Pills at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Cyanide Pills at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Cyanide Pills at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

Cyanide Pills at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

It's been a while since we last saw The WitchDoktors play and it was refreshing to catch them again after so long and enjoy their whiskey soaked Rock 'n' Roll. The crunching Garage Punk of songs like "I'm Sick" and "No Pain No Gain" are balanced by tuneful favourites such as "Told You To Go", which I always felt was The WitchDoktors very own "Train In Vain". Talking of The Clash, the band don't shy away from their primary influence especially as "Black Bag" segues into a cover of "Guns of Brixton" and there's a sneaky drum attack tribute to "Tommy Gun" along the way too. The band are steeped in the outsider Rock 'n' Roll tradition of bowling shirts and brothel ceepers - Johnny Cash, Ramones, old school Rockabilly and it's all wrapped up in a swampy Voodoo sound perfectly captured in two of the night's highlights, "Neck Tattoo" and "Common Prayer For A Working Man". Great band and great guys. I hope it won't be too long before we see them again.

The WitchDoktors at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

The WitchDoktors at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

The WitchDoktors at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

The WitchDoktors at The 100 Club - photo Retro Man Blog

For more photos of the gig please check out the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and you can find lots more original videos of all three bands at our YouTube channel here. Please click on the highlighted links to take you to the band's official web-sites for news and more info on upcoming tour dates and how to buy their records. Mauro is also involved with Some Weird Sin promotions who will be putting on the Pump It Up Power Pop weekender at The Lexington on July 27th and 28th which features Duncan Reid & The Big Heads and The Priscillas among others.

Cyanide Pills - Damaged Goods Records Party at The 100 Club November 04th with Talulah Gosh & Helen Love

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

"The journey to the 100 Club was epic. The van broke down at 3am eight miles from Dieppe Ferry Port. 3 recovery vehicles, 2 missed ferries, 1 hire car & 16hrs later we arrived at the 100 Club an hour before we were due to play..." That's taken from the Cyanide Pills' Facebook page posted up the day after the gig on November 04th. Hard to believe, as the band had put on an excellent show bursting full of energy and spirit. Just after their set, I'd heard the story from bassist Al and road manager Paul, who explained how they barely made it to this special night to celebrate 25 years of Damaged Goods Records and 50 years of label boss Ian. You would never had guessed it but they must have been exhausted, and I suppose they just put all the frustration into the performance as they crashed straight into "Waiting For Nightfall" and didn't let up for one second.

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

The brilliant "Break It Up", with its naggingly catchy guitar riff is followed by one of their more salacious songs, the almost Zodiac Mindwarp cartoon naughtiness of "Cheap 'n' Nasty". "Making Her Mind Up" is a track that the Buzzcocks would be proud of, as it captures their sense of timeless melody with buzzing guitars and a skewed sense of cynical romance. In "Johnny Thunders Lived In Leeds" from their latest album "Still Bored", they cross the Atlantic for their influence and do a decent take on the New York Dolls sound, with some very amusing lyrics, "I'm a Yorkshire Man, not a New York junkie...!" must go down as one of the best lines in Punk Rock.

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

"Conquer The World" with it's tale of a jilted lover going on the rampage is a real treat but it's the next track, "Non-Believer" that is probably my highlight of the evening. A perfect Power Pop Punk nugget that steamrollers along on a superb chorus. Cyanide Pills zoom through various Punk Rock influences throughout the ages, from the echoes of The Damned's first album on "Shallow" to The Briefs on the new single "Apathy", but they manage to retain their original edge, mainly thanks to their undoubted knack with a damn fine tune. The brilliantly witty "Mail Order Bride" is followed by the singalong "Where Did It Go?" and the set ends with "Suicide Bomber", which could almost be called their signature tune, as it crams the essence of the band into two minutes of humour, melody and energy perfectly. As their Damaged Goods Record label boss Ian told us in our special Retrosonic Podcast, the Cyanide Pills are "pure genius", and he should know...he signed them!

Damaged Goods Records boss (and Birthday Boy) Ian by Paul Slattery

Ian also had two of his favourite Damaged Goods acts on the bill, Talulah Gosh and Helen Love who both went down a treat with their fans - and everyone left smiling and buzzing after a great night's entertainment. Please don't forget to check out the other great bands on the Damaged Goods Rosta here, including their stunning collection of coloured 7" vinyl releases. 

Talulah Gosh by Paul Slattery

Helen Love by Paul Slattery

You can hear Ian talking about the Damaged Goods label and playing some of his favourite and most important releases, including songs from Billy Childish, Manic Street Preachers, Thee Spivs, Graham Day, Giuda, Thee Headcoates and Pete Molinari and, of course, Cyanide Pills, in our two part Retrosonic Podcast series, Part 1 is here, and Part 2 can be found here.

 
 

Thanks to Ian and to Paul Slattery for the excellent photos. Here's a video of Cyanide Pills at the 100 Club with "Conquer The World", for more videos check out the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel.