Retro Man Blog Night with The Jetsonics, The Fallen Leaves & The Transients at The Fighting Cocks Kingston March 21st

Retro Man Blog & Retrosonic Podcast are helping to promote a great triple header at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston-Upon-Thames on Friday March 21st. We've teamed up with three of our favourite local bands, The Jetsonics, The Fallen Leaves and The Transients, who have all featured heavily on the Blog and in various episodes of Retrosonic Podcast. Tickets are just £5.00 on the door with The Transients kicking off proceedings at 8pm. We're hoping to have some limited edition "Best of Retrosonic Podcast" CD's to give away to the first few lucky people through the doors...

You can hear tracks from The Fallen Leaves and The Transients in Episode 11 of Retrosonic...


Adam from The Jetsonics is one of my co-hosts at Retrosonic, along with Rock Photographer Paul Slattery, so he is in the privileged position to get to play lots of Jetsonics songs...! Episode 2 is a good example which also features The Rezillos, The Saints, Elephant Stone, The Playn Jayn, The Chambers Brothers, The Frowning Clouds and The Fast Cars.

The Sensibles - "A Bunch Of Animals" Debut Album Out Now!

The Sensibles

The wonderful Italian Punk Power Pop band The Sensibles, have their debut album "A Bunch Of Animals", out now on Vinyl or MP3 and it's available to order or download at their Bandcamp site here. The album is packed full of raw, powerful and catchy songs, where the sweet and dreamy vocals of singer Stella collide perfectly with the Punky riffing of her band-mates Giacomo on bass, Fili on guitar and Ga on the drums, and it's a classic mix. If you like Suzy & Los Quattro, The Muffs, The Go-Go's or can imagine a female-fronted early Lemonheads, then you will certainly enjoy the feel-good bubblegum melodies of The Sensibles. They have put out a couple of videos of tracks form the album, first of all here's "I Want Your Blood"...

And next up, this is a track entitled "Dear Otzi"...enjoy!

We also featured a track from The Sensibles in our special Retrosonic Podcast International Power Pop Episode with genre expert Wayne Lundqvist-Ford, who has championed the band for some time on his excellent "Ice Cream Man Blog", which is well worth checking out.

Here's the album Artwork for The Sensibles "A Bunch of Animals" album...

The Len Price 3 Exclusive "My Grandad Jim" Video Premiere...

Screenshot of the new Len Price 3 video "My Grandad Jim"

We are honoured to have the exclusive on the brand new video from The Len Price 3. "My Grandad Jim" is taken from the forthcoming album "Nobody Knows" and has already become a firm live favourite at the band's recent gigs. You can read singer songwriter Glenn Page's full track-by-track guide to the new album on the Blog here, but below are Glenn's notes on "My Grandad Jim"...

"My maternal grandfather was an ordinary bloke who, like a lot of blokes of his generation were forced to do extraordinary things. He was in the 8th Army in World War 2 and saw some pretty hefty action - El Alamein and the D-Day landings among them. I was fascinated by his stories, turns of phrase and the things he knew and I'm still fixated. I had plenty of heroes when I was a kid - Spiderman, Glenn Hoddle, Indiana Jones, but no one could top my Grandad. Better than some prissy footballer or a geezer in a colourful skin-tight cat suit any day! When we recorded this I wanted it to be a bit like the sound I remember getting when I was in my first band, aged about 16 and we would record ourselves playing with a cassette recorder. I wanted to recapture the excitement, energy and roughness of us trying to be like Jimi Hendrix." Here's the video...

The video features live footage filmed by Retro Man Blog at the band's "Nobody Knows" album showcase gig at The Half Moon Putney back in October. The band will also head off to help promote the album with these confirmed dates as follows, more to come soon...

February 13th - London, Camden Blues Kitchen

February 15th - Glasgow, Barrowlands

March 01st - London, The Pipeline

March 21st - Clacton, Mod Weekender

May 02nd - Cambridge, Scooter Rally

May 17th - London, Camden Fiddler's Elbow

Please check the band's official web-site for venue and ticket details and updates on new gigs.

The Len Price 3 - Live at The Pipeline London March 01st with Galileo 7 & The Sonic Jewels

The Len Price 3 will return to London to play a show at The Pipeline (94 Middlesex Street E1 7DA, closest stations Liverpool Street/Aldgate/Aldgate East) on Saturday March 01st to contine the promotion of their forthcoming album "Nobody Knows". The gig is being presented by DJ on the night, Phil Istine and "Sweet But Deadly", who were responsible for the great show with Graham Day & The Forefathers at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, which was awarded Retro Man Blog's "Gig of 2013". It's sure to be another excellent show as support comes from Sonic Jewels and Galileo 7, who feature Allan Crockford from Graham Day & The Forefathers, The Prisoners, Solarflares etc...

The band will head out on the road to promote "Nobody Knows" in the Spring, here are the shows confirmed so far, more dates are being added all the time so please keep an eye on the Blog or the band's official web-site for updates as and when new shows are confirmed.

February 13th - London, Camden Blues Kitchen

February 15th - Glasgow, Barrowlands

March 01st - London, The Pipeline

March 21st - Clacton, Mod Weekender

May 02nd - Cambridge, Scooter Rally

May 17th - London, Camden Fiddler's Elbow

Check the band's web-site here for further details on the venues and how to book tickets. If you are a promoter or in a band and you'd like to put on a show in your town for The Len Price 3 then please contact us here at the Retro Man Blog.

The Jetsonics - New live dates announced!

West London's finest New Wave Power Pop Punk trio, The Jetsonics, have just announced some live dates to promote their latest release "EP4". Check out their official web-site for further information on all the venues and tickets. The March 21st date at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston-upon-Thames is extra special as it is a Retro Man Blog/Retrosonic Podcast night featuring The Jetsonics along with The Fallen Leaves and The Transients. More details on this show will follow soon...

Here's a demo version of a track from "EP4" entitled "Cruel Lizzie Vickers".

Retro Man Blog's Highlights of 2013...

Well, 2013 was certainly a bumper year for some quite stunning gigs, albums and singles - there is such a great scene going on at the moment and it all looks set to get even better in 2014. So, just to prove we're not all "retro" at Retro Man Blog here's a quick re-cap on some of our favourites of 2013, please click the highlighted link to take you to the relevant review or feature...

Retro Man Blog's Gig of 2013 - Graham Day & The Forefathers at Bethnal Green WMC Nov 29th
We went to 52 gigs in 2013, averaging one a week, here's some of those we enjoyed the most...
Giuda + Jonny Cola & The A-Grades at Islington Buffalo Bar May 24th
Les Kitschenettes + French Boutik + The Travellers at Le Bus Palladium Paris Nov 23rd
Crash 74 at The 12 Bar Club May 31st
The Len Price 3 "Nobody Knows" Album Launch at The Half Moon Putney Oct 25th
Thee Spivs "The Crowd & The Sounds" Album Launch at The Half Moon Jun 29th
Free Fall at Camden Dingwalls Feb 15th
The Fallen Leaves at The White Trash Club Berlin Sep 20th
TV Smith + Eight Rounds Rapid at The Railway Hotel Southend Dec 07th
The Rezillos + SpizzEnergi at 229 The Venue Apr 26th
The Flamin' Groovies at London Scala Kings Cross Jul 02nd
King Salami & The Cumberland 3 at Hipsville Weekender May 11th
Nina Persson, Ebbot Lundberg & Magnus Carlsson at Stockholm Kulturfestival Aug 14th
Jane Birkin at The London Barbican Centre Nov 09th
Cyanide Pills at The 100 Club Dec 29th
Vic Godard & Subway Sect at Kings Cross Water Rats Mar 29th
The Stranglers at Guildford G-Live Mar 12th
The Undertones at Reading Sub89 May 27th
Caviare Days at Beyond Retro London Sep 14th
The WitchDoktors + SuperMinx'70 at Fighting Cocks Kingston Jun 14th

Retro Man Blog's Album of 2013 - The Fallen Leaves "If Only We'd Known"
There were some excellent albums released in 2013, here's a pick of some of the best...
The Len Price 3 "Nobody Knows"
Mattias Hellberg "Gurimolla!"
Thee Spivs "The Crowd & The Sounds"
Duncan Reid "Little Big Head"
The Movements "Like Elephants 1"
Giuda "Let's Do It Again"
Marie Modiano "Ram On a Flag"
TV Smith "Acoustic Sessions Volume 1"
Wire "Change Becomes Us"
Free Fall "Power & Volume"
The Monochrome Set "Super Plastic City"
Jonny Cola & The A-Grades "Spitfire"
King Salami & The Cumberland 3 "Cookin' Up a Party"
The Godfathers "Jukebox Fury"
Elephant Stone "Elephant Stone"
Thee Oh Sees "Floating Coffin"
Hanni El Khatib "Head In The Dirt"
Cyanide Pills "Still Bored"
King Khan & The Shrines "Idle No More"

Retro Man Blog's Single of 2013 - The Travellers "Stay"
Here are some other great tracks that we've loved...
The Len Price 3 "London Institute"
Caviare Days & Ebbot Lundberg "When The Light Is Breaking"
Thee Spivs "Straight Out Of Art School"
Temples "Keep In The Dark"
Giuda "Wild Tiger Woman"
Eight Rounds Rapid "Writeabout"
The Fallen Leaves "Passing By"
Cyanide Pills "Apathy"
French Boutik "Ici Paris" E.P.
The Jetsonics "Cruel Lizzie Vickers"
The Past Tense "Remember The Days"
The pUKES "Will I Learn?"
The Ace! "The Poet"
Killer B's "Born Again"
The SuperMinx '70 "Adrienne Posta"
The Kite Collectors "The Man In The Paisley Shirt"

If you like this sort of thing don't forget to check out our Retrosonic Podcasts where we play a selection of new stuff from the Bands and Artists featured above, along with an eclectic pick of some of our old favourites, hidden gems and rarities from different eras of Punk Rock, New Wave, Psych, Post-Punk, Soul, Garage Rock, Reggae, Power Pop and Ska...As well as our regular shows there are dedicated episodes with very Special Guests including TV Smith, Chris Wilson from The Flamin' Groovies, Ian Person and Mattias Bärjed from The Soundtrack of Our Lives, JC Carroll of The Members, Ian Ballard from Damaged Goods Records, The Fallen Leaves, Harley Feinstein from Sparks, Mattias Hellberg, The Movements and many more. Click the highlighted link to go directly to each "special", otherwise browse the archive at our Soundcloud site, all episodes are free to download. If you haven't heard the Retrosonic Podcasts yet, here's a sample Episode...

Happy New Year everyone and a big "Thank You" for all the fantastic comments, feedback and contributions in 2013, it's really appreciated! Let's hope 2014 brings us even more great music...

An Xmas Gift...Retrosonic Podcast Episode 12 "But If It Thrills Me, Then That's Alright..." Free Download...

Welcome to Episode 12 of this bumper end of year Retrosonic Podcast! Over the two parts, Steve from Retro Man Blog, Adam from The Jetsonics and Rock Photographer Paul Slattery dig up some Psych, Garage Rock, Power Pop and Punk obscurities, favourites and other weird stuff. There’s an emphasis on French bands and artists, old and new, such as Marie Modiano, Stinky Toys, Little Bob Story, Metal Urbain, Les Kitschenettes and er…Julie Delpy. We uncover a one-off 1977 Punk rarity from The Rings and there’s Freakbeat from Fleur de Lys and Sharon Tandy. How about some overlooked Power Pop from The Incredible Kidda Band and The Modernettes or way-out Sixties Psych from The Outcasts, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound, The Haunted and The Tidal Wave. There’s a fine piece of contemporary Punk Rock from Cyanide Pills, a Garage Rock floor-shaker from The Woggles and some smooth Blues from the honey-voiced Slim Harpo. Then we pay tribute to our Gig Of The Year: Graham Day & The Forefathers at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club with tracks from The Solarflares, The Aardvarks and The Higher State. All this plus chat about The Jetsonics first venture outside the M25, nods to some of our other favourite gigs of 2013, Retro Man Blog’s trip to Paris and the usual waffle and rambling...

Episode 12 Part 1...


Episode 12 Part 2...


I'd like to take this opportunity to say Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all the Retro Man Blog readers, Retrosonic Podcast listeners and all those that came along to our Retro Man Blog gigs at The Half Moon in Putney and The Railway in Southend-on-Sea. I really appreciate all the kind comments, support and feedback, it really does make it worthwhile. Huge thanks to my Blog colleagues Adam Donovan, Paul Slattery and Mayumi and all the contributors over the past year. Also, very best wishes to those that have helped me in promoting the gigs for The Len Price 3, The Fallen Leaves, Thee Spivs, TV Smith, Eight Rounds Rapid, The Past Tense and The Travellers. Special thanks to Alan May at Glory Boy Radio, Wayne Lundqvist-Ford at Ice Cream Man, Rob at Mister Suave, Warren Peace at We Are The Mods, Ian Pile and Dave Collins at Podrophenia, Steve Pegrum at Southend Punk, Fi and Dave at The Railway, Carrie at The Half Moon, Shindig! Magazine and Ian at Damaged Goods Records.

Retro Man Blog's Gig of The Year 2013: Graham Day & The Forefathers at
Bethnal Green Working Men's Club November 29th.

Of course this Blog is purely driven by a passion for music and it's great that there are so many fantastic bands out there who inspire us to keep on doing this, long may this continue into 2014 and beyond! Please do keep the comments, requests and contributions coming in. Many thanks and all the best! Graham Day & The Forefathers photos copyright Paul Slattery 2013.