The Fastbacks: The band that didn't exist

The Fastbacks formed in 1981 and toiled nearly two decades crafting and perfecting a blend of punk rock and roll that drew inspiration from the melodic tinge of the Buzzcocks as well as the hooky melodies that marked the heyday of '70s AM radio. For a spell, The Fastbacks got caught up in the media frenzy that was grunge, with several albums on Sub Pop, and continued to crank out great music right up until the end, with 1999's "The Day That Didn't Exist."

2004 saw a "new" Fastbacks CD, "Truth, Corrosion and Sour Bisquits," an "Odds and Sods" collection, comprised of a generous portion and fulfilling sampling of the band's many cover versions, non-LP tracks and other songs that just missed the final cut for proper release.

Several tracks are worth noting, one of which is "All in Order" which rips with one of Kurt Bloch's many terrific guitar solos. Throughout the band's existence, Bloch proved himself a stellar guitar player and above average songwriter.

"I'll Return" excels with an emphasis on vocal harmonies wrapped around a clever chorus. Why this was an outtake from the 1996 album, "New Mansions in Sound," is a mystery, but it could have easily been a pleasant addition to what many feel was the Fastbacks' finest recorded work.

As far as cover versions, the group is all over the place, ranging from their spot-on cover of the Raspberries' power-pop classic, "Go All the Way," to a faithful rendition of the Pixies' "Allison" then hitting hard on the pogo punk of the U.K. Subs' "Time and Matter" and rounding things up with a kickass cover of the Supersuckers' "On the Couch."

Once you reach the album's final track, "Out of the Charts," one can't help but wonder why the Fastbacks weren't more popular.

Why no breakthrough album or major label deal?

And why did The Fastbacks seemingly come and go without a more lasting impact on the punk rock/indie rock collective conscience?

While this CD doesn't offer any answers to the above questions, it is an excellent reminder of the band's rocking sound, the invigorating and wicked guitar solos of Kurt Bloch and the Fastbacks' skills at taking punk rock chords, heartfelt vocals and the spirit of rock and transforming them into something special.

The Rude Kids - "Raggare is a Bunch of Motherfuckers" b/w "Charlie" 7"

This 7" single by The Rude Kids was released in 1978 by Polydor Records.

Even though they were from Sweden, The Rude Kids were singing the same "us-versus-them" shit punks worldwide were hollering about at the time:

You know, songs about stupid thugs beating up punkers just because they dressed, looked and acted different.

Take a look at the lyrics to "Raggare:"

"Raggare is a gang of freaks,
Who always beats the geeks,
Going around,
In their big American cars,
Think they are owners of the town,
But they're not,
They are nothing,
Nothing, nothing, nothing but animals,
Monkey, donkey, kangaroo,
They've got no,
No, no, no, no, no, no,
No IQ"

Kangaroo?

Hmmmm ... otherwise it sounds like they could be singing about the angst and tension found in any number of American suburban neighborhoods that spawned the U.S. hardcore punk scene in the early '80s.

Fact: The mighty Turbonegro covered "Raggare is a Bunch of Motherfuckers" on their 1996 album, "Ass Cobra."

Thanks to: This is Punk Rock for the cover scan.

Tonya Harding kicks Newark Delaware man's ass

On a night when millions of Americans watched a tsunami benefit on NBC television stations, a few hundred people packed into a New Castle bar to watch "America's Bad Girl" Tonya Harding box Mark Mason, a Newark man.

Mason complained that his eyes were tearing up and said he was overwhelmed in the ring.

"She got me with a couple of punches I didn't expect," said Mason.

After Saturday night's fight, fans waited in line to buy $10 Polaroids of themselves with Harding. Tressa Sharp, of Middletown, walked away smiling with her Harding-signed photo. When asked why she and her friends came to the event, she said, "Because we have no lives."

Link: Newark man no match for Harding

The Knockout Pills – "1+1=Ate"

The sophomore effort from Tuscon, AZ's punkest quartet is a sizzling affair, with dueling guitar riffs, pulsating and pounding skins and apt songwriting. "1+1=Ate" (Estrus) and The Knockout Pills seem influenced by the Buzzcocks' school of songwriting; there's a considerable emphasis on melodies and '77 punk's sonic spirit seems omnipresent.

The album is worth it alone for the opening track, "Target H," which has more hooks than an entire Green Day album and is topped off with a flaming guitar solo and even has some handclaps tossed in for good measure. It's the kind of song you want to hear again and again - after you just played it.

Fortunately the band doesn't blow its load on the first track. On the whole, "1+1=Ate" is a rewarding experience because of tracks such as "Teller 159," which sounds like a lost Mudhoney outtake and "Wait For the Apex" which pays homage to the garage rock of yesteryear. The Knockout Pills rank right up there with The Thermals and The Marked Men (and any of the Dirtnap Records roster) for top of the line pop-influenced punk-rock-and-roll.

MP3: The Knockout Pills - "Target H"

Newark, Delaware man hit by train for second time

Once wasn't good enough for an unidentified man who was hit by a train for the second time behind the Deer Park Tavern.

The victim was struck by the train at 2:31 a.m. while attempting to cross the tracks behind the Deer Park Tavern, said Kelli Starr-Leach, New Castle County Paramedics spokeswoman.

This is the second time the victim has been struck by the train behind the bar, Starr-Leach said.

Obvious punch lines:

-Three strikes and you're out
-Third time's the charm

Read more about this Darwin Awards wannabe here:

Delawareonline.com: Newark man hit by train

Career Suicide - 'Anthology of Releases: 2001-2003'

Career Suicide hail from Canada and have released a string of 7"s and an LP that have all been acclaimed for their killer "old school" hardcore sound. Think Circle Jerks circa "Group Sex" meets S.O.A. with some vintage G.I. thrown in for good measure.

Career Suicide's modern hardcore has a retro sound and is seething with the same venom that fueled bands such as MDC, DRI and Black Flag. It's as if the band jumped in a time machine back to the days of Rock Against Reagan and Tim Yo rants in MRR.

Listening to Career Suicide's latest CD 'Anthology of Releases: 2001-2003' (Deranged Records), a collection of their vinyl-only releases, revisits the same excitement one felt when first discovering the underground hardcore punk scene.

Originally released as an EP in late 2003, the 'Sars' 7" is a great encapsulation of Career Suicide's blazing hardcore style. The songs are built for speed, the vocals are full of genuine angst and the key is the production, which falls somewhere between lo-fi and an upscale 8-track recording. While three of the four songs here are out and out thrashers, "Quarantined" sounds as if it could be culled from a lost Killed By Death 7" by an obscure SoCal punk band from the late '70s.

The band's self-titled 7" from early 2003 is hardcore heaven for those who like their punk angry, brief and shot from the cannon. "Brought to the Brink" sounds like it could have been lifted off any of the early Dischord 7"s and the band takes the tempo down just a notch on "Jonzo's Leaking Radiation."

The lengthiest effort here is Career Suicide's self-titled LP, also from 2003, which benefits from the clarity offered by compact discs and has superior sound to the original vinyl pressing. Unlike a hardcore band that gets slower with each successive release, Career Suicide manages to keep the momentum rolling forward, surging with blazing intensity on "Punitive Damages" while on "You Call This a Life?" the band makes its way through two verses, two choruses and a bridge in under 40 seconds.

Tacked on for good measure is the band's first demo from 2001, which has muddy sound and is noteworthy only for some numbers which were re-recorded for official release. The band's second demo from 2002 shows the band was well on its way to perfecting its hellishly hardcore attitude and ass-kicking sound.

The CD booklet has a band timeline, tons of cool pics and flyers and on the whole this CD leaves the listener with the sense that invigorating hardcore punk can still be made in modern times.

MP3: Career Suicide - "You Call This a Life"
MP3: Career Suicide - "Quarantined"
MP3: Career Suicide - "Brought to the Brink"

Official site (has MP3s): Career Suicide
Order direct from: Deranged Records

Wilmington, Delaware musician found dead

Wilmington singer-songwriter Jeremy Hare had a large following at local nightclubs and was looking forward to the release of his second CD in March.

But the musician's long-held dreams of being a rock star ended Thursday morning on the loading dock of the AIG parking garage in Wilmington, where passers-by found his body lying face down.

News Journal: Wilmington musician found dead
Official site: Jeremy Hare

Not my day yesterday

Yesterday wasn't a good day for me. I woke up feeling fine, but it didn't take long for a dark cloud full of depression and the blues to form and follow me around like a puppy chases after it's owner.

That said, I made the best of it. I tried watching Jim Jarmusch's latest film, "Coffee and Cigarettes" and had to turn it off about 40 minutes through.

I haven't seen a film so awful that I had to bail midway since I tried watching that shameful piece of celluloid, "How High" starring Redman and Method Man as two cheebah-huffing bros trying to make it at Harvard.

Hard to believe those jokers had a TV show on Fox. It was called "Method and Red" and followed the adventures of Redman and Method Man as the rap moguls move into an upscale gated community.

Oddly enough the direct link to the show on Fox's site is no longer working. Nice!

Then Kelly and I were watching disc 3 of "Freaks and Geeks" and at one of the episode's climactic scene, the DVD started skipping. Despite many attempts to fast-forward or skip over the bad chunk, digital hell ensued and we couldn't watch the end.

Reminds me of the time I went to see "Sling Blade" and the projector bulb broke five minutes before the film's end. As everyone filed out of the theater to get a refund, one of the ushers took it upon himself to blurt out the ending. Nice!

Anyway, I guess all this huffing and puffing about what a bad day I had doesn't really mean anything given the plight millions are facing overseas. But, that's what makes America what it is: its citizens have a tremendous ability to whine bitch and moan about how awful their lives are, when in fact, they aren't really that bad.

I'm hoping to get to review some new CDs soon. Just need to carve out the listening time and all.

I got another comment saying I should post some more John Peel shows. I'll work on that as well. I have the bandwidth available. It's just a matter of FTP'ing them to the site. Maybe this week?!

Wah

I'm listening to Howard Stern right now. I can't wait for his move to Sirius and I'm even more psyched that Kelly got me Sirius for Christmas. That was the best gift I've received in years.

I got a cool e-mail from Ian Christie, who wrote "Sound of the Beast" which is a history of heavy metal. He's also got a weekly show on Sirius's Hard Attack channel called "Bloody Roots."

Anyway, Ian was saying he used to read my zine Yakuza back in the day.

It got me thinking about the zine and how in recent years I've given serious thought to doing another zine.

That said, I always come to the same conclusion - that I don't need or want to take on another endeavor like that.

Don't get me wrong. Doing a zine is great fun, you meet a lot of cool and like-minded people, get turned on to all kinds of cool music, help support a network of independent and progressive artists and thinkers and support a culture that I've believed in for years.

You also end up spending 80 hours a week working on a project like that, get punk rock credibility that has no currency in the "real" working world and not much else that I can think of at the moment.

It's important to keep in perspective that doing Yakuza helped me make the leap to a real job at CDNOW that paid well, allowed me to write about music and interview artists and paved the way for my current gig where I'm an entertainment editor, have plenty of opportunities to write about whatever suits my fancy and get paid well.

Doing a zine wouldn't offer anything remotely similar in terms of sustaining my life at this point.

I do miss it. But I don't want to go back to it either.

What a wonderful world

So, I actually had a few days off of work and with Kelly and the boys (and girl) off in N.C., I had to come up with a way to amuse myself.

No problem.

First off, I listened to quite a bit of Sirius radio and I gotta say it exceeds my expectations. The metal channel is good and there are three or four solid rock stations and an oldies channel I dig.

The traffic and weather channel for major metro areas is awesome and will come in very useful. Instead of trying to tune into KYW 1060 for a brief snippet of traffic news, Sirius' coverage is much more comprehensive and is updated every five minutes.

Then I watched a whole bunch of movies.

"Saw" was surprisingly decent. It kind of reminded me of "Seven" in that the killer sets up a series of scenarios as enjoys watching them unfold as detectives (and victims) try to outwit the bad guy.

"The Manchurian Candidate" remake was kind of over-the-top for my tastes. I really liked the original, which seemed eerily realistic. The new version seemed implausible at best, and while it didn't suck out loud, it came close on an occasion or two.

HBO's original film, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" seemed right up my alley and indeed it's quite awesome. While it doesn't match any of Sellers' proper films ("The Party" is my favorite), actor Geoffery Rush does an unimaginably good job at recreating the comedic actor.

As with a lot of films about great actors, musicians, thinkers, etc., some of the stuff you learn about the subject makes you dislike them somewhat.

I tracked down some MP3s of The Kids' first two albums. Hadn't really known much of anything about this Belgium punk band until Terre T hepped me to them on the Cherry Blossom Clinic.

Why these records are out of print is beyond me. The music is prime late '70s punk with a Ramones-ish feel and delivered with some primal fury and angst.

You can find the band's song, "This is Rock and Roll" from their first album, on the Killed By Death #5 compilation.