Folk Devils

Folk Devils were a 1980s post-punk ensemble born of the Notting Hill, West London music scene. Founding member Ian Lowery had previously been the original singer in late 1970s punk rock band The Wall and then signed to Killing Joke's Malicious Damage label as leader of the group Ski Patrol. Politics and the general tensions that seemed endemic to the Killing Joke scene led Ian to leave Ski Patrol and recruit long-time friend of Jaz Coleman: Alan Cole on drums, Kris Jozajtis on guitar (now Dr Kris Jozajtis at Greenfaulds High School) and Mark Whiteley, from Wales, on bass to form another group, Folk Devils, in 1983. Mark had been active in both the London and Welsh music scene. He worked with Anrhefn, Wales' seminal punk band and with the ill-fated Hack Hack on the album 'Despite Amputations'. He left the band midway through a gig at The Fridge in Brixton unhappy with the band, their label (Shout Records), and musical direction. A fight ensued and Mark became a Folk Devil. 

The sound was a bastardised blend of punk, blues, and amphetamine fuelled angst with the music often walking a fine line between a patchwork of brilliant musicianship and violence. The political and ideological canvass for Folk Devils was the miners strike, Thatcher's Britain, mass unemployment and the flooding of Britain's streets with heroin and despair. Both Mark and Ray Gange were to become deeply, almost fatally, involved in the early 80s drug scene. 

Initially managed by Ray Gange, star of The Clash's film "Rude Boy", The Folk Devils first single 'Hank Turns Blue' recorded for £180 (allegedly the bands combined dole money) and released on the label Ganges Records and distributed through Rough Trade resided at number three in the indie charts for six weeks being kept off the top spot only by New Order and Depeche Mode. 

Three Peel sessions followed in quick succession. Subsequent recordings were critically acclaimed and musical luminaries such as Jason Pierce of Spiritualized still regard The Folk Devils as a highly influential musical force. Having recorded the 'Beautiful Monster E.P.' (their final release on Ganges Records) in 1985 with 'punk' producer and IRS stalwart Richard Mazda and the 1986 'Fire and Chrome' EP which was well received throughout Europe, chemicals and chaos finally caused the band to disintegrate as their first and only album 'Goodnight Irony' was released by Situation Two. Ian Lowery died in 2001 having continued to work throughout the late '80s and the early '90s with Nigel Pulsford of Bush on the King Blank project and The Ian Lowery Group. Mark Whiteley went on to work with a variety of bands including Shredder (1994), Big Black Cloud (1995–1997) and Subliminal (1997–2001). Shredder were formed in Dartmoor prison in 1993 and on Mark's release in 1994 were invited to tour with The Stranglers. 

In 2001, following Ian's death and three years of studio work with the Subliminal project, Mark decided to change direction. Like Kris, Mark pursued an academic career and became a criminological researcher and tutor at Cardiff University. He worked on a study on heroin use in Wales and became a regular contributor to debates on TV and radio. In May 2009 he worked with the BBC on a "Week In Week Out" documentary exploring the heroin scene in Wales with John Cale. 

In November 2015, a digital-only release album entitled 'The Best Protection and the BBC Sessions' was made available. And, in September 2016 a collected works album entitled 'Beautiful Monsters' was released on the Optic Nerve label and the band resurfaced to play live with a line-up including Dave Hodgson (vocals), Mark Whiteley (bass), Kris Jozajtis (guitar), Nick Clift (guitar) and John Hamilton (drums). At the time of writing, several gigs are arranged for July 2017 and the band have commenced work on long-overdue new material. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

The Eastern Dark

The Ramones-loving Australian punk-pop group Eastern Dark were formed by guitarist / vocalist James Darroch in 1984. Featuring drummer Geoff Milne and former Lime Spiders MC Bill Gibson on bass, the trio blended the three-chord tunefulness of the Ramones with the guitar attack of their Australian compatriots like The Celibate Rifles (for whom Darroch briefly played bass) and The New Christs. After playing live for almost a year, the group entered the studio with producer Rob Younger (of Radio Birdman / New Christs fame) and recorded its first single, 'Julie Is a Junkie / Johnny and Dee Dee',  which was released by Waterfront Records in 1985. More touring ensued before the band returned to the studio with Younger at the helm again. Tragically, before the resulting songs could be issued, the band was in a van accident that killed Darroch and seriously injured his bandmates. The EP 'Long Live the New Flesh!' was given a posthumous release later that year. Since then, the band's work has been regularly reissued, starting in 1990 with a collection of demos and live recordings titled 'Girls on the Beach (With Cars)'. In 2000 a CD compilation of the band's entire recorded output, 'Where Are All the Single Girls?', was released by the Australian label Half a Cow. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Departmentstore Santas

The Departmentstore Santas' only LP is an underground rock classic of the highest order -from its carnivalesque front cover to the sixteen home-schooled tracks contained inside. Information about this mysterious band has been as scarce as original copies of their self-released album, yet purveyors of lo-fi pop esoterica have whispered about the Santas' raison d'etre for the better part of the past three decades. 

Recorded in the early '80s in La Mesa, California, 'At The Medieval Castle Nineteen 100-Year Lifetimes Since' features quirky sing-alongs, wide-eyed lyrics, echoey instrumentals and outsider folk-punk à la Daniel Johnston. While bandleader Joseph D'Angelo's unique charm may not fit comfortably in any one style, his preternatural world is united by the warmth and grit of these bedroom recordings. 

Out of step with other music of its era, Departmentstore Santas uncannily anticipated the 4-track movement of the '90s. Recommended for fans of Television Personalities, Guided By Voices and Cleaners From Venus. [SOURCE: SUPERIOR VIADUCT] 

Chris Carter

British electronic musician Chris Carter is best known as a co-founder of the pioneering industrial group Throbbing Gristle. His synthesizer work provided some of the most rhythmic and melodic elements of the group's music, foreshadowing much of the more accessible industrial and techno which would emerge during the '80s and '90s. Following TG's breakup, Carter and bandmate / partner Cosey Fanni Tutti formed the prolific, influential darkwave / synth pop duo Chris & Cosey (later known as Carter Tutti), in addition to making more experimental soundscapes as Creative Technology Institute (or CTI). Carter's solo recordings include the Gristle-esque industrial album 'The Space Between' (originally issued as a cassette in 1980), the ambient techno full-length 'Small Moon' (1999), and 2018's 'Chemistry Lessons, Vol. 1', which was influenced by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's groundbreaking work from the '60s. Aside from his numerous recordings, Carter is well known for his electronics expertise, and has created and designed effects units and sound generators such as the Gristleizer and the Dirty Carter Experimental Sound Generating Instrument. He is also a journalist, particularly for music technology magazine Sound on Sound, as well as a photographer and graphic designer.

Born in Islington, London, England on January 28, 1953, Carter became enchanted with high-tech equipment early in his youth. When he was only a boy, Carter spent hours playing with a tape deck; his father would record family conversations and add sound effects to them, even changing speeds. At the age of 13, Carter fell in love with mixing electronic sounds. Carter joined a garage band called The Dragsters in 1967. A year later, he took drugs and saw Pink Floyd perform at a dive in North London. The group's visual presentation and acid-damaged pop left Carter spellbound. Inspired, he formed Orpheus Lites with his friend Chris Panayiotou, providing local acts with Pink Floyd-ish psychedelic light shows. Orpheus Lites eventually turned into an integral part of their biggest client, the outfit Willa. Carter joined Willa as a keyboardist, but he left in 1974. 

In 1975, Carter made his solo debut, performing at Thurrock Technical College in England as Waveforms, utilizing synthesizers and keyboards. He then met future bandmates Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, both of whom were in COUM Transmissions, a performance art ensemble that disgusted and disturbed English audiences by torturing their genitals and licking their vomit on-stage. With the addition of Carter and Peter Christopherson, COUM Transmissions evolved into industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle. Carter worked as a sound engineer for ABC News, and constructed their London radio studio in 1976, but he turned down an offer to build another studio in Rome so he could focus on his involvement with TG. 

In 1980, Carter released his first solo album, 'The Space Between', on the group's Industrial Records imprint. Throbbing Gristle broke up a year later, and Carter started collaborating with Fanni Tutti as Chris & Cosey, signing to Rough Trade and debuting with the 1981 full-length 'Heartbeat'. They introduced their more experimental CTI project with the "Elemental 7" video, released by Cabaret Voltaire's Doublevision label in 1983, and subsequently issued as an LP. Chris & Cosey, meanwhile, left Rough Trade during the middle of the decade and released music on Canada's Nettwerk, Belgium's Play It Again Sam, and America's Wax Trax! They also created their own record label, Conspiracy International, which issued Carter's second solo album, 'Mondo Beat', in 1985. During the late '80s, Chris & Cosey participated in TGT (The Genetic Terrorists), an industrial dance group which also included Lustmord. Wax Trax! released their singles 'Machine Gun' and 'Revo', followed by 1990 full-length 'White Stains'. 

Carter entered the journalism field in the '90s, writing music reviews and articles about technology and musical gear. He also designed album covers, posters, and other visual works with Fanni Tutti. He resumed solo performances in 1995, and issued two more solo albums, 'Disobedient' and 'Small Moon', by the end of the decade. 'Caged', a collaboration with Ian Boddy, appeared on the DiN label in 2000. Also that year, CTI began releasing a series of Electronic Ambient Remixes releases, consisting of reworked versions of previous Carter and TG recordings. 

In 2003, Carter and Fanni Tutti retired the Chris & Cosey moniker and became known as Carter Tutti. Throbbing Gristle also became active again, recording and releasing three albums in addition to performing numerous concerts in Europe and America. However, TG dissolved in 2010 when P-Orridge suddenly left the group mid-tour, and Christopherson passed away shortly after. In 2012, the re-activated Industrial Records released 'Desertshore / The Final Report', a re-imagining of Nico's 1970 album 'Desertshore', conceived by Christopherson before his death, completed by Carter and Fanni Tutti, and credited to X-TG (as P-Orridge was not involved with the project). Carter and Fanni Tutti teamed up with Factory Floor's Nik Colk Void to form techno trio Carter Tutti Void, debuting with 2012's 'Transverse', followed by 2015's 'f(x)'. Additionally, Carter Tutti revisited their past work with 2014's 'Remix Chris & Cosey' and 2015's 'Carter Tutti Plays Chris & Cosey'.

Throughout the decade, Carter remixed tracks by numerous artists, including Liars, Erasure, Perc, and Solvent. He also worked on solo material, and in 2018, Mute released his album 'Chemistry Lessons, Vol. 1'. Later in the year, the same label issued 'Miscellany', a box set containing three of Carter's solo albums ('Mondo Beat', 'Disobedient', and 'Small Moon') in addition to a disc of previously unreleased recordings dating from the '70s. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Boris Dzaneck

Boris Dzaneck is a Post-Punk, Synth-pop, Minimal artist from Netherlands that released two albums: 'In His Own Words' (1983) and 'Always Is Now And Could Be Never Again' (1988). [SOURCE: NTS.LIVE] 

Asmus Tietchens

Active since the mid-'60s, synthesizer experimentalist and musique concrète producer Asmus Tietchens has been a major influence on several generations of avant-garde electronic musicians and sound artists. Heavily inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen, he has pursued "absolute music" through rigid formal exercises. His music is often harsh, alien, and abstract, but he's also recorded several albums of strangely playful material, including a handful of early-'80s Sky Records releases as well as later works as Hematic Sunsets. In addition to releasing over 100 recordings (including collaborations with Merzbow, Vidna Obmana, and Thomas Köner), Tietchens has taught acoustics at Hamburg universities since 1990, and he has written liner notes for dozens of albums released by the Bureau B label, particularly reissues of Cluster-related albums. 

Born in 1947 and based in Hamburg, Tietchens listened to German radio as a child and heard pioneering electric transmissions by the likes of Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig. He began recording his own home experiments in 1965 with crude reverb devices and picked up a MiniMoog several years later. Also influenced by atonal Krautrockers like Cluster and Faust, Tietchens met Okko Bekker and began a partnership that lasted for decades (Bekker has produced most of Tietchens' work). Tietchens participated in Liliental, a supergroup featuring Cluster's Dieter Moebius, engineer Conny Plank, bassist Hellmut Hattler, sax player Johannes Pappert, and Bekker. Their self-titled album was released by Brain in 1978. 

After Tangerine Dream's Peter Baumann heard a tape of his work, he produced Tietchens' debut album, 'Nachtstücke', released in 1980 on the French label Egg. His four albums for Sky during the early '80s ('Biotop', 'Spät-Europa', 'In die Nacht', 'Litia') focused on surprisingly accessible electronic pop, though 1984's 'Formen Letzter Hausmusik' (recorded for Nurse with Wound's United Dairies label) began a period of more abstract, concrète recordings that often use tape experiments as well as synthesizers. These include albums released by A-Mission Records, Discos Esplendor Geométrico, and Multimood. In 1986, upon invitation from the Goethe-Institute, he began traveling to South America to present lecture-concerts of his work, after which he began teaching in Hamburg. 

During the '90s, Tietchens recorded for dozens of experimental labels including Barooni, Staalplaat and Syrenia. In 2000, he initiated the Menge series of extremely minimal microsound works, initially released by Mille Plateaux sublabel Ritornell and later continued on Richard Chartier's Line imprint. In 2003, Die Stadt began reissuing Tietchens' early albums on CD for the first time, starting with the Sky releases. Tietchens wrote liner notes for these reissues, as well as reissues of Cluster-related albums. In 2012, Tietchens collaborated with Moebius for a self-titled album issued by Bureau B. The label subsequently reissued the Sky albums on CD and vinyl, with the bonus tracks from the Die Stadt reissues compiled as 'Der Fünfte Himmel'. He continued releasing new works on labels such as Auf Abwegen and Stille Andacht. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Merzbow

There is no need to argue: Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The favorite moniker of Japan's Masami Akita appears on hundreds of albums. The name comes from German artist Kurt Schwitters' famous work "Merzbau", which he also called "The Cathedral of Erotic Misery". Akita's choice reflects his fondness for junk art (through Schwitters' collage method) and his fascination with ritualized eroticism, namely in the form of fetishism and bondage. He is also an outspoken environmentalist and animal rights activist. All these elements constitute the Merzbow persona. Akita began self-releasing his work in 1980, and was an integral part of the international cassette and mail-art underground. While early releases such as 1981's 'Remblandt Assemblage' were made using tape manipulations, metal percussion, and found objects, he began producing harsh noise using live electronics at the end of the 1980s, when he began performing concerts. His work became influenced by death metal and grindcore, and releases on Release Entertainment (a sublabel of extreme metal label Relapse) -including 1994's 'Venereology' and 1996's 'Pulse Demon'- exposed his work to new audiences. Akita began using a laptop for recordings and performances starting in 1999. Soon after, he became a vegan and a PETA supporter, and releases such as 2001's 'Frog' explicitly addressed themes related to animal rights. 'Merzbeat' (2002) kicked off a series of more rhythmic Merzbow releases. By the end of the decade, he had resumed performing using junk metal and effects pedals rather than a laptop. Throughout his career, Akita has collaborated with countless musicians, including Sonic Youth, Boris, Keiji Haino, and Mike Patton. 

Akita was born in Tokyo in 1956. He grew up with psychedelic rock and began to play the guitar in progressive rock cover bands, in particular with drummer Kiyoshi Mizutani, who would remain a frequent collaborator. After high school, Akita studied literature and visual arts in college. There he discovered free jazz and studied seriously the ideas of Dada and the surrealists (Salvador Dali remained a big influence). Akita gradually withdrew from the rock scene and began experimenting in his basement with broken tape recorders and feedback. 

In 1980, Akita created his own cassette label, Lowest Music & Arts, and released the first of many albums, 'Metal Acoustic Music'. Infiltrating the then-burgeoning network of underground industrial music, Merzbow lined up one cassette after another, packaged in photocopied collage art. His harsh noise eschewed the primitive anger found in this scene (Throbbing Gristle, Man Is the Bastard) to reach a Zen state, a calm inside the storm. Mizutani occasionally appeared on some of the raw material, as would other musicians (like Reiko.A), but in essence, Merzbow is Akita. The artist made low-budget live appearances in Tokyo, but his main focus remained on his art production and his writing (he is erudite in 20th century art and the Japanese tradition of bondage). 

In 1983, Akita's first LP, 'Material Action 2 (NAM)', was released on Chaos / Eastern Works in Japan. Out of the mail-art network and into the specialty record shops, Merzbow began to attract some eyes and ears. Akita started a second label, ZSF Produkt, which put out dozens of 7"s, EPs, LPs, and more cassettes. By the late '80s, other record labels had begun to pay interest, namely the Australian Extreme imprint. 'Collaborative' (1988), an LP recorded with Achim Wollscheid, brought the Merzbow sound to more international listeners, and slowly Akita invaded other territories. By the mid-'90s, his reputation verged on the mythical. He toured Europe and the U.S., and had high(er)-profile releases on Extreme, Release / Relapse, RRR, and Alchemy. 

 

In 1997, Extreme announced it was putting in production a 50-CD box set, 'Merzbox'. It was finally released three years later. It included 30 reissues dating as far back as 1979 and 20 discs' worth of unreleased material, and it remains the biggest musical statement in the history of noise. More widely available albums for Alien8 Recordings ('Aqua Necromancer', 1998) and Tzadik ('1930', 1998), combined with constant worldwide touring, took the artist out of mythical status and propelled him into the legendary. 

In the late '90s, Akita started to collaborate with other artists outside the Merzbow moniker, namely with Mike Patton (as Maldoror) and Otomo Yoshihide. Both a prolific composer and performer, Akita continued his string of Merzbow releases into the next century, including 'Frog' (2001), 'V' (2003), 'Merzbird' (2004), the two-volume set 'Minazo' (2006), 'Merzbear' and 'Synth Destruction' (2007), 'Dolphin Sonar' (2008), and the multi-volume '13 Japanese Birds' series issued monthly between January 2009 and January 2010. He followed this massive undertaking with 'Another Merzbow Records', released by the U.K.'s Dirtier Promotions label in April 2010. 'Merzbient', a box set of ambient material recorded between 1987 and 1990, was issued by Soleilmoon in October 2010. Ever prolific, and with a huge backlog of archival material, Akita released ten collections in 2011, as well as an additional four live sets, and four more albums appeared in 2012, along with the box sets 'Merzphysics' and 'Merzmorphosis'. 

The following year saw Merzbow issue a number of important live and studio albums on his own and in collaboration with other artists -a total of ten. Among them were 'Live at Molde International Jazz Festival' on Smalltown Supersound, 'Katowice', a concert in Poland with Balázs Pándi, 'Cat's Squirrel' with Oren Ambarchi, 'Partikel III' with Nordvargr, and 'No Closure' with Scott Miller and Lee Camfield, as well as the solo studio dates 'Tamayodo' and 'Kookaburra'. Uncharacteristically, 2014 saw the release of a lone recording, a self-titled split with Full of Hell on Profound Lore. (He spent most of the year writing and taking photographs.) 

Merzbow was back to recording in earnest for a number of labels during 2015. In addition to solo offerings including 'Nezumimochi', 'Wildwood', and 'Konchuuki', there were notable collaborative offerings with Askew ('Level'); Akira Sakata, Jim O'Rourke, and Chikamorachi ('Flying Basket'); and Mats Gustafsson, Thurston Moore, and Pándi ('Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper') that appeared on Rare Noise. 

Merzbow also resumed his collaborative relationship with Boris when the two acts played together at Fever. In 2016, 'Gensho' appeared on Relapse. The album's first disc featured drum-less recordings by Boris, mostly re-recordings of earlier songs, as well as a cover of 'My Bloody Valentine's "Sometimes." The second disc was a new studio recording by Merzbow, intended to be played simultaneously with Boris' disc (the two are the same length). The Japanese issue of the album on Daymare included 'Gensho' at Fever 11/27/2015, a double live album of their joint concert performance. In addition, as Masami Akita, he released the duo album 'Kouen Kyoudai' with Japanese composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Eiko Ishibashi on Thrill Jockey in spring of the following year, and 'An Untroublesome Defencelessness' with drummer Pándi and guitarist Keiji Haino on Rare Noise during the summer. 'Live at FAC251', which captured Merzbow and Pándi at a September 2016 performance, arrived early in 2017, along with reissues of the early-'80s albums 'Escape Mask' and 'Remblandt Assemblage'. 'Cuts Up, Cuts Out', another collaboration with Gustafsson, Moore, and Pándi, appeared in 2018. That same year, Dais released 'Achromatic', Merzbow's collaboration with HEXA (Lawrence English and Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu). English's Room40 label then released 'MONOAkuma' (a live recording from 2012). In 2019, the same label released 'Noise Mass', an updated version of the 1994 album 'Hole', packaged with a 28-page book. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

Mad Tea Party

Mad Tea Party released one 7” on the legendary underground Japanese label Vanity Records (founded by music journalist Yuzuru Agi in 1978). All three tracks vary in style. The first track "Hide and Seek" is a post-punk track with a garage guitar sound. "Modern Time's Pop" is a drastic change to the previous track. A lighter piece with schoolgirl-ish singing and talking / muttering over backwards music. The last track "In a Tea Bag" is structured around a dub version of "Hide and Seek" heavy on drum effects with minimal vocals. [SOURCE: REDDIT] 

Noizunzuri

Noizunzuri (のいずんづり) were an experimental noise rock band from Kyoto, Japan, with a penchant for a capella passages and thundering percussion. The group were founded by Tabata M, later to play guitar in Boredoms, another Japanese avant-rock band who later garnered international fame. In addition to an emphasis on vocals and various drums, they were known to perform renditions of traditional folk songs in their distinctive -and arresting!- fashion. The line-up featured Tabata M on guitar, Ken Fukuda on bass, Margaret Sagane on drums, Igami Indori on vocals and Goro Wanisuki on the saxophone. They also collaborated with a chorus of three female singers -Mika Inoue, Chisa Kawashima and Kiyoko Nagai. In their fleeting but proliferant career they released two wanton, maniacal… and yet brilliant albums: 'Ho-Yo/抱擁' (1985) and 'Ningen wa Kane no Tameni Shineruka/人間は金の為に死ねるか' (1986) [SOURCE: LAST.FM] 

WeR7

WeR7 was a classic UK DIY project based around Gary Ramon and Antony Clough of Modern Art. It has all the hallmarks of original DIY, such as fuzzy sound quality, no songs, cheap drum box, experimentalism to replace ability, tapes of dialogue, no ambition....you name it it's here. They were later to go minimal synth. [SOURCE: DIE OR D.I.Y.] 

Victrola

Victrola is the duo of Antonio "Eze" Cuscinà and Carlo Smeriglio from Italy. The band formed in Messina, but later relocated to Florence to join the rich musical scene there with Neon, Pankow, Alexander Robotnick and Diaframma. Beginning as a 4-piece combo (two guitarists, bassist, drummer) in 1979, they slimmed down to a synthesizer and guitar-based duo a few years later. 

Their sole release was the 'Maritime Tatami / A Game Of Despair' EP, from 1983. Using an array of now-classic Roland synthesizers (TR 606, TR 303 Bassline, Juno 6) plus a Korg Polysix and Fender Stratocaster, they crafted two darkwave ballads. "Maritime Tatami" engulfs the listener with trance-inducing synth lines and melancholic vocals over its epic 8 minutes. Oblique minor-key bass lines provide an anchor while snappy, brittle 606 rhythms propel the track along. The lyrics tell the story of Tatami, a boy from a fishing town who yearns for a new life in the big city. "A Game of Despair", on the flipside, is a haunting crawl through the eyes of a woman left by her lover. An angular guitar riff repeats hypnotically, as fragile icy synth lines chime emptily above it. [SOURCE: DARK ENTRIES RECORDS] 

Tools You Can Trust

Tools You Can Trust were an industrial / experimental band creating music from a mixture of drums and metal percussion, with only minimal use of guitars, and strongly politicised lyrics. They came from the Hulme district of Manchester and essentially comprised the duo of Ben Stedman (drums, tapes) and Rob Ward (vocals, percussion, tapes), with other members coming and going throughout their career. They released two albums and recorded three Peel sessions. [SOURCE: JOHN PEEL WIKI] 

Slab!

Slab! are an industrial music / alternative rock band initially active between the mid-1980s and early 1990s. They reformed in 2009. The band's first release was the 'Mars on Ice' 12-inch single in 1986 on Dave Kitson's Ink Records (an offshoot of his Red Flame label). This received airplay from John Peel who invited them to record a session for his BBC Radio 1 show the same year. They followed this with 'Parallax Avenue' in 1987 which saw them in the lower reaches of the UK Independent Chart, and in May that year their debut mini-LP 'Music From The Iron Lung' was issued, reaching number 21 on the Independent Albums chart. 'Smoke Rings' gave them their highest charting single, reaching number 31 on the indie chart in July 1987, and towards the end of the year the band's first long-playing album, 'Descension' was issued. Second full-length LP album 'Sanity Allergy' was issued in 1988, and that year they recorded their third and final Peel session. The band split up in 1991, with a 'best of' compilation, 'Ship of Fools', released the same year. Vocalist Stephen Dray and guitarist Paul Jarvis reformed the band in 2009 and began working on new material and finishing old unreleased tracks. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA] 

Red Rockers

Red Rockers were a new wave / power pop band from New Orleans, Louisiana, active between 1979 and 1985, releasing three albums. They started in 1979 with the short lived names Stunn, James Jett, Derwood, Drummur and The Rat Finks, influenced by The Dils and The Clash. They took their final name by a 1980-released, same-titled song by The Dils. Their cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" from their debut album, features Jello Biafra as guest vocalist. In 1983, their original drummer Patrick Butler Jones was replaced by the ex-Stiff Little Fingers drummer Jim Reilly and in 1984 their original guitarist James Singletary was replaced by Shawn Paddock. Their biggest hits are "China" No.53 in U.S. pop charts in 1983, "Till It All Falls Down", No.45 in U.S. dance charts, remixed by Ivan Ivan in 1983, both produced by David Kahne. Their rendition of P.F. Sloan's classic, originally a hit for Barry McGuire in 1965, "Eve Of Destruction", reached No.54 in U.S. rock tracks chart in 1984 produced by Rick Chertoff and William Wittman. After their break-up in 1985, guitarist / singer John Thomas Griffith formed Cowboy Mouth in 1990, guitarist James Singletary joined the New Orleans-based band Alexander Fly, drummer Jim Reilly and bassist Darren Hill joined Raindogs in 1985. Darren Hill went on to join Klover in the mid-'90s and then he formed the management company Ten Pin Management. [SOURCE: DISCOGS] 

Pigbros

Pigbros formed 1984 by Nick Beales (guitar and vocals) fresh from a stint in The Nightingales and Jonathan Cooke (bass). Recruiting a teenage Fuzz Townshend (later with Pop Will Eat Itself, Bentley Rhythm Ace, General Public / Ranking Roger, The Beat, The Wonder Stuff, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Bucks Fizz, The Wurzels, Black Lace ... as well as projects under his own name) the band played a few gigs before augmenting the line up a few months later to include Svor Naan (saxophone and guitar) not long departed from The Cravats / DCL Locomotive. The initial sound was a rumbling, bass-heavy groove, driven by Fuzz’s drumming and Jonathan’s unique echo bass with Nick's fierce choppy guitar playing. Added to this concoction was Svor’s mixture of sax riffing and swirling echo effects and a rather curious guitar style which could be mistaken for a balalaika. Although along the way there was a tendency to deviate from this template, Pigbros did on the whole manage to maintain this sonic approach. 

As a live experience Pigbros offered a bit of showbiz / glamour both in the look and sound. Nick Beales relished the role of front man and sported a silver glitter shirt. Another visual and sound feature was Fuzz’s tin bath normally attached to his drum kit but, for the song "Excessive" held up centre stage by Svor whilst Fuzz clattered out the rhythm. 

Pigbros recorded two radio sessions for the John Peel show (in 1985 and 1986) and released four 12” 45rpm EPs and one LP. Pigbros performed gigs throughout the UK and a few gigs in Belgium and Holland. [SOURCE: LAST.FM] 

Napalm Beach

Napalm Beach is an American punk rock band from Portland, Oregon. One of the longest-running punk bands in the U.S., they are credited by some as being early innovators of the grunge sound. Nicholas Pell, writing for the Portland Mercury said "a huge influence on the grunge and alternative rock of the 1990s, Napalm Beach never had the name recognition of other Portland bands like Poison Idea or The Wipers." Napalm Beach shared the stage with bands such as X, Public Image Ltd., Joan Jett, Johnny Thunders, Gun Club, Bad Brains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Dead Moon, and Poison Idea. They also toured Germany five times between 1989 and 1992. During their long musical career they have released more than 30 studio and live recordings in various formats on a number of small independent labels in the U.S. and Germany. 

At the core of the group is Chris Newman on guitar, and Sam Henry on drums. Sam Henry was the original drummer for The Wipers and Portland band The Rats (with Fred and Toody Cole) before joining Napalm Beach in 1981. The group went through thirteen bass players before Dave Dillinger came on board in 1989. The group's earliest recordings were done on the Trap label, owned by Greg Sage of The Wipers. Courtney Love lived in the Napalm Beach band house in 1981. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]

Mekanik Kommando

Mekanik Kommando is a new wave band from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, founded in 1980 and originated from the band Zelek of Peter van Vliet and Lasika Panyigay. It's a mix between 80s electro, cold wave and experimental electronic music. The band consisted of Jack Kaat, Laszlo Panyigay, Peter van Vliet, Simon van Vliet and Mirjam van Hout. After their sixth album from 1988 entitled 'The Castle Of Fair Welcome' the band continued under the name The Use of Ashes because the name Mekanik Kommando no longer covered the musical direction of the band. 

Bassist Laszlo Panyigay released another album in 1987 with the band Güler, titled 'The Salt On Your Face' on Akzidanz and in the 90's a number of albums and maxi-singles as Ulanbator. Peter van Vliet, Simon van Vliet and Maarten Scherrenburg continued the band under the name The Use Of Ashes. Under this name several albums and singles are released, mainly on the label Tonefloat. 

Since 2017, Mekanik Kommando has been active again and they are performing again with contemporaries Mecano Unlimited and the American Soft Kill, among others. In addition, the 1981 album 'It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing' was re-released by Tonefloat. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]