Glam Rock

New single: Savage Beat || Tomorrow (Might Never Come) / Used To Be A Tiger

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

The emergence of Wap Shoo Wap Records (Amsterdam) has been impressive. Since 2022, the purveyors of high octane rock’n’roll have been steadily unleashing modern updates of classic punk, rock ‘n roll, rhythm & blues and glamrock unto the airwaves, including ATW favorites in The Covids, The Mocks and Doctor Velvet. Add Savage Beat (also from Amsterdam) to that list. After a number of EPs, singles and a full length, the band’s first single for Wap Shoo Wap works like a combined shot of adrenaline and dopamine. The single opens with the sleazy rock’n’roll streetpunkish original Tomorrow (Might Never Come), a song that comes with an anthemic earworm chorus. Flipside Used To Be A Tiger is a cover of a song from 1969 by 32nd Turnoff – Eddy Grant’s side-project during his time with The Equals. It’s a great pick and the execution by Savage Beat is impeccable and fun.

7″ single should be shipping out soon at Wap Shoo Wap. Order now!

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Gee Strings || Speed Soul Racer

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Cologne’s The Gee Strings see themselves as one of the best ’77 punk bands on the planet. The high level of confidence is not a bad thing for a musical style that works best when delivered with a good deal of attitude. The Gee Strings sure rock out in style on their new LP Speed Soul Racer, their first in eight years. Relative to their previous LP I’m So Gee, The Gee Strings have exchanged some of their sleaze and bubblegum for a more straightforward rockin’ punk sound. Listen to the two-minute midpaced blast that is Popgun, a song that starts out as classic American punk, but becomes something with a frantic guitar solo at the midway point. It’s one of several moments where I’d like to scream “Rock’n’Roll!” with clenched fists up in the air.

Speed Soul Racer is less than twenty minutes long, but 30 years into their career as a band, The Gee Strings need even less to make an impression. If you have time for just one song right now, may I suggest Rock’N’Rolls? It is a pubrock’n’roll party platter sung in French and is simply fun fun fun. Speed Soul Racer is out now through Wanda Records, Ghost Highway, Dangerhouse Skylab, KOTJ and Strychnine Productions.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

New album: The Fauxs || Burn The City

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That’s a way to kick off your album: “Smash the lights you know // See the urban glow // Tell the stores that it’s time to go // Light a match // It’s time to burn this town // Grab a mask, don’t choke // And a yellow coat // Snort a line and I guess you’re fine // Light a match // It’s time to burn this town.” If badass glam punk and/or feminist discontent is your thing: I’d like to introduce you to Portland’s femme powerhouse The Fauxs, who describe their music as something between a protest and a party. In the nine songs on their high-energetic debut LP Burn The City, Melanie Hindman (vox/guitar), Aliah O’Neill (guitar), Tara Umesh (bass) and Kara Lancaster (drums) make a stunning impression with a swinging rhythm section, passionate guitar riffs, cheerful sing-along harmonies, and explicit but witty lyrics (“I dance in bed like Fred Astaire // And please pardon my Français // I like it in the derrière” – from Madonna/Whore). There are nice covers of Ça Plane Pour Moi (Plastic Bertrand) and Don’t Dictate (Penetration), and Sheela nods to Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (Ramones), but the originals are at least as cool.



Burn The City, produced & engineered by Kara Lancaster, is out now digitally and on vinyl LP (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: The Uppers || Manic Melodies

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Wanda Records is one of those label on a mission to keep the spirit of ’77 punk and power pop alive. They are succesful at doing exactly that, just take a quick look at their roster, or just press play on their latest release. It is a 4-song EP by The Uppers (Missouri) that follows their sold out debut EP on on Boulevard Trash and No Front Teeth.

Stimulation is quite the EP opener. The bam-bam bam-bam-bam drums and guitars set the tone for a high octane powerpop’n’roll fest. It is followed by the glammy and bratty Madam Please, and the insanely catchy pop punk hit Don’t Start. That chorus! The Uppers close the EP with Slide, which sounds like a lost anthem from the late ’70s UK punk scene.

If your battery needs charging, try playing the Manic Melodies EP and you are good to go. It is out now through Wanda, Boulevard Trash and Spaghetty Town Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Cowboys || Sultan of Squat

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 1 Comment

After a duo of releases with his new outsider pop project Good Looking Son, Keith Harman returns with his quirky protopunk band The Cowboys. Sultan of Squat is the fifth full-length by the Bloomington (Indiana) outfit – sixth if you count their 2015 live record. Like some writers are perceived as writers’ writers, receiving critical acclaim rather than commercial success, I’ve always felt The Cowboys flew under the radar of a major audience despite being critics’ darlings. This may change soon. While every record by The Cowboys had its share of major hits and creative highs, Sultan Of Squat is the most consistently accessible record by The Cowboys yet, without giving up any of the intangibles of what makes The Cowboys such a special band. If there was any point in time where the stars aligned for breakin’ out and simultaneously receiving rave reviews, it would be now.

From the first twenty seconds of the album opening The Sultan Of Squat to the dying seconds of the stellar American Boy, The Cowboys will renew your faith in the power of music. They lift me up like few records have managed to achieve this year. Sultan Of Squat is not the record we deserve, but having The Cowboys irrigate our collective soul is exactly what we need.




Sultan Of Squat is out now through Feel It Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Oxys || Generation Irrelevant

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That didn’t take long. A mere 8 months after their debut album (A Date With The Oxys), punk veterans The Oxys (their resumé includes Dead Boys, The Flash Boys, Sylvain Sylvain and M.O.D.) return with their sophomore LP for Dead Beat Records. It’s called Generation Irrelevant and it’s a little less glam and sleaze than their debut. Rest assured, it’s another punked up rock’n’roll fest! A celebration on multiple levels I must add, given that The Oxys’ vocalist “PunkRockPhil” Davis literally came back from the death right before recording the new LP – Davis was in a coma for several days. This may explain the lively and inspired recordings on Generation Irrelevant. Or perhaps it’s just how The Oxys roll.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Bad Mother || Hesitation

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New can be a relative adjective when speaking of a record that has just been released. In case of Bad Mother (Chicago), they recorded Side A of their Hesitation LP in 2020, and Side B in 2021. That feels like ages ago! It is out just now at Religious Records on two variants: Transparent Red and Transparent Smoke vinyl. I am not sure what the band’s current line up is, but throughout the years Bad Mother has had members of The Jetbirds, Poison Boys, The Frantic and Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts. Current Skid Row drummer Rob Hammersmith plays on the Side B songs.

Bad Mother are an American rock’n’roll band by heart. There are touches of Seventies’ rock and powerpop but also of ’80s pop metal. I’d almost use glam as well, but there is a blue collar vibe to the songs of Bad Mother, not unlike the music of Nato Coles and The Blue Diamond Band.

Hesitation is not available for streaming on Bandcamp unfortunately, but you can order the record there. You can also listen to it on most of the streaming platforms. If you’re not on those platforms and want a bigger sample than the video below, listen to Enemy, Right Down The Road and Drove which are my favorites on the album.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Mason Lowe || Morning People

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If you’ve ever been in a foreign place all by yourself, you probably know the feeling: No one is telling you what to do or where to go, you can just follow what your gut tells you. The solitude can be daunting. It can also be liberating. A similar feel came over Bread & Butter drummer Mason Lowe at the early days of the pandemic. Feeling low, writing solo songs became a lifeline, an addictive one in fact. And while his head was heavy, the songs that came out were surprisingly light and fun. Songs about new loves, crushes and friendship. Twelve of the best songs Lowe wrote are out today on Lowe’s solo debut Morning People.

The total lack of expectations and boundaries led Lowe to explore different styles. The press release is not wrong when it describes Lowe’s music as a combination of glam rock, 60’s girl groups, and grunge. This is sunny garage pop with influences from an era that has long passed. Mason Lowe knows his stuff. He writes a mean hook, huge choruses (Whiplash!) and songs that never outstay their welcome. The fun start early on these songs, leave you wanting more. Make sure to watch the video’s as well!

For someone who doesn’t perceive himself “a sunshiny person”, Mason Lowe sure makes the world of his listeners a little brighter with Morning People. It is out now through Killroom Records. Want to find out more about this record? Read the interview our good friends at Sweet Sweet Music Blog had with the artist.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: The Guapos || Hey!

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Let’s see. Four sharp dressed men, three bearded, one mustachioed, two wearing cowboy hats. Spaghetti western music alert? Not really. The Guapos (Mexico & Spain) are definitely a throwback act though. It’s four well-known musicians (Adán Jodorowsky, El David Aguilar, Jay de La Cueva and Leiva) from the Mexican and Spanish music scene penning a love letter to pre-80’s music. The ten songs on Hey! are perfect summertime music incorporating influences from surf, garage, rock-‘n’-roll and old school pop music. The hits are massive and keep on coming. Listen to the party platter title track Hey! or Soy Un Guapo, a song so catchy it made me sing along to the chorus right away – phonetically of course since I have no idea what they are actually singing.

The Guapos appear to be a sideproject for the people involved (one out of a “deep friendship”), but I hope they go for global dominance and take this show on the road as a full time thing. What a knack for writing pop melodies these hombres have! A touch of Nerves and The Remains here, a dash of The Everly Brothers there, a bit of Allman Brothers band, Rolling Stones and Beach Boys added for good measure. What’s not to like?!

Okay, it would have been nice to have some information on a future physical release (One Little Blue Records Inc. is the label involved), or at the very least to be able to find the record on Bandcamp. For now we have to rely on streaming services to enjoy this one. Play loud, dance, fun wil be had.


Add to wantlist: ?

Single Premiere: Taxi Girls || After Effect (New EP Coming Up Roses Out July 7th)

By / / Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Punk / 1 Comment

Are you on the Taxi Girls bandwagon yet? In a couple of weeks the Montreal trio of Jamie (Pale Lips, Reta Records), Vera, and Lynn will release their debut EP Coming Up Roses. To be precise, it will be out on Dirt Cult (cassette) and Wild Honey Records (vinyl) on July 7. The first single Sunshine was a scrappy punk rock’n’roll blast that upped the sikedness level. Today, we proudly premiere the second track by Taxi Girls. It’s called After Effect and it’s “an ode to uncertainty,” Jamie explains. “After Effect is about situational relationships and the whirling, twirling pit of anxiety that comes along with not knowing exactly what’s going to happen next.”

The band dubs it as “a blast of fresh sound thrown to you at 150mph.” It’s certified fresh for sure! Three elements of the song stand out: 1) the driving bass riff by Jamie that provides the heartbeat of the song and together with the drums will make your head bop from the get-go, 2) the verse that is sung with a healthy dose of punk bite, and 3) the chorus that has a super catchy sugary harmony that contrasts perfectly with the verse. Jamie adds: “We had a lot of fun writing this one – building it up from the bass and drum beat, adding layers or guitars and then finally coming up with the melody and words. It came together nicely and it’s super fun to play live!”

Sunshine was great, After Effect may be even better. Just drop that EP already, Taxi Girls!


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Dirt Cult

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