Sloppy Seconds

Sloppy Seconds "Destroyed"



If Garbage Pale Kids could manifest themselves as real people they would probably look and sound something like Sloppy Seconds. Around since the late 80's, and still around today (yeah, they're on myspace) they've been spreading gluttony, porn and other vices as far as they can possibly reach -- in a very catchy way. Their song "I don't want to be a homosexual" undoubtedly inspired Screeching Weasel's "I want to be a homosexual". I don't want to be a homosexual is pretty much a delcaration that Sloppy Seconds aren't gay in case you might have thought otherwise. The sound? I guess if Cheap Trick or Flamin Groovies were punk bands? A precursor to The Vindictives? Catchy power pop with snotty vocals.

Sloppy Seconds - I don't want to be a homosexual
Sloppy Seconds - Janie is a nazi

Bad Move, Space Cadet

Zoinks!



Well, I think this may wrap up Dr. Strange Records for a while. In all fairness, Zoinks has releases on other labels but I believe all their full lengths were on DSR. Anyways, it's trivial... As stated in a post earlier Zoinks are back together, see here and here .

Here's some history from their myspace:
Zoinks! began in the winter of 1992 in Reno, Nevada in a depressed basement near downtown Sparks, Nev. Zoinks! released three 7-inch singles on local label Satan's Pimp Records and was subsequently signed in 1994 to Southern California's independent label, Dr. Strange Records. Committed to the do-it-yourself philosophy, Zoinks! booked its own tours and helped to re-establish the do-it-yourself ethos in the early-90s Reno music scene, a movement that originated in the late 70s with Reno's most known punk band, 7 Seconds. Zoinks! played shows in basements, kitchens and anywhere else the band could secure a place to perform—such as a remote club on the island of Sardinia, a Mexican restaurant on Reno's S. Virginia St., a house trailer in Auburn, Ga. and anarchist squats in Spain and Italy. Along the way, the band played with countless punk luminaries, including Blink 182, NOFX, 7 Seconds, The Donnas and The Queers. Zoinks! began with original members Zac Damon on guitar and vocals, Rob Borges on bass and vocals and Colin Pantell playing drums. After a few gigs and a recording that went on to become the band's first single, Bob Conrad joined Zoinks! in '93 to play drums. Deciding to add a second vocalist/guitarist to the line-up, Arne Cherkoss from the Northern California band Underhand joined Zoinks! in ‘95. In ‘96, Zac left the band, landing gigs with Screeching Weasel, Lookout! Records' Squirtgun and ultimately forming Big In Japan. Rob, Bob and Arne continued Zoinks! as a three-piece, recorded “Well & Good” in 1997, went on two U.S. tours and a six-week tour of Europe. The band broke up in 1998. BUT NOW WE'RE BACK on a parttime basis.

...Seems weird they split back in 98, thought they lasted longer than that.
Video:




Songs:
Zoinks - Rope Tied
Zoinks - Last Song for Barbie

Greatest Hits .01: The Many Moods of The Vindictives

PROLOGUE:
(skip to the end if you don't feel like reading)

To give you an example of how deep rooted my geekiness for pop punk was at a certain point I used to lie awake at night in bed, and i'm not even joking about this, dream about the perfect line up I would want to see at a show. Screeching Weasel headlines, Dillinger Four opens, Sicko and the Parasites are in there somewhere and of course... of course, The Vindictives play right before Screeching Weasel and Ben Weasel hops on stage to play with them; the crowd cheers wildly. The line up changed from time to time. The Automatics are substituted for Dillinger Four, Dr. Frank of Mr. T Experience does an opening set of accoustic MTX songs, Beatnik Termites play somewhere inbetween, sometimes Boris The Sprinkler, sometimes Scared of Chaka. Oddly enough, the Insubordination Fest that happened recently would have probably been the closest thing to my dream set and I wasn't even there. Instead I was answering telephones at my deadbeat Help Desk job here in Florida, but I digress.

If I did this now, at 27, there would undoubtedly be something wrong with me but at 16 I cared about bands and records more than anything.. I liked songs about girls more than I liked actual girls. ...and The Vindictives were one of my favorites if not my all time favorite for a very long time.

That being said it's a little weird posting about them because I usually try to focus on bands that I love but I feel are slightly more obscure than The Vindictives, Screeching Weasel, Parasites, Beatnik Termites, Boris The Sprinkler, The Queers, MTX, etc.. As those bands, in my mind, define the meaning of "pop punk". Yeah, you can say Ramones, but they're really just plain "punk". Calling Ramones "pop punk" is almost an insult. They, themselves, when asked what type of music they were or asked if they thought of themselves as punk rock always replied that they were an American Rock n' Roll band. Fair Enough.

It goes without saying that if you are 16 years old now and into Punk Rock, reading the pages of MRR relentlessly searching for new 7"'s to buy and outpunking your High School friends (i'd like to think this still happens as lame as it was) there is a chance you may not know the classics and it would be sinful to leave them out. In reality, chances are 16 year old kids have better things to do then search for mp3 blogs on the internet but at least it gives the rest of us a chance to catch up on some favorites.

So without further ado, I present number .01 in The Ready Steady Smash Greatest Hits Series

END PROLOGUE

Greatest Hits .01

The Vindictives

Wikipedia does a nice job:

The Vindictives were a Chicago-based punk rock underground group during the 1990s. They were peers with Screeching Weasel and other bands from the era, they were also heavily-influenced by the Ramones. Joey Vindicitive's characteristic nasal melodies often told the story of alienation, psychosis, social-ills, and contiunally rejected rules of politeness. The lyrics were often intelligent outrages communicated through intentionally immature self defeating soliloquies.

They began their career in 1991, cutting their first 7" record later that year with the lineup of Joey Vindictive (vocals), Johnny Personality (bass), Ben Weasel (guitar) (soon to be replaced by Billy Blastoff), Dr. Bob (guitar), and Erik Elsewhere (soon to be replaced by P.J. Parti) (drums).

The band would end up releasing 12 EPs and albums until July of 1996, when Joey Vindictive revealed that his health issues would prevent the band from going on. Luckily for him, he overcame his ailments to re-form the band in 2000, cutting a new album and overseeing the re-release of a significant part of their catalog.

Guitarist Robert "Dr. Bob" Nielson died of a heroin overdose on February 22, 2003.

End Wiki.

As far as I know, The Vindictives are broken up, but they seem to be active on the internet and have released a slew of, for lack of better words, "interesting" things in recent years. Interesting things like electronic covers of their own songs ('Muzak for Robots'), unmastered original copies of all the singles compiled on The Many Moods of The Vindictives ('Original Masters'), an accoustic album of Vindictives songs ('Unplugged'), Singles and Rarities ('Curious Oddities and Bare Essentials') and a few more. They're on myspace , they're all over the place really.... Joey Vindictive even has a personal Myspace page (and no offense to him, but he's not the kinda dude i'd want to run into if I was walking in the park late at night).

Here are some favorites:

The Vindictives - Rocks in My Head
The Vindictives - Wonderful World
The Vindictives - Circles
The Vindictives - Ugly American

The Invalids

The Invalids "Wiseguys"

Gone, but definitely not forgotten as they're still a fav on the Pop Punk Bored and Insubordination Records is planning on rereleasing their debut (and only) album "Out of My Head". The Invalids recorded 2 singles in addition to that album. One of those singles came out on Lookout! Records at a time when every band wanted very badly to be on Lookout. Then there is this single, "Wiseguys". This single feels like it's been out of print since it came out... A little less snotty then their latter releases but still pretty damn snot nosed pop punk. The "whoa oh" factor is pretty high on this one..

Here it is in it's entirety:

The Invalids - Quantum Leap

The Invalids - Three Chord

The Invalids - Half Bad

The Invalids - Wiseguys

Yeah, Me Too

Gaunt



Probably the only full fledged (pop) punk band to have a record released on Thrill Jockey Records (that label that releases Sea and Cake, Tortoise, Mouse on Mars, etc). This aside, these songs are from a record by them that was not released on Thrill Jockey but on Amphetamine Reptile Records in 1995. As far as sound? They're definitely unique.. not your average songs about girls or Ramones sounding band... They might fit in somewhere close to Scared of Chaka or New Bomb Turks even.


Gaunt - Now

Gaunt - Breakin Down

Planet of The Mute Ants

The Mute-Ants
1995-1999


These guys were from my hometown in South Florida.. well, about 45 minutes north in West Palm Beach.. Probably the only band from Florida to have a release on Mutant Pop.... Anyways, they did the Screeching Weasel/Ramones thing in their own way and were pretty good at it.

Here is a clip from their first show via YouTube:

Some notes from about the clip from a member of the band:
I could be wrong, but I believe this is from our first show (November 1995, possibly). It was at a public hall in Jupiter (ed: Florida, not the planet) for some kid's birthday. The Crumbs also played. And yes, those are some nifty plaid pants I'm sporting. The song is "Bored With This City." For a more intelligible version, go here: www.myspace.com/muteants.

And a song:
The Mute-Ants - Bobby Goes Bananas

Power Tools

Horace Pinker



Horace Pinker falls into the wow-I-cant-believe-they're-still-together category. I remember hearing that Chris Bauermeister from Jawbreaker was playing with them a couple years back and remembered thinking it was interesting they were still playing music. Anyways, I remember them mostly for their first album and their split single with Doc Hopper. They had that Early-Mid 90's Descendents influenced, Dr. Strange sounding kinda East Bayish pop punk thing going on.

Here are two tracks off their first album, "Power Tools", including a cover of The Go Go's "Our Lips are Sealed".

Horace Pinker - First Everything
Horace Pinker - Our Lips are Sealed

Viva Chicago! Spotlight: Harmless Records

Harmless Records 1993-2004

Harmless Records existed from 1993-2004 and put out many a fine record in their day. They mostly released records from local area Chicago bands whom may have never saw the light of day otherwise. Their earliest records showcased some of the finest bands of the time and if I wasn't so lazy I probably would probably dedicate individual post to them (actually, i've already done Winepress).

These MP3's plus a whole bunch more are available for free download from the Harmless Records website.

Mushuganas - Dropout Girl

Lynards Innards - Valentine

My Foolish Halo - What a Shame

Chemical Blue - No Doubt

Walker - Fair

Thirty Seconds Deep - Ladder

Letterbombs - Armchair Revolutionary