The Hot Pockets - I Can't Sleep

Artist: The Hot Pockets
Title: I Can't Sleep
Year: 1999
Label: Hate Records
Tracks: 1.) I Can't Sleep, 2.) The Sign Of A Misspent Youth, 3.) (I'm) In Love With Today

Here's the third Hot Pockets 7" and final batch of recordings from their first session, pressed by the long running Italian label Hate Records. "I Can't Sleep" is co-written by Danny Marks, so I guess him and Adam wrote it with The Spaceshits but never recorded and/or released it. "(I'm) In Love With Today" is the equally impressive B-side to The Users classic "Sick Of You" from 1977. 

Sample: here

The Hot Pockets - Rejected #3

Artist: The Hot Pockets
Title: Rejected #3
Year: 1998
Label: High School Reject Records
Tracks: 1.) Fascist Dictator, 2.) On Tour, 3.) Rejected At The High School Dance

Here is the other Hot Pockets 7" from 1998 and also the second edition of High School Reject Records' "Rejected" series I have posted, following up The Real Losers. "Fascist Dictator" was originally by The Cortinas from 1977, "On Tour" is an original written by Robert, and "Rejected" if of course by Mean Red Spiders. 

Sample: here

The Hot Pockets - I Live On Rocket Street

Artist: The Hot Pockets
Title: I Live On Rocket Street
Year: 1998
Label: Kogar Records
Tracks: 1.) I Live On Rocket Street, 2.) Every Time We Get Married

To most people the most meaningful event of The Spaceshits' European tour of 1998 was the permanent re-location of King Khan to Germany, but guitar player Adam "Tongues" Gollner also left some seeds on the olde continent. Adam hit it off with some of the Dutch scenesters, most notably Robert from De Stipjes, and thus became The Hot Pockets. 

The band originally recorded eight songs in an old Nazi bunker that produced material for three 7"s. "Every Time We Get Married" was originally recorded by The Spaceshits. I posted it a while ago. There was another 7" that also came out in 1998 and I am not sure which was released first. They got back together a few more times to record more and all their records are good. I'll be posting more. 

Sample: here

The Dirtys - It Ain't Easy

Artist: The Dirtys
Title: It Ain't Easy
Year: 1998
Label: Italy Records
Tracks: 1.) It Ain't Easy, 2.) Fuck

I'm pretty sure this is The Dirtys first 7". They released two in 1998, this one and the four song "Teenage Teenage Problem Child" EP. Interestingly, both came out after their LP from 1997, reversing the normal progression of putting out a few singles before building up for an album. 

This 7" continues on the raging from You Should Be Sinnin'. "It Ain't Easy" features guitar work by Mick Collins, but he does not produce this as he did the LP. Jim Diamond was behind the boards for these two songs. 

Sample: here

Larry Dirty - Drug Abused

Artist: Larry Dirty
Title: Drug Abused
Year: 2000
Label: Flying Bomb Records
Tracks: 1.) Drug Abused, 2.) Rocker Slut, Super Star, 3.) I Had A Girl

The Dirtys had the distinction for a while of being the last new contemporary band on Crypt Records with their lone LP from 1997 until Tim came out of retirement to release The Little Killers in 2003. You Should Be Sinnin' is a modern classic but they didn't have a chance to follow it up because guitar player Larry Terbush died in 1999. 

This is a posthumous 7" of a few minimalist home recordings between Larry and Dirtys bass player Joe. One thing I like about this is for being so minimalist the songs all sound different from each other. "Drug Abused" is a degenerate re-write of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long", "Rocker Slut, Super Star" sounds like a Dirtys song without the bottom end, and "I Had A Girl" has a fuzzy blues vibe to it. 

Sample: here

Candygirl - Beehive

Artist: Candygirl
Title: Beehive
Year: 2000
Label: Lipstick Records
Tracks: 1.) Beehive, 2.) Jukebox Junkie, 3.) Jack-N-Jill, 4.) He's a Hypstr

Here is another gem from Lipstick Records. Candygirl is one of numerous projects from husband and wife Travis Ramin and Georgia "Peach" Conley from Minneapolis. You probably know Travis best as the drummer on all but the first The Fevers record. He also played in the fantastic Tina Lucchesi supergroup Tina & The Total Babes. He has played a lot with his wife, too, with the most prolific outfit being the admittedly lackluster The Short Fuses, who had a LP on Sympathy in 2000. I'm going to assume Candygirl was just a recording project and they didn't play shows since Travis played all the instruments on the records. 

This is the second Candygirl record. The first was self-released on their own Jetstar Records a year earlier. In 2006 a Japanese label released a CD called Candygirl & Friends that includes both 7"s and songs from a couple other Georgia Peach projects as well as The Riff Randells, who have nothing to do with either Georgia or Travis. 

Sample: here

Clone Defects - Lizard Boy

Artist: Clone Defects
Title: Lizard Boy
Year: 2000
Label: Italy Records
Tracks: 1.) Rouge River Rebel, 2.) Not As Good As Gold, 3.) Wholesome Girl, 4.) Lizard Boy

Here's the third 7", which came out at the same time as the second, but it appears to be from a different recording session. This record eluded me for a very long time. Somehow I missed it when it came out and it quickly got to be pretty expensive for my blood but I just recently bought this for the nice price. "Not As Good As Gold" is another of my absolute favorites from them. 

Sample: here

Jeffrey Novak One Man Band - Southern Trash

Artist: Jeffrey Novak One Man Band
Title: Southern Trash
Year: 2005
Label: P. Trash Records
Tracks: 1.) Tonight, 2.) Nothing To Do, 3.) Nothing Can Bring Me Down, 4.) Shutdown, 5.) Back Off, 6.) Dirty Red Boots, 7.) Kick The Door Down, 8.) I've Lost It, 9.) Southern Trash, 10.) Stay Away From Me, 11.) Medication, 12.) Come Around, 13.) Don't Leave Me Alone, 14.) She's So Wild, 15.) Better Get Ready

I went through a run of posting a lot of Jeffrey Novak One Man Band but never posted this, his most proper and final release. It features many of his best songs, a loud-as-f recording, and even some guitar overdubs. Germany's P. Trash Records released the vinyl for this but Jeff's Sonic Assault Records released a couple different variations on CDR. 

Most of these songs are originals, with garage classic "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" by The Twilighters, "Kick The Door Down" originally recorded by the Joe Pestilence-lead The Silverkings and later re-recorded by the Pestilence/King Louie band 10-14 Backdoor, and "Better Get Ready" by German punk legends PACK. 

Sample: here

Bitchschool - s/t

Artist: Bitchschool
Title: s/t
Year: 1999
Label: Lipstick Records
Tracks: 1.) Bitchschool, 2.) Record Store, 3.) I'll Be Good To You, 4.) Runaways In The Night (BONUS)

Along with the previously discussed The Retardos and the one day to be discussed first 7" by The Fevers, here is another relic from the early days when power pop was first acknowledged by the moderne garage scene. 

Bitchschool (This Is Spinal Tap reference) was a short-lived project between brother and sister Chris and Michelle Santamaria immediately after the end of their previous band, the fantastic Loli & The Chones. In this configuration, Chones guitarist Chris moved to drums and drummer Michelle moved to guitar and lead vocals. The band was rounded out by two other girls new to the scene. 

This is the only release they put out. It contains the first three songs included here. They recorded a cover of Nick Gilder's "Runaways In The Night" for a comp and I included it here as a bonus. I have no idea if they ever played any shows or if this was just a studio project. 

After this, Chris would mostly fade into the background, popping up every once in a while with other northern California budget rockers. Michelle and bassist Jessica would continue the direction of Bitchschool with The Pinkz, rounded out by longtime Bay Area drummer Kathy Walker and a new second guitar player. The Pinkz didn't last too long and a few years later Michelle had a run behind the drum kit with Hunx And His Punx. 

Sample: here

Clone Defects - Scissors Chop

Artist: Clone Defects
Title: Scissors Chop
Year: 2000
Label: Italy Records
Tracks: 1.) Scissors Chop, 2.) 15 Minute Love, 3.) Mars

Now we get to the second Clone Defects 7". I don't know for sure but I think these tracks are probably from the same time as the first 7" because both releases were recorded by Jack White and mixed by Jim Diamond, where everything released after this was recorded by only Diamond. 

"Scissors Chop" introduces the band's more abrasive and avant garde side while "15 Minute Love" is possibly the best straight up punk song they ever did. "Mars" is a nice mix of both styles. 

Sample: here

Baseball Furies - This Is The Greatest Rock-N-Roll Record Ever

Artist: Baseball Furies
Title: This Is The Greatest Rock-N-Roll Record Ever
Year: 1997
Label: Big Neck Records
Tracks: 1.) Coney Island USA, 2.) Fuckin Jim, 3.) Carshouter, 4.) Teenage Love Dolls

It was my first thought to group this with Clone Defects as another of the preeminent millennial bands that ushered in our modern era by taking the speed and the hooks of the 1990s garage punk explosion but adding an extra layer of complexity and less linear song structures. Going into this with that thought, I was surprised by how much older this record is. The original version of this, self-released on the Furies' Go Bopper! Records, came out in 1996. That was the year before the first Loli & The Chones LP. (The version pictured here is the second pressing on Big Neck.) 

I don't remember liking this record all that much when it came out. I got their second 7", Sounds of Mayhem, at the same time and liked that one a lot better. But now that I listen to this again, it's better than I remember. 

As you probably know, Baseball Furies were a pretty prolific band, releasing a few records while based in their hometown of Buffalo, NY, and then relocating to Chicago to release more. Just about all their stuff is available to purchase online, so I will not be posting any of that, but here is where it all started.  

Sample: here

The Piranhas - Garbage Can

Artist: The Piranhas
Title: Garbage Can
Year: 1999
Label: Tom Perkins Records
Tracks: 1.) Garbage Can, 2.) Mind Control, 3.) Redundant

This record came out at the same time as the first Clone Defects and similarly kicked a lot of people's asses. (Guitar player Ian was in Epileptix with Timmy Vulgar.) From where I stood at the time, this Detroit band was among the first to bring the whole dark wave thing to a punk/garage sound, before Lost Sounds, Terrible Twos, and others. 

The Piranhas would go on to release a 12" on Tom Perkins shortly after this, and it is good, too. They then did a 7" on Rocknroll Blitzkrieg which I didn't think was very good. After that they signed to In The Red Records and did a LP and another 12" before calling it quits. Most of the members would go on to other projects, with the most notable perhaps being Druid Perfume. 

Sample: here

Clone Defects - Bottled Woman

Artist: Clone Defects
Title: Bottled Woman
Year: 1999
Label: Tom Perkins Records
Tracks: 1.) Bottled Woman, 2.) Cheetah Eyes

Detroit's Clone Defects were one of the definitive bands that bridged the gap between the Rip Off Records era of the 1990s and pretty much everything that has been good since then. They took the fast and raw rock n roll influence that had gotten a little stagnant and generic at that point and added an art and noise element to freshen things up. 

Singer and guitar player Timmy Vulgar had been kicking it around with Epileptix a few years earlier but they never really caught on. (Their records are very collectable now, though.) This debut for Clone Defects got a great review in Maximum Rocknroll at the time and he's been pretty prolific and well-received since then. 

The last Clone Defects record was in 2003. They played a handful of reunion shows over the next decade. After that Timmy went on to the more artsy less punk Human Eye and then the art pop of Timmy's Organism. Drummer Fast Eddie passed away in 2013. The producer of this 7" would go on to be world famous as Jack White. 

Sample: here

The Okmoniks - Keepin' Up With

Artist: The Okmoniks
Title: Keepin' Up With
Year: 2004
Label: In-Fi Records
Tracks: 1.) You Got It (And I Need It Too), 2.) Won't Let Me Be, 3.) Don't Wanna See You No More!, 4.) Cry A Little Longer, 5.) Change For The Worse, 6.) Whatcha Gonna Do, 7.) Somethin' New (About You), 8.) Ain't Comin' In, 9.) She's A Tease, 10.) Buzz With Me, 11.) Buy My Love

I meant to post this in line with the other Okmoniks posts but I guess I forgot. Here is what I assume is another CDR that would appear to be the total recording session for a future record, the Compact 33 7", with more songs with gratuitous parentheses and apostrophes. This record is notable as the first appearance of Justin Nobunny on drums. The vinyl version of this has seven songs. The CDR adds "Change For The Worse", "Somethin' New (About You)", "She's A Tease", "Buzz With Me" and "Buy My Love". Now that I really look at it, the vinyl has one song not on here, "Waste Of Time". As of right now I don't own the vinyl so can't help you with that. 

Sample: here

Skipper - In Italy

Artist: Skipper
Title: In Italy
Year: 2010
Label: Bachelor Records
Tracks: 1.) Not A Girl Left Standing, 2.) Anxiety (Here It Comes), 3.) Can't See You Anymore, 4.) Satellite Love, 5.) Driving Around Alone, 6.) Really Loving Tonight, 7.) The Lonely One And Only Band

Here's the 10", apparently recorded on a trip to Italy. 

Sample: here