The Fells - Fun Date

 

Artist: The Fells
Title: Fun Date
Year: 1992
Label: Third World Underground
Tracks: 1.) Fun Date, 2.) Easy Rider

I'm not much of an expert on The Fells but they probably deserve more credit than they get. Their first records came out in 1991. That's the same year as Supercharger. One year later than The Humpers. Two years before The Rip Offs. The Fells were legitimately one of the first modern bands playing raw straight forward rock 'n' roll inspired punk. They held down the state of Arizona in the 1990s and along with The Drags in New Mexico made the southwest USA just as important as southern California at the time. 

The Fells had some heavy hitters in their lineup, too. The central core was Jeff Glave and Heath Heemsbergen who shared duties on vocals, guitar, and songwriting. Jeff eventually moved to the Bay Area and played in a lot of bands including Radio Reelers and Control Freaks with Greg Lowery. Heath moved to Michigan and was a longtime member of the all mighty Tyvek. The Fells went through a number of bassists and drummers, with the most notable of them being bass player Rob Yazzie, who has played in a bunch of Austin bands.

This is one of their earlier records. Third World Underground seems to have been a general Tucson indie label. "Fun Date" is a Heath song with a fairly standard punchy punk rock sound, heavy on the guitar effects. To me, "Easy Rider" is the winner, a Jeff song with a very spacy groove. It kind of reminds me of Tyvek, even though it's not credited to Heath.   

Sample: here

The Tweezers - Love Kills

 

Artist: The Tweezers
Title: Love Kills
Year: 2017
Label: Time Bomb
Tracks: 1.) Love Kills, 2.) Someday, 3.) Teen Machinery

It's fairly well know that when Teengenerate broke up at the end of 1995, brothers Fink and Fifi immediately formed new power pop bands. Fink did The Raydios and Fifi with The Tweezers. The Raydios made their way to Western audiences with the LP on Sweden's [edit] Germany's Screaming Apple label and later a second LP on Dirtnap but The Tweezers were much more elusive, releasing all their records on Japanese labels. 

The Tweezers were rounded out by Koji of Samantha's Favourite on guitar, Tomoko from Supersnazz on bass, and Uganda from Jet Boys and also Samantha's Favourite on drums. Their sole LP was released in 1997. To celebrate the 20 year anniversary, original label Time Bomb remastered and re-released the album and also did this 7" as a bonus. "Love Kills" was an unreleased song from the original sessions. "Someday" is a cover by The Kids, but this is a different version than what was on the album. "Teen Machinery" is another alternate version of a LP track. The updated CD included all these songs, and others, but they were also released separately here for vinyl fans. 

The Tweezers never recorded any more but kept on playing live forever. At some point Fifi stopped playing guitar and they added a fifth member. 

Sample: here

Razz - Pleasantries

 

Artist: Razz
Title: Pleasantries
Year: 2016
Label: Warm Wet Records
Tracks: 1.) No Time, 2.) Pleasantries, 3.) We Complain, 4.) Wish You Well (Ballad Of J + B)

Razz might be best known for featuring bass player Andy "Human" Jordan, and his bass playing is tight, but the direction of band comes from singer and guitarist Dan Wood. Dan has been around since the early 1990s with Flathead, but really came into his own with The Pets in the mid-2000s.

Razz continues along the same lines as The Pets but arguably has a more mature vibe. They have a LP from 2017 that is really good, too. 

Sample: here

The Silverkings - Warning: 100% Shit!

 

Artist: The Silverkings
Title: Warning: 100% Shit! 
Year: 1997
Label: G.I. Productions
Tracks: 1.) Class Trash, 2.) Bomb Threat, 3.) Turpentine, 4.) Don't Tread On Me

I remember G.I. Productions being pretty active during this stretch of the mid-90's but I didn't pay them much attention. I felt like they seemed like a lower tier label and with limited money and no internet to listen to things, I focused on other labels and records. 

I only just got hip to this. As far as I know this is the first record featuring Joe Pestilence. Joe would go on to play in 10-4 Backdoor with King Louie Bankston, had a run playing keyboard with The Spits, and then upon moving back south played bass on perhaps the best Buck Biloxi & The Fucks records. 

This record stands up with everything he did after. It's just really good, catchy, heavily rock 'n' roll influenced trash rock. They did one other 7" on the Swedish label Ken Rock. I still need to get that. 

Sample: here

Sleez Sisters - Sleez Sisters (Theme)

 

Artist: Sleez Sisters
Title: Sleez Sisters (Theme)
Year: 1991
Label: Sympathy For The Record Industry
Tracks: 1.) Sleez Sisters (Theme), 2.) Sick On You

Full disclosure I don't remember this at all from back in the day. It came out 2-3 years before I would have been looking for something like this. I only recently discovered it by chasing down some rabbit holes. Drummer Hisayo was a short time member of American Soul Spiders and slightly longer time member of Supersnazz. Guitar player Rico and bass player Mikako were in a very early version of the 5.6.7.8's. 

Musically this sounds a lot like early Supersnazz to me with the vocal delivery and general bounciness. "Sick On You" was originally recorded by the pre-Boys band Hollywood Brats, which was probably an obscure cut for this time period. 

Like a lot of Japanese bands from this time, Sleez Sisters are still going, and also like a lot of Japanese bands from this time that are still around, they haven't recorded much in a long time. It  seems they have a more hard rock sound now than on this record. 

Sample: here

The Half Rats - Throw It Around

Artist: The Half Rats
Title: Throw It Around
Year: 2007
Label: Culture Cast
Tracks: 1.) Throw It Around, 2.) B.M.W. Nuns, 3.) Throw It Around (Demo)

I remember The Half Rats existing during their time but never explored them because I thought they just kind of got lost in the shuffle among a lot of budget pop coming out of Indiana, highlighted by The Romance Novels with honorable mentions to Eric and The Happy Thoughts, The Sweet Sixteens, and The Boy Toys. 

But now that I re-visit The Half Rats, I can hear that they have some legitimately tough garage chops and aren't really all that pop even if they include Ryan from The Boy Toys and Alex from The Perennials. I don't know who wrote these songs but the second 7" credits all the songs to member Tyler who went on to be in the later version of Cococoma and that is closer to what this sounds like. 

This is The Half Rats' first 7". I assume it is self-released. The sleeve only indicates two songs. The third song seems to be a demo version of "Throw It Around". 

Sample: here

Jumpin' Beans And Willie - Popcorn

Artist: Jumpin' Beans And Willie
Title: Popcorn
Year: 2000
Label: Ball Records
Tracks: 1.) Popcorn, 2.) Milkshake For Two

More from Aaron and Will. This time a more mellow Hasil Adkins-inspired set. 

Sample: here