fireworks - lit up

after the short stints in 68 COMEBACK and BLACKTOP, DARIN LIN WOOD formed FIREWORKS, one of the truly great yet underappreciated garage punk bands of the 90s...... 

combining the stripped down punk snarl of the CRAMPS and the GORIES, the spastic rockabilly of the GIBSON BROS, FLAT DUO JETS and HASIL ADKINS and all the noisy mayhem of garage punk contemporaries the OBLIVIANS, JOHN SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION, ACTION SWINGERS and the HONEYMOON KILLERS, FIREWORKS were definitely ROWDY, UNHINGED, OVER-THE-TOP, IN-YER-FACE. RAW AND INFECTIOUS AS FUCK....and they gave their contemporaries a run for the money, not that anyone seems to remember that anymore...  always one of my favorites and a band that definitely stands out on those old CHEAPO CRYPT RECORDS SAMPLERS, FIREWORKS released only three lps during their short existence..... all of which are highly recommended.   and sadly all out of print until now.......

this spring, BANG! RECORDS decided to dig up FIREWORKS' third and final album, LIT UP, and give it the reissue treatment.  thank fucking christ, this was long overdue.........never released on vinyl before (after all it was released in 97 when most labels had given up on records all together), LIT UP stands the test of time......chock full of boisterous, feedback-bent, southern-fried garage stompers that will most certainly blow you away....... FIREWORK's last album is a repeat listen, so do yerself a favor and check it out now........

and if you buy one reissue this year, 
it most certainly should be LIT UP.
a fuckin' garage punk classic.........

LISTEN TO TWO SONGS FROM 
FIREWORKS' "LIT UP" LP BELOW -
  and click here to grab the record from BANG!

MY LOVE IS PETRIFIED


DON'T LET IT GO

james arthur manhunt - s/t (2010)

James Arthur was the guitarist and architect behind a bunch of the noisiest, nastiest garage bands of the last couple of decades: Fireworks, Necessary Evils, A Feast of Snakes, Golden Boys. He's been holed up in a shack in the wilds of Texas the last few years, slowly cataloguing on his four track the evil filth that excretes from his addled brain during long nights lost to the whiskey and mescal that fuelled them. The results were sifted through by the folks at Aarght!, who compiled this LP. You get half a dozen actual songs mixed up with a mess of instrumental chaos......


and man YOU DON'T COME ACROSS A BAND LIKE JAMES ARTHUR MANHUNT EVERYDAY...  these guys are out to rock whether yr listening or not........


Terminal Boredom sez: ''Mostly (but not all) instrumental and dealing in arid tumbleweed lore and sci-fi rotgut seizures, MANHUNT gives JAMES a reason to get all schnockered up and expel his inner demons via 4-track....A smashed southern R&B and garage sound in the same vein as his recent namesake singles or 68' Comeback...if they was NUTS. Messy and fun all around."

Goner  Records  sez : ''Fuzz, reverb, guitar overload from James Arthur. Manhunt was described in Australia as ''Psychedelic Vomit'' and we're not disagreeing. Suicide, International Harvester, Chrome, Davie Allan, Jeff Evans, Roy & The Devil's Motorcycle, and the ghost of 68 Comeback's Jack Taylor all live in this thing. It's dense. It's wild. It's great!''

SPACE ROCK smashed to pieces by some southern acid fried garage punks........  Think the OBLIVIANS or the LAZY COWGIRLS covering HAWKWIND or SPACEMEN 3 with LOU REED's METAL MACHINE MUSIC scorching levels of destruction..........  

anyway this is one of those releases i slept on, but reports from GONER FEST this year tell me that these guys are not to be missed....... so go ahead and.....click here to download the s/t lp from 2010


(thanks goes to SMASHIN TRANSISTORS for the tip on these guys as well as several people from chicago who sadly went to goner fest without me......)


watch  below......

68 COMEBACK - golden rogues singles collection

rising outta the ashes of the GIBSON BROS, the trash rockabilly garage outfit from COLOMBUS OHIO, was one of my fav garage punk bands, 68 COMEBACK.....

most people seem to have forgotten about 68 COMEBACK, and with all these younger bands tapping into the old CRYPT, SYMPATHY and IN THE RED bands as influences, everyone should not overlook JEFFREY EVANS' great  lo-fi bluesy garage punk band.......

this is great fucking music, LOUD, RAUCOUS, SOULFUL DRUNKEN ROCK N ROLL.... you need 68 COMEBACK in yr collection......

i put them in the same list of all time great garage punk bands with the gories, oblivians, and cheater slicks.......

so since most of their albums are way out of print.......click here to grab the GOLDEN ROGUES SINGLE COLLECTION released on SYMPATHY FOR THE RECORD INDUSTRY.....

and you can click here to jump over to PUNKS MAKE YR DAY, where the entire discography of 68 COMEBACK is posted.........   

watch below......