I got an email the other day from Niels. Niels who? Niels from Gepopel of course. He spoke about the problems about fitting in: “our big problem seems to be we don’t fit in anywhere… The garage scene (which we feel the closest to) think we’re too HC, the HC scene think we’re too garage, the Ramonesy/pop/punk-scene we don’t fit in, etc. It’s a drag as me and our bass player Joost both started out in the early 80’s, when you had a load of totally different sounding bands working together (the Ex/ Nitwitz/ Trockener Kecks, etc. etc.),”.

I recognise that too well. It dosen’t fit into the KBD time table. But many bands here don’t. But in 20 years the new bands on here will sure be the victims of collectors greedy hands. Pick up this before you regret it cause it’s fantastic!!

Last track is a cover of a De Straks song from 1980. 500 copies and a super nice packaging. Check out Niels punk rock blog Eet U Smakelijk. Excellent writing and great posts! Favourite track: Doin’ Time. I want more Niels!

Sack O’ Woes on the web

Country: Holland
Year: 2006
Label: U-LIT/Sacko-O’
Format: 7″
Songs:
Whiteout.mp3
Doin’ Time.mp3
Eet u smakelijk(De Straks 1980).mp3

In the summer of 2002 I was surfing the Know Crap mailorder site(had a diffrent name back then) and stumbled upon a cool looking band named The Briefs. They had small snippets music for almost every record they sold. I clicked “New Shoes” who are on The Briefs first “Hit After Hit” LP and was hooked. I emailed Chris Brief(drums and vocals) and asked if they got any copys left of this 7inch and he told me he didn’t have a copy himself but if he found one he would send it to me. What a nice guy but he never found a copy. I found it later though.

I got hold of everything The Briefs: t-shirts, badges, stickers, records and was raving about them but no one in Sweden seemed to take notice. I was thinking to myself that these will get huge later on.

Here we are today and The Briefs have lost me. They’ve gone from great on “Hit After Hit” to mediocre with followers that sounds the same. Ehh punk? Right now I’m listening to Steal Your Heart the latest Briefs LP and there’s one good track on it. They used to sound so smart with their own flavour. Bitter? Yes, cause they used to be my favourite band for quiet a long time.

Country: USA
Year: 1999
Label: Hit And Run
Format: 7″
Songs:
Poor And Weird.mp3
Rotten Love.mp3

You don’t need to know much about Split Enz. They where quiet huge for awhile. And yes they sucked. Here’s the only really great track I’ve heard with them. Powerpop smasher! For those interested here’s a biography: clicky clicky.

Country: New Zealand
Year: 1978
Label: Illegal
Songs:
I See Red.mp3
Give It A Whirl
Hermit McDermitt

This gives me almost the same kick as when I heard the Discharge, Teen Idles, Germs or any other of the old bands that sounded like something you hadn’t heard before. I say almost cause it dosen’t sound as “new” as at it did back in the days BUT it has the exact feeling that I’m looking for in bands. The oh so releaving “I don’t give a fuck!” attitude.

I saw these guys live some weeks ago and it was magic. I was about to yell something in “ostgotska” the home dialect of mine cause the singer Otto sounds like he comes from “Norrkoping”. A dialect that sounds like you got a lobotomy. Combine that dialect with great punk rock and you have a winner. Have been compared alot to Circle Jerks. And comparsions can be made cause you can clearly hear the influences. But let’s face it! They’ve refined the sound of Circle Jerks and this is better. Watch out for more Regulations to come.

Country: Sweden
Year: 2003
Label: Putrid Filth Conspiracy
Songs:
Survive In The City.mp3
No Rights.mp3
Acceptance.mp3
I’m Going Nowhere.mp3

This boot don’t have Lion’s Share which I think will make that session 5 tracks all in all? The Germs have always been hyped to death more or less. Yes, the’re great but take a look at eBay and how many boots are there floating around these days? I bought this dirt cheap cause I hadn’t heard these songs and accidently my copy happened to be signed by Pat Smear.

Funny enough the longest song is my choice here. I feel creepy when listening to it and apptly enough it’s titled Not All Right. I think I can hear just HOW bad Darby is feeling. And that little drum intro by Don makes me smile every time.

Country: USA
Year: 1980
Label: Bandwagon
Format: 7″
Songs:
Throw It Away.mp3
Not All Right.mp3
Now I Hear The Laughter.mp3
Going Down.mp3