The creature walks amongst us!

Psychobilly, trash, garage, stuff that takes my fancy. Things. Waffling. But mainly Psychobilly and garagey trash to start with.

There are plenty of blogs out there for the more recent of Psychobilly out there. Y'know, the kind that thinks punky No Doubt pop played with a bit of slap bass constitutes Psychobilly (yes, Madge, I'm looking at you). There are plenty of trash, garagey, trash garage and garagey trash blogs out there. There are countless frillions of blogs about things and waffling. But there are precious few that combine the classic Psychobilly and all the other things into one place. And, more importantly, there are none by me.

There are now. I mean, there is now. Whichever it should be, this is it. My internet organ of waffling, quiffs you could sand a table with and mental music played on cheap instruments and possibly recorded in a toilet (not the cubicle, possibly recorded in the actual toilet bowl itself. What Jamie calls "rusty spoon music". Hi Jamie. I expect a comment, you cravat loving whore).

Hurr, I said organ. And whore.

At some point, I'll be introducing the joys of sPazAmping[tm] (formerly sPazTuning[tm]), the Wafflemuse, and assorted other tripe you'll never read. But for now, we'll keep it succinct (trust me, this is succinct for me. It's all relative. Like my Gran). And more critically, we'll keep it Psycho, with a little Guana Batz, and we'll keep it Trash, with a little Ug & the Cavemen.



Guana Batz - You're So Fine (Big Beat; 1983)

A1: You're So Fine
A2: Rockin' in my Coffin

B1: Jungle Rumble
B2: Guana Rock



Ah, the Guana Batz. For a band with one of the finest logos known to humankind, they didn't half contrive to come up with some of the shittest covers ever. I mean, look at it. It's fine, it's looking good with the logo prominent and a nice graveyard thing going on, then they go and stick that ridiculous band picture thing in the top right. Why? It's frankly retarded, if you ask me. Which, of course, you didn't. But you are reading this, so I'm going to take a few liberties like that. But enough of that, back to the Batz. One of the finest of all Psychobilly bands, with barely a slip in the best part of a decade - which is pretty good going for a Psychobilly band (take The Meteors, for instance. Much as I love them, they could definitely have done with the exercise of a little quality control at times). They're still going, kind of (not all of them, Dave "Diddle" Turner voluntarily left the band in 1987. He sadly then involuntarily left the land of the living in 2001), touring and the like (although I think they're pretty much based in the US now, which is a bit of a change from Feltham).

This was pretty much the first Psychobilly record I bought, back in the mists of time. When I was 12 or so. I seem to recall getting it from Our Price (the one that used to be in Piccadilly, then was cruelly closed when Virgin bought them. It's now a Superdrug or something, and also the backdrop for some curious bongo/dancing African buskers. You daren't loiter round there - not only is there the evil sound of bongo(e)s, it's also a prime hunting ground of the Children's Society / Help the Aged / Scopetastic tabard wearing students with clipboards, bounding about the place with forced enthusiasm, generally getting all up in your stuff trying to get the written promise of money from you. But I digress. I may not have got it from there at all, it might have been the small HMV down the bottom of Market Street (in the days before pedestrianisation and megastores). It was a long time ago, after all. I'm sure you're fascinated by all of this, the tale of a little confused 12 year old me mooching about Manchester, clutching the fruits of his misspent pocket money.

Anyway, the EP. Perhaps my view is coloured by merry nostalgia, but it's a mighty fine slice of Psychobilly, Batz style. Starts with a rumbling, slightly menacing opener (which has the obligatory mini-freakout mixed into it) with Pip in typically fine voice, ambles through the cramps-esque coffin-mentioner, rips along with a riotous example of to a) fruitfully employ the slap bass and b) make a tenuous connection to the word "jungle", and winds up with the self-referencing, rocking, best song of the four. Go on, treat your ears, it's not long til Christmas. The link is in the comments, along with the next one.



Ug & the Cavement - s/t (Media Burn, 1987)

A1 - Go Go Gorilla
A2 - Tarzan's Jungle Home
A3 - Nightmare
A4 - Be a Caveman
A5 - Under the Door
B1 - I'm Evil
B2 - Rev Up
B3 - Switchblade
B4 - Shake it Injun
B5 - Bo Diddley
B6 - Mean Time Mama

This one I bought from a mail order Psychobilly type shop (in Southport, as I recall), in the days before the internets. I borrowed the catalogue from an extremely unlikely combination of flat-topped Psychobilly fan and trainee Actuary. I liked the cover. I also liked the fact that it is partly the Stingrays in disguise (although I do believe there were some tits who thought it was a genuine 60s type thing. Tch). The first side is far and away the strongest - you're always going to struggle when you start with a stompingly good song as "Go Go Gorilla". This, along with the nearly equally excellent "Be a Caveman" and "Tarzan's Jungle Home" contribute to the overall rumbling, thudding, jungley, cavemannish feel of side 1. The flip side, whilst still good, is more of a regular 60s garage revival affair, lacking the wild, riotous jungle stomp and swagger of the openers. Either way, it's a must for fans of garage, trash, cheesy farfisa blasts, wild vocals, the Stingrays and many other things. People with ears and sense, basically. Don't be a cementhead, get it whilst you can!

So there you go. A nice, gentle easing into the world of psychotrash. Hopefully there will be many more to come. Remember, if you like it, try and buy it (good luck with that). I did. It's fun, you get to fondle the vinyl.