Garage Bands
99 articles
The Trashmen — What's In A Name?
Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 4 April 1964
A LOOK AT THE CRAZIEST NEW GROUP ON THE U.S. SCENE ...
Paul Revere & The Raiders: Paul Revere & Raiders Carry Fight to British
Profile by Derek Taylor, KRLA Beat, 10 March 1965
WATCH FOR the world-wide ride of Paul Revere! ...
Paul Revere & The Raiders: Tall Tale of Paul Revere Not to Mention His Raiders
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 31 July 1965
SIXTEEN YEAR-old Paul Revere tossed a typewriter out of the window, thusly realizing his youthful ambition to get expelled from school. ...
The Leaves: These Leaves Aren't Falling
Interview by Ann Moses, Rhythm 'n' News, 24 September 1965
NONCHALANCE is the only word that can accurately sum up the new group, the Leaves. ...
The Mojo Men: Mojo Men Seek New Gold Rush
Profile by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 13 November 1965
THEY CAME from New York and Florida like pioneers heading West and now they are seeking their place in the scene. ...
The Kingsmen: Kingsmen Need Perry Mason
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 5 February 1966
WHENEVER THE Kingsmen are mentioned, one automatically thinks of 'Louie, Louie' – right? Well, The BEAT staff used to think that way too but as ...
The Shadows Of Knight: Shadows Of Knight Win 'Gloria' Race
Profile and Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 7 May 1966
THEY HAVE shut down Them with their recording of 'Gloria'. They're the first rock group to come out of Chicago and really make a sizable ...
The Rationals: 'Respect' Makes a Hit for Ann Arbor Quartet
Profile and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 9 September 1966
PUT TOGETHER an Otis Redding tune, 'Respect', and four talented guys from Ann Arbor called The Rationals and you've got a big hit record. So ...
The Beatles, The Remains: The Remains: Beatle Tour — 'Like Playing In A Closet'
Interview by Rochelle Reed, KRLA Beat, 24 September 1966
"PLAYING THE Beatle tour was like performing in a closet with the lights off," confessed Briggs, one of the Remains who wandered up to The ...
Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels: The Soul Of Ryder
Profile and Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 3 December 1966
MANY TRY but few white entertainers really succeed in singing the blues as they should be sung. The blues which come from deep inside seem ...
Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels: Mitch Ryder Quits Wheels To Start Brand New Show
Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 30 December 1966
WATCH OUT, world, here comes the brand new Mitch Ryder Show. Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels are no more. Instead Mitch will be socking ...
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Seeds: Popular Records: Dirt Band and Seeds Sprout Hits
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1967
TWO LOCAL groups straddling different sectors of pop music, each of which ripened amid the musical upheaval of the past year, have emerged from months ...
The Rationals: One of Detroit's Real 'In' Groups
Profile and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 21 July 1967
WHO DOES Mitch Ryder demand back him up when he does a special appearance in Detroit without his band? Who stole the show at the ...
The Rationals: The Rationals (Crewe CR-1334)
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 7 January 1971
ALL THAT killer, bizarre, get-down music that constantly pumps out of the Motor City had to come from somewhere, right? Here's where. The Rational are ...
Review by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, 12 November 1971
She's got long black hairAnd a big black carI know what you're thinkin'But you won't get far!She's gonna make you itch'Cause she's a witch! ...
The Trashmen: Carrying That Weight With The Trashmen
Retrospective by Metal Mike Saunders, unpublished, 1972
2003 intro: This was an unpublished piece, wherein I strung together actual Dave Marsh phrases from his Bob Dylan polemics (in CREEM) under the name ...
Profile by Metal Mike Saunders, unpublished, 1972
2009 note: The odd thing about this (unpublished) fall 1972 thing sent to Phonograph Record Monthly (unassigned) is that co-editor Greg Shaw would – I ...
Kenny & The Kasuals, The Litter, The Sonics: The Sonics, Kenny & The Kasuals, The Litter reissues
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Fusion, July 1972
The Sonics: Here Are The Sonics (Etiquette 024); Kenny & The Kasuals: Live at the Studio Club (Mark 5000); The Litter: Distortions (Warwick 671) ...
Various Artists: Nuggets (Elektra)
Review by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, October 1972
1965 Revisited: Lenny Kaye meets the Seeds ...
The Standells: The Blue Max, Van Nuys, California
Live Review by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, November 1972
IT WAS the best kept secret in town, but yessir, the Standells came through here a couple of weeks ago to play their tough-as-nails brand ...
Various Artists: Nuggets (Elektra)
Review by Ben Edmonds, Creem, November 1972
I LEARNED ABOUT golden oldie collections the hard way. I was all of eleven, and had finally managed to figure out what that noise coming ...
Review by Greg Shaw, Rolling Stone, 4 January 1973
Punk Rock: the arrogant underbelly of '60s pop ...
The Sonics: Explosives (BuckShot Records)
Review by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, June 1973
SUPPOSE I TOLD you there actually existed a band at one time (say around 1965) who sounded like (but better than) the Kinks on 'All ...
Overview by uncredited writer, Shakin' Street Gazette, 7 November 1974
THIS IS YOUR BIG CHANCE! Yes, it’s all coming back. Following the rock & roll revival, the surf music revival, and the reggae revival, the ...
The Sonics: Have Love, Will Travel: In Praise of the Sonics
Retrospective by Metal Mike Saunders, Gulcher, July 1975
IT ALL STARTS with Richard Berry. He never received a Nobel Prize for writing 'Louie Louie', but to this day it beats me why – ...
Overview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, December 1975
THE TERM PUNK is bandied about an awful lot these days. It seems to describe almost any rock performer who camps it up to any ...
Overview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 July 1976
THE ORIGINAL idea behind this A-Z was to try and provide a guide to 'punk' as it's now generally understood, i.e. as much a question ...
The Seeds: The Seeds (Crescendo GNP2023)
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 23 July 1977
"I'D HIT ya in the jugular/But honey you know I'm lazy…" I won't tell you nuthin' about the band, not even the toothpaste they used, ...
Interview by Howie Klein, KSAN San Francisco, 1 April 1978
The deeply batty Mr Erickson terrorizes KSAN's presenters, shouts at listener's phoning in, and breaks into "song".
File format: mp3; file size: 41.1mb, interview length: 44' 48" sound quality: ****
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 29 April 1978
In which Sounds scribes bring long ignored or deleted albums to your attention. No star rating necessary – naturally, they're all Very Important Platters ...
The Fleshtones: The "American Sound" of the Fleshtones
Interview by Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, November 1978
WHAT'S SO cool about the Fleshtones? Nothing. That's what's so cool about the Fleshtones. They could be anybody. They are anybody: the boys next door or the ...
The Angry Samoans, Vom: The Metal Mike Saunders Interview
Interview by Gary Sperrazza!, Big Star, Spring 1978
In the early '70s, Mike Saunders was one of the leading and best writers around, especially when he was writing about the topics most near ...
Retrospective by Robot A. Hull, Creem, June 1979
FOR FIFTEEN years there has been an enigmatic force burrowing underground, pulling people by their roots down toward the core of white-hot rawness. Gripped by ...
Retrospective by Robot A. Hull, Creem, July 1979
THE STANDELLS story convolutes through a media maze. Russ Tamblyn's brother, Larry Tamblyn, had already recorded on an East L.A. Mex-punk label when he founded ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 August 1980
POINTLESS, PERHAPS so late as to be irrelevant, maybe. An opportunity missed, certainly. No Fun is all these things, I guess, but it does provide ...
The Fleshtones: Pleasures of the Flesh
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
THE FLESHTONES have the spirit that has always moved great pop music. They have the raw enthusiasm, the exuberance, the slight touch of madness. They ...
The Cramps: Psychedelic Jungle (IRS)
Review by David Hepworth, Smash Hits, 14 May 1981
FROM THE DEPTHS of the primeval rain forest they came, bathed in hideous blue light, muttering of voodoo and rotting bones and things that go ...
Billy Childish, The Milkshakes: Shake Some Action! The Milkshakes
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
Cynthia Rose gets all shook up with the Milkshakes, as Wild Billy Childish puts the froth on the garageland daydream. ...
Velvet Underground: Everything You've Ever Heard About… (VU Records)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 December 1982
THE LEGEND rolls on and on, the more it grows the more it encourages. In the context of the semi-legal this was the one we'd ...
The Scientists: Grunge Going Global
Report and Interview by Clinton Walker, Rolling Stone (Australia), 1983
THE NEWS THAT the Scientists are about to leave Australia — as permanently as is possible — will doubtless barely cause a ripple in Oz-rocks ...
Report and Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 30 April 1983
ONE DAY soon the borough fathers of Brixton will unveil a plaque outside the Garage, Friday night fixture at The Frontline Theatre. A dignified crowd, ...
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, November 1983
WE'VE HEARD THIS before, and the Fleshtones know it: "Your scene isn't really so strange/Some things never really change." Hornet-nest guitar. Gnarly vocals. Lyrics that ...
The Fleshtones Let the '60s All Hang Out
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 11 August 1984
CAN THE FLESHTONES prosper in today's slick, sophisticated pop world of Michael Jackson and Boy George? Percentage players would probably bet against the irreverent New ...
The Nomads: Outburst (What Goes On)*****
Review by Lindsay Hutton, Sounds, 24 November 1984
BROTHERS AND sisters, to witness the Nomads in action is to believe! And hearing them on record is quite an experience as this, their very ...
The Fuzztones: Fuzztones: Lysergic Emanations
Review by Lindsay Hutton, Sounds, 20 April 1985
HEY HEY hey everybody. You were stunned by their debut 45 and transfixed by the live mini album. Here, with the advent of the group's ...
Boys From Nowhere, The Fuzztones, Vipers, The (US): The Garage Sale
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, Creem, August 1985
NEW YORK — Garage rock is coming back. Though it may be made by bands who practice in abandoned urban industrial lofts or clammy basements ...
The Seeds: Where Are They Now: Sky Saxon
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 12 September 1985
The leader of the Seeds was 'Pushin' Too Hard' in the Sixties; now he'd into 'flower heaven power'. ...
The Sonics: Here Are The Sonics
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
MUDDY WATERS, he said, "I'm smokin' TNT, I'm drinkin' dynamite/I hope some schoolboy will start a fight." Maybe Washington's The Sonics were the answer to ...
Sky Saxon: The View From The Haze
Profile and Interview by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 12 October 1986
BEHIND THE door of the aging, cracker-box Hollywood apartment sits a velvet-covered table strewn with rose petals. Two white candles cast flickering shadows over plates ...
Paul Revere & the Raiders' Mark Lindsay (1990)
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages Audio, June 1990
The Raiders' front-guy takes us back to Seattle garage-punk, the British invasion, long hair and costumes, Dick Clark's Where the Action Is... and, er, the entire history of '60s US pop!
File format: mp3; file size: 92.6mb, interview length: 1h 41' 05" sound quality: ****
Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels: Mitch Ryder in the Middle of Nowhere
Report and Interview by Fred Goodman, Musician, June 1992
FOR MOST MUSICIANS, TOURING IS A THOUSAND MILES AWAY FROM LIMOS AND STADIUMS. ...
Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: His Own Private Realm: Roky Erickson
Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, June 1995
Come with us now to the home of erstwhile 13th Floor Elevator Roky Erickson: a little shack on the outskirts of reality. And marvel how, ...
? and the Mysterians: Phone Home: ? and the Mysterians
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 1997
"WHOA! IT'S WILD that you called today. Little Frank, the original organist in The Mysterians, has just rejoined the band. He was down in Texas ...
Outsiders, The (Holland): Wally Tax of the Outsiders: An Interview
Interview by Richie Unterberger, Ugly Things, 1998
OF ALL THE GREAT BANDS who sang in English as a second language in the 1960s, the Outsiders were the coolest. It's a subjective judgment, ...
Essay by Greg Shaw, Nuggets II (Rhino Records), 2001
GROWING UP in America in the '60s, I was surrounded by garage bands, and although I never realized how many more there were across the ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
James Lowe, b. San Luis Obispo, California, USA; Mark Tulin, b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Ken Williams, b. Long Beach, California; Preston Ritter, b. Stockton, California; Weasel ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
Sky Saxon, b. Richard Marsh; Daryl Hooper; Jon Savage; Rick Andridge ...
The Electric Prunes: Too Much To Dream
Retrospective by Don Waller, L.A. Weekly, 15 June 2001
FROM THE "mind-expanding" flight of the 2,000-pound bumblebee opening to the liquid, screaming, droning guitars to the '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'-derived drums, the Electric ...
The White Stripes: London Loves Us: The White Stripes
Report and Interview by Robin Bresnark, Detroit Metro Times, 8 August 2001
DETROIT, YOU HAVE a secret admirer. Admittedly, we're not terribly local, not all of us are single, and you certainly wouldn't want to come round ...
The White Stripes: L2, Liverpool
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 November 2001
THE CURIOUS success of the White Stripes is proof that rock'n'roll fairy tales can still happen. ...
The Nomads: The Garage, London
Review by Ian Fortnam, Kerrang!, 24 November 2001
Scandinavian garage rock legends make rare UK assault Saturday, November 3 Support: The X-Rays ...
The Dictators: live at El Sol, Madrid 24th November
Live Review by Lindsay Hutton, Rock's Backpages, 15 December 2001
HEY ANDY SHERNOFF! You tell us that your generation ain't the salvation of this R'n'R beastie but I beg to differ. ...
The Dirtbombs: Highbury Garage, London
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, Kerrang!, 15 December 2001
Motor City demons show a whole lotta soul. ...
The Hives: Modesty is a virtue... but not in a band
Profile and Interview by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 27 January 2002
IF YOU'VE BEEN to the cinema recently, you may have choked on your popcorn while being confronted with the sight of Kylie Minogue riding a ...
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 5 February 2002
THE SCANDINAVIAN rock'n'roll invasion is gathering pace. Indeed, the industry joke that in the past the Vikings came in longboats, but now they're coming back ...
The BellRays: Maximum Rock 'N' Roll
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, Kerrang!, 11 May 2002
Praying for gasoline-fuelled garage punk fired-up with Truth and Attitude? The Bellrays might just be here to save you... ...
The Hives: Could this cocksure Swedish pop-punk quintet be the new Strokes?
Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Blender, June 2002
DESPITE THEIR immaculate black-and-white shirt-tie-and-shoes ensemble, Swedish garage-rockers the Hives have a disconcerting habit of stripping in front of strangers. ...
Red Krayola: The Other Sixties Garage Gods: Red Krayola
Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 27 December 2002
GARAGE ROCK is a hard elephant to describe, in the light or in the dark. In some ways, almost everything qualifies. In others, nothing quite ...
The Hives: Stronger Than Dirt: The Secret History Of Garage Punk
Overview by Joss Hutton, Sonic Reducer, 2003
Joss Hutton recalls nearly 40-years of ramalama greatness, from 'Louie Louie' to 'Main Offender' ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 24 June 2003
THEY HAD A QUESTION about psychedelic California bands on University Challenge the other night, but the Seeds didn't get a mention. About all anybody can ...
Interview by Richard North, Rock's Backpages Audio, November 2003
The East Kent artict/musician talks at length about being an outsider, his political and philosophical views, and Tracey Emin's "shitty old disco tent from Millets".
File format: mp3; file size: 45.1mb, interview length: 1h 43' 03" sound quality: **
The Rationals: Detroit blue-eyed soulsters go psychedelic but end up playing shopping malls
Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, November 2003
"SOME FOLKS talkin' 'bout burnin' down/I ain't talkin' 'bout burnin' down/Said I'm just talkin' 'bout gettin' down/Come on!" screams the Rationals' frontman Scott Morgan, pushing ...
Jet (Australia): Drunks from Down Under take over the garage: Jet's Get Born
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, The Village Voice, 6 April 2004
WELL! MY MY MY. Let's take a head count of the biggest names in the way overhyped "garage band" revival: the Hives, the Strokes, the ...
Reigning Sound: Too Much Guitar
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, July 2004
Wracked and wonderful Southern rock'n'soul party at Greg Cartwright's garage. ...
Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 2004
Forty-five bands plus Van Zandt's Boss defy failing weather and technology for New York's biggest garage rave-up. ...
Flat Duo Jets: Dexter Romweber: An Interview
Interview by Scotty Almany, ARC magazine, Summer 2004
I'D HEARD MANY tales of the unpredictable wild man who once fronted Chapel Hill's romping rockabilly legends the Flat Duo Jets, so I wasn't sure ...
The Flamin' Groovies, Roy Loney: Roy Loney
Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, April 2005
Funny story... Though I had spoken to Flamin' Groovies founder in 1998, I held the article all this time hoping to speak to Cyril A. ...
The Chocolate Watchband: Melts In Your Brain Not On Your Wrist
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, June 2005
At last! The complete works of the legendary San Franciscan psych-punkers: Jon Savage satisfies his sweet tooth. ...
The Seeds: Sky Saxon & The Seeds: The Cluny, Newcastle
Live Review by Rahul Shrivastava, bbc.co.uk, October 2005
IF YOU'VE EVER seen the early Jack Nicholson film Psych Out (1968), you'll remember the acid trip scene in the graveyard, where a funeral procession ...
Thee Midniters: In Thee Midnite Hour
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 October 2006
THEE MIDNITERS were best-known as kings of East Los Angeles rock in the '60s, but this collection of uptempo material will hopefully change that: They ...
Sonic's Rendezvous Band: Sonic's Rendezvous Band
Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, November 2006
Box set from Detroit supergroup led by ex-MC5 guitarist (and Patti Smith hubby) Fred Smith. ...
The Ettes: Joli Rouge, Asheville
Live Review by Fred Mills, Harp, January 2007
L.A.-BASED three-piece the Ettes surfaced last year with their official full-length debut Shake the Dust, issued by the ever-reliably maverick label Sympathy For the Record ...
The Prisoners: The Last Fourfathers
Review by Paul Moody, Uncut, March 2008
IN 1985, GRAHAM DAY was 21. His band, the Prisoners, had already made a name for themselves as part of the Milkshakes-led Medway Scene — ...
Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, March 2008
CALL IT DENIAL if you like, but sometimes you have nothing to gain and a hell of a lot to lose if a band you've ...
The Seeds: Sky Saxon 1937-2009: A Belated Tribute to an Acid-Punk Icon
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, June 2009
Lost in the the shock and hysteria of Michael Jackson's death was the scant reportage of another pop passing: that of crazed LA garage-pop ...
? and the Mysterians: ? & the Mysterians: Life on Mars
Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 15 July 2009
'96 TEARS' IS one of the greatest rock 'n' roll songs in the history of the genre. In fact, it may be the greatest. John Lennon reportedly ...
The Seeds: Real Gone: Sky Saxon
Obituary by Kirk Silsbee, MOJO, September 2009
SKY SAXON, the colorful lead singer and sometime bassist of the Seeds, one of the great Sunset Strip bands of the 1960s, died June 25 ...
Review by Jeff Tamarkin, MOJO, October 2009
The latest in the Nuggets franchise documents the most fertile few years in southern Californian music history, taking in curios, weirdos, hipsters, freaks and a ...
Various Artists: Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968 (Rhino)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, October 2009
LENNY KAYE CAN'T have had any idea what he was starting when he compiled his original Nuggets double album of psychedelic "artyfacts" back in 1972. ...
Bobby Jameson rages against the Vietnam war
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 10 November 2010
A FANFARE OF slow, church organ chords – straight out of a horror film – resolves into a brutal Bo Diddley beat. A few blasts of ...
Jack Oblivian: Rat City (Big Legal Mess Records/Fat Possum)
Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 21 September 2011
Reminiscent of the White Stripes? Yes, because Oblivian was an influence ...
Memoir by Mark Shipper, Rock's Backpages, April 2012
WELL, I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE. Deep in the back of my head I have this Karmic debt I owe to Greg Shaw for setting ...
Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 4 June 2012
WHEN THE HIVES broke through here in 2002 with their top 10 compilation album Your New Favourite Band, they appeared exciting and irresistible. ...
The Seeds: 22420 Pacific Coast Highway: Tales of Tim Hudson, Sky Saxon… and Ian Botham
Memoir by Mick Middles, Rock's Backpages, July 2012
STICK-THIN, clad in purple and black. Leather trousers, knee-length boots. Boney, bug-eyed, skank hair, dead face, white cheeks. This strange man was telling me to ...
Nuggets: Psych Rock's Pimply Origins
Retrospective by David Dalton, Classic Rock, 4 September 2015
LOST TEEN civilisation uncovered! Garage band rock and its mutant spawn, psych rock, a pimply, snotty, inspired, glue-sniffing teen culture that flourished in the last ...
The Sonics' Backstory Blows Their Better-Known Beer Ad Away
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 5 April 2017
THE MODELO beer commercial that ran for a couple of years beginning in 2013 still seems fresh in the memory. A guy and his two ...
The Sonics' 'Witch' Craft: Huntersville Resident's 1960s Garage-Rock Band Invented Punk
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Kemp, Creative Loafing, 17 May 2017
WHEN MILD-MANNERED Rob Lind isn't on the links at Birkdale Golf Club with his wife Suzanne, or on his boat with his son Robbie during ...
The Flamin' Groovies, Kim Fowley, The Stooges: Farewell to Marc Zermati
Memoir by Nick Kent, unpublished, 15 June 2020
IT'S BEEN FIVE hours now since I received the news that Marc Zermati died in his sleep and — as with all deaths of those ...
The Seeds: Jan Savage 1942-2020
Obituary by Harvey Kubernik, Ugly Things, 11 August 2020
JAN SAVAGE (born Buck Jan Reeder), guitarist with American rock band the Seeds, died in early August, according to a report in The Ada News ...
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