Both of these compilations tapes were put out by Chainsaw Fanzine from Bethlehem PA. After I posted I learned that this fanzine was put out by Dick Destiny of Dick Destiny & The Highway Kings.
On the Annoy Your Neighbor tape Senseless Hate, Tony T And The Bad Seeds, and Russian Meatsquats were from the Lehigh Valley. Some members of Tony T were later in Original Sins.
On the Please Stop tape Suburban Aggression and Professor Schnitzer were from Reading, Senseless Hate was from Bethlehem, and Wasted Talent was from State College PA. The drummer, Mick Begnal, from Wasted Talent was later in the Philly band Oblivion.
Sugar Skulls were a Philly band from the early 2000’s which was often referred to as Philadelphia’s answer to X. The comparison came in a large part due to the late Red Burns (Tequila Worms, Hellfire and Brimstone) and Heather Brann sharing lead vocals. Red also played Guitar along with Dave Birch (Derelict Hotel). Brian Murray (Psyclone Rangers) played bass and made all of the very distinctive art work for the band. Dane Wilson (Derelict Hotel, Sugar Skulls) was the drummer.
While the X comparison is easy to understand if you go deeper there is evidence of a lot of other influences that gave Sugar Skulls their own unique sound.
Their album Waking Hour is not included here, you can get it here or on itunes here. Thanks to Brian Murray for the cds and flyers.
The Gruberger Brothers, Solomon and Jay, were originally from Brooklyn New York and are well known for being members of the Proto-Punk band O. Rex who formed in 1973 and released an independent 3-song 7inch ep in 1976. The third member of O. Rex was Kenne Highland who later became famous in the Punk world as a member of The Gizmos. It seems that O. Rex never actually played a live show and by early 1977 the Grubergers and Highland combined forced with Kim Kane of the Washington D.C. band Slickee Boys to form a new band called Afrika Korps. Recording commenced with the results released in September 1977 as the Music To Kill By LP. During 1977 Afrika Korps played some live shows and their setlists included some of the O. Rex songs. For reasons unclear the Gruberger brothers dropped out of the Afrika Korps at the end of 1977 and first Solomon moved to Reading Pennsylvania and was later followed by Jay. Once they were set up there they tried to put a band together but found that people and clubs in Reading were not interested in original music. But, with a hired drummer named Mitch, they went into Jake Hain’s Unisound Recording Studio on N. 8th Street to record tracks for a proposed record. The name of the band was to be Spike and the record was to be a 7inch ep titled 90 Miles Per Hour. Eight songs were recorded but the record was never released. Over the next two years the brothers would record ten more songs at Unisound with drummer Ron Roberts. None of this material was released to the public at the time. Had the 90 Miles Per Hour ep been released in 1978 it would have been the first Punk record from Reading Pennsylvania. While the Grubergers were involved with music playing in cover bands in Reading, Spike apparently never played live and the Gruberger Brothers never played their original material live. Both brothers did return to playing with Afrika Korps in the 1980s. Sadly, Jay Gruberger was killed in a car accident in January 1993. In 2011 all these tracks were mastered from the original reels and released on this LP. Solomon passed away in 2012, almost a year after the release of this album.
Since this album is available to purchase at Midheaven and I’m sure other places I have only included a couple of track so you can sample them – if you like them get the album
After Mudd Helmut Dan-O formed Rocket 69 with ex More Fiend Ron Kitagawa. Rock Koplin on guitar and Scott Schuppert on drums. This post has 2 of their Philly shows from the Khyber and Upstairs at Nick’s. Rocket 69 release a cd Demolition Diary on Snake Oil Recording and a split 7″ with Dion Blade & The New Kings Of Rock.
Thanks for the tape files Brett Noise Addiction II
A very recent nice development has been members of bands from the 80’s getting back together and/or starting new bands. Three of them from Philly all have members from of one of my favorites Electric Love Muffin. Another fan of ELM has been releasing records by these new/old bands on Sister Raygun Records. According to him the label’s main goal is to promote local Philly bands (though we have non-Philly bands too). Plus it is “purely a labor of love for me — just trying to help put out some good under-the-radar music….” The great part is these bands aren’t rehashing the sound of any of their old bands they are expanding on those sounds in many new directions. For some videos Check out the Sister Raygun YouTube channel
Now, getting back to the three bands:
Poppy
Poppy was first formed in the early 1990s with members of 2 of 80s Philly punk scenes favorites Electric Love Muffin (Brian Campbell) and Scram! (Craig Heim) with Kate Campbell’s powerful vocals and loud guitar. They returned a few years ago and have been playing all over Philly. First time I saw the reformed Poppy was at the Tusk (I think) and they were heavier than I had remembered and it was just a good time seeing them again. In November of last year (2019) they released a new album Snakes of New Jersey. There are a variety of styles on the album from Noisy Blues with powerful vocals to straight ahead pop rock to one song Marga, which in some ways reminds me of (I’m not sure what it’s been labeled) but bands like Seam/ Dustdevils/ Breaking Circus/ Polvo.
FoxyContin
FoxyContin formed in 2003, the band features members of 2 Philly punk legendary bands The Electric Love Muffin and Krhissy. Rich Kaufmann (ELM singer) wanted to start a band that channeled the first wave of punk rock after the end of his country rock, the Rolling Hayseeds. He was working with Ravine Veneer at Silk City who played guitar and got Michael Barndt (Krhissy) on drums and Mike Stifel on bass. I missed recent Foxycotin shows since they have been back, but once we can return to seeing bands, I plan on going, Their long awaited debut album This Time You’re On Your Own (see below) comes out on August 7th on Sister Raygun. There is something for everyone on this album. A song for the sad state of politics in America (The Whole World Knows I’ll Never Get Over It Now), A reworked Rolling Hayseeds song (It’s Starting to Show), and a couple of songs have organ music by Sam Steinig (Mondo Topless and GTVs) that reminds me of the organ parts of early Elvis Costello songs, plus lots of cool covers from all over the musical spectrum.
Mt Vengeance
Mt Vengeance is Rich Fravel – singer/guitarist (Uptown Bones, Latimer, Ashtabula, Blue & Realtor extraordinaire who helped me buy my house), Brian Campbell – bass (Electric Love Muffin & Poppy) and Nicky Santore – drums (Valsalva, Glory Hole). I have seen them live a few times and for me it was a strange (in a good way) mix of nostalgia for the 90s but with enough freshness to it to make it sound new. Their first album Covered in Dust from 2018 was one of my favorites of that year and the new album Machines is even better (see below). There are a lot of different styles on this album. A few songs have a pop sensibility but with a harder edge. Others like Nil By Mouth has distorted noisy guitar with a grove. Then it all wraps up with the song Machines which has a metalish Hawkwind sort of sound.
Here is a video I shot before the Photon Band / American Trappist / Mt. Vengeance show at JB’s. Brian (ELM, Poppy, Mt. Vengeance), Rich (Uptown Bones, Mt. Vengeance), Art (Uptown Bones, Photon Band) & Noel (Uptown Bones) played two Uptown Bones songs and an ELM song.
Other Sister Raygun bands include Philly’s own Beretta 76
Good Power Pop Italian band Mad Rollers
I have to use the bandcamp description for Pre-Cog in the Bunker – a sci-fi post-punk duo blending punk noise, classic melodies, and literary lyrics.
And The Professor Fuzz 63 is a cool, lo-fi, rocking’ trio from Dallas,
2 Live shows from JC Dobbs in 1992 by Richmond VA band Mudd Helmet. There is not a lot of info about them online but it looks like Mudd Helmut broke up in 1993 after releasing one 7″ and one tape (1990). Thanks for the tape files Brett Noise Addiction II
Two shows from the 1980s Garage revival legends. Original Sins formed 1985 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.and continued through much of the 1990s releasing many records. The Khyber show was without their keyboard player. Both shows were recorded from the audience and have good sound quality.
Can anyone fill in the song titles?
They have a facebook page here.
Also defiantly check out Brother JT’s records on his site or bandcamp and the two other current bands RunHideFight & Suffacox mach2 (original Suffacox led by the late & legendary Wayne Hamilton) he is in.
Thanks for the tape files Brett Noise Addiction II
To the best of my knowledge all of the music links are for recordings that are out of print but if you enjoy what you hear, buy other records and support the artist(s) and/or labels: if you don't approve of having your material displayed and would like to have it down...
Email Me @