The Paranoid Squirrel

don’t think that any of us thought that at the start of 2016 we would be

mourning the loss Lemmy, but we are. Motörhead are now just one step away from

being just like The Ramones; no one from the bands first recording experience can

tell us, firsthand, what was like. Let’s hope that last step is a great number

of years away. To celebrate the Birth and Demise of one of my three bands that

I can’t live without, I start this week’s show off the very first song from the

very first Motörhead gig recorded at the Roundhouse on July 1975 with Lucas Fox

on drums and Larry Wallis on guitar before going into the very last song from

the very last Motörhead concert in Berlin on the 11th December 2015.

Yes I do play other bands apart from Motörhead; up next is a new track from

Anthrax’s new album “For All Kings” then as I cocked their name up on last week’s

show, or did I? Helldivers from Sweden are once again brought to the fore. As

promised on Episode 477 two Johnny Thunders tracks, one each from the Remarquable

Records 10”’s are aired. One features Paul Gray and Steve Nicol and the other

Phil Lynott. Then Liverbox from Finland make their welcome debut onto The

Paranoid Squirrel who are then swiftly followed by Joy Division. A band I’ve gone all happy dance over are Beach Slang from Philadelphia.

They remind me of The Goo Goo Doll circa “Superstar Carwash” and “Hold Me Up” in other words before the Dolls went shit. Two of the bands albums

were very quickly purchased with a track from “Broken Thrills” making it onto

the show. The last track of the first Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show of 2016 goes

to Snowy Dunes (Or do I sneak a bonus Lemmy track in right at the end?) who Combined

60's Garagey Psychadelia with 70's riff-rock and a hint of love for the early

90's stoner scene.

to Episode 477 of The Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show which is also the last of

2015. Kicking off this “Back To The Studio” affair is a seasonal Ulysses, who

also crop up later in the hour in a non-seasonal way.  But before we get to that The Backyard Babies

who are swiftly followed by early Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers

really get things going. Then it’s a Radio 1 in session track from The Damned still

featuring Algy Ward but showcasing a tune that will appear on their Paul Gray

forth album. The first new song of this week’s show comes courtesy of The Class

of 76 who feature Barrie Masters, Steve Nicol from Eddie & The Hot Rods, Members

and Vibrators guitarist Nigel Bennett and bassist Russ Strutter formerly of Wilko

Johnson. Helldivers from Sweden sent me an mp3 of their latest single which I obviously

air as it’s rather good in a Detroit Garage kind of way, as is the King Mastino

track, who hail from Italy, that follows it.  On episode 472, which was the CJ Ramone gig, I

apologised for not recording the Yorkshire Rats who were on just after openers

Los Pepes and just before Vice Squad, saying that I would be playing something

off their “Sea Of Souls” CD to make amends. Well making good on my promise I do

exactly that. Scott Sorry, he of The Wildhearts and Sorry and The Sinatras has

just released his first solo album via Pledge Music called “When We Were Kings”

and quite frankly it could be a contender for album of the year, if I was to do

one, which I don’t, so it won’t. If I was it would’ve probably been The Sick

Livers or Michael Monroe anyway. However that’s all immaterial so crack it up

from Scott Sorry and a track from the aforementioned album.  Sticking with The Wildhearts

interconnectedness; CJ Wildheart has just shared a second track from his

forthcoming pledge album “Robot”. To coincide with the release of the album in

February he is playing in London which unfortunately clashes with The Vibrators

40th Anniversary gig at the Islington Academy. So I’m in a bit of a

quandary which gig should I go to. Please e-mail me with your thoughts so I can

then apportion blame elsewhere. “They made me do it!” To celebrate the release

of the new Star Wars film I play The Dollyrots’ acoustic and electric versions “Be

My Leia” at the same time because I stupidly thought that they would’ve used

the same mastertape therefore they’d be the same length. Oh how I laughed.

Plastic Tears get us back on an even keel with a cover taken from the Christmas

edition of their “Rhythm Rider” ep and in six degrees of separation Smash

Fashion have their brand new single played. As we hurtle towards the end of the

show and year The Black Bullets help me pick up speed with a track from their

new ep “Bombshell” but it’s The Hip Priests with a brand new track that takes

us over the edge and out of 2015.

to Episode 476 of The Paranoid Squirrel Rock show and the final live gig from

me this year. The band who hold this position are Ghost recorded at The Camden

Palace (KOKO) on the last date of their 2015 European Tour. Unfortunately the

sound quality isn’t up to my normal standards, I did think about shelving this

episode until an alternative recording became available but then you wouldn’t

hear me rant about the three extremely young industry types who were standing

behind us who chatted throughout the whole gig hence the quality issue. Apart

from that Ghost were bloody brilliant, they have really brought a breath of

fresh air into the Rawk scene. For those of you who are going “Ghost who?”

here’s a brief synopsis courtesy of Wikipedia so it’s bound to be inaccurate: “Five

of the group's six members wear virtually identical, face-concealing costumes.

The most distinguishable member is the vocalist, who sports skull face paint,

appearing as what can be described as a "demonic anti-Pope". Each

album cycle has brought about a change in the band's appearance. The vocalist

is always portrayed as the same archetype character, but has slight appearance

changes and even personality traits are altered from former versions. The band

members' true identities are kept anonymous, as their actual names have not

been publicly disclosed. The vocalist calls himself Papa Emeritus and according

to band folklore there have been three different characters taking the name

Papa Emeritus, each younger than the last. The first welcomed the second Papa

Emeritus on December 12, 2012 in Linkoping. On June 3, 2015, the second Papa

Emeritus welcomed his younger brother as the new Papa Emeritus after being

"fired" due to not performing his duty in overthrowing governments

and churches. Papa Emeritus II and Papa Emeritus III were stated to only have a

3-month difference in age. It is believed that all versions of Papa Emeritus

are actually portrayed by the same guy.” No really?! “The musicians are

referred to only as Nameless Ghouls each with a different symbol; Fire - lead

guitar, Water - Bass, Air - Keyboards, Earth - drummer and Aether - rhythm

guitar.”

there you go.

onto the penultimate live Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show of 2015. Long-time

listeners are aware that I am a Triple X L fan of The Damned, so having missed

out on seeing them at The Roundhouse in the Summer as soon as I heard the band

were playing in London just before Christmas a ticket was secured. Safe in the

knowledge that as One Direction were now on a break I wouldn’t be required to

escort my teenage Daughter to one of their gigs. I might moan about lack of new

material or even songs from the last three Damned albums being conspectus by

their absence from the set-list, but as soon as Captain surfs onto the Islington

Academy stage saying “Hello, My name’s Captain Sensible, Merry Fucking

Christmas. We’re The Damned and we sound something like this” and then launches

into “Wait For The Blackout” nothing else matters. It’s a fan friendly set

nothing post “Anything”. Obviously “Sanity Clause” and “The Turkey Song” with

accompaniment on the latter from Charlie Harper and Gaye Advert are aired as it

is the season. Captain has guitar issues throughout the set, changing his

Gibson SG nearly after ever song and sometime during. The biggest light bulb

moment of the gig was Captain implying “Neat, Neat, Neat” was more than just a

nod to the style Eddie Cochran. “Smash It Up” finishes the set off with Captain

trying to outstaying his welcome by giving us a vocal rendition of “Happy

Talk”. The Damned don’t seem to have anything lined up until the Royal Albert

Hall Concert in May, which obviously is something to really look forward to. I

have heard that Graham Humphreys, the artist who did the Artwork for The Evil

Dead, The Lords of The New Church and Brian James’ “Guitar That Dripped Blood”

album, is involved in some way over the 40th Anniversary and he was

spotted at the gig......

to the third out of a potential five in a row live shows. On today’s Episode it

is Cambridge’s The Treatment playing their first headlining London Show since

Mitchel Emms, the 2013 quarter finalist in The Voice along with rhythm

guitarist Tao Grey joined the band. I hate making predictions as it’s like a

curse, I could put money on Christmas day being on Friday this year and end up

losing it all, however I sincerely hope that The Treatment become this

generations Thunder. Pure British Rock, played with heart and feeling with the

band a couple of years down the line headlining and selling out Hammersmith

Odeon with their sites firmly set on headlining Donington. Until then we’ll

have to make do with this, a sold out Camden Barfly.    

to Episode 473 of The Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show. Blowing any cobwebs away you

might have pre-Christmas on this week’s show are The WitchDoktors and The

Phobics. Both bands were recorded live at The Hope & Anchor in Islington

last Saturday as part of the “Rockaway Beach” Club hosted by Timmy and Debs

DeRella.

Deep in the darkest vaults of South London, The

WitchDoktors have been honing their SuperPunkRock sound and shows since the

early 90s, (one of their roadies even sang for the band myself and friend of

the show and Squirrel associate Arcwright were peddling in 1993), drawing on

their 70s punk upbringing even throwing in a live cover of The Damned’s second

single “Neat, Neat, Neat” and a snippet of The Clashes “Guns of Brixton” bolstering

their pedigree. They also add a rather large dollop of trashy Rock'n' Roll with

a dash of 60s Psyched-Out Garage put in a smidgen of cuntry (sic)finally mixing

it all up with some God Damned loud geetars. After 4 albums, a fistful of

singles plus hundreds of shows with like-minded souls the band are all set

release album number 5 next year but are refusing to tell us what the title is.

Whatever it may be called I will be buying it!

The Phobics formed

in Deptford a few years back by some Punk survivors and misfits with a love of

Raw Rock ‘n’ Roll who were bored with a smug and complacent music scene. You’ll

find The Phobics occasionally sober (Tuesdays) but always

ready to plug in and crank it up. Gig wise it’s always an event. Last

Saturday’s was no exception as you’re about to hear.

Ramone recorded live at his debut solo London show at The Islington Academy on

the 9th October. Tracks from his “Reconquista” and “Last Chance To

Dance” albums were aired along with, naturally, songs from the band that gave

him his surname. I have to tell you the set flowed beautifully and by the end

of his set I didn’t know whether to be happy that I’d just seen a Ramone play

live or sad that I’ll never see The Ramones, or their like, ever again. Support

came from Los Pepes who thanks to the insane amount of roadworks (no it doesn’t)

in the Capital I only caught the bands last two songs and whilst running errands

I almost completely missed CJ’s main UK tour support band The Yorkshire Rats. I

enjoyed what I saw and will be playing something off their debut album on the

next studio show. The special guests for this particular evening were Vice

Squad who kept everyone on the boil before the Main Man, pun intended, strode

onto the stage and asked us “Do You Wanna Dance?” An hour later we still were.      

get things going this week with a Demolition 23 sounding Def Leppard

following in their wake. Then my own mix of “AntiPope” by The

Damned takes the world by storm. We then get back onto new music from

Psychopunch, which almost didn’t happen, and The Carburetors, two

bands that seem to be going hand in hand at the moment. A band that I

had to miss off Episode 469 due to time constraints was The Dogbeats

from Benidorm. Obviously they are included on this week’s show to

make amends. More new music with the b-side to Hard Action’s “Hands

Dripping Red” 7” which is due out on Bootleg Booze Records at the

end of February. The Hip Priest/Billy Hopeless split 7” has finally

landed on Doormats around the World but as I’ve already played both

tracks in question I play The Hip Priests new track “For Life Till

Deth” instead. In a Wildhearts Six Degrees of Separation I play new

tracks from The Main Grains, that features Danny McCormack and The

Drama Club Rejects that features Stidi. Both cracking songs! Scumbag

Millionaire from Gothenburg

are up next with some “Enraged

and fast moving, cooking with gas and grooving Punk Rock” with the

return of Royal Republic to The Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show following

on. Sham 69 have just released a brand new album called “It’ll

End In Tears”. This is the Ian Whitewood line up. Deadbeat London,

who feature Rich Rags on guitar from The Role Models, debut single

gets an airing. I love finding new bands and new music with The

Whipshades from Fredrikstad, Norway, being the latest band to fall

into that category. It goes without saying I play track by them which

comes from their latest release “Fast, Loud and Primitive”. This

week’s show is wrapped up with part of an interview with Richard

Strange that I attended on the 27th

that was

hosted by Peter Cook from The Academy of Rock. Richard “Kid”

Strange was in The Doctors of Madness that for a few gigs in 1978

featured Dave Vanian from The Damned. You also get to hear the

question I posed, with the one and only studio track that Dave Vanian

recorded with The Doctors of Madness that was co-written by TV Smith from The Adverts

closing proceedings.

to Episode 470 of The Paranoid Squirrel Rock Show, my 50th Birthday

Special. So on Wednesday, the day before the actual day, The Backyard Babies finished

off the first part of their comeback “Four By Four” tour by playing The

Islington Academy. Along with a career retrospective that had me doing a happy

dance for their entire set I was completely blown away with the band energy and

enthusiasm. I almost felt like they’d cheated me out of a good time over the

five years since they’ve been away. If the recording sounds a bit unsteady that

would be due to the Jameson, Ice and Lemonades that various friends and acquaintances

were purchasing on my behalf for my consumption. Not to mention the Bottle of

Prosecco that came with my Birthday Pizza.

to another hours worth of music that you should hear on the radio but don’t

with Marty Robbins kicking things off. Up next it’s two split singles courtesy of

Ghost Highway Recordings. Firstly Robert Pehrsson’s Humbucker do battle with

Driving Rain then Jake Starr & the Delicious Fullness get it on with

Dollhouse. As a tribute to Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor I play a track from one

of his lesser known bands The Muggers. The band also featured his Motörhead cohort Fast

Eddie Clarke along with Speedy Keen on guitar and vocals who had had a huge

number 1 hit with the Thunderclap Newman Band in 1969 with “Something in the

Air” and on bass from The Heartbreakers and Iggy Pop was Billy Rath. Onto new

music which includes Girlschool and a track off their new album “Guilty As Sin”

and The Dictators NYC with their first new material in 15 years. Compare and

Contrast is back, thanks Andy, with the Blues Magoos prosecuting The Dead

Kennedys. Back to new music and The Local Band who comprise of Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom), Jussi69 (The 69 Eyes), Olli Herman

(Reckless Love) and Archie Kuosmanen (Santa Cruz) have a tracked played from

their upcoming ep of covers, then it’s off to Seattle for some Ramones inspired

music from The Piniellas. Dom Daley of Glunk Records and Uber Rock’s review of

Jukebox Zeros got me all excited and hopefully the track of theirs that I play

will also do it for you. The Idol Dead have just released their version of the

Dogs D’Amour “I Don’t Want You To Go” in aid of the Winston's

Wish charity and the memory of Drugdealer Cheerleader drummer Ringo. The Eagles

of Death Metal finish this week’s show off but not with the cover you might

have been expecting, but then again......