Fanatic! Vol. 3: Song Lists and Notes from the Harmony In My Head Radio Show 2007

By Henry Rollins

Fanatic! Vol. 3 contains annotated notes from the songs Henry Rollins broadcast on his Harmony In My Head radio show on Indie 103.1 in 2007. Information on the bands, the songs, some anecdotes, websites, discographies and flyers throughout. Over 500 pages of fanatic music worship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 2.13.61
• Release date: Jan 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781880985366

Henry Rollins

Originally from Washington DC, Henry Rollins fronted the Los Angeles-based punk band Black Flag and is well-known for his hard-hitting writing, music, and acting.

Book preview

002

BROADCAST #01

AIR DATE: 01 - 02 - 07

Tonight’s show is probably not going to feature much music that is unfamiliar to you so just consider it a good mix tape. Of all places in the world to be tonight, I am in Iran! I have wanted to go to Iran for a long time. I don’t know if it will be possible in a year from now so I am getting in and hopefully back out again while the getting is good. I hope you enjoy tonight’s show and please tune in next week, Engineer X and I have put together a great show for you. Thanks for listening and STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

Black Flag - Fix Me: I put some thought into what to start the year off with and this song seemed like the one. It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. We have listened to it before. The entire 4 song Nervous Breakdown EP is great. This is one of the all time bomb proof records. I have written about this song and this EP quite a bit in the show notes because to this day, it stands as one of the purest blasts of music I have ever heard. Even though it is bass, guitar, drums and vocal and none of the music is all that complicated, there is something on this record that’s more than the music itself. When I listen to this record, I wonder if music like this can ever come back again. There’s something about this record and ones like the Negative Trend EP and Fun House by the Stooges where the band seems to have come from nowhere. Perhaps there’s something to not being in a big city. The Black Flag guys were beach guys. After I had lived down there long enough going into Hollywood was like going into town or something. We were quite removed from the noise and all the goings on in LA and even though I was born and raised in a city, I got used to the Hermosa and Redondo Beach area quite quickly and didn’t mind that it moved slower and was less eventful than Hollywood. When we would be in town I felt like I was in a film and all the people around me were actors. Have I gotten off the topic? This song and many other perfect songs can be found on The First Four Years CD. Before SST kinda went under, or wherever they reside now, they put out some strange versions of some of their catalog. They went nuts on releases like the Nervous Breakdown EP, and it’s not all that easy to find now but they made a 3" CD of this EP. I guess they were trying to get the collectors going. I wish they would have put The Stains album on CD instead.

Viletones - Rebel: The Viletones were from Canada and all their vinyl is out of print. My favorite songs of theirs are contained on this EP: Screamin’ Fist, Rebel and Possibilities. Screamin’ Fist was covered by The Bad Brains with bassist Darryl doing the vocal, I saw them do it only once. This single came out in 1977. This was one of the singles we all had back in the day. Skip at Yesterday & Today Records had them and they were cheap, about an hour’s pay, so we all got it. In 1994, all the songs from this EP, some from their follow up EP Look Back In Anger, and other tracks were released on a CD called A Taste Of Honey, which I got as soon as I saw it. I don’t remember when but at some point the band’s vocalist, Steven Leckie, whose Punk Rock name was Nazi Dog during his time as a Viletone, wrote me a letter. We wrote back and forth at least a couple of times but I don’t think I’ve ever met him. A Taste Of Honey is in print.

The Ramones - Rockaway Beach: Have you picked up the theme here? All the songs so far have a live count in. I thought it would be cool to have a few songs that counted off. This Ramones classic is from the Rocket To Russia album. This is familiar territory for we Fanatics but there’s always time for a Ramones song. When I am a very old man, if I get that many years on this ball of fear, I’ll still be listening to the Ramones. I can see it now, I’ll be in the corner in my wheelchair with those big headphones on, the ones that are the size of halved grape-fruits, rocking back and forth, spittle flying all over. Ramones music is ageless. Whenever I put on one of their records the hair on my arms stands up, a flush of warmth crosses over my face, my neck muscles tense up, and I am good to go.

The Stooges - Tight Pants: A great but ever so slightly less dangerous version of this song exists on the Raw Power album. This song is evil genius. It must be pretty cool being Iggy Pop and knowing that as good as any frontman has ever been they’re still not as much of a badass as you are. Not Jagger, not anyone. Sorry if you think Iggy’s not the World Heavyweight Champion. It’s ok. You’re wrong but you’re still welcome to listen to our show and walk around in your world of illusion. This song is from a very great period of the Stooges. Tight Pants, Gimmie Some Skin, I Got A Right, Sick Of You, and Johanna are devastating, damaging, life changing gear. These songs are trying to kill you. The Stooges were able to bypass so many of the safety nets and barriers that keep musicians from really bringing the terrifying, murderous music. Who did it more ultimately than The Stooges? That’s right. When those pussy critics stop torturing their keyboards writing up their corny assessment of the last few decades of music--usually spending way too much time on the band who had the female in it that they would never be able to fuck or waxing poetic about some king of youthful misery--when they finally cease to live the lie of those who do not do but merely spectate and critique from a safe distance and the truth is finally told, the band at the top of the heap will be The Stooges. This track was taken from the Kill City CD, where it is an extra track. I am sure it’s on other Stooges CD comps. as well.

The Dregs - I’m Insane: The last of our live count off songs. This is a very hard to find record. We listened to the entire Dregs EP before on one of our EP of the week listens. I have never been able to find out much information on the band or the EP. One site says there’s only 500 pressed and that’s a damn shame if it’s true because it’s really cool and should be available. This came out on Disturbing Records in 1979. I don’t know where to tell you to go to get one at this point, perhaps one will turn up on ebay.

Lightnin’ Hopkins - Happy New Year: The great Bluesman from Centerville, TX. I didn’t hear Lightnin’ until 1981. Besides Billie Holiday, I had never been exposed to much blues music growing up. Sam Hopkins recorded a lot of material. It seems he never was without an album’s worth of songs at any time. I have read that he would often make up songs on the spot as long as they were paying. Like some Blues guys, Lightnin’ had a few different templates and he would put the lyrics in as he saw fit. I have every Lightnin’ record I have ever seen and they’re all good to amazing. The real differences in them are his levels of inspiration at any given time, the actual sound on the record, and the band, when he played with one. There’s one record of his called Mojo Hand that you can find pretty easily, I think it’s on Collectables, let me check, ok, there’s been a little updating on that release. The one I have is an older pressing on Collectables but there’s a new version that has some live at Newport ’65 tracks on it as well. I have not heard this one and don’t know if they would have gone to any great lengths to make the record sound better. I am not aware of my copy sounding anything less than just fine. This is the album that’s bright red with a hand smashing through the cover. I guess that would be the Mojo Hand. Yes. Anyway, this was originally released on the Fire label many years ago and fetches quite a price so you would be best served to get this cheap one and get your kicks that way. The Prestige box set is another nice grouping of Lightnin’ records. The album Lightnin’! on Tomato is a good one. There are many Lightnin’ best-of’s and a lot of them are just thrown together, that’s why I usually stay with a real label like Arhoolie or Prestige, they have the masters and there’s someone to at least make some informative liner notes. This track was taken from the Sittin’ In With Lightnin’ Hopkins album.

Raymond Scott - New Year’s Eve In A Haunted House: We played a lot of Raymond Scott’s brilliant music on last year’s shows and I reckon we better waste no time this year. You should go to Wikipedia and read the very informative and well written bio the site has about Raymond Scott. His achievements are so many that it would be hard to do them justice here. He was a true innovator and worked fairly nonstop on his electronic musical research until a series of strokes made it impossible for him to carry on. Friends of his included DEVO’s Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Moog, and Motown’s Berry Gordy, who hired him as a consultant at one point. There is a good chance you have no idea just how much of his music you have heard in your life, from Bugs Bunny to Ren and Stimpy, Scott is all over cartoons and film soundtracks. Thankfully, heroes like Irwin Chusid and Hal Wilner helped start the largely out-of-print Scott catalog become available again with the release of The Music Of Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights And Turkish Twilights CD. It was the first collection of his I ever had. I have every one of his records I have ever seen at this point and they’re all really cool. Last year we listened to a few tracks from one I had recently picked up called The Unexpected, that’s a great one. A good one to start with is the Reckless Nights CD and go from there. I think if you’re not already curious about the man and his music that after you read information on him you will want to hear more. Chusid once told me about going to Scott’s house and seeing shelf after shelf of unreleased music. I want to hear it all.

Woody Guthrie - Los Angeles New Year’s Flood: From the Library Of Congress Recordings. Since it’s New Years, or a little after I should say, I have been peppering tonight’s broadcast with songs that concern the date. I really like this set of songs and storytelling that Guthrie recorded for the Library of Congress. Sometimes when I hear Guthrie speak it reminds me of how early Dylan interviews sounded. Guthrie was a huge influence on Dylan and if you listen to Dylan talk in the early 60s and then listen to Guthrie, I think you’ll hear some similarities there. In Dylan’s talking blues stuff, there’s some Guthrie in that as well. Before there was Springsteen, Seeger, Dylan, or any of those other righteous guitar slingers with a message for the people, there were those who helped pave the way. Guthrie is one, Leadbelly is another, and both are worth checking out. I’ll get some Leadbelly on our show soon.

Isaac Hayes - The Mistletoe And Me: Another dip into the Stax/Volt Soul Singles Vol. 2 box set. No bad place to be. Ike was quite the innovator in his time. I have a lot of his solo records. Some I like, some I don’t like as much. My favorites are Hot Buttered Soul and the Shaft soundtrack. The others I have contain great music but do not hang in there for me track after track as well as these two do. I have a minor beef about the newly mastered version of the Shaft CD: In the new mastering that comes in a digipak, they have cleaned up and brightened the sound considerably but they have also added a video and in doing that had to edit one of the album’s best tracks, Do Your Thing. The unedited version clocks in at 19:27 and the edit on the new CD chops it down considerably to 4:40. I held on to my original and made a CD that splices in the older version. You can read my interview with Isaac Hayes in my book Do I Come Here Often?

Tenor Saw - Ring The Alarm (Live): This was the first Tenor Saw track I ever heard. Ian played it for me. It blew me away. What a song, what a voice. Tenor Saw was a rising star on the Reggae scene but his life was cut short. Of all places, he died in Houston, TX in a car accident in 1988. He was 22 years old. He had only been recording for a few years and was really picking up steam. I can’t find much information on the guy so I don’t know why he was in Houston. Apparently, this live version is now on a CD called Tenor Saw Lives On. I have a really badly pressed version of this on LP. I have not heard this CD yet but will let you know when I do.

The Clash - Cheat: The first Clash album is still one of my favorites, although I find it hard to listen to because it makes me think of Joe Strummer and the fact that he’s gone. I remember driving around on the day I got word that he had died. I was at a red light and to my left was one of those big gas station convenience store mini city things, complete with outdoor sound system blasting music and advertisements for all the crap you can buy inside. They were playing Rock The Casbah really loud and I didn’t know if it was in tribute or if it was just coincidence. His death really made me mad. It was such a rip off. He was a few years older than I am now. I have done a couple of shows in the venue in Liverpool where the I am told he played his last ever show. I thought about that as I sat backstage before and after the show, wondering if he had been in the same room. The entire Clash catalog has been remastered and it sounds really good and it’s worth checking out again if you have the old CDs. Strummer had charisma to burn. The last time I saw him was the night the two of us met Johnny Cash together. There’s a couple of pictures of the three of us around. I saw one in Rolling Stone and one in Billboard.

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Buzzcocks - ESP: From the band’s 2nd album, Love Bites. The Buzzcocks followed up their first album, Another Music In A Different Kitchen, very quickly. Another Music was released in March of 1978 and by July of that year the band was back in the studio with Martin Rushent recording the follow up. By August the record had been mixed and on September 22 Love Bites was released. That’s pretty cool, two full albums in one year. This is a different album than Another Music, the guitars are more ringing and less ripping, the songwriting is more evolved and it’s easy to tell that the band is hitting their stride. Shelley’s resigned vocal combined with his and Diggle’s two guitars set against the battering wall of drums and bass set up by John Maher and Steve Garvey proved to be a very pliant and adaptable resource for moving the music forward as the band’s songwriting became more ambitious. I don’t have all the facts in front of me but The Buzzcocks have to be one of the first Punk Rock Bands to make a 2nd album. The Clash’s 2nd album, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, came out in November of 1978. Maybe it was The Damned, who delivered their 2nd album Music For Pleasure perhaps too prematurely in 1977, that was the first follow up. That was the first one I remember. Anyway, Love Bites and their 3rd album, A Different Kind Of Tension, often get either overlooked or under mentioned in my opinion and this may be due to the eclipsing power of their singles collection Singles Going Steady, which is pretty damn amazing, I must say. Must?! I must, I must!

Generation X-Day By Day: The band’s first single on Chrysalis, released 09-01-77. This song was on the b-side with Your Generation on the A-side. I don’t know if it was the band that didn’t want to release an album in 1977 or if it was the label wanting more time to promote the band before putting out a whole album. I think that’s what it was. There were a few singles that preceded the self-titled debut, released 03-17-78. After the September release of the first single, there was the 02-10-78 release of Ready Steady Go / No No No and the 11-19-78 release of Wild Youth / Wild Dub. I think it was easy for most sussed punks to realize that Generation X were going to be a relatively commercial outfit when compared with other high profile acts at the time. The band’s vocalist, Billy Idol, worked his looks, actually, the whole band did, looking more like pin-ups than punks. Nevertheless, the debut album really delivers. I will always wonder why the band released the tracks Wild Youth and Wild Dub as a single. To me, Wild Youth is not an A-side, Wild Dub is not awful but not great and No No No is one of the best b-sides ever. Interesting that the band chose not to put it on the recent re-release of the first album CD.

Sleep - Dragonaut: This was such a great band. Three albums, some might say four in that the third album, Dopesmoker, can also be found in a slightly edited version called Jerusalem. There’s a single and a compilation cut, a version of Sabbath’s Snowblind on the Masters Of Misery Sabbath tribute on Earache Records. Sleep were Matt Pike on guitar, who plays now in his band High On Fire, Chris Hakius on drums, and Al Cisneros on bass and vocals. Chris and Al have a band called Om. High On Fire and Om are both excellent bands that I listen to frequently. Tonight’s track is taken from the Sleep’s Holy Mountain album, which might be their most accessible one but my favorite by far is Dopesmoker, which is a visionary masterpiece of concept, density and delivery. Yes, Sleep sounds a bit like Black Sabbath but only in tempo and wallop, they are quite on their own when you consider Dopesmoker and their zero interest in compromise. Same can be said of the two groups that came out of Sleep, especially Om. At some point, we’ll check out Sleep’s version of Sabbath’s Lord Of This World.

Suicide - Rocket USA: This is a live version found on the Ghost Riders CD recorded live at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN many years ago. This is brutal. Synth player Martin Rev never sounded more assaultive than on this track, he’s just killin’ it. Vega’s vocal is the Apocalypse unleashed. The whole set is great and features a song I have never seen released on any of their other records called Sweet White Lady, which we definitely have to get to at some point. For a lot of people, Suicide will always be one of those bands that can’t be defined, that is to say, there is no genre that can hold them. They get lumped in with the No Wave scene, which they were surely around, but none of those bands were a type of band really. They must have known from the start that there was never going to be mass commercial acceptance or even a way out of the venue they just played without a beating but they went for it anyway. Hail!

The Ruts - Something That I Said: Haven’t played this song in awhile. While trying to track down some people I wanted to ask questions of, I sourced music journalist Garry Bushell of Sounds Magazine fame. He gave me the information I wanted and gave me a name and e-mail address of an associate of The Ruts. I contacted him and we got to e-mailing back and forth about The Ruts. He still hangs out with one of the Ruts members so I am hoping to meet him next time I am in the UK. I have only met one person who told me Ruts stories, that was Rat Scabies, who was very generous with his time and suffered my questions. I am hoping to get more info on this band that I never came close to seeing live. Last year when we listened to this track, we listened to the single version. Tonight, to keep things interesting, we listened to the version found on their album The Crack, one of the most must-have records of all time. I will not wear you out on the details of this one, I think I have put you through enough Ruts worship for a little while.

The Fall - Cab It Up!: From the I Am Curious Oranj album, released October 1988. I don’t think we play tracks from this album often enough. There’s a few interesting things about this record: First, let’s talk about the actual tracks because there’s something worth noting, the LP and the CD have different versions of some of the songs. The alt. versions are: Dog Is Life / Jerusalem / Wrong Place, Right Time / C.D. Win Fall 2080 AD (LP title) (C.D. Win Fall 2088 AD is the title on the CD version) / Yes, O Yes. That’s nearly half the album. I made a CD of my LP so I could put it all in iTunes and a-b them. It’s a pretty cool bit of Fall knowledge which would have taken me some time to notice but thanks to the Unofficial Fall site, I found out all this very important information. Here’s something else to note about this record. The music on I Am Curious Oranj can be considered commissioned music in a way. I don’t know the particulars of the deal but the music from this album was written as a soundtrack to a ballet put on by Michael Clark & Company, a contemporary dance group. It is an interesting album, perhaps not The Fall’s greatest moment but still worth checking out. A few years ago The Fall released a live album called I Am As Pure As Oranj which is a show from 08-17-88 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Julee Cruise - The Nightingale: From the Floating Into The Night album. I thought all the Lynch/Badalamenti music contained in the Twin Peaks series was really great. The first time I heard some of Badalamenti’s work was in the film Blue Velvet. I believe that was the first time he worked with the film’s director, David Lynch. It was to be the start of a long and productive relationship. I went to Badalamenti’s site and it shows him doing soundtrack work on every Lynch film from Blue Velvet to Mulholland Drive. It was also by seeing Blue Velvet that I first heard the voice of Julee Cruise on the track Mysteries Of Love. It took a couple of years before her album came out but it was worth the wait, Floating Into The Night is really cool. It’s a Lynch/Badalamenti joint with Julee singing. Her second album with the team, The Voice Of Love, came out in 1993. It’s cool but not as magic as Floating. The period around the Twin Peaks show was a great time for Lynch. For awhile there, Lynch and that show really had America’s attention. It was very different for television at the time and it might be Lynch’s closest brush with mainstream acceptance. It’s a show you might have found on HBO years later. I have been a fan ever since I first heard Ms. Cruise sing and come back to this album from time to time. What I have not kept track of is the soundtrack work of Badalamenti in Lynch’s films. I really liked Mulholland Drive but don’t remember the music. I’ll have to check that out.

The Damned - Born To Kill: Not enough can be written about the early line-up of The Damned, featuring Brian James on guitar, that yielded the first two Damned albums: Damned Damned Damned and Music For Pleasure. This song is from DDD, one of the first Punk Rock albums I ever heard. I think it was one of the first Punk albums, period. We’ll have to play this album all the way through some night. I am sure all you Fanatics have heard this one enough times but if you have not you should get yourself to this record as soon as possible.

Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart - Ferdinand The Bull: Slim Gaillard is the great musician, actor, and professor of all things vout. Slim did a lot of recordings with bass player Slam Stewart and are they a treat. Their on-the-spot improvs and hilarious songs are fantastic. There’s several collections of these two all with different degrees of quality. Check The Legendary McVouty for a good introduction to Slim & Slam. Another good CD to check out is a Slim best-of on Verve called Laughing in Rhythm: The Best Of The Verve Years. Slim had one hell of a life, look him up online. I had never heard of him until the late great Mick Geyer made me a tape with some of his music on it. Yip Roc Heresy and Atomic Cocktail were the first songs I heard of his and I was a Slim Fanatic immediately. This is from a CD called Slim & Slam 1938-1939. There’s also a documentary on Slim that I saw in Australia years ago that had footage of Slim hanging out with Dizzy Gillespie that is just incredible.

Funkadelic - Super Stupid: This is one of the Funkadelic songs I have heard covered now and again by Rock bands. It’s a pretty rockin’ song. The early Funkadelic albums are small miracles bridging Funk, Rock, and Psychedelia. I wonder what people made of them at first? I always wondered who their audience was, if they were too rock for funk fans and vice versa. Funkadelic features one of the guitar greats of all time, Eddie Hazel, who at times is reminiscent of Hendrix but definitely has a sound and approach all his own. The song Maggot Brain, from the album of the same name and also the same album we pulled tonight’s track from, features Eddie at his spaced out and soulful best. Eddie Hazel died in late 1992, he was born on 04-10-50. Joe Cole’s birthday is 04-10-61. That works for me.

Wire - Two People In A Room: From Wire’s 3rd album 154. The title refers to, if I am not mistaken, the number of shows the band had played at the time of the recording. This album doesn’t get mentioned as much as the band’s first album, Pink Flag, which is a pretty damn cool album but what came next, Chairs Missing and 154, are great as well. Wire are one of the great Punk/Post Punk bands. They were around at the same time as the first wave of UK Punk Rock bands. They have tracks on the Live At The Roxy album but it was obvious from the start there was a lot more happening with Wire than just three chords and attitude, as evidenced by the band’s amazingly rapid development over the span of these three albums. The Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis solo and partner projects like Dome are really great too. They have a very good website: www.pinkflag.com.

The Screamer - Infant Son: Many years ago, crank callers would drive the jocks at the DC area talk radio station WRC AM nuts with their relentless verbal assaults. The best of the available recordings have been gathered by your pals at Teenbeat under the name The Screamer. There’s not a bad one in the bunch. It is my favorite phone prank collection. www.teenbeatrecords.com.

DEVO - Shout (E-Z Listening Version): We conclude tonight’s broadcast with a little E-Z listening, Spud style. Many years ago, DEVO released instrumental Muzak versions of some of their songs available on cassette by mail order only. I believe the cassettes were released in 1983 or 1984. There’s also a limited 1000 LP version on Ohio Records of some of the tunes. I am not sure what year that was released. I found mine in 1986 I think. In 1987 Ryko released a CD collection of DEVO Muzak called E-Z Listening Disc. It’s now out of print along with the very cool Hardcore DEVO CDs. All of this stuff is really good so grab them if you can find them. Hopefully they come back into print someday.

004

BROADCAST #02

AIR DATE: 01 - 09 - 07

Fanatics, I am in Tel Aviv, Israel tonight. Here’s some very quick notes on tonight’s broadcast, most likely nothing you have not encountered before. I try to make the shows we pre-tape as good as I can but if I am not actually there with you live, I don’t want to play too much new or rare stuff as it’s much more fun to do it in real time. Still, I think we had a good show tonight and we have two more pre-tapes coming up before I’m back and those are good ones as well. Anyway, here’s some abbreviated notes. I am pretty busy at the moment so I can’t go too long on the notes as I am prone to do. One thing I can tell you, it’s going to be a great year of music on this show so please please please tune in as often as you can! STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

X - Johnny Hit And Run Paulene: From the first album by X, Los Angeles. I did a lot of shows with X last year. It was great to see them play night after night. I have seen X many times over the years and it’s always worth it. I will always wonder why they were not a bigger band. I am not saying they don’t have a lot of fans but I don’t understand why X were not all over the radio and in every home. The first four X albums are mandatory listening: Los Angeles, Wild Gift, Under The Big Black Sun and More Fun In The New World.

Birthday Party - Blast Off: I first heard this as a single, Release The Bats was the A-side. I feel very lucky to have seen this band considering how little they played in America. I am a major Birthday Party Fanatic and all their records sound good to me. This track can be found on the Junkyard CD

The Fall - So Called Dangerous: We’re still playing The Fall. This being the beginning of the year it would have been a great opportunity to do something different but no! We’re going to get though the whole damn Fall catalog by the time this is over. Tonight’s track is from 1992’s Code: Selfish album. The Fall were really on a roll here, only 11 months previous they released the Shift-Work album. Both are great.

Public Image Ltd. - Public Image: From the first Public Image single. I don’t know much about the band, I don’t have every album and am sure I have not heard nearly all their music but I really like the first two albums. I saw them once in 1982 and they were really intense. Mr. Rotten used to call Black Flag poser suburban rich kids in interviews. We figured we could just fight amongst ourselves to see who got to wear his ears on a string around our necks. Ah, youth.

Public Enemy - Public Enemy #1 (Demo): I got this on cassette from Ian about 21 years ago. Sounds pretty cool, right? At one point, the Public Enemy guys were working on a documentary and asked to interview me for it. I jumped at the chance to talk about one of my favorite bands and one of my heroes, Chuck D. I played the film crew this demo and none of them had ever heard it so I made them a copy. It made me wonder what other demos of their early stuff is out there. I have not seen any PE bootlegs included with studio material.

The Ruts - Backbiter: It won’t be long before we have played every track from The Ruts amazing album The Crack. It is one of those albums I will never get tired of. It was one of my favorite albums as soon as I heard it. The Crack and an album of singles, radio sessions, and live cuts called Grin And Bear It are now on one CD. That’s a great one.

Squatweiler - Hot For Teacher: I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about my appreciation of this band seeing how I have played Squatweiler doing Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher a few times now. I don’t want you to think that I don’t like any of their other songs. I do. I did a lot of shows with this band and they were always great. I like all their albums. Many years ago someone from their label sent over a copy of their first album Full Bladder, I played it and became a fan immediately. Eventually we did some shows together over a couple of tours. Rockin’ Indie music. This track is found on a Spinart Records Promo CD.

Parliament - Mr. Wiggles: I don’t know why but I always associate Parliament with Washington DC. I remember when those Parliament tours would come through DC, I think they played the Capitol Center. I never went to see them play but some people at my school did. I got all their records years later. I remember their singles on the radio but never heard many of the albums all the way through. Someone at my school lent me a couple and I think Motor Booty Affair, the album we pulled tonight’s track from, was one of them. I got into all of it later. A lot of times I am years behind stuff but I eventually catch up.

The Inspirations - You Know What I Mean: This is from one of the many Lee Scratch Perry CD comps. there are in the world. Perry is so prolific and important to Reggae and Dub that eventually everything he’s done has been released. I have a lot of his records and comps. of bands he recorded but don’t know much about him. I don’t know much about Reggae or Dub. There are some people I like, Dillinger, Scientist, Perry, King Tubby, but most of the time, I get Reggae or Dub records just because they look interesting, it’s kinda cool doing it that way. I don’t mind being a little lost in it. Speaking of lost, this track is taken from Lost Treasures Of The Ark.

Sleater-Kinney - Night Light: From their album The Woods. I don’t have every Sleater album but I have heard most of their work and saw them play a few times. Of all their albums The Woods is my favorite. I guess they have broken up now. That’s too bad but perhaps there will be some interesting music from the different members. This album is really heavy and the guitars are crazy. We listened to their song Jumpers last year. Great band.

The Firesign Theatre - The Chinchilla Show: I don’t know many people who listen to The Firesign Theater. For those of you who don’t, I think you’re missing out! I remember hearing How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All and it went a bit, actually pretty far, over my head. I checked back in with them years later when I got their album Everything You Know Is Wrong! and I was hooked. Over the years I found their records used for really cheap so I became a Firesign Fanatic because they were really good and they fit my budget. Many of you who have already checked them out probably have the same experience, you listen to one of their records and you hear something as if you never heard it before or you have but it never clicked until that moment. That happens to me fairly often when I listen to their stuff. These are very funny and intelligent people. For our show, I often use their best-of Shoes For Industry! because the tracks are individually banded. Sometimes on their album CDs, you only get side 1 & 2. I have all their stuff in my iPod and have made CDRs of all their albums that are not on CD yet. If you liked this track and want to check them out, Shoes is a good place to start. Dear Friends or Don’t Crush That Dwarf And Hand Me The Pliers are also really good.

Flipper - Ha Ha Ha: Flipper was one of the heaviest live bands of all time. In the Black Flag days we played with them several times. This is Flipper at their finest. This song, Love Canal, and all the stuff on the Generic album is pretty amazing in all its damaged beauty and mangled magnificence. I got a letter from Steve DePace, the band’s drummer, recently. He said they have licensed all their music back from the labels who had previously released their albums and were going to put them out themselves. Can’t come fast enough for my liking. Hopefully, there will be several Flipper releases this year. I hope they release some of the outtakes from the sessions. I have bad sounding copies of some unreleased tracks and it would be great to get an upgrade. I think there’s at least a version of Boom Boom Boom and perhaps Shine from the sessions that yielded the song we heard tonight. Steve promised to let me know when the stuff was going to come out and when he does, I’ll see what I can do to get us some advance tracks for the show. The track you heard tonight was from the Sex Bomb Baby CD that is out of print but hopefully not for much longer.

Bobby Byrd - Hot Pants - I’m Coming: When I was very young and heard James Brown doing Sex Machine, I wanted to be his back up singer. Basically, I wanted to be Bobby Byrd but I didn’t know it. JB’s singing was great but it was his backing vocalist that really did it to me. Years later, when I heard the live version of Sex Machine on the Revolution Of The Mind album, there it was again, that voice. When JB wanted to go to the bridge, he would yell out, Can I take them to the bridge?! the voice would answer back, Take them to the bridge! That voice was Bobby Byrd, one righteous R&B singer in his own right. Bobby Byrd kills and when he’s got the JB’s as his band, forget it, it’s out of the park. His best-of CD, Bobby Byrd’s Got Soul, is worth checking out as is anything he does with James Brown. Many years ago in Japan, I got a bootleg video of James Brown. It was a bunch of TV appearances cobbled together and one of them was James and band doing Sex Machine and there was Bobby Byrd doin’ it live and it just killed me. Many years ago, JB was going to do a pay-per-view thing and he wanted me to come to band practice and do Bobby’s part for that song. I thought I had won the lottery. My manager called me one day and asked, Are you sitting down? and then he laid it all out about JB’s people calling. I had met him a few days before and told him how much his music meant to me. He was very cool about it. Of course it didn’t work out, as nothing that good will ever happen, but for a minute there, I wanted to jump back and kiss myself.

The Stains - Sick And Crazy: Can’t go wrong with The Stains. Their self-titled LP is their only release and is one of the more sought after titles from the SST catalog. This one goes for good money on ebay. Too bad that SST doesn’t want to put it on CD so everyone can get in on the fun. There are a couple of Stains tracks on CD, this is taken from the Chunks comp. CD. I got to see them play a few times. Those were some scary nights. These guys created tension and made crowds go nuts. The audiences in those days didn’t need much encouragement to get hectic but when The Stains played the room became very dangerous. The band were very heavy guys themselves, East LA badasses with some very heavy friends in tow. Wonderful days. I hope this record comes back into print. I would release it in a minute if I could but I guess it’s up to Greg Ginn.

The Clash - Remote Control: I can’t play the first Clash album too often, it makes me miss Joe Strummer too much and this album takes me back into nostalgia land and leaves me there for some time. I play it now and again but like I said, it’s hard to get back to the present after I do. Like many of you Fanatics, I played this album over and over when I first got it. What else are you going to do?! The Clash were so good. I am glad that Sony has at least remastered everything and put out some rare studio and live tracks. For the last few years, I have been checking out a lot of the vinyl bootlegs that have been coming out and also the CDRs that Joel F, top shelf Fanatic from Ohio, sends to me now and then. There are some rippin’ early shows out there. There’s one show where there’s maybe 100 people, if that, and the band is just shredding it. I told my manager about the bootleg and he told me he was at that show. He saw them a lot. I’m glad I got to see them when I did. The band released two different versions of their first album, same basic songs but the UK version had a few different songs than the US version. I had the UK version growing up but when they re-issued them a few years ago I got them both because I am ridiculous that way. Tonight’s track is from the UK version.

Casual Dots - Mama’s Gonna Make Us A Cake: We listened to this song a long time ago. It’s not the only song on their album but it’s a great one. I would rather play something we have not played before from this band when I am live in the studio with you, it’s way more fun that way. I seem to remember at one point the band had planned another album but I don’t know what happened. Could be that bass player Kathi becoming a mom had something to do with it. I really like the album and hope they do more stuff. I am writing these notes at an Air Force Base in Doha, Qatar at the moment and don’t have access to the internet so this will be a bit information free. As you Fanatics know, Kathi was a member of Bikini Kill, Christina was in Autoclave, and drummer Steve was a member of Deep Lust. As far as I know, the band have just released the one self-titled CD we took the track from tonight. You can find more info on the band at the Kill Rockstars site.

Harriet Tubman - Asiatic Research: I should not have put this track into the mix here, I should have left it for when we were all together live but it sounded so great. This is from an album called I Am A Man on Knitting Factory. The band is Brandon Ross on guitar, J.T. Lewis on drums, and Melvin Gibbs on bass. I know a thing or two about Melvin but I don’t know anything about the other two and I apologize for that and will make amends ASAP. A friend of Melvin’s gave me this CD ages ago and I have listened to it a few times. I like it. The band has a 2nd album called Prototype that was not all that easy to find but I tracked it down and we’ll get into something off that one later in the year. I always felt that my lack of musicality limited what Melvin could do so it’s interesting to hear him in a different element than the one he was in when we played together. He’s one of the most amazing musicians around.

Juliana Hatfield - My Pet Lion: I have known Juliana for a long time but I don’t remember how we met. I know it was way back when she was in The Blake Babies and I would put them up at my place when they came through town. Good band. At one point, she left me a bunch of drawings that I still have. She went solo years ago. I don’t have all her records, I have a couple and Made In China is one of them. We exchange letters every once in awhile but I don’t know what she’s up to at the moment.

Jimi Hendrix - Remember: I got the Hendrix best-of album Smash Hits when I was very young. I don’t remember how I got ahold of it, I may have heard my mother playing it and spirited it away to my room. I don’t think this song was on the original US version of Are You Experienced. I am sure you Fanatics have heard this song many times but sometimes nothing else does it like Hendrix. This track is on the current CD version of Are You Experienced. The Hendrix remasters are worth the purchase. If you have the older masterings and really like those records, it’s worth it to check out the new versions. Some of you Fanatics can remember when the Hendrix catalog was in disrepair, there were typos on the CD spine copy, incorrect songs on the albums, etc. It was hard to see the music get so disrespected but thankfully things got straightened out. I can only listen to James Marshall Hendrix in small doses because even to this day I still get frustrated that he died so young. Someone should have been looking out for him but everyone was so out for their piece of the guy, they didn’t notice what was happening until it was too late.

Dinosaur Jr. - I Don’t Think So: Many years ago I was going out with a woman and for a short period things were pretty good and then they weren’t and we parted ways. That’s when I played this song about six times a day and kind of howled at the moon. I got better after awhile. I don’t think about her much any more but I still play this song and the album it came from, Without A Sound, frequently. I have some cool Dinosaur Jr. tracks coming up in future broadcasts and the other night Mike Watt told me that Dinosaur Jr. has a new album planned for this year. Lucky us.

The Castaways - Liar, Liar: I don’t know anything about this band. I am presently sitting on a C-17 cargo plane headed towards Djibouti, Africa and can’t access any information. I threw this song into the mix because it reminds me of the old days at SST. Dukowski had some interesting records and he had this song on either a single or some compilation LP. I used to make mix tapes from any records I could find at our hovel and sometimes the mixes were eclectic by default as for some reason, strange records would turn up at our place. This was one of the songs I put on a tape. I noticed it was on the Nuggets box and threw it into tonight’s set list. Update Dept.: I got back to the Info Hwy and found a Castaways site. Apparently, they’re still around and in the photo on their page they seem to have the same taste in shirts. They say they will play your event, so keep that in mind. This 1965 hit is the only song of theirs I have heard.

Muluqèn Mèllèsè - Wètètié Maré: Many moons ago while on tour, a Fanatic gave me a couple of CDRs of the Ethiopiques series. Before I could listen to them they got scratched up so I never heard them. Engineer X made me some CDRs of this series as he figured I would like them. As you know, Engineer X, my Brother In Sonic Jihad, has made many musical recommendations to me that I wisely heeded. I have been jamming these Ethiopiques CDs the last few weeks and really liking them. I will check them all out and start throwing some of the tracks into the mix. I think that you Fanatics will really like this stuff. I have been doing some reading on the series and it’s basically Ethiopian music that spans from decades ago to the present. So far, it’s been great listening. Tonight’s track is from Ethiopiques 1.

The Wall - Ghetto: A great Post Punk song you have heard before on our show. I have all The Wall records I have been able to find but seem to listen to two of their early singles more than the rest of their stuff. This track from a single on Fresh Records has Another New Day on the other side and an EP on Small Wonder that has a great track called Exchange which we listened to in 2004. The Wall released some albums that I have not listened to very much to tell the truth. Tonight’s track was taken from the Fresh Records - The Punk Singles Collection CD. It is Christmas day, I am in Djibouti, Africa and without internet access as I write this. When and if I get internet access in the next few days, I will see if I can raise some more information on this band for you. If I were back at the office, I would have handed in a better breakdown of this song.

Blondie - X Offender: An early single for Blondie. I don’t know much about the band. I have a best-of collection and that’s it. I always thought they were cool, especially Debbie Harry. I met her years ago, she was really cool to me and I went all gooey inside.

Wire - Surgeon’s Girl: Another track from Wire’s must-hear album Pink Flag. At some point we should listen to this one all the way through, even though most of you Fanatics have heard this album many times, it would be cool to play it from start to finish some time. I am sure I have worn you out on how much I like this album. If you have not checked this one out, the time is right, the newly remastered version released last year is fantastic.

Wolf Eyes - Damzel: I have yet to meet the person who has a good collection of those cool limited edition releases Wolf Eyes seems to release almost weekly. The band sent me a couple last year and they were great but only made me want to hear the other 100 they have made. This is from the band’s self-titled CD and it’s a real eviscerating experience. I have not had the chance to listen to the band’s newest Subpop album Human Animal too many times but I have it with me and plan on checking it out more. Wolf Eyes is zero-compromise, room-clearing stuff.

005

BROADCAST #03

AIR DATE: 01 - 16 - 07

Fanatics! Greetings from Toronto, Canada. I got here yesterday from Tel Aviv, Israel. That was a long month out in the world but I had a great time and came back with some music from Israel. I have not had a chance to go through it all but I will and if it sounds interesting, I’ll bring it to the show. Please make note that this is the last of our pre-taped shows. I had another one done for next week, not knowing for sure when I was getting back to LA but seeing that I will be getting back there in time, we are going to scrub the pre-tape and go live. It’s much better live as you know. The other night in Tel Aviv, I was given two hours of air time on a local radio station and had a great time playing music. I think I might have been the first Fanatic to put a track by The Evens on the air there. I also played Negative Trend, Soccer Team, Deerhoof, The Mark Of Cain and some others that I am forgetting at this moment. Since I have been out, I have been online whenever possible looking for more interesting music for our show. I think I have found some good stuff and will explore it when I get a chance. I will be in DC for a couple of days later in the week which will give me a chance to catch up with Ian MacKaye, who is always listening to something interesting. Hopefully I’ll pick up some good tips from him that I can drag onto the show. We won’t have Engineer X for the last two Tuesdays of January as he will be at a local madras seeking higher knowledge. We will have someone else to work the board though. I had an amazing time out here but am looking forward to getting back to the Indie 103 Rok Mosk and going live. It won’t be long. I hope you enjoyed tonight’s show and the shows Engineer X and I put together in the previous weeks. I have been working on some great broadcasts for this year so stay tuned because it’s going to be the show’s best year yet. I’ll be back with you live in a week so stay tuned and STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

Gunung Jati Ensemble Of Tegas - Gambang Kuta: From a CD of gamelan music from Bali that you are no doubt very familiar with called Gamelan Semarpegulingan II. I don’t know anything about this ensemble. At one point I got very interested in gamelan music and checked out a lot of the CDs but I still don’t know how it all works. For many years, I have wanted to go to Java to listen to Javanese gamelan music being played live but have heard that it’s more than a bit dangerous for travelers. I will have to re-check that and see if it’s not just some b.s. fear-filled information. I have found that the gamelan players from Bali serve up a more percussive and noisy brand that doesn’t always make for an enjoyable prolonged listening experience. I prefer the more spacey Javanese style but tonight I want you to stay awake for the entire show!

Laurie Anderson - Sharkey’s Night: One of my more favorite Laurie songs from one of my more favorite Laurie albums, Mister Heartbreak. I think this was the one that came out after Big Science. I like that one as well. This track features the late William S. Burroughs. He has such a great voice. The one