THE VACANTS

"worthless trash"
Year:  1977
Country:  UK
City:  London
Label:  Beat
Format:  CD , LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  30 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk  Rock

Who the hell were The Vacants ? .... Their album Punk Rock goes for up to £100 and yet they are never mentioned anywhere. They only released one record and that was an album so how did they manage that deal ??? Not only that it was only released in France and Australia ! The cover is dire and the photograph on the back looks like it was taken by a ten year old !!!. Inside the photos are repeated in gatefold sleeve with bugger all else. Its not a cheap item and  would be guaranteed to sell sod all.  The picture features three men and a woman yet as we hear in the interviews they were all men and the line up they talk about seems to have conflicting members. It all a bit of mystery.   So what's the music like. Four cover versions including Beat On The Brat and its a patchy affair sounding hurried in production. Picks Worthless Trash and Half Man Woman. As the interviews show they never played live and couldn't settle on a name. I reckon they were a made up band. Rumour has it that the drummer Martin Question was Martin Chambers who later drummed for the Pretenders and in the Australian issue of the album there he appears instead of the girl in a totally different cover !! The record was re-issued under the title 'Worthless Trash' and the band members listed are: Martin Question, Dan Druff , Tim Nervous, Vincent Sharp and Terry Clemson.

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EXTINCTION OF MANKIND

"storm of resentment"
Year:  2018
Label:  Agipunk
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  42 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Crust Punk

Extinction Of Mankind have been around since 1992, so they are veterans of the UK punk. They started when others finished and when time passed (20 something years) and I get the chance to hear their fourth upcoming full length album, I realise they are one of the very few who are true to what UK punk has always been about. They are the natural continuator of the UK anarcho crust punk movement started in the late 80s by the likes of Anti Sect, Amebix or Axegrinder. “Storm of Resentment” is the concentrate of the UK anarcho punk. Take what is best from it (the lyrics, the statements, the sound, the tempo, the anger and dedication) and add thrashy guitars to top it all. EOM prove you don’t need to play very fast to be brutal. “Cash Cow” intro leads you slowly into the record with its instrumental 2-minute piece. And then it all starts. Lengthy punk songs with metal influence and apocaliptic atmosphere. “Turn a Blind Eye” has very good female vocals and “Believers of Their Lies”, the 6-minute suite, contains a tirade of spoken words and sampes to complete this anarcho punk feel of this masterpiece. I remember very well the first time I heard the great “Baptised In Shit”. This one is equally good, if not better. 1000 copies pressed, 100 of them will come in a crazy circular saw-shaped 2 colors (purple black haze) vinyl all packed up in a typical Crass style poster/sleeve to keep the 80'es feeling stronger than ever.

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"northern scum"
Year:  2006
Label:  Profane Existence
Format:  LP, CD
Tracks:  10
Time:  35 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Crust Punk








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"The nightmare seconds"
Year:  2004
Label:  Profane Existence
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  37 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Crust Punk

Extinction of Mankind is a UK crust punk band formed in 1992. The original line up consisted of Ste (vocals), Mass (guitar), Fozzy (bass), and Foz (drums). With plenty of practices and gigs under their belt, their first split EP with Warcollapse was released at the end of 1993. The next split EP with Doom was released in 1994. The Weakness EP was also released in 1994 and a tour of Europe with Doom was undertaken. After the tour Fozzy left the band to be replaced by Ginny on bass duties, and work on the Baptised in Shit album began. With the album recorded, the band set out on another tour of Europe with Warcollapse in 1995 and the album was released during this tour. 1996 saw another tour of Europe this time with Misery, with Marvin (Varukers) playing bass due to family commitments of Ginny. Around this time a plan to release a split album with Misery surfaced, though it wasn't until quite some time aftert that it ever happened. Early 1998 saw the recording of the "Scars of Mankind" EP. Around this time Foz left the band to be replaced by Tony on drums. Then a tour of the UK and Scotland with Wolfpack. After this tour it was decided to go the two guitarist route bringing in Scoot (ex-Largactil, Doom, HK), but things didn't work out and Mass left leaving Scoot sole guitar duties. 1999 brought a tour of Sweden and Norway with Wolfpack and Skitsystem. The end of 1999 saw both E.O.M. and Misery in the studio to record their split album Apocalyptic Crust, finally. 2000 and a tour of the West Coast of the US with Misery was undertaken, although with no sign of the album being put out. In 2001, after lots of chasing about and confusion, 2 years after recording, the album finally came out, on CD and two different 12" vinyls. A return to the US to do the East Coast and Canada again with Misery brought that the year to an end. In 2002, the "Ale to England" EP came out, this being 3 years after its recording (these were songs recorded during the Apocalyptic Crust sessions). In 2003 E.O.M. had no tours, but a few UK dates with Bomb Blast Men. The band went into the studio to record their second full length album, which is scheduled to come out in 2008, which would make its release 8 years after its predecessor. In 2004, E.O.M. recorded "The Nightmare Seconds," released by Profane Existence on CD and vinyl in the US. Around this time, the band was featured in Issue 27 of Terrorizer magazine. Gigs with Avskum, Broken Bones, Bait, Forca Macabra comprised their European tour. E.O.M. then played the Profane Existence 15th Anniversery bash with Misery, Provoked, Disrespect, Ass and Blackout in Minneapolis. In 2005 they played gigs around the UK including benefits for Stig from Icons of Filth & Wayne from Doom who both sadly passed away, 3 gigs in Finland with the mighty Forca Macabra, Riistetyt, and Unkind, as well as recording two tracks for compilations. In April 2006 they went into the studio to record Northern Scum the next full length LP, 2 gigs in italy in may & hopefully a West Coast USA tour at some point.

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SVATSOX

"Bred in the bone, out in the flesh"
Year:  1984
Country:  Netherlands
City:  Amsterdam
Label:   Villa Zuid Moet Blijven
Format:  CD , LP
Tracks:  10
Time:  40 min.
Lyrical themes:  anarchism, pacifism
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk         Jazz





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"Ruins"
Year:  1982
Country:  Netherlands
City:  Amsterdam
Label:  Pla
Format:  LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  34 min.
Lyrical themes:  anarchism, pacifism
Genre:  rock
Style:         Punk          Jazz

Back when I was 14-15, I was a fan of The Ex and Svatsox. As was customary back then, I had both band names emblazoned on various pieces of clothing. Ten years later, I was making music with former members of both bands. Now my musical "career" might be bereft of any form of logic (quit a hardcore band that was going places, to play in a local Joy D. cover band that was going nowhere; played guitar in a pop-punk band that was going places, only to hang up my axe and rent a saxophone because of a sudden obsession with jazz; etc. etc.), but this was one of the things that actually made sense. I liked Svatsox even more than I liked The Ex; both bands pioneered the angular, Gang Of 4-influenced "Wormerpunk" sub-genre (at one point there were about 15 bands in the village (!) of Wormer, playing the same kind of music!), but Svatsox were ever so slightly more melodic, at times even new-wavey or dare I say it, gothic (in the good, early Banshees/UK Decay sense!). Guitarist Ferry Heyne, currently de facto leader of the very successful De Kift (the band I mentioned I was in), did some great John McGeoch-meets-Andy Gill stuff on their records. On their untitled EP from 1981, "Revenge" is the most straightforward punk song (actually it reminds me a little of De Straks' "Eet U Smakelijk"!), but the guitar goes in all kinds of different directions. Of the "Wormerpunk" Oorwormer comp LP, Svatsox' 2 tracks are easily the best; "What Colour Do I Smell" is in a fast-paced 5/4 rhythm (most Wormer bands had difficulty playing 4/4!) and the ultra-short "Eternal Hunting Fields" features some weird (home-made?) electronic gizmo (that sounds like it's also used on The Ex' "The Sky Is Blue Again"). Ruins, their debut LP from late 1982, is easily their finest hour; while the songs are longer and more spun-out, sonically it's much more powerful than their earlier stuff. The bass guitar pounds away like early Big Black, the drums are doused in reverb (without having that typical shitty 80's sound), and Ferry picked up a distortion pedal somewhere along the line. Ruins was one of a bunch of great records (see also Alerta's brilliant In The Land Of A 1000 Pretty Dreams, Zowiso's 2nd-and-a-half LP The Lust, the Wandas' The Ideal) that went in a different direction from hardcore, whose practitioners semi-jokingly called these bands "softies"; ironic, since most of these softies were pretty tough dyed-in-the-wool squatter types. Svatsox kept going into the mid-80's (occasionally playing old punk covers as the Sox Pistels!), before breaking up and morphing into De Kift. Oh, did I already mention US label North East Indie just put out a Kift CD?

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"Empty covers"
Year:  1981
Country:  Netherlands
City:  Amsterdam
Label:  Wand
Format:  LP
Tracks:  8
Time:  20 min.
Lyriccal themes:  anarchism, pacifism
Genre:  rock
Style:          Punk          Jazz





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THE PARTISANS

"Idiot nation"
Year:  2004
Country:  UK
City:  Bridgend, Wales
Label:  Dr. Strange
Format:  CD , LP
Tracks:  11
Time:  30 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk Rock

The band formed in early 1978, with an original line-up of Phil Stanton (vocals), Rob "Spike" Harrington (guitar and vocals), Andy Lealand (guitar), Mark "Shark" Harris (drums), and Mark "Savage" Parsons (bass guitar). Parsons and Stanton left in 1979, with Spike moving to lead vocals, and Lealand's girlfriend Louise Wright joining on bass. Influenced by the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones, the band started off covering punk rock hits and soon started to compose their own material. They were the second band signed to Chris Berry's No Future Records label, and their debut release, the double A-sided Police story/Killing machine was released on 28 September 1981. It reached #5 on the UK Indie Chart, on the back of a tour with label-mates Blitz, and with strong support from Sounds writer Garry Bushell. Following the success of this single, The Partisans were included on the third volume of Bushell's Oi! compilation series Carry On Oi!, which reached #60 on the UK Album Chart, and won the band gig slots with Blitz, Peter and the Test Tube Babies and The Ejected, as well as a 'No Future' night at London's Zig Zag Club with Red Alert, The Lombardos, and Peter and the Test Tube Babies. The band released its second single, 17 Years of Hell, on 27 May 1982, peaking at #2 on the Indie Charts.[2] This was followed by their self-titled debut LP, released in February 1983. It hit #5 in the Indie Chart and #1 in the Punk Chart, amid considerable critical acclaim from the national press and the underground fanzine culture. After the departure of Louise Wright, the remaining members relocated to Bayswater in west London, with new bassist Dave Parsons to relaunch the band. Their next release was the three-track "Blind Ambition" EP on Cloak & Dagger Records, which peaked at #23 on the Indie Chart, and got played on Prime Time Radio 1. The LP, Time Was Right, followed in 1984, described as "The Professionals meets The Clash," and reaching #20 in the Indie Chart. The album featured live recordings from a gig at the Brixton Ace, at which The Partisans supported Anthrax, Lost Cherrees, Conflict and others. The band split up in 1984. Dave Parsons later found chart success with Transvision Vamp and, even later, became a worldwide success with Bush. Andy moved to Scandinavia. Andy and Rob recorded one more session in late 1989 for Link Records under the name Agent Orange including Andy's then partner Iggi.[1] In the late 1990s Lealand and Harrington reformed the band along with two of Lealand's Swedish friends, Magnus Neundorff and Mikael "Gustav" Gustavsson. The band signed to American label TKO who issued the "So Neat" single in 2001, followed by a new full-length LP/CD in 2004 "Idiot Nation" on Dr. Strange. Currently the band are writing and recording new material. In 2006 the band toured the UK with fellow Welsh hardcore punk band Picture Frame Seduction and played the Berlin festival Punk n' Disorderly in 2007. No further plans are being made to play live, even if on November 27th 2015 they opened for Italian glam rock band Giuda at Orion, rock venue in Ciampino, a little town near Rome.

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"idem"
Year:  1983
Label:  No Future
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  12
Time:  32 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk







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"Tribute to The Partisans"
Year:  2018
Label:  Maloka
Format:  LP
Bands:  11
Tracks:  11
Time:  33 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Punk  Rock








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NEW YORK SKA-JAZZ ENSEMBLE

"low blow"
Year:  1996
Country:  US
City:  New York
Label:  Moon Ska
Format:  CD, LP
Tracks:  14
Time:  42 min.
Genre:  rock
Style:        Ska        Jazz

International ska group, based in New York City, USA, active since 1994. They perform original compositions and cover versions of jazz classics. They have played at festivals like The North Sea Jazz Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Festival de Musique Quebec, The Bob Marley Reggae Festival, and others.

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