Friday Cover Up #1 - The Horrortones Souled Out.

Leave it up to rock'n'soul cover behemoths The Horrortones to put out something as irregular yet delectable as a triple 7" box set. These guys only play like twice a goddamned year! Seriously though, it's great to have these consummate pleasure machines put tracks on wax, and the six songs on display will have you greasing your hair back and shimmying in no time! Just try to resist the decadent, blitzed charms of 'W.A.S.T.E.D' or the swinging frenzy of 'Mojo Hannah'. None of the band members even know where 'They Don't Know' comes from, but the tune does James Brown and hootenannies proud (trust me, such extremes can co-exist). And it wouldn't be The Horrortones without a Dirtbombs cover - or at least a cover of the Dirtbombs covering The O'Jays ('Living For The Weekend').


Courtesy of Mere Noise, there are only 150 of these suckers on planet Earth, so pre-order this diamante delicacy here. The launch is on Friday June 1 at The Beetle Bar, where they will be joined by Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side, Cannon and Lovely Legs (who have just finished recording tracks for an upcoming cassette - I've heard the unmixed tracks and they are special!) And look at that poster! The caricatures are more life-like than the band members in person!

Backwards Looking Forward - Acid Kicks/Different Skeletons

Another couple releases that should have been at the forefront of your minds before you were lobotomised by Watch The Throne last year...


Acid Kicks are a Philly quartet (three of which play bass, and seeing as I have a distant connection to that instrument I am already enamoured) who put out this EP Life Dreams last year. I have had it floating around for months, and thought that seeing as it plays with me a bit, it should play with you too. It's the typical psych fare that I lap up like alcoholic milkshakes, yet there is a sweaty urgency underneath it all that shakes and rattles the bones. Noisy psych punk with a severe bottom end. Buy the 7" here.


Acid Kicks - Pyramidic Valley


Different Skeletons are a garage rock band from Canada's largest city, Toronto. Their album of last year Secret Jeers was one sloppy, jangly, irreverent jam, Black Lips and the Dirtbombs would be proud.Different Skeletons are delightfully jangled, chanting, and surf-tinged. For all the same reasons I recommended the Bleed Whites I can suggest these guys, especially if you're looking for something quicker and rougher. All and all, a sweet debut album. Plus, it has a great cover (see below) AND is a free download here! Imminently cooler.

Different Skeletons - All Going To Die
Different Skeletons - Samsonite

The Horrortones

The next band to come off the Mere Noise Meltdown honour roll is...

The Horrortones. This behemoth of a Brisbane supergroup slash institution slash intermittent rockabilly raconteurs are currently working on a triple 7" box set, which is hugely exciting. The band revolves around ex-Vegas Kings frontman Pete, with a steady backing band and a revolving door of hangers on. The bands cover the gamut of ace Brisbane band - the aforementioned Vegas Kings, The Grates, Texas Tea, SixFtHick, The Stress of Leisure, Wiseacre, The Tremors, Gin Club, Giants Of Science, Butcher Birds...the list goes on and on. The membership is fluid, its all about drinking with buds and having a good time (space permitting). The M.O. is to funk the fuck out, have a hell of a time, systematically destroy everything and everyone in sight, and wake up the next day in a perpetual state of amnesia and pain. And seeing as they list King Khan, The Dirtbombs and Reigning Sound as influences, there isn't much else to do than ensure you catch one of their shows... (And due to their reticent nature to get things down, all I have is this not so great video of them covering King Khan & the Shrines' 'Saba Lou' from back in 2009. Still, as more about the box set comes through, I will let you know).

Flippin' Through Some Old School Charts

Let's start afresh, shall we? Its been a few days since we posted, I apologise. So let's get reacquainted over a new band that revels in the old school house of rock, shall we?

Charts are from Portland, a rock trio that love their rock pretty olde. And their EP Birds And Bees is as indebted to Buddy Holly and the Modern Lovers as it is to Thee Oh Sees; to Eddie Cochran as it is to Black Lips; to to Arthur Lee as it is to The Dirtbombs. This is moreso a garage rock revival sound than most of the current movement, and is refreshing because of this. Six slices of 60s inflected chugging rock n roll - its a hell of a lot of fun, I highly recommend it!

Grab Birds And Bees here.

Charts - The Birds & The Bees
Charts - Slow Down Tiger