Human Switchboard - I Gotta Know / No!

Here's an aggressive garage-punk single by Human Switchboard on Clone Records from 1978.

The first cut "I Gotta Know" is a hip take on 60's garage rock with farfisa screeching all over, twinkling xylophone and cooing female backup vocals "lalala-ing" in the background as Bob Pfeifer does his best Van Morrison era Them/Mick Jagger swagger on the microphone.

The second cut "No!" is where its at: threatening tempo, biting-sneering vocals, grinding guitar, hand claps and one hell of a negative attitude. Has a whole different tone to it if you know what Mr. Pfiefer was arrested for... but otherwise one of my personal favorites from Ohio. A real burner. It's a shame "No!" isn't included on their anthology released on Bar-None last year (if you bought the cd you could get the download of it?). So you see this 7-incher snatch it up! Highly recommended, and fantastic to play to people just to see them do the "this is from Ohio?" stink face.

The Waitresses In "Short Stack"

       I purchased this glorious Clone Records single not knowing what to expect. It's highly unusual for me to purchase something without hearing it SOMEWHERE on the Internet first, but when I was told this doesn't sound like what you have already heard by The Waitresses I put on the skeptic face, and took the plunge anyway knowing the value of a MINT clone records single.
      So what do we got here? The A side "Slide" is a funky little garage feet shuffler. Crunchy percussion compliment swirling slide guitar, that builds up and up only to glide back down into some explosive harmonica playing as vocals confidently strut over whole toe-tapping affair.
      The B side "Clones" drops into The Forbidden Zone. Someone fusses over a radio switching between channels until a degenerate vocal kicks in going "mumumumumum" than a phasered somber cry "Cloooooones" and off we go into bizarre percussion clicks and clonks under monotonous voices stopping abruptly to chant "mum-mum-mum-mum" then "WOOOOP -WEEEEP" synthesiser freak out! Honestly, if I had heard this without knowing who it was I'd guess early Devo.  That level of weirdness and a far cry from my previous impression of The Waitresses!

(These video/tracks are culled from The Akron Compilation which in my opinion has a varying consistency but may see some coverage on this blog in the future)

Bold Chicken

Fantastic record label Hozac is putting out a vinyl archive release (Smog Veil put a CD out in 2006) of Akron's 1972 proto-punk/glam rock band, Bold Chicken. Featuring members of The Rubber City Rebels this is a MUST HAVE for you Ohio proto-punk enthusiasts. Lots of wacked out glam boogie guitar playing with screaming/sinister/goofy vocals. Obviously they didn't take themselves too seriously which is half the fun! Check out the track below and get hooked!

"Are We Not Men?" The Devo Documentary

Hey friends, these fine gentlemen are making one seriously cool Devo documentary and need your help with the  post-production funds. So far it looks AMAZING! Take your Internet currency right over to their kickstarter STAT!

Great Nick Nicholis interview by Chicago's Lance Barresi of Permanent Records about Akron's Clone Records. Listen below and check out the article at Chicago reader here.

Foreign Bodies

The late great guitarist Jim Jones (Mirrors, Pere Ubu, Easter Monkeys, Home and Garden) is the mastermind behind Cleveland's Foreign Bodies screeching-skronkin, post-punk-funk, disco madness. Their one and only 7in released on Bizart Records.

Bowling Balls From Hell

A1	Waitresses, The –	"Wait Here I'll Be Right Back..."
A2	Denis DeFrange –	Sector Wars
A3	Ralph Carney –	Closet Bears
A4	Denis DeFrange –	Pyrenees
A5	Ralph Carney –	Hösé Annå
A6	Denis DeFrange –	Bowling Balls Theme
B1	Ralph Carney and David Thomas (2) –	Sunset In Hibernia
B2	Denis DeFrange and Mark Frazier (2) –	The Manikin Shuffle
B3	Haff Notz –	Ride, Rider
B4	Denis DeFrange –	My Spys Lost
B5	Hurricane Bob –	Andrea
B6	Denis DeFrange –	The Last Pin

Bowling Balls From Hell is a compilation album on Nick Nicholis's (The Bizarros) label Clone records released in 1980.

My mother has told me about this particular record since I was 14 years old, not so coincidentally when I was getting into "punk" music. My definition of punk at that time was ugh NOFX and Rancid (forgive me) so needless to say when she informed me that her (boy?)friend from college had made the cover art for an Akron punk compilation it fell on deaf ears.

Luckily she stayed resilient through my "uninformed dark years"and continued to urge me to check it out. On my recent trip to Akron and more importantly Square Records she plunked down her own mula on this and told me it was a history lesson. Indeed it was.

Throw that punk label she gave this out the window! New Wave? Maybe. Who the HELL is Denis DeFrange? I had NO CLUE this is record was gonna sound like it sounds.

Starts off with The Waitresses's laying down a weirder version of " I Know What Boys Like" renamed "Wait Here, I'll Be Right Back...". Some serious squiggly synth burps all over this.

What comes next is totally unexpected: minimal synth. Mr. DeFrange could fill a whole side of this record with his contributions, the majority of, sounds as if 70's Klaus Schulze gave up all his synths except for one and recorded in someones basement or a vocal less John Bender. The track "Bowling Balls Theme" would fit right at home on The Forbidden Zone soundtrack.

Ralph Carney of Tin Huey fame on "Closet Bears" plays jittery retard R2D2 funk that would make The Residents squeamish. "Hose Anna" has this bizarre effect on the trap drums that flows in and out of the song making for one uneasy listen. Again reminds me of The Residents but if they actually knew how to play their instruments.

"Sunset in Hibernia" is Ralph Carney and David Thomas of Pere Ubu (sounding like a sadistic clown here) making toxic waste carnival music for vagabonds, complete with a "warning, warning, warning, dannnnnnnngerrrrr" invocation. Heavily phased bass and guitar on this one.

"Ride, Rider" by Haff Notz plays a kind of Cockney Rebel (without the glam) jam complete with violin, dinky keyboards and a Peter Hammill aping singer.

"Andrea" by Hurricane Bob is probably the most straight forward song on the entire comp that forsees the paisley underground. Chunky guitars churn over hammering drum beats with male/female singing and a blaring saxophone line by Terry Hynde (Numbers Band). Lovely cooing vocals at the end of this.

Fantastic document of the Akron music scene of the late 70's early 80's. If you can find it, grab it!