What the fuck just happened!?! So Last Days went down. I could go into a lot of explanation as to what happened but to hell with it, I’m on a new hosting company and hopefully these shenanigans wont occur in the future. With that said, I offer no real apologies because Last Days has always been a one-man show. In the end it suffers from the fact that the one man in question is me and I have neither tons of funding to pour into the site nor tons of time to give it the love it sometimes needs. Infrequent instability seems to be a reasonable payoff for keeping it DIY.

All of these technical trials and tribulations have caused me to ponder on the very nature of this here lil’ blog and I have decided there are going to be a few changes to this site over the next few months. I was planning these anyway but having to switch service providers sort of forced my hand. One change is that I am going to be featuring less old releases. This is primarily because I have run out of things to post. This is especially true with Hardcore, a genre I love but (at least the vintage 79-89 era) is all over the internet on blogs that are waaaay more hardcore than Joe Stumble could ever be. That’s why HC has faded off this site; not because I don’t love it but because there are just so many other sites doing it that I don’t see the point in being redundant. I also don’t see the point in being redundant.

Get that?

Conversely there are a ton of great new punk and hardcore acts around today. Acts like Crime Desire, Total Abuse, Cloak/Dagger, Red Dons, Condominium and Much Worse, all featured on the podcast below are totally brilliant and I would rather be featuring them because they are young, new and might actually appreciate someone spreading the word. In my own hometown, there have been amazing bands like Spelling Bee, Egg Chef and Glass Teeth who have all started playing shows in the last few years and are really pushing the boundaries of what can even be considered hardcore. Louisville and it’s Noise Pollution label are still going strong and songs below by The Straight A’s and Second Story Man are great examples of what is going on in the here and now. All over the world, cool bands are popping up and playing music that should be on Last Days, from the post-punk screech of Cripple and Casino out of Zagreb, Croatia to the indescribably creepy Botched Fairytale from Longford, Ireland. From the always amazing Fucked Up out of Toronto, Canada to the minimalist fun of The Pop Fosters out of Wakefield, UK. From the GODHEAD that is Normal Man outta Leeds UK all the way down to Christchurch, NZ with the earthquake shake of The Transistors. No Wave, Hardcore, Synth Punk (check out Television Spaceman! and of course YACHT), Punk Rock, Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore (Tera Melos), Minimalism and Drone (Tone Rodent), Last Days Music…whatever you want to call it, is getting more and more prevalent daily and I am getting tired of not writing about it because I am trying to focus solely on old releases that are increasingly available on 100,000 other blogs out there.

Compounding this is my imminent move to New Zealand which is happening on November 18th. Once there, I wanna hear the new noise in that area of the world. Just like here in the States, I am not really interested in what the “big indies” are pushing but instead I want to find out what’s really going on in a country that has always had a profound musical effect on me. I don’t see the point of keeping Last Days going if I am going to spend my time in New Zealand posting Black Flag 7inches.

So my point is that I am going to remove the self-imposed limitations placed on Last Days. I am going to focus more on newer bands and only post old releases when they are hard to find on other blogs and out of print. I am also going to do more regionally themed podcasts of old bands because I think my podcasts are pretty cool. I already have Chicago, St Louis, Indiana, Yugoslavia, and San Francisco ones in the works. So more reviews of new releases and more podcasts of old releases. Maybe I am wrong about all of this but who gives a fuck. That is the luxury of being a one-man show.

Speaking of being a one man show, I am also considering letting other folks post podcasts on here. Like I said, the self-imposed limitations were starting to make me feel claustrophobic.

One other thing, although I am not necessarily sorry for the time away, I did miss everybody and I hope you all missed me. Cuz I’m a sensitive guy and all….

Last Days of Man on Earth Podcast #5 (zip file, right click and “save as”)

Static Control Transistors
The Black Hitler Normal Man
Neat Parts Fucked Up
Superficial Red Dons
Fluid Exchange Total Abuse
Love Is Chemical Television Spaceman
Omelettes Spelling Bee
Awkward Silence Straight A’s

Death To Vivek Kemp The Happy Hollows
See You Through (6-29-10) Tone Rodent
Dance the Night Away Colleen Green
the mav Second Story Man
Doom Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor
Dear World Pop Fosters
All Cylinders Botched Fairytale

Speed Intentions Much Worse
Alpha Male Crime Desire
Frozen Zoo Tera Melos
Fast Food Dream Cloak/Dagger
Hot Air Balloons Cripple and Casino
Waste of Time YACHT
Redemption Song Condominium
Rig Glass Teeth

A common refrain I have heard over the years is that France is not a “rock-n-roll country”. Someone even pointed out once that talking about French Rock-n-Roll is kinda like talking about British cooking, which is a pretty witty statement. It is also completely false. In both senses really, since I kinda love Bangers and Mash.

And who gives a fuck about Rock-n-Roll anyway? If you wanna Rock-n-Roll, go find a copy of Patrick Swayze’s 1989 classic Road House. I’m sure the Blockbuster Video currently going out of business down the street from your house has a fresh copy on clearance. Pick up Footloose while you are at it and you can kick off your Sunday shoes all you want. What the French are really good at, in my humble opinion is something altogether more sublime and I have the podcasts to prove it.

Yes, in honor of La Fête Nationale, Joe Stumble and the inimitable Constance Legeay, caretaker of A Very Special Story , have cooked up three podcasts of pure Gallic Genius. These podcasts will lay to rest once and for all, the myth that France somehow checked out during the Punk / New Wave heyday of 76-86. In fact, when it came to cold-wave and minimal synth, France not only contributed but actually owned it. Don’t believe me? Listen to Taxi Boy, Marquis De Sade, Orchestre Rouge, The Comix and Ruth and tell me otherwise.

And guess what? They had some great Rock-n-Roll bands as well. Brilliant stuff like Les Olivensteins, Les Spurts, Oberkampf, Gasoline and Strychnine. So, as is usually the case, the commonly held belief is a bunch of nonsense. Help us all debunk history and check out these podcasts. Vive Le France!
 

Bastille Day Podcast Volume One(zip file, right click – save as)

j’suis punk Bulldozer
Panik Metal Urbain
Attitudes Marie et les Garçons
Viol Af Dis Casino Music
Birthday Party Stinky Toys
Sticks in my Brain Martin Dupont
mercenaire Warum Joe
Quand Musclée Masoch
Ping Pong Act
Fantasmes Strychnine
Cherchez Le Garcon Taxi Girl
Je suis fière de mon grand-père” les spurts
Paris 84 – Private Vices
la machine á rêver X-Ray Pop
L’Amour Gratuit The Comix
Mind Kas Product
Polaroïd/Roman/Photo Ruth
Électrifié – Calcinator Calcinator
Chimene Hovelicot Fatsy Wataire
S.A.I.D. Marquis De Sade
Soviet Comet Artefact
On A Clear Day Les Provisoires
Modem Charles De Goal

Bastille Day Podcast Volume Two(zip file, right click – save as)

Chic Choc A 3 Dans Les WC
La Crise Économique Les Civils
Enfin L’amour – Nouveaux Riches
Electrique Sylvie Modern Guy
Roulette russe Elli & Jacno
Déréglée Marie France
Poly Magoo Asphalt Jungle
J’en Ferais Bien Mon Quatre Heure Les calamités
Last Night – Pura Vida Pura Vida
Indicateur Ou Dragueur Nini Raviolette
Elle Hotesse Tokow Boys
felicita Deux
Fuck Off Mopo Mogo
Jeannette Braque
Satellite Retransmission Satellite
Avorton Edith Nylon
Payola Lizzy Mercier Descloux
Freddie Laker (Concorde and Airbus) J.J. Burnel
Le banana split Lio
Broken Windows Warm Gun
Boy Be My Toy Mathématiques Modernes
tous les 7 ans CKC
Carnival Metal Boys

Bastille Day Podcast Volume Three(zip file, right click – save as)

Sortie De Garage La Souris Déglinguée
Never Trust A Punk Spions, Inc.
Don’t Wanna Be A Rich Guilty Razors
Salted City – 84 84 flesh
Trouble Fête The Dogs
Sally Gasoline
Danse Des Canards Alesia Cosmos
PAKMOVAST TELEX
Fast Food The (Hypothetical) Prophet
D. Section – 1984
Trottodaf End Of Data
Yekto Le Kreutre Super Freego
Rien de nouveau a l’est – Abject
Soon Come Violence Orchestre Rouge
Les Cosmetiques Cosmiques Demars
visions Fall of Saigon
mon lycée les feles
couleurs sur paris Oberkampf
Euthanasie Les Olivensteins
Des Vies Encastrées Face Au Sol Gutura
77 – Electric Callas
Essor assuré Visible
love machine Space Art

Additional credit is in order here. First of all, let me reiterate that these could not have been done without the help of Constance Legeay. She desperately tried to school me on French pronunciation but I cannot be taught! I am a brick wall when it comes to languages and I pronounce everything like it is Spanish because that is the only other language I know. Constance also gave me some great suggestions about song choices and bands as well. An awesome collaboration! So check out A Very Special Story . It’s a great blog and website. Currently featuring a piece on Burzum!

Secondly, I would not have gone off the deep end with this music and been inspired enough to make these podcasts if it had not been for three very critical comps of the past few years. First of which was, BIPPP: French Synth Wave 1979-85, which I reviewed back in 2008 here on this blog. Second, So Young But So Cold: Underground French Music 1977-83 and third, Jeunes Gens Modernes. All three of these are crucial in proving that bands like Metal Urbain were not exceptions to drab music scene but instead bonafide parts of a cultural and musical movement that produced an amazing amount of under-recognized and under-appreciated bands. Appréciez!

and this is one of the most disturbing.

No matter what other questionable drek you may have ended up in later in life, your performance as Frank sealed the deal for me. RIP.

NOTE: The original ‘official’ STUN GUNS LP w/ silk screened covers on Shut Up Records (2003) is out of press BUT you can get the repress through http://www.shutuprecords.com It has both 7″s unreleased songs/comp tracks + an EAT cover! The 90’s were not the 80’s were not the 00’s but whatever, right? The Stun Guns featured members of older Florida bands Lethal Yellow/Broken Talent and the Trash Monkey’s plus same era-band Chickenhead

A lot has already been said on various interweb sources about The Endtables recently. See, Drag City has recently released a compilation of the bands material that includes all six songs from their 1979 recording session in Louisville, KY. Two of these songs, White Glove Test and Trick or Treat were released on a bootleg in 1991 on Self-Destruct Records. The other four songs make up their seminal self-titled 7inch EP that was released on their own Tuesday Records imprint in 1979. The Drag City record is rounded out by a by a bunch of amazing unreleased live tracks and a couple of videos that will blow your mind.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Most of us non-Kentuckians were introduced to The Endtables on the classic Bloodstains Across The Midwest bootleg back in the 1990s and we were all a little bit confused. It’s the exact opposite of “punk-by-numbers”. The track in question, entitled Process of Elimination made absolutely no sense to me what with its treble-damaged guitar riffage and David Thomas style-warbling. Here was a real “what-the-fuck-is-this” sort of discovery. I remember it like it was yesterday. An experience I later found is common for fellow Endtable afficionados.

Compounded on top of the inherent weirdness of the music was the sheer genius of the record cover which is so cool, Drag City went and made it the cover of this new re-release. We’re talking archetypal punk photography here, peoples. In fact, it reminds me of the back cover of the Germs album GI, in the sense that there are four mug shots of the band and these mug-shots capture the personalities of the performers perfectly.

On GI, Pat and Darby sneer at you. These are the guys in high school that sold you rat poison and told you it was acid. Don Bolles looks at you dead on. He’s the kid who ate the rat poison (and probably still tripped his balls off). Lorna Doom stares off to the side. She’s beautiful and glamorous in that “City of Lost Angels” sort of way. It’s a brilliant coup because it captures the essence of the personalities that make up the band. While listening to GI, you repeatedly find yourself drawn to the photos on the back. It’s style is its substance. It’s perfect.

Now, take a look at the cover of the Endtables 7inch and ask yourself, is the same thing happening here? What do these photos say about this band? Drummer Steven Jan Humphrey occupies the top left corner. He looks like a thug who is contemplating kicking your ass. To his right is the guitarist, Alex Durig and he looks at you dead on. Where The Germs traded in Hollywood larger-than-life glamour, Alex appears to be a nondescript Midwestern dude with feathered hair. Look at his eyes though. He knows that he is engaged in something completely subversive. Below Alex is his little brother Albert who was only 15 at the time of this release. Albert is the only one smiling in his mug-shot. He’s just a kid along for the ride and he’s riding with some crazy motherfuckers, the craziest of which is to his left. Steve Rigot the singer is in extreme close-up. He peers up at you malevolently with his leather jacket collar popped up, like one of the bad guys in the original Mad Max . The eyeliner only adds to the creepy aryan-murderer vibe he has on the cover of this EP.

When you listen to the tracks on the Endtables 7inch, especially Circumcision, and you look at the pictures of the band, you rapidly start to wonder how the fuck something like this could come to be in Midwestern America circa 1979. I mean Circumcision is such a completely depraved song. But not only are the lyrics depraved, the structures of the songs themselves are completely off-the-wall. Were these guys listening to any other bands at the time? Because they don’t sound like it. This is pretty damn far removed from The Ramones.

A few years back, I was introduced formally to Louisville’s punk past with the release of Bold Beginnings and it’s been a pretty solid relationship ever since. I found out at that time, that with the possible exception of Malignant Growth, none of the original Louisville bands sounded like anything else going on anywhere and I have gone to the town a number of times to try to understand how this could happen. The city seems to have a long tradition of doing its own thing whether it’s the nihilistic no-wave of Circle X or the off-kilter weirdness of Your Food and even recently with bands like Verktum. But even from this perspective, The Endtables weirdness reigns supreme.

The other thing I discovered upon looking at the jacket of Bold Beginnings was that Steve Rigot is transgendered. Now if you were Alex Rigot in 1978 Kentucky and you knew a 400 pound, 6’7” hermaphrodite who wrote songs about circumcision and he wanted to form a band with you, would you? What kind of music would you compose? Would you get your little brother and one of your toughest friends and form a punk band? Or would you have second guessed yourself and not pursued any of it because it was something that just should not, in any normal conception of the universe, be?

I can tell you what most kids would have done back then. They would have smoked weed and looked at CHIPS. Reason being that kids are just little people and most people are chumps.

Luckily for us Alex decided to go for it. To pass up this opportunity would have made him a chump for life. Something that he and the rest of The Endtables clearly weren’t. You shouldn’t be a chump either. You should buy the CD and let your freak flag fly. Life is too short for “punk-by-numbers”. Break the figurine.

Another season, another Last Days of Man on Earth podcast. This represents the fourth one, which if you’re doing your math, means I’ve been doing this for a year now. Shit, time flies when you are having fun. This one in particular is a whopper. All the major regions of the world are represented on this mug; Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky. Shit I even found music from some out of the way places like London, Paris and NYC. Amazing, really. So where do I start?

Let’s start with Eric Jensen, the Art Amiss Music Director at KXUA 88.3FM in Little Rock, Arkansas who compiled, produced, and released a 22 song compilation of Arkansas punk bands recently that is available here. The comp is mostly of current groups, but also of a few from the past including Arkansas’ first punk band, The Malls from 1980 who do a great song called Take Dope. Another great band from Arkansas would be A+ Setup, at least if their song Relax About the Afterlife is any indication. The Plaid Jackets are less unique but a lot of fun and they do Jerkface. Who are the mysterious Egyptr? Going to their myspace just creeped me out. True skronk from the same state as Wal Mart. Then there are the Kill Crazies, who all wear masks and sing songs about killing people. This is really just a sample of the cool music coming from Arkansas. Who da thunk? Go check it out. Don’t walk…run. 

But if you’re running, make sure to buy a pair of New Shoes. Maybe from Indiana’s own Prizzy Prizzy Please? Off their amazing new LP Chroma Cannon no less. How about Severance Package? A really great band from California who recently released an awesome 3 Song EP on Shut Up Records. A very similar band would be The Lash Outs from Texas, who I have featured before. Well, the new stuff sounds amazing and I am looking forward to hearing their new masterpiece in its entirety. Child Bite are coming out with a new LP shortly as well. Odd Inn is a taster of things to come. The Zygoteens have recently released a great split with fellow Wisconsinites The Hussy (also on the podcast). All awesome.
 

Then of course there is Louisville, and Noise Pollution in particular, who have just released a great free sampler on Thinkindie.com. What are you waiting for? Go get you one. Then you too can enjoy the godlike majesty of Second Story Man, the noir-like prog of The Web, the avant-power of the Straight A’s and Chime Hours, all of which are also featured on this podcast.
 

Extra thanks to Acute Records mainman Dan Selzer for the tip on Mazing Vids. What a great band! I like watching mazing vids while eating eggs. Shit, I better call me an Egg Chef. I hear they have one in Belleville, IL who serve up a mean quiche of post-hardcore weirdness. Left of center a bit, are The Dissociates with some surprisingly potent post-punk from the UK. Follow the link and get their EP for free! Thanks to Chris at the Small Takeover for the tip. The Gary are from Texas and I like bands from Texas as well. Especially when they channel some sort of weird late-80’s underground guitar rock vibe. Sandie Trash are from Paris, I believe. Not Paris, Texas either. I was introduced to them on the amazing Des Jeunes Gens Modernes compilation which is going to inspire a future Bastille Day post, I think.
 

You can’t stop Stationary Odyssey. They know how to throw a party as evidenced by the above video and they know how to rock a T Rex cover. If Spelling Bee tried to cover another band it would be unrecognizable. That is because Spelling Bee sound like nobody else. How can two people make that much noise? After Spelling Bee, Psychobuildings sounds positively conventional and that is kind of insane really. Total Noise are actually quite tuneful. How ironic. The Choke got hooks and looks to spare. I love bowery level scuzz soap operas set to a punk backbeat. Check out this video for further drama.

Next podcast is in the summer!
 

Last Days of Man On Earth Podcast #4 (zip file, right click and select “save as”)

Prizzy Prizzy Please - New Shoes
A+ Setup - Relax About the Afterlife
Severance Package - Everything Crash
The Plaid Jackets - Jerkface
The Lash Outs - Contemporary Music
Child Bite - Odd Inn
The Zygoteens - No More
Second Story Man - Flies
Mazing Vids - insects

Egg Chef - Hole in Time and Space
Egyptr - Bit Lip Red
The Web - Janitor Grass
The Dissociates - Left Of Centre
The Hussy - Round and Round
The Gary - (Eyes In The) Tap Room
Sandie Trash - Fire De Ne Rien Faire (Les Olivensteins Cover)
Chime Hours - Held Ransom For Olds

Straight A’s - Up All Night
Stationary Odyssey - Children of The Revolution (Previously Unreleased)
Spelling Bee - Caved In
Psychobuildings - Paradise
The Kill Crazies - Blow You Away
Total Noise - Electric Riff
The Choke - Face For The Radio