THE GRUESOMES - Jack The Ripper 7" EP (Primitive Records - 1986)

I caught the garage disease in the early 1980s, my first exposure being a chance encounter with Pebbles Volume 5 at my local record shop. Upon hearing The Plague, The Dirty Wurds and The Tree I contracted a lifelong addiction to the savage sounds of 60s garage punk. On a quest for more I travelled north to Wax Trax Records in Denver. I was dumbfounded at the sheer number of 60s compilations they had in stock. However, the real shock came when I located the bins of 45s stuffed with garage revival bands I had only read about. The Chesterfield Kings, The Fuzztones and Lyres were right there under my fingertips. I grabbed those that I recognized and blindly took a chance on The Royal Nonesuch, The Cellar Dwellers and The StomachMouths based on either band name or cover art alone.

Undoubtedly the strongest bug I caught that day was the snotty stew that infected the grooves of THE GRUESOMES "Jack The Ripper" EP. The sleeve was reason enough for me to expose myself to some unknown strain of garage punk. The mop topped miscreants in the pictures had subjected Screaming Lord Sutch's "Jack The Ripper" to a creepy-crawly Cramps meet Link Wray treatment. And the two originals, "Things She Does To Me" and "No More Lies" are both highly infectious blasts of bratty Canadian teen punk. I discovered the only cure available was to apply copious amounts of volume while listening.

BORN OUTTA TIME 

THE SLOW SLUSHY BOYS - Mister Man +3 7" EP (Psych-Out Records - 1999)

Forming in 1989, THE SLOW SLUSHY BOYS from Chambery, France began playing a style deeply rooted in sixties garage. By the mid-90s they had begun to inject some soul into the sauce. The 1999, "Mister Man" EP is an inescapable call to the dancefloor. With a sound now leaning heavily on hip-shaking rhythm & blues and snappy soul THE SLOW SLUSHY BOYS revamped four sixties' sides from The Lyrics, The Kinks, The Eyes and Phil & The Frantics for the swingin' set. The highlight being the transformation of Ray Davies' "Sittin' On My Sofa" into a groovy freakbeat mover.

BORN OUTTA TIME