NEON BLUD – Whipps / Eeew Look at that Pickle 7”

Fan Death Records – Tampa 2009

 

Horrible noise-punk from Tampa, I think….Horrible in the best sense of the word. Jarring snotty female vocals over chaotic fast distorted riffs recorded just right. I find it quite catchy. They should be rock stars by now – but alas 99.999% of people hate stuff like this. Some of their other records are a little ponderous – look for this one….

 

 

U-BOATS -- Government Rip Off

Crow Records -- Tampa -- 1982

Government Ripoff

Break Out Tonight

Mike Nelson -- vocals

Jay Jetmore -- guitar

Bob Widenhofer -- bass

Hitler -- drums

The charming German motif (there's both a Hitler and a Widenhofer in this band) fills out this 1982 throwaway classic outta Tampa. However, their teutonic rhythm section was ditched for the U-Boat second 7". They have an LP still later but I've never heard it.

Both songs here are solid hardcore-informed midtempo punk. The stand-out track here is "Break Out Tonight" which they brazenly annexed from the equally obscure Commandos from Massachusetts who had originally titled the track "Stay Out Tonight" on their first 1978 7". There is no indication the song is a cover and given that they changed the words and name, the U-Boats clearly intended to steal it. Yes, that's right, this is a genuine punk rock record. The chorus of the A-side, "We're all into anarchy, the government's ripping off me," confirms it.

Widenhofer, also known as Bobby Skullfucker, also played in Tampa's Jehovah's Sicknesses if memory serves. He later moved to Austin, Texas, and played with the Convulsions in the 1990s.

THE SPEARS – People are Bad 7”

Choking Hazard Records – Tampa (2008)

People Are Bad

Upset Down

Bullet Proof

Chris Barrows: vocals

Sam Williams: guitar

Gary Strickland: bass

Hunter Oswald: drums

Olde-core from Tampa. As with all records featuring either Chris Barrows (Pink Lincolns, Jackie Papers) or Gary Strickland (Hated Youth, Plastic Stars, Honeyrider), it’s a recommended purchase. Not sure who the other 2 dudes are. They must be tops among Tampa low-life. This is fairly standard mid-tempo punk rock – nothing here would sound outta place on a Pink Lincolns record. People are Bad (not a bold statement) is good though both B-side songs are probably better – especially Bullet Proof – it’s short & to the point. I’ll be scanning the internet looking for the next installment.

JUST BOYS – Hook, Line and Sink Her / Thanks a Lot 7”

Counterfeit Records – Tampa (1977)

Terry Carolan – Guitar, keyboards, vocals

Bobby Woodrich – bass, vocals

Gary Heslin – drums, vocals

As everyone knows, Florida had literally thousands of rock’n’roll bands releasing records in the 60’s. All that came to an end around 1970. Very few records made it out from 1970 to 1977. Maybe dope had something to do with it! This is probably the first record from Florida in the modern power pop / punk era. These goobers deserve endless credit for that, but lose points for having a stupid name. The music is Cheap Trickish power pop without the hooks. Most copies have either an outer sleeve or a different sleeve than the one I have. That looks like a crazy party!

PINK LINCOLNS – Sumo Fumes (1)

Stiff Pole Records – Tampa (1993)

Chris Barrows – vocals

John Yovino – guitar

Dorsey Martin – guitar

Jim Belonga – bass

Fred Stolz – drums

Oh! Bondage Up Yours

Monsters

I Got You

First record in their Sumo Fumes line of product. Typically a Sumo Fume includes one or two cover songs and an original along with cover art depicting large Japanese folks. Oh! Bondage Up Yours is a stupid song to cover – You’re only going to sound like shit in comparison to X-Ray Spex – and the Lincolns don’t really pull it off – some cool guitar though. I Got You is a little better – an improvement over the Split Enz on their own song – a lot less fruity than the Kiwis. Monsters is the original, and of course, worth your time & money.

VOODOO IDOLS – We dig Nixon / Dead Air 7”

VeeDee Records – Tampa (1982)

Butchie Necropolis – guitar

Hughie Whoopie – drums

Johnny Yen – vocals

Vah Metz – bass

Merlo – sax

Second single by these Cramps fans. I much prefer the first single, but this one is more sought-after by record collectors. Fuck You, We Dig Nixon is the better song. I doubt there’s any truth to the rumor that Richard Nixon was listening to this on his deathbed, but it is a spirited (possibly sincere) defense of our former president. Dead Air is a song about some radio show or station in the Tampa area. People used to get worked up about the radio back then.

U-BOATS – Dead and Desparate EP

Crow Records – Tampa (1983)

America Unemployed

VFW Ball

Bad Boy

Mike Nelson – vocals

Jay Jetmore – guitar

Aaron Knerr – drums

Alex Civiletti – bass

Second single from Tampa’s U-Boats. They followed this with an LP and their disappearance from the music industry. They were fairly well know back in the day, but I can’t remember them ever playing anywhere but Tampa. Anyway, America Unemployed concerns the injustice of not being able to find employment, despite such worthy attributes as laziness, open hostility and slovenliness. B-side consists of two short songs displaying bad attitudes with varying degrees of cleverness. Bad Boy sounds great if you can ignore lyrics such as “I need a new toy because I am a bad boy” – it’s a little difficult as that’s the chorus though. Overall a quite good up-tempo PUNK ROCK record – no real HC influence here.

ZENITH NADIR – We are the Intimidators Flexi

50 Play Records – Tampa (1979)

Too bad the Zenith Nadirs only left one song, because this one is a mixed bag. For a song about intimidating others with the threat of rearranged faces, it’s a fairly dispassionate affair. The guitar is good, probably the best thing about this record, but a little studied in spots. They should have sped it up – but what did they know it being 1979 in Tampa. I’ve seen an interview with them in an old Mouth of the Rat, but know little else about them. I believe they splintered into several different bands.

TRIPLE XXX GIRLS – 7” EP

Red Hair Records – Tampa (1982)

Telefliction

Kissy Kissy

Another Day

Cowboy Dread

Mike Knapp – vocals, horn

Dorsey Martin – guitar

Sean Moore – drums

Frank Poole – bass

Heinous cover! This might be the crappiest/ creepiest cover in FLA history. Anyway – to their credit or detriment, these guys don’t look too comfortable on the back cover. They’re no doubt thinking – “if mom comes home it’ll be bad – if dad comes home – FUCKKKK”. We’ll blame the early 80’s and Tampa for their “look”. Otherwise, this record is pretty fukkin awful bad new wave glam glop. The goofy ass singing leaves no hope for redemption. There is some “shredding” guitar from Dorsey Martin – who later joined the far more manly band – the Pink Lincolns. At least one more 7” and 12” exist from these goofballs.

CULT RITUAL 7" EP

BURRITO RECORDS -- Tampa (2007)

Weak Body
Clean Conscience
Bitter End
Unhappiness
Terrified
Why Wait
Regret

Dave V - guitar
Tommy C - drums
Zack A - bass
Dan R - vocals

Most of this is fairly generic hardcore, but you know you like things like this when you got a couple of beers in you and the volume's up real loud.

"Just scream/we scream to hear ourselves scream/to hear the scream/in which there is no response/unhappy rock/unhappy roll/unhappy dirt/dead."

FAILURE FACE -- All Pain No Gain

Ebullition -- Tampa (1995)

Darwin

All Pain No Gain

I Won

Get to Know Me!

Crapshoot

Soulless

Brian Roberts - guitar

Kevin Shanahan - bass

Bob Suren - vocals

Rob Sexton - drums

Bob Suren, proprietor of the long-running Brandon record store Sound Idea and the big enchilada at Burrito Records, appears to be a level-headed, sober and quiet individual but nearly every band he plays in or produces (and that's quite a few) are bitter and brutal. This is the third 7" release from his own band and it fits the pattern.

Lyrically and even musically this reminds me of Henry Rollins of the Lifetime era, in that the songs are clever, tight, and focused on bottled rage and self-loathing.

PRIMITIVE ROMANCE – 8” Flexidisc

Dot City Records – Tampa (1981)

Lester Esser – guitar, voice
Randy Barnwell – bass, backing voice
Allan Esser – drums

Time to Talk
Everything means nothing anymore
Hearts and flowers

A less sensitive soul than myself might refer to this band as art-fags. Two of the songs are not bad, with “Everything means nothing anymore” being a dreary affair. This would be a lot better if they left their phase shifters at home. The guitar goes from almost inaudible to overpowering every 30 seconds and I detest phase shifterized bass. These guys may be the only Florida band I know of to take advantage of the proximity of Evatone in Clearwater to do a flexidisc. I have never seen or heard of another copy of this – so good luck finding one.

STICK FIGURES -- 4-song EP

Green Records – Tampa (1981)

N-Light
Ellis Otivator Dub
Crayola Bowling
September

I know next to nothing about this band. I would assume they were somehow connected to one of the colleges there. This would be called “math rock” today – though these are actual songs not merely exercises in tedium. You get male/female vocals with an over-exuberant bass player – maybe like a more serious Swimming Pool Q’s. Unlike the Q’s, they had the sense to quit after issuing a good single instead of slogging forward diluting their sound. Ellis Otivator Dub is an especially impressive piece of whacked out music.

PINK LINCOLNS -- Cotton Mather / I Do 7"

Rigid Records – Tampa (1989 or 1987 – whether you believe the sleeve or the record)

First record from these long-running punks released in the dark ages of punk rock. Not many bands sounded remotely like this back then. I first saw them play in Hollywood around this time and was almost taken aback by their (well, Chris Barrows) hostility to the (sparse) audience. “I do” is partially sung in German for some reason.