Engine Punk

I've been listening to this double compilation album for weeks now, ever since I went up to Bristol to see Stiff Little Fingers. My mate Gary lent me an album by The Saints a few years ago and I was bowled over by them. Here was that late seventies punk vitality but with a sound that's very distinctive to my ears. In short, I began to rave about The Saints and everyone thought I was going on about All Saints who are prettier, have sweeter voices but lack the power of guitar and drum. Amazon suggested Do the Pop! to me using previous purchases as a guide. I added it to me wish list and eventually I succumbed. I didn't listen to it until Gary and I undertook the long haul from Plymouth to Bristol. And the more we listened to it the more we liked it. And with 50 tracks there's an awful lot of it to like. I like contemporary high octane stuff but Do the Pop! features two and a half hours of authentic Ozzie surf rock and garage punk. It's from that musical period t...

Definitely a Vintage Thing At risk of sounding blasé , I've had fan e-mails before now. However, last week I had my first ever real piece of fan mail and I'm very excited about it. Here it is and what a good choice of subject for a postcard. I know it's not cool but I still get excited that some complete stranger has enjoyed my work. And thanks to it being a postcard, my postman must be pretty impressed as well. I think this justifies the funny feeling that I've had for some time. I seem to be creating ripples on the internet and in people's minds. Sometimes the ripples reach the far shore and come back to me. Meanwhile, I've been trying to drum up some local media interest but so far it hasn't happened. (That's why I haven't been blogging for a while, that and Blogger not accepting blogs for a bit.) So far the ripples haven't come back to me but I have that funny feeling that if I splash around a bit more they will. In the meantime,...