Some FEATURED ARTISTS on this week’s Stronger Than Dirt (Saturday, 8-10pm) include the Motions, Lemming, Young Marble Giants, Lambrettas, Original Sins, Muffs, Fall-Outs, Kino Eye (Austin), new music by Spread Joy (Chicago), Dom and the Wizards (Australia), La Femme (France), Cripples (Seattle), Daughter Bat and the Lip Stings (Australia) and Smirk (LA), as well as the weekly Dusty Diamond.
PICTURE SLEEVE OF THE WEEK: Coop (real name Chris Cooper) is a well-known artist whose illustrations often feature hotrods, devils, and scantily clad vixens. His style is reminiscent of earlier artists such as Ed “Big Daddy” Roth of 60s ratfink fame, and was a favored look of the 90s garage rock scene. His work has appeared on numerous picture sleeves and posters for many bands, including Nirvana, Green Day, and Foo Fighters. He even has his own set of fonts. The Estrus Gearbox is a 3-record box set of 12 different bands playing high energy gearhead friendly music, and features Coop artwork on both the front and back covers. It appeared in 1992 on Estrus Records.
LAST WEEK’S DUSTY DIAMOND (a forgotten gem from the STD vaults): Supersnazz, a garage rock band from Tokyo, were active from the early 90s up until disbanding in 2017. While they flirted with a power-poppier sound in the late 90s, for the most part they played high energy rock and roll. “Johnny” is a tight, muscular romp from their early years that featured the original all female line-up. This is the single version that was produced by Mike Mariconda. It appeared in 1992 on a split release with another Japanese band, the American Soul Spiders on the Baylor label. Listen to it here:
Promo art from Lemming’s 1974 “Queen Jacula” single on Polydor. Photograph uncredited.