Some FEATURED ARTISTS on this week’s Stronger Than Dirt (Saturday, July 10, 8-10pm) include Sylvie Vartan, Skip Bifferty, Sparks, Nikki & the Corvettes, Velvet Monkeys, Milkshakes, Happy Hate Me Nots, Vermillion Sands, new music by Leopardo (Switzerland), Smirk (LA), Weeed (Portland), Living Pins (Austin), Melenas (Spain), Spread Joy (Chicago), Mal Thursday Quintet featuring Peter Zaremba (Austin and beyond), as well as the weekly Dusty Diamond.
PICTURE SLEEVE OF THE WEEK: This week’s picture sleeve comes from the “I Am the Billy Childish – Fifty Songs from Fifty Records,” a diverse CD collection of Billy Childish tunes. It appeared in 1991 on Sub Pop, and featured on the front cover a painting by Childish, a true Renaissance man of the rock and roll music world. Besides painting, Childish has been prolific for decades in poetry, photography, and of course, music. He has played in bands such as the Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, and Thee Headcoats among others. You can check out some of his recent artwork and photography here
LAST WEEK’S DUSTY DIAMOND (a forgotten gem from the STD vaults): The Thanes are a long-running Scottish garage rock and beat band from Edinburgh, Scotland. Fronted by lead guitarist and vocalist Lenny Helsing (Wildebeests), they have been active since the late 80s, and have released numerous singles and albums, most recently a single in 2017. “Antenna Surprise” is a mid-tempo mod psych rocker with vocal and keyboard echoes of the Prisoners. It appeared in 1994 on a single on Screaming Apple Records. Listen to it here:
Promo art from the Sisters’ 1974 “There’s a Raver Coming Home” single on Warner Bros. Design uncredited.