Some FEATURED ARTISTS on this week’s Stronger Than Dirt (Saturday, October 9, 8-10pm) include the Monks, Steppenwolf, the Beat (US), Members, Josef K, Insect Surfers, Les Calamités, Elastica, and Pretty Please (Austin), lots of new music, as well as the weekly Dusty Diamond.
PICTURE SLEEVE OF THE WEEK: The Skoings were a short-lived L.A. based band with a proto punk sound that would have fit in with the Cleveland/Akron scene of the time. They had but one release, this single from 1977 on their own Vigilante label. At a time when albums dominated, and most American singles came packaged in plain company sleeves, the Skoings single pointed to the future. It was self-released, presaging the coming punk/new wave DIY revolution, and had a sleeve with a Devo-esque artistic aesthetic. It also came with an inner sheet (image on the right) with an illustration of the band in front of a very SoCal looking house, and lyrics on the back. The cover and inner sheet were done by Pad, and the cover photo was by Frank, Bob, and Pad, all band members.
LAST WEEK’S DUSTY DIAMOND (a forgotten gem from the STD vaults): The Registrators were a band out of Tokyo who were active from 1993-2004. Starting out as a pedal to the metal garage punk band, they evolved into a more produced, and poppier punk band. “Blank City” comes from the middle period of their evolution and hits a nice sweet spot. While it retains the energy and production edge of the early years, it has a super catchy melody (replete with backing “ooooooh” vocals) and interesting guitar work. It appeared in 1998 on the “Sixteen Wires from the New Provocate” album on Rip Off Records. Listen to it here:
Promo art from an uncredited photo of the Monks circa 1966.