Jukebox Joints

The Novas

This messy Texas garage rock track from the mid 1960s has some serious wailing in it and with great lines like 'Do the eye gauge' you simply have to take notice.

This record sold 250,000 copies when it was released and propelled this teenage band into the realm of The Trashmen and their peers. Everything went a bit wrong for The Novas when one night one of the guitarists found a full can of beer and put it to one side on the stage. Security saw this and promptly arrested the whole band and slung them in jail. How times have changed!

The Novas - The Crusher

The Dirtbombs

The Dirtbombs, the garage band from Detroit are of course, excellent. This is one of my favourites by them. It's actually the B-side of this single; Ode to a black man. The original is by Lou Rawls but this is way better. The talking intro piece just really cracks it off.

The Dirtbombs, as you might expect from a Detroit garage band are excellent live. I've seen them several times. Don't Sleep on the slept.

The Dirtbombs - Natural Man

The Ready Men

Woah, this is what Garage music is meant to sound like. A mid sixties belter from The Ready Men. Their cover of Shortnin' Bread was about the only thing they really issued (as far as I know). There is a compilation on Norton available made up of B-sides and dusty tape versions but I don't think they got near releasing an album at the time sadly.

The song actually dates back to 1900 and was often though to be negro plantation song despite it's late penning. Whatever its poetic, folk beginnings this version is bad ass.

Ready Men - Shortnin' Bread

The Heard

The original of this record is rare as hen's teeth. This is from a limited repress of 500.

This for me, defines what Garage music is all about. Dark, gritty, wailing guitars and a short playing time. If you're wondering why you can barely hear the vocal it's because they use a tape-delay echo device called "the Cooper Time Cube" but didn't set it up properly.

Heard were part of a huge boom in garage bands in the mid sixties coming out of Tyler, Texas. Most of them were short lived due to military service or college duties but many of them, like The Heard, delivered some dynamite little records before they disbanded.

The Heard - Exit 9

Wild Bunch / Electric Six

Before Electric Six were Electric Six, they were The Wild Bunch. You can see why they changed their name. This is the first time Danger High Voltage was released.

The B side however has this killer metal track which I've been loving for a long time. She's Gutemalan jumps about like a wild beast on a leash thrashing this and way and that and it's all you can do to hang on.

I had a little thing for a Guatemalan girl once too which I expect increases my enjoyment of this track.

Wild Bunch - She's Guatemalan

The Barracudas

The Barracudas were an Anglo-Canadian band from the late 1970s. One of those garage / punk bands that fell into the surf revival. This, which I think is their first single, is a killer.

The first minute is a slow barbershop / Beach Boys style acapella recounting of how someone's Woodie (Station Wagon) got stolen last night. Then it explodes in a thrash punk surf mash up. It builds and builds into a fast paced dynamite record where the singer explains how they must have their Woodie back to go to the Beach, ride waves and score with chicks.

It was always really hard to play out anywhere as the massive slow vocal intro kills the atmosphere but it's a great record and definitely would make it into the jukebox.

The Barracudas - I Want My Woody Back

The Count Five

The Count Five are freakin' awesome (dude). This garage band shone quite brightly for a short time in the mid-late 1960s in America.

The track Psychotic Reaction in particular shot them into stardom and the top 10. It's featured on most Psyche / Garage compilations.

The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction