We got in touch with Thee Strawberry Mynde following their deservedly high ranking in our Top Monsters. Their bassist Davey was kind enough to answer our Monster Interview, much to our delight. Taste question: Which artists have influenced you the most, and what can you tell us examples about this influence?  Very difficult question as I’m still discovering long lost garage punk psyche and R&B/soul influences every day.  Here are a few of my early influences Small Faces: I owe my original love of rocking instrumentals and heavy raw powered R&B-Soul simplicity to this band. The Who: lead singer, lead guitarist, lead drummer and lead bass in one band, I owe much of my often frantic bass playing to John Entwistle. Nuggets:  the holy grail of garage punk psyche, a band is only as good as its record collection…need I say more?   Stiff Little Fingers: the reason I picked up a guitar as a kid and started writing songs, Jake Burns was my hero as a lad.  ...

 

I've always had a soft spot for rock bands with infectious energy. You know bands like the Hives, well, 50 Kaitenz from Osaka are one of them. There's not a lot of information out there about them, and you'll notice that a lot of what you read on the internet for the interview is wrong. In any case, we strongly advise you to go and discover them if you don't already know them. Thanks to Danny for answering our questions and listen to "No Future" ! First of all, you have already done two European tours, but as far as I know, you have never been to France, whereas Guitar Wolf and others have. Why don't you cross the border and go to Germany, where you have been every time? We want to go there because I've heard that the French R&R scene is very active and cool! I'm planning to go there in 2025 maybe, so please look forward to it. Are you the only Tondabayashi garage band in Osaka? There are a lot of cool bands in Osaka. But Tondabayashi is a tow...

When I decided to review the FLYING COLOR album for the ‘I'm a bathstar in my poproom’ column , I researched it as best I could. As I was ‘friends’ on fb with Hector Penalosa, the band's bassist, I got in touch with him to ask him a few questions and that's how this itw came about. I have to thank him, of course, for taking the time to answer my questions while on tour with his first band, Les Zeros. Thanks also to his girlfriend, Laura Clifford, who provided the link to Hector's answers. This little story should result in the re-release of this famous one-off album by a quality French independent label. We're working on it.....  How would you describe your musical background? Have you received any formal musical training and who would you cite as key influences before you joined Flying Color? My father was a pianist. When I was 6 or 7 years old I discovered my father’s record collection and I was curious about the music on those records. I had seen my dad play t...

Their name had intrigued me for some time. I liked their music, and they've just released a new album on the Reverend Beatman's label. So that was three opportunities to contact them...  Jeroen answers. Hi Jeroen Blijleve, are you still working at the Patronaat club in Haarlem, near Amsterdam? And what do the other members do? Hi there! First of all. Thanks for getting in contact. We love your blog! I have been working at the Patronaat venue years ago. In the meantime I founded a new venue with rehearsal spaces, studio’s and a stage called “ Slachthuis” in Haarlem. Now I have a dark, alternative synth driven concept at “ Down the Rabbit Hole Festival” with Dj’s, VJ’s, performers and art. The rest of the time I am making music, mainly a solo project called Las Marulas , sort of electronic, experimental cumbia. I started E.T. Explore Me together with Joost Varkevisser, our singer, organist and guitar player. His daily job is working with people with aphasia, people who are unabl...

 

 Lors du dernier Garageville Festival à Hambourg, Il fut le deuxième jour la tête d'affiche. Je ne connaissais pas sa musique et avais prévu de le regarder jouer 3/4 morceaux avant de partir. Ian Kay m'a cloué ce soir-là, il fut le meilleur artiste de la journée et j'ai regardé son concert jusqu'au dernier morceau. Présenté sur l'affiche comme un artiste espagnol, je fus très surpris d'apprendre qu'il est français en lui demandant de l'interviewer. Ton histoire musicale personnelle commence à ma connaissance avec les Greedy Bastards et les Cortona à Lyon. Tu joues de la batterie et du punk. Est-ce-que cette musique t'a bercé dans ton enfance grâce à ton père ? Tout à fait ! Les Greedy Bastards était mon premier groupe de lycée (reprises des Ramones, Sex Pistols, puis Johnny Thunders, Flamin’ Groovies, The Senders…), dans lequel j’ai commencé à la batterie, pour passer finalement à la guitare/chant, avec mon père derrière la batterie. Cortona , e...