PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES - The Mating Sounds Of South American Frogs 1983

Finally, a classic and fantastic album. Their second record on Trapper Records by Peter & The Test Tube Babies, a Punk Rock band formed in the small town of Peacehaven in 1978 by Del Strangefish and Peter Bywaters. Due to their humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics, they have been considered part of the Punk Pathetique subgenre. For me the best album of the Babies. I remember how many times we listen drunk and dance through nights in our shared apartment without going to fucking work nexy morning... those were heavenly times.... and today?? Fuck it, weekend is there and the party goes on. The Babies are still present and every year, traditionally at Christmas time, in my city. Current line-up: Peter (vocals), Derek (guitars), Trapper (bass) and Ogs (drums) and the band are planning more and even bigger things. For example to celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2018, the band will soon present their own TEST TUBE BABIES festival. Peter & The Test Tube Babies remain indestructible... and that's good!

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ZEB & THE FAST ONES - Raggare Beware + 1 EP 1983

One more highlight from Sweden today with Zeb & The Fast Ones from Linköping and they released two incredible 7Inches in the early Eighties on Eugen Records. And Ola tells you a bit about the band that is captured on B-Sound which I of course reproduce here for you lazy bitches: "This is the story about Zeb & The Fast Ones as I can remember it. All I will tell has hopefully happened and it is in fairly right order as I remember it. You should remember that it was over seventeen years since Zeb and the fast ones were active, so to you who think you can the history better I hope you will overlook. Spring 1983, Zeb were established by Ola (vocals), Lärm (guitars), Martin (bass) and Ove (drums). All members had known each other since nine-year compulsory school. With just a pocketful of own songs and some cover we made our live entrance the summer 83 on an outdoor event in Valla. With about the same number of tunes the band did enter Bosses studio the fall 83 to record what became our first single Raggare Beware. After this a number of plays at home ground. Especially was a play at Kvinnebygården when we entered the stage without guitarist, not the worlds most successful concert but it was appreciated by all who at this time liked experimental music. Zeb & The Fast Ones did also manage the trick to go outside Linköping.

Sometime the winter 83/84 the way was to Stockholm and the famous stage Tre Backar. We were the last band on stage this evening and the arranger cut the power just after a pair of tunes, not exactly what we had expected. A play same winter in Jönköping resulted that we got the opportunity to be warm-up band to Peter and the test tube babies. 6. June 1984 we entered the stage in Jönköping’s cultural art center accordingly for the biggest audience we ever should meet. If we had been some older and more experienced we should certainly solve this mission better, but as I remembered the play (or the little I remember) we mangle as possessed by a devil and then the result was accordingly. Well, 1984 was a delicious time and to Jönköping many of that times celebrities as Black Flag, G.B.H, Adicts and Johnny Thunders. It was also at that time the second Zeb single was recorded. If it was at the spring or the autumn I cannot say. Worth to be mentioned about the second recording was that Bosse had become tired of our huge consumption of medium-strong beer and gave us the advice to drink strong spirits then it should result in a lower amount of empty bottles.

On autumn 1984 also a second guitarist was recruited named Finken and the time with him was however very short. The tune writing accelerated autumn 84 but the writing of lyrics didn’t. At a concert on Arbis with its fine old traditions (as warm-up for the Vibrators) certainly 3-4 tunes lacked a real text. This caused me and also Martin change our roles. Thus I started to play bass and Martin began to sing. It showed to not work either and the consequence was that Martin left the band in spring '85. Myself I throw in the towel after an outdoor concert in Trädgårdsföreningen the summer 1985.

Some time a wise man said probably: "If you want to quarrel with your mates you should establish a punk band". Exactly this happened Zeb & The Fast Ones. The personal chemistry might not have been the best from the beginning and the fact that all members had different opinion on how seriously you should look at things did not make the situation better. Anyway we were a Punk band in the crowd, not better than or worse than anybody else and the memory still lives as a batch of wear singles as from time to time change owner on some vinyl fair. We had our moments and I still remember this period with happiness."

So folks, many thx to Ola for his authentic impressions and now: ENJOY!

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PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES - Crap Californian Punk Band 7'' 2017

Weekend and suitable for this is the following musical explosion and Peter's Test Tube Babies (known as much for their snarky sense of humor and working-class outlook) pre-released this 7inch from their album That Shallot on Arising Empire Records and is limited to 400 copies. Short story: in 2017 the four toured the United States in support of their above mentioned album, and they made headlines when Bywaters was deported after a show in which he dressed up as the blond idiot on-stage. Some media outlets reported that Bywaters' less than flattering impersonation of the President was the reason he was sent back to the UK, but US Customs and Border Protection officials insisted it was simply a matter of Peter having the wrong visa. Howsoever, they made an official video for this song which was shot in sunny Hastings and features cameo appearances by Rancid frontman Lars Fredericksen and Hasting’s own Maid Of Ace. The flip is also a small highlight, namely the Toten-Hosen dare to 'The Jinx', the classic Babies hit from the early days. And they don't do that badly at all. In any case, a nice record and you can now open a cool 🍺.

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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V/A - There Is No Future... 1984

I changed my mind and post this compilation which appeared on Cherry Red in 1984 and contains, not really surprising, a nice overview of early UK punk bands, i.e. bands from the essential No Future label, rather what for collectors or anyone who overslept the punk explosion. All songs are well known and released on other records at that time, so it may be boring for some but I think the record is okay and it is always refreshing to call up the old classics every now and then. Some slabs can be found in the blog the planned vinyl rip will be postponed until tomorrow. Until then, pleasant nostalgia flash with these sixteen nuggets! 

1.Someone's Gonna Die - BLITZ

2.Police Story - THE PARTISANS

3.Banned From The Pubs - PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES

4.In Britain - RED ALERT

5.Gangland - VIOLATORS

6.I've Got A Gun - CHANNEL 3

7.Abuse Of Power - BLITZKRIEG

8.Today's Generation - ATTAK

9.Warriors - BLITZ

10.Up Yer Bum - PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES

11.17 Years Of Hell - THE PARTISANS

12.El Salvador - THE INSANE

13.Fight For Your Life - CRASH

14.Dead Hero - THE SAMPLES

15.Summer Of '81 - VIOLATORS

16.Megalomania - THE BLOOD

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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WORLD WAR XXIV - No Luck 1995

World War XXXIV are a high energy punk outfit that have been together since early 2013 and are a rehashed version of WWXXIV "one of the best punk bands to come out of Sydney in the early 80's". The current line up comprises local lads from the far north coast of NSW and the original lead singer Mark "Bird" Nowane fronting the band. Bird recalls having seen a flier at a local music store which said "looking for people to jam, punk, no brown eyed girls" (relates to requests for the song!) and thought he must ring. A month later he responded and never looked back. The original World War XXIV formed in the 1980's and were getting into some fast energetic punk music. In 1983 the band did the excellent Azaria/Why Bother single which was one of the best Aussie punk releases of the 80's. The band plays a fast style of punk that combines Dead Kennedys style hardcore, Peter & the Test Tube Babies Oi!sound, and tough Radio Birdman riffs which creates a powerful non generic sound. When asked, Bird recalls that no one could agree on a name, so at the last minute Bird spat out WWXXIV so that the promoters would have a name to go with. "Although we had played a party before under the name of Discharge not knowing until we finished that there was an English punk band with that name already. Everybody agreed on the name (WWXXIV) because it rhymed and perhaps we could change it later if we felt like it", but it stuck like glue. Since the original line up there’s been a couple of changes and many other players have gone through. Bird felt like it wasn't quite right when he reformed the second line up to use the same name but consensus at the time was to go with it. This time around the band decided to stay with the “world war” vein but move forward. Bird says XXX is bit of an eye catcher so WWXXXIV was born. Looking forward to some high energy music, which was lost in the pop punk era; on these both compilatons.

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