MISFITS - Static Age 1997

October says goodbye, and which band is particularly suitable, exactly: The Misfits. I was absolutely of the opinion that I already posted this slab, but I couldn't find it in the search function, which has nothing to say, but obviously I suffer from Alzheimer. Egal, fact is: Static Age is an important and influential masterpiece, recorded in 1978, with seventeen melodic superb numbers for me almost the best songs that they ever written. Although it was the first entirety album the band ever recorded, it was not released until 1997. Numerous positive reviews can be found, and I would like to quote the following here:

"Recorded thanks to some studio time received in exchange for giving up an early label name claimed by another company, though unreleased in its original form until its appearance on Box Set, Static Age shows that early on the Misfits' particular vision was strong enough to last over a full-vinyl set. "Full" being relative, admittedly; like the band's other few full-length efforts, Static Age barely cracks the half-hour mark, packing in seventeen songs (plus a brief crackle of, naturally, static at the start and finish). Everyone in the band as they stood at the time just smokes; the recording quality is raw and strong, and those qualities which helped the Misfits stand out from the pack, especially Danzig's amazing singing and Franche Coma's fierce guitar takes on the singer's melodies, are on fine display. There's a fair amount of clangor and mess, to be sure, but it all sounds perfectly intentional, capturing a blend of punk mess, horror theatrics, and wicked humor that was theirs alone. Classics abound: "TV Casualty," with its blatant I Love Lucy end sample, the ridiculously entertaining sex fantasy "Teenagers From Mars," the perfectly pissed off "Attitude," and the crashed thrashers "We Are 138" and "Return Of The Fly." Then there's the brilliant "Last Caress", cartoon criminal punk idiocy turned into singalong madness later made famous by Misfits fanatics Metallica. Given how many tracks slipped out here and there over time on the various overlapping compilations, hardcore fans will find this a bit redundant in the end, but newcomers to the group will find this essential. Discographical matters got even more confused in later years when Static Age was issued as a stand-alone effort with three more songs appended from the sessions, including "Spinal Remains" and a re-recording of "She." (Ned Raggett, AllMusic)

A real nugget and absolutely indispensable!

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GLUEAMS - Discography 2010

"One of the holy grails of femme Punk underground gets a much-deserved reissue" and this straightforward ’77 masterpiece was brought to us by Static Age in an edition of 500 copies. This little label from Berlin has already revived some real Nuggets and I think, this one's is the first release at all. Egal, the Glueams were a short-lived combo which released back in the day (1979-1980) only three EP's which are all on this sucker plus seven unpolished live tracks from the "Swiss Punk Now" Festival which took place in November 1979. On this record are involved: Dorette (vocals), Huri & Martin E. & Martin P. (guitars), G.T. (bass), Marco (drums). I'll leave you with a suitable review so I don't have to write much:

"Absolutly beautifully packaged collection of the 7Inche of this essential Swiss Punx, plus a remastered but still raw live set. Fierce female vocals over artfully constructed yet raging punk that's somewhere between Jack & The Rippers, Lost Kids and TNT! Dorette's vocals are less schreechy than Poly Syrene and less arch than Kleenex, but have this raucous sexy quality them that brings to mind Lost Kids. The music is basic, sorta brutish in places but anthemic and catchier than scabies. It's hard not do dance to this shit. "365" is a dance party floor filler, "Mental" is a triumphant anthem; perfect for soundtracking another crappy day in the real world. The lead guitar part sounds weirdly intricate and repetitive. "Strassen" has this swagger to it, the vocals less exubertant than on the first Singles, then a paint-by-numbers guitar solo comes in and dislodges your brain cells. The live stuff were recorded at the is cool, but after listening to the Punk perfection of the first two seven inches it's not quite as compeling. Though it does add to the rest of the package.The cover has this crazy picture of Dorette under a weird foil covered burning cross, it gives it a dark paganlook rahter than anything else though. Releasesd in part by the people who did the amazing Hot Love book on SwissPunk that you gotta check out if you haven't already, it's the size of a phone book and probably on of the coolest documents of the early Punk scene I have seen." (Layla Gibbon, MRR May 2011)

Weekend, sunny, tonight SGE-FCB... Yippee!!!

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DEBILS - s/t LP 1981

OK my friends of delicate taste, we are going to take a short trip over to the alpine country and meet the Debils, Toxic (vocals), Rex (guitars), Laps (bass), Christ (drums), from Biene, and they were the only band from the second generation, that did release an album in the early 1980. Their direction was resolute: autodidactic, nonconformist, and apolitical. This was contrary to the intellectual Punk from Geneva or the vain "real and hard" Züri Punx. And, more akin to the Bernese groove, with a touch of francophone mixed within and all songs in french. It's a 100% Swisspunk record and every song on it is a banger and the original record from 1981 is almost impossible to find and therefore it's a bless, that the Berlin label Static Age in cooperation with Swisspunk have reissued this treasure in 2017 in a limited pressing of 488 copies in a delicious gatefold sleeve with a solid insert which contains flyers, pictures, lyrics and some history, of course long ago sold out. Eleven simple, sympathetic songs with fine female vocals in French make this record interesting and its catchy melodies remind me that the Eintracht only played a draw again and I finally have to make my breakfast.

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JIM KNOPF & LUKAS DER LOKOMOTIVFÜHRER - TV Time 7'' 1982

Now a very rare record by a band from Zurich and it's a repost, first posted eight years ago via the beautiful Girls Of Tahiti blog and today I come across with this slab and am excited. Released by the band itself and they recorded two excellent KBD classics, both sung in English. The A-side once a song about the glorious invention television while the flip deals with the question of love, musically top! In 2016 the Berlin based label Static Age brought a reissue in an edition of 100 copies out.

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GLUEAMS - Live EP 1981

All these songs on this awesome EP were recorded @ the "Swiss Punk Now" Festival in November 1979 and Glueams are the only band which released a few samples of this legendary two-day festival and the sound quality is fuckin' TOP! Spray painted cover, done by Dorette herself and 1000 copies were pressed. Glueams were a swiss punk band from Bern with female singer and lyrics in swiss dialect. They had a short existence, I think two years exactly (1979-1981) and the band turned later to legendary art wave/punk band called Grauzone, who created the smash hit "Eisbär"! Glueams released all in all three 7inches and they arequite essential. Raw dirty + catchy killer stuff and extreme hard for an alpine country in my opinion. In 2010 came a complete discography album by Static Age out with all their official songs and if you had the chance to buy a copy don't hesitate. Swiss Punk at it's fuckin' best!! Cheers :)

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HONKAS - Lied Für Fritz EP 1982

In the city of Wolfsburg at home: Honkas, a four piece named after the German serial killer Fritz Honka from Hamburg, and consisted of Max (vocals), Christian (guitars), Dirk (bass) and André (drums). Their first sign of life was a tape with six songs on the small Silberne Ritter Kassetten label, one year later the only record Lied Für Fritz on Pogar Records with five brilliant lullabies. I own the re-release by Static Age (2019) and give you some product facts by the label plus and a short review: “Reissue of this old German obscurity with great sound and full reproduction of the original fold-out cover. While by 1982 the US had switched over to hardcore, this EP from the Honkas reminds me more of tough, first-generation European punk like the Rude Kids or PF Commando, though fans of better-known bands like the Dead Boys will also see where Honkas is coming from. The mix is odd and uneven (which, for me, adds to the charm of this era and style of punk), giving this the outsider quality I associate with the best KBD punk. They even speed things up for “Kunst,” which has a proto-hardcore sound a la Teen Idles or even Upright Citizens. A deep cut for sure, but if you love ripping, obscure punk this is well worth your time.”

“Honkas are a very raw German punk band and the production on this record only accentuates their primitivity. Some of the songs here almost degenerate into an undefined mass of guitar distortion, but others (like the title track) have more focus and drive. Pretty sharp.” (Jeff Bale (MMRR #5, March/April 1983) - I say: splendid record and five nuggets from the depths of cold wet dirty cellars, pumped with intense passion; represent on various compilations as well. Kauft das Teil solange es verfügbar ist und gebt euch nicht mit billigen mp3's zufrieden.

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TECHNYCOLOR - Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (1979-1981) 2015

Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien ("No, I don't regret anything") is the most famous chanson by Édith Piaf and the fitting title of this splendid compilation by Static Age Records, which was released in 2015. 400 copies were pressed, from that 100 limited in red wine silkscreenprint cover (my copy). Switzerland is a very small country, but has produced an infinite number of good bands. Punk exists there as music, political and youth culture, with the scene developing from the mid-1970s and flourishing between 1976 and 1981. One of the first bands (1977) was the Zurich Nasal Boys. Later bands like Bellevue, TNT, Sperma and of course Technycolor were founded, which released their first EP "Bunker" in 1979. Today priceless the original. Technycolor from Geneva make dark (post) punk with French lyrics. Especially "Tot 77" about the death of the RAF members in Stammheim convinced with provocative German exclamations like "Stammheim/Helmut Macht Frei". Whoever dug here did a great job. There are unpublished studio recordings, radio sessions (all from the early days) and lots of material that makes you wonder why it wasn't released back then. This record is a collection with fourteen varied & experimental songs, consisting of the Bunker 7Inch, plus unpublished pieces of their early repertoire, and already very sought in these harsh times. Comes with a twenty-four page booklet in french/english and Ford Rouge (vocals), Ray & Victor (guitars), Yvesteric (bass), Mike (synth) and Fred (drums) invite you for dance, so let's pogo.

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NEON - s/t 7'' 2016

Hui, it was a beautiful hot summer day at the lake today and now freshly showered I fill wdthtc with an all-girl band from Switzerland who unfortunately didn't put anything on vinyl when they were active, but some recordings survived the Gau and the essential Berlin label Static Age put out this classic 7Inch (some in pink vinyl) with two goodies back in 2016. A little insight about them from the insert: "We, Astrid (vocals), Dagmar (guitars), Loredana (bass), Gitta (drums) met in May 1978 in Zurich and formed Neon. None of us had ever played an instrument before! But, we were all animated by the spontaneous, creative, and rebellious spirit of Punk. Then ,we practiced for four months and got four songs together. We were surprised that we also managed to build a small fan base with our small numbers of tracks. Our first show was on 1. November 1978 at the Hey Club in Zurich, followed by the gig with Hertz on 17. November at the Spex in Bern. To fill the respective evening's programme we simply played or entire repertoire several times over.

In the beginning, we planned to shoot a Super-8 movie about holidays in a subway station: Neon sun and Neon fun. It shoud then have been shown at our concerts, while we played live. In addition, neon art objects strewn across the stage. Yet, everything went so fast that, eventually, we only could make a light installation with regular neon tubes.

Then in December, a performance on Swiss television took place for a programm about "Woman In Show Business." The TV appearance did not make us happy at all. The recordings of our songs were done in a music studio and we had to fight hard for them. Then, this stage direction voice gave commands from out of nowhere and did not suit us at all. After this wretched story we decided on playing no further gigs for a while. During this time-out, we also rehearsed with other musicians, leading to a temporary replacement on bass. Then, in 1979 two gigs at POCH (Progressive Organisations Of Switzerland, a leftwing political party) events in Zurich; on 17. March at the Limmathaus and on 14. July at Helvetiaplatz, together with TNT. The latter was an Open Air Festival and, at the same time, our farewell show since Neon disbanded thererafter."

There's still a bit more infos, but I don't want to write more, read the rest on the insert while you hear the two classics from this short-lived band. I now have to equalize my Backgammon losses from this afternoon.

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SPERMA - s/t 12'' 1979

Before I do some essential housework today, first a fantastic reissue of late seventies by Sperma, a four piece from Zurich and active from 1978 to 1980, consisted of Peter (vocals), Päde (guitars), Tommy (bass), Turi (drums). They were cheeky, snotty and inexperienced and learned to play on stage. In their short lifespan they released four 7inches on Another Swiss Label, the same genius which brought us so many of Switzerland’s early punk releases and in August 1979 came Sperma's second record, a 12Inch, with these three songs; Pigs (Schmier), No More Love (from the first recording session) and Radio. On Pigs they demand the death to everybody in a blue uniform. The amazing thing is that this song is never the fell victim to state censorship. One has to assume that they never heard the song to this day. At No More Love, the farewell of the "Peace & Love" generation is resolutely demanded and on the song Radio the Swiss radio is attacked. This is the new edition with an informative, twenty page booklet in an edition of 100 copies in clear vinyl. Forty-two years after its first release, the Berlin label Static Age released this superb record again for the first time." Awesome sounds from a brilliant era!

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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HYÄNE - s/t EP 2016

May say Hello with new refreshing music from Berlin and if you don't know the label Static Age yet I strongly recommend a visit at the shop or online because their records belong to the best in the German underground in my opinion. An example of this is the young three piece combo Hyäne and with their impressive debut EP they captured me immediately. Four powerful loud smasher have they recorded there and the lusty dynamic energy injected immediately into my veins and intoxicates my senses. In 2018 they released their debut album Demontage & Zerfall which is a brilliant boost to single, listen via bandcamp, with nine more mature ecstasy pieces and I'm sure you will be as excited as me. Great stuff!

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