Talk to me about:

Volumizer
Kevin K
The Everyothers

These are the three stand-outs for me from "Hemp".

Volumizer - Vancouver, um, supergroup comprised of first wave punkers Rodney Graham (ex-U-J3RK5), Bill Napier-Hemy (ex-Pointed Sticks), Jade Blade (ex-The Dishrags - and now a college professor and also the wife of Napier-Hemy), and drummer John Cody (Ray Condo). Jade Blade writes all the songs, but the band enlisted Shannon Oksanen - a young visual artist with no singing experience - as lead vocalist.

Their only album (so far) is Gaga For Gigi, and it was produced by John Collins of the New Pornographers. "I Promise You, Thomas" comes off of it - and it's indicative of the entire album (meaning upbeat, old skool punk that reminds me of the Rezillos).

Kevin K. - I don't know much about him, except that he's from New York and has been kicking around on the fringes for ever. He seems to revere Johnny Thunders and, perhaps in homage, puts out a messy, half-baked album every 6 months or so. I can't tell if he's a junkie or just wishes he was. I've got 4 of his discs (including a Best Of) and there's definitely a few nuggets in there.

The Everyothers - Another NYC band (by way of Detroit, I believe). These guys freely admit to obsessing over glam-era Bowie (and an early incarnation of the band actually had a 4 song demo produced by Mick Ronson) - which is good, because the album sounds to me like 11 turbocharged rewrites of "Queen Bitch." And that's not meant as criticism - the album keeps growing on me. I think it was released in '04, and if I'd had it that year it would have easily made my Top 20 list.



BTW Billz - I got your mix today, but haven't had time to give it a serious listen yet. Early standouts are the Fleshtones and Ike Reilly (natch), the Navigators, Screaming Tribesmen, and Carmaig DeForest - but the whole thing is right up my alley. I'll review it once I've had some time with it. Thanks, dood!

Ordered this today, along w/ the Volumizer.

after listening to Nardwuar rant about the pointed sticks for like 5 days in a row, i'm really interested in checking them out.

They were so close to being good. The Pointed Sticks were briefly signed to Stiff Records back in '78 - but that album never saw the light of day. Instead they returned to Vancouver and put out their own album, which softened their punk energy so much that at the time I used to refer to them as the Pointed Styx.

In retrospect, the album wasn't so terrible - but ultimately they're just another one of those bands that blew their potential.

"What Do You Want Me To Do" is a good song though.