The Assmen have a similar sound to the Hookers and equally good song titles such as "Beer Is Good Food" and "Adjusting My Nuts." 
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the rock and roll urge
by Carolyn K.
There is nothing better than the sound of a guitar. Screeching, distorting and belting out the most god-damned noise, coupled with someone screaming of unrequited love or the desire to kill -- it is the best thing I've ever heard.
There are a few reasons why I can play a single song or album over and over again, but that's for me to know and you to find out.
Welcome to my column on rock and roll. I only have one simple guideline. If I like it, I'll tell you about it. I prefer to let the music to speak for itself so tune into my radio show Wednesdays, Noon to 3 pm.
Hopefully, this column will be coming to you once a month with all the rock I can talk, so let's get started.
One of the best bands I've seen in the last few months is THE HOOKERS. They are from Kentucky and have a new record out on Scooch Pooch Records called "Satan's Highway." Great, rough and heavy vocals and a fast garage punk guitar sound along with cool songs such as "We Don't F*ck Around," "Get F*cked" and "Baby, You'll Regret Me" make them the perfect band for whatever mood you're in.
On the same line is THE ASSMEN, from Eerie, PA. I picked up their 7" record "Burgerbreath" because I liked the band name. Normally, I wouldn't do anything so silly, but I'm glad I did. The Assmen have a similar sound to the Hookers and equally good song titles such as "Beer Is Good Food" and "Adjusting My Nuts."
Rounding off a great trio of records, we have THE MUD CITY MANGLERS, with their self-released 7" on Republic of Chesterfield Communications. They're are from Pittsburgh, PA, and have two fantastic punk sing-a-long numbers: "I Wanna Kill My Friends" and "1234 Motherf*cker. "
I don't know what's going on in that part of the country, but I like it.
Goner Records has put out a great record from three Memphis kids -- THE REATARDS. Their LP "Teenage Hate" is very reminiscent of THE OBLIVIANS, a take on the blues with a whole bunch of screaming and broken hearts.
ROYAL PENDLETONS use a nice combination of reverby surf guitar and organ on their album "Oh Yeah, Baby." Lost love and hot rods are their inspiration. I like to sing along and dance up and down the hallway of my apartment (when no one's home, naturally).
Royal Pendleton's drummer King Louie has another band -- THE PERSUADERS -- where he takes over on guitar in the two-guitarists-and-drummer lineup. The Persuaders 7" "Van Ride" is a melodic, in-the-red recording. A blues influenced garage band with a little Oblivians flavoring -- Jack Oblivian recorded one of the songs.
I haven't limited my tastes to the U.S., though. THE HOT ROD HONEYS from Belgium released an EP -- "The Thrills, the Booze, the Dope, the Chicks and the Hot Rod Honeys" on Demolition Derby Records. Their recordings always sound like sh*t, but the songs are so good it doesn't matter. "Asshole For You" is my favorite.
PUFFBALL from Sweden have a great 7" that's so fast and distorted I could listen to it for hours. In fact I'm listening to it now.
THE NO-TALENTS and THE SPLASH FOUR -- both from France and featuring the wonderful guitarist Lilli -- have been through town recently. Lilli's guitar playing is great three-chord punk in the best way possible. It is complemented nicely by the female vocals of The No-Talents and the male vocals of Splash Four. They have a bunch of releases each floating around. I recommend picking up every one of them.
Re-issues are also the catch of the day. Castle Records has released the first 10 KINKS records on CD with extra tracks. I highly recommend The Kinks, particularly for the previously unreleased "I Don't Need You Anymore."
I've also been listening to THE WAILERS "Live At The Castle" LP, re-issued by Norton. I don't think enough people know about the Wailers, and should. It's the ultimate dance record.
Finally, a new series of garage punk compilations called "Teenage Shutdown." There are five volumes of great, hard to find '60s garage songs. Very cool.
On that note, that's all I'm ready to divulge at this time. Rock bands will come, rock bands will go, but rock and roll's gonna go on forever.
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