h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've run out as well!!!!!
I'll get some next week.
The comp tape you are playing comes from another person I'm trading with.
He gets stuff from a Dutch guy in Wales, which he passe on to me ..... it's what I call heavy, heavy, fast rock-punk ie: too rocky to be called true punk but played much more agrresive than rock..... bands include:

Electric Frankenstein
Glueficer
Turbonegro
Dwarves etc.

Do let me know if you would like a sample of this sort of music...

oh yeah, they all appear to be swedish or finnish!

Wow, it's cool to think that the tape has travelled so far

I'll definitely be tracking some more of this type of music down in the future, either from you or from a shop. There's so much stuff that I want!

Didn't the MC5 play in London last night? If so, are they still together as a band, or was it just one original member with a 'karaoke' band of new musicians? Sometimes it sucks when a few members repackage the whole band, when it's really just a sham.

I did not see anything about it but with 3 members out of action, it must be the guitarist Wayne Cramer with a back up band.

As far as I can recall:

Vocalist - Rod Tyner died 5 years ago
2nd guitarist - Fred "Sonic" Smith (Husband of Patti Smith) overdosed 13? years ago.
Drummer - Dennis Thompson .....I'm not sure but think he is still in jail for man-slaughter!

I know that W. Cramer has always toured under his own name and included MC5 songs in his set, which is fair enough ....... he was part of them and if I went to see him, would expect to hear some but to tour as MC5 is naughty!

Your compilation tape was copied and sent to my mate in Devon, who then picked off certain tracks and sent them to Wales.
I bet when you recorded the 1st distillers album for me, you did not realise that it would end up being listened to by drunken dutchmen, living in North Wales

I heard about the MC5 gig from a friend who heard about it on the radio so it's hardly a reliable source. I can't find anything about i or the lineup online

Did you ever get to see the MC5? Also, it's a bit of a hard question, but what was your best gig ever?

Sorry about taking so long to reply lately. I've been a bit busy with all the shit that I do, and haven't had that much time for h2g2. Next week should be a lot less hectic though, and I promise I'll be better at posting to this and the 'hey, who wants to be a member' thread

That's really cool about the journeys of my CDs and mixed tapes. So far the stooges, adverts and MDC albums have been copied and gone back to London with Hannah and some of your tapes are being played in my mate's car.

I might be coming up to London next weekend which should be good fun

I don't post on the weekend, so sorry about the delay.

The MC5 split in '74 and i don't think they ever played over here (never mind the fact that in '74 I was grooving along to Bowie and Hawkwind.

My first gig was at the beginning of '77 (Jan) ... not long turned 17 and we went to see Motorhead play at The Roundhouse ...... reports of punk had been in the music press, so we also went to see the support band - The Damned!

We left totally confused - The Damned were great but Motorhead were much faster, heavier and punkier !!??? Next month we started seeing everyone .... Clash, stranglers, buzzcocks, adverts, jam, Gen x (all at small clubs ... I was lucky enough to be living in London and could see most gigs easily.

I'll have to think about my best gig but my worst one was easily The Sex Pistols ...... I saw them play at Uxbridge Uni ........ we were really hyped up ....... a chance to see the Pistols at last ... the gig took place in a huge hall .... the sound was terrible and the crowd seemed to have all read in the press that punks fight all the time ... It was a very aggresive vibe .... we could hardly see the band and had to keep on the move to avoid getting our heads kicked in!

Next ........ my top 10 gigs...

I think I'm probably still far too young to have a best gig. I've been to some really great ones, but I need to go to an awful lot more before I could truly identify a best one

Worst gig - some crappy ska/punk band called the Mad Caddies. It was really boring and there were loads of annoying children there. I'm not entirely sure why I went because I didn't even like the band - perhaps because my friends were going

You're really lucky to have seen all those bands first time round. I'm upset because I'll never get to see Joe Strummer perform. Saying that, there are still some really good new bands around so I shouldn't worry too much that punk rock is nearly over.

Ugh, I'm off school ill today

Punk over? ........... no danger of that!

I'd be upset if it did end; guess I'll just have to do my best to ensure that it doesn't

I'm still off school ill. It's so annoying because it means that I won't be able to come up to London tomorrow to meet with my student friends and go to the anti-war protest. It's so bloody annoying

Sorry about not sending you an CDs recently. I haven't been able to get any CD-Rs (due to being ill) but I will send you the stuff I owe you eventually, I promise.

Bad news about still being ill.
Don't sweat about the cd's ...... anytime will do

We would be going on the march but I don't feel confident taking a 20 month old baby along - big crowds + tiny one =

Any more tapes played that have caught your interest?

The Black Flag stuff is cool ('Slip it in' being one of the album's I've been listening to) and I quite like the Velvet Underground are cool. I can't play tapes at the moment though as my record player is connected up to my hifi and there aren't enough aux sockets to allow me to use the record and tape players at the same time.

My friend said that riot police blocked all the protesters into one street last night near Parliament Square last night. It was really packed and they were worried that the protesters would try to rush the police holding them in - probably not the best atmosphere for a small child

I'm feeling a lot better now so I might be coming up to London this weekend after all. Should be fun, I'll send you a postcard

"I quite like the Velvet Underground are cool" should be: "I quite like the Velvet Underground too".

Oops

Ok, I've *finally* got some more CD-Rs. I'm really sorry about the three week delay - living in a village can suck sometimes.

I've made you a CD of Good Riddance's 'Operation Phoenix' and Four Letter Word's 'Zero Visibility (absensce of truth)'. I'll make you an (International) Noise Conspiracy CD in a minute, and include whatever else tickles my fancy

I should be sending you something today ........ it's a surprise cd that you may or may not like?

I like surprises, and I'm sure I'll like this one.

You haven't failed me yet

Your package of CDs is all wrapped and ready to be posted at the train station tomorrow morning.

Your cd parcel has just arrived
Will give a review as soon as I have played them.
As I have said before, don't worry about the time scale involved in sending me stuff ........... it gets to me in the end!

I hope you like the little selection of local stuff that I tacked on to the end. It's not the best selection of music in the world, but I don't have MP3s of every band within my little local scene

The Rancid songs are from their 1991 debut, 'Rancid'. Not as good as their other stuff in my opinion ('...and out come the wolves', 'Life won't wait') but still ok.

The four letter word album is different to the one I originally sent you a five or six song preview of. In my opinion, it's better.

I'm listening to your 60s garage compilation at the moment, Hannah is dancing round my bedroom in a 60s style. We both like the Ruptured Dog EP!

I'm off on holiday at 3am tomorrow (Thurs) so I probably won't get to talk to/mail you for a week. Have a good weekend and I'll see ya next friday

Hey SDM,

Shame that we haven't communicated for a few weeks - Easter and my holiday have kind of caused my h2g2 posting to come to a halt

What did you think of the (International) Noise Conspiracy and Good Riddance/Four Letter Word CDs that I sent you? I've been listening to Stiff Little Fingers and Slip it In (on tape) quite a lot recently

I might send you some more stuff at some point this weekend, depending on when I can make it to the post office to by stamps and an envelope.

Hi R/Man, I was off for a week when you got back, hence the gap!

Good Riddance and Four letter word were good (as usual) but the star for me was the International N.C. .... bl**dy excellent ..... great driving riffs ........ interesting tunes and a different singing style.

What did you think off the Suicidal Tendencies after the SLF tracks?

What do you want me to do next?

I really like t(i)nc. Their singer, can't remember his name (it's Swedish), and maybe a few other members were in a hardcore band called Refused a few years ago. They were pretty good and very different too - kind of hardcore punk with more electronic influences.
I was shocked the first time I heard t(i)nc - it's completely different.

Suicidal tendencies are pretty good. Not normally the kind of thing I listen to, but that doesn't mean I don't like it! Kinda metal influenced, and parts of it remind me of a record I have by DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles).

What did you think of Five Knuckle and the other Bristol stuff?

I have February's MRR, Fracture and RTB for you - I just need an A4 envelope to send them in. As for CDs, I can think of a few things...

- Sick of it all - Your's truly
- F-Minus - Suburban blight
- Rancid - s/t (punk) or Life won't wait (much more ska/London Calling influenced)
- Refused - Shape of punk to come

For me, anything by the Cramps would be good. If that fails, anything by Black Flag, apart from'Damaged', would be good too.

Hi,
I can fit the 1st 2 Cramps albums on one CD and probably the same with Black Flag as well.

The Refused album sounds good to me - Have you got "Road to Ruin" on CD ....... my tape is mangled!

Tell me when the fanzines + postage are up to the parcel charge ......... could I then send some cash or CD's to have some more ? ..... I really enjoy reading them but have no way of getting them ..

thanks