deanocity3

DRAGSTER
Band Members
Fi - Vocals
Diesel - Guitars
Ac Speed - Guitars
Tom AK - Bass
Spritza - Drums

Crawling outta the back streets of Coventry, DRAGSTER are a garage punk gang war!
Imagine Bettie Page and Link Wrays evil spawn fronting Zeke and you're getting close.
Throw in an healthy obsession with fast cars and B-movies and DRAGSTER are setting
a blaze across the U.K. scene, including spots at all the major U.K. punk festivals this
year (Academy in the U.K., Concrete Jungle, Rebellion, City Invasion) and turning heads at every step.

THE FLYS

The Flys' [sic] mod-derived power-pop neatly fit into the more pop-oriented sector of the then-emerging new wave movement. Formed in Coventry, England in the mid-'70s,
the Flys consisted of singer/guitarist Neil O'Connor (whose sister Hazel later had her own solo singing career), guitarist David Freeman, bassist Joe Hughes, and drummer Pete King.The band recorded a demo in 1977 that failed to attract much attention from record companies, so they formed their own Lama label and put out an EP, Bunch of Five,around the end of the year. That caught the fancy of EMI, which signed them up in a hurry and put out the EP's "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" as a single. The full-length Waikiki Beach Refugees appeared in 1978, featuring a tightly constructed set of mod-pop tunes that unfortunately preceded the full-fledged mod revival spearheaded by the Jam just a few months later. Several Flys singles appeared in early 1979, culminating in the release of Own; intraband quarreling had led to King's departure and the arrival of Graham Deakin, the former drummer of John Entwistle's Ox. A move to Parlophone Records did little to salve the bickering, and the Flys broke up in 1980. O'Connor joined his sister Hazel's band and then took his skills behind the scenes as a producer, arranger, and engineer; Freeman performed on Alison Moyet's Raindancing album, played briefly with Roddy Radiation and the Tearjerkers, and then formed The Lover Speaks with Hughes; Pete King went on to join After the Fire before his untimely death at age 26.

RUSSIAN GIRLFRIEND

Jools Street - Guitars/Violin
Rob Roach - Bass Guitars
Matt Hanley - Vocals/Guitars
Dave Drums - Drums

band with a taste for the musically unusual, Russian Girlfriend’s songs are a display of power mixed with an evocative subtlety, affecting audiences on a primal, almost subliminal level. With influences throughout the musical spectrum, the driving force for the band’s songwriting is provided by Matt and Jools who, together with bassist Rob and drummer Dave assert a potent combination of searing vocals, compulsive rhythms, insistent harmony and brooding counterpoint: at once in your face and behind your eyes. Though comparisons have been made to bands such as Muse, Suede, Jeff Buckley and more recently Snow Patrol the current line-up, brought together in 2001 by
the band’s founder member Matt Hanley, has been described as “something fresh and distinctive - truly original and in defiance of todays stereotypes.”

SPACEMEN 3

Spacemen 3 were an English rock band who formed in 1982 in Rugby and whose career spanned from the post-punk to acid house eras. This highly influential group’s minimal sound, characterised by droning guitars, softly sung/spoken vocals and sparse or monolithic drumming would be adopted by the shoegazing movement that would eventually dominate the underground. Their sound also formed the basis for post-rock. Spacemen 3 consisted of the core of Jason Pierce and Peter Kembe(Pierce sometimes credited as J. Spaceman and Kember usually known as Sonic Boom), who formed the group in Rugby, Warwickshire, having met at art college. Other members of what would become a fluid lineup over the years included Pete Bain (Bassman, also of the Darkside), Natty Brooker, Sterling Roswell (Rosco), Will Carruthers and Jonny Mattock (also of Slipstream).

Stavely Makepeace

Pop oddballs Stavely Makepeace teamed Rob Woodward and Nigel Fletcher, a pair of Joe Meek-obsessed eccentrics who first began collaborating in the early '60s While Woodward later enjoyed limited success as a solo singer under the alias Shel Naylor, eventually mounting a one-man cabaret show, Fletcher spent the middle of the decade serving in the British Merchant Navy, settling in London following his 1967 discharge. In late 1968 Woodward and Fletcher resumed their creative partnership, decamping to the former's mother Hilda's Coventry home and setting up their own studio in her living room. Dubbing the project Stavely Makepeace, the duo added bassist
Pete Fisher and drummer Don Ker to flesh out the sessions, releasing their debut single, "I Wanna Love You Like a Mad Dog" on Pyramid Records, in mid-1969.

1 I wanna Love you like a Mad Dog
2 Reggae Denny
3 Edna
4 Smokey Mountain Rhythm Revue
5 Give me that Pistol
6 Walking through the Blue Grass
7 Slippery Rock Seventies
8 Prima Donna
9 Cajun Band
10 Runaround Sue
11 Baby Blue Eyes
12 No Regrets
13 Coconut Shuffle
14 Songs of Yesterday
15 Just Tell Her Fred Said Goodbye

Thoria
Signed to label: Red Crust Records
From: Coventry, West Midlands
Band members:
Mart - vocals/guitar
Tom - drums
Mike - bass
Brief Band History:
THORIA were formed in Coventry in 1994, and have since honed their schizophrenic blend of rock into the muscled machine it is today. Already championed by Rock Sound, Totalrock.com, The Organ/Org Records and Abuse Records, 2001 saw them release a mini-album, tour the UK, play with the likes of Lowgold, Landmine Spring and Tung. Refreshingly, Thoria are like no other rock band in the UK at present, being full of melody, unpretentious and devoutly non-corporate, with everything being released on their own label

Fresh Maggots

MICK BURGOYNE gtr, tamb, violin A
LEIGH DOLPHIN acoustic gtr A

ALBUM:
1(A) FRESH MAGGOTS (RCA SF 8205) 1971 R3
NB: (1) reissued on Fan Club (198?) and on CD (Fan Club CD 8205) with two bonus tracks, Car Song and What Would You Do. Also reissued officially on CD in Korea (Si-Wan SRMC 1039) 1995.

45:
1 Car Song/What Would You Do (RCA RCA 2150) 1971
This duo came from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, with their own individual brand of folk-rock. The album is full of good songs like the exquisite Rosemary Hill and Dole Song, yep a song about signing on, which features some arresting guitar work. Other highlights include Everyone's Gone To War, a song of different moods with some good fuzz guitar work; Who's To Die, a lovely melodic song with a riff which sounded like early Electric Light Orchestra and the majestic finale Frustration. There are no weak links, though, on this consistent album which is thoroughly recommended.

THE RIPPS

COVENTRY upstarts The Ripps boast a sound that’s fast, furious but mostly fun: it’s essentially punk power pop that’s as effusive as early Supergrass but with an outsider edge that stems from brothers Patch and Raul Lagunas’ parents, who were political activists in General Pinochet’s Chile, living in exile in the UK since the ’70s.
Their influences range from the obvious likes of The Clash, The Pixies, The Buzzcocks and Blur, to the more surprising likes of the B-52’s and The Shangri-la’s.
Former single Loco is typical of what to expect; a joyfully exuberant opening salvo that taps into the “loco” nature of proceedings. It’s essentially a love song about two dysfunctional people who want to party but it’s delivered with such gusto that it’s impossible not to be swept up in its cavalier attitude.
It’s followed by the similarly brash Vandals, a rousing blend of early Blur-style guitar riffs and punchy lyrics (“we are the vandals, a generation of losers and wasters heading for trouble”). There’s elements of The Jam and The Specials too.
Slightly angier and certainly more punky is Hypocrite, while the opening riffs of Vampires appear ripped right out of Pixies’ culture.
It’s a distinct feature of the album, however, that it’s easily divided into angry punk moments and more infectious power-pop. Needless to say, it works best when occupying the latter territory.
Stranger, for instance, is a firm highlight; a track that begins with a whistle and unfolds with some catchy hooks and vocal melodies.
Holiday employs some Beach Boys-style melodies before careering head-first into breezy Brit-pop territory, a la Blur.
And You Don’t Even Care drops some cheeky, laddish lyrics into the mix to conjure an anthem about juvenile affection and unrequited passion.
During such moments, the album positively vibrates with the energy of youth and the sound of a band finding its feet.
Hell, there’s even a nod towards Kaiser Chiefs territory on final track, I Don’t Like You Any More, which employs the same sort of chant-along chorus that made Every Day I Love You Less And Less so memorable.

But in spite of its obvious comparisons, Long Live The Ripps appears happy to wear its influences on its sleeve because it also retains a confidence in its own ability to entertain.

The result is mostly infectious in a loud, brash, guilty pleasure kind of way

Piczo