Oblivians - Blow Their Cool - Estrus Records 7" ES756.

If I were following the script I'd have posted the Captain 9's LP, but I need to have a proper listen to them and decide what I'm going to write. Instead, I've jumped forward to this upload for Phil Gordon. It's topical, anyway. Oblivians have a new record out on In The Red. It's called Desperation and has been in the works for about a billion years, if not more. I suggest you buy it. It's good. Especially the cover of Stephanie McDee's bonkers Zydeco track, Call The Police.

What we have here is the band's Estrus Crust release from 1994. From what I can work out, the songs on this release were never reissued and have never appeared on CD. If that's wrong I'm sure one of you smart-arse fuckers will soon put me right. Coming next, Captain 9's & The Knickerbocker Trio. In the meantime, enjoy.

Oblivians - Blow Their Cool - Estrus Records 7" ES756.

estrus garage memphis oblivians punk

The Mortals - Disintegration - Estrus Records 7" - ES719.

A way back when Estrus release. The Mortals fitted into the early Estrus taste for big, powerful, MC5-influenced rockers. They released three long players on Estrus, the first of which, Ritual Dimensions of Sound is likely to turn up here at some point. This one's for 'Anonymous'. Enjoy.

The Mortals - Disintegration - Estrus Records 7" - ES719.

estrus garage The Mortals

Impala - Play R&B Favorites - Estrus Records EP - ES793.

So, who was to know that Mad Mummies March would be followed by Apathetic April? Not me. Anyhow, many things conspired to keep me away from this blog, (none of them worth mentioning), but I'm now back in the saddle and raring to go.
Impala are one of the very few bands I never saw live who I dearly would have loved to. Right from back in the day when they shared a split cassette release with The Oblivians (Come on, somebody out there must have made a digital copy of that. I know The Oblivians side had a limited release on Goner, but radio silence on the Impala front) they've been quality. If you've not heard them before they play great, non-surf instrumentals. The type of swinging beat favoured by 'groovy' teens in early, garishly-coloured US sitcoms. Actually, that makes them sound more cliched than they actually are. They're a great listen. Enjoy.

Impala - Play R&B Favorites - Estrus Records EP - ES793.

estrus impala instrumental memphis oblivians

The Mummies - Running On Empty - Volume One. Estrus LP ES 94016.

It's March 31st, so this is the final upload for Mad Mummies March. I didn't quite get to the end of the Mummies-related uploads, so there will be other Mummies uploads as and when. For now, here's an after the fact 'Greatest Hits Volume One'. Side Two is a live recording and as with other live recordings on vinyl I've left it as one track. If you want to separate it out into its individual components then go ahead, I promise I won't tell. Back to the usual mix up in April. In the meantime... Enjoy.

The Mummies - Running On Empty - Volume One. Estrus LP ES 94016.

estrus garage live mummies punk The Mummies

The Mummies - Out Of Our Tree - Estrus 7". ES79.

From the time The Mummies put some thought into what they were issuing. Putting out a limited release on a Tacoma Washington label? Then look no further than two respectful but appropriate covers of a much feted local act. Here, they record two hits by The Wailers. The first, Out Of Our Tree, is a typical garage stomper. It's flip, Tall Cool One, an instrumental. Great stuff. Mad Mummies March is almost over; final release will be on Sunday night. Enjoy.

The Mummies - Out Of Our Tree - Estrus 7". ES79.

estrus garage mummies The Mummies the wailers

The Mummies - Play Their Own Records! Estrus Records LP. ES94015.

It's Mad Mummies March! Let's see how many Mummies discs I can upload. (I don't have everything). This Estrus compilation is meant to be them playing all their then current and out-of-print releases on one side with some unreleased material on the flip. It would interrupt the mixtape vibe if I were to separate out the individual tracks, so here are sides one and two presented uncut.

Side One has That Girl / Test Drive / I'm Bigger Than You / Dirty Robber / Food, Sickles and Girls, / One By One / Out Of Our Tree / Tall Cool One / A Girl Like You / That's Mighty Childish / (Doin') The Kirk.

Side Two features Die! / Mashi / The Fly / The House On The Hill (The latter two taken from the 16mm feature 'Go Baby Go! Or Go To Hell!'. A film by Michael A. Lucas).

Sleeve Notes:

"None of you can imagine how pleased I was when I first got wind of the Mummies breaking up. It was about time y'know. Three years I think it was. And toward the end there, it got really sick. Every Tom, Dick and Harry was talking about them. ''What gives?'', thought I. If the Mummies were so great, why aren't there more bands like them? You would think that all these so-called ''fans'' would catch on after a while.But no one did. Everybody flocked to the live show 'cause they heard the Mummies were wild on stage. I guess it brought back memories to these forty year old cunts with their arty farty attidudes, that like maybe the Mummies could possibly be the next Kiss or something. But on the contrary, it was the other way 'round.The Mummies were not cool in any way, shape or form. They made complete asses out of themselves on stage, and were never even bothered by it. They were even banned from here and there for little things, like the wrecking and thieving of club equipment. But still, they always seemed to get booked by some sucker who thought he could make a quick buck off of them.Just like all those fucking record lables (sic). Sheesh! Every little lable wanted to get their dirty hands on the Mummies. Five of them did. But Sub Pop didn't. The idiots at Sub Pop must of thought that every band would jump at the chance to be on their lable. But not the Mummies. They happily declined Sub Pop's stinking offer. I mean really...who wants to be associated with a bunch of stoner twats such as Sub Pop? And as far as all those 45's the Mummies put out over their existence, just about all of them were like the lowest of quality. You see, they didn't want to sound like all them other high-tech bands. Most of their recordings were done by themselves on like the cheapest vintage equipment they could get their hands on, ensuring the most primitive sound quality possible. Just ask any so-called Mummies fan about what he thinks of any of their 45's and most likely he'll cringe and clutch onto his portable C.D Walkman for security.And speaking of C.D's, you won't find any of the Mummies releases on compact disk, and that's just the way it is, babe. 'Cause in the long run, the Mummies sound is purely budget rock. Nothing up the sleeves. No matter what lable pressed a Mummies single, it was always guaranteed to sound like shit. This was good for ruining the respectability of independent record lables.All in all, the Mummies timing was right. They broke up just as they were starting to get real popular amongst the blind masses. Wow! Not bad for a band that averaged about forty-five watts of power on stage. And to all the so-called Mummies fans and die-hard record collectors, here's a big F-U-C-K Y-O-U!!! Popularity always takes the piss out of good things.

Shane White, Pure Filth Magazine, March '92."

Hey! Hey! It's The Mummies! Enjoy.

The Mummies - Play Their Own Records! Estrus Records LP. ES94015.

estrus garage The Mummies

The Lustorama - The Dark Side E.P. - Estrus Records 7" ES738.

The Lustorama sound exactly like they look in that picture above. Take a gander at those winkle-pickers. They speak louder than words. Winkle-picker rock. Enjoy.

The Lustorama - The Dark Side E.P. - Estrus Records 7" ES738.

60s estrus garage winkle-picker rock

Jack O'Fire - 6 Super Shock Soul Songs. Estrus Records 10". ES 102

Well, here's a post with lots and lots of inserts for you to read. That was one of the great things about Jack O'Fire, their commitment to the written word. Releases usually came with the latest ramblings of Big Daddy Soul, self-appointed and inspirational leader of the Young Lions Conspiracy. Bands have played at the creating a gang / cult things over the years with various degrees of success including The Nation of Ulysses (good), Psychic TV (scary) and WU LYF (massively naive), but the best of all were the words which skipped from the fingers of Big Daddy Soul onto his manual type-writer.

The music's not half bad as well... Enjoy.

Jack O'Fire - 6 Super Shock Soul Songs. Estrus Records 10". ES 102.

blues estrus jack o'fire Tim Kerr

Sugar Shack - You Don't Mean Shit To Me. Estrus Records 7". ES770.

Another furious garage stomper from Estrus and a band who'd been around the block a few times by the time this record, seemingly their final single, was released. I don't really have anything else to say. Enjoy.

Sugar Shack - You Don't Mean Shit To Me. Estrus Records 7". ES770.

estrus garage punk sugar shack

The Mono Men - Live At Tom's Strip 'n Bowl. Estrus Records 10" ES 108.

We've not had a 10" on here since... the last Mono Men upload. If you're going to have a stag do then a good move would be to have it in a bowling alley, with live music from The Mono Men. Good work, Tom. So much classier than acting like a twat in whichever European city is accessible via the arse-end of bargain airline flights.

This is totally different to the CD release as I made my own, random, decisions about when and where to cut the tracks. Always an interesting decision with live recordings. This is, without doubt, much better than the CD release, which sounds like a lamb vomiting. Additionally, you can pop the bowling pins out of the cover of this release (the shrink wrap is holding them in). I bet you didn't get that when you wasted your money on the CD release. Enjoy.

The Mono Men - Live At Tom's Strip 'n Bowl. Estrus Records 10" ES 108.

beer bellingham estrus garage live mono men

Gravel - As For Tomorrow. Estrus 7". ES733.

centre of sleeve

I raised this before with regard to Marble Orchard; there were definitely two levels of Estrus bands - the Killer and the Filler. Gravel were, based on this dreary outing most definitely in the latter camp. I can only hope they confounded expectations and were dynamite on wheels live. Enjoy.

Gravel - As For Tomorrow. Estrus 7". ES733.

estrus lumpy gravy

Go To Blazes - Got It Made E.P. Estrus Records 7". ES 741.

I've got to be honest, I know next to next to nothing about Go To Blazes. This was a disc I received as part of my then membership of the Estrus Crust Singles Club. Having dug around the internet it turns out they were from Philly and were highly-regarded in Americana circles, but ultimately unsuccessful. Here's their 'obituary' from the Philadelphia City Paper edition of January 16th, 1997. Enjoy.


Go To Blazes - Got It Made E.P. Estrus Records 7". ES 741.

Americana estrus Go To Blazes X

The Swingin' Neckbreakers - Workin' & Jerkin' - Estrus Records 7". ES747.

Inside

The Swingin' Neckbreakers are, unless things get weird, the only band likely to feature on this blog AND appear on The Sopranos. The only thing more uplifting than seeing this bunch in The Bada Bing was hearing John Cooper Clarke's Evidently Chickentown played over the end credits of Sopranos episode Stage 5. Basten Street, Salford 7 meets Noo Joisey. Back to The Swingin' Neckbreakers. The band look like they've stepped out of the photocopied sleeve notes for one of Crypt Records' Back From The Grave releases. And that's also what they sound like. Enjoy.

The Swingin' Neckbreakers - Workin' & Jerkin' - Estrus Records 7". ES747.

estrus garage new york The Swingin' Neckbreakers

The Mono Men - Shut The Fuck Up. Estrus Records 10". ES101.

Those who bought the CD version of this 10" found a bra crudely drawn onto the chest of the young lady pictured and the title changed to the much more sedate Shut Up! You get what you pay for, I guess. Here are Bellingham's finest smashing their way through a mix of original and cover version instrumentals. Enjoy.

The Mono Men - Shut The Fuck Up. Estrus Records 10". ES101.

estrus garage instrumental mono men

The Waste Kings - Garden Of My Mind. Estrus 7". ES745.

I wasn't planning to upload another of the weekend's loft-finds for a while, but the flipside to this single, with its relentless Stoogey skronking saxaphone has been in my head all day and deserves to be in yours. The a side is a cover of a 67 track by The Mickey Finn which is as near to a complete rip off of Purple Haze as you will ever hear. Grunnen Rocks lists an additional two releases by this combo. I'm pretty sure I had one (or one that isn't listed - GR is pretty flaky these days) and the band had completely changed their sound. Enjoy.

The Waste Kings - Garden Of My Mind. Estrus 7". ES745.

chicago estrus the waste kings

Girl Trouble - The Track - Estrus 7" ES789.

I 'found' a bunch of Estrus singles in the loft last week when I was up there looking for horror magazines* for a work colleague. (*I know. I am a cliche). They were at one point e-bay bound. This was one of them. I tried, several times, to 'get into' Girl Trouble, but it never really happened for me. In retrospect this railway-themed single is pretty damned fine, and the one-sided 78-aping sleeve is very, very good. It's not credited, but screams Art Chantry. Enjoy.

Girl Trouble - The Track - Estrus 7" ES789.

estrus garage Girl Trouble

The Mummies - Get Late. Estrus 7". ES94017R.

My first automated blog post. I'm writing this, slightly pissed. As usual. At 23.56 on Octobobober 19th. But I've set it off, like a little timebomb, to go live when I'm Not At Home. So, fingers crossed you will all be able to access this shoddy, cash-in reissue of a 7" which was initially used to promote The Mummies Play Their Own Records while I do Other Stuff. The sleeve of this reissue is fucking awful. The sleeve of the original ticks all the usual garage punk boxes. And more. Enjoy.

The Mummies - Get Late. Estrus 7". ES94017R.

estrus garage mummies The Mummies

Man... Or Astro-Man? - The Sounds of Tomorrow. Estrus 7". ES783.

We've not had any Man... Or Astro-Man? for a little while, so here's a 1996 offering from the ever-reliable Estrus records. Track three, Green-blooded Love, is by Thee Shatners, a bunch of Star Trek-loving chancers who had connections with The Ne'er'Do'Wells and The Dukes of Hamburg, and whose only release was an LP on Planet Pimp Records. Enjoy.

Man... Or Astro-Man? - The Sounds of Tomorrow. Estrus 7". ES783.

estrus instrumental man or astroman? star trek surf

The Galaxy Trio - Saucers Over Vegas. Estrus 10". Estrus Arts ES105.

One of two 10" EPs I own by this band. Both are on Estrus. Beyond that I don't really know much about them at all. Despite the name, I'd argue that they are an instrumental band, rather than a surf band. Maybe they started out as a straightforward surf band and evolved, similar to the journey undertaken by Man ...Or Astro-Man?. Or maybe they're just bad at being 'surf'. Either way, it's good stuff uncluttered by crap lyrics. Enjoy.


The Galaxy Trio - Saucers Over Vegas. Estrus 10".  Estrus Arts ES105.

estrus instrumental surf the galaxy trio

The Mummies - Food, Sickles and Girls 7". Estrus Records Reissue. ES45002.

A cultural artefact from the time - and it wasn't that long ago, whippersnappers - when Mummiesmania was burning so strong Estrus Records had to reissue the band's Pre-BS singles. Presumably because Pre-BS major domo Rusty Kwan couldn't be arsed.

It's The Mummies. You've heard it all before. Enjoy.

The Mummies - Food, Sickles and Girls 7". Estrus Records Reissue. ES45002.

estrus garage mummies