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Hiya Sorry Staters. Nice to have you join us for this week’s newsletter. It’s been one hell of a week here and across the country. Basketball, eclipse, nut job Magas enacting horrendous one hundred plus year old laws controlling the rights of women to have autonomy over their own bodies, you name it. It’s all going on. Wacky stuff.
Last week, as Jeff spoke about in the newsletter, we received a visit from Zander Schloss, bass player in the Circle Jerks, who kindly hooked us up with tickets for the show. I was looking forward to going, but left the shop that night to find my car with a flat tire, and by the time I had the donut on I was in no mood or shape to deal with everything that seeing a show at The Ritz involves. All reports back were that it was a killer time.
Then, to cap the weekend off for me, I woke up Sunday morning with a swollen eyelid, which got progressively worse all day. By Monday morning, I looked like a wasp and a bee had a stinging competition on my eye. I think it is getting better now and hopefully by the weekend I’ll be back to normal. Ha!. Normal. What is that?
Tons of cool shit coming through the store again this week. We got new stuff, used stuff and reissues of old stuff. We’ve all been digging the three albums by Dead Ends. My favorite is the first, but read Jeff’s deeper dive into how these records sound and the story behind these guys.
For my pick this week, I would like to recommend a cool reissue we got in from General Speech. It’s the short-lived band Puncture and their 1977 one-off single for Small Wonder (the label’s first release) called Mucky Pup b/w Can’t Rock & Roll (In A Council Flat).
The other day Usman was talking to us about the song Mucky Pup and how he had thought it was an Exploited song, only to learn it was a cover. Indeed, the tune was covered by The Exploited for their Punks Not Dead album. In Usman’s defense, the song is probably best known from this version and because it wasn’t stuck at the end of the record, why would you think it was a cover? My exposure to the song came via the B-side, which I can recall hearing on a John Peel show back in the day. That was confirmed just the other week when I pulled up Peel shows on YouTube for something to listen to and I heard that song. I’ve always wanted a copy of the 45, but even though Small Wonder pressed at least three thousand copies, it has been in demand and commands a decent price. I’ve got both sides of the 45 on two different compilations, though. A Small Wonder singles collection and a KBD type boot called Neighbor Annoyer.
I like Mucky Pup, but for me it is the B-side that is the winner. I like the humor of it, perhaps. Also, the use of a wonky keyboard and the synth sounds that are on both tracks add a little something extra. Both songs are great and a classic example of what the kids in Islington were up to in the late 70s. Good stuff. Small Wonder, the label and shop based in Walthamstow, East London, was like Chiswick Records and the shop Rock On. Along with Stiff Records, these three independents released countless seminal early punk singles. But I don’t need to tell you guys that.
There’s not too much to say about the band. They only put out this one single, but gigged regularly for the year or so that they were together. Guitarist Jack Stafford changed his name to Jak Airport and played with X-Ray Spex and enjoyed some success with them. On the Bored Teenagers website, bass player and vocalist Steve Councel talks a little about what the others in the band got up to post Puncture. Click here to read that brief piece.
We have a few copies of the reissue here in stock. I’m not sure how limited they are, but as with all these things my advice is to snag one sooner than later.
Cheers - Dom