RPM's - I Don't Wanna Be Young

A. I Don't Wanna Be Young


B. Loved By You


THE RPM's (Milwaukee, WI)
I Don't Wanna Be Young b/w Loved By You
Hit-Man (NR11835), 1980

Denis Laing migrated to Milwaukee from Scotland in 1976 with his wife and kid.
After taking up a menial job at a hospital, he met a fellow employee name Brent Mireau. After realizing they both shared similar musical interests, they decided to form a band. Brent then recruited Jim Virgili on lead guitar while Denis rocked the bass and Brent played rhythm. The three started off as a cover band called The Ravers and played with different pick-up drummers along the way. Their repertoire consisted of material by Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Squeeze and others in that vein.

Around the end of 1979, Denis and Brent visited London and hung out with some of Denis' old friends who were now playing in The Ruts. Seeing what was happening in England at the time inspired them to start doing original material. With Laing at the helm, writing songs and singing lead vocals, they recruited a drummer named Rob Mccuen who had recently moved to Milwaukee from Champagne, IL. Rob was friends with Jill Kossoris of the Shivvers and had once sat in with the guys during a jam session at Jill's house. With Rob officially on board, they became the RPM's.

The band recorded a 7" with two songs penned by Laing. The A-Side, "I Don't Wanna Be Young," is one of my favorite power pop tracks of all time. The tale of a young lovers heartache is brilliantly complimented with top notch back-up vocals and excellent harmonies. The B-Side features Mireau sharing vocal duties with Laing and showcases a bit more angst than the previous cut, while maintaining plenty of pop sensibilities and equally stunning harmonies.

The record was released near the end of 1980 in an edition of 500 copies on the band's own Hit-Man label. The plant misspelled the name of the first track on the labels and had to paste the correct title on every copy of the record.

Some time after the single was released, they decided to replace Rob because of personality clashes. They brought in a charming bloke named Jim Kozewski (later coined St. Patrick) and continued on. By this time the band was rehearsing 4-5 times a week and becoming extremely tight. While making plans to record a full length LP, Denis insisted they just practice the music and don't do any vocals at their rehearsals. This tactic lead them to be able to record most of the music tracks for the album in a single day.

Soon after the sessions were completed, Denis was laid off from his job and an opportunity arose in Florida. The band broke up and the LP (which they are all very proud of) remains unreleased to this day.

Brent still lives in Milwaukee and has continued playing music in various bands through the years including Beat Sector, Slacker and Echo Park. Denis still lives in Florida and currently plays in a cover band doing country music. Rob is still active in the Milwaukee scene.

The RPM's sole single was reissued last year on Sing Sing Records and is currently available through them.

RPM's - I Don't Wanna Be Young

A. I Don't Wanna Be Young


B. Loved By You


THE RPM's (Milwaukee, WI)
I Don't Wanna Be Young b/w Loved By You
Hit-Man (NR11835), 1980

Denis Laing migrated to Milwaukee from Scotland in 1976 with his wife and kid.
After taking up a menial job at a hospital, he met a fellow employee name Brent Mireau. After realizing they both shared similar musical interests, they decided to form a band. Brent then recruited Jim Virgili on lead guitar while Denis rocked the bass and Brent played rhythm. The three started off as a cover band called The Ravers and played with different pick-up drummers along the way. Their repertoire consisted of material by Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Squeeze and others in that vein.

Around the end of 1979, Denis and Brent visited London and hung out with some of Denis' old friends who were now playing in The Ruts. Seeing what was happening in England at the time inspired them to start doing original material. With Laing at the helm, writing songs and singing lead vocals, they recruited a drummer named Rob Mccuen who had recently moved to Milwaukee from Champagne, IL. Rob was friends with Jill Kossoris of the Shivvers and had once sat in with the guys during a jam session at Jill's house. With Rob officially on board, they became the RPM's.

The band recorded a 7" with two songs penned by Laing. The A-Side, "I Don't Wanna Be Young," is one of my favorite power pop tracks of all time. The tale of a young lovers heartache is brilliantly complimented with top notch back-up vocals and excellent harmonies. The B-Side features Mireau sharing vocal duties with Laing and showcases a bit more angst than the previous cut, while maintaining plenty of pop sensibilities and equally stunning harmonies.

The record was released near the end of 1980 in an edition of 500 copies on the band's own Hit-Man label. The plant misspelled the name of the first track on the labels and had to paste the correct title on every copy of the record.

Some time after the single was released, they decided to replace Rob because of personality clashes. They brought in a charming bloke named Jim Kozewski (later coined St. Patrick) and continued on. By this time the band was rehearsing 4-5 times a week and becoming extremely tight. While making plans to record a full length LP, Denis insisted they just practice the music and don't do any vocals at their rehearsals. This tactic lead them to be able to record most of the music tracks for the album in a single day.

Soon after the sessions were completed, Denis was laid off from his job and an opportunity arose in Florida. The band broke up and the LP (which they are all very proud of) remains unreleased to this day.

Brent still lives in Milwaukee and has continued playing music in various bands through the years including Beat Sector, Slacker and Echo Park. Denis still lives in Florida and currently plays in a cover band doing country music. Rob is still active in the Milwaukee scene.

The RPM's sole single was reissued last year on Sing Sing Records and is currently available through them.

RPM's - I Don't Wanna Be Young

A. I Don't Wanna Be Young


B. Loved By You


THE RPM's (Milwaukee, WI)
I Don't Wanna Be Young b/w Loved By You
Hit-Man (NR11835), 1980

Denis Laing migrated to Milwaukee from Scotland in 1976 with his wife and kid.
After taking up a menial job at a hospital, he met a fellow employee name Brent Mireau. After realizing they both shared similar musical interests, they decided to form a band. Brent then recruited Jim Virgili on lead guitar while Denis rocked the bass and Brent played rhythm. The three started off as a cover band called The Ravers and played with different pick-up drummers along the way. Their repertoire consisted of material by Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Squeeze and others in that vein.

Around the end of 1979, Denis and Brent visited London and hung out with some of Denis' old friends who were now playing in The Ruts. Seeing what was happening in England at the time inspired them to start doing original material. With Laing at the helm, writing songs and singing lead vocals, they recruited a drummer named Rob Mccuen who had recently moved to Milwaukee from Champagne, IL. Rob was friends with Jill Kossoris of the Shivvers and had once sat in with the guys during a jam session at Jill's house. With Rob officially on board, they became the RPM's.

The band recorded a 7" with two songs penned by Laing. The A-Side, "I Don't Wanna Be Young," is one of my favorite power pop tracks of all time. The tale of a young lovers heartache is brilliantly complimented with top notch back-up vocals and excellent harmonies. The B-Side features Mireau sharing vocal duties with Laing and showcases a bit more angst than the previous cut, while maintaining plenty of pop sensibilities and equally stunning harmonies.

The record was released near the end of 1980 in an edition of 500 copies on the band's own Hit-Man label. The plant misspelled the name of the first track on the labels and had to paste the correct title on every copy of the record.

Some time after the single was released, they decided to replace Rob because of personality clashes. They brought in a charming bloke named Jim Kozewski (later coined St. Patrick) and continued on. By this time the band was rehearsing 4-5 times a week and becoming extremely tight. While making plans to record a full length LP, Denis insisted they just practice the music and don't do any vocals at their rehearsals. This tactic lead them to be able to record most of the music tracks for the album in a single day.

Soon after the sessions were completed, Denis was laid off from his job and an opportunity arose in Florida. The band broke up and the LP (which they are all very proud of) remains unreleased to this day.

Brent still lives in Milwaukee and has continued playing music in various bands through the years including Beat Sector, Slacker and Echo Park. Denis still lives in Florida and currently plays in a cover band doing country music. Rob is still active in the Milwaukee scene.

The RPM's sole single was reissued last year on Sing Sing Records and is currently available through them.

The Rabies - (My Girl's A) Hologram

A. (My Girl's A) Hologram


B. Criminal


THE RABIES (Larchmont, NY)
(My Girl's A) Hologram b/w Criminal
Presidential (ITR-5205), 1982

George Faulkner and twin brothers Kevin and Torin Alter grew up together in the suburbs outside of New York City. Having known each other since Elementary school, they decided to form a band when they were attending Mamaroneck High. The school was a hotbed of creativity, churning out many well known artists, actors, writers, and musicians. It was after seeing school mates the Student Teachers who had records produced by Blondie's Jimmy Destri and who were scoring gigs opening for Iggy, the Cramps and others, that they got inspired to get something going themselves.

John Dorf was their original drummer, but it soon became obvious that other than owning a drum set he had little sense of how to play. John Gramaglia, who was a few years younger, was soon recruited at Torin's request in the fall of 1981. Torin had played in an earlier band with John's brother Michael called The Unemployed in which John would sit in occasionally. With the line-up now complete and Torin at the helm writing songs, The Rabies scored their first gig at CBGB's. John was only 15 at the time and had to finagle his way into the gig.

They became very popular in their region and put out a single on their own Presidential Records in early 1982. The run of 500 copies was financed with help from their family and features a cover designed by David Hughes, which is reminiscent of the logo on the Clash's first record. The 7" showcases their most popular song "Hologram," which contains hand claps and a poppier sound than they intended. Sounding like a long lost Ramones cut, "Hologram" still holds up strong today, while the flip has more of a post-punk feel and is more representative of the bands developing sound.

Rumor has it that they scored a VHS bootleg copy of Star Wars which they would often play during breaks in their rehearsals. And it was a scene where R2-D2 was projecting a hologram of Leia that the song was inspired and written on the spot. Regardless of how it came about, the single sold out quickly and was even featured in the jukebox at the Larchmont Diner and was often checked out at the local library.

The band released a 4-song EP later in the year which is not held in very high regard by any of its members. The sound was more new wave and by this time they had added an additional guitar player. They continued to play together on a part time basis for nearly two decades, reinventing themselves and changing their name every several years from Intrynsics to Caroline No to Junkstar.

George has an audio engineering degree and still plays music. He currently works in IBM Corporate Communications and runs a podcast called A Pop Diary, where John also contributes episodes. Kevin and Torin are both professors, teaching architecture and philosophy, respectively. John continues to play music in bands and works as a film editor. He helped his brother Michael with the 2003 Ramones documentary, "End Of The Century."

The Boys - You Make Me Shake

A. You Make Me Shake


B. We're Too Young


THE BOYS (Lincoln, NE)
You Make Me Shake b/w We're Too Young
Outrage (112), 1977

The Boys formed from the ashes of a long time active bar band called Grundy Gilpin that existed from 1968-1972 and played a spectrum of covers ranging from 50s rockers like Chuck Berry and Little Richard to more prog and psych oriented bands like Traffic and Cream. The band broke up when Danny Shonerd, Allen Havlicek, and Steve Koontz decided to take their music in a more pop direction. They set out to do all original material and with Grundy Gilpin's roadie Terry Piper in tow, the Boys were born.

They had a vision of changing the world through music, assuming if it could be done in England and across Europe, why not in Nebraska? Drawing inspiration from the British Invasion, they attempted to put their own twist on old arrangements, and through sheer ineptness managed to develop their own sound. At the time, very few bands were playing original material in Lincoln and most of the bars only catered to cover bands.

An English professor named David Hibbler saw the band's potential and took on the role of manager. He released the band's debut single, "She's All Mine" b/w "I'm Not Satisfied" on his Outrage label in 1975. The artwork for the record was done by Don Vogel, who also spearheaded a campaign to promote a show for the band by distributing pamphlets displaying Nazi-esque imagery. The fiasco made headline news and certainly drew people to their performance but some didn't view it as art, frightened that an actual invasion was taking place.

The record sold very well. In fact, it is believed that upwards of two or 3,000 copies circulated. Steve left the band after its release, however, and was replaced by Phil Shoemaker, a drummer for a band called The Tories that shared a practice space with The Boys. Unhappy with that band, he ended up spending the next five years playing alongside Danny (lead), Allen (rhythm), Terry (bass), and Phil (drums) in The Boys. They signed a management deal with Shone Productions out of Minneapolis, MN and were able to secure slots opening for bands like ZZ Top, Blue Oyster Cult, The Police, Joan Jett, and many others.

The band eventually left Shone Pro and moved back to Lincoln where they recorded and released their second single, "You Make Me Shake" b/w "We're Too Young" in 1977. By this time the band had taken over the operation of Outrage and tried to promote the record themselves. It is unknown how many copies were pressed but their friend Dave Boye helped by taking orders and mailing records all across America.

After playing Worlds Of Fun in Kansas, the Boys were approached by Titan Records and a single soon followed, which featured the songs "Baby It's You" and "Bad Little Girl." A live four song EP was planned but never released due to financial trouble with the label. However, a few more songs did surface on the highly revered Titan compilation, Just Another Pop Album, which was released in 1980.

The band broke up that year and some of the members continued working in other projects. The Boys have had songs comped on the Teen Line series and most recently on Numero's 2CD retrospective of the Titan label, which features a previously unreleased Boys track called "Please Change Your Mind." It's a solid song with strong harmonies and catchy choruses that easily could have made for a successful single. It's just one of over a hundred songs the band recorded in various forms, be it demos, live, rehearsals, etc, that unfortunately never surfaced before the band called it quits.

The Reactions - Official Release EP

A1. Tonight


A2. Marianne


B1. In Society


B2. It's Our Turn Now


THE REACTIONS (Miami, FL)
Official Release EP
Reaction Records, 1980

Isaac Baruch started the Reactions as a five-piece with neighborhood friends Tony Supa on vocals, Liz Rothfield on guitar, Jeffrey Pollock on bass, and John Morrow on drums. Isaac played guitar and wrote the music and melodies to the lyrics Tony would bring him. After a while of jamming together and learning to play their instruments (and with a couple shows under their belt playing mostly Cheap Trick and Dave Clark Five covers), Tony felt they could do better. So they went about finding more accomplished musicians.

A short-lived drummer came into the mix for just one gig before they hit it off with Joey Maya. He had seen them play and wanted to join the band. They still needed a bass player though, so they went out to see other bands perform to try and recruit. Johnny Salton was a guitar player in a band called The Girls. After seeing him perform a show at the Blue Waters Hotel, one of the few places in Miami that hosted bands playing original music, they approached Johnny and asked if he would be interested in playing bass with them. Salton, a seasoned guitar player who was older and much more experienced was looking for a new project and agreed.

The newly formed four-piece instantly clicked and practiced constantly. Tony and Isaac would get together at Isaac's mothers house for a couple hours each day to go over new material and song structure before the others joined for a full practice. A new song was written every day. Some of them stuck, others were immediately tossed if they weren't working. With full support from their families and no jobs or other obligations, they had the time to apply themselves and studied other musicians to try to be as good as possible. They aspired to be like the Ramones: get a contract, write good songs, put out records, tour and be famous. They had the ability and the songs but never got their break.

With help of their friend Errol Waltzer, the band released their first EP in 1980, entitled "Official Release." Errol, who was a photographer, financed the 1,000 copies that were pressed and did the artwork for the 7". The band cut and pasted the covers and stuffed all the records themselves, but sold few copies of the record. They viewed the release as a calling card to shop around to major labels and ended up giving most copies away or dropping them off in stores. Isaac went to New York that summer and dropped off a bunch in shops up there as well.

The South Florida scene, which was now boasting such legendary talent as The Eat, The Essentials, Cichlids, Charlie Pickett, The Front, and many others, was still small in size compared to larger cities. When the Ramones would come to town, a flurry of people would come to see them, but a typical local show would usually only generate 50-100 people.

By the time the band had recorded their second EP, "Love You," Tony had stated that he would soon be leaving the group. Salton was already playing with Charlie Pickett & The Eggs, and Isaac didn't see himself finding a suitable songwriting partner as Tony had proved to be. So they only played a couple shows after the record came out before calling it quits. The "Love You" EP was self-financed using money they earned from gigs in a run of just 500 copies. However, it is reported by the band that four boxes, which may have contained as many as 400 copies of the record, were tossed in a dumpster in the mid 90s, making originals very difficult to locate. The record shows how the band greatly matured in a short time and it's a shame further material was not properly recorded and this project never went any further.

Isaac, who had not been a lyricist in the Reactions, took to writing and formed a band called U.S. Furys with Ricky Mahler, who later went on to play in Circus Of Power. They didn't record anything, but when Isaac later restructured and recorded some of those songs in a band with other notable local musicians called Eden's Rebels.

Johnny played with Charlie Pickett for a long time and eventually started the Psycho Daisies, who he performed with until he died earlier this week. You can read more about Salton on the Trash Fever site.

Joey later played with Roach Moel and Sheer Smegma before joining a rockabilly revival group called the Spinouts. He later moved to California to tour with the Battalion Of Saints. Tony got married and went to work for his family.

There are several appearances of Reactions songs on other formats. "In Society" was comped on Killed By Florida. "Tonight" made its way onto Back Seat Love Vol. 2. The South Florida band Screaming Sneakers (who featured Gary Sunshine, later of Circus Of Power) covered the Reactions song "I Can't Help It" on their lone 12", Marching Orders. A short-run bootleg 10" entitled Love You (with the same cover art as the EP of the same name) features all the songs from both 7"s. An official collection of rare and unheard Reactions material is slated for release at the end of 2011 on Cheap Rewards Records.

Rubber City Rebels - Bluer Than Blue

Bluer Than Blue


RUBBER CITY REBELS (Akron, OH)
Bluer Than Blue (Stereo) b/w Bluer Than Blue (Mono)
Capitol (P-4936), 1980

From 1974-76, Rod Firestone and Buzz Clic were in a band called King Cobra that were playing top 40 hard rock and glam covers. They discovered the likes of The Ramones, The Heartbreakers, and other stalwarts of the New York underground scene through the pages of Hit Parader. After seeing The Heartbreakers play a gig in Cleveland, they decided to go original and the Rubber City Rebels were born.

Originally consisting as a five piece with Rod on vocals, Buzz on guitar, Donny Damage on bass, Stix Pelton on drums (later replaced by Mike Hammer), and Pete Sake on keyboards (later removed entirely), the Rebels shared local bills with such notable acts as Devo, the Dead Boys, and Pere Ubu, eventually releasing a split EP with fellow Akronites, The Bizarros, on the local Clone imprint.

Sire Records took interest in the band after they played a New York City gig with the Dead Boys on 7/7/77, and they even got to the stage of recording for the label. But alas things weren't meant to be, and the band took residence in LA where they showed much promise opening for bands like the Go-Gos, The Knack, and others.

Jack Lee helped the band with songs and musical expertise during the period after the Nerves split, and the Rebels would occasionally sit in with him as the Jack Lee Band. He produced their first single, which featured a cover of The Nerves "Paper Dolls" and the Rebel's-penned "Young And Dumb." Both tracks would be re-recorded for the band's debut LP, which was put out by Capitol soon after.

The Rebels had also become close friends with Doug Fieger of The Knack through their new drummer Brandon Matheson (who had previously played with Doug in the Sunset Bombers and was replacing Mike, who returned to Akron with Donny to start Hammer Damage). Doug's influence was invaluable to the band getting picked up by Capitol. Their Self Titled album was produced by Doug, and a single for "Bluer Than Blue" and "Rubber City Rebels" was issued to coincide with it (promo copy above), but unfortunately the label didn't push it and sales were stagnant.

"Brainwave" and "Surprise, Surprise" were two of the songs recorded for their follow-up LP for Capitol, but that project was halted when the label dropped them. However, the songs did appear on a short-run, self released single. More demos were recorded for Elektra/Asylum, but the contract with them fizzled as well, and those songs would never surface. Eventually the band gave up.

Fast forward to the early 2000's and the advent of ebay. Noticing that people were buying their records, the band decided to make a website and issue their old music on CD. Shortly after, they were approached by Smog Veil to cut a new album. "Pierce My Brain" was released to positive reviews and tours of Europe, Japan and the USA ensued. The band still plays dates whenever possible and is currently working on material for a future release.