Hello and welcome to this weeks edition of the German Shepherd Newsletter. Featuring this time :
– Flea release album of classic tracks
– Inferior Complex celebrate Southampton Punks
– Crab Dance GIs announce new single
– New special offer for subscribers 11 to 20
– Gigs
Flea to release “parasitic insects teach us humility”
16th November sees the digital only release of a debut album for Manchester band Flea. It’s a debut that has arrived a little later than initially anticipated, as explained below:
Flea exists in the years between 1987 and 1993, as bass and drum-machine driven, industrial ‘grindcore’ noise merchants. Based in the depths of Manchester’s legendary Boardwalk rehearsal rooms alongside contemporaries A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays and Oasis, Flea foray the UK (often with roommates Slum Turkeys or neighbours Dub Sex) to unleash their experimental industrial machine-groove upon unsuspecting audiences. Art Carbuncle’s bass nods to a PiL-dub thing and Boz Vile’s guitar sculpture is reminiscent of Keith Levene, John McGeogh and Geordie Walker. Sissy the drum machine produces unpredictable, edgy on/off beats that drive the audience into pleasurable submission. Feeding on the energy of the time, this complementary undercurrent and anti-dote to the co-existing ‘Madchester’ scene, goes under the radar.
The discerning music world need not be concerned: A generation later, this parasitic menace will be found! German Shepherd Records will come to the rescue and release a collection of Flea songs recorded between 1989 and 1992. In this day people will identify strongly with Flea’s awareness of mental health issues, greed, media control and fake news. This collection includes hard-hitting Headshrinker ‘what’s for dinner?’: a hypnotic collision course with ‘medication time’ helped on its way with an intentional disorientating loop from Sissy. ‘Golf Show’ is a statement about CNN’s rolling news during the first Gulf War with all its surgical strikes, ‘Get A Life’ presents thoughts about ‘normal’, material life over an infectious, dubby bassline Jah Wobble would be proud of. ‘Panic Button’ is Oh Sees meet JAMC on speed on the beach. The finale ‘Your Words Mean Nothing To Me’ is a rescued treasure that could be in a ‘best of’ Magazine catalogue but with such emotional intensity that even Sissy is throwing up in turbulent rhythms. Extraordinary stuff which has found its time.
Flea exists again!
Inferior Complex celebrate the Southampton Punk Scene
Inferior Complex return on November 16th with a new single, previously featured on a charity compilation. The usual trio of the Missons brothers and Paul Jenman are joined by Paul Beazley who narrates a list of key figures on the original Southampton Punk scene over a pulsing dub/post-punk soundscape dominated by Ray’s growling bass. The single is attached.
The trio will release another single in December and will have a new EP out in the New Year.
Crab Dance G.I.s announce new single
Crab Dance G.I.s – the duo featuring Danny Cusick (Hidden Gem, KIT B) and Craig Bodell (Hidden Gem) have announced a new double AA single (Listen To The) Dole Drums, and Compassion Fatigue to be released digitally via Bandcamp on November 30th. The duo have previously featured on one of our compilation albums – “Salford Streets”
As part of the writing team that created some of the Hidden Gem’s memorable tunes Cusick and Bodell have a gift for song-craft which is exceptional. Watch this space for more details.
Second Subscriber Special
In order to encourage our fans to take up our value for money subscription we are offering the next ten people to sign up a free gift of a CD from our back catalogue. For a mere £40 a year subscribers will receive everything we release over 12 months plus a selection of items from our back catalogue as well as one off subscriber specials which will not be released anywhere else.
Gigs
The gig calendar is rapidly filling up and dates are now appearing well into next year
2018
November
14th – The Junta is invading Lock 91, Deansgate Locks, Manchester
15th – Bouquet of Dead Crows play Esquires, Bedford
17th – Drink and Drive and Four Candles play The Railway, Greenfield
17th – The Mindsweepers play The Riverside, Dumfries
18th – Four Candles and Matthew Hopkins play The Eagle, Salford
22nd – Inferior Complex play The King Charles, Poole
23rd – Electric Cheese play Zombie Shack, Manchester
24th – Bouquet of Dead Crows launch new album Motus Octo at The Blue Moon, Cambridge
24th- Keltrix play The Crown & Pipes, Fenstanton
27th – Rose & The Diamond Hand plays The Kings Arms, Salford
29th – Bouquet of Dead Crows play Gringos, Norwich
29th – Four Candles play “Free Rock & Roll” at Sound, Duke Street, Liverpool
29th – Loop Aznavour plays El Manisero at Eva, Sackville Street, Manchester
December
1st – Toska Wilde plays Saks Southend on Sea as part of Cult 13 Showcase
1st – Bouquet of Dead Crows and Umbrella Assassins play Smokehouse, Ipswich
1st – Moet the Poet is back on the Independents Tour with JD Meatyard and others as MC at Bar 39 in Darwen.
2nd – Moet the Poet is back on the Independents Tour with JD Meatyard and others as MC at Sound, Liverpool
6th – Bouquet of Dead Crows play Mama Liz’s Voodoo Lounge, Stamford
6th – The Scissors (plus Ember Rev and Goddammit Jeremiah) at Cambridge Cornerhouse.
7th – The Mind Sweepers play Coach & Horses, Dumfries
8th – The Mind Sweepers and Øre playing The Troqueer Arms Dumfries
8th – Bouquet of Dead Crows play The Horn at the Half Moon, Bishops Stortford
8th – Boz Hayward and Keltrix with Misharlo play The Peer Hat, Manchester
8th – Poppycock support Vic Godard at Yes (The Basement) on Charles Street, Manchester with ASBO Derek
8th – Øre will be playing their debut gig at the TA in Dumfries
22nd – Drink and Drive play Strummercamp Fundraiser and Oldham Rugby Club
28th – Drink and Drive play Whittles, Oldham
2019
January
2nd – Manchester Meltdown Series 2 at the Peer Hat. Only £3 featuring Saturn Mansion. Weimar, Trancedental Equations, and Four Candles
9th – Manchester Meltdown Series 2 at the Peer Hat. Only £3 featuring St Lucifer, Adventures of Salvador, Emily Oldfield and Four Candles
16th – Manchester Meltdown Series 2 at the Peer Hat. Only £3 featuring Poppycock, Factory Acts, Mystery Guest, and Four Candles
23rd – Manchester Meltdown Series 2 at the Peer Hat. Only £3 featuring Rose and the Diamond Hand, Matthew Hopkins, Bang Up The Elephant and Four Candles
25th – Dominic Carlton Jones, Ian Moss and Toska Wilde play The Kings Arms, Salford
30th – Manchester Meltdown Series 2 at the Peer Hat. Only £3 featuring Springfield Elementary, Bobbie Peru, Elastikbande and Four Candles
February
9th – Scissors play NCI Club Cambridge (Cambridge Central Aid charity fundraiser, Scissors headlining, other acts TBC)
March
2nd – Four Candles, Johann Kloos and Rose Niland play the Peer Hat, Manchester, a benefit for Macmillan nurses as a memorial for Modal Roberts
German Shepherd Records 