Speaking of Americans, American Music Club was a band that Mark Eitzel (aka Billy Lee Buckeye in the pages of The Offense) put together in San Francisco in 1982 after moving there from Columbus. While in my city, his bands were The Cowboys and Naked Skinnies, the first of which appeared at Mr. Brown's on 16 of the 47 nights that I booked the place before starting my zine. They also put out a single on Tet Offensive Records, my label's first (and last!) release. "Supermarket" can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCJx1Zr9Gbg, "Teenage Life" can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ogc24z4_ZE, Jay and I can now be heard on The Fanzine Podcast, and thank you so much for making that possible and giving us that wonderful opportunity, Tony!
Hey Tony - thanks again for the kind words and for having me - Jay Hinman - on the podcast. Just a note: Tim Ellison (guest on the RockWrit podcast) was very much a fanzine editor, and a great one. Here's a bit I wrote about his fanzine: https://fanzinehemorrhage.com/2023/07/21/rock-mag-1/
And I was going to make it crystal-clear in the comments but you did it for me: The Avengers' Steve Jones-produced version of "The American in Me" blows doors on all other versions. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWEgk22IvA4&ab_channel=TheIceman
Hi Jay, and thanks to you and Tim for coming on the show. There was so much I learned from this experience, including about The Avengers. I'm figuring now that they must have come and gone before I started getting records and fanzines send to me from the States, though I'm a little baffled as why they didn't come into my radar through these various retrospectives and their evident importance on that early SF punk scene.
All of which is a way of saying that I don't know their history BUT that the version of 'The American In Me' that I included in the post is the one I prefer. And that the Qobuz review of the eponymous compilation album calls it "an early take of the song, rawer than the finished product." I bow to people better informed as to the song's lineage and it rocks either way. But as for the definitive version, are there more to choose from, and should we get Jack Rabid in for the casting vote?
Thanks also for letting me know about Tim's Rock Mag! zine, the presumably "ironic" title of which threw me as listed by Rockwrit. Your review is great as ever and I love his list of artists you included.
Being in the middle of a move, I felt a little heroic just getting the podcast and accompanying post conducted and uploaded on schedule, which is maybe my way of excusing myself for some lapses of fact-checking and spell-checking on this episode and post. I could say "especially as I call the Supreme Court to task for not fact-checking." But truth is, I'm not the Supreme Court and we are simply all part of the rocking underground that attempts to keep things lively while those up on top keep f**king them in. Thanks for being a part of it and doing so much to promote that underground, especially the American side of it.
Oh, and happy July 4th. It is for a Brit this time round.
Speaking of Americans, American Music Club was a band that Mark Eitzel (aka Billy Lee Buckeye in the pages of The Offense) put together in San Francisco in 1982 after moving there from Columbus. While in my city, his bands were The Cowboys and Naked Skinnies, the first of which appeared at Mr. Brown's on 16 of the 47 nights that I booked the place before starting my zine. They also put out a single on Tet Offensive Records, my label's first (and last!) release. "Supermarket" can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCJx1Zr9Gbg, "Teenage Life" can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ogc24z4_ZE, Jay and I can now be heard on The Fanzine Podcast, and thank you so much for making that possible and giving us that wonderful opportunity, Tony!
Hey Tony - thanks again for the kind words and for having me - Jay Hinman - on the podcast. Just a note: Tim Ellison (guest on the RockWrit podcast) was very much a fanzine editor, and a great one. Here's a bit I wrote about his fanzine: https://fanzinehemorrhage.com/2023/07/21/rock-mag-1/
And I was going to make it crystal-clear in the comments but you did it for me: The Avengers' Steve Jones-produced version of "The American in Me" blows doors on all other versions. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWEgk22IvA4&ab_channel=TheIceman
Hi Jay, and thanks to you and Tim for coming on the show. There was so much I learned from this experience, including about The Avengers. I'm figuring now that they must have come and gone before I started getting records and fanzines send to me from the States, though I'm a little baffled as why they didn't come into my radar through these various retrospectives and their evident importance on that early SF punk scene.
All of which is a way of saying that I don't know their history BUT that the version of 'The American In Me' that I included in the post is the one I prefer. And that the Qobuz review of the eponymous compilation album calls it "an early take of the song, rawer than the finished product." I bow to people better informed as to the song's lineage and it rocks either way. But as for the definitive version, are there more to choose from, and should we get Jack Rabid in for the casting vote?
Thanks also for letting me know about Tim's Rock Mag! zine, the presumably "ironic" title of which threw me as listed by Rockwrit. Your review is great as ever and I love his list of artists you included.
Being in the middle of a move, I felt a little heroic just getting the podcast and accompanying post conducted and uploaded on schedule, which is maybe my way of excusing myself for some lapses of fact-checking and spell-checking on this episode and post. I could say "especially as I call the Supreme Court to task for not fact-checking." But truth is, I'm not the Supreme Court and we are simply all part of the rocking underground that attempts to keep things lively while those up on top keep f**king them in. Thanks for being a part of it and doing so much to promote that underground, especially the American side of it.
Oh, and happy July 4th. It is for a Brit this time round.