The Quakes - Negitive Charge (2009)

Howdy people, startin' out "Sande's Poor Man's Throwbacks — Good Bands You Forgot You Own" segment with The Quakes. The Quakes are a punk/rockabilliy band that started out in the 80's and Negative Charge is their latest album which came out last year. If you're a Tiger Army, Pennywise, or Offspring fan I'm thinking you would dig these guys. They got that indefinable, throw-caution-to-the-wind, punkish swagger. The Quakes are more popular in Europe, so you might get a little taste of British punk in there mixed in with the heavy drums and stand up bass. Whenever I hear them wailing, it always makes me want to get back in the tattoo parlor REALLY bad, especially "Seven Seas Alone." Something about really good bands that never made it big for no apparent reason other than bad luck, have always had a special place in my heart. I repeatedly blast The Quakes whenever I overcome some small obstacle just to even the score. So, if you ever want to cut loose just cause you deserve it, I suggest cranking up "Ghost Town," "Negative Charge," or "Straight to Valhalla," drink too many whiskey sours and get some more reckless ink, because why the fuck not?

Spinnerette - Spinnerette (2009)

The Spinnerette debut album was just released in June, and my first impression is that I may not be cool enough to listen to this in public, for fear of embarrassing myself with crazy air drumming and guitar riffs. I was a huge fan of Brody Dalle and the Distillers, so needless to say was totally bummed when they broke up. The Spinnerette is Brody's new band, which totally kicks ass. I kind of feel like she has graduated to another level of artistic freedom, in that the Distillers were an awesome hardcore punk band, and no disrespect to them, but that's all they were. And as much as I liked em', it's kind of like that old saying "it is what it is", they were never going to change a whole lot, and did not offer that much room for growth as Brody the singer*. However, the Spinnerette has a whole different style, sort of melodic punk, with a dark futuristic sound. Her vocals obviously are the standout, but the new band has a lot more talent as overall musicians. Tracks like "Ghetto Love", "Cupid", and "All Babes are Wolves" make me want to say fuck it and get another tattoo, preferably on my neck. I am pretty sure that I will be hearing this played a lot in dark bars that house dangerous patrons, where the bartender's sporting a pink mohawk and a corset, smoking a cigarette, and no one seems to notice.

*Hope that made sense