I swear that this posting is cursed. I've seriously tried to put this shit together for weeks, with various maladies and unforeseeable troubles arising unexpectedly, but I think it's finally coming together in one piece. Anyways, this cassette only release is nothing short of amazing. If you were around the L.A. scene in the late 80's and early 90's then there is no way you did not see Claw Hammer at some seedy dive bar somewhere, whether it was Raji's or the Shamrock or that fucking place in Signal Hill where them and the Humpers were the house bands, there was just no way you weren't exposed to the sheer musical brilliance of Claw Hammer if you were around back then. Equal parts Zappa, Beefheart, Devo (who's entire first album the band famously covered in it's entirety) and Black Flag, these guys, on any given night, were capable of destroying any stage they set up and played on. There are countless other websites and blogs that have documented Claw Hammer much better than I ever could, so Google the bands name if you wanna know more details and inertia about them. This cassette only release captures the band in their salad days of infancy; young, mean, intense and angry, performing a Saturday night midnight set on Andrea Enthal's Twelve O'clock Rock show on August 5, 1990 on KPFK 90.7 FM, a Hollywood radio station that played an amazing mixed collection of music the likes of which may never be heard of again. The sound on this recording is incredible, the bands energy level is through the roof, and the material played is fantastic, including some songs that were never released officially and a few ecclectic covers from Brian Eno, Pere Ubu and Patti Smith thrown in for good measure. Clocking in at just under an hour, this release perfectly captures the Magic and Momentum the band had going for them in the early days, and which led them to have the illustrious career they did on such labels as Epitaph and Sympathy For The Records Industry. Grab this one when you can and give it a listen - I guarantee you will not be disappointed in this. :-)

This entry is only for Masochists, Completists and other assorted Punk Rock Weirdos - you know, the usual Youth Gone Mad fans!! :-) Again, another recording I know nothing about, but this time it's for all the wrong reasons! LOL Don't remember who plays on this, don't recall where it was recorded at, but I do know that at one time I had dozens of copies of these, and I would give them out to Friends and Family just for the fuck of it. I found this particular cassette at the bottom of a box of toys I had stored in my garage while I was looking for an old Halloween costume. I had completely forgotten about this recording, and I don't believe that these particular versions were ever released to the public. I think this cassette was made to drum up some major label interest, but I don't know that for sure. What I do know is that I had loads and loads of fun playing these songs live, so for a good dose of some early 90's Punk Rock straight outta Whittier, CA. (via the Lower East Side Bowery in Manhattan), give these Youth Gone Mad songs a listen. :-)

Well, here's another Local compilation that I know nothing about, which was released at a time when I was pretty active and just beginning to run around in the Scene. The title of this release, Free Aspirin And Tender Sympathy, came from a sign that was on one of the last gas stations on Las Vegas Blvd. heading south outta town, a bit of a tongue in cheek statement to the countless millions who left Sin City broke and hungover. Some of these bands on here sound very familiar, with names I recall seeing on flyers, like Offta Mars and Scrubs, and some of them I saw play a few times, like Vermin From Venus,  Wholes and Sausage Hostages, and only 1 band on here, Lethal Injection, is still around and gigging under the same name today. Speaking of same names, the fantastic artwork for this release was done by Dirk Vermin, and is great example of the stuff you'd find in his Betty Page inspired fanzine / Punk comic book or whatever it was he was doing at the time. Derrick Wells, the singer for Vermin From Venus, is really Dirk Vermin, so if you didn't know his real name already, well now you do! Kind of like finding out that Clark Kent is really Superman, right? Yeah, I know. Anthony Hudak, who used to be in Self Abuse, drums for Vermin From Venus and Under My Skin on their respective tracks on here, and MJ-12 features Todd Sampson (RIP) from Sampson's Army / M.I.A. singing and playing on a very Replacements sounding tune. Pablo Diablo And The Little Red Devils feature Pablo Schwartz, who also used to be in M.I.A., and Mike Fouts who used to be in F.S.P. on their catchy little tune (he's also in Cries And Whispers, who also appear on here), and Mudslide features Gina Mainwal on drums, who later went on to play in the No W.T.O. Combo with Krist Novoselic, Jello Biafra, and Kim Thayil. Not bad for a Local girl, huh? ;-) And the Sausage Hostages feature the guy who gave me this compilation, Jeff Murphy, on guitar and a guy named Cubby on drums. I'm not gonna ask. "Dirk Vermin" (that's how it's listed on the insert) plays guitar for Knuckle Sandwich, who turn in a song that sounds like it could of been on the Beach Blvd. compilation, and this CD comes to a roaring conclusion with the brutal as all gets Lethal Injection track called New York. Released on the Behemoth Records label and produced by Derrick And Darran Wells and Anthony Hudak, this release is a real good collection of what some of the Legendary Punk bands of the 80's later evolved into sonically, and the music on here is an eclectic mix to be sure, running the gamut from Punk to Pop to Psychedelic to pure Pablum puke, with some bands on here having no shame in hiding where they liberally "borrowed" riffs and melodies from, and others turning in some OK sounding music with the time they are allotted. Yeah, some of the material sounds extremely dated and sonically lacking but hey, what can you expect? This compilation is almost 20 years old, and despite all that, some of the stuff on here sounds pretty good. Give it a listen for yourself and see what you think of it. Free Aspirin And Tender Sympathy was released by Behemoth Records, which I don't believe is active anymore, but they do have a Discogs.com page full of their releases, and you can click here to go check that out. I believe Behemoth evolved into Wood Shampoo, but I'm not really sure about that. Regardless, Wood Shampoo is run by Darran Wells, they have a Facebook page (click here to go to it) and you should support him and all of his past and future endeavors. Support Local Music and Enjoy this compilation from 1993, a unique snapshot of a long gone time here in the Las Vegas Music Scene. Again, Thanks to Jeff Murphy for the info and for giving this to me to put on the website. Very, very appreciated Sir!

I know NOTHINK about this band. A lot of people who's musical opinions I just kind of tolerate rave on and on about these guys and how important they were to the Scene back in the daze. After finding absolutely bumpkins about them on the Inter-webs, I thought I'd try to put something together about the band after this demo of there's kind of fell into my lap. Area 51 was comprised of James Bagley (Vocals), Brian Brassfield (Guitar), Mike Nicholas (Bass) and Frank Klepacki (Drums). James, I believe, was in 5150, another seminal Las Vegas band at the time. The band honed their musical chops by playing the usual back yard kegger parties and places as diverse as Cafe Espresso Roma to the Henderson Elk's Lodge. I guess if you had to label them, I'd call them Crossover, or Punk Rock, with an emphasis on the Rawk part of it. Rock Music played by old Punk dudes. :-) The material is good, the guitar work on here is phenomenal, the rhythm section kills it, and Jame's vocals are great. So why didn't these guys hit it big? I dunno. They played constantly, don't know if they ever toured, and they did release a few more demos after this one, but it was always with different members, including Ed from Papsmear, another under appreciated Las Vegas band. Area 51 carried on despite the line up changes, and after a while they just sort of disappeared, with Brian later reappearing in the late 90's with a band called Phatback with a guy named Velton, who was one of the later day Area 51 bass players. They were doing the whole white boy Funk thing and it was just terrible. Anyways, their contribution to the L.V.H.C. scene cannot be overlooked, so here it is, their 1st demo tape, from 1991, and in some opinions, the best thing they've ever done, and I present it to you for your listening pleasure. Special Thanks to Jeff Murphy for letting me copy this and allowing me to put it up here on the website. Thanks to All Hail Bob for the help with digitalizing it from cassette tape and then re-mixing it.

The ever collectible, rare and elusive American Buckshot demo called Delightful. 138 copies were released to the general public. Family and Friends got copies with extra songs. Recorded and Mixed live to tape at Digital Insight in under 6 hours for like $200 on February 20th, 2009, this collection of songs was the result of long hours of practice in Dean's front room in the scarcely populated part of the desert and a handful of raucous gigs we had under our pyramid studded belts. This release was a total DIY project, with the CD's being printed at Home and the CD cases being put together by hand, and it was Dean's brilliant idea to put actual buckshot pellets in the spines of each case, acting like a maraca of some sorts whenever you picked the CD up. We sat around Dean's felt topped poker table cracking open 12 gauge shotgun shells while drinking beer, which just goes to show you how dedicated and deranged we were to make this demo of ours a memorable one. Originally, it was supposed to have samples from Casino and Goodfellas in between each song, and some radio chatter from Dean's military squadron as well, but after mixing the samples in we didn't like the way it sounded and just released the songs as they were. There were 3 more songs recorded in this session that were never released (Train Hoppin', Hammer and a cover of R.A.M.O.N.E.S. by Motörhead) that may or may not see the light of day sometime soon, but who knows. And no, I don't know why the songs are numbered the way they are. Ask Dean about that one. American Buckshot has a Facebook page which you can see by clicking here. Like us and keep up on what's going on with us as far as gigs and recordings go. Anyways, enjoy!

I seriously cannot tell you how much I loved this album when it came out back in the late 80's. These guys were the stuff of Legend, a dorky group of miscreants from behind the Orange Curtain in CA. that played anywhere and everywhere they could, spreading their ridiculously fun ideology to anyone who would give them a listen. I first saw Public Humiliation at some backyard kegger party with the Offspring and was just blown away by how funny the band was and how goofy the songs were they were playing. No genre was off limits, and no place to play live at was ever ignored. I quickly became a fan, seeing them opening up for big bands at the big shows and playing almost empty anarchist benefit gigs to the scorn of everyone in attendance. They were brilliant and I'm so glad I found this cassette in a box of junk in my garage recently. I miss Punk music like this. Standout tracks include My Sony, which I found a video of on YouTube that was posted just days before I wrote this up! Click here to check that shit out! It's crazy! Uhhhmmm, let's see, the other good songs on here are  Takin' A Left On Chapman, which, if you've ever driven down Chapman Ave. in Fullerton, is FUNNY!, Pepperoni Pizza, Bar Chord Baby, The Drinking Song, Hawaii 88, Loose And Confused and a few others. The Outro song wasn't labeled on here, as it's just the chorus riff from My Sony with some weird phone answering machine messages sampled into it. This cassette transfer came out pretty good, and I've been listening to this non stop since I converted it to MP3, and I'd love to find out whatever the Hell happened to these guys. Anyways, check this shit out. Public Humiliation. You just might like them. :-)

I love shopping in pawn shops and thrift stores. Most of the stuff I find is utter shite, but every now and then, you come across a gem like this, and suddenly everything you go through is all worth it... hee hee hee. I'm being totally facetious, of course. ;-) Does anyone know anything about this CD? I mean, I know that the lvlocalmusicscene.com website wasn't exclusively about punk rock, per se, but some of the bands on here I've heard of (187 / Pimp / 7 Foot Midget / Phatter Than Albert / Epstein's Mother / Automatic Taxi Star / Left Standing), others I hadn't (Fall In Line / Home Cookin' / The McCarthy's), there's some crappy rap on here (B-Sick), some solo artists (Conni Emerson / Michael Shapiro) and one band that is still gigging and playing around! (The Happy Campers) Brian Saliba (Ugh!) is listed as Executive Producer, it has a Copyright 2000 mark on it, and was the 2nd in the series, but I never saw Vol. 1, and don't know if there was a #3 that followed. The lvlocalmusicscene.com website is no longer working, so I could gather no additional information about this release. Nevertheless, it's an quirky snap shot of a mediocre time in the Las Vegas Music Scene, so give it a listen and see what you think about it. Who knows? You may actually like a few songs on here. Enjoy!

P.S. Does anyone know who those people are on the cover of the CD? hee hee hee