Inside Out b/w Nothin’ To Do In Detroit – The Dogs (I-94 Recordings)

MC5 fans who were born in the Detroit suburbs in 1968, punk power trio The Dogs have been calling Los Angeles home for decades after smelling the roses in New York City and the UK. Their modest body of recorded work (two studio albums, a compilation and assorted singles) is formidable despite its skinniness and shows that while you can take The Dogs out of the Motor City, you really can’t do the reverse.

This 45 on I-94 Recordings (not our own I-94 Bar imprint) pairs The Dogs’ take on “Nothin’ To Do In Detroit”, a 1978 cut by late, great and lost Detroit outfit The Ramrods, with their own “Inside Out" on the flip, and is the 17^th in a series of similarly configured 45s.

“Inside Out” is a hard-driving slice of muscular riffing that lifts the roof. Loren Molinaire attacks the vocal and his guitarwork with equal relish and bassist Mary Kay-Dodson’s backing work kicks the chorus into gear before the song slides into before some bluesy lead guitar laced with sustain. The B side is a simple but effective ode to The Dogs’ and The Ramrods' birthplace that’s a tad repetitive - but maybe that’s the point.



Buy it

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Wraydioactive! – The Wraylettes (Fyrbyrd Records)

It’s four songs across a seven-inch vinyl EP and because it’s a homage to the late Link Wray (who deserves to be everybody’s Guitar God) played by the world’s only all-girl Link Wray tribute band, it sounds a lot like Link Wray.

You should know that Link Wray was a man of varied talents. His 1958 hit “Rumble” was just one claim to fame. Not only was he The King of overdriven and distorted surf guitar instrumentals, he worked across swamp rock, country and rockabilly.

On his one and only Australian tour, he pinned crowds to the back walls of venues like Sydney’s Metro Theatre with volume that would have put Thorpey to shame.

Brave Face – Chinese Burns Unit with Sly Faulkner (Buttercup Records)

With a band history going back a decade-and-a-half, you’d assume Sydney punks Chinese Burns Unit have done it all. Nuh-huh. Not until they’d recorded with Sly Faulkner, ex of The Splatterheads, Red Planet Rockets and Powerline Sneakers. The idea dates back to pre-COVID so it’s taken a while to come to fruition. How goes the adage? Good things come to those who wait.

To the A side and “Brave Face” flows like fine goon wine. Engine room members Jay Whalley and John Irish lock in for the ride of their lives. Faulkner’s impassioned vocal and some melodic back-ups contrast with potent lyrics about betrayal. Duelling guitars from Glenno and Jenny T are the jam on top of the cream bun.

It’s Never Easy – Flowers For Jayne (self released)

Sydney’s Flowers For Jayne have created a reputation for delivering “chunky” pop and rock. It’s all down to that crunchy Les Paul being used. The title track of last year’s “In The Keep” was a classic example, with its super catchy chorus, killer guitar tones and first rate production. It was one of my favourites in 2024.

The new FFJ single , “It’s Never Easy”, starts with a more mellow acoustic guitar leading the way but fear not, as the song builds , that familiar guitar crunch is there. It'sanother melodic rocker from the pen of Jayne Lily Murphy, who plays guitar and keyboards, and sings lead and backing vocals, with able assistance from Mary-Anne Cornford on bass and Peter Timmerman on drums.

The video for “It’s Never Easy” will be launched here on March 28.  The single will be launched on Sunday March 30 at the Gasoline Pony in Sydney and event details are here.

“Running the Lines” b/w “Checkin’ Out” – The Strains (I-94 Recordings)

 It sounds cliched in these transnational times, but you can still get a sense of where a band lives from the sound of their records. The Strains are undeniably denizens of  the Motor City, with that gritty and uncompromising, blue collar guitar sound that’s rooted in the blues and late ‘60s heavy rock.

A side “Running Time” rides a wave of searing guitars, courtesy of Gretta Smak and Jamy Halliday, a tearaway tempo and the take-no-prisoners vocal of Paul Grace Smith (ex-Dumbell). It skids to a halt all too soon, running a touch over a coupla minutes. So play it again, Sam! Flip it and you’ll hear a spiffing cover of The Torpedos’ “Checkin’ Out” from 1979 (RIP Johnny Angelos) with a rolled gold minor chord melody that sticks like dogshit on your sneaker.

When you read a one-sheet describing The Strains as "a Detroit version of the Patridge Family", c’mon, you can’t help but get happy, because a semblance of irony still exists in a very confused Amerika. It's not on our own I-94 Bar label but the much more active I-94 Recordings imprint from Detroit. Get it here. The Strains are currently touring the Midwest with Handsome Dick Manitoba and be warned their full-length self-titled album that you’ll find here is a killer.

Keepin’ Up With The Jones – The Ballbusters (Vicious Kitten)

You might question the validity of this four-song EP from the Worcester, Massachusetts, band that used to be Rick Blaze and The Ballbusters until their frontman’s demise in 2011 following protracted health issues. After all, it’s been 23 years since their second album and first for Vicious Kitten (the “Manhattan Babylon” CD) and one of the guitarists, Dave Cuneo, has also since shuffled off this mortal coil.

It was easy back then to write off Rick Blaze and The Ballbusters as yet another Thunders-besotted outfit from the backblocks whose fascination for JT's dubious lifestyle choices got in the way of them making it out of their own backyard. The cover art for this EP is all a bit too obvious but its arrival prompted re-visits of “Manhattan Babylon” and its 2001 follow-up “People’s Republic of Rock and Roll”, and they retrospectively hold up as righteous slices of swagger that owe as much to Mick and Keef as  J. Genzales.