The Radio Punk Show with Mike Davies, Airdate: 2-4 a.m. 20/08/2008

When was the last time you got a chance to vote for Wreckless Eric?

Top forgetting to put "1" in the subject line by me, there. Grrmph.

Sidenote: Mike Davies started at Radio 1 about a year-and-a-half before Zane Lowe. The Lock-Up was one of the shows that used to follow on from Lowe's 7-9 slot back in the day (along with Bobby & Nihal and, er, some others that I can't remember right now), but got shifted to its current slot after the introduction of Colin Murray's four night run at 10-midnight. A more up-to-date video biography of him can be found at the not-at-all-annoying Radio 1 DJs page.

I'm assuming that's a different H2O to the "I Dream Of Sleep" lot.

In truth it's a case of for those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like - it's a bit of a cop-out to go for "Mirror In The Bathroom" and probably only slightly less of a cop-out to vote for the Descendents or Bad Brains but I'll go for "I'm Not A Loser."

Copped out with Minor Threat. The only tracks I've heard here are the oldies.

Have Less Than Jake, Pennywise and Alkaline Trio headlined the Lock Up stage every year for the last five years? it feels like it.

I only really know the oldies too - mainly cos the new stuff they play is just not the kind of punk I'm interested in. Went for TSOL.

Last time I went to Reading festival Pennywise were headlining the Vans stage and drowned out Smog who I was attempting to watch in the New Bands stage next to it. Although it wasn't as bad as trying to watch Cat Power while Papa Roach were on the main stage. I think that was the same year.

Any chance of a Westwood playlist poll?

Voted Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today, one of my alltime favorites.

Voted Descendents.

This is a weird playlist and made me realise I don't really know anything about this programme - is it supposed to be a sort of skatepunk equivalent of a Virgin Radio playlist or whatever split between pleasant buzz of nostalgia / new stuff that won't frighten the horses?

(along with Bobby & Nihal and, er, some others that I can't remember right now)

-- William Bloody Swygart, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 17:46 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Ras Kwame!

Are you sure? I remember he was brought in to do the Wednesday 11pm-1am slot, with Huw Stephens on the Tuesday slot and Rob da Bank on the Thursday, Lamacq Live 9p-1a Monday, and the 9pm slot on the Thursday being taken by... er... you know, I think it might have been Mary Anne Hobbs.

Actually, no, it'd be Annie Mac, that'd be it.

Westwood poll will almost certainly come up at some point, but next week it's the 1Xtra playlist and, as I recall, the week after is Bob Harris Country.

Gorilla Biscuits wins any time it's in any contest, regardless. And I rocked the first Quicksand EP the other day!

Although that Bad Brains track is damn good mid-80's hardcore, Dr. Know has a huge main riff. This is from the same album where HR records over the phone from prison.
http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=51102a76f7

what songs did HR record from prison? much prefer Black Dots-era Brains, but 're-ignition' slays.

'Sacred Love' is recorded over a phone line. I read somewhere why HR was in prison, but forgot the details. 'Black Dots' era IS awesome (tho' I like the ROIR tape the best, whilst others love 'Rock for Light' [to trebley for me]), but listen to 'I Against I' in conjunction with Cro-Mags 'Age of Quarrel' and other mid-80's NYC stuff, and believe me, it's awesome. Before long, you'll be putting on early SOIA and YOT :)

Here it is, sung over a phone line:
http://www.seeqpod.com/search/?plid=23d2529ceb

ah, i always wondered why it sounded so bizarre. RFL was the second Brains LP i got, after I Against I, and i loved it till i heard Black Dots - the drum sound on the latter album is great, the opening beats on 'How Low Can A Punk Get' sound like they're from a dub record. the tapes for RFL were sped up, weren't they?

I don't know if they were sped up or not, but who knows what Ric Ocasek got up to with Rock for Light? I DO like how there are lots of different versions of the same song across those early albums - Rock For Light, ROIR, Black Dots and The Omega Tapes, so fans can have stages where one album is there favorite for a few months, then switch.

'Omega SESSIONS', I mean. Thanks, Victory Records

I think the Caroline CD reissue of Rock For Light has sped up tapes and is generally acknowledged to be an all round botch job. Unfortunately that's the version I've got. I guess look for a vinyl reissue.

Dang, thanks. I will also be on the lookout for a vinyl version

It's a peculiar little show - looking back through the tracklistings, feller's played some bands a lot more frequently than others (if we can say one thing about this man, it is that he quite likes Pennywise), but there's a decent mix of other things in there too - Billy Bragg (one of his new ones, too, by the looks of things), Tegan & Sara and Bo Diddley have all cropped up fairly recently. What's also odd is how many of these band names I remember from back when I was in secondary school (late 90s-early 2001) - Pennywise, Less Than Jake, Alkaline Trio, Bad Religion... There's a peculiar amount of familiarity and continuity going on here, along with a fairly strong connection with punk music past. I'mma link this in the Rolling Punk Thread, see what they make of this show.

From what I can remember, The Lock-Up started because Radio 1's coverage of skater music back in 2002 was, shall we say, not exactly commensurate with its popularity. Lamacq - actually, cripes, this would've been when the Evening Session was still about, wouldn't it? - was the only outlet, and he was primarily identified as being about the indie and the Britpop and such. It's interesting to note this passage from Davies' bio:

Working at the heart of Radio 1 production teams, Mike often helped out with shows and after working with Steve Lamacq and The Evening Session at The Deconstruction Tour, landed himself a full-time job.

Mike's knowledge of the LA punk scene and his enthusiasm for broadcasting impressed Steve and he was invited to join the team permanently.

After a year and a half working on The Evening Session, Mike had built up a reputation in the record industry and in radio as one of the leading taste makers in his field of music.

In January 2002 Radio 1 gave Mike a slot on the station to build his own show from scratch.

If true, that's a fairly impressive endorsement. Difficult to imagine it happening now, though perhaps that's what the new dance shows we discussed elsewhere will turn out to be...

I like the classics by Minor Threat, the (English not Paul Collins) Beat, and especially Wreckless Eric, but I also like the new songs by Beat Union and Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band (who, strangely, are actually on the blues chart in the States.) I'm going to go ahead and vote for Beat Union one, even though those three old songs are a lot better, because if I don't no way will they get any votes.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I have never heard this show.

Some good stuff and some awful stuff on that playlist.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

New poll: BBC 1Xtra Playlist, Issue Date: 22nd August 2008

Minor Threat only got 1? I thought they would win.

That wz me.

Onely one ska-punk band on the playlist and they got no votes - RIP ILX meme

I voted Bad Brains as I thought everyone would vote Minor Threat and BB would be ignored. Oh well.

obviously, old punk >>>> new punk.

I actually listened to (about an hour) of the show before voting. Been listening to quite a lot of 'punk' recently, as a result of my current Hold Steady obsession (stuff like Jawbreaker & Dillinger Four because Craig Finn names them as influences; Gaslight Anthem because, ahum, the NME said they were the New Hold Steady. They aren't. But '59 Sound is still a pretty good song). But even if it doesn't all sound the same, what I expected, it still got dull rather quickly. That King Blues track is strange by the way; like a rock version of the Streets. According to their myspace the rest of their oeuvre sounds like Rancid.

Would have said the Levellers, based on the one time I saw the King Blues. They might have been polished up or something in the meantime but I found them very, very hard to watch and suspect that this would still be the case