Finally, it’s here! After months of trying to figure out all the ins and outs of putting together a podcast I have managed to get my shit together and create something that I think is pretty good. If you are looking for an antidote to listening to the same thing on commercial rock radio day in and day out, give the Rock and Roll Report Podcast a listen for some welcome relief.

To listen to the podcast you can either hit “play” (that triangle button thingy on the right) or download the whole MP3 file to your computer or MP3 player. Let me know if you run into any problems.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast, just click the link below:

Subscribe to The Rock and Roll Report Podcast

The tracks that I play on this podcast include:

Rock and Roll Report Intro - The Rock and Roll Report Intro is performed by Miami-based Featured on Fridays, the incredible duo of extremely talented musicians Brev Sullivan and Crystal Fawn. Expect to hear more of Featured on Fridays on a podcast in the near future.

1. Good Storm by Swedish band The Mainliners off of the very cool Swedish record label Crusher Records
   http://www.themainliners.com/
   www.myspace.com/mainlinerssweden
   www.crusherrecords.com/
   
2. Hanging Like A Suicide by Edinburgh, Scotland’s the Heavy Drapes who are currently unsigned with no management.
   http://www.myspace.com/theheavydrapes
3. All I Wanted by Australian band Hailer, also unsigned.
   http://www.myspace.com/hailermusic
4. Sex66 by Rochester, New York’s Atomic Swindlers (thanks for the promo Roy and April!)
   http://www.myspace.com/theatomicswindlers
   
5. You Brought It On Yourself by Green Bay, Wisconsin’s The Annex who are signed to the excellent Fastlane Records (expect a feature on Fastlane on an upcoming podcast)
   http://www.myspace.com/annexcentral
   http://www.myspace.com/fastlanerecords
6. Red Eye by Bellingham, Washington’s The DT’s
   http://www.myspace.com/thedts
   http://www.estrus.com/bands/dts/
   Buy Filthy Habits from Amazon
7. Wrong by Hamilton, Ontario’s The Morning Stars
   http://www.myspace.com/themorningstars
   
8. Hang Your Head by Hollywood, California’s The Blessings
   http://www.myspace.com/theblessings

Hope you enjoy the show! Let me know what you think, send me suggestions on bands you think will pop my cork or just say hi! You can get in touch with me by sending an email to rockandrollreport@gmail.com or leaving a voice message at 1-647-724-4194 Code# *5288116 or Skype me at Rockandrollreport.

The next podcast will be out Wednesday, December 5th, 2007.

Later.

Mark

Share This

Well 2 of the Amigos were down for the count as a result of Grey Cup festivities over the weekend but I kept everything together in the spirit of comradeship! Here is what I played:

Song - Album - Artist

1. Going Down Slow - A Bitch is a Bitch - Lick & A Promise
2. Whenever You Change - Daphne - Daphne
3. True Grit - True Grit - Swig
4. (South Oshawa) Drug Mule - The Brown Hornets - The Brown Hornets
5. Losing Me - Switchback - Switchback
6. Miss Bradley, Dear - Black Book - The Snitches
7. Girls, Skirts, Boots, Bikes - Me -The Buck Brothers
8. The Get Go - Fantastic Playroom - New Young Pony Club
9. Carbona Not Glue - Sex Music - The Toilet Boys
10. Bad For Me - Push It Nationwide - The Sleepers
11. Leaves - Lowell Thompson - Lowell Thompson
12. Long Way Home - Kiss or Kill - EndeverafteR

drastic plastic 128kbps Podcast (Link good for one week from date of broadcast)

Later

Mark

Share This

From Lexington, Kentucky I present Nine Pound Hammer, a kick ass rock and roll band if I ever heard one!

With songs like Drunk Tired and Mean I think you know where they are coming from with their particular brand of rock and roll. If images of shitty road houses on a blue highway somewhere down south come to mind you are not alone. “Out of my way I’m as drunk as hell” is how 12oz Mouse Theme kicks off and things go pleasantly downhill from there.

Check out their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/ninepoundhammered for a taste of what they sound like. And pour yourself a shot of red eye to get into the proper frame of mind!

Later.

Mark

Share This

Just a heads up that 2 of the 3 Amigos will be on tonight on the Drastic Plastic Program on www.ckut.ca from 10:00 - 11:00 PM EST.

Armitage and Doug both went to Toronto for the Grey Cup and Armitage has assured me that he will be in the studio tonight but Doug gives no guarantees so I have no clue what we will be playing. Tune in and find out as it is always quality rock and roll.

Later.

Mark

Share This

Finally, after what seems like (and in fact has been years) of talking about it, the brand new Rock and Roll Report Podcast is ready to be unleashed on your ears! That’s right, the very first episode will be debuting on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 and I hope you download it and enjoy it.

For those of you who are wondering what a podcast is, it is quite simply in essence a downloadable radio show that you can listen to on your MP3 player (you don’t need an iPod to listen to it since it is just an MP3 file), burn to a CD and play on your stereo or in your car or listen to on your computer directly off of www.rockandrollreport.com.

Every Wednesday except for the week that I am hosting Rock and Roll Report Radio on CKUT FM, you will have a slice of the rock and roll that I feel deserves to be heard. Do you ever find that you are listening to your local rock radio station and you ask yourself that maybe, instead of playing Hotel California one more time they just might consider playing something new that rocks? Well that’s where the Rock and Roll Report Podcast comes in. The stuff I will be playing is music that I think could fit onto any commercial rock radio playlist (be it alternative, classic rock or whatever) but doesn’t get there due to the fact that it is released on small independent record labels or is performed by bands and artists who do not have any label at all. This isn’t an “indie” show per se. This is simply overlooked rock and roll that I think deserves to be heard and consistently blows me away. I range across the rock and roll spectrum from hard rock to powerpop to garage to psychedelic to punk and to metal and beyond but the show is not about any particular genre. It is simply all rock and roll to me.

I hope you stop by on Wednesday to have a listen and let me know what you think. By all means drop me a line at rockandrollreport@gmail.com with suggestions, comments, platitudes, nasty insults or names of bands you think I simply must hear. I definitely would appreciate it (ok maybe not the nasty insults so at least be creative!)

The complete details will be posted on Wednesday with all the info you need to subscribe to the podcast as well as the playlist, show notes and links to the bands and a way you can buy their music. It is a blast putting these things together and I really hope you enjoy it!

(Photo by Darko Danic, courtesy of good friend of the Rock and Roll Report Tova Jansen)

Later.

Mark

Share This

Share This

Finally, after what seems like (and in fact has been years) of talking about it, the brand new Rock and Roll Report Podcast is ready to be unleashed on your ears! That’s right, the very first episode will be debuting on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 and I hope you download it and enjoy it.

For those of you who are wondering what a podcast is, it is quite simply in essence a downloadable radio show that you can listen to on your MP3 player (you don’t need an iPod to listen to it since it is just an MP3 file), burn to a CD and play on your stereo or in your car or listen to on your computer directly off of www.rockandrollreport.com.

Every Wednesday except for the week that I am hosting Rock and Roll Report Radio on CKUT FM, you will have a slice of the rock and roll that I feel deserves to be heard. Do you ever find that you are listening to your local rock radio station and you ask yourself that maybe, instead of playing Hotel California one more time they just might consider playing something new that rocks? Well that’s where the Rock and Roll Report Podcast comes in. The stuff I will be playing is music that I think could fit onto any commercial rock radio playlist (be it alternative, classic rock or whatever) but doesn’t get there due to the fact that it is released on small independent record labels or is performed by bands and artists who do not have any label at all. This isn’t an “indie” show per se. This is simply overlooked rock and roll that I think deserves to be heard and consistently blows me away. I range across the rock and roll spectrum from hard rock to powerpop to garage to psychedelic to punk and to metal and beyond but the show is not about any particular genre. It is simply all rock and roll to me.

I hope you stop by on Wednesday to have a listen and let me know what you think. By all means drop me a line at rockandrollreport@gmail.com with suggestions, comments, platitudes, nasty insults or names of bands you think I simply must hear. I definitely would appreciate it (ok maybe not the nasty insults so at least be creative!)

The complete details will be posted on Wednesday with all the info you need to subscribe to the podcast as well as the playlist, show notes and links to the bands and a way you can buy their music. It is a blast putting these things together and I really hope you enjoy it!

(Photo by Darko Danic, courtesy of good friend of the Rock and Roll Report Tova Jansen)

Later.

Mark

Share This

(PR) OurStage announced today the OurStage College Clash, a 3-month long online music competition for New England college bands. The monthly winners will battle it out in a LIVE competition for the $5,000 OurStage College Clash grand prize at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston in February 2008.

“The New England college music scene is budding,” says Ben Campbell, OurStage founder & CEO. “The OurStage College Clash will give these up-and-coming talented musicians an opportunity to get noticed and launch their career, so we invite all New England college bands to submit to our competition today.”

From the 1st to the 23rd of each month, for 3 months starting in November, NE college bands can simply go to www.ourstage.com/go/collegeclash and upload their music into the OurStage College Clash channel to enter. Music fans from OurStage and the submitting bands then decide who’s most deserving by judging all submissions in the channel side by side. OurStage’s unique judging process makes sure that each submission is voted on fairly by a real audience - no rigging, no cheating, and no celebrity judges.

At the end of each month, the top-ranked college band for that month on the OurStage College Clash channel will be awarded $500 and have the opportunity to play live at the Paradise in February against the other OurStage College Clash channel winners. The overall winner will be chosen by the fans at the Paradise based on their live performance. The winner will be awarded $5,000. To qualify for these prizes, at least one member of the band must be currently enrolled in a New England college or university.

Share This

(PR) OurStage announced today the OurStage College Clash, a 3-month long online music competition for New England college bands. The monthly winners will battle it out in a LIVE competition for the $5,000 OurStage College Clash grand prize at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston in February 2008.

“The New England college music scene is budding,” says Ben Campbell, OurStage founder & CEO. “The OurStage College Clash will give these up-and-coming talented musicians an opportunity to get noticed and launch their career, so we invite all New England college bands to submit to our competition today.”

From the 1st to the 23rd of each month, for 3 months starting in November, NE college bands can simply go to www.ourstage.com/go/collegeclash and upload their music into the OurStage College Clash channel to enter. Music fans from OurStage and the submitting bands then decide who’s most deserving by judging all submissions in the channel side by side. OurStage’s unique judging process makes sure that each submission is voted on fairly by a real audience - no rigging, no cheating, and no celebrity judges.

At the end of each month, the top-ranked college band for that month on the OurStage College Clash channel will be awarded $500 and have the opportunity to play live at the Paradise in February against the other OurStage College Clash channel winners. The overall winner will be chosen by the fans at the Paradise based on their live performance. The winner will be awarded $5,000. To qualify for these prizes, at least one member of the band must be currently enrolled in a New England college or university.

Share This

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Enjoy.

Later.

Mark

Share This

Following in the stiletto heels of such glam drag rock and roll sensations as the New York Dolls, the Toilet Boys bring their full-bore makeup and fireworks arsenal to the rock and roll stage and they are certainly a sleazy breath of fresh air. With equal parts punk guts, glam glitter and rock and roll swagger, the Toilet Boys manage to make great, trashy rock and roll on tracks like the Debbie Harry into’d “Sex Music” to the full out assault of “Gimme Everything” and a cover of the Ramones classic “Carbona not Glue.”

Check out their MySpace page at http://myspace.com/toiletboysnyc and in the meantime have a look at their video for Living Like a Millionaire:

Later.

Mark

Share This

Sonicbids has kicked off a special year-long Get A Gig Guarantee promotion. Sonicbids’ mission is to help bands get gigs; based on the belief that independent music belongs everywhere –– on festival stages; in video game consoles; on film screens; in college theaters; on the radio; in advertisements; on club stages and at sporting events. The Get-A-Gig Guarantee speaks to how important this mission is for the company by giving artist members a free 6-month membership extension if they do not secure at least one gig over the course of the next 6 months – no strings attached. For more, visit www.Sonicbids.com.

The Rock and Roll Report is a Sonicbids partner and if you are in a band it is definitely an effective way to get your music heard. If you want to submit your music to The Rock and Roll Report through Sonicbids just click on the Sonicbids logo in the top right of this very website. Thanks.

Later

Mark

Share This

Share This

One band that has been a big supporter of The Rock and Roll Report has been UK band The Contrast. With incomparable lyrics by David Reid, the Contrast epitomize intelligent power pop without having that intelligence mar a fresh and jangly rock and roll sound. I realized to my horror a few weeks ago that I had neglected to play anything off of this year’s Underground Ghosts CD but quickly rectified that by playing Clue on the last Rock and Roll Report Radio.

Good lyrics don’t have to preach, they just have to be honest and not get in the way of the music. The Contrast manage both to do both with aplomb. An excellent band and highly recommended. Here is the video for Clue to give you a taste. You can listen to more of their stuff at their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/thecontrasttheband.

Later.

Mark

Share This

Just a heads up to everybody that Doug Ford, the longtime host of the Drastic Plastic Program on CKUT 90.3 FM here in Montreal is celebrating his 20th! anniversary on the air on November 19th from 10:00 - 11:00 PM EST at www.ckut.ca.

Make sure you tune in for what will be a momentous trip down memory lane. Doug has been broadcasting all these years for the pure love of music and it is people like this that rekindle my faith in rock and roll. Cheers Doug! I’ll be listening.

Later.

Mark

Share This

Subject - Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm, a 2005 release on SuperEgo Records, with cover art direction by Aimee Mann & Gail Marowitz

Based on a story about the relationship between a small-time boxer who’s a Vietnam vet who returned with a LOT of emotional baggage and his small-town girlfriend - who both simply want to run away from their problems – singer/songwriter Aimee Mann’s concept album and her band take the listener on a cross-country musical tour that ends with our two young lovers breaking up, facing their demons and, ultimately, getting back together – well, sort of…

Aimee Mann’s career – from her beginnings in Virginia and Boston at the Berklee College of Music, to her musical travels through punk (The Young Snakes) to New Wave success (and an MTV Video Award for “Best New Artist”) in the mid-80s with ‘Til Tuesday (Voices Carry) and then finally as a well-regarded solo artist, independent label owner and an Academy Award nominated songwriter (in 1999, for music and songs written for the film Magnolia) – has also had its share of heavyweight successes and the sucker punches that only an independent-minded artist suffers in the music business, but in the end, she’s found true love (with singer Michael Penn, whom she married in 1997) and keeps delivering her music to her fans, her way.

(more…)

Share This

During Monday’s show I mentioned that the incredible RecorStoreReview.Com is going to close down January 1, 2008 if they don’t raise $1000.00 by then. This site is an incredible resource run by one guy and if you care at all about supporting independent record stores you will fire off a couple of bucks to him to ensure that this incredible resource keeps going for another year.

I rarely send out appeals like this but this site is too good to lose. Please give generously if you can.

Thanks.

Mark

Share This

I am going to take a few days off from posting while I battle whatever bug is raging through my system right now. I don’t want to put out some half-assed posts just for the sake of posting to the site. I much prefer to use my whole ass!

Later.

Mark

Share This

I must apologize for those of you who tried to listen online only to not be able to connect to the station. I have been assured that this is now fixed but in the future I will verify that the station is streaming properly before I go to air.

That being said it was a good show marred only by the fact that I felt compelled to talk a lot last night. I don’t know why since I always prefer to let the music do the talking but that being said, the tunes rocked! Here is what I played:

Song - Band - Album

Rooftop Sniper - The Brown Hornets - The Brown Hornets
Give Up - The Millions - Disrespectfully Yours
into the blue - Heavy Drapes - Unreleased
Track of Time - Switchback - Switchback
Sweet - Daphne - Daphne
Rock ‘N Roll - S.E.X. Department - S.E.X. Department
Gimme Everything - Toilet Boys - Sex Music
Don’t Want A Girl Who’s Been With Jack - The Condors - Wait For It
Clue - The Contrast - Underground Ghosts
Helicopters - Brian Lisik - Happiness is Boring
Just Another Trick - Beretta76 - Black Beauty
All ‘Cause Of You - The 88 - Over & Over

drastic plastic 128kbps Podcast (Good for 1 week from date of broadcast)

Later.

Mark

Share This

Rock and Roll Report Radio will be back on the air tonight, November 12th, 2007 from 10:00 - 11:00 PM EST on www.ckut.ca.

I will be playing tracks from the Brown Hornets, Heavy Drapes, the Millions, Swig, Switchback, the Condors and more. Stop by and give your ears a treat. Guaranteed MSG-free!

Later.

Mark

Share This

All images Copyright 2001 and 2007 – Maryanne Bilham Photography – www.maryannebilham.com

Subject - The Go-Gos God Bless The Go-Gos – a 2001 release on Beyond Records (Re-released in the U.S. in 2004 on Sony/Legacy/Eagle Records), with cover photography by Maryanne Bilham

Having released 3 albums in the early 1980s (including 1982’s huge Vacation, previously discussed in our 9/14 Cover Story) that coincided with the path that took them from bar band to opening act for the Police to superstardom on their own, the Go-Gos disintegrated within a year after releasing 1984’s Talk Show, and the members went their separate ways.

(more…)

Share This

Rock and Roll Report Radio will be back on the air on November 12th, 2007 from 10:00 - 11:00 PM EST on www.ckut.ca.

I will be playing tracks from the Brown Hornets, Heavy Drapes, the Millions, Swig, Switchback, the Condors and more. Stop by and give your ears a treat. Guaranteed MSG-free!

Later.

Mark

Share This

Track List

1. Baba O’Riley

2. Bargain

3. Love Ain’t For Keeping

4. My Wife

5. The Song Is Over

6. Getting In Tune

7. Going Mobile

8. Behind Blue Eyes

9. Won’t Get Fooled Again

All songs written by Pete Townshend except “My Wife”-written by John Entwistle

Released July, 1971 by MCA Records

Produced by The Who and Glyn Johns

Band Members: Pete Townshend-guitar, piano, synthesizers, vocals John Entwistle-bass, piano, vocals Keith Moon-drums, percussion Roger Daltrey-vocals

If you have never sat down and listened to an entire album by The Who, this is the one to start with. “Who’s Next” is a work of tremendous power and beauty, mixing pure hard rock with dramatic synthesizers, power chords with piano, and raging vocals with delicate acoustics.

It is obvious that Pete Townshend got into synthesizers in a big way when he made this album, but he uses them to inhance the power of the music, and it never overwhelms the listener. Each song is unique, and all are excellent. Every member of the band is in top form on this album, and the production is superb. Simply put, this is one of the best rock and roll bands ever, playing some of the best rock and roll ever made.

By Rebecca

Share This

Share This

Share This