Back in February 2020, just before the world went utterly tits up and various things became far more important than punk rock, French band Maladroit released a great EP entitled ‘Steven Island’. Its four songs blended simple punk hooks with Spielberg obsessed lyrical themes, and although it was all rather silly, it showed off a band that could knock together a catchy tune or three. Obviously, that EP subsequently got lost in the noise, but as with all good music, it’s never too late to check it out retrospectively. You’ll be glad you did.
Author Archives: Real Gone
CHINESE TELEPHONES – Outta My Hands EP
Back in the 00’s, US punks Chinese Telephones released a few split EPs and an album on It’s Alive Records (home of Gateway District, The Methadones, City Mouse and others) before calling time before the end of decade. They received some positive press, but in punk terms, never seemed to be mentioned as often as they deserved to be. This had as much to do with an over-subscribed scene as anything else. For those outside of Milwaukee, chances are that the only real encounters you had with the band back then came courtesy of the audio widget on the Last FM website which, in a pre-Spotify age, would happy drop tracks from the Chinese Telephones album between better known material from Teenage Bottlerocket, The Copyrights and The Lawrence Arms.
LALU – The Fish Who Wanted To Be King
Previously the keyboard player with Shadrane and Hubi Maisel, Vivien Lalu formed his eponymously named band in 2004. The idea was that the band would approach prog in a very unrestrained way, and also add contemporary elements to keep things interesting. Considering a lot of prog metal in the mid noughties seemed to consist of stuck-in-a-rut Dream Theater-isms – especially from DT themselves – and so much prog relied upon obvious influences, Lalu’s desire for a bigger and more interesting musical canvas wasn’t unwarranted. Of course, there were a few freewheeling, pioneering spirits then – not least of all Devin Townsend, always marching to his own drum – but prog metal definitely needed new blood at that time.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #22
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. As always, the amount of submissions has been staggering, and we’ve cherry picked some of our favourite tracks for your enjoyment. This time around, we’ve got a soundtrack worthy tune, some top notch power pop, a fine tribute to a Boston heroine, and more besides. We hope you find something to enjoy!
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CARLA OLSON – Have Harmony Will Travel 3
Carla Olson has had a long and varied career. In the late 70s she was a member of new wave band The Textones with future Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine; in the 80s, she recorded an album with Byrds legend Gene Parsons, and also co-wrote ‘Trail of Tears’, a track from guitarist Eric Johnson’s breakthrough album ‘Tones’. At the turn of the 90s, she recorded solo albums and played live with Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. Into the twenty first century, her on/off career went into overdrive as she continued recording as a solo artist, but also became a renowned producer. Those are just a few potted highlights from across several decades, but it’s fair to say there’s far more to Olson than an easy tag of “country singer”.