The Good The Bad - "From 018 To 033" (Stray Cat Records)

Who are they? Self-styled Danish Desperados, The Good The Bad are The Adam, on all manner of guitars (plus piano) and JohanLei Gellett on drums and percussion. On this album they are joined by a number of accomplices on, variously, more guitars (including, to great effect, flamenco guitar on 032), vocal (not really in the"with words" sense, although there isquitea lot oforgasmic moaning on some numbers, most notably 026), violin, organ, mellotron and trumpet (regular readers will know that we like a trumpet). "From 018 To 033" is the follow-up to their debut, "From 001 To 017" (you may see pattern emerging here) and, rather disconcertingly features the tracks from that album, as tracks 001 to 017, but played on fast-forward.

The Good The Bad have also earned the not-incosiderable accolade of being described as "an incredible band" by none other than Wayne Kramer, which is praise indeed; praise whih is richly deserved if this album is anything to go by.

According to the CD cover, The Good The Bad are "The New School Surf & Flamenco") although the thing that strikes most obviously on first listen is the huge Spaghetti Western influence in the band's sound. However, as they are keen to point out, there are many other influences (they specifially mention The Kinks, The Who and Jimi Hendrix).

Tunes are generally short. 032 clocks in at 3:41, while 033 is positively epic at 4:38, but most are around the two minute mark, while 018 manages, appropriately, only 18 seconds.

What's good? They sound great; urgent and intoxicating.

Those of us who write instrumental music can someimes struggle to come up with titles for tunes; The Good The Bad have circumvented this problem, by simply numbering theirs, which is vey neat.

Favouritte tracks? For now, 019, 022, 024, 025, 028, 032 and 033, but that will probably change tomorrow and you will undoubtedly have your own favourites.

What's bad? While the "first album on fast-forward" trick is pretty funny, I fear the novelty will wear off soon enough. Fortunately, this is easy to remedy; simlpy start listening at 018.

The artwork on the CD itself might upset Tipper Gore and her ilk; you have been warned!

HangNine Rating: Thrilling and highly recommended. We can't wait for "From 034 To...". More details here .

Jon Deadman

Hell-o-Tiki - Attack of Lady Octopussy

Who are they? Belgians Hell-o-Tiki were due to visit us in Brighton last year, only for their drummer to leave the band as they were about to board the ferry, causing them to cancel. We're pleased to be able to report that  more than adequate replacement has been found behind the skins and that they have now delivered their debut album, Attack of Lady Octopussy. Their MySpace site describes Hell-o-Tiki's music as Electro/Garage/Suf, but to our ears they are more like a blen of surf and instrumental heavy metal; not that there is anything particulalrly wrong with that.

What's good? Great energy, good playing and some very enjoyable tunes. We particualrly liked opening track Nostromo, Chicklettes A Go Go, Keep Your Panties Out of the Bush (and not just for the title, but especially for the spooky theremin), Minimata No Neko and La Camisa Roja.

There's a welcome touch of variety in the instrumentation, including keyboards, trumpet, the aforementioned theremin and, on one track, Mandocaster.

Nice art work.

What's bad? We've not yet been able to arrange another date or the guys (and gal) to nip over the channel to Brighton!

HangNine Rating: Good stuff. More details here .

Jon Deadman

The Vara-tones - Have Yourself A "Vara" Merry Christmas

Who are they? The Vara-tones released their first (and only) single in 1964 and their first album, Jetty Subject To High Surf, in 2000. We really liked that album and the subsequent release Heading Out and we certainly enjoyed this collection of surf instrumental versions of favourite Christmas tunes.

What's good? The playing of Bill Epps, Rich Campbell, Gary Sunda and Terry Zimmerman is exemplary, as we have come to expect from the Vara-tones.

We particularly enjoyed versions of What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) and Angels We Have Heard On High, but these festive tunes are so familiar, that you will lilkely have your own favourites.

What's bad? I'm not a praticular fan of medleys at the best of times and A Vara Merry Medley comes dangerously close to crossing the lineinto Stars On 45 territory (a line that none should ever cross!).

While you may well enjoy playing this album during the Christmas period, you may well find that it remains on the shelf for the rest of the year.

HangNine Rating: If you were to call in at HangNine Towers on Christmas day it's hightly likely that you would hear this at some time. More details here .

Jon Deadman

The Razorblades/The Squadron Leaders - The Prince Albert, Brighton 17/09/11

Who are they? The Razorblades, from Wiesbaden in Germany, are one of the hardest working and hardest rocking surf bands on the planet. Sadly, drummer Regina, has left, but his replacement Andy (I forget which name beginnign with R he has been christened just now) is equally friendly and pretty damned good behind the kit too, while guitarist Rob and bassist Ray are familiar from the band's numerous prevos visis to Brighton they love playing here and Rob loves to shop for mod clothing at local emporium Jump the Gun).

The Squadron Leaders are favourites on the Brighton scene and always worth checking out.

What's good? Brighton is getting pretty familiar with the sound of the Razorbldes now and they draw another good crowd for this Sunday night show, keeping everyone entertained with a fine selection of tunes from latest album Gimmee Some Noise, coupled with some old favourites. Tonight we particulalrly enjoy Let's Go Down To Broghton (of course), Grease Your Hair and Get Tattoed, The Wake Up Call, Punk Punk Rocker and the rather unexpected )and excellent) cover of Cecilia Ann.

What's bad? While The Raorblades pull a good crowd, people tend to arrive rather late, which means that a fair proportion of the audience miss The Sqaudron Leaders; their loss we say.

HangNine Rating: Another geat night down The Albert! You should see these bands at the first opportunity.

Jon Deadman

Endless Summer: Django Deadman's 50th Birthday, featuring The Bambi Molesters/Los Fantasticos/Sin City - The Prince Albert, Brighton 17/09/11

Who are they? Country-tinged Brighton acoustic duo are not exactly the sort of thing we usually cover at HangNine, or expect to see at an Endless Summer show, but it's a pleasure to see singing guitarists Jules Deadman and Alexander Reid at this show, a 50th brithday party for Django Deadman, who brings along Los Fantasticos to wow the crowd with their blend of surf and spaghetti western instrumentals.

Croatia's Bambi Molesters really need no introdution here; sufice to say they ae one of the world's truly great guitar instrumental bands, either of this or any other era.

What's good? Sin City get proceedings off to a very un-surfy start, but serve to get everybody in the party mood, as the bonhomie (and the drink) begins to flow. Los Fantasticos are up next and, along with many friends and former band mates (from Dead Man's Curve, The Ogdens and Now We Are Six), Django's dad is in the audience to see him play live for the first time ever!

Best of all, though, are The Bambi Molesters. This band are hugely popular with us at HangNine and tonight they won a whole legion of new fans with an intense set. Lada, as always, had the crowd eating out of her hand, strutting about the Albert's (admittedly rather small) stage like the rock goddess we have come to know and love. Hrvoje keeps the whole thing together with his super-tight drumming, while Dalibor and Dinko trade guitar lines which send shivers down the spine. They play Jeujene and the Jaybops' Thundering Guitar as s pecial request for Django, while Dinko inevitably ends up in the crowd with his guitar, while some of the crowd end up on stage dancing with Lada.

What's bad? Django tells us that being 50 isn't as bad as all that, but we're not so sure.

HangNine Rating: A really memorable night. We can hardly wait to see The Bambi Molesters back in Brighton soon.

Little Johnny Jewell

Surfer Joe and His Boss Combo - The Victoria, London 08/07/11

Endless Summer: Surfer Joe and His Boss Combo/Los Fantasticos - The Prince Albert, Brighton 09/07/11

Who are they? The sad demise of The Wadadli Riders has had at least one positive outcome, in the shape of the emergence of Lorenzo Valdambrini's new band, Surfer joe and his Boss Combo. Featuring Lorenzo himself on guitar, brother Luca on guitar and organ and the powerhouse rhythm section of Tommi and Togno, the Boss Combo are an altogether more muscular sounding proposition than the Wadadli Riders and they put on two great shows over tow nights in London and Brighton, with sturdy support from Los Fantasticos at the Brighton show.

What's good? Surfer Joe and His Boss Combo are still a new band at the moment, but their set, which combines some old Wadadli Riders favourites with some great covers; some very familiar (The Wedge, Malaguena), some less so (we particularly enjoyed The Fender IV's Everybody Up), is great and the band sound and look as if they've been playing together for years, rather than months. Lorenzo, complete with shiny blue jacket, is an engaging front man (not to mention a top quality guitarist) and the rest of the band really rock.

What's bad? Much as we liked the quirky nature of East London's Victoria, it's a shame that there weren't more people there to be entertained by the Boss Combo.

HangNine Rating: Great to see Lorenzo bouncing back so soo. Catch Surfer Joe and His Boss Combo at the next opportunity.

Little Johnny Jewell

Ziggy Played Surf Guitar - The Surf Instrumental Bands of the World Play the Songs of David Bowie (Cordelia Records)

What Is It? Pretty much what it says on the tin; third compilation of cover versions from Alan Jenkins' estimable Cordelia label, this time featuring instrumental versions of David Bowie songs. Two, The Gospel According to Tony Day, by the Green Windows and Did You Ever Have a Dream by the Muffinmates are songs from Bowie's mod-ish mid-sixties era. Their are five versions of songs from Ziggy Stardust; Five Years, by Surfadelica, Starman by the Vara-Tones, Moonage Daydream by the Tomorrow Men, Ziggy Stardust by Alan's own Thurston Lava Tube and Surfer Jet City (geddit?), by the Pterodactyls. There are two versions of All The Young Dudes, form The Razorbladers (who's Martin Schmidt also contributes a solo version of Heroes). Aladdin Sane, one of my favourite Bowie albums is represented by The Jean Genie from Monkey Versus Robot, Panic in Detroit by Pollo del Mar and Los Fantasticos' version of Lady Grinning Soul. Also featured are Life on Mars by The Weaseltones, Speed of Life by the Insect Surfers and The Man Who Sold the World by the Lost Boys of Penzance. Surprisingly (to me at least, since it's the album he made after the one I consider to be his last really good one), Let's Dance offers up four songs, in the shape of Modern Love by the Swamp Coolers, China Girl by the Mighty Surf Lords, Let's Dance by the Bowbridge Band and Cat People (Putting Out Fire) by the Breakaways, although I do have to admit that they're pretty catchy tunes and I think that this album was pretty successful in America, which may explain its popularity here.

There are also bonus MP3 dowloads of the Pterodactyls take on Starman and the Weaseltones version of Ashes to Ashes available for free dowload from the Cordelia website.

Oh, there's a "hidden" version of The Laughing Gnome too. It sounds like Alan's work to me... and it made me laugh.

What's good? It's David Bowie songs... played by surf bands... instrumentally.

I first discovered David Bowie when he appeared on Top of the Pops playing Starman in 1972. He looked and sounded like he'd come from a different planet, or maybe even universe. He put his arm around the shoulder of his guitarist (Mick Ronson) and was decidedly androgynous. I was ten years old and my life was changed. The next year I bought my first ever single, Drive In Saturday, followed shortly afterwards by my first album, Aladdin Sane and, although it was stolen many years ago, I can still remember what the sleeve of that album smelled like. Bowie looked even more androgynous and some of the songs seemed ubelievably exotic, mysterious and scarily adult to me. Of course, I had no idea what quaaludes were or what wanking was, but after hearing Time, I sure as hell wanted to find out, while Lady Grinning Soul absolutely captivated me (after all, it mentioned breasts!). From there I explored Bowie's back catalogue and discovered that he'd released four previous and equally wonderful (although all very different) albums; Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust. I was hooked and remained so for many years, up until after the release of Scary Monsters and Super Creeps in 1980, through the blue-eyed soul period of Young Americans and Station to Station and the Berlin-era albums, Heroes, Low (a particular favourite) and Lodger. Given this history, you can imagine, I'm sure, that the idea of this album appealed to me from the outset.

What's bad? It's instrumewntal surf bands playing... David Bowie songs?

Perhaps some Bowie songs lend themselves better to this treatment than others.

There was some suggestion in some quarters that the release of this album might lead to a whole new audience for surf music, but I can't really see too many Bowie fans who don't already enjoy surf rushing out to buy a copy unfortunately. Could be their loss, though.

HangNine Rating: If you like surf and Bowie, this will sbe right up your street; if you dislike either one of those, it may well not be! Check out the Cordelia website for further information.

Jon Deadman

Jon and the Nightriders - Surf Beat '80 (Crossfire Publications)

Who are they? Jon and the Nightriders were the band who kick-started what is now known as the "second wave" of surf music and Surf Beat '80 is the album with which they kick-started it. This re-issue, available for the first time on CD, features the original album, with John Blair and Ed Black and on guitar, Nikki Syxx on bass and Dusty Watson on drums, alongside six bonus tracks recorded shortly afterwards and featuring Dave Wronski in place of Ed Black.

What's good? These songs, the majority of them covers (although John Blair's originals, Rumble at Waikiki, Depth Charge, Bombay Beach and Suicide Bay, absolutely hold their own), seem so familiar today, but without this band, who knows, maybe this music would have remained lost in the mists of time and it's hard to imagine how amazing they must have sounded at the tail end of the punk era. Surf music, remember, had pretty much disappeared with the arrival of the Beatles and the British Invasion and existed only as some kind of historical footnote and it's interesting to read Dick Dale's original sleeve notes, in which he states, " I was so inspired by this record that it might just be the time to pick up my gold Fender Stratocaster, come out of retirement..." and to remember that the heroes of the "first wave" had long since moved on to pastures new.

What's bad? Why did we have to wait so long for this re-issue?

HangNine Rating: If you don't already own this album, buy it now. If you do, buy it anyway.

Jon Deadman

Surfer Joe Summer Festival - Fortezza Vechia, Livorno, Italy 16-19/06/11

What is it? Sixth (we think) edition of the world's finest surf music festival. Once again, organiser Lorenzo Valdambrini and his brother Lucca, have hauled together a stunning collection of surf bands and found yet another amazing venue (the Fortezza Vechia is a semi-preserved fort in the port area of Livorno, with ramparts from which you can look out to sea) on the Tuscan coast. This time, though, I'm there not just as a fan of the music, but as a performer (Los Fantasticos get to play early on the Saturday evening), which puts a whole new slant on proceedings, for me at least.

Events get under way with a pre-festival party at the nearby Mercatino Americano on the Thursday evening, featuring the Kilaueas (well, Ralf and Tom Kilauea, plus Alex Faida from Los Twang Marvels on bass and Lorenzo himself on drums; anyone who attended the whole festival is certainly with Lorenzo by the end of the weekend). Unfrotunately we are still stuck in rather-less-sunny Brighton at this stage.

Friday night features the Beach Boys-styled Sunny Boys, The Krontjong Devils, Doctor Legume et les Surfwerks and the splendid Phantom Four.

Saturday's musical entertainment is provided by Ava Kant, Los Fantasticos, The Wavers, The Psycho Surfers, The Space Rangers, Surfer Joe and his Boss Combo (with Lorenzo on guitar this time) and The Bambi Molesters, who regular readers will know are rated very highly round our way.

The festival closes on the Sunday with sets from Los Derumbers, The Crashmen, The Bradipos IV and the John Blair Band, featuring not only the legend that is John Blair, but also Frank Hughes, from John's latest band The Eliminators, on bass, Alex Faida (yes, him again), on guitar and (you guessed it) Lorenzo Valdambrini on drums.

Unsteady Freddie, who really was unsteady this year, suffering, as he was, from a badly infected foot, which eventually hospitalised him upon his return to the States, was again our genial host

What was good? All the bands I saw (and I have to admit that I missed a few this time out) kept the crowd royally entertained and some were truly fantastic.

Last time I saw Doctor Legume, I confess that I didn't really get what he was doing, but this time around, the combination of film clips and (largely) one-man-band psychedelic surf really grabbed my attention. I'd love to see them play as a "proper" band, mind you.

The Phantom Four were tremedous, Phamtom Frank strolling around the stage as the band built their hypnotic rhythms around his Arabic-influenced guitar.

Surer Joe and his Boss Combo kicked some serious (as you might say) butt and are an altogether more weighty proposition than Lorenzo's previous line-up, the Wadadli Riders. He had promised that this band would be more aggressive and they didn't disappoint on that front and the boy can really play that guitar.

The Bambi Molesters are one of my favourite bands on the planet and nothing I heard in Livorno has changed that opinion. Hrvoje pounded his skins, Lada strutted her bass-playing rock-goddess stuff and Dinko and Dalibor weaved gloriously intricate guitar patterns around one another (oh, the horn section were pretty fine too) and a great time was had by all.

It was my third chance to see the Bradipos IV, who have been good every time, but also seem to just get better and better. Time they visited England, I think.

What is there to say about the John Blair band? My word they were powerful! When they came off stage, Lorenzo told me that he was "broken", he couldn't feel his arms and that Depth Charge was the hardest song he had ever had to play. I can believe him on every count. A fantastic end to a fantastic weekend.

Better even than all that music, though, was the chance to meet people, some for the first time (Lorenzo, Freddie, The Bradipos IV, Ralf and Tom from the Kilaueas and Daniel from Pozor Vlak), some again (The Bambi Molesters, John Blair, Andrea from the Manges and girlfriend Linda -s two loevelier people you could not wish to meet anywhere). Best of all was when our mate Clive from the Surfin' Lungs turned up unexpectedly, which was hugely appreciated.

Apparently, plans are already underway fro next year's Surfer Joe Summer Festival and Lorenzo was even talking about a Surfer Joe Winter Festival too!

What was bad? Missing the Kilaueas on Thursday.

The wind on Saturday, which was particlarly fierce for our set and for those by the Psycho Surfers and the Space Rangers.

HangNine Rating: Another great Surfer Joe Summer Festival. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Jon Deadman

The Razorblades - Gimme Some Noise (General Schallplatten)

Who are they? The Razorblades are back, staking their claim to be one of Europe's very finest high-octane surf instrumental bands. Rob's guitar playing is electrifying, Ray's bass is big and beefy and Regina's drumming is a powerhouse; who would know that he (for indeed, Regina is a he) is a huge fan of country and western? From the very start, when some rather cheesy 70's porn theme-esque number is interrupted with the exhortation, "Come on, gimme some noise," before the band launch into the incendiary title track, this album bristles with intent.

What's good? The Razorblades are powerful, alright, but they are also tuneful, even in the midst of numbers which verge on the heavy metal; just listen to Gimme Some Noise, She Looks So Cute I Wanna Die or Why Should I Walk When I Can Run? That's not all they do, though. As you may know from the last album, Twang Machine, The Razorblades are also pretty damned good at rather gorgeous sounding slower numbers and You & Me Under The Christmas Tree and Beam Me Out Of This Trashy Movie don't disappoint on this front. The dramatic and Spanish-sounding Watching The Blood In The Bul's Eye, uses fuzz bass to great effect, while Global Warming Party has actual singing on it, although this is handled by guests Alina Dimed, Judith Kadel (who also add some vocal parts to Lambretta Shake and Punk! Punk! Rocker) and Neil Fereday, rather than the band themselves.

As usual, some great titles. Our favourite this time around has to be Revolution? Maybe On Monday... although special mention also has to go to Let's Go Down To Brighton, a tribute to Rob's very sensible choice of favourtie town.

We, once again, quite like the between song banter, although there's only a little of it this time around.

What's bad? I'm never totally convinced that the surf-ska/reggae crossover is a terribly good idea (perhaps because I like ska and reggae too much), although it must be said that both Let's Go Down To Brighton and Global Warming Party are pretty damned nifty tunes, so maybe we can overlook this complaint.

HangNine Rating: A fab album, which seems to get better with every listen. The Razorblades website has more details.

Jon Deadman

The Trabants - Highwire Surfing (Lifted and Gifted Productions)

Who are they? Named after an East German car with a papier mache body, The Trabants, from Boston, seem to be largely the work of Eric Penna, who wrote, performed, recorded and mixed Highwire Surfing, with the help of a few friends on brass, drums, percussion, flute and harmonica.

Oh yes; the album is mixed in mono, for that authentic retro experience.

What's good? Instrumental surf music can be a pretty limiting form, if you stick rigidly to the original blue print. Not surprisingly then, many bands have tended to add influences from all sorts of other places and we're pretty well acustomed to hearing music incorporating elements of spaghetti western, spy themes, space themes, Italian 60's instrumentals as well as Spanish, Eastern European and Middle Eastern influences. While The Trabants don't cover all of these bases here  there is a fairly eclectic mix. The opening title track is pretty close to the trad surf style, St Petersburg Shake transports the listener to, um, well, St Petersburg, Cinecitta 65 is very Morricone, ...And The Morning After is a spy theme in waiting if ever we've heard, Berlusconi Shake, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the Italian 60's style one and the organ driven Before The Sun is like a cross between Santo and Johnny and something Joe Meek might have produced on the Holloway Road; it's also rather lovely.

What's bad? Well, all that ecelcticism might be a bit too much for some to handle.

HangNine Rating: An intriguing debut, which has clearly been something of a labour of love for Mr Penna. Further details from The Trabants website .

Jon Deadman

The Nematoads - Five Guns West (Deep Eddy Records)

Who are they? We don't, as a rule, review old releases, but we loved Spy Car Mechanic , the last album from Texans The Nematoads and guitarist Ted James, who seems like a lovely chap, sent us a copy of this release from 2007, which we also love, so thought we would give it a mention.

What's good? More great (largely) Spaghetti Western-style instrumentals from The Nematoads, augmented with fabuloius trumpet from Tiger Anaya. We especially like opener Deadwood, the title track, the extremely Spanish Entrada Del Oeste, Los Diablos, Matagorda Ba and the brief, but lovely, Cuero Gold , but there really isn't a duff track here.

The rather handsome cover artwork.

Did we mention the trumpet? Oh, we did.

What's bad? Ted is not one for sticking to surf-convention when it comes to guitar tones (or indeed, guitars), so this may not be to your liking if you're a bit of a purist. t doesn't bother us, though.

HangNine Rating: If you liked Spy Car Mechanic, you'll like Five Guns West. Well worth tracking down. Visit The Nematoads website for further details.

Jon Deadman

Los Coronas/The Bikini Beach Band - Cargo, London 03/04/11 

Who are they? If you've read our review of 2009's Surfer Joe festival, you'll know how much we enjoyed Los Coronas (surf music, Spanish style) there. Tonight they make what seems to be their first trip to these shores and half the Spanish population of London, being people of discernment and good taste, seem to have turned up to see them. Since we past saw them Los Coronas have added some implausibly large Stetsons, but sdon't be fooled by this seeming frivolousness; this is one seriously great band, bringing great drama to their trumpet-flecked twanging guitar instrumentals.

The Bikini Beach Band play covers; some of them well known surf tunes (Surf Rider and Misirlou), some of them both surprising and surprisingly effective (Outkast's Hey Ya), for the rest they largely resort to camped up medleys, which veer dangerously close to Stars-on-45 territory. They also wear hideous sunrise trouser suits (mmm, Bolero sleeves anyone?) and less hideous fezes.

What's good? Not only are Los Coronas ridiculously good, with tremendous tunes, tremendously played, they also do that thing where they play each others' guitars whilst also playing their own (this description doesn't do this feat justice; look it up on YouTube).

Most English bands seem to stick pretty much to speaking English when they are on stage in other countries. This is partly because we're pretty lazy and partly, of course, because so many other people are pretty good at English. Los Coronas can speak English, we saw them do it in Italy, but tonight they speak exclusively in Spanish. We kinda like that.

We can't resist a trumpet!

What's bad? The idiocy of whichever law it is that says Los Coronas can't bring their Ukranian trumpet player with them from Spain and instead have to borrow someone who they haven't even met until a couple of hours before they play. He does a great job, all the same.

While many surf bands love to visit the dressing-up box before taking to the stage, the best manage to avoid reducing the music to novelty level; The Bikin Beach Band, sadly, do not manage this.

HangNine Rating: We would strongly advise you to cross continents to see Los Coronas.

Jon Deadman

The Razorblades/Thee Sherbert Peardrop Explosion - The Brass Monkey, Hastings 04/03/11

Who are they? This is The Razorblades' fourth UK trip in recent years and with each subsequent visit more people are getting the message: The Razorblades are seriously good. Here to promote their new album, Gimmme Some Noise , as well as to visit their favourite town (Brighton, obviously) they certainly give us plenty. For these shows guitarist and main Razorblade, Rob, has left his usual compadres, Ray and Regina, at home in Wiesbaden (where they are apparently earning shedloads playing Ooompah music!) and brought two young guns (who may or may not be called Rizzo and Rocco) as a replacement rhythm section. Not that anyone witnessing the band for the first time at either of these shows would really be able to tell, such is the quality and verve of their playing. In Hastings The Razorblades are blisteringly loud; in Brighton, just blistering.

Support at the Brass Monkey comes from Brighton supergroup Thee Sherbert Peardrop Explosion, featuring Clive Lung (Surfin' Lungs), Django Deadman (Los Fantasticos), Steve Fagan (Squadron Leaders) and Will Moore (Leonard and Bubba's Delicious Googgoo Cluster). OK, they're a covers band, but what covers! If you like a bit of The Sonics, a bit of ? and the Mysterians, a bit of The 13th Floor Elevators, a bit more Sonics and a bit of The Seeds (and some other stuff) all played with the ferocity of a punk band, they you'll love Thee Sherberts.

The following night in Brighton, sees the first of what we hope will be many Endless Summer shows, presented by our good selves at HangNine. And what a line up to get things under way: first up are Los Fantasticos with their blend of surf with a little bit of spaghetti on the side, next we have an all too rare UK appearance for The Surfin' Lungs, promoting their top quality new album, Full Petal Jacket and, finally, another helping of instrumental mayhem fro The Razorblades. A top night!

What's good? Four great bands (one of them twice), across two nights in one small strip of the south coast of England; what more could anyone want?

The Razoblades are back to further indulge their Brighton fixation in October. We can hardly wait.

What's bad? The one drawback of The Razorblades' fill-in rhythm section is that they don't know the version of All The Young Dudes, which the band have recorded for a forthcoming David Bowie tribute, which is a shame; we were looking forward to hearing that.

HangNine Rating: A great weekend was had by all. Catch these bands whenever you get the chance. Also, put the next Endless Summer show in your diaries. It's on July 9th and features Surfer Joe and his Boss Combo.

Little Johnny Jewel

Plantagenet 3 - Plantagenet 3 (Jitter)

Who are they? Plantagenet 3 describe themselves as, "a lof-fi instrumental trio from London", although the two tracks here, Theme From An Imaginary Western and Surf Route 101 Revisited, seem to feature only one musician; Richard Lanyon. They describe their music as "post-surf"(but do admit that this is a pretty daft name for a genre) and claim to be influenced by surf, spy and Spaghetti Western instrumentals, alongside post-rock.

What's good? These two tunes are not exactly your standard surf fare and if you're looking for something more experimental and, as they have it, "stripped-down", then Plantagenet 3 could be just the band you're looking for.

What's bad? While the sound is sufficiently twangsome, melody is not exactly this band's strong point, so, if that's what you're looking for, you might well be disappointed.

HangNine Rating:   An interesting debut; we'll be listening out for more from them. Visit Plantagenet 3's MySpace site for more details.

Jon Deadman