RAF Mod Band

RAF Mod Band hail from Portland, Oregon, which may strike you as being a little odd given their name and logo, but that s where the "odd" ends.

This paticular RAF drop their bombs in the form of 3 minute, punchy, full on, danceable tunes delivered on an array of vintage instruments and sung with English accents, ok, you may find that a little odd too, but then, think about how many bands from the UK sing with American accents, so fair play to them.

As the name suggests, well, states, they are a Mod band, one with leanings on the revival of 78/79, I am not quite that I would compare them to any particular band of that period, whilst the sounds they deliver fit in beautifully with that time, they have a distinctive sound of their own and a modern twist too giving them and the followers of that scene a fresh sound.

Photo by Lisa Rainer

RAF Mod Band are:

Chris Rich (guitar & vox), John Crawford (bass & vox), Josh Millman (guitar & vox) 

and Brad Pharis (drums)

Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist Chris Rich heard the British Beat sound at a young age and never let go. An early MOD Revival devotee, he played in various bands over the years honing the 2:50 song. His MOD-inspired studio project, "The Poseurs," had singles featured on American Radio and released on the UK MOD label, Heavy Soul Records. RAF is the culmination of many years effort and countless cups of tea. His songs tell stories of teenage angst, social conflict, rain drenched streets, and the ever daunting challenge of finding one’s place in the world. 

Guitarist/Singer Josh Millman has performed well over 1000 times in a number of different bands, including the popular cover band Boys Next Door and original band The Superficials which headlined MOD festivals in America. As a producer and audio engineer, he has been involved in the creation of countless rock, jazz, blues, and hip-hop albums. Many of Josh's original compositions have been featured in TV shows and movie soundtracks. He is also a voiceover actor and is the announcer in the Wii Sports video games! 

Bassist/Songwriter John Crawford found the MOD movement in the early eighties and immersed himself in it completely. As a young MOD in San Francisco Bay Area he quickly became a target for mainstream youth that persecuted those who stood out from the crowd in anything other than sport. Such struggles form the roots for many of his songs. He formed RAF with Chris Rich in 2011 after realizing they both experienced parallel lives as young MODS. RAF is John's first project.

Photo by Erin Gustafson

Drummer Brad Pharis began playing drums in 1972. As a youth he kicked off his career drumming for Ambush. While attending the University of Oregon Brad performed in the award winning theatrical production of, The Last Dragon which toured the Pacific Northwest with sold out shows. Additionally while in college he played for Arms Akimbo an art/punk/surf band. In 1981 Arms Akimbo opened for Billy Rancher and The Unreal Gods at the Euphoria in Portland, OR. Brad joined The Surf Cowboys in 1984 then The Boys Next Door in 1986. He was the driving force for bringing TBND to Portland OR and has faithfully set the back beat of the band for twenty-six years. As a side project Brad drummed for Ms. 45 in 2004. Brad joined RAF in 2012 with Josh Millman, a move that helped solidify the foursome. He sets a strong beat and plays with devoted passion.

The band are currently working on new songs which I am sure will be equally as exciting as the 4 that are currently available to listen to on their facebook page. Keep your eyes peeled on this band, I am sure we are going to see great things from them in the future, not that what we don't already have is great, of course!

Contact, befriend, follow, keep up with all the news, like and love RAF Mod Band here:

 RAF Mod Band Facebook

3 Great bands to sign off with before my holidays with the most excellent,Travel Lanes, Too Much Saturn and Shelta.

Travel Lanes - Hey Hey, It's The Travel Lanes

Well, I am heading off for my holidays now for a few weeks, so this will be my last bit of blogging for three weeks or so, but don't stop sending submissions for the blog, as you have probably noticed I love the challenge of catching up with myself!

Three things I will be packing for my travels are the cds of the bands I am featuring here today, kicking off with the aptly named "Travel Lanes."  What a fantastic CD this is, this is classic Power Pop, I have been playing this loads this week and I am sure that it will be getting plenty of play during my holidays,

The band hail from Philadelphia and they have a wish, that wish is that you will turn out for a show, have a great time and buy a CD and help them on their way.  This is a band with great form, playing edgy, melodic tunes with a fantastic amount of energy, it would be quite fair to say that I am absolutely loving this.

I really can't impress enough how much you should grab a copy of this album, support this band and go along and see them if you can, did I say how much I am loving this? ;) Recommended for those that love the sounds of Elvis Costello, The Replacements and Nick Lowe.

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love the excellent Travel Lanes here: Facebook

Download "Hey Hey It's The Travel Lanes" here: itunes and cdbaby

Contact the band for physical copies.

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More classic power pop here with added rock 'n' roll style keyboards  for an extra dimension, if that was needed for a band with an album with the title, "Moving Forward Sideways."

This Chicago band tick all the right boxes, they have the songs, the tunes, the delivery and some soul too, which both vocalists deliver with an absolute passion and style.

This album kicks off with the brilliant song "Photogenic," a real kick arse, stomp along song, that will have you playing air guitar or air drums to.  Every track on this album has a great quality, at times I was reminded of The Cars more rockier tracks, I am not sure if that is the keyboards or the production, but I don't care, this is brilliant, another classic slice of power pop.

Once again, I am absolutely loving this, this album will be gracing the ICM stereo for quite some time!

Stream and buy the album, CD/Download here: Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love the wonderful "Too Much Saturn" here: Facebook

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Shelta.

A very good friend of mine dropped a track on my facebook page from this band and I was absolutely gobsmacked by their songs and thought of The Small Faces immediately when I heard the track, it had the depth and style and what is more the vocals were really powerful, so I dropped the band a message to find out more.  Shelta have been treading the boards for some time and then split, fortunately they realised that they had something special and re-formed and thank f*** they did!

The band is heavily influenced by the Mod and Brit Pop sounds, but, there is something about this band that puts them in a different place from the other bands in this scene and that is the powerful vocals and the fresh approach that they have to their influences, this is rocky, soulful, punchy and bloody clever and whilst there is no album out, or even a single, this is a band to watch out for, get on their facebook page and lets get an album out of them, to sum it up, GREAT!  Cheers to Joey for the heads up.

Style and substance!

Contact, befriend, follow, encourage them to make an album here: Facebook

Listen to more fantastic tunes here: Soundcloud

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Right that is me done for my holidays, I will be back soon, take care and keep the faith!

Strangely Alright - The Time Machine is Broken OUT NOW

The say you can't judge a book by a cover and I guess the same applies to promotional material?  This album arrived neatly packaged in a folder with a complete biography of the band, an introduction to each of the members, photos and an introduction letter from vocalist guitarist Regan Lane.  This is possibly the best most informative promotion pack I have received from a band or record company, and what is more the album is also delivered with the same amount of care and attention as its promotional packaging.

"The Time Machine is Broken" is the first release for this band, which was formed after Regan Lane found himself at a low point in his life sitting on Tacoma's waterfront with nothing more than a broken down car, an empty crack pipe and a nasty opiate addiction, helpless and lost.

Time passed and Regan changed his outlook and gained a whole new perspective on life and a chance meeting with Ken Schaff (Bass/Vocals) led to a musical partnership that would soon, along with Jeff Reiner, Guitars, Lee Gregory, Keyboards/Vocals and Preston Darville Drums, become "Strangely Alright."

Time, acceptance, taking action, living in the moment, forgiveness and invariably love are the recurring lyrical themes that are addressed here, with a point of view that could be considered spiritual but is based on the thought that basically you get what you give.

With Lanes emotional vocals, crunchy, chiming guitars, lush harmonies, swirling mellotrons and strings, "The Time Machine Is Broken" is both modern and retro with a colourful production.

With reference points of The Beatles, Jellyfish, XTC, Be Bop Deluxe and even David Bowie, this album will sit pretty with a wide variety of listeners, who, like myself, will be only too happy to climb on board and go for a ride through space and time and come out the other side feeling totally elated for the experience, and that is, "Strangely Alright!"

Get Band email for free at ReverbNation.com

Expect to see this album sitting pretty, high up in many "Albums Of The Year " lists. This is an instant classic!

Contact, befriend, follow, like, love and travel with Strangely Alright here: Facebook

CD available to buy here: cdbaby

Official Website: www.strangelyalright.com

Hanky Panky - Precious Bitch EP - FREE DOWNLOAD

Winning best name band of the year so far is "Hanky Panky" from Nantes in France, but not everything in is a name, as we well know so it is a good job that this band have recorded 3 excellent songs for their first EP too.

"Hanky Panky" are a relatively new band so there is not an awful lot I can tell you about them at the moment, other than that they are one of the bands that are starting to put France on the musical map again, along with bands like "Crusaders of Love" and "Fuzzy Vox," in fact I can't even tell you who does what in the band, but, one of the members of the band Gianni Tremolo tells me that they use Rickenbacker guitars, Fender Rhodes and  a Hammond organ to get their sixties styled sounds and that they are influenced by some of my very own favourite bands, Teenage Fanclub, The Prisoners, Apples in Stereo and The Muffs to name but a few.

The three tracks on the EP are "Precious Bitch" followed by two excellent cover songs, "Bubble Skies" by Batmen and the best cover version of Buffalo Springfields "Burned" since Teenage Fanclub covered it!  This is certainly a band to keep you eye on.

The band record at home and will be releasing more free downloads in the year, they are also looking to start playing in Spain and Italy as well as on their home soil, so if you are a promoter in one of those countries, or know someone who is, then pass this link onto them and get this band booked, you won't be dissapointed I am sure.  Personally, I am hoping that they will make it further afield and take in Sweden too, selfish, I know, but I would love to see this band live!

Check out the fantastic video the band have put together for their track "Precious Bitch."

HANKY PANKY - A Precious Bitch from HANKY PANKY on Vimeo.

As soon as there is any further information or music available from "Hanky Panky," you can be absolutely sure that you will be hearing it here on the blog.

Contact, follow, befriend, like and love, with all you heart, "Hanky Panky" here: Facebook

Download the single FREE here: Bandcamp

Round up of the week with, Nick Piunti, The Mad Doctors, The Joy Of Painting, Ballard, Welcome Pariah, Paul Messis and The Royal Flares

Once again, I am way behind with my mail, so many e-mails come through from great bands playing great music that I simply don't have time to get them all out there, so I am going to continue with my "round ups" in order to get them all out to you and what a blinding album to start with.  Nick Piunti, who you may know as one of the Respectables (Detroit) or member of Chris Richards and the Subtractions, apparently, he is the cutest member of the band, but we are not able to confirm or deny this here at ICM headquarters, but, we do know that he has made a blinding power pop album with "13 In My Head" and that you should bag yourself a copy of this album with immediate effect!

Stream and get your copy from the very excellent Futureman Records here: Futuremanrecords.Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love Nick Piunti here: Facebook

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Brooklyn based garage punk band The Mad Doctors have just released an EP of surf rock, garage punk and psychedelic sludge and it contains exactly that, if The Black Lips had a slimy kid with The Ghastly ones, then this is what it would sound like and we like this, it kicks in all the right spots and hits the parts that other music just can't reach.

Yep, definately mad!

Stream and buy the EP here: Bandcamp

Join in with the madness, contact, follow, befriend, like and love (at your own peril) here: Facebook

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The Joy Of Painting have been a favourite of mine since I first stumbled across them on Bandcamp with their album "Asterix" and now a few singles later they have unleashed another mini album which once again reminds me why I fell in love with them in the first place, 7 songs of complete and utter joy, no pun intended, this is top quality pop craftsmanship direct from Nashville, check it out, seriously, check it out!

The Joy of Painting get the thumbs up from me too!

Stream and buy the album here with many different colouful packages available, including vinyl, T shirts etc here: Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Joy Of Painting here: Facebook

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Ballard started working on this album immediately after releasing his previous album "Little Rockets" (which we featured on the blog earlier in the year), it began with the track "Everybody Knows" which was a departure from the punky/mod sounds of "Little Rockets" with the visions of a more epic Phil Spector type sound, whilst still retaining the lo-fi qualities of the previous Ballard recordings.

"Bucky" is more varied album in styles of music with Nilsson, The Kinks and Working Boys as inspiration.

The album is a short affair with 9 songs clocking in at just over twenty minutes which leave you wanting for more and I am quite sure that there will be more this year.

There are rumours abound that Ballard are to be recording with Dana Myza of Cotton Mather in the future and we'll certainly keep you abreast of any developments there as that promises to be something very special indeed.  For now, enjoy this great album.

Stream and buy the album here: Bandcamp

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love Ballard here: Facebook

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From Southampton, vocalist/lead guitarist John Waghorn, vocalist/guitarist Josh Butcher, bassist Daniel Manuel, and (session) drummer John Martin are causing a bit of a stir on the music scene. Supporting The Dexters, The Moons, Chris Helme, Steve Craddock and Mark Morriss; landing an interview with the Huffington Post, and debuting their latest single, ‘Neither Here Nor There’ at This Feeling… Say hello to Welcome Pariah.

On my first listen to the band I was reminded a little of "Cast" but on subsequent listens I discovered many other influences, albeit subtle, but this band brings something else to the table, great tunes, excellent musicianship and well crafted lyrics.  These guys are just what the British music scene needs right now (and many places beyond) this is a really refreshing and very tasty outfit and I can't wait to hear some more from them, welcome Welcome Pariah and enjoy!

Find more songs here: Soundcloud

Contact, befriend, follow, find more tunes (be sure to check out the excellent "Liberty Pill" on Youtube) like and love Welcome Pariah here: Facebook

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I discovered Paul Messis via a large selection of CDs sent to me by his label "State Records" last year and immediately his music resonated with me, full of chiming guitars and licks that could have come straight from the sixties garage scene.

I spent a large part of my youth seeking out 60's garage records and collecting the Rubbles, Pebbles, Texas Flashbacks etc records and I absolutely loved the bands I was discovering, I would guess that Paul was doing the same as he encompasses many of those sounds but in his own original way bringing the folk rock, psychedelic, punk and garage elements of the sixties together beautifully, this has to be one of my records of the year so far, I love it!

Stream and buy the album here: Bandcamp

Make sure to discover and submerge yourself in the sounds of Paul Messis' back catologue whilst there.

Paul has also started his own record company with a release by The Young Sinclairs being his first single release.

The aims of the label are to release a succession of cool 45s for many bands over time, whilst keeping true to our musical integrity and original aims

Find out more here: http://marketsquarerecordings.bandcamp.com

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Keeping with the sixties garage scene, here is another band that are currently getting plenty of air time in our "office." This band from Munich, Germany obviously share my passion and love for the sixties garage scene too and we also love them!

The Royal Flares are dedicated to the raw, wild, frantic and driving sound of 60s garage rock’n’roll as epitomized by the legendary „Back From The Grave“ series. Drumsticks flying through the room, the Farfisa organ grinding the sole off your shoes, the singer snarling and screaming out his anger, angst and longing, the bass like a heavy maelstrom underneath and guitars like rusty blades slashing through mountains of fuzz and twang. 
„Tales Of Sound & Fury“ was recorded in an old building of the German Federal Railway, which makes for an authentic, almost archaic sound (the secret being high ceilings, like the studios in the sixties used to have them). It’s live, including the vocals, and it’s wild. This is not a clean and neat simulation of long gone garage punk greatness, this is the real thing. Forceful, massive like an old steam engine, rolling downhill! 
„Bad Part Of Town“, the original already being a top-notch rocker- the Flares turn it into a downright „punk juggernaut“ as a US collector of sixties garage 45s has put it. Their rendition of the all-time garage favourite „Going All The Way“ is a blasting ’66 jangle ride on a ’77 punk engine. And another reputable expert of 60s garage rock’n’roll has only one word for their version of the hard-core garage anthem „Last Time Around“: „killer“!
Their original material doesn’t lack behind. If you think „Signifying Nothing“ with its biting blasts of fuzz is right off a Back From The Grave comp, you could be right, only that it’s the Royal Flares’ very own creation. „The Stalker“, another 60s punk smasher, has been described as „the Great Scots blended with the Ramones (Blitzkrieg Bop)“. With tunes like „This Is Why I“ the Royal Flares even prove to be competent on Beau Brummels territory and „Mavis“ is a beautifully haunting and moody 60s garage ballad.„Tales Of Sound & Fury“ is like a massive rock in a sea of plastic. It’s raw, it’s wild, it’s pulsating with the blood of original rock’n’roll. Welcome to the Stone Age! 

"Last Time Around" from "Tales of Sound and Fury" Live.

Listen to more from this outstanding outfit here: Soundcloud

Buy the album from the excellent label CopaseDisques here: Copasetic

(Release date 28/6/13)

Contact, befriend, follow like and love The Royal Flares here: Facebook

The Popdogs - Cool Cats For Pop Dogs. OUT NOW

Putting the Pop firmly in Power Pop by name and by virtue, The Popdogs lead us through 10 tracks over 30 minutes that will have you tapping anything to hand, singing along to catchy lyrics, punky power chords and if you are a cat person, you will certainly become a dog person!

James Styring (Ex "Postcards From Places That Don't Exist") on vocals and Tim McKeating on guitar and backing vocals, hail from Lincoln in England and seem to have cracked the perfect pop song formula as this album displays.  It is very hard to pick out a favourite track on this album, every track on the album could quite easily be released as a single, something that is pretty rare these days.

Promote your mixtape at ReverbNation.com

The Popdogs are now a five piece outfit having put together a a band for some prestigious gigs at The Cavern in Liverpool, it was at these gigs that the band officially released this album, you may remember when I first ran a feature on this fine album last year, it wasn't then available but it is now and everyone should own a copy of this delightful piece of power pop.

The album is available at: itunes amazon and physical copies can be purchased from KoolKat Music

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Popdogs here: Facebook

The Solicitors - Made To Measure EP

This exciting New Wave/Power Pop band from Melbourne, Australia is made up of an American, a New Zealander a Brit and an Australian and obviously this is a great blend of nationals to perform some of the most infectious Power Pop, think Elvis Costello jamming (and pumping it up) with Silver Sun and you have The Solicitors.

The lead track "Pretty Penny" is pretty quickly becoming one of my favourite tracks of the year so far and the other 4 tracks on this superb EP are all equally snapping at my heels for some full on attention, this is a really excellent EP and I can't wait to hear a long player from the band.  Also included on the EP is a cover of the brilliant song "Back Of My Hand" by The Jags which the band give a freshening makeover to.

"Made To Measure" will be released on the excellent "Popboomerang Records" on June the 14th.

The Solictors, suited and booted and ready to rock your world!

Stream and buy the "Made To Measure" EP here: Bandcamp

There will be a CD release for those of you who like to own the physical product, this will be limited to 300 copies, also available to order at bandcamp or direct from Popbomerang Records

Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Solicitors here: Facebook