Well, no one from the Desperate Bicycles nor any of their friends wrote me in response to my plea to interview them in Dynamite Hemorrhage fanzine #3.
I’m beginning to think that this might not happen, or something.
In the meantime, here’s one of the only known interviews with the band from the late 70s.
DYNAMITE HEMORRHAGE fanzine #3 is coming together nicely.
I’m expecting it to be another 84-page or larger magazine, and current timeframe is June-ish, 2016. Perhaps earlier if we can swing it. Erika Elizabeth remains in the contributing editor’s chair, and so far we’ve got interviews with White Fence, Unit 4 and the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society on the way or in the can. More on the way.
See those fellas in the picture there? Those are the Desperate Bicycles. They are a – some would say the – UK DIY punk band of much renown, circa 1977-80.
If I could put together one interview with any band to round out this issue, it’d be them. They were notorious even back then for avoiding anything approaching the limelight, and they’ve done absolutely zero to capitalize on any posthumous interest in the band in the 35+ years hence. So I recognize my chances are exceptionally slim. But man, wouldn’t an interview w/ them be something worth reading, even if it was me asking a bunch of ham-handed questions?
Does anyone in the Dynamite Hemorrhage orbit know any of these four gentlemen? Or anyone in their social circle? Even Jon Savage said he couldn’t help me. Can you? Drop me a line at dynamiteh@outlook.com if so. I’ll put the odds at about 100-1 for this one.
Other people we’d like to interview for Dynamite Hemorrhage #3, and the odds of us actually finding them:
New for the autumnal be-in: Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio #64.
This is the sixty-fourth time we’ve labored at a computer to string together a fetching set of sub-underground musical pearls for the people. The best yet? You tell us.
This time you’ll hear brand-new stuff from GAUCHE, PSYCHIC SOVIETS, MODERN NEEDS, PATSY, THE COOLIES, WURLD SERIES, BLACK ABBA, and JIM NOTHING – plus a haunting 14-minute+ Fahey-esque DANIEL BACHMAN jam to close out the show.
Songs from deep in the library are also played by TIMES NEW VIKING, DESPERATE BICYCLES, THE CRAMPS, FERAL BEAT, THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS & more. Download or stream it today and be a part of history.
Stream or download Dynamite Hemorrhage #64 on Soundcloud.
Stream it on MixCloud instead.
Subscribe to and download old shows on iTunes.
Track listing:
PSYCHIC SOVIETS – Authority Complex
GAUCHE – Pay Day
BLACK ABBA – Betting on Death
TIMES NEW VIKING – Devo & Wine
OCCULT CHEMISTRY – Water
THE WHINES – Straybird
WURLD SERIES – Oh Well
JIM NOTHING – Modern Times
RTFO BANDWAGON – New Jack
DESPERATE BICYCLES – (I Make The) Product
HAND GRENADES – Demo to London
MODERN NEEDS – Low Life
PATSY – Tuley Tude High
SICK THINGS – Sleeping With The Dead
FERAL BEAT – Cold Lover
THE CRAMPS – Twist & Shout
THE COOLIES – God Take Me
THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS – Tornado
DANIEL BACHMAN – Won’t You Cross Over To That Other Shore
Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio #41, broadcasting from a cramped bedroom in Oslo, Norway, is now on the proverbial air – and is available for streaming or download in all the usual places. We attempt to explore all nooks and crannies of the sub-underground rocknroll music “scene”, and to that end, we think we were fairly successful in this forty-first edition of the pod.
You’ll thrill to new sounds from THE NOTS (pictured), CCTV, COLD BEAT, ROACHCLIP, USELESS EATERS, SEX TIDE, PIECE WAR and several more of your new favorite bands. You’ll gasp at reissues from X__X, Monkey 101 and The Spies. You’ll start stocking your Paypal accounts for rare records from The Petticoats, Fireworks and the Desperate Bicycles. And you’ll weep when you hear just how good “fogey rock” like Alex Chilton, Green on Red and True Westsounds when sandwiched between some of today’s hottest young hitmakers.
I invite you to get this thing while it’s fresh, new and maybe – just maybe – the best 70 minutes of music ever assembled in one place.
Download Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio #41 right here.
Stream or download the show on Soundcloud here.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes right here.
Track listing:
THE NOTS – Fix
COLD BEAT – UV
THE PETTICOATS – Paranoia
DESPERATE BICYCLES – Advice on Arrest
C.C.T.V. – Mind Control
PIECE WAR – We Are At War
MONKEY 101 – I Wait in the Ground
ROACHCLIP – Master’s Den
TRUE WEST – Lucifer Sam
CARETAKERS OF DECEPTION – Cuttin’ Grass
NICE STRONG ARM – Life of the Party
THE SPIES – The Star and Us
USELESS EATERS – Dungeon
HAPPY BIRTHDAY – Girls FM
BO-WEEVILS – That Girl
FIREWORKS – Silver Moon
X__X – Dolly Boy (live)
SEX TIDE – Never Get To You
SLOTH – Fetch The Wedge
ALEX CHILTON – Hook or Crook
GREEN ON RED – Death and Angels
MEN OH PAUSE – Tight Chest
Some past shows:
Dynamite Hemorrhage #40 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #39 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #38 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #37 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #36 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #35 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #34 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #33 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #32 (playlist)
A loping, strangely mid-tempo version of “Smokescreen” by THE DESPERATE BICYCLES, performed on The John Peel show back on April 7th, 1978.
Sure, it was 38 years ago – but if anyone knows how I might get in touch with a member of the ‘Bicycles, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.
It’s going on three years old now, and lord knows what happened to this Brighton, UK band in the interim since they made their 2011 demo tape, but a great recent discovery for me (thanks Modraucous) are THE IRREPARABLES.
The band’s mix of Shaggs/Desperate Bicycles simplicity with some hot spit and vigor makes for a pretty intoxicating mix of DIY splatter, as you’ll no doubt hear on this track, “Digested System”.
Unlike my usual pattern, I happen to like the dude singer’s stuff far more than the woman’s. This time.
There’s a mighty wind of righteous and gnarly tuneage blowing across my computer in the form of DYNAMITE HEMORRHAGE RADIO #32, our (appx.) bi-weekly podcast of the best and brightest raw, sub-underground rock music of the last 50 years. Given that I’d been m.i.a. for three weeks, I tacked on an additional 15 minutes of crazed RnR, extending the life of this podcast past our normal hour limit to a big 1:15. That’s enough to burn on a CD-R, and enough for you to press the download or play button and listen to it right about now.
“New” or “new-ish” is an operative word this time, with less-than-1-year old stuff in play from VELO, BRIDGE COLLAPSE, GROWTH, POW!, SAUNA YOUTH, FLESH WORLD, PANG, NEONATES and more. I then stuffed in a couple of New Zealand Velvets-mining classics from The Terminals and The Pin Group; some English DIY from Desperate Bicycles and Cardiac Arrest, some 50s/60s girl stuff, and what the hell, even a Misfits tune.
Download Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio #32 here.
Stream (or download) the show on Soundcloud here.
Listen to, and subscribe to the show on iTunes here.
Track listing:
VELO – I’m in Hate
SAUNA YOUTH – False Jesli Pt. II
IRREPARABLES – Broken Sound
PANG – Attention Deficit
THE FALL-OUTS – Like Me
MISS ALEX WHITE & THE RED ORCHESTRA – She Wanna
POW! – Cyber Attack!!
THE MISFITS – TV Casualty
MAD VIRGINS – I Am A Computer
KENT III – The Palms
SO SO MANY WHITE WHITE TIGERS – Paws
DESPERATE BICYCLES – Handlebars
BRIDGE COLLAPSE – Blockbreaker
GRASS WIDOW – Tattoo
THE PIN GROUP – Coat
PALACE BROTHERS – Drinking Woman
NEONATES – Gridlock
CARDIAC ARREST – T.V. Friends
GOOD THROB – Double White Demin
DIANE RAY – Please Don’t Talk To The Lifeguard
ARLETTE ZOLA – Mathematiques Elementaire
LONG BLONDES – New Idols
FLESH WORLD – Sturdy Swiss Hiker
GROWTH – Whip
THE TERMINALS – Do The Void
Past Shows:
Dynamite Hemorrhage #31 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #30 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #29 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #28 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #27 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #26 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #25 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #24 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #23 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #22 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #21 (playlist)
Dynamite Hemorrhage #20 (playlist)
England’s DESPERATE BICYCLES not only wrote songs encouraging people to join bands, start labels and whatnot, they also provided this handy 1978 primer on their rights upon getting arrested. Many Britons of punk age were, in fact, finding themselves under arrest around this time – miners’ strikes, dole queues and all that.
“Advice on Arrest” was one of 6 songs on their “New Cross, New Cross” 7"EP, and I thought you might like to hear it.
I spent the better part of a quiet Tuesday evening holed up in a room creating the mix you can now download here – DYNAMITE HEMORRHAGE RADIO PODCAST, Edition #13. I’ve been putting these together about every two weeks or so for the past five months, but if this is your first one, well – welcome to the show. I play songs I like, play-act at being a “DJ”, mix-n-match songs on my Mac, talk into a computer, and generally try to keep all the shows to about an hour. You can download all 12 of the past editions here.
This one’s got new stuff from RAW PRAWN, THE DELPHINES, CANDY HIGHWAY, SOCK PUPPETS and COLLEEN GREEN, along with super sub-underground weirdness, punk, garage, pop & more from The Moodists, Electric Eels, Icky Boyfriends, The Fall, Solger, Crash Course In Science and a bunch of other winners.
Download Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio Podcast #13
Stream Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio Podcast #13
Track listing:
ASBEST – Family Care
THE DELPHINES – ‘71
RTFO BANDWAGON – New Jack
INTERNATIONAL STRIKE FORCE – Over The Credit Line
ELECTRIC EELS – You Crummy Fags
COLLEEN GREEN – You’re So Cool
THE URINALS – I’m White and Middle Class
HANDGRENADES – Demo To London
SALLY SKULL – Bride of Frankenstein
DESPERATE BICYCLES – The Medium Was Tedium
CANDY HIGHWAY – Mad Glad
SOLGER – American Youth
RAW PRAWN – Wrong Place Wrong Time
HIGH TENSION WIRES – High Note
THE STITCHES – Cars of Today
ICKY BOYFRIENDS – Pay N Pak
LOLI & THE CHONES – Nazi Death Camp
VICIOUS VISIONS – I Beat You
SOCK PUPPETS – Hey Honey
CRASH COURSE IN SCIENCE – Kitchen Motors
SCORCHED EARTH POLICY – Too Far Gone
THE MOODISTS – The Disciples Know
THE FALL – I’m Into CB
DYNAMITE HEMORRHAGE 