#simon lonergan

“It’s a big, barely disciplined joyous noise they make, and it’s something close to a celebration...The fact that they work r’n’r’s traditional values - energy, flair, commitment, etc - probably has more to do with their staying power than you or I realize...Together, these three play a seamless rolling wall of music that both intoxicates and exhausts any listeners.” 

X live review by TREVOR BLOCK

B SIDE Issue 10 pages 15 & 16 1985 SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

STEVE LUCAS has posted pretty much everything from X up at his bandcamp site

“...over-familiarity with the tracks here may have lessened its impact in my house, but really that’s my problem...there will not be too many better records released this year.”

DIED PRETTY review by SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

B SIDE Special Double Issue 17/18 page 41 Oct/Nov 1986

DIED PRETTY

DIED PRETTY on Facebook

“I won’t bother trying to describe the sound here suffice to say it has an awesome gut-level whack and that it just well, ‘rumbles’ inside of you.”

feedtime review by SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

B SIDE Special Double Issue 17/18 page 41 Oct/Nov 1986

feedtime’s recordings from the 1980s were issued as a box set The Aberrant Years on Sub Pop in 2012

feedtime at bandcamp

feedtime’s Gas (In The Red) was one of FRR”s ✰ BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2017 ✰ 

B Side Special Double Issue 17/18 excavated and gifted to FRR by Skull Von Schiele

“As schizoid a record as I’d imagine the characters who created it are...”

CELIBATE RIFLES review by SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

B SIDE Special Double Issue 17/18 page 41 Oct/Nov 1986

The CELIBATE RIFLES

The cover of B Side Special Double Issue 17/18

The Celibate Rifles live at Triton Pub (1987) [University of California at San Diego]

“...a new system for my reviews. Real simple. I list what came, what stayed, what went. (B) = bought, (WGB) = would’ve gladly bought. If I feel inclined, I rave a bit. Right...”

Fuckin’ Record “Reviews” by “BRUCE G”  - presumably BRUCE GRIFFITHS aka BRUCE ABERRANT of Aberrant Records

B SIDE Issue 22 page 41 1988 Simon Lonergan, Editor

Bruce Griffiths is perhaps better known to American record hounds as Bruce Aberrant, responsible for issuing some of our favorite combustibles from any era - Grong Grong, Examplehead, Kelpies, Toys Went Berserk, King Snake Roost, Bloodloss and of course, feedtime. Aberrant Records also issued a cache of utterly indispensable comps too: the Trousers In Action eps, Flowers From The Dustbin, Why March When You Can Riot?! and Not So Humdrum.

Well worth reading Aberrant/Bruce G overview by Steve Gardner in Noise For Heroes #17 (1989) : “Aberrant Records has been one of the most fascinating labels on the planet for the last several years. Run single handedly by Bruce Griffiths, who lives in Sydney, Aberrant specializes in putting out records by bands who make it a point to try to do something that others haven't done. Loads of bands make this attempt, but the impressive thing about Aberrant bands is that by and large they succeed in making something that's good as well as different, and in some cases it's fantastically good. And this is not to imply by any means that all Aberrant bands sound like is some howling in the wilderness behind screeching atonal guitars or some such rubbish like that.  Aberrant bands are diverse...sure there are noise merchants like King Snake Roost, but there is also powerful rock and roll like Examplehead, or melodic (though still edged and charged) stuff like Toys Went Berserk, or frantic punk like World War XXIV. And of course the biggest claim to fame for Aberrant (until they recently broke up) was that Aberrant brought us feedtime, a band that really defies categorization. The Aberrant story is well worth reciting, given this background, and who better to tell the story than Bruce himself? So sit back and we'll let Bruce do the talking...” 

B SIDE Issue 13, Editor’s page and cover (1985) 

Top 10 List by SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2017…coming 12/31/17

BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2016

BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2015

BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIWS IN 2014

BEST REASON TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2013

“...little rhythm git runs, catchy, melodic, all that sort of thing...”

UPS AND DOWNS review (and others) by SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

B SIDE Issue 10 1985 (page 16) 

“...if we ever get around to having a single/album/record of the week/month thing here, this one would have a half-inch thick border around it. It stands out from the rest of the records here that much.”

HÜSKER DÜ review by SIMON LONERGAN, Editor

B SIDE Issue 5 (no page #) 1984 

B Side was an excellent Australian zine from frequently published from 1983 to the early 90s...as previously noted, we’re not sure when it ceased operations.

Issue 25 of B Side (1990/1991) is viewable and downloadable in its entirety at Scribd!: Bailter Space, Mark Of Cain, Kim Salmon, plus reviews...

Our B Side post featuring Byron Coley’s endorsement of Dredd Foole is here and his Leaving Trains slice is here.

More B Side at Fuckin’ Record Reviews!

COSMIC PSYCHOS review in B SIDE Issue 15 (March/April ‘86) by Simon Lonergan:  “What a churn of a sound!”

COSMIC PSYCHOS review in B SIDE Issue 24 (1989): Simon L no like Go The Hack!

Acting editor and all around making-things-happen person CAROLINE BIRKETT lists her “TOP WHATEVERS” in B SIDE Issue 20 (1987)

The cover of B SIDE Issue 5 (1984)

The cover of B Side Issue 15 (March/April ‘86)

HUSKER DÜ were an internationally renowned trio who made loud, fast music in the 1980s. The originated in the middle of the North American continent in 1979 and disbanded in 1988. 

The Numero Group of Chicago, Illinois issued an outstanding box set of early and mostly previously unreleased Hüsker Dü called Savage Young Dü in November 2017.  The box was designed by Henry Owings of Chunklet Industries.