Travis Pike, Bent Wind and Crime featured in Ugly Things #43

In Ugly Things issue #43: Southern California garage psych cult heroes THINGS TO COME, notorious for mysterioso monster tracks like “Sweet Gina” and “Speak of the Devil.” They are joined on the cover by San Francisco’s seminal punk rock’n’roll villains CRIME, the subject of a sensational new feature story loaded with scandalous revelations from the heyday of the ‘70s punk scene.

Much more exciting however is that the new Ugly Things contains the story behind the incredible "Watch Out Woman" video (watch below) by TRAVIS PIKE which immediately caused jaws to drop throughout the garage rock world back in October when it mysteriously appeared on YouTube. Some notable Boston teen scene experts thought it might be a hoax – "how could I not know about a song/performance this great from back in the day?" – but pop culture historian Harvey Kubernick sets the record straight by uncovering the strange-but-true story of Pike's career. Evidently, Pike's period as a songwriter and singer in New England during the mid-60s is just the beginning of a colourful showbiz adventure which involves work with Orson Welles, and doing the English language dub of Ingmar Bergman's Academy Award-winning "Fanny and Alexander".

Other stories include: Canadian heavy psych monsters BENT WIND, Boston punks UNNATURAL AXE, Texas punks THE SKUNKS, glam rock mystery band PANDORA,  THE BOX TOPS, San Diego’s INMATES, an archeological expedition into the MUSIC MACHINE’s garage, along with interviews with The Turtles, Christine Ohlman (the Wrong Black Bag), and Keith Richards’ guitarmaker Ted Newman Jones. Plus the latest installment in Cyril Jordan’s ongoing Flamin’ Groovies saga, and our extensive review sections, the ultimate consumers’ guide to all the latest vinyl and CD reissues and rock‘n’roll-related books.

You can mailorder Ugly Things #43 directly from the UT webstore right here.

Toronto's Ugly Pop label digs the 60s

Lately it seems Simon Harvey has been on a time traveling adventure with his vinyl-only Ugly Pop label. What began with a strictly punk and/or hardcore mandate, befitting an operation that takes it's name from a Lip Cream tune, eventually moved from releasing singles by Rajoitus, Legion and Marilyn's Vitamins into putting out late 70s archival recordings by The Dream Dates. Then, earlier this year, Ugly Pop suddenly started pumping out look-alike repros of  overlooked Canuck seven-inch classics from Crash Kills Five (pre-Shadowy Men), Arson, Hot Nasties, The Spys and The Rock 'n' Roll Bitches – all welcome reissues but a surprising change in direction for a label that was launched with a contemporary hardcore tribute to Negative Approach. More intriguing still is the latest batch of Ugly Pop releases.