Formed in 2006 by ex-members of Philadelphia-area bands Cranked Up! and The War’s End, Mean Streets delivers an aggressive, yet catchy and accessible
punk and pop sound that draws upon a broad range of influences from the beat groups and bubblegum acts of the 1960s to the british punk aggression of the mid 70’s to the power-pop movement of the late 1970s and ’80s. Mean Streets currently consists of Bill Coburn (Lead Vocals, Bass), Mick Coburn (Drums, Backing Vocals), and Andy Mehos (Guitar, Backing Vocals).
In 2008 Mean Streets released two 7″ singles: “About You” b/w “Tied Down” on the Slab-O-Wax label and “That Day”/”Nineteen” on Longshot Records. In 2011 the band self-released a six-song EP entitled “Rewired” and recorded a split 7″ ep with Phoenix, Arizona’s Glass Heros on the Black Hole label. In addition to these releases, Mean Streets has appeared on numerous Philadelphia-area compilation CDs.
Little Gentlemen a Philly band from the early to mid 80’s that was on the first philly comp: Get Off My Back LP. Besides that comp they released One 7′ and two LPs which I have collected below along with some photos by Phil Commander (Thanks!) and some flyers.
The band was made up of Paul Evalds – Vocals, Rob DiJoseph (currently in Anthrophobia) – Bass Guitar, Rob Iannelli – Guitar, Wayne Paupst – Drums (first 45, compilation LP 1983), Dave Bass (Negative FX) – Drums – (First LP 1984)
Go see their facebook page
Another fun mid 90s Philly band. They played all the Philly venues of the time Frienz Tavern, old Boot & saddle, Clark Park, Khyber, etc. I don’t have as many flyers for 90s bands as I do for 80s put as I find any I will add them to the post. Mel’s RockPile was Matt Pond (Matt Pond PA) – Vocals& Guitar, Paul Hazlet (Blue, Scab Cadillac)- Drums, Tracy Stanton (ex 700 club owner) – Bass and J.D. Frochlich – Guitar. They released 2 & 7 inches that are included in this post. The picture is by Toni Farina (stolen from her FB I hope you don’t mind Toni)
Added 2 more demo tapes (that I don’t know the real names of) – Thanks Jackie
I know that I’ve seen Doctor at Tree many times in the late 80’s early 90s, but I don’t have a lot of info on the band (updated see below Thanks Cheshire) – I do know that some of the members of the band where in 5 Story Fall before this band and that Cheshire from Stinking Lizaveta was also in the band. They played a lot with Scram and listening to the tapes I can see why. Note: I’ve added a Live on WKDU tape to this post from Jackie’s show on 10/25/88.
Thanks for the tapes Jackie & Diego
The cassette cover is an example of the late great Rob Boyes’ artistic talent. He would spend hours in the basement of our West Philly group house at 4525 Larchwood, perfecting screen prints for t-shirts and covers to arrive at a finished product he deemed, “festive”. He also played a mean fretless electric bass, wrote all our lyrics and sang.
I played traps in this band and sang some back vocs for the record. A kid named Josh sat in on timbale and god knows who was playing cowbell. Might have been joined by Craig Heim, drummer for SCRAM!, on conga. Tabla….hm..yep. on I Know Where Your House Is, played by Dan Malamed, I think. David Thrower was our KILLIN’ guitar player. He is the father of two and works in the hospital system in Philadelphia. His kid Allison, came up through School of Rock Philly and also shreds. I remember all the shows displayed in the posters. These are the shows I’m thinking of whenever I try to illustrate the eclectic…modern jargon alert!!:: inclusive vibe in the Philly punk scene of that time. Bills were rarely drawn on strict stylistic lines or limited by the dogma of group identities cemented through musical taste. Metal played with punk played with reggae played with thrash played with afro-pop…prog…..speed metal…grind core….blablablabla…. funk….singer..toasters…poets…painters… freaks and weirdos and nobody thought anything of it.
Rob Boyes died of AIDS in August, 1992, age 30.
– Cheshire Agusta
This post was originally on Noise Addiction blog – I have re-posted it (with a few changes) – Check out more Noise Addiction posts at Noise Addiction 2
Kremlin Korps were around for about 1 years – 1983-1984 – and released one 7″ ep in that time. When they split 3 members formed Homo Picnic. The More Fiends were a very unique sounding band that started in 1985. They released two albums, are the only Philly band to record a John Peel Session and one of the few Philly bands to tour Europe. This early live show is with the original line up – guitar/slide guitar/drums/sax – and they have a more No Wave sound which is much different than the more Punky sound they are known for. This line up never released anything but apparently they did record some demos. Ruin need no intro. They were the best band to ever come out of Philly. On this show they played for almost 90 straight minutes. Seeds Of Terror existed from 1982 to 1984 and only had two songs on the Get Off My Back Philly Hardcore comp. though they did record a full albums worth of stuff. All I have is this one song which is about the Philly DJ Lee Paris.
This post combines an old post about Sadistic Exploits from Noise Addiction and the Hellfire Sessions that I converted from Crunch Productions tape. Plus a bunch of other links to Sadistic Exploits stuff First here is the updated Noise Addiction post:
Sadistic Exploits – Collection 1981-1985
Sadistic Exploits were Philadelphia’s favorite Punk citizens and were the ones who really got things rolling in that city by organizing several Punk festivals and other gigs starting in 1981. In that year they also released their only single, now a classic of the time. Unfortunately due to members coming and going they were never able to realize their full potential as the best band from Philly. In 1985 they were able to get one last song released on an impossible to find compilation LP. Collected here are the three songs they released plus a demo, rehearsal and an interview. More into here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadistic_Exploits
Die Kreuzen Live videos from Philadelphia and 1 from CBGBs.
Some videos that I have had up on YouTube but not up on this blog so I’m adding them to this post. Die Kreuzen were one of my favorite live bands and they always put on a great show. The JC Dobbs video was one I had owned on VHS but I loaned it out and never got back so I was so happy Lenny (RIP) had it and let me put it up.
I have been trying to track down when this show happened – It’s not the same show as this 81 video which was the Bad Brains first time in Philly –
Then from According to Informed Sources… it looks like the next time Bad Brains played was at Elks Center in January 82. So, that might be the show – Bad Brains second show in Philly??
If anyone has any more info, flyer or photos Please send them to me – for now here ‘s the audio.
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