Thursday 1 February 2018

Top Tens: Mike H from Müg & Umlaut Records' Top Ten Bands He Would Love To Book


Rews
So this one is firmly grounded in reality. I came across these girls about 18 months back. Took me ages to see them live but once I did I was freaking hooked. 2 woman outfit with rocking layered guitar riffs and a drum groove to die for (of course being a drummer myself thats where my love lay). Recently signed to Marshall Records and releasing their first full length any day now (at time of writing this), I’d love to set these two up on stage with the Strange Planes. That would be rock 'n' roll heaven.

NOFX
What 30 something doesn’t want to put these up. I had a tape of a tape of a tape I nicked from my older brother of Punk in Drublic way back when. Used to sit huddled in the corner hitting out the drums on my legs until they went blue. Purely to satisfy my curiosity, I’d want to hang out with the band after their set and listen to stories of old. Support from OAHTN and just see Chico drool over smelly’s double time.

Foo Fighters
Again not a punk band as such but come on. The freaking Foos are just so damn good. I’d sit there drinking coffee with Grohl, talk to Smear about his Germs days, ya man Chris Shiflett about NUFAN. So much history and charisma in this band. I’d like to see Dowzer on this one. Those guys can rock as hard as anyone and Remy drunk drumming is almost as good as Dave’s.

Propagandhi
Thinking back to when I played my first ever show. Sports Hall in Leytonstone having being playing the bass for about 4 days. Lazily ran through Ska Sucks and Hallie Salasse, Up Your Ass to 6 people. I'd like to bring 15yr old Mike along for the one and let him tweak out on how far the band has come. Also this has FastFade written all over it.

Capdown
There was a time when every Friday it seemed you would have Capdown at the Astoria supporting either The Vandals, Ataris or jamming with Vanilla Pod. Was so stoked to catch them at Podstock a few years back in Norwich and since they were my favourite band of my late teens how could I not include them in this list?

Descendents
Now I've played in a few bands. Firstly on bass for many years before turning to drums with Müg. But nearly every outfit I’ve done has been largely influenced by the Bill and Frank combo of drums and bass. Having seen these guys a bunch in bigger venues, I’d want to bring them back into an intimate room. 100 people all screaming “I want to be stereotyped, I want to be classified” before the inevitable whiplash ensues. Who’s on support??? Oh its gonna be Müg for this one, right?!

Fugazi
1999, 14 years old and Transworld Media release its 8th Skate vid “Feedback”. There was as always a heavy MOBY presense on the soundtrack but the Aarto Saari section was cut perfectly to Styrofoam but Fugazi. Just like Iron Maiden worked so well with Jamie Thomas in Welcome to Hell, this got me hooked on Ian Mackye and the whole Dischord movement. I may not share the same values as him, but the green room would be an education on Washington punk rock and history. Burnt Tapes would make this purely wonderful.

Minutemen
You know them? Even if you don’t, you do!! Jackass bastardised one hell of a groove for its theme tune (Corona from DOUBLE NICKLES ON THE DIME). This choice is purely fantasy as D.Boon died back in 85 leaving George Hurley and Mike Watt to go and form Firehose before the latter played with Iggy Pop. I’d just be stage side watching each of these dudes do their thing. Wouldn't talk, wouldn't have support – just 3 hours of the freaking Minutemen.

Mouthwash
So much like Capdown at the Astoria, Mouthwash seemed in my head to always be at the Harlow Square through the early 00s. They were a beautiful blend of hip hop, ska, punk and poetry that, at the time, hadn't been overplayed and overused. These guys were friends with a lot of my older brother's crowd so I only ever heard stories of the multiple cancelled gigs due to illicit goings on but man when you caught them live they were mind blowing. I had 1000 Dreams on loop for years shouting out the lyrics on the train to work. Eat Defeat opening? Mouthwash closing? Bring back the Harlow square and let's set this shit up.

Give You Nothing
So for those of you who have followed since Easter 2016, Give You Nothing were one of the first bands we ever released. Your Revolution is a brilliant, well written homage to the likes of Bad Religion and Firehose (read earlier how I love Firehose). The catch with these lads is that they are all the way over in Santa Cruz so getting them to come and play over here is a bitch. But one day, you never know. With them here I'd get the entire family in one venue and have a once in a lifetime entire Umlaut roster party.

Like Müg here: https://www.facebook.com/mugrocks/

Like Umlaut Records here:  https://www.facebook.com/umlautrecs/

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