Stepmothers “You Were Never My Age” 1981. Posh Boy Records. 80’s power pop/punk from California with a glam rock/metal edge. I have no idea where this record came from, it just appeared (as sometimes happens) in my room. I’m assuming it’s a “should it stay or should it go” pull as we continue to painstakingly cull our collection. Since I have never heard of Stepmothers, I had to some digging. This is their only LP release; they have a couple of other singles and EP’s from the early 80’s, also on Posh Boy. There’s next to zero info on the band itself, other than they were active from ’77-’83 in the LA area. There’s a lot of information on Stepmothers’ drummer, Dusty Watson who has been a power hitter in the music scene for over 40 years. He drummed for Lita Ford on her debut album and subsequent tour; he worked with bands like Concrete Blonde, Channel 3, Agent Orange, Dick Dale’s backing band The Del-Tones, The Queers, the Sonics, and The Supersuckers. He most recently was touring with Nashville Pussy so I think we may have seen him perform this past fall when they toured with The Toadies and The Reverend Horton Heat (we actually missed Nashville Pussy but all the drummers were onstage for The Toadies song “I Burn.”

You Were Never My Age is OK. The drums are great (“Don’t Kill the Beat” and punchy punk opener “I Hear a Rumble“) but the vocals are a bit whiney instead of punk-snotty, especially on the power ballad album closer “To Sir With Love.” There’s a decent amount of metal guitar posturing, like on “Rub it In” which is very Crüe-esque. You Were Never My Ageis an interesting example of the overlap between the LA metal and punk scene but there’s not enough on this LP for me. I think this is a go.