The Pukes “The Revenge of The Pukes” 2016, limited edition pink vinyl. Tire Fire Records/Good Land Records. These local Milwaukee snotty poppy surf-punks played at Acme Records in Bay View on Friday night, opening for BLAHA (from Minneapolis). I also saw them this past September at the Bay View Bash and while their Ramones-meets-Ronettes music is definitely meant more for naughty summer fun than cold March evenings, The Pukes performed a tight, irreverent set that warmed the crowd. They pulled mostly from their debut record The Revenge of the Pukes, including “Execution” and “They’ll Never Find You.” They did not play their signature single “Murder;” instead they brought in a crew of adorably young AV geeks (who were ridiculously polite) to shoot a video of three “Brewtown Beauties” (I think that is the group they were from) lip-synching to the track. The women, who looked similar to the album cover minus the blank-eyed skeleton faces, did a perfectly sloppy job matching the band’s attitude, if not looks: the singer/guitarist with his moppy Beatles-bowl cut and horn-rims, the drummer resembles a mathlete but look closer and there is a large Germs circle tattooed on his inner forearm and the bassist wears a G.G. Allin jacket complete with the words “Drink-Fight-Fuck” (and blue underwear, sorry about that).

Fortunately no feces-flinging occurred a the show, though I did have a wall of well-fed Milwaukee flesh to shield me for part of the evening if that were to transpire. (As a particular short-statured person, this is unfortunately my view at many concerts.)

The post The Pukes “The Revenge of The Pukes” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Local Milwaukee boys, The Pukes, hit the Rush Mor Records stage at 3:00, after the Mercurys finished their awesome set (and I made enough room on my phone to record their entire performance of “New York”). The band’s name suggests punk, and they kind of are, but in the irreverent and snotty definition of punk, not the hardcore scream-sing thrash guitar meaning. They describe themselves as “boogie woogie rock-n-roll,” also true, who enjoy “dancing around in our underwear, using hairbrushes as microphones as we sing Shagri-La’s tunes.”

“Murder” is a happy, bouncy surf punk song with just enough edge to justify the song’s title. “Execution” has a rolling beat, early 60′s flavor sweet as sugar along with the melodic growl of “I want my execution to go down in history.” The description of the 45 from the band’s website is “Something every nose-picking loser should have. With the hole just the way you like em’, BIG. This garbage comes wrapped in artwork by Eric Von Munz!”

The post The Pukes “Murder” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Their shows were always great – high energy, lo-fi garage rock. Two of my favorite songs appear on this 45: “Conquistador,” a Latin-flavored instrumental, and “New York” a deep groovin’ screamer with a killer bass line, excellent guitar solo and GREAT lyrics:

New York City! WASTED! In New York City! Ahhhhahhahhahhahhahhh…. Yeah! New York City! Hahahaha! [sound of tires squealing] New York City! New York City! [Brooklyn accent] Can’t you see I’m walking here? Ahhhaahhh!

The post Mercurys “New York” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.