Tag: Vertical

Kenny and his daughter, vocalist and drummer Inez McClain, formed the nucleus of the Exbats over a decade ago, when Inez was just 10 years old; today, Bobby Carlson rounds out the group on bass. Despite their remote location in Bisbee, Arizona, just 11 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border, the group quickly racked up accolades citing a wealth of influences that run from cartoon quintet the Archies to punk rock originators the Avengers, and from the so-sweet-it-hurts 1910 Fruitgum Company to Los Angeles antiheroes the Weirdos. Truthfully, the Exbats embrace a wider swath of musical styles, incorporating blue-eyed soul, tongue-in-cheek country, Brit pop, psych, and R&B into their sound.
Like the best records to croon along with, Now Where Were We is captivatingly simple, yet hardly simplistic. The Exbats are singing from their hearts—and they aren’t afraid to bare their souls. “We’re an honest band, doing our best,” Kenny says. “Maybe listeners will feel like their ears are refreshed and ready for more noise from the world, or maybe they’ll feel like they found a new friend that isn’t remote or shrouded by commercial intentions. Maybe some of these songs will get stuck in their heads. We hope they smile and sing along.”

Split System is a true “supergroup” formed by key figures from Melbourne’s punk scene, and easily one of the most powerful and electrifying bands around today. With members drawn from Stiff Richards, No Zu, and other notable acts, their sound taps into the classic Australian punk tradition. It may not aim to reinvent the genre, but it hits with a force and intensity that few can match. If you had to name the three or four best Australian punk bands right now, Split System would undoubtedly be among them.
Formed during lockdown, the band came together with a shared mission: raw punk, razor-edged rock’n’roll, garage grit, and zero tolerance for complacency. The result is a high-voltage sound that fuses punk aggression with a driving rock’n’roll core. Think The Stooges and MC5 colliding with The Saints and Radio Birdman, with flashes of Adolescents-style urgency. It’s fast, loud, and wired to move.
With two LPs released (via Goner Records, Drunken Sailor, and Legless), along with a string of recordings across formats like cassettes and 7” singles, Split System never slows down. They’ve toured Europe multiple times, continue to write and release new material, and remain a constant presence on the live circuit. This isn’t punk for nostalgics — it’s music rooted firmly in the present. Their songs carry a sense of urgency, a kind of contained rage ready to explode, but also a sharp melodic instinct, infectious rhythms, and a grooving tension that sets them apart from punk clichés and places them firmly within the great Australian tradition of making noise with swing.

The Untamed Youth are a surf-frat-garage band from Columbia, Missouri (USA), led by Deke Dickerson, the driving force behind standout projects such as The Whippersnappers, The Ecco-Fonics, The Dave and Deke Combo and The Go-Nuts, among many others.
Formed in 1987 in their hometown, the band quickly built a reputation through their irresistible mix of top-tier musicianship, an irreverent sense of humor and explosive shows that included jelly-o fights, impromptu fashion shows, pizza-eating contests and even spraying the audience with beer.
Despite recording wonderful albums on top labels (Estrus, Norton…), earning critical acclaim and a loyal fan base, the band broke up in the late ’90s. As is often the case with truly unique acts, The Untamed Youth gradually earned cult status, leading to occasional reunions and appearances at cool festivals across the US and Europe. Today, their early albums, Some Kinda Fun and More Gone Gassers, are highly prized collector’s items on vinyl.
The current lineup features Deke Dickerson, Steve “King of Men” Mace, Steve “Sammy” Rager, Chris Sprague , (also known as “Gringo Starr” or “Sugarballs”) from Los Straitjackets and Nick Lowe. In 2025, they released a powerful new LP, Git Up and Go (Hi-Tide Recordings).
They never disappoint—get ready for a high-octane blast of surf and garage rock ’n’ roll that will have you shaking a tail feather and leaving your worries behind.