Nasty Facts "Drive My Car" single (Jimboco 1981/ USA)

While last time around i was confessing about the lack of hardcore i'd been posting here, it hasn't taken me long to come back to the poppier side of the punk rock world. This would be because recently a turned up a copy of a record that i have been searching quite some time to find and i just can't resist saying a few words about one of my favorite non hardcore releases from the NYC area. By all rights, the Nasty Facts should have been bigger than big or at least done well enough for themselves to release another record. Perhaps then we would have gotten more than these 3 fine songs to remember them by. Nevertheless, such is not the case and this IS all we have, but what a great batch of songs to have attached to your name. Not only that, but have them all included on the same record.

Many years ago after moving to Toronto, i took a job working at a local rep cinema where myself and a friend of mine, Mr. Mark Pesci spent most of our shifts together shooting the shit about music and bands etc. Being a job with lots of downtime, there was always time for this or watching whatever was on the screen. Even with that though, being a job with low pay and few hours, i somehow managed to survive on it for a few years even if every night i was eating popcorn and drinking soda water as my dinner. But that's another story. The point was that over the years i picked up on some names of bands off Mark as i usually did and searched them out when i felt convinced that it was going to be something that i might like. This ended up being the case when i discovered the Nasty Facts 45, which after i downloaded, ended up getting quite a bit of play on the ipod shuffle that i was borrowing.


One of the things that i love the most about the record is that the vocals are so androgynous and sound amazing. At times you can think that it's a guy singing but seconds later it sounds like it could quite possibly be a girl. It borderlines gender to the point where many people have mentioned to me that they simply just don't know. Pretty rare for that to happen with a band, but the bottom line is that the singing on this record just sounds great. To my understanding, the majority of the lead vocals are done by female bassist and songwriter Cherl Boyze who from most accounts was a bit of a 'tom-boy'. Who knows. Musically, the songs are just simple catchy punk songs with a very poppy and melodic feel to them that should even induce pogoing in the most bitter and jaded folks. I wouldn't label this quite powerpop, but i could see how many probably would. One of the things i like the most about these recordings are how the snare, bass and tom drums all sound. Very thick and heavy, they seem like they'd be out of place with the songs, but it give it a very strong backbone. Giddy up.

I don't actually know many folks that have a copy of this, but here's a bit of info about the pressings. The first and original release was done with Jimboco records out of NYC. As far as i can tell, they did two different pressings, one of which has a large center hole and one that has a small. Though the label designs on these two are different, they're both printed on the same light blue colored paper. A year or so later after it's release, a UK (or french, depending on who you talk to) press was done on the 5th Column label. These are easy to differentiate from the US press as the labels are orange and the sleeves contain not only the 5th Column logo, but also a "5C2" in the upper left hand of the front cover. Apparently the UK press is much easier to find than the US one and as far as i can tell, goes for a bit less. That's not to say that you'll be able to find one for under 20 bucks in a shop, BUT stranger things have happened.

This is one of those records that i always wanted to pick up but just never saw a copy besides being listed on the online marketplace, going for much more than i was willing to shell out. Eventually, one did come my way for an offer that i deemed fair and the 'cheque was in the mail' so to speak. I wish i could have picked up a few other tempting things from the same fella, but alas it just wasn't meant to me. And really, i did get the best of the pile so what's there to complain about? Time to spin this platter another couple of times...

Oh and for those who always insisted that it was a fella behind the mic, i found this while doing a bit of looking around on popsike. It almost looks like this COULD be the cover and honestly, i kinda wish it was. Looks like my friend's crazy Uncle Jesus!