Lime Spiders
Slave Girl

«... back in the garage, back in the garage ...» cried the Clash over thirty years ago, and so, after wandering to other shores for a bit, back to the garage I go too, dusting off what I consider to be two of the best products of the genre in the Eighties, the singles «25th Hour» and «Slave Girl» by Australia's Lime Spiders.

Formed in 1979, our guys made a splash by participating in a series of local contests and capturing the attention of His Majesty Rob Younger, who offered to produce the two works.

The first saw the light in 1983, when Mick Blood (vocals), Darryl Mather and Richard Jakimszyn (guitars), Dave Guest (bass), and Geoff Cleary (drums) entered the studio to put on vinyl four gems of a rawness more unique than rare. On this matter, consider Jello Biafra's comment: «I never thought I'd hear a psychedelic slime band more hardcore than the Green Fuzz, but here they are».

Indeed, the record is a delightful blend of garage and acid psychedelia on one side - Zakary Thaks and Other Half the first names that come to mind - and proto-punk from the '70s on the other - Stooges period «Raw Power», to be clear straightaway.

Four tracks on the lineup, including admirable covers of the classic «1-2-5» by Haunted and «That's How It Will Be» by Liberty Bells, but it is the title track that impresses the most and announces to the world that the Lime Spiders are a group destined to leave a deep mark in the history of garage-punk: those who have ears to understand, understand...

It's true, then, that outside the United States there are not many proposing similar sounds, among the few the Swedish Nomads, so welcome to the Lime Spiders, and who cares if their music is derivative and revivalistic: what counts is that it keeps certain noble traditions alive.

Anyway ... the lineup changes, with Tony Bambach (bass) and Richard Lawson (drums) joining Mick Blood and Richard Jakimszyn, and in 1984 the second single, the masterpiece «Slave Girl», is released.

Only two tracks this time, «Slave Girl» indeed and «Beyond The Fringe» on the flip side, but the first is enough to confirm the excellent feelings aroused by «25th Hour»: nothing new for heaven's sake, because it is nothing more than a fast and filthy enough «Have Love Will Travel» to adapt it to the times, yet it's great to have more of this kind of stuff.

Summing up: six tracks in two years, two truly memorable, and a guaranteed place in the heart of every self-respecting gazzer.

Sometimes, it really takes little to guarantee immortality.

So much so that, after over twenty years, our guys have not yet tired of grinding and regrinding the usual three distorted, fuzz-laden chords.

There's still worth mentioning the debut full-length «The Cave Comes Alive», certainly good but not as great as one would expect after such a premise, and the third single «Out Of Control», another killer track to pass on to future generations; and to remember that it all is available in «Nine Miles High», an excellent anthology that brings together the best of the Lime Spiders' production from 1983 to 1990.

Long live the garage rockers of the world!