Feb 4. Well here it is folks, the first look at the magnificent cover of Greater Hits Volume Two: The Mutt’s Nuts, which is on course to be released on March 3rd. The twenty-song strong album features: Go Mad With The Gonads, Rob A Bank, England In Our Blood, Oily Rag, Sandra Bigg (Really Big), The Joys Of Oi, Getting Pissed, Beki Bondage Please, She Can’t Whip Me, Karl Marx Supported Millwall, These Are Our Streets, Oi! Nutter, Got Any Wrigleys John, Lotto, Lager Top Blues, Conquest, Skinhead Girl, I Don’t Wanna, Haemorrhoid, and Stop That Drumming. And if that’s not enough for you, there is wild talk of releasing a three or four track Mutt’s Nuts Extra ep later in the year featuring some of the songs we demoed for this album but ran out of space for... we’ll let you know if that’s gonna happen.

* Advance notice: Gal’s next Dance Craze book signing and reading in the UK will be at the 2-Tone village in Coventry at 2pm on March 24. Admission: £2. Later that night Mr. Gonad and Paul ‘Stalin of Style’ Hallam will join Lady Cardboard as guest DJs at a fund-raising gig starring The 2-Tone Collection (including Horace Panter, Charley ‘Red Dreads’ Anderson and more) plus supports.

Random news: Captain Oi has just re-released the Ramones 1991 live album ‘Loco Live’ in a deluxe clamshell box. The 2-CD set features 37 tracks and is the first time that the Ramones’ gig in Barcelona has appeared in full on one collection (the UK and US releases had different track-listings originally)... Roddy Byers’s Skabilly Rebels start their first US on 24th Feb... Our mates the Cundeez support The Damned at a Scottish Help 4 Heroes festival 4-6th May... Dave Grohl is developing a comedy series with Dana Gould for FX... just re-released on colour vinyl The Explosion’s ‘Bury Me Standing’ (Chunksaah).

Heads up, Germany: we’ll be back to a pure punk and oi set for the big Black Forest gig: all killer, no filler!

Feb 3. SkaNads News: after an intensive rehearsal day today, the first four SkaNads songs are now officially ready to be recorded. These are: the almost soulful male-female duet, ‘It’s Getting Harder’, the filthy and funny up-tempo ‘Threes Up’ (co-written with Nick Welsh), the rather jaunty ‘Spotty Dick’, and the laid-back, life-affirming sing-along ‘Avoid The Vexation Of Women’. Harvey Gardens tells us that the Ska-Nads now have “more than enough songs for an album, but we’re taking it slowly, know what I mean?” Not really, mate, but we do know that the e.p. will be recorded at Easter with all-female SkaNads horn section Trumpet Crumpet and outrageous backing singers the Happy Slappers.

Dead this week: artist Mike Kelley, who is sadly thought to have topped himself on Tuesday at his home in South Pasadena, California. He was 57. Kelley, from Detroit, co-founded the "anti-rock" mega cult band Destroy All Monsters. A photo of one of his trademark dolls was used on Sonic Youth’s 1992 album Dirty. Even sadder, we also learned of the recent death of composer Ted Dicks who co-wrote the Bernard Cribbins hit ‘Hole In The Ground’ as well as the theme song for Carry On Camping. And that was pure genius. Ted popped his clogs on Jan 27.

Hardcore corner: just re-released, the split single from Capitalist Casualties and Lack Of Interest on Six Weeks Records. And new from Harley’s War ‘2012’ (MVD), featuring ex-Cro-Mag Harley Flanagan and Rocky George of Suicidal Tendencies: five new songs plus 13 live tracks...

Feb 1. Just dropping by because we remembered an unusual snatch of conversation from the Dance Craze launch party last week – when our own Wattsie Watts met Carol Harrison for the first time and told her: “’Ere your ex-father-in-law murdered my ex-father-in-law.” And it’s true! The former EastEnders star was married to Jamie Foreman, son of London gangster ‘Brown Bread’ Fred, while Wattsie’s ex-pa-in-law was used car dealer Tommy ‘Ginger’ Marks who was kidnapped outside the Repton Boys Club and killed by Freddie back in 1965. What a small world! The women immediately got on like an insurance job on fire. (Freddie Foreman was acquitted of the murder but later confessed to it; he’d shot Ginger in revenge for shooting his brother George in the legs – and Ginger did that because Geo was pogering Mrs Marks at the time. Better than a soap, this...) Actually, when we come back, we might start up a Dear Dreary style Problem Page to help with the love lives of the stars. Say for example you were an aging punk singer whose family home was being dramatically staked out by the Other Woman, who could you turn to? Deidre Sanders? Do us a favour! Ask the Gonads, we’re your saviours!

When we come back we may also have news on a developing story that could see the Gonads playing a private party in the Playboy Mansion in LA this summer. It’s most likely someone trying to wind us up. But we have been approached, the recipient of the surprise party, a big-name Hollywood bod, is known to be a major street-punk fan and stranger things have happened. We will of course carry on expressing our horror at the foul sexist nature of the Playboy operation right up until the e-tickets arrive in our in-box...

While we’re here, Sparrer play San Francisco with Rancid on March 23rd and 24th (The Warfield)...Watford Jon wants to set up a joint Argy-Bargy/Gonads gig in 2013... US Ska punk leg-ends Reel Big Fish are demoing songs for their first new album in five years... we’ll be back at the weekend

*Chelsea Dom selflessly missed our Saturday show so he could review the Argy-Bargy gig instead. (Well he doesn’t like crowds - Ed). The great man writes: So Saturday night off to the 12 Bar. An early meet in the Ship with John King & Lee 'Daktari' Wilson, who had fortunately left his elephant gun at home, for a few precursory beers (no more than twelve, no less than nine) and then the short crawl to the venue. First band up Ministers Dead didn't really float my boat, so not much to say on them. (Why not? Slaughter the bastards! – Critical Ed) After a short break, Watford stalwarts The Booze Boys hit the stage resplendent in Hawaiian shirts and hit us with a wave of abuse from the stage; singer Nick Parker's verbal onslaught is certainly sharper than his fashion sense. Old favourites such as ‘Barry Bethel’, ‘16 Pints’ and a cover of the Macc Lads’ ‘Sweaty Betty’ hit the mark and got the crowd in the right mood. Hopefully more gigs from them soon. At around 10:30, Bargy cranked up the energy levels and thrashed their way through a plethora of favourites old and new as the watching audience equally thrashed in appreciation. Highlights were ‘Immaterial Girl’, the increasingly popular ‘Burning Sky’ and ‘Drinks Drugs Football Thugs’. My only complaint was why no ‘Saturday's Glory’? The set finished with some classic standards ending on a rousing cover of ‘If the Kids Are United’. It was great night, how it should be with everyone enjoying themselves, no politics or decorators in sight. More of the same please.

Fat Col adds: “If Lee is Daktari, which one of the Infas is Clarence the cross-eyed lion?”

STOP PRESS: we’re sorry to announce that our Bolton and Blackpool gigs have been cancelled for reasons entirely beyond our control (in the case of the Pineapple Inn, Bolton, the brewery is shutting the pub – presumably as a precaution.) We will try and reschedule Blackpool soon as possible. Our next confirmed gigs are Schramberg, Germany, March 3rd, Southend, Essex, March 23rd, Berlin, Germany (P&D) April 14th and Beauvais, France April 21st. This blog may sleep for a while now. Toodle pip.

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