the (scottish) freeze

sure, the boston freeze rank up there with some of the best american hardcore, but lately i've been giving the scottish freeze repeated listens. the haunting ballad "psychodalek nightmare" lurches along oozing proto-punk, even with its well-suited use of violin. this is the song that sucked me in, and really brings to mind the mike rep and the quota's anthem "heavy metal has destroyed my mind."

the freeze - psychodalek nightmares

view it on youtube

the video is a little disappointing in the fact that it's just a slideshow of cover art and a promo shot, and that's it, aside from a little bit of lineup and record infos.

from the video's youtube page:
The Freeze were formed in 1976 by Gordon Sharp, David Clancy and Keith Grant, all pupils together at school in Linlithgow, West Lothian. By 1977 and after linking up with drummer Graeme Radin, the band started gigging around Scotland, often playing support to many of the main punk and new wave bands of the day.
On Feb 24th 1978 they participated in the Stiff/Chiswick challenge series -- designed to highlight the U.K.'s top, unsigned acts at Edinburgh's Clouds Disco. Among those performing were The Skids, The Subs, The Monos, The Cuban Heels, Groper, The Freeze, and The Scars.

Two 7inch's were released on the A1 label, 1979's In Colour EP followed by 1980's Celebration/Crossover single.

Best moments-1: The Astoria Ballroom with our friends from Dalkeith singing along to Psychodalek Nightmare

Best moments-2:After being stopped by police on the way home from a gig where they got very excited about a substance in Roys pocket to get it returned 4 weeks later with a note to say it was violin resin, a fact that we had told the police at the time of our arrest!

more of the freeze on youtube
Kilt By Death: The Sound Of Old Scotland - previously posted here, a compilation containing some classic freeze tracks.

Kilt By Death: The Sound Of Old Scotland

to fill a request from dr. punkenstain, i am posting this fabulous three volume compilation of "killed by death style" rare or otherwise obscure scottish DIY punk.

from volcanic tongue:
The next wad who walks up to me in public and hands me a CD-R of their current post-rock/indie-experimental/improv/hip ‘noise' project with the immortal words “it's happening on your own doorstep!” is gonna have to eat fist. The fact is that there has never been any real history of experimental music in Scotland and outside of the activities of a few scattered individuals that unfortunately remains pretty much the case today. What Scotland has always enjoyed is a fairly voluble DIY/underground rock scene, a scene that - despite the geographical distance - always seemed to have more in common with what was happening beneath the pavements of New York than anything that the media/fashion dictates of London might've encouraged. Kilt By Death, then, is a timely round-up of some of the best - and some of the most unlikely - DIY/punk sides to come out of Scotland in the period 1977-1984. Some of the stuff here is pretty common, some of it is faintly ridiculous (Andy Cameron's “I Wanna Be A Punk Rocker”) and some of it (killer sides like Fire Exit's “Time Wall”, previously comped on Volume 7 of the original Killed By Death series) is as rare as a clue in the putty-soft brain of the average Scottish music journalist. Listened to in one sitting it makes a pretty convincing case for Scotland's inclusion alongside New Zealand as one of the most consistently committed DIY outposts and one that drew sustenance and strength - as opposed to bitterness and poodle-peddling compromise - from a position of relative cultural and geographical isolation. Sometimes, you just gotta be reminded. Includes killer tracks by 35mm Dreams, Alleged, Alternative, Alternators, Another Pretty Face, Article 58, AVO-8, Aztec Camera, Basic Unit, Battery Boys, Beat Necessity, Bee Bee Cee, Boots for Dancing, Brills, Buba and the Shop Assistants, Andy Cameron, Cheetahs, Commercials, Crimedesk, Defiant Pose, Delmontes, DNV, Drive, Electric Personalities, Electrix, End Result, Exile, Exposure, External Menace, Fakes, Fegs, Fire Engines, Fire Exit, Flowers, Freeze, Fun 4, Jesus and Mary Chain, Johnny and the Self-Abusers, Jolt, Josef K, Laughing Apple, Mentol Errors, Metropak, Neon Barbs, Noise Annoys, One Takes, Orange Juice, Passionate Friends, Pastels, Prats, PVC2, Red Letters, Restricted Code, Rezillos, Scars, Scrotum Poles, Significant Zerøs, Simple Minds, Skids, Skroteez, Square Peg, Squibs, Story So Far, Strutz, Subs, Suede Crocodiles, T.P.I., Thermometers, Those Intrinsic Intellectuals, Threats, TV21, Twisted Nerve, Urban Enemies, Valves, Venigmas, Victims of What?, Visitors (Dundee/Edinburgh), Wake, Wayward Skylabs, X-S Discharge, Zips and Zones. Highly recommended

download links below:

va - kilt by death - the sound of old scotland vol. 1
http://lix.in/-3a11a7
mp3 224kbps [127.26 MB]

va - kilt by death - the sound of old scotland vol. 2
http://lix.in/-33f723
mp3 224kbps [126.50 MB]

va - kilt by death - the sound of old scotland vol. 3
http://lix.in/-327082
mp3 224kbps [127.40 MB]