Only Three Lads - Classic Alternative Music Podcast

Mutant disco…huh?

It's also been called avant funk, disco-not-disco or leftfield disco among them. In a recent episode, we talked a bit about how disco and punk were originally perceived as warring musical factions, painted in such a way that you had to pick a tribe. Especially in a large metropolitan area like New York that was a hotbed for both, those walls broke down relatively quickly in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, and artists began fearlessly experimenting with blending the sounds of the discos with punk, new wave (and its avant-garde distant cousin no wave), electronic, funk, dub, hip-hop, jazz, and other styles. The syncopated beats and funky basslines that you’d hear booming out of Studio 54 were suddenly laced with abrasive guitars, the occasional skronking sax, electronic noise, and left of center vocals. There was no genre purity. A new crop of record labels began celebrating these barrier-busting new sounds, none more notable than ZE Records, who coined the term "Mutant Disco" for a 1981 six-track compilation including seminal artists like Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Was (Not Was), and Material. Perhaps that compilation’s tagline describes mutant disco best of all - “a subtle dislocation from the norm.” Disco wasn’t dead in the early ‘80s…it just mutated into something weirder and more dissonant, and its influence has carried over to a lot of the post-punk, dance-punk, and indie rock that we still hear today.

Case in point is Atlanta band Go Public, whose brilliant, brittle but funky debut album You Are Traffic has just dropped from our friends at HHBTM Records. The attributes of mutant disco that we mentioned apply to this album, but is injected with a distinctly modern sense of anxiety. It’s a record that will keep you dancing while the rest of the world burns around you. Although You Are Traffic is Go Public’s debut, the band has its roots going back decades with indie institutions like Masters of the Hemisphere, Still Flyin’, and Elf Power.

Huge thanks to Mike Turner from HHBTM for the introduction and coordination!

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Welcome to the crossroads...making a deal with the devil is optional.

This week, we examine the crossroads of punk rock and the blues with returning Third Lad Johnny Iguana from The Claudettes. We explore the zone where the primitive riffs, repetition, swagger, and emotional themes of the blues intersect with punk’s volume, attitude, and lack of polish.

It's a description that has - in part - been used to describe the music of Chicago band The Claudettes, who have a regard and respect for both the tradition of the blues and the DIY aesthetic of punk, but that’s also just a little tiny part of the band's appeal. Listen to their back catalogue right up to their new Pravda Records album Garage Glamour, and, yeah, you have shades of punk sass and blues grit, but also deep jazz, retro soul, cabaret noir, slinky funk, rock and pop, all tied together with the powerful vocals of the band’s new singer Rachel Williams and, as always, the impeccable songwriting and musical direction of keyboardist Johnny Iguana. Johnny’s illustrious career has included playing with legends like Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, John Primer, Johnny Winter, Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, and scores more. Oh, and speaking of scores, he’s also the co-composer of the music for the hit FX show The Bear.
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They're creepy, they're kooky, they're altogether spooky...but they ROCK!

It's a MONSTER of a Halloween edition of the Only Three Lads Weekend Six Pack, featuring six frighteningly groovy new tunes guaranteed to rattle a few bones!

Our very special guest is Matt Favazza from Chicago garage punk veterans THE GOLDSTARS, who joins us to talk about their first full-length album in over 20 years, The Halloween Album! It's 13 tracks (what else?) of ghoulish rock n' roll goodness, out NOW on Mordorlorff Music!

This week's spine-tingling Six Pack:

The Goldstars – "Monsters Go Away" (from The Halloween Album, Mordorlorff Music)

The Darts – "Vampires In Love" (from Halloween Love Songs, Meow Hiss Music)

Palmyra Delran & The Doppel Gang – "Spirit In My House" (single, Wicked Cool Records)

The Hellflowers – "Creature" (from the forthcoming album Haunted)

Guerrilla Teens – "Gravedigger" (from the EP Sympathy For The Decibel, Sonic Jett Records)

Lady Darkevyl feat. Chris Church – "I Watch You Sleep" (from the compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies, Big Stir Records)

TURN IT UP...IF YOU DARE!

Hear The Goldstars' new album at thegoldstars.bandcamp.com.

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Looking at critical lists of the greatest New York albums of all time, they seem heavily slanted towards the initial art punk blast of the late ‘70s (and deservedly so) with Ramones, Blondie, Television, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, etc., hip-hop in the ‘90s like Nas, Biggie, Wu-Tang, Jay-Z, or the indie rock of the 2000s with The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol. But the ‘80s was the decade that provided the crucial bridge to all of that, a melting pot of styles as diverse as the city itself. From noise rock to pure pop to rap to no wave jazz, we celebrate the kaleidoscopic world of the Big Apple in the Reagan era.

Joining Brett for the discussion is someone who wasn't just merely there, but was a crucial part of the New York music and art landscape in the '80s. Drummer Bob Bert spent the decade behind the kit for two legendary bands, Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore. His recently released debut solo album, Beach Bongo Bloodbath (Bar/None Records) is the record you didn't realize you needed in 2026 - 25 minutes of percussion-forward, guitar free, gloriously unhinged originals and cover versions like you've never heard them done before.

Hear about Bob's adventures through the vibrant NYC art punk scene of the '70s and '80s, silkscreen printing for Andy Warhol, joining Sonic Youth and making of one of the most beloved albums of their career (Bad Moon Rising), the force of nature that is Lydia Lunch, and what makeshift percussion "instrument" Steve Albini gifted Bob to complete his drum kit with Pussy Galore.

Thanks to Howard Wuelfing from Howlin' Wuelf Media for the introduction and coordination.

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#OnlyThreeLads #O3L #BobBert #BeachBongoBloodbath #SonicYouth #PussyGalore #NYC #80sMusic #AlternativeMusic #PunkRock

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This week's Third Lad Wesley Stace (aka singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding) had dinner reservations to get to, which meant that we didn't get to play this absurdly fun O3L game with him - "The Dylan Dylemma".

But, hey, we're not ones to let a good game go to waste. Play along with our only contestant, Uncle Gregg, as he is challenged to guess which quote came from which famous Dylan - Nobel Prize winning, Rock n' Roll Hall Fame troubadour Bob Dylan; hard-drinking Welsh poet Dylan Thomas; or brooding Porsche owner Dylan McKay (as played by Luke Perry on the hit '90s TV show Beverly Hills 90210).

How well do YOU know your Dylans!?
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