Suburban Reptiles – Megaton // Desert Patrol (Vertigo Records) 1977. Oh wow. This one is a fuckin’ doozy. This is the Suburban Reptiles first single and it is amazing. What we have in our hands here is a classic slice of glam-punk. You can literally feel the Remake/Remodel when that bleating sax riff kicks in over the bar chords. Whammo! This is super colourful and IT FUCKING ROCKS.
The Suburban Reptiles were one of the first (along with the Scavengers) New Zealand Punk bands. They were a large ensemble and like a lot of similar bands, they came from an art school background. They came up with great lyrics like “told what to do by the megaton / so you might as well die while you’re having fun”. Visually, they were pretty impressive too. They ended in the early 1980′s when Phill Judd took two of their members and formed The Swingers, another Last Days favourite.
