― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 16 January 2005 03:48 (nineteen years ago) link
yes, cuz they are better than all the rest combined. probably.
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 16 January 2005 03:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 16 January 2005 03:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― don, Sunday, 16 January 2005 04:42 (nineteen years ago) link
Gypsy, you forgot to mention you liked hearing her praise the kind of guy who's "not afraid to stick it in"! Or was that me that liked that?
Yeah, that didn't escape my notice. Weird thing is that Tom Petty wrote that song. I guess he likes guys who aren't afraid to stick it in too...
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Sunday, 16 January 2005 04:46 (nineteen years ago) link
Gwen's brother Eric started the band No Doubt with his friend John Spence in 1987, and asked the always effervescent Gwen to join on as co-vocalist with Spence. Tony Kanal joined the group a little later, and the trio began to gain popularity by playing at local parties.
But the party was over when Spence committed suicide in 1987, which left Gwen to move up the ranks to lead vocalist. The show must go on, and it did, as No Doubt continued to perform in local gigs. In the meantime, Gwen had graduated high school, and followed up her studies at Cal State Fullerton College.
― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 16 January 2005 04:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― don, Sunday, 16 January 2005 05:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 16 January 2005 05:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 16 January 2005 05:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― don, Sunday, 16 January 2005 05:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― don, Sunday, 16 January 2005 06:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― evan chronister (evan chronister), Sunday, 16 January 2005 09:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 16 January 2005 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link
The Del Lords were pretty good, too - sort of right in between Springsteen and Robert Gordon (somewhat underrated himself).
Cruzados? Eh. But the first Plugz album, Electrify Me, is fucking mind-roasting. I still listen to it at least once a month - I gave a copy to Henry Rollins once, hoping he'd reissue it on CD through Infinite Zero.
― pdf (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 16 January 2005 20:21 (nineteen years ago) link
Well, the Del Fuegos were from Boston (if you'll allow me a little regional commentary of my own). There's a reason Jason and the Scorchers "got" country...
― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 17 January 2005 00:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― eighties enough, Monday, 17 January 2005 00:39 (nineteen years ago) link
On record, not live. Saw both, had most of their records. Del Fuegos were a good to great live band - much harder, swinging and aggressive than their recorded material let on. Del Lords were always solidly mediocre but had a couple songs you could actually remember like the previously mentioned, "I Play the Drums" and "Judas Kiss."
― George Smith, Monday, 17 January 2005 00:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― john'n'chicago, Monday, 17 January 2005 01:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― don, Monday, 17 January 2005 04:46 (nineteen years ago) link
Of REM, Dan Stuart said that they jammed with 'em on occasion, "but you're looking at a band that got more produced and more pop on every album and a guy who was deliberately very non-concrete about his sexuality".
He reserved most of his bile for Howe Gelb of Giant Sand, though. "Oh god, I hate that guy. He's just some rich Jew boy from Scranton Pensylvania who goes through his phonebook and gets people to make his records for him!"
Oh, and the Del Lords also ruled.
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 11:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 11:16 (nineteen years ago) link
**He's just some rich Jew boy from Scranton Pensylvania**
Now I REALLY don't like this asshole. "Hey, man, I'm a authentic roots rocker, not some fag or jew poser." DESTROY!
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 12:33 (nineteen years ago) link
Of course, between comments like these and firing three-fifths of his band to make ends meet, we get to the nub of why Dan Stuart was effectively ostracised frm the US music industry.
I still say they're worth investigating.
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 12:40 (nineteen years ago) link
Keeping it real?? Suppose Stipe HAD come out of the closet in 1986, would Dan Stuart have been cheering him on? Hah. And his knee-jerk antisemitism re:Howe Gelb is pathetic. Stuart could've stuck to evaluating their music and stayed out of trouble. So fuck him.
But hey, even bigoted jerks can make good music. We're all sinners in the eyes of the lord, etc.
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 13:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― NickB (NickB), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:10 (nineteen years ago) link
I remember seeing the Long Ryders cover "Public Image," and the singer almost broke his head doing a stage-dive on a sparse audience.
Both the "Del" bands were good live.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 17 January 2005 14:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 17 January 2005 15:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 17 January 2005 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― danh (danh), Monday, 17 January 2005 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 17 January 2005 17:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― don, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 00:25 (nineteen years ago) link
the replacements kinda sorta fit in the scene, too. they certainly had some common ground. they covered x, rem and tom petty on "the shit hits the fans," as well as the carter family (a song they probably learned from alex chilton). they toured with steve earle. and they wrote a handful of fine straight-up country tunes themselves.
my two favorite albums that were totally of the scene were the knitters album and the danny and dusty album (a one-off all-star band featuring guys from the long ryders, green on red and the dream syndicate). everyone else had lots of great songs but almost no great albums.
oh, and i'd count dwight yoakam's first album, too, if he counts, though maybe the fact that he was clearly headed for nashville itself (instead of just dreaming of the nashville of the mind, like everybody else) disqualifies him.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 06:51 (nineteen years ago) link
i could be completely wrong about this, but somewhere in the back of my mind i got it that dan stuart was gay himself. which would make his comments about stipe come across completely opposite from how they're being interpreted here. he's not criticizing him for being gay. he's criticizing him for being in the closet. it may be a pointless and unnecessary thing to say, but i'm not so sure it's evil.
calling howe gelb a "rich jew boy" is offensive. and if you don't think half the non-jews in rock (and probably a third of the jews) haven't said something exactly like this to someone somewhere while drunk in some bar at some point in their lives, well, you're probably wrong.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 07:33 (nineteen years ago) link
well the 1st big single was written (co-written?) by Tom Petty and had that Benmont Tench organ sound so it had a lot of reasons to stick out.
― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 07:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 10:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 10:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 11:19 (nineteen years ago) link
my response was a tad self-righteous, admittedly, I've used bigoted terminology before when I WASN'T drunk but Stuart said this shit in an interview and that's different whether he was stoned, drunk, withdrawing or whatever. And while every human being is prejudiced, I find it hard to believe that such a high per centage of musicians would castigate their peers in this way. I mean, when one jew calls another "jew boy" it's sorta like "nigga" you know what I'm saying? Stuart just sounds like a bitter fuck. And this idea that Michael Stipe disguised his sexuality to sell more records strikes me as absurd. The thousands of people who bought REM albums in the 80s -- and probably most of the millions who did in the early 90s -- weren't viewing him as a sex symbol. I mean, the guy's never been exactly MACHO. I don't think his coming out would've been a big shock to the majority of fans. Now George Michael, that was another story...
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 11:56 (nineteen years ago) link
http://guitarbands.de
― laticsmon (laticsmon), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link
Nevermind the asshole comments, this is pretty fucken lame as well.
Jason and the Scorchers rule
It's funny it actually took me a long time to figure this out because I was in high school in Nashville during their heyday, and they were all over the college radio station I listened to and played at local clubs constantly.
Anybody here ever hear Web Wilder? Cause he's definitely in this group though he didn't even achieve the bit of recognition the bands in the title of this thread got.
― martin m. (mushrush), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― chuck, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link
No dedicated Long Ryders thread?
RIP Tom Stevens :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBg_MsAHSzg
― Maresn3st, Monday, 25 January 2021 11:16 (three years ago) link
Latest Chuck Prophet newsletter: on the bill of the first new Mountain Stage show in quite a while (because covid), which started airing/streaming yesterday, check site and stations https://www.mountainstage.org/radio/Pages/Radio-Affiliates.aspx Links to pay-per-view concerts coming up later this month:https://www.stageit.com/chuck_prophet_the_mission_express/mid_season_replacement_show_uk/95798 and https://www.stageit.com/chuck_prophet_the_mission_express/mid_season_replacement_show_us/95799, also a lot of other other recent items & linkshttp://chuckprophet.com/
― dow, Saturday, 6 March 2021 18:59 (three years ago) link
RIP to Lone Justice drummer Don Heffington. I think he had a distinguished career as a session man, did he not?
― birdistheword, Thursday, 25 March 2021 08:36 (three years ago) link
Pulled out the 'Gas Food Lodging/Green on Red ep' CD for 3x spins in the past couple of days. It is interesting how different the band sound is on the EP to the LP. The s/t EP very much has a 60s garage psych sound and the second one is cold tapping the stones w/dylan's organ sound. Dan Sturt's voice also kinda reminds me a bit of Bonnie Prince Billy.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 00:54 (three years ago) link
Yeah, Prophet mentioned somewhere that they had some major disagreements about musical directions.
xpost from Lone Justice/Maria McKee:
2021 is a trip. I learned that the LJ/MM's long time drummer passed away via Van Dyke Parks' twitter:
R.I.P. blessed Percussionist Don Heffington (12/20/‘50-3/24/‘21). R.I.P. old Saddle Buddy. pic.twitter.com/JF0cO6ehWt — Van Dyke Parks (@thevandykeparks) March 24, 2021
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, March 24, 2021 7:39 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink
Oh man! The impression that I got from booklets w LJ reissues and prev. unreleased on Omnivore was that he was pretty involved in working up a lot of arrangements, when the suits didn't get in the way; also, as wiki sez: Don Heffington was an American drummer, percussionist, and songwriter. He is known for his solo albums, his work with Lone Justice, and his extensive touring and session work with artists such as Lowell George, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Barry Goldberg, Big Kettle Drum, and Victoria Williams. Much more here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Heffington
---dow
― dow, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 01:12 (three years ago) link
(If I didn't get it all in here, 2020 was quite a year for prev. unreleased etc. Dave Alvin & friends, as noted on his own thread)(and/or the Blasters' thread, hard to keep 'em all lined up)
This mind-melting curation of early live recordings by The Dream Syndicate is testimony from a witness: Los Angeles writer Matthew Specktor. He has created three live albums that carry you from the band’s first show, through “The Days of Wine and Roses,” and into a full live preview of “The Medicine Show.”
Download it from this page, which also incl. Specktor's notes (would like to read his forthcoming memoir, Always Crashing In The Same Car);https://saveyourface.posthaven.com/the-dream-syndicate-live-1982-1983
― dow, Monday, 24 May 2021 23:11 (two years ago) link
True or False: all these bands were influenced by the Stray Cats
I say True
― sleeve, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 01:01 (two years ago) link
(not The Dream Syndicate though, thanks for that)
― sleeve, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 01:04 (two years ago) link
Somebody yelled out "Gun Club!" way back at the beginning of this here thread.
THE GUN CLUB’S 1981 PUNK-BLUES CLASSIC DEBUT FIRE OF LOVE RETURNS WITH DELUXE DOUBLE-VINYL AND DOUBLE-CD REISSUES VIA BLIXA SOUNDSBoth the LP and CD Editions Come with 10 bonus tracks and the Previously Unreleased Live At Club 88 – March 6, 1981
Street date July 23, 2021
LOS ANGELES, CA. (Tuesday June 1, 2021) — With a howling and unholy mix of punk rock and the blues, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club exploded upon the L.A. club scene in the early ’80s. They recorded their classic debut, 1981’s Fire Of Love, for the local Slash/Ruby Records label. And now that legendary album has been unearthed and brought back to life as a deluxe two-CD and two-LP set.
Both the double-CD and double-vinyl editions contain a digitally remastered version of the original 11-track album, produced by fellow L.A. scenesters Chris D. of The Flesh Eaters and The Plugz’s Tito Larriva. The CD version will include 10 previously unreleased four-track demos and alternate versions, while the LP will include a download card for the digital version of the 10 bonus tracks.Both the CD and the vinyl versions will include a second disc, the previously unreleased Live At Club 88 – March 6, 1981, a concert recording capturing the band’s incendiary live set at the legendary West L.A. dive bar.
The double-vinyl version will be released as a two-LP set packaged in a gatefold cover with extensive liner notes by drummer Terry Graham and remembrances from producer Tito Larriva and co-producer Chris D., as well as rare photos and ephemera. The CD version will include a booklet with liner notes, photos and ephemera.Born on June 27, 1958, Jeffrey Lee Pierce grew up in the East Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, California, before moving with his family to the San Fernando Valley, where he attended Granada Hills High School. Back then his main passion was acting. Eventually, his interest veered to music, but he held on to his love of drama and would later inject it into his music and performances. He’d been toying with guitar since the age of 10, and by his late teens and early 20s, he’d formed a few bands and wrote about reggae for Slash magazine under the pen name Ranking Señor Lea.It was in Creeping Ritual, a band Pierce formed with guitarist Brian Tristan, in which Pierce found his footing. He’d discovered the Delta blues from the record collections of Canned Heat singer Bob Hite and L.A. scenester Phast Phreddie Patterson, and decided to make them his own. Although his first bassist and drummer bailed, the band — rechristened The Gun Club by Circle Jerks’ singer and Pierce’s one-time roommate Keith Morris — became a reality with the addition of the fully formed rhythm section of bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham. They had already played together in punk band The Bags and could hold down a solid foundation for Pierce and Tristan — now known as Kid Congo Powers — to improvise over. “He was injecting blues into the heart of punk rock, struggling to give life into something new and brilliant even if it was old and obvious at the same time,” Graham says of Pierce, in the book More Fun in the New World: The Unmaking and Legacy of L.A. Punk.
Fire of Love captures the Gun Club at their rawest on such originals as the unforgettable album-opener “Sex Beat,” the addictive “She’s Live Heroin to Me” and the psychobilly stomp of “For The Love Of Ivy,” an ode to Cramps guitarist and future Kid Congo bandmate Poison Ivy Rorschach. The band also delved into their influences on the set, digging up Tommy Johnson’s “Cool Drink Of Water” and Robert Johnson’s “Preaching The Blues” and jolting them back with jumper cables via Pierce’s new arrangements and “Elvis from Hell” howl.As Graham writes in the liner notes, “I couldn’t be more thrilled to know Fire Of Love has given so many a nice kick in the ass…I not only loved fighting off the Devil while a member of Gun Club, but I’m proud of what we did on Fire Of Love with Chris and Tito as our guides. And if this music continues to irk the purists, I couldn’t be more proud. Jeff, you were one hell of a great musician, but you knew that.”The Gun Club went on to record several other albums — including 1982’s Miami (reissued by Blixa Sounds in 2020) — before Pierce’s death in 1996, yet Fire Of Love is their finest hour.
CD TRACK LISTINGDISC 11. SEX BEAT2. PREACHING THE BLUES3. PROMISE ME4. SHE’S LIKE HEROIN TO ME5. FOR THE LOVE OF IVY6. FREE SPIRIT7. GHOST ON THE HIGHWAY8. JACK ON FIRE9. BLACK TRAIN10. COOL DRINK OF WATER11. GOODBYE JOHNNYBONUS TRACKS12. BAD INDIAN (ALTERNATIVE VERSION)13. COOL DRINK OF WATER (ALTERNATIVE VERSION)14. FIRE OF LOVE (ALTERNATIVE VERSION)15. FOR THE LOVE OF IVY (ALTERNATIVE VERSION)16. GHOST ON THE HIGHWAY (ALTERNATIVE VERSION)17. FIRE OF LOVE (4 TRACK DEMO)18. DEVIL IN THE WOODS (4 TRACK DEMO)19. GOODBYE JOHNNY (4 TRACK DEMO)20. PREACHING THE BLUES (4 TRACK DEMO)21. WATERMELON MAN (4 TRACK DEMO)DISC 2 / LIVE AT CLUB 88 – MARCH 6, 19811. DEVIL IN THE WOODS2. BAD INDIAN3. SHE’S LIKE HEROIN TO ME4. PREACHING THE BLUES5. KEYS TO THE KINGDOM6. JACK ON FIRE7. RAILROAD BILL8. FIRE OF LOVE9. SEX BEAT10. GHOST ON THE HIGHWAY
LP TRACK LISTINGLP1SIDE A1. SEX BEAT2. PREACHING THE BLUES3. PROMISE ME4. SHE’S LIKE HEROIN TO ME5. FOR THE LOVE OF IVY6. FREE SPIRITSIDE B1. GHOST ON THE HIGHWAY2. JACK ON FIRE3. BLACK TRAIN4. COOL DRINK OF WATER5. GOODBYE JOHNNYLP2 / LIVE AT CLUB 88 – MARCH 6, 1981SIDE C1. DEVIL IN THE WOODS2. BAD INDIAN3. SHE’S LIKE HEROIN TO ME4. PREACHING THE BLUES5. KEYS TO THE KINGDOMSIDE D1. JACK ON FIRE2. RAILROAD BILL3. FIRE OF LOVE4. SEX BEAT5. GHOST ON THE HIGHWAY
Fire Of Love trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7kwkoRyI5wfor more information please contact william at blixa.com
― dow, Sunday, 6 June 2021 20:22 (two years ago) link
A new version of the Cruzados is putting out an album in August:
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Cruzados, L.A.’s forceful rock band of the 1980s, make a phoenix-like return this summer with the release of She’s Automatic, the group’s first set of recordings in more than three decades.The new release, featuring 11 songs written or co-written by Tony Marsico, the bassist and co-writer for the Cruzados and a member of the band’s punk-era precursor the Plugz, will be issued on CD on August 13, 2021 on Marsico’s imprint Scamco; an LP edition will follow in the fall. The album will also be available on select digital and streaming platforms.The album is a live, hot, no-nonsense collection of hard-hitting rockers on which Marsico is joined by the members of his ’80s L.A. contemporaries Little Caesar. The set’s glittering group of guest musicians includes a host of noted L.A. punk vets, including John Doe (X), Dave Alvin (the Blasters), David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), and Melanie Vannem (the Muffs, the Pandoras).The Cruzados attracted national attention in the ’80s with their stormy, Latin-inflected brand of post-punk hard rock. Signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records, the quartet issued two albums, Cruzados (1985) and After Dark (1987). They also made a high-profile screen appearance in the 1989 cult classic Road House. However, familiar rock ’n’ roll pressures capsized the band in 1991; guitarist Marshall Rohner died in 2005, and drummer Chalo “Charlie” Quintana died in 2018.In the intervening years, Marsico worked on the debut album by Plugz and Cruzados singer-guitarist Tito Larriva’s band Tarantula, today based in Austin. He also carved out a notable career as a top session musician and touring sideman with such artists as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey, Marianne Faithfull, and Willie Nelson. The bassist’s studio and road stories are collected in two books, Late Nights With Bob Dylan (2009) and I’m Just Here for the Gig! (2020).With the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the enforced solitude that followed, Marsico began to contemplate a new project under the Cruzados handle.“Being penned up with the pandemic at home for a year, I started questioning my mortality,” he says. “I felt like I got shortchanged with the Cruzados. We never got to put out a third album, due to a lot of crazy circumstances that cropped up. I wanted to do the band justice and go out on a high note. That was my goal, and to pay tribute to Chalo and Marshall.”Material for a new Cruzados release came quickly. “I wrote a batch of new songs during the pandemic at home,” Marsico recalls. “I had a lot of frustration and anger that I had to get out of me. Before I knew it I had an album. There wasn’t any big plan. I just felt motivated to do something more constructive than sit around being miserable about the state of the world.”Songs co-written with former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Rick Vito (“Long Black Car”) and veteran blues keyboardist Barry Goldberg (“Son of the Blues”) were also brought to the table. “I’d always wanted to get those out, because we’d never properly released them,” Marsico says. It didn’t take long for Marsico to decide on the right musicians to carry on the Cruzados’ legacy in the studio: He turned to singer Ron Young and guitarists Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia of Little Caesar, who were also active on the L.A. scene in the late ’80s as a Geffen Records act. The core lineup was completed by drummer Ron Klonel, who has collaborated with Little Caesar in recent years.“The Little Caesar guys were Chalo’s best friends — they were pals from back in the day,” Marsico says. “I had to find the best guy to be the lead singer. My tastes have changed a little — the influences are blues and rock ’n’ roll. I knew that Ron Young from Little Caesar loved blues, and we got to talking and we hit it off with the same style of music. I knew that he could pull this off and get behind it.“Loren Molinare was in the great ’70s L.A. band the Dogs, of course, and I loved the Dogs, and Mark Tremaglia is an excellent slide guitarist I’ve been working with for a couple of years now. Rob Klonel is a great, solid rock ‘n’ roll drummer. It was really important for me to get someone who hit ’em hard like Chalo. They were a perfect combination of guys, and they had a lot of enthusiasm.”With Bruce Witkin engineering and producing, the new Cruzados set up shop at Unison Studios in L.A.Marsico recalls, “We did it old style — we just set up in a room all together, like we used to do records before they started putting everybody in isolation booths and all that crap. We got the band together and rehearsed, and we went into the studio a week later. Before we knew it, we had the album. All live, no click tracks. We all played in our own little area, with our masks on. Set up, play, cut the songs, boom. It felt great to rock with a bunch of like-minded guys. With our special guests, half of them came to the studio, and half recorded their parts at home.”She’s Automatic is both a forceful continuation of the Cruzados’ sound and an ardent homage to the work they began more than three decades ago. Marsico says, “I didn’t like the way the Cruzados went out. We were really great friends. It was never a band that was at odds with one another. Yes, there were problems that tore us apart, but we were like family. Why not do it now? Life’s too short, man. You’ve only got so much time you can rock ’n’ roll.”The Cruzados are currently booking dates for a 2022 European tour.
The new release, featuring 11 songs written or co-written by Tony Marsico, the bassist and co-writer for the Cruzados and a member of the band’s punk-era precursor the Plugz, will be issued on CD on August 13, 2021 on Marsico’s imprint Scamco; an LP edition will follow in the fall. The album will also be available on select digital and streaming platforms.
The album is a live, hot, no-nonsense collection of hard-hitting rockers on which Marsico is joined by the members of his ’80s L.A. contemporaries Little Caesar. The set’s glittering group of guest musicians includes a host of noted L.A. punk vets, including John Doe (X), Dave Alvin (the Blasters), David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), and Melanie Vannem (the Muffs, the Pandoras).
The Cruzados attracted national attention in the ’80s with their stormy, Latin-inflected brand of post-punk hard rock. Signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records, the quartet issued two albums, Cruzados (1985) and After Dark (1987). They also made a high-profile screen appearance in the 1989 cult classic Road House. However, familiar rock ’n’ roll pressures capsized the band in 1991; guitarist Marshall Rohner died in 2005, and drummer Chalo “Charlie” Quintana died in 2018.
In the intervening years, Marsico worked on the debut album by Plugz and Cruzados singer-guitarist Tito Larriva’s band Tarantula, today based in Austin. He also carved out a notable career as a top session musician and touring sideman with such artists as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey, Marianne Faithfull, and Willie Nelson. The bassist’s studio and road stories are collected in two books, Late Nights With Bob Dylan (2009) and I’m Just Here for the Gig! (2020).
With the onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the enforced solitude that followed, Marsico began to contemplate a new project under the Cruzados handle.
“Being penned up with the pandemic at home for a year, I started questioning my mortality,” he says. “I felt like I got shortchanged with the Cruzados. We never got to put out a third album, due to a lot of crazy circumstances that cropped up. I wanted to do the band justice and go out on a high note. That was my goal, and to pay tribute to Chalo and Marshall.”
Material for a new Cruzados release came quickly. “I wrote a batch of new songs during the pandemic at home,” Marsico recalls. “I had a lot of frustration and anger that I had to get out of me. Before I knew it I had an album. There wasn’t any big plan. I just felt motivated to do something more constructive than sit around being miserable about the state of the world.”
Songs co-written with former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Rick Vito (“Long Black Car”) and veteran blues keyboardist Barry Goldberg (“Son of the Blues”) were also brought to the table. “I’d always wanted to get those out, because we’d never properly released them,” Marsico says.
It didn’t take long for Marsico to decide on the right musicians to carry on the Cruzados’ legacy in the studio: He turned to singer Ron Young and guitarists Loren Molinare and Mark Tremalgia of Little Caesar, who were also active on the L.A. scene in the late ’80s as a Geffen Records act. The core lineup was completed by drummer Ron Klonel, who has collaborated with Little Caesar in recent years.
“The Little Caesar guys were Chalo’s best friends — they were pals from back in the day,” Marsico says. “I had to find the best guy to be the lead singer. My tastes have changed a little — the influences are blues and rock ’n’ roll. I knew that Ron Young from Little Caesar loved blues, and we got to talking and we hit it off with the same style of music. I knew that he could pull this off and get behind it.
“Loren Molinare was in the great ’70s L.A. band the Dogs, of course, and I loved the Dogs, and Mark Tremaglia is an excellent slide guitarist I’ve been working with for a couple of years now. Rob Klonel is a great, solid rock ‘n’ roll drummer. It was really important for me to get someone who hit ’em hard like Chalo. They were a perfect combination of guys, and they had a lot of enthusiasm.”
With Bruce Witkin engineering and producing, the new Cruzados set up shop at Unison Studios in L.A.
Marsico recalls, “We did it old style — we just set up in a room all together, like we used to do records before they started putting everybody in isolation booths and all that crap. We got the band together and rehearsed, and we went into the studio a week later. Before we knew it, we had the album. All live, no click tracks. We all played in our own little area, with our masks on. Set up, play, cut the songs, boom. It felt great to rock with a bunch of like-minded guys. With our special guests, half of them came to the studio, and half recorded their parts at home.”
She’s Automatic is both a forceful continuation of the Cruzados’ sound and an ardent homage to the work they began more than three decades ago. Marsico says, “I didn’t like the way the Cruzados went out. We were really great friends. It was never a band that was at odds with one another. Yes, there were problems that tore us apart, but we were like family. Why not do it now? Life’s too short, man. You’ve only got so much time you can rock ’n’ roll.”
The Cruzados are currently booking dates for a 2022 European tour.
No Tito Larriva? I'm not interested. But others may be. Loads of guests, anyway.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 28 June 2021 13:41 (two years ago) link
Larriva facts I forgot about or didn’t know: was in movies Roadhouse & Dusk till Dawn; plus David Byrne’s True Stories . Also produced a Gun Club album
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 June 2021 15:34 (two years ago) link
Front man/vocalist Tito Larriva would go on to form his own band "Tito and Tarantula" where original Cruzados guitarist Steve Hufsteter would join him as part of his touring band
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 June 2021 15:38 (two years ago) link
Man, I loved the Plugz,back when they used to show up on New Wave Theatre, where I first encountered several groups on this and related threads--wiki: New Wave Theatre was a television program broadcast locally in the Los Angeles area on UHF channel 18 and eventually on the USA Network as part of the late night variety show Night Flight during the early 1980s...It was noted for showcasing rising punk and new wave acts, including Bad Religion, Fear, the Dead Kennedys, 45 Grave, The Angry Samoans and The Circle Jerks...he format was extremely loose, owing partly to the desire to maintain the raw energy of the live performances and partly to the limited production budget. The program was presented in a format dubbed "live taped", in which the action was shot live and the video was then interspliced with video clips, photos, and graphics of everything from an exploding atomic bomb to a woman wringing a chicken's neck.The Plugz were one of the first, if not the first, DIY L.A. punk bands. But I also remember being frustrated by the Cruzados albums, on Arista, although they were on some show, maybe Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and very hot, with a Link Wray-style guitarist who I think left pretty soon. I couldn't emjoy Tito & Tarantula in From Dusk To Dawn because it was such a bad movie, but Desperado would have to be better, and its soundtrack looks pretty promising.
― dow, Monday, 28 June 2021 17:05 (two years ago) link
So, since we've got Gun Club and Dream Syndicate on here (Thread Police don't talk about me when I'm gone):
Savage RepublicMeteoraMobilization Recordings20 May 2022
Meteora
Mobilization Recordings
20 May 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LOWuMFaXSE
Savage Republic will release their album Meteora out May 20 in North America via Mobilization Recordings. Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980’s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-post punk-industrial pioneers. Throughout the 1980s, their five albums combined with their legendary live performances blurred and distorted the boundaries of post-punk, industrial, and soundtrack music – all wrapped up beautifully in Bruce Licher’s innovative graphic design.After 1989, the Republic went quiet. 13 years passed before they would briefly resurface for a US reunion tour in support of the reissue of their five studio albums and related singles on CD. Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, and Greg Grunke revived the band in 2005, and in 2006 they added drummer extraordinaire Alan Waddington to the fold. This lineup released the full length 1938 LP on Neurot Recordings (2007) and a pounding tribal cover of The Cure’s “Hanging Garden” on a compilation CD included in the French magazine Fear Drop #14 (2008). In 2009, Savage Republic decided to raise their game. With the departure of Greg Grunke, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Kerry Dowling joined the band and they’ve never looked back since! The current four-piece line up (Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, Kerry Dowling, and Alan Waddington) has taken the band’s discography to a whole new level with their bombastic live performances. Touring Europe regularly, they have created a live set that never lets the audience catch a breath – four musicians in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s playing with the passion and energy of bands 1/3 their ages.This longest running lineup of the band have released the full length albums Varvakios (2012) and Aegean (2014), and singles “1938”/”Taranto” – on Italian label “A Silent Place” (2009), “God and Guns”/”Tranquilo” (2018), and “1938”/”Siam” (2019) – recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio during their Midwest Trek tour and capturing more of the raw energy this lineup unleashes in the live setting.Meteora features some of Savage Republic's best work yet. Self-recorded in a secret cavernous location, their mix of tribal textures, political anthems and Morricone-esque surf instrumentals once again transport the listener to faraway lands at turns both haunting and beautiful. One of many highlights of Meteora is the pandemic inspired piece “Unprecedented” (gifted to the band by Wire’s Graham Lewis) that is sure to become a staple in their set list. This longest-lasting lineup of Savage Republic have infused all the power of their legendary live performances into a cinematic sonic dreamscape.Over the decades, Savage Republic has performed with or collaborated with similar like-minded artists including Blaine L. Reininger of Tuxedomoon, Einstürzende Neubauten, Flipper, David Yow, Camper Van Beethoven, The Dream Syndicate, Psi-Com, 100 Flowers, Kommunity FK, Christian Death, Sonic Youth, Live Skull, members of Big Black, The Minutemen, Fugazi, the Buzzcocks, and Graham Lewis of Wire.
Hailing from the Los Angeles underground of the 1980’s, Savage Republic forged an astonishing reputation for themselves as art-post punk-industrial pioneers. Throughout the 1980s, their five albums combined with their legendary live performances blurred and distorted the boundaries of post-punk, industrial, and soundtrack music – all wrapped up beautifully in Bruce Licher’s innovative graphic design.
After 1989, the Republic went quiet. 13 years passed before they would briefly resurface for a US reunion tour in support of the reissue of their five studio albums and related singles on CD. Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, and Greg Grunke revived the band in 2005, and in 2006 they added drummer extraordinaire Alan Waddington to the fold. This lineup released the full length 1938 LP on Neurot Recordings (2007) and a pounding tribal cover of The Cure’s “Hanging Garden” on a compilation CD included in the French magazine Fear Drop #14 (2008). In 2009, Savage Republic decided to raise their game. With the departure of Greg Grunke, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Kerry Dowling joined the band and they’ve never looked back since! The current four-piece line up (Thom Fuhrmann, Ethan Port, Kerry Dowling, and Alan Waddington) has taken the band’s discography to a whole new level with their bombastic live performances. Touring Europe regularly, they have created a live set that never lets the audience catch a breath – four musicians in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s playing with the passion and energy of bands 1/3 their ages.
This longest running lineup of the band have released the full length albums Varvakios (2012) and Aegean (2014), and singles “1938”/”Taranto” – on Italian label “A Silent Place” (2009), “God and Guns”/”Tranquilo” (2018), and “1938”/”Siam” (2019) – recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio during their Midwest Trek tour and capturing more of the raw energy this lineup unleashes in the live setting.
Meteora features some of Savage Republic's best work yet. Self-recorded in a secret cavernous location, their mix of tribal textures, political anthems and Morricone-esque surf instrumentals once again transport the listener to faraway lands at turns both haunting and beautiful. One of many highlights of Meteora is the pandemic inspired piece “Unprecedented” (gifted to the band by Wire’s Graham Lewis) that is sure to become a staple in their set list. This longest-lasting lineup of Savage Republic have infused all the power of their legendary live performances into a cinematic sonic dreamscape.
Over the decades, Savage Republic has performed with or collaborated with similar like-minded artists including Blaine L. Reininger of Tuxedomoon, Einstürzende Neubauten, Flipper, David Yow, Camper Van Beethoven, The Dream Syndicate, Psi-Com, 100 Flowers, Kommunity FK, Christian Death, Sonic Youth, Live Skull, members of Big Black, The Minutemen, Fugazi, the Buzzcocks, and Graham Lewis of Wire.
If you have any questions, contact caroline at clarioncallmedia.com.
― dow, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 18:42 (two years ago) link
Maybe the Paisley Underground thread would work too.
Search and Destroy: Paisley Underground
― nickn, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 20:18 (two years ago) link
Some really nasty behind the scenes business with the BoDeans from a few years ago I recently learned about via a friend's blog.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2018/06/11/bodeans-kurt-neumann-stepdaughter-accuse-former-band-member-sam-llanas-molestation/362436002/
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 19 April 2022 20:55 (two years ago) link
Holy crap
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 19 April 2022 21:06 (two years ago) link
FWIW Omnivore has a "back to school" sale that ends today - 50% off everything except pre-orders and new releases, so now's a good time to scoop up all of those Lone Justice reissues.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 14 August 2022 17:59 (one year ago) link
Have we mentioned the Bottle Rockets here? Def. indie, their own kind of border music, despite and during this one major label shot---From Real Gone Music:
We just have one new release for you this week, but it’s a good ‘un! Bottle Rockets leader Brian Henneman worked as Uncle Tupelo’s guitar tech for a couple of years before forming an alt-country band that rivalled his former bosses. Released in Atlantic in 1997, 24 Hours a Day represented The Bottle Rockets’ chance at the big time; it’s their sole major label release, and they pulled out all the stops for this one, hiring former Blackheart and Del Lord Eric “Roscoe” Ambel to produce and revisiting “Indianapolis,” the song that got Henneman a record deal back in the early ‘90s. Alas, the record failed to break through commercially; but there will always be a place in our hearts for this kind of hard-driving, honest, tuneful rock and roll, best exemplified by “Perfect Far Away” and “When I Was Dumb.” For its LP debut, we’re pressing this underappreciated classic in coke bottle (natch) clear vinyl housed inside an album jacket with inner sleeve…limited to 1000 copies!
24 Hours a Day [Atlantic, 1997]Like Wilco, only not so generically or formalistically, this is a rock band. They love Lynyrd Skynyrd; they love the Ramones. Their country leanings merely ground their commitment to content--Brian Henneman's savory sense of character and place, the every-word-counts delivery that lends his singing its specific gravity. Going for simple, they pay a price in detail this time out. But the likes of "Smokin' 100's Alone" and "Perfect Far Away" would be pretty damn rough for Nashville. And "Indianapolis" is the sequel all us "1000 Dollar Car" fans were waiting for even if it was written first. A-
― dow, Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:10 (one year ago) link
Although the first one I heard might make a better gateway--
xgau again:
The Brooklyn Side [ESD, 1994]More raucous and pointed than such fellow Midwestern alternacountry-rockers as the Jayhawks, Uncle Tupelo, and Blood Oranges, these citizens of Festus, Missouri will hit you where you live when they lay out other people's pains and foibles--the welfare mom on Saturday night, the Sunday sports abuser, the constable with his radar gun, the local Dinosaur Jr. fan. They also speak plain truth when they criticize their car. And if they seem to relive cliches when they confess their many romantic errors, how do you think cliches get that way? (Including this one.) A-
― dow, Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:17 (one year ago) link
Never had any of their albums myself, but they were pretty big with the Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Jayhawks loving crowd in college, which makes sense since they were from not terribly far away.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:21 (one year ago) link
Glad those bands' fans liked 'em, though actual sound/taste on record more like proto-Drive By Truckers, also kinda Great Plains (and later OH band Two Cow Garage).
― dow, Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:36 (one year ago) link
Oh yeah, wasn't meant to connect them to those others necessarily, just kind of always filed them away in that whole group even if sonically they weren't that close.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:47 (one year ago) link
I still have a CD of The Brooklyn Side (in a box in the basement where my CDs live these days). Good album iirc, tho I haven't listened to it in forever. "Welfare Music" is one I remember.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 16 February 2023 21:58 (one year ago) link
"RADAR GUN"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpqTcGbn9r4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLMJl-ry314
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 February 2023 23:57 (one year ago) link