Imminent Rocking

5 great bands promising us new recordings before this year’s up. I can’t wait.

1. COBRA VERDE – These near alt.biggies haven’t released anything substantial since their Copycat Killers CD 3 years ago, hands down the most entertaining record ever to feature a cover versions of both PINK and EASTER MONKEYS songs. I love their Brian Ferryesque style & wit, but even if you don’t, you can always spend hours ogling the formidable midwestern punker donkeykick driving the whole shebang. They’ve managed to keep me smiling through some pretty shitty days over the past decade, and for this I thank em dearly. If only all the world was as glamourous as a COBRA VERDE song . . .

2. PRISONSHAKE – Saw these guys blow MY DAD IS DEAD away in Chicago back in ‘91; they were totally commanding, hitting me like Jim Shepard’s VERTICAL SLIT reinventing THE ROLLING STONES catalogue. Afterward, I chatted with the drummer? bassist? (the one in the thick bottle glasses), who kindly floated me a cassette demo of what became their Della Street EP. This I listened to on my car stereo for years after. I always intended to check em out again, though never did; but with a double-LP due out this month, now seems to be a great time to do so. Go check out their smart and funny blogspot; along with the COBRA VERDE release, this one’s coming out on Scat Records.

3. ELOPE – Oh fuck yeah! The best band going from Ingmar Bergman country, they’ve apparently completed a fourth long player. Their first 3 receive tons of airtime on my I-Pod: the harsh, NEIL YOUNGish eclectic poprock of their S/T first, the uncannily STEVE HOWE & BODAST-like, psych-into-prog rocking of 3WD, not to mention the hangover haze of last year’s 9 Distilled Dreams. If there’s one band I’ve like to see do it live tonight, it’s these still-young men. Wanna hear who’s keeping 60’s-informed rock living and breathing in 2008? Point your ear horn here.

4. BACKBITER – Head BACKBITER Jonathan Hall (ex-PORNO SPONGES, ex-TEXORCIST) has been toiling away in backalley Hollywood shadows for far too long now. His Roky Erickson scream is still intact 20+ years on, and he’s somehow kept one of my favorite LA drummers (Bob Lee, ex-CRAWLSPACE, ex-CLAW HAMMER, ex-FEARLESS LEADER, etc) at his side for near as long. Their new stuff is more varied and rootsy than they’ve ever attempted before – mandolin now figures prominently! This is exciting news, as they’re clearly capable of reaching beyond the 60’s garage-influenced, heavy rock terrain they perfected a dozen or so years ago. Wish em luck finding a worthy label – one day soon you’ll be able to get it from them direct.

5. UNORTHODOX – The best early 90’s Maryland/DC doom band that didn’t feature Wino. Man, it must’ve been tough to keep your rocking original in the shadow of the almighty OBSESSED . . . but the two releases these guys once put out on Hellhound Records (Asylum and especially Balance of Power) were so confident with their mid-tempo, ever-shifting melody/riff approach that they floated out onto a beautiful, heavyass plane all by themselves. Dale Flood is an amazing lead player, great lyricist, and powerful singer to boot. Since their return in 2004 they’ve kept a relatively low profile but there’s a new CD coming soon on The Church Within Records. My god, how these metal lifers maintain even the smallest bit of sanity amidst all the extreme volume/hair/headbanging is beyond me.

Photo above of the recently-refurbished Record Plant in LA (where none of these bands will ever record) courtesy of none other than Ed Colver

South Bay Swells

I ain’t no surfer; the couple times I tried, it wasn’t any fun at all – I nearly drowned. Yeah I lived across the road from the Pacific Ocean for a decade and a half, but no, I didn’t ever participate in the surf culture thing. My ignorance was exposed when this surfer dude from Redondo Beach once asked me, knowing I’d grown up in Lunada Bay: “what do you think of what they’ve, ya know, done up there?” I didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about, and told him so. He explained that for years Lunada Bay had been a place you didn’t venture down into with a surfboard without somebody to vouch for you. It was locals only territory; it just wouldn’t have been in your best interest. Had I surfed, such truths would’ve been self evident.

Now instrumental surf – rather than the butt-cold, salty ocean kind – is a kinda surf that I’ll gladly submerge myself in. While South Bay musicians didn’t single-handedly invent such music, they were an integral part of the string of folks who gradually shaped and honed late 50’s instrumental rock toward the reverb-drenched, fleet-footed sound that would eventually be taggable as surf. Along with Orange County, the South Bay was ground zero for where rock was created that reflected and spoke of this unique, regional beach subculture. Granted, instrumental surf adhered to fairly narrow musical perimeters, but within the context of early 60’s popular music, it stood out as some of the most compelling, rhythmically-driven music imaginable.

You can keep Brian Wilson and the neo barber-shop harmonies of his BEACH BOYS (who, not coincidentally, came from this area too). Today, I’m here to talk real surf music made in real time on gtrs/bass/drums by and for teens in and around the ocean at the time. Bands with names like EDDIE & THE SHOWMEN, THE REVELAIRS, THE VIBRANTS, and most importantly, THE BELAIRS. These bands and a dozen others were playing regularly at the Bel Air Club on Catalina Blvd. in Redondo Beach, just as artist Rick Griffin was developing his distinctive artwork on flyers for surf bands while attending high school in Palos Verdes, and as pioneering surf film director Bud Browne was lifeguarding in Hermosa Beach. The South Bay scene was on fire, nearly 20 years before the area became synonymous with suburban HC punk rock. Here are just a few sonic samples of that original South Bay sound:

1. THE BELAIRS – “Mr. Moto” (from The Origins of Surf Music 1960-1963, Iloki/Hep Cat Records, 1993) The original Rolling Hills bedroom demo of the greatest surf instrumental of all time. Like me, you may have learned this one from AGENT ORANGE – but in 1960, these 14 yr olds had only each other to learn from. Primitive and utterly captivating; at this early point, this stuff wasn’t even called surf music. But as these kids did hang out at Torrance Beach, it would be at later gigs that the term started being applied to this sound. Gtrist Paul Johnson observes in the liners that “good music comes from real life flowing between people” – I can’t think of a better way to describe the moment that’s caught on this ancient bit of tape.

2. THE CROSSFIRES – “Out of Control” (from Out of Control, Sundazed Records, 1995) Just rippin’ early ’60s instro action from a pre-TURTLES Flo & Eddie. These boys were from Westchester and held down a residency at the Revelaire Club in Redondo during the dying days of surf, as THE BEATLES were urging everyone toward vocal poprock tunage. Though this one’s pretty straight ahead, their full recordings illustrate a surf band pushing the envelope in a half dozen interesting directions, searching for ways to hold on to their original audience but also stay with the changing times.

3. THE JOURNEYMEN – “Surfer’s Blues” (from Rare Surf, Vol. I: The South Bay Bands, AVI Entertainment Group, 1995) Like me, these guys lived in Lunada Bay and didn’t actually surf. Apparently they represented the late 50’s crossover of ho-dads (non-surfer, greaser types) trying to get with the new surfin’ trend – sort of a naive, early ’60s equivalent to punxploitation – and hence the cheesy title. Talented gtrist Artie was the main attraction here, who’d go on to join Paul Johnson in the way more OG surf band PJ & ARTIE in late ‘63.

4. PJ & THE GALAXIES – “Tally Ho” (from Rare Surf, Vol. I: The South Bay Bands, AVI Entertainment Group, 1995) The pinnacle of ‘64 South Bay surf, imo. Shows how forward-sounding surf could actually be: close your eyes, and you too will believe this is New Zealand’s THE CLEAN doing their own self-penned post-punk song of the very same name. This was Paul Johnson’s group after he’d left THE BELAIRS, and the first 30 seconds of gtr chiming here (before the melody is introduced) is so intoxicating I usually hit replay a half dozen times before I listen to it all the way through.

5. THE LONELY ONES – “Miserlou” (from the Diggin’ Out comp., Mr. Manicotti Records, 198?) Don’t know jack shit about this one except they were apparently from Hermosa Beach and the lead gtrist shreds. If this isn’t an earlier form of the same suburban rock mania that BLACK FLAG and THE DESCENDENTS eventually made this town famous for, I dunno what is.

6. THE NOCTURNES – “Sticky” (from Rare Surf, Vol. II: The South Bay Bands, AVI Entertainment Group, 1995) Wild, bigger surf band from Tustin/Orange who gigged alot in the South Bay in ‘64. The gtrist could almost be heard as a precursor to SYLVIA JUNCOSA, what with that totally compelling, chaotic/messy lead style of his. Certainly a nice palette cleanser after listening to too many of the more buttoned-down, perfectionist surf players out there. Could see these guys besting all the rest on this list live by the sheer size of their cojones.

Peyote Shadows

COLD SUN – Dark Shadows (1970, as reissued by World In Sound, 2008) – Fucking hell, man – has a more potent slab of synapse-stretching, darksoul-wrenching TX psych ever been waxed? This is one sub-13TH FLOOR ELEVATOR group who could’ve actually given Roky & co. a run for their mind-melting money. And they go one further by replacing the amplified jug with an electric autoharp! I haven’t consciously listened to autoharp since Sunday school sing-a-longs in the late 70’s . . . but Bill Miller’s playing of it is so disarmingly simple and emotionally effective, ya find yourself wishing others – THE DOORS? THE VELVET UNDERGROUND? – had thought to throw an a-harp in their mix too. Bill’s earnest vocals are ones of a true peyote believer; clearly, he’d experienced moments whilst tripping that he couldn’t not try to interpret into sound/words. The band follows along diligently through the winding tunes in an occasionally halting but admirably determined fashion, matching Bill’s freakdom with the dedication of dudes who totally believed in their leader’s oddball vision. That these fellas would eventually reemerge with Roky Erickson as BLIEB ALIEN in ‘74 makes all the sense in the world (read about that and alot more besides here). Though ultimately it’s irrelevant, since COLD SUN were capable of creating and recording sacred music all by themselves, a full two years before Roky was released from Rusk State Hospital. It’s that accomplishment that’s blowing me away right now.

Gotta love Texas Trip Lords, man – some of the ballsiest Trip Lords this world has ever produced. This CD is making me wanna drop acid again, and right NOW. Anybody got a couple of good-quality microdots to spare? Make damn sure to slip inside this house as you pass by – you won’t regret it.

COLD SUN – “South Texas“

Aural Enemas

The following post I dedicate to Dr. Rick, recently married and now living & practicing medicine somewhere in Philadelphia. In a former life, the good doctor wasn’t a doctor at all, but an ex-burnout who stood shoulder to shoulder with me cleaning records, watching out for shoplifters, and taking shit at the Record Recycler in Hollywood in the mid-90’s. Whether I wanted to hear about it or not, he’d talk my ear off about things like the mighty local rockin’ of NEBULA, the godliness of DIO’s Holy Diver LP, and the not unsubstantial merits of VAN HALEN’s debut record. Between colorful visits from local homeless drifter “Milkman” Dave and celebs like BECK and THE BLACK EYED PEAS, we eventually we bonded over the subtle beauty that was SLOVENLY.

The records below were ones spun as a way to balance our unhealthy diet of too much CAPTAIN BEYOND, STEVE REID AND THE LEGENDARY MASTER BROTHERHOOD, and MALO on an hourly basis. These particular records were played to run off irritating shoppers, “keep it real”, and/or piss each other off, depending on the context – during long, boring, hot afternoons. I’ll never forget em; I don’t think Rick has, either.

1. KENNY RANKIN – Silver Morning (1975) – One featherweight record if ever there was one, and the logical extreme to which jazzy, 70’s sap pop could be taken. I musta sold a dozen a copies of this to international dealers for resell purposes – Japanese folks consider this one an integral part of what they refer to as “free soul”. Here Kenny covers tracks by the Lennon/McCartney, Gordon Lightfoot, Antonio Carlos Jobim, even Curtis Mayfield for christs sake – all in that signature safe/soft vocal jazz style of his that’ll have you swooning or holding your buttcheeks as you run for the nearest toilet. Think David Crosby without the drugs, Elton John without the camp, Billy Joel without the, uh, angst. This LP is so archetypally 70’s and painstakingly perfected with all it’s warm bossanovas and cozy earthtone harmonies, I’d almost believe this slab wasn’t vinyl at all, but formica. Great for clearing out the smellier/hairier non-patrons who’d sit for hours listening to records on the demo turntables, but never buying a frickin’ thing.

2. STEELY DAN – Royal Scam (1976) – Lots of people consider this a classic – hell you might, too – but make no mistake: this ain’t classic rock but classic hi-colonic aural treatment, guaranteed to leave no intestinal fold unirrigated. Yes, these studiohounds wrote lyrics that could be cynically biting (as in their ode to Owsley Stanley III, “Kid Charlemagne”) or absurdly humourous (“The Fez”) but musically speaking, this is so ultraglossy, so antisepticwhite, so fascistically overcontrolled I don’t think it was ever actually living. I can’t call this hackwork – I mean, hell, they were going for this kinda sound – but you can never, ever make me enjoy it. Some of these session dudes actually turned up on the Joe Sample record I’ve written about below – it was a small, airless world for chops-out-the-ass hired guns in them days. Honestly, I don’t think I ever willingly spun this one, but Dr. Rick? Oh yes – and with much glee.

3. JOE SAMPLE – Rainbow Chaser (1978) – A founding member of THE CRUSADERS goes solo and mines a yep! you guessed it! WEATHER REPORT/ BRECKER BROTHERS vein for chart-topping effect. This kinda sound has since been co-opted as incidental music behind tv news reports and in wine bars the world over, but so what. Hey this was the late 70’s, and at that point it signaled a whole generation of boomer types moving one step up the corporate ladder and another away from the ideals they’d held dear a decade before. To paraphrase the song: everybody wanted to be bourgie, bourgie. That said . . . dare I defend it and point out it’s got an R&B core that’s sadly missing from the STEELY DAN rec written about above, making this appealing when it’s not kind of appalling. Again, the Japanese seemed to like this one, so it got alot of play.

4. SISTER SLEDGE – We Are Family (1979) – While every aboriginal white wanna-be DJ in LA was wetting themselves over late 60’s acid jazz and early 70’s hard funk . . . me, well, I was caught in the thrall of the late 70’s discoball. Disco – the 4-on-the-floor, symphonically fueled, diva-driven kind – was so joyful, so beautifully arranged, and so goddamn glamourous, I couldn’t resist it if I tried. And this record is the fucking disco pinnacle. Like Diana Ross’ Diana LP, this is a CHIC record in every way but name. Bernard Edwards’ bubbling bass and Nile Rogers’ chanka-chanka gtr are crawling all over this, and the songs (particularly “Lost in Music”, “He’s the Greatest Dancer”, and the ecstatic “Thinking of You”) are some of the very best this hit factory would ever produce. Rick thought I’d turned gay when I started trotting this one out on a regular basis, but I was confident: real men knew what the fuck I was cottoning on to.

5. ISLEY BROTHERS – 3+3 (1973) – Nothing embarrassing about this, nothing at all. Kelly, Rudy and Ronnie are here joined by Ernie, Marvin and brother-in-law Chris Jasper to make it an even six ISLEYS, kicking out the very best jams of their career. It’s funky fr sure but it’s got a solid gospel/soul foundation that gets me thinking not FUNKADELIC but AL GREEN and CURTIS MAYFIELD, which is the end of the R&B spectrum I’m always drawn to anyway. And while gtrist Ernie Isley ain’t no JIMI HENDRIX, give him some slack – he was still really young and probably relying too heavily on his effects pedals. That don’t mean he doesn’t soar high on their defining cover of “Summer Breeze”, included herein. He deserves your props, as does this entire record. Though spinning this one could create problems in record stores re: clueless novice DJ types fainting due to the perceived funkiness to it all.

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Anyway: it all brings back good memories, Dr. Rick. Indeed. Now what the hell did I do with that bitchen DIO record anyway?

Projected Annihilation

Get your doom nod on with footage of a Scott Reagers-era SAINT VITUS, thundering through “Zombie Hunger”, live December 20, 1984.

Note: the DK sticker on Dave’s gtr; not one but two BLACK FLAG t-shirts clothing the band; plus Henry Rollins working up a sweat and getting off down in front, no doubt gearing up to join Brother Ginn for the main attraction.

What a voice! What a headpounding riff! What a solo! Aaahhhhhooooooooooo!

For more from this gig, including clips of BLACK FLAG and openers TOM TROCCOLI'S DOG(!) check out all of downtownlive's uploads here.

Blog Roast

Sixteen months into this PIG STATE RECON thing, and I’ve yet to really stand back and acknowledge those who have inspired, encouraged, shocked, awed, and flabbergasted me along the way through great blog examples of their very own. It’s time to step up to the podium and say a few kind words about my brothers-in-arms in the rock n roll blog war, giving a little back, so to speak. Lemme quickly down my cocktail (gulp) . . . aaaaah yes, ok then. In no particular order:

LEXICON DEVIL – like me, enjoys blogging long and loose, but underneath it all is the best actual writer in this illustrious bunch, IMO . . . very clued up on modern independent rock of an arty/noisy nature, thereby helping us old farts vicariously feel like we’re still with it . . . seemingly uncovered a teleportation portal straight back to the US circa ‘85-’89, what with the amount of wordspace he gives to artists from that time/place . . . remains the blogger most-closely associated with unabashed SST Records-worship EVER – though I’ve been doggedly catching up to him over the past year and half . . . the only one of these cats actively running a music label, and a fucking great one at that . . . slid the glorious DARK TOOTH ENCOUNTER on our hot stereo plates this summer, the best late-night gtr dinner money can buy . . .

DISASTER AMNESIAC – approaches everything he listens to from the dangerous distance of about 2 inches from the kick drum . . . like a good scientist, he spends as much time with the dissected, isolated components of the music (gtr/bass/drums/etc.) as he does the flowing, assembled whole . . . might well have the highest ratio of Joe Carducci-references per post/comment of anyone throughout the entire blogosphere . . . known to have an unhealthy fetish for weirdo drum kits – you know, ones shaped like gorgons and whatnot . . . his blog is a grower you’ll all do well to dig into now, rather than later . . . hipped me to the heavy skeletal majesty of GHOST ECHOES, a band who just might be capable of revivalizing fucked up SF slow-punk in a major way . . .

BLEEDIN’ OUT – 1/3 cheap jokes, 1/3 whining about his job & sports team & government, but a full 1/3 is all about this thing we call rock and roll . . . never loses sight of the fact that it only really need be loud and wild to be great rockin’ . . . writes with a casual ease and big shit-eating grin that makes me miss daily intermingling with ‘Mericans . . . shares an unflagging dedication with yours truly for everything GRATEFUL DEAD – oh fuck yeah . . . inexplicably loves the NEW YORK GIANTS, even though he knows they got regularly shutdown by the untouchable DALLAS COWBOYS and their impenetrable Doomsday Defense throughout the 70’s/early 80’s . . . turned me on to the Cali sloppy-pop/punk of THE FLAKES, who only need to tease up their hair a bit to give THE JONESES a run for their sleazy money . . .

LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH – takes its name from the second-best URINALS song that John Talley-Jones ever penned (the best was this one) . . . prose absolutely bursts with a love and yearning for the hard n fast suburban punkorama darkage, and with good reason too . . . could have been written by me, if I’d never discovered the joys of hippie & metal and unthinkingly sold off most of my MINOR THREAT records . . . fiercely single-minded in his dedication to blog about every goddamn punk/HC record on the planet, and tosses in bonus coverage of early rap vinyl at no extra cost . . . the blog most likely to become a reference encyclopedia one day available for $29.99 at a cool bookstore near you . . . got me to take a swing with those Louisville sluggers alternatively known as VERKTUM/VRKTM, who now refuse to leave my i-pod forevermore . . .

RAYSREALM – oldest dude in this pack and the only one coming at it from the other side of the tracks: he’s a metalhead, not a HC punker . . . as hyberbolic with his use of gushing praise as what’s found here at PS Recon . . . has an odd penchant for somehow wedging references to vintage THIN LIZZY into well over 50% of his reviews . . . will make you shake your head in wonder/confusion what with the kinds of arcane & grandiose metal gestures he not only tolerates, but actively encourages in young bands . . . gotta love that he spends so much quality time listening/digging artists who’ve gone the DIY route and self-released their own stuff . . . sent me flying with FALCON, the very best heavy rock trip I’ve taken with LA-based rockers since, like, Scott Reeder was playing bass in NEBULA . . .

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Yes a BIG heartfelt thank you goes out to you boys. PIG STATE RECON just wouldn’t be the same without you nearby; the WWW will mourn the day any of y’all decide to pack it in.