The Crazy Squeeze - Savior of the Streets

Damn you, Crazy Squeeze, for making an album so utterly perfect that I lost sleep over the decision of which tracks I should embed in this review! Savior of the Streets, The Crazy Squeeze's long-awaited sophomore LP, is out now as a digital release with vinyl coming next month on Disconnected Records in the U.S.A. and Wanda Records in Europe. With most albums (even really good ones), I can come up with a pretty good idea of which songs are "the hits". But Savior of the Streets is basically nothing but hits. It's all-killer, no-filler from the opening note to the final strains. And while the "every song's a hit" cliche has been a mainstay of my reviews for years, I will gladly fight anyone who doubts its accuracy in the case of this album!

The Crazy Squeeze is that rare case of a supergroup that's been so good for so long that it no longer feels right to call it a supergroup. These days, we talk less about these guys' other bands and more about the amazing records they've been churning out as The Crazy Squeeze. Comparing Savior of the Streets to the group's self-titled debut from 2012, I hear a band that today has a much more fully developed idea of who it is and what kind of music it wants to make. While the term "pub rock" has definite associations with a specific place and time in music history, The Crazy Squeeze has reinvented the term in a broader sense. Its version of pub rock is the perfect mix of glam-influenced '77 punk and pure old style rock n' roll - with hooks that would be the envy of just about any pop band. Somehow the band sounds both tougher and catchier on this release - a bona fide leading contender for my 2017 album of the year.

With the track selection alternating between Johnny's songs and Frankie's songs, Savior of the Streets is an album that really highlights how well their contrasting styles complement each other. They each bring something a little different to the table, but it all ends up sounding like The Crazy Squeeze. And while this is generally a more cohesive album than the last one, that doesn't mean that every song sounds the same. These 12 tracks cover everything from down and dirty glam rock ("Be Your Dryer") to first rate punky power pop ("Let's Go Down") to raucous barroom rock n' roll ("Blind Truth") to '70s-style arena pop ("Ooh Baby I Love You") to Stonesy street rock ("She's A Runner") to some good, old honky tonk stomp (a robust cover of J Gale Kilgore's cult classic, "Suds"). There's never a dull moment. This, to me, is the kind of rock n' roll your parents always warned you about: oozing with swagger and liable to lead a person towards a life of rule-breaking and unrepentant sinning. Doesn't that sound like tremendous fun?!

I would definitely consider The Crazy Squeeze one of my favorite bands, so I was really looking forward to Savior of the Streets. But even with my high hopes, I must say that I was totally blown away. I wondered if this album would yield any more songs on the level of a "Sexual Activity Girls" or a "To the Lonely Ones". What I got was a whole album on that level! Fellas, you crushed it! This is an instantly classic rock n' roll record! So how did I decide which tracks to embed? Well, you know, I can flip a mean coin.



-L.R.

https://thecrazysqueeze.bandcamp.com/album/savior-of-the-streets 
https://disconnected-records.com/collections/frontpage/products/crazy-squeeze-the-savior-of-the-streets-lp 
https://www.facebook.com/thecrazysqueeze/ 
https://www.facebook.com/DisconnectedRecordsUSA/ 

Your F & L Crazy Squeeze primer!

If I had to list my top five favorite present day bands, The Crazy Squeeze would definitely make the cut. This Hollywood supergroup was one of the first bands I ever reviewed for this blog, and the ensuing years have brought us a number of fine recordings from Johnny, Frankie, and the gang. Of all the bands out there playing trashy glam/rock n' roll, The Crazy Squeeze to my mind delivers the best combination of amazing songs, musical chops, and devastating handsomeness. Sometimes with "all star" bands, chemistry is a question. But these guys sound like they were born to play together. Admittedly, my Crazy Squeeze coverage has been somewhat inadequate since that first post back in 2011. I reviewed two singles but failed to inform the populace of a debut LP for the ages. I have let you down, planet Earth. The good news is that said LP is still in print and can be yours for just ten bucks. And with a brand-new single on the way, The Crazy Squeeze is again poised for world domination. With that in mind, I now present a complete listener's guide to The Crazy Squeeze. Use it prudently.

"Gimme A Kiss" b/w "I Need A Witness" single (Rapid Pulse/No Front Teeth, 2011) 
The classic debut single featuring Johnny Witmer (The Stitches) and Frankie Delmane (Teenage Frames) on guitar, Chris B. (Richmond Sluts) on bass, and Johnny Sleeper (ex Stitches and Superbees) on drums. The A-side is super catchy punk rock n' roll with the most magnificent guitar hooks this side of Thunders/Sylvain. And with the band being so heavily inspired by the intersections of glam, pub rock, and early punk, the Cock Sparrer cover on the B-side was a perfect choice. And they nailed it! I believe this title is out of print - but you still win since both songs are on the album! 

The Crazy Squeeze self-titled LP (Vinyl Dog/Wanda Records, 2012)
Had I actually heard this release before the end of 2012, it may have been my album of the year. Combining glam, pub rock, and '77 punk influences with power pop hooks and red hot rock n' roll guitar, this is one of the true classic albums of recent memory. It's just pure sonic excitement - and every track is a hit! "Sexual Activity Girls" is so catchy and fun that it ought to have inspired a worldwide dance craze (perhaps it still will). I'm pretty convinced at this point that it's the greatest song of the last ten years. "Boys Are Gonna Be Here Soon" sounds like the baby the Beach Boys could have made with the New York Dolls. "Outta My Head" is one of the best Heartbreakers rips ever. I could go on all day! This album is your pre-game soundtrack for glorious nights of drinking, dancing, and marathon shagging. If you dig the rock n' roll, stop whatever you're doing and go buy this thing!

"Younger Girl" b/w "Terminal Love" single (Rapid Pulse/No Front Teeth Records, 2013)
The long-awaited second single. The A-side is the best song The Boys never wrote, and the B-side is one The Boys did write. Honest John Plain himself guest stars on "Terminal Love"! Both tracks are on the CD version of the album, but "Terminal Love" is not on the vinyl LP.

"Red Rosie"/"The Lonely Ones" single (due out this fall on Pure Punk Records)
Although not yet out on vinyl, this single can be streamed in full over at The Crazy Squeeze's ReverbNation page. This might be the band's best single yet - and the first to feature current bass player, the electrifying Dat Ngo (ex Superbees). "Red Rosie" is a rip roaring shot of glammy boogie woogie with vocals that sound like Wolfman Jack risen from the dead. Taking cues from Mott the Hoople and vintage Bowie, "The Lonely Ones" is a bona fide fists-in-the-air rock anthem. Look for the band to debut it on a nationally televised stadium performance. Okay, I'm just kidding. But wouldn't that be something?

Your one-stop shop for Crazy Squeeze merchandise is http://www.thecrazysqueeze.bigcartel.com/. There you can order T-shirts and all in-print Crazy Squeeze releases. New single is due out in September. Get crazy! 



 -L.R.

https://www.facebook.com/thecrazysqueeze
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazysqueeze
http://thecrazysqueeze.bigcartel.com/

Crazy Squeeze, please!

It's been a couple of years since I last posted on the world famous Crazy Squeeze, and the glam/punk supergroup has since turned out a debut single and self titled LP to deafening acclaim. You may have heard the details on Entertainment Tonight. Girls screamed, men raged in envy, and there was unprecedented mayhem in dive bars and hair salons up and down the left coast. Rampant dancing in the streets spurred severe legal measures on the part of irate Hollywood officials. A Rolling Stone cover shoot was unfortunately scrapped due to the antics of a temperamental giraffe. After many months spent waiting with bated breath and writing strongly worded letters to the powers that be, we finally get the band's second single. Brought to you by intercontinental label titans Rapid Pulse and No Front Teeth Records, it further propels The Crazy Squeeze into the thick of the "best band in the world" conversation.

LP track "Younger Girl" sounds so much like The Boys that I had to double check 16 times to make sure it actually wasn't The Boys. This is the stuff, man: glammy, super poppy punk rock n' roll lamenting every rock heartthrob's most perplexing moral dilemma ("What can you do/With a girl like that?"). This one will have you shaking your ass in no time flat, and that chorus is dangerously contagious. No doubt Johnny Witmer is a living legend of punk rock, but I don't think I truly realized just how good of a guitar player he was until I heard him in this band. And even within our tiny little slice of the underground, Frankie Delmane is a criminally underrated songwriter. It's simply unfair that the man doesn't own a mansion or at least have a sandwich named after him.

Not content to just emulate The Boys, The Crazy Squeeze went so far as to cover the classic "Terminal Love" on the B-side. Honest John Plain approved so highly that he actually went in and played lead guitar on this track! This rendition is faithful to the original but far from a straight copy. They've given the chorus a bit of an extra bite, and I dig what they've done with the harmonies. File this one under, "I love the original, and I love the cover". This is not the same version that appeared on the band's CD, so prepare to pay up if you're a Crazy Squeeze completist!

All in all, this is everything a great rock n' roll single should be. You get a stone cold smash hit, a B-side you'll actually want to listen to, and cover art suitable for framing. Five bucks no longer gets you a six pack or a decent adult magazine, but it will land you this hot slab of wax. Pop on over to Underground Medicine for ordering info. If you don't love this record, you're crazy. Pun intended.


-L.R.

https://www.facebook.com/thecrazysqueeze
http://www.undergroundmedicine.com/rapidweb/
http://www.nofrontteeth.co.uk/

Crazy Squeeze = Crazy good!

So after four-and-a-half years in deep storage, my old turntable has been unearthed from the bowels of the parental estate. It was about time. What kind of punk rock blogger doesn't have a working record player in his home? And sure enough, the thing still works! I gotta admit it: the instant gratification of streaming a song on-line still pales in comparison to the classic thrill of dropping the needle on a rock n' roll record!

Let the record show that the first thing I played on my new old turntable was the debut 7" by The Crazy Squeeze. You may recall I reviewed this punk rock super group last summer. As I'm known to do, I hyped them up pretty good. I saw some of the label spiel on-line, and I'm like, "Who wrote this bullshit?" And I realized, yeah, it was me. But, you know, it's not like I was wrong. And on their debut single, this fantastic four of punk rock n' roll have delivered the proverbial goods. Co-released by two veritable titans of labeldom - No Front Teeth and Rapid Pulse Records - this bad boy is a traditional 45 RPM record with a big hole and two songs. You have the "hit" on the A-side and a cover on the B-side. "Gimme A Kiss", featuring drummer Johnny Sleeper on vocals, is a rockin' blast of poppy glam action that falls somewhere in between The Boys and the New York Dolls (I guess that means it sounds a little like the Hollywood Brats? Sure!). Great tune! It's more fun than BOGO night at the whorehouse, with hooks at every turn and Johnny Witmer channeling Johnny Thunders on the lead guitar. It seems kind of absurd to say that Witmer is underrated in The Stitches. But when you hear him playing this kind of sleazetastic rock n' roll, you gain a deeper appreciation for his talents. The dude's a killer! He takes the mic on the flip, a rip-roaring rendition of Cock Sparrer's "I Need A Witness" (Yeah, going way back for that one!). As expected, it's first rate dive bar rock n' roll (or as they say on the No Front Teeth side of the pond, "pub rock"). You can practically smell the booze permeating the room, and Witmer and Frankie Delmane kick up a dual guitar racket that would do AC/DC or the Stones proud.

So what's next for The Crazy Squeeze? Hopefully an album - which I know they've been working on for a couple of years. Given the stature of the members' other bands and the group's growing reputation as one of the best live acts in southern California, expectations for The Crazy Squeeze were bound to be high. But on their first turn at bat, they've freaking crushed it. And we haven't even gotten to their best songs yet! Any old bunch of jerkoffs can form a band and play this style of music. But it takes one heck of a band to play the style well. The Crazy Squeeze are top shelf glam punk rock n' roll. They've got the chops. They've got the tunes. They've got the chemistry. Do yourself a favor and buy "Gimme A Kiss"...and everything else this band puts out!




-L.R.

http://www.facebook.com/thecrazysqueeze
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Underground-Medicine-Rapid-Pulse-Records/119118174837284
http://www.nofrontteeth.co.uk/

Crazy for the Crazy Squeeze!

Not since the Traveling Wilburys has there been a supergroup as universally anticipated as The Crazy Squeeze. If you were into the underground punk/rock n’ roll scene in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, you know who these guys are. You own their records. You bought them shots. You friended them on Myspace. And now they have joined forces to create a veritable justice league of punk rock! Where else but in Hollywood could Johnny Witmer (of The Stitches), Frankie Delmane (of Now Wave faves the Teenage Frames), Chris B. (of the Richmond Sluts), and Johnny Sleeper (of the Superbees) have come together to combine their prodigious & complementary talents for the betterment of the free world?! The Crazy Squeeze - now with Dat Ngo of the Shiteland Ponies in on bass - are everything you’d expect and then some. Combining vintage glam wham-bam (New York Dolls, Slade) with straight-up rockin’ punk, their sound is pure raunchy fun with hooks out the wazoo. You know: music for fucking! It’s just got that swagger. Of course Witmer is on fire on guitar, doing the Berry/Thunders thing like he was born for it (because, ya know, he was!). And with the criminally underrated songwriter Delmane involved, you know the songs are gonna be aces. If you like high-energy, sing-along rock n’ roll with ripping guitars and an irresistible backbeat, go straight to “Boys Are Gonna Be Here Soon” and “Out of My Head” and fall in love! Yes, sir! “All Lies” slows the tempo and brings a harder edge, but it proves to be equally great. With a full-length album due out soon, the Crazy Squeeze are poised to be the next big thing in punk rock n’ roll. If you enjoyed the Dolls, Joneses, Loose Lips, or any of these guys’ old bands, it’s time to get on board the Crazy Squeeze bandwagon. Pour yourself a hard drink and shake it!

- L.R.

http://www.myspace.com/thecrazysqueeze
http://www.facebook.com/thecrazysqueeze