Who's in the mood for a really good power pop album? You know I always am, and the third LP by San Francisco's Cocktails definitely hits the mark. A co-release between Alien Snatch and Wizards + Potions Records, Catastrophic Entertainment is a perfect summertime pop record. Cocktails find that sweet spot where '70s power pop, early '80s new wave, and '90s indie/alternative become one. They're all about melody, hooks, and crafting great songs. That seems like such a simple concept, but rarely do you hear a band that pulls it off this well. Catastrophic Entertainment is full of the kinds of songs you wish they still played on the radio. Tracks like "Nobody's Going To The Movies" and "Love Is Gone" are pure power pop. In other spots, the band touches on everything from pub rock ("Washoe County") to glam ("Janeland") to Weezer worship ("Take It Back") to the Teenage Fanclub/Fountains of Wayne strain of indie rock ("Never Be Alone"). All the way through, the songs are gold and the hooks reign supreme. This is timeless stuff! Much of what you usually do in the summertime is off limits this year. But you can still get in your car and crank the tunes as you soak in the summer sun and relive all your triumphs and losses in love. Catastrophic Entertainment is an album to play while you do just that.
Today I've got something super awesome for my fellow '77 punk fanatics! The Uppers are a band out of St. Louis, Missouri who've been around since 2017. They put a demo up on Bandcamp around two-and-a-half years ago but have not shared any music online since then beyond the occasional live clip on YouTube. But they have now released a debut 7" on Boulevard Trash in the U.S.A. and No Front Teeth Records in the U.K. The name of the record is Get Down With The Uppers, and it features four tracks of high energy punk rock and roll with a touch of power pop. If you're only familiar with the demo tracks, you may be surprised by how much poppier this 7" is. But that pop influence is still mixed with a really tough and snotty punk rock sound. "Oh Boy" is the perfect jolt of energy to kick off the record. It manages to remind me of The Briefs and early D Generation at the same time. In other spots, I'm catching a RMBLR meets Wyldlife vibe (it's no surprise that The Uppers had a track on a Spaghetty Town comp!). If you like your '70s punk sleaze with a side of pop hooks, "Bad Dog Pound" and "To Be King" ought to be right up your alley. All in all, this is a record that will make you wanna run around like a maniac while you pump your fist and shout along to the choruses. There's no indication that these tracks are going to be released in any digital format. So if you want some Uppers in your life, you're gonna need to go about it the old-fashioned way and buy a record! If you require a sample of the goods, check out these vids from the Boulevard Trash Facebook page:
Matt Ellis (The Vapids, PlasticHeads) has been pumping out digital EPs at a rate of once a month since the start of the pandemic. He's been recording them in his bathroom and donating all sales to worthy causes. The latest two, Halfway To Insanity and Never Was, Is And Never Shall Be, have seemingly concluded this "COVID blues" series. Compiled together, all four EPs make for one really great album of Ramones-inspired punk rock. I appreciate that Ellis has managed to stick to the basics of three-chord budget punk, and yet somehow these EPs never grow tiresome or feel pointless. The takeaway here is that this sort of music doesn't need to be innovative or original if it's executed perfectly. The songs never go too far beyond a minute and a half, and the lyrics are highly relatable and just plain cool. While several bands/artists have crafted their own soundtracks to the shit year of 2020, Ellis has done it better than most. Could "PigHead" be any more of a song for this moment? I highly recommend downloading all four EPs and blasting them in succession whenever you come down with your own case of the COVID blues. And if you're not yet familiar with any of these EPs, you ought to get a real hoot out of the titles and cover art Ellis has come up with. All sales from Never Was... will be donated to The Aboriginal Heath
Centre - whose mission is improving the health of indigenous
individuals, families, and communities through holistic indigenous,
traditional, and western health care. All sales from Halfway To Insanity will be donated to Willows Place in
Hamilton, Ontario - which provides safe housing for multiply-marginalized women experiencing
homelessness, precarious housing, and social isolation.
The terrible year 2020 continues to be one of our best years in recent memory for music. Joining a superb slate of 2020 album releases is the second long player from Los Angeles trio honeychain. Pocket Full Of Good Luck is the band's first release on Die Laughing/Golden Robot Records. It was recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by singer/guitarist Hillary Burton. It follows 2017's CRUSHED, which in my book is a modern classic of power pop.
A lot of you know Burton as the drummer in The Pandoras, but she's been releasing music under the honeychain name since 2013. The current lineup, which includes Andre Tusques on bass and
Loye Aubrey Jr on drums, sounds awesome. Over the years, Burton has developed a signature style of songwriting that incorporates influences from numerous eras and genres. While honeychain is definitely a classic Southern California sun-soaked punk pop group, the band's sound owes just as much to early '90s alternative rock, the pure pop of the '60s, and modern day garage rock. I would have had zero complaints about a repeat of CRUSHED, but Pocket Full Of Good Luck does not settle for just more of the same. It's a fine example of how a great pop band ought to progress. It takes everything I liked about honeychain and adds so much more. Songs like "Go Away" and "Great Big World" capture the vintage honeychain punky power pop sound in all its glory. On the other hand, songs like "Spaceman" and "Flee Los Angeles" take the heavy guitar '90s alt-rock inspirations of the band's previous releases and push them front and center. "Flee Los Angeles" in particular will rock you straight back to 1993! This album is such a pleasure to listen to because it gives you a little bit of everything. "Beautiful Now" is haunting and gorgeous. The title track is a punk rock thrill ride. "Chemtrails" is bittersweet pop at its absolute finest. "289" is pure garage rock and an absolute blast. And then there's the stunning "Late Night Movie Show", which Burton co-wrote with her dear friend Kim Shattuck. It closes the album in a beautiful and memorable manner. It's just so heartfelt, sweet, and moving in a completely unpretentious way. I find myself focusing on the significance of every word Burton sings. As I imagine every other honeychain fan listening to this song with me, there won't be a dry eye among us.
With now two great albums to its name, honeychain has established itself as one of the finest pop/rock bands of the present day. And Hillary Burton is such an amazing songwriter! Pocket Full Of Good Luck picks up where CRUSHED left off and moves several steps forward. It's all the best of pop, rock, and punk mixed together in cool and creative ways. It sounds like a million bucks, and the songs are fantastic all the way through. Click here to listen or buy!
Alright, kids: ya better get cracking on this one! Six days from now, the first two demo tracks ever released by Portland, Oregon punk rock and roll supergroup Guerrilla Teens will be disappearing from the Internet. They will literally self-destruct in the blink of an eye. And lemme tell you, these tracks are HOT! It won't take you long to identify that this mysterious band is fronted by the mighty Scott "Deluxe" Drake (ex Humpers, Lovesores). He's joined by a couple of old partners in crime along with some star players from Portland's formidable punk rock scene. If the breakup of Lovesores had you shedding a tear (trust me, I feel you!), the arrival of Guerrilla Teens will quickly fill that hole in your heart. Oh man, "Dillinger Red" is pure fire! From the ripping twin guitars to the slamming drums and bass to Drake's powerhouse vocal, this song has got everything you could ever desire from punk rock and roll music. It's paired here with "Super Aces (Bonus Poker)", a primal slow burn that's super sleazy in the best possible way. I could say more, but there's no time to monkey around! Cough up a dollar and get these songs downloaded today. Two brand-new demos will be taking their place on Bandcamp next Friday, and I'm sure they won't be around long either. You have been warned!
What was I just saying about Rum Bar Records having become home base for the best of Boston rock and roll? It doesn't get any more "Boston rock and roll" than The Dogmatics. And today Rum Bar releases the debut EP from Dogmatics singer/guitarist Jerry Lehane. Incredibly, these recordings had gone unreleased for 29 years until today. Talk about an unearthed treasure!
These five tracks were recorded over a three-day period in 1991 at the Cars-owned studio Synchro Sound. Lehane made a special deal with sound engineer Tom Hamilton that allowed him to record the EP on the cheap by going in after midnight. Lehane, who was between bands at the time, enlisted the services of several talented friends to play on his debut solo record. This included Charlie Chesterman (Scruffy the Cat, Harmony Rockets, the Motorbikes), Chris Doucette (The Galley Slaves, Witch Doctor, Hotbox), Danny Coughlin (Children of
Paradise, Lazy Susan, Eric Martin & the Illyrians), Chris Erikson
(Sacred Cows), Randall Gibson IV (Scruffy the Cat, The
Flies, the Illyrians), Lance Hewitt (Timmys), and Scott Seiver (Ted Leo,
Tenacious D, John Legend, Pete Yorn). It's just so cool to envision all of these amazing musicians gathering late at night to cut a record! At this point, you may be wondering why it took almost three decades for this EP to see the light of day. There does not appear to be a good answer to this question. Thankfully, Malibu Lou heard these songs and immediately wanted to release them. The original plan was for Lehane to record three brand-new songs with Ed Riemer and create a mash-up of old and new. But then came the pandemic, and all of that went out the window. So what we have here are five tracks out of the 1991 time capsule that really hold up. If you're expecting a Dogmatics feel, well there's certainly a little bit of that. You'll hear the guitars that open "Kiss My Tattoo" and instantly know who you're listening to. And the rocking and rolling "Fish" could easily pass for a lost Dogmatics track. But over the course of these five songs, Lehane covers a good deal of musical territory. "Kiss My Tattoo" is high energy garage rock, Boston style. "Runaway With You" is a Stonesy barroom ballad that Lehane's current label mate Tom Baker would be proud to have written. "All I Can Do" is twangy, aching, and reminiscent of the Replacements.
Several of the songs on this EP, including the raging "Kiss My Tattoo", were written in the aftermath of a painful breakup. It has to be a little weird for Lehane, now happily married for over two decades, to hear these songs and relive that particular moment of his life. But in purging himself of some unpleasant memories, he created some remarkable music. And then there's the excellent "Feel Like Dying" - a song about a soldier heading off to the Gulf War. That might seem very specific to 1991, but the themes of the song are every bit as relevant and impactful today. It's amazing how a 29-year-old EP fits in so seamlessly with the rest of the music coming out on Rum Bar Records today. Then again, that kind of makes sense. There's a long list of current Rum Bar artists who would consider The Dogmatics and Jerry Lehane to be huge influences on their songwriting and musical style. Hopefully by next year, we'll hear those new solo tracks. Jerry Lehane is a national treasure! Be sure to check out this recent interview he did with Anngelle Wood!
The WhistleStop Rock Festival has spawned its own supergroup! WhistleStop Rock was created last year when nine of New England's top punk/power pop/rock and roll bands united to form a woman-empowered concert festival. The bands are The Chelsea Curve, Cold Expectations, Field Day, Heather Rose In Clover, Justine and The Unclean, Kid Gulliver, The Knock Ups, Linnea's Garden, and Tiger Bomb. The festival has also featured special guests such as Tanya Donelly, Joyce Raskin White, Seana
Carmody, Lockette, and The Shang-Hi-Los. The WhistleStop hit several New England towns earlier this year. Even after the pandemic arrived, the festival has continued with virtual shows.
Recently the women of WhistleStop made the leap from playing shows together to making a record together! They were exchanging stories about good times they'd had at drive-in movies (hint: they were totally unrelated to the movie!). Justine Covault (Justine and The Unclean, Justine's Black Threads) thought that sounded like a great song idea. Within a day, Simone Berk (Kid Gulliver, Sugar Snow) and Linnea Herzog (Linnea's Garden, PowerSlut) had co-written the perfect summer pop song. And just like that, WhistleStop Rock was a band! Joining Berk (lead vocals) and Herzog (guitar) for the recording of "Queen of the Drive-In" were Covault on guitar, Linda
Bean Pardee (The Chelsea Curve) on bass, Sandy Summers (Kid Gulliver) on drums, Heather Rose on stylophone and backing vocals, Lynda Mandolyn
(Tiger Bomb, Crystal Canyon) on backing vocals, and JoEllen Saunders Yannis (Cold Expectations) on backing vocals. What a group!
"Queen of the Drive-In" is exactly the power pop/rock and roll smash you'd expect given the contributions of all these talented individuals. In the grand tradition of musical odes to the drive-in, this song is very, very naughty! Berk's lyrics are hot, hilarious, and totally fantastic. In the interest of keeping this blog PG rated, the only line I will quote is "What did we see? I'm not paying attention". Berk delivers a perfectly dirty-sweet vocal, and you will not hear a catchier song this summer. The single is already available from Bandcamp, but the women of WhistleStop Rock have something special planned for the official release of this single. Each performer on "Queen of the Drive-In" appears in a music video produced by Daniel Ouelette. The video will premiere tomorrow night as part of a virtual WhistleStop Rock show on Facebook. All of the WhistleStop bands will be performing, as will special guests A Bunch of Jerks and The Shang-Hi-Los. The show will be live tomorrow from 7:30-9:30 Eastern time. In the meantime, give "Queen of the Drive-In" a listen. And check out all the cool bands I've linked below!
