Rock City Angels - The Bobby Durango Interview

Maybe some people read the Classic Rock feature on Rock City Angels in a recent issue.
The “where are they now” article.
To say that it was poorly researched and full of inconsistencies and rumour would be a bit of an understatement.
It would even be fair to say that as a piece of journalism it fell far short of what is normally expected from such an esteemed magazine.
My main problem with it is that anyone who is not familiar with Rock City Angels wouldn't be aware that it was a lazy rehash of a story that has done the rounds for many years without a single attempt to check the veracity of it.
Coincidently just prior to that hitting the news stands I had been in contact with Bobby Durango with an interview request and I can say that the guys an open book in regards to his past and present and this makes the article all the more unprofessional.
So without further ado here he is in his own words setting the record straight.

ElD - It's been a career of extremes Bobby.
I mean at one point there seemed little doubt that you had the world in your hands, but it spectacularly slipped through your fingers, or was torn from your grasp.
In hindsight how do you feel about it all? Do you have regrets? It's common for people to say they don't, but it's also human nature to harbour them.

BD - When it comes to regrets, I'm rather philosophical. I'm a Buddhist, a set of ideals I firmly embraced in the wake of being dropped/quitting Geffen Records. So while it is human to have regrets, it's not especially healthy as regret can turn easily into obsession, "What if I had done this?", "What if I'd said that?", etc.
I've seen many former and current artists on that particular path, (including a previous member of Rock City Angels) and it's not pretty. Were there mistakes made? Sure. But I know in my heart that I did the best I could given my rather limited experience with immoral music execs and larcenous lawyers whose job it is to take advantage of the very same artists they've been hired to help out
Through it all I stayed true to myself and the band which had become an extension of myself and that could end up pissing people off, especially those attempting to control us, but that was my path and I lived and learned. In the process, we created a lasting work of art, a damn good album and entertained thousands of people. Honestly, how could I regret that?

ElD - The original demise of the band is of course well documented. Or the legend of the demise I should say. Were the band really as debauched as is claimed, or were the problems more so in-house record label politics? How wild were those days and was the band and Geffen like oil and water?

BD - To blame the band for being a bunch of drinking, drugging, out of control kids would be a bit disingenuous. That was understood going in. That being said, when it came to business, Rock City Angels were on it. We never missed a show, always performed a professional, engaging set, (unlike some of our better selling peers) and consistently wrote interesting, timeless rock'n'roll as I think our recent, (2010) release on FNA Records, "Midnight Confessions", makes clear. This album is comprised of songs written and recorded for the never released second Geffen disc.
Record label politics made that follow up album an impossible dream. They can blame it on whatever they want, but the truth is our A&R rep. spent far too much label money on the first album in a gamble that it would sell so many records that it wouldn't matter. Problem was, he was gambling with our careers with out any discussion with us on the matter. Our lifestyles were the perfect escape clause for him when the shit hit the fan.

ElD - From the outside looking in it is difficult to understand what Geffen were actually doing. First they bought you out of a deal, but didn't pick up on the original album that was already recorded, then they invested time, energy and cash in you for “Young Man's Blues” before doing the same for a follow up that they then didn't release.
To call that frustrating would be an understatement.
It's as if someone would make a decision and then when it hit the boardroom some suit would laughingly decide to do the opposite just for kicks. Does that sum up their relationship with the band?

BD - Ha ha ha! I can imagine how crazy it all looks from the outside, the truth is actually fairly straight forward, with far more greys than harsh black and whites.
Let's start with the "glam album" that Geffen bought out from New Renaissance for $5000. There's a story going around implying that when we got signed, Geffen turned around and buried this recording, demanding that we stop wearing make-up and cross-dressing, thus changing our glam image, and, most important: changing our musical style! Nothing could be further from the truth. They would have loved us to have remained the same. In 1986 there were quite a few bands that fell into that Hanoi Rocks, neo-glam kinda sound and it would have been a whole lot easier to define and sell us as such a band.
Like, I dug Hanoi, Smack, Dogs D' amour and the early '70's bands like Sweet, but we'd been making that kind of music since '83 so, I for one, was ready to move on to something different, a wild mix of all our influences, punk, blues, glam, soul, power pop, southern rock and more. The target was an album of scope like, " Exile On Main Street". The "glam" album wasn't really an album at all but more a series of cheap demos strung together that didn't fit this vision at all.
In their favour, Geffen Records gave us complete artistic control at first and were behind us 100% in changing direction. Really, there were no significant disagreements until our producer, Jim Dickinson turned his finished work in.
Jim was an absolute genius at helping an artist find and achieve their ultimate vision. As he knew I wanted "Young Man's Blues" to be a sprawling, epic musical statement without pretensions, we worked really hard in preproduction for three months before heading to the studio for another three months to bring it alive. When Geffens' A&R Dept. heard it they freaked out! The general consensus was that the record buying public was too stupid to understand such a work and it needed to be "dumbed down" for mass consumption.
After all the time and energy that had been put into it, we were amazed by this idea. Then we got righteously pissed off. We asked for the album to be released as is. Our A&R rep. said that Jim had to "fix it" first.
As for Jim, he wasn't having any of this. As an artist himself, he refused to compromise, a lesson I never forgot, then promptly left the country for another project.
I was made to watch in horror as music execs with no experience went in to salvage the material by mixing it themselves!
Thank God I had final approval. Crappy, unimaginative mix after mix was nixed by the band before engineer Joe Hardy and myself were finally allowed to finish the album. By the time it was completed and approved, Rock City Angels had been in the studio for a whole year, leaving us way over budget, behind many other bands signed way after us and in a poisoned relationship with our record label. Both parties went through the motions for the next album but the damage had been done.
Before he died, Jim gave me a copy of his version of the album, as far as I know, the last copy in existence, and hoped that one day it might be released. I do my best to promote and sell this version on our various websites. It deserves to be heard.

ElD - How do you personally come back from that sort of brush with fame though? The roller-coaster ride aspect of it. I guess what I want to know is psychologically how bad was it? You were a young man at the time and it must seem like a lifetime ago now, but no one goes through that without picking up some war wounds and battle scars.
I personally can't comprehend how high the highs would be and just how low the lows could be.

BD - Believe me, I remember that whole experience only too well and yeah, there were some tough times but what matters is that I made it through it all and learned a lot. It's what they call "learning the hard way", hahahaha! I really wouldn't have had it any other way though, because, as you say, the highs were so high.
I mean we went from playing 500 seat clubs to 15,000 seat arenas overnight! I'm not going to lie, it's pretty awesome to suddenly hear your band on the radio, see yourself in magazines, t.v., etc.
Everything we had slaved, sweated and fought for, for the last six years... An audience.
Some people thought we had got signed after playing L.A. a few months.
HA! We paid our dues for sure. I dropped out of film school to pursue this dream. A lot of hard work and sacrifice went into Rock City Angels and it wasn't for fame and fortune. Yeah, we wanted an audience but it was really to make the music we wanted to hear that no one else seemed to be doing at the time.
I never deluded myself for a second that we would "make it big". We weren't pretty enough, savy enough or ass kissing enough for that to happen. As far as I know, everyone in the band was in it for the right reasons, a shared vision with the opportunity to make a simple living doing what we loved - making kick ass rock'n'roll that would stand the test of time. We hoped to become a cult band in the best Ramones tradition. Art with integrity. If we happened on a little more success, icing on the cake, you know?

ElD - So if you were to describe yourself in a few words would survivor be one of them Bobby?

BD - You better believe it, baby! I'm a rock'n'roll survivor for sure. Typical Taurus as well; down to earth, easygoing, artistic and bullheaded as hell. When I envision a work, be it a short story, song or album, I'm going to keep at it until it's the way I hear it or see it in my head. I won't settle for less, I'm a complete perfectionist and stay driven and consumed until it's right.

ElD - For us here in the UK you dropped off the radar for quite a while after “Young Man's Blues”. There was the start of some recording in 2001 and then nothing it seemed. It wasn't until around 2007, maybe a little later than that, before anything surfaced and that was a few whispers about the follow up to “Young Man's Blues” being finished and due for a release in 2008. What took so long and what were you doing in the intervening years?

BD - Whew! All kinds of shit went down after RCA disbanded in '93. I kicked around L.A. for awhile, writing a column for an underground paper and working with a director on a screenplay for Propaganda films.
The film was to be a neo-noir which was perfect for the frame of mind I was in at the time, cynical and dark.
I got even more depressed after I auditioned for a few bands that I liked, only to find I now had a stigma attached to my name that kept folks away. Though I was writing and staying creative, this was a real dark period for me, until a writer friend of mine, (who I respected greatly) turned me on to Gnosis and Buddhist thought through weekly classes.
My frame of mind gradually improved and I began to travel to San Francisco and New York City where I lived with good friends like Circus of Power. On my return to L.A., I ran into a girl I knew from Memphis, one of my favourite music cities. Next thing I knew, I had moved there and was married to that girl.
I soon put together a sort of Memphis supergroup called the 420 with members of Son of Slam, Gun Down Mary and Mama Terra. Outside of Rock City Angels, this was one of my favourite bands, the guitar player, Fred Thompson and I, would get loaded and write dozens of songs in his attic 'till all hours of the morning. I really honed my guitar playing skills at this time as well.
My percussive style of rhythm really inspired a lot of different styles of song writing. 420 was a strong outfit right into the year 2000 when we finally broke up from overambitious musicians trying only to be "discovered". I was well over all that.
DIY was where my head was at.
Not too long after that I joined a band called Hustler that was a little more low key but lot's of fun. I found them through their bass player who I'd worked with in a reggae-punk band I started called "Zebra Bug". Hustler and I worked up some fantastic songs, a few of which ended up on "Use Once And Destroy" after that band broke up.
It was around this time that I noticed people again showing interest in Rock City Angels. The only album available at this time however was the demo's that Anne Bolynne released through her label, New Renaissance, known as the "Glam Album" or "Self Titled". It was kind of embarrassing that this was the only thing representing the band and I decided it was time to show our growth as artists on album.
After a months preproduction, we booked time in Paramount Studio's, Hollywood, and layed down basic tracks in 2001. The band consisted of previous members of RCA and Hustler. I planned to then take these tracks back to Memphis with me and lay down legitimate Memphis horns and B3 Organ. It took six more years of investors falling through and one calamity after another before I was able to hear my dream come to life.

ElD - So “Use Once and Destroy” was finally with us and it revisited a more punky sound than some would have expected, but my main surprise is how an album that took a big chunk of a decade to record can sound so fresh and flow so well. How did you manage that? Did you have to revisit the tracks and keep then in mind as a work in progress, or did it all just fall into a place a bit at a time?

BD - I think the reason it sounds so fresh is the same reason people still respond to Young Man's Blues. The songs and the music itself is timeless and I worked very hard with my partner/engineer, Chris Swenson on producing it in a way that doesn't sound produced. Rick Ruben is the master of that technique and it is surprisingly difficult getting such a natural, "unproduced" sound that could come from any era. Which is why Rick gets the big bucks, ha ha
I always looked at the album as a whole, not piece by piece. I was attempting to adhere to a theme, Use Once and Destroy, and an overall sound with the songs working together to weave a loose story or idea, and for the most part I think it succeeded.

ElD - The use once and destroy title is very powerful. It could be tagged onto anything from relationships, or global economic politics to the disposable nature of modern society. It says something, and the music on it backs that up. It's at times an angry album with a take it or leave it fuck you attitude. Fair comment?

BD - That's a very fair comment and right on the money. I'm actually a little surprised that more people haven't picked up on that. The photo on the back of the album is a major key to this line of thinking. It's a photo of the "lost" tribe found in the Amazon a few years ago. The idea was that this tribe had never had any contact with the western world until this picture was taken, in other words the last true indigenous tribe left on the planet. Various organizations claimed that they would protect this tribe from outside influences, allowing them to remain as they are indefinitely. We all know how that goes. As soon as a natural resource is found on or near tribal lands, that all goes out the window. The tribe is "studied", moved, and their culture all but assimilated or wiped out altogether. They are used and destroyed.
I've seen many bands used by record companies, disreputable managers and lawyers and destroyed. Hell, the planet Earth itself has been used and slowly destroyed. Yeah, as a pro-revolutionary, far left citizen and a feeling, thinking human being, it pisses me off and I don't make music to be a megastar, I do it because I have to.

ElD - Are you pleased with it after the amount of time invested in completing it?

BD - If "Use Once and Destroy" was my swan song, I could die a happy man. There were no compromises, it is a pure statement lyrically and musically and I couldn't be more proud of it. It's the album I've always wanted to make, using all my influences, from the rhythm guitar parts I played to the production techniques I used.

ElD - It's a bit of a nightmare to get a hold of it here in the UK. I ended up picking a used copy up from an internet auction place. Are you having a problem promoting it outside the US territories, getting it out there to people?

BD - I've had a few people overseas complain about that but it is very easy to find all over the world on CDBaby, iTunes and Amazon.com It is also available through FnA Records and soon through our online store.

ElD - I see you have been playing dates locally in the US. How is that going? Are you mainly getting older fans turning up, or are there a younger element starting to pick up on “Use Once and Destroy” and then working backwards?

BD - Yeah, our dates have been a blast! So far we've only toured the southern U.S. but that will be changing.
Our audience is actually a combination of those two plus folks that have never heard of us that end up becoming new fans, which is awesome. We work hard to give the audience a whole evening of great entertainment by playing with bands we really dig, not someone just to fill a slot.

ElD - A basic question, but what's next? Have you been working on new material?

BD - As a matter of fact we are! We are in the process of writing songs for a new album. We're aiming at an end of year release to tie into a European tour we are working on. That would be a real dream come true for me as I haven't been overseas since we worked with Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy, (you can catch one of our songs on "Midnight Confessions".) in London. We have an incredible fan base in Spain and other countries and I can't wait to play for them, as many have waited years to see us live .
Our new album is going to tackle the themes of vengeance and redemption and is going to be the biggest production challenge I've ever faced. There will be no limitations on instruments, we're going to use whatever we need. I think our audience is ready for the next step and I'm really excited by the prospect of a no hold barred approach to instrumentation and experimentation. It will be a wild ride for listeners for years to come and the kind of timeless, dream inducing music our fans have come to expect with raw blasts of energy.
I also have another project I'm working on in Memphis called the Memphis Fury that I play rhythm guitar and sing in. It's a bit different from RCA in that it's just a big, dumb rock band that's a lot of fun. The band was put together with good friends and musical partners of mine in Memphis, like songwriter Kevin Walker and engineer Chris Swenson. We're working on recording some music as well, so keep on the lookout for that

ElD – Finally if you could set down in stone what the next year was going to be like then how would it play out?

BD – We've pretty much covered it my friend, these are the plans and expectations I have but like anything else in the music industry, it's a crapshoot, anything can happen and often does so we'll just have to see how it all plays out. I'm really excited by all the things happening around the bands "comeback" and new and old friends of Rock City Angels make all the bullshit worthwhile. This cat here ain't gonna stop making a racket 'till they do.


BACKGROUND INFO - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_City_Angels
BAND WEBSITE - http://www.therockcityangels.com/
FURTER LINKS - http://www.myspace.com/rockcityangelsmusic
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rock-City-Angels/65406531797

PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

It took two and a half years to write this according to Miss Harvey and after a day of listening I'm still feeling underwhelmed. Not turned off, but certainly underwhelmed.
In fact I'm sure she could have found better things to do with her time.
The build up to the release gave the impression that this would be a political exploration of England. An artistic magnifying glass cast over a society living through dark times.
Back then I thought it was a promising hint of what was to come.
Unfortunately the length of time working on it appears to have served to do little more than edge her towards bypassing the woods and focussing on the trees.
It's all over the place. Beyond being simply eclectic.
There's everything, and the kitchen sink here. Post punk indie folk. Call it what you will. Whatever it is it isn't working.
It's main problem seems to be that it is expected to be treated as a concept, a whole piece that should be appreciated in its entirety, and while individually certain tracks are fine, hang them all together and it's a mismatched patchwork quilt of self indulgent twaddle.
If Patti Smith and Enya got together and shouted at each other while playing their albums in the background then that's what some of this would sound like. Other tracks aren't even as good as that.
It's not all bad, but the balance is severely off and there is more negative points coming to the fore than positive ones.
The hardcore fans will disagree, and as per usual slavish praise from the critics will be heaped upon it, but take it from me. It aint that good.
PS. The ironic rip off of surfin' bird doesn't work either.

Kirk Brandon - Kilmarnock show

Due to health reasons Kirk Brandon will be unable to perform in Kilmarnock this Friday night. Refunds will be available, or alternatively people can hang onto their ticket for the rescheduled night.
However both supports and a yet to be arranged act will play for free as way of an apology.
Kel and myself are really sorry for any inconvenience that this causes, but our best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Kirk.
Please feel free to pass this on to anyone that you may know who was planning to attend. Thank you.

Spear of Destiny - Omega Point

Spear of Destiny – Omega Point
The music that Kirk Brandon creates is no doubt challenging to an extent, it's layered and dense in places, light and airy in others and always recognisable due to his singularly unique vocals, but strip away the grandiose delivery and it is rock music. Maybe not the type that grabs you on first listen, but it is music that imprints an impression and once it has laid some roots it never really lets go.
It gets in there and creates its own space.
Latest album Omega Point proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Initially the opening track Bold Grenadier lulls you into a false sense of expectation with its English folk delivery before the throbbing Undertow lays down the template for the rest of the album.
This is classic Spear of Destiny. Everything that a fan would want and expect.
There's no slacking, no filler and no one is treading water.
I'd heard a good bit of this live before being aware of the studio versions of the songs and I had a bit of trepidation going into it as Spear of Destiny as a live act bring something to the music that can't be captured in the studio, but any worries I had were groundless.
Omega Point is up there with World Service and One Eyed Jacks.
It's awash with memorable tracks. The already mentioned Undertow, Bloody Bill Anderson and Kalashnikov have already become firm favourites of mine, but by next week it could be Model number one, Guinness, Ghosts and Rum or People who live on the moon.
If they were to release a single from it then sticking a pin blindly into the track list would serve just as well as any long thought out process of elimination. They are all that good that any ultimate choice would suffice.
Obviously I shouldn't have to tell anyone to buy this, but of you are a fan of anything Kirk Brandon has done in the past – and I mean anything - and fancy reacquainting yourself then this should be your first port of call.

The Media Whores. The Yalla Yallas

The Media Whores – Starfishing
I'm sure that there's a plethora of influences floating around The Media Whores, but in the studio the main sound pushing to the fore is that of the Stranglers sans keyboards. Especially in the vocal department.
It's not Hugh Cornwall that springs to mind though, but more so Paul Roberts, the much maligned front-man who I always thought did a sterling job with the band.
None the less the similarities aren't really a distraction and the band are talented enough to rise above any accusation of plagiarism.
Starfishing in itself as an album is actually a very mature piece of work that the band should rightly be proud of. While it undoubtedly has punk roots it transcends the genre, or should I say the perceived limitations of the genre, and edges comfortably into a more indie rock sound that is lyrically sussed and bolstered with a level of musicianship that impresses all round.
An assured debut that hints at better things to come.

The Yalla Yallas – Barefoot in the chapel (Free Download)
I'm not sure what to make of this at all. The name the Yalla Yallas obviously flagged up a love of Joe Strummer, but when the intro for the first of the four live acoustic tracks kicks in you would swear that it is Joe himself talking.
It's a bit discombobulating to say the least.
Musically they're playing punk protest songs - apart from the Johnny Cash cover – immersed in the sound of Woody Guthrie through to The Clash, and while that would normally draw me in I'm feeling rather undecided on it all.
All day I've been trying to pin down what it is that is distracting me from fully committing to either liking or disliking the songs. Hell I would have even been happy to have settled on being unmoved.
Then it dawned on me.
The main thing that is throwing me off is the Strummer sounding introductions juxtaposed with the sound of the vocals that aren't Strummer like at all.
It's uncanny how much it sounds like him, so what it does is put you in the mindset that the next thing coming is a Strummer or Clash song, then when it doesn't it sort of throws you off.
So if I remove the intros from the songs, just blank them out and listen without them I've gotta say that this aint too bad at all and as they have a couple of studio albums out are probably worth some further investigation.
You can get this ep from their website at http://www.theyallayallas.com/

Devilish Presley - The Beast Must Die

One of the hardest working bands in the UK are back with a new video, a new album, an addition to the line up and a shitload of live dates.
So listen to this if you think you might need a fix of hard rockin' glam stompin' tunage from the dark side.
Okay, so now that you've had a taste I'll be the candy man and direct you to where you can get some more of the prime stuff.
www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_songs/72684
There's "The beast must die" there and another new tracks "Cocaine Joe" along with an excellent overview of their back catalogue.
Leave a comment as the band will be checking them out.
PS. I feckin love these guys.

Spear of Destiny - Ivory Blacks 2/2/11 (Glasgow)

It would seem that the tide of apathy that Spear of Destiny have been battling in Glasgow has finally starting to turn.
The relentlessly indefatigable never say die attitude from the band probably has a lot to do with with the swelling of the crowd, but the impressive supports in the bill wont have done any harm either.
Opening act The Red Eyes, while being familiar enough to the Glasgow crowd, are always a welcome addition to a night of live music and tonight is no exception.
With the return of their guitarist to the fold there's some rock and roll flourishes, and an attitude that provides an alternative focal point to front man Alan Bishop belting out their melodic punk rock.
They've been at it for years, but there's no sign of them slowing down and the quality of their material is testament to their skills as musicians and songwriters.
I'd wager that they could give any band a run for their money on stage
Quite simply put they provide a guaranteed good time for anyone who professes to enjoy the style of punk that bands from Stiff Little Fingers to the Buzzcocks excelled in.
The sort of music that bands played prior to the rash of second wave shouty stud encrusted punk wannabes came along and stereotyped the whole scene.
Much of the same could be said about the The Media Whores who followed them.
While new to me, they must have been around the block in one form or another before as the first flushes of youth are well behind them.
Not that this is a criticism, as their years playing have served them well as they rip through what I would call a melting pot of a forty something's past.
There's some Stranglers in there, some Jam/Chords influences and a whole host of others, but none of them are crowding out the sound that The Media Whores have created.
It's tricky balance to maintain, the wearing of influences on a sleeve without them becoming too overpowering.
There's a few bands that can do it and when it works it's fantastic to hear and The Media Whores are certainly one of the bands that can capture the sound of the past and make it relevant to today.Kirk Brandon's Spear of Destiny are however the main draw tonight and were deservedly provided with a warm welcome when they took to the stage and immediately started in on “Suicide God” from their latest album “Omega Point”.
This was the start of a short set that focussed on the album and I like the idea of it as a way of introducing new material. Sometimes when the songs are slipped into a set of favourites they can get lost in the mix a bit and even suffer from being compared to songs that have had years to bed in with the listener.
In this way the crowd know what to expect and can form an opinion without it being shadowed by past glories.
Model Number One and People who lived on the moon followed in quick succession and I was pleased to see that some people were singing along and a few hardcore fans were drunkenly pressed against the barrier showing their well oiled appreciation.
My album favourite Kalashnikov was up next. I just love hearing it live. For me it is up there with the best that Kirk has written and in a live environment it takes on a whole new guise. Hubris and Undertow (another favourite) finish the short set and while I was happy with it Kirk looks tired and distracted. You can't hear it in his voice, but something isn't quite right.
There's a very short interlude and when the band return for the next set of classics, or “give 'em what they want” as I would call it, there's a little tension there.
It's not reflected in the performance though. The band are as tight as you would expect and Kirks voice is soaring, but the smiles have faded and something is wrong.
The band and Kirk never miss a beat, but something is just off.
Just prior to World Service Kirk wraps his arms around himself and his jaw is tight. It looks like he is battling some physical pain and as most fans are aware that there has been health issues this isn't a good sign.
I was thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to call it a night, but World Service flies by as does Young Men.
An encore isn't necessary, but we get a sublime Mickey and then the show over.
There's no hanging about as such. Everyone sweeps out onto the street and there's some back slapping and comments about just how good Kirk and the band are.
They deserve the praise, but this is the third time I've seen them in a matter of months and I have Kirk booked for a solo gig in just over a week and I think that maybe he could do with a rest.
Especially with the SLF tour coming up.

Update – Kirk played one more date of the tour and is currently in hospital having some tests done.
We wish him all the best and look forward to hearing that he has been given a clean bill of health.

Born Running

Glen Matlock & The Philistines – Born Running

Unfortunately Glen Matlock is never going to be able to slip out from under the shadow of The Sex Pistols.
I wouldn't know if he considers his past as a millstone around his neck or a nice earner, but post Pistols he has proved that he is no one trick pony. That the success of his latter material hasn't emulated that of his first foray into writing and playing is something that mystifies me.
Each project he has worked on has borne real dividends for the listener and with “Born Running” - his fourth release with “The Philistines” - he continues to maintain the high quality that we would expect.
Within its grooves what we get is twelve lessons, or even master classes, in how to play what some would call timeless rock music. Real blue collar stuff with its heart on its sleeve.
Anyone looking for snotty nosed punk rock is digging under the wrong stone here. Anyone wanting to hop aboard for a nostalgia trip should look elsewhere for their kicks as they aint getting them here.
This is a mature artist making mature music for mature listeners, but don't make the mistake of thinking that mature means boring or even past it as that would be a big mistake.
The fire in the belly is here for all to hear and the whole band have the expertise to capture that lighting and bottle it for us.
This is an album that Glen Matlock should be rightly proud of and I doubt anyone lending an ear to see what he is up to now would be disappointed.

Dancing Backward in High Heels

Initially when I heard that the New York Dolls had reformed I was in a quandary.
One of my all time favourite bands were back, but could they handle their legendary status. Would they soar, or would they implode in the public eye? Or worse. Would they just be a pale shadow of their former selves?
I wanted them to succeed. I wanted the wider world to wake up and realize how magnificently trashy they were. I wanted the second bite at the apple to catapult them from being underground legends to overground rock gods with the wider public realizing just how pivotally important they were to rock and roll.
I needn't have worried.
While they may not have went to number one with a bullet worldwide, they did receive critical acclaim for their studio albums and live.......well live there's no one quite like them.
I've seen them multiple times now and they have provided me with the best of times.
They never disappoint, and the five members clicked together like lost jigsaw pieces. They just made sense together.
Then I heard some whispers that the new album wasn't going to feature Steve Conte or Sami Yaffa.
It was a bit of a worry, but the band had lived up to expectations before and I told myself I should have a bit of faith.
Word came through the grapevine of who might be playing guitar, who might be guesting, who might be playing bass and that a drummer was being looked for in the UK for recording and playing some dates in Newcastle.
Regardless of how accurate the information was it all seemed even more shambolic than usual.
The first thing that sprung to mind for me was that if Steve and Sami weren't on board, and Sylvain was working with Cheetah Chrome on The Batusis, then who was involved in the song writing process?
The second was that without it being a group effort then how could they carry on the sound that they had created from reforming?
My fears were compounded when snippets of each song were released as a taster for the album.
I listened to the snatches again and again and I feared the worst.
Now here we are and I've been listening to the full album and to my ears it's a great David Johansen release, but I just don't get the Dolls vibe from it.
There's some lovely nods to the sixties girl bands, and an exploration into other sounds that he has touched on in the past on his own releases, but it doesn't sound like a New York Dolls album. It may hint at it, but it aint quite there.
Truth be told this album isn't too shabby at all though. In fact I like it, but it's just that I have that nagging little voice saying....but it aint the Dolls.
“I'm so fabulous” is the closest the album comes to capturing something of what I was looking for, but then it sort of slips out of reach when the saxophone is layered over it.
It all just seems less focussed over all than I would have expected, and I miss Steve and Sami's involvement.
I'll hazard a guess and say that some power plays have been going on behind the scenes and with two fifths of the band ousted it has left us with something that is a New York Dolls album in name only.
Some will say that with David and Sylvain on board it doesn't matter who else is backing them up, but this release doesn't lend any credence to that opinion.
I've got to say that I feel disloyal in not raving about this album, but you really have to call it as you see it.
If this was a David Johansen release I would be proclaiming it to be one of his best, but as it's going out under the name of the New York Dolls then it has to be viewed as such.

Joseph Dean Osgood, Bedouin Soundclash, The Red Eyes, The Spitfires, Lord Rochester, Rocket City Riot, The Bresslaws.

Joseph Dean Osgood – Rock N Roll Man
I don't think that it is possible to put your finger on the exact point when the quintessential sounds of English styled rock and blues staggered off of the worlds stage.
It was never a case of it being in one day and out the next. More so the big hitters simply slipped off one by one into the elephants graveyard of the eighties.
Some would release albums that tried desperately to remain hip, but more often than not managed to achieve nothing more than provide us with the aural equivalent of the drunk uncle at the wedding who is vainly attempting to cling to past glories.
A sad state of affairs if there ever was one.
There has however been the odd attempt to breath some life into the sounds of the past throughout the last few decades.
Paul Weller made a successful career out of it, while the Verve managed an authentic warm embrace, but it's all been a bit hit and miss really.
That is until now, and that's because Joseph Dean Osgood who, with his mini début, has taken the legacy of everyone from the Faces to Mott The Hoople and managed to kick start its atrophied heart.
Don't be mistaken in thinking that this is simply a homage to the past or even an attempt at some retro nostalgia, but instead consider it as the sound of someone who appreciates that you have to know where you came from to know where you are going.
It's a melding of the legendary song writing talents of Ray Davies and the music of the Faces looked at from the cracked perspective of 2010.
The five original tracks on display are so good that they do little more than beg the question why there is the addition of the Python Lee Jackson track “In a Broken Dream”. While it fits in with the over all tone of the album, it's a superfluous inclusion and I can only hazard a guess that it was included to provide a musical signpost for those who may skip by Joseph Dean Osgood without it.
If that is the case then I can live with it.
If not then more Joseph Dean Osgood would have been preferred.

http://www.josephdeanosgood.co.uk/

Bedouin Soundclash – Light the horizon.
Light the Horizon is never overpowering in its intent, but instead chooses to balance on the periphery and intrude politely into the air that surrounds you. It's quite simply an oasis of calm in a turbulent world.
The aural equivalent of kicking back with some friends after a long hard day and relaxing into a sunset with a drink in your hand.
The ambiance envelopes you, transporting the listener to a better place and time that could be in your past or just waiting to ease into the reality of the future.
I don't think I have ever heard white boy reggae being played so well.
The one step removal from the roots of the music allows this to slip effortlessly into the mainstream without having sold its soul to do so.
It's caught me unaware in the most pleasurable way possible.
A lovely release that deserves to be lauded across the board.

The Red Eyes - From the outside in (Falling Down Records)
The Red Eyes are a prime example of everything that is wrong with the music business.
They have supported every single punk rock star of yesteryear, laid claim to stages the length and breadth of the country and cemented their fantastic live reputation with a fist full of classic studio albums.
It's an inarguable fact that they tick every single box that a punk rock loving music fan could think off, and yet the door to a wider audience has remained firmly shut to them regardless of how hard they kicked at it.
It makes no sense at all.
If there were any justice in this world then their albums would reside lovingly between classic SLF and Clash releases in your record collection. The quality is up there with the big guys and I don't really have to push this point as their latest album provides all the evidence that anyone would need to support the claim.
“From the outside in” is a virtually the perfect blend of UK punk rock influences. Not one flavour overpowers the melting pot of tracks on offer. It's the soundtrack to the last thirty tears squeezed onto a little shiny disc.
You could sit for hours picking all your favourite tracks from multiple bands for a road trip and get to a few hundred and then think “fuck it, I'll just play the Red Eyes all the way there and back” and there wouldn't be a minute of the journey that you would regret the decision.
Our win and the music businesses loss then.

The Spitfires - Aim Low (Twenty Stone Blatt Records)
“Aim Low” is the dogs bollocks. Its debauched whiskey sodden bar room brawling who the fuck are you looking at punk rock and roll at its very best. You want blood? You got it and they're spitting it all over the stage.
Yeah that's a cliche ridden opening statement, but regardless of the eyebrow raising it may draw its still true.
Honestly. I shit you not. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a finger in my eye “The Spitfires” have got that swagger that gets your blood pumping in abundance.
They have that attitude. That fierce self belief that refuses to bend to fashion trends or gimmickry. The outlaw stance of “take us as we are or fuck off” that all the best, and most exciting, bands seem to have a plentiful supply of.
The Dead Boys had it, Rocket from the Crypt had it and nestling in between these bands “The Spitfires” have it to.
So if taking a walk on the wild side - even if it's from the comfort of your armchair - is your thing then you really need to familiarize yourself with this band. It's guaranteed that you will love them.
Unfortunately there is a downside, and that's that this may well be their last album.
It would seem that the current state of play is being described as “it's complicated” and with no live dates or studio time in the offing it looks like this album could be the Spitfires swansong.
Fingers crossed that its not, but if it is then at the very least they can hold their heads high and without a shadow of doubt tell people that they went out on a high.

Lord Rochester - Hey! (Twenty Stone Blatt Records)
Bo Diddley did it better. What more can be said?
Okay. You want more?
Right here's the skinny. When push comes to shove it's obvious that they are good at what they do. It's just that if I want to listen to this style of music then I'm going to stretch over a big pile of copies of Hey! just to reach that one copy of Bo Diddley is a gunslinger.
In fact if I was in a warehouse of ten thousand CDs and nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine of them were copies of Hey! I would probably still spend a silly amount of time looking for the one Bo Diddley album hidden amongst them all.


Rocket City Riot - Pop Killer (Twenty Stone Blatt Records)
Blah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. Throw in a Dead Boys and a Ramones cover, as they have, and I would normally be salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs as I'm conditioned to just dig that sort of stuff, but while all the pieces are in place here the whole things isn't working for some reason.
Familiarity seems to be definitely breeding a degree of contempt. It's not that I'm familiar with “Rocket City Riot”, but I don't need to be. They're one of a million bands who have been doing this for the last twenty odd years. Like I said. I've heard it all before.
A Song like “Do you want me” would be a great single and it even hints at the band being one who could float to the top of their niche genre, but then when you consider it alongside the other fifteen tracks it just slips under the radar.
I could damn this with faint praise, but the truth is that it's highly doubtful that it will ever see the inside of my stereo again. Not bad, just blah.

The Bresslaws – Find my way home (Twenty Stone Blatt Records)
Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Mod psych doing the Medway twist and it's a glorious noise. The sound of the sixties is stamped all the way through it, but don't expect a throwback to past UK glories as this has all the bite that you would expect from guys who have lived through the punk years and then plundered a sound from further back.
A magnificent melting pot of influences held together with a swirling retro Hammond sound is how the mainstream press would probably describe it. I'll just say it's ace.
I can see myself playing this a lot. In fact it's just finished and I'm going to play it again. How good is that?