Rock n Roll = Vicious Game

Fact #1:

If you’ve ever been in a band and have poured your guts, sweat, tears & money-you-never-had into recording your music, it’s a lock that you've handed it off to people who never bothered to listen to it. It’s also a cinch that you looked up your favourite labels and learned up front that they only wanted to hear from you if you wanted to buy some merch and not at all if you wanted to send them your demo.

Fact #2:

If you’ve ever been in a band, you have poured your guts, sweat, tears & money-you-never-had into playing shows for less than 20 people.

Heartless Bastards "Arrow"

In the face of empirical truths 1 & 2, the story of The Heartless Bastards should at least faintly inspire, and infuse us with the very hope that yet a trickle of decent rock n roll will endure. To their credit, they adhered to the golden rule in case #2 - Play your balls off for the dozen people who show up! Story has it that among the few in attendance for one of their free range early gigs was the gangly drummer from The Black Keys, Patrick Carney. He dug them enough to pass their demo to the head nachos at Fat Possum Records and they were on their way to minor league prominence. Proof that although labels will forever discourage renegade demo bombings, any time you plug in for an audience, you might be running into a chance. Take a swing and don’t miss.

The Heartless Bastards started out a Cleveland based roots/bluesy rock trio and have morphed into an Austin based four-piece, winner-winner-classic-rock dinner. Their #4 plate is "Arrow": a stripped down affair that conjures past heroes and yes, bastards, and almost reaches its full potential. "Got to Have Rock n Roll" celebrates something I have long believed in - the medicinal benefits of dosing up on electric guitar & thump. Powerhouse singer Erika Wennerstrom leads her charges on a tour of rock, by way of the Iommi riffage on "Down in the Canyon", "Simple Feeling" a sped up take on The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Late In The Night" sounds like Humble Pie! But the highlight of the album comes when they completely nail the coke baked soul of "Only For You". It's on this track where Spoon's Jim Eno wrings the best from THB by bringing the niche of his own band to the table - each instrument has the space to breathe in a simple groove and EW's voice carries you over the clouds that she sometimes clings too faithfully to. Good stuff.

The Nerves - they've got that seminal
 but under appreciated vibe down

The Nerves were a three piece California band that release an explosive 4-song single in 1976 and then promptly imploded. This is no sad story as each of them went on to achieve moderate commercial success with the bands they went on to form - Peter Case with The Plimsouls, Paul Collins with The Beat and Jack Lee in the background as songwriter for Blondie and other acts - but The Nerves clearly had some magical unfinished business as evidenced by the excellent, but scruffy One Way Ticket collection from a couple of years ago. Alive Records has tapped that twitch once more this month with the release of The Plimsouls "Beach Town Confidential", a 

The Plimsouls are now, as in '83, proof:
"that techno-rock you listen to is gutless!"

crackling live set from '83 that captures a plum rock n roll act at their peak. Best known for their stellar single "A Million Miles Away" (featured in the club scene in the totally bitchin Valley Girl), these guys were no one-hit wonder. “Now”, “Magic Touch”, “Oldest Story in the World” are all on par with "Miles" and the band hits every mark here. Peter Case's Lennon-scuffed howl brings the desperation to love songs like “Oldest Story” and a rowdy edge to burners like “How Long Will it Take?” and the cover of The Creation's “Making Time”. Does a band that put out 2 proper studio albums in their heyday warrant 3 live albums from that era? In the case of The Plimsouls, yes. The 80s sucked for studio gloss and their still-stellar Everywhere at Once had a little too much of that plastic sheen on it (though not as damaged by 80s production as some other great rock n roll records, including The Real Kids and The Romantics). The live animal captured on BTC is just that – sweaty full kicks rock n roll to a packed house. I will drink to that. Every time. Peter Case & Paul Collins are doing some tour dates this year, playing Nerves, Plimsouls & Beat songs. This combo has written some killer tunes, see them if you can. BTC is available on iTunes, but you won't get the pink vinyl, bitches!

• And finally, a couple of years ago the lovable losers from Anvil were subject of a great documentary and though we really wanted them to make it big, we didn't really want to listen to Anvil. Here comes a documentary about a failed metal band called Pentagram who were actually pretty good. It looks scary for the right reasons – cartoony devil stuff, evil sludgy music, bulging eyes – and unfortunately scary for the wrong reasons – heroin, crack, dying guys -  but the trailer is awesome and you should watch it.  It’s coming next month to select theatres.

A Different Kind of Underdog

Put em up, starfuckers!

My last post helped me to land on a prevailing theme to at least loosely (but in a tight leather) skirt on FullKicks - The Championing of the Rock n Roll Underdog. So that's what we do here. That doesn't mean just blogging about the obscure shit you need to hear to be cool - you can get that from any music blog. It's about bands that did and/or do quality shit that is wrongly ignored or just plain misunderstood. It's a vital service I provide for free and you're welcome. I won't apologize for being cool, and don't feel you need to remind me of the fact. It's like when you have a hot barista - you don't tell them they are beautiful, just share a smile & love the hell out of that latte.

A curveball to start this week: Van Halen. How can the most hugestest, arena-rockin, high-flyin circus act of the 80's be an underdog? 

Easily: they have just released their first album "A Different Kind of Truth" in 28 years (non-DLR era omitted) and people will:  a) say it sucks and won't listen to it, or b) say that they wanted to like it/it's a good effort, but it still kinda sucks after giving it one or two spins. 

3 out of 4 cock rockers prefer 
sansbelt stage pants 

Okay, first off it doesn't suck. The vibe is vintage I & II era. No ballads, no songs with love in the title. The band sounds massive as ever. Brothers VH signature traits - monster drumming and mind blowing stunt guitar work - make aDKoT worth a seriously loud listen on their own. But the playing and sound were never this outfit's challenge. They founded 80s metal pop and were never surpassed. The part they fucked up was underestimating David Lee Roth's weight in the appeal of Van Halen. Jealousy killed the band first time around. VH bros were serious musicians who resented the showboat front man who stole the spotlight, the A-level chicks, and built a solo career on the backs of their songs, their music and their hard work. They fucked with the formula and it cost them.

In a weird way, Diamond Dave's performance on the new album is a great example of his VH value. His voice has aged. His over the top screams are a little too far beyond the top for him now and he does the creepy talking a little more often than in the past. A lot of the "have you seen junior's grades?" type stuff. But his spirit brings their technique and song structures to the people. And there are some killer songs: "Blood and Fire" would fit in on any golden era album; it has a "Little Guitars" feel, with thunderous basslines and Eddie channels Townsend through a Who-like outro. "Outta Space" is a burner - a catchy Montrose space rock riff with DLR pushing his voice to the max and (mostly) keeping up throughout. "She's the Woman" sounds like vintage VH boogie metal (and really because it is, more on that in a line or two) complete with eerily Michael Anthonyesque backing vocals. "You and Your Blues" effectively brings the melody into Dave's vocal range and "Stay Frosty" is a fun revisit with the "Ice Cream Man". There is more killer than filler here and that's an accomplishment considering the fact that they could just show up for the gigs and never have to actually speak to each other in order to hammer Van Halen cheques for years to come. Some bands are happy to do just that. Some reviewers are making a big deal about the fact that many of these songs were blown up from demos and instrumentals written in the 70s, but I honestly don't see why they should be criticized for that. It's their music. They can put it out whenever they please. It's not like an album of standards or covers. It's a band revisiting their most prolific period, repurposing some sketches and delivering new music. Van Halen still has something to offer and 28 years later, I'll drink to that.

Note: The next blog will be sooner than later, I finally have the time and have so much to write about, including next week's new album from Heartless Bastards and an unearthed 1983 live album (pink vinyl for the geeks!) from the super divine The Plimsouls!