The Violent Hour

Whatta ya do with this Bad-Girls Gone Wild metallic megatonnage? Buy it, spin it, and love it all the way into a videopathic maelstrom.

Video: "Screenager"

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Matt 'Spike' Marble

Solo wax the first from Hula Girl guitar curl-shooter / filmmaker / photographer / designer Spike combines monster mask, trebly splash-foam articulations, and bosomy rapture in minutes of pleasure that simultaneously leave sand pebbles betwixt toes.

Clear orange 45s sold out, but digital beckons still.

Videos: "Creepy Tiki Halloween Surf Nightmare" (Official video)   "Theme from 'The Murderqueen'" (Official video)

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Crevado (Design page)

Danny Dean's Tennessee project   

Come and listen to a story in which highly polished panache shimmers, one with crazy-legged verve in bouncy abundance.

The swanky, suit-and-tie rockin' popularized in the Ike era by Bill Haley and Freddie Bell still vivifies gymnastic dance couples. Golden State-scene habitué of best repute Danny Dean can easily be counted among select contemporary vocalists whose technical capability mark them as exceptional. 

A singer of boundless scope, he is an artist while many others are mere craftsmen. Classy hepcat Danny has re-imagined Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, The Cure, and Adam Ant - in addition to setting loose his own wellspring of in-pocket creativity. 

All around the striking progeny of California's 1980s Punk underground - when he jumps into crazy-man-crazy action - saxes blare, guitars cut nimble dance-patterns, and 88s go straight to Hep Town like it's the only home they know.

Tidings come now of the man's fresh doings:

"Jeff Moleski was in town from New York getting our new Tennessee studio Rockwell Recording in order," Danny revealed in an August Facebook note. "Still a lot of construction ahead," he added.

"We already have people waiting to get in to record. Amazing. We have a beautiful classic Trident 80B mixing console - one of the top four best. We also have Sony MCI JH-24 track tape machines, as well as pro tools."

 

In response to this writer's subsequent query, Danny elaborated. "It's still under construction, probably won't be done for another year. We almost have the control room done."

Casting gaze rearward --

A 1979 high schooler, Southern Californian Danny was among teenagers who found themselves forever altered by the Ramones, as well as by other DIY notables of the era. Similarly affected was guitarist Gary Kail (now sadly departed). Danny recalls the two undertook the majority of their new group Anti's efforts, which included everything from managerial duties to promotional ones, in addition to gigging. 

 

 

The upstart group distinguished itself in the region's storied shambolic milieu (which had in addition produced the Circle Jerks and Black Flag), by bannering broadsides against government corruption and news media lies, as well as by protesting warfare and urging world peace. 

Anti's twin-barreled acerbitude can be dug via 2023 full-length The Future is the Past (Dr. Strange Records). 

(Danny's later eral affiliations included Easter, Mood of Defiance, and Zurich.)

 

Danny in Easter time

In more recent years, we've witnessed Danny's evolution. He's assumed the persona of a long-legging, finger-snapping hepster daddy. As such, he's equally likely to tear Jazzy Rockbop into coolio shreds as to sweep he-and-she pairings onto shores amore, via crooning par excellence.

 

 

 

 

 

Turning mind to the yet-uncompleted Rockwell Recording, one anticipates many recordings -- both gripping and meritorious -- will soon result when control of fine machinery is exercised by Danny, whose name is already synonymous with Rock'n'Roll impeccability.

 

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Videos: "Be Free" (Anti)   "Manhattan Boy" (Easter"   "D in Love" (Danny Dean and the Homewreckers)   "Bettie's Kiss" (Danny Dean and the Homewreckers)

 

 

Danny and fellow Homewrecker Gavin Jones

Dead City

Out on Bail   EP

(Self-issued)

Punch up these dense bombardments. The sardonicism enjoyed from this ripsaw assault unit angrily accents harsh existence on the sidelines. Shoved away, they became a community. (Kind of a graffitied Australia.) Fuck everybody on the outside.

Recommended: "Out on Bail," "Cut Down to Size," "Skidrow Creep"

Video: "Out on Bail" (live at Riff Audio)   

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Dogface Bastards

s/t

(Self-issued)

As invigoratingly defiant as rebellion with the cause of Oi! sounds on record, total immersion in the animal comes only for those launching themselves into the snarling, participatory beast; everywhere, bodies fly, tumble, and sprawl, all to tunes blasted by mohawked warriors. L.A.'s Dogface Bastards urge on circle-dance mayhem in wee hours. 

None of the foregoing was meant to dissuade disc purchasers. To the contrary, subjecting eardrums to the raucousness the Dogfaced ones shovel so violently is a fine first step toward the maelstrom.

Recommended: "Dogbite," "Dog Eat Dog," "New Voice of Oi!," "Friday Night," "Do or Bust," "Barking Dogs Don't Bite"

Videos: "Dog Eat Dog" / "New Voice of Oi!" / etc (live)   "Barking Dogs Don't Bite"

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Nothing Less Records

STORENVY

Third Eye Records

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Karling and the Kadavers

Curse on Me   EP

(Self-issued)

Title platter-gash races like a hearse up sideways on two wheels. Frantic, grim, and neck-snapping. Slap-bass prominent "Ruby" lopes, its cold tale of svelte vampirism cinematic in descriptiveness. (Somebody exhume Tura Satana and Al Adamson.) Slashing guitarwork is perpetrated by three practioners of villainy: Fuse, Watts, and Gator McMurder. (GM also wielded that mighty bass.) "The Worst of Me" concludes this dark endeavor, with Bermuda Schwartz hammering skins like they dared to look at him funny. 

And Karling herself? She amazes with vocal cords that know no boundary and shake every note on the scale until it has Xs on its eyelids.

Recommended: "Curse on Me," "Ruby," "The Worst of Me"

Videos: "Curse on Me" (official video)   "Ruby"   "The Worst of Me"

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American Patrol go Ameripolitan

AP General Jerry Sikorski tells me he just entered his group's "I Ain't Never Been a Cheater" in the Rockabilly classification of the Dale Watson-founded Ameripolitan's 2027 Award competition. 

Previous awards winners include Nick Curran, Kyle Eldridge, Jane Rose, The Lucky Stars, and Nic Roulette.

In reviewing AP's recent platter last May, I wrote "Sandburg's line about coming in on 'little cat feet' has no relevance here. Opening track 'I Ain't Never Been a Cheater' makes like a lion with its tail stuck in a wall socket." 

"I Ain't Never Been a Cheater" (live)

The Ameripolitan Awards nomination period is now open, and will remain so until late summer / early fall. Nominees can be put forward not only by bands themselves, but also by peers and fans.

Following the nomination term's conclusion, top nominees will be compiled. Official voting on final nominees will end in October or November. General Ballot Blaster voting will then be open until late December or early January.

The Ameripolitan Awards ceremony is set for February. 

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The Zap Guns

Space Vampire

(Self-issued)

Asplash throughout Milky Way clubs are silver saucers equipped with reverb. Having buzzed the Surf and Punk galaxies -- and hovered o'er cratered alternative orbs uncharted -- they fire alternating chiaroscuro and technicolor beams that have all manners of jumbo-headed aliens playing Twister at the discothèque.

Recommended: "Satellite," "They Live," "Geraldine," "I Don't Know Why," "Quicksilver," "Ghosts," "Dahlia," "Waiting for You"

Videos: "Satellite" (live)   "Ghosts"   "Waiting for You"   

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Rezurex

It's wholly likely that fleshy hulls devoid of life-spark clawed up through sod to perform a morbid ballet when this rang through chilly blackness.

From 2006 Fiendforce debut Beyond the Grave, now remastered and remixed.

Video: "Black Rose" 

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Jimmy and the Mustangs: Ducktail oeuvre

1980s California birthed a jitterbop uprising that too often was slighted, as commenters focused more on Robert Gordon, the Stray Cats, and English have-a-go heroes like Graham Fenton and Cavan Grogan. (Of course, not for a moment do I intend to dismiss their significance in the scheme of resurgent twang.)

Ronny Weiser's Rollin' Rock herculian strivings deserve wide approbation. But other West Coast names also merit credit. Like Top Jimmy, Hollywood Fats, and James Intveld.

And Jimmy and the Mustangs.

Hey Little Girl (1982) was the group's virgin wax. Though a dapper Rockabilly firecracker of above-usual gifts, Jimmy Silvers (né Haddox) also knew related night-joint strains of senior vintage. His reanimations of Wynonie Harris, Baker Knight, and Louis Jordan shouters attested to diverse appreciation. He had furious chops that cashed the check his hepcat finery wrote. 

Fellow Californian stage-demolisher Jerry Sikorski tore at strings in spectacular manners (as he previously had with Ray Campi at Rollin' Rock, and went on to do with American Patrol). Associated players arched forward with the vigor of battle-ready recruits to a jukebox campaign. 

MTV didn't have a clue - but something big was bubbling.

Videos: "Bring Back My Cadillac" (Live TV)   "I Want You To Be My Baby" (Live TV) "Let's Dance"

(In 1983, repopulated Mustangs guested on TV comedy Square Pegs.)

MCA / Curb released the 1984, self-titled EP. Two years had elapsed since the auspicious maiden platter, and some alterations were manifested: A pronounced New Wave flair had partially replaced previous vintage honor, and Marshall Rohner had assumed lead guitar duties, as Jerry Sikorski had gone on to American Patrol. (Rohner wielded his guitar like a stilletto.)

The fire remained on highest setting. 

A kinetic reading of Kenny Lewis' 1964 novelty "Bad Detective" stormed with righteous enthusiasm (just as it had when covered by the Dolls in '74). All involved here were having a ball, a feature that was also loudly apparent on "I'll Steal For Your Love" and "Stomp." "Justine," perhaps the most frantic headfirst dive included among the six tracks, turned up in the soundtrack of 1984 film Voyage of the Rock Aliens.

The affection for traditional gestures returned in the closing slide-guitar, swaybacked "It's All Over Now" revisitation. Bobby Womack, who had co-written the 1964 Bluesy ambler with sister-in-law Shirley for his group the Valentinos, would surely have nodded approval.

Videos: "Justine" (Official video)   "The Pressure's On" (Live TV)   "It's All Over Now"

Not illogically, maturity takes a hand in these 2011 (again, self-titled) cuts, though hardly in reserved fashion. Instead, judiciousness leavens proceedings, which are no less grounded in Americana inclinations than before. 

Jimmy's voice reveals a wisdom gained through life variously trying and exultant. Assembled around him as he imbues common-man musics with idiosyncratic aplomb are players cut from stout cloth: Tom Coplen (guitar), Dylan Cavaliere (doghouse), John Powell (drums), and Stefano Intelisano (keys). Fiddle and harmonica are added by Heather Rae Johnson and Guy Forsyth.

The maturity previously noted was leashed, though, for "Wanted Man;" that selection rampaged with the gleefulness of any earlier LP's entry. 

Videos: "Wanted Man"  "How Can I Miss You (If You Won't Go Away)?"   "I-35"   

The rollicking hijinx and Rock'n'Roll history command that made earlier discs estimable breathes and jumps still, on 2015's Another Round. The disc acquits itself as infectious, animated, and possessed of particular sinew. This was much more than only an undersung name from 1980s neo-Rockabilly rising anew; it testified to enduring powerfulness worth broad regard.

Horns sprawled like tuneful abettors in swinging rollick. "Roll the Dice" stutter-skipped with brim atilt. The swinging nite-spot long-legging that once notoriously marked Sinatra and his Rat Pack confreres (and later a truck driver named Presley) spun and tapped across gleaming dance floors.

"Cherry Bomb" swung straight in behind. 88s were pounded as Rock'n'Roll had its familiar, beloved way with every ear in the joint. Back in saddles were TNT players from the previous studio endeavor. And their pumped-to-nth-degree onrushes (which wisely intuited when to play it cool and when to pour it on) were precisely the launch pad required by Jimmy's outsized personality. 

He crooned, soared, and belted like Nudie-shirted gangbusters. Tribute to the Norfolk-birthed Black Leather Rebel "Ready Set Go" romped in manner not unlike "Cruisin'," its impeccably picked dash nimbly turning on silvery FDRs.

Following in brash joyfulness was a passel of tunery in moments rumbustious and, frankly, ineffable. A Sikorski-penned stroll down N'awlins boulevards, "Bourbon Street" unspools to high-stepping fiddle cavortings and bass-string articulations, as Jimmy discloses calm orations.

Fellow vinyl denizens included under-moonbeam ballads and rockers that probably resulted in furniture kicked into splintered kindling.

Established far past reasonable disputation was that seasons that intervened betwixt Hey Little Girl and Another Round had exercised no weakening; muscularity, blood connection to bygone nights' teachings, and love of hipness bombardments remained in full bloom.

So, if you read an account of '80s-forward neo-Rockabilly that makes no mention of Jimmy and the Mustangs' coolness-on-10 oeuvre, throw that book straight through the fucking window.

Videos: "Roll the Dice"   "Cherry Bomb"   "Ready, Set, Go!"   "Bourbon Street"

Ray Campi

...Rocks!

(Bear Family)

The man with "a scarf around my neck" never knew adulation of the soulless music industry, but that truth only heightened his coolness. (Besides, who ever gave a flying slapback about mainstream sanction?) Ray was Rollin' Rock royalty, and his 'round the globe hot repute ensured everlasting panthon residence.

The accompaying 36-page booklet includes personal biography by Rip Masters, Deke Dickerson foreword, uncommon snapshots, and exhaustive discography. As tracks compiled attest, the handkercief-wavin', big-bass slappin' man had the sock from Lone Star beginnings to Van Nuys culmination.

Recommended: "Caterpillar," "I Didn't Mean to Be Mean," "The Crossing," "Livin' on Love," "It Ain't Me," "Give That Love to Me," "Let Go of Louie," "The Man I Met (A tribute to the Big Bopper)," "Sixteen Chicks," "How Low Can You Feel," "Booze It!," "Rockin' at the Ritz," "Quit Your Triflin'," "Rattlin' Daddy," "Rockabilly Music," "Rockabilly Man," "Pan American Boogie" (live)

Videos: "Caterpillar"   "The Crossing"   "It Ain't Me"   "Booze It!"   "Quit Your Triflin'"   "

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Sleazy Records

Back in the Day, 1979

Tony Conn

Total Insanity

(Rollin' Rock)

The notorious Wildman's jittering zealotry comes over most emphatically during "Hard Knocks and Tough Rocks," though it certainly rages elsewhere. All one need know about the full-steam band that tears the nighttime a new ashtray is that it includes Ray Campi. 

"I'm gonna kick those big walls down!"

Recommended: "Goin' Back to Boston Town," "Mighty Mighty Dora," "Bonnie," "I Wanna Hold You," "It Shouldn't Happen," "Hard Knocks and Tough Rocks," "Ramblin' Ray"

Videos: "Goin' Back to Boston Town"   "Mighty Mighty Dora"   "Hard Knocks and Tough Rocks"   

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The Big Black Bugs

The brass-knuckled roundhouse thrown is precisely what can be expected from ex-members of the Spastiks: Headlong. Resolute. Airtight. (Bass-wrestler Jorg also slaps for the Grims.)

Video: "Spider Baby" (live 1:00 excerpt)

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Geoffrey Miller

Geoffrey Miller and the Rockin' Rousers   digital and vinyl

(Self-issued)

The dust on Geoffrey's boot heels is hardscrabble certification of the pickin' bard's genuineness. From his songcraft pen and home-folks- affable guitaring flow good-humored, sway-backed, sittin'-on-the-fence minstrelsy that could raise up a barn or dig for kicks in a neon-flashing big city with nary a care, save for that specially warm honey. 

When I glimpsed song title "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch," I guessed Geoffrey would be having a time with the Buck Owens classic. Chalk that in my loss column. Turned out to be a sprawling instrumental during which the man whose name adorns the cover shuffled sophisticated dirt-road licks and dealt them out like a cowboy-hatted croupier.

To quote Ferlin Husky in Hillbillys in a Haunted House: "He picks a mean guitar!"

Recommended: "Don't Shake My Heart," "So Goes the Nation," "Good Morning Blues," "The Whip," "You're There," "Can't Catch a Star," "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch," "California Shakes"

Videos: "Don't Shake My Heart" (live)   "So Goes the Nation"   "The Whip"   "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch"

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Todd Arita and his West End Poets

Hired Gun Trio's guitar ace Todd dedicated this wiser-for-the-aching plaint to his late mother, an act whose respectfulness finds fellowship in 3:54 of expansive, swingalong meditation.

Video: "Isn't Life Grand"

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OP ED

E.P. by OP ED

(Self-issued)

All thunderslaps are concise and race furiously, tuneful architecture stabbing gray matter.

Recommended: "Poetry About Narcotics," "Inept Pimps," "Subordinate," "Death Wish"

Video: live August 2025 (Four songs, two from above EP)

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Jinx Jones: Fire forever    

                        

Californian Jinx Jones's status as fretboard royalty is beyond dispute. Last March, he issued his 7th disc, Under the Neon Moon. 

In reviewing it at the time, I wrote: "Bow low when entering the palace chamber. Jinx pulls up a pillowed seat at the same roundtable as Barry Ryan, Chris Spedding, George Benson, and Danny B. Harvey. (From yon wall, gilded portraits of lamented heroes like Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Matt Murphy, Jimmy Bryant, Danny Cedrone, Charlie Christian, Danny Gatton, and Franny Beecher peer down on proceedings.)"

Globally famed as a breath-stealing picker both encyclopedic and devastating, he's on first-name terms with outer planets of bop nonpareil. Whereas others might have left the Rockabilly / Country trail he's ridden to fame -- to assay styles more sanctified by clef-note gray-beards -- Jinx stayed put and unburdened himself of serrated thunderbolts that parted pomps and frizzed Bettie bangs.

His journey to current renown was paved with experiences that both seasoned and informed him. 

Beginning in 1976, he backed legends Solomon Burke and Howard Bomar. He then worked in one of Chuck Berry's regional touring bands. During the mid-1980s, Jinx backed Roy Buchanan in concert.

Subsequent studio session toils led to Jinx playing both guitar and bass on the 1992 En Vogue hit "Free Your Mind."

Over these years, he developed a musical voice inclusive of the finest of Americana past, his own novel articulations lending piquance. 

With seeming ease, he divines the blood fraternity of Rockabilly, Western Swing, Blues, Jazz, and Honky Tonk, dazzling with furious note-bursts one moment and in the next, spinning glorious strands of wondrous and untethered imaginings.

Imagine an advanced fretboard textbook on 10. Listeners are surely thunderstruck by Jinx's authoritative command of labyrinthine note aggregates, lightning-fleet navigations, and esoteric chordal modes. One intuits they are in the twang-upholstered, Jazzy Court of a flat-gone monarch, one for whom fair Aoede is a favored midnight-hour ship.

Jinx's Under the Neon Moon holds gripping wonders for both his established audience and untouched ears. Ecstatic notes are bent, jabbed, and fired off at jet velocity. Fierce and wooly barn-dancin' bop drops by the bale, but gentler moments also croon.

"Hittin' the Hard Stuff," "Cadillac Love Machine," and "Million Dollar Fool" point up his flair with spring-heeled rambles and wry (sometimes self-effacing) wit. Instrumental odysseys like "Prelude Noir," "Duane's Train," and "Neon Moonlight" allow Jinx the elbow room to expand at length upon artful musings.

Honky Tonk expressiveness and rumbustious Rockabilly exhortations were colorfully integrated with ebullient bursts of Jazz-inflected phrasings. . 

Now, it's not uncommon for artists to cool down once they're a few discs into recording careers. Perhaps they lose something of their initial creative fire.

But not Jinx. Never Jinx. I don't believe he'll ever lose the fire.

Videos: "License To Twang"   "Redneck Barbie"   "Cadillac Love Machine"   "Neon Moonlight"

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