Sister Morphine – Back in the groove and nailing it!

“Ghosts Of Heatrbreak City” is such a good sleaze rock’n’roll album! We had to ask SISTER MORPHINE a few questions about their past, present and future. Singer Gaz answered.

How did you get the idea to give a new life to SISTER MORPHINE?

I found myself nursing a serious knee injury which had me laid-up and looking for something to occupy my time when I couldn’t really move about. I had an MRI scan the evening before my fiftieth birthday and when they put the headphones on me to drown out the sound of the machine ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ was playing – that makes you feel old, I can tell you! So, to fill the time without getting up I decided to convert a load of old tapes to digital with a view to sharing them with my music nerd friends. I was thinking live bootleg tapes which I still have a load of – Hanoi Rocks, Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction, Quireboys, The Dogs D’Amour, Manic Street Preachers, KISS, to name but a few. However, I found a stack of old Sister Morphine rehearsal tapes from 1989, 1990, and 1991. These C90s contained rough, sometimes incomplete versions of songs that I had completely forgotten about, so I converted them and sent them to my old band mates – guitarists Jamesy and Jonesy, drummer Denley Slade, and bassist “Hollywood” Mike DeSouza. This started a file sharing frenzy with other songs that had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet resurfacing. I was on codeine for pain relief and this, infamously and painfully, gives you constipation. I don’t know if it was the backing-up that got to my brain but I decided that I needed to get my shit out in different ways, so I suggested to the boys that we regroup to make an album including all these great songs that never got the chance to shine.However

Was it easy to convince everyone in the band?

Easier than I ever imagined! Within an hour of me sending the message everyone was in and committed to making the album. We were in regional lockdowns at the time – this was early 2021 – so we had a million group posts and video calls trying to come up with a plan. Those video calls would result in three brand new songs being written. A finished product still seemed so far away, though – that, two years later, we have, in my opinion, a killer album released is quite remarkable.

When was it when you first started?

Jamesy and “Hollywood” Mike were in a band called Self Destruction Blues; the former singing and playing guitar, the latter providing the eye candy. They decided that they wanted a proper frontman with dazzling good looks and a voice to die for, but they couldn’t find one so they asked me to join. This was in 1989. I joined the band the day before my eighteenth birthday. The band name was changed, Denley and, later, Jonesy joined, and it all clicked and we were away.

Was there a big sleaze/glam rock scene in Wales?

At the time the big thing was Glam Vs Thrash! Two camps at odds with each other – us cool kids and those other sweaty oafs! One Tuesday night James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich walked into our local rock club, Metro’s in Newport, and all the thrashers were treating it like the second coming while I was like, “wake me up if someone from Faster Pussycat walks in!” Ha ha. I actually had a piss next to Lars – the sound of his piss hitting the porcelain sounded exactly like the snare drum on ‘St. Anger’. But I digress; the glam thing was big, with bands like City Kidds and Ragdolls riding the Tigertailz coattails. We would eventually get lumped in with the whole glam thing, but we were always on the Hanoi Rocks/New York Dolls side of the subgenre – really we wanted to be the Stones or the Faces, not leather boyz with electric toyz.

How many shows did you play approximately and what do you remember of them?

In that first year, 1989, we were still really finding our sound so we only did two shows – the second of them a pretty high profile one in London with Last Of The Teenage Idols, back when playing in London with a name band was a bit of a dream for kids from places like ours. We went for it in 1990 and played scores of shows, garnering a small yet fevered following of cultured individuals. A lot of the times the show was a local “Rock Night” so you had all types of rock fans in attendance: you would sell T-shirts to some people who loved your performance, yet have others wanting to fight you for not sounding like the Scorpions… on the same night! Every show or every night of a tour is a constant battle between good times and bad decisions – at our age now even the latter are remembered as the former.

You were probably associated to bands like The DOGS D’AMOUR, QUIREBOYS or GUNFIRE DANCE. Did you play with any of them?

We did several shows with Gunfire Dance as part of a package that saw them as headliners, us opening, with Silver Hearts the prime beef sandwiched between us. It was clear from the first time we saw and heard Gunfire Dance that the band should have been huge. Looking back, they were just a few years ahead of the game. When the alternative culture became the norm in the Nineties their edgier, oft-kilter brand of rock ‘n’ roll would have hit several marks but in the years before that every label wanted its “rebels” to have pop metal hits; stage-managed rebellion. Think the Quireboys having to get rid of their best-ever drummer in order to have that polished sound of the first album – they went from the Faces to ‘Atlantic Crossing’ era Rod in one swoop. I was lucky enough to hang out with the Survival Records line-up of the Quireboys when I was seventeen, but we never got to play with them. We did, however, play with Red Dogs who featured current Quireboys guitarist Paul Guerin – well, one of the current Quireboys line-ups! Paul has always been great and whenever I bumped into him when on Uber Rock duties he always smiled in all the right places when I serenaded him with Red Dogs classic, ‘Sweet Little Ruby’, EVERY TIME I SAW HIM! We were actually booked onto a Dogs D’Amour gig after our Teenage Idols gig in 1989 but it never happened. It’s mentioned in a review of the gig that I have somewhere.

What other bands from that scene did you like or hung out with?

We spent some time with the aforementioned Silver Hearts (who later became Last Great Dreamers) and are still friends with Marc Valentine and Slyder Smith. In fact, our drummer, Denley, was in the regrouped Last Great Dreamers for a few years, and now plays in Marc’s solo band. I’m still friends with a load of the City Kidds – they had around ten thousand band members so it’s hard to walk down the street without bumping into one of them, teasing his hair or straightening his spandex. Former Kidd Matt Blakout (now Tigertailz drummer) was my best man! We played a few shows with a band called Roadhouse that, apparently, Jon Bon Jovi had said good things about – they had the JBJ quote on their posters and everything! He was probably on about the Patrick Swayze movie. Anyway, Roadhouse had a prima donna of a frontman who would smash his micstand into the stage and storm off if the band wasn’t going down well, but a lovely guy on drums named Ramon who, like me, loved comic books and pop culture. We used to correspond and he’d send me Punisher stickers and the like. We also played some shows with a band called Who Cares Anyway? and their drummer now plays in The Hip Priests, who we love. In fact, guitarist Austin messaged me on the release day of our album to tell me how much he liked it – little things like that from cool mofos means a lot.

Did you release any official demos in those days?

We recorded a four-track demo tape in a place called Chariot Studios in Cardiff in 1989. Sadly, due to the gentrification of every cool fucking place on the planet, the location no longer exists. The demo was entitled ‘The Agony & the Ecstasy of Sister Morphine’ and none of the songs made the cut when it came to rehashing some old tunes for our ‘Ghosts of Heartbreak City’ album! We also released a tape entitled ‘Singing Songs ‘Bout Yesterday’ that included a song from the demo, ‘For a Girl Like You’, alongside several live songs recorded in venues across the UK that, again, no longer exist.

Why did the band stop playing?

We found ourselves treading water. We’d had a couple of management “agreements” but found ourselves looking for new representation. We did a 250-mile round trip to meet some prospective management but, predictably, they were just another bunch of chancers and crooks. We were still teenagers and couldn’t even rent a van to get us from gig to gig as we weren’t old enough. An opportunity came my way to write about cult movies and pop culture – my other great passion – so I took up the offer and left the band. I went from being threatened for not whistling like Klaus Meine to dealing regularly with underground filmmakers like Jörg Buttgereit. That seemed like the right thing to do at the time. The band carried on for a little while with a different singer, but it was like that time Mick Hucknall replaced Rod Stewart in the Faces – there was a ginger bloke stood in the same place saying the same words, but it wasn’t the same.

How was it when you first started playing together again?

Everything, initially, when we could eventually meet up and rehearse, was about deciding which songs would make the album. It was great fun revisiting all the old songs, resurrecting some yet showing others the proverbial door. Plus we had three, then four new songs to work on so it was an exciting, productive time. Remember, some of the band members hadn’t really played for three decades so hearing them back in the groove and nailing it was spectacular.

Can you tell us about Big Egg Records?

Big Egg Records is a new Welsh record label that I first became aware of when some friends’ bands got included on a compilation album that the label put out. They reached out on social media asking followers to recommend bands that they should be working with. Sister Morphine had just recorded the scratch tracks for our album before recording proper started, so I sent Big Egg a couple of the tunes and they were interested. The last time we released anything was in 1990 – and on cassette! – so we wanted someone to help us with not only the final physical product, but also all that digital releasing shebang which those of us from the jet age are allergic to. The guys at Big Egg Records are just big music nerds like us so have been great to work with – they just want to help bands get product released. They also tell me repeatedly that I am not only the best singer that they have ever worked with, but also the best looking, which is nice.

You seem to be good at Internet promotion. Do you think that being involved in Uber Rock helped you to stay up to date with the way music and the Internet work together nowadays?

Johnny Hayward and myself founded Uber Rock, but previously to that we had written for the Glitzine website – we had experience of both sending content into an editor, and then being the editors. The latter showed us how NOT to do things. It was a steep learning curve and, like every corner of the music industry, littered with rude bastards. I have tried to use the experience and the knowledge of how not to do things to stir up a little interest in Sister Morphine and the album release. The band’s story made it a little easier, but that ease was nullified by choosing a band name thirty-three years ago that social media search results consider related to drug misuse and continually block! I think I’ve done okay, though… and without spending any money!

You say in the I-84 Bar interview that you’re a “member of the cult of Richey.” Did you get to meet him? Did you see the Manics in their very early days?

I live around six miles away from Blackwood, where the Manic Street Preachers come from, so you would often see them around in the early days: Nicky generally in a shopping centre, James in more random places – I remember him once pushing past us to get nearer to the front when The Black Crowes were playing New port Centre. I only ever saw Richey when he was hanging out before Manics gigs, though. I had written to an address that was on the back of one of their 12-inch records looking for info and Richey replied to me, and sent me a white label 7-inch of the original version of ‘You Love Us’. I have the letter framed on my wall. I saw the band many, many times when Richey was still there: awe-inspiring at times. I have also seen them numerous times since he disappeared. The gigs now are full of people who would also pay £15 to see a tribute band and think that a band must be great because they have paid to put an ad in Classic Rock magazine. Not for me.

Do you have any gigs planned so far?

We had an album launch gig booked, but the venue has closed so that went the way of the dodo. We will consider any opportunities to play live again but are conscious that our huge stage set with mechanical dragon and tank drum riser will struggle to fit into smaller venues.

If SISTER MORPHINE could choose a band to open for, who would it be?

I think we have that crossover appeal that means we’d be equally at home supporting bands like The Dogs D’Amour, The Quireboys, or Michael Monroe as we would punkier outfits like The Boys or The Professionals, or even old school US bands like Jetboy or Faster Pussycat. We’ll consider anything that involves potential more good times… and more bad decisions!

Will there be a vinyl version of the album?

We hope so, eventually. Not having the 12-inch EP that we had planned to release in 1991 in our record collections was a major catalyst for us recording ‘Ghosts of Heartbreak City’ as it happens. That quest for bona fide Sister Morphine physical product has resulted in a cool digipak CD, but we’d love a vinyl release, with lyrics and a huge thanks list included. The waiting time for vinyl to be manufactured at the present time is wild, though – by the time we get the chance to do it a different format may already be the new old thing! It could be 8-tracks! If it is I know a Welsh lyric writer who would claim at least part of the credit for that…

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ELECTRIC ANGELS FOREVER!!! (-frantic, heartfelt call to emergency aid by General Labor)

If you’re like me, you probably loved power-pop angels, CANDY, way back in the early Rick Springfield part of the 80’s and always carried a special place in your heart for that band, so when they reformed as Electric Angels in the metal years, you were undoubtedly delighted their songwriting had just gotten better and better. They were way, way better than all those Headbanger’s Ball assembly line corporate-metal blouse bands. “TRUE LOVE & FAIRY TALES” really was like the swan song for my breakup with a hot blonde bombshell Skid Row chick circa 87 or 88, she was a Midwestern preacher’s daughter, basically, so her very uptight and conservative and deeply superstitious, evangelical family thought me and this other chick I dated were scary, black clad, witchy goths, so they actually stirred up alot of needlessly nutty, church-lady, witch-hunt hysteria and slanderous gossip and gave us a lot of non stop hassles and smalltown grief. Meanwhile, the blonde chick moved on to some famous heavy metal dudes, before disappearing into Mexico years later. I had a blast with that chick riding around in her car listening to Peter Murphy and Bang Tango and Cinderella cassettes, spending all our money on Cold Duck champagne and rooms at the Diehlman’s Motel and Davis Plaza Motor Lodge! She was like a centerfold come true, we had a chemistry, I really liked her. I got her into Electric Angels and London Quireboys, and a lot of other stuff, forbidden by her P.M.R.C. parents. She mostly loved Skid Row and the Throbs. Even after she ditched me for a more famous guy, like they all do when you are a white trash nobody, trailer park Ramone in your late teens, I listened to that Electric Angels cassette like ten zillion more times back in my late adolescence, and it doubtlessly impacted my own songwriting. 

Finally, I got to see Electric Angels live in Boston and was shocked and dismayed by how well their handsome new frontman, Shane, had magically absorbed all the best T Rex and Michael Monroe moves. I thought I was hot shit til I saw that dude front a glam band and was totally hurt and frustrated he was so much better than I was at wielding the mic stand back when being a Jaggeresque/Rod Stewart glam dandy was revered as a high art by people in my age group, pre-grunge Tarzans. That glittery pinup cat Shane was said to have done another band I always wanted to hear called Blue Movie, as well as another record with brilliant songwriter Johnathon Daniel and friends as “The Loveless”. Anyhoo, he’s a bright silvery star, a real rare rocknroll marvel, a personal influence of mine, and I know I’m not the only old rocker who would buy the dude a drink out of sheer gratitude, if I ever saw ‘im. He’s having serious medical problems now and you know, the medical industry is really evil and corrupted by big insurance and big pharma’s vicious. mafia like, greedhead profit-motives in my country, so I wanted to call upon all you aging real rocknrollers within the sound of my voice, to kick in a few cocktails worth of contributions to his welfare and recovery, if you can. I smile everytime I remember that Electric Angels anthem, “The Drinking Song”, cause it reminds me so much of summa my booziest, flooziest, old divebar sirens from the inebriated wild wild youthful old daze! Help a brother out, all my comrades and fellow travelers, and friends of the revolution! I’d really appreciate it! It’s probably the right thing to do, every little bit helps. If you’re broke or have no credit card, I understand, but you can still repost this all over your Twitter and Facebook and whatever social media you might be on. Ya know a lotta people seemed to have forgotten this, but a wiseman once told us: that a heart of gold is worth more than all the money in the world. 

Fund Razor:

https://www.facebook.com/donate/5182364705159122/3163112617304896/

God Bless The Electric Angels! Thank You! Good Night & Good Luck!

Plastic Tears release “Doomsday Girls” video/single

“Doomsday Girls” is taken from the album ‘Anthems For Misfits’ album that was released earlier this year through Wormholedeath Records. It’s clear from the first beats of the song and video that you’re in for an energetic and fun rock’n’roll burst. Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Doomsday!

The video was edited by Eco Inkinen and shot at Suvilahti skatepark and Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki. These two surroundings contrast each other well and Elina Laine does an excellent job as the doomsday girl.

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Plastic Tears – Rock’n’Roll Rats!

It’s always good to see bands that stick to their guns and PLASTIC TEARS are definitely one of them! Lead vocalist Miqu December tells us about the new album « Anthems For The Misfits » and much more!

You were one of the very first bands I interviewed back in 2000 I think. Can you introduce the band for those who might still not have heard of you?

We usually describe our music as sleazy dark rock’n’roll with a glam punk attitude. We’ve been around for a long time since, and we’ve had our ups and downs. So we’ve named ourselves the rats of rock’n’roll, we survive anything. We do what we love, good old rock’n’roll, and spice it up with a little bit of musical this and that. We’re not trying to please anyone, but I’d still say most people who like rock music might like us, as our music draws from different musical sources.

How did things change for the band in 20 years apart from the obvious line-up changes?

I guess we’ve stayed true to our musical roots, but of course the band has evolved and gotten better. We’ve always made music we’d like to listen to ourselves, so no need to make drastic changes. But I guess as we’re a bit more stable nowadays, concentrating more on the music instead of partying, I think we’ve matured much also in a musical sense.

Can you tell us about your new album « Anthems For Misfits »?

We started working on it pretty soon after the last album, Angels With Attitude, was released. So in about a year after the release of that album we were back in the studio again. We started recording summer 2019, did a European tour, and continued recording. Soon after that the pandemic showed up, and it slowed down the recording pace. So it was quite a long process, one or two day of recording, then a break for a couple of weeks, and we continued again. But this slow pace suits us well, and I think it’s one of the reasons why the album turned out so good. The album is pretty diverse, and there’s songs ranging from pop to punk, and everything in between. The opener Doomsday Girls is a fast funny rock’n’roll song that should wake up the listener immediately. Followed by the punk rock sirens of Riot Zone, at this point everyone should be awake! On the third track we lower the tempo to let the listener calm down with the pop desperation of Clash In The Night. Radar Eyes is a moody dark piece that I like a lot. Other highlights for me are the rebellious Restless Outsider, the dark gothic death waltz of Candlelight Hate Affair and the Elvis goes glam punk of Nobody Likes A Crybaby.

Your first single/video « Riot Zone » is quite appropriate in 2021 when looking at the state of the world… Can rock’n’roll still be rebellious to you?

Yeah, I didn’t guess when I wrote the lyrics how topical they would be. And when the label made the video for it just a few days before the Capitol Hill riots, it made the song almost controversial. Rebellious, it depends. Maybe r’n’r can be rebellious on a small scale. We’ve always been a band that has walked it’s own path and done what we want to do, no matter what others think. I guess that’s some kinda rebellion too.

We can still hear Hanoï Rocks/Lords Of The New Church influences in these new songs. Can you think of any other bands or artists that influenced you for this new album? « Hallucinations » for example seems to head in a different direction.

It’s not intentional, but I guess we come from the same school of rock as they do. And we do love those bands. I can’t say any band, at least consciously, has directly influenced this album. I listened a lot to Masked Intruder, The Interrupters and Cheap Trick before the new album, but I don’t think we sound anything like them. Songwriting, for me at least, isn’t usually anything that’s planned. The ideas just come from sudden bursts of inspiration. Hallucinations is actually an old song that we demoed ages ago. We wanted to remake it, as it was too good a song to be left unheard. It’s a really special song, and I really don’t know what to compare it to or to what genre it might belong. It’s one of the songs on the album that stands out, in a good way.

« Divine » is really catchy, was it the kind of songs that just come out naturally and was easy to write?

That’s the second old song remade, it was also demoed in the beginning of our career. That version was like a ska punk glam rock song, or something. Sounds weird, but it was really funny and catchy. Still, we wanted to make a more straightforward version, as we felt the riff and bass line were meant for a rock’n’roll song. So it has a long history, but if I remember right, it was a song that came out fast and easy. It just took it quite many years to find it’s final form. In the end, we’re really happy with how it turned out, it’s a catchy fun song that could cheer you up even on a bad day.

The last two songs on the album, « Communication » and « Imaginary Virgin Mary ” are great, one being a glam punk hit and the other one an amazing dark rock’n’roll song. Can you tell us about these two songs and why you chose to put them at the end of the record?

We gave a lot of thought to the song order, and wanted the album to be strong and balanced, yet highlight the differences between the songs without making it inconsistent. As you said, Communication is a glam punk song with funny lyrics about the invention and use of the telephone, with an underlying message about loneliness. If you stayed awake during history classes in school, you know that A.G. Bell, who is mentioned in the lyrics, is Alexander Graham Bell who was declared the inventor of the telephone. History lesson over! Imaginary Virgin Mary is probably the heaviest song on the album, but it’s still a rock song, not metal. It has a kind of creepy ominous feel and tells the story of being bullied and taking revenge. We wanted to end the album with a bang, so two tougher tracks at the end did the job. And the piano ending of Mary was perfect to close the album.

Is there going to be a vinyl release of the album?

We would love to have a vinyl version too, but it’s not part of our deal with Wormholedeath Records. So if anyone is interested in working with us on a vinyl version, please get in touch!

You released a split CD with Paradise Alley in 2019, can you tell us how it happened? Both bands seem to be good friends.

Yeah, me and Steve of Paradise Alley met already in the nineties and we’ve stayed good friends ever since. Paradise Alley got active again after a pretty long break and they wanted to release a new song, but they didn’t have a drummer yet. So they asked us if our drummer Eco could play the drums on the track, and he was happy to help. Steve and I shared the lead vocals, and most of us shouted the backing vocals. It was a fun and different collaboration, as we recorded in Helsinki and Paradise Alley in the UK.

What do you think about streaming shows? Would you play one?

I guess they’re an ok substitute for real live shows, but of course it’s not the same. Not at all. But I understand why they are done, and I’m not saying we’re never gonna do one. But to tell you the truth I’m not too excited about them. The intimacy and intensity of real live shows can never be achieved with a stream show.

Last albums you’ve been enjoying?

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been listening to the unreleased third album by Beat Angels, it’s great! I’ve also been spinning the new albums from Suzi Quatro, The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, Alice Cooper, Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders and Jason Ringenberg. All good albums, so give them a listen if you haven’t already.

Any new bands from Helsinki we should check out?

They’ve been around for a while and have already released two albums, but Daggerplay is a band I sincerely recommend. Their mix of punk rock’n’roll and power pop is very convincing and catchy. They’ve also just released a new single, so check that and the band out!

It’s hard to plan anything these days but please tell us if you have any future plans yet…

We’ve got some cool shows lined up for the summer, but it remains to be seen if those can be carried through. Otherwise, I think we’ll continue banging our heads against the wall and see which one breaks down first. At the moment we focus on promoting the new album online, as there’s not so much more that we can do. Have a load of ideas for new songs, so we’ll start working on those at some point. So our future plans are to stay safe and keep rocking, and we hope you do too!

https://www.plastictears.com
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Johnny Jetson “Make Your Move”

Former SPACE AGE PLAYBOYS/TATTOOED MILLIONAIRES Johnny Jetson still believes in rock’n’roll. It might not be trendy anymore and the world might be coming to an end, but here he is holding the rock’n’roll flag high! “Knocked Out” is an good intro to this album, straight punk rock’n’roll guitars before announcing it himself: “I Believe In Rock’n’Roll”, a sleazy rock’n’roll song reminding me of early FASTER PUSSYCAT. “Love Me For My Car” brings Marc Bolan’spirit back in style while “Miss Devious” starts with a Gary Glitter groove and then surprises you with a guitar solo that could have been played by Ace Frehley. Some of you might remember that Johnny also used to have a band called QUEER FOR GIRLS, and “Mouth Made For Rock’n’Roll” reminded me a bit of them. Johnny showing his good tastes, you’ll also hear a bit of RUNAWAYS in “Hottest Night In Hell” and some glammy powerpop in “Hang Around With You.” If you missed simple rock’n’roll hooks and clichés, then you’ll enjoy “My Baby Likes To Rock”, “Get High Rock Steady” and “Make Your Move” and its bubblegum RAMONES melody. Guess what!? This album might be what you just need to to listen to these days! /Laurent C.

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Paradise Alley/Plastic Tears “Class of ’92” Single

This song celebrates the friendship between these two bands. PARADISE ALLEY (England)’s frontman Steve Vincent met PLASTIC TEARS (Finland)’ frontman Miqu December in 1992 at the Hellfire club in London. These weren’t the best times for rock’n’roll, but there was still a scene and both vocalists were about to start their own bands. PARADISE ALLEY and PLASTIC TEARS have been through various up and downs and line-up changes, but the two rock’n’rollers remained friends and now share vocals on this song. We don’t often review singles on Veglam, but there are some special occasions/exceptions: The song is a mix of their HANOI ROCKS and LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH influences with an anthemic chorus and sleaze rock guitars, the kind of music we all need in 2019. Cheers to the Class of ’92! /Laurent C.

http://www.paradisealley.co.uk
https://theplastictears.wixsite.com/official

 

The Factory Superstars “b/w “Lullaby For Furs”

(-review by Moses Midnight)

“Wait until I’m dead and you will see what all the fuss is about…” (-Dogs D’Amour)

Hollywood Rocker, cult-figure, quick-draw artist, and suave black magician, Evad Fromme lived with the immortal and mythological, galactic kid, Alistarr from the Ultras, on Hollywood Boulevard during the late eighties/early nineties English Acid glitter daze when bands like the purple haired Zeroes, Glamour Punks, Stars From Mars, and the Coma-Tones strutted up and down the walk of fame in eight inch platform shoes. Evad is a stand-out, singular talent, in that his distinctive vision and voice are always expressed in a unique and personal way, he is a quiet genius, with a gift for pure expression, who sees things through his own lens. While corporate media and the bipartisan police state shit-show make it seem like we are trapped hopelessly in a pseudo-echoing Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus ruling class product, no-exit, corporate purgatory; Evad and his talented friends, are steadily producing this really hauntingly glamtastic gothic cowboy music in the shadows of the Hollywood palms. Wow, it is like very old school, original Alice Cooper band, and the Faces. Lords Of The New Church, Jo Dog and Paul Black’s Sonic Boom, the Joneses, Quireboys, Slow Motorcade, Dr. Boogie. Bandido glam. Desperado rock. Tombstone minds. Best I’ve heard since Tyla and the original Dogs D’Amour were moping around in that graveyard of empty bottles. Evad and I share a lot of common enthusiasms, influences, experiences, and associates, but you don’t always like all of your friend’s bands, right? Well, I love the Factory Superstars, they blow me away, if I was not friends with Evad, I would want to be, upon hearing their very authentic, dirty, hellhound on my trail, switchblade rocknroll, because not everybody speaks our language, anymore. “Call Me The Devil” sounds like a lost track from “Killer” or “Love It To Death”, and it is, and I do! This is exactly the kind of band I’ve been wanting to put together since I was a gloomy death-rock waif first discovering the Alarm and Texacala and Lords Of the New Church! His guitarist, Paul Sanchez has got the silver. Really, the guitar throws down, just like the shag-headed Faces lads-on-the-tiles of golden lore! This is some real sleazy outlaw music, nastier than the Supersuckers or Lazy Cowgirls. Factory Superstars are keeping rocknroll evil, if you were a fan of the Four Horsemen or Hangmen, you will most assuredly also love Factory Superstars. They are really raunchy. They play punchy saloon-punk full of attitude and really reminiscent of the Lords Of The New Church‘s “Gun Called Justice” spaghetti western type stuff. “Lullabuy For Furs” is all western stars and spurs, cactuses, cow skulls, mysterious, scarfaced old wraiths in ammo-belts and black capes riding on black steeds. I love this kind of stuff. Clearly, his music is always right up my bottle strewn alleyway, but the thing I admire and believe in most about Evad is his originality, he always puts his own spin, his own vibe, his own unique poetry into the music, ties his own ribbon on it, which is just so tragically rare and exceptional in these dismal years, when most music is unimaginatively regurgitated, paint-by-numbers, showbiz-nephew, empty- product. Evad is doing his own thing with sincerity, style, creativity, and finesse, seemingly oblivious to whatever is going on in the default-reality straight-world. You might know his drummer, Tony Snow from Dramarama, or Shiteland Ponies. Factory Superstars are kinda like the ritualistic macabre theater of the Doors and scuzzy blues of the Stones “Goat’s Head Soup” spat back out, as a honky-tonk drinking band. Extraordinary.

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