Sam Black Church

I’m just feeling a little nostalgic today.

I grew up a fan of Boston hardcore in the 90’s. Sam Black Church was tearing it up.

God, I miss these guys.

El Bastardo

Lead singer and guitar player for Italian rockabilly band The Motorsonics,
El Bastardo, in my book, is about as good a picker as you’re going to find anywhere.
I’ve been listening to him all week and was thrilled when he said he’d talk to me about his playing.


1) How long have you been playing guitar?

I've been playing guitar a lil more seriously since I was 17 years old, but I started in studying it when I was 12, in the meanwhile I started in playing Harmonica. I started playing with bands at 19.

2) What artist has influenced you most since you began playing?

Many! Too many! Elmore James, Cliff Gallup, Jimi Hendrix, JL Hooker, Tony MCPhee, Doc Watson, Robert Johnson, Jimmy Page, Dan Crary, Leigh Stephens, John Hammond Jr, Leadbelly, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Pete Townshend (I think the most), Jimmie Rodgers, Son House, Wes Montgomery,

Chet Atkins, Charlie Patton, Jimmi Page, Angus Young, Duane Eddy, Jim Croce, Sonny Terry, Little Walter.. Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington... I don't know exactly, really too many...

3) What artist would you most like to record or play a show with?

Surely, Doc Watson.

4) How are your acoustic fans compared to your Motorsonic fans?

Are often the same people, maybe Motorsonics fans are a lil younger and "Party Oriented" people but generally the same people...

5) What's in the future for El Bastardo?
Any new recording? Touring?

Yeah! In the next weeks Hank Records will re-release my first "6 Inches Blues" with some Bonus Tracks.. maybe ONLY in Vinyl (UAO!).. Now I'm recording a song for the next One Man Band compilation that will be released by Squoodge recs/Luna Sounds during 2009.

I started in preproducing songs for my next LP, think will be released at the end of 2009/early 2010. There will be some changes for this; there will be mostly original songs!

I'm planning a tour in Germany, maybe Switzerland, Austria, for next spring. Many gigs in Italy are coming, I think I'll be on the road from early March.

6) Tell me what the world needs to know about El Bastardo.

This is El Bastardo, Wood, Steel, Breath and Beat.
What you see is what you get.


Here's a clip of him playing ONE HAMMER FOR YOU



Thanks El Bastardo!

Ramblin' Outlaws

Dirty, greasy, slimy, DIY country punk. Does it get any better?

The newly formed Ramblin’ Outlaws are serving this shit by the platefull all over the San Diego area.

Lead singer and guitar player Tim Raldo took the time to answer a few questions for me over the weekend.

1) How long have you been together as Ramblin' Outlaws?

We have been together for a little more than a month, I (Tim Raldo), Rowland, & Dan all played together in another bluegrass band called Whiskey Wise Tales, but the 3 of us all quit that band because they were too slow for our liking, plus they didn't want to do any of my songs & I felt they were too good to go to waste so we formed the Ramblin' Outlaws.

2) What are all of your musical backgrounds?

Pretty much just punk, I sing in a band called Tim Raldo & the Filthy Fuks, Rowland plays bass for Noisegod, & Dan plays drums for a band called Inciting Riots, the only one in the band whos not a punk is Kris, Kris is the back bone of the band, he's the one who turned us from a bunch of drunks fucking around into a real band.

3) What do you guys like to do when not playing music?

When we’re not playing music we pretty much just drink booze, smoke weed & listen to music.

4) What bands are you listening to most right now? What's in the IPod?

I mostly listen to what I refer to as "Outlaw Music" shit like: Hank III, Unknown Hinson, Johnny Paycheck, David Allen Coe, George Jones, And when im not listening to country I listen to: GG Allin, The Dwarves, ANTiSEEN, Gwar, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Turbonegro, ect.. Lately I can’t seem to get enough of a band called The Hookers from Kentucky, if you never heard of them, check em out!

5) How have you been recieved at the shows you've played so far?

So far people have really taken a liking to us, a lot of other Bluegrass & Rockabilly bands have been asking us to play with them left & right! I’m really excited to see what’s to come, I’ve been in the local scene & been playing in bands for the last 12 years & never before has there been this much hype on a band that I’m in, it’s really cool!


6) What does the world need to know about the Ramblin' outlaws?

The Ramblin Outlaws truly do not give a fuck about nothin! We’re here to get drunk & raise sum mother fuckin hell!
Rock-n-Roll 4 Life!!!!!!!


You can hear them on their MySpace page: www.myspace.com/ramblinoutlaws666


Thanks for the time Tim. I get the feeling we're going to be hearing alot from you guys. Good Luck!

I was truly unaware at how many really bad bands cover this song.

This is a case where the original is by far the Best. THE REFUSED.

John Wilkes Booth

I can’t stand it!!! What a fucking groove.

There is more than enough reviews out there for John Wilkes Booths latest album SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS, so I’m going to keep mine short:

THIS CD IS INCREDIBLE, YOU NEED TO BUY IT!!!!

Their singer, Kerry, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for me.

1) How long have you guys been together?

Harry, Christian, and Jay started playing together in 2003. I joined the band in 2005

2) How has your music evolved since you started?

We seem to be focusing more on our songwriting. We used to just jam and songs would come. Now we seem to build off a riff and actually talk out the arrangement of our songs.

3)What is the most memorable show that you've played so far?

That would have to be West Virginia. We went down to West Virginia to play a "music festival" it turned out to be a party on some dudes property in the middle of the woods. The sound guy passed out drunk by the time we went on at 1am to a bunch of drunk rednecks

4)Who would you like most to play a show with?

Probably Clutch or The Melvins

5)What's in the CD player right now?

31 Knots, Menomena, Bill Frisell, Warren Zevon

Other influences?

I've been listening to a lot of Jazz lately. But I think Early Soundgarden and a lot of old Sub Pop, SST, & Touch & Go stuff are big influences for me.

6)Ok, I'm assuming you guys are Yankee fans. How does it make you feel to know that they will still come in second to the Red Sox this year?

Actually our bass player Harry is a huge Red Sox fan. So I'm sure he's happy about that.


7)Tell me what the world needs to know about J.W.B..

That our rock is powerful and has certain properties that could change the world. That and our guitar player loves to watch video clips of people mutilating there penis.

Nice.

Just get the CD!!

And if your in the area check them out At Mr.Beery’s in Bethpage , NY Feb. 15th.

Well I guess my week of country music ended today...sort of.

Punk in Writing

I guess I've been in quite a country mood this week. I ran across a cool blog called Punk in Writing. There's a great June Carter/Johnny Cash video of "Jackson", and Porter Wagoner doing a song with Dolly Parton.

Do check it out.

O.K. If your into the old time real shit kicking country, you need to click here.

The Pine Box Boys continue their endless tour supporting “Child of Calamity”.

These guys here are the definition of Horrorbilly, easily one of my top 5 favorite bands ever.

However, that’s not the point of this post. I have a question:

WHY IS IT THAT I WATCH YOU GUYS ADD AND ADD TOUR DATES AND YOU NEVER END UP IN NEW ENGLAND?????!!!!!!!

There. I guess I’ll have to be happy with the new Live DVD. Coming out Jan.26th.

The Mummies!!!!!!

I’ve been obsessed for months with going on you tube and watching this video.

Screen eyes

I've been sitting at the computer all morning trying to get a damn Myspace page linked up with this one. Well it's now up, and I'm just going to start adding bands like crazy. So get your band on the friends list. Meanwhile, I will be trying to find some visine to rehydrate my eyeballs.

http://www.myspace.com/punkspickersoutlaws

I recently spoke with the singer of JOHN WILKES BOOTH. I will be posting the seven questions he was good enough to answer for me Thursday,Jan.22nd. Do come back.

YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

I wish the fucking Channel was still open!!!

Check this out!!!

I’ve started a forum for bands who want to do show swaps in other cities.

http://punkspickersoutlaws.forumcircle.com/

Please put it to good use. It’s a great way to get to play a different city.

I put the link as Show Swap under recomended.

NEW LINKS

I just added a couple.

The Whoreshoes - All women country band from San Francisco. YES!!!!


Olde Crow -I heard these guys were responsible for the sonic communion.I now believe. Really heavy.

Hank 3 on the road

Third generation country legend Hank 3 is back on the road next month supporting his new album “Damn Right , Rebel Proud” released back in October 08.

I don’t know why it took so long for the tour to start (maybe he’ll give me an interview and I can ask him), but if it’s as good as the set I saw him do a year ago in Boston, it will be well worth the wait. I wasn’t much of a country fan, but I left that show completely converted.

His set is different than any I’ve seen. He starts with a country set, changes to a more rocking “hellbilly set”, then a super heavy set with his band “Assjack”. All sets where excellent.

I’ve linked his site with all the dates for the first leg of his tour under “OUTLAWS”. I hope the next leg brings him back to Boston, there’s a whole lotta Hellbillies waiting to catch another set.

RELAX!!!!

I know it's taking some time for me to start writing, actually, you probably don't since no one has been here yet.

Anyway, if you need something to do check the Pine Box Boys link and order everything you can from their site. These guys are fucking awsome.Straight up bluegrass horrorbilly. I can't wait till they release their live DVD at the end of the month.