VIA PRESS RELEASE | Oh Boy Records will release John Prine —The Oh Boy Singles, a special 7-inch box set, on November 24. The limited-edition collectable is now available for pre-order and will also be available at indie record stores nationwide.

Modeled precisely after Prine’s 1935 Wurlitzer Jukebox, the collection features the eight singles Prine released throughout his career on Oh Boy Records packaged in their original artwork as well as working lights that illuminate the jukebox, a booklet with a forward written by Jim Rooney, two “Handsome Johnny” jukebox coins, a vintage Oh Boy catalogue and more.

One of Prine’s beloved possessions, the jukebox was a gift from his friend and fellow songwriter Steve Goodman as a thank you for co-writing Goodman’s first country hit, “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” after Prine refused to take credit or royalties for writing the song.

Of the collection, Oh Boy Records’ Jody Whelan shares, “This collection took quite a bit of time and effort to put together, and perhaps some version of it could have come out a year or two earlier, but the guiding principle for us always was: ‘Would John have thought this was cool?’ So, after many revisions and additions we can finally say, ‘John would have thought this was cool (or at least Pretty Good).’”

Read More »

The late Jeff Beck had a singular solo career and for many had been the number one rock guitarist in the world since the early ’70s. Prior to his going solo, his work as a member of the Yardbirds and his own Jeff Beck Group (featuring Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood) laid the foundation for his solo career. The band, however, that was the true bridge from group artist to solo artist was Beck, Bogert & Appice.

The trio only released one studio and one live album and, in comparison with the aforementioned Yardbirds and Jeff Beck Group who had made several albums and were quite well-known, Beck, Bogert & Appice has somehow been largely overlooked, forgotten, or unknown in some circles. With this new box set, all of that should now change and the group will receive the credit it so rightfully deserves.

First off, the trio was very much a group and not merely Beck and sidemen. Appice had been the second drummer in American group Vanilla Fudge, where he met Bogert (the other members were Vinnie Martel and Mark Stein) and proved to be the missing piece, as after his joining Vanilla Fudge the group went on to huge success.

The first meeting of Beck, Bogert & Appice was when Vanilla Fudge was offered a deal to do a Coca Cola commercial and their guitarist couldn’t do it. They asked Beck and he agreed, and so Beck joined Bogert, Appice, and Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge for the commercial. Vanilla Fudge and Beck shared some similar management and crossed paths in the later ’60s, including Bogert and Appice jamming with Beck in London.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | In a celebratory return to his roots, the legendary bassist Les Claypool has announced the Adverse Yaw: The Prawn Song Years Box Set, slated for release on February 9th.

Spanning the illustrious and eclectic moments of his solo career, this compilation is a tribute to the dynamic range of musical avenues Claypool has explored over the years. Featuring projects such as the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains, and The Fancy Band, this 5-album set is a treat for both seasoned aficionados and new listeners.

The 5-album collection will include Live Frogs Sets 1 & 2, the sought-after Purple Onion, Of Whales & Woe, and Of Fungi & Foe LPs. Listeners will also experience The Big Eyeball In the Sky, now available with remastered audio on limited edition, colored 180-gram vinyl. Bundle options include an exclusive t-shirt and a limited-edition screen-printed poster, designed by Matt Leunig. The Adverse Yaw: The Prawn Song Years Box Set is now available for pre-order at Club Bastardo.

The announcement of Adverse Yaw comes on the heels of the launch of Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade’s The Hunt for Green October Tour, which kicked off in Oakland, CA on October 11th for their last Bay Area performance of the year. The fall tour will also include a number of east coast performances, including The Palace Theatre in Albany, NY on Friday, October 20th, Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday, October 22nd, and the Fillmore in Philadelphia on Wednesday, October 25th.

Read More »

Formed by Martin Phillipps in 1980, The Chills stand as one of New Zealand’s very greatest bands. Against the odds, Phillipps and his cohorts have persevered, still touring and releasing high-quality stuff, and for fans who’ve never grabbed vinyl copies of the band’s earliest releases, there is no better time to be alive than right now, as Fire Records has just issued expanded 2LP editions of the compilation Kaleidoscope World and debut LP Brave Words, with the latter remastered under the supervision of Phillipps. Delivering imaginatively conceived guitar pop with occasional currents of psychedelia, both albums are must-have acquisitions for collectors of the whole international ’80s post-punk shebang.

Many consider the two records The Chills recorded for Slash to be the sustained highpoint in their discography, and those discs, 1990’s Submarine Bells and ’92’s Soft Bomb, are so successful in their pop ambition that I’d be disinclined to raise an argument. It’s really impossible to deny those two LPs effectively capture Martin Phillipps’ songwriting at its most developed and with bold production to match.

But The Chills’ early work carries its own appeal, residing nearer to the garage, and in a few instances on Kaleidoscope World, punk rock (The Chills formed after the breakup of Phillipps’ punk band The Same). There’s the charged up belter “Bite” from the B-side of the their first single, while “Smile From a Dead Dead Face” was recorded live in ’85. These are exceptions however, as The Chills’ pop intentions were manifest from the start.

Originally released by Flying Nun and Creation in the UK in 1986, Kaleidoscope World started as a tidy 8-song affair collecting cuts from the legendary “Dunedin Double” compilation EP and their first three singles. This includes the majestic and decidedly psych-tinged “Pink Frost,” a song that manages to be soothing and unsettling at once. Easily one of the masterpieces in the band’s vast catalog, “Pink Frost” is nearly matched on the now 24-track 2LP set numerous times, including by much of ’85’s “The Lost EP,” which revealed songwriting growth, a clear rise in confidence, and a disdain for playing it safe.

Read More »

PHOENIX, AZ | Shinedown and the Revolutions tour stopped at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre alongside Papa Roach for a sold out crowd in Phoenix, Arizona. The group brought their unique mix of rock, grunge, and pop-metal to the 23rd stop on this 2023 fall tour.

The Florida natives began their set with “Diamond Eyes,” a tune from their 2008 album The Sound of Madness. Accompanied by pyrotechnics, the band brought the heat literally and figuratively. The band followed the opener with “Dead Don’t Die” and “I’ll Follow You.

Coming onto the scene in 2001, the band has shown they have a healthier endurance than just about anyone still touring and releasing music into the early 2020s. Playing songs from their entire career, a band like this is what brings generations together. One could possibly surmise the average age of the audience, but you can be sure everyone was on their feet the entire time.

The revolutions tour and the 17 song setlist brings everyone on a two decade journey. The band plays as if it’s their last show, and plays for their only boss—all while fire and lights go wild. The show is an absolute blast from start to finish.

Read More »

Pull Down The Shades – GARAGE Fanzine 1984-86 collects all six issues of New Zealander Richard Langston’s homemade publication, an endeavor that focused on his country’s music scene of the era, and specifically the bands commonly associated with the Flying Nun and Xpressway labels. The depth of the in-the-moment coverage by Langston and his numerous contributors and the insightful and moving contemporary essays and interviews that follow the six issues illuminates how the scene took shape but also documents how the fanzine was an instigator of progress as it helped to get the word out beyond Kiwi shores. It’s an indispensable tome; a second printing of 500 copies is out now from HoZac Books.

The Kiwi scene Pull Down The Shades documents is one of the richest geographical uprisings in 20th century pop-rock music, an underground movement that resonated across the globe. Back in those days, it took a while for word to get around, and fanzines were crucial, not just to spread the info to other regions, but to solidify the scene it covered, getting the word out to locals and new folks in town.

Bluntly, the 1980s Flying Nun scene could not be contained. By the end of the decade, its biggest bands were well-known entities in the international college rock/ alternative/ indie scheme of things, with the two most pop savvy, The Chills and The Verlaines, eventually landing record deals with Warner Bros. through subsidiary Slash Records.

But what made this particular scene special wasn’t its ability to flirt with mainstream success. In fact, it was just the opposite, as the essence of the ’80s Flying Nun experience was that it was just too good for bland broad appeal. Pull Down The Shades accentuates this reality in a variety of ways. Foremost is the fundamental DIY nature of the zine reproductions, which effectively mirror how these bands were creating for the sheer pleasure of it rather than calculating their career moves.

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Blessed with a formidable front woman in Brett Anderson, a guitar heroine in Allison Robertson, and a pummeling rhythm section in bassist Maya Ford and drummer Torry Castellano, The Donnas were one of the greatest pop/punk bands of the ‘90s and early 2000s.

1999’s Get Skintight was The Donnas’ third album in three years, but, with such bangers as “I Didn’t Like You Anyway,” “You Don’t Wanna Call,” and “Hyperactive,” the girls show no sign of songwriting fatigue. Production by Steve and Jeff McDonald of Redd Kross adds a little bite to the songs, but they’re already showing their teeth—the wannabe boyfriend putdowns are as ferocious (“A boston baked bean is the size of your head/I heard you even wet your bed”) as they are funny, and the libidos are, um, lively.

There’s also a Mötley Crüe cover (“Too Fast for Love”), but The Donnas’ songs are better. Remastered for vinyl by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, and reissued complete with a 4-page insert featuring the original insert plus band commentary. Purple with pink swirl vinyl!

Read More »

Let’s raise a drink to Twink—he’s a goddamn psychedelic rock hero. Twink (given name John Charles Edward Alder, adopted name as of 2006 Mohammed Abdullah) has pristine acid rock bona fides—he was the drummer for the Pretty Things when they released their seminal 1968 concept LP S.F. Sorrow, before moving on to loveable anarchists the Pink Fairies.

And during the interim between bands he released his first solo LP, 1970’s Think Pink, with a cast of lysergic loons that included defrocked Deviants frontman Mich Farren (who produced) and ex-Tyrannosaurus Rex vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Steve Peregrin Took, both of whom would go on with Twink to form the prototype of the Pink Fairies. Also on board was Canadian sessions musician Paul Rudolph, who before he returned to his true love of cycling was perhaps the most unhinged (and unheralded) guitarist on the English psychedelic underground scene.

Think Pink is very much a creature of its times, but it’s stood up over the years. Whimsical and eccentric in the Grand English Manner, albeit quite dark in some places, its songs vary from sound-effects heavy freakscapes to off-the-cuff goofs to a few of the best—if seldom heard—acid rock songs of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. In short it’s a dog’s breakfast of an album that keeps its ambitions low—this is art for art’s sake stuff, making few concessions to commercial accessibility, which isn’t to say that one or two of these songs wouldn’t have sounded too out of place on the old wireless.

The LP opens with the inadvertently hilarious “The Coming of the One,” a madcap collection of discordant sounds that include sitar, pixie horn, and lots of deranged voices over which Twink turns Nostradamus and gives us the lowdown on life in the year 1999—and exactly seven months.

Read More »