North Carolina fine purveyors of scuzz ‘n’ buzz Rocky Mtn Roller will make their full-length debut on Sept. 12 with Haywire on Who Can You Trust? Records. And yeah, it’s a beer-cans-on-lawn rager, no doubt about it. Eight classic sounding tracks that spell bologna ‘baloney’ and go where the riffs take them. But — and it’s a sizable but — if all you hear in “Hoodwinked Again” (video premiering below) is raw-recorded chicanery and a hook, my sincere suggestion as your friend is that you listen again. In four minutes flat, the four/five-piece come peeled out on biker riff glory, and almost right away, a tense current of guitar or keys coincides, tapping out the meter. It’s there under the verse, and departs from the chorus (I think), letting the wah guitar add likewise subtle psychedelic flourish in a seeming answer back to opener “Automatons in the Sky” before that tap-tap-tap returns. Oh, and there’s shred. Like, everywhere.

Those nifty cosmic/weird touches persist. The later “Part Time Rocker” stomps out a ’70s vibe that sees the guitars of Zachariah Blackwell and Ruby Roberts aligning for solos and departing each other’s company again only to pair up again for the rolling riff. Is there a layer of acoustic guitar on “Automatons in the Sky?” That would go well with the oh-by-the-way-we-like-Hawkwind multi-layered delivery of the title-line, or the proto-NWOBHM reinvention of the subsequent “Haywire” (premiered here), that title-track sounding rushed in precisely all the right ways. Later on, “Protocol” busts out some of the most urgent crotchal thrust I’ve heard since Death Alley made their debut nine years ago, delivering metal-via-rock grit while still keeping the party of “Hoodwinked Again” and side A closer “Human Tumbleweed” here, that latter cut offering a bounce that reminds of Thin Lizzy and suits the critique of lifestyle in the lyrics — which, interestingly, kind of follows the opposite perspective of “Part Time Rocker.” Clearly the answer is to rock all the time, with purpose. So they do.

A holdover from their March 2020 self-titled debut EP (review here), “Monster” begins with a quick flash of lysergic synth and fulfills that promise with a steady current of wah and later shove, and as they careen through “Part Time Rocker” and “Protocol” toward “Sun Setting Pink” — the closer and longest song at 6:35 — the payoff is there in the energy of their delivery as well as the manifestation of the underlying breadth of craft. That is to say, they at last reveal they’ve known all along what they’re doing and declare themselves ready to ride twyn Skynyrd leads into the song’s titular sunset, which they do until the last shimmering guitars are gone behind whatever the name of that hill is over there. And that final minute’s stretch, following head-spinning drum fills from Alex Cabrera and the must-you-go-so-soon momentary departure of bassist Luke Whitlatch (who also did the album cover), reinforces the message way back in “Automatons in the Sky” that Rocky Mtn Roller are nowhere near as simple in terms of overarching style as they might at first appear, and that as raw as this first LP is, and as focused as the band are on harnessing forward momentum in propelling you from one end to the other, they do so not without being mindful of atmosphere and with an inventive conversation between the guitars, bass, drums, vocals, and sometimes keys.

This is something to keep in mind as you take on “Hoodwinked Again” and its VHS-grainy, lots o’ fun video below. It speaks for the entirety of Haywire in its tonality and the barebones feel of the recording — very much an aesthetic choice and one that ends up suiting them well — and offers hints of the individual take that feels emergent in their sound. To bottom-line it, there is a ton of potential for exploration in what they’re doing here, and enough elements that they could spend the rest of however long they’re together — months, years, decades — tipping the balance back and forth, and probably having at least some amount of a good time doing it. And at that point, why not?

Preorder links and whatnot follow.

Please enjoy:

Rocky Mtn Roller, “Hoodwinked Again” video premiere

PRE-ORDER ‘HAYWIRE’ HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp

PRE-ORDER THE LIMITED ALTERNATE COVER VERSION HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp-alternate-version

Recorded and mixed Jan – Mar 2021 at Shangri Nah Studios (Urbana, IL) by Matt Wenzel. Drums and bass at Boombox Studios (Mahomet, IL) by Caleb Means. Mastered at Louder Studios by Tim Green.

Cover art by Luke Whitlatch. Band logo by Infected Arts. Photo by Jordan Whitten.

The LP is released in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
An alternate cover version with screen printed sleeve is available in an edition of 30 copies.

July 31 – Asheville, NC at Fleetwoods w Thelma And The Sleaze and Forteza
Aug 4 – Pittsburgh, PA at Rock Room w Mower *
Aug 5 – Brooklyn, NY at Our Wicked Lady w CT Hu$tle and the Mu$cle, and Mick’s Jaguar *
Aug 6 – Philadelphia, PA at Kung Fu Necktie w Purling Hiss *
Aug 7 – Richmond, VA at Cobra Cabana w Sinister Haze and Wetwork *
* w Limousine Beach

Rocky Mtn Roller:
Zachariah Blackwell – Guitar and Vocals
Ruby Roberts – Guitar and Vocals
Luke Whitlatch – Bass
Alex Cabrera – Drums
Mad Dog Wenzlo – Synths

Rocky Mtn Roller on Facebook

Rocky Mtn Roller on Instagram

Rocky Mtn Roller on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records store

Who Can You Trust? Records on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records on Facebook

Haywire is an apt name for the debut album from North Carolinian classic heavy rockers Rocky Mtn Roller. Set to release Sept. 12 through the e’er-reliable Who Can You Trust? Records in a first edition of 300 LPs, the album runs a raucous seven songs and 37 minutes as a hazy-eyed follow-up to the band’s 2020 self-titled demo/EP (review here), which came out as a split with Dallas’ Temptress and resounded like a clarion to scuzzer heads looking for boogie rock delivered with a metaller’s edge.

The impending Haywire follows suit, tapping NWOBHM dual-guitar action in service to a style that’s not about either its own indulgence or chestbeating. My friends, what you have here is primo rock shenanigans. Chicanery, even! I tell you they’re up to some nonsense here, and surely any and all squares who bear witness will do so with clutched pearls and raised eyebrows.

The PR wire references Thin Lizzy below among influences, and you’re going to hear that in “Haywire” from Haywire for sure, before and after the slowdown in the second half sets the stage for intertwining leads. The title-track of the album is premiering below to mark the opening of preorders ahead of Sept. 12, and while elsewhere they might rock like Nebula lost in the woods — that’s a compliment — the first audio to come from the LP represents it exceedingly well.

Rocky Mtn Roller have a long weekender coming up in August that will take them to Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Richmond, VA — with Adam Kriney (The Golden Grass, La Otracina, the tour poster, etc.) filling in on drums — and more info on those shows follows as well, along with more info and album preorder links:

ROCKY MTN ROLLER – Haywire LP

(Out September 12th 2022)

Appropriately named after a make shift rat trap used in the backcountry cabins of the Rocky Mountains; RMR is grimey vibes, soaring guitar with gutteral vocals. Influences like Alice Cooper, The Stooges, Thin Lizzy, and Blue Oyster Cult can be heard. Including past members of Danava and Lecherous Gaze.

Recorded and mixed Jan – Mar 2021 at Shangri Nah Studios (Urbana, IL) by Matt Wenzel. Drums and bass at Boombox Studios (Mahomet, IL) by Caleb Means. Mastered at Louder Studios by Tim Green.

Cover art by Luke Whitlatch. Band logo by Infected Arts. Photo by Jordan Whitten.

The LP is released in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
An alternate cover version with screen printed sleeve is available in an edition of 30 copies.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp

PRE-ORDER THE LIMITED ALTERNATE COVER VERSION HERE: http://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/rocky-mtn-roller-haywire-lp-alternate-version

Rocky Mtn Roller live:
July 31 – Asheville, NC at Fleetwoods w Thelma And The Sleaze and Forteza
Aug 4 – Pittsburgh, PA at Rock Room w Mower *
Aug 5 – Brooklyn, NY at Our Wicked Lady w CT Hu$tle and the Mu$cle, and Mick’s Jaguar *
Aug 6 – Philadelphia, PA at Kung Fu Necktie w Purling Hiss *
Aug 7 – Richmond, VA at Cobra Cabana w Sinister Haze and Wetwork *
* w Limousine Beach

Rocky Mtn Roller:
Zachariah Blackwell – Guitar and Vocals
Ruby Roberts – Guitar and Vocals
Luke Whitlatch – Bass
Alex Cabrera – Drums
Mad Dog Wenzlo – Synths

https://www.facebook.com/rockymtnroller/
https://www.instagram.com/rockymtnroller/
https://rockymtnroller.bandcamp.com/

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https://whocanyoutrustrec.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Who-Can-You-Trust-Records-187406787966906/

Rocky Mtn Roller, Rocky Mtn Roller (2020)

The upshot here is that Supersonic Blues — who just released their debut album, It’s Heavy (review here), in January — have restructured the band. In doing so, they move former bassist Gianni Tjon-Tam-Pau to guitar and backing vocals, and bring Bob Zurcher in as a replacement on low end. With this lineup — completed by drummer Lennart Jansen and guitarist/vocalist Timothy Aarbodem — the now-four-piece will take stages this Spring at various festivals including Roadburn, Freak Valley and Sonic Whip. One imagines there’s more to come there as well as the rest of 2022 plays out.

It was a number of years waiting for It’s Heavy since it was recorded in 2019, so the question was just how much the album represented where Supersonic Blues were at to start with, despite one way or the other being a righteous execution of retroism on its own merits. This news means the answer is perhaps less, since invariably a band so focused on presenting themselves in on-stage fashion in their studio work will find that dynamic changed with new personnel involved. Ultimately though, Supersonic Blues went into that record with a strong idea of what they were going for, and I suspect they’ll continue to work along those lines, however long a follow-up might take and whoever will be involved in its making. This is a band with a mission, and I’m posting this news as much to point you to the album stream at the bottom of this post as I am to keep up with their doings more generally.

So yes, if you see this and you haven’t listened to the album, go ahead and do that.

From social media:

SUPERSONIC BLUES- ANNOUNCEMENT!

As some of you may know, we founded Supersonic Blues back in 2014 already. It took us some line-ups, but as of early 2016 it was steady to the point where we are now. In October last year, our now former bassist Gianni expressed that he wasn’t happy anymore playing the bass, being a guitar player originally. It took us some days to process this news, but realising we can’t change his feelings and we don’t want to put ambition before our friendship and brotherhood, the idea of continuing as a four-piece felt like a natural progression.

Luckily we found our old friend and ex-roomie to fit the role perfectly. We have been rehearsing for a couple of months now and we have to say it is working out nicely! So please give a very warm welcome to our new bass player: Bob Zurcher (Twin Shades, The Womb)! And of course, we’re introducing Gianni on 2nd guitar as well. On to new adventures… Looking forward seeing you all this season at Roadburn Festival, Sonic Whip, FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL, a.o. Until then, take care.

Photo by Lina Selg

Supersonic Blues is:
Timothy Aarbodem – Guitars, vocals
Gianni Tjon-Tam-Pau- Guitars, backing vocals
Lennart Jansen – Drums
Bob Zurcher – Bass

https://www.facebook.com/supersonicblues/
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https://whocanyoutrustrec.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Who-Can-You-Trust-Records-187406787966906/

Supersonic Blues, It’s Heavy (2022)

Netherlands-based vintage heavy rockers Supersonic Blues release their debut album, It’s Heavy, on Jan. 10 through Who Can You Trust? Records. And while one would not accuse the awaited eight-tracker of being inaccurately titled, the heaviness is really just scratching the surface of what they have on offer as a band. From the first blowout fuzz of lead cut “High as a Kite,” the Den Haag three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Timothy Aarbodem, bassist Gianni Pau and drummer Lennart Jansen throw down a retro-ist gauntlet that few acts outside of some lost ’70s private press archive could ever hope to match. With close compatriot Laurens ten Berge at the helm and Guy Tavares (The Mercury Boys, ex-Orange Sunshine) bringing Motorwolf tutelage and flair to the master, Supersonic Blues turn raw edge into aesthetic purpose and whatever format one might hear it on, their overmodulated-sounding grit is a dead-on accompaniment for their songwriting.

To wit, “High as a Kite” itself with its bareknuckle hook, or the fuzz-funk of “They See Me Comin'” and the sub-motorik biker chug of the title-track, which is also the longest inclusion at just over seven minutes. So much of what Supersonic Blues do is about the vibe and from the way “They See Me Comin'” roughs up its solo section in its second half to the quick, tape-running-out fade at the end of “It’s Heavy,” there’s live energy across the record that “Crawlin’ Back” and the winding “Got No Time for Trouble” answer on side B. It’s not Pentagram worship, and it’s not Graveyard or Kadavar worship. While one could hardly say Supersonic Blues are the first band to try to harness a sound directly reminiscent of the era of heavy rock’s birth, I’ve heard few do it with such a level of buy-in or accomplishment, and even more than the band’s 2017 debut 7″ Supersonic Blues Theme b/w Curses on My Soul (review here), It’s Heavy finds individual expression in the familiar backdrop of microgenre.

They cover “Phantom Child” from New Mexican heavy rockers Lincoln St. Exit‘s sole LP, 1970’s Drive It!, and include a bonus take on 13th Floor Elevators‘ “Reverberation,” both of which feel right at home alongside “Got No Time for Trouble” or the two-minute strut of “No Good for Conversation” that presumably leads off side B of the vinyl. In the tones of Aarbodem and Pau and the far-back stomp of Jansen‘s drums, Supersonic Blues‘ originals are obviously well schooled in the spirit they’re attempting to capture — and, I’d argue, capturing — but to listen to “It’s Heavy” or “They See Me Comin'” or “Crawlin’ Back,” the impression they make isn’t just about production value. It’s Heavy is bolstered by its recording on stylistic terms, of course, but “It’s Heavy” is an ace jam, and “They See Me Comin'” is memorable from its first bounce onward. Same goes for the heavy blues of “Got No Time for Trouble” and “High as a Kite.” You may in fact be transported through time, but it’s hard to know if you’re going back or forward by the time they finish with “Reverberation.”

It’s Heavy was finished in late 2019. It’s been waiting for release ever since. I’ll tell you straight out, I’ve had the record since early 2020, and I’ve yet to put it on and regret it. I’m not sure what more I can than that, other than that if Supersonic Blues wanted to go ahead and make a follow-up on a shorter turnaround, that’d be just fine too.

Enjoy “It’s Heavy” on the player below, followed by some comment from Aarbodem, links, etc.

Dig:

Timothy Aarbodem on “It’s Heavy”:

I think Guy suggested it as the album title, since it’s bold, maybe a bit tongue in cheek and sorta self-explanatory. Almost like a slogan, “Hey, how does the album sound? It’s Heavy, man!” We like the visual aspect of it.

We rehearse in this small warehouse kinda place, next to a skatepark. By that time, it was really still a ‘room’ inside the warehouse, and our buddies placed their studio gear in there. Now they (The Womb Studio — Tijmen, Laurens and Domenico) built a proper studio in there together with Gianni (SB bass player). they managed to get some funding for it. It’s a privilege to rehearse there as well, but back then when we recorded it, it was still nice and ‘primal’ — all analog studio gear.

When recorded, we went to Guy Tavares for his take on it. His style is wild, but we love it. We finished it late 2019, early December I think, but yeah, then shit hit the fan in 2020, so we were not really in a rush to release it. But we’re happy how it turned out, record cover came out beautifully. It’s still ‘standing’ as an album, to our perception. Even if it has been a while hehe. Quite some positive stuff happening now at the SB-camp, more on that later.

PRE-ORDER HERE:
https://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/supersonic-blues-it-s-heavy-lp

Supersonic Blues on Facebook

Supersonic Blues on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records store

Who Can You Trust? Records on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records on Facebook

Been waiting a while on this one. Like two years. And now that the moment’s here, I’m not sure what to say about Supersonic Blues‘ debut album, It’s Heavy, other than the fact that it’s out Jan. 10 and up for preorder now. I guess that’s an okay start.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see the Den Haag trio twice at Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands — first in 2018 (review here) and then again in 2019 (review here) — and the album brings out the most vintage-sounding sides of what they do. The fuzz-overload on “They See Me Comin'” alone sounds like a blown-out gauntlet being thrown down to anyone who’d groove ’70s style in its presence, and the scorch of the Lincoln Street Exit cover “Phantom Child” comes across like an aged tape unearthed from decades-past obscurity. Supersonic Blues are admirably set in their mission and the head space they put you in while listening to It’s Heavy is a standout even among acts of a nostalgic frame of mind.

Note the linkage here to the Hague’s Motorwolf scene here and mastering by Guy Tavares — late of Orange Sunshine, currently in Mercury Boys with Supersonic Blues‘ own Timothy Aarbodem — as you can for sure hear that link in the band’s output, if in next-generation fashion.

I want to go on about it, but I’ve got a review/premiere planned for next week (yeah, even aside from the Quarterly Review), so sit tight for that.

Meantime:

SUPERSONIC BLUES – It’s Heavy LP

** OUT JANUARY 10TH 2022 on Who Can You Trust? Records **

Three buddies laying down that heavy, fuzzed-out, psyched-up, blues-based rock n’ soul. No strangers to The Hague’s gritty underground scene, Supersonic Blues have an unhealthy obsession with diggin’ out that one obscure 60s/70s rarity. Still, these guys sure enjoy a 21st-century dystopian boogie! For fans of Taste, Grand Funk, Sabbath and the Hendrix Experience.

“It’s Heavy” was completed over the course of 2019 and delivers 7 solid tunes, heavily road-tested in their home country and abroad including 2018’s Roadburn Festival to which the band was invited to play not one but two shows! Recorded by Laurens ten Berge at The Womb Studio and mastered at Motorwolf by Guy Tavares. Artwork by Ruud Aarbodem and Maarten Donders.

Released in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
The first 50 copies include a handnumbered print with art by Maarten Donders.

PRE-ORDER HERE:
https://whocanyoutrustrec.bigcartel.com/product/supersonic-blues-it-s-heavy-lp

More news to follow…

https://www.facebook.com/supersonicblues/
https://supersonicblues.bandcamp.com/
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https://whocanyoutrustrec.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Who-Can-You-Trust-Records-187406787966906/

Supersonic Blues, Freaks (Gotta Be Free) b/w Wicked Man (2018)

Very Paranoia will release their self-titled debut full-length through Who Can You Trust? Records on Feb. 15, and in the spirit of the no-bullshit brand of classic punk rock they play, I’ll keep the story straightforward. There was a band. They made an album. There’s a video. Preorders start Feb. 5 for standard and screened-sleeve versions.

That about sums up the situation when it comes to Very Paranoia‘s Very Paranoia, though perhaps it doesn’t do justice to the 26-minute long-player’s 12 component tracks and the restlessness they convey, at once raw and familiar in their mindset. Even listening to the mp3 of opener “Bricks,” I can close my eyes and see the vinyl spinning on the turntable. It’s that kind of record, classic in spirit, punk rock unafraid to have guitar solos, straight-ahead catchy hooks and sans-frills tonality that’s deceptively specific in its intent. Verses, choruses, electricity and not one single track over three minutes long. If you can’t vibe to that, well, screw it. Go listen to something else. What am I, your concierge?

The band offered up their debut 7″ (review here) in 2018, and cuts like “High Ledge” — with the video premiering below — and “Brain Stain” and the boogie-punk “You’ll Be Sorry” follow suit in their willful primitivism, roots-punk building on a Blue Cheer-noisy foundation as “Cracked Picture Frame” betray a classic-heavy backdrop on which punker disaffection has been overlaid. You can dig it. Fuzzy and catchy, the Velvet Underground cover “Foggy Notion” precedes the shuffler “Sleep Alone” and before you know it, you’re through “Blasted” and “Choked and Freezin'” and into closer “Something Will Go Wrong,” which, to put it simply, doesn’t.

You know what Very Paranoia sounds like? It sounds like the abandonment of pretense. Yeah, there’s pedigree here, but whatever. It sounds like these guys got together and decided screw it all, it was time to get as close to back to basics as possible. They’re not the first to make that decision — fucking nobody’s the first to do anything — but the results are inarguably effective throughout these songs, and though they’ve apparently sat on the shelf for the better part of a year, they’re no dustier than is intended. I’ll say again: you can dig it. Believe in yourself. Believe in rock and roll.

At the end of the day, all I can do is put this here and go on and on about the righteousness of the cause. Whether or not you actually take the two minutes — literally — to check it out is up to you. For whatever it might be worth, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

PR wire info follows below. Please enjoy:

Very Paranoia, “High Ledge” official video premiere

Very Paranoia formed in 2018 with the express intent of delivering short, sharp shocks of electrified rock and roll that simultaneously heralded both a “war on music” and offered a way forward using the scattered shards left behind on the sticky, rickety fields of battle and trapped in the structurally unsound masonry memory of those walls still standing around us.

Composed of veterans of the sonic conflicts from the Annihilation Time/Lecherous Gaze/Hot Lunch/Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound divisions, the four of them huddled together in their San Francisco rehearsal room where they quickly hammered out an arsenal of crude missives designed to fire as roaring missiles into the heart of 2019.

After whetting their attack, Very Paranoia removed from their squalid hovel and harangued an unsuspecting, but susceptible public with 25-minute blasts set off around their local strongholds. The band then traveled nearly 1000 miles to the Sonoran Desert where they set up camp at Midtown Island Studio in Tucson, Arizona. The Island’s sole occupant and aural wizard Matt Rendon of the Resonars captured 15 tracks over three 10-hour stretches. Twelve of these tracks were then transmitted to Tim Green at Louder Studios in the Valley of Grass, California, for mastering in early 2020 before being shipped abroad and stamped into this rasping document bearing the inscription of “WHO-42.”

Having weathered the remainder of that seemingly inexorable year, with the dawn of 2021 comes the debut album by Very Paranoia on Who Can You Trust? Records.

TRACK LISTING:
A1 – Bricks
A2 – High Ledge
A3 – Brain Stain
A4 – Pack It In
A5 – You’ll Be Sorry
A6 – Nobody Home

B1 – Cracked Picture Frame
B2 – Foggy Notion
B3 – Sleep Alone
B4 – Blasted
B5 – Choked And Freezin’
B6 – Something Will Go Wrong

PERSONNEL:
Cory Linstrum – vocals
Rob Alper – guitar, backing vocals
Chris Grande – bass
Jefferson Marshall – drums

All songs by VP except FOGGY NOTION by VU.

The LP is released in an edition of 300 copies on black vinyl.
An alternate cover version with screen printed sleeve is available in an edition of 30 copies.
Both include a copy of “A VERY MANIFESTO”, a booklet containing lyrics, photos, flyers, and stories, as a companion piece to the album.

Very Paranoia on Thee Facebooks

Very Paranoia on Instagram

Very Paranoia on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records on Thee Facebooks

Who Can You Trust? Records website

Who Can You Trust? Records on Bandcamp

Who Can You Trust? Records BigCartel store

Hey, just so we’re clear and you don’t think I’m trying to put one over: this is decidedly not a premiere. Pushy‘s debut album, Hard Wish, originally came out in 2018 through Germany’s Who Can You Trust? Records, and hell, I did a premiere for it at the time, and I’m pretty sure it’s been on Bandcamp ever since, so no, not a premiere. But Tee Pee Records is giving the classic heavy rockin’ eight-tracker a domestic US look on vinyl this week, and that’s definitely enough of an occasion for me to want to host Hard Wish again. Not that good records need an excuse anyway, but you know what I mean.

On guitar/vocals in the Portland, Oregon-based Pushy one finds Adam Burke, formerly of Fellwoods, and best known for the striking paintings he’s provided as cover art for everyone from Ruby the Hatchet to Hexvessel to this site to Fit for an Autopsy. He shares vocal duties with bassist Neal Munson, as Ron Wesley and Travis Clow round out the four-piece on guitar and drums, respectively, and across Hard Wish, they tap influences from earliest AC/DC, earliest King Crimson, earliest Judas Priest, not-quite-earliest Black Sabbath and a host of others brash, ballsy and boozed-up. Clow and Munson make a nodder highlight out of early cut “Blacktop,” but from “Fanny’s” to “I’ll Be Gentle,” the focus here is on attitude, on swagger, and songs like “El Hongo,” the driving “Lonesome Entry” and “Nasty Bag” have plenty of that, while “If I Cry” and closer “Lay of the Land” expand the palette a bit with some deceptively nuanced jams built around the live-feeling energy of the recording itself.

Bottom line is there’s plenty to dig here for ’70s aficionados and other-type heads looking for a groove to make their day, and really, again, I’m not trying to say this is a premiere — because it isn’t — but with the Tee Pee release of Hard Wish out this Friday (preorders below, if that’s your thing), I’m just glad to have a chance to revisit it, because it rocks and sometimes that’s just what you need. Anytime Pushy wants to get going on a follow-up, that’d be fine by me.

Please enjoy:

Portland-based hard rock outfit PUSHY are making waves in 2020. The band has announced that their debut album ‘Hard Wish’ will get a worldwide release on chocolate brown vinyl via Tee Pee Records. Boasting the unmistakable swagger and retro flair of rock n’ roll from a time when Woodstock was still young, Pushy descend upon listeners with boisterous, rabble rock vocals, raw, electric guitar riffs and natural percussion that feels all too authentic in contrast to the swath of modern music. Perhaps the most striking quality of Hard Wish is also its most plainly stated; that it sounds so sincerely like four musicians working harmoniously together as one in the same room.

The vinyl release of ‘Hard Wish’ is out May 8th on Tee Pee Records. Fans can pre-order the LP at the link found here.

‘Hard Wish’ Tracklisting:
1. Fanny’s
2. Nasty Bag
3. Blacktop
4. If I Cry
5. El Hongo
6. Lonesome Entry
7. I’ll Be Gentle
8. Lay of the Land

Pushy is:
Guitar – Ron Wesley
Drums – Travis Clow
Bass, vocals – Neal Munson
Vocals, guitar – Adam Burke

Pushy on Bandcamp

Pushy on Thee Facebooks

Pushy on Instagram

Tee Pee Records website

Tee Pee Records on Thee Facebooks

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At 13 minutes long and pressed to a 12-inch vinyl, Mercury Boys‘ debut EP, Return to Cinders, runs at a rate of nearly an inch per minute (IPM), and that’s just fine. Those privy to the privyness will be prior acquainted with the production and execution work of Guy Tavares, whose weirdo history is the stuff of niche legend and would no doubt make for a more interesting biopic than any of the Baby Boomer self-glorifications you’ve seen in the last five years, plus with more acid. At the helm of Motorwolf Studios in Den Haag and running his own label Bunker Records under the acid house alter ego of Sulphur Surfer, dude’s also been rockin’ since his days as Johnny Cohen fronting Johnny Cohen and the New Age Nazis over 20 years ago, and with tenure in the persistently-righteous Blue Cheer appreciation society that was Orange Sunshine and now Mercury Boys alongside the youngin’ Timothy Aarbodem, also of Supersonic Blues, on guitar and bass and German imports Janik Ruß (guitar) and Christian Dräger (drums), both of Ragged Barracudas, the blowout continues unabated.

Comprised of three originals that do well in terms of earning the closing cover of MC5‘s “The American Ruse,” Return to Cinders arrives June 1 and is dedicated to the memory of Orange Sunshine guitarist Arthur Van Berkel, who passed away in 2018. But with its tracks tapping the rawest roots of boogie and garage heavy, there’s more going on than continuing Orange Sunshine‘s path forward. As Who Can You Trust? Records marked its 10th anniversary last month, the realization of Dräger — who heads the label — working with Tavares on the project is only a piece of the puzzle, and it seems in listening to the straight-up, no-bullshit, get-up-and-get-down bruiser swag of the two-minute instrumental groove “Saturnus’ Taciturn” that all four players here are working on the same level and toward the same ends. Everyone knows what they’re going for. Everyone’s on board. And whether it’s “Atlas Falling” shoving and stomping at the outset or “Apollo Phoenix Rising,” which in addition to its initial thrust dares to embark on a runtime over four minutes long, the attitude that drips from the songs extends to every level. It’s proto-everything. Lizard-brain rock. Shut-up-and-dig rock.

These songs were recorded in 2018, so as to what Mercury Boys might have in the hopper now or going forward, I’ve got no idea, but they’re on target here and given the chance to premiere “Apollo Phoenix Rising” — watch out for that solo in the second half — I wasn’t about to pass it up. I won’t waste any more of your time.

Preorders are up now from Who Can You Trust?, and the song’s streaming at the bottom of the post.

Have at it:

MERCURY BOYS – Return To Cinders 12″ EP release

Who are the MERCURY BOYS? Messengers of the gods of rock in its purest forms, those that tear asunder the trappings of amplified music and gaze upon its raw beauty? Indeed, a quartet comprising members of Supersonic Blues, Ragged Barracudas, and Orange Sunshine, Mercury Boys cannot look back or beyond, but only immerse themselves in the timeless present, harness the primary elements of our aural nature and bow to the inevitable.

“You wouldn’t believe how special of a release this is to me,” says Who Can You Trust? Records founder and Mercury Boys drummer Christian Dräger. “It’s WCYT?’s 10th birthday this April, as well as the fact that Orange Sunshine was ‘planned as’ the very first WCYT? release in 2010 but turned out to be WHO-03 in the end..haha. Now ten years later, as OS isn’t anymore, we’ve teamed up with Guy to record the Mercury Boys EP and dedicate it to Arthur Van Berkel. As everybody knows, recording at Motorwolf Studio obviously involves narrow corridors… Tim Aarbodem, our lead guitar player, had a broken leg during our studio visit and a tough time to properly maneuver while walking on crutches. It’s a testament and sacrificial recording for sure.”

Return To Cinders was captured by Guy Tavares at Motorwolf Studios, The Hague, Holland in early 2018.

Tracklist:
A1 – Atlas Falling
A2 – Saturnus’ Taciturn
B1 – Apollo Phoenix Rising
B2 – The American Ruse

Personnel:
Guy Tavares – vocals
Timothy Aarbodem – guitar, bass
Janik Ruß – guitar
Christian Dräger – drums

All songs by MERCURY BOYS except The American Ruse by MC5.
Artwork by Adam Burke.

Release date – June 1st

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