Hooveriii - A Round of Applause

Hooveriii return with an album of uplifting psychedelic guitar pop

Los Angeles is a city which has given rise to some incredible music since the dawn of the recording age. It continues to do so, as I can confirm having recently had my ears turned towards LA-based band Hooveriii (pronounced “Hoover Three”). The band grew out of a bedroom recording project started by Bert Hoover (Jesus Sons, MIND MELD). The old adage about small acorns is apt here, as Hooveriii has evolved into a truly powerful psychedelic force.

Their latest album, A Round of Applause, sounds like a record that was fun to make, made by a band that would be fun to be in. A refreshing concept in itself! By the band's own admission, A Round of Applause is an unashamed attempt at making a pop record, forsaking the “jam band” approach of previous album Water for the Frogs. Anyone hoping their experimental edge has been smoothed away needn't worry. The album may be big on hooks and melody but there's plenty of left-field touches and sheer sonic brilliance to please listeners who like their sounds to lean towards the proggier, more experimental side.

The album opens with 'See', a twisted take on country rock with twin-guitar arabesques, rolling bass and mysterious lyrics. 'Out of My Time' is a sonic assault on the senses, edging towards industrial rock with its riffs and barrage-like driving drums, before sweet and stately guitar lines emerge from the sonic fog.

'Twisted and Vile' is the first showing of the album's promised pop thrust. It's a minor key affair, underpinned by a programmed electronic pulse, whereas 'Water Lily' has a frantic, unsettled feel at odds with the calmness invoked by its title. With a hint of math-rock in places it comes across akin to Marc Bolan fronting The Cardiacs. A nice thought indeed!

Elsewhere there's an alt-glam stomp to tracks such as 'Time the Outlaw' and leftfield electropop on 'My Directive', even some jazz quall courtesy of the saxophones on 'Iguana'. There's also enough to keep rockers on board. Guitar fans will surely be enthralled by the playing throughout which at times reminds one of Television's Verlaine and Lloyd, Will Sergeant of Echo and The Bunnymen, and Robert Fripp.

Sadly I missed the band on their recent short run of UK dates but hopefully they'll return soon. If that happens I'll see you down the front. In the meantime get familiar with A Round of Applause. You'll feel all the better for it, I guarantee!

 

 

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Interview with Farmer Dave Scher (All Night Radio, HOO)

Los Angeles musicians Farmer Dave Scher and Jimi Hey had played in a string of bands together in the nineties, including Strictly Ballroom and Beachwood Sparks. But it was as duo All Night Radio that the pair were able to give full flight to their creativity. All Night Radio's sole album, Frequency Spirit Radio, was released on Sub Pop Records in 2004. Admired by those in the know at the time, the record's stature and reputation is such that it's now getting bespoke vinyl release later this month thanks to UK label Big Potato Records. You can hear it's psychedelic majesty via the embedded player below, or click over the jump to read the full interview with Farmer Dave about how the album came to be.

(CLICK OVER THE JUMP FOR THE INTERVIEW WITH FARMER DAVE)

Curt Boettcher & Friends - Looking For The Sun

Collection of rare recordings by posthumously-recognised sunshine pop genius.


Any musician or music producer whose name goes on to become synonymous with a particular genre must have been doing something right. In Curt Boettcher's case that genre was sunshine pop. In the latter half of the sixties studio technology was expanding at the same rate as the imaginations of the people who used them. Music entered what scientists like to call “a purple patch”. The most obvious example of this alignment of stars would be the Beatles creating their sonic masterpieces in London's Abbey Road Studios, or Brian Wilson in making “teenage symphonies to God” with the help of his brothers, a cousin, some extremely talented session musicians and the best studio technology Los Angeles had to offer.

There were of course others forging similar paths, doing work that pushed the boundaries of what a three-minute pop song could sound like. Boettcher was one such man. And if anecdotal evidence is correct Boettcher actually influenced Brian Wilson with his uplifting, shimmering pop, helping raise the bar for music production as an art-form.

Boettcher was best known for producing hit records for the Association, and for forming rock bands The Ballroom and The Millennium, but he also made vast amounts of recordings with various groups and singers in the studios of LA. Bad deals and bad luck meant he didn't attain fame and financial success. He died in 1987 at the age of 43, at the time largely unrecognised for the work he'd left behind.

Over time interest has grown however and his reputation is now beginning to match the size of his talent. This collection, expertly put together by Steve Stanley, founder of Now Sounds Records, is not a “best of”, but focuses on the work Boettcher did as a producer rather than a performer. It highlight just what a treasure trove the perpetually busy producer left behind. Not only that, it gives a strong sense of what the Californian music scene was all about. Most of the tracks on this compilation were released as singles and have been unavailable and out of print since their initial release.

I cannot stress enough how enjoyable this collection is. There's not a duffer among the CD's 21 tracks (18 on the vinyl version). My own personal highlights include Cindy Malone's stomper 'You Were Near Me', the gentle psych-pop of 'Milk And Honey' by Summer's Children, and Ray Whitley's 'Lorraine' – a masterclass in melancholic melodrama akin to the works of Scott Walker. For the more psychedelically minded there 's Eddie Hodges' ' Shadows and Reflections' or the Latin-influenced 'Enamorado' by Keith Colley. Novelty and light relief get a look in too with Jonathan Moore's camp pastiche of swinging London, 'London Bridge'.

If you're of the belief that the well of '60s music has been drained and exhausted think again. This well-researched, and lovingly annotated collection can only further enhance Boettcher's growing reputation.


Click here for High Moon Records

SMASH Fashion - Rompus Pompous

(This review first appeared in issue #84 of Shindig! magazine.)

LA-based Smash Fashion burst onto the music scene with their debut Big Cat Love in 2014 proving that the retro glam scene wasn't purely reserved for Italian bootboys. Rompus Pompous serves up another batch of guitarist/vocalist Roger Deering's songs. They're bold, brash, melodic and defiantly good-time, with a sonic template based on '70s FM rock and lyrics that are playful, funny and hark back to a time before rock music started taking itself so seriously. Duelling twin-guitars abound and actively embrace the much-maligned guitar technique of squealing pinched harmonics.

For all its knowingly tongue-in-cheek humour, Rompus Pompous does however contain a genuine rock ballad epic in 'Smiles And Daggers', a track that rivals Guns 'n' Roses' 'November Rain' in scale and ambition. It reveals a musically hot band at the top of their game and comes embellished with sumptuous piano playing courtesy of David Bowie's long-serving keyboardist Mike Garson.

Smash Fashion - Rompus Pompous

LA's premier junkshop glam outfit back with a new LP!

“Rock is dead they say, Long Live Rock!” - The Who, 'Long Live Rock' 1972

“Hey hey, my my, Rock and Roll will never die” - Neil Young, 'My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)' 1979

Rock music's resilience is something else (as Eddie Cochran might have said!) Should human civilisation ever destroy itself, millions of years from now some future race of intelligent cockroach on an archaeological dig will probably find a Crosley turntable and stash of RSD reissued Thin Lizzy and AC/DC albums. They'll treat them as sacred texts and a new religion will arise, with power chords, pinched harmonics and sexually charged lyrics at its core. That's how resilient rock music is.

The last time Rock took centre stage in the mainstream was when The Darkness were on the verge of becoming world beaters with their first album. That never came to pass but it did show that classic rock had more mileage in it. Justin and co never fulfilled their early promise but they did serve as a reminder that classic rock is called classic for good reason

LA-based quartet SMASH Fashion make a heady brew of music that merges classic, stadium and glam rock. They serve it up with a hefty dose of good natured humour and some cheeky innuendo. And wouldn't you know it, it's fun! If their latest album Rompus Pompous had been released in 1979 it might by now have been getting the RSD colour vinyl reissue treatment, weighted as it is with all the tropes and moves of rock classicism.

Their debut LP Big Cat Love came out in 2014, since when main songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Roger Deering has stockpiled a fresh batch of hook-laden gems which make up their new long-player. Such is the infectious joy spread across the record, even Bowie's go-to keyboard man Mike Garson was persuaded to guest on the album, contributing piano to 'Smiles And Daggers'. It's impossible to listen to Rompus Pompous in its entirety without a smile appearing on your face. This is good-time stuff that justifies being played loud. Plenty of twin guitar solos, '70s FM playability, a knowing silliness and a production sheen not often found in 2018. Stick this on in the car on your way to work and Monday morning's sinking feeling will soon disappear. Out now!

Click here for the band's website.

Click here for SMASH Fashion on Facebook.

Miranda Lee Richards - Existential Beast

 

(This review first appeared in issue #68 of Shindig! magazine.)

Invisible Hands CD/LP

There's been a steady stream of records concerned with ecology, corruption and the state of the planet over the last 40 years. What makes this offering from LA-based Miranda Lee Richards so special is its articulate power. Without naming names political leaders are evoked and rebuffed by intelligent poetical argument.

Musically the album draws from several 1970s sources – Laurel Canyon country rock royalty ('Ashes And Seeds'), Joe Boyd's Witchseason productions for Island Records ('Autumn Sun' and 'Oh Raven'), through to the spoken word sections of David Axelrod's Earth Rot (the end section of 'Lucid I Dream'). Subtle use of echo throughout the album adds to the continuity of sound and aids its woozy intoxicating power.

The album's tour de force is saved till the end. Clocking in at 12 minutes, 'Another World' is the most overtly political song, calling out those in power and offering a vision of how things could be. Clever stuff.

The Creation Factory - Let Me Go / You Got It (Ltd. 7")

Limited edition 7” from LA's hottest underground psych band!

In a week where, on both sides of the Atlantic, the political shit heads towards its proverbial fan, it's reassuring to know that America still makes great music. And it's similarly reassuring that a small record label on our side of the pond is willing and able to press this music onto black vinyl. The Creation Factory are the latest Los Angeles band to have the kudos of a 7” release on Market Square Records, the small but perfectly formed bespoke label based in West Sussex.

The band's sound harks back to an earlier period in the city's musical history, a time when fuzzy guitars, reedy organ, three chords and a whole lotta snotty attitude was the order of the day. The A-side is pure riot on Sunset Strip, the sound of US teens' take on Them & The Rolling Stones. (Who were themselves imitating US blues musicians! Hell what's the point in nativism and shoring up borders when internationalism sounds this good!) Shot through with that garage-punk vibe we all dig, the track culminates in a band freak-out complete with wailing police sirens. Get diggin' it!

The flip-side is an altogether different beast. A dancefloor instrumental containing funky drummer beats, organ and guitar solos. A surefire smash down your local garage club-night. Don't leave it too late to bag a copy of this 7”, it's limited to 300 copies only and I'm not having you coming round here a-cryin' on my shoulder if you miss out!

Click here for The Creation Factory's website.

Click here for The Creation Factory on Facebook.

Click here for Market Square Records.

Love Revisited to tour UK in summer 2016!

Celebrating the music of Arthur Lee and LOVE, his band reunite for a 10 year anniversary UK tour.

To mark the 10th anniversary of Arthur Lee’s passing, LOVE revisited sees his longest serving band perform classic songs from LOVE’s first three albums Love, Da Capo and Forever Changes.

From 1993 until Arthur’s death in 2006, the band Baby Lemonade performed with him, being an essential part of the renaissance of LOVE’s music. This iteration of LOVE saw many sold out tours, as well as back to back Glastonbury performances and an appearance on Later with Jools Holland.

Joining Baby Lemonade is LOVE’s original lead guitar player and founding member Johnny Echols, who was part of the classic line up that recorded the seminal Forever Changes.

Johnny Echols and Arthur Lee were childhood friends whose families both moved from Memphis to Los Angeles. Teenage Johnny & Arthur teamed up to form the groups Arthur Lee & The LAG’s and the American Four before they formed LOVE in 1965. The classic LOVE line up featuring Johnny disbanded in 1968. Johnny reunited with Arthur Lee in 2005 to perform with LOVE once more.

Baby Lemonade formed in 1992 by Rusty Squeezebox, Mike Randle, David “Daddy-O” Green, later adding Dave Chapple to the mix. In 1993 the band landed the gig of a lifetime opening up for LOVE. That show was the last for that incarnation of LOVE as Arthur replaced them with the 4 Baby Lemonade members. Baby Lemonade released records on Sympathy for the Record Industry, Munster and Big Deal between 1993 and 2001.

Upon their return from a LOVE tour of Europe, in 1996, Baby Lemonade was shocked to find that Arthur had been sentenced to 12 years in prison on a weapons charge.

After nearly 6 years in prison, Arthur’s case was overturned and shortly after, at his request, Baby Lemonade began rehearsing for what would be non-stop LOVE touring throughout North America, UK, Europe and Australia between 2002 and 2005 where they enjoyed unprecedented success with sold out tours, back to back Glastonbury performances, Roskilde, Royal Festival Hall and an appearance on the Later with Jools Holland TV Show.

In 2005 the LOVE line up once again featured Arthur’s childhood friend and founding member Johnny Echols on lead guitar who returned after a 37 year absence.

In July of 2005, Arthur was diagnosed with Leukaemia and after a brave battle he passed away one year later. Arthur’s last show was with Baby Lemonade and Johnny Echols on June 23rd at San Francisco’s Cafe Du Nord. The world had lost a true music legend.

In 2016 LOVE revisited will celebrate the music of LOVE and mark Arthur Lee’s passing by reuniting for a 10 year anniversary UK tour.

For details and tickets visit www.love-revisited.com 

SMASH Fashion - Junkie Luck (Ltd. 7")

LA's premier junkshop glam outfit return with a brand new 7”!

The current cachet of junkshop glam seems to be spreading. The Italians are well represented by Giuda and Faz Waltz of course, and the UK has Ulysses, but in glam's capital city of LA where glamour and sleaze go together like Jack 'n' Coke, or er... Hugh and Divine, there's the mighty SMASH Fashion, the self-confessed dandy-rockers whose penchant for power chords is matched only by their fondness of the dressing-up box.

Their LP Big Cat Love won over a new legion of fans in 2014 and the band now follow it up with a brand new 7” on lovely bright red vinyl. 'Junkie Luck' turns the feelgood factor up to ten, and features a tale inspired by Lee Harvey Oswald Band guitarist Zowie Fenderblast. If bands with sunglasses indoors, floppy velvet hats, and Flying V guitars is your thing look no further. And this band has tunes made for both FM and AM radio. The A-side is the sonic equivalent of a Chunky Kit-Kat, big on melody and riffs and a real sugar boost! The flip shows the band's roots via an equally enjoyable stab at Golden Earring's Long Blond Animal'. As welcome as a backstage pass! Let's party!

Click here for the band's website.

Click here for SMASH Fashion on Facebook.

The Bloodhounds - Let Loose! (OUT NOW!)

One for the greasers! Skiffle, beat, dirty rock 'n' roll, & hubcap blues feature on the debut LP by LA's Bloodhounds.

An groovy album that may came out towards the end of last year was Let Loose by LA's rock 'n' skifflers The Bloodhounds. With a nose for stripped-back bluesy rock 'n' roll, honed while busking on the sidewalks of downtown LA, the band have been helped in the studio by producer Arthur Alexander (The Poppees, Sorrows). The resulting album captures that street energy and adds some extra sonic punch.

Anyone lucky enough to have witnessed their impromptu busking gigs must surely have had a real treat. You can imagine this band whipping up a storm, on one hand they're a high octane jug band, on the other a punked up blues 'n' beat outfit. The music is a stripped-back, energetic romp, fuelled by spirit and enthusiasm more than technical ability, and all the better for that.

As well as the classic two guitars, bass and drums set up, The Bloodhounds make the most of cheap instruments and household objects. Washboards, banjos and kazoos sit happily in the mix. With a sound roooted in '60s rhythm and blues there's also a hint of punk. The overall effect is akin to Joey Ramone fronting The Pretty Things.

The Wolf pays homage to bluesman Howlin' Wolf, with guitar parts based around Hubert Sumlin's Spoonful guitar lick. Elsewhere there's echoes of Star Club era Beatles, Lonnie Donegan, early Stones and the afore-mentioned Pretty Things.

The band are something of an anomaly in today's pro-tools era, and go against the grain of modern polished pop, but those of us in search of the true spirit of rock 'n' roll will dig it!

The Bloodhounds are -

Aaron “Little Rock” Piedraita – rhythm guitar/vocals

Johnny Santana – bass/banjo/harp/vocals

Branden Santos – lead guitar/harp/vocals

Mark Schafler – drums/washboard/percussion/harp/kazoo/vocals

Click here for more on The Bloodhounds.