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.

Stag - Midtown Sizzler

(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)

Self-release CD

Crunch, hook and swagger are the key words that summarise this Seattle-based quintet's latest release. Their collective listening pile may lean heavily towards the glam rock of the early to mid '70s (think Sweet, Slade & T Rex), but the gutsy rock/pop they make has been given a contemporary speaker-pushing sheen. It's an in-yer-face guitar wall of sound topped with catchy melodies.

'Come On' channels Rod and The Faces, all bluesy bar-room boogie whereas 'The Bedazzler' passes itself off as a lost Chinnichap production, a feelgood glam stomper up there with anything Giuda and Faz Waltz have made.

Vocalist Steve Mack, best known from his days with That Petrol Emotion, is in fine voice, just the right side of raspy, and is backed by a band whose joy in playing is palpable. It's the sound of a band not trying to change the world but having fun playing music they love. Ain't nothing wrong with that!

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.