The Company Band - Pros & Cons

What can I say about this band? What's the word I'm looking for? Wait I know. ROCK!...yeah, that's it my brothers and sistas ROCK!

If you're planning on blowin down the highway this summer in the fast lane with the windows down...well then...your gonna need Pros & Cons by The Company Band knockin down your audio speakers. The Company Band is Dave Bone, Neil Fallon (Clutch), Brad Davis (Fu Manchu), Jess Margera (CKY) and James A. Rota (Fireball Ministry)

Neil Fallon's vocals is the audio juice for any internal combustion engine rippin down a two lane blacktop. The track that just blows my mind,  is "El Dorado". Okay maybe I'm biased because my ride for many years was a 1971 Caddy Eldo. Just like the Caddy at the end of Rob Zombie's -  The Devils Rejects. This cut "El Dorado" just kicks ass on all levels.  So crank that sucker, and fuck the air conditioner.  Roll down those windows man. Hit the highway with your baby. Make shure she's smellin like coconut suntan lotion. Wearing cut off jean shorts and barefoot,  is just a bonus dude.  Pros & Cons by The Company Band is one of those records that are made for summer. Slip on your mirror aviators, cram in this CD and get your ass on a long road trip.  Straight up ROCK for any summer time Bonnie&Clyde roadtrip to the beach.  I'm  bet'in  your woman's legs will get sexy hot, and stick to the leather seat after hearing this. Bring on the dog days of summer.

- Wino Chris

Groan – The Sleeping Wizard

This is what happens when unsupervised youth is allowed to fester in a basement of cheap beer, dirt weed and Cathedral tapes. Groan are a 4 piece doom metal outfit with members spread out across the UK but close enough to Stonehenge absorb some of its triptych wicked powers. The Sleeping Wizard is their debut. 7 songs in 26 minutes makes it either a short album or a long EP, take your pick.

Musically, Groan is in the tradition of Black Sabbath influenced bands like Candlemass, Electric Wizard, etc but include a bit more Hawkwind than usual and some straight up classic rock, too. They also have great stage names. Thor’s Hammer pounds the drums, The Riff Wizard is obviously the guitarist, Mazzareth is the singer and the bassist is The Forest-Dwelling Fuzz Creature. The production is low budget, but suits the band well. The songs are bashed out with gusto and Mazzareth’s vocals are swathed in a “Planet Caravan” gauze for an outer space effect. I was hoping he would yell “take me to your leader” in one song, but there’s always next time.

All 7 songs are very solid doom metal jams, but “Witchy Woman” is probably my favorite. Sounds like someone replaced Master of Reality on the stereo with Burn and it opened a new avenue for these guys. David Coverdale wishes he wrote “she rides the Pegasus, she makes the priest forget about Jesus” on his new album. Other highlights are the anti-work “Psychedelic Demons” and the rampaging “Sleeping Wizard.” “Ride Of The Antichrist” sounds like something Raven might have come up with in 1981 after a heavy dose of cough syrup. Most of the songs are pretty fast, but album closer “Ancient Space (Master Of Time)” moves at a Sleep-y snails pace.

If doom is your bag, then give these kids some support. Just think of the jams they’ll come up with if they can get better quality weeeeed. Get in on the ground floor and Groan.

--Woody

Buy here: Sleeping Wizard

http://www.myspace.com/groanuk

California Crossover - featuring Virulence, Fu Manchu, and Nebula

Virulence – If This Isn’t A Dream…1985-1989 (Southern Lord)

Fu Manchu - Signs Of Infinite Power (Century Media)

Nebula – Heavy Psych (Tee Pee)


Fu Manchu and Nebula play mid-temp heavy rock that owes a huge debt to the 1970’s but their roots come from the aggressive hardcore punk scene that exploded in California at the end of that decade and bled deep into the 1980’s. Virulence is a hardcore band that existed from 1985 to 1989 that included future Fu Manchu and Nebula members Scott Hill and Ruben Romano. The hardcore scene went through big changes during this period in time. Most of the pioneers like Minor Threat, Black Flag, The Misfits and Dead Kennedys were either gone or about to expire and hardcore began mixing freely with metal to create crossover styles that became huge.

Virulence played in a style that owed a huge debt to the intensity and aggression of Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Suicidal Tendencies but combined it with the heavy, slower punk style of the Melvins and Flipper. BL’AST! is another obvious influence and probably the closest musically to their style. This is the kind of punk that could only come from California. It’s pissed off suburban rage played as loud as possible. The lyrics are full of confusion and alienation and vocalist Ken Pucci delivers them with a lot of force. Scott Hill’s guitar playing is full of Greg Ginn style twists and turns. He even played the same clear acrylic Dan Armstrong guitar that Ginn used during most of Black Flag’s existence, and Hill still uses one today in Fu Manchu (look for the SSD sticker next to the pickup). This CD collects the complete studio recordings that were issued on their 1987 album, EP’s plus live recordings, including a killer version of Void’s “My Rules.” The earlier material is mainly short blasts of punk fury and the later recordings are slower dirges that make Black Flag’s “Nothing Left Inside” sound like Huey Lewis.

When Virulence called it quits in 1989, singer Pucci went to college and the rest of the band formed Fu Manchu and changed their musical direction. Signs Of Infinite Power is their 10th studio album. Very little has changed since their debut album No One Rides For Free in 1994. Fu Manchu continue to crank out loud, distorted kick ass rock that combines the heavy 70’s groove of The James Gang, Black Sabbath and Grand Funk Railroad with the California punk of Bad Religion, The Germs and The Adolescents. If you liked the other Fu Manchu albums then you will like this one, too. The overall sound recalls some of their earlier albums. The guitars are very fuzzy and the drums pack a powerful thud. Fu Manchu’s music is perfect for highway star driving and fast ones like “Bionic Astronauts” and “One Step Too Far” will get you a speeding ticket for sure. Slow pounders like “Gargantuan March,” “Webfoot Witch Hat” and the title track are great for banging on your steering wheel when the jerk in front of you won’t get out of the way.

Nebula came into existence when guitarist Eddie Glass and drummer Ruben Romano left Fu Manchu in 1997. Heavy Psych originally came out as an EP in Europe but has been issued in the US by Tee Pee with some extra tracks. Nebula’s current line up consists of Glass on guitar and vocals, bassist Tom Davies and drummer Jimmy Sweet. While having a lot in common musically with Fu Manchu, Nebula has always had a more pronounced Hawkwind influence and this album continues in that direction while also adding in elements of Roky Erickson, Jimi Hedrix, The Groundhogs, Electric Sun and UFO (Mick Bolton era).  

Here in NYC, it’s absolutely freezing and the ground is covered in ice but listening to these 3 records really puts me in a California state of mind. I’m just not sure if I should go spray paint the walls, joyride the highway or take some shrooms in the desert.


--Woody

Buy here:If This Isn't a Dream... 1985-1989
Buy here: Signs of Infinite Power
Buy here: Heavy Psych

http://virulencetheband.com/

http://www.fu-manchu.com/

http://www.nebulamusic.com/