Revenge of the Quick Ripple Bursts; featuring Old Californio, Fuck Knights, The Doggs, Sky Parade, The Parties, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Old Californio - SundrunkAngels

Employing the same rootsy-bluegrass-desert-vibe post-Dead psychedelia that made Westering Again so charming, Old Californio come trotting back riding bareback along that old and dusty california trail.  Bringing some Byrds-ian jangle along with some banjo, lap steel, wurlitzer piano, and fine fiddle playing to their already solid musical chops, Old Californio explore some vast bluegrassy terrirtory vacated by the Grateful Dead.  And they do it first rate all the way.  Rich Dembowski has a way with a phrase and musical turn, always finding the melody in his songs, and as ever, the band is tight while being loose all at the same time.  Having had the pleasure of seeing the guys play live, I've seen the chemistry they bring to the stage, which can only lead me to believe that recording this album must've been a joy.  "Learn to Cheat," is about as Grateful Dead a song as you could hope for with some dynamite harmony vocals, "Better Yet," rambles out like some old Pure Praire League shuffle, and "Allon Camerado," brings in some darker guitar tone muscle to the storm-brewing horizon.  But the real standout here is "A Cool Place in the Light."  With it's dynamite fiddle line singing and dancing over it's lap steel heart.  A stick-in-your-brain-like-crazy-glue melody doesn't hurt either.  All in all, another rootsy winner from these Californian floor stompers.

Fuck Knights - FuKn Live! vol. 3

I don't know if there ever was a volume 1 or 2.  Hell, I don't even know how the Fuck Knights ever got my address and starting invading my personal space with their cacophony of gargae rock mayhem.  But thank God they did.  Just when I thought the Fuck Knights story had to run out some day, the boys come back from their barely-audible, garage blitz frenzy The Recorded by Gary Burger from The Monks EP,  and turn around and drop this bomb on me.  Is this the same band?  Are these my Fuck Knights?  Is that a harmonica?  A trumpet?  A sax?  Are they playing actual chords and managing to keep time?  By damn it, they are!  Suddenly all my previous notions of the band are blown the fuck away.  These cats actually know how to play their instruments and can do it live no less!  And play em they do.  No other way to describe it, FuKn Live! is a retro-garage rock pizza pie of delight.  Tons of fuzzy guitars (actually waiting in line to play their parts) a pounding rhythm section, a partying horn crew, and some impassioned vocals.  No doubt about it, as much as I've loved the Fuck Knights since the first EP they sent me, this is the pinnacle of their (what I've heard) recorded career.  No hesitation recommending this one.  If bands like the Monks, the Sonics, the Jay Retard, King Kahn, heck, the Kingsmen and ? and the Mysterians light your fuse, you can't go wrong with this.   And as a special aside, the Fuck Knights now win the Ripple prize-crown for being the only band I've reviewed 3 times in these pages.  Don't know what it's worth, but that and $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

The Doggs - Black Love

Keeping the fuzz-hysteria garage vibe going, what we got here is the latest installment of Johnny Rotten meets the Cramps fuzz burst from the Doggs.  While their last EP insinuated itself into my ears like a fungal infection, this latest 5-song toxic release smothers me like a putrid mustard gas.  And I mean that in a good way.  Distorto-decrepit garage punk is the name of the game here, and both the song writing and the playing have taken a major leap out of the dog pound since the last release.  Yep, it's angry and vulgar and something that should be scrubbed off your toilet, but damn if it isn't some of the finest toilet scum you've ever heard.  Christian Celsi's guitar tone sounds positively rotting, while singer Marco Mezzadri's Johnny Rotten-barely contained vocal approach must put fear into the minds of young children.  "Hit Me," is an instant garage punk classic while "Dead City Bleeds" even terrifies me.  "Life Kills," with it's monster bass intro and distorto guitar mix hits all the right nerves as Marco borders on the verge of some deep, demented psychosis.  Yep, brilliant stuff here. 

Sky Parade - Fire in the Sky

Now of course I know Sky Parade.  After all, we at Ripple put out their top 20 indy rock hit, "I Should Be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down)" split single with Grand Atlantic.  And I've seen Tommy and the boys play several times, last one as recently as a month ago.  But truth be told, I'd never really had a chance to immerse myself in their back catalog.  Now, as I start digging, their 2005 debut CD Fire in the Sky, graces my CD player, and damn.  If I hadn't already worked with the band, I'd be looking them up now.  Plying a mid-tempo, post Stone Roses brand of trance/danceable psychedelic pop, Sky Parade sound so fully formed on this album that it's stunning it didn't race up indy radio.   "Fire in Your Heart," with Tommy Dietrick's halting, whispered vocals and Daniella Meekers accompanying backing is simply sumptuous.   Matthew Lindgren layers on just the perfect tone of lead guitar to ignite the fuse as the song launches off into trance/psych nirvana.  "My Eyes Are Bleeding Tears," follows next, burning through the mix with its pulsating bass and searing guitar leads which blends right into the strutting, dancefloor frenzy of "Losing Control."  There's Primal Scream here, some Dandy Warhols, some Oasis, some Church.  All Sky Parade.  All good.

The Parties - Coast Garde

Another band I've had the pleasure of seeing twice now (both times with Sky Parade) is the parties and everything they bring so powerfully to their live shows in on exhibit right here, there 2010 CD Coast Garde.  Moving away from the Church-esque vibe of Sky Parade, The Parties are all maximal jangle, all the time.  Bringing in a 12-string Rickenbacker into the mix, you can't help but bring in the Byrds reference, but The Parities aren't Byrds-rip-off-wanna-be's.  This is pure, unadulterated jangle powerpop with a bouncing psych flavor poured over the songs like syrup on pancakes.  "Let's Call it Love" is pure Byrds, but with a melody and chorus that could've come from The Three O'clock., while "Can't Seem to Mind" could be Beat-inspired power pop.  "Twenty-four" rumbles with a newfound menace before that beautiful jangle dances in a Stone Roses moment of perfection.  "The Target Smiles," is retro-Beatles pop at it's purest.  No fan of jangle pop will be disappointed here.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Liverpool

Fellow Ripple scribe Woody, nearly filleted me and served me live to his dogs for reviewing Frankie Goes to Hollywood's first album, so what am I to do?  Review their second, of course.   See, Woody wasn't there in England when "Relax" first broke and didn't drink that song in everyday like ale, as I and the rest of the UK did.  He didn't get infected with Holly and Paul and the boys.  I did, God help me, I did.  Having said that, I'd never heard Liverpool before this comprehensive Ian Peel curated reissue came to me.  I guess having left England before this album was released, I lost my Frankie mojo.  And let's be honest.  Welcome to the Pleasuredome had some fantastic songs on it, but it also had quite a bit of filler.  So perhaps Frankie caused me to lose my mojo.  With that in mind, Liverpool, just never caught my attention.

But it has my attention now.  While there's no "Relax" or "Two Tribes" or "War" on Liverpool, overall, it's probably a better, more fully realized album than Pleasuredome.  And one thing Liverpool does, is waste no time in proving once and for all that Frankie were a real band, and damn it they came here to play.  "Warriors of the Wasteland" is, dare I say it, heavy.  I mean heavy.  Way heavier with a much beefier riff and electrifying guitar solo than you'd ever expect from Frankie.  And angry too. Damn angry.  One thing that hasn't changed is Holly's vocals.  Like Frankie or hate em, you gotta admit that Holly could sing.  "Rage Hard," keeps the energy and anger going as raging hard doesn't refer to partying or raving (as I'd thought) but raging against the status quo.  Yes, it's a Frankie song of rebellion, and in truth, underneath the glam and glitz and hype, that's what Frankie was about.  Resistence.  Fighting.  Claiming ones own.  That vibe keeps going through the melancholy "Kill the Pain," and the electro-sublime "Maximum Joy."

As a bonus, Ian Peel has included several bonus outtakes of cover songs from various sessions.  While Frankie doing "Suffragette City," may not seem too much of a stretch with Frankie's glam leanings, I gotta admit, their cover of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues," caught me way off guard.  Frankie and grit blues just doesn't add up in my world, but Holly does a good job of roughing up his vocals and the band lays it down as if they owned it.  We'll call this one a near miss.  But a true winner is their glammed up, electro-ed out, Frankie'd up instrumental dance mash up version of  "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."  Nearly unrecognizable from the original, this is pure hedonistic fun.  A whole bonus disc of special mixes awaits also.  Good Frankie fun.

--Racer

A Sunday Conversation with Old Californio

When The Pope and I first heard the incredible new album "Westering Again," by Old Californio, we were speachless. Literally. I was on the road that day and we were on speaker phone, and neither one of us could dream of the words to capture the simple, dusty beauty of that gem. Finally Pope said, "It's like you're in the mountains above the desert, and you're walking on a dusty trial, and the sun is high in the sky, and the world is expansive. Imagine that's music."

Yep, I agree. So it was our true joy to have Old Californio's scribe, Rich Dembowski come join us on the Ripple red leather interview couch and spread his views on music.


When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkle, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears. What have been your musical epiphany moments?

Rich Dembowski: When I was a kid my mom would take me to Catholic mass, the congregation would sing hymns and my mom would join in. I remember being overwhelmed with the power of all these voices – my mom’s especially. To hear her sing so powerfully and forcefully left an indelible impression on me. At home my parent’s record collection was mainly big band, so I became aware of jazz, Duke Ellington especially, early on. To this day Duke Ellington’s "Queen’s Suite" is an epiphany for me – that and "the Portrait of Mahalia Jackson." My first rock and roll epiphany was when I was 12 - Jason Chesney, our bass player, gave me a cassette with The Beatles Rubber Soul on one side and Revolver on the other. Once I heard that I was in for good


Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

Rich Dembowski: The idea comes first. Something that resonates in me and makes me contemplate my consciousness or state of being. Then to investigate what that is. If it’s something I read or heard then I might start with lyrics and wait for the line, syntax and meaning to drive a melody and chord structure, to wrap the music around the thought. If it’s a feel or emotion then it usually starts with the music, timbre or tone – in other words, start with a riff or a chord and wait for the words to fill the feeling. It’s really all the process – the interpretation of self.

Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

The motivation is intrinsic. The process of writing a song fills me up. But, once I’m up and running and chasing an idea then I look around for ways to express it. Most often the things that help me get back to myself are literature (other thoughts), visual art (other images), geography and mythology. I can use these things to relate back to myself and see and hear what I’m thinking or being as I go through time.



Genre's are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?

Western, but not in terms of genre or geography, more the spirit of the west. The sound of searching, going further, that has in it all the colors of the places you’ve been.


What is your musical intention? What are you trying to express or get your audience to feel?

The idea is to create a sonic and visual image or environment of feelings, ideas or emotions that have left an impression on me – to say that these are the colors and sounds of my experience, here in this place now. And, if it’s done right, to have it be both specific and vague enough to be interpreted or participated in – for the listener to go “oh yeah, you meant this, or whatever”.


In songwriting, how do you bring the song together? What do you look for in terms of complexity? Simplicity? Time changes?

I just try to serve the song. Sometimes it’s simplicity, sometimes it’s complexity – but, whether it’s musical complexity in terms or meter or melody or rhythm or lyrical abstraction – I’m just trying to serve the song through authenticity.


The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living? What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?

I think our sort of mission statement is to make ourselves accessible to as many listeners as possible as purely as possible. Musical purity and honesty come first. So, if people hear us or find out about us through gigs only or records only, or CDs or the internet, or word of mouth or whatever - we want to be able to be as self reliant and self contained as possible. The music comes first and numbers are second to the idea.

We’ve really done everything ourselves, everything’s been done in house, so we really only have ourselves to answer to. It has left everything creatively at our discretion; there’s been no outside pressure to do this or that. We can make the music we want to make, as we see and hear it – the only pressure comes from ourselves. We figure the music will speak for it’s self one way or another, so, the big thing is just making people aware that the music is out there, getting the word out. We’re gearing up to get out into the rest of the country and take this music on the road –connect with new audiences in a live and tangible way.

Where do you see you and your music going in ten years?

That’s too big a chunk of time to grapple with… but, I’m sure we’ll be making music one way or another.

What makes a great song?

As a writer any song that satisfied all the criteria for allowing the song to become it’s self whether you like it or not. As a listener, it just has to speak to me – it’d be tough to nail down any sort of specifics.

Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?

I can’t remember other than it was written on an electric bass without an amp and made me feel great.


What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

Usually the song I’m the most happy with is the one I just finished. I guess because it speaks closely to who and where I am at that time. Of course, as time goes on and I get further away from the song, it’s meaning and the way I see it changes.


Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

Either records or CD’s, it just depends on the mood.


We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. When we come to your town, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?

Poo Bah’s is a great spot in Pasadena. They used to be in an old Bungalow up on Wilson with weird R. Crumb like plaster figures and statues everywhere and a whole lot of dust. I think each of us in the band probably bought our first records there. They moved over to a spot on Colorado now and most of the dust is gone. Penny Lane also has a great selection of new and used vinyl too. Both are within a mile of each other so they’re both easy to hit up.

www.myspace.com/oldcalifornio