Music On Monday: Monster's Holiday

Dang! It has been a rough month, coming off a super-rough summer. Glad (hope) that's all over. Here's a Halloween hit to ring out the month -- Buck Owens' "Monster's Holiday":

Happy Halloween!

Music On Monday: The Gun Club

You'll find The Gun Club on the 80s cowpunk lists, but I think they shade a bit more country than a lot of the other (more western) bands they were associated with -- in fact, some people apparently consider them the first alt-country band. (Not that I think any band is the "first" of anything, really, but okay. They're also called "punk blues" and "tribal psychobilly blues" and "early roots rock" so, you know, whatever.)

Their history and line-up is pretty convoluted; founder and singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce was about the only constant as various musicians (including Kid Congo Powers of the Cramps, Patricia Morrison of Sisters of Mercy and Debbie Harry on backup vocals) and celebrity producers (Chris Stein of Blondie, Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins) came and went. The band formed in 1980 (when Blondie fan club chapter president Pierce met Ramones fan club chapter president Powers!) and continued in one form or another until Pierce's death in 1996. (Read the whole saga here.)

While they are pretty consistently interesting all the way through their run, I have a personal fondness for the earliest recordings. Here's a track off the first album, Fire of Love -- "Ghost on the Highway":

And from Miami, "Mother of Earth":

That is just scratching the surface - you could probably cruise YouTube and listen to them for a week! And if you still have some free time left, there's a great set of interviews with Kid Congo Powers online here (especially if you're a Cramps fan). Enjoy!

Music On Monday: Blood On the Saddle

Another of the 80s LA cowpunk bands, Blood on the Saddle was formed by guitar player and vocalist Greg Davis who said that because he liked punk, but he wasn't a punk, he tried to come up with a sound that combined all the things he liked. In the process, he formed what was probably one of the key cowpunk bands of the era, performing covers of songs like "Blood on the Saddle" (you're surprised, right?), "Ring of Fire" and "Wish I Was A Single Girl Again" along with the band's originals.

He added then-girlfriend Annette Zilinskas as vocalist before they recorded their first album (she is unfortunately better known for being an early bass player in the Bangles). They harmonized much in the same way that Exene and John Doe of X do (not surprising since their first date was at an X show!), but also, as Davis pointed out in an interview, the way that Johnny Cash and June Carter did. Unfortunately they only lasted a few years in this incarnation but they left behind a lot of great songs. Here's a live performance of one of my favorites, "Poison Love"

And here's an actual video for the song "Promise Your Heart to Me" -- well, it's one of those "let's lip-synch in the bed of a truck while driving around the city" videos, but still fun to see:

Someone, presumably connected with the band (or maybe just a fan) has set up a Blood On the Saddle YouTube channel -- these two videos can be found there as well as several rare live appearances and a 10-minute interview about the band with Greg David and Annette Zilinskas. If you enjoyed these two clips, definitely head on over and listen to more!

Music On Monday: Wall of Voodoo

The Stan Ridgway era Wall of Voodoo was an amazing band, which unfortunately is remembered by most people as a one-hit-wonder for the (semi) hit "Mexican Radio", which, well, okay, let's just get this over with:

You know it, everyone knows it, and truth be told it's pretty great. But MTV played it to death and it has totally overshadowed the rest of their work. Not that there's all that much of it - just two album's worth before the band broke up in 1983 (although two members immediately re-formed with a different line-up and continued to work under the name Wall of Voodoo*). A favorite track of mine was their cover of "Ring of Fire" -- I still have the 7"! You can hear the shortened single version here, but here's a great live version of the whole thing -- warning, the full version can make some people go crazy. Bail out anytime after about 3:15 if it's getting on your nerves.

Finally, what was probably my favorite song of theirs, "Call of the West". For me, this song totally sums up everything about Wall of Voodoo that I loved, the creepiness, the Morricone influence, the not-exactly-nostalgic feel for the West, and of course, Stan Ridgway's weird narration/vocal style.

Just about everyone in the band did lots more after they broke up (for the first time) in 1983, but I don't know that anything ever lived up to this handful of recordings that they made.

A funny bit of trivia: according to legend (i.e. Wikipedia), the band got their name when Stan Ridgway was playing some tracks for a friend (Joe Berardi of The Fibonaccis). Stan joked that the music had so many layers of organ and drum-machine it was like a "wall of sound", and Berardi countered that it sounded more like a "wall of voodoo". Stan, being no dummy, obviously realized that was a brilliant name and used it for the band. The funny part? The drum machine was a gift from voice actor Daws Butler. I say, "?!?"

*Personally, I was never a fan of of Wall of Voodoo 2.0 -- I know there are people who feel the exact opposite though, so feel free to check them out. Marc Moreland, the guitarist, was in both versions, and he was fantastic. So I thought maybe I should give them another chance, and I checked out their hit. Nope, still don't like them...but you may feel different!

Music On Monday: the Bluegrass Champs

Here's possibly the most hyper bunch I've ever seen on stage outside of a Minutemen show, the Bluegrass Champs with their winning performance of "Salty Dog Blues" on Arthur Godfrey's talent scouts in 1956. Donna Stoneman is bouncing all over the place while she plays! And especially check out their awesome Western outfits -- everyone's shirt bears the motif of the instrument that they are playing. Brilliant.

You can see the guy's shirts clearly in this press photo -- Donna isn't wearing hers, perhaps because sister Peggy had joined by now and she didn't have one!

The Bluegrass Champs were the group formed by the younger generation of the famous Stoneman family in 1955 - they took over the Stoneman Family name not much later and continued their energetic style for many years. Donna and Peggy, along with sister Ronnie are still performing, in fact! Here's a clip from 1965, looks like Donna is even more hyper -- seriously, how does she play while she jumps like that?

And finally, here's how we discovered the younger Stonemans -- performing in Road to Nashville (which, by the way, is worth fast forwarding through but a bit painful to watch). We were blown away when we saw them totally wigging out in the midst of a lot of soppy 60s Nashville artists. Just watch:

Now if all that doesn't perk you up on a Monday, I don't know what will! Have a great week!

Music On Monday: Rank And File

I grew up listening to my mom's folk records* (which included a lot of "cowboy" songs) -- I mean, we really sang stuff around the house like "Comin' Round the Mountain" and "Streets of Laredo", yes pretty square but I'm glad for it now. But the first Western music I bought that was my own was probably the album Sundown by Rank and File. My favorite track off it is "Coyote" but "The Conductor Wore Black", is a close second:

Being a kid, and having no real way to find out about bands then (no internet omg can you believe it) until I actually got my own copy of the LP I totally thought it was a male/female duet, like X. But it was actually harmonizing from two brothers, Tony and Chip Kinman (of Dils fame) as you can see in this live clip of them from the era:

I think I had all 3 albums on vinyl, but Sundown is the only one that has survived into my digital playlists. Maybe it really is their best (it's the only album they recorded with Alejandro Escovedo), maybe it's just because it recalls a certain time in my life. For whatever reason, I love them to this day.

*my father and uncles listened to psychedelic rock and prog rock. It was an interesting mix, to say the least. At least both of my parents listened to classical music, otherwise they'd have probably split up even sooner!