Nailing that quintessential NooYawk rock and roll sound but doing it in the Czech Republic is some feat but New York Junk nailed it.  It’s fair to say these cats are vets of the scene and been in the thick of the Bowery scene since its inception back in the ’70s and survived to tell the tail.  Getting Tarbeach Records to release the record of seven tunes recorded in the Czech Republic at the tail end of 2019 and mixed pre-pandemic these seven tunes are coming out on red vinyl.

It’s a simple formula.  Guitar, Bass and Drums and play from the heart, make it Rock and Roll – sing about what you see and believe in yourself then everything else is gravy.  You either have “it” or you don’t.  We know whos fakin’ it and who isn’t and on this evidence, you can take the people out of Noo Yawk but you can’t take the Noo Yawk outta the people.

New York Junk have released three previous records starting with ‘Passion of the 10th St Blues’ (2008), ‘Doing Time in New York City’ (2014), and ‘7 Train’ (2018). Their sound is somewhere between Thunders and The Stones with a bit of Lou Reed creeping in on some of the melodies but there are some real gems in here. I love side two from the more aggressive ‘Scared’ with a cool thump on the floor toms and strained vocals it’s fragile yet looking for trouble great opening tune to side two. The albums best track ‘Passion’ with its rather splendid Thunders dripping guitar solo the songs got a tonne of passion and it shines through.  They’re not reinventing the wheel here they’re just writing great tunes and relying on what’s pouring out of their hearts and spilling into the grooves of the record. Let’s stay with side two and the title track which is a repetitive riff that’s moving slowly and gently, for the most part, meandering through the cracks of the recording towards the solo sure it’s like a VU moment in time but that’s always going to be cool.

Anyway, Let’s continue as we flip flop back to side one and the opening blast of the ‘Gutter Angels’.  Like a poem to the Lower East Side leaning on the Voidoids or something Lou Reed might have penned. ‘She Don’t Care’ could have been borrowed from Walter Lure whilst ‘Walk My Dog’ is some Thunders homage and fairly standard. Closing off side one is ‘Don’t Cry For Me’ which sounds like we’ve just been dropped off in the early ’70s after finding out this time capsule is captained by Sylvain Sylvain and the cabin crew consists of Johansen and Killer Kane. Pure nostalgia done with care and a big smile – whats not to like?

All in all a really enjoyable seven tracks from New York Junk and for anyone who hankers for a slice of that time when giants walked the earth and strutted their stuff. Check it out if you’re smart enough and start ‘Dreamin’.

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Jeff Ward (ex Gunfire Dance guitarist and author), and Cynthia Ross (of ‘B’ Girls and New York Junk fame) bring their band ElectraJets to Berlin NYC on Saturday, September 7th; and to the UK in early November to celebrate their critically acclaimed first vinyl release, Transatlantic Tales, on Tarbeach Records.

Bob Bert (Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Lydia Lunch, Jon Spencer) is guesting on drums for the New York show along with Sarah Amina on violin and Danny Ray on sax.

Joining ElectraJets for their Record Release Party at Berlin are Beechwood and The Sweet Things. Both bands have recently returned from successful tours of Europe and the UK.

Accompanying ElectraJets on their UK dates are Brum garage rockers Black Bombers. The Bombers have recently released their second LP on Easy Action Records to uniformly excellent reviews. With Alan Byron on guitar and vocals (Horse Feathers), Dave Twist on drums (The Prefects/Jacobites/Filipinos), and ‘Rockin’ Ray Birch on bass and vocals (Walter Lure/Brian James Gang/Gunfire Dance), the Black Bombers boast an esteemed lineage.

Ozzie, (Gunfire Dance, UK WALDOS) is guesting with ElectraJets on drums in the UK.

Catch ElectraJets, Beechwood and The Sweet Things in New York City:

Saturday, September 7th at Berlin NYC

Catch ElectraJets and Black Bombers together for two special UK gigs:

Friday, November 8th at The Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham 

Saturday, November 9th, 2019 at The Unicorn in London 

 

Jeff Ward on vocals and guitar (Gunfire Dance, New York Junk), Cynthia Ross on bass, backing vocals and spoken word (The ‘B’ Girls, New York Junk, etc.), and  drummer Dahm Majuri-Cipolla (Phantom Family Halo, Mono) are ElectraJets.

Their debut LP Transatlantic Tales on TARBEACH RECORDS out fall 2019, while experimental in nature, has garnered praise from the most diehard trash ‘n’ rollers with Veglam declaring:

“ElectraJets Make Absolutely Epic Psychedelic Glam Masterpiece!” – veglam.com

 

 

“It’s a rocket through time and space, pulsating with an irresistible beat and likely to appeal to fans of Detroit protest music, Julian Cope’s Black Sheep and “Cut The Crap” busking. There’s something here for fans of Pretty Things or Blue Cheer, so beautiful it hurts Love & Rockets-style nocturnal pop, ’60s prog, ’70s glitter, Marc Bolan, Bowie and the Stones.”  – i94bar.com

 

The LP was recorded and engineered by noise guru Martin Bisi at BC Studio in New York City, produced and mixed by Jeff Ward, and mastered by Paul Gray in the UK.

Catch ElectraJets Transatlantic Tales live, on both sides of the Atlantic this fall.

ElectraJets – Facebook

Tarbeach Records 

The documentary filmmaker Danny Garcia has just completed his latest film. It took him a lot longer than expected to release it mainly due to the reasons he explained in our interview this didn’t help because when it first was mooted that Danny was shooting a doc about Stiv I along with many others got really excited but had to temper that excitement knowing these things take time. 
Well that time is here that time is right now folks ‘Stiv’ his the streets next month and RPM had an exclusive viewing of the film and we’re delighted to say it ticked every box with some amazing footage and clearly what is a  labour of love and a lot of heart and a lot of soul has been put into the making of this film. Danny has a rich history in Documentary film making with a few of his previous movies well worth investigating if you don’t already own them. ‘The Rise and Fall of The Clash’, ‘Looking for Johnny’ and Sad Vacation’ all previously released by Chip Baker films and all wonderfully detailed docs about punk rock icons to which you can now add ‘Stiv’. Sit back turn off your phone (unless your reading this on it) and get the popcorn Ladies and Gentlemen with such discernable taste (well you must have if you’re reading our interview about Stiv) let me introduce Danny Garcia a very talented Filmmaker and also a man of exquisite taste in music subject matter…
Firstly what made you decide to tell Stiv’s story?
I always liked Stiv and I actually met him briefly in 88 and I felt he was the nicest and most humble music-related person I have ever met until then. I loved his solo album and the first Dead Boys album and I was into the Lords as well. So I knew his career pretty well.
How long was it in planning? How do you approach making a documentary?
I just go for it. Sometimes I have no idea how I am going to be able to make it and pay for all the stuff I need so, for instance, this time we ended up raffling a Dead Boys tee shirt that used to belong to Stiv just so we could pay some bills.
Is it an enjoyable process doing all the research and digging into the detail of a subject like Stiv?
The research part has always interested me, ever since I started listening to records, reading the credits and the liner notes and so on. That’s what we many of us used to do. I know people who can tell you who the engineer was on some record. I’m not that mad I guess.
How helpful were the people who knew Stiv best?
The ones who ended up contributing to the film were really helpful. Especially Frank Secich, Jimmy Zero, Eddy Best, Dave Parsons, Theresa Kereakes, Devorah Ostrov, Cynthia Ross, Dave Treat, the Kierer brothers, Kurt Sunderman from Stiv’s first band Mother Goose, David Arnoff, John Lagdon, Vicki Sheppard, Suzy Shaw, etc. It’s impossible to name them all. So many of Stiv’s true friends came out of the woodwork to help us out with the film. Giving us their time and access to their footage, photography and music. Without them this wouldn’t have happened, I can tell you that much.
Did you uncover much you didn’t already know?
Yes! You always do when you talk to the people who were close to the subject. You just need to talk to Jimmy Zero for half an hour and the number of insane stories he’ll tell you about Stiv that you never heard of is just pure gold.
Is it a real time-consuming process flying all over to speak to the people you interviewed? Is it a question of patience?
That’s the best part of it for me. Travelling, meeting interesting people. I could do that every day. And yes, patience is the name of the game.
I guess I have to ask – a few key characters in Stiv’s life aren’t interviewed like Cheetah, Brian, Michael Monroe did you approach them or didn’t have the time or had the stories from people like Dave Tregunna?
Yes! They decided not to be in the film. I called that the natural selection. It always happens. You contact 50 people and only 30 ends up in the film. They’ll find a reason or other to write themselves out. And I’m fine with that because the story will always be told regardless. There are always other people who were there and witnessed what went down and will be willing to spill the beans.
I guess the dead boys have had their story told when cheetah wrote his book but it was great to see and hear from people like Dave Parsons and Tregunna about the wanderers period of his career as well as his solo stuff. Those guys really light up the movie.
Glad to hear that. The Daves were great and yes the Wanderers part is a very obscure episode of Stiv’s life so it was great to shed some light on that year.
I always felt the lords were an amazing story that needed to be told and I think the film covered this period really well saying what needed to be said without labouring in detail. Is time a big factor when telling a story like Stiv’s? He was a busy boy that’s for sure.
The original cut had way more info on the Lords but since Brian James didn’t cooperate and I didn’t have access to everything I wanted, I had to concentrate just on Stiv and what was going in his life rather than the band and the making of their albums and so on. I also wanted the film to be shorter than 90 minutes so I guess it was a blessing in disguise cause it made the film more dynamic with less gloom and doom.
Do you have a favourite period of his career? Dead boys? Lords? Wanderers? Solo?
To me, both his solo albums are superior to the rest of his work.
It was great to see people like Grant, Neil x and Nick Turner speak is there much on the cutting room floor? I’m sure a film like this could be twice as long.
Yes, I could do two more docs on Stiv with what I have.
Was there footage you couldn’t use?
Yes. We did an interview with Cheetah and he didn’t want to send us the release form. Basically, he stopped responding at some point. Also stuff we couldn’t afford. Archive footage, stuff like that.
It’s great to see all the early footage pre dead boys that’s real gold dust?
That stuff is unreal. Bob and Kevin Kierer who were friends of the Dead Boys filmed all of that Super 8 stuff and they’ve been sitting on it for 40 years plus. That’s just unbeievable stuff. Also, the Mother Goose footage provided by Kurt Sunderman is equally amazing.
When will fans be able to buy the DVD?
April.
Will there be any bonus footage?
Yes. There’s some great deleted scenes with more insane anecdotes and a Behind the scenes featurette with Jimmy Zero with is pretty hilarious actually.
What about a soundtrack cd and vinyl?
That’s coming out too on Record Store Day. And its got a great selection of material by the way.
Where does this movie rank along side your other work?
It’s the best film I’ve done to date. Period.
Was it easier to complete than the Sid film or looking for johnny?
No. Some of the soundtrack took us over 9 months to get the rights for. The film’s been sitting for a year waiting for all this legal stuff to get done. Really frustrating.
What next? How about a film on the cramps? Or Hanoi rocks?
Next one’s Brian Jones, I’ve been working at it for this last year while I waited for Stiv to be released.  I love The Cramps but Ivy is not into it and I already spoke to Nasty and Sami before I did Looking for Johnny about doing a docu on them and once the idea reached Andy and Michael… it died off. I’ve known Nasty and Sami since the 90’s. I interviewed Nasty a couple of times back then when he was doing Cheap & Nasty. Great guy.
I’m sure I speak for lots of fans when I say thanks for doing such a great job on some iconic legends that deserve the screen time and i/we’re so grateful for the love and passion put into your work its really appreciated.
Thank you. It is my pleasure to be able to cover the lives of these icons.
Finally, will there be posters of the film advert available to buy because the surf poster is so cool.
Yes! To me, it’s the best poster ever. Photo by the great John Lagdon by the way. Roadie and personal friend of Stiv. Bless him.
buy Danny Garcia DVD’s: Here
buy tickets for the London premiere: Here

Dom Daley.

When a term gets hijacked and used for bad things or at least if I were to say retro many would already have turned off but if I were to say T Rex, 60’s pop and walking on the darker side of the road inspired Noo Yawk Rock and Rollers from the shady recesses of the lower east side who tap into some of musics historic veins and draw inspiration then it means the same thing right? To me it does but not to others it would seem but when I drop a track from the new Beechwood record I hear ghosts from some of my favorites drifting through the laid back chilled out airwaves.  T Rex, for example, is all over ‘Bigot In My Bedroom’ and as good as Marc was he wasn’t Noo Yawk cool though was he as he strutted around Barnes and Roehampton.

‘Over On Everyone’ has a fantastic melody that could have been written by a pop-savvy Boys rather than their boys in the bar style and had hung out in the lofts with Andy and co. Beechwood ooze style and a laid-back class on this record (their second in less than a year) Clearly these cats can rock out and I wouldn’t mind betting Keith and Mick features heavily in their collection but so would The Beach Boys and the Everleys as some of the melodies are forged in the past.  Take ‘Nero’ and its biting guitar riff that shows a doff of the cap to Ron Asheton and his Stooges for sure and me not being a fan of the instrumental I love this and its groove.

There is a darkness that hits upon the likes of the Jesus And Mary Chain on ‘I Found You Out’ from the roaring chords to the hushed tones on the lead vocals to the clean picked guitar lick its certainly got style and substance and then as it crashes to its conclusion its followed up with the 60’s pop of ‘Up And Down’ and before we’re done here the beautiful ‘I Don’t Blame You Anymore’ is a killer tucked away nicely at the death and it kinda falls into the country-tinged drink up its time to go home of ‘Our Love Was Worth The Heartbreak’ that sounds like the Dolls jammin with Keith n mick and shooting the breeze with Bukowski whilst he’s observing these barflies.

Another day another great band falls out of the club and onto my ever-expanding list of bands to keep an eye on, on the basis of them making great records that look good and sound better.  Get yourselves some Beechwood I’m serious you be glad you did.  Remember kids you snooze you looze!

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BEECHWOOD upcoming European tour dates :
November 13 @ Merleyn — Nijmegen, NL
November 14 @ Paard — Den Haag, NL
November 15 @ Patronaat — Haarlem, NL
November 16 @ Q Factory — Amsterdam, NL
November 17 @ Espace B — Paris, FR
November 18 @ Kesaco — Puymirol, FR
November 19 @ Stereolux — Nantes, FR
November 21 @ Blah Blah — Torino, IT
November 22 @ Arci Taun — Findenza, IT
November 23 @ Cox 18 — Milano, IT
November 24 @ Super Bock Under fest — Lausanne, CH
November 27 @ Les Pavillons Sauvages — Toulouse, FR
November 28 @ Amperage — Grenoble, FR
November 29 @ Le 106 — Rouen, FR
November 30 @ La Bulle Cafe — Lille, FR
December 1 @ La Grange à Musique — Creil, FR
December 2 @ Le Galion — Lorient, FR