Sea Hags – ‘Dead And Gone’ (Liberation Hall)

Sea Hags – ‘Dead And Gone’ (Liberation Hall)

Not sure what catagory the Sea Hags belonged in back in the day they were lazily lumped in with the glam rock brigade but this band of brothers never really belonged in with that lot and had much more to do with the darker side of early Aerosmith and the likes of the MC5 and Stooges to my ears and more power to them. Only surviving for one album, and years later, a few semi-official demo releases crept out into the bargain bins of the cool record stores around the globe, but this latest offering is ten tracks of prime grade sleazy loud rock n roll.

Famed for having Kirk Hammett play on their demos and a run of live shows supporting some of the finest punk bands crawling the circuit at the time, The Sea Hags were a lean, mean rockin’ machine, and this live, rough and ready set will attest that to be the case. So there’s no ‘Half The Way Valley’ or explosive ‘Bumbed Creek’, but there is a sleazy ‘Doghouse’ and brain-busting ‘Back To The Grind’. On another day, this band coulda shoulda…you know the drill. Rock’ n roll is littered with bands we all think should have been huge had it not been for Ego, Drugs, Drink, women, death, or all of the aforementioned well Sea Hags fit that bill perfectly.

On September 3, Sea Hags stepped in front of an audience of 60 enthusiastic fans at CD Studios. It’s this live demo recording that is now making its official debut on CD & digital. ‘Dead & Gone‘ captures Sea Hags delivering a type of sleaze rock that would soon be highly bankable on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Opener ‘Huntin’ for Dad’ with Yocom’s snarling vocals, followed by additional newly-discovered nuggets like the swaggering ‘Happy Hours with You’, reminds me of the swagger the Heartbreakers once had complete with howling feedback and gang vocals and the grind of ‘Dead and Gone’, it’s well worth investing in for fans of that album.
 
Despite its low budget, the demo served its purpose. Sea Hags were signed to Chrysalis Records in December 1987. But at the label’s insistence, Langston would be replaced, and a second guitarist was added. The original trio was defunct as Sea Hags entered the studio with producer Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction) to record their eponymous debut album. That album would include new versions of “Doghouse” and “Back to the Grind,” two tracks which appear in earlier versions on ‘Dead & Gone‘ but alas not here.  The title track is a belter, as is the Perry and Hamilton groove of ‘Chicken Boys’. Man, the groove of ‘Love Kills’ is still a pulse increasing thang and I might not have heard it in 30 years but boy is it a killer tune with a great vocal.
 
Within ten months of the release of the Sea Hags’ major label debut, the band had imploded, cracks became casms with over 300 shows done, and the lure of the big major label had taken hold.
 
Rest in Peace, Sea Hags, for you left a great looking corpse and one and done of what could and should have been. Take a listen, raise a glass and turn it up, ladies and gentlemen, the Sea Hags.  

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JUNKYARD “Old Habits Die Hard” CD/LP/T-Shirt Bundle Pre-sale!

JUNKYARD “Old Habits Die Hard” CD/LP/T-Shirt Bundle Pre-sale!
Acetate Records unleashes Junkyard’s previously unreleased 1992 album “Old Habits Die Hard” on November 22!
“Junkyard is not a band from the 80s. Junkyard is not a band from the 90s. Junkyard is pure kick-ass bar-hopping motorcycle-ridin’ rock n roll that seems as relevant today as when they first started.” – Riki Rachtman

Junkyard opens the vault and blows the dust off a killer collection of recordings slated as the follow up to 1991’s “Sixes, Sevens and Nines.” Guitarist Brian Baker’s (Bad Religion, Minor Threat) opening riff serves up the concoction of raucous, bittersweet, bloozy rock that follows. Loose and tight in good measure, with stomping beats and dual guitars zigzagging around David Roach’s raspy howl… make no bones about it – this band could play.
The strut and swagger of “Pushed You Too Far” and the soulful “Tried & True” are balanced by the slow, dirge of “Blue Sin” and the melancholic duet “Hangin’ Around With My Dreams.” “Old Habits” recalls everything from Sticky Fingers-era Stones and ZZ Top to the Ramones and Lynyrd Skynyrd (who they toured with in ’91). More than anything else, though, it sounds like Junkyard.
Back in 1992, Junkyard was a well-oiled machine, their previous two releases performed well, they had multiple videos in rotation on MTV, and successful club and arena tours under their belt. Looking to infuse more of their musical sensibilities into their third effort, they began writing and recording and in a short few months, they had compiled over 20 songs. The new material reflected more of their alt/punk roots, which wasn’t much of a directional change considering their strong punk pedigree.
But the major label’s rush to jump on the next “popular music trend” quickly led to Junkyards demise. “At this point, Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album had been out a few months and we all kinda knew which way the wind was blowing,” singer David Roach recalls, “we didn’t really ‘officially’ break up as a band, it was as simple as the party’s over.” So, with zero fanfare, the band members signed their release paperwork from Geffen (a whopping 2 page fax), gathered their gear and parted ways… the tapes were left to gather dust in the vaults.
Twenty years later, Geffen re-released the first two Junkyard albums and once again, the band was in demand. Tours of Japan and Europe followed, including a headlining slot at Serie Z Festival in Spain, and the band started writing again. In early 2017, Junkyard released “High Water”, their first full-length album in 26 years on LA indie, Acetate Records. The album peaked at 24 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Charts and Junkyard once again played to packed houses across America and Europe. With the band back in form, it seemed like the right time to dust of the tapes.
“Old Habits Die Hard” pretty well summarizes where the band was at the time,” Roach continues, “The addition of Tim Mosher (yes, way back then) brought another element to what Chris Gates and I had been doing. So it was the hard rock, blues, southern thing plus some more melodic and punk which was also a natural course considering where we came from.”
“During the months we recorded these songs we were in various stages of dealing with Geffen. Trying to write a single, but also trying to not care and write for ourselves. The songs indicate the direction we were ultimately not able to take until all these years later.”
“Old Habit’s Die Hard” will be released via streaming, CD and ‘Beer’ colored vinyl on November 22, 2019. A limited number of signed LPs will also be available via acetate.com.

A limited number of signed LPs will also be available!

Track Listing:
1. Introduction
2. Pushed You Too Far
3. Out Cold
4. Tried & True
5. Fall To Pieces
6. Blue Sin
7. Holdin’ On
8. Staredown
9. I Come Crawling
10. Hangin’ Around
11. Take Me Home
12. One Foot In The Grave