Sonny Vincent of Testors, Pentagram frontman Bobby Liebling, Slime drummer Alex Schwers, Dawnrider guitarist Hugo Conim and U.D.O./Dirkschneider guitarist Dee Dammers, with Alex Farrar on bass, this, ladies and gentlemen, is indeed a super group, with the emphasis being super. Loud, in your face, zeor fuck given, The Limit are a collision of punk, hard rock and metal produced with care and attention to detail and bringing the finest out of the performers.
The emphasis is on the songs that are ringing with attitude and a menace in the delivery – Christ, if a former heavyweight like, for instance, Guns N ‘ Roses released ‘Calling Card,’ the fan base and media would wet their collective panties with excitement and praise. Vincent is on fire- no, make that FUCKIN FIRE! In-your-face hard rock being rinsed from his fretboard with passion for what he’s doing and a belief in the music. It’s not predictable in fact, it’s unpredictable, flying by the seat of its pants. It’s dangerous, but most importantly of all, it’s great songs.
Every chord matters; every vocal is delivered like they truly mean it. The other great thing is this album has fifteen of the bloody bangers for your consumption. I’ll say it here I’ve always been a fan of Sonny Vincent, especially his solo stuff and the various guises he’s released records with. My introduction to Liebling was the debut Litmit record, and to be fair, I saw the fly-on-the-wall doc about his struggles, and it’s great to hear him in such fine fettle here. ‘Another Drop’ is feral, carefree and defies age. Let’s be honest, these aren’t kids here, but they teach the kids a thing or two about how it’s done. ‘Stalemate’ is full of boundless energy and a great melody its like a runaway train careering right into your ears.
If you want snotty punk n roll, then look no further than ‘Sidetracked ‘. What a tune this is; it’ll be in your head for days and reignite your love for loud, energetic punk n roll.
These guys don’t follow; they lead. It’s a record void of studio trickery masking the talent. It’s all out there for you to hear. The Limit have once again delivered an exceptional record that any discerning rock n rolla should hunt down immediately: no bullshit, just steaming hot rock n roll played from the heart and kicking out the motherfuckin’ jams, baby – buy this record!
Episode 35 sees banger after banger from all corners of the Rock n ROll world ripping out of the speakers – so turn it up peeps and get down to the likes of openers Thr Drips who kick things off with the opening track of their album ‘Broken’.
After playing the A side last week it seems only fair to play the catchy ‘You Got Me Hummin’ from the wonderful Head Hunters. you need to get over to Bandcamp and pick this up before they’re all gone.
Quickly followed by a track off Californian punks Bloodstains who are singing about ‘Public Hangings’. This four-piece include Brothers David and Nick Espinoza. you should check em out.
Coming thick and fast we bring you a song off the brand new His Lordship live album ‘Live At The Lexington’ and it’s the opening track ‘I Live In The City’ turn it up and play it loud and look forward to their next jaunt around the country but until then this will do very nicely thank you very much. They very much take a traditional approach to Loud 50 and 60s rock n roll and turn it up and kick out the jams I’m sure JErry Lee and Little Richard would be down with these cats.
One of the best exports over the last 30 years from the UK has to be the mighty Dogs D’Amour and this new box set that’s on the horizon from Cherry Red Records that pulls together the bands entire China catalogue including B-sides and live tracks its eight discs of ragged Rock n Roll. I love this version of ‘I Don’t Want You To Go’ the band were peerless and have a catalogue of albums and singles that were a head and shoulders from Tylas unmistakable husky poetic lyrics and vocals to Jo Dogs distinct style and licks that elevated each and every track perfectly and when Jo left Darrell did a sterling job right through to Steves punchy Bass lines and excellent backing vocals to Bams flamboyant style that pulled it all together. It’s a magnificent song from a magnificent band that should have been absolutely huge.
Next on the playlist is a project from Chain Whip frontman Pack Rat who release the album on Drunken Sailor Records in a couple of weeks this is another fantastic slice of Power Poppin Punk rock. ‘Sleepless’ is the song played and I’m excited to hear the rest of the album. The artwork is magnificent and at Drunken Sailor Prices you’d be mad to pass this by.
Following that new song is a classic live cut from the Bob Mould compendium of solo or post Husker Du work that came out over several awesome box sets and this is a live cut from Distortion Live ‘New Day Rising’.
UK Subs have a new EP out with Dead Boys the EP is called ‘Carnaby Street’ and the track played is a cover of the Stones classic ‘Paint It Black’. Another new album on the way in August and some UK tour action is none other than Swami John Reis and his latest project Swami & The Bed Of Nails so its a no brainer we were going to play one of the new songs entitled ‘Privacy’.
Its no coincidence that Chain Whip feature this week as well seeing as Pack Rat is on the way and Chain Whip just put out their new album and to be fair Patrick McEachnie is on fire as ‘Call Of The Knife’ smashes out of your speakers. I delved back a decade next and played a track from the eclectic Brandy Row & The Troubadours who play the fantastic Thunders esk ‘Dirty Street’ Not enough music came from the former Gaggers guitar slinger but we live in hope.
Sonny Vincent has been around the block and back again with a wonderful catalogue from his Testors days through his solo releases and the collaboration called The Limit released also on Svart Records. The track is lifted from his last studio album ‘Snake Pit Therapy‘ and this is ‘Messed Up In Blue’. It seems right to play a track from someone who came out of the same scene as Sonny – none other than the legend Stiv Bator with ‘Circumstantial Evidence’ taken from his LA sessions.
As we head into the home straight how about some classic London power pop punk rock from Los Pepes who never ever let you down with their bright and breezy take of melodic buzzsaw punk rock. They’ve released an impressive catalogue and here’s ‘Still Belong To Me’.
As we head into the past three songs its our first band from Austria in the shape of Tours with their new single ‘Language School’ injecting yet more power pop goodness into proceedings.
Smokers is another new band with a new track called ‘Irish Tenor’ These Oakland punks released their debut LP, The Rat That Gnawed the Ropeand is a really excellent album that we’ll review over the next week. Finally, we reach the end with a cut from the brand new Torme box set released by Cherry Red Records it features predominantly the Phil Lewis era of his work with Back To Babylon and Die Pretty and the live Bootleg album which we’ve got the track ‘Star’ to play out Episode 35 and I hope another show where we’ve brought you a whole bunch of top tunes. Let us know what else we should be playing or what you want to hear. Like – Share and Follow
Chuck Norris Experiment – ‘This Will Leave A Mark’
Mike McKinnon – ‘Silent Like A Bomb’
The Boatsmen – ‘Verses The Boatsmen’
Governess – ‘Never Going Home’
Dead Furies – ‘Midnight Ramble’
Johnny Hayward –
Sami Yaffa – ‘The Innermost Journey to Your Outermost Mind’
The Bronx – ‘VI’
Rich Ragany & The Digressions – ‘Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache’
Mike McKinnon – ‘Silent Like A Bomb’
Gary Numan – ‘Intruder’
Nestor – ‘Kids In A Ghost Town’
Table Scraps – ‘Coffin Face’
Green Lung – ‘Black Harvest’
Watts – ‘Shady Rock & Rollers’
Chuck Norris Experiment – ‘This Will Leave A Mark’
Also recommended
Razorbats – ‘Mainline Rock N Roll’, Wonk Unit – ‘Uncle Daddy’, Black Spiders – ‘Black Spiders’, The Limit – ‘Caveman Logic’, Alice Cooper – ‘Detroit Stories’, Death By Unga Bunga – ‘Heavy Male Insecurity’, Bitch Queens – ‘Custom Dystopia’, The Chisel – ‘Retaliation’, Roger Taylor – ‘The Outsider’, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – ‘Raise The Roof’
Ben Hughes
Vintage Trouble – ‘Juke Joint Gems’
Sami Yaffa – ‘The Innermost Journey To Your Outermost Mind’
Ryan Hamilton – ‘1221’
The Brothers Steve – ‘Dose’
Alabama 3 – ‘Step 13’
Delilah Bon – S/T
Steve Conte – ‘Bronx Cheer’
Jesse Malin – ‘Sad And Beautiful World’
Amyl and The Sniffers – ‘Comfort To Me’
Captain Future – ‘Ghostman’
Dom Daley
Sami Yaffa – ‘The Innermost Journey To Your Outermost Mind’ (Livewire)
Jesse Malin – ‘Sad And Beautiful World’ (Wicked Cool Records)
Richard Bacchus & The Luckiest Girls – ‘Viva La Wattage’ (Sioux Records)
Sonny Vincent – ‘Snake Pit Therapy’ (Svart Records)
Killer Hearts – ‘Skintight Electric’ (Spaghetty Town Records)
Sonny Vincent, perhaps the ultimate Punk Rock’n’Roll survivor. He may not be a household name or even show up on your atypical ‘punk’ Spotify algorithm playlist, but he has led a life and acquired a CV that cannot be overlooked or dismissed. Having worked with an array of different musicians deep inside the pop culture subconscious from the Stooges to the Damned, from the Velvets to the Replacements, and seemingly everyone in between.
With all this and his countless solo offerings, you would be knee-deep for months trying to do an inventory of his Discogs page in order to ascertain what number we are at with the current release ‘Snake Pit Therapy’. Kicking off with a couple of solid alt-rock and garage punk-tinged tracks, it’s the third song on this record, ‘The End Of The Light’, that really picks you up and starts brawling off of the speakers. Bob Mould esque in all the right places (this guy really truly knows how to get the right guitar sound). Minneapolis certainly rubbed off on this guy. And the same can be said straight after on ‘The Rain Is Black Again’, less of a brawler and more of a fun, upbeat anthem drenched in Californian or Frisco sunshine. Catchy as hell.
It’s hard not to admire Sonny’s honest, weather-worn lyrics. Songs like ‘Never Tired’ hitting you full throttle, revealing to the listener what it’s like walking in his shoes on a seemingly endless journey, yet showing us almost endless optimism in the next breath. Listening to the lines in ‘Another Land’; not looking back because of the hurt but still dusting yourself off and moving forward. ‘Ruby Diamond’ is a freight train hitting a borrowed riff of ‘Train Kept A Rolling’ but amped up and spat out. Sonny may never be nominated to be poet laureate but what he says is beautiful yet rough around every last edge, like a rock’n’roll Mickey Rourke.
A great attribute for this record is that it’s a good starting point for those, like me, who are uninitiated with the majority of Sonny’s work. The record itself is an all-rounder for showing off his wears but builds a fire inside and a desire to seek out the rest. We all know too often how intimidating it can be to break into an artist’s substantial body of work. You needn’t worry in this case, ‘Snake Pit Therapy’ will slip into your record collection, as comfy as an old pair of Converse offering the listener the best jumping-off point to deep dive further.
Sonny is the legend in your lifetime with a heart as big as a bass drum pounding out tunes with relentless quality and craft, grab it now rather than reading up on it 30+ years from now full of envy for the past.
There are plenty of things the world needs now like a way out of a Global pandemic, less Trump and Johnson, and more considerate and caring society. Less selfish social media hungry liars and self-centered oxygen thieves. We need a return to live shows and people being kind not so much a return to normal because it was the normal that got us into this shit show in the first place.
First-world problems like big businesses not forcing independent artists and labels to wait whilst the plants press up a bazillion more Fleetwood mac and Coldplay reissues. One thing we certainly need is another Sonny Vincent album and hey presto as if by magic those fine people at Svart have delivered ‘Snake Pit Therapy’ same title as his recent book release this is unbridled Sonny Vincent at his finest. Launched over fifteen tracks ‘Snake Pit Therapy enters the ether with the abrasive sweet and sour ‘Stick’ with its trademark scathing sawblade six-string attack but it’s a measured opening with melody and cool as rhythm section building up to an explosive solo al be it brief and to the point. In less than two minutes I’m sitting comfortably waiting for the avalanche of earworms courtesy of Vincent and he doesn’t disappoint.
‘Messed Up In Blue’ is a smokey North West San Fran melody stuck to an upbeat rhythm. Jangly acoustic guitars adding a sweet layer. ‘The End Of Light’ punches in like Bob Mould fronting an undiscovered RFTC tune. Another great song as Vincent lays it out there lyrically. By the time we’re only four songs deep into this voyage and there is a subtle difference here with some really cool melodies jostling front and center over the whiplash guitar work (which is still evident but not overbearing).
‘Can’t Absorb’ is laid back almost horizontal with a gentle strum on the electric guitar and pushing Vincents vocal to the fore and one compliments the other really well. Something I’ve always found when playing a Sonny Vincent album is the detail paid to the arrangement and this is all of that but there’s something else here maybe a maturity or the extended break has given Sonny the time to shake things up musically, whatever it is its clearly paying dividends because he’s produced a really great piece of work here.
‘Higher Than Charlie’ is a hip-shaking garage romp that’s bursting with energy a real tour de force and we’re only at the midpoint. The record takes a slight detour at this point with some really impressive Garage Rock and Roll pouring out of the speakers ‘Get Out’ is on a huge groove and exits on some awesome dueling guitar work. ‘Japan Mofo’ on the other hand is a slice of rapid Rock and Roll that a real beauty, fast and furious from a – z.
Brand new album from living legend Sonny Vincent (Testors/The Limit). Vincent’s new album “Snake Pit Therapy” is raw, real-deal blazing Protopunk with lashings of Psychedelia and Hard Rock, all taken to the edge with Sonny’s Vincent’s secret weapons, the naked aggression in his passionate voice and his trademark caustic guitar. 15 tracks of electrifying shock-treatment, with catchy, primal screams and searing melody, “Snake Pit Therapy” is just what the doctor ordered. Songs like “The End of Light” and “Never Tired” with their heart-ripped open choruses are visceral, vital and urgent.
Vincent’s new album “Snake Pit Therapy” is raw, real-deal blazing Protopunk with lashings of Psychedelia and Hard Rock, all taken to the edge with Sonny’s Vincent’s secret weapons, the naked aggression in his passionate voice and his trademark caustic guitar. If there is an honesty which runs through the bones in “Snake Pit Therapy” it’s because Sonny Vincent’s life and antics are more than legend, they are real, as documented in his recent book bearing the same title as this very album. In and out of homes for bad kids, committed to the Psych Ward for observation and forcibly conscripted into a tour of duty in Vietnam courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corp, Sonny Vincent’s experience of wild and tough living has awarded his songs hardness with humanity. Sincerity without mawkishness, “Snake Pit Therapy” is a glorious testament to real Rock ‘n’ Roll.
15 tracks of electrifying shock-treatment, with catchy, primal screams and searing melody, “Snake Pit Therapy” is just what the doctor ordered. Songs like “The End of Light” and “Never Tired” with their heart-ripped open choruses are visceral, vital and urgent. Sonny Vincent has venom in his fangs, and his song-writing is razor sharp.
Burning with underground spirit, never standing still, Sonny Vincent is the ultimate undestroyable outsider, most recently exploding the airwaves with his new heavy Punk Metal band The Limit, featuring Bobby Liebling of Pentagram, and garnering glowing reviews worldwide. While playing with some of the genre’s most influential names during a career which has spanned over 3 decades and 28 albums without compromise, Vincent’s music remains die hard, high octane, high voltage and high class.
“Snake Pit Therapy” rocks with a heart-heavy passion, savage smarts, and tunes that can reunite you with your own bastard youth. Are you ready to get your head rearranged by a man whose music mixes irresistible melody with a powerful and raw sound that’s more potent than a cornered king cobra? If so, you’re in urgent need of “Snake Pit Therapy”!
A rough and tumble collection of memories, poetry, and fiction from Sonny Vincent. Now I wasn’t going to turn that down to review was I? No sir. Sonny Vincent one of those Rock and Roll rebels whos always operated outside the box be it when Punk was kicking off he was punk rock personified and yet never got the credit others got even if they weren’t worthy of lacing his shoes. He didn’t complain because he knew the life he was choosing – or what chose him wasn’t your ordinary life but one of a true artist, writer-creator of music that meant something. Sonny isn’t one for complaining and when life throws him lemons he puts them under his heel and makes lemonade.
He not been creating or releasing much over the past few years due to family business he took care of but there was still plenty of music hitting the streets be it Testors tributes or pre-Testors records. Solo releases and collaborations that are hitting the shops as I type like The Limit but nobody saw this pocket sized little piece of writing Sonny was working on to go hand in hand with his music. ‘Snake Pit Therapy’ is a neat little tome that fits right in your back pocket. For when you’re riding the subway train or sitting on the bus its just shy of 100 pages but it’s like a bit of Bukowski – dipping and out and for raising a giggle or a wry smile out of the corner of your mouth because the owner of one of these cool books just knows.
Starting off when Sonny was twelve and stories of skipping school not fitting in all the things you kinda knew that made the man. You don’t have to concentrate or rush to finish the chapter because there aren’t any and it’s like a conversation with someone you know but don’t know. Its a cool concept and the writing is engaging and fresh which makes all the difference. If Sonny was on the same bus as me I’d always sit next to him and listen to his ramblings – you know these ones he’s written in this here book. The stories are cool like his piece on Rock Action. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a writer gush over drummers before but hey why not? Music needs em as much as the bass player or the guitar slinger right? Right. I’m sure if Scott can read this from wherever he is in the afterlife he’d be chuffed and his soul warmed by the tribute.
Sonny Vincent is one talented guy and his writing is another string to his bow be it musician, songwriter and now author added to his resume. Trust Vincent to think outside the box again buy it if you can kids it’s a pocket rocket of sunshine writing from one of America’s real genuine talents.
In more sane times perhaps the world at large wouldn’t be sat at home losing their shit on social media about which no hope celebrity it is singing autotuned bollocks whilst dressed up as some comic creature. No, maybe, just maybe they’d all be sat at home losing their shit over the fact that legendary punk rocker Sonny Vincent and doom metal pioneer Bobby Liebling have somehow managed to record perhaps one of the best albums of their careers in ‘Caveman Logic’, the soon to be released debut album from their supergroup The Limit.
Also along for the thrill in this perhaps most unlikely of unions are guitarist Hugo Conim and drummer João Pedro Ventura from Portuguese band Dawnrider plus on bass Jimmy Recca once of the Stooges and Ron Asheton’s New Order, and together, boy oh boy do these guys kick up one hell of a glorious racket.
Opening track ‘Over Rover’ perfectly sets the scene for what’s on offer here, somehow seamlessly blending doom laden Sabbath-y guitars with Liebling spitting out a soulful variation on his distinctive vocal style and in turn sounding not a million miles away from the singer’s singer, Scott Morgan. It’s exciting stuff that’s for sure, the band sounding very much like it’s on a mission to prove that great rock music really should have no boundaries, or in fact genres, and in ‘Black Sea’ the lead single from the record, they somehow also manage to add to a tinge of gothic attitude to the type of amazing music that should have made the likes of Radio Birdman (other great garage punk bands are available) superstars a hundred times over.
‘These Days’ and ‘Human Vs Nature’ continue with the frantic in your face born in a garage style that The Limit quickly adopts as their own before ‘Fleeting Thoughts’ slows things down to let Vincent shine on a guitar chug that Steve ‘Guitar Hero’ Jones would have been proud to have penned.
Elsewhere the album’s title track sees The Limit pushing the button marked Stooges on the control desk, whilst ‘Sir Lancelot’ sees Liebling deliver yet another fantastic soul charged vocal that wouldn’t seem out of place amongst The Hydromatics or The Sonics back catalogues.
At one minute thirty five seconds in length ‘Life’s Last Night’ is perhaps the band’s defining musical statement, a total middle finger to convention, and a joyous celebration of everything great about this band. Likewise ‘When Life Gets Scorched’ and ‘Kitty’s Gone’ are tunes set to take the eyebrows off anyone who might be sitting too close to their speakers at the time, and it’s only during the more pensive ‘Death Of My Soul’ and the swaggering album closer ‘Enough’s Enough’ where you finally get a chance to draw breath and reflect on what has gone before.
Album-wise 2021 has certainly got off to a fantastic start and with the thirty six minutes of music The Limit are about to gift us all with ‘Caveman Logic’ it’s definitely reached one of its most interesting and surprising points yet. Make a date in your diary for 9th of April 2021, get your copy of ‘Caveman Logic’ via the links below, then on the date in question pour yourself a well-deserved libation, drop this bad boy on the stereo, and then prepare to fall in love with great rock ‘n’ roll music all over again. Essential!!!!
Punk & Doom originators go straight to the soul of heavy rock on their new album Caveman Logic to be released via Svart Records on the 9th of April 2021. New single Black Sea out the 22nd of January 2021. Video out now!
More than a super-group, The Limit goes over the edge, to deliver real-deal, soulful Rock and Roll. Consisting of members of legendary Punk instigators The Stooges, the founders of Doom Rock Pentagram, legendary NYC Punk originators Testors and infamous Portuguese metal band Dawnrider, The Limit break out from the foundations of heavy rock and defy all expectations, to show a new generation what doom and punk really means. On the new album Caveman Logic, Bobby Liebling, singer and main-man of Pentagram, one of the originators of early Doom Rock and an inspiration for generations of Heavy Rock fans, on vocals, gives the performance of his career, singing like his life depended on it. Sonny Vincent, enigmatic legend of the early NYC Max’s Kansas City, CBGB Punk scene with his band Testors, having been on the road and recording with members of The Velvet Underground, lays down the guitar driven songs, his writing bearing all the hallmarks of ground-breaking Rock history in it’s filthy DNA. Phenomenal bass playing from Jimmy Recca, ex- The Stooges, and Ron Asheton’s New Order, gives The Limit the intense and world-class, speaker-destroying bottom end. Joined by Hugo Conim on Guitar and João Pedro Ventura on Drums from Portugese band Dawnrider, The Limit fuses star-dust pedigree with an organic incendiary chemistry that’s instantly raw and real. A dream come true to those that know their Doom/Punk history, The Limit brings the past right up to date on Caveman Logic, with an essential, burning passion at the heart of their songs. Seldom has a collaboration of well known stars in music sounded so vigorous and frenzied as The Limit’s caveman-like roar. The Limit is an astoundingly fresh and hot-blooded shot to the veins that Heavy Rock needs in this day and age. Conjured forth by stone-age pioneers, Caveman Logic goes to the heart of impassioned Heavy Rock and Punk, to deliver the basic and vital elements often missing in so much of today’s music. If you want primitive and straight to the soul primal rock, fresh from the grave and exhumed for a new unwitting future, look no further than Caveman Logic. This is it. This is as far as it goes. The Limit!
Canadian Label Yeah Right Records have put together a pretty impressive compilation album to download and today is the last chance to download it as they’re tallying up the proceeds to send off to the charity so don’t hesitate.
There’s a common saying that goes back centuries which states that evil prevails when good people do nothing. We’re witnessing the culmination of years of outrage at a lack of justice as it spills out into the city streets. Things have to change. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and we step aside so that their voice may be more clearly heard.
Cover art features an iconic image of Tommie Smith from the 1968 Olympic Games, raising a black-gloved fist on the medal podium while receiving his gold medal for the 200 metre dash.
If you want a few pretty good rock and roll reasons to dig deep then let’s not shy away from 31 bands from 15 cities, each artist appears courtesy of themselves. The exclusive songs on offer like the Awesome Black Halos demo of ‘For You’ or The Streetwalkin Cheetahs who bring ‘Scorpio Rising’ now if that’s not enough reason to part with $7 I don’t know what is. But hold your horses because there’s more Sick Things add some much-needed cowbell with ‘You Know It Aint Right’. But wait the excellent ancient Shapes rock up with ‘Separation Anxiety’.
Christ, Red Army are on here as well as Tricky Woo damn this might just be one of the best compilation albums ever never mind this year. Dboy and The Spitfires have entries as well haha! I’m laughing as I think its a steal at such a low buy-in as you get so much bang for your buck and it would be remiss of me to not let you know that Biters are on here as well as the super sleazy rock and roll bubblegum rock of Midnight Towers.
There’s a whole host of new bands on me as well that now need investigating and if they’re on a comp as good as this and a label as cool as Yeah Right then I’d be pretty fuckin stupid to not check em out. Don’t delay folks as this supports a great cause which is really the main thrust of it but to get this much cool music is a bonus.
Never stop fighting good causes and a huge amount of kudos to all the bands and the label for getting behind this. Rock for good causes kids you know it makes sense.
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