posted 2010-07-18
The best new band in rock'n'roll consists of four dudes named:
Chex- Vocals / Alan Byron - Guitar / Darren Birch - Bass Guitar / Tim James - Drums/
At least summa these black leather clad rakes hail from Birmingham, England... Home of Duran Duran, the Jacobites, Bounty Hunters, Wizzard, Slade, The Move, Ozzy, and Dexy's Midnite Runners etc., etc. If these glorified demos are any indication whatsoever, with minimal investment on behalf of someone with a label, for promotion and improved production value, BLACK BOMBERS could EASILY become a major, major band. The rock'n'roll people are STARVED to hear a band as genuine as this. It takes a few repeated listenings for vocalist, Chex' vocal stylings to win you over, because he has a real voice of his own, which is fine by me, cos I've had it up to here with America's Broadway belters, navel-gazing rappers, and cock-metal screechers. I've been listening for an original, such as this cat Chex, it's been a long time. Their first song, "Junk Sickness" is an instant hit, as Alan Byron plays this amazingly infectious, Mister Ratboy riff straight out of vintage Pillbox. At first play, one thinks to hisself, "Dis guy ain't no Chris Barry", as all those crazy guitars flail away Sour Jazz style, but as I've stated, as soon as Chex has a chance to define himself, the whole thing lifts-off. Here come the perfect Faces/Hollywood Brats style piano-poundings, back to dat crazy Motorcycle Boy guitar, split, leave 'em wanting more. I dunno where Darren Birch found the singer, but I may like him even better than his former cohort, Jez, from the Headhunters, and Brian James Gang.
If you're familiar with Birchy's early 90's band, GUNFIRE DANCE, innovative garage rockers, equal parts white boy soul, and emotional glamour punk, you're certain to be "sleazed and pleased", as we used to say in the old trash-punk fanzines, by Black Bombers. GUNFIRE DANCE, along with THEE HYPNOTICS, GODFATHERS, and the abovementioned PILLBOX, were summa the leading groups me and my gang called, "Post-Glam", who really shook, rattled, and rolled us, as teenagers. The Gunfires featured this really special, Bolanesque, singer by the name of ANT, who had this really gutsy PATTI SMITH quality, he was a TRUE ROCKER, through and through, cut from the same cloth as STIV BATOR, CLAUDE from SMACK, or JIM JONES from Thee Hypnotics. There was really no one like him, which is essential to real rock'n'roll, you bring your own stardust, and it was an aching loss, for his peers, pen-pals, fans, friends, and family, for everyone that was touched by him, to lose someone so special, just a few years back. He was a TRUE STAR. We, the rock'n'roll people, still love and miss that wild rock'n'roll angel, and the GUNFIRE DANCE retrospective is available now from Evil Boy Records. Make sure to get a copy if you love real rock'n'soul. Their charismatic guitar-slinger, Jeff Ward, went on to become a writer, whose new novel, "Parasites", is only semi-auto-mythological, sort of in the spirit of Nick Hornby or that film "Trainspotting", a low-rent Henry Miller type o' character, bozoing 'round Manhattan, in the last few pulsing hours of downtown bohemia. A whirlwind of unfortunate incidents, rich girls, galleries, hoodlums, loft-parties, after hours nightclubs, wine n cheese parties, junkie low-lifes, drag-queens, and guitars. He still performs on various bills with the Black Bombers, with his Syd Barrett/Space Rock outfit, Electrajet. All my favorite bands seem cursed. Gunfire Dance are one of my favorite bands of all time.
BLACK BOMBERS initially, hit you like just another NY Dolls, but they distinguish themselves from the pack with their excellent musicianship, bringing a really literary, cinematic sensibility to this highly VISUAL music. Some of it has got a really surprising JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE meets GUN CLUB feel...a bit like, These Immortal Souls, the Doors, or Flaming Stars. Underground film-makers, take note. If I was making a flick that had anything to do with the seedy side of town, I would tap these guys, immediately, for part of the soundtrack. "Desert Song" showcases sullen howler, Chex, and his noir poetry, shades of Nick Cave, and our dearly departed, Rowland S. Howard, aptly underscoring why these BLACK BOMBERS are no mere glam-blouses. Lord Byron's guitars get all Wayne Kramer on this one. A Brotherhood Of Love freak-out in the red room with Andy McCoy, the ghost of Fred Sonic Smith, and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brother's Fat Freddy's cat. The Bombers are sincerely badass. If you live in L.A., they might remind you of that Kim Fowley-championed, Manson-influenced, menacing, soul-band that lurked around in cheap motels, and those last remaining Rock Clubs of the Sunset Strip, a few years ago, called THE SUBSTITUTES. The vocals are from the Dave Vanian/Ian Astbury/Glenn Danzig sultry crooner, side of this street called rock'n'roll, which is a welcome relief for so many of us, from all those tiresome, boring, redundant, L.A. dickheads who are still so slavishly straining themselves to shriek up in the piercingly-high registers like Waxl Rose, or Dan McCafferty, or the guy from KIX. I really like the Black Bombers. What kind of desperate, mad genius are these fellas capable of, with the right producer (Andy Wallace? Rat Scabies?) and even a decent recording budget?
Various members of this group have collaborated with Rat Scabies, Tyla from Dogs D'Amour, the Brian James Gang, and Gunfire Dance. Recent days have seen 'em backin' up Walter Lure from the Waldos/Heartbreakers, on his current tours of Merry Olde. I hear plenty of music, but it doesn't always have the imagination, heat, or sensuality of BLACK BOMBERS. You know, all those Vains Of Motley bands that pay to appear in certain print fanzines can get mighty tedious with all the trite lyrical cliche's, warmed-over eighties misogyny, and bad Faster Pussycat posturing. There's an awful lotta phony macaroni left over from the Metal Years. Spandex and sub-"Sick Sixx Crush" dumbfuckery. Kid bands who BRAG about being "influenced" by other bands who were "influenced" by Poison, and the Crue. This is not "that" sort of glam. You can tell these guys never listened to corporate poof-metal, ever, at all...
This is smart, theatrical, ENGLISH GLAM for strippers...Adults Only...the red light district, dig? Ennio Morricone, Mad Juana, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and Tex and the Horseheads are just some of their more familiar touchstones. This is the dark and sensuous, danceable, style of punk rock...with just the right tinge of psychedelia, danger, and a galloping spaghetti western ambience...only possessed by thoroughly haunted souls, who've taken the time to make careful study of sixties garage, gypsy music, flamenco, Arthur Lee, and Brian Jones-era Rolling Stones. This is what you would have wanted the more recent Hanoi Rocks releases to sound like. The kind of moody, gothic, punknroll that the Damned and Lords Of The New Church excelled at. I only know of a couple bands still playing this subgenre...Silver from Norway...Throbbing Purple from Canada...THE BLACK BOMBERS....Each song is special, experimental, torch and twang, gutter-punk...torch songs for the doomed. Flickers of Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, the Birthday Party, and then, it's back to Ratboy, "New Values", and Johnny Thunders, at his most eloquent. They've already opened up for THE GODFATHERS, and they really ought to be appearing in the glossy pages of "Classic Rock" and "Mojo". Hopefully, they'll tour with the Jim Jones Revue, NY DOLLS, or MICHAEL MONROE. BLACK BOMBERS are almost like a modern-day DOORS, but without the merry-go-round keyboards, drummer lawsuits, or Manzarek calling everybody, "Man". I'll admit I didn't expect to like them this much, maybe because of their name, but by the third time I played their self titled e.p., I was a hardcore fan. Chances are, you will, be, too.
Fantastic. Phenomenal, Exceeds all my expectations. I only wish I had a band even a quarter as good as this one.
(-ANGUISH YOUNG)
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