The Record Company - Rita Mae Young

1.    Who are the lads? 

The Record Company are a blues rock band (with a sliver of punk) from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2011 their debut album Give It Back To You (Feb’16) charted  in the top twenty and the lead single Off The Ground went to number one on the Alternative Charts. Rita Mae Young (Feb'16) got a re-issue on the back of that success. 

 2. Are they flogging a dead horse? 

Shit no. Rita Mae Young is the better song with distance to spare. Rita Mae Young has a desperate Stonesy-vibe and shuffles along at the speed of regrets in a small dark bar, alone, on a week day afternoon.

3. Who do The Record Company sound like? 

The Rolling Stones, Masters Of Reality and Nathaniel Rateliff. 


4. What have the press said about Rita Mae Young?

“Soul-stirring sound of sincere blues and rock” – 50 Third and 3^rd.  

“Shuffling beats and bass with a soulful crooning blues groove” – Uber Rock. 

“Worthy of a few swings of the hips on the dance floor” – Glide Magazine. 

5. Which bands have put the get down into The Record Company?

The main influences are John Lee Hooker, The Stooges, The Rolling Stones, Canned Heat and Bob Dylan.


6. Why should I give Rita Mae Young a fair crack of the whip? 

Rita Mae Young is the sound of the joy we get out of wallowing in regrets. And it's rootsy and genuine. 


7. Do The Record Company have any more cracking tunes?

Off The Ground is the obvious place to start and then take a tangent and listen to their Beastie Boys cover of So What'cha Want.

8. Anything else?

No.

“When your lovers gone, can’t rest at night”

Valerie June has been making blues/soul/gospel music since the early 2000's. She is from Jackson, Tennessee, and has made three albums. Valerie June sounds like Billie Holiday and Stevie Nicks and is influenced by artists like Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. Give Me Water (2011) is a hip hop/blues collaboration Valerie June did with John Forte of the Fugees and can be found on his E.P. Water Suite (2011). Complex Magazine called Give Me Water “a breath of fresh air.”

“Anyway you want it,

Won’t ask why”

Twin Peaks - Holding Roses

1. Who are Twin Peaks?

Twin Peaks are garage rock legends from Chicago, Illinois. Creating a racket since 2009 they have three long players in the vault. Holding Roses (April’16)  is the third single release from Twin Peaks' third album Down In Heaven (May’16). 

2. What kind of tune have Twin Peaks rustled up?

Holding Roses is a slow roller with some cranky Mick Jagger style vocals and some rock'n'roll piano thrown in. One for the ladies but it'll worm it's way into anyone's affections.

3. Who do Twin Peaks sound like?

The Frights, Public Access TV, The Orwells. NPR compared Twin Peaks to The Replacements, Velvet Crush and Teenage Fanclub. Panty sniffers.


4. What have the press said about Holding Roses? 

“Immense and infectious” – Stereogum. 

“Has a charming, Stones-ish, mid-tempo grace” – NPR.  

“A mid-tempo, romantic melody with a swelling chorus” – Tenement TV. 

5. Who put the grime in Twin Peaks garage rock?

Twin Peaks are influenced by bands like Jay Reatard, T. Rex, The Strokes, The Stooges and The Rolling Stones. 

6. Why should I give Holding Roses a whirl?

Holding Roses is good value for a change of pace and the authentic garage vibe of Twin Peaks remains true throughout.

7. Do Twin Peaks have any more sound tracks?

Flavor is pure unadulterated genius. Songs don't get better than that. A bonafide garage anthem. I Found A New Way isn't too shabby. 

8. Any more words?

The new album Down In Heaven was produced by R. Andrew Humphrey who produced and engineered Twin Peaks' last album Wild Onion. 

“I can feel my heart beating,

As the tears roll down my tongue”

The Orwells are the real deal. Bastards to bleed for. This garage rock band is from Chicago, Illinois, too. Kicking arse and taking no prisoners since 2009 they have two long players on their roll of honor. Who Needs You was the lead single from their second album Disgraceland (2014). Who Needs You gives the militaristic U.S. government and police state a big serve. Guitarist Matt O'Keefe said, “It’s about being told what to do, what to believe in – which is in a nutshell, the story of America’s youth.” Who Needs You is the sound of The Strokes made better, with a conscience, with the balls of god honest rebellion, and is what real rock'n'roll is all about. Bugger the pretenders.

“You better join the army,

I said “No thank you Uncle Sam”

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Pretty Vicious

On the rare occasions I’m tempted to muse on the disappointing nature of a world that allows genocide in Burma or a six year civil war in Syria with 200 000 dead and a million refugees, my friend will punch me in the arm, with a knuckle extended, in an often successful attempt to give me a dead arm and this sage advice, “harden the fuck up.” National Plastics (Sept’15) is the musical equivalent of that dead arm. The tune only has one gear, fast and furious. This song took me back to the day in 1991 I put the needle down on The Manic Street Preacher’s first release “Motown Junk” and was blown away by the blistering assault that announced the arrival of one of the greatest rock and roll bands in the world at that minute. Both bands are from the Welsh valleys. Just saying. National Plastics is a song about grabbing life by the scruff of the neck and has been called a “...tour de force of incendiary, visceral and youthful guitar rock.”

 

 

Pretty Vicious are an indie punk rock band from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and have played some big festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds. Pretty Vicious started in 2014 and are all 16 and 18 years old. National Plastics is their second single, the band have been signed up by Virgin EMI and are hot shit with people who matter everywhere. The band have been compared to The Clash (early doors), The Libertines and NME said Pretty Vicious sounded like Jake Bugg fronting the Arctic Monkeys with Sex Pistol's anarchic spirit. Pretty Vicious' influences are The Sex Pistols, Iggy and The Stooges and The Bananas. The band called National Plastics "a ball breaker" while others commonly throw around adjectives like "incendiary" and "visceral". National Plastics rocks harder than prison rape and is one of the best indie songs of 2015.
 

“Moping around
The time will come when you will see
That hangin' about don't bring no opportunities!”

 

 

Shit you need to know:

Pretty Vicious's music has been called by Clash magazine "...a series of indie punk anthems."

Amazing Radio felt the band are "...one of the hottest prospects in music at the moment."

The band say their influences are, "everything."

The band supported the Manic Street Preachers this year.

When the band signed to EMI they were given the original contracts the Sex Pistols signed and signed copies of Never Mind The Bollocks.
 

Pretty Vicious will take to the stage next week at The Brixton Academy in London with The Vaccines and Palma Violets. Good company to keep.

 Other Pretty Vicious songs that burn with righteous indignation are Cave Song , It's Always There and Are You Entertained.

 

 

 

Slippery seconds is from Welsh alternative rockers, and one of the greatest bands to walk the earth back in the day, The Manic Street Preachers. This is their finest Repeat (UK) (1992) from their never equalled first testament Generation Terrorists (1992).

“Repeat after me
Fuck queen and country”