BULLET PROOF HEARTS - American Custom

The first video by Bullet Proof Hearts from the "American Custom" single on Drastic Plastic Records. Order here: http://www.impactmerch.com/store/bull...

BULLET PROOF HEARTS:
Kevin Moran - Vocals, Guitar
Tammy "Gun" Moran - Bass
Mark Blackman - Drums
Aaron Schmitz - Guitar

Directed by Aaron Gum
Girl - Laura Ellis
Make-Up - Shera Baumel
Wig - Toiya Washington Brown
Assistant - Paula Christensen

Filmed at Brothers Lounge
(Thanks Trey & Lalaya)

The single is available on DRASTIC PLASTIC RECORDS
www.drasticplasticrecords.com

Find BULLET PROOF HEARTS on Facebook

Contact - bulletproofhearts1@gmail.com

Bring together four musicians from the Midwest's most rocking bands, and you get BULLET PROOF HEARTS. Formed in 2011, the members of BULLET PROOF HEARTS’ past bands read like a who's who of the Midwest Underground scene, Kevin Moran - Guitar & Vocals: Nuns With Guns, The Criminals, New Ave. Kings. Mark Blackman - Drums: No Heroes, Apathy, Nuns With Guns, Bad Luck Charm. Tammy Gun - Bass: Chicken Hawks, Blue Collar Bravado, Vermins, Take Agent. Aaron Schmitz - Guitar: The Rundowns, The Upsets. BULLET PROOF HEARTS combines the members love of classic "real" punk rock & power pop, to produce its distinctive, loud rockin' sound.

THE REAL KIDS - Better Be Good

THE REAL KIDS Better Be Good CD 1999

1 All Kindsa Girls / 2 Common at Noon / 3 Solid Gold / 4 Better Be Good / 5 Just Like Darts / 6 Roberta / 7 Reggae, Reggae / 8 Taxi Boys / 9 She / 10 Up Is Up / 11 Now You Know / 12 She Come Alive/ 13 My Way/ 14 She's Alright/ 15 Do the Boob / 16 My Baby's Book/ 17 Rave On / 18 All Kindsa Girls.

Tracks 1 & 2: Sponge records single produced by Oedipus & The Real Kids / Tracks 3-8 & 13-18 Red Star lp alternate takes (1977): produced by Marty Thau & The Real Kids / Tracks 9-12: Bomp Records demos (1979): produced by John Felice and Phil Adler.

Recorded in Newton and Boston, Massachusetts; Nyack, New York. Includes liner notes by John Felice.Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini.

The Real Kids: John Felice: vocals, guitar / Allen "Alpo" Paulino: bass / Billy Borgioli: guitar / Billy Cole: guitar / Howard Ferguson: drums.

"Better Be Good" is an 18-track compilation of alternate takes and live versions of songs that showed up on various releases by the Real Kids and the Taxi Boys, who for all intents and purposes were the same band. Leader John Felice, who was in the first, unrecorded lineup of the Modern Lovers with his next-door neighbor Jonathan Richman in the early '70s and later roadied for the Ramones, is a punk rock savant; the Real Kids were the first truly great Boston punk band, although they sounded much more like the Flamin Groovies than the Sex Pistols. These three-chord rockers, bracketed by two versions of the great "All Kindsa Girls," are tough, cool, and catchy. Complete novices should probably start with the original albums, but these alternate versions are much more than mere ephemera.

Buy it HERE!

THE REAL KIDS - The Real Kids

THE REAL KIDS  The Real Kids  LP/CD  1977 

All Kindsa Girls / Solid Gold (Thru and Thru) / Rave On / Better Be Good / Taxi Boys / Just Like Darts / She's Alright / My Baby's Book / Roberta / Do The Boob / My Way / Reggae Reggae.

The Real Kids: John Felice: lead vocal, guitar, chimes / Billy Borgioli: guitar / Alan Paulino (Alpo): bass, backing vocals / Howard Ferguson: drums, percussion + Mono Man (DMZ): piano on "Roberta"
Produced by Marty Thau & The Real Kids.

In the late '70s through the early '80s, the Real Kids were Boston's original rock & roll slop band. Fronted by John Felice, main songwriter and guiding spirit, the Real Kids ran on equal parts adolescent rivalry, drugs, and as much beer as they could consume. When Felice wanted to tear up a club with his rockin' originals or his favorite rock & roll tunes (equally adept at both), the Kids could be a thing of raw beauty to watch and hear. When Felice wasn't in the mood, he could play pissed-off rock star to the max and the results were desultory at best. This LP, however, catches them early in the ball game, their debut album for the tiny Red Star label with all the great John Felice tunes like "All Kindsa Girls," "Taxi Boys" (which later became the name of an offshoot group that recorded for Dave Pierce's Star Rhythm imprint, the label that also issued the second (or last, depending on how you're keeping score) Real Kids album), "My Baby's Book," and "Better Be Good" along with spirited covers of Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran material just to give you the big picture. Perhaps the Real Kids were just too undisciplined to make it big; maybe the drugs and the booze got in the way of the creativity. Alas, it's an old story, but Felice's reputation over in Europe continues to earn high marks and rumors abound that new material is on the way. In the meantime, check this one out -- close your eyes and you'll swear you've been transported back to the late '70s at CBGB's. Like their name, these guys were for REAL!

Que dire ?
Que c'est un des meilleurs album du rock, au même titre que "L.A.M.F." ou  "Shake Some Action" ?
Que j'en ai usé deux exemplaires ?
Que c'est un disque séminal ?
Que la pochette est magnifique ?
Que la guitare rythmique vous empoigne dès le premier morceau et ne vous lâchera plus jusqu'à la fin !
Que les Real Kids font le meilleur reggae blanc !
Que les reprises de "My way " ( E. Cochran ) ou "Rave on" ( B. Holly ) se confondent avec des originaux comme "My baby's book" ou "Do the boob" !

Cet album n'a pas pris une ride ! Et le rock de Boston, des Lyres à Willie Alexander, des Del Fuegos aux Neighborhoods non plus !!!

Thanks to Max for the artwork!

BUY IT HERE!
This post is dedicated to Philippe Martin who introduces me to the Real Kids, 36 years ago...rest in peace, brother!

THE REAL KIDS - All Kindsa Girls

THE REAL KIDS All Kindsa Girls  7'' SP  1977/1982  (re-up)

All Kindsa Girls (Full Length Recording) / Common At Noon.
Produced by Oedipus & The Real Kids.
The Real Kids: John Felice: lead vocal, guitar, chimes / Billy Borgioli: guitar / Alan Paulino (Alpo): bass, backing vocals / Howard Ferguson: drums, percussion.
" Dedicated to real kids everywhere."
The Real Kids were one of Boston's earliest new wave bands; their debut album is full of dynamite tracks that take the trashier aspect of the Rolling Stones and couple it with the high-power guitar approach of the Ramones. Frontman (and onetime Modern Lover) John Felice not only provides tough guitar and distinctive lead vocals, he has a knack for writing clear, infectious melodies. Spin "All Kindsa Girls,"  for proof!

The first ever Real Kids release !!!
The 1977 French Sponge label debut disc with the classic anthem "All Kindsa Girls" (different version from Red Star LP!) b/w Beantown ode "Common At Noon", a song  "about Boston Common, which is this park in the middle of Boston where people go to hang out and look at girls in the summertime".
Star Rhythm Records reissued the Sponge single with a different cover in 1982. Norton Records then did the same in 1999.

The Real Kids were a Boston punk rock band led by guitarist, singer and songwriter, John Felice.
Felice (born 1955) grew up in Natick, Massachusetts as a neighbor and friend of Jonathan Richman, a fellow fan of The Velvet Underground. At 15 he joined Richman in the first line-up of The Modern Lovers in the early 1970s. He performed with the band intermittently from then until 1973, but because of his school commitments, he was not involved in the 1972 sessions which produced the classic first Modern Lovers album. Commenting on Richman, Felice has said, "Me and Jonathan, as close as we were, you know, I was like a punk, I was a wise-ass kid. I liked to do a lot of drugs, I liked to drink, and Jonathan was like this wide-eyed, no-drugs, ate nothing but health food...".

Felice then decided to start his own band and formed The Real Kids (originally named The Kids) in 1972, with Rick Coraccio (bass), Steve Davidson (guitar), and Norman Bloom (drums). They became a successful live band in the Boston area, playing "an aggressive brand of straight-ahead, no-bullshit rock which harkened back to Chuck Berry, had overtones of the British Invasion groups at their mod finest, yet pointed the way towards the Punk to come". In addition to Felice's own songs, they performed versions of classics by Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and others. The band did not record until 1977, when it comprised Felice, Borgioli, Allen "Alpo" Paulino  and Howie Ferguson. Their first record was a single, "All Kindsa Girls" issued in 1977 on Sponge Records, a french label headed by Philippe Garnier (later journalist / novelist in California).

A french fan club existed in Bordeaux, France, in the 80's.The Stilettos from Bordeaux recorded a french version of "All kindsa Girls"."Toutes les filles" (1980) was the b side of "Nos gueules sur les affiches". José Ruiz, their guitarist was an huge fan of the Real Kids!
BUY IT HERE!

THE CRY - Louie Louie (50th Anniversary Version)

"... just a free classic for all our fans!" The Cry

Last weekend The CRY! went into the studio with original Kingsmen guitarist Mike Mitchell to celebrate the 50 years since the release of the classic LOUIE LOUIE!   Mitchell, (now in his 70's) recreated his epic guitar solo and The CRY! (all under 22) add their tradmark swagger and attitude.

The results speak for themselves.  
http://www.rvrb.me/thecrypdx/songs
We offer this free download for ROCK "N" ROLL lovers everywhere.


Please enjoy, share, and remember past generation of rockers who gave us a legacy to uphold!

 THE CRY

THE THROBS - Proud To Be Loud

THE THROBS  Proud To Be Loud   LP  1986
Here Comes The Night / She's So Pretty / Everybody's Gonna Have a Real Cool Time / I'll Do What I Want / Oh Love / Nuclear Attack / I Was Gonna.
Produced by Roman Zack & The Throbs.
The Throbs: Ron 'Sweetheart' Collie: vocals / Jeff Campbell: guitar, vocals / Peter Lotimer: bass, vocals / Michael Lotimer: drums, vocals.

"Super rare, limited to 500 copies pressed in 1986 on Precision Records. This amazing and elusive glam punk band migrated from Toronto to NYC during the heyday of mid-eighties glam and were instantly adored by punks and headbangers alike for their adrenaline charged, wasted tunes like "Nuclear Attack", "I Do What I Want" and "Here Comes The Night". They signed a deal with Geffen Records and released one quality LP that lacked the vicious bite of this early material before vanishing into the ether." Source

"The Throbs were one of the most promising bands to come out of New York that offered something different to the sound and scene that was happening in Los Angeles in the late eighties. In 1990 after having a handful of offers, the Throbs landed a big name label when they signed to Geffen Records, but just six months after their debut album the Language of Thieves And Vagabonds came out in 1991, the label dropped them. Attempts to carry on without vocalist Ronnie Sweetheart and drummer Ronnie Magri would prove pointless as the soul and essence of the band had been lost - the Throbs were no more. But as Sweetheart reveals in this interview, have we really seen the end of The Throbs? ..." Source
To read the Ronnie 'Sweetheart' interview  it's here!
BUY IT HERE !
Thanks to Franck !

ICI & INDEPENDANT (Of Best: 1988-1993) - Jean-Luc Manet

Ici & Indépendant (Of Best: 1988-1993) par Jean-Luc Manet , 244 pages publié au Camion Blanc.
Critique rock et auteur de nouvelles noires, Jean-Luc Manet fut notamment pendant six ans, pour le mensuel Best, le chroniqueur impénitent d’une France underground qui défricha de nouvelles voies soniques, en toute indépendance et hors des sentiers battus. Thugs, Sheriff, Real Cool Killers, Mano Negra, Burning Heads, Straw Dogs, Jet Boys et des centaines d’autres groupes, activistes, fanzines, labels, trouvèrent grâce à lui une tribune privilégiée, pour relayer et appuyer leurs aventures épiques et énergisantes. Tel un carnet de route, voire un guide touristique de l’agitation binaire, ce livre regroupe l’intégralité des articles de Jean-Luc Manet consacrés de 1988 à 1993 aux maquis rock’n’roll et réseaux turbulents d’ici. Source
Buy It HERE !

Jean-Luc Manet est né en 1959 à Paris. Critique musical depuis 1979 (pour Best, Nineteen et Les Inrockuptibles notamment), il a publié une trentaine de nouvelles noires et deux novellas (romans courts) : « Terminus Plage de Boisvinet » dans la collection Noir Urbain des éditions Autrement en 2005 et « Haine 7 » aux éditions Antidata en 2012.
Les éditions du Camion blanc, fondées par Sébastien Raizer et Fabrice Revolon en 1992, est une maison spécialisée dans la musique, et dont le slogan est « L'éditeur qui véhicule le rock ! ». Le premier titre, publié en tirage confidentiel, est consacré à Joy Division : "Vie et mort d’un poulet enragé", écrit par Sébastien Raizer, suivi de "Joy Division, Lumière et Ténèbres", également de Sébastien Raizer, en septembre 1992.Parmi plus de 300 titres publiés depuis vingt ans, on trouve des biographies consacrées à de nombreux artistes et groupes de rock, de tous courants et styles, ainsi que des ouvrages de fond sur le rock progressif, le rock psychédélique ou le heavy metal (musique), dont certains approchent les 1000 pages.
Les éditions du Camion blanc publient aussi bien des auteurs francophones que des traductions anglo-saxonnes. Wikipedia

JOHNNY CASINO & THE SECRETS - Live On 3PBS

JOHNNY CASINO & THE SECRETS  Live On 3PBS CD 2009
Cowboys And Indians / I Am Who I Am Not Who You Want Me To Be / The Ballad of a Thin Man / Brother Grahame Says / Can't Find My Way Thru The Door / Nothing Left to Hide / Stop and Think It Over / Take Me Down to Your River / Outcast / Messin With The Kid.
Recorded live by Jim Walter.
Johnny Casino And The Secrets: Johnny Casino: vocals, guitar / James Saunders: guitar / Cris Wilson: drums / Michael Evans: bass.

To witness Johnny Casino on stage is to witness a man in perfect harmony with the spirit, narrative and essence of rock’n’roll. Head thrown back, sweat pouring from his forehead, his liberally tattooed arms thrashing, plundering riff after glorious riff. Others may pretend, but Casino is the real deal.
In late 2008 Casino and his Melbourne tribe of Secrets – James Saunders, Cris Wilson and Michael Evans – wandered into the studios of Melbourne’s PBS public radio station, ostensibly to play four or five songs on Phil McDougall’s Sunglasses After Dark radio show. Like a rock’n’roll version of mathematical induction, for every brilliant song another was born, until the studio finally called time 45 minutes later.
Live on PBS captures Casino’s set in all its potent glory – from the heavy Chuck Berry riffage of ‘Cowboys and Indians’ and ‘Brother Grahame Says’ to the pounding take on Bob Dylan’s ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ and the plaintive ‘Can’t Find My Way Thru the Door’. In ‘I Am Who I Am’, Casino pleads the integrity of his case: “I am who I am, not who you want me to be.” Meanwhile, the weight of emotion in ‘Nothing Left to Hide’ demolishes any suggestion of artistic pretence.
After a suitably spirited take on Greg Cartwright’s ‘Stop and Think It Over’ – cut down to four minutes from its customary eight- to 10-minute live mark – it’s down to the water’s edge for a baptism of rock’n’roll fire in ‘Take Me Down to Your River’. The set concludes with a cover of The Saints’ ‘Messin’ With the Kid’. It’s as powerful as the fiery rhetoric of a head-strong youth challenging the institutions of authority – and just a little bit more.
As with any Johnny Casino set, the end is tinged with disappointment: if only the moment could exist in perpetuity then all might be good in the world. But then we’d have nothing left to look forward to. P.Emery

The good people at 3PBS radio in Melbourne Australia asked our favourite rock'n'roller Johnny Casino to come on down and play some songs for radio 3PBS live music week . Johnny took his Melbourne lineup of Cris Wilson (Warped!) on drums , Michael Evans [Tiger by the tail] on bass and James Saunders (Redshift) on guitar and tore thru a hand full of songs when the producers at 3PBS told them to keep playing as they were having so much fun !! the band ended up playing 10 songs and the result is what you have here on "live at 3PBS" as live as you'll get no overdubs no 'lets do that one again' just as they were played , with a slaming version of Bob dylans 'ballad of a thin man' the live fav version of the Complusive Gamblers 'Stop and think it over' a stomping version of the long lost Animals hit 'Outcast' and the soaring version of The Saints 'Messin with the kid' , we reckon it's the sounds of a band having a good time, GET SOME ! Source
BUY IT HERE !

JOHN FELICE & THE LOWDOWNS - Nothing Pretty

JOHN FELICE & THE LOWDOWNS Nothing Pretty  LP/CD  1988 

Don't Be Telling Me / Ain't We Having Fun / I'll Never Sing That Song Again / Not The One / Perfect Love / Nowadaze Kids / Nothing Pretty / Dreams / Don't Make Me Wait / Can't Play It Safe
Produced by Richard W. Harte.

John Felice & The Lowdowns: John Felice: guitar, vocal / Martin Paul Rowland : bass, vocal / Billy Borgioli : guitar, vocal / Pete Taylor : drums.

John Felice will always be best known as the beer-fueled, hot-wired frontman for Boston proto-punks the Real Kids, but that band's work didn't represent the full range of his musical abilities, and in 1987, with the Kids temporarily on the rocks, Felice offered fans another look at himself with his short-lived solo project, John Felice & the Lowdowns. With the Lowdowns, Felice wrote tough but thoughtful songs about broken hearts, busted lives, and the dark side of life in rock & roll, and he put ten of them on wax with the album Nothing Pretty. But for an album that dealt so strongly with lives gone wrong, it was sadly appropriate that the album died before it ever had a chance -- it was released by Ace of Hearts the same day their distributor went bankrupt, which prevented nearly the entire press run from ever reaching stores. It's a shame that it has taken 16 years for the album to finally get a proper release in the United States (thanks to longtime Real Kids boosters Norton Records), but a listen to the disc proves it was worth the wait -- conjuring up a stripped-down ghost of the Rolling Stones with its lean, guitar-based sound (built around the intertwined guitars of Felice and fellow Real Kid Billy Borgioli), "Nothing Pretty" is a superb piece of street-smart, no-frills rock & roll, and Felice has never shone brighter as a songwriter, especially on the bitter junkie's lament "Ain't We Having Fun," the post-breakup kiss-off "Not the One," and the heartbreaking "I'll Never Sing That Song Again," a sad but unsentimental look at a rocker nearing the end of his creative road. In his liner notes for the reissue, Felice says, "I am still more proud of this work than anything I have ever done," and it's not hard to see why -- on "Nothing Pretty", he dug deep into his heart and soul and came up with a minor masterpiece, and while it may have slipped though the cracks before, there's no reason for anyone who cares about smart but hard-edged rock to pass it by this time. Source

Entre Real Kids, Taxi Boys, Primevals, Devotions puis Real Kids à nouveau, voici venir, en 1987, dans la chaotique "carrière"  de John Felice, les Lowdowns ! En fait un album solo de John Felice épaulé par la guitare de Billy Borgioli. Un lp qui reçut de bien mauvaises critiques!

Etait-ce le son ? La noiceur des textes ? Ou l'époque qui commençait à sérieusement merder ?

Il y avait pourtant toujours "...haut perchée, avec juste ce qu’il faut de fêlure, l’incroyable voix de Felice." , comme le disait si bien Monique Sabatier dans le N° 25 de Nineteen,  biblique fanzine des 80's !
Comble de malchance le distributeur de l'historique label Bostonien Ace Of Hearts fit faillite juste avant la sortie prévue de l'album ! New Rose sauvera les meubles et sortira "Nothing Pretty" en France mais les compatriotes de John Felice durent attendre que Norton s'y colle en 2004!

Il va falloir réévaluer ce disque car il contient de grandes chansons: John Felice n'en a jamais écrit une seule mauvaise !

BUY IT HERE or HERE !

THE DEL FUEGOS - The Longest Day

THE DEL FUEGOS  The Longest Day  LP/CD  1984/2008
Nervous And Shakey / Backseat Nothing / Should Be The One / Missing You / Anything You Want / When The News Is On / Longest Day / Out For A Ride / Mary Don't Change / Have You Forgotten / Call My Name.
Produced by Mitchell Froom.
The Del Fuegos: Dan Zanes: lead vocals, guitar / Warren Zanes: guitar / Tom Lloyd: bass, vocals / Brent "Woody" Giessmann: drums, vocals + Mitchell Froom: keyboards / Jorge Bermudez: percussion.

Kicking up a ruckus on the more garage-oriented side of the 1980s' roots rock boom, the Del Fuegos were a four-piece band from Boston who (at least for a time) won critical favor and a loyal cult following at home and on the road for their passionate, no-frills style. Formed in 1980, the Del Fuegos consisted of guitarist and singer Dan Zanes, his brother Warren Zanes on guitar, bassist Tom Lloyd, and drummer Steve Morrell. Steady gigging on the Boston club circuit won the band a potent local reputation, which began to spread along the East Coast with the band's first few low-budget tours. While the Del Fuegos began recording an album for legendary local label Ace of Hearts Records, in 1984 the famed Los Angeles indie Slash Records stepped in and signed them, releasing their first album, "The Longest Day", in the fall of that year. By this time, Steve Morrell had parted ways with the band, and former Embarrassment percussionist Woody Giessmann had taken over the drum kit. One of the first albums produced by former Ronnie Montrose keyboard man Mitchell Froom, The Longest Day's mixture of attitude, guitar firepower, and heart-on-the-sleeve emotion clicked with both critics and fans, and the Del Fuegos seemed poised for a commercial breakthrough with their second album, 1985's "Boston, Mass".

While "Don't Run Wild" and "I Still Want You" earned some radio and MTV airplay and the album received rave reviews, it wasn't the hit some were hoping for, and the more self-consciously hip members of the music world began to turn their backs on the band after it appeared in a widely seen beer commercial. The band began reaching for a more ambitious sound and wider musical range on its third album, but 1987's "Stand Up" received harsh reviews and little support from fans, despite the Del Fuegos' appearance on an extended tour with noted fan Tom Petty (who also guested on "Stand Up"), in which the group shared the opening slot with the Replacements. After Stand Up's disappointing reception, Woody Giessmann and Warren Zanes both quit the Del Fuegos, and the band was dropped by Slash. In 1989, Dan Zanes and Tom Lloyd decided to give the band another chance, bringing aboard guitarist Adam Roth and drummer Joe Donnelly and cutting a new album, "Smoking in the Fields", but while critics were kinder to the new set than "Stand Up", the album was a commercial bust, and within a year the Del Fuegos were history. Dan Zanes went on to a solo career and in time found success with a series of acclaimed children's albums, while Warren Zanes returned to music in 2002 after many years in academia with a fine solo album, "Memory Girls". Allmusic.com

The Del Fuegos were proud sons of Boston, Massachusetts, but you might not have guessed that by listening to their debut album, The Longest Day, which mixed the swaggering thunder of heartland garage rock with the rootsy twang of Dixie-fried rockabilly and roots-conscious rock 'n' roll. While the band would later claim that producer Mitchell Froom slicked back their sound considerably from that of their raucous club shows, which earned them their hometown reputation, the results actually capture the band's swing and stomp without an excess of sonic affectation (something that would later become Froom's hallmark), reveling in the crack of Brent "Woody" Giessmann's drums, and the bark of Dan and Warren Zanes' guitars. And if Dan and Warren's songs didn't exactly stretch the boundaries of early rock archetypes, they honored the traditions in the best ways -- by playing roots rock with sweat, fire, good humor, and a lot of heart and soul. And you just can't argue the genius of this line from "When The News Is On": "And sometimes love is a lot like a shoe/ You run around too much and it'll fall apart." The Longest Day isn't the sort of album likely to change the way you look at rock and roll, but it will probably remind you why you love the stuff, and that's more than enough reason to slap it into your stereo and turn it up. Allmusic.com

BUY IT HERE !