Another Thursday Night in Rock n Roll Paradise: Carissa Johnson - by JCE

I am big fan of the band Damone. If you don’t know about them, they are from Boston and they made a few great records between 2003 and 2008. They recently played a reunion show and the opening slot went to Boston locals Carissa Johnson & the Cure-All’s. I looked up Carissa Johnson on YouTube figuring that anyone who gets to open for Damone must have some redeeming qualities. Well, that was a very good decision on my part. Carissa and her band made killer records in 2015, 2016 & 2018 and released a couple of really good singles in 2019.

At the end of 2019 Carissa released an acoustic record called A Hundred Restless Thoughts. It is a thing of beauty. While I generally want to hear driving electric guitars in just about everything, Carissa managed to create a brilliant record in the acoustic realm. I have been listening to it non-stop. Early this year, she announced a small tour to support the record. I was hopeful that she might get close enough to Virginia for me to go to see her. There ended up only being something like ten dates, but I lucked out. She included Richmond, VA, two hours from my house. The show was on a Thursday night at a little spot called the Garden Grove Brewing Company & Urban Winery.

My beautiful wife and I figured we would make an evening of it, so we booked a hotel and made a dinner reservation. The venue doesn’t even sell advance tickets, and I wasn’t sure how many people would really know Carissa Johnson. I didn’t know what to expect. We got to the Garden Grove a little early and there were quite a few people there, but we were able to get a space really close to the stage. Carissa came out, set up her merch table, got herself a stool, set up a mic and grabbed her guitar. This was a one-woman tour for sure, although she had a lady with her that we later learned was her Mom.

By the time the set was ready to start there were a number of mostly uninterested people in back and at the bar, and three guys from a band that was slated to play later in the evening that were paying attention. Other than that it was pretty much just the two of us. I guess happy hour was ending, as the place got more empty as the night went on. My wife and I remained right up front. Carissa played two sets, twelve songs each. She was fantastic. Between sets I bought a vinyl 45 and after signing it, Carissa introduced us to her Mom and we hung out and talked about how we came to be there, how the tour was going and where she was headed next, and most fun of all, we talked a little about the Boston music scene. Carissa was super gracious and really nice to talk to. At one point she texted Noelle, vocalist and guitarist for Damone, and told her about how her two fans in Virginia had come to exist thanks to Damone.

If you have read this far, then you owe it to yourself to check out Carissa Johnson. Buy her records, go see her play if you ever get the opportunity. Look up her Facebook page and Paypal her a few bucks to help with the tour. It astounds me how someone who writes such good songs and plays & sings so well can remain so relatively unknown. I completely understand that there are thousands of amazing artists that no one has ever heard of, but when I see one as good as Carissa, I just want to find a way to share it with the world. Good luck Carissa Johnson. I hope you make it back to Virginia again, maybe with a full band next time. Keep on rockin’. - JCE

A beautifully packaged vinyl 45, and the set-list.

Carissa Johnson, acoustic in Richmond, VA.

Carissa Johnson, left, with JCE and his wife.

Good photo - from the internet, not mine.

TV Party Tonight! Salutes Chuck Klosterman and Fargo Rock City - by Colin Gawel

If I took the top 10% from each of my ten smartest friends and then combined them all into one person, that person would resemble Chuck Klosterman. I read all his books and listen to him on any podcast he appears on. (Music Exists debuted on Spotify February 17th!) Hell, I even read The Ethicist every week in The New York Times when that was his gig. Though I appreciate many authors, Chuck and myself happen to share a hard drinking/rocking Midwest background often putting us on the “same page” as it were. Or put another way, when Klosterman describes a girlfriend as more Vinnie Vincent than Bruce Kulick, that makes total sense to me. 

ANYWAY, I recently finished Chuck’s latest collection of fictional nonfiction, the excellent Raised in Captivity, when I decided to dig back into the first book of his I’d ever read: Fargo Rock City - A Heavy Metal Odyssey In Rural North Dakota. This very book banged around the Watershed van for hundreds of shows shortly after it was released in 2001.  As luck would have it, nineteen years later drummer Herb Schupp and myself were heading up to Michigan to finish some new Watershed tracks with Tim Patalan and I brought Fargo along with us to kill some of the hours hanging around The Loft. 

We passed the book back & forth laughing at our favorite passages. Now, please join me down the rabbit-hole as TV Party Tonight! salutes Chuck Klosterman and Fargo Rock City. 

Pg. 170 “Like a Tasmanian devil whirling toward vaginas and self-destruction, the Guitarmageddon unleashed by ex-KISS wackmobile Vincent on this solo debut is so schlockily stunning that I still have to play album six times every year..… Right from track number one, you know what you are getting: “Boys Are Gonna Rock” has two and a half guitar solos.”

Vinnie Vincent Invasion was an American heavy metal/glam metal band formed in 1984 by former KISS guitarist Vinnie Vincent. The band released two albums, Vin...

Pg. 161 “I tend to like the first three songs on side two of Girls Girls Girls, (especially Five Years Dead, mostly because it sounds like they are saying Bach is dead, which actually makes more sense). And I’ve always enjoyed the sentimental throwaway Nona, a tribute to Sixx’s dead grandma, which is especially touching when followed by Sumthin’ for Nuthin’, a song about having sex with grandma’s who are still alive.”

Girls, Girls, Girls 1987

Pg. 134 “If you believe Hammer of the Gods, Satan’s favorite band of all time was Led Zeppelin.….

Legend was that three of four members made a deal with the devil in exchange for superstardom...Only John Paul Jones didn’t sign the pact….the other three were struck by Satan’s evil power. John Bonham choked on his own vomit, Robert Plant tragically lost his son, and Page would go on to collaborate with David Coverdale.” 

Pg. 141 “After fronting two musically inept devil bands that sang about killing babies and raping children, Glenn Danzig put together a legitimate group and had Rick Rubin produce. From what I can tell, every song is about committing suicide and partying with Satan. Punkers who liked his early work swear he is being sly but I’ve never seen anything to support that claim.”

Danzig - Mother (original)

Okay, this is me, Colin, talking now. That Danzig song sucks sooo bad. Along with “Kryptonite” by Three Doors Down, they are the two WORST tracks kicking around recurrent rotation on Brew and Blitz type formats. I’m so glad that one dude punched Danzig in the face when he started running his mouth backstage.

Glen Danzig getting hit and knocked out with one punch

Pg. 153 “ As a general rule I hate all non-KISS, non-Cheap Trick live albums but this one deserves inclusion...Considering how much the people of Canada love Rush, one has to assume that the Germans literally worship the Scorpions. I mean, what else is there? Kraftwerk? Warlock?”

Artist: Scorpions Album: World Wide Live Year: 1985 VHS Track Listing 1. Coming Home 2. Blackout 3. Big City Nights 4. Loving You Sunday Morning 5. No One Li...

Pg. 200 “September 10, 1990, Warrant releases Cherry Pie. In a CD review for my college newspaper, I call this record “Stellar.” It is three years before I’m allowed to review another record.” 

Warrant's official music video for 'Cherry Pie'. Click to listen to Warrant on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/WarrSpotify?IQid=WCP As featured on Cherry Pie. Click to buy the track or album via iTunes: http://smarturl.it/WarrCPiTunes?IQid=WCP Google Play: http://smarturl.it/WCPPlay?IQid=WCP Amazon: http://smarturl.it/WarrCPaz?IQid=WCP More from Warrant Heaven: https://youtu.be/rrSdXtFJG20 Uncle Tom's Cabin: https://youtu.be/bx6f68Wd9dc Sometimes She Cries: https://youtu.be/DAX20LoVgxE More great metal videos here: http://smarturl.it/UltimateMetal?IQid=WCP Follow Warrant Website: http://www.warrantrocks.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/warrantrocks Twitter: https://twitter.com/warrantrocks Myspace: https://myspace.com/warrantband Subscribe to Warrant on YouTube: http://smarturl.it/WarrSub?IQid=WCP --------- Lyrics: Dirty, rotten, filthy, stinkin...

Pg. 218 “In theory, here is what the Use Your Illusion video trilogy was supposed to mean --- or at least what I could deduce from watching it a few dozen times. Don’t Cry was the first video, but is actually the second act of a three act play. November Rain was the second video but it’s actually the story’s first act (even though it opens with the beginning of the third act and ends with the conclusion of Act II). Estranged is the third act and supposedly the conclusion, but it has clips from both Act I and Act II and really doesn’t explain anything at all. On paper, this obviously makes no sense. On screen, it’s only slightly more clear.

Don’t Cry opens with a baby who has extremely (in fact, unrealistically) blue eyes, immediately followed by an image of a crow. The next shot is Axl walking through a blizzard, holding a bottle of booze and a gun. The significance of these clips is alluded to later in the production, but never explained.”

Music video by Guns N' Roses performing Don't Cry (Original Version). (C) 1991 Guns N' Roses under exclusive license to Geffen Records

“When November Rain premiered on Headbanger’s Ball in the summer of 1992, it was immediately hyped by MTV as the greatest video ever made. Immediately after its virgin broadcast, VJ Riki Rachtman looked directly into the camera and earnestly said, ‘That……was amazing.’”

Music video by Guns N' Roses performing November Rain. YouTube view counts pre-VEVO: 6,894,036. (C) 1992 Guns N' Roses #VEVOCertified on June 24, 2012: http://www.vevo.com/certified http://www.youtube.com/vevocertified

“In perhaps the most blatant abuse of stardom ever attempted in a rock video, the turning point of Estranged takes place on a rented ocean liner. Axl Rose leaps off the mammoth ship and thrashes in the rough sea. Gilby Clarke tries to rescue him in a rowboat (apparently, Clarke was only added to the GNR lineup to rescue Rose from sea-faring disasters). Clarke fails. Axl is going to die...until he is saved by dolphins.

Estranged concludes with Axl’s Converse shoe coming to rest on the ocean floor and Rose sitting with a dolphin…It basically reminded me that Axl Rose only seemed brilliant as long as we didn’t know what we were trying to do. As soon as we got the idea, it was just another stupid video.”

Music video by Guns N' Roses performing Estranged. (C) 1993 Guns N' Roses under exclusive license to Geffen Records

Pg. 21 “Listening to Clapton is like getting a sensual massage from a woman you’ve loved for the past ten years; listening to Van Halen is like having the best sex of your life with three foxy nursing students you met at the Tastee Freez……..A lot of credit must go to David Lee Roth…..Roth demanded that Van Halen had to be about a lifestyle, specifically his lifestyle… In tangible terms it made Eddie better. Instead of being an artist trying to make art, Eddie was forced to become an artist trying to make noise - and the end result was stunning. Within the stark simplicity of Janie’s Cryin’ you can hear the shackled simplicity of a genius.”

Watch the official music video for "Jamie's Crying" by Van Halen

Pg. 107 “Heavy metal is clearly not a conduit for actual intercourse. Though no studies were conducted at the time, it’s safe to say most guys listening to Iron Maiden in the 1980’s were not getting laid all that often. It’s not like metal was the soundtrack of rampant teenage sex. It was actually the soundtrack from rampant teenage abstinence.”

Live After Death es un álbum doble en vivo de la banda británica de heavy metal Iron Maiden, lanzado el 14 de octubre de 1985. Durante el transcurso de la gi...

Well that was fun. I encourage all you folks read or listen to some Chuck Klosterman the next chance you get. It’s really great stuff. - Colin

Colin Gawel plays solo and in the band Watershed. He founded Pencilstorm.com and wrote this at Colin’s Coffee. He thinks KISS Monster is actually a pretty good record. Chuck Klosterman does not agree.

Click here for a recap of TV Party Tonight season one.

Spoiler Alert! I'm Posting the Set List For the Show This Friday - by Colin Gawel

Colin Gawel & The Lonely Bones are doing a reunion show at Woodlands Tavern Friday, February 14th. Yes lovers, that is Valentine’s Day. Showtime is 9-ish and admission is FREE.

So what is the difference between the Bowlers and the Bones anyway?

Bones have more keyboards, more Dan Cochran and more Cheap Trick….the same amount of Ricki C. and they do not wear Bowling shirts. Both bands prefer Hilltop Lager.

In case you were wondering what songs we are going to play, I thought it would be fun to publish a Spotify playlist in advance. This may make you want to come. This may backfire and make you want to skip.

Anyway, if you want to be surprised do not click on the link below. Hope you can join us. We are excited. - Colin G.

Click Here for Lonely Bones Setlist on Spotify

Record Review: Drive-By Truckers / The Unraveling - by Jeremy Porter

SPOTIFY Playlist - Listen while you read!!

The Drive-By Truckers’ twelfth studio album, The Unraveling, comes out January 31 on ATO records. The Athens-based band has a 24 year history of deep Southern roots and relentless touring, from the smallest dive-bar stages to theaters and concert halls across North America and Europe. They celebrated and questioned the `duality of the Southern thing’ with what was arguably the peak of their output - Southern Rock Opera (2001), Decoration Day (2003), and The Dirty South (2004) and one of the best live shows on the club circuit. While some only know of them as “that band that Jason Isbell was in,” others have embraced those albums and the rest of their catalog, their live show, and some of the finest songwriting in the last couple decades with a devoted following to a band that represents everything that American rock and roll should be: honest, imperfect, raw, controversial, & in your face.

If I’m being honest, I went into this record with low expectations. My personal arc with DBT peaked over a decade ago and I’ve struggled with the last couple albums, which to me felt tired and lacked the staying power of the music they were releasing in what I consider their prime. Even the live shows I’ve seen have been inconsistent since then (15 times total, in 8 cities across 5 states, but who’s counting?). Still, they’re way up there on the short list (ok, long list) of my favorite bands of all time and I’ve bought everything they’ve released. Every time I left one of those subpar shows disappointed, they absolutely killed it the next time I saw them, restoring my faith. I’ve almost written them off more than once in the past, but I’ve learned over time to always give them another chance.

The new album has an energy and spunk not heard from the Truckers’ with such consistency since The Dirty South, and while they’ve had a few great moments since, they haven’t sounded as inspired or energized as they do here. Singer/guitarist Patterson Hood does most of the heavy lifting on The Unraveling, which has already sparked complaining from the passionate fan base of the Trucker’s other creative force, Mike Cooley, who only sings two of the nine songs. The sing-along chorus of “Slow Ride Argument,” one of the two Cooley songs, and the intro and verses of “Armageddon's Back in Town,” harken back to classic upbeat DBT songs like “Feb 14th” from A Blessing and a Curse (2006). The record grooves where it should, pulls back when appropriate, and turns up right when you’re ready.

As longtime listeners have come to expect, each song is a little slice of modern America: good, bad, and ugly. “21st Century USA” is a good example, set on the pavement of a freeway-side hotel-stripmall where the band had a pit stop between tour dates. They were in Gillette, Wyoming, but with the Applebees, Taco John’s, KFC, AutoZone, and the “Good Time Bar to get your bad swerve on” surrounding them, it could have been anywhere between the coasts, and the struggles Hood witnessed and envisioned that day are the same struggles that most Americans - from all over - are facing.

They’re not shy about diving into political themes either, with titles like “Thoughts and Prayers” and “Babies in Cages.” The former has a great moving beat, some visual and challenging lyrics, and a chord progression that recalls “Two Daughters and A Beautiful Wife” from their last great album, Brighter than Creation’s Dark (2008). The sentiments expressed in these songs are noble and worth questioning, and the tracks succeed on their own merits, but a songwriter with the talent of Patterson Hood could have come up with titles less obvious and easy than overused phrases from political talking points.

The album feels like it was recorded live to tape. It’s got a warm, organic sound, and a flow and swing that comes naturally to a band with this much history. It doesn’t hurt that the current lineup is the longest they’ve had, and with long-time Truckers’ producer David Barbe at the helm, it sounds every bit like a DBT record. But most importantly, for the first time in a while, this record feels inspired and relevant. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that spirit back in the mix, and glad to be drawn back to some new music from the Truckers’ music again. I’ll always give them another chance.

The Unraveling is good, honest, guitar-driven, American rock and roll made by guys doing their best to write real songs in an attempt to figure out the complicated people, situations, politics and struggles of this country, and ultimately their own role in it all. Pick it up today at record stores everywhere or stream/download it at the service of your choice.

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos.

www.thetucos.com

Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.

www.facebook.com/jeremyportermusic

Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic

www.rockandrollrestrooms.com

TV Party Tonight! Returns to Make Your Life Better. Or at Least Help You Kill Time. - by Colin Gawel

Let’s be honest. There really isn’t much going on this time of year. Sure, the sports talk shows will keep saying “Lots to get into today” but unless you are into the Australian Open or mind-numbing Super Bowl hype, that’s not exactly true. Down at Colin’s Coffee I could ask a hundred people “What you got going on this weekend?” and almost everyone would say “nuthin.”

So what to do to ease the boredom? We have a solution. Find a comfy chair, crack a cold one and take a deep dive down the YouTube rabbit hole. TV Party Tonight! is our yearly winter series where we share our rabbit holes with the Pencilstorm community. At the very least it’s a good way to kick-start your own deep dive. TV Party Tonight! is posted every Saturday night until Spring arrives.

To find old episodes just google the words: TV Party Tonight! Pencilstorm

My personal favorite is Andy Kaufman vs Jerry Lawler.

Or hit this link below to get started. Lots of great stuff. See you down the rabbit hole. - Colin G.

Click here for a recap of TV Party Tonight! Season One Episodes 1 -10.

Fast Start: The First Great Records of 2020 Are Here - by JCE

It seems like I just posted my picks for the best records of 2019 on my Facebook page (The Neighborhoods, Starcrawler, The Hangmen, Dave Hause, and Foxhall Stacks, by the way), but now I’m already excited about 2020. The first great full-length record of the year - by Beach Slang - is already here, and based on a single that dropped January 10th, there’s another great one coming. Here’s what I’m talking about:

Let’s start with this single by Tuk Smith & the Restless Hearts called “What Kinda Love.”

Tuk Smith was the driving force behind the Atlanta band called THE BITERS. The Biters are easily in my top ten favorite bands of all time. They called it quits in 2018 (“indefinite hiatus,” they said) after about nine years and a bunch of superb records. Tuk started this new project, and if this single is any indication, he is picking up right where The Biters left off. His songs are all rock n roll anthems; part metal, part punk, with a huge dose of big 1970’s sound. It’s not retro, it’s fresh and it’s great, trust me. His new record was produced by Rob Cavallo, who has worked with Green Day and many other big name bands. Amazingly, it has just been announced that Tuk Smith & the Restless Hearts will be going on the full stadium mega-tour this summer with Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett. Good for Tuk, he deserves some big-time exposure. The video for this single is highly entertaining as well…….

I took this shot of Tuk at a Biters show a few years ago.

Next up – “The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City” by BEACH SLANG. This one is a full-length, 11 songs. It’s too early to tell, but I won’t be surprised if I declare this to be one of the best two or three records of 2020. Beach Slang has been around since 2013 and they have some nice records. They are led by a kid named James Alex who is dripping with talent and takes that “wearing your heart on your sleeve” thing to the absolute extreme. His new record is spectacular. The most important thing you should know, and he will readily admit to it, is that this record has the influence of The Replacements all over it.

One of the best songs is even called “Tommy in the 80’s” and features Tommy Stinson on bass. It’s about listening to Stinson in the 1980’s and it is a rocking song that should make the ‘Mats proud. The vocals on the slower songs sound like Paul Westerberg to me. Check out “Nobody Say Nothing.” The track “Kicking Over Bottles” is another rocker that is just awesome. Those three songs I have mentioned are enough to make this record be important to me, but it is strong start to finish. If you like The Replacements, you really should listen to this from beginning to end, a few times. You won’t regret it.

James Alex of Beach Slang, thank you for this record.

Happy listening in 2020! We are off to a great start.