Hammered Satin East Coast Tour

Hammered Satin just kicked off their tour at Metro Gallery in Baltimore, guitarist Conor Behrle’s home town, which marks the first of an 11-date, platform-boot-strut through the East Coast, Midwest and South.

From left: Conor Behrle, Noah Wallace, Dan Sandvick, Raymond Peters

Hammered Satin’s lead singer, Noah Wallace and Conor sat with The Dead Notes before the tour. Conor, cranking out a rush of determination, lays out the plan: “We killed the West Coast and we’re ready to slay the East Coast and South. And we’re gonna do it.”  

Matt Gabbs and Conor Behrle

This tour is also going to be the first time Hammered Satin share the stage with The Biters, with guitarist/vocalist Matt Gabbs joining Hammered Satin for a number. Matt and Conor went to middle-school and high-school together and played twin-guitars in The Fishnet Stalkers for three years. They’re going to be dishing out guitarmonies at Double Door in Chicago on the 11th. Conor tells us how Matt taught him Ramones, Misfits and Johnny Thunders songs when they were 16 and 17. “To be finally able to play with [The Biters] and share a stage with them is just awesome.” Besides Matt and Conor’s history, the two bands are pretty close and it’s been a long time coming, considering The Biters even crashed with Hammered Satin at Noah’s when they played in LA.

Hammered Satin will also be opening for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver lead singer Scott Weiland and The Wildabouts. Noah goes off on a tangent describing Hammered Satin as “like a 70’s glitter rock, glam, like amazing, really bitchin’ amazing music.” When brought back to the topic of Weiland: “I mean, it’s kinda grunge, like, I don’t really shower much ... Weiland is actually a snazzy dresser.”

Though the larger-than-life look of Hammered Satin weaves the spectacle, it’s that great material that’s fresh even for Hollywood that rattles the audience around like bob-heads on a leopard-print, dashboard dance floor. East Coast audiences will witness the band debuting their new song “Reptilian” on this tour, a satire on David Icke and the Reptile Illuminati Conspiracy that puts the world at the feet of a benevolent and ancient humanoid reptile race. (It’s great sci-fi, if you ask me.) We don’t know much about this song yet here in the West Coast but we do know that Conor “does finger-tapping in the solo.” Also, Noah says it’s both “heavy” and a chick-song, “like Def Leppard or something”. We’ll make sure we listen to it and update you on what it sounds like, or maybe just post a YouTube link, or something.

Noah Wallace

Teaming up on the tour with Noah, Conor and Hammered Satin bassist Dan Sandvick, is The Ravager’s Raymond Peters on drums, who’s kept a tight backbone and ravaged Satin’s glitter trail a few times before. Hammered Satin’s Noah, Dan and Conor were the founding members and have been active in the band from day one but it’s been a revolving door of drummers ever since and it has been weighing down on the band. “We have the non-permanent drummer blues, sometimes,” says Noah, not-so-subtly advertising: ”We’re accepting submissions, Dead Notes!”

"How long are you in it for?" Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls asked Noah once, who explained without hesitation that this band is “in it for life” and that ambitious attitude has pushed Satin to grow as musicians and performers. Noah explains: “When I was younger, I was more in it for myself—like ‘how do I get my rocks off? What chick am I gonna nail? People love me! Yeah! I’m doing my thing! On stage and singing and yeah! They love me! Me, me, me, I, I, I.’—and now I think about it in a different way. It’s more of ‘what can I do for them?’ It’s a selfless thing where I want to entertain them the best I possibly can and make them have a good night.” He takes a pause and reflects: “There’s something about that mentality, when you perform, that gives you more energy.” And being in a “high volume, high torque, over the top rock ‘n’ roll band” demands as much energy as possible. Legend has it if you look closely when Hammered Satin are playing on a full moon, you can see that energy in the atmosphere in the shape of giant snakeskin tear-aways.

Dan Sandvick

And speaking of snakeskin tear-aways, Conor admits: “We don’t take ourselves too seriously but we’re serious about what we do.” And when I found myself goofing around like a liquor-laden lunatic at a Hammered Satin show, I felt foolish and cathartic all at once. While Hammered Satin can be hilarious, like The Darkness, they’re sometimes mistaken for and wrongly marginalized as a comedy act. Conor says: “I feel like that’s more of an Internet thing and when people hear us live and they hear the guitar through a Marshall stack, they kinda shut their mouths. We’re gonna shove it in their faces.”

Joe Perry and Conor Behrle

The band is being taken seriously enough to see some success. Conor feels like the Satin slingers are “firing on all cylinders right now and just waiting for the money to roll in.” As mentioned earlier, though, this is a band with dedication in droves. Conor reflected a bit on the troubles and shared words of encouragement from a rock legend: “You know, it’s easy to get down on yourself when you’re playing a guitar that cost twenty-thousand times more than you’ll get paid for every gig. But when you go and you meet Joe Perry and you give him a record and he says: ‘Don’t ever give up. I love what you’re doing,’ that’s some encouragement.”

Even more encouragement came when Lizzy Jagger showed Martin Scorsese the band's "Foxy Dude" video. It's safe to say Satin are on the rise, garnering more attention with every tour. So, check for your city below!

Tour Dates:

11/5  - Metro Gallery, Baltimore.

11/6  - The Barbary, Philadelphia.

11/8  - The Grand Victory, New York City.

11/9  - Bug Jar, Rochester.

11/10 - Euclid, Cleveland.

11/11 - Double Door, Chicago.

11/12 - Third Street Dive, Louisville.

11/13 - FUBAR, Nashville.

11/14 - House Show (Facebook invites only), Atlanta.

11/15 - Broadways, Asheville, NC.

11/16 - Smash Records, Washington D.C.

Music Videos:

Light Speed Driver

Foxy Dude (Directed and Produced by Dead Notes Writer, Trip Loon)

Lonely Tiger

Emily

LP:

Glamorama

Social:

Facebook Fan Page

Dr. Boogie Debut and EP Release

I’m not going to try and be diplomatic about this: go to this show. You do not want to miss Dr. Boogie’s debut and EP release show at El Cid, 9PM.

Dr. Boogie guitarist Dustin James’ long working relationship with the incendiary rhythm section of Jeff Turpin, on bass and Luis Herrera on drums has entered its ultimate form with the addition of lead-singer and guitarist Chris P. In essence, Dr. Boogie is what happens when musicians develop down-in-the-roots rapport for one another in the studio and in the jam room. (Dr. Boogie on Facebook)

Last week, The Dead Notes co-founder Trip Loon and I were invited to Dr. Boogie’s lockout to watch them perform their set. The first thing that drew me in was the simple matter of decibel levels; it was loud. The kind of loud that feels like a punch in the gut and a slap across the face. Now pepper those punches and salt the slaps with great riffs that call back to the riff maestros of the ages (simple and effective—you’ll know what I mean when you hear “Queen of the Streets” and “Personal Matter.”), tight and reactionary work in their grooving rhythm section and a vocal style that melds the harmonies of rhythm ‘n’ blues with the lung-capacity of arena rockers. As Dustin liked to put it, they want to be tighter than a crab’s asshole, and they are.

Dustin explains why it was important to have an EP ready before the band play their first show. “We’re selling a product.” So tonight, they’re not only debuting their set and performing their songs, but they’ll be promoting their EP and selling it at the show, along with merchandise. Trip tells me, though he’s been here a while, this is the first time he’s seen a band get shit done this fast and have all that ready on their first show. Hollywood bands, take note: step one – get shit done.

Turpin and Luis have worked together as a rhythm section for four years now and it shows instantly. The basslines are tight and articulate and they’re complemented by Turpin’s tub-thumb duck-strut. Luis reminds me of a cartoon octopus and gets me thinking “how the hell did he manage to fit those fills in the bar?” They’ll command your attention, rattle your brain a bit, move you and bring you right back down to where the beat falls. In essence, that’s what groove is all about. Like Chris put it, Dr. Boogie deliver the roll that keeps on rocking. Then, you feel the right jolts hit you with Dustin’s leads and riffs, built over Chris’ emotionally-arching chord changes. It was obvious to me that these songs were challenged continuously until they came to fruition. Dustin and Turpin have been working together for eight years now and all that experience gushes out of the amplifiers. Talk about chemistry—this band is like the lab accident that gave The Flash his superpowers.

Even the imagery has a lot to lend the listener: The final logo is a custom font and color-scheme indicative of the band’s attitude and sound, created in collaboration with Adam Turkel.

Though it’s easy to assume that a group of guys who’ve played together for almost a decade are going to sound great, Chris has been working with the rest of Dr. Boogie since their formation less than a year ago and he fits in seamlessly, like the frontman they’ve always needed to perform with an honest delivery, authentic to the band’s sound and style. It doesn’t hurt that his voice sounds like the drunken love moans of Bon Scott and the melodic rasp of Steve Marriott.

Believability is a big deal in this business. It’s also the hardest selling tool to market because it requires a very humble understanding of the individual characters in a band and what they represent as a collective. Some bands achieve this naturally by sharing a scene, or a childhood (think Sabbath) and others exploit made-up mannerisms. The most successful bands, however, exploit the hell out of their mannerisms and amplify their raw personalities in the public spectrum (think Stooges). Dr. Boogie achieve a visceral blend of both without pulling any stops.

With an EP ready for release—on pretty much every popular digital platform and CD—tonight and another in the pipeline, Dr. Boogie leapt over the hurdles that other bands spend years stumbling over. That’s not to say they don’t still have a lot of challenges lying ahead of them. (The rock ‘n’ roll scene is on the rise in some markets but it’s still a relative niche. Only a few bands, in recent years, have managed to break through into the mainstream market and sustain their success, while others fall into obscurity after their first major festival performance.) Keeping that in mind, Dr. Boogie’s name isn’t all jive and drawl. It has the appeal of a mad surgeon jumping in to perform heart surgery on the artform. Now, that might be saying much and the truth is that we won’t know if Dr. Boogie can deliver that until the amps get hot tonight.

But this isn’t a story about the industry or the artform. It’s about the dedication and realism that bands need to command the public’s attention with ideas and action. Dustin, Turpin, Chris and Luis have all had varying levels of success in the past with other projects but the reason we at The Dead Notes are excited about this debut goes back to the band’s self-actualization as individuals and how that translates to the pinpoint precision and tightness of, well, a crab’s asshole. (Listen on Reverb Nation)

Last night, Trip was telling me a story about a drunken conversation with the band. It took the ironically quiet Luis no more than a sentence to sum up why this band are going to fight tooth and nail to stay on the rise: “We don’t want to cut the butter with a kitchen knife; we want to cut it with a machete!”

Again, we’re not in the business of diplomacy here at The Dead Notes. We don’t like sugar-coating the truth either. So, you know where to be. Prepare for that sigh of relief after a cold shot of it’s-about-fucking-time.

Dr. Boogie go on at 11PM sharp Saturday 10/11 at El Cid. $5 cover. Doors open at 9PM. Go to the Facebook Event Page.

Stihleto

I’m really trying to hit the finish line before it’s too late. It’s literally the day of the event and I’m trying to write something up on Stihleto before I go back to the drudgery of preproduction -that I’m very behind on- for my first ever music video. So forgive me if this article feels rushed and short.

“Everybody in my class hated Holden Caulfield! I don’t get it! I was the only guy that loved him!”

Sam Hariss

That’s what bass player of Stihleto, Sam Hariss, said when we were eating tacos at the Lower East Side on a New York City afternoon. I had a Bukowski book in my hand and he gave me a resentful look because I was preaching how a lot of the big rockstars read literature that’s beyond Please Kill Me. He hated that I didn’t read Please Kill Me yet, and I hated that he didn’t know Bukowski at the time.

“I just hate that Ritchie Blackmore wears a fucking wizard hat! How the fuck are you gonna convince me that Deep Purple is cool after that?!!”. 

Sam and I are always fighting over who the superior band is. His favorite band is Motley Crue, who I can’t stand. And my favorite band is Deep Purple. I’m usually very good at swaying my challengers when we debate about rock n roll issues but that wizard hat remark really put the stopper on me

I do have to confess, I had a phase in my life where I was an all out butt rocker. And Motley Crue used to be my favorite band. That’s how Sam and I met. Remember in the 90’s when Motley Crue changed singers? That singer, John Corabi, had a show with his solo band in Long Island with the Tracii Guns version of LA Guns. You’d expect the show would be somewhere with the crowd capacity of Irving Plaza but the venue looked like a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. Everybody there were old timers with Ed Hardy and Affliction T Shirts trying to be hip. The only group of kids that were young was Sam and his friends. He looked the part too. You’d confuse Sam as a member of Hanoi Rocks if you saw him that day. And get this, he wasn’t even legal age. He didn’t have that thing on his wrist that says he can drink booze. He’s a teenager.

Once the show was over, everybody in the venue left back home except for myself, a bunch of milfy chicks and Sam with his gang. We were all outside. “You waiting for Tracii to come out of his tour bus too?”, that’s the first thing Sam said when we met. And at the time we both bonded over it cause’ at the time I had the impression that we were both butt rockers

Fast forward a few months later. I went to a Uriah Heep show and was blown away and decided that Motley Crue is the worst band in the planet.

I walk around at West Village one day and I bump into Sam carrying a huge laundry bag. We talk and he pitches his band. I invite him over to my apartment which was in the area at the time. He goes online and plays his demos to me. I hear it and it sounds like a 4th rate version of AC/DC mixed with YET ANOTHER Guns N Roses imitation attempt.

In my mind I think to myself: “I have to save him from butt rock”. Then I proceed to play three epic 9 minute Uriah Heep songs in a row. I can see the look on his face that says: “What have I gotten myself into?! I have to leave!”. The only thing that kept him around was that I didn’t give him my opinion on his songs yet. I played those super long Uriah Heep songs as a way to build up to a point I was trying to make. And then I finally communicated the point I was trying to make and told him that his songs suck and that butt rock in general sucks too. He didn’t take it personally. But over time I found out that Sam isn’t really a butt rocker. He only likes a few bands from the 80’s. Mainly Guns N Roses, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, Hanoi Rocks and Motley Crue. He hates everybody else from the 80’s. And then it was revealed to me through facebook posts that he’s really a punk. Posting bands like Wayne County and shit. So I didn’t really have to save him from butt rock at all. Here's another fun fact. When the Waldos are playing in town, Sam sessions as the bass player. Pretty cool huh?

I think Sam hates Uriah Heep. I realized the hard way that putting a punk through a 9 minute song is not the best way to turn them on to a band. I actually never learn and I still keep preaching Heep to punk dudes that way, haha!

Anyway, after that I move to LA and I start shooting my documentary. I remember one of the subjects I interviewed said something really interesting: “If you wanna turn a bunch of 16 year olds to down and dirty rock n roll, you have to find a band that’s 16 years old that play down and dirty rock n roll. You can’t turn them on with bands who are in their 40’s, 30’s or even late 20’s. You have to find a bunch of teenagers that are their age that look like them”.

That sound byte ruled. And he was right. The only way for this counter culture to work is if we successfully win over teenagers. And we need teenagers to lead teenagers. Suddenly Sam’s band had a complete paradigm shift of extreme importance in my head. They were the only band in the world that are their age who aren’t a bunch of pop punk fags

Waldo

I fly over to New York to interview them. I go to their rehearsal space in long island. Sam and the lead guitar player/singer, Waldo Gutierrez, are the ones that dominate the interview. Both the drummer and the other guitar player never said a single word throughout the whole thing. The only thing the other guitar player said was “Yeah Budgie!” when I referenced Budgie. He didn’t even SAY “Yeah Budgie”. He just looked at me and smiled when I referenced them. I think both Waldo and Sam learned that the other guitar player likes Budgie that day cause’ he probably never speaks up about it. I think he doesn’t speak up in general. Oh yeah, in case you’re wondering that other guitar player’s name is Sam Lee.

The drummer was similar too. The only thing he said was “Yeah

Sam Lee

Vanilla Fudge!” when I referenced Vanilla Fudge. That drummer is gone now. He’s replaced by a new guy. The new guy’s name escapes me.

Anyway when I found out that they have three other members in Stihleto that like bands that ain't just butt rock and ain't just punk I realized that Stihleto’s musical background was more dynamic than I thought. Oh yeah Waldo is into Funkadelic and he likes Eddie Hazel and Buddy Miles Express and shit.

I asked if they could play their songs for the camera. Then this happened. You HAVE TO click on the link below.

That song is the first song I show all my skeptics when they want me to prove to them if this counter culture would ever succeed. The ALL say the same thing: “Yeah man! We all look like Ronnie Wood! And we’re all hip to great shit! But who has THE SONGS man! Who has THE SONGS! Who has THE SONGS! Nobody has THE SONGS man! Nobody has THE SONGS!”. The first thing I show them is that video of Stilleto’s rehearsal. And each and every one of them are sold after that. Every. Fucking. Time.

I have about 17 “Solid Examples” of great discoveries in a folder in my hard drive of bands that I filmed. I get mixed reactions every time I screen it to people. That Stilleto song is the only song that has a 90% success rate of getting them sold. They all wanna be a part of this counter culture and believe in it after that video.

Holy shit, they’ve come a long way since that last demo I heard when Sam was carrying a laundry bag around West Village.

Sam and Waldo are two very ballsy characters. I’ve never seen them pander to me or be “polite” or “nice” to me ever. Or to anyone else for that matter. They’re always snotty pissed off scum bags. During the interview Waldo literally stood up in the middle of the interview, went to the trash can that’s INSIDE THE REHEARSAL SPACE, whipped his dick out and pissed inside the trash can. IN SOMEONE ELSE’S PROPERTY! In the middle of my fucking interview!

They kept spitting huge balls of saliva on the carpet floors of the rehearsal space every 20 seconds when they talk. Yes, this is still all during the interview. As you can see in the video, Sam lit a cigarette while performing. I’m pretty sure that building had no smoking signs. But like I said, they’re snotty pissed off scum bags.

When Sam and I walk around in the city, he gets a can of budweiser, completely undisguised, and walks around outside with an open container drinking off that can in public in front of everybody. Then when he sees a cop he goes: “Shit! Cop! Cop! Hold on let me hide this until the pigs fuck off”. You'd think he'd hide the beer inside a cola can or some shit. No it’s a fucking budweiser can, in front of all of New York City’s pedestrians.

What I’m trying to say is that Sam and Waldo are the PERFECT ROLE MODELS for teenagers today!

They’re authentically decadent. They don’t pose it. They’re AUTHENTICALLY decadent. Real balls. If I campaign them they would give the balls and danger and decadence of rock n roll real legitimacy again.

I have a lot of cool things to say about Waldo too. I know the article is Sam heavy but I really have to fuck off to my pre-production now. Sorry Waldo.

Anyway, show up to High Voltage tonight at Philly and see them live. Later.

Bonzai!: Debut Show in Philadelphia

I'd like to apologize for my lack of activity the past few months. I'm more than ten articles behind. I left everybody with my word that I'll post the third installment of The Nasty Souls series. And I didn't. I was supposed to post about the album release of Hammered Satin's "Glamorama". Which is a great record and a very big deal. Not to mention their tour in Sweden. I was supposed to blog about The Biters and the Atlanta scene. I was supposed to blog about The Booze reunion. Which is also a very big deal. I was supposed to blog about The Baltimore scene. The comprehensive reports on The LA and New York scenes. I was supposed to blog about The Nuclears' new record. So much news and so much work to do. 

I missed out on Sonny Vincent's show here in New York with Dino's Boys and Barraracudas. I missed out when The Ravagers played here. Twice. I missed out on everything.

I've just been ass raped with film school lately. By 2015, once I'm done with film school, and hopefully make it to stay and work in the country, the activity here will be twenty-fold. The re-branding of this blog and launch of TheBathroomWall.com will take over. My documentary series on this whole counter culture will debut once TheBathroomWall.com goes live. And soon enough, this counter culture will grow bigger and there will be so much to report about that we will rival both the Blabbermouth.com and Pitchfork.com constructs. 

I'm not supposed to be blogging right now. Principal photography for my first year thesis in film school is approaching and I'm behind on deadlines and I'm fucked with pre-production. But the guy I'm blogging about is about to have his first ever debut show with his new project. A guy that's extremely dear to me. One of the very few people that loves talking about and gets the same bands that I love. I would never miss out on a scoop like this. And I'm going to Philly this weekend to see him live. I don't care. I'm going out of my way for this. To me it is absolutely worth it. 

The guy I'm talking about is Lee Torres. Famously known in social network websites as "Cowabunga Banzai Geronimo". And this Saturday at Voltage Lounge at The High Five's monthly event "High Voltage", he will debut what I believe will be his magnum opus project: "Bonzai".   

Ladies and Gentlemen, Lee Torres. 

Trip Loon

In my early encounters with you, you were wearing a Graveyard t shirt. When you joined my group "Rock n Roll Gems" on facebook you were posting rare Heavy 70's Proto-Metal bands. We always shoot the shit on Lucifer's Friend and Atomic Rooster ... etc. Then you brought up Bonzai.

I'm really psyched about the debut show. Finally.

Mainly because not a lot of my peers are into that genre other than Space Panther from Ventura CA. And the rest, sure they’re into it but they don't have a band with that shtick

Lee

Yeah hard rock has always been my real true love. Even being a part of the Philly punk and metal scene, I've never really considered myself a punk or metal head. I don't really refer to myself as anything but if I did I guess it would be a rocker. At least that's what they called us in high school. That and Longhairs, haha. But yeah in the past 5 years I would say I've had a real reconnection with 70s blues rock, hard rock and prog rock. Rediscovering bands I grew up listening to. And discovering some bands I had never listened to. Bands like Toad, Cactus, Captain Beyond, Birth Control, Lucifers Friend, Dust to name a few

Trip Loon

I'll tell you a secret. I'm exactly like you, Hard Rock and early 70's Proto Metal are my favorite genres.

Here’s my issue. I know a lot of bands who are into the same influences that end up starting Stoner Rock bands. That's my only main concern. I'm a little afraid that Bonzai is gonna turn out like that. Is that a legitimate concern I should worry about?

Like take the 1st Graveyard record for instance. Did it stand out to you as much as the second one?

The first one was too moody and atmospheric instead of something that can live up to energetic live numbers like the second one.

It's just that I know a lot of bands that quote Sabbath and Dust and Atomic Rooster that  fall into the trap of making it sound too Stoner Rock instead of Hard Rock.

So where does Bonzai fall?

Lee

I really like stoner rock, but no that is not the sound we are going for. When I write I try to stay strictly to that classic hard rock sound mixed with a little punk and a little metal, high energy stuff, if anything I can see us sometimes getting more thrashy or metal, but mostly the idea for the band is high energy rock and roll, I wanted to be in a band where I could be weird and pumped up on stage while playing blues solos.

Trip Loon

Oh I like Stoner Rock too. I just think there were too much of them recently that it's gonna prevent a Budgie/Dust/Blue Cheer-influenced band from being a stand out.

Aside from you and a few others in the Philly community, [Joe Reno, Kelly Broll and Eddie Gieda come to mind], I don't know anybody in Philly that quotes those particular bands that often. I'm familiar that most people in that community are mainly into punk. How easy was it for you to find band mates who are into the same bands and into the same vision?

Lee

It definitely took me awhile. This is a project I've been working on some time now. I'll go into who the band members are. Dave Mendez, our bass player, has been a friend of mine since we were in high school, we've known each other and have been good friends for a long time. We've always listened to the same music and wanted to be in bands together since we were teens so I knew the chemistry would be there. In fact we were both in our previous band Vulcan which was thrash metal. Jack Oswald our keyboard player is a recent addition to the band, he plays keys in another band called Village which I refer to as Stoner blues. It's very mellow trancy stoner rock stuff. So far it's goin’ pretty good. Having that 70s synth/organ sound is definitely what I was looking for, we were gonna do without it for the time being but he jumped on so hopefully it turns out good, still writing some key parts. Johnny Mateu is a dude I've know from goin’ to shows for years and a biker buddy of mine. He's also a top FDR skater guy, does a lot with building the park. I knew he would be a good front man, loves rock and roll, and is a wild high energy mother fucker which I absolutely

Blake Anderson & Frank Chin

wanted for a front man. And the last two dudes who are really the building blocks for this band are Blake Anderson on drums and Frank Chin on guitar. These guys play together in what has become a very popular thrash metal band called Vektor who is signed to Earache records, one of the biggest labels in metal, and they’re all over the country and recently outside as well. They just played hellfest in France alongside fucking ZZ top and Kiss. These dudes up and movers their entire band from Arizona to Philly. And it really worked out to my advantage ‘cause Vektor is one of my favorite bands and I love getting to hang out and play music with these dudes. Originally I wanted Frank to play bass and have there be one guitar but he wanted to play guitar  too and we figured us together could really do some cool Harmony stuff and he writes as well. Blake is the glue that holds everything together, seriously talented musician, definitely the most talented out of all of us. The drummer is the backbone of the band and I knew after jamming with Blake right away that Bonzai was going to be possible. Dudes also a crazy Zappa nut like me so that's pretty fuckin awesome too. Honestly I couldn't ask for better band mates, we all listen to the same stuff and understanding that I wanted Bonzai to be a hard rock band. Bunch a punk/metal head/biker/stoner/rockers playin’ 70s inspired hard rock

Trip Loon

Aside from Graveyard or Bigelf (and now Bonzai). Do you know anyone else doing this shtick in the current landscape?

I know my friends from Ventura CA, Space Panther, are doing this shtick as well. But I was wondering if you know any others that I can explore

Lee

Yeah there’s a band from Philly called Hound and they're awesome 70s-esque rock and roll. Hoping to play a show with them soon.

And if you like Motorhead you’d love this band No Stayer. They’re d beat punk meets motorhead. Not really 70s rock but wanted to throw them out there cause they rule

Trip Loon

I'd really love to see a comeback for heavy hard rock. My issue is that bands like Graveyard and Bigelf are still themed around "Gloom" and "Darkness". Which I think they did because they have to in order to market themselves with brands like Hot Topic or Ozzfest or Blabbermouth.com

But the kind of Hard Rock I love (Grand Funk, Deep Purple, Cactus, Aerosmith) isn't really gloomy. And I'd really want the comeback of Hard Rock to be liberated from its association with gloomy imagery.

What's the aesthetics and branding behind Bonzai's image?

Lee

Not really sure yet. I definitely want us to seem weird or far out, might seem a little dark at times but definitely vibrant as well. For me sound comes first, Image comes second. I think bands spend way more time on what they look like and what the image of their band is gonna be than what they sound like and we’re definitely not gonna do that. We're hippies punks metal heads and rockers so we'll probably look like a mixture of that, leather vests, jean biker vests, long hair...shit man I might even wear a daskiki if I'm feelin weird enough! haha

Trip Loon

I agree that the clothes thing is a trivial thing to worry about. But branding is very important to get fans hooked on you at first glance.

I think your Logo is great. Any thoughts on album covers, Photo Shoot themes ... Etc?

Lee

Very true, I definitely agree with you, image is important. You can't get on stage wearing a sponge bob t shirt and Ufo pants and expect people to take you seriously as a hard rock band, haha

Yes our logo is absolutely Roger Dean/Budgie influenced. There are some other Roger Dean style logos we’re working on too. The B is the exact B in the Budgie logo, dont' wanna seem like we’re ripping off too much, what do you think being a big Budgie fan?

Yes I have many ideas. Actually the word Bonzai is a combination of the two different spellings: Bonsai- the art of gowing miniature trees and Banzai- a Japanese war cry which kamakazi pioltes yelled out before crashing their planes into enemy territory which actually meant "long live the emperor of Japan or 10'000 years" so I would like our first demo to be called "The 10'000 Year Demo" taking its name from the Banzai saying and also because it feels like its taking me forever to start playin’ in a band again and releasing music.

Another concept I've been working on is an album titled "Hell Cats, Witches and Weird Ass Chicks" which will be a tribute or ode to all the weird women we run across in our lives. Artists, tattooed girls, freaky chicks, musicians, punks, hippies, I’m sure you know the type of girls I'm talking about. And for the album cover I want to do a photo shoot of a bunch of weird girls we’re friends with sitting around doin’ weird shit in crazy outfits and combine it with drawing and painting over certain things in the picture. Once we’re ready for it that'll probably be our first album or ep.

Some other names I've been workin on are:
In The Fields The Bodies Burning
Enjoy The Ride
Silentium Universi (which means silence of the universe)
Primordial Soup

Trip Loon

So a combination of Budgie and Zappa. That fucking rules

What should we expect in the debut show this Saturday? How many originals have you finished? How many covers will you play at the set?

Lee

No covers yet. Still working on a Hawkwind cover but its not ready. 5 originals. I'm hoping people will get pumped up!! And definitely look for a Zappa medley in the future

Trip Loon

Tight! I know that you're a big staff member at Voltage Lounge. Are you in charge of bookings? A lot of the bands I know from NYC and LA wanna tour in Philly. What sort of bands are you interested in booking?

Lee

I'm not in charge of it but I help and mostly deal with the rock & roll, metal and punk stuff. Send it all my way and if I can't find a place for it at Voltage I can always try and send them somewhere else.

Trip Loon

That's great to know. When are the punk, metal and rock n roll nights? Monthly? Weekly?

Lee

It's random

Trip Loon

I see

I don't have any insight on the Metal Community in Philly. I'm familiar mainly with the Punk and Rock n Roll people. Can you give us a few insights on the metal scene there?

Lee

It's pretty underground and it mixes with the heavier punk scene. A lot of people you see at hardcore punk shows or crust punk shows you usually see at thrash, death and black metal shows. There's a pretty big stoner/doom metal scene in Philly as well

Trip Loon

Can you name the leading bands?

They go to Voltage Lounge for their events?

Lee

The bands that stick out to me the most and which I believe have serious talent are Casket, Plague Dogs, No Stayer, Coffin Dust, Vektor (although they're signed, they're not above playing underground or DIY shows). Plague Dogs just played Voltage last night with old school street punk Philly legends The Virus. It was a huge show, probably close to 450 people, the bar was fucking packed. People were raging hard as shit. I'd like to see more shows like that at the bar whether it be rock, punk or metal

Trip Loon

Any contemporary Hard Rock bands in general outside of Philly that you're a fan of? Or see yourself on a bill with?

Lee

Yeah I wanna open for Black Sabbath!!!

Lee

Haha, uhhh, not really I guess, there's bands that I can see us fitting on bills with but they're not really contemporary hard rock bands. Really I'll play a show with anyone and for anyone, don't really care if certain people don't like it or don't think we fit, I just wanna play music.

It's 100% a band that is for the musicians. I write these songs cause I like them and they get me pumped, and if people happen to like it as well that's awesome, it not, that's fine. I think Zappa said something along the lines of that

Trip Loon

Graveyard? Airbourne? Bigelf?

Lee

I've never listened to Airbourne but if you like it I’ll probably like it! But yeah playing with Graveyard would be awesome, I've seen them a bunch and I'm sure their kinda fan base would be into us

Trip Loon

Well you know what? I'm gonna make sure that I'll promote the fuck out of you until the newer heavy rock bands say they wanna be the same bill with Bonzai. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Any closing remarks?

Lee

Hell yeah, thank you dude. Glad you're interested and thanks for listening!

"Man you ever get that feeling like you just wanna ride something 100 miles an hour down the highway!? Or jump off something really fucking high?!?! That feeling that you get when you turn your guitar up and play as loud and as fast as you can?!? That's high speed fucking adrenaline my friends. The kinda feeling that can only be expressed by yelling out... BONZAIII!!!"

Trip Loon

BON-FUCKIN'-ZAI BRAH!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

And with that, the only thing left to write is the details of where and when the show is gonna be.

As you look at the flyer below:

It says August 10 (This Saturday). 8 pm. Voltage Lounge. 421 N 7th Street Philadelphia PA. 5 bucks. 

As you can see The High Five will headline, and Stihleto from NYC will be there too. Stihleto is a great great band so don't miss them. If I have time I plan to blog about them before the show.

An update about The High Five. They changed singers. Ali is singing for them now. A very interesting dynamic since I heard that he has a soulful and powerful voice. Sad to hear about Johnny leaving the band. I'm still a huge fan of both The High Five and Johnny and I look forward to see and report about what The High Five and Johnny will do in the future. 

Anyway ... BONZAAAAAAAI!!!!!  I'll see you all there!!! It's gonna rule!!!