Day of the Gun release party @ Daddy’s Diamonds
Check out the photos from Josie Cotton’s DAY OF THE GUN Record Release Listening party MAY 4TH, 2023 @ Daddy’s Diamonds, Hollywood, CA
Josie Cotton releases new album DAY OF THE GUN
Releases New Album Day of the Gun
“Painting In Blood” Music Video Out Today
Featuring Guests Kevin Preston (Long Shot, Prima Donna), Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers), Clem Burke (Blondie), and Lee Rocker (Stray Cats)
Album Release Party (FREE!) on May 4
At Los Angeles’ Daddy Diamonds (1553 N Cahuenga Blvd)
MAY 2, 2023 [Los Angeles, CA] — “I’ve never been shy about being provocative or too ironic and I saw no reason to pull any punches on this one either,” laughs infamous New Wave icon JOSIE COTTON about her new album DAY OF THE GUN out today (May 2, 2023)on Kitten Robot Records. “Every record I’ve ever made has been kind of an experiment… a chance to morph into something else but this is the one where I go completely over the cliff,” she explains. “Let’s just call it a Dystopian musical with David Lynch as a re-incarnated French poodle who overthinks everything in her path. ”
Also out today is the video for her newly released single “Painting In Blood” which was lyrically inspired by the music of “the wondrous” Ennio Morricone who scored many of the films from that era. As a longtime fan of B-movies, comedy/horror and only recently of Giallo movies, her appreciation of the aesthetics and texture of those films helped flavor some of her music. “[Morricone] elevated and re-defined every genre he touched and his influences knew no limit. From Beethoven to surf music to demonic children’s choirs and beyond, he transformed the music of the low-brow horror movie into unforgettable art.”
Listen to Josie Cotton’s Day of the Gun
Apple Music / Spotify / Pandora / Youtube / Deezer / Amazon
For the album writing process, she drew from multiple sources of influence. The speedy, subconscious writing of her song “Disco Ball” she says, “was like being a stenographer on a train.” The lyrics for her noir-influenced previous single “Cold War Spy” were inspired by George Orwell, John le Carré spy novels and fascination with the Cold War. Proving her inspiration can come from anywhere, “The Fathomless Tale of Silky and Sam” came from a dream about a spider she befriends in a parallel world.
Her new album, DAY OF THE GUN, features guest appearances by Kevin Preston (Long Shot, Prima Donna), Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers), Clem Burke (Blondie), and Lee Rocker (Stray Cats). Day of the Gun was recorded over a four-year time frame at Kitten Robot Studios and was produced and mixed by Josie and Paul Roessler (TSOL, The Screamers, Nina Hagan).
DAY OF THE GUN is available on all streaming platforms nowon Kitten Robot Records. Physical versions – LP (translucent gold vinyl) Picture Disc vinyl (Limited to 100 via Kitten Robot only) and CDs, as well as specially-priced signed bundles, available here: https://kittenrobot.com/product/josie-cotton-day-of-the-gun-vinyl-cd/
Day of The Gun
Tracklist:
1. Circle Dance
2. The Fathomless Tale of Silky and Sam
3. Day of the Gun
4. Overturning
5. The Ballad of Elvis Presley
6. Ukrainian Cowboy
7. Disco Ball
8. Painting in Blood
9. Cold War Spy
10. Too Beautiful
11. Headlights
12. Snappy
Rey Roldan || rey@reybee.com
Heather Hawke || heather@reybee.com
Video Premiere: “A Higher Place by Tombstones In Their Eyes.
From the “A Higher Place” EP on Kitten Robot Records https://kittenrobot.com/shop/
Video by John Treanor
Recorded, Produced and Mixed by Paul Roessler at Kitten Robot Studio
Musicians: John Treanor, Stephen Striegel, Courtney Davies, Nic Nifoussi, James Cooper, Paul Roessler
Lyrics: A Higher Place I’m in a high a higher place I’m in a high a higher place There is no air There is no air There is no air There is no air I’m in a high a higher place I’m in a place a higher place
BRIDGE I’m in a high I’m in a high I’m in a high a higher place I’m in a high I’m in a high I’m in a high a higher place There is no waste There is no waste There is no waste There is no waste
CrowJane ‘Ergot Journey’ Video Premiere
Music video Created by @lilbakerfilms / Styled by Jessica Roswell
“Ergot Journey” song from the Mater Dolorosa Album by CrowJane Released by @KittenRobotRecords Produced by Paul Roessler featuring sax sounds from Atom @egretsonergot1328
“CrowJane’s music draws on a similar set of influences to create a darkly surreal brand of post-punk.”
— Regen Magazine
Loki’s Folly Is the Gen Z Grunge Band You Need to Be Paying Attention To
The band talk to Teen Vogue about their Minneapolis roots, inspirations, and more. Plus, watch an exclusive of their new music video.
On a below-freezing Friday night in north Minneapolis, Minnesota, a trio of close-knit siblings are clustered on one side of a booth to talk about their debut album. Loki’s Folly, based in south Minneapolis, is a band of two sisters and a brother: Annie, 21, on guitar and vocals; Nissa, 16, on drums and vocals; and Oskar, 12, on bass. We meet at a picturesque Polish deli restaurant on a day with a high of 5 degrees, weeks before the February 21 release of their debut Sisu on Kitten Robot Records.
“It feels like a culmination of our entire childhoods, essentially, condensed into, what’s the run length? 25, 30 minutes?” Annie laughs. Annie has big eldest child energy; it’s clear that she uplifts and works hand-in-hand with her siblings, and they feel trust in her. Nissa and Oskar, however, are equally as composed and driven; Nissa explains that she worked on the band’s music as part of her schoolwork in high school.
Formed after Nissa and Annie got the attention of local pro musicians like Soul Asylum while taking guitar lessons, Loki’s Folly have worked on these songs going back as far as 2017 in some cases. Their first show was five years ago, on Annie’s 16th birthday. The siblings are steeped in Minneapolis’s music scene, a producer of icons across pop (Prince, Lizzo) but just as much so rock music, as Loki’s Folly’s points of reference highlight. Sisu is a project self-aware of how much its creators have grown over the years through the hectic and choppy process of adolescence.
The vibes and references in some moments of the album are very Gen Z-appropriate; the trio gets visibly excited when I ask about whether or not they’re into the MCU. Mentioning the series Loki gets an emphatic “Yes” from the otherwise measured Nissa. “[The songs are] all very personal, obviously, but we like to pull from comic books, and movies and things that we’re watching,” Annie explains. “We developed this process when we first started having sleepovers in my room or her room, we’d have our little laptop and go on YouTube and be like, Check out this, we got to do something like this, and Check this one out.” Though they cheekily draw attention to feeling socially anxious, their enthusiasm for their music shows through, and blossoms when they talk about their inspirations.
The band’s sound recalls Bikini Kill and Nirvana, clearly influenced by grunge at a moment when America’s most exciting alternative band is paying homage to the latter on the cover of Rolling Stone. The shrieking on “Little Mermaid” would make Kathleen Hanna proud. “Don’t Come Back,” one of the synthier tracks, reminds me of Fever to Tell-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs. After agreeing with the first two comparisons, Annie continues, “I think a lot of local Minneapolis punk scene definitely had a very big influence, especially with some of the earlier legends in the area, like Husker Du, Babes in Toyland, the Replacements, all really really struck a chord with us. I think that connection of being from the same place really had an impact.”
Annie is looking forward to their album release show, at a Minneapolis venue once played by the Replacements. I asked how they were feeling about all the change and pressure. “Even though it’s a very scary thing, we’re all very excited. It’s a very personal record in nature, where we’re expressing a lot of different emotions and sometimes hard-to-deal-with feelings and experiences,” she observes. “But I think it’s really cathartic for us to be able to share these things with other people.”
Annie is looking forward to their album release show, at a Minneapolis venue once played by the Replacements. I asked how they were feeling about all the change and pressure. “Even though it’s a very scary thing, we’re all very excited. It’s a very personal record in nature, where we’re expressing a lot of different emotions and sometimes hard-to-deal-with feelings and experiences,” she observes. “But I think it’s really cathartic for us to be able to share these things with other people.”
While outlets decry a spike in mental illness for young girls and state legislators across the country are targeting marginalized people and stories — and none of the adults are offering any real solutions — Loki’s Folly is unapologetically abrasive. Songs on the album directly address issues like climate change. “I think it’s very disheartening. As a young person, there’s definitely a feeling of being let down by people who feel like they should be really responsible,” Annie says about the state of affairs, recalling the 2016 election, which happened while she wasn’t old enough to vote. “I just remember the depression. I thought all these people that could vote were going to vote in a way that would be positive for the future. And I think it’s just continued downhill to some degree.”
But don’t think Loki’s Folly are a bunch of doomers. To the contrary, their single “Beaches and Peaches” was chosen exactly for its silliness, and its video was made with the same ideal in mind. They refuse to grow up any faster than absolutely necessary in a world demanding too much from its youth. It helps that where the constraints of Covid schooling and isolation might’ve driven others up the wall, it brought them together.
“We’ve done online school now for a while, so we’ve been around each other a lot. Luckily, we were one of the [families] that got along really well,” says Nissa. “We’re all our own best friends together. It didn’t feel like it was like starting a band with your siblings. It was more like friends starting a band.”
Below, check out an exclusive premiere of Loki’s Folly’s music video for “Beaches and Peaches.”
‘Heart’ by Tombstones In Their Eyes | New Album, ‘Sea of Sorrow’ | Interview psychedelicbabymag.com
Exclusive video premiere of ‘Heart’ by fuzzed out shoegazers Tombstones In Their Eyes, taken from their upcoming album, ‘Sea of Sorrow,’ out via Kitten Robot Records.
The band is back after their recently released fuzzed out, melodic EP ‘A Higher Place’. The latest single ‘Heart’ is a nice preview of what will be heard on their upcoming album, ‘Sea of Sorrow,’ out via Kitten Robot Records (exact date will follow). Be prepared for another slice of shoegaze-desert rock.
When and where did the band originally form?
John Treanor: It involves some crazy luck/chance. I had a friend named James Cooper when I was a kid, we probably met around 13. We met because both our mothers are from Finland and knew each other from the San Diego Finnish “scene.” Anyway, James and I became fast friends and, as punk rock was finally reaching our town, started to write some songs together. His big sister, Jessica, gave us our first punk haircuts. We wrote a couple of songs, at least one of which was used in a later band that James was in. Then, as kids do, we kinda drifted apart with different crowds in the punk scene. I kept in touch with his sister, and sometime around 2013, was having coffee with her and asked about James. You’re not always sure you want to meet up with old friends, but what she told me gave me the feeling we could talk again. It was crazy when we finally talked. It was like no time had passed (actually 30 years had passed, haha). We had both lived the punk rock / rock and roll lifestyle and eventually both hit bottom and cleaned up our lives. So, by the time we met, we were both healthy and good guys. And we still loved music. Neither of us had bands at the time. I had quit my last band about 5 years previously and taken a break from the grind. But we decided to try writing some songs together, even though he lived in NYC and I in Los Angeles. We traded projects in Dropbox, using Garageband to record, and came up with some fun stuff. Finally, we had enough songs to where I thought it would be cool to get some local friends to help me record them in a real studio. I had a friend, Sam Sherwood, who played drums, and another friend, Josh Drew, who played bass. We went into a local studio and recorded about 10 songs. Then, when it came time to mix, I asked around and heard about this guy, Paul Roessler, who I had met briefly before. I went over to his studio and it seemed like a perfect fit. We spent some time mixing and re-recording parts of the songs (I think I even did an acoustic song there). The first record, ‘Sleep Forever,’ was uneven, I think now, as if we had not found our sound, but there was some cool stuff there. So, that’s the origin story, and James, Paul and I are still working together. Amazing that a meeting after 30 years would result in such a cool and long-lasting project.
Very cool. Other than those guys, has the line-up changed much over the years/what is the current line-up?
Our original drummer, Sam, quit after our first show. So, for the 2nd recording, the EP ‘Bad Clouds,’ I hired a drummer named Stephen Striegel. He, Josh and I recorded and mixed that record at Paul’s studio, Kitten Robot Studios. It came out much better than the first album, as if we were finding our feet. And we further developed our relationship with Paul. Since then, we’ve tried one drummer, who didn’t last long, on our 2nd EP, ‘FEAR,’ so we brought Stephen Striegel back in to finish the EP. By then, we also had picked up a bass player named Mike Mason, and Josh Drew had switched to guitar. After the ‘FEAR’ EP, Stephen said he wanted to officially join the band, so that was great. We did another two EPs and a record with that lineup, the ‘Shutting Down’ EP, the ‘Nothing Here’ EP and finally, our second album, ‘Maybe Someday’. After that album, Mike Mason, our bass player, moved out of town and Josh switched back to bass for a while. During the time after that we released ‘Collection’ (a compilation of all the early stuff) and recorded the ‘Looking For a Light’ album.
There was some shuffling around after that. Josh left to be with his new family and do his own music and we brought in Paul Boutin on guitar, Nic Nifoussi on bass, Phil Cobb on guitar and Courtney Davies on backing/harmony vocals. This is mostly to fill out the live show so that we can have that 3-guitar-attack along with the 3 vocalists (Nic also does backing vocals). We did the EP ‘A Higher Place’ after that, but not everyone got on the record.
The current lineup is:
John Treanor – songs, guitar, vocals, keys
Phil Cobb – lead guitar
Stephen Striegel – drums
Nic Nifoussi – bass/backing vox
Courtney Davies – backing vox
Paul Boutin – guitar
James Cooper – midi/drum programming, synths, musical guidance
When you write music, is it a collaborative process with the other band members or is it more your vision of the band that comes through?
Short answer: my vision, but I’m trying to change that with some of the new members and encourage collaboration. Our songwriting process generally goes like this: I’ll sit down and open Logic. Choose a drum beat to play along to. Write a rhythm guitar part. Sing along to that part in a stream of consciousness fashion and see what comes out. If it’s a good song and the lyrics are good, sometimes I’ll keep them as is, or with minor tweaks. Then I’ll add melodies, solos, bass, sometimes keys. I’ll let James in NYC know it’s there and often I’ll wake up to the song with a great drumbeat and some synths added. Other times I’ll wake up to a stripped and chopped version that’s cooler than what I initially wrote. You never know.
So, the songwriting process is really more my vision, with James helping me decide which songs are worth following.
I like that “stream of consciousness” approach. Like James Joyce or Jack Kerouac. You have put out an impressive discography so far and you have two more albums coming up soon. What can you tell us about these new ones?
We’ve got so many songs to work with that it got confusing and stressful for a bit. That’s why we released the ‘A Higher Place’ EP, it acted as sort of a pressure release valve. At least we got some songs out there and could go back to working on the album. For this album, ‘Sea of Sorrow,’ which is now mastered, has the art done and is in the pressing plant and CD factory, that will be more relief. I had so many songs to choose from that I just went with my heart, putting on the songs that made me feel good at that moment. It covers a lot of ground, from the opener ‘Trapped,’ a fuzzed out mantra, to ‘Hope,’ a dreamy but gritty tale of darkness and light. It’ll be 10 songs on the vinyl, 12 on the CD. One of the CD-only songs, ‘Bride,’ was written primarily by James and is different from anything else we’ve done. So, now we’re back with 20 songs to work with, but a little less pressure. Paul and I will go in the studio and tweak them, make them better, fuzzier, noisier, prettier, whatever they need. And Courtney is coming in to sing some more harmonies, even though she’s already on about half of the songs already.
“Life is a storm and we’re just trying to stay afloat”
I love that you have this nautical theme going on in all your album artwork. What is the story behind this? Do you touch on this in lyrics as well?
The “ships in storm” theme started with our first album. I was going through a pretty rough depression during the early few years of the band that I felt like that imagery fit our vibe. Life is a storm and we’re just trying to stay afloat/alive. Simple. I try to keep it just that. Only the ships in the storm, without expanding into real nautical themes. No anchors or ropes all over the sleeve, et cetera. Just the cover carries the theme. And I have written a song called ‘Ship on the Sea,’ but that was really not related to the “theme” in the covers.
Tell me a little bit about “The Bitter Seas Radio Show” and how people can find it and give it a listen…
Bret Miller of Eardrum Buzz Radio asked me to co-host a show with him some time back and I was hooked. I love sharing what I consider to be great music with people. So I asked him if I could have a slot and that’s now every other Tuesday from 6pm to 9pm Pacific. The address is https://www.eardrumbuzz.net
We’re hoping to be able to move to another platform that will allow listeners to listen in different ways, on different devices, etc. I’d love to get it to where I could stream it over my Sonos system. And it would be nice to broaden the reach, as well. Bret started a Patreon page where folks can contribute towards that goal.
I play all kinds of stuff, at least in the rock genre, from Love to Unsane. Plenty of psych, some doom and metal, punk, straight dirty rock and roll, shoegaze, et cetera.
Any bands that we might not be aware of that you would like to recommend?
The Kundalini Genie, Rev Rev Rev, Magic Castles, Jesus On Heroine (no longer around, but a brilliant first record), The Underground Youth, We Are Wood, Chatham Rise (really underrated), Dead Ghosts, The Cult Of Dom Keller, 9 volt-velvet (great guys), Black Market Karma. And I have to throw in Songs: Ohia ‘The Magnolia Electric Co.,’ even though Jason passed away a few years back. Beautiful stuff. There’s tons of great stuff out there now and obviously in the past, which makes the radio show so fun.
I see that you have been playing more live gigs lately now that the world is returning to “normal.” How has that been for you guys? Any upcoming shows?
Yes, we played a few shows and then pulled back to finish the record. But we are starting rehearsals shortly and plan on taking it nice and slow. I want to get really good and powerful before we venture out on stage again, as our last shows were pretty stressful and chaotic. We’ll probably get out there in late January or early February. With three guitars, it’s going to be a blast in more ways than one!
Aside from the upcoming releases, any future plans/ideas for TiTE?
I will keep doing this as long as the songs keep coming. I’m one of those who sees the songs as a gift from the universe and I’ve been really fortunate for the past 7-8 years.
‘Send Me Pictures’ by Harry Cloud | New Album, ‘The Cyst’
Exclusive video premiere of ‘Send Me Pictures’ by Harry Cloud, taken from the upcoming album, ‘The Cyst,’ out February 7th via Kitten Robot Records.
Taken from his upcoming album ‘The Cyst,’ ‘Send Me Pictures’ combines catchy hoe-down music with Harry Cloud’s trademark choking-on-glass vocals that begs for a scream-a-long.
“It’s definitely catchy and perhaps the most poppy on this album,” he smiles, knowing full well that the ticket you’ve just taken to ride this rollercoaster of an album will leave you breathless, floored, and perhaps even scratching your head. Covering nearly every alternative genre imaginable including Doom, Ambient, Metal, Psychedelic Rock, Sludge, Shoegaze, Funk, Indie Rock and more, ‘The Cyst’ may seem like a chaos on wax, but in fact, it’s a cohesive and fascinating journey into the avant garde musical mind of this very unique artist. Partnering up with acclaimed LA punk producer Paul Roessler (Nina Hagen, TSOL, Pat the Bunny, Josie Cotton), Cloud found his creative partner-in-arms.
Hailing from Midland, Georgia on the border of Alabama, Harry Cloud’s first foray into music began in the MySpace years when he befriended a group of likeminded artists and moved upstate to Atlanta to join the experimental/noise scene under the name A Butterfly-Eaten Horsehead and later Single Mothers. Migrating out West to Los Angeles afforded a meeting with Roessler who helped him hone his sound with tighter production values at Kitten Robot studios where he recorded 16 albums and EPs so far under Harry Cloud, Fannyland, Orphan Goggles, COPS and Harry Cloud/Paul Roessler.
Now officially signed to Josie Cotton’s Kitten Robot Records, Harry Cloud plans to unleash a whole new era of wildly experimental music. “I’m not trying to be anything or trying to do one style,” he confesses. “I’m not a fashionable person” he confesses. “I like what I like and if something sounds cool I put it out. I want to create a dream universe absent from reality. The lyrics come from my subconscious and only hint at meaning. If you like slow metal, psychedelic noise and/or abstract weirdo rock, you might like Harry Cloud. If you don’t like any of that stuff, you still might like Harry Cloud.”
Headline photo: Sarah Sitkin
Harry Cloud Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Inger Lorre on BBC World Service
BBC World Service – Music Life, Exploring darkness, with Lamb of God, Diamanda Galás, Malevolence, and Inger Lorre
A fantastic discussion about recording in Charlie Chaplin’s studio, metal not getting credit for being compassionate and the duty of an artist to reflect the times.
Hayley and the Crushers – Modern Adult Kicks
Faster and Louder
Punk and rock n’ roll reviews from Lord Rutledge and friends
Hayley and the Crushers were already one of my favorite bands. So it feels a little strange for me to say they’ve made an album that completely blows away everything they’ve done before. But sure enough, Modern Adult Kicks (out today on Kitten Robot Records) is a next-level step for the now Detroit-based Crushers. This album, my friends, is everything. Remarkably, the band has managed to make a very serious album without losing the fundamental joy of the Crushers experience. If you’re putting on this record with expectations of punk, pop, and fun, you will not be disappointed. But it’s a different kind of fun on this record — one that the band has pulled off marvelously.
As the title suggests, Modern Adult Kicks finds Hayley and the Crushers fully embracing maturity. That can be the kiss of death for a punk-pop band, but the “grown-up” Crushers are truly the best version of themselves. Of all the pandemic inspired albums I’ve heard over the last two and a half years, Modern Adult Kicks is definitely my favorite. It’s not necessarily about the pandemic, but it was inspired by all the heavy real-life stuff the band members went through post-COVID. Songs on this release address themes such as isolation, disappointment, addiction & co-dependency, longing, disillusionment, and just general angst. At a time when almost all of us have been “going through some shit,” this album has the feel of the Crushers giving the world a great big hug and telling us that it’s okay to not be okay (but to always keep dancing!). As I ponder how I’ve largely suppressed my own pandemic anxieties for the past 30 months, I find myself really feeling Modern Adult Kicks. I was either going to have this album in my life or one day randomly have a breakdown in the cereal aisle at Target.
One thing that I appreciate about Modern Adult Kicks is how perfectly the Crushers’ recent singles (“Cul de Sac,” “She Drives,” “Click and Act Now!”) fit in with the album as a whole. I remember hearing “Cul de Sac” for the first time and thinking, “Wow, this is an amazing new direction for the Crushers.” Now I’m hearing the fulfillment of this direction on Modern Adult Kicks, and I’m blown away. Working with legendary producer Paul Roessler, the band has achieved a timeless yet modern new wave pop-rock sound that demonstrates that a punk band can grow up and still be, you know, punk! And with Roessler’s support, Hayley Cain has elevated her singing talents to new heights. Vocally, she taps into emotions ranging from sorrowful to angry to tender to wistful to wicked to feisty — and every note rings true. Hayley and the Crushers have always had a knack for writing those immediately catchy pop songs, but Modern Adult Kicks is full of tunes that slowly and sneakily get into your bones. The album’s absolutely perfect side 1 culminates with two such songs: the intensely emotional “Broken Window” and the deeply yearning “I Fall.” The aforementioned “Cul de Sac” and “She Drives,” exceptional singles in their own right, take on a new power within the flow of this album.
As serious of an album as Modern Adult Kicks is, it’s not without its lighter and brighter moments. “Click and Act Now!”, which hilariously skewers late night TV infomercials and shady product pitchmen, will have you starting a mosh pit in your own living room. “California Sober” pokes fun at people who get high and call it “spiritual.” “No Substitute” is a wonderfully uplifting cover of The Shivvers’ power pop cult classic. “Overexposed” is a reflective and nostalgic recollection of the heyday of online chatrooms. Altogether, this album is as advertised. It finds Hayley and Dr. Cain navigating growth, change, and the sometimes unpleasant realities of adult life in this post-pandemic world. And yet that light that Hayley and the Crushers have always emitted shines as brightly as ever. They are here to remind us that when real life knocks us down or sets us back, our best choice is to keep grinding and hold on to hope. The irony of 2020-21 being such a tough spell for the Crushers is that it was also when Josie Cotton recognized their talents and welcomed them to her record label. The Crushers have benefited greatly from working with a label and producer that fully “get” them. Combine that with a heavy dose of real-life inspiration, and you’ve got a formula for something special. I can’t even name a favorite song off this record because I have a different one every day. If “maturity” for Hayley and the Crushers means such things as emulating Pat Benatar and writing songs inspired by Ira Levin novels, then I am all about it. Get your Modern Adult Kicks on blue-raspberry vinyl while supplies last!
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VIDEO PREMIERE: “The Ballad of Elvis Presley” with Josie Cotton + Kevin Preston
| Featuring Members of Blondie and Stray Cats Channels Elvis and Priscilla In Spaghetti Western-Themed Video Duets with Kevin Preston For Rockabilly-Tinged “The Ballad of Elvis Presley” |
“I knew we had something very special,” New Wave icon JOSIE COTTON says about her new rockabilly-drenched single and video “The Ballad of Elvis Presley,” a gorgeous twang-filled duet with Kevin Preston of Los Angeles’ acclaimed Wicked Cool Recording artists Prima Donna. Released today, June 21, 2022 via Josie’s own label Kitten Robot Records, the single and video walk you past the horizon of a more innocent time. This is Elvis country, where Viva Las Vegas lives on forever .
“I avoided rockabilly and country music like the plague growing up, probably to annoy my Mom who was the world’s biggest Tammy Wynette fan,.. But when I left Texas to come to LA and met the Paine Brothers, they schooled me in how to write a real song and we started with who else but, yep ,Tammy Wynette,” laughs Josie, mentioning the production and songwriting team who helped launch her musical career,
“It was an obvious choice to implore Kevin to be my George Jones in this song. We’ve collaborated on a lot of projects but never anything like this,” Josie muses about the inspired pairing.
Throughout the video Cotton and Preston time-travel their way across a musical terrain, materializing as obsessed Elvis fans and pop ups in a cowboy musical. They sweep the dance floor with a wink and nod to Wanda Jackson and say their goodbyes in the Church of Elvis.
“We all had the feeling we were making a little movie which we shot on location in a place called Pioneertown,” she explains. “A lot of western movies were filmed there back in the day. The actors and musicians, the crew … everyone there wanted to be there. No one wanted it to end.”
Tapping well known photographer Piper Ferguson (Placebo, Save Ferris, Miranda Lee Richards) to direct the video, Josie, cast and crew captured the dusty and arid ambience of the Wild West and maintained a saturated level of Cowboy Noir, replete with a saloon, cowgirls, a little white chapel, and the obligatory montage on the high plains. “It was my first time working with a female director,” she smiles. “And I adored it.”
Originally written for Brian Setzer by Josie’s longtime songwriting/producer pal Larson Paine (who had written her iconic ‘80s breakthrough single “Johnny, Are You Queer?”), “The Ballad of Elvis Presley” was never officially committed to wax. “Larson had written it backstage while he and Brian were waiting to go on, then calling out the chords as he was singing it” laughs Cotton about the song’s genesis. “Brian never recorded it and it kind of sat there for years. I always thought it was the most beautiful song and hoped I could record it one day, but it never felt like the right moment.”
As she headed back into the studio to record her new record recently, she unearthed a cassette of the song she thought was lost. “I took it as a sign that if I was ever going to sing that song, it had to be right then,” she says. As she put it together, the pieces fell right into place with a special round of musicians to accompany her.
Josie’s band for the single included such notables as Clem Burke (Blondie) on drums, Lee Rocker (Stray Cats) on upright bass, Lee’s longtime guitar man Buzz Campbell, Marcus Watkins on lead guitar and Paul Roessler (Screamers, Nina Hagen) on piano. “When Clem came to play drums on a song on the new record, a rock song, I asked him if he’d ever played rockabilly before because I had this Elvis song,” she recalls. “I had no idea that he had made an entire rockabilly album with Wanda Jackson and every song on it was about Elvis. Beyond crazy! If anything, he was overqualified” jokes Cotton. “But he was the real deal… and that’s when I knew I had to get Lee Rocker to play upright bass on it.”
Josie returned to the forefront of the music world with new music as well on her own record label Kitten Robot, which has released celebrated alternative artists such as the dark and experimental CrowJane, Dark Mark vs. Skeleton Joe (featuring the late Mark Lanegan and his musical partner Joe Cardamone), and Spaghetti & Frank (featuring Supersuckers’ Eddie Spaghetti and The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs’ Frank Meyer). Over the last three years, Josie herself has released the singles “Ukrainian Cowboy”/ “Cold War Spy,” a holiday track “Every Day Like Christmas,” the album Everything Is Oh Yeah!, and remastered and re-released her albums Invasion of the B-Girls, From the Hip, Frightened By Nightingales, Movie Disaster Music, her breakthrough debut album Convertible Music, and her electro-pop masterpiece Pussycat Babylon.
“The Ballad of Elvis Presley” is a perfect homage to the Wild West and maybe to the three Western movies Elvis made that no one has ever heard of, but also to The King himself, Elvis Presley. It features Josie Cotton (vocals), Kevin Preston (vocals), Clem Burke (drums), Lee Rocker (upright bass), Buzz Campbell (electric guitar), Marcus Watkins (lead guitar) and Paul Roessler (piano). It was produced by Josie Cotton and Paul Roessler. It is released today, June 21, 2022 via Kitten Robot Records.
PAUL ROESSLER – Announces New Album The Turning Of The Bright World
| Releases Electropunk Lead Single “Maker” Out July 12 via Kitten Robot Records |
PAUL ROESSLER “Maker”
https://open.spotify.com/track/64Bhu2yblY32VBg0JzmsbN?si=0c9012ff9a39409d
JUNE 3, 2022 (Los Angeles, CA) — So many records I’ve made have an asterisk next to them,” explains LA songwriter, punk musician, and producer PAUL ROESSLER about being often seen with “guest appearance from” or “produced by” next to his name. Stepping out from behind the production boards and into the spotlight, the sought after producer is releasing the most inspired album of his career The Turning Of The Bright World on July 12, 2022 via Kitten Robot Records. In addition, Roessler has released “Maker,” the lead single and the first preview of The Turning of The Bright World. “Maker” can be streamed on DSPs now.
Having released a handful of records previously, Roessler distills decades of experience to produce his most realized and articulate expression to date. “The Arc was written when I was 16,” he adds, reflecting on his musical output. “6/12 was written, recorded, and put out in one month. The Drug Years was recorded in my garage at home on relatively primitive gear. By the time I was doing “Bright World,” I had been producing albums for a while in real studios. So this should sound how I want it to, not what it defaults to. At least in theory.”
On the heels of quadruple-double album epic The Drug Years, The Turning Of The Bright World focuses on melancholia, reflections, and piano leads more so than on previous albums. “I’m always inspired to create something where I sense there is a void, where no one else is exploring that area,” explains Roessler about his impulse to record this album. “That becomes increasingly difficult with such an incredible amount of music being released every day, so it can’t be a rule or anything like that. I could say that I become inspired by the possibilities that the new technologies offer me, limitless sounds and capabilities. All of that factors in.”
Kicking off with the somber, piano-led “Elephant Man,” Roessler layers vocal harmonies on top of each other alongside spare percussion. The song climaxes with the addition of strings and sticks out as one of the most emotional on the record. The next track is the previously mentioned lead single “Maker,” a sonically self-contained electropunk explosion that just hints at what he’s capable of, possessing all the experience he’s accumulated by working with other artists as well as exploring his own musical well of creativity. “It’s such a faux pop song,” laughs Roessler. “I have to admit, since The Screamers never recorded anything, some part of me has been trying to make up for it ever since. So this song is a little tip of the hat to them.”
Other highlights include the industrial-tinged epic “Awake,” which starts off with electronic glitches hiding in the background of a mesmerizing piano solo, with cymbals that guide the track. “Awake” is a fiery statement that serves as one of the most overtly political on the record. There’s also the electric-guitar driven ballad “Heaventree,” the driving riff-focused rock of “A Quiet Night On The Mooncam,” as well as the ambient synth-drenched “A Shallow Shadow Complete.”
A prolific producer who runs the LA production stable Kitten Robot Studios, Roessler has served as the producer/engineer on Kitten Robot releases from Josie Cotton, Eddie Spaghetti & Frank Meyer, Hayley and the Crushers, Tombstones In Their Eyes,CrowJane, and the upcoming records from Harry Cloud and Glitter Wizard.
As an artist however, Roessler wrote his first opus, the rock opera TheArc, while still in high school with his prog/classic rock influences (Yes, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa) on his sleeve. Segueing from that genre into finding his footing in electropunk, he joined Screamers as one of two keyboardists in the guitar-less L.A.-based musical pioneers, labeled ‘punk rock’ for lack of anything more suitable.
In the 1980s, Paul started the band Twisted Roots along with Pat Smear (Germs/Foo Fighters) and his sister Kira prior to her involvement with Black Flag. Paul also partnered on music with Mike Watt (Crimony) and Dez Cadeda (DC3), as well as joining with a wide variety of artists/bands, including 45 Grave, Nervous Gender, Geza Xand the Mommymen, and Nina Hagen. The subsequent years saw him join forces with Mark Curry, Prick, LeahAndreone, and Gitane Demone Quartet. Paul Roessler’s production career has also seen him produce for T.S.O.L., Richie Ramone, Pat The Bunny, and many other bands and artists.
“Each song has its own message, even if sometimes that message could never really be explained,” concludes Roessler. “I like those kinds of songs a lot. The music preached to me, and I did my best to deliver what it was saying.”
The Turning Of The Bright World will be released on July 12viaKitten Robot Records. Paul Roessler is available for interviews.
A prolific producer who runs the LA production stable Kitten Robot Studios, Roessler has served as the producer/engineer on Kitten Robot releases from Josie Cotton, Eddie Spaghetti & Frank Meyer, Hayley and the Crushers, Tombstones In Their Eyes,CrowJane, and the upcoming records from Harry Cloud and Glitter Wizard.
As an artist however, Roessler wrote his first opus, the rock opera TheArc, while still in high school with his prog/classic rock influences (Yes, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa) on his sleeve. Segueing from that genre into finding his footing in electropunk, he joined Screamers as one of two keyboardists in the guitar-less L.A.-based musical pioneers, labeled ‘punk rock’ for lack of anything more suitable.
In the 1980s, Paul started the band Twisted Roots along with Pat Smear (Germs/Foo Fighters) and his sister Kira prior to her involvement with Black Flag. Paul also partnered on music with Mike Watt (Crimony) and Dez Cadeda (DC3), as well as joining with a wide variety of artists/bands, including 45 Grave, Nervous Gender, Geza Xand the Mommymen, and Nina Hagen. The subsequent years saw him join forces with Mark Curry, Prick, LeahAndreone, and Gitane Demone Quartet. Paul Roessler’s production career has also seen him produce for T.S.O.L., Richie Ramone, Pat The Bunny, and many other bands and artists.
“Each song has its own message, even if sometimes that message could never really be explained,” concludes Roessler. “I like those kinds of songs a lot. The music preached to me, and I did my best to deliver what it was saying.”
The Turning Of The Bright World will be released on July 12 via Kitten Robot Records. Paul Roessler is available for interviews.
HARRY CLOUD signs to Kitten Robot
“Harry Cloud runs the gamut from sludgy black metal to creepy electronica to ‘70s good-timey Bay City Rollers sounds. There is little or no way to pigeon hole this one, and, in large part, that’s what makes this work.” – Razorcake
“… all Harry Cloud factors, the strangeness, the eerie sounds, the haunting riffs, the beautiful melodies, the wondering of what is next.” – Sludgeworld
Combines Sludge, Stoner Metal, Indie Rock
and Shoegaze into A Fascinating Mix
on New EP You’ll Never Fix This on June 7th
JUNE 7, 2022 (Los Angeles, CA) — “To me it sounds like broken funk music,” says alternative avant garde artist HARRY CLOUD about his new EP You’ll Never Fix This which comes out today on June 7, 2022via Kitten Robot Records. Off-kilter and often a bit odd, his unique combination of sludge, stoner metal, indie rock and shoegaze rock filled with brilliant riffs careen from the ether into majestic swells and sometimes bizarre but brilliant passages… but for Harry Cloud, that’s par for the course. Accompanied with a fascinatingly and profoundly unique video vision for his music, this multi-media artist’s visual and musical output carries a provocative experience.
Teaming up with one of LA’s finest rock producers Paul Roessler (The Screamers, Josie Cotton, Richie Ramone), Cloud concocts a fascinatingly obtuse and auditorily surreal listening experience. Having been an underground hero for those who love mystery in their music, Cloud has been described as “sounding like you’ve been tethered to a quad bike and dragged full speed, over broken electrical equipment and through a successive series of Kraftwerk, Atari Teenage Riot, A.C. and Sigur Rós shows” by The Burning Beard and “stately artistic sludge bordering on insanity and avant-garde dadaistic drone that drags you into their own colorful tar pit and smothers you with their bizarre mushroomed psychedelic” by The Stone Hive. Unpredictable and oblique, You’ll Never Fix This follows that lead, thrusting you into a realm of shifting rhythms, impossibly catchy off-kilter melodies, and full-throated vocals that can transform – sometimes within the same second – from a whisper to a scream.
An introductory compilation of sorts that is accompanied by equally intriguing videos that hearken Lynch, Tarantino and the early Peter Jackson (with some Troma thrown in for good measure), You’ll Never Fix This is a teaser for his upcoming full-length planned for later this year. Kicking off with the sludgy “Ferryman’s Guild” that injects subtle synths amidst a sea of distorted guitars and guttural vocals, it’s a “really unusual song,” as he explains. “Paul [Roessler] put a lot of crazy noises throughout the song and I really like my singing. My friend Ryan Weiner played the guitar solo in the middle and I think it’s amazing. The song isn’t really about anything, as some of my songs aren’t. It’s made up words and things that just sounded cool and worked well together phonetically.” Lifted from his 2015 album Harry Cloud’s After School Special, “Away” is a glimpse of his past material to offer historical context that recalls Pixies-esque basslines, an epic and searing guitar, and vocals that soar. “I’ve always liked this song,” he says. “It’s an example of one of the few songs of mine that really takes a catchy traditional pop approach. The chorus is cheesy and clever. The verses were taken from letters my ex-girlfriend had written me.”
While “You’ll Never Fix This” isn’t one of Cloud’s favorite songs amongst his repertoire that he describes as “a long repetitive droning bleak song,” he champions the video as “an incredible video that no one saw. I wrote this song when I was distraught about a woman who was not returning my affections. I had a thought that I am fucked up beyond repair and no woman is going to ever want to be with me. Pretty pitiful, but that is what inspired that song.” Rounding out the EP is his take on the classic traditional “Happy Birthday.” Starting off innocently enough with the signature tune sung against a child’s xylophone, the song erupts into a caterwaul of distorted guitar, sinister bass and returns to the signature tune, sing/shouted for good measure. “It was just a funny idea that I had about instead of saying the person’s name in the song it would be just be a bunch of noise and screaming,” he laughs. “In the music video I chainsaw myself to death during the noise section.”
Hailing from Midland, Georgia on the border of Alabama, Harry Cloud’s first foray into music began in the MySpace years when he befriended a group of likeminded artists and moved upstate to Atlanta to join the experimental/noise scene under the name A Butterfly-Eaten Horsehead and later Single Mothers. Migrating out West to Los Angeles afforded a meeting with Paul Roessler who helped him hone his sound with tighter production values at Kitten Robot studios where he recorded 16 albums and EPs so far under Harry Cloud, Fannyland, Orphan Goggles, COPS and Harry Cloud/Paul Roessler.
Now officially signed to Josie Cotton’s Kitten Robot Records, Harry Cloud plans to unleash a whole new era of wildly experimental music. “My hopes for this release is to reach more people than I am normally able to before I had a label and PR supporting me,” he concludes. “My music and videos have always been met with praise and I always thought that more people would enjoy my art if they only knew I existed.”
BlackBook Premiere: Riotous New Velvet Starlings Video For ‘Can’t Control’
Despite the city’s ongoing and well-documented Anglophilia, there is almost no way that anyone would guess that Velvet Starlings are from Los Angeles. Founded in 2018 by the now 19-year-old guitarist/vocalist/organist Christian Gisborne, one might instead suppose that they suddenly sprang, vintage guitars in hand, from some sleepy little town in South Yorkshire, and are about to take the world by storm (or at least by sheer volume).
To play it up a bit, last August they even released their debut album, Technicolour Shakedown, with the British spelling of the title (cheeky). And this month – Tuesday, February 8, specifically – the vinyl edition is out via LA indie label Kitten Robot. To properly celebrate, they have delivered a rousing, rollicking new video for current single ‘Can’t Control,’ which BlackBook enthusiastically premieres here.
The track itself is a veritable new paradigm of retro-mod, fuzzed out garage rock, with its distorted guitars, swelling Farfisa and relentlessly romping beat. If it doesn’t make you get up and dance wildly around the room, you might want to check to see if you still have a pulse.
“’Can’t Control’ is the closest thing to a soul track that the Starlings have come to,” says Gisbourne. “While there’s still your fair share of fuzz organ and distortion on every instrument going on, as a producer I wanted to go for something that sounded not just like the music our idols made, but the music our idols’ idols made.”
In other words, not like those ’90s garage bands, but like the actual ’60s garage bands.
The video so perfectly captures the mad energy of the song, following friend and fellow musician Martin Hughes as he dons some lipstick, eyeliner and a very rocker looking paisley coat, before shaking his thang down the streets of Dunfermline, Scotland – one of those little “humdrum towns” (though a decidedly pretty one) that Morrissey once sang about.
Gisborne explains, “The video was shot in Scotland by and featuring our friends, the brothers Martin and Brian Hughes of local indie band Angelica Mode, who we shared a stage with whilst touring in 2019. Martin is just such a dynamo, he never stops moving. It’s all about being an individual and doing whatever you feel, when you feel it, even if it’s running out into the streets and dancing ‘Billy Elliot’-style all the way through the town.”
And after two years of mostly being cooped up due to on again off again lockdowns, that does seem like an absolutely brilliant plan.
Spaghetti & Frank Video premiere for “MY SHARONA” in UCR / Ultimate Classic Rock
Supersuckers frontman Eddie Spaghetti pays tribute to the Knack‘s hit “My Sharona” by putting on a skinny tie and recreating the song’s classic video.
Spaghetti and Frank Meyer of the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs spent lockdown making an album. Drawn by their mutual love for the Knack’s 1979 No. 1 single, they decided to track down that band’s guitarist, Berton Averre, and ask him to play on a cover version.
It was a Hail Mary worth going for, says Spaghetti. “I have a friend that knows Berton, so we reached out,” he explains. “He was free like the rest of the world and agreed to do it.”
Nashville Pussy guitarist Ruyter Suys, a longtime friend of Spaghetti and Meyer’s, subs for Averre in the video. “We looked just like the Knack,” she notes. “Or waiters.” You can watch the exclusive premiere of the video below.
The group did its best to make the video a true homage to the original clip. “The opening and closing shots, plus the stuff around the end of the solo and drum break, are all frame-by-frame recreations of the Knack shots,” Meyer says. “Of course, we all wore white dress shirts and skinny black ties.”
The “My Sharona” cover appears on Spaghetti and Meyer’s new album, Motherfuckin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll. In addition to the Knack tribute, there’s a Kix cover song. The other tracks on the LP are originals.