Saturday, July 30, 2016

Maximum Rhythm and Booze...with The Remains' Barry Tashian!




The Good (Penny), the 'Brawd' (Jonny) and The Ugly (Warren) are back with the NEW Maximum Rhythm and Booze featuring 60's Garage Rock legends, The Remains. America's greatest 'Lost' Band!



Even as a Beatles-obesessed boy, I was fascinated by The Remains, a band who were handed the chance of a lifetime opening up for The Beatles on their '66 US Tour and then literally,disappeared. I could only dream...only imagine how I would feel in the same position. Sharing the same stages. Shea Stadium. Candlestick Park.
So,The Remains. 1966. These are lads now, remember. Months after graduating Uni. Everything they own shoved into a VW van, a few $ for food and off to NYC. Happened be in the right office at the right time when the call came through to the manager they had just hired to help them climb the musical ladder to greatness. "We need an opening act for the Beatles tour."
Not too dissimilar to the story of The Beatles themselves. The stars aligning and you just happen to be in the exact spot where the universe needs you to be. 
So (not surprisingly!) they agree to do the tour, sharing some very intimate time with the FABS. A side not often exposed. One-on-one chats in small planes. Sharing personal thoughts on Vietnam and the social unrest in the US at the time. Remember, this tour was right on the back of Lennon's comments to Maureen Cleave in the London Evening Standard where he claimed The Beatles were bigger than Jesus. It was PANDEMONIUM in the southern US states and following death threats, bomb threats from the KKK etc, they were genuinely scared for their lives.
Barry tells of greeting Lennon as he took a seat beside him on the small chartered plane heading to Tennessee.
"Morning John, how are you?" Barry asks.
"Ask me after Memphis," Lennon replies, his voice laced with genuine anxiety. 
Again...perspective: Here is Barry (Tashian) of The Remains- a 21 year old boy- on a Lear Jet with the largest band in the world seeing and hearing things the press were never privy to at the time. He became very close with George Harrison who took him to a party in LA with rock royalty. The Birds, The Monkees, The Mammas and Pappas. He was dropped back to the hotel squeezed into David Crosby's silver Porche with George, all high and in their prime. Six months before, he was playing in a pub!
You can't make it up!
During the tour, they appeared on 'Hullabaloo', and The Ed Sullivan Show- both MASSIVE at the time. The ad in the NY Times actually said "WATCH them on NBC TV's 'Hullabaloo', SEE them at Shea Stadium, HEAR them on Epic Records." Exposure that was tantamount to anything that had come before or since to create THE next big thing right? Wrong.
So then, the album must have just been crap, right? That's why they floundered? Wrong again. Their cult classic self-titled album is absolutely BRILLIANT and is now widely regarded as one of THE seminal garage rock albums of the 1960's. Recently re-issued for Record Store Day here in the states, get it. Trust me. Download it, steal it...whatever it takes.
So what stopped this band short of becoming household names and rock legends? I've wondered about this myself since I was 12, so I was eager to find out.
I'd highly encourage giving the new MR&B a listen to hear Barry's take on it all rather than my 'Felonius Spunk' paraphrased version. He's very open. Lives with no regrets and actually went on to have a successful career himself in music beyond that magic summer in '66.

Imagine though, you're on stage at Shea. Thousands of screaming fans (not yours, theirs) but who cares right? You're in the moment. Experiencing something impossible to convey to anyone outside of the 4 members of your band and the 4 members of the band who will take the stage after you and then, take the world. You play that gig and then 6 weeks later it happens. The 'coming down'. The hangover from the 'drunken' summer. The realization that, however big The Remains become, they will never, ever achieve that or feel that again. 

The effect that has on a 21 year old mind in the reason why The Remains packed up their guitars keyboards and drums after Candlestick Park and, after a few weeks of taking stock of the future ahead of them, were never heard from again.




SHOW SETLIST:
1. Michael Kiwanuka - Love & Hate
2. The Jam - Going Underground
3. The Ruts - Babylons Burning
4. James Brown - Think
5. Smash - Coming Home
6. Paul Sindab - Do Whatcha Wanna Do
7. The Remains - Why Do I Cry
8. The Remains - Once Before
9. The Remains - Diddy Wah Diddy
10. The Mootherhood - Soul Town







Thursday, July 28, 2016

N-n-n-n-nineteen or, the legend of the VietPong (Random thoughts from the mind of Jonny Owen Part 1)

I'm sweating after running for the tram and it's because I've got this fuckin crew cut ...I have like a film on my neck now. 
Made me think of this thing I read once from an American Marine. I once studied 60's US foreign policy. Their idea was based around what they called the 'domino effect' doctrine and the belief was you had to fight communism everywhere otherwise if you didn't then other countries could fall to it. Hence Korea and then Vietnam.So I'm reading this passage and it always stuck with me. And it's this young American marine.. Just a kid of 19 (like the song)...newly arrived and he has an engagement with some Vietcong in his first few days and he thinks it's crazy that all they have on are these weird black all in one cotton jump suits. Long hair and bandanas...no helmet...flip flops and old wooden AK47's. Their ammunition all in tiny rucksacks. 
The Marines are in full combat gear with big metal guns all sorts and within a few weeks he's begging (with his fellow soldiers) his officers to copy the Vietcong in lots of ways.
You see their metal helmets become incredibly hot and their shaved hair means the sweat just drips down their face so they actually can't see at all. Their uniforms are heavy and begin to rot along with their boots. Their guns are metal and also begin to seize up and their packs full of ammunition and provisions means they can only move very slowly. It puts them at an enormous disadvantage but the directive from HQ is to stop moaning and get on with it.
But here was the bit that I really remembered...everything they wore would smell because of the heat so that you could smell a platoon coming from yards away whereas the Vietcong they later learned wore these light black jumpsuits and would then cover their skin with vegetation so they blended in not just visually but nasally (so to speak). They were perfectly adapted to their surroundings. The Yanks were basically still fighting as if it was Northern Europe not the jungles of Asia. 
Anyway, me running for a fuckin tram in Nottingham made me think of that. 

x Jonny



Saturday, July 16, 2016

To REALLY Kick Goldman in their Sachs, First Occupy Jermyn Street

God bless 'Anonymous.' I mean it. And no, I'm not saying that for fear of this site being hacked, or my back account emptied and my subscription to porn hub made public - nothing. Believe me, when they publicly declared cyber war on ISIS*, the irony that 76 virgins were the ones sitting at their keyboards waging that war wasn't lost on me. It was a ballsy move and as a result, I have a lot of respect for geeks with attitude.

It's the ones running around on the streets in hoodies and throwing day-old Brussel sprouts at hedge fund managers that rub me the wrong way.
I really believe the Occupy London or Occupy Wall Street movement of old would have done a lot better if they had been dressed like Steve McQueen or Paul Weller rather than Guy Fawkes.

Less about "V" for Vendetta and more about "T" for Tailor.


Dressing better than the man interviewing you gets you on the 'inside,' close to the cogs of the machine and that can really affect change. Mods understood this and still do. Ignoring the plastic spoon lodged in their mouths since birth, they dress 'above' whatever hand life may have dealt them and stand out in a sea of  Topman tat, H&M hispters and the X-Factor-Fed populace. Thread count was always their way IN and a pathway OUT of their social economic status.

The premise is quite simple, really. If one was inclined to be subversive and wants to stick it to 'the man; by Lynching Merrill, or kicking Goldman in their Sachs, who has a better shot? "Shaggy the Chav" in the hoodie chanting in the street disguised as the creeper exploiting Natalie Portman's daddy issues, or the broker... Staring down from his office window at the protesters below, taking positions with millions of his corporations dollars? Case in point - Barings Bank. They collapsed in 1995 after suffering losses of 827 million pounds ($1.3 billion) resulting from poor speculative investments, primarily in futures contracts, conducted by an employee named Nick Lesson.


So TELL ME, who brought the machine to a grinding halt ? Guy Fawkes or Guy in a Suit?

Clothes matter. Style matters. Want to dress better than the boss? A grey Prince of Wales check cashmere- wool blend suit with pocket square, sky blue tab collar shirt with french cuffs, navy knit tie with white polka dots and tie bar with a pair of black oxford lace ups or monk strap shoes should do the job. Before you know it, you'll be puking in the stall next to his after your three day bender while he sits rigidly, making his morning movement with a copy for the FT. Oh, and make sure your shoes match your belt and watch strap. Coordinate to infiltrate, that's my ethos.

Julius Caesar was killed by Senators, not the plebeians. Infiltration is key (hence why institutions such as intelligence agencies exist). Access from within. Knowing that getting close enough to the tractor beam to 'pull the plug' requires a Stormtrooper's swagger (and sharp white metallic duds) to make it past the guards and blend in.

Anonymous, as much as I love what you stand for, if your scruffy molotov cocktail-chucking street legions were truly serious about effecting change of some sort, I think they've missed their mark. After all, one can hardly plant a cherry bomb in the executive washroom if one does not have access to the keys, can one ;)

Occupy Wall Street? Sure, but first occupy Jermyn Street. Sort out a few good made to measure shirts (I recommend Two-Ply Pima cotton oxfords with 3 7/16" button down collar), a couple of sharp ties and a decent suit.

Peace Out...

*It should be noted ISIS 'martyrs' that since Lemmy arrived, there are no longer 76 virgins to be had in heaven.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Maximum Rhythm and Booze - The Vapors Reunion Special with David Fenton!






As The Vapors prepare to reunite after a 35 year hiatus, frontman DAVID FENTON joins us with exclusive insight into the reunion mini-tour and to clarify once and for all if "Turning Japanese' really is an euphemism for, well...you know wank what!

Plus, after a fortnight in France, hundreds of pints and one too many chocolate croissants, intrepid co-host and proud Red Dragon, Jonny Owen reports LIVE from the UEFA Euros 2016!

Also, the usual barely sober banter, trademark rants and great tunes courtesy of The Undertones, The Jam, Les Sharks, Toots and the Maytalls and more!

SETLIST:
1. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
2. The Jam - All Around The World
3. Toots and the Maytals - Funky Kingston
4. The Vapors - News at Ten
5. The Vapors - Turning Japanese (Peel Sessions)
6. David Bowie - Queen Bitch
7. The Mads - On The Bus
8. Les Sharks - Mongo
9. Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen