"They Will Surface" 12.12 @ Club Echo

Thanks to our good friend Rod Lanham at Caustic Eye, we got an advance copy of the new six-song CD "They Will Surface" from Huntington's Hyatari. The band is set to release the CD December 12 at Club Echo in Huntington, which, as far as we're concerned, could be on the moon. We don't get out much.

The CD rocks, look for something more on it soon, and check out the band and this (again) conveniently placed flyer.

The Demon Beat mini-tour starts today

Our good friends in The Demon Beat kick off their six-day tour of West Virginia today way, way, ... waaay out there in Shepherdstown, which, lucky for us, is in West Virginia. Lucky because we've rocked out each of their CDs and look forward to catching them Sunday at the Glass. Check 'em out if yer near any of these dates; they're playing with some cool local bands in Morgantown, Huntington, and Charleston.

Reference the conveniently placed tour flyer below for dates, and check the band out online to rock with us.

CD Review: "No Star Could Be As Large"

CD: No Star Could Be As Large
ARTIST: Attack Flamingo

We've always had a kind of love-hate relationship with most electronic bands. Some seem to go overboard with the knob tweaking and seem to lose direction, forgetting to write actual rock songs with hooks. We love the sounds and textures of a lot of electronic bands, but the songs, structurally, are no good.

On their debut effort "No Star Could Be As Large," Huntington's Attack Flamingo presents us with the perfect mix of hard driving space rock, heavily textured with synth, with actual drums, killer guitar solos and emotive, powerful vocals, with lyrics that read like they're straight out of an astronaut's diary.

It's basically a concept album about an astronaut's trip into outer space, beyond the moon, sun and stars, and into a meeting with god at the edge of space. Think Bowie's Major Tom meets some Smashing Pumpkins with God Lives Underwater's "Life In The So-Called Space Age" thrown in, and you're not too far off.

The band (Sean Knicely: vocals, guitar; Marty Brown: guitar; Joey Spurgeon: synth; Phil Smith: bass; Sam Hodge: drums) definitely combine for more than the sum of their parts.

Broken into "Earth," "Moon," "Star" and "Hero" themes, the CD is one of the rare occasions where a band's image (CD cover) and sound converge perfectly. That'll stay the way it is as long as Dido and her lawyers don't get their way. That's another story.

Right in time for the lucrative space tourism industry to take off, Attack Flamingo presents us with their own 2008 space odyssey.

The CD opens with the somber, slightly overdriven piano on "Songs of Home," which gives way to synth, as "The summer sun is singing songs of home" and "darkness surrounds" upon leaving Earth. There's more fat synth on "The Earth Grows Small Below" on the way to the moon, as there are "no more skies, hindering my eyes."

"Rocketship" enters "The Star" with hard rockin' guitar and an abandoned ship, leading to the instrumental "Drifting." "Burning" is one of the more rockin' tracks on the CD.

On "A Small Voice" the astronaut finds "The Hero" growing inside, as Knicely sings

"Come with me and we will fly
Come with me and we will never die"

The song has cool acoustic guitar with tribal sounding tom; a laid back sound that rolls right into the last track, "Breathing," the final meeting between the astronaut and the star.

"Breathing" has a really cool kid chorus and, has the astronaut flying away with the star. While the lyrics reflect a spiritual yearning, and the spacesuit is but a thinly veiled metaphor for the flesh, the songs don't come off as something preachy, just deep.

Working with Broadmoor's Russ Fox seems to have helped emphasize the band's spacy sounds; panned synth accent the songs, with cool layered vocals, sometimes with cool effects. Fox, who plays guitar and sings in the atmospheric Huntington-based rock band The Red Velvet, lends his talents well on the CD. Listen to it with headphones for the maximum effect.

And while we here call the band "electronic" they're really a rock band with heavy synth elements. They call themselves "elecrtonica" and that works for us. The songs are mainly guitar-based rock with atmospheric synth. HEAVY atmospheric synth. This is one of the coolest CDs we've came across this year, and has been in the stereo steadily since we got it a while back; hence the delay for this review.

It'll be interesting to see where the band goes from here. They've recently added Barboursville-based DJ SirBoy (Hodge), and they've posted remixed versions of a few tunes on their MySpace profile, so that's promising. They've also just anounced they've signed with Sarasota, Florida-based LBA Records.

And, after going to the end of space and beyond, maybe they'll come back down to Earth on their next effort. Either way, whatever direction they take, for Attack Flamingo, the sky is obviously not the limit.

A Night Out With The Renfields

Saturday night, we got to catch one of our favorite bands, thanks to Kasket Entertainment. The Renfields brought their Transylvania pogo punk stylings and re-animated lineup to the Blue Parrot in Charleston for Kasket's Halloween show & costume party.

The last time Vincent and crew came to town was last December, and since then the lineup has basically changed in its entirety; there are new versions of The Fiend, Jaymee Lee, Set Ramses (we can't tell) and Dr. Von Renfield IV looked like Dangerkat's drummer. We spent some time talking to our werewolf friend and crowd control specialist in the band, Lucio, who danced around the crowd and humped the amps while the band was onstage.

The one thing that hasn't changed is the frontman; The Abominable Vincent Renfield is still leading Team Transylvania. After saddling up at the bar with a pitcher and watching some of the OSU-PSU game, and talking with our good friend Mark (who was there to help film), we talked for a while with Vincent, one of the nicest, coolest dudes we've came across.

We talked about the new lineup and equipment (the band, this time, ran samples through the PA; very cool), with Vincent explaining that instead of making a new CD, they spent the money on equipment instead to make the shows rock more. Mission accomplished.

The Renfields @ the Parrot 10.25
“The Incredible Melting Man”

With Kasket booking local hip-hop rabblerousers Meuwl and B-Rude, and White Mic from Holla Boy, we were treated to some hip-hop before the pogo punk. There were several cool people we knew from DuPont H.S., including Scotty Reeves and Puff, and we ran into Jeff Doss and Mr. Ledbetter too. 'Twas like a mini-high school reunion, but with only cool people.

It was during this time that we sat around talking with Vincent near The Renfields merch booth. We explained to Vincent that The Concept, specifically Dave, whom we'd talked to the day before, very much wanted to catch the band again, but they were up in Pittsburgh for a show with The Composure. Since The Renfields played last, it gave us more time to consume our favorite legal beverages and explain ourselves to people who just aren't satisfied with our coverage of the local scene in other outlets. Sorry.

After all this time it was time, finally, for The Renfields to play. Running through favorites like "Phantom Hearse," "A Creature Walks Among Us," "Slumber Party Massacre," "Black Christmas," and, of course, since it was a Halloween show, "Halloween Night" -- in case anyone did not know how to spell Haddonfield, now ya know! Awesome!

But it seems like no matter how many Renfields CDs we get, or how many uber-catchy, mono-recorded songs they put out, no song is more killer than the punk rock epic, "Prom Night." It was all we could do to keep still whilst filming; trying not to jump up and down or run into The Big Bad's bassist, The Colonel (who was down in front rocking out with us), was tough, as our amateur footage will clearly document.

The Renfields “Prom Night”


But the coolest thing was getting to see one of our favorite bands. Even though we don't really like scary movies, we love The Renfields. Even though they didn't win the costume contest, they are number one with us. We hope they come back soon.

“Renfields Mania”

CD REVIEW: "Covering The Distance"

CD: Covering The Distance
ARTIST: Jeff Ellis

The world has turned and left 27-year old Jeff Ellis where he wants to be: back at home in West Virginia.

On his new 12-song CD, "Covering The Distance," Ellis picks up where his last effort left off. But where "A Front Seat For The End Of The World" was focused on his time in Kuwait as part of the Iraq war and had a bit of a harder edge, "Distance" has big acoustic-based rock songs on it with a little bit of country, bluegrass and folk thrown in, and is about Ellis picking up the pieces of his life and celebrating his roots.

As Ellis opens up on songs like the alt-country "When You Come Back Around," the hard rockin' chart topper "I'm Not Leaving This Time" (with cool lo-fi drum samples) and the title track; big band rock numbers with the richly textured feel provided by Phil James on piano and organ, and Bud Carroll's soaring solos, Ellis looks to get back lost love.

Which is good, because we felt really bad for him when we heard him sing "Time Slips Away" on "Front Seat."

Ellis kicks out the bluegrass on the frollicking "West Virginia Hills" and "The Men In Sago Mine," -- seemingly the best and worst about our state, from whitewater and Rhododendrons to coal mine disasters, wrapped up at once.

He gets a little mushy on tunes like "I'm Not Sure If It's Love" and the very cool "Sleepyhead" -- a tune dedicated to time in Hawaii, we think. With echoey bells and guitar and Carroll's solos, the lazy recounting of time on the beach with a chick reminds us of tunes off Beck's tropically tinged "Sea Changes" -- very cool.

The upbeat attitude takes a nosedive on "Something Bad's Gonna Happen," as Ellis feels a "storm blowing in" and decries apathetic attitudes towards "the opening chapter of the ever after" and bemoans his "meaningless existence." Ellis sings on the chorus:

"I wanna lay down, curl up on the floor
hope that I die when I wake up tomorrow
or sometime before"

Like most songs on the CD, Ellis puts in a cool bridge to provide a hook. Ellis sings over and over on the outro "The shit that I've been taking ain't working no more." With piano and powerful guitar, it's one of our favorite tunes on the CD, and a nice song for these crisis-abundant times.

Quite possibly our favorite song on "Distance" is the infectious toe-tappin' harmonica soaked Americana tune "Grandpa's Place." With Jimmy Lykens of the Souls on uprght bass and a nicely added accordion, Ellis takes us on a stroll down memory lane as he recalls Sundays at his grandparent's house. In parts, Ellis' vocals (combined with the harmonica) evoke Dylan, and near the end of the song a twangy acoustic solo walks up and by this point if you haven't started moving some part of your body in rhythm, please check for a pulse.

A bender to end all benders provides the motivation for "40 Days," as Ellis tries to convince someone up there that, if they help things stop spinning, Ellis will stay dry for a month an a half. There's more killer bluesy Carroll riffage on this tune. "Goodnight, Capital City" is kind of a depressing bar-based tune as Ellis finds himself quite lonely, heading home after last call.

"Distance" closes with "The Day Paul Went To Sleep and Never Woke Up," a somber acoustic song about Ellis' uncle passing.

We got hooked up with the advance copy in May, and it's been remixed twice and then mastered for the final product, which must be rockin; the advance copy, recorded by Eddie Ashworth (Pennywise, Sublime) in Athens, Ohio, could from our lay perspective, stand as a final version.

With this release on the heels of "Front Seat" (and his recent first place finish at the Mountain Stage NewSong International finals) Ellis cements himself as quite possibly the best songwriter in the state. Ellis and Carroll have combined to make some of the best music we've heard; together they form some kind of superteam of rock.

Ellis, with his friend James, Carroll and crew, and a half dozen guest musicians, mixes it up on this CD with impressive results. This CD has been in our regular rotation for five months and is definitely worth picking up.

mp3: “Something Bad’s Gonna Happen” by Jeff Ellis


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Morgantown Does Marinelli

Sometimes, something comes along so awesome, we have to help git the word out. Such is the case with this new all-star tribute to J Marinelli put together by some of the finest rockers in Magic Town. To pay tribute to his contributions to and recent departure from the Morgantown scene, acts like '85 Flood, David F. Bello, Sandra Black and Rifle Camp came together to cover some of his most rockin' tunes.

You can check the songs out at the blogspot site. And definitely check out Marinelli and his CDs, ye shall not be disappointed.

Related: DA article on Marinelli tribute comp

Q&A w/Jeff Ellis

We caught up with Huntington's Jeff Ellis in advance of this weekend's Newsong International finals to talk about his new CD, the process of the contest, and his predictions for tonight's Ladies Night at The Empty Glass...

WVRS: You’re set to play Ladies Night at the Glass Thursday night; have any worries about that?
JE: Only that no ladies will show up (ha, ha!). No, I'll have my right-hand man, Mr. Phil James, with me. If people aren't diggin' on the original tunes, he'll just play the Purple Rain/Journey combo. That usually works.

WVRS: You’ve made it to the finals of the Newsong International songwriting contest. What has that whole process been like and what particular songs have you played to make it this far?
JE: The first round was just submitting a recording. I think I sent in "I'm Not Leaving This Time" off of the new album. For the regional round, I drove down to Decatur, played two songs (I'm Not Leaving This Time, Russell and Honeybee), then drove straight back to school at Marshall. It was an incredible experience! The venue (Eddie's Attic) had delicious food and a good draft selection, and the performance room had one of the best sound systems that I've ever had the pleasure of playing through. I highly recommend that any singer-songwriters out there check out Newsong. The benefits and opportunities are many.

WVRS: You recorded the new CD in Athens, Ohio, how did that go?
JE: Excellent! Eddie Ashworth is the finest producer I've ever had the pleasure of working with. We immediately hit it off and were finishing each other's sentences before too long. He had a vision for the album that very much lined up with mine. We're both extremely proud of the results, and will most likely be teaming up again in the very near future.

WVRS: Once again you worked with Bud Carroll and his Southern Souls on the recording of the new CD. How much do they add in the way of sound and how easy is it to work with Carroll & crew in the studio and on stage when you’ve played out together? Will you ever form a super group?
JE: Bud's a phenomenal musician and songwriter and I'd go as far to say that the Southern Souls are the best band in WV right now. They had two weeks to learn the material on the record, and they exceeded both my and Eddie's expectations. A great deal of this record's sound is thanks to Bud, and I hope to work with him again on some stuff in the future. We actually did a few live shows together earlier this year, but we're both so busy with our own stuff that its hard to get together. Who knows, maybe we'll team up again for a project down the line? I'd be down for it.

WVRS: You bring in about half a dozen musicians to help on the new CD, how did the other musicians work with you and round out the sound?
JE: Eddie and I made a list early in the pre-production of what instruments we wanted on each song, and we pretty much got everything we wanted in the long run. With the exception of Bud and the Southern Souls, Phil, and Jessica Atkins, pretty much everyone else is from Athens, courtesy of Mr. Ashworth. I wasn't even there for a lot of the over-dubs, but like I said, Eddie had my full trust. If he said he was gonna bring something in, I knew it was going to only add to the finished product.

WVRS: The new CD is a bit of a shift away from the harder edges of your last CD “A Front Seat For The End Of The World” -- can you describe your approach to songwriting between then and now?
JE: With AFSFTEOTW, I wrote big band arrangements for a full-band show. Then, after a handful of full-band shows, I began doing mostly acoustic shows and couldn't play half of the material properly. With Covering the Distance, I tried to write stuff that I could play with or without the full band and not lose too much in the transition. Some songs work better than others in different settings, but I can play most of the new material solo and still be satisfied with it. The narrative portion, on the other hand, is still very much the same style of good 'ole fashioned storytelling.

WVRS: You’ve got the Newsong finals Saturday and the new CD out very soon, what are the immediate goals for you as you move forward, if you have any?
JE: I try not to get too far ahead of myself. I plan to promote this album as much as I can and try to play more shows. I'd love to see a label pick it up, so I'll continue shopping it around. In the meantime, I'll just do what I always do: keep writing, playing, and recording and hope for the best.

Be in The Gentlemen's "Country Roads" video

Show up at 123 Pleasant St. in Morgantown Wednesday night with yer Irish or West Virginia related clothing for the filming of The Gentlemen's "Country Roads" video.

Morgantown's resident Celtic punk band will be sharing the stage with the .357 String Band, a Wisconsin-based bluegrass punk act. Sounds like a cool show; if you haven't heard The Gentlemen's version of the famous John Denver song, or if you just like bagpipes, check the band out online, or show up at the show.

New J Marinelli songs!

Our friend J Marinelli has just uploaded two new tunes to his MySpace profile. "Ideology" and "The Ballad of Eddie Freedom" are available for your listening pleasure as of this writing.

Marinelli returns to 123 Pleasant St. in Morgantown next weekend to help them celebrate their 10th anniversary. If yer up that way you should go to the show. If you have to work, quit!

Byzantine reunites (kind of) in new projects

Former Byzantine members Matt Wolfe and Skip Cromer share the stage this Saturday night at The Empty Glass in Charleston as Wolfe's new band The Scrap Iron Pickers join Cromer's Burt Reynolds Death Metal Experiment to help welcome San Francisco's Chrome/Helios Creed to town.


Since Wolfe and Cromer last shared a stage in Byzantine, they’ve each became proud parents and have moved on with their lives, and, their respective bands. Wolfe works with Byzantine singer-guitarist Chris Ojeda at FedEx in Charleston; Cromer is staying busy in Western Pennsylvania.

“I work two part-time jobs, I go to school full-time, I play in four bands (if you include BRDME) and I’m a dad so I'm pretty booked.” Cromer said. “My fiancée bought a house in McKeesport and I am currently squatting there till she kicks me out.”

Cromer will make a rare trip to Charleston for the show; the last time we caught him in the form of BRDME was at last year's Adamfest at the Sound Factory.

Wolfe and the aforementioned Pickers (longtime Noizbox/Stone Ka-Tet/Ghosts of Now bassist Roadblock and former Noizbox and Freak Tent’s John Sizemore) played their first show a few weeks ago at the Glass.

“We were a bit nervous and perhaps also a bit ill-prepared, but overall it went really well,” Wolfe admitted. Wolfe said that like so many others, the Scrap Iron Pickers were formed out of friendship.

“Johnny, Roadblock and I have known each other for a long time, and we’ve always been friends. So, about six months ago Block and I were talking about putting something together at just about the time of Johnny’s exit from Freak Tent. We thought that would be a great lineup for what we were trying to do, which is something completely out of the norm.”

Wolfe noted his enthusiasm for being in the young new band. “I embrace change in this case. This is a totally different type of animal and I think it's great!”

Cromer admitted to producing two brand new BRDME tunes in the smelting process that is known to produce his version of death metal.

“The first new jam is called “Two Girls One Cup.” If you don't know what that’s all about then do a search on the internet for it," Cromer said. "The other new song I will be playing at the Glass is called “Achy Breaky Parenting” and it’s about how Billy Ray Cyrus exploits his kid for money.”

Cromer also talked about other bands and projects he’s involved with.

“I currently play bass in an extreme metal band called A Moment of Clarity, I play lead guitar and vocals on my newest project that currently doesn’t have a name, its cool though, very Pink Floyd meets good prog. Also an old band I was in when I was in high school got back together. It’s like a horror rock kind of thing called Attic Unknown.”

Rumors of a possible Byzantine vinyl effort of past tunes necessitated the asking of the perfunctory “Is Byzantine dead forever?” question, with surprisingly awesome results this time around.

“I think there is a good possibility that you will see us take the stage again at some point,” Wolfe admitted. “Just not anytime real soon.”

Still, half of Byzantine will be onstage at one point Saturday night, and Cromer will have the chance of catching up with Matt and OJ and surely offending someone there -- hopefully with just his music.

“I talk to everyone pretty infrequently,“ Cromer said. “The last guy I saw was OJ and that was last December. I spoke with Tony [Byzantine guitarist Rohrbaugh] the other day actually, he's silly.”

Q&A w/Johnny Mercury (Pt. 2)

Part two of our Q&A with Johnny Mercury is even more rockin' than part one. If you missed that by all means check it out and check out the tunes on his MySpace profile...

WVRS: What influenced your decision to move out west?
JM: Change of pace and more musical opportunities. I originally was moving out to Los Angeles to fulfill a record contract with an indie label and in short, got dropped before I made it to L.A. It boiled down to the label wanting me to pander to the punk and indie rock demographic. I've never liked punk or indie rock and rebelled against it, and it made it hard for us to work together. I won't place all of the blame on them. I was having problems holding a band together in West Virginia and had to scrap an almost finished version of a CD. Some of those songs surfaced on my latest CD, Real Gone Rockin, in some form or another.


WVRS: You self-produced your last record, are you doing the same this time around? When will the new CD be finished?
JM: My ex-wife, Erynn Starr, helped me out quite a bit with aspects of production and mixing on my last CD and I found that to help a lot so I am throwing around the idea of having a co-producer for this upcoming CD. I'm really looking for someone who can double up and co-produce and help engineer. I did both for my last CD and took me longer than it should have.

This new CD is going back to what I started off in and my first and foremost love, country music. Before I picked up a guitar I was going to country, bluegrass and gospel shows and concerts and I have always been part of country and honkytonk bands. I've put it off for some time and I think I was waiting to get this last CD out of my system.

WVRS: If you had to pick one show or moment that was the most rockin' what would it be?
JM: Playing to a full room at CBGB's definitely tops of the list. When I struck out on my own as a singer-guitarist doing my own music, a lot of my friends and the fans of bands I played guitar in literally laughed in my face and said that me and my rockabilly would never go anywhere. So, getting to perform my own music to such an appreciative crowd at such a legendary venue was a big high for me and a big "told ya so" to the naysayers.

WVRS: I guess it's safe to assume that as time passes not too much will change with your sound. What makes rockabilly so appealing to so many rock n' roll fans, of all stripes?
JM: To answer your first question, even though I'm going to be doing more country now I can say my sound won't change as much one would think. Songs over time like "Sad, Cold and Lonely," "Blue Boy," "Since You're Gone" and "You Better Be My Baby" were all written as country songs then "rocked up" -- which in essence is what rockabilly is anyway. These are the songs that fans have come to really enjoy and sing at shows.

So, it won't be a big stretch to enjoy the new songs. The first two songs from my upcoming CD, The Sun's Coming Up, will be "Almost Gone" and "The Darker Side of Midnight" and I hope to have them online within the next month. You can listen to the upcoming songs as well as ones from the current CD at www.myspace. com/johnnymercury.

What makes rockabilly so appealing? Ask 10 people and you're liable to get 10 different answers. I got into rockabilly in the early 90's because it was the most logical choice for me musically and appealed to me because it reminided so much of the high energy music I played in the church. I love country, blues, jazz and gospel, which in various portions make rockabilly.

In the early and mid 90's there was no internet to speak of so for a while I honestly thought I was the only person doing rockabilly. Later on, around 1994/95 I met Jeff Walls (Hillbilly Frankenstein, The Woggles) and Rick Miller (S.C.O.T.S.) through their shows at The Levee and The Empty Glass and they started telling me about other bands that were doing rockabilly across the country. I started meeting a lot of really nice people who shared the same passion for the music as I did and we learned together.

People who like rockabilly music do so because of a many reasons. One, it's a great alternative to commercially programmed radio. When you hear a good rockabilly band it's a great experience and you certainly can't turn on the video channel and watch it!

Rockabilly is guitar driven, and rock & roll music is becoming less skilled on the guitar. If you really want to play rockabilly on the guitar, and not some generic punk power chord hybrid, you really need to know how to play the guitar, plain and simple

Lastly, rockabilly is upbeat and fun, great for toe tapping, butt wiggling and for the dancers, a great trip on the dance floor. Even though there is a high turnover rate within the rockabilly scene, the ones who do hang in there are very passionate about the music and the most loyal fans you'll ever find.

Motown Salutes the '80's @ 123

Man, no venue seems to host more charitable events than 123 Pleasant Street up in Morgantown. And nobody has been more instrumental in putting them together than '85 Flood's Aaron Hawley.

This Friday a ton of cool bands will come together for the annual Habitat For Humanity benefit and fundraiser, saluting bands from the 1980's by playing some of their tunes. It's like VH1 teamed up with WVU's U92 and 123, except this wouldn't happen if not for the bands, and especially Hawley.

"I think this year's [benefit] will rule the school," Hawley said over e-mail. "The idea is the same as the artist-centered tributes, except we're opening this one up to a whole decade."

Hawley's '85 Flood, Billy Matheny & Haley Slagle, Librarians, It's Birds, Thred, Big Right Hand, Russian Tombstones (endorsed by J Marinelli) and a few more bands will converge Friday night for a great cause.

"I've seen the setlist and I anticipate something for everyone at this shindig; for those people who think the 80's is super hip, bands like X, there's something for them. For folks who want to hear Duran Duran and Huey Lewis, there's something for them as well."

We're not sure how Huey Lewis made the cut, or why WVU has to have a conservative newspaper funded by Washington crammed up their ass (thanks David Horowitz), but one thing is for sure, no matter your politics, and that is that no town comes together for a good cause like Magic Town.

"I'm impressed at the way this town's music scene rallies for the cause as well," Hawley said. "Everyone is just psyched to be a part of what a cool scene we have here in Morgantown."

Q&A w/Johnny Mercury (Pt. 1)

We first met Johnny Mercury roughly 10 years ago at The Empty Glass. We'd been dispatched there by a mag from Huntington called Hotface to try to (nervously) interview him and string some words together in a coherent style. We dug his rockabilly style back then, but couldn't predict how much the genre would grow on us over the years.

Well, Mercury moved out West a few years ago, has worked with a lot of cool rockers, put out a self-produced CD, "Real Gone Rockin'" last year, and is set to put out a new one soon. We caught up with him to let area rockers know he's still alive and still rockin'...

WVRS: How is life treating you out there?
JM: Life is going very well and can't complain too much. I've been lucky enough to play music steadily and even though there have been some ups and downs, I have had successes and I feel the best is yet to come! Since living in the Pacific Northwest I've had the pleasure of playing guitar for some of my rockabilly idols like Rudy Grayzell and Sid King and the Five Strings as well as Wanda Jackson, who cut some top rate rock & roll back in the day. My music has been used for indie films, a handful of CD compilations, a television pilot and most recently for a Kroger/Fred Meyer advertising campaign. Best of all, I've done it all on my own terms.

WVRS: I guess you can get a lot of good coffee out there; how cool is Seattle?
JM: Yeah, my taste in coffee has definitely sharpened since living out here. There are a lot of boutique coffee shops, coupled by a Starbucks on every corner (laughs). My favorite place to drink coffee and meet with friends is Verite Coffee in Ballard, which is a suburb of Seattle and where I reside.

How is Seattle? I love Seattle! I lived in Portland, Oregon for over five years and just relocated to Seattle two years ago. The Pacific Northwest has a lot of culture and cosmopolitan appeal without as many trappings as say, Los Angeles. Seattle (as well as Portland) is very liberal compared to the rest of the country and offers a lot to artists who want to carve their own path. Seattle and Portland both produce more independently released CDs per capita than any other city in the country.

WVRS: We got to see you at the Empty Glass, where was your first gig here in WV and where were your favorite places and memories here? Where did you grow up in WV?
JM: Well, I grew up in a little town called Spring Hill which is in Kanawha County outside of Charleston. I started playing music there under of the guidance of Chuck Terry, a fantastic guitar player and singer. He took me under his wing and at 15 years old and after two weeks of playing guitar I starting playing in a gospel group with him and his wife Kathy, who were a singing duo called The Born Again Believers. My two best friends George and John Priestly played bass and drums, respectively.

I can honestly say those early years of riding around in a beat up mustard yellow van with red sticker letters on the side are the best memories I have playing music. We played almost every Friday, Saturday and one to two times on Sunday playing churches, revivals and homecomings, primarily of Pentecostal and Apostolic denominations. We played all over Southern West Virginia and never really made any money. If we were lucky to get some gas money and there was something left over, we could get a can of RC cola and a Little Debbie Fudge round. I'm serious.

The reason why this is so special it because it was playing music without thought of marketability, trends, scenes and being cool. I later moved on to play lead guitar with a very successful gospel quartet called the Goodwin Family which was bigger in sense of accomplishment but those early years will always be the most special to me because Chuck taught me how to play the guitar, sing and most important, how to read musicians on the stage and lead a band.

The first show that I played under "Johnny Mercury" was at the Empty Glass and must say is hands down the best live music venue I've had the pleasure of being a regular performer at. I mean, how can you beat the atmosphere and vibe? I've met musicians over the years who cite the Empty Glass as their favorite venue as well.

The best memory at the Glass would be opening up for Hasil Adkins when he recorded a live CD back in the late 90's. I had actually played on the same bill with him when I was 17 years old at a festival in Belle, WV (I think) where he was escorted off stage for being drunk and screaming obscenities into the mic. It was the first time I heard him and had no idea what he had contributed to the rockabilly/psychobilly genre.

-- In part two of the Q&A, Mercury talks about why he left West Virginia, the new CD, and the power and appeal of rockabilly.

LOCAL REPORT: Entropy Returns

Entropy rocks Wheeling Saturday night

The day after seeing a local metal show in Wheeling, sitting around eating candy corn and watching the Steelers/Browns game on TV. Trying to decide how to start off telling you interweb people who DIDN'T make it, and/or couldn't make it out to catch one hell of a show. I think the best way to start is with a history lesson (hope ya'll liked history in high school cause Professor Jay is about to conduct class).

First off I'd like to state that I've been going to local Wheeling shows since sometime in 1994 or 1995, so the better part of my adolescence and all of adult life, and it takes a LOT to impress me anymore. Also I'm a musician, so I can be over critical most of the time and over opinionated about my musical taste. That taste is ALSO very eclectic, it ranges from Johnny Cash to Deicide, and Journey to southern Bluegrass, and from Parliament Funkadelic to Bad Religion etc., etc.

The Wheeling area music scene goes through its ups and downs, much as I'd imagine most other area music scenes do. At this point, Wheeling is experiencing a boom, and that is for sure! (I'm just not looking forward to the eventual decline that all booms encounter). This current boom was witnessed last night by all in attendance at the Wheeling Island Voodoo with local Wheeling talents Disobey and Entropy and some shredders from Beckley, Liquid Filth.

Disobey started the evening off, (well, actually Wheeling itself started the evening off with a firework display for the sternwheel festival down on the river). But anyways, aside from the fireworks outside, there were fireworks inside as well, and I'll get to that now.

As for Disobey's set, I gotta tell you honestly here, I remember seeing these guys awhile back when they first started, and they were ok. Not saying I didn't like them, not at all I liked them rather much actually. Would I have called myself a fan a few months ago? No. These guys are friends of mine, but still I'm impartial, the music just wasn't my thing. After their set last night would I call myself a Disobey fan? Yes!

These guys have definitely matured as a band. It was the first time I've checked them out in a long time, and I had no idea what to expect. I like it when a local act surprises me. Disobey has a style of music that they call Black and Roll, dunno what that means exactly, but whatever it is, it works for them! I think what stood out from their set was a cover of “Breakin' the Law” by Judas Priest. I know what you're thinking, a cover? And it was good? My answer, YES! Go check'em out for yourself and see what I mean.

Next up on stage was a band I had never even heard of before called Liquid Filth. I came to find out they weren't from Wheeling at all, but they had came up from Beckley to play here, so I had to check these guys out. I ended up missing the first half of their first song because the Voodoo was fucking humid and hot as hell, so I had to step outside to cool off and smoke a cig or two between bands.

As I heard the rumble of bass and jugga jugga's and wugga wugga's of the guitars I knew the shit was getting ready to start. I came back in to witness some really great quality music, I'd classify it as a Southern Metal meets Power Groove Metal; kind of like if Clutch, Down, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Pantera had some strange DNA accident in a medical laboratory involving moonshine and chip-dogs. (if you don't know what a Chip-dog is, you ain't drinking enough beer).

These guys did some great tunes and were cool guys, nothing really bad I can say about the set. Would I call myself a newfound Liquid Filth fan? Probably not. They were good, but in my mind it just didn't click as something I would grab and throw into my iTunes for future listening. But then again, I thought the same thing about Disobey the first couple times I saw them too, so I never judge a band completely until I give them a solid chance. I'd definitely check out another show if they come back to the area.

To round out the evening was Entropy. It's been awhile since these guys have played out, mainly because of line-up changes and the entire reforming of the band actually. These guys were the only band from this night that I would have called myself an active fan of before this show. I'm happy to report that they did NOT disappoint at all. They are honestly one of the few "heavy hitter" bands left in the wheeling area. While their music is rather heavy and furious, when I say "heavy hitter" I am not speaking of their music style, I'm more speaking of how they are one of the most cohesive and talented bands in our little area. They aren't the typical "karate kick" influenced metal that is plaguing our area and others as well. If anything they are doing something different by playing actual "music" -- not many people know that anymore.

Tell ya what kids, go to Wikipedia and look up "music" there. I seriously DOUBT there is even a vague mention about emo combovers and synchronized karate spin kicks in your Chuck Taylor All-Stars...yeah. Hell, they even had some dude come up and blow a fireball from his mouth. Not only is that dangerous, but it's also way more metal that karate, unless you're Chuck Norris, and you sir, you are NOT Chuck Norris.

Entropy IS the metal version of Chuck Norris though. They definitely delivered everything they were supposed to, despite the fact that the night was drawing to a close and most people were tired and hot as fuck by the end of the evening, they persevered and gave one hell of return show! So do yourself a favor and come check out a show if you can make it out.

So if you even wanna check out some good metal, and also some rather off-the-wall drunken banter between songs, come check out a local Wheeling show. I shall quote a wise man (Strong Bad) "you'll come for the Jugga Jugga's,...but you'll STAY for the Wugga Wugga's." To sum everything up, I can describe this show and local wheeling shows in general up in three words, "Wild AND Wonderful!"

-- by Jay (Big Daddy Pork Patty) Littleton, bassist of B.O.R.S.O.
END TRANSMISSION

PHOTO: Stephani Hagood

CD REVIEW: Sarasota

Boy, we really dropped the ball on this one. We had heard about the dual CD release show for Sarasota and The Dig-Its back in February, but due to our desire to get The Dig-Its "Know It All" we overlooked one of the best local punk CDs we've ever got our hands on.

Thanks to Dave Cantrell of The Concept, now we know just how hard this Huntington-based four-piece (don't call it pop) punk band rocks. The 10-song CD (nine originals, one cover) is one of the most impressive, musically coherent efforts we've listened to recently.

"All We Know" opens things up with singer-guitarist Mike Schritter "...dreaming of something a little different" than his lonely, depressing hometown. Like most of the songs on the CD, there are sing-along choruses with killer backing vocals; "Where do we go? Does anybody know? Where do we go when this is all we know."

"Boy You Never Learn" is Sarasota's apparent response to their parents' disapproval of punk rock. As Schritter sings in his gutteral, emotive style on the chorus:

"I'm too damn young to care what you think/too damn old to ever change. I hate to say, but the harder you try, the more I stay the same."

"By The Way Side" could have easily been the title for the CD; a narrative of solitude, depression and the hope of finding a new home emerges, with more great lyrics: "Staring up at the sun, from the bottom of the sea. I can't believe the clarity..." and a voice inside "screaming 'somebody throw me a line.'"

"Everything Changes" -- one of the best songs on the CD -- helps turn the corner from nihilism to hope for the future, despite "...picking back up on bad habits," (read: drinking) and a loss of self-control. Schritter sings on the chorus:

"Everything changes, so I'll wait and see. If everything changes in my life, it will be my only guarantee."

The substance abuse theme continues with the aptly titled "Cigarettes and Alcohol" with more great sing-along choruses: "If these walls could speak, they'd lock me up and throw away the key. If these walls could speak, they'd say I finally got what was coming to me."

Probably our favorite song is "Woe Say Canseco" -- not just a word play on a disgraced former MLB slugger -- but the real gem of the CD, it seems. It opens and closes with a Get Smart sample, but in the middle it's cathartic punk rock at its best. As the band waits for "dinosaurs to die out," Schritter is "...ready to say fuck it all and dive head first into the crowd." More awesome lyrics: "I'm better than anyone I know at doing all the things the world hates the most. We're all searching for meaning, how do you describe a feeling? I don't know." The chorus is just one big "WHOAH" so yes, West Virginia, there are whoahs in the CD.

The lovelorn "Kerosene" and the acoustic, introspective "Can't Remember To Forget" round out the CD nicely.

If we'd paid $15 or $20 for this CD at an FYE or something, we'd still be satisfied. There's a NOFX song called "The Desperation's Gone" that comes to mind when hearing this band: the desperation is very much alive in Sarasota's music and lyrics.

If you ever wanted a look at what it means to be in a punk band, like punk rock, or just live around these here parts and do either of the first two, you'll find this CD easily recognizable. Musically and lyrically, Sarasota hits all the right notes on this CD.