Sonny Vincent, known as the founding member of New York City punk heroes, The Testors has unearthed a collection of never-before heard recordings from his proto-punk days with this new LP collection. Compiling unreleased tracks from Distance (1969-71), Fury (1972), and Liquid Diamonds (1973-75), as well as one of the earliest Testors demos from 1976, this LP collection shines a light on one of New York City’s darkest corners of punk history.
Released January 22nd, 2020
As sad it was to hear about the demise of The Jeanies, by far NYC’s most addictive power pop band of the last half decade, we’re happy to announce their re-emergence as Velveteen Rabbit, now with far more polish and panache and pushing the boundaries of glam pop to unimaginable levels of euphoria. Whereas The Jeanies had a more ragged American pop feel like early Tom Petty meets Gentleman Jesse, Velveteen Rabbit are pure gloss & glam and far more fey, yet no less ferocious. Far less flavor of The Fevers here and more aligned with the breathy pop syrup of the gone-too-soon Brett Smiley, Velveteen Rabbit are one of the finest examples of modern glam, a genre soaked in 1970s over-production that’s virtually impossible to pull off in most cases. But sure enough, these two incredible songs are proof positive that it can be done, both massive tracks with deep, cavernous production and the impossibly great songwriting you’ve come to love seeping out of every pore.
Hopefully this smash hit single is the first in a long line of many more hypno-boogie hits from Velveteen Rabbit, a band that truly understands how the craftsmanship of impossibly great pop isn’t an easy job to pull off, and definitely a shot in the arm to glum-glam/lazy-pop psych-a-like crowd. Everything is mastered to maximum thickness and pristine, glistening tonality, with both tracks instantly competing to be your favourite.
The Australian band Baby Grande surely would’ve been lost to history if not for the work of HoZac Records. The label has unearthed the Baby Grande tapes, which date from the mid 1970s, but weren’t released. The group features future members of the famed band the Church, but that’s not the sole reason the material is interesting. Formed during the period when glam was on the way out, but punk wasn’t a thing yet, Baby Grande were a little bit of both. Their glam/punk songs are really quite good, which makes their impending album of archival recordings something to get excited about.
Baby Grande got going in 1975. Singer Steve Kilbey and drummer Peter Koppes had previously played together in another band, the Precious Little. Baby Grande were based in Canberra, and started playing area clubs, though it was hard to get the attention of attendees, who were mainly there to booze it up. Even a high profile gig opening for AC/DC didn’t result in any new fans. Not helping matters, the group found they had few contemporaries, as most of the other Canberra outfits only did covers.
Koppes eventually switched to second lead guitar and a new drummer was brought aboard, but then Koppes left the band when gigs became few and far between. The remaining four members realized they really only needed one lead guitarist anyway, with Kilbey playing rhythm guitar as needed. Despite the fact that they didn’t have much of a following, Baby Grande got their big break, signing with EMI Records. In January 1977, they went into the studio to record what they thought was a demo, but after submitting the tapes to the label, they were dropped. Turns out, the suits were expecting a finished product and were disappointed with the results. It wasn’t long before Baby Grande had broken-up.
HoZac Records drops the album of Baby Grande studio recordings, which is entitled 1975-77, on October 5th. Dangerous Minds is thrilled to have the premiere of one of the highlights of the record, the exhilarating glam/punk rocker, “Zephyr.” The track was amongst those rejected by EMI for being too raw, but that quality is part of what makes this and other Baby Grande songs so exciting Looking back, Kilbey is more amused than anything by the Baby Grande tunes, yet even he has to concede that the upcoming record—over forty years in the making“certainly rocks.” .The Church broke through in 1981
thanksDangerousMinds
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