Posts Tagged ‘The Bobby Lees’

The BOBBY LEES – ” Skin Suit “

Posted: July 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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People have been trying to bury rock and roll for a long time, declaring countless times that rock is dead. Well, if Mojo Nixon taught us nothing else (and there’s a lot to be learned from Mojo), he taught us that “you can’t kill rock n roll.”

The Bobby Lees are a young bone-shaking Garage Rock band out of Woodstock NY. Their new record ‘Skin Suit’ is produced by underground punk legend Jon Spencer of the Blues Explosion, and mixes classic garage-punk hits with raw and emotive storytelling.In the past year they’ve played with The Chats, Future Islands, Boss Hog, Daddy Long Legs, Shannon & The Clams and Murphy’s Law. They will be on tour in the US and Europe throughout 2020.

If you need proof that Mojo is correct about that, then look toward The Bobby Lees. Ironically, this band is from Woodstock, New York, but don’t expect any folky songs about love and peace (not that there is anything wrong with those) on the band’s new album Skin Suit, It’s pretty fitting that the album was produced by Spencer. Right from the beginning of the album, that band plays with similar energy and volume to any of Spencer’s projects. There is also something of The Stooges in the band’s sound. You can hear it not only in the wildly fuzzed-out guitar and powerful vocals, but also in the bass line that is enough to make you feel a rumble in your gut.

If you’re looking for subtleties, this is not the album for you. But then, when has rock and roll ever been about subtleties? This album is about fuzzy garage-punk guitar, rumbling bass, frantic beats, and vocals that are made for loud and fast rock and roll. Fronted by Sam Quartin, whose vocal charisma channels some of the preposterous intensity of the Alan Vega/Cave/Cramps lineage, the band’s second album is an explosion of intensity of high-concept, low-budget rock’n’roll. The band show they’ve got the chops and the weirdness to refresh vintage rock, punk, and blues without the commercialism that has plagued other prominent garage bands of their generation

The album ends with a cover of Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation”. This version is pretty true to the original. Both versions feature loud guitars that may or may not have been tuned precisely. The biggest difference is the howled vocals by Sam Quartin. How many bands have you heard lately that can get away with desecrating “I’m a Man” and sound credible? It’s all in Quartin’s leering vocal and Casa’s muscular guitar.

Fear not, loyal reader. Rock isn’t dead. It is alive and well in the capable hands of The Bobby Lees. In fact, the next time you hear that rock is dead, you should present this album as evidence to the contrary. Every one of the 13 songs on this album is an absolute pounder. Even if you’ve never seen the band live, you get the idea that their live shows must be amazing considering the energy they put into recording.

There’s the certainty of Punk, the immediacy of Garage, the anger of those who don’t care here, ‘Move‘ is a one and a half minute snarl, but even when they show some musical chops, as on the percussive ‘Coin‘, there’s the itchiness of a freshly grown scab. – STEVE SWIFT’S ROCK REMEDY

Storming to the scene with a howling sense of rebellion and nonconformity. – ALTERNATIVE PRESS

The Bobby Lees are the giant green cyclops of rock ‘n’ roll. – BTRtoday

our new record “Skin Suit” being released on 5/8/20 by Alive Natural Sound Records.

The BOBBY LEES – ” Skin Suit “

Posted: July 18, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Bobby Lees are a young bone-shaking Garage Rock band out of Woodstock NY. Their new record ‘Skin Suit’ is produced by underground punk legend Jon Spencer of the Blues Explosion, and mixes classic garage-punk hits with raw and emotive storytelling.  Their sound mixes classic garage-punk hits with raw and emotive storytelling, the new LP from the Bobby Lees, a  garage-rock quartet with sex, sweat, and lightning bolts of electricity surging through their collective veins..

Their raw and unapologetic energy promises to make you feel alive.” Listen and see for yourself. In the past year they’ve played with The Chats, Future Islands, Boss Hog, Daddy Long Legs, Shannon & The Clams and Murphy’s Law. They will be on tour in the US and Europe throughout 2020.

The excellent Skin Suit is not the group’s first foray into the studio, though it speaks with the same hungry, passionate desire to leave behind its mark. This thing claws from the gutter to the heavens. That debut distinction belongs to 2018’s Beauty Pageant, which, in homage perhaps to its dirgy, grungy grind, featured a cover with the band mimicking the muddy poses of Mudhoney’s “You Got It (Keep It Out of My Face)” , The Sub Pop single. Well, Skin Suit makes the proto-punk of Beauty Pageant seem half-thought-out, like the work of a lesser band. The new record, which was produced by the Blues Explosion’s titular/legendary Jon Spencer , is a raw and rollicking blast of joyful noise. It is a mighty, mighty thing.

The band waste little time experimenting with and launching off on their sonic flights. The opening track, “Move”, is a punch square to the jaw, from its intentionally error-prone kick-off to its deliciously playful double entendre, which uses listening to records and lending bodies to toy with the notion of temporary physical harbours. Skin suit, indeed. From there, it’s a ramshackle kind of roar from one song to the next, each one building upon the energy of the last. Frontwoman Sam Quartin, who’s clearly schooled in the stage-conscious strutting and character role-play of Spencer, lends a powerful and particularly sex-ridden explicitness to the proceedings. “I gotta let him in,” she moans, with a breathlessness teetering, quite intentionally, on the orgasmic on “Riddle Daddy”. “He just want to mow / But he doesn’t have a body / He needs a body / So I gotta let ‘im in.” The spoken-word interlude “Ranch Baby” might or might not be about ejaculate.

But this is a record that’s about more than just sloppy fucking. This is clearly a constructed message and an electrifying, tightly performed one at that. The superb “Drive”, which the band feature as a video on their website, has a poppy jangliness to its verses that is beautifully betrayed by the head-long plunge of driving drums and bass that crash down in the chorus. A playful “la-la-la” bridge is also worth noting for its sense of joy and abandon. “Coin”, is another standout and one of the record’s brightest points, has a rollicking, even funky, undertow (kudos to bassist Kendall Wind). The band distance themselves from its geographic point of origin with little hints of urban flair, like the way Quartin phrases “with your” as “witcha”.

The Bobby Lees clearly benefit from Spencer’s production, which, like the best Blues Explosion work, is decadent but a student of the decadence that came before it. Alive Naturalsound is also wise to package downloads of the 11-track CD (last song: “Last Song”) with two cover gems, a gnarled, highly subversive take on Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man” (which Quartin performs with cocky bravado) and an enthralling cover of Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation”.

Skin Suit is a raucous ride from beginning to end. Cover to cover, this thing’s got you by the short hairs. Quartin is the star and a light that you can’t seem to blink out, but the whole band is a well-oiled and furious blues-punk machine. Just remember to bring protection. If the swagger of most of this thing is any clue, you’re going to need it.

The Bobby Lees’ Skin Suit is oozing with sex, sweat, and joyful abandon. It’s a raucous ride from beginning to end. Cover to cover, this thing’s got you by the short hairs. – POPMATTERS
Quartin is the star and a light that you can’t seem to blink out, but the whole band is a well-oiled and furious blues-punk machine. – HIT MUSIC
The Bobby Lees are a rambunctious, sometimes ramshackle, reminder of what rock and roll is all about. – PENNYBLACK MUSIC
The Bobby Lees are a very young band from Woodstock NY and they play the garage punk blues with real fire and wild animal energy like they can hardly stop themselves. – ECHOES AND DUST
How many bands have you heard lately that can get away with desecrating “I’m a Man” and sound credible? It’s all in Quartin’s leering vocal and Casa’s muscular guitar. – I-94 BAR

Fronted by Sam Quartin, whose vocal charisma channels some of the preposterous intensity of the Alan Vega/Cave/Cramps lineage, the band’s second album is an explosion of intensity of high-concept, low-budget rock’n’roll. – UNCUT  The band show they’ve got the chops and the weirdness to refresh vintage rock, punk, and blues without the commercialism that has plagued other prominent garage bands of their generation. – CHICAGO READER

Available now on Alive Naturalsound the Bobby Lees “Skin Suit”

THE BOBBY LEES – ” Drive “

Posted: May 2, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Bobby Lees’ Drive,” a title track from their latest album, Skin Suit, out July 17 via Naturalsound, is about good mental health, something that’s so important right now.

 

“A couple of months ago, we were heading down to Austin, TX for SXSW and playing shows along the way,” the band says. “By the time we got to Tulsa, Oklahoma, our nine SXSW shows had been cancelled because of the virus. So, we made the best of our time in Tulsa and shot a video with our friends, while keeping a safe distance.”

“This song is about needing to connect to other people in order to stay alive/feel alright,” says Sam. “Last winter. for a few months, I was pretty isolated and developed an obsession with wanting to smash my car into a telephone pole or put my head through a glass window. Basically wanting some kind of intense impact to turn my brain off.

“The song’s about that, and the idea of sharing/being open about where you’re at. I didn’t keep it to myself; I told a few people and talked about it instead of doing it, and the obsession thankfully went away. Now I can laugh about it.”

Their new record, Skin Suit, was produced by underground punk legend Jon Spencer of the Blues Explosion and will be released on Alive Naturalsound Records on July 17th, 2020. Skin Suit mixes classic, garage-punk hits with raw and emotive storytelling. In the past year, they’ve played with The Chats, Future Islands, Boss Hog, Daddy Long Legs, Shannon & The Clams, and Murphy’s Law.

“Drive” – off our new record Skin Suit being released on 5/8/20 by Alive Naturalsound Records.