Top 13 (of the Week)

Sure,you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology comes in. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the result of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. Barb Wire Dolls
If you base the quality of a punk rock band on how hot the girl lead singer is (and I do), then Barb Wire Dolls is the best new punk band in the goddamn world. I mean, holy smokes is this chick photogenic.  Their debut album, Slit, is out now. It's fun, poppy, snot-rock. The vinyl version is due out on  Jan 15th. Crazily enough, there's a doc in the works about 'em because they're the first punk band from Greece to make it (sorta) in the US.  Anyway, cool tunes, foxy chick, punk rock. It's can't-miss situation. (K)

12. The Visitors (1972)
You can tell right from the get-go this one is going to be a long slow bummer, 1972 Style. James Woods plays an ex-Vietnam vet who lives on a farm with his girlfriend, new born baby and an aging alcoholic father-in-law.  When they get an unexpected visit from a couple of his old army buddies who have an axe to grind about some shit that went down in 'Nam. Steve Railsback, who played Charlie in Helter Skelter, is as deranged as can be. (S)

11. Blood on Satan's Claw
I've been waiting decades to see this early 70's Satanic-shocker from Tigon, and it was worth the wait. Super creepy flick about kids in an 18th century British village pledging their allegiance to Satan, who stomps around like a mutant goat. I think Black Metal got it's whole schtick from this fucked-up movie.  Also, Linda Hayden is the most evil-looking 18 year old I've ever seen in my life. (K)

10. The Devil Loves Anal Sex
If anyone should know anything about the Devil and anal sex it's going to be gay porn star right? Joseph Sciambra was "saved" from gay porn and homosexuality by Jesus Christ. If you find this video compelling check out the rest of the story! (S)

9. Unknown Mortal Orchestra
UMO is a pop-psychedelic band from New Zealand and/or Portland (there probably isn't that much of a difference). Their second album, the cleverly titled “II” is out next month, and it's awesome, like the Polyphonic Spree on a hot dog budget jamming with Marc Bolan in a basement somewhere. Bonus: the cover has a naked Satanic chick with a sword on it. Double-bonus: pre-order the vinyl from the band, and get an art-print of said naked devil-childe to adorn your wall. (K)

8. Thy Courage Quail -Goblin's Gate
Really nice downer folk, good tunes, great banjo. Songs about being lost in the wilderness of life. "Old Fat Fox" is a highlight. (S)



7. Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings
Rack toys weren't good toys, they were the bullshit plastic junk they sold at the drugstore. They were also one of the greatest things about being a kid. Since they cost next to nothing, you could almost always convince your parents to get you a rubber Dracula or a Banana Splits kazoo. This far-out book collects hundreds of photos of these long-gone childhood trinkets. It's eye-popping and hilarious. I mean, really, a Police Woman Crime Lab Play Set? (K)

6. Puffy Areolas - 1982: Dishonorable Discharge
Brilliant! These serious down home rust belt belt freak out punks/pukes named themselves after something truly delectable, that doesn't get enough media attention, if yah ask me. My guess is that 1982 is the year these scumbags ( I mean that as a  term of endearment) were born?  Bongs explode and beer cans melt. (S)

5. Carny (1980)
I'm not sure why The Band's Robbie Robertson made and starred in a movie about carny hustlers, but he did, and it's great. Gary Busey is an evil clown, Jodie Foster is a teenage runaway, there's freaks and strippers and homicidal rednecks and hustles and hassles. Bitchin'. Really well made and cool flick. (K)

4. Black Science - An Echo Through the Eyes Of Forever
Like if Roky Erickson fronted the Cult or Guns "N Roses? Or maybe if the Replacements took acid as much as they drank? It's like cock freak out rock? it rules! it's really out of fashion to do this kind of thing right now whatever this thing is. This is some of the most out there shit in the out land I've ever outed. Do yourself a favor and spend the time on the lyrics they are fuckin' worth it: "Sitting out on your house, Watching hardcore U.F.O's , Drawing pictures playing solos till ten, are you amplified to rock?" If you order the "Chaos Magick Edition" of the CD the band promises to personally enchant the disc with a rare chaos magic ritual and they are not joking. The disc will arrive haunted! (S)


3. Krautrock: the Rebirth of Germany
Everybody loves Krautrock, ie weirdo German bands from the 70's who mixed rock with jazz, prog, punk and whatever else and made gonzoid experimental head-melter albums. But how did it happen, and who's to blame? This killer doc from the BBC tells the whole kooky story. (K)

2. Death Drug (1978)
This is a tough film to track down and an even tougher one to watch, but  it's worth it.  Philip Michael Tomas stars in an ant-PCP film. Only be careful, you might actually need to smoke PCP to numb the pain. (S)

1. Jessica Pratt
We didn't bother to do any end-of-the-year Top Ten lists because, honestly, there was so much amazing stuff this year that paring it down just seemed impossible to me. Clearly, we are in a rock n' roll Renaissance of some kind. But anyways, that being said, I do have a favorite album of 2012, and it's this one, the self-titled debut by Jessica Pratt. A singer-songwriter from SF, Pratt's plaintive folk songs are deadringers for long-gone hippie death goddesses like Judee Sill or Vashti Bunyan. Her album is haunting, eerie, melancholic, and amazing. I listen to it everyday. I believe I am bewitched! (K)

Top 13 (of the Week)

Sure, you know what's cool. But do you know what's really fuckin' FAR OUT? That's where Advanced Demonology comes in. Every week, (K)en and (S)wilson trudge through the murky waters of the pop culture hellscape, dredging up sparkly morsels of wonder. These are the results of our latest foray into the world of the weird, our wildest, wiggest-out picks of the week. Call it our 13 Point Program.

13. Shalako (1968) - not the greatest movie – Brigitte Bardot and Sean Connery (!) get chased around the desert by an angry tribe of injuns -  but BB is pretty mesmerizing in her great-white-hunter outfits and goth-girl mascara. CANT STOP STARING. (K)

12. Golden Dawn - Power Plant.  texas psych band from the 60's fronted by Roky Erickson's best friend. He sounds just like Roky. The bands not as good but if you've warn out your Elevators records this a good substitute. Like methadone.  (S)

11. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas. Lenny's latest (and, let's face it, probably last) album is as sparse and growly and world-weary as you'd hope, with a surprising dollop of optimism tossed in to lighten the mood. Mr. Cohen's been rehearsing to be 77 years old his whole life. Now that he's here, he's clearly making the most of it. We should be so lucky to be so cool (and talented) when (if) we get there. (K)

10. Franklin D. Roosevelt. 32nd President Of the United States. Ever hear of this guy? He's amazing.  He lead the country through the great depression and world war two. He instituted the New Deal (according to some might lead to a second great depression???)  but it helped allot of poor people. (S)

9. Queen – Days of Our Lives (Blu-ray)
Two part, career-spanning doc that originally ran on the BBC, now released in an eye-popping, room-rattlling blu-ray. Can you ever get tired of watching Queen videos? You cannot. Everybody's here ('cept for John Deacon, naturally) and although you've heard this story all before, it's worth retelling. And if Brian's account of Fred's last days don't choke you up, then you just don't like rock n'roll, man. (K)

8. The Clean - Boodle Boodle Boodle. Infectious pop-a-delic punk  from early 80's New Zealand. (S)

7. Charles Hilton Brown – Owed to Myself
This is sorta like the Fred “The Hammer” Williamson story, only with flutes. Charles is a funky, brawny, finely-afroed cat who moved to Italy sometime in the early 70's and hooked up with a bunch of homegrown library track session men, and together, they made beautiful spaghetti-funk together. Holy smokes, this record swings! (K)

6. "Sexpionage: The Explotation Of Sex By Soviet Intelligence" By David Lewis. The cold war was never hotter in this true life tale of russian Sex spys. Yes, real sex spies! like in James Bond. Skip right to the chapter about there training camp. (S)

5. Shut Up Little Man! The Audio Misadventures of Peter and Raymond
In the late 80's, two midwestern punks move to SF and rent an apartment next to two loud, angry drunks. One's gay, one hates gays, both of 'em love vodka and hate each other. Out of either fear or boredom, the punks-next-door start recording the rants on cassettes and hand them out to friends, and copies eventually wend their way all across the world. This is their story. Fuckin' Peter and Raymond, they were viral before there was viral. Proto-viral! Hiccup. (K)

4. Neon Indian: Era Extrana.  Released in 2011 and the followup to there much blogged about debut. This record is as if 80's electro pop was recorded with a 70's sensibility. It's also an Advanced Demonological attempt at "enjoying" the present era of music. (S)

3. Goldie Hawn. The original Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Watched a couple of her movies this week (Cactus Flower, There's a Girl in My Soup). Those eyes! That giggle! Imagine the trail of broken hearts. I'm dyin' here! (K)

2. Operation The Last Patrol.  1972 documentary about the Vietnam Veterans Against The War march on the 1972 Republican convention in Miami. It's a really cool way to pick up Vietnam Vet meets hippie fashion tips! (S)

1. Natural Child – even if you hate new bands (and I do, mostly), you're still gonna love Natural Child. The perrfect combo of Stones, Stooges, and falling-down-the-cellar-stairs debuachery. Let's take a trip to CRACK MOUNTAIN! (K)

That's what's heatin' us up this week. Got your own picks? Let us know in the comments!

We're Back in the Miracle Swing Can You Dig It?

Drug Free America

Listen, I know most Advanced Demonologists  my age really did cut their rock n’ roll teeth on all these idiotic spandex bands like Cinderella and Ratt, but that’s only because they grew up in the Midwest or in the suburbs or in fuckin’ Canada, where that sort of malarkey was spoon-fed to the Wild and the Young in heaping helpings of pre-packaged rebellion. And ok, so nobody was getting’ fooled by Quiet Riot, but they sounded just perfect to drunken 16 year olds, so what the hell, why not let Metal Health drive you mad?
Me, I’m from the city. That’s not my fault or yours, man, it’s just the way it is, and even though the football players and drug nerds probably whooped it up to QR and Def Lep at keggers aplenty back then, Teen Demons in my town had options. Looking back, maybe I should have spent a little more time working on getting laid and a little less on hanging around the newsstand dressed like the dude from Fields of the Nephilim, reading English music papers like the NME, Sounds, and Melody Maker and chain-smoking menthols, but hey, at least I knew who Disco 2000 were.

Throwing Crazy Shapes
My primary musical obsession back then  was Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction, and his whole high-tech Jesus-biker-savage-freakbeat-sex messiah routine, so I read the papers every week, scanning for the latest Z skinfo, and sniffing out the inevitably coattail riders. Out of Zod’s fertile cartoon Viking-scape sprang a myriad of rock, cock, and shock-a-delic bands, all of ‘em larger than life and driven by thudding machine-beats and sledgehammer guitars. Pop Will Eat Itself dragged the Z-aesthetic straight into the disco inferno, merging hairy-scary rawk with Sigue Sigue Sputnik futuristic bleeps and blips and even primitive whiteboy hip-hop, and for one brief moment (the Box Frenzy LP), they nailed it. Crazyhead dressed just like the Love Reaction, and even ripped ’em off wholesale for their first few singles, before fizzing out on a warmed over biker-billy sound. Goth-pop Weird Girl Danielle Dax dropped her puppy killer routine for one glorious Zod-inspired sleaze metal single, “Cat House”, and Wendy James’s T Rex-riffing glitter-pop band Transvision Vamp were like the Love Reaction’s pink puffball doppelgangers. Gaye Bykers on Acid, as the name would imply, played Z-esque psychedelic, Stooges-fried motor-rock, and the Almighty, hell, you could barely tell the difference between the two bands. But out of all the Tattooed Beat Messiah-bes running amuck in the UK in the late 80’s, the band that stomped on all their neon skulls was Drug Free America, a bunch of barking-mad ex-new wave freaks dressed in ‘Nam chic threads so super-swank, they very nearly out-cooled the Love Reaction’s Nazi-biker leather warrior look. Even better, they sounded the way they looked, like combat shocked maniacs looking to make you dance with machinegun fire. They had dirty, thumping death-disco beats, they had thick, sick Big Black-style bass rumblings, they had dive-bombing sleaze metal guitars, and they had a dude in mirror shades and a camo-covered helmet up-front who sounded like 17 packs of cigarettes, barking out psychotic neo-beat poetry through a crackling megaphone. Ok, so they couldn’t synchronize their stage moves like the Love Reaction and their singer  never fucked any Banaramas in the ass in the back of any shiny black limos like Z did, but Drug Free America still knew how to spread their disease all over the place, baby.

 Drug Free America rose from the ashes of Vicious Pink Phenomena, a sex-obsessed British new wave duo from the early 80’s. Brian Moss, the synthro-pimp, and Josie Warden, the minidress-sporting crooner, recorded a slew of semi-chart burners like “Fetish” and “Take Me Now”, from 1982 to 1986. Their space-porn disco tracks have been endlessly remixed ever since, and one such hi-fi sci-fi hit, "8:15 to Nowhere”, has been released in no less then ten different versions. I know, you don’t care, but hey, legend has it that Brian Moss beat up Sisters of Mercy front-grump Andrew Eldritch in 1984 for hitting on Warden, so it’s not like he was a total pussy, even if he was making puffball astro-pop at the time.

I feel Like a Truck, It’s Kicking In Good
VPP dissolved in 1986, and a year later, Moss formed Drug free America with gravel-throated vocalist Steve Dixon, who went to art school in the late 70’s with Soft Cell’s Marc Almond, and even formed an (I’m guessing) insufferably precocious synth-punk band with Marc and the equally young n’ arty Fad Gadget. Luckily, there was no trace of ‘art school’ left in him when he teamed up with Moss. Their first single, “No Solid Ground/Throw a Crazy Shape” was released in 1988, on Blind Eye records. Beating Life Sex and Death by at 4 years, they launched a neo-metal glamdirge assault of crazy-angry-guy howls and buzzsaw guitars. “No Solid Ground” was pure adrenaline (“Enough ain’t enough/on the killing floor”), and “Throw a Crazy Shape” was like Jim Thirwell reeling from a vicious sucker punch, dizzy and mean and feral. Machine rock was still in it’s research and development stage in 1988, so nobody knew exactly what Drug Free America was up to, but they knew what they liked. DFA got the royal treatment in all the papers and scuttled up the indie charts.  

Later on that year, they dropped their most devastating payload, the “Dayglo Pussycat” 12” single. They (there’s actually 4 dudes on the cover, but I think two of ‘em are just stand-ins) look like sinister napalm addicts from Planet 1975 on the stark, black and white cover. They’re all shades, leather, chain mail, skull rings (and skull belt buckles), bullet belts, beards, and scowls, a buncha dirty motherfuckers that just lost a real nasty-ass war. Total badasses. Inside, A-side “Dayglo Pussycat” sounds like Zodiac’s Prime Mover as mangled by some insane Vegas show band with jungle rot. Flash metal guitars smash headlong into new-wavish synths, a horn section, tribal warfare drums, and Dixon’s skuzzy yelling. “There’s a million hearts/waiting to be broken”, he growls. “Let the tears flow! Let them flow!” A classic of mean-spirited excess, “Dayglo” is pure sleaze set to a broken-necked sex-disco beat.
The flip has two tracks. “Zero” is a cinematic, goth-tinged, evil-cowboy sin-stromental, and “Candy Revisited” mixes spy jazz horns, splattery industro-beats, acidic sleaze riffs, and more of Dixon’s venomous bellow. I’m not sure what it’s about, but it SOUNDS like murder.
In 1989, after two more successful singles, DFA released Attitude 50 Cents, their first full-length, and their last before heading in a completely different direction.

“Attitude” contains most of their hits (although “Day Glo Pussycat” is conspicuously absent) including the devastating “Just Like Daddy’s Gun”, which is pretty much the growl n’ roll equivalent of a belligerent drunk that stumbles over to your table to call you “fuckface” and pour his beer in your lap, right in front of your girl, for 7 minute straight. It’s also got the amazing “Viva Viet Vegas”, a brawling epic of stabbing horns, thumping drums, whirring chopper blades, Satanic-panic vox, and the “Pretty Woman” riff tortured and mutilated beyond repair, as well as the manic robo-sleaze madness of “(Talkin’ bout)Your Brand New Auto-mouth”, and an unsettling orchestral third act that will have you convinced that you are about to meet you maker, and he is none too fuckin’ pleased to see you. It’s some fucked-up record, Jack.

Nostalgic for the Future
Understandably, Drug Free America didn’t catch on with Drug Addled America AT ALL, even with the hardcore Foetus-heads. DFA’s vision of barbed-wire sleaze didn’t exactly mesh with the Crue’s hookers and blow aesthetic, ya know? In those waning days of Flash Metal Supremacy, bands were getting increasingly literal and obvious– also-rans like biker glam meatheads Little Caesar and tepid, half-Japanese sleazesters Cats in Boots were beating the formula into the ground, sopping up the last 30 seconds or so of hairmetal’s 15 minutes before it all dried up completely. Bands like Drug Free America and other like-minded Brit beat-aholics – World Domination Enterprises, Meat Beat Manifesto, Renegade Soundwave, Slab – were offering a tantalizing new road for flash metal to travel down, opening up a mind-bending new vista of sexy, sleazy sounds. However, besides Zodiac Mindwarp’s disastrous attempt at Flashbeat Metal, “Hoodlum Thunder”, and White Zombie’s much more successful reinvention as superdisco mecha-metalbeasts with 1992’s “La Sexocisto”, nobody bit. So we got grunge and fuckin’ Candlebox instead. Lucky us.

Although they continued to do well in England, shortly after “Attitude”, DFA called it quits for 3 years, eventually remerging in 1992 with a new album, “Trip”, a complete and utter Flash Metal Suicide that dropped the ‘Nam-metal freakshow for a straight-ahead electro-dance sound. In 1994, Dixon left, and was replaced by Hayley Windsor, a Bjork-alike in PJ Harvey skin. She sang on DFA’s next two albums, and continues to perform with Moss in the bass-driven electronica outfit Mirazma. How the machine gun turrets and flame throwers and corrosive drug riffs and slimy screams gave way bubbling synths and the frothy chirp of Windsor is anyone’s guess, but suffice to say, despite lyrics like “Sliding down a rope to hell, he feels a little higher, arm your RPG, take aim and fire” (from Mirazma's “To Give Death”), Moss doesn’t look like he’s gonna strap on his bullet belt and head hell-bound for Viet Vegas again anytime soon. But hey, at least we had 1989, right?

- Ken (former 80's Teenage Sleazegrinder turned grizzled Demonologist)