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viewing 1 To 25 of 38 items
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HZR 237LP
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"A common misconception about Mars is that their music was meant to be dark and nihilistic. That's not totally wrong: When their guitars sawed noise, rhythms lurched heavy and words came in howls, listening could be a harrowing experience, as suffocating as any of their apocalyptic No Wave counterparts. But the quartet's work was also energetic, joyful and buoyantly melodic. After all, they started by jamming on tunes by the Velvet Underground, pretty much the ur-band when it comes to sounding both dark and bright. As much as Mars stretched and remade that model into new wiry shapes, the spark of brightness sustained. It's easy to hear when listening to this set recorded in the summer of 1977 at a series of shows put on by the late Terry Ork at the Village Gate, a renowned jazz club in Greenwich Village. All eight songs have an urgent bounce, which is clearest in the caffeinated energy of the vocals, usually delivered in the pungent wail of either Sumner Crane or Connie Burg. Mark Cunningham's rubbery bass and the chopping guitars of Crane and Burg shoot flares as if they were running a fireworks display. Add Nancy Arlen's nonstop drumming -- roughly echoing Mo Tucker if she had extra limbs and Live at the Village Gate becomes a dizzying rush of tunes that zooms by in a taut 24 minutes. Though Mars hadn't even recorded at this point, they were already what Burg called 'like a machine in a way -- a really out of control machine.' Most of these songs were honed when the band was called China, a name they changed a few months before this gig after discovering other, potentially litigious groups bearing that moniker. In fact these songs were so far along that when Mars did start recording, only '3E' would survive, none of the other seven would ever see the dank light of a studio." --Marc Masters
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HZR 235LP
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"An earth-moving night in Chicago, 30 crazy years ago, caught HOT on tape and finally unleashed! Teengenerate were a force to be reckoned with in the '90s garage punk underground and with their string of classic singles and LPs, the Midwest was just STARVED for these heathens to break minds wide open. Is this how Hozac started? YES, this was THE SEED. Just an awe-inspiring brute force of punk purity, slashing through incredible covers of The Kids, Pagans, and Fun Things and sowing the seeds of obscure punk obsessions to no end with their savage treasure map of sick sounds. The heat, the power, the rage and the euphoria, it just doesn't always align like it did when Fink & Fifi took the stage. Secretly recorded by Ken White, the Brides' right hand man, and mastered by Tim Warren of Crypt Records for maximum authenticity, Live at the Empty Bottle just explodes out of the grooves and will level anyone within earshot, just like it did when Teengenerate desecrated Chicago TWICE on the same night."
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HZB 025BK
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320 pages, softcover. "Hozac Books presents another foundational brick in the pantheon of New Zealand underground music with Peter Jefferies - The Other Side of Reason, a career-spanning biography by music historian Andrew Schmidt of Audioculture.nz. Covering Jefferies' earliest musical projects during the first wave punk heyday such as Dull Emma and Pink Noise on into Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment, Plagal Grind, Cyclops, and much more in striking detail, the author leaves no stone unturned and weaves Jefferies life story into a gripping saga of innovation, isolation, and redemption. Alongside is the story of the evolving Flying Nun imprint as well as the creation of Xpressway which served to fill a sorely needed gap in handling and distributing more of the marginal New Zealand lo-fi recordings to the masses. The Other Side of Reason truly shows the endless power of creative perseverance and the intensities that come therein when dealing with that immovable thrust in the core of your being and how to channel that into something that lasts for the ages. For ten long years between 2002 and 2012, Peter Jefferies, the New Zealand indie composer and musician didn't answer the phone or his email, when old and new fans and friends called. He didn't want to know about the brilliant run of solo albums and live shows that sparked a major cult following in the United States. Then step by step, note by note, year by year, Jefferies emerged from his Taranaki abode on the edge of home city, New Plymouth, to see nearly every major work he'd meticulously assembled in the post-punk and alternative rock era between 1980 and 2002 in New Zealand and the US reissued and universally praised. The cultural footprint from his busy and fiercely creative years with Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment, Xpressway Records, Plagal Grind, Cyclops, Two Foot Flame and solo was that deep. Returning sporadically to the live stage in New Zealand, new music soon flowed, adding to one of the small South Pacific nation's most potent collections of words and sound. Written with Peter's cooperation, Peter Jefferies - The Other Side of Reason reveals the stark beauty, brutal honesty and endearing humanity of his best work, as music historian, Andrew Schmidt, traces the Stratford-born musician's life through New Zealand's punk and post-punk hot spots in Auckland, New Plymouth, and Dunedin in the 1980s and early 1990s, and then, when the world came calling, Chicago, Vancouver, and Austin, Texas, with tours through Europe and Australia from the mid to late 1990s into the new millennium."
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HZB 028BK
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242 pages, softcover. First edition of 400. "As long as there has been music, the form has been used as a vehicle for storytelling. Artists who have something to say often find that putting it into music is the ideal means of communicating thoughts and feelings to others. And the concept-album form is a logical extension of that storytelling impulse, often writ large. It allows the writer to tackle bigger themes, more involved story lines, more finely textured characters and ideas. In the pages of What's The Big Idea, author Bill Kopp explores 30 remarkable concept albums, drawing on new, firsthand interviews with the artists behind their creation. Author of the critically acclaimed Disturbing The Peace, Kopp turns us down the darkest road of musical blind-spots yet, the concept album, a previously shunned genre, now worthy of your curiosity. And then you hear something like Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, and The Turtles Present Battle of the Bands, or S.F. Sorrow, and you're REALLY second-guessing yourself now, right? As it turns out, there's something genuinely interesting about this 'concept' in itself, and it lends readers a look into a world when musical creativity really had been unleashed in its full glory. Yes, those extravagances produced much audio garbage, but very few people even get that chance anymore, despite the ease of home recording. Even Captain Sensible and The Church committed this 'big ideas' into noteworthy efforts, along with Hawkwind, William Shatner, Ghostface Killa, and of course, Pete Townshend, who graciously offers an exclusive interview here."
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HZB 010BK
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123 pages. Second edition of 350. "It's finally come to fruition. Chicago photographer and graphic designer Brian Shanley may best known for his work with Wax Trax! Records during the 1980s, but for the first time anywhere, Hozac Books has collected his seminal band photographs that he shot during his time before settling in at the record label's art department. Most of these incredible shots are previously unpublished, and not even seen by many of the bands themselves. From 1976 to 1984, Brian Shanley fixated himself at the epicenter of whichever show was happening around Chicago (and a few from NYC and London as well) and locked in on the talent. Setting his craft apart from most of his photographer brethren, Shanley focused on portrait-style shots of bands that rarely ever sat still, and along with his trusty camera, was welcomed into a world where most people aren't allowed to tread. You won't find a better snapshot of the fledgling '70s Chicago punk scene than in Dodged & Burned, which collects rare images of bands such as Epicycle, The Imports, Sundog Summit, Special Affect, and more, that escaped attention and fame at the time, yet still are firmly rooted in the city's rich music history. But that still can't overshadow Shanley's incredible shots of the new and exciting touring bands that criss-crossed the US passing thru Chicago on many of their maiden voyages, most of which have never been seen before anywhere. Featuring a Foreword by Sub Pop Records' founder Bruce Pavitt, he fondly recalls meeting Shanley in the early 1980s when his Chicago-based fanzine Subterranean Pop ran their first ads that Shanley designed for Wax Trax, as well as an introduction by David Kendrick (DEVO, Sparks, Gleaming Spires) and commentary by Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, Tones on Tail)."
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HZB 023BK
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202 pages, softcover. "Hozac Books presents An Ideal For Living: A Celebration of the EP (Extended Play) by Corey du Browa and friends. An impressive first overview and history of the often-neglected E.P. format, whether a 6-track 3" CD, a 4-track 7", a 5-track 10", or a 6-track 12", the EP is the sweet spot between a 'single' and an album/LP and it's time you recognized how many great specimens there truly are. From Dangerhouse to Touch and Go to Sub Pop to Flying Nun, and all roads in between, savvy labels have used the EP to great effect and it's been the way to introduce bands in a less risky mid-sized format for decades. This super-interesting guide shows how the format developed and how it took on a life of its own, from early jazz and rock'n roll through the beat and psychedelic rock era, right on through punk, new wave, and post-punk, and into the alternative/indie rock era, right up to the modern age. This rousing guide through the mid-sized mindset features a huge swath of guest writers galore, each offering up their enthusiastic opinions on which E.P.s deserve your attention, divided by decade, along with all of their details on long-forgotten B-sides and extras that couldn't fit on the 7" version, yet easily pad out a 12". Featuring contributions from Camilla Aisa, A.D. Amorosi, Rick Anguilla, Andrew Beaujon, Jonathan Blunk, Tim Bugbee, M.J. Call, Jason Cohen, Byron Coley, Britt Daniel, Joe Ehrbar, Rob Elba, Neil Ferguson, Jeff Gold, Glenn Francis Griffith, Matt Hickey, Tim Hinely, Jon D. Hurwitz, Steve Klinge, Joseph Kyle, David Menconi, Steve Michener, Eric T. Miller, Nathan Misner, Kevin Moyer, Tom Murphy, Molly Neuman, Al Quint, Jim Riswold, Nickolas Rossi, Jason Roth, Matt Ryan, Chris Slusarenko, David Smay, Tim Stegall, Kevin Stewart-Panko, Matt Teper, Pat Thomas, Eric Waggoner, Henry Wimmer, Annie Zaleski, & Scott Zuppardo. Foreword by Britt Daniel (Spoon). Epilogue by Chris Slusarenko (Sprinkler, Guided By Voices, Boston Spaceships, Eyelids)."
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BOOK/7"
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HZB 027BK
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170 pages, softcover. First edition of 500. "As a founding member of one of Los Angeles' earliest female-led bands, Backstage Pass, Genevieve Schorr lived and breathed rock'n roll growing up like a lot of teenagers at the time. What set her apart was forging her unique band so early in the punk timeline (a direct shot from her glam and pub rock influences) and eventually evolving her life into becoming a professional rock'n roll stylist to the stars. Genny's book reads like a lost diary trapped in a punk house time capsule from the era, complete with tales of dereliction and unsuspecting victories along the way. Crossing paths with such wildly diverse characters such as The Screamers, The Mumps, Dr. Feelgood, The Damned, The Quick, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, The Bangles, and Linda Ronstadt, All Roads Lead To Punk is an invigorating flash through a wild life not to be forgotten. This book comes also with a limited-edition Backstage Pass 7″ single featuring the original 1977 studio recordings of 'Legend (Come On Up To Me)' (immortalized by Redd Kross's version in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls) b/w 'Let Me Show You Love.'"
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HZB 024BK
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252 pages. Hardcover. Edition of 150. "San Francisco rock'n roll bleeds through Michael Goldberg -- an innovative, inspiring figure who always has been quietly pioneering something interesting for the past 50+ years. Hozac Books presents the first-ever collection of his photographs in Jukebox, featuring an impressive array of underground figures and outcast luminaries captured in their natural habitat, most seen here for the first time anywhere. Bridging the gaps between the late '60s psychedelic era, primitive first-wave '70s punk and soul and reggae, as well as never-before seen images of country and folk iconoclasts and rule-breakers across the spectrum of all that is captivating, and even including some modern artists still making waves, Jukebox is a riveting photography collection that truly feels as good as it looks. Jukebox is a book of distinctive, full-page photographs of musicians taken between 1967 and 2023. Goldberg is best known as a writer, but for over 50 years he's also been photographing musicians and the photos in Jukebox are drawn from the thousands he's taken over the years. Included are photos of the Sex Pistols, Crime, the Ramones, the Avengers, Devo, the Nuns, the Clash, Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed, John Cale and the Dils as well as Tom Waits, Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile, Janis Joplin, Ben Gibbard, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Muddy Waters, Toots and the Maytals, Patti Smith, Bettye LaVette, the Who, Neil Young, Jonathan Richman, Townes Van Zandt, the Flamin' Groovies, and many more. The book's foreword is written by acclaimed music book author Joel Selvin. Most of the photos here have never been seen before, including rare 1970 photos of Jerry Garcia in his Larkspur home months before recording began for the group's crowning achievement, American Beauty. Some of the photographs of Frank Zappa, Commander Cody, Michael Bloomfield, Professor Longhair, Grace Slick and Paul Kantner, Toots and the Maytals, Willy DeVille, and John Cale were taken at their homes or in their hotel rooms. The Ramones photograph was shot from the doorway of Goldberg's room at the Tropicana in L.A."
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HZR 229LP
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"San Francisco punk's stillborn 1979 masterpiece is about to be mid-wived and you're invited to the violently beautiful procedure. The often-misunderstood 1979 Pop Session recording has been historically misattributed to Negative Trend, the band originally fronted by Rozz Rezabek, in its only available bootleg form, but one thing that's for certain, these nine blood-boiling studio recordings are set to change the historical context going forward. It's truly that heavy, that powerful, that intimidating, and somehow still unknown. Dangerously simmering in the pre-hardcore sweet spot of 1979, this collection of speed-soaked brain-frying tracks is inexplicably stuck in the blind spot for most first wave West Coast punk fanatics, until now. Featuring Bobby Barrage on drums (pre-No Alternative) and the ironically named Dave Basic on guitar, Rozz's Negative Trendisms are still firing on all cylinders through some of the most cranium-exploding vocals ever set to tape. The purely aneurismic vocal delivery on tracks like 'I Don't Wanna Be a Machine' and 'Never Say Die' are going to be used specifically to medically resuscitate dying punk people in the near future so you might wanna just get that ready, y'know?"
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7"
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HZR 032EP
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"The official re-issue of The Tights Bad Hearts 7″ EP, the maiden release on Cherry Red Records in 1978 has come back to roost at HoZac Archival, making this gem of first wave UK punk accessible again. The three tracks on this EP were recorded on 16 track over a weekend in Cheltenham at Millstream Studios 1978, produced by John Acock. This was the first time the band had recorded in a 'real' studio. RIYL: The Users, Eater, Steve Treatment, The Outcasts, Panic, Television Personalities."
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LP
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HZR 236LP
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"A true Ohio outsider legend in every sense, Tommy Jay along with his producer/co-hort Mike Rep were recording like crazy in the mid-1970s. Here is an unreleased 1974 studio album with another book of classics intertwined within, and if you've been following Tommy's hypnotic trajectory with Mike Rep, True Believers, and the Harrisburg Players over the years, it's another long-awaited reward for your faith in this underground system you're invested in. Pure Ohio Gold as they say, and as a recently unearthed recording, it is presented it for the first time anywhere, solidifying Tommy Jay's pillar-like influence in the sick and twisted Harrisburg underground. Forever underrated, Tommy shines hard here for the singer-songwriter era, keeping that creeping 'punk edge' just under the surface for extra tension, even in 1974. In another world Tommy Jay would be as well-known as Skip Spence or Ron House, but his star still rises, albeit slowly and surely. Much like a companion LP to The Grim-O-Comix Sequence and his essential Tall Tales of Trauma LP, Short Sagas of Sorrow fills yet another void with its deep lo-fi goodness that has no problem hitting all of your unprotected sweet spots."
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HZB 012BK
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"Forward by David Fricke (Rolling Stone Magazine). HoZac Books is proud to present The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Ought to Know, written and compiled by Sal Maida and Mitchell Cohen, who have recruited for their 'society' a gang of esteemed music obsessives: musicians, label executives, and journalists who chose favorite albums from the 1960s and 1970s to rave about and expound upon. The only criterion was that the albums never made the top 100 on Billboard's LP Top 200 (although in a few cases, they did quite well on the R&B or country chart). The selection ranges from east coast vocal-group harmony to punk and metal, from superstars like The Who and the Beach Boys to virtual unknowns. As Sal and Mitchell write in the book's introduction, 'These are the albums you might not read about, except here. No one needs to tell you why Pet Sounds, Revolver or Blonde On Blonde are essential parts of any decent record collection, or guide you towards classics -- or even somewhat lesser efforts -- by the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Or which Pink Floyd album is indispensable (hint: the debut; you can stop right there). Although we have strong opinions about pantheon artists like Led Zeppelin and Marvin Gaye, and are happy to share those views with anyone in earshot, that isn't what this book is about. We aren't here to challenge or endorse rock orthodoxy. Neither is the mission to, once again, assert the brilliance of Skip Spence's Oar, of such artists as Nick Drake, Big Star, and the Velvet Underground, whose influence, despite the lack of any commercial success in their time, has been thoroughly -- one might even say exhaustively -- documented elsewhere.' To tell help this story, Sal and Mitchell called on an impressive team of guest essayists: Lenny Kaye, Russ Titelman, Amy Rigby, Brian Koppelman, Dennis Diken, Bebe Buell, Jim Farber, Susan Whitall, Steve Shelley, Phil King, Ira Robbins, Billy Altman, Marshall Crenshaw, Peter Holsapple, Wreckless Eric, Peter Keepnews, Miriam Linna, Joe McEwen, and a cast of dozens. Sal Maida has played bass guitar with Roxy Music and Sparks, was a member of the snappy NYC power-pop band Milk 'n' Cookies, and has chronicled his exploits as fan and musician in the HoZac book Four Strings, Phony Proof, and 300 45s. There is not much about rock music in the '60s and '70s that he doesn't know, and it was quite an ordeal getting him to hone his list of underrated, underselling albums down to manageable length for these purposes. Mitchell Cohen has been writing about music and movies since the early '70s (CREEM, Film Comment, High Fidelity, Musician, Phonograph Record...), was a major-label A&R guy for around a quarter-century, and is the co-author of Matt Pinfield's memoir All These Things That I've Done, as well as the author of an upcoming book on Arista Records for RPM/BMG Books."
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HZR 193LP
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"Atlanta in the mid-1970s was not exactly the place you'd expect punk and glam rock to sprout, but with a little research into the quality of proto-punk bands descending upon the city during the 1973-74 era (NY Dolls, Stooges, Teenage Lust), it's not hard to believe there would be a few brave souls who would take up the torch for dangerous and loose rock n' roll savagery and stake their claim as pioneers of this classic sound, well before it caught on elsewhere below the Mason-Dixon Line. So as history would have it, there wasn't much real record label action that took chances on the very few real punk bands that dared tread these grounds, otherwise you'd already know the Razor Boys pretty well by now. With roots as far back as 1975, predating all the debut punk records released world-wide, Razor Boys were quite the anomaly, especially in the Deep South, and their outrageous and androgynous sleazy glam look wasn't helping them win over many converts in the Allman Brothers/Lynyrd Skynyrd-saturated cover band circuit either. Always honing their craft on the dangerous and damned side of the rock n' roll spectrum, these guys had a very distinct look that was somehow stuck in time between the post-NY Dolls glam era, and the upcoming LA 'Hair Metal' look, but at least five years before that LA scene took root. The music on the other hand, is white-knuckled, trashy rock n' roll at it's finest, delivered with pure dereliction, and always a side of extra sleaze. But make no mistake, these raw-dog recordings have very little of the trappings you'd associate with 80s pop metal, and definitely lean hard on the punkish rockers, with nary a tame song to be found across either side of the LP. It's too bad that these guys were so ahead of their time, as the studio recordings contained on this LP from 1978 will attest, the Razor Boys took their debaucherously seedy song material and combined it with air-tight punk precision, and dropped it into a world that just wasn't ready."
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HZR 216LP
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"This one has truly been a long-time-coming. As huge fans of the early '90s Seattle trash rock sound, stumbling upon The Night Kings in a sea of stale grunge and alternative pap in 1992 was just what the doctor ordered. To this day, my hairs still stand on end when the guitar from 'Black Fluid' revs into gear, which was love at first blast, and from that day forward, seeking out anything music-wise released in the in the Rob Vasquez universe was nothing short of prerequisite. Soon enough, the Night Kings Increasing Our High LP quickly took dominance of the turntable, as the legend of this wirey, 'Shit-O-Fonic' guitar sound enveloped our brain, and the crude and sub-primitive 'artwork' took hold of our eyes and hearts. Singles and EPs gushed forward from such respectable imprints as In The Red, Regal Select, Estrus, Bag of Hammers, and Bad Vibe, and we rushed to find them all. Following the Vasquez trail soon led to discovering his previous band The Nights And Days from the mid-late '80s, as well as numerous (and seemingly in the pre-internet era, 'endless') modern side projects such as Man Tee Mans, Chintz Devils, Ape Lost, Pissed Off Zombies, Right On, Nice Smile, and of course, The Gorls. Formed by core members Rob Vasquez and Dawn Johnson, and joined by Donnie Hilstadt (ex-Statics, future Dutchess & Duke drummer), and Dylan Maiden (ex-Night Kings), the Gorls blasted out of the gate on their own new imprint, Dope Records in early 1993, and quickly followed up their debut split 7" with only one more 3-track EP before completely disappearing, and leaving a huge void in their wake. Which brings us to 2020 . . . With 8 of the 12 tracks here previously unreleased, it's a crucial and desperately needed blast of the best part of the '90s sound, and an essential brick in the 'Budget Rock pantheon' of 1990s punk history. Pressed in a first edition of 500 copies, with a printed inner sleeve full of photos and an interview with lead singer Dawn Johnson, The Gorls debut LP is a long time coming, we're so excited its finally come to fruition, and before we ramble too long, you'd better grab a copy, we're so excited for you to hear their incredible version of The Victims 'Television Addict' it's gonna really knock your socks off. RIYL: Night Kings, Bratmobile, Nights and Days, Man Tee Mans, Skinned Teen, Calamity Jane, Flathead, Fall-Outs."
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HZB 011BK
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"Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about '70s San Francisco underground music, here we have Michael Belfer -- one of the SF scene's earliest progenitors, who straddled two very different worlds playing guitar in two of the Bay Area's most creative musical groups, The Sleepers and Tuxedomoon. By far two of the most unique bands in the early San Francisco musical landscape. When Can I Fly? is a harrowing memoir filled with stories encapsulating the seedy side of the San Francisco punk and post-punk scene in great detail, from the opening of the Mabuhay to the closing of the Savoy Tivoli and every back alley overdose in between. Tracing the earliest roots of The Sleepers in Palo Alto in 1975-76, Belfer was privy to witnessing the nascent SF punk scene development as his bandmate Ricky Williams (aka Ricky Tractor) was already playing drums in the first lineup of CRIME at the time. This memoir offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the complications of street-level avant-garde musicianship, as well as the drug empire that was fueling the fires within the movers & shakers of the late 1970s in seething detail, and on a few occasions with grotesque precision. What do Herb Alpert, 'Joe Boxer' briefs, Will Shatter's secret salsa ingredient, Celestial Seasonings tea, and HEROIN all have in common? They all somehow intersect with Michael Belfer amongst the pages in When Can I Fly? -- and man, what a ride! As Belfer's recollections cover his unusual position of drifting between two well-known working bands, both orbiting around the shadier side of underground musical expression in the uncharted waters of the late 1970s, what's apparent in hindsight is how both seem so conceptually disconnected from the rank & file punk bands they played alongside at the time. Combining this lurid scene of drug-soaked denigration with the most mind-bending experimental sounds of the Bay Area during the era, When Can I Fly? portrays the side of the SF punk story lost in the shadows of addiction and compulsion, and almost even breaches into Breaking Bad territory at some points. Fortunately, When Can I Fly? has been blessed with a plethora of incredible and previously unseen photography from the Richard Peterson archive (Search & Destroy magazine) covering Belfer's intertwining tenures in both The Sleepers and Tuxedomoon, as well as a wealth of rare flyers and photos by James Stark, Ruby Ray, and Sue Brisk. And with a Foreword by none other than Jon Savage as well as an Afterword by Hunt Sales (Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, and son of Soupy!), this is yet another sickening volume of underworld legend you shouldn't miss." First edition of 400. 225 pages.
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7"
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HZR 214EP
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"'I'm not living my life so good, tell me, how about you?' What can we really say about 14th Wish, how did this band even exist? This record and band were completely unknown up until the last couple of years, when we were approached by a notorious record fiend who was looking for more info after our official release of David Peel's King of Punk LP. Here we have a band with no paper trail, zero online search results, and released in a tiny quantity on Orange Records in 1980, right alongside the first GG Allin and Eddie Criss Group LPs. But instead of a stylized gutter glam workout with a hot-shot studio guitarist, 14th Wish trip over themselves with a snotty/sloppy amateurism that veers farther into the beloved 'Killed By Death' arena, with it's sweltering Tapeworm-style lead guitar freak-outs, Fronted by the mysterious figure known as Halo Peace, both 14th Wish tracks offer a refreshing mid-tempo crud-punk slop-take on the sounds swirling around the drain of the Lower East Side at the end of the 1970s. Although both tracks aren't lightning fast, their instant ominous catchiness and absolutely sordid and squalorous guitar tone suggests a more murderous background, as well. RIYL: Tapeworm, GG Allin & the Jabbers, Freestone, The Trend, Mentally Ill, The Gears, Killed By Death compilations."
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HZR 212LP
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"Whirlywirld was an Australian post-punk band led by Ollie Olsen (Reals, Young Charlatans), and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy (News). The band formed Whirlywirld in 1978 with their stated priority from the outset, to go electronic, determined as they were to take flight from the sonic limitations of the conventional, guitar-based rock format. A pioneer of synthesizer punk, the band came across with something of the experimentation of Suicide, Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire, and also with the more song-oriented sound of Joy Division. Along with The Primitive Calculators they were supporters of the Melbourne 'Little Band' scene. Whirlywirld was completed by two keyboardists, who got credited with 'electronics', Andrew Duffield and Simon Smith (Olsen, by this point, had abandoned guitar in favor of 'electronics') together with guitarist Dean Richards. The band made their live debut at The Crystal Ballroom in 1979, by which time Duffield left to join The Models and had been replaced by Philip Jackson. Whirlywirld would go on to play only fourteen performances in their entire career. Gradually, in accordance with a change in direction, Richards, Jackson and Smith departed, with Richards going on to front a couple of cult combos, Equal Local and Hot Half Hour. Arnie Hanna came in on guitar and Greg Sun on bass. During this period Murphy played an array of percussion devices, natural, electronic or otherwise and Olsen even played saxophone as well as keyboards, The first incarnation of the band released a self-titled 7" EP in 1979 including the tracks 'Window To The World'/'Moto' on one side and 'Signals' on the other side. The second incarnation of the band recorded a number of tracks at York Street Studios in December, 1979. Four of these tracks came out on a 12" EP, again titled 'Whirlywirld' in February 1980. In 1980 the band released an untitled 12" mini album as well as a 7" single, all through Missing Link Records. In 1986 an album titled 'The Complete Studio Works' was also released through Missing Link Records. After the band split, Olsen and Murphy went on to form firstly The Beast Apparel, and then Hugo Klang, which performed a handful of gigs in England, and recorded a single, 'Beat Up On The Old Shack', released in Australia on Prince Melon Records. Olsen and Murphy then went on to form Orchestra of Skin and Bone, before their musical partnership ended with Olsen going to form NO in the late 1980's. Hanna and Murphy later played with Olsen and Michael Hutchence in the band Max Q. A version of one of Whirlywirld's songs, 'Win or Lose', was re-recorded by Olsen in 1986 for inclusion in the film Dogs In Space. Hutchence sang the early Whirlywirld song, 'Rooms for the Memory' on the soundtrack, being a hit on the mainstream Australian charts as a single in 1987. The remixed version of 'Win or Lose' was also released as a single by Olsen."
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Book
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HZB 008BK
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"Hozac Books is proud to present our third art book, I'm Just The Drummer the Bob Bert artist compendium of photography and interviews, establishing his irreplaceable link between the 1970s no wave movement and contemporary noise rock. Although Bert's immediate work is best known drumming in his wide array of musical projects he's been involved with (such as Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks, Lydia Lunch, and many more) since the early 1980s, the focus of his book isn't drum-centric as it is an encapsulation of the artistic world he's developed within. It's not a drumming instructional guide, or a critical assessment of how the drummers in bands are treated, but a 200+ page guide through Bob's musically adventurous life, and what a ride! Starting out with his teenage love of photography and his process of capturing the underground downtown figureheads as well as the emerging unknown no wave bands, Bob was just as much of an enthusiastic fan of music as he was a fixture in some of the most crucial music of the 1980s, '90s, and beyond. And that's what's really important in the long run, as his excitement for music bursts from each page, providing the springboard to his long-running life in bands on the fringe of the mainstream. But Bob Bert wasn't just that figure at the intersection of commonality of several pivotal bands with an edge over the last 30 years, oh no. He also has (not surprisingly) impeccable taste in music and culture, which could only sprout forth in the 1990s with an inevitable 'zine,' and thus, BB Gun Magazine was born. Spanning from 1995 until 2004, and covering emerging underground music, film, and outer artists sub-underground, as well as Hollywood-level impresarios, I'm Just The Drummer contains a wealth of interview excerpts from the elusive original magazines, along with his photography accompaniment. From Nancy Sinatra to Vincent Gallo, and from Suicide to Cynthia Plaster Caster, Bert's undeniable love of his subjects is hard to conceal, and his book is a perfect representation of an ongoing life of true adventure, traveling the world, and illuminating the darkest corners of our cultural curiosities. 200+ pages, paperback."
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LP
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HZR 213LP
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"At this point, it's pretty fair to assume that the USA's most famous 'Punk hotspot' has been pretty well-mined for its obscure fringe rock n' roll nuggets for some time now. And with further investigation within the deep confines of David Peel's Orange Records catalog in recent years since his passing, we've found a couple of tragically-overlooked rippers. Behold: the Undertaker LP from the elusive Eddie Criss Group, released to minimal fanfare in 1980. Little to no information really exists on the band, who were a short-lived studio-only project that employed the MC5's legendary Wayne Kramer on blistering lead guitar on every track. What comes out of the speakers cooks up a vibe that feels right at home with the first GG Allin LP (most notably the MC-2 with Wayne & Dennis Thompson on the EP recordings), caked with NYC scum-punk gold! But don't leave your first impressions there, as the Undertaker LP has quite a few stylistic flourishes that border on the psychedelic glam that Mr. Criss grew up around, and the flanged-out rhythm guitars and dramatic vocals criss-cross with Wayne Kramer's scorching leads, creating a real "outsider" feel on a few of the less-intense tracks. Combined with an eerie organ accompaniment that seems to lead down an ominous path to certain death, the Undertaker LP covers a lot of ground, and reveals another still unknown NYC punk-era figure that history left out. While working on the King of Punk LP, David had regaled us with stories about Wayne Kramer during this period running ads 'offering to play on local band's recordings for a few hundred bucks,' which in lots of cases, he would remain uncredited. Which makes this LP one of only a small handful of confirmed recordings from the period in the late 1970s, when Kramer was in NYC playing in Gang War with Johnny Thunders, and trying to drum up studio recording work to help offset legal fees after his drug bust. RIYL: GG Allin & The Jabbers, The Fingers, Killer Kane Band, The Nothing, Breakouts, Corpse Grinders, Sinatras, MC5."
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7"
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HZR 205EP
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"Behold, another classic gem from the Detroit punk underbelly of the late 1970s, the elusive Matt Gimmick Detroit Renaissance '79 EP, which rose to notoriety in its second wind via the Year of the Rats LP compilation, one of the first 'raw & rare KBD-style' comps released just a few years ahead of the Killed By Death and Bloodstains compilations series. It's slash and burn at its core, but anchored heavily into a punked up Stooges template, and as much as the EP rules on its own merit, with one slow-burn 'Gimme Danger'-style original throbber, and the smoking hot title track oozing with enough factory grime to choke any Asheton on sight, this EP has come to stand as a bit of historical anomaly in the Detroit punk timeline. Two of the four tracks included here are/were actual unreleased Stooges songs the band learned from a late 1970 performance they had witnessed and recorded onto cassette. A few years earlier, the Matt Gimmick band was known as the punks, another heavily-Stooges influenced band that never had any releases during their time, yet made their name around town and luckily stayed busy in the studio (checkout their 1974-era LP on Rave Up) despite the lack of label action. Both 'Rag' and 'Ya Don't Want My Name' were the unreleased Stooges originals, performed during the band's 1971 post-Funhouse era with both Ron Asheton and James Williamson on guitar, and Jimmy Recca on bass. It wouldn't be until 2010 that the Stooges original rough live versions would surface on their The Electric Circus live LP, albeit much lower in fidelity than the oily & slithering Matt Gimmick studio versions from 1979. All in all, a rare piece of Detroit punk history is finally accessible again, and a filthy reminder of seedier times and harder crimes that our ancestors took all in stride."
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LP
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HZR 211LP
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"Sonny Vincent is a true punk pioneer, we all know that already. But did you know how deep this man's well of punk madness really goes? Well, I guess it's taken seven long years since we made that statement, but luckily, here we are with a full LP's worth of those recordings we'd wondered about, providing a pivotal glimpse into one of NYC's most shadowy figures of the underground. It's almost incredulous that his rock n' roll lineage goes back this far, with his first recording made while home on leave from the Vietnam War, and yet he was still a part of the first wave of '70s punk. If you remember the Fury 7" we released, along with this massive interview, it was apparent that there was more to dig up, and luckily our engineer was able to shine up these riveting primitive proto-punk monsters into reality. Distance were in a primordial heavy psych state on their earliest recording here from 1969, but the voice that you know so well is already in place, and cuts through the foggy throb like a knife's edge. Distance was Sonny's first active band, and were known to have opened for The Dogs & Suicide in 1973, as per the two incredible handmade flyers included on the back cover, and as the liner notes can attest, provided a real-life slice of shock-rock insanity. On this archival LP, you're treated to three previously unreleased Distance studio tracks from 1969-71, along with a 1972 radio advertisement for a FURY show at Greenwich High School, as well as both FURY tracks from HZR-125 remastered, plus the alternate version of 'Flying.' Possibly the best intersection of The Stooges, Budgie, and Black Sabbath we've ever heard. The second side kicks off with three Liquid Diamonds tracks, both 1973 tracks from HZR-155 remastered here, as well as a sizzling previously unreleased studio demo from 1974, right when the band was starting to lean into Testors territory. Speaking of which, the latest recording on the LP is from one of the earliest Testors recording session, a 1976 studio gem called "Scary" which appears here for the first time anywhere, and provides the bridge from the later Liquid Diamonds sound, into the grittier Testors tonality. And the interview liner notes, are nothing short of a revelation as well. RIYL: Stooges, Black Sabbath, Budgie, Edgar Broughton Band, UFO, Hawkwind, Motorhead, Pink Fairies, MC5."
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7"
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HZR 206EP
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"We never really thought it could happen, but here we are with the official reissue of the incredible, unforgettable, and oh so elusively un-comped Anemic Boyfriends, one of the only punk movements of such perversion and grace from the fair state of Alaska that can come to any stretch of the mind. Lead by the inimitable Louise Disease, The Anemic Boyfriends' uber-punk classic 'Fake I.D.' is one of the most riveting, jarring, and arresting teen punk blasts you will ever hear, and you will not forget it. As the title track from their second 7" single released in 1981 on Red Sweater Records, 'Fake I.D.' is not just one of the most perfect teenage rebellion anthems of the 20th century, it ranks right up there with 'My Generation' and 'Cherry Bomb' as one of the most shockingly memorable tracks your ears will ever hear. And with your help in perpetuation, it will be the most inescapable teenage anthem of the 1980s. You probably haven't heard a genuine punk song that has stopped you in your tracks in a long time, right? Well 'Fake I.D.' might be a little too much for you to handle, but we're glad you're up for the challenge. So are you 'Feelin' like a tiger in a cage?' Most people don't even understand the caliber of this teenage punk purity, but luckily for you, we've got the band onboard, and this shit is finally official. And although The Anemic Boyfriends qualify as one of the best fake punk outfits of their time (and definitely their region), they managed to produce another classic track 'Bad Girls In Love' from their debut single in 1980, which will make their other forgettable B-sides sound like mincemeat. So we've saved you the struggle, and pressed both of their best songs onto one fine 45 for your eternal pleasure, as these records last forever, you know. No monthly nick, no annual update fees. Real records with real punk music that's bleeding profusely with enthusiasm and frustration, with nary a whiff of an obligatory hardcore compromise. As Punk as possible. Amen." --Victim of Time
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2LP
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HZR 190LP
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"The legendary 1973-74 'Teac Tapes' from deep inside the Dwight Twilley Band vault have been unleashed, never before available in any format, Oister was the primary name of the Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour duo from the time they met in 1967 until the release of their Top 20 debut 'hit' single 'I'm On Fire' in 1975. The two 'halves' of the Oister formed a whole, and a tight friendship and performing partnership took flight, and with Dwight's incredible songs in hand, the two were off and running. Recording at home with one of the first (commercially-available to the public) multi-track Teac home tape machines, the Oister DIY ethic was locked in early, and just exploded with an endless stream of ethereal pop magic, most of which has never been re-recorded by the Dwight Twilley Band, remaining frozen in time. The pair were cranking out an impressive amount of original material and pressing small batches of their own acetate LPs locally in Tulsa to sell to their friends at school, of which, this 2LP collection rounds up 20 of their finest tracks, finally available to the public after over 40 years. The early, primal years of the Twilley/Seymour Oister-era are sadly undocumented until now, with this 20-track collection, freshly remastered from the original tape for vinyl for the first time anywhere, now on HoZac Archival. These songs seamlessly bridge those heavenly Everly Brothers harmonies with their beloved Anglo Pop bravado, yet keeping the sound undeniably definitive of early American Power Pop. Ghostly echoes slip through some of the delicate tracks like spirits in the night, while others crank up the juice and just ooze out that real, uncut rock'n roll, framing up their successful next incarnation as the Dwight Twilley Band. Featuring liner notes from their friend and original session engineer, Kent Benjamin, and a crisp mastering job, the Oister collection is the impossible missing link between the Sun Records snarl and the melodic prowess of the British Invasion's finest songsmiths, and now it can finally be yours. Recommended If You Like: Everly Brothers, Tom Petty, Big Star, Hollies, Badfinger, Raspberries, Emmit Rhodes, Todd Rundgren, T. Rex. 1st edition of 500 copies. Comes with free download."
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LP
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HZR 191LP
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"Joey Rubbish must be stopped, but it's too late for that. As the architect of every note on this immaculate new LP, he joins the ranks of other groundbreaking modern home-recording luminaries such as Jay Reatard, Nobunny, Mikey Hyde of Medication, and Rick Crook of Lost Sounds/Lover!, all able to cover every instrumental note recorded, as well as the vocals & recording. Not a small feat and worth noting since it's such a rare thing to pull off, especially when it's this nuanced and complex, even by power pop standards. And with that, The Rubs second offering is finally here with Impossible Dream, a full spectrum of songs so tightly-knit, so cleverly-written, and so impossibly dreamy, you won't be able to pull them out of your skull for eternity. Agonizingly articulate pop that can barely contain its own excitement, these songs just keep hitting you, one after another, each better than the last, just continuously pounding their unwavering contagiousness into your brazen heart. It's not like The Rubs are reinventing the guitar with Impossible Dream, but this LP has something brilliant humming at its core, something stark, genuine, and extremely vulnerable. And yet so charming and confident, it's almost dizzying in its bravado. From the instant 'Wrong Right Girl' kicks off, it's a tense and tender tear through the highs and lows of girls, summer, breakups, and tight jeans, drizzled with a reduction of those irresistible vocal hooks. With a run through a series of songs all named after individual heart-breakers (Judy, Amy, Ruby, & Emily), from slow-burners to hyper-charged rockers, there's such a great variety of styles and deliveries you just don't see very often in modern power pop. And let's not forget, the attention to detail, as well as the overall production control, is top-notch, which really adds depth to these incredible songs. Timeless stuff that avoids any & all modern pitfalls, Impossible Dream is a new high watermark in Chicago pop lineage you really need in your life. Recommended If You Like: The Nerves, The Jeanies, Plimsouls, Nick Lowe, Real Kids, Dutchess & Duke, Rockpile, Wreckless Eric. 1st press Black vinyl edition of 300 copies. Comes with free download."
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Book
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HZB 004BK
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" 'The Electric Eels have left a serious scar on the face of music like few other originals have so far, a complex yet primitive pulsation of audio animosity shot through the universe right at the exact moment when nobody could comprehend it. Chicago may be the Midwest hub population-wise, but we all know that Ohio was punk's true Mesopotamia, and nothing spells that out more succinctly as the Electric Eels. Founding guitarist Brian McMahon's long-awaited memoir of his wild proto-punk days is finally here, the first-ever book covering the primordial ooze of Cleveland's wiry mutants in all their prickly-detailed glory. Over the course of 300 pages, you can really crawl inside the brain of one of America's finest overlooked musical miscreants, a fascinating glimpse into the vivid details and sickening dreams of one half of the songwriting contribution to the electric eels demented noise. To be so ahead of their time with so little to lose, now just the utterance of their name holds instant reverence with the punk cognoscenti, but that took a while. Once the meat of their recordings was unearthed and had time to circulate, now everyone is tripping over themselves to drool at their feet, and rightfully so. Jaguar Ride: Memoir Of An Electric Eel taps into the once impenetrable inner space of life around this ground-breaking band quite effortlessly. Like the eye of the universe opening up just enough for your weary legs to slip past and dangle in its toxic waters, McMahon leads us through his haziest experiences with incredible recollections of what it felt like to stand at the edge of the cliff of possibilities. The Electric Eels were true originals that streaked across time and space for a very short amount of time in the early-to-mid 1970s, creating nothing short of atonal atrocities glistening with punk promise. Deranged rust belt pop songs blanched in chemical waste and chopped mercilessly with a broken food processor and left for dead, only to be rediscovered when the coast was clear for cultures so noxiously curdled to finally thrive. Now that experience is finally here in book form for you to absorb and indulge, and as the mysteries of the eels go many layers deep, fear not and embody their pioneering spirit, finally in print.' --VictimofTime.com"
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