Costa Mesa, CA (Top40 Charts/ Brimstone Howl Official Website) -
Brand new album by Lincoln, NE's favorite garage sons, Brimstone Howl. This time the gang went to Costa Mesa, CA, to record Big Deal. What's He Done Lately? (the title references a quote from Johnny Ramone about Phil Spector) at The Distillery under the guidance of engineer/producer Mike McHugh (known to produce some of the most heinous, blown-out sounds this side of the galaxy, including
Black Lips, Jon Spencer and Andre Williams). The result is considerably more fuzzed than their previous work with
Detroit producer Jim Diamond but still pummels.
Frontman John Ziegler admits that Big Deal is thematically 'a little brighter' than previous efforts, but also explains, 'While our last record We Came In Peace sounded 'big,' the main characteristic of this album is its heat. Analog from start to finish. Recorded to tape. Mixed to tape. And from tape the wax was cut. This record sounds 'hot'.'
The new album - Brimstone Howl's third for Alive Records - finds a couple of older songs (such as 'Elation' and 'M60' rerecorded from their debut album and first 45) riding shotgun with newer explosive tracks such as 'Last Time,' 'Everybody Else Is Having Fun,' 'Iota Man' and 'Suicide Blues.' 'Musically, our instincts remain the same as always,' Ziegler states, 'but we do more pop sounding things at times, with as much drama as we can fit into our rock'n'roll template. I get the feeling that's out of style or going out, even within our own little community of garage folks, but we're from the Midwest and we can't f**k around and waste our time singing songs that aren't fully sincere. We've been doing music for it's own sake for a long time now, none of us have made rent money from this, for whatever that's worth. We have music in our hearts, goddamn it, and we always will. That will always remain the most important thing in this industry, and whatever corner of it we inhabit."
BRIMSTONE HOWL LIVE DATES
(extensive U.S. and European tours scheduled for Feb-Apr 2010)
10.17 Portland, OR
10.23 Omaha, NE
HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAYING ABOUT BRIMSTONE HOWL:
Part fuzz, part grunge and a machine gun back beat. - ROLLING STONE
... some of the finest reverb-drenched rock 'n' roll to be heard in quite a while. - POPMATTERS
A band with thrilling magic in their dark hearts. - NME
Having already recorded with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and White Stripes' producer Jim Diamond, Nebraska's Brimstone Howl is making a name among analog purists and rock 'n roll revivalists with garage-rock, British Invasion and early punk influences that, over the course of four albums, have become their stock-in-trade. John Ziegler's vocals remain somewhere between early Mick Jagger and a less affected Lux Interior, while Waggoner's guitar work on "Easy to Dream" is reminiscent of post-Velvets Lou Reed. - COLORADO SPRINGS INDEPENDENT
Do yourself a favor, if you love old rock and roll, garage, punk, and the blues, lend this band your ear and definitely check out anything that Alive Records has to offer. They do things right in the way it used to sound back when rock and roll was much stronger. - ANDREW'S CORNER / DISC EXCHANGE
... moves along at a rattling pace, with lots of tumble-along rockabilly rhythms, stinging guitar and Lux Interior-via-Jon Spencer howl-croon vocals. Quite fabulous. - RAVE MAGAZINE
Having always been too explosive for their mortal skin, Brimstone Howl are less of a band, and more an offensive attack. Unashamedly passionate about garage rock and gloriously dispassionate toward those who fail to recognise it as the feral noise of a caveman pounding wild boars with jagged granite....another monumentally loud album from Alive Records. In its field, on par with The Heads' "Under Sided" or anything by The Cramps. - SHINDIG
Midwest American Sonics flavoured psych-head rock & roll from three bends down the river. Some cranked garage blues and Cramps-style below-the-waist swamp rock. Dirty, gritty and sounding just right. - ORGAN / UK
...brittle garage-blues with boundless invention and devotion that harks back biblically to The Gories and prime-cut Blues Explosion. - SLEAZEGRINDER
Scuzzy blues-ish punk gone Killed by Death, at times a bit like if early GUN CLUB was lo-fi and art damaged. - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL
For more info on BRIMSTONE HOWL:
https://www.alive-totalenergy.com/x/?page_id=287
https://www.myspace.com/brimstonehowl
For more info on ALIVE RECORDS:
https://www.alive-totalenergy.com
