Okay, so where is JCE going with this one, you might ask? We all know there are literally thousands of great rock n roll bands that have gotten little or no attention. I understand this. Nevertheless, I am going to share a handful with our Pencil Storm readers. Perhaps there’s one or two here you may not have heard. If so, I hope you are compelled to check them out.
TSAR
I am going to start with the band that inspired me to write this piece in the first place. TSAR was a hard-edged power pop/glam/punk band out of Los Angeles, CA. Their debut self-titled record in 2000 was brilliant. Band-Girls-Money was their second full-length released in 2005. There are a few other things out there, but those are pretty much what you need to check out. Both records are extremely good. The debut has several absolute classics: “Calling All Destroyers,” “Silver Shifter,” “Kathy Fong is the Bomb” and “The Teen Wizards.” The Band-Girls-Money record includes some gems as well - “Wanna Get Dead,” “Superdeformed” and “The Love Explosion” are all top notch.
Somehow TSAR came and went without me noticing. I discovered them over the summer when “Calling All Destroyers” showed up on a playlist created by Tuk Smith of The Biters (now of Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts). Come to think of it, The Biters could definitely deserve a place in this piece as well, but they are so excellent, I’d like to think that they aren’t quite as underappreciated as the ones here.
One of my favorite songs is “The Teen Wizards,” but there is no real video to be found.
Here’s a video, but I don’t think it is a great representation of the band. “Band-Girls-Money”
DM3
Next up is a rocking power pop outfit from Australia led by the awesome Dom Mariani. I discovered Dom when he was leading the excellent band The Stems. While the Stems had a garage-rock sound, DM3 was more shimmering power-pop anthems. What I love about DM3 is that they are a rocking band and their brand of power-pop is not at all syrupy, if that’s a word. DM3 formed in 1992 and released the completely spectacular record One Time, Two Times, Three Red Light. In 1995, their second release was Road To Rome, which was produced by Mitch Easter, who has produced so much great music. There have been ep’s and two volumes of Garage Sale, that are collections of b-sides and outtakes that don’t sound the least bit like throwaways. I won’t start naming songs because there just aren’t really any bad ones, but I recommend starting with One Time, Two Times. I had to get the Garage Sale collections from Dom himself. After writing him a letter he wrote back and sent me the two volumes; signed, all the way from Australia for a more than reasonable twenty bucks.
One Time, Two Times… No good videos from these guys either.
AMERICAN HI FI
Third on my list is American Hi Fi. These guys are from Boston, and perhaps they are a bit less obscure, but still hugely underrated. This band kind of defies description. In part, I feel that way because of their second album. The self-titled debut had a minor hit with a great song called “Flavor of the Weak” (clever play on words there). The record was power pop to me. Release number two was called The Art of Losing. It was still American Hi Fi, but it was a departure in that it brought in a much harder edge. It was nothing short of a true rocker. Every song is great, but I guess I have to mention “The Breakup Song,” which is just excellent. Next was Hearts on Parade which returned to the softer side and was almost a little too tame. But subsequent releases Fight the Frequency and Blood and Lemonade continue to impress. This band deserves more attention. The Art of Losing is the one to check out first.
“The Breakup Song”
SR-71
Only a few more, I promise. SR-71, named after a high-tech reconnaissance aircraft, is from Baltimore, almost a hometown band for me (Washington D.C.). Most active from 2000 to 2004, SR-71 was led by its singer, Mitch Allan. Their debut release was called Now You See Inside and is loaded with catchy songs. If you do nothing else related to SR-71, make sure you listen to “Last Man on the Moon.” Album number two was called Tomorrow and is harder-edged but not as infectiously catchy. In 2004, Here We Go Again came out and it was a move back more to the original sound. Interestingly, it included the song “1985,” which was covered by the band Bowling for Soup and was a pretty big hit. Most people probably don’t know that Bowling for Soup didn’t write that song.
“Last Man on the Moon” No real video.
“Right Now”
THE ANGELS
These guys are from Australia and - to be clear - they are not at all overlooked or underappreciated over there, but here in the USA they are indeed largely ignored. The band began as The Keystone Angels back in 1977 but soon dropped the Keystone from their name, becoming The Angels. When they released a record in the U.S., they went with the name Angel City to avoid conflicts with the corporate-rock band Angel. They had problems later with that name too, so they even put out one record, Beyond Salvation under the name the Angels from Angel City. They finally settled back in with simply The Angels. There have been numerous line-up changes, as is the case with most bands that have a 40-year plus career. And Doc Neeson, the band’s driving force, died several years ago from a brain tumor, but they released an ep this year, so they’re still alive & kickin’. There are too many records to go through and give any details, but what I would tell you is that they are consistently good efforts. There’s a clunker or two along the way, but by & large this is one helluva rock n roll band.
“Face the Day” Good song, not a very good video…..
“Northwest Highway” No video, but a great song.
AMERICAN HEARTBREAK
I’ll finish up with this band. I’m not sure they ever did enough to be included, but I am compelled to write about them on the strength of the super-fun song “The Last of the Superheroes (of the 1970’s).” If you have never heard that, you HAVE to listen to it. The band included Billy Rowe from Jetboy and Sam Yaffa from Hanoi Rocks. Their sound was a little less glam-metal than those two bands and leaned more toward a 1970’s style. Their records (other than the self-titled debut) are out of print and hard to find, not being on any streaming services. You can find some stuff on YouTube, but really, you only need the debut record anyway, and on the streaming services there’s all kinds of bonus songs, so it’s pretty much all there.
“The Last of the Superheroes (of the 1970’s)”
I’m done. Thank you for your kind indulgence, and I really hope that someone who reads this discovers something new that they love. Please let me know if you do. - JCE