“What started in California, and a re-birth in the small town of West Jefferson, Alabama, Rose’s sound draws from influences as afar as the two locations. Tastes of Blues, Soul, and Psychedelic rocks melt together in an explosive live show. The highly capable musicians are able to pull back the reigns a bit in order to truly give the music the justice it deserves. And the voice, oh the voice, drags the retro sounds up to today’s flavor.”
— BhamRocks
Alabama Rose is the firestorm that fronts Birmingham, AL’s only female-fronted rock-n-roll quartet. Raised on a hard blend of classic soul, blues and funk artists, Alabama Rose marries the wild spirit of Jerry Lee Lewis, the no-nonsense female persona of Wanda Jackson and the soul-baring emotion of Janis Joplin in a way that feels nostalgic while being strangely unique. Adding a band of seasoned pros with backgrounds spanning everything from jazz to gospel music, Alabama Rose creates a sound that is both reminiscent of the primal nature of rock and roll, and capable of giving modern “rock” bands a run for their money.
“This is giddy, fun, sing-alongable pop…I love this band and the music they make.”
— John E. Citron, Folio Weekly
The Young Step hail from St. Augustine, Florida. The Young Step sound is as obscure and mysterious as the northeast Florida swampland, with subtle impressions of David Bowie, David Byrne, The Doors, Roxy Music, and T-Rex, blended with New Wave quirkiness a’la Devo and the B-52s, and including a sort of ‘Rock N’ Roll Spiritual’ aspect only the lovechild of Alan Watts and Janis Joplin would understand. It’s a funky-sexy-quirky mind-trip.
The Young Step released their debut album ‘El Clàsico’ in April of 2016. The album was recorded at Micah Gilliam’s home studio in St. Augustine and was mixed and mastered at The Magic Shop Recording Studio in SoHo, by engineer Matt Boynton (Hospitality, MGMT, Kurt Vile).
“For a relatively new band, James & The Ultrasounds have internalized a vast library of Memphis aesthetics, from Stax to Sun, and from Tav Falco to the Compulsive Gamblers, and even shades of the Alex Chilton of “Like Flies On Sherbet”, yet they are at once a bold and fresh new voice in Memphis music.”
— Dirty Water Records
On a given night in midtown Memphis one can find any number of bands. Amidst the dim lights, heat and discordant blend of conversation emerging from venues like the Hi Tone, the Buccaneer Lounge and Bar DKDC there has been a particular group distinguishing itself over the course of the last year or so as one of the best up and coming rock acts in the city. Brash yet thoughtful, with sweet guitars and pummeling, yet danceable, Memphis-Style rhythm. There isn’t quite anything like them in Memphis or elsewhere. If you happen to be one of those who haven’t yet heard James and the UltraSounds, or seen them live..strap in.
The four piece rock and roll band is the brainchild of James Godwin, a familiar face in the Memphis music scene, having been raised in the Bluff City, playing bass in a number of bands since his teens. His time in experimental rock outfit The New Mary Jane offered him an opportunity to develop what now seems like a telepathic understanding with current UltraSounds drummer John Argroves as well as to collaborate with influential Grifters duo David Shouse and Scott Taylor. Godwin also cut his teeth touring as a bassist with heavy hitting Memphians such as Jack Oblivian and John Paul Keith before forming James and The Ultrasounds.
After touring with Jack O and JPK across the US and Europe, Godwin made time to do some songwriting of his own, and in 2012 recorded his solo debut EP, Lovers and Ghosts, playing all the instruments himself to a 4 track recorder. Soon thereafter he put together a band to perform the EP material, bringing in Argroves on drums, Luke White on guitar and David Johnson on bass. The group began to play regionally and have strung together tours up the east coast to New York, returning to Memphis energized and ready to record new material that Godwin had been writing.
This past spring the band planned some recording sessions with another great Memphis multi-instrumentalist, Mark Edgar Stuart, producing. The results of those sessions comprise the band’s MadJack Records debut full length album, “Bad To Be Here.”
More recently, the band released a brand new 7” on a new Memphis label, Misspent Records. The 7″ includes a brand new James and the UltraSounds track, the hook heavy space-punk jam “Robot Love” on the A side, with the B side featuring a crunching version of The Cramps’ “TV Set,” from their Phillips Recording cut and Alex Chilton-produced “Songs the Lord Taught Us.” Look for new releases on both Madjack and Misspent in the coming months, including a special, short-run European press of two early James and The Ultrasounds cuts, “Apocalyptic Love,” and “I Get The Shakes.”
After a successful European tour in 2016, the band returned home, and Godwin began writing the 2nd LP for Madjack Records, who plans to release it in the Summer of 2017. Look for them on the road in the coming months in the U.S. and Europe. You won’t regret it!
“What started in California, and a re-birth in the small town of West Jefferson, Alabama, Rose’s sound draws from influences as afar as the two locations. Tastes of Blues, Soul, and Psychedelic rocks melt together in an explosive live show. The highly capable musicians are able to pull back the reigns a bit in order to truly give the music the justice it deserves. And the voice, oh the voice, drags the retro sounds up to today’s flavor.”
— BhamRocks
Alabama Rose is the firestorm that fronts Birmingham, AL’s only female-fronted rock-n-roll quartet. Raised on a hard blend of classic soul, blues and funk artists, Alabama Rose marries the wild spirit of Jerry Lee Lewis, the no-nonsense female persona of Wanda Jackson and the soul-baring emotion of Janis Joplin in a way that feels nostalgic while being strangely unique. Adding a band of seasoned pros with backgrounds spanning everything from jazz to gospel music, Alabama Rose creates a sound that is both reminiscent of the primal nature of rock and roll, and capable of giving modern “rock” bands a run for their money.
“This is giddy, fun, sing-alongable pop…I love this band and the music they make.”
— John E. Citron, Folio Weekly
The Young Step hail from St. Augustine, Florida. The Young Step sound is as obscure and mysterious as the northeast Florida swampland, with subtle impressions of David Bowie, David Byrne, The Doors, Roxy Music, and T-Rex, blended with New Wave quirkiness a’la Devo and the B-52s, and including a sort of ‘Rock N’ Roll Spiritual’ aspect only the lovechild of Alan Watts and Janis Joplin would understand. It’s a funky-sexy-quirky mind-trip.
The Young Step released their debut album ‘El Clàsico’ in April of 2016. The album was recorded at Micah Gilliam’s home studio in St. Augustine and was mixed and mastered at The Magic Shop Recording Studio in SoHo, by engineer Matt Boynton (Hospitality, MGMT, Kurt Vile).
“…they’ve already caught that essential combination of steely rigor and fiery energy, ripping out quick gems that exude control without sacrificing guts.”
— Pitchfork
Omni – the band, not the hotel – are from the former home of the Braves: Atlanta. Playing lo-fi pop that channels the specter of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Omni brings you back to an era where any sane person was reeling from the unfulfilled promise of the Space Age and Age of Aquarius bleeding into the looming threat of “Morning in America.”
Omni distills the buzz and grit that snakes through the best of Television, Devo, and Pylon into surprisingly danceable, hook-laden slabs of raw, angular, sonic bliss. It’s still the summer of ’78, and pushing the roots of rock & roll to its limits remains in vogue. “Deluxe” serves as a fresh reminder that rock music can work outside of blues rooted, formulaic progressions without playing it safe behind a wall of effects.
Arty enough to impress record enthusiasts, yet melodically attractive enough to transcend to those who’ve never asked: “’Sister Midnight’ or ‘Red Money’?”
“Dreary, chops-heavy western gallop with some of The Killers’ Vegas-born, Springsteen-isms in here too. Whether Mr. George Cessna, formerly of Sterling Sisters, likes that comparison or not, it’s true and there’s nothing wrong with it. Not to mention “Young American” shares almost the name of a very famous Bowie song. These country-rock kids got balls.”
— Baltimore City Paper
The band called Snakes is a five-piece rock n’roll outfit from the city of Baltimore, MD. Led by the laden lung of lead singer George Cessna, and with a unique sound that’s like listening to a “a Spaghetti Western soundtracked by a Rockabilly-tweaked Townes Van Zandt,” Snakes is old country for the new generation.
