When I was making up my list of best Albums of 2015 , I had more than one from Rum Bar Records. All of the bands on Rum Bar Records are killer. From The Connection to Kurt Baker to Mono In Stereo , The New Trocaderos, Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, Watts ,Los Breakdowns and don’t forget Nato Coles and the Blue Diamond Band. I mention all of these bands because they all fit into what is a cool ass idea of what rock n roll should feel like in 2015. All of these bands have a bit of old school , full of power pop , glam and some have a little bit of a punk edge while others hit the garage scene in a tough way. The songs make you dance, make you sing along and some of the lyrics can have you laughing out loud. Me, I’m just a kid who grew up on the great ones, Zep, Clapton, Beatles , Stones, Kinks, Faces , Thin Lizzy and The Ramones all of these bands have left a mark that resonates throughout the music of the Bands of Rum Bar Records. It’s been great fun working with Lou of Rum Bar Records this past year and I play all of these bands as often as I can .So, as you look around for great gift giving ideas, I am suggesting you give Rum Bar Records some serious attention. Here are a few tracks from Rum Bar Records:
Rum Bar Records is going insane with our “Top Shelf” 15% Holiday sale happening right now through 12/26/15.
Deal code at checkout: holiday15
The New Trocaderos have earned TWO Coolest Songs in the World from Steven Van Zandt (The E Street Band) on his international Sirius XM radio station, Little Steven’s Underground Garage, and its members, collectively, have earned an astounding FIFTEEN Coolest Song Awards, more than any other band.
Thrills & Chills is what Rockpile’s second album might have sounded like if Keith Richards guested on it.
The New Trocaderos are Kurt Baker (The Kurt Baker Band, The Leftovers), Brad Marino (The Connection), Geoff Palmer (The Connection, The Guts), Kris “Fingers” Rodgers (Kris Rodgers & The Dirty Gems), and Rick Orcutt (The Guts).
Also featured are sweet and sassy background/harmony vocals from Kim Shattuck (The Muffs, The Pando- ras), Palmyra Delran, and Line Cecilie Dahlmann (The Dahlmanns), Sticky Fingers/Exile On Main Street-style horns, and many other surprises.
From the album-opening screamer “What The Hell Did I Do” (Did I hit a parked car, did I do something worse, The weekend was a blur, I might have driven home in reverse, Oh, no) to the Stonesy slide guitar-driven rocker “I’m So Bad” (My Tele stings like a silver dagger, Got the rhythm and I got the swagger, I drink a lot more booze than Keith, But I never slur, and I never stagger) to the drivin’ 12-bar blues album closer, “Business To Tend To”, and including British Invasion-influenced power-pop gems and much more, Thrills & Chills surprises and delights on every track, spin after spin.
brother band to the Rum Bar family New Trocaderos …Thrills & Chills CD on (Uncle Mike’s RnR)
They’ve been applauded by rock pioneer, visionary, and former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham. They’re championed
by E Street legend Little Steven Van Zandt and heard just about every day on the Underground Garage – with 9 singles in heavy rotation, including 5 ” Coolest Songs In The World” . New England’s newest hit-makers The Connection are on a roll…
Geoff Palmer, Brad Marino, and the boys in the band recently hit the studio with legendary punk, rock ‘n’ roll icon, producer, songwriter, and historian Andy Shernoff of the Dictators. “Labor Of Love” is the soundtrack to the love child of Nick Lowe, Flamin’ Groovies, the Kinks, and Graham Parker stumbling through the Bowery with the swagger of Exile-era Rolling Stones; finishing off the night by passing out on the Ramones’ studio floor.
“Labor of Love” features scorching rockers like “Red White And Blue”; punk-rock ravers like “Don’t Come Back” (featuring resident Riverdale, Cheat, and Mope Dan Vapid on his trademark backup vox); slung-back, beer- swillin’ tales of the road like “Let The Jukebox Take Me”; and the Connection’s trademark jangly garage- power- pop of “Circles” and “Good Things”. Packing a one/two punch in under 30 minutes, “Labor of Love” is jammed with 10 soon-to-be-new classics that all the mods AND the rockers will be screaming for.
Play rock’n’roll music in a band in this day and age, without causing the ghosts of Phil Lynott and Joey Ramone to fall together
weeping in anguish in each others’ arms. They said it couldn’t be done. Bruce Springsteen placed a personal call to Nato,
imploring him to call it off. Stan Lynch stole the Blue Diamond Bands’ drums and hid them. Bob Mould and Grant Hart shook hands,
made up, then set BDB band members shoes and their touring Econoline on fire. Undaunted, Nato & the BDB persevered (and
added a keyboard player), and today, riding high, way high, upon Promises To Deliver, their lauded and applauded debut release…
Step up to the bar for another taste of the heartland!
Nato Coles has been a fixture of the American punk rock n’ roll scene since the early 2000s. You may remember him from Milwaukee’s beloved Modern Machines or his more recent bands Radio Faces and Used Kids.
He moved to Minneapolis in the spring of 2010 with a plan: put together a band that would fully realize his musical vision, and have a ton of fun with it while playing shows and making music and roamin’ around in vans.
With Mike Cranberry, Kyle Sando, Bill Rohla, Luke De Beaumarchais, and Sam Beer, this goal has been achieved in spades (special thanks to original lead guitarist Ross Fellrath as well). Over the last four years, Nato Coles & The Blue Diamond Band have released one single, two split seven-inches, and the acclaimed 2013 full-length Promises To Deliver.
Power pop fans, rejoice! Play It Cool, the third solo album from Kurt Baker, is the long-anticipated follow-up to 2012’s much-beloved Brand New Beat. It arrives on the heels of last year’s Brand New B-Sides compilation (Baker’s first release on Rum Bar Records). Baker has been one of the hardest-working men in rock n’ roll in recent years – releasing new music with his bands The New Trocaderos & Bullet Proof Lovers, playing bass for Kris Rodgers & The Dirty Gems, and writing the song “He’s A Drag” for The Dahlmanns. Like Brand New Beat, Play It Cool was produced and co-written by Baker’s frequent collaborator Wyatt Funderburk (Second Saturday, Explorers Club). The album was written while Baker was living in the center of Madrid, Spain. He and Funderburk sent ideas back and forth between Madrid and Nashville. Baker then demoed the songs in his flat. Recorded with an all-star cast of supporting players (Geoff Palmer and Kris Rodgers from The Connection, Adam Cargin from Screeching Weasel), Play It Cool has proven well worth the wait…and then some!
Play It Cool is exactly what you’d expect from Kurt Baker – 12 perfect shots of power poppin’ rock n’ roll that would be all over the radio in an ideal world. Think massive hooks and well-crafted songs in the tradition of ’70s/’80s pop-rock. While stylistically similar to Brand New Beat, this album is by no means a copy of its predecessor. The sound is bigger and more “live” – capturing the energy and fun of an actual Kurt Baker concert. And the influences are wider, ranging from DMZ to Huey Lewis to Adventures of Jet to Eric Carmen. Running the gamut from jangly McCartney-esque pop (“Talk Is Talk”) to full-throttle rockers (“Doin’ It Right”) to romantic slow-dance anthems (“Back For Good”) to “classic” K.B. power pop (“I Got You”), this is Baker’s strongest and most varied collection of songs to date. It’s sure to land on the year-end top ten lists of countless power pop fans. CD is due out October 5th on Rum Bar with additional releases on Collectors Club Records (digital, 9/25) and Jolly Ronnie Records (vinyl, November).
Trenton City rockers via Boston delivering action packed, working stiff, hung over punk rock n roll anthems with a twist!!
Jay Allen has been playing around the Boston Music Scene for what now seems pretty close to an eternity, occasionally peeping out from obscurity. Starting as the drummer in Quest for Tuna (1983-1992), and moving to vocals and guitar in 1984 he started another project, Thumbcramp, in 1989-1993, Bosley from 1993-1998, and started appearing on punk rock bills playing solo acoustic in 2000. He released a solo record in 2003, on Clamarama Records, entitled, “Fun is Fun, But This is Unsanitary”. And in 2007 Jay Allen and The Archcriminals were formed releasing their CD, Fun is Fun, But You Gotta Be F*#kin’ Kiddin’ Me also on Clamarama Records in 2010. In a line-up shuffle, Henry Ryan (The Skels, The Sprained Ankles) was ordained as the bass playin’ Archcriminal in and joined by Larry Litigot (Penis Fly Trap, Padded Hell) about 6 months later to form the current line-up.
Your favorite torn, frayed jeans. A stack of Marshalls. That leather jacket you broke in so well that it wears you, instead of the other way ’round.
Low-slung Les Pauls. Raising your fists to your favorite anthem.
Driving too damn fast on an open road through the heartland, thinking about what could have been.
Rum Bar Records is proud to present the other band from Rockford IL… Mono In Stereo!!
Formed by members of 90’s pop punk stalwarts Mulligan Stu, Billy Maynard, Kevin Kalen, and Mike Melenas packed up their 6 and 4 strings, stacked up the amps, grabbed a six-pack,
drove their van into the ground, and with new skin basher Jordan Acosta in tow, hit the garage,
cranked up the volume, and churned out some serious heartland rock ‘n’ roll anthems for the punk rock youth in all of us.
Saddle up to the Rum Bar and pound down ” Long For Yesterday”: 12 shots of adrenaline with
fist-pumping choruses, lyrics that’ll stick like gum to yer shoe, and belted-out vocals that’ll stand the test of time and appeal to fans of The Gaslight Anthem, Jesse Malin, Old 97’s, Lucero, Butch Walker, Husker Du, Superchunk…and that other band from Rockford IL, too.
Including the soon to be (or else!!) anthemic, gut-wrenching heartland hits “Long For Yesterday”; “Monty Nolder”; “Start Again”; “Feels Alright”; and “Woke Up in Haight” (cause it feels alright!!).
Those New England glam rockers n’ shakers, the blistering, thundering, guitar slinging boys in the band aptly called WATTS are at it again!! This time around they serve on up a platter du jour of loud, wild, and outta control rock n’ roll that’ll set your soul on fire!!!
What the Rum Bar has in store for you tonight is our wild bunch bundle deal:
Flash Of White Light (exclusive white vinyl!!!)
Immediate Download
Watts Koozie, Pin, and Sticker (with brand new Watts logos)
and coming from Rum Bar Records in 2016:
Indonesian Junk S/T release in Feb
Tom Baker and the Snakes
Watts (New LP)
( Sneak preview of 2016 release )
“Waiting For Nothin’ – Louder
Tom Baker and the Snakesk.
The band features Tom Baker of the Dirty Truckers on vocals/gtr, along with a whos who of Boston rock vets and scene makers including: John Sheeran (Township) on bass, Johny Blout (Watts) on drums, John Brookhouse (Worshiper / Dirty Truckers) on lead guitar, Charles Hansen (Rock Bottom) on lead guitar..
and while your doing some shopping, don’t forget your Koozies…
So awesome and truly thank you again Scot & 50thirdandthird! Myself and the Rum Bar are humbled and honored!!!