New Deep Purple Song - Vincent Price

All kinds of great new music popping up lately. Here's some new Purple, and it's all spooky and stuff - VINCENT PRICE, off the new CD, "SO, WHAT?!"

Dig it!!

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Stunt Rock

STUNT ROCK
1980
Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith

 “How could I be so blind? This is something unique you guys are doing, I think it’s going to catch on.”

“It already has – it’s called rock n roll!”

Stunt Rock is a movie that truly lives up to its name, as it’s chock full of both stunts and rock n’ roll (and very low on plot). Professional stunt man Grant Page (played masterfully by Grant Page himself) arrives on the set of a new TV series, UNDERCOVER GIRL, starring the one and only Monique Van de Ven (played, once again, by Monique Van de Ven herself) where he’s been employed to pull off a number of explosive and high flying stunts. While on set he meets and begins wooing a female reporter named Margaret Gerard (who rumor has it is the wife of the real-life director of Stunt Rock, Brian Trenchard-Smith).

While in LA Grant calls up his cousin, who happens to play in a rock band called SORCERY. The band employees a number of stage tricks and pyrotechnics in an elaborate stage show of good vs. evil that culminates in a battle between a Merlin-type wizard and Satan! The music is by real-life band SORCERY, who also did the music for Rocktober Blood. They are still around and in fact can be found on the web:

http://sorceryrockband.com

http://sorcerymusic.com

And that’s about it for the plot! Lots of stunts, lots of stage show rockin' with Sorcery, and a love interest thrown in for good measure. Result – on helluva good time! With no pesky plot to get in the way we get more ‘splosions and rockin', and both are fantastic in this film! Crank up the volume on this one, it’s a ton of fun. It was shot on location in Australia by director Brian Trenchard-Smith, who would go on to make Leprechaun 3 & 4, Night of the Demons 2, and Dead End Drive-In. Keep an eye out for a quick cameo by SNL's Phil Hartman!

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Hair Metal Massacre

Cool poster art for an upcoming film called Hair Metal Massacre from filmmaker Danny Draven. Don't know any details yet but the posters are killer! Stay tuned, I'll keep you updated here at Evil Amp!!

 

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New Rob Zombie Song

The horror meister Rob Zombie has a new CD coming out soon titled "Venemous Rat Regeneration Vendor." Here's the first song, "Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown."
Available tomorrow, April 23rd, 2013 in the USA.

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New Black Sabbath song!

The first song from the upcoming Black Sabbath album 13 has been released, and it's pretty epic -  classic Sabbath. Dig it!

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Pussy Riot

The members of the Russian all-girl punk band Pussy Riot have been sentenced to 3 years in prison for a political protest that offended religious groups and the Russian leader, Putin. The women held an impromptu performance of a "protest prayer" at a Russian Orthodox church. They were sentenced for "hooliganism" motivated by religous hatred and accused of doing the devil's work. Seriously.

In this 21st century age of "enlightenment" ignorance still runs rampant. My hat's off to these women - they're far braver than me. To even perform in a controversial punk band in formerly communistic Russia is a terrifying thought, much less staging a protest like this, knowing full well this could be the result.

The problem is massive corruption. Putin seeks to silence all opposition, and making bedfellows of the Russian Orthodox church is a smart political move. Here he kills two birdies with one stone, silences protestors while appeasing the church leaders, who are in turn throwing their support behind former KGB spy Putin. In fact, it was the leader of the Russian church, Patriarch Krill, who watched a youtube clip of Pussy Riot in action and called President Putin demanding they be arrested.

What's the matter Krill, scared of a bunch of girls? You should be. This is how empires crumble... Even corrupt religious regimes like yours.

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REVIEW - The Cramps Live at Napa State Mental Hospital

On June 13th, 1978 THE CRAMPS performed live at the Napa Valley Mental Institute in Napa, CA. They were actually one of two bands that performed that day, The Mutants, a San Francisco based punk band, being the other.

The event was recorded on a early hand held video recorder connected to a portable backpack (Sony Portapak Video Camera). The footage is black and white, grainy, and the sound muddled, but it actually adds to the punk aesthetic of the footage, in a weird kind of way.

(Sony Porta pack in action)

The band was set up on a small stage just slightly raised above floor level, with a series of steps leading into the audience. From the moment the music began members of the audience jump onstage, dancing and grooving to the music, warmly accepted by Lux Interior who interacts with them throughout the show. In fact, the amazing thing about this video is the lack of separation between band and inmates, almost as if they meld into one, audience members becoming part of the band and Lux becoming part of the crowd. He repeatedly tosses his mic down onstage or hands it to an inmate while he roams and writhes around. The inmates in turn  scream and shout unintelligible phrases into the mic, adding to the manic energy of the show. 

The band members of the Cramps at this time was Lux Interior, Poison Ivy, Nick Knox and Brian Gregory. They're young and raw and you can see why tux is considered one of the best front men of all time. There's nothing forced or fake about him, he simply reacts instinctively to the music and the audience, embracing the chaos and using it as part of the show.

There are a couple of breaks in the video where it seems like a song or two might be missing, but the ones recorded are:

Mystery Plane, The Way I Walk, What's Behind the Mask, Human Fly, Domino, Love Me, Twist and Shout, and TV Set. It is mind boggling to imagine a punk band being allowed to play in a mental institute, much less with lyrics like: 

i cut your head off and put it in my tv set 

i use your eyeballs for dials on my tv set

oh baby i see you in my frigidaire 

yeah baby i see you in my frigidaire 

behind the mayonnaise, way in the back 

i'm gonna see you tonight for a midnight snack 

but though it's cold you won't get old

 'cause you're well preserved in my frigidaire yahhhhhhh

But it did happen, and thank goodness it was preserved for posterity. It was released on DVD through Target Video - not the retail chain, but some small video outfit in the 80s. 

You can get a copy through Amazon or watch it on youtube - in fact, I'll post it below for your enjoyment. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

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