LIVE REVIEWS
By Gabriel Johns
Channel 3, The Dogs, and The Hellflowers December 12, 2022
Neverland Ranch Davidians . .. now, there’s a band for you!
They played the headlining set at 11 PM and all were anticipating their arrival! Celebrating 40 years as a band, CH3 came on with a vengeance and the energy of 13 year old’s ready to take on the world! 40 years! That’s endurance with Mike Magrann, singer/guitar, Kimm Gardener, backup vocals/guitar, Anthony Thompson kept pounding the bass guitar and Nick Manning slamming his drums. Just straight up punk rock in your face!!
Opening up with the hi-octane “I Wanna Know Why” just set the tone on what was about to happen! Mike attacked the audience with a fierce excellent voice letting us know he means business and has been around the block a few times. The song that really grabbed me by the throat was “I Didn’t Know” Wow, very Clash with a lot of sentiment attached! Fucking great song!!! Man, I dig Mike’s voice, what a crooner! The band joins in as an army of sound, blasting its way through the crowd, taking no prisoners!
Another song that throttled me was “Manzanar”! Man, the fury of Dead Kennedys, this ripped through the night handing out electricity to the crowd and the crowd loved being shocked! Then after another two songs, they played “Cheap” and brought up 5 girls to join them! Was very much fun to see this! And being in with the season, they, too, did a version of “Blue Xmas”, punk rock style!
CH3 was celebrating the 40 album set, a retrospective of their 40+ years of being a recording and touring band. Their first record was the CH3 ep on Posh Boy Records, released May of 1981. They have continued to record and tour with only a couple dormant years since then.
Then, a 2 album set has remastered tracks from all the different eras of the band, demo tracks, live cuts and selections from the different record companies we have worked with. Also included is a 28 page booklet containing rare photos and a running narrative penned by Mike Magrann of the band’s history,
The album set is available in a selection of vivid colors, and will be available by the end of January 2023 through Hostagerecords.com and ch3store.bigcartel.com
Neverland Ranch Davidians
Neverland Ranch Davidians . .. now, there’s a band for you!
I asked Tex Mosley, guitar/singer, how he came up with the band. He said that he was tired of what was happening in the rock scene, of what was going on in the Hollywood scene and needed to freshen up his approach to what he wanted to do musically. Being a Philly transplant he was inspired to turn to more groove sounds like James Chance, Teenage Jesus. The band consists of Tex Mosley, guitar/vocals, Will Bentley, guitars/backup vocals and Max Hagen, drums/backup vocals, and yes, there is no bass player. A power trio with the attack of sharks smelling blood! Tex being into a soul sound and Will getting into rhythm and blues while being rockers with a punk edge, well, out came a sound I, for one, have never heard before. Rocking Soul Grunge Psychedelia Punk mixed into some great songs with great arrangements, backing vocals, and guitar riffs tastefully exchanged between Tex and Will! A real powerhouse! And let’s talk about Max on drums! Wow! So playful with each part of every song, transitioning well into choruses, like he is singing with his drums! Pat Todd (of the Rankoutsiders) said “This music brings to my mind echoes of Hound Dog Taylor,
Stax, James Brown & The Rolling Stones with a touch of Allan Vegas art damaged punk – with actual songs ! No cookie cutter Lo Fi artifice here!”
Opening up with “The El”, superb feedback extraordinaire intro with a tribal beat sneaking in tastefully, then chunk power chords all coming together in this short instrumental opener. Almost voodoo like, and you’re the voodoo dolls taking the pin pricks! Great opener! Followed by “Fat Back”, yes! A rocking soul number that makes you want to move and shake! Tex just gives raw emotion on vocals and Will and Max’s falsetto backing vocals are just superb! And right after that came a rockabilly flavored tune called “Anna Lee”. You would think that a rockabilly tune would need some slappin’ bass line but Tex and Will trade off rhythm and licks, filling in where one might expect a bass line. The bass is not missed in this trio. They have it sussed. Then came this Incredible song “Signify Monkey”, a new song they just wrote. Yes, I felt the spirit of Arthur Lee/Love permeate the room! I was thoroughly impressed that Tex could capture that 60’s psychedelic feeling!! Very cool! A couple more songs went by each with soulful merit but then they played “Knee On My Neck”! Yeah, you know what that’s about! A grunge driven melody about the unfortunate death of George Floyd. The song itself captures the rage felt by this senseless act of brutality! A really powerful song!
More great songs coming along nicely in their set! They did an Eddie Floyd cover of Big Bird! Wooo!!! Eddie Floyd would have been a might proud of these gents who gave the song a psychedelic edge while keeping soul content! Totally dug their version! Next, Cactus Cooler, a cool song that reminded me of Spirit’s “I Got A Line On You, Baby”! The crowd soaked it in, bathing in the chorus of “Cactus Cooler, Man, Cactus Cooler, Man, Cactus Cooler, Man,”! Man, I was loving it big time!! This might be their hit single!!!!! Loved the way Tex and Will played with each other on the guitar parts on this one! They do it on all other songs but this one you really see the integral exchange of guitar emotion they hand each other. They ended their set with an, again, instrumental soul blues power grunge number, “Solid Monkey”, and it was solid.
Man O Man, you just gotta love this band! One of the best acts around! I tell you one thing, while all players are excellent, and I do mean excellent! Watching them was part of the pleasure of Neverland Ranch Davidians. I think we’ll see some wonderful things happening. They’ve really connected with Heavy Medication Records out of Berlin. Tex talked about a European tour in the works, as well as some U.S. dates!
Watch out for these boys! They’re coming to get you!
The Dogs - Ain’t no puppy love here
Coming up second in the night’s line up, I must say that each time I see The Dogs they just keep getting better!
Better vocals and guitar from the mad man himself, Loren Molinare, to Mary Kay hypnotic bass lines and Tony “Tone-Dog” Matteucci drumming, WHAT!!! Fahgetaboutit! Man, Tone’s drum riffs compliment each verse and chorus, while both him and Mary do an excellent job on backup vocals to Loren’s high voltage voice! This group does not mess around! They know what the audience is here for and they give it to them and don’t hold back!!!
Opening up with a Detroit rock version as only The Dogs can do, “Blue Xmas”! People were already cramming to get in front of the stage. A really fun high energy version of the Xmas classic! Followed by “What Goes In Quiet Comes Out Loud”! The audience soaked it in like the sun’s blistering rays! One thing I like about Loren is that he takes hold of his audience and doesn’t let go until he’s finished! And we stay mesmerized willingly! Their set highlights for me, although each and every 11 songs they did were outstanding, was, first “Tuff Enuff”! With that Motörhead intro you almost expected Lemmy to rise up from the grave!! Loren’s theatrics on the guitar just keep everyone moving, salivating for more, and the band always goes that extra inch to keep you shaking!!
While always a vibrating set, the two songs that really caught me were “Sleaze City” and “Punk Rock Holiday”!!! Loren hammered the audience song after song after song but when these two songs came on, I was hammered silly!!! With that psycho-billy intro of “Sleaze City” to the revelry of “Punk Rock Holiday” I was moving right along with the crowd!! And we was moving, Man!!! Then the up against the wall/up against the law “John Rock n Roll Sinclair”, the lick Loren whips out repeatedly is enough to make you want to slam into the person standing next to you (with punk rock love, of course). While, of course, there were other great songs in their set, these songs I mentioned just blew me away!! AND last but not least . . . . “SLASH YOUR FACE”!!!!! MAN!!!! I just love it when they leave the audience pumped up!!!!!
All together this was one of the best shows I have ever witnessed!! One of the best Dogs shows I’ve ever seen!!
The Hellflowers are Hot as Hell
I can’t say enough about this band!
Great songs! Great production! Excellent players! Each with a great look! The gorgeous Christina Eskew, singer/guitar, The devilishly handsome Matt Eskew, bass guitar, teenage heart throb Alex Mack, lead guitar, and the easy on the eyes Stevyn Grey slamming the beat fantastic!
They opened the night and their first song was my favorite “Vacation”!!! Christina’s voice was spot on and Alex, guitar, was wailing riffs, moving with his guitar like he was on a stadium stage. And, Man, the rhythm section took charge and kept it tight! Another song that stood out (every song in the set stood out) was “Gone Too Soon”. Kind of a tearjerker, very punk Go-Go’s style lament. Again, the electric Alex, guitar, added a ripping solo full of sentiment!
Thrown into the set was a fave Cock Sparer song “Riot Squad”! The crowd went from wild to insanely crazy for this one. They did the song justice. “I Cried” caught my attention as I loved Christina’s voice on this. Another high energy ballad, just excellent! They covered The Ramones “Merry Xmas”, keeping with the holiday spirit! They finished hard with ”Johnnie, Jack and Jim” and their last song “Fucked Up Nation”!!!! The crowd was sweating! They laid the night soundly for The Dogs and headliners CH3! I was speaking to Loren Molinare right after their set and we both agreed this was the best they’ve ever sounded! Catch them when they’re around! You won’t be disappointed!!!