independence day special - stars & stripes tie dye!

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Grip Weeds INFINITE SOUL out now! Paisley Umbrella blog review!

THE GRIP WEEDS "Infinite Soul: The Best Of" is out TODAY! CDs are available from Wicked Cool Records for only $9.99, including shipping. MP3 album downloads are only $8.99 – DRM free, and the highest quality available (320 kb)! Just click on the link below!


Check out this review of "Infinite Soul" from the Paisley Umbrella blog (www.myspace.com/paisleyumbrella)

Introducing a band that's been around for 14 years. Sound familiar? A lot, but not too many older releases always have a new life when you hear them. New Jersey's The Grip Weeds provide a case in point. Their new release Infinite Soul: The Best of The Grip Weeds is a compilation of their four full length albums plus a remake of the 1993 single "She Brings The Rain" set in random order. The best way to describe the band is psychedelic, but it's a lot to discover. Like the super technicolor album cover, it's a mix of British Invasion, LA folk rock, and late '60s to early '70s Who, with some loud, heavy powerchords but with some slight lean towards different elements like Cream, at least that description is a good start. The opening track "Every Minute" from the 2003 release The Sound Is In You is a fresh blast or guitar chords and loud, frantic, Moonesque drumming whose BIG sound is reminiscent of "I Can See For Miles" and "Pinball Wizard" without the synthesizer experiments. It's a little simpler, more like one might guess '60's era Who attempting to do their early '70s material. Let's just say it's louder, but the chord emphasis makes it powerpop, a term actually coined by Pete Townshend to describe their music in the '60s, only "Every Minute" has enough volume to sound edgier than that. It's also a perfect illustration of one of the ways The Grip Weeds describe themselves: The Who on psychedelics! That's an awfully gutsy description. Lucky for them, it works!

The followup track "Salad Days" was dubbed "Coolest Song in The World" by Little Steven (14 years after it came out)! Although the overall feel of the song is melodic due to the vocal harmonies from drummer Kurt and rhythm guitarist Rick Reil, with the added vocal of lead guitarist that throws a slight twist that is definitely cool, Rick's guitar takes a stronger approach to playing jingle jangly rock, but Kristin's licks provide the louder, '70s rock feel. Another great point of the song is that because it's psychedelic, there's a lot going on that almost equalizes everyone's role, whereas if the music was more basic or leaned towards their basic influences, Kristin would be walking away as the most important member of the band since she plays lead guitar. Luckily, her loud riffs blend in and contribute to a greater synthesis. This balance and overall loudness alludes to the second way The Grip Weeds use to describe themselves: The Byrds on steroids. However, that extra kick comes from a woman playing lead guitar, which is a rare but very cool thing. Kristin also takes lead vocals on one song, "Closer to Love," a song that can match the heart and great song structures of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors (I know what you're thinking, that's not rock 'n' roll! In fact, it is. Everyone in the band broke up with each other during the recording, so it's an album full of people falling apart, angst and sadness that they channeled into someting great. Besides, Lindsey Buckingham is cool), but relies on a stronger acoustic guitar base and sitar that could overpower the '70s greats to the point that they would think "I wish I could have done that." An odd but pleasant surprise on The Grip Weeds is "It Ain't No Big Thing, Babe," a Nashville tinged heartringer originally penned by Val Stecklein of the '60s folk/psychedelic greats that remain mostly unknown, The Blue Things. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel very psychedelic, but more like Bob Dylan. It's quite a great curveball and shows that The Grip Weeds have a lot more to show us. Luckily, they're currently recording an album of all new material at their own House of Vibes studio, not just a little piece of heaven somewhere in Highland Park, New Jersey, but an impressive space in the basement of a house stocked with digital and analog recording equipment and a bevy of vintage musical instruments. As if not a suprise, The Smithereens recorded their album Meet The Smithereens there with Kurt co-producing.

Psychedelic rock was not as much of a genre as an approach to making music that attempted to replicate the experience of taking hallucinogenic drugs, which many bands experimented with literally and musically during a brief time period from about 1964 to 1969. Although it was cited most for albums like Revolver, Sargeant Peppers, Her Satanic Majesty's Request, Fifth Dimension, and Piper at the Gates of Dawn - from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, and Pink Floyd respectively and one can hear these influences in The Grip Weeds, heavier, more blues oriented outfits like The Yardbirds, 13th Floor Elevators, Jimi Hendrix and Cream also made their own forays into psychedelic rock that were a little harder. That extra 'punch' of harder edge influenced by the heavier acts is what helps push The Grip Weeds into a rock 'n' roll band and not a psychedelic band. Although the songs sound too well crafted to be "garage rock," the term "psychedelic rock" was actually coined by Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators, a band revered by many as a "garage" band. The "fuzz" guitar effect as well as a Hammond or Farfisa were considered essential instruments for psychedelic rock, but coupled with a 12 string electric guitar. Also, the literal loudness and affinity for powerchords maintained by The Grip Weeds give them an edgy rawness that certainly rocks.

"Life and Love, Times to Come" is a track including tabla, hammond, mellotron, and mandolin that draws from Love's "Red Telephone" with added Eastern sounds and builds up so well that one is taken on their own mystic trip while listening. Other tracks like "Infinite Soul" and "She Brings the Rain" are a little more straightforward but rock with great melodic guitar plus The Grip Weeds now aptly described psychedelic touches like sitars, harmonies, and full on power chords. Infinite Soul: The Best of The Grip Weeds comparable to "Alice in Wonderland" because there's something new around every corner, but things run awfully fast and it never gets boring or predictable. The songs stick to mostly the basic garage rock structure: 3 chords and short songs, but it's amazing what The Grip Weeds have packed into those short periods of time. It's rock 'n' roll with something new to discover with each rotation. Songs on it that one might not be enthusiastic about grow on you. The songs are short, loud, and incredibly dense, making them a music fan's listening music, but still have the powerpop punches to make you get up and rock. The Grip Weeds have set a new standard for powerpop. It's never been done this way before. Infinite Soul: The Best of The Grip Weeds and their anthology Infinite Soul: The Best of The Grip Weeds offer a great taste of new adventures to come.

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father’s day – give him something good!

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tie dyes for summer! buy any 3, get 10% OFF!

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The Chevelles OUT NOW, album + t-shirt offer (only $18!)

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Memorial day with pin-ups, hoodie & other terrific designs

Click on the graphic to order!

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review of Chesterfield Kings PSYCHEDELIC SUNRISE from the Paisley Umbrella

Review of The Chesterfield Kings PSYCHEDELIC SUNRISE from the Paisley Umbrella blog (www.myspace.com/paisleyumbrella). Click on the image at the bottom to purchase on LP or CD! The LP features previously unreleased bonus tracks!

It ain't too new, but it ain't old. So goes good rock 'n' roll. Throw in some mid '60s Stones, the larger than life early '70s sounds of The Who, add the feedback and psychedelia from The Byrds, add a little weirdness from The Electric Prunes, invite Roky Erikson and the ghost of Syd Barrett, then add the energy and volume of The Ramones, and maybe it will add it up to The Chesterfield Kings latest gift to rock 'n' roll, Psychedelic Sunrise. These guys have been around about 30 years forever but are also up and coming 30 years young. They have cult band status with a new lease at greater recognition since Little Steven picked them up, got them the exposure they always needed and deserved, then set them free in the studio to rock, shake, fuzz, and freakout the world. Psychedelic Sunrise is the second platter released on Wicked Cool Records. We all should be thankful for it.

These guys are from Rochester, New Yawk and Greg Prevost always had this semi-gutteral voice without much tone that's almost Southern, but it's always sounded damn cool. I always loved the decisiveness of his lyric "Out in the darkness, I light my cig-uh-rette" from "I Don't Understand" on 2003's The Mindbending Sounds of The Chesterfield Kings, which was also reissued to much better reception in 2006. That's only proof that The Chesterfield Kings had to wait for the world to catch up to them. The first thing you notice about Psychedelic Sunrise is it sounds BIG. The opening "Sunrise (Freak Out)" tells you to get ready for something huge and then it hits like the first song at a gig where the band makes their presence known in a larger than life sort of way. Claves on a rock 'n' roll song? Why not? It's just a little touch that makes you think "Wait a minute. This is pretty damn cool."

Psychedelic Sunrise is the inevitable outcome of letting loose four great rockers into a studio toystore full of instruments to play with. On the music credits, each band member plays between 7 to 12 instruments. It's not Smile, though. It rocks and swings so loud and hard that the extra things just make it rock more. Lucky for us. It gets down and dirty basic with the channeled "Jumpin' Jack Flash" swagger of "Up and Down" and sounds just as cool and groovy. No one can be really sure what they were going for on "Rise and Fall," but you'll probably end up swinging your grog back and forth to it. There's also the baroque swoon of "Inside Looking Out." Like beer with hard liquor, one usually doesn't like string arrangements in their rock, but like the former, it all works out the same in the end since you get the effect you want if you're careful, so we can allow them the indulgence as part II of "My Sweet Lady Jane."

One's not going to be able to help drawing parallels on "Spanish Sun" to "Paint it Black." Who cares? It rocks. Besides, Brian Jones rocked on a sitar and so can Andy Babiuk. There aren't very many people you can say that about. Mike Boise's wall of sound drumming also gives the song a little more thunder than its inspiration. Even with the big sound, multiple instruments, a few tape effects, multiple hand held percussion instruments, Vox and Hammond organs, a dulcimer (!!??), and just about everything else that the vans got overloaded with from raiding the high school music room, Psychedelic Sunrise plays like a good 'ol dirty blues ROCK ALBUM that's as much at home in Muscle Shoals or New Orleans as it is in a club in New York or even better, at some outdoor festival in Europe, which like many great rock 'n' roll bands, The Chesterfield Kings have always enjoyed better success in Europe since there's less of a genre barrier and according to many, including The Chesterfield Kings themselves, a greater enjoyment for just rock 'n' roll. The Chesterfield Kings have always drawn comparisons to The Rolling Stones. This is a well earned and deserved compliment and not a musical generalization. Afterall, The Stones embraced the heavier Delta Blues sound to make their music a little less clean but more appealing. The Chesterfield Kings have this approach perfected on "Stayed Too Long" with it's boogieing piano and outrageously Ron Wood inspired riffs. Good Stuff! You just listen to it and think "Yeah, that's it." They slow down and give a stronger blues treatment on "Gone," but the added organ and '70s classic rock guitar solo give an old approach something new. Even with the southern influences, The Chesterfield Kings and fuzz guitar have always been inseparable terms. They give us a heaving dose of it on "Outtasite!" that lives up to its name- "That's hip, that's cool, that's great, it's outta site, yeah!" The acid rock tinged "Yesterday's Sorrows" that's loud but just trippy enough to put you in London's UFO Club in the mid '60s for a few minutes. But it's all about the rock 'n' roll. "Dawn" is a raunchy howl of a track to end Psychedelic Sunrise, but a confusing in sequence since dawn comes before sunrise.

The second release by The Chesterfield Kings on Wicked Cool Records, Pyschedelic Sunrise is rock 'n' roll with easily recognized influences. There's a lot more to it, though. The best rock 'n' roll, including The Rolling Stones and other legendary acts, was made from mixing a bunch of previously independent influences into something new. That is what they're known for. Rock 'n' roll itself is a mix of blues, r&b, soul, gospel, country, and some other far off influences to varying degrees. It's not an original form of music in and of itself. Furthermore, I doubt anyone can honestly name a "new" rock band that's original. New forms of rock are never really created because they're directly influenced by earlier forms. Everything great in rock 'n' roll draws from the better parts of the past and is recognized for having that. Psychedelic Sunrise is the same. Nothing less, but a lot more because it's tried and true rock 'n' roll. It's a quintessential, must own rock 'n' roll album since it's rooted, good enough to be timeless, and damn fun every time you play it.

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VINYL with previously unreleased tracks – now shipping!

Click on the graphic to order!

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women in the garage!

Since this is the time of year when the world celebrates MOMS, we're using Mother's Day as an excuse to share our new t-shirts for women! We didn't have ANY tees for women in 2007, so we've had a fantastic start to 2008. Ladies – these cuts are for you!

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FREE woggles show - TOMORROW in Anaheim!

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