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THE FLESHTONES: Living Legends Of The American Beat Return to The Dirty Water Club with MUCK AND THE MIRES and THE SPEEDWAYS
Making their sixth appearance on Friday, November 30th, at London's famous Dirty Water Club!
Forty years ago in Queens, New York, Keith Streng and his buddy Marek Pakulski discovered some guitars in a basement of a house they were renting. They didn’t know how to tune strings or finger a chord, but they dug Rock & Roll and R&B, which was hard to find in the mid-1970s pabulum on Top 40 and FM radio. They picked up those guitars, found some cheap amps, and started banging out noise. By ’77, local drummer Lenny Calderon was on board as the steady drummer.
One day Peter Zaremba, an art student friend with long bangs, a harmonica, and a manic vision, dropped by the house, grabbed a mic, and named the band THE FLESHTONES. They rehearsed by throwing locally legendary parties in the basement of that house, dosed with fuzz guitar and trash cans full of their signature cocktail, the Blue Whale, inaugurating a bacchanal that continues to this day. Manically covering obscure songs and offering their own nervy originals, they debuted at CBGB in May of 1976.
The Fleshtones are the only band to debut at CBGB in 1976 that hasn’t experienced an inactive year. They have, in one way or another, inspired countless other bands over the decades, including R.E.M., Hoodoo Gurus, and The Dream Syndicate, and their showmanship and musical influence is palpable in many current bands throughout North America, Europe, and Scandinavia. The Fleshtones have survived Punk Rock, New Wave, No Wave, Neo Garage, Post-Punk, Grunge, and more Neo Garage, never succumbing to trendiness, scornful laughter, liquidated record labels, or non-alcoholic beer.
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Formed in 2001, MUCK AND THE MIRES are perhaps the first group to ever have a “Best Of” collection released before ever playing a note together; “All Mucked Up -The Best of Muck and the Mires”. In reality, these raw recordings were home demos created by Muck (Evan Shore formerly of Boston's The Queers and The Voodoo Dolls). Originally passed off as the lost sessions of an unknown sixties garage band, In 2001, the demos were issued on CD in Canada on AMP RECORDS and subsequently on vinyl by SOUNDFLAT RECORDS of Germany.
Following the immediate success of the album, Muck assembled the real-life Muck and the Mires, who's current lineup features founding members JESSIE BEST (Drums) and PEDRO MIRE(Lead Guitar) and long-time bassist JOHN QUINCY MIRE.
In 2004, the band gained worldwide recognition when they were featured on MTV as the winners of Little Steven Van Zandt's (E-Street band/Underground Garage) national battle of the garage bands contest. The group appeared that summer at Little Steven's festival in NY alongside Bo Diddley, The Stooges and The NY Dolls. Later that same year, they toured Europe for several weeks and quickly built a large following both home and abroad thanks to strong airplay and worldwide live appearances.
The band have just wrapped recording 14 new tracks with Jim Diamond and embarked this year on a 10 day South American tour of Argentina and Brazil. They also headlined this year's BURGER BOOGALOO Official launch party in Oakland, California on June 29th.
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The Speedways is Matt Julian from The Breakdowns going for a classic power pop sound. Power pop was certainly a huge influence on The Breakdowns as well. But with The Speedways, Julian laid the glam and punk influences to the side and concentrated purely on the pop. They have quickly become one of London's hottest and most elusive bands on the scene. Catch them if you can!
