the of mirror eye

* Bassholes: Light Bulb Boogie (3.0 mb) | Stack O’ Lee and Billy Lyons (4.0 mb) | Cigarette Blues (3.0 mb)
From Blue Roots : Revenant Records : Revenant 204

I can think of nothing better on this, the day of our (and by ours, I mean that most loved of all countries, the good ol’ US of A) nations independence, than to eat some BBQ, drink some beer and blast some o’ dat good ol’ rawk ‘n’ roll. So, to celebrate, I’ve decided to present to you (drum roll please…), the uber-primitive Bassholes for your listening pleasure.

Before there was Jon Spencer, the White Stripes, the Strokes, the Hives, etc, etc, there was the Gibson Bros from Columbus, OH. The Gibson Bros burst onto the scene in ‘85 with their incredible brand of unhinged, blues/rockabilly driven, incompetence informed take on rawk ‘n’ roll. When the Gibson Bros imploded in ‘90, the two principle players, Jeff Evans and Don Howland went their separate ways and formed equally as impressive musical groups, ‘68 Comeback and the Bassholes.

Today, we’re gonna make our ears bleed with the rawkus sounds that Don Howland (guitar/vocals) and Rich Lillash (doing his best to smash the drum kit to smithereens) produced. Though they have the same blues/rockabilly sound as the Gibson Bros, they manage to sound even more demented and deranged.

It is common to categorize rock and roll styles by region. While there is no distinctive overall Columbus sound, there are some features which occur in the rock and roll there with some frequency. The lone, piercing, distorted electric guitar style and the frantically rocking drum kit heard on this album are typical, as is the disutrbed tenor of the vocals, likely envisioning halcyon days in the old hill country as lithe, freckled, buck-toothed virgins skinny-dip in brackish ponds, their damp and tangled resses cascading teasingly over ripe bosoms.

(from the liner notes)

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