Hozac

Kopp, Bill

What's The Big Idea

Hozac

As long as there has been music, the form has been used as a vehicle for storytelling. Artists who have something to say often find that putting it into music is the ideal means of communicating thoughts and feelings to others. And the concept-album form is a logical extension of that storytelling impulse, often writ large. It allows the writer to tackle bigger themes, more involved story lines, more finely textured characters and ideas.In the pages of WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, author Bill Kopp explores 30 remarkable concept albums, drawing on new, firsthand interviews with the artists behind their creation.Author of the critically acclaimed Disturbing The Peace, Kopp turns us down the darkest road of musical blind-spots yet, the concept album, a previously shunned genre, now worthy of your curiosity. And then you hear something like Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, and The Turtles Present Battle of the Bands, or S.F. Sorrow, and you're REALLY second-guessing yourself now, right? As it turns out, there's something genuinely interesting about this "concept" in itself, and it lends us a look into a world when musical creativity really had been unleashed in its full glory. Yes, those extravagances produced much audio garbage, but very few people even get that chance anymore, despite the ease of home recording. Even Capatain Sensible and The Church commited this 'big ideas' into noteworthy efforts, along with Hawkwind, William Shatner, Ghostface Killa, and of course, Pete Townshend, who graciously offers an exclusive interview here.

Teengenerate

Live at The Empty Bottle

Hozac

***An earth-moving night in Chicago, 30 crazy years ago, caught HOT on tape and finally unleashed! Teengenerate were a force to be reckoned with in the ‘90s garage punk underground and with their string of classic singles and LPs, the Midwest was just STARVED for these heathens to break our minds wide open. And they did, and some of us were just “never the same.” Is this how Hozac started? YES, this was THE SEED.Just an awe-inspiring brute force of punk purity, slashing through incredible covers of THE KIDS, PAGANS, and FUN THINGS and sowing the seeds of obscure punk obsessions to no end with their savage treasure map of sick sounds.The heat, the power, the rage and the euphoria, it just doesn’t always align like it did when Fink & Fifi took the stage. Sure enough, it was on THIS DAY 30 years ago that our minds were blown apart and our eyes were opened and a life-changing rock’n roll performance that commemorates the 50th release on the Hozac Archival subsidiary. Secretly recorded by Ken White, the Brides’ right hand man, and mastered by TIM WARREN of Crypt Records for maximum authenticity, Live at the Empty Bottle just explodes out of the grooves and will level anyone within earshot, just like it did when Teengenerate desecrated Chicago TWICE on the same night (check out their VML Live at the Fireside Bowl 7″ too!), exactly 30 years ago TODAY!

Laundry Bats

Hangin On A String

Hozac

***It’s not every day that a true Memphis super group crawls out of the shadows, and one packed with these heavy hitters is even more difficult to explain. Formed out of the prolific triangle of Greg Cartwright and Jack Yarber (Reigning Sound / Oblivians / Compulsive Gamblers) with the wild card of Abe White (Manateees / True Sons of Thunder) at the helm, Hangin on a String is a ruthless Memphis punk serving delivered hot & raw around the edges. Making their debut at Gonerfest 2023, they tore a hole in an otherwise enjoyable afternoon like no other, and that same ruthless spirit comes across with the same ferocity here on their debut release. Full of messy hooks and bad ideas taken to the brink, LAUNDRY BATS fill the void of barrel-head rock’n roll left far too open for far too long. As ruthless as that sounds, the Stonesy swagger gives way to full-on BRASS, confirming their solid punk parameters are as confrontational as they are contagious.

Schorr, Genny

All Roads Lead To Punk

Hozac

***As a founding member of one of Los Angeles’ earliest female-led bands, BACKSTAGE PASS, Genevieve Schorr lived and breathed rock’n roll growing up like a lot of teenagers at the time. What set her apart was forging her unique band so early in the punk timeline (a direct shot from her glam & pub rock influences) and eventually evolving her life into becoming a professional rock’n roll stylist to the stars. Genny’s book reads like a lost diary trapped in a punk house time capsule from the era, complete with tales of dereliction and unsuspecting victories along the way. Crossing paths with such wildly diverse characters such as The Screamers, The Mumps, Dr. Feelgood, The Damned, The Quick, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, The Bangles, and Linda Ronstadt, All Roads Lead To Punk is an invigorating flash through a wild life not to be forgotten. This book comes also with a limited edition BACKSTAGE PASS 7″ single featuring the original 1977 studio recordings of “Legend (Come On Up To Me)” (immortalized by Redd Kross’s version in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls) b/w “Let Me Show You Love” – the debut 7″ that never was…170 page softcover. Edition of 500 copies.

V/a

(Vol. 2) We Were Living In Cincinnati - Punk and Underground Sounds from Ohio's Queen City (1982 - 1988)

Hozac

***Its finally here, Peter Aaron's anxiously-awaited second volume of Queen City punk underground history, and with an incredible array of wild noise from the farthest reaches of punk & new wave nomenclature. Veering deep into sub-obscure 7" and demo tracks of postpunk, power pop, hardcore, DIY noise, and spiky new wave, WWLICV2 is a testament to such a fertile scene in such a fertile state. Ohio—the true Mesopotamia of punk, really. Capturing the second wave punk era, up to right before grunge entered the bloodstream of America, when loose boundaries of styles enmeshed into new genres, and a freedom of direction meant punk had a mutation schedule to keep up with. Cincinnati may not have been huge but easy access to self-releasing 7" singes and cheap recording setups kept the city humming in productivity, as this pummeling second helping with a whopping TWENTY EIGHT bonus download tracks can attest.

Platts, Robin

Times and Seasons - The Rise and Fall and Rise of The Zombies

Hozac

***Six decades after they stormed the British and American charts in 1964, The Zombies are possibly more popular than ever. Their biggest hits, ‘She’s Not There’, ‘Tell Her No’ and ‘Time of the Season’ have been played more than 14 million times on U.S. radio alone. Praised by critics, discovered by a new generation of fans and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Zombies returned in the 2000s to establish themselves as a top-class touring act still driven to create new music.Based largely on the author’s interviews with the five original band members, Times and Seasons – The Zombies tells the whole story in detail: from the mid-‘60s Decca Records hits and misses through the break-up, the solo years, and their unexpected revival in the 21st century.Times and Seasons recounts the unlikely tale of an inexperienced quintet of English schoolboys who made the hit parade in 1964 only to watch their fortunes dwindle, splitting just weeks after completing their 1968 masterpiece Odessey and Oracle. The book covers the unexpected posthumous success of ‘Time of the Season’ in 1969 and how the band’s refusal to reunite led to a plague of phony bands touring under The Zombies’ name. The book looks at the 1970s solo success of Colin Blunstone and the band Argent, the chance encounter that led to a hugely successful Zombies revival, and all points in between.356 page softcover book. Edition of 600 copies.

Rezabek, Rozz

Pop Session (San Francisco 1979)

Hozac

***"San Francisco Punk’s stillborn 1979 masterpiece is about to be mid-wived and you’re invited to the violently beautiful procedure. The often misunderstood 1979 Pop Session recording has been historically misattributed to NEGATIVE TREND, the band originally fronted by ROZZ REZABEK, in its only available bootleg form, but one thing that’s for certain, these nine blood-boiling studio recordings are set to change the historical context going forward. It’s truly that heavy, that powerful, that intimidating, and somehow still unknown. Dangerously simmering in the pre-hardcore sweet spot of 1979, this collection of speed-soaked brain-frying tracks is inexplicably stuck in the blind spot for most first wave West Coast punk fanatics, until now. Featuring Bobby Barrage on drums (pre-No Alternative) and the ironically named Dave Basic on guitar, Rozz’s Negative Trendisms are still firing on all cylinders through some of the most cranium-exploding vocals ever set to tape. The purely aneurismic vocal delivery on tracks like “I Don’t Wanna Be a Machine” and “Never Say Die” are going to be used specifically to medically resuscitate dying punk people in the near future so you might wanna just get that ready, y’know?"

Schmidt, Andrew

Peter Jefferies - The Other Side Of Reason

Hozac

***Hozac Books is proud to present another foundational brick in the pantheon of New Zealand underground music with Peter Jefferies – The Other Side of Reason, a career-spanning biography by music historian Andrew Schmidt of Audioculture.nz. Covering Jefferies’ earliest musical projects during the first wave punk heyday such as Dull Emma, and Pink Noise on into Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment, Plagal Grind, Cyclops, and much more in striking detail, the author leaves no stone unturned and weaves Jefferies life story into a gripping saga of innovation, isolation, and redemption. First edition of 500 copies. 320 pages.

Goldberg, Michael

Jukebox 1967-2023

Hozac

***San Francisco rock’n roll bleeds through Michael Goldberg – an innovative, inspiring figure who always has been quietly pioneering something interesting for the past 50+ years. Hozac Books is thrilled to present the first-ever collection of his photographs in JUKEBOX, featuring an impressive array of underground figures and outcast luminaries captured in their natural habitat, most seen here for the first time anywhere. Also the author of our critically acclaimed WICKED GAME book, Michael’s body of work extends farther out than we’d ever imagined, and we’re so excited to get his first major photography collection out into the world. Bridging the gaps between the late ‘60s psychedelic era, primitive first-wave ‘70s punk and soul & reggae, as well as never-before seen images of country & folk iconoclasts and rule-breakers across the spectrum of all that is captivating, and even including some modern artists still making waves, JUKEBOX is a riveting photography collection that truly feels as good as it looks. Addicted To Noise founder and former Rolling Stone senior writer Michael Goldberg’s new book, JUKEBOX, is a book of distinctive, full-page photographs of musicians taken between 1967 and 2023. Goldberg is best known as a writer, but for over 50 years he’s also been photographing musicians and the photos in JUKEBOX are drawn from the thousands he’s taken over the years. Included are photos of the Sex Pistols, Crime, the Ramones, the Avengers, Devo, the Nuns, the Clash, Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed, John Cale and the Dils as well as...

Brides, The

Suburban Vermin 1996-98

Hozac

***The long-awaited LP comp from “Chicago’s Best Band of the 1990s” is in the pipe and on the way. Featuring the legendary previously unreleased 8-song 1997 demo tracks, the scorching 7″ tracks, and previously unheard alternates & live demos all set to provide the soundtrack to your inaugural decapitation upon receipt. “Mid-90s… stumbling about sloshed on as much cheap beer as I could drink… The times had turned from bands covering the Sonics to the Dead Boys/Pagans Midwest Killed By Death axis. Fast, real punk was IN and it felt good. Loli & Chones, Problematics, Registrators, Rip Offs, Reatards, Teengenerate… so many good bands killing it, but none that hit as hard me as The Brides. Snotty no-frills Midwest punk like it should be played- desperate, mean, frantic, fast and perfect. The legitimate heirs to the Pagans/Dead Boys/Zero Boys highest punk honors. Amazing live and on record – not always the case in those days, either. Shoulda had an album, more tours, fame, and all that. But live fast, die punk. So it went with the Brides. Happy to have this compilation, more worthy minds will get destroyed by The Brides!”—Eric Oblivian

Du Browa, Corey & Friends

An Ideal For Living - A Celebration of the EP

Hozac

***The extended play recording. Not quite an album. More than a single. And not only an artifact of the vinyl era—the EP has survived and even thrived at every turn of the music industry’s evolution, from vinyl to tape to CD to stream. This definitive book unearths the EP’s origins, history and cultural impact and enlists nearly 50 music-industry veterans (musicians, scribes, producers, executives, superfans) to create a list of the 200 Best EPs ever recorded and shapes these opinions into a book that seeks to trace the arc of the EP’s development and, in so doing, chart the history of the music industry writ large. From Dangerhouse to Touch & Go to Sub Pop to Flying Nun, and all roads in between, savvy labels have used the EP to great effect and its been the way to introduce bands in a less risky mid-sized format for decades. This super-interesting guide shows how the format developed and how it took on a life of its own, from early jazz & rock’n roll through the beat & psychedelic rock era, right on through punk, new wave, and post-punk, and into the alternative/indie rock era, right up to the modern age. This rousing guide through the mid-sized mindset features a huge swath of guest writers galore, each offering up their enthusiastic opinions on which E.P.s deserve your attention, divided by decade, along with all of their details on long-forgotten B-sides and extras that couldn’t fit on the 7” version, yet easily pad...

Shade, Eric

All Over The Place: The Rise of The Bangles From the LA Underground

Hozac

***At long last, we’re got the massive biography on THE BANGLES and it is nothing short of a whopper. This monumental project, started by author and unofficial band historian Eric Shade back in the 1990s has had quite a journey from start to finish. This insane overview of the early days of the members’ obscure early groups, as well as an amazing snapshot of the sorely-undocumented Paisley Underground scene of early 80s LA, all the way up through the core band members’ current projects, is a feat we never though we’d see fulfilled. For a band as huge and omnipresent as The Bangles still in are 2023, the revelation of their earlier efforts, such as the mind-blowing story of Micki Steele in the first lineup of the fledgling Runaways, while the Peterson sisters were rocking out in bands such as The Muze, Hollywood Girls, and The Fans right around the same period is the legendary stuff mostly outside of public knowledge. The intertwining stories of Susanna Hoffs meeting David Roback (later of The Rain Parade) and getting inspired by The Last, with Vicki & Debbi’s growing interest in garage bands like The Unclaimed around town, All Over The Place shows how many moving parts were swirling around, generating a indescribable electricity around Los Angeles as the hardcore scene raged on the other side of the coin. As the Paisley Underground scene evolved during its short window, bands such as Salvation Army/The Three O’Clock, Long Ryders, and Dream Syndicate are given...

Screaming Urge

BUY

Hozac

***"'Homework' was an earth-shaker the first time I heard it. Blasting off the sketchy CD-R on the Hyped2Death volume of Homework Volume 1: American DIY R-T, it defined frantic punked-out power pop from the Midwest. In such great company on those comps, sometimes the tracks seemed to seep into each other, yet Screaming Urge seemed to consistently dig itself deeper, standing out and don’t forget, they named their entire SERIES after that invigorating cut! Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1970s had an incredible cast of characters running around Mr. Brown’s, Crazy Mama’s and such. Tommy Jay, Mike Rep, Ron House, Jim Shepherd, Nudge, it must have just been a brown leather fever dream! 'Released' on Mike Rep’s New Age label in 1980, the 'Homework' single is pure American DIY punk gold that really checks all the boxes. Overbearing parents, teenage frustration, beer, everything you’d want in a punchy underground would-be hit. Later the same year they released their powerhouse debut LP BUY, (aka The Blue Album) on Garner Records, which has sadly been out-of-print for 43 years, until now. Packaged together with the 'Homework' 7” tracks and freshly remastered, this Ohio Punk milestone is finally available again."—VictimofTime.com

Gentilesky

Ways of Seeing

Hozac

***Tighter than nails, and with an irascibly bleak swagger, this indefinably irresistible female-fronted Sardinian/Istanbul supergroup (with members of The Rippers, Love Boat, Maggot Madness, Haywire Desire and Poster-iti) is just what your witch’s doctor ordered. Lightning-fast bass-blast rhythms intertwined with uncontrollable surges of anguished vocals from one Yaprak Kirdok, one of the best new vocalists you haven’t heard yet. Sounds of regional UK compilation cuts from ’79-80 seep in, and a blistering byproduct of invigorating post-punk cultural complexity pours back out, showering you with cuts of paranoid precision and an ever-growing intensity that seems to loom behind each passing track. A driving repetition, an escalating scale of confrontation, and it’s teeth-cracking tracks like “In The Flesh” that will persevere long after these souls pass on through the ether. It won’t be long until someone covers that one!

Seeman, Joey & Chris Potash

Punk Under The Sun: Punk and New Wave in South Florida

Hozac

***The first book to chronicle the alternative music, art, and club scenes of a particularly amazing time and place: the 1980s in South Florida. Comprehensive in its approach, Punk Under the Sun documents the bands, venues, galleries, and scenesters who started and sustained the groundswell of activity that made Miami and nearby beaches a progressive hotspot, setting the stage for South Florida to become the international cultural destination it is today. Authors Joey Seeman and Chris Potash were there, participating in and documenting the first, second, and subsequent waves of musicians, indie labels, DJs, retail stores, publications, and players who came together to create a unique cultural moment and movement in South Florida history. This essential document of a powerfully expressive decade features never-before-seen photographs by Jill Kahn, Debbie Baylis Sunshine, Laurie Alaimo, and others, plus dozens of fliers, posters, and other souvenirs from that heady time. Punk Under the Sun includes a discography of 1980s albums and singles, along with an 11-page index that’s a valuable Who’s Who of people and places that created South Florida’s alternative culture. First edition of 600 copies. 224 pages.

Maida, Sal / Mitchell Cohen & Friends

(Vol. 2) The White Label Promo Preservation Society: More Flop Albums You Need To Know

Hozac

***The White Label Promo Preservation Society returns with another collection of essays celebrating albums that fell short of cracking Billboard’s top 100, but belong in the libraries of discerning music-obsessives. Among the artists who turn up in these pages are members of the pop, rock and soul pantheon, as well as many who remain obscure or underappreciated. Sal Maida and Mitchell Cohen and their dozens of contributors take a trip from the Kinks and the Beach Boys to the Violent Femmes and Teardrop Explodes. Get ready to spend your money at used vinyl stores, garage sales and flea markets. 383 pages. First edition of 600 copies. "The ultimate treasure map for striking gold in used record stores"—VictimofTime.com

Neon Leon

1979-84 Singles Archival LP

Hozac

***When NYC hit its punk stride in the mid 1970s, the one-of-a-kind ‘Neon’ Leon Matthews was already in the thick of it. Getting his start in music in the late 60s and having incredible luck in his friendships along the way, Neon Leon’s life story could easily be made into a really amazing film. Along with being roommates with Rolling Stones’ guitarist Mick Taylor (and dating his wife!) while living in the UK in the early 70s, he was recording acetates as far back as the mid 1970s with the original members of Pure Hell around Philadelphia, and ended up moving into the Chelsea Hotel in ’73 soon after, upon the insistence of his pal Johnny Thunders. Making fast friends with Elda and the Stillettos, the New York Dolls, and David Peel and Harold Black & the Teenage Lust crew, he soon fell into the maddening world of the Lower East Side zeitgeist right when everything was exploding. He was gigging at Max’s on the regular, seeing the incredible NY punk scene blossom before his eyes, and he even got to appear briefly in the exploitation film classic, Punk Rock (1977) with Elda and the gang. Leon put together his band with girlfriend/stripper Honi O’Rourke and hit the scene around Max’s, CBGB and the like, and upon entering the studio, caught lightning in a bottle with the recording of the Rock’n Roll Is Alive 7” EP in 1979. The title track is simply irresistible, laying down the filthy scuzz guitar...

Burnt Envelope

I'm Immature: The Singles vol II

Hozac

***There really isn’t much you can do to prepare yourself for something as profound as Burnt Envelope. Punk this “pure” has to be fake these days, or does it? We stumbled upon this band (or is it high concept performance art?) the old fashioned way, on a podcast while being quarantined for a global pandemic, and its charm and impressively brazen lack of luster wiggled its way deep inside the Hozac brain trust, big time. Starring the eternally optimistic Anthony Pasquarosa (formerly of Weeping Bong Band, Frozen Corn, Gluebag, etc), the Burnt Envelope concept is very easy to swallow, and impossible not to immediately heave back up. If there was a “ballet” for sloptastic stoner-sweat exercise routines, this would be the Swan Lake. And Burnt Envelope would probably end up drowning in that lake, because you, my dear, are indeed “Stuck in this World.” If you’ve been curious about Ancestry.com and the like, “23 and Me” will be the song that gets you through the rest of 2023 with a spring in your step, a smile on your face, and a shot in your eye. “I’m A Chameleon Parts 1&2” are some of the most ambitious tracks ever released on this label, a seriously hypnotic soured mash of “Sister Ray” and Randy Savage/Mean Gene Okerlundisms that will cast a heavy spell, only to crack your wits out with a Maggots-esque “Nothing To Do” that will leave you dizzy and drooling. Set up as singles across the dehumanizing entire LP, every...

Buell, Bebe

Rebel Soul

Hozac

***HoZac Books is proud to announce the publication of Rebel Soul: Musings, Music and Magic by the one and only Bebe Buell. Rebel Soul isn’t so much a “sequel” to Bebe Buell’s 2001 New York Times best-selling memoir Rebel Heart, but more of an impressionistic scrapbook about becoming and being Bebe Buell, tracing her trajectory from being a rock “It Girl” to a pop culture icon, through a collection of essays that explore what it was like to be at the center of the pop universe during a golden era, and how she invented herself as a muse and a musician. In this book, Bebe recollects, in vivid and previously unexplored detail, the people and places of her past, from her well-known romances with members of rock royalty, to her influences and friendships, her family and her career (and how they came into conflict), her reflections and observations of the cultural and sexual climate of the ‘70s. Two decades after the publication of Rebel Heart, Bebe looks back from a different perspective, with candor, humor, and wisdom. Rebel Soul isn’t a straight-forward autobiographical narrative: it’s as though Bebe has taken a large box off her shelf, filled with ticket stubs, backstage passes, magazine covers and clippings, and gig flyers, each one triggering memories of who she was at the time. The book is illustrated with dozens of rare or unseen photos from Bebe’s personal archives, going back to her early days as a top fashion model, through her whirlwind years...

Drake, Jeff

GUILTY! My Life As A Member of The Joneses: A Heroin Addict, A Bank Robber, and a Federal Inmate

Hozac

***Jeff Drake has led an extraordinary life... and believe me, that’s a vast understatement. I say this with confidence, because we’ve known each other for four decades. His band the Joneses, co-founded with skateboard champion Steve Olson, was the shining light of the 1980’s Southern California underground rock scene, ages before the term “alternative music” was bandied about by MTV and rock critics. The Joneses were the damn bomb. A louche, sloppy, outlaw amalgam of punk, pop and Don’t Give A Fuck attitude, they played thrashy, trashy rock’n roll that owed as much to The New York Dolls as it did to the Rolling Stones. Jeff’s songwriting was pure, catchy pop, even though the lyrics were riddled with sex and drug references. It was as though he mixed up a potion from the blood and brain cells of Little Richard and The Ramones, came up with a perfect formula, ingested it, and made his own unique creation. The Joneses’ live shows were off the hook, as were their off-stage antics. Though neither of us can remember the exact moment we met, we became fast friends in 1983. We hung out constantly back then and he was a regular at my infamous punk rock crash pad, Disgraceland. Hollywood in the 1980’s was an ungentrified wasteland; the streets were ruled by delinquent twenty-somethings, most of whom were in bands. My own band The Screaming Sirens played numerous times with the Joneses. During the time, the Joneses were being courted by a number...

Perez, Marty

Kill A Punk For Rock & Roll - Photographs 1976-2019

Hozac

***"Marty Perez is a Chicago-based photographer who has been documenting the parallels between the worlds of underground rock as well as some of the biggest stars of pop music, from 1976 to the present. This is the first collection of his images from the last five decades of rock’n roll decadence, from the wild, unhinged crowds of unruly and footloose teenagers to the incredible juxtaposition of both house-hold names with the sub-obscure underground bands that didn’t see the bright lights as close, yet still hold that certain magic of the era."—Jim De Rogatis, First edition of 400 copies. 231 pages.

Revelons, The

1977-82

Hozac

***Available on vinyl for the first time anywhere, The Revelons are known to punk prevaricators one of best “lost bands” of the CBGB era who simply released one earth-moving 7” single on Ork Records in 1979, didn’t get signed to a major, and shuffled back into the shadows of an ever-growing scene. Fronted by Gregory Lee Pickard, the band dug into the trenches of New York City’s seedy Bowery life and were frequent players alongside most of the top-tier punk bands of the time, becoming mainstays at not only CBGB but Mudd Club, Danceteria, Hurrah’s and Max’s as well as incorporating a rotating cast of members that, at times featured Richard Lloyd of Television and Jay Dee Dougherty of the Patti Smith Group in the lineup. Incorporating a brash and aggressive pop sound with a vicious edge, The Revelons teetered between Television-like sparkling minimal artistic flourishes, but with more raw & primitive delivery. To which, they solidified their street-level prowess with a tenderized toughness not many other bands could match. The Revelons also were pretty hard to pigeonhole sound-wise then as they are now, with Talking Heads comparisons generally falling short, but there were some genuine Doo Wop moments that sneak in as well, showing their deeper roots to the NYC of days long past. But the real crime here is that this previously unreleased collection of recordings has never appeared in the vinyl LP format, as it surely would have escalated The Revelons’ profile much higher in the timeline...

Rubs, The

Dust

Hozac

***Oh how we’ve missed The Rubs, let us count the ways! One of the finest of Chicago’s last wave of rock’n roll resuscitation of the late 2010s, who uprooted the whole project for greener pastures in Kansas City, MO, yet still continues to churn forth incredible hooks by the bucketload, no matter where they land. Here we have the anxiously awaited third long-player, still entirely written, composed, and performed by the one-man-army that is Joey Rubbish, and still creating those invigorating waves of euphoria you’ve come to know and love from this essential hit-machine. After settling into a new living situation in a new city, the hits just kept pouring out, and as the dust settled after several reconfigurations over the next years, the DUST LP finally took its final, gleaming form, as the LP you have here. Another knockout collection of pristine pop bangers laced with mesmerizing guitar and/or sizzling mellotron solos, woven into impossibly contagious harmonies that should effectively put the CDC on high alert. And as The Rubs have always had a clear window open on the meat-grinder of influences, with this outing you’ll feel whisps of the ethereal late 60s Kinks, as well as Thin Lizzy-esque soft explosions twisting effortlessly around core-revitalizing melodic exercises that might even make the Everlys blush with envy. DUST is one of those eternal records that seems like its always been here, and will always remain, its just always been behind a corner you hadn’t looked around yet. The sheer quality...

Goldberg, Michael

Wicked Game - The True Story of Guitarist James Calvin Wilsey

Hozac

***"Four our 15th book release, we present Wicked Game: The True Story of Guitarist James Calvin Wilsey by author MICHAEL GOLDBERG. Another incredibly in-depth look into the dark side of San Francisco in the 1970s & 80s, and the dark side of rock ‘n roll in general, through the wild life of one JIMMY WILSEY. From his vantage point on bass in SF Punk legends THE AVENGERS in 1977, through his quick trip with BELFAST COWBOYS (with Rozz Rezabek from Negative Trend) and on into his next phase of real guitar virtuosity in SILVERTONE (the early band fronted by Chris Isaak which also included John Silvers from The Dils), Wilsey’s life unfolded sadly as many others of his era and from this scene. Full of amazing and previously unseen photos from the Michael Goldberg, HUGH BROWN. BRUCE CONNER,JAMES STARK, SUE BRISK and CHESTER SIMPSON archives, and complimented with intimate interviews from his past relationships with CLAUDIA SUMMERS and JENNIFER RUBIN (Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Bad Dreams, The Crush, etc), everything looked so promising, until it wasn’t…"

Kopp, Bill

Disturbing The Peace

Hozac

***BACK IN STOCK!!! In the late ‘70s and early to mid 1980s, San Francisco was a creative incubator, bringing forth all manner of new music acts. Ground zero for the scene was the Mabuhay Gardens, home to huge barrels of popcorn, once-a-week spaghetti nights, colorful emcee Dirk Dirksen, and punk/new wave bands from all over the Bay Area. Concert booker and renegade radio deejay Howie Klein joined with Aquarius Records owner (and fellow deejay) Chris Knab to launch a record label in support of that scene. Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave is Bill Kopp’s chronicle of the groundbreaking independent record label founded by Howie Klein & Chris Knab, featuring the stories of Romeo Void, Red Rockers, Translator, Wire Train, Roky Erickson, The Nuns, Pearl Harbor and Explosions, and nearly two dozen other bands. Based on nearly 100 interviews with the artists, industry execs, producers, friends, rivals, onlookers, journalists and hangers-on, Disturbing the Peace also features hundreds of photos and memorabilia from the personal archives of those who were there. 341 page paperback. First Edition of 500.

Hinely, Tim & Friends

Where The Wild Gigs Were - A Trip Through America's Underground Music Venues

Hozac

***BACK IN STOCK!!! When Tim from Dagger zine approached us about his book idea covering long-loved "spaces" held sacred for countless music fans, we knew it was a great project to get behind, Similar in its community effort to our last book release (The White Label Promo Preservation Society), Hinely organized an incredible list of contributors from all stripes of the underground music spectrum, each waxing their own warm recollections of wild nights seeing life-changing bands and/or terrible bathroom experiences. Chock full of photos, original newspaper ads, flyers, and long-lost monthly calendars of the pre-Internet age, Where The Wild Gigs Were illustrates how important these sacred spaces really are, and how much it's noticeable when we can't actually be AT these homes-away-from-home, spread all across the USA. From Stache's in Columbus, OH to Flynn's Ocean 71 in Miami, FL (the 'CBGB's on the beach'), back to The Brewery in Lansing MI (complete with previously unpublished Stooges photos!), to City Gardens in Trenton, NJ (staffed by Comedy Dentral's Jon Stewart) to Peter Aaron's sordid details on the mob-run Jockey Club in Newport, KY, you won't find many dull moments as each page bleeds into the next, oozing with recollections of blurry good times and endless excitement before the world changed, as we know it. Includes a foreword by Byron Coley and an afterword by Tesco Vee. 235 pages, paperback. First edition of 500 copies.

Green/Blue

Offering

Hozac

Green/Blue have thrust forth their second-born Offering to the gods of noise, washed in hypnotic barbed-wire guitar slices wrapped in troubled dreams of paranoid isolation, it’s the perfect cerebral soundtrack for these endless, draining days. A dizzying balance of riveting guitar interplay brings Heavy Times’ influence full circle, and their minimalist backbeat just further illustrates how Green/Blue are taking the sum of their parts to the brink of air-tight tonality. Brisk, break-neck guitar patterns slide effortlessly over each track, channeling that certain euphoric tension we all yearn for in modern music, and here it is with so much to spare. Jim Blaha (Blind Shake/Shadow In The Cracks), Annie Sparrows (Soviettes/Awesome Snakes), and Dan Henry (Sgt 6 Assault/Dummies/France Has The Bomb) come together here on their Offering LP like a temporarily restrained force, just waiting to explode. While not clinging to any of their prior bands’ styles, Green/Blue kicks through the glass into a new dimension of icy pop precision, unlimited in its warmth and invigoration. With their hushed waves of intricate heaven-woven vocal layers drizzling over each track, this Minneapolis “conglomeration of rock” comes together in incredible colors on their continuously impressive Offering. It's quite the mesmerizing blur of styles you might just need like we do right now, so dive in and don't look back! Recommended If You Like: The Wipers, Heavy Times, My Bloody Valentine, Radar Eyes, Pixies, Fizzbombs, Sonic Youth

Roth, Adam And His Band Of Men

Down The Shore - Original Soundtrack (1981)

Hozac

It’s with extreme pleasure that we unleash the only true document from Adam Roth's underground music. Since discovering the endless joy that the 1981 film Down The Shore demonstrated we made it our mission to track down Adam and get this amazing LP back out into the world. Unfortunately Adam passed away far too young and left us in 2015, but before that tragic event, we got the wheels in motion for this project. Recorded as part of a DIY film soundtrack for the top-tier DOWN THE SHORE (aka Beach House), Adam Roth and his brother Charles formed a pickup band based around scenes from the amazing teen trash film. The resulting LP is one of the best of the era, a truly KNOCKOUT album of pure Power Pop prowess, and until now, nearly impossible to find. Adam’s longtime pal and comedian/actor Denis Leary even co-wrote one of the tracks included here, and Adam later was the music director for his TV series Rescue Me. Adam also was known for working on the film To Die For, starring Matt Dillon …who Roth had taught to play guitar for his role in 1983’s classic Rumble Fish. So many crazy connections, and such an incredible album AND film! This year’s 40th anniversary remaster sounds crisp & deadly, and featured new liner notes on the insane film & LP project from Adam’s brother Charles Roth, detailing how their manager ended up dumping the majority of the original LPs in junk stores after a...

Dents, The

1979/80

Hozac

***“If Cincinnati quintet the Dents had done what so many other early U.S. punk/new wave bands were able to do in their day, wax just one limited-press seven-inch single before they splintered apart, that 45 would now be spoken of in reverent tones and commanding ridiculous sums on Discogs. There are hundreds of deep-pocketed, rabid overseas collectors who gladly fork over numerous euros or yen for exactly such types of dusty and uncomped DIY efforts, just to have something ripping and rare to spin for their knowing buddies before they slip it neatly back into its Xeroxed fold-over sleeve and file it in the “D” box between nuggets by, say, the Deadbeats and the Desperate Bicycles. And that would be a crime, really. Because music as uniquely cool and rocking as the Dents’ doesn’t deserve to be hidden away and only enjoyed by some secret circle of mystic vinyl cabalists. The group were early American pioneers of what would retroactively be termed synth punk: a scorching fusion of futuristic synthesizers and grinding, garage-y guitars. Too tough for the synth pop lightweights and too contemporary for the brutes who dared not deviate from the guitars-only Ramones/Pistols template.  In 1988, I started gathering material for the compilation that would ultimately become 2019’s We Were Living in Cincinnati on HoZac/Shake It. Keyboardist Doug Hallet made me a tape of some choice cuts, and I loved what I heard: squealing synths, growling vocals, chunky guitars, propulsive bass, and four-on-the-floor drums, the collective machine...

Soursob

S/t

Hozac

***We’re excited to announce the debut LP from Glasgow’s SOURSOB this month, a viciously minimal 3-piece that does so much with so little, yet packs such a powerful punch you won’t soon forget. A bass-driven groove holds these songs in an awesome aggressive limbo between the lush, heavy-noise of the post C-86 sound and the brash early 90s invigoration of riot grrrl noise. Like nothing we’ve ever encountered, their anger toward simple modern pleasures is just short of breath-taking, dragging everything you hold sacred into their pit of resilience. Thick accents drizzle over thick blocks of drastic fuzz as each song bleeds effortlessly into the next, encompassing some of the catchiest choruses this side of Dolly Mixture, yet with a sinister darker underpinning, all tied into their increasingly hypnotic bass lines.  With the three members of SOURSOB originating from Glasgow, Lithuania, and Australia, they are currently in limbo post-pandemic, but with the immediate impact of this crushingly infectious new LP, they hope to be bashing it out in front of live crowds again soon. Such an impressively confident collection of songs here, and your fleeting taste for craft beer, cocaine, mass transit, watching TV on a cell phone, and Berlin in general, is very much “on the line” with these sublime and profound revelations. One these teeth sink in, you won’t believe how you’ve lived this long without the prickling & sickening throb of SOURSOB!

Maida, Sal / Mitchell Cohen & Friends

The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Need To Know

Hozac

***BACK IN STOCK!!! HoZac Books is proud to present The White Label Promo Preservation Society: 100 Flop Albums You Ought to Know, written and compiled by Sal Maida and Mitchell Cohen, who have recruited for their “society” a gang of esteemed music obsessives: musicians, label executives, and journalists who chose favorite albums from the 1960s and 1970s to rave about and expound upon. The only criterion was that the albums never made the top 100 on Billboard’s LP Top 200 (although in a few cases, they did quite well on the R&B or country chart). The selection ranges from east coast vocal-group harmony to punk and metal, from superstars like The Who and the Beach Boys to virtual unknowns. As Sal and Mitchell write in the book’s introduction, “These are the albums you might not read about, except here. No one needs to tell you why Pet Sounds, Revolver or Blonde On Blonde are essential parts of any decent record collection, or guide you towards classics – or even somewhat lesser efforts – by the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Or which Pink Floyd album is indispensable (hint: the debut; you can stop right there). Although we have strong opinions about pantheon artists like Led Zeppelin and Marvin Gaye, and are happy to share those views with anyone in earshot, that isn’t what this book is about. We aren’t here to challenge or endorse rock orthodoxy. Neither is the mission to, once again, assert the brilliance...

Gorls, The

Fall In Love 1992 - 93

Hozac

***"This one has truly been a long-time-coming. As huge fans of the early '90s Seattle trash rock sound, stumbling upon The NIGHT KINGS in a sea of stale grunge and alternative pap in 1992 was just what the doctor ordered. To this day, my hairs still stand on end when the guitar from 'Black Fluid' revs into gear, which was love at first blast, and from that day forward, seeking out anything music-wise released in the in the ROB VASQUEZ (NIGHT KINGS, MAN TEE MANS, CHINTZ DEVILS, APE LOST, PISSED OFF ZOMBIES, RIGHT ON, NICE SMILE, and of course, The GORLS) universe was nothing short of prerequisite. Formed by core members Rob Vasquez and DAWN JOHNSON, and joined by DONNIE HILSTADT (ex-STATICS, future DUTCHESS & DUKE drummer), and DYLAN MAIDEN (ex-Night Kings) The Gorls blasted out of the gate on their own new imprint, DOPE Records in early 1993, and quickly followed up their debut split 7” with only one more 3-track EP before completely disappearing, and leaving a huge void in their wake. Which brings us to 2020. Thanks to the help of Dan Wood and Aaron Gilbreath, we tracked down Dawn Johnson who we’d hoped would be holding the keys to our suspicions. Luckily for us all, she was sitting on a full LP’s worth of Gorls tracks recorded with JOHNNY VINYL 1992-93, which we can now present for your adoring ear-holes. With 8 of the 12 tracks here previously unreleased, it’s a crucial and desperately needed blast...

Pushups / Aurora Pushups

Pushups Is Pop (1970-80)

Hozac

***After the short, bright light on the musical horizon from the other-worldly and alien-borne ZOLAR X in the mid 1970s had fallen away, original members ZORY ZENITH and ED DORN formed another short-lived outfit, AURORA PUSHUPS, and forged ahead with their original material to try their hand at a modernized sound. By 1979 they had solidified their debut tracks and self-released a 7” single, “Angels on Runway One” b/w “Victims of Terrorism” to moderate fanfare and enthusiastic radio play, but this early lineup wouldn’t last as Zory’s role began to fade. Soon after Zenith’s exit, Ed took the reins and put together the frequently-changing band that would record and perform around San Francisco over the next few years as simply ‘PUSHUPS.’ They evolved into a tight-knit unit that rivaled an American Tubeway Army with Incredible Kidda Band flourishes of Brit-soaked power pop, and even some moves that could have easily been swiped from The Cars or The Quick. Although most of the space-themes were shook off by the time Zory departed the band, Pushups shifted focus to a more of an airtight pop sound, with breath-taking full-bore studio production that really benefitted their style. As one of many bands that only lasted for a quick flash at the and of the 1970s, they didn’t get to tour much, and although they only had one other self-released 7” single in 1979 as Pushups, the wealth of their material has been sitting, waiting for its moment. Its one of those rare bands...

Belfer, Michael

When Can I Fly? - The Sleepers. Tuxedomoon & Beyond

Hozac

***Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about ’70s San Francisco underground music, here we have Michael Belfer—one of the SF scene’s earliest progenitors, who straddled two very different worlds playing guitar in two of the Bay Area’s most creative musical groups, The Sleepers and Tuxedomoon. By far two of the most unique bands in the early San Francisco musical landscape. When Can I Fly? is a harrowing memoir filled with stories encapsulating the seedy side of the San Francisco punk and post-punk scene in great detail, from the opening of the Mabuhay to the closing of the Savoy Tivoli and every back alley overdose in between. Tracing the earliest roots of The Sleepers in Palo Alto in 1975-76, Belfer was privvy to witnessing the nascent SF punk scene development as his bandmate Ricky Williams (aka Ricky Tractor) was already playing drums in the first lineup of CRIME at the time. This memoir offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the complications of street-level avant-garde musicianship, as well as the drug empire that was fueling the fires within the movers & shakers of the late 1970s in seething detail, and on a few occasions with grotesque precision. 225 pages

Collins, Paul

I Don't Fit In: My Wild Ride Through The Punk and Power Pop Trenches with The NERVES and THE BEAT

Hozac

***BACK IN STOCK!!! After two long years of painstaking research and development, we present to you, the first major memoir covering the birth of DIY Power Pop, from Paul Collins. From it’s initial conception as a film script to it’s re-birth as a full-bore rock & roll revelation, this is one crazy story from beginning to end. Outlining the first National DIY cross-country tour by an unsigned band in 1977, and by default, creating the pathway for the true indie underground network of the 80s to take as a template. It wasn’t even a second thought for Collins and bandmates Peter Case and Jack Lee, but the underground rock & roll world is a better place for it. But until now, the real details of the origins of The Nerves, Breakaways, and The BEAT have eluded most of us, so with this tome of incredible survival stories from the trenches, Paul Collins opens up and reveals all the drama, victories and defeats with such an impassioned voice, you won’t be able to put it down. The coverage of the pre-Punk 1975 landscape of both LA and San Francisco is unmatched, and your mind will be BLOWN. Featuring TONS of previously unseen photos, flyers and ephemera from the earliest days of The Nerves lineup as a FOUR PIECE, to the legal documents challenging The Paul Collins BEAT vs The English Beat, to the ill-fated Nerves reunion, and so much in between. Truly a smorgasbord of juicy details and revelatory discoveries await,...

Beat / Breakaways

Walking Out On Love

Hozac

***To accompany the Paul Collins I Don’t Fit In book, HoZac delivers a killer Archival 7″ single featuring a rare non-LP THE BEAT demo track from ’79, backed with the original 1978 demo of “Walking Out On Love” as performed by the first lineup of THE BREAKAWAYS!

14th Wish

I Gotta Get Rid Of You

Hozac

“I’m not living my life so good, tell me, how about you?” What can we really say about 14th Wish, how did this band even exist? This record and band were COMPLETELY unknown up until the last couple of years, when we were approached by a notorious record fiend who was looking for more info after our official release of David Peel’s King of Punk LP. Here we have a band with no paper trail, zero online search results, and released in a tiny quantity on Orange Records in 1980, right alongside the first GG Allin and Eddie Criss Group LPs. But instead of a stylized gutter glam workout with a hot-shot studio guitarist, 14th Wish trip over themselves with a snotty/sloppy amateurism that veers farther into the beloved “Killed By Death” arena, with it’s sweltering TAPEWORM-style lead guitar freak-outs. Fronted by the mysterious figure known as Halo Peace, both 14th Wish tracks offer a refreshing mid-tempo crud-punk slop-take on the sounds swirling around the drain of the Lower East Side at the end of the 1970s. Although both tracks aren’t lightning fast, their instant ominous catchiness and absolutely sordid and squalorous guitar tone suggests a more murderous background, as well. Mention of this record just drew blanks across from the board, from all of the rare punk record dealers, to the most avid international collectors, and even NYC scene members from the time. Never even turned up in a Mike Bastarache Want List! And of course, the internet was...

Criss, Eddie Group

Undertaker

Hozac

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  At this point, it’s pretty fair to assume that the USA’s most famous “Punk hotspot” has been pretty well-mined for it’s obscure fringe rock’n roll nuggets for some time now. And with further investigation within the deep confines of David Peel’s Orange Records catalog in recent years since his passing, we’ve found a couple of tragically-overlooked rippers. Behold: the Undertaker LP from the elusive Eddie Criss Group, released to minimal fanfare in 1980. Little to no information really exists on the band, who were a short-lived studio-only project that employed the MC-5’s legendary Wayne Kramer on blistering lead guitar on every track. What comes out of the speakers cooks up a vibe that feels right at home with the first GG Allin LP (most notably the MC-2 with Wayne & Dennis Thompson on the EP recordings), caked with NYC scum-punk gold! But don’t leave your first impressions there, as the Undertaker LP has quite a few stylistic flourishes that border on the psychedelic glam that Mr. Criss grew up around, and the flanged-out rhythm guitars and dramatic vocals criss-cross with Wayne Kramer’s scorching leads, creating a real “outsider” feel on a few of the less-intense tracks. Combined with an eerie organ accompaniment that seems to lead down an ominous path to certain death, the Undertaker LP covers a lot of ground, and reveals another still unknown NYC punk-era figure that history left out. While working on the King of Punk LP, David had regaled...

Whirlywirld

The Complete Studio Works 1978 - 80

Hozac

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Whirlywirld was an Australian Post-Punk band led by Ollie Olsen (Reals, Young Charlatans), and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy (News). The band formed Whirlwirld in 1978 with their stated priority from the outset, to go electronic, determined as they were to take flight from the sonic limitations of the conventional, guitar-based rock format. A pioneer of synthesizer punk, the band came across with something of the experimentation of Suicide, Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire, and also with the more song-oriented sound of Joy Division. Along with The Primitive Calculators they were supporters of the Melbourne 'Little Band' scene. Whirlywirld was completed by two keyboardists, who got credited with 'electronics', Andrew Duffield and Simon Smith (Olsen, by this point, had abandoned guitar in favour of 'electronics') together with guitarist Dean Richards. The band made their live debut at The Crystal Ballroom in 1979, by which time Duffield left to join The Models and had been replaced by Philip Jackson. Whirlywirld would go on to play only fourteen performances in their entire career. Gradually, in accordance with a change in direction, Richards, Jackson and Smith departed, with Richards going on to front a couple of cult combos, Equal Local and Hot Half Hour. Arnie Hanna came in on guitar and Greg Sun on bass. During this period Murphy played an array of percussion devices, natural, electronic or otherwise and Olsen even played saxophone as well as keyboards.

Shanley, Brian

Dodged & Burned: Seminal Rock Photography 1976-1984

Hozac

***It’s finally come to fruition. Chicago photographer & graphic designer BRIAN SHANLEY may best known for his work with Wax Trax! Records during the 1980s, but for the first time anywhere, Hozac books has collected his seminal band photographs that he shot during his time before settling in at the record label’s art department. Most of these incredible shots are previously unpublished, and not even seen by many of the bands themselves. From 1976 to 1984, Brian Shanley fixated himself at the epicenter of whichever show was happening around Chicago (and a few from NYC and London as well) and locked in on the talent. Setting his craft apart from most of his photographer brethren, Shanley focused on portrait-style shots of bands that rarely ever sat still, and along with his trusty camera, was welcomed into a world where most people aren’t allowed to tread. You won’t find a better snapshot of the fledgling ‘70s Chicago punk scene than in Dodged & Burned, which collects rare images of bands such as EPICYCLE, THE IMPORTS, SUNDOG SUMMIT, SPECIAL EFFECT, and more, that escaped attention and fame at the time, yet still are firmly rooted in the city’s rich music history. But that still can’t overshadow Shanley’s incredible shots of the new and exciting touring bands that criss-crossed the U.S. passing thru Chicago on many of their maiden voyages, most of which have never been seen before anywhere. Features commentary from BRUCE PAVITT and DAVID KENDRICK. 123 page 8" x 8.5" paperback...