Riding Easy Vinyl, CD & Tape 46 Items

Hailing from the rural outskirts of Baltimore, consisting of founder, Dresden Boulden on Guitar and Vocals, Triston Grove on Bass, and Jason Kendall on Drums. Magick Potion is a hard hitting heavy rock trio channeling the raw energy and heavy grooves of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Clearly hooked on the likes of underrated groups such as Blue Cheer, The Amboy Dukes and Budgie, the band crafts a sound that fuse’s heavy rock’s gritty riffs with contrasting moments boarding on psychedelia. With roaring guitars, thunderous drums and hard driving bass lines Magick Potion conjures a vibe that is both nostalgic yet contemporary and original. Their music is a bridge to an era where rock was rebellious, loud and unfiltered, yet they infuse it with a spirit all their own. Their self titled debut will be out on RidingEasy Records world wide on November 22, 2024. Catch them on the road in the USA this fall and spring 2025.

There is NO Light at the end of this tunnel! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip fires ten more savage nails deep into the coffin of ‘60s psychedelic idealism. This series is THE premier top dog journey into the rarest and most wasted early local eruptions of heavy rock, unleashed at a time when harsh reality, human nature and disillusionment drove prevailing underground rock glimpses of a ‘better’ world into ever darker selfabsorbed comedowns. Mind expanding ’60s love energies transform into toxic aggression right before your ears! The great thing is that these moves are totally justified, ‘we are all one’ is cosmically good in theory but ‘get it while you can’ ends up perhaps better advice in the light of human history. Both of those angles of awareness can coexist, some of these bands deliver unrelenting sideways positive energy but they aren’t over-thinking it, they are youthfully driven by hunger for life and satisfying the undeniable urges their DNA thrusts upon them. Sonically, the results in the Brown Acid series never fail to breathe hot and heavy, the guitars kill it every time, the variety of approaches these tracks take keep the scenery shifting into new places. The key element that makes this stuff so potent is that They (the bands) are in control. Captured genuinely with no compromise, right out of the gate. No doubt they had ambition with high hopes for the future when they laid down these primal efforts, the fact that they captured their energy so vividly at a moment in time when the only direction imaginable was UP creates a hard hitting life affirming subtext to the proceedings. That is the core energy of blues and rock and roll, dealing with the struggles of existence by flipping a gigantic ‘what the fuck’ high energy bird right in the face of the moronic defective reality these bands were born into. If you take this stuff too ‘seriously’ you are utterly missing the point, it is beyond analysis, it is life itself! No amount of thinking will get you there quicker! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip is scary... the bottomless pit of deranged vintage heavy rock the series presents continually expands over time... one deadly dose too many and you might be trapped in the bad trip loop forever... enjoy it or lose your mind!

Very little is known about Joe Prichard or his sidekicks, except that the band, which hailed from Missouri, drew its inspiration from influences far and wide, resulting in each of the five tracks being very different in character, ranging from the power chords and staccato guitar breaks of the Jimmy Page variety, to the throaty sax of 12-bar blues specialists Climax as well as the dual guitars of ZZ Top. There’s even a nine-minute jam a la Jethro Tull or Traffic with flute and sax giving a decidedly jazzy feel to proceedings.

Originally released in 1974, this is another extremely rare record now reissued by Riding Easy Records.

"Pro-sounding 1970s rarity with a ballsy rock sound and songs ranging from ambitious prog over bluesy bar-rock into macho FM rock postures. It’s solid across the board with excellent guitar leads, soulful vocals, and a versatile band. Keyboards, woodwinds and elaborate arrangements provide a prog-AOR vibe that may turn some off, although there’s enough groove to keep one’s attention throughout the four long tracks." – (Acid Archives)

* Released in 1974, Studio Produced, Bluesy Heavy Guitar Riffs Lead by Strong Vocals

Sixteen trips might fry the fragile psyche of the average teenager, but the hoary old heads at Brown Acid boiled their brain pans long ago! As such, Riding Easy is bringing even more hard rock, heavy psych, and garage rock rarities from the North American wasteland of the 1970s. From L.A. to Youngstown, OH, from Toronto to Charlotte, The Sixteenth Trip has got everything covered. As always, original copies of these 45s would cost a pretty penny—if one could find ’em in the first place. And by now one knows the drill: This ain’t no bootleg. All songs are officially licensed. This sixteenth installment kicks off with “Shuckin’ and Jiving,” a seven-minute power jam from L.A.’s kings of garage psych, the Seeds. The song appeared as a single in 1972 with “You Took Me By Surprise” on the flipside. It was the only release on Productions Unlimited, a label created by (or for) the Seeds at the tail end of their late ’60s / early ’70s run as Sky Saxon And The Seeds. Get shucked! Macbeth released their one and only 45 in 1978, with the steamrolling “Freight Train” as the b-side to “Didn’t Mean (To Come This Far).” Boasting a thick-ass riff, a tasty stereo-panned guitar solo and at least one space laser sound effect, this one should satisfy fans of Blue Cheer and Grand Funk alike. Macbeth’s bassist, Ned Meloni, went on to play with UFO guitarist Paul Chapman, Virgin Steele guitarist Jack Starr and do a brief stint with doom legends Pentagram. Formed by three brothers—David, Bruce and Barry Flynn, all GM factory workers—along with organist Tom Applegate, The Headstones (also known as simply Headstone) lent their 1974 garage boogie “Carry Me On” to The Fourth Trip. This time, the Midwest psych rockers return with their killer 1975 instrumental “Snake Dance.” One can hear echoes of this particular guitar style in the recent work of Swedish adventure rock overlords Hällas. The band Clinton might’ve been from Pennsylvania, but that didn’t stop them from writing about New York City. “Midnight In New York” is the flipside to their sole single, 1976’s “Falling Behind.” Stylistically and thematically, it’s not unlike something famous New Yawker Ace Frehley would’ve written for Kiss around the same time.

Early Moods’ sophomore album A Sinner’s Past is the ultimate dosage of classic early 70s proto-metal, 90s grunge riffing and timeless songwriting delivered with an explosive youthful energy. The Los Angeles area quartet burst onto the scene fully formed with a sound that somehow simultaneously merged gritty underground Street Doom with slick “big box” Heavy Metal melodies on their self-titled RidingEasy debut album in 2022. And it’s the band’s highly skilled musicianship paired with exquisite aesthetic taste — in addition to their killer live show — that has made them an immediate popular favorite. A Sinner’s Past takes those elements several steps higher with a nod to Soundgarden’s huge sonic depth, the low-mid fuzz drenched tones of Sabotage and classic 70s melodies and structures of Ulli Roth-era Scorpions. The latter in particular inspiring the album’s intricate tonal shifts and shimmering twin leads.

Heavy music’s evolution has always been a murky swamp of sub-genres. So, combining Thin Lizzy’s glistening twin guitar harmonies with Melvins-grade sludge and a hearty dose of proto-metal psych probably shouldn’t sound so revolutionary as it does in the hands of L.A. quartet Deathchant. But theirs is a special, transcendent sound. Waste, the band’s sophomore album and first for Riding Easy Records, is anything but. The thirty three-minute, seven-song blast flows seamlessly from song to song, aided by droning segues, while simultaneously slithering between genres and moods. Rumbling noise, chiming guitar melodies, bluesy boogie, Nwobhm thrash, COC grunge and punk fury all rear their head at times, sometimes all at once. Though one wouldn’t be able to tell by the concise structures and well-crafted songs, a lot of Deathchant’s music is improvised, both in the studio and live. That’s not to suggest their songs are jammy— they’re very tightly organized compositions. But the four musicians have that special musical telepathy that allows them to keep the song structures open-ended. “Improv is a huge things for us and always has been,” singer / guitarist T.J. Lemieux says. “The musical freedom to look at the other dudes in the band and be able to take things wherever we want to go is magical. I like the feel of flying off the hinges.” Likewise, the band itself is similarly amorphous in its membership. “We run the band with an open door. No lineup is definitive,” Lemieux explains. On Waste, the lineup is: Lemieux, George Camacho on bass, Colin Fahrner on drums, and John Belino on second guitar. Waste was recorded live in a rented cabin in the mountains of Big Bear, CA. “We packed a big-ass van and set up in the living room and kitchen,” Lemieux says. “Tracked it live, with overdubs after.” The whole album was recorded over two separate weekends, engineered by Steve Schroeder, who also recorded the band’s 2019 self-titled debut album. “I’d say it has sort of a DIY LA punk aesthetic,” he adds. “Very ironically going hand in hand with a classic metal vibe: Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, classic Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and other melodic heavy rock bands.”

Four albums in, the convenient and generalized catchphrase for Here Lies Man’s erudite sound—if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat—might seem a little played out. But Ritual Divination is perhaps the best rendering of the idea so far. Particularly on the Sabbath side of the equation: The guitars are heavier and more blues-based than before, but the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave remains a constant. “Musically it’s an opening up more to traditional rock elements,” says vocalist / guitarist / cofounder Marcos Garcia, who also plays guitar in Antibalas. “It’s always been our intention to explore. And, as we travelled deeper into this musical landscape, new features revealed themselves.” The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly following their breakout 2017 self-titled debut. Their second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both followed in 2018. Third album No Ground To Walk Upon emerged in August 2019. All of them were crafted by Garcia and cofounder / drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) in their L.A. studio between tours. Ritual Divination is their first album recorded as the full four-piece band, including bassist JP Maramba and keyboardist Doug Organ. This album continues with an ongoing concept of the band playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. Musically and sonically, the album is also self-reflexive. “On this album the feel changes within a song,” Garcia says. “Whereas before each song was meant to induce a trancelike state, now more of the songs have their own arc built in.” “We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” Garcia continues. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”

What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat? In short, that's the underlying vibe to the self-titled debut by Here Lies Man. The L.A. based quintet is founded and conceptualized by Marcos Garcia of Antibalas, bringing his erudite experience of West African rhythms and music to the more riff-based foundations of heavy rock. The results are an incredibly catchy and refreshing twist on classic forms, without sounding forced and trite like some sort of mash-up attempt. Here Lies Man merges and expands musical traditions organically, utilizing the talents of drummer Geoff Mann (son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) and a host of skilled musicians to make Garcia's vision a reality.

There is NO Light at the end of this tunnel! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip fires ten more savage nails deep into the coffin of ‘60s psychedelic idealism. This series is THE premier top dog journey into the rarest and most wasted early local eruptions of heavy rock, unleashed at a time when harsh reality, human nature and disillusionment drove prevailing underground rock glimpses of a ‘better’ world into ever darker selfabsorbed comedowns. Mind expanding ’60s love energies transform into toxic aggression right before your ears! The great thing is that these moves are totally justified, ‘we are all one’ is cosmically good in theory but ‘get it while you can’ ends up perhaps better advice in the light of human history. Both of those angles of awareness can coexist, some of these bands deliver unrelenting sideways positive energy but they aren’t over-thinking it, they are youthfully driven by hunger for life and satisfying the undeniable urges their DNA thrusts upon them. Sonically, the results in the Brown Acid series never fail to breathe hot and heavy, the guitars kill it every time, the variety of approaches these tracks take keep the scenery shifting into new places. The key element that makes this stuff so potent is that They (the bands) are in control. Captured genuinely with no compromise, right out of the gate. No doubt they had ambition with high hopes for the future when they laid down these primal efforts, the fact that they captured their energy so vividly at a moment in time when the only direction imaginable was UP creates a hard hitting life affirming subtext to the proceedings. That is the core energy of blues and rock and roll, dealing with the struggles of existence by flipping a gigantic ‘what the fuck’ high energy bird right in the face of the moronic defective reality these bands were born into. If you take this stuff too ‘seriously’ you are utterly missing the point, it is beyond analysis, it is life itself! No amount of thinking will get you there quicker! Brown Acid: The Nineteenth Trip is scary... the bottomless pit of deranged vintage heavy rock the series presents continually expands over time... one deadly dose too many and you might be trapped in the bad trip loop forever... enjoy it or lose your mind!

Mammoth is a grabber right out of the gate, every step they take is unleashed with deadly economical precision. They may flash on Lynyrd Skynyrd and other vintage southern rock traditions but the brilliant way the vocals are recorded and the to-the-point interlocking guitar moves will fire up anybody into any sort of hard rock. They can rip it up with hot leads, probably jammed out on these songs at live shows but lucky us, they laid them down for all times here with the sort of thought out unified force and construction that screams hit radio. Loads of personality, accessible, produced and mixed with the clarity of classic rock that never loses it's perfectly deployed impact. The uncluttered arrangements leave plenty of space, crafted with the kind of balanced mojo in the mix where every detail adds to the whole. Down and dirty but also achieving a universal pop-friendly appeal!

The Mammoth LP was recorded in 1981 at Relayer Studios in DeLand, Florida with the two guitars, bass and drums quartet line-up sounding like it could have been a decade earlier. Buzz Fetters on lead guitar, Bill Abell on rhythm guitar, Joey Costa on bass and Ron Herman on drums… with everybody contributing to the vocals. Rather than having a strong up front emotive singer the lead vocals here are multi-tracked and integrated into the songs with plenty of attitude but also a genre-transcending presence… you can imagine the vocal ambience working in punk, glam, even psychedelic contexts. Mammoth have a sound informed by roots music but it is really in the rear-view mirror the way they roll.

The songwriting here is terrific, they have a way of saying things that comes off as sincere but not too serious. You get plenty of in-your-face hard rock action but also several melodic tracks that have a more reflective charm to round out the trip. And… when you hear their brilliant ode to southern rock titled "Southern Sounds" I challenge you to find any song about the subject more delightful. These guys keep it real, whether they're being bad ass or vulnerable they express themselves with 100% genuine feeling as contagious and life affirming as it gets!

* Heavy Duty Southern Rock from 1981

* OG copy sells for several hundred dollars

Of the plethora of touted "private press hard rock monsters'' out there, very few live up to the swaggering riff-fury of west coast blasters ODA. Commonly known as the "Black Album," the first clobbering platter by the quartet was released on their own tiny Loud Phonograph Records imprint and now commands large sums—but is actually worth the heavy hype. The band naturally centered around Randy Oda, a multi-talented ax shredder and keyboardist, and the lineup was filled out by his brother Kevin on drum assault, Art Pantoja on lead bellows and rhythm guitar, and galloping bassist Kyle Schneider.

The Oda brothers were born in Alameda County, California, attending Kennedy High School in Richmond, and started the band while still teenagers at the beginning of the '70s. ODA was influenced by hard UK rockers like Deep Purple, Zep, Free, and the Who, and they gigged all over the Bay Area, with Randy garnering comparisons to Jeff Beck's molten six-string mastery. This 1971 self-titled LP (aka the Black Album) fully displays their blistering talents, but despite some local airplay on Ksan radio, the band packed it in by '73.

This would not be the end of the Oda story, as Randy joined CCR's Tom Fogerty in the outfit Ruby afterwards, laying down his licks on two LPs that flirted with the mainstream, while staying true to his highly electric guitar muse. In 1983, ODA actually reformed for one more LP on Loud Phonograph, entitled Power Of Love. The comeback album delves a little deeper into radio friendly power pop, which makes sense, as in '82 Oda co-wrote "Think I'm In Love" with Eddie Money (which, let's face it, is Money's best song by like a mile). Randy would also collaborate with Fogerty as a duo, and the posthumous Sidekicks album (released after Fogerty passed) listed the clearly-integral Randy Oda as "arranger, composer, guitar (acoustic), guitar (electric), keyboards, primary artist, and producer.” In the 2000s, Randy would start another band with his brother called OPO which means "to lay a foundation" in Hawaiian, and ODA would reform to play a benefit in 2015 along with other obscure and heady/heavy Bay Area rockers like Savage Resurrection and Country Weather (some live footage of the event shows the band still rocking hard).

At last, Riding Easy is legitimately reissuing ODA's first smoking, gargantuan LP with bonus tracks, so crank this one up in the '70s Camaro with the windows open, and some dirt weed joints a-blazin'.

“The origin of this record is a weird one. In 2019, we had just returned from two long European tours when we decided to take a ‘little break’ from the road. You all know what happened next. That ‘little break’ turned into a couple of years and during that time Dane, our drummer, decided to quit the band and music in general (no hard feelings). Sean [Hoffman] and I had a discussion and thought about ending the band as a whole, but I knew I had to go out on my own terms. I had an ace in the hole, though. Jeff Murray, drummer from LA rippers The Shrine. I had been friends with Jeff and The Shrine’s founder, Josh Landau since our ‘Scavenger’ 7-inch came out, around 2012. We had run into them in Berlin a few months back and I knew they weren’t playing anymore. I called Josh first, ’cause asking a dude if you can take his drummer, is like asking your girlfriend’s dad if you can marry her. And Josh said ‘go for it.’ And Jeff was in.

“Honestly if he had said no, that would have been the end. I had written a ton of stuff since our last album but I had shelved most of it. I was trying too hard—basically. Eventually Sean, Jeff and I said, ‘Fuck it, let’s make a ‘Fake Live’ record—like Kiss or Slayer did. John Dwyer from Osees was opening his new studio, Discount Mirrors, and it seemed like the perfect place to record it. We settled on re-recording a bunch of old stuff while simultaneously demoing our new material, as the three of us were now starting to really get in the groove. The result is Strange Masters Vol. 1.

“These are not new songs. These are Zig Zags classics re-recorded with a ripping-ass band that’s old and angry and just wants to get on with it. We are already on to recording the next album of new songs. That one is coming soon, but in the meantime, enjoy this one…while you still can!” —Jed Maheu (guitars/vocals for Zig Zags)

“Late in 2021, Slow Season announced they’d become Westing, and that Ben McLeod (also of Nashville’s All Them Witches) was now in the four-piece on lead guitar alongside guitarist, vocalist and keyboardist Daniel Story Rice, bassist Hayden Doyel and drummer / recording engineer Cody Tarbell. Their new LP (fourth overall for Riding Easy), Future, is not coincidentally titled. “Says Rice, ‘We wanted to hit the reset button on some things and so we included a new band name to that list. Fresh start, for the psychological effect of it. We first met Ben in 2014 opening for All Them Witches in San Diego, and we did that again in 2016 and he and Cody corresponded about tape machines, music production, and other similar nerd stuff. We started swapping a few ideas early in 2021 and then flew him out for four days in August 2021. We got Future mostly down in that short span and did some remote stuff for overdubs, but nothing major. Obviously, our creative processes jelled pretty well to allow for such an efficiently productive session.’ “So the story of Westing, and of Future, is about change, but the music makes itself so immediately familiar, it’s so welcoming, that it hardly matters. For about ten years, the Visalia, California, outfit wandered the earth representing a new generational interpretation of classic heavy rock. The tones, warm. The melodies, sweet. The boogie, infectious. They went to ground after supporting their 2016 self-titled third album, and clearly it was time for something different. “Is Future the future? Hell, we should be so lucky. What Westing manifest in these songs is schooled in the rock of yore and theirs purely, and in that, Future looks forward with the benefit of the lessons learned across three prior full-lengths (and the accompanying tours) while offering the kind of freshness that comes with a debut. No, they’re not the same kids who released Mountains in 2014, and the tradeoff is being able to convey maturity, evolving creativity and stage-born dynamic on Future without sacrificing the spirit and passion that has underscored their work all along.” – JJ Koczan

Featuring long-lost gems from ultra-rare 45s and private press singles—plus one previously unreleased banger—Scrap Metal Vol. 2 maintains a steady Nwobhm course. Packed with infectious outliers and supremely talented one-and-done metal warriors from the crucial British movement of the late ’70s and early ’80s (and some killer American obscurities inspired by them), this collection delivers all the fist-pumping, riff-mongering and flashy solos of heavy metal’s golden age. As always, every track has been officially licensed and every artist gets paid. Some examples include: As a late entry into the Nwobhm sweepstakes, JJ’s Powerhouse was formed in Merseyside, England, by guitarist Jon “J.J.” Cox with members of his previous band, Quad. Much like the opener to the original Scrap Metal comp, one can hear early Metallica coursing through this legendary ripper. Coincidentally, this ultra-rare 45 was released in ’83, the same year as Kill ’Em All. Taking their name from a 1978 sci-fi novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Welsh super troopers Storm Queen reveled in animal-print clothing and flying Vs. The Motörhead-meets-Priest anthem “Raising the Roof” is the flipside to their only single, which the band self-released in 1982. Led by guitarist Dave Morse, Storm Queen’s earliest lineup included bassist Bryn Merrick (rip), who would go on to join The Damned. Roaring out of Birmingham, England, in 1975, Jameson Raid palled around with fellow Brummies Black Sabbath and named themselves after a failed 19th century attack that helped kick off South Africa’s Second Boer War. Their three-song 1979 debut featured the infectious “It’s a Crime,” which comes across like a deadly hard-glam version of Budgie. Still fronted by vocalist Terry Dark, they’re going strong as of 2022. Both sides of Metropolis’ sole single bear the legend, “Unauthorized duplication shall result in getting your ass beat.” This San Jose metal squad released their only single in 1986 and dedicated it to Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who had recently been killed in a bus accident. “The Raven” is the serpentine Nwobhm- and Edgar Allan Poe-influenced flipside to “Time Heals Everything.”

Sometimes a band grows so exponentially from one record to the next, it’s almost jarring. Hell Fire has already established themselves as the preeminent masters of a new hybrid breed of Bay Area thrash and Nwobhm in just a few short years, but their fourth album Reckoning is the type of ascendance that truly sets a band apart. Reckoning is their Master Of Puppets, their Number Of The Beast, their Defenders Of The Faith. From the very first notes of the album opening title track, you can feel a vital new energy and inspiration to their music. To say Hell Fire used the recent global downtime to dig within and fully refine their sound would be an understatement. It truly is a reckoning. With no touring on the horizon in 2020, the band hunkered down and recorded nearly a full album in preproduction home demos. The band’s heightened professionalism also brings in guest bassist Matt Freeman (rancid, Operation Ivy) on the album after original bassist Herman Bandala departed the band amicably during the initial writing process. New bassist KAI SUN joined Hell Fire in Fall 2021.

In the 1970s era of rock’s theatrical excesses, Sorcery delivered next level performances in which a battle ensued on stage between illusionists portraying Merlin versus Satan. While Alice Cooper and Kiss brought costumes, gore and flashpots to the mainstream, these Los Angeles hard rockers integrated live magic, theatrical drama and fourth wall breaking performance for new heights in musical storytelling. While Sorcery consists of professional musicians, two magicians also perform on stage when they play live. The band’s nearly immediate local popularity from their debut in 1975 also made them in demand for film and TV. Enter: Stunt Rock. The 1978 low budget, high concept B-movie integrated hard rock, magic, dangerous stunts and an early form of mockumentary filmmaking into an epic feature film about an Australian stunt man reunited with his American cousin (and Sorcery member) in L.A., and all Hell breaks loose. Sorcery composed the soundtrack—which also served as the band’s debut album—and were shown performing songs throughout the film. The Stunt Rock soundtrack highlights the sweet spot between the playful, campy occult imagery of the 70s before Satanic Panic and the religious right’s kayfabe outrage pushed bands to tone things down in favor of glam pomp. What you get here is pure, knobby occult heavy metal that sounds something like Sin After Sin-era Judas Priest with Robert Plant on vocals, crossed with the melodrama of Alice Cooper and The Who’s rock operas. The songs are taut, quickly shifting from part to part, motif to overture. The tunes are infinitely catchy and laden with attention grabbing titles like “Talking To The Devil,” “Mark of The Beast,” “Stuntrocker” and “Burned Alive.” On the surface, the film Stunt Rock seems campy and crazy enough to be embraced even if the music weren’t all that exciting, but Sorcery proves that their work deserves to be seriously appreciated in the canon of classic rock.

How does one follow up one of the most legendary, yet rarest albums said to signal the birth of doom metal? If you’re Randy Holden, you give everyone about fifty years to catch up, then casually drop a tastefully modernized reinterpretation of that sound. Population III picks up where Holden’s 1969 solo debut left off, updated with several decades worth of technological advances and personal hindsight. Following his tenure in proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer in 1969, the guitarist aimed for more control over his next project. Thus, Randy Holden - Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present. Along with drummer / keyboardist Chris Lockheed, Holden created what many say is one of the earliest forms of doom metal. Their six-song debut album Population II delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. However, troubles with the album’s original 1970 release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. For good reason, it’s widely hailed as a masterpiece, and until finally getting a proper formal release in 2020 on Riding Easy Records, was a longtime Holy Grail for record collectors. Flash forward forty years to 2010, one finds the guitarist / vocalist quietly coaxed into recording a followup album by Holden superfan and Cactus member Randy Pratt. Joined by drummer Bobby Rondinelli (who has played with Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow), the trio cut the six-song collection of leaden future blues, Population III. “Randy Pratt had written the basic song structures, he understood my music and where I come from quite well,” Holden says. “He nailed it.” But the recording was ultimately shelved for over a decade. Throughout Population III, Holden effortlessly dishes out squealing, soaring leads and skull-thwacking riffs with his signature low end grit and penchant for Middle Eastern scales. Coupled with Pratt’s pocket-locked bass, the slight flanging effect on Rondinelli’s drums and his pugilistic beats, the album occasionally brings to mind Presence-era Led Zeppelin. At times, Holden sounds reminiscent of Neil Young leading Crazy Horse’s ruptured grunge as his lilting falsetto vocals push and pull his guitar’s siren’s call. Population III is the real deal —a powerful continuation of a sound forged fifty years ago, that almost didn’t happen. Somehow, Randy Holden’s music always finds a way to stand the tests of time.

Standout favorites of Riding Easy Records’ Brown Acid compilation series, White Lightning’s stellar discography of rare and under-appreciated heavy psych, proto-metal rock gets a vital revival for new generations to learn how swinging, swaggering and often blazingly fast rock’n’roll is done. White Lightning was formed in Minneapolis, MN in 1968 by guitarist Tom “Zippy” Caplan and bassist Woody Woodrich after leaving garage psych band The Litter (themselves popular standouts from the Nuggets and Pebbles series of garage rock rarities.) Originally a power trio, the band later expanded to a five-piece in 1969 while shortening its name to Lightning. The quintet’s brilliant and rare 1970 self-titled album on Pickwick International’s P.I.P. imprint provides six of the ten tracks on Thunderbolts Of Fuzz. The original White Lightning trio only released the one 45-rpm single “Of Paupers And Poets” during their existence (on local Hexagon label in 1968, later reissued by major label Atco Records in 1969.) A long out-of-print posthumous album released in 1995 gathered unreleased recordings, three of which are found here. This rounds out this collection of recorded highlights from the band’s rocky history. Taking their name from a particularly potent type of LSD, White Lightning laid out from the start that it was not cute and cuddly ’70s rock. In fact, the band’s aggressive tempos are like punk rock way before punk. However, their dirty blues groove and musical prowess shows the band was more than unrefined ne’er-do-wells, they had true versatility.

Here’s just a few of the gems on Brown Acid - The Fourteenth Trip, the much beloved series that is the Nuggets of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock: The Legends’ “Fever Games” is a 1969 fever dream of heavy psych on par with Blue Cheer at their heaviest, featuring an incredible intro with whammy-bar gymnastics through an Echoplex. This Harrisburg, PA power trio, featuring Dan Hartman (Edgar Winter Group, et al) and his brother Dave, also name-checks Jimi Hendrix Experience in the midst of the song’s most blatant Hendrix rip. Perhaps that’s how Fever Games work? Transfer’s velvet smooth groove has an almost proto-punk feel like a mashup of the Velvet Underground and The Flamin’ Groovies. But the lyrics referencing tokin’ reefer and the twanging surf lead situate them closer to their heavy rock brethren. This very rare 1974 self- released 45 is this lone archive of the band’s existence—assume they just kept right on playin’ it cool into oblivion. Cox’s Army deploy the grungy rocker “I’m Tired” which sounds like if Jimi Hendrix fronted Mudhoney. Yes, please! Though they hailed from Aurora, IL, it sounds like there’s definitely some Pacific Northwest in their blood. Particularly in the gritty production, which hints at The Sonics’ “bustin’ outta lo-fi” style. Not much is known about the enigmatic Columbus, OH musician known as Raven, whose “Back to Ohio Blues” closes this edition. The mantra-like droning riff of this eight-minute jam is a Black To Comm-style epic, driven by Raven’s hostile, no-bullshit diatribe until it all busts open for an insane two-minute long drum solo soaked in odd effects that sounds like it was copped from a Melvins album.

By now listeners are probably familiar with Riding Easy’s wildly popular Brown Acid series of rare, lost and unreleased proto-metal and stoner rock singles from the ’60s-’70s. In the endless pursuit of those glorious gems, the label often uncovers equally brilliant rarities from the late-’70s to late-’80s Golden Age of Heavy Metal that also just must be heard, but they don’t fit the series’ aesthetic. Scrap Metal Volume 1 collects some of the greatest unknown and lost heavy metal tracks, long buried beneath the avalanche of the era’s classic output. Everyone knows the old adage that history is told by the winners. But sometimes the losers tell the best stories. And while none of these bands found fame and fortune, this artifact and the volumes to come are testament to the enduring power of heavy music. One can hear the blood, sweat and beers that went into each of these singles. The recordings may be low budget, but the inspiration and talent is immutable. Not only are the amps turned up to 11, the boyish sexual innuendo is cranked to 69. One can hear the convergence of influences—NWOBHM, thrash, glam metal, doom, etc—colliding at once as the era birthed a wellspring of subgenres. Many of these singles are self-released and were thus limited to a small run of copies. Those that remain are hoarded by collectors and sold for exorbitant amounts. Riding Easy has collected the best of the best for the listener here. As with Brown Acid, all of these tracks are licensed legitimately and the artists all get paid. Because it’s the right thing to do.

Here are just some of the gems from this latest edition of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage ’60s-’70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid - The Thirteenth Trip: Max, from Montreal, QC—originally known as Dawn, before Tony Orlando & Dawn forced a name change—kick things off with “Run Run” from their lone 1970 single. It’s a hard-hitting rocker with scale climbing crunching guitars and powerful Bonham-esque drumming. “Feelin’ Dead” is extremely heavy blues from this also extremely rare 1974 single by Detroit, MI’s Master Danse, which was only released as a promo 45. Think Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” Gary Del Vecchio is “Buzzin’” hard, and from what sounds like an in-studio party of yelps and chatter at the start of the song, it seems that the whole band was in on the festivities. The funky blues riff, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” and rollicking rhythmic changes certainly keep the buzz a rollin’. Finally, Good Humore’s swaggering 1976 rocker “Detroit” is a slick and smooth paen to the Motor City. It most likely doesn’t predate “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss, also released in 1976, and it has more rock’n’roll swing, but it could fit comfortably alongside the era’s arena anthems. “Mining the surprising rich reserves of heavy rock and proto-metal from the ’60s and ’70s, these collections have been crucial to understanding the history of a subgenre of rock that had far deeper roots than most fans realize.” – Paste Magazine

Excelsior! It’s the hail of yore that one should go ever onward and upward. And so, fittingly Onwards And Downwards is the occultist Swedish band ALASTOR’s clever call to arms... and also a reflection of the collective dark state of mind these days. “If our last album Slave To The Grave were about death, this record is more about madness,” says guitarist Hampus Sandell. “You can look at the whole record as one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.” Alastor is heavy doom rock for the wicked and depraved. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make one’s skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, the band is revitalized in 2021 with meticulously crafted songs and new drummer JIM Nordström bringing a hard-hitting and precise energy. “It’s a more focused record but at the same time it’s more personal and naked. More raw emotion and pain,” Hampus says. The band recorded the album with the help of Joona Hassinen of Studio Underjord, who has helped with mixing since their Blood On Satan’s Claw EP in 2017. Christoffer Karlsson of THE Dahmers also assisted with overdubs and encouraged the band to demo the material early on, aiding in the album’s more deliberate and tighter feel.

With a name like Warish, the San Diego noisy punk-metal trio assured listeners they were in for a maniacal bludgeoning from the get-go. But the band has never been as dark and bitingly vicious as the wholly ominous Next To Pay. The band’s mix of early AmRep skronk, dark horror rock and budget doom antipathy is taken to a whole new level on this thirteen song invective. “Next To Pay is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die,” vocalist / guitarist Riley Hawk says. “It’s not the happiest record, I guess.” To say the least. On the title track opener, Hawk screams through shredded vocal chords with the tuneful rage of Kill ‘Em All-era James Hetfield and the seething desperation of Kurt Cobain. “This album is more of an evolution, it’s a little more punk-heavy,” Hawk says of the group quickly founded in 2018. “We figured out what our sound was.” And with that evolution comes a change in the lineup. Original drummer Nick (Broose) McDonnell plays on about half of the songs, while new drummer Justin de la Vega brings an even tighter urgency to the remaining, more recent tracks. Bassist Alex Bassaj joined after the debut album was recorded and here showcases muscular and melodic low end previously missing. Riley Hawk is also the pro-skater son of Tony Hawk. Inspired by early-Nirvana, The Misfits, The Spits and Master Of Reality-era Black Sabbath, Next To Pay keeps things heavy and pummeling at all times. The guitars are heavy and powerful, though decidedly not straightforward cookie cutter punk; more like Greg Ginn’s and Buzz Osbourne’s wiry contortions, and occasionally drenched in chorus effects. The rhythms bash right through it all with aggressive force ensuring that nothing gets overly complicated. Warish’s cover of ’80s Dischord Records punks Gray Matter turns the emotive flail of “Burn No Bridges” into a Motörhead-style basher.

Riding Easy is now in the double digits of brilliant long-lost, rare, and unreleased hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks from the ’60s-’70s and clearly this has become a bonafide archaeological movement as each new edition leads to more exciting new discoveries. Like the label has done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. Here are just a few of the delights herein: This Trip opens with Adam Wind’s “Something Else,” featuring groovy crooning and a very acid-damaged guitar riff that meanders across key signatures like it ain’t no thing. This 1969 single by the Tacoma, WA band predates grunge by 20 years, but the band’s heavy psych and murky tones are just the stuff Northwest heroes Mudhoney sought so fervently at their peak. Lead singer Leroy Bell’s excessive vibrato gives the tune its charm, but the heavy breakdown in the middle is the real payoff. Later, Renaissance Fair take things in a very weird, very fun and undeniably heavy direction with an insanely distorted organ that sounds like a monstrous vacuum cleaner over dirge rhythms and growling vocals on their—let’s reiterate—weird 1968 track “In Wyrd.” Think if someone left a copy of The Doors’ Strange Parade out to warp in the sun on a blown-out toy record player, and then visiting space creatures attempted to imitate what they’d heard. Finally, Crazy Jerry sends this edition off on a high note with “Every Girl Gets One,” featuring crunching riffs, rollicking electric piano, stop ’n’ start rhythms and a curious telephone call sounding like a creepy answer to the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace.” Crazy Jerry is the alter-ego of guitarist Jerry Ciccone, who can also be heard on a few soul / funk and rock records from the ‘70s, including The Left Banke’s second album. But here, Jerry is…well, simply crazy. Get comfortable and prepare for yet another deep, deep dive into the treasure trove of dank, subterranean, wild-eyed and hairy rock ’n’ roll.

When R.I.P. came crawling out of the sewers of Portland, OR four years ago, their grimy, sleazy street doom was already a fully formed monstrosity that quickly infected the minds of everyone it encountered. At the time, no one expected its depravity to take such fierce hold, and yet, here it is, sheltering in place and / or stealthily creeping through a nightmare dystopia that the ’80s sci-fi / horror movies foretold. Dead End is, ironically, a recharge of the band’s sound, bearing influences ranging from John Carpenter films, post-apocalyptic grunge, pro-wrestling attitude and salty lo-fi hip-hop aesthetics, to the band’s ferocious heavy metal. During the three years since the 2017 release of their sophomore album Street Reaper, R.I.P. has been busy tightening their sound and their line up while loosening their grip on sanity—touring the west coast with bands like Electric Wizard and Red Fang, and taking street doom overseas for the first time for a month-long headlining tour of Europe. These years on the road and the addition of a more aggressive rhythm section have allowed the band to fully break free from their influences and deliver on the promise hinted at on their first two releases. For Dead End, R.I.P. worked with legendary producer Billy Anderson, interring onto wax their heaviest and most ambitious album yet. Continuing to move further away from their classic doom influences like Pentagram and Saint Vitus, the band offers a rare blast of originality in a scene rife with formulaic bands. Dead End is a fast and anxious ride where the very idea of doom is put to the test under duress of manic lyrics about death, insanity, and leather, and hook-laden guitar tracks that draw as equally from Nirvana as Black Sabbath.

From beyond the gutter, The Death Wheelers bring you their second album, the soundtrack to the fictional bikesploitation flick that never was: Divine Filth. Drawing inspiration from instrumental rock, proto-metal, punk and funk, the band embalms the listener in their sonic world of decay, groove and debauchery. Surfing the line between Motörhead, The Cramps and Dick Dale, the Canadian quartet uncompromisingly blends rawness and power in their riff-fueled compositions. Recorded entirely in forty-eight hours in a live setting just like in the good old days, this second opus is a testament to what the band stands for: a no BS attitude spiked with a heavy layer of crass. Just like their previous offering, the album is devised to serve as a soundtrack loosely based on a plot synopsis of a B-movie: “It’s 1982. Spurcity is run-down. The crime rate is up and so is drug use. A new kind of kick has hit the streets and it ain’t pretty. DTA, a powerful and highly addictive hallucinogenic drug, is transforming its loyal citizens into undead trash. Its users experience an indescribable high, but it leaves them rotting away within days, craving human flesh. No one knows who is dealing this new potent drug, but rumor has it that the motorcycle cult, The Death Wheelers, is behind this concoction. Could this be the end of civilization as we know it? What is motivating this group of psychotic individuals?” The cycle of violence indeed continues with this sordid slab of sounds. So hop on, and enjoy one last ride with The Death Wheelers.

The forthcoming ninth edition of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage ’60s-’70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid - The Ninth Trip is set for release! Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution are the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century—particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins—often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector’s prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on Brown Acid.

Here Lies Man took the music world by storm in 2017 with their self-titled debut positing the intriguing hypothesis: What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat? Since that time, they have expanded and expounded upon their sound and ideas of heavy riff rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave. The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly over the past two years, while also releasing a second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both in 2018. No Ground to Walk Upon is their third album. It continues with an ongoing concept of playing a soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene.
Rough Trade named Here Lies Man in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 and Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. 2018’s You Will Know Nothing furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers. This latest album is the next step in the band’s rapid ascent to what is bound to be influential upon riff-based rock.
“We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” explains founder and vocalist / guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Marcos Garcia (who also plays guitar in Antibalas) of the band’s sound. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”

Formed in recent years in San Francisco (though it may seem more likely that they hatched fresh out of a time travel portal from the mid-’80s Bay Area thrash scene), Hell Fire have the classic look and sound of modern metal’s halcyon days. Their sonic assault warmly condenses elements of Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Exodus, Metallica, Riot, Virtue and Diamond Head into eight tracks of headbanging MUYA anthems.

The free-wheelin’ creativity and infectious vitality of Bay Area thrash is a moment forever locked in time, but its spirit lives on in this band’s galloping guitar picks, soaring harmonies and blistering rhythms. The band’s perfect hybrid of NWOBHM theatrics and American thrash attitude delivers a rousing and genuine expansion on sounds long lost to pointless battles over who can be the most “extreme.”

Hell Fire began when bass player Herman Bandala moved to San Francisco from Tijuana, Mexico, with the hopes of forming a heavy metal band. Herman posted an ad to Craigslist which caught the attention of guitarist Tony Campos. They bonded over a mutual love of ’80s thrash and NWOBHM. Just before they entered the studio to record their debut album Metal Masses, Jake Nunn joined on vocals. The lineup continued to develop over time, finally solidifying with Nunn also taking up second guitar duties and drummer Mike Smith joining prior to recording Free Again.

This sophomore album is being released for the first time on vinyl and remastered for CD and download. It was recorded over five days in Grass Valley, California, at engineer Tim Green’s Louder Studios (The Fucking Champs, Melvins.) Where Metal Masses showcased aesthetic nods to Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All album (as well as a cover photo brilliantly depicting a blurry hand speedily playing a Flying-V guitar), Free Again finds the band coming into their own with emphasis upon grooves, a beefier sound and tighter songs that expertly shift into new parts at the drop of a hat.

Six volumes worth of licensed tracks released in just three years: doing the Dark Lord’s work isn’t an easy job, but somebody’s gotta do it, so here is Brown Acid - The Sixth Trip, with more lined up. The heads just can’t get enough obscure hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal from the late‘60s and ‘70s!

This time around Riding Easy present ten deep cuts from across the continental USA and one from the neighbors up North. This trip kicks off with an outrageous number from Gold out of San Francisco circa 1970. The band used to open their sets with this over-the-top frantic jammer which is absolutely mind-blowing! Delving deeper into the depths, Canadians continue to prove that they could bang heads with the best of ‘em! Heat Exchange from Toronto released the rollicking ripper “Inferno” on the Yorkville label way back in 1968 and it’s still thumping almost fifty years later.

Some more examples of the mind-melting tracks on this platter: Missouri isn’t a state that brought us a lot of heavy 45s, but there are a handful of outstanding tracks, one of which is the funk-laced anthem “Give Me Time” by Backwood Memory from Kansas City. Youngstown, Ohio, meanwhile, might have been the Hard Rock Mecca back in the day. Travis is yet another Youngstown group that aimed to get asses out of seats and out in the streets. Truth & Janey had their incredible proto-metal masterpiece 1976 album No Rest For The Wicked; released four years earlier, “Midnight Horseman” was a 45-only track, included here!

Those are just some of the fruits of months worth of record digging and detective work included on this latest installment. This is the stuff that makes life worth living, at least until the next Trip…

Spiny Normen were an incredible mid-’70s Houston hard rock, progressive, psychedelic rock band that featured mellotron, Vox Jaguar, crunchy, heavy guitars, flute with echo effects, and lots more. A totally lost relic, this self-titled album was recorded at a community college and never released. The recording is very English, dark, mysterious and proggy, but also very acid-drenched.

"We continue down the wormhole of hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal here on The Third Trip with a set of tunes so obscure they can't be seen without a third eye. Most of these tracks were recorded in shack-sized studios, privately pressed for promotional purposes, and tossed out like last night's half empties only to later be discovered to be half-full, if not overflowing with greatness. The majority of these tracks are from the good ol' US of A with two exceptions, Ash-labelmate New Zealanders, Chook, and the mighty Limeys, Factory. As they say, first is the worst, second is the best, third is the one with the hairy chest. So take a shot of whiskey, shotgun a beer, and put some fuzz in between your nipples with the hairiest Trip you've taken yet. You won't be sorry you did."

Ancient of Days is not just the band's third release, but in many ways, a rebirth. It's Spelljammer's first recording as a trio - with Olsson taking over bass duties and new drummer Jonatan Rimsbo battering the skins - and the culmination of a progressive move toward a heavier, doom-laden sound, away from the desert rock leanings of their 2010 debut Inches From the Sun. Vol II saw the band spreading out into darker territories. After writing sessions fell apart in 2013 for a followup to Vol II (reissued in early 2015 by RidingEasy Records) Olsson and guitarist Robert Sorling scrapped nearly everything following the departure of half of the band. The two began to build from the ground up as a duo with new ideas that resulted in the invigorated Ancient of Days. It's the band's most focused and deliberate in both it's complexities and simplicities. There's the pummeling heft of detuned guitars rumbling across the rugged expanse of unwieldy drums counterbalanced with moments of Master of Reality-era Sabbath's introspective acoustic breaks and Pink Floyd's Meddle-era psychedelia. These extreme shifts in dynamic give the band's third album a sense of epic depth unlike most of Spelljammer's peers.

Back with their musky, technicolor splatter scuzz, The Death Wheelers don’t dare ease the throttle on their drive to create soundtracks to what would be the world’s greatest fictional bikesploitation and gore film fest. These Quebec-based zombie grease goons manage to evoke the sticky floor and stale popcorn smell of an old rundown Midnight movie theater with every stroke of a barre chord and bludgeoned snare drum. Theirs is a sound that does Herschell Gordon Lewis, Roger Corman and Russ Meyer proud.

Whereas their previous albums evoked the buzzsaw surf riffs of Davie Allen, Dick Dale and The Cramps, with the thunderous groove of Motörhead, their fourth album finds these troglodytes veering hard into classic 80s heavy metal while still maintaining the compelling urgency of Italian gore gods Goblin. It’s heavier, nastier, more driving and… dosed with pure backwoods möld.

In keeping with their B-movie aesthetic, the recording offers in-your-face, loud tones dripping with stench and nastiness. But it’s also some of the best produced vintage sounding underground metal you can get your claws on in these dystopian times.

This story played out locally all across the USA in the wake of the paradigm changing Beatles / British Invasion of 1964. Childhood friends Jimmy Stewart and Larry Farrar heard electric guitars and started a garage band, evolving into Rat Salad by 1970, Hit And Run after that, and finally the Tennessee River Crooks. The band name is taken from the cigar box roadie/manager Jerry Crouch used to stash cash in while working the door at countless gigs across Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois... like most regional working bands of the day these guys played crowd pleasing cover versions at live shows to pay the bills. However, they intended to do their own material from the very start. Originally issued as a private pressing in 1976, this rare LP is an unfiltered slice of real life in the Southern Rock genre. We are lucky some slick producer didn't stumble across them and water it down with dollar signs in his eyes! This stuff is as pure as it gets!

Another unearthed ripper from St Louis MO recorded during the years 1968-1973 and never released until now! Over the course of about five years beginning in late 1968, several musicians living in eastern Missouri rocked the area clubs and festivals with a mix of cover and heavy original songs. The band’s name, Parchment Farm, came from a song on Blue Cheer’s debut LP, Vincebus Eruptum. In their first iteration, lasting from 1968 to 1971, they opened up for such acts as Sons of Champlin and Brian Auger & Trinity. Following a line-up change in 1971, the development of original songs ramped up and they began playing and recording them right away. Opening slots for ZZ Top, Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, and the Velvet Underground & Brownsville Station followed. More line-up changes occured and more opening gigs for the likes of Canned Heat, The Hollies, Rare Earth, and REO Speedwagon. They disbanded in late 1973.

Another unearthed ripper from St Louis MO recorded during the years 1968-1973 and never released until now!

The incendiary proto hard rock and ambitious epic journeys this album delivers are all the more uncanny and devastating when you realize Gary Del Vecchio was

a mere 16 years old when the title track Buzzin was unleashed! Even more astonishing is how far he travelled over the next five years, documented in this brilliant selection of nine tracks from the classic daze of early 1970s underground rock. Ohio was a hotbed for hard rock at the time with bands like the James Gang, Glass Harp, Poobah, Left End, Damnation Of Adam Blessing… what you get here matches the style any of those bands laid down. Gary's music grabs you immediately and grows over time. Grabber and Grower… best of both worlds style!

It makes sense that Gary later owned a recording studio, right out of the gate he was laser focussed on all the aspects involved in making music that stands the test of time. The guitar action is incredible, shards of sound flying free yet hitting the bullseye continuously, vocals confident with none of the macho posturing that ages poorly in much early hard rock. These tracks are all vividly recorded and meticulously mixed in a way that balances fiery performance and intelligent structure to maximum effect. The bass and drumming here are phenomenally inventive and propulsive, the several players involved across the album nail it in their support of Gary's vision. This is rock music born in the 'anything is possible' life affirming energy of the late '60s right on time with where the most enduring artists of the early '70s took it. Had he scored the major label deal he pursued with labels like Mercury or London at the time I am confident we'd be hearing his music on classic rock radio today! The music on this album is both uncompromising and accessible. In particular, the two long tracks Wasted King and Starman have all the moves needed to grab fans of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the likes by the throat and brain in the extended progressive epic department!

Brotherhood Of Peace (aka B.O.P.) brought the world some of the best breezy power pop, Southern rock and heavy boogie all packed into one brilliant album in 1976, the fittingly titled Cuttin’ Loose. The album is a free-flowing nine song collection of genre blending would-be hits suited for both ’70s AM gold and FM album rock that never received its proper due, until now.

The album flows somewhat similar to the way Big Star combined heavy riffs with airy pop sweetness, but B.O.P. brought more of a blues rock groove to the proceedings, resulting in heavier undercurrents to songs with glowing three-part harmonies and impeccable power trio musicianship.

By the mid-’70s, rock ’n’ roll was truly anything goes. Experimentation, excess and inventing new genres was all the rage, and the trio of spritely young men—guitarist / vocalist Dennis Tolbert, bassist / vocalist Mike Arrington and drummer / vocalist Ronnie Smith—gamely tackled whatever sound they pleased. Fortunately, the band captured it all on their lone album, released on the small independent label Avanti Records in March 1976.

The Mount Airy, North Carolina trio got its start as teens in 1969 as the backing band to a large 20-50 person traveling church choir called the New Americans. By 1970, the band was ready to move on to performing on their own. First as a sextet, the band soon trimmed down to a three-piece, working the local club circuit like madmen, sometimes playing three shows a day. At the height of their live tightness, B.O.P. recorded the album with local musicians Don Dixon and Robert Kirkland of the band Arrogance who worked at Charlotte recording studio Reflection Sound in October 1975.

The band laid out the highlights of their live set in the studio, which ran the range of influences from The Raspberries to Deep Purple, Doobie Brothers to Nazareth, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Grand Funk. The initial pressing of 1000 copies was released in March 1976, but without major label machinery for retail distribution, radio and press, the album never took off. The band mostly sold them at live shows, via consignment at local stores and in limited distribution in the Southeastern region. However, to date, the record still occasionally pops up for sale online worldwide at exorbitant collectors’ prices. Until now, finally getting a proper reissue via Riding Easy Records.

Cursed to ride forever on this mortal plane after partaking in a satanic drug ritual, THE Death Wheelers pledge allegiance to the god of hell and fire. However, in order to prove themselves to their newly anointed leader and for the spell to take effect, the band will need to engage in a series of lewd acts of sex and violence across the country. Immortality comes at a price and the listener is about to pay for it… The beating heart of The Death Wheelers is a rumbling engine. Since their self-titled debut in 2015 and in 2020’s cinematic-storytelling breakout, Divine Filth, the Canadian outfit have tapped into wind-through-hair freedom and careened down open roads of groove, not a cop in sight. Their third record, Chaos And The Art of Motorcycle Madness, more than lives up to its name on all fronts. With songs like “Morbid Bails” and “Lucifer’s Bend,” the in-the-know references abound, and The Death Wheelers draw from classic underground metal, scummer heavy rock and cast themselves into a cauldron of cultish biker devil worship, reveling in any and all post-apocalyptic dystopias with genuine glee at having just seen the world eat itself. One might hear some surf guitar. Crazy things can happen.