Shock Treatment: How and when did you decide to pick up an instrument and gain the desire to start learning to play and write music?  Erica Rose: I had dreams of being a rock n roller since I was a little kid. I technically started (or, at least, tried) to start learning guitar in second grade. However, I didn’t have the patience and my folks decided to stop wasting the little money they had on lessons when they walked in on a lesson where I had the guitar on top of my head and was attempting to play that way! I picked up guitar again in high school. I’d go over to a family friend’s house. He’d have me choose songs I wanted to learn and show me how to play them. That’s how I really learned. I believe my first song was “Can’t Explain.” Shock Treatment: Tell me about Appaloosa. How did you meet them and decide to form the band? Erica Rose: I started Appaloosa while I was pregnant and right after I’d moved back to Seattle after about six years in NYC. Since I was a teenag...

  Do you know what what the hell a lithophone is? Because I sure as hell didn't, I had to look the shit up! I thought for a moment these guys made it up! But when I consulted old man Googles, he told me it's an ancient instrument made of rocks that produces sounds when struck. That's what it is, an instrument that knuckle dragging savages used to play. And that name is very fitting when it pertains to these Boston Barbarians! Lithophones  consists of members of the Wongs and The Tampoffs so you know what you're in for now, don't you?! demos by LITHOPHONES Lithophones are a four piece garage punk outfit from Beantown U.S.A. and these guys channel the mean, sweaty punk rock that these ears yearn to hear. Think Rip Off Records, think Teengenerate, The Brides, The Problematics, think all that cool 90's shit that went away and you so desperately wish it would come back in full force. Well stop pulling on those nasty wishbones and blowing up those dandelion fields bec...

Shock Treatment: So Brad, can you tell me who’s all in the Brad Marino Band and what everyone does in the group? Brad Marino: Sure thing, so the “Brad Marino Band” consists of myself along with Bobby Davis on the bass/back up vocals & Craig Sala on the drums/vocals. We’ve sometimes had an additional guitarist but we’re running lean and mean now as a 3 PCS. It keeps things tight and simple. For the upcoming Spain tour, Gene Champagne will be playing the drums. Shock Treatment:  Tell me about this new record you have coming out  Agent of Chaos : Brad Marino: “Agent of Chaos” is my 5th long player. I’m really excited about this one. It’s got 12 tracks all written by me- which surprisingly is a first- in albums past I’ve collaborated with someone on at least 1 or 2 tracks or thrown in a cover to round it out but this one is all songs made up by me. It also has a great mix of songs- all the things that make a Brad Marino record. Punky stuff, Power Pop, Rock n Roll and it’s...

  The first Taste Testors LP came out just prior to me starting Shock Treatment and by the time I got my head on straight and figuring out what exactly I wanted to do with the blog, it had passed me by. However, just a year later these crazy cats go and drop another new LP, just so I could write about it. So very kind of them, thank you boys!  In case you aren't familiar with Taste Testors, they are currently dug into the Seattle area and feature current and former members of bands like The Briefs, The Cheap Cassettes, Appaloosa and all sorts of other killer bands from that area. Both of the Taste Testors LP's came out on Moodkiller Records. A label that I must admit I wasn't too familiar with. But they've been around for a while, putting out records here and there since 2005. Come Back  is a direct sequel to The Taste Testors last LP. Like, it picks up right where the last one left off. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not in my little black book! If you...

Interview conducted with Gee Strings guitarist Bernadette Shock Treatment: Hi Bernadette! Can you please tell me who’s currently in the band and what everyone does?  Bernadette: Hi Jay! In addition to the long-term survivors Ingenius Pop (Vocals) and me, Bernadette (Guitar), w e've had the current line up for three and a half years. Our spanish guy Curtis on Bass and Alex on Drums! Alex also played in German  60´s garage punkers The Satelliters  for many years . Great lineup …some people say it's our best lineup ever…you know the rhythm section in a band is really important…its not all about the guitar and singer . We really wanna try to keep this lineup together and record new songs next year. Speed Soul Racer by The Gee Strings Shock Treatment: What band made you want to pick up an instrument and learn how to play? How old were you and how did you discover this band? Bernadette: For me, I got my first records from my older brother, stuff by Status Quo, Alice Cooper, T. ...

This is another "tandem" post that I'm doing with my Born Too Late co-host and pal Lord Rutledge. For his list of "Essential 90's Punk Bands, go check out his blog Faster and Louder . This time, I have no idea what he's going to put on his list. This proved to be FAR more difficult than I had imagined. I tried to use completely different bands than the ones I mentioned in our previous tandem post "My Favorite Records of 1996". There was so much going on in the 1990's that it wasn't hard to think of bands, it was hard to narrow it down to only ten(ish)! So below, after hours and hours of inner conflict and deliberation, I present to you my list of bands that were "essential" to me during the 1990's.  The early 1990's included my high school years. This was also the time I discovered underground rock n' roll/punk rock. I was coming into the decade already being a fan of 50's Rock n' Roll, 60's British Invasion...

  The Etters are Sjerrie guitar/vocals Leona bass/vocals and Keet drums/vocals Interview conducted with Sjerrie (AKA Jerry Hormone) Shock Treatment: Hello Jerry! Thanks for doing my interview! Let’s start by telling me how you all met and decided to form the band? Jerry: I was going through a debilitating midlife crisis. A shrink told me I had two options: 1) Buy a Harley-Davidson or B) start a stoopid punk band with two life loving, energetic females in their early twenties. Harley’s are expensive, so that’s where Loena and Keet came in and now we’re here, playing sooper stoopid punk and I'm doing a lot better. The ETTERS maken je hartstikke DOOD! by The ETTERS Shock Treatment: What bands influenced The Etters sound the most? Jerry: All that fine fine 90’s lo-fi Rip Off Records kind of punk. Loli and the Chones, most of all Shock Treatment: If your grandmother asked you what The Etters sound like, how would you describe it to her? Jerry: It’s stoopid and catchy and you can leave y...