THE BLACK AMPS profile picture

THE BLACK AMPS

Absurdist Pop, Off-Kilter Anthems

About Me

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Junkyard Todd grew up in Seattle, back when Seattle was known for hippies and rain, and The Space Needle. He worked crappy kid jobs, grew his hair, bought a bass guitar and a bunch of great records. Did time on the East Side Metal Scene, but burned out on that, and moved to the University District. Cool people, great record stores, cheap Malaysian food. The “Grunge Explosion” was still years away. Traded his giant amps and pointy guitars for a Teac 144 and never looked back. Recorded his first pop experiments in someone’s basement, smelling of cheap red wine and green bud. Friends liked it. No one else heard it. Los Angeles beckoned. He wanted to skateboard in empty swimming pools and hang out with Motley Crue. He lied to his parents, said he was going to be a “rock star”. LA was huge, and filthy. All the pools were shut down. Guns and Roses ruled the Sunset Strip. Plan B: Pick up a bass and dive in. He played in a couple bands, did the Whiskey, Roxy, Viper Room, and a wasteland of nameless dives. He married this Blonde Bombshell from Cleveland. He kept on making secret recordings with the Teac. Lightning struck in ’97. Alien Fashion Show, the lounge act that started as an excuse to drink with his friends began to fill clubs. Suddenly they were making records and buying a new van. Playing for 5,000 people a night opening for the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Playing giant parties for Gene Simmons and John Travolta, doing live TV in LA and Louisville. They took that van around the country three times before it crashed and burned in a twisted wreck of Ego, Booze and Record Company Apathy. The Blonde Bombshell said it was time to split LA, and he agreed. They packed up their daughter and headed to Cleveland. Her old neighborhood looked just like his old neighborhood in Seattle. He set up a proper studio in the attic and started turning out crusty pop gems. His latest, ‘Last Perfect Summer’ was recorded with Nick Perry and Bill Stone of local rock underdogs Paranoid Lovesick. Blending the absurdist pop of Flaming Lips with the off-kilter anthems of early Soul Asylum and GBV, it’s a nostalgia trip, a soundtrack for skipping work on a perfect sunshine day. Come on, Let’s Go! ************************************************************ ****The disc you are listening to was produced in our State of the Art recording studio, and is in fact in the process of becoming the first Rock Record to receive ISO 9001 Certification. We were able to achieve a 98.7% productivity level, with no appreciable loss in Rock Quality.We hope you enjoy it!!!....................................................... ............................YOU CAN BUY THIS FABULOUS CD AT: WWW.CDBABY.COM/JUNKYARDTODD3

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/21/2005
Band Website: cdbaby.com/cd/junkyardtodd3
Band Members: Junkyard Todd: Guitar, Vox, Nick Perry: Drums, Percussion, Mike Allen: Rythm Guitar, Vox, Chris: Bass
Influences: Late 80's/early 90's underground pop, ala: Guided by Voices, Teenage Fan Club, REM, Soul Asylum, blended with late 60's/early 70's AM radio pop, ala: Beatlles, Byrds, Starland Vocal Band.
Sounds Like: Fountains of Wayne, Wilco, Tom Petty, Flaming Lips, Guided by Voices, Built to Spill, Mission of Burma, Alien Fashion Show, The Shins, Sparklehorse, REM, Soul Asylum, Replacements, Pavement, The Wrens, The Long Winters, Superchunk, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Lions & Ghosts
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

My Generation

Every single one of us;   Learned to walk in the shadow of JFK, and MLK, and the cold black rain of fear spread across Eastern Europe, Remembers the sirens at noon, And duck and cover, and the...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sun, 12 Nov 2006 04:10:00 PST

LET'S GO TO THE CEMETARY...

Back in our old town of TUJUNGA, CALIFORNIA we had a real HAUNTED CEMETARY.    Now any serious GHOST FREAK knows that cemeteries aren't usually haunted, but this one was.  I received SU...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Tue, 24 Oct 2006 05:44:00 PST

Learning to take a fall...

My daughter has got me skateboarding again.  I have been a skater since I was a pre-teen, but since we moved to Cleveland I had not been riding much, except to take the Sector 9 for pizza, o...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:29:00 PST

Oblique brushes with fame...

Once upon a time, my old group, Alien Fashion Show had a very strange brush with fame.  Our Record had just come out, and someone at the label (Hollywood Records/Surfdog Records) had the brillian...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sat, 29 Jul 2006 05:13:00 PST

Geez, I look like a dork.

Geez, I look like a dork.  I used to be thin, with thick hair.  Now I am vice-versa.  I would be right at home playing bass in a Molly Hatchett tribute band.  I am not ha...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sat, 13 May 2006 02:09:00 PST

More boring stuff!!!!

Here's another thing I originally posted on the Tape Op messageboard.  Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 6:36 pm    Post subject: I am in the middle of reading "Behind the Glass" a ...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sun, 16 Apr 2006 03:52:00 PST

The theory of "seven"

I feel absolutely compelled to create music.  I hear music in my head, and it seems really important to record it to the best of my ability.  Whatever record I am working on is always my fav...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sun, 16 Apr 2006 03:24:00 PST

I know a guy, who knows a guy who......

So Bill knows a guy who has been trying break bands outta Cleveland for a long time.  He's had radio shows, and produced records and writes for 'zines.  He has many opinions which may, ...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Sat, 29 Oct 2005 07:43:00 PST

Mastering the CD

Mastering yourself?  That's like home dentistry?  So I felt obliged to try it! I just posted this on the Tape Op board, and thought it would be good to put it up here too. As a home reco...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:54:00 PST

More Drums!!!

I am doing my best to ensure that nobody reads my blogs.  Then I will be able to encode secret messages to the Ohio Gourd Society. So the secret behind my good recorded drum sounds is really Nick...
Posted by THE BLACK AMPS on Wed, 05 Oct 2005 06:28:00 PST