Hozac Vinyl, CD & Tape 11 Items

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 no help either. Was this really one that Everyone missed? Recommended If You Like: Tapeworm, GG Allin & the Jabbers, Freestone, The Trend, Mentally Ill, The Gears, Killed By Death compilations.”

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 two tracks is in essence a “single” and quickly sears your fingers/toes and brain/ass simultaneously. Burnt Envelope is the modern national treasure you never knew we had, a brilliant barrage of slop punk perfection and black humor that shows we’ve still got a long way to go with “evolution,” and a nasty reminder of the beauty of a perfectly fried guitar solo. Will this immaturity get old any time soon? Not as long as baby shit stinks it won’t, and this incredible LP will give you the courage you need to tackle tomorrow’s hurdles, at least in your brain. Don’t worry, we won’t let many people get copies of this, we promise. People in stone houses shouldn’t thrown glass as it just gets everywhere, and it’s a huge mess to clean up….

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.

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!

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 tone dreams are made of, in one of the ‘most potent anthems of NYC punk’ ever caught on tape, right up there with “Max’s Kansas City” by Jayne County, and headed straight into your pleasure receptors. Everyone was reeling and even those mysterious Glimmer Twins, Keef and Mick, locals at the time and looking to sign bands for their label, took note… Fast forward to Sid Vicious’ implication in Nancy Spungen’s death, and Leon’s alleged involvement with being the last witness of the couple at the Chelsea, and legend starts to build exponentially. But even after being courted by Mick & Keith for a possible signing to the fledgling Rolling Stones Records, Leon said Mick talked him out of the deal. But sure enough, they both got together for an impossibly great recording of “Heart of Stone” included here that surely equals the classic rendition by The Pagans (that’s become the gold standard). Despite the record deal falling through, Neon Leon was still asked to perform for the NYC album launch party for Some Girls, and remained on great terms with the Stones camp. But in the early 80s, as the winds shifted, Leon moved back to Europe and settled in Sweden with some musical cohorts, and started the second phase of his underground rock’n roll career. Releasing three singles over the next few years on Scandinavian labels and touring as support for his old friend Johnny Thunders, Leon entered his next chapter, and continued to enjoy the success that was evading him back home in the States. This archival LP collects all of the Neon Leon 7” releases from his 1979-84 period and makes these overseas-only recordings available in the US for the first time, cementing the Neon Leon legend in the sacred halls of the US punk pantheon. The Neon Leon debut album was released in 1983 (funded by Mick Jagger) as a Swedish-only LP but featured Blondie’s Clem Burke as well as notorious KBD star Snuky Tate, and showcases a sold late 70’s Stones vibe perfectly ripe for radio consumption, in a better world, that is… fast forward to the 21st century and Leon still holds it down in Germany these days, still performs occasionally, and we’re extremely proud to finally get these 70s-80s era recordings back into circulation, so make sure to check out both of Neon Leon’s books (Fast Track to Hell and New York City Babylon) crank it up, and don’t ever look back!

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 of New York Punk, and in the minds of rock’n roll historians across the globe. Its a fully-realized album overloaded with massive cuts that’s sadly been forgotten for far too long, so of course, we felt like it was our responsibility to make that happen, and we hope you enjoy this instant-classic album of 1977-82 material from one of New York City’s overlooked gems.

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

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 disagreement, where they disappeared quickly into the ether. RIP Adam Roth: 1958-2015

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."—