Right Off the bat , let me go on record to say I am all about Van Hagar. Had to get that off my chest. When I first heard Van Halen would be reuniting w/ David Lee Roth and relasing an album , honestly I could care less at first. Then as it got nearer and nearer , I realized this could be good if it is done right. Done right In my ears would be a straight up Rock record. No synth , no programming.  Just a raw rock record that packs a mean punch. Well , I got my wish. Van Halen is back and never sounded better. 14 years since a release and 28(!) years since a release with Diamond Dave is for sure a long time to wait.

The guitar work that Eddie provides is fantastic. No overplaying , not excesssive signature finger tapping. Just a shred away from pure perfection. Alex has the boom and it sounds great. BOOM BOOM crisp nice! Wolfgang has the big task of stepping in some big BIG shoes replacing the irreplacable Michael Anthony. The kid does the job and sounds really really good. Provides a infectious low end that holds the bottom on a steady foundation. Now , David Lee Roth. The attitude is there. The vocals shine and gives us the cockiness that he never lost.  You could almost visualize the chesire cat smile he obviously had on while recording his vocal track. Job well done! This is the first step and they did it right. Hopefully they will play nice nice long enough to get through the tour and stick around to give the music world something that has been lacking and kind of going into extinction , Real Rock N Roll .

Here is the track listing with a brief description of each :

1. Tattoo – first single. not really a great song to get attention. weird decision but it is what it is

2. She’s The Woman – a great rock tune that screams vintage Van Halen from the 70s.

3. You and Your Blues – definitely sounds like a tune that should be on 1984 before they added the synths. Haunting lyrics , great harmonies and really bass driven

4. China Town – WOW! With the exception of Wolfie , 60s year olds blazing like they are in their twenties. Awesome! Great drum work for Alex

5. Blood and Fire – from the start you think its a ballad but David Lee Roth picks it right up. Sounds like the bastard child of Unchained and Dance The Night Away. Same vein

6. Bullethead – a definite left over from ” Women and Children First “. Quick & to the point. Chorus forever implanted into your head

7. As Is – Classick Van Halen crunch. Watch out for the blistering Eddie melting your face if you already didnt get kick in the teeth by David Lee Roth or punched in the gut by the awesome rythmn of Wolfie and Uncle Alex

8. Honeybabysweetiedoll – Odd song but it works. Van Halen get invaded by martians and then take over our brains in less than 3 minutes

9. The Trouble With Never – Welcome to The David Lee Roth show. Classick throwback to the golden days of VH

10. Outta Space – another scortcher and awesome work on all parts of the band. Great lead , infectious bass , BIG BOOM , and DLR screamer!

11. Stay Frosty – the son of the Ice Cream Man. Van Halen blues bliss

12. Big River – My favorite tune on the record. 3 word chorus . Eddie being Eddie and showing us who is the master

13. Beats Workin’ – Can’t wait to hear this one live. This tune coulda been on VH 1 or 2. Great ending to a great album

3.5 stars

Van Halen is back , wether you like it or not. Will they stay , only time will tell.

Van Halen is :

David Lee Roth – Vocals / Alex Van Halen – Drums / Wolfgang Van Halen – Bass / Eddie Van Halen – Guitar

Check out everything VH here : www.van-halen.com

Review by NzaSixx

What do you get if you mix country, rockabilly and early R&B with a crazy beat? The Crybabies like to call it Sex-a-billy-swing-a-ling! For those of you who don’t know what exactly that is check out the Crybabies.

With the raw and sexy vocal styles of rhythm guitar player Trinity Sarratt and upright bass player Luscious Lloyd Clark, the country crooning lead guitar player Fearless Box and the insane drumming style of Wolfgang Sinhart you get a sound and sensation which is new and fresh while having one foot firmly planted in the roots of country and rock’n'roll and the other foot kicking out the jams of early punk rock in a good old fashioned way.

With original songs of good love gone bad such as “Ain’t Lovin My Baby Tonight” and “Bringing Me Down” along with cover versions of Hank Williams and Brenda Lee together with country-fied renditions of The Ramones and The Who this set up is a bottle rocket full of fun with a little somethin’ there for everyone.

I had never heard of the Crybabies before I was sent this album by Sascha from Wolverine Records. I have to say I’m really diggin’ this album. It’s hard to find a band with a good female lead singer. There are exceptions though and this is one of them. Trinity Sarratt can really belt out a good classic female country-esque sound. The male vocals aren’t lacking either in the band.

The description says country and rockabilly mixed with classic R&B but I’m not getting the R&B part which is ok with me. These guys are a straight up country/rockabilly band and I think any other mixture of genres wouldn’t work well with their voices.

Their renditions of songs like “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” by The Ramones are excellent. Everyone always tries to do cover songs as close to the original artist as possible if they’re not acoustic versions and the Crybabies doing them in their own style works extremely well.

I’m glad I was given this album because I probably wouldn’t have heard about these guys otherwise. If you haven’t heard of the Crybabies either you should really check these guys out if you’re into old country and rockabilly. This is one of the better newer bands out there.

For more info on the Crybabies and to check their music out head over to their official Myspace Page and hit up Interpunk to purchase their album “Be All Mine”.

For those of you that don’t know Jamie Clarke was the guitarist for The Pogues and after he left there he formed the band Perfect which he’s been writing music for and touring with since the late 90s.
Jamie Clarke, guitarist, singer and the soul of Perfect was born in 1964 in the middle of nowhere and destined to go places. He moved to Camden, the heart of London and the center of the music world in 1987. He started his career with 80s poptastic “Innocence Lost” and ended up touring the world with famous Irish fold punk band “The Pogues”, playing on their “Pogue Mahone” album. In 1997 he formed “Perfect”, the band he’s been playing with in different line ups ever since.

Jamie Clarke’s Perfect have successfully played more than 1300 shows all over the world. Their famous action-packed live show is a perfect mixture of their own material and some Pogues classics.

The new album “Beatboys” is a must have if you’re a fan Irish punk and folk music. On the back cover of the album cover it says “drunk’n'folk’a'billy and that pretty much sums up the music perfectly.

I’ve listened to this album numerous times and it gets better every time I listen to it. It’s a perfect mix country, rock’n'roll, punk, rockabilly and Irish punk and folk music. Some songs lean more toward one style than others which makes every song feel “fresh”. The energy of this album and the musical talent are both amazing. Every album from Jamie Clarke’s Perfect is damn near Perfect and they somehow seem to get better.

If you’ve never heard of Jamie Clarke’s Perfect then I highly recommend you check the band out and Beatboys is just as a good a place to start as any.

For more information on Perfect including a full discography, tour dates and music previews head on over to their official website www.HomeOfPerfect.de. Their music and merch is available all over but I prefer www.Interpunk.com for all my music and merch needs. Just search for “Jamie Clarke”.

Review by Shaun

Every year in the fall the artists at Psychopathic Records always go out on tour across the US with the ending date always being their huge Hallowicked show on Halloween night in Detroit. In the past the tour has split up with the Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid doing separate tours and even having separate Halloween shows in different states. Well this year the best part about the tour is it’s not split up so you don’t have to be torn about which show to go to. It’s called the American Psycho tour and it features not only the Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid but Blaze is going to be there too.

Now I’ve been meaning to post about this for awhile because the tour already started but for reasons beyond my control, and as Violent J would say “any reasons you hear are purely speculation”, I haven’t. Anyway, Wreckhouse Magazine will be attending the show to cover it when it hits Wisconsin because we won’t be able to go to the actual Hallowicked show this year.

If you’re a Juggalo you can’t miss this tour this year, especially since the whole original Psychopathic Family’s going to be there layin’ down the wicked shit all night long.

For more info on the American Psycho tour including dates and links to buy tickets visit Insane Clown Posse’s Official Website, Twiztid’s Official Website, or Blaze’s Official Website and click over to the tour section.

The Hypnophonics have been around since 2007 but I only heard about them last year with the release of their second album, “The Last Band On Earth”, which is their first full length studio album. Stomp Records was awesome enough to send me a copy of their new CD to review here in Wreckhouse and I have to say at first I thought they were just going to be your average run of the mill psychobilly band that are a dime a dozen nowadays. Well I couldn’t have been more wrong when I popped the CD in.

The Hypnophics are actually hard to stick in a genre. They have elements of rock’n'roll, psychobilly, surf rock and punk that work extremely well together, especially with lead singer Angus’ voice. I have listened to this album more times than I can count since I’ve received it and it actually gets better every time I listen to it. I can honestly say there is not one bad or mediocre song on this album.

I’ve seen some reviews where people say the band is “gimmicky” and “goofy” because of the album cover for “The Last Band On Earth” with them wearing 3-D glasses and such but this is far from the truth. This is a well polished group of talented musicians and I feel that the album cover reflects the old 50′s rock’n'roll part of the band. It’s not just some gimmick they run with because they’re a bad band and need something to take the focus off that like some other bands.

I’ve never seen the band live (which will hopefully change soon if they come anywhere near Chicago) so I can’t really comment on their live shows but I see their live shows being nothing short of awesome. This band has awesome energy that could definitely start a riot in the pit. Every element of this band is hard-hitting and genuinely psychotic.

In conclusion I can’t recommend this band enough and I encourage you to pick up their albums and catch a live show if you can. I can honestly say The Hypnophonics are one of my new favorite bands.

For more info on the band including song previews and live videos, tour dates and to pick up some of their killer merch head over to The Hypnophonics Official Website.

By Shaun May

Superstar. Wierdo. Diva. Mama Monster. Call her what you will . Lady Gaga is here to stay and back with a vengence. Born This Way , like everything else she does , is over the top. Starting off with Marry The Night , LG gives us another reason to tear up the dance floor once again. A irrestible groove will make it nearly impossible for you not to move to this tune. Present is already the radio hits Born This Way &  Judas which shows us who Lady Gaga’s biggest influence is. She claims Whitney , We claim Madonna! In the vain of her previous hit Alejandro Americano is like the sister to the song. Showing of her bilingual knowledge , half of the words are in Spanish. On ScheiBe , Gaga declares ” She doesn’t speak German but can if you like “. Another great beat , another dance hit. Hair taps into 80′s One Hit Wonder Berlin (Take My Breath Away) which shows off Gaga’s strong vocal harmonizing with a beautiful piano , a moving synth and a nice distant saxaphone. The standout track You and I is my favorite song on this album. It is a different version from what I original heard but it works. Big Rock Drum , Great backup vocals and another strong Gaga vocal. I really was looking foward to the last song on the album The Edge of Glory. Rumor had it that E-Street great Clarence Clemons is on the track. He is and plays a cool sax part on it but again its Lady Gaga who steals the song again. All the musicians that play on this album all are top shelf. Every song on this album is radio friendly. I would be shocked if this album does not have at the very least 5 Top 10 hits when it’s all said and done. She will without a doubt tour a solid 2 years off of this album.

Like I said before , Lady Gaga is here to stay. This album will give her more Grammys , another Sold Out Tour all over the world and basically the anything she wants. Love her or hate her , you have to respect someone like her. She followed her dreams and made them reality. Underneath all the glitz , costume and huge stage show , Lady Gaga at least has one thing that some Superstars lack : Talent. She also can perform live! I suggest If you haven’t seen her live , you should. 4 stars

Born This Way is available everywhere in Standard and Deluxe Editions

Review by NzaSixx

Where has time gone. It’s been 7 long years since we’ve had any new music from Face to Face. Now from being a staple at the annual summer Warped Tour to going on hiatus and playing side projects, F2F have decided to give us something new. Prehaps something new can be like the same old thing.

Kicking off the album is Should Anything Go Wrong. A nice opener, a great pit starter. They don’t waste any time (like they can afford to waste anymore) the F2F anthem It’s Not All About You will awaken that young punk that was once in you. What You Came For sounds like it’s a B side off of 1995′s Big Choice. That is the F2F that I am looking for. Definite standout out track. I Don’t Mind and You Don’t Matter is one of those punk tunes that declares I am over you and want you to know. That concept always makes me laugh, because If you we’re indeed over it, you wouldn’t be writing tunes about it … still.

I am happy in a sense that Face to Face has released this album . Then again a lot has happened in the last 7 years to try to pick up where you left off. Bands like Social Distortion wait 7 years to release something but mature over those years since releasing. I don’t think Face to Face has or maybe they have. It just doesn’t show musically. Sticking to the basics is what a lot bands make a career of. Laugh Now Laugh Later is not a bad album, it is not a great album. It is stuck somewhere in the middle….where most of us are content to be.

2.5 Stars

Face to Face is now available through amazon. Click HERE

Review by NzaSixx

This band happened by accident. Nikki Sixx, the bassist of Motley Crue, has been collaborating with James Michael for years writing songs. When time came for Sixx to write music to accompany his autobiography/diary “The Heroin Diaries “, Nikki and James wrote a few songs which turned out to be more than they expected. This project never was expected to be in such high demand (touring, more, more, more).

Nikki has just released his second book titled “This Is Gonna Hurt” which is half picture-half diary and this is where the new music was inspired from. Kicking off the album with the title track “This Is Gonna Hurt“, it has the catchy line “Listen up, listen up there’s a devil in the church got a bullet in the chamber and this is gonna hurt“. The drums are BIG and the guitars scream. Wait till radio gets a listen, guaranteed hit.” Lies Of The Beautiful People” delivers the message that beauty is in the inside and those who think they are beautiful on the outside are most likely the ugly ones. A standout track “Live Forever” shows what Sixx:Am really are about. Strong vocals, catchy sing along chorus and a beautiful solo that will send chills up your spine. “Help Is on The Way” is like if 30 Seconds to Mars met Queen, rock opera bliss! “Oh My God“ is in the vain of U2 and has beautiful harmony vocals layered with “That Edge” sound. A nice piano intro on “Goodbye My Friends” takes a 180 and it ends up sounding like if Meat Loaf and Radiohead collaborated on a song. There is not any album fillers on this one, every song tells a story which makes it not a boring concept album.  

It’s like Nikki is saving his best material for this outfit. His song writing really is superior on this album. James’ vocals have such range and he is just the perfect catch for Sixx’s words. DJ Ashba can fingertap with the best of them. He is not a show off. He plays the right chords at the right time and is the heart and soul on this record. I know I could be labeled biased because I am a Cruehead but regardless this is just a killer record. Wouldn’t a Cruehead want more Crue? Yes! Of course I do. Sixx:AM is just a different beast of its own right now and I really hope they continue to make music together. The only reason this hurts is because it’s the truth and that is the most hurtful thing to all!

Track Listing

1. This Is Gonna Hurt 2. Lies of The Beautiful People 3. Are You With Me Now 4. Live Forever 5. Sure Feels Right 6. Deadlihood 7. Smile 8. Help Is On The Way 9. Oh My God 10. Goodbye My Friends  11. Skin

This Is Gonna Hurt by Sixx:AM and This Is Gonna Hurt by Nikki Sixx are both available everywhere now.

For everything Sixx go here : www.nikkisixx.net

3.5 Stars

Review by NzaSixx

The Midnight Creeps! Hmmmmm, what to say. I feel violated after listening to this one and I mean that in a good way. Punk Rock the way it was and the way it should be now! Songs about drinking, fighting the fight and holding nothing back, TMC have been kicking out the jams for the past 5 years.

Starting off with Red Rum, Jenny Hurricane yowls like an angry Patty Smith with a hint of Rob Zombie. Memorial Day is a standout track. A real scufflebuster that kicks you in the gut while you are singing along “Life is hard, life is tough, life is rough, enough’s enough!” The name Love Songs caught my eye because I’d love to see the type of love song this band would play. I wasn’t surprised at all, a gritty raw chorus that makes you bang your head relentlessly. Paris Is A Basement is somewhat reminiscent of one of my favorite bay bands Tilt. Jenny taps into Cinder Block and shows more than a scream with nice range in her voice. The dual guitar work is solid whether it shreds or chugs along the distorted route. The bass holds it together straight through and supplies the backbone to a pounding drummer that definitely does not overplay and hits all the right beats. Barracoochie Lucy (The Twat Wants What The Twat Wants) is such a clever name for a tune and is my favorite track. You can see TCM influences throughout the album, but on this specific track I can guarantee that Wendy O Williams of the Plasmtatics would approve and happily bop along to it.

With various lineup changes through the years TCM continue to play throughout the east coast and recently opened for Sponge. They are currently working on a new album to be released sometime in the near future. For everything Midnight Creeps check out their official Facebook page.

Current Lineup

Jenny Hurricane – Lead Vocals
Rich Maggio- Guitar
Stimbot – Guitar/Back Vocals
Jami Sleaze- Bass
Cory Taylor – Drums

Review by NzaSixx