The Reptile Palace Orchestra

The sign on the door read, “REPTILE PALACE ORCHESTRA appearing every weekend this month. Please come and enjoy their eclectic mix of traditional and original world music that rocks. Elvis + Armenia + Funkadelic + Bulgaria = RPO.”

I didn’t recognize the band name, but I decided to check it out anyway. They were already on-stage. Dancers grouped in front of the stage as the band launched into their next number, which the lovely lady singing, announced as “Kochari.” The dance floor came alive as body parts were swung to and fro. More numbers followed fusing world music and ethnic styles. One song was in Spanish, the next from Bulgaria, then another in Armenian. Then Turkish, Finnish, English, Italian, Greek, and occasionally a song in a gypsy dialect. As the band played on, I tracked down a bartender and asked him to tell me more about the band.

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Shot To Hell

It is not everyday that you see a band fly out of the starting blocks like Shot To Hell.  Their enthralling version of Psychobilly has been burning the boards throughout the Midwest, uniting fans of multiply genres and age groups.

After a trying year that included three different drummers and a van fire, Shot To Hell has finally (hopefully) put their bad luck behind them with the addition of permanent drummer by the name of Daphna Ron, who also contributes backing vocals.

Shot To Hell has two full albums worth of songs to release, which they will record at their own Psyclops studio in La Crosse. Next month they are going to have a remix version of their song (If you) Think I’m Dumb on the Georgia based Illbilly Records compilation “Dropped On The Head - Vol. 2”

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She Might Have A Gun

My dog Zeus always sits in the same room as me when I write.  He is my barometer to gauge the intensity of music.  Although my Michigan Shepherd didn’t run out of the room like his ass was on fire like he did when I wrote about “Kill Switch…Klick,” he did become highly agitated and restless when I put on the She Might Have a Gun CD, Live Drugs. In fact, I haven’t seen him this distraught since I fed him leftover Sloppy Joes last summer.

Rising out of the debris like bum in Tenny Park on a Sunday afternoon, She Might Have a Gun is the end product of too many Madison bands [Magic Seven, Horizon 90, Last Crack, Autumn’s Dance, One Day War, Breath of Life, The Lotus Band, Krash Holiday].  Curiously, much like Green River/Mother Love Bone/Pearl Jam a decade before them.

Formed in the summer of 98, by Trinity James Mellon and Jamison Downing after they both found themselves without a band. Scraping together other musicians to fill the hole, She Might Have a Gun was born. Dispensing with all regards to the current trends, She Might Have a Gun blazes it’s own way, distributing its sonic barrage with tribal abandonment.  She Might Have a Gun’s music bites you in the ass like a beer soaked squirrel in your sleeping bag. The band consists of Jamison Downing and Noah Rickun on guitars, Trinity Mellon on vocals, Chin on bass, Hooch on congas and poetry and the multi-talented and infamous Buddo on drums. I spoke with the band while they were trying to decide what limo company to hire for their next show.

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The Siegel-Schwall Band

The Siegel-Schwall Band first emerged in 1966 on Vanguard Records in the height of the Summer Of Love blues boomlet. Young Corky & Jim were students of the Chicago Blues and could be found cutting their chops in the Windy City’s clubs with legends like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Hubert Sumlin on an average Thursday evening. Siegel-Schwall released nine studio albums and collaborated with conductor Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra before parting ways in 1974. Their traditional routine of yearly reunion shows since their 1988 Reunion Concert album on Alligator Records has finally been broken, and the group has released Flash Forward, their first studio record in 32 years featuring all originals, and their most polished effort to date. Maximum Ink spoke with Jim Schwall and drummer Sam Lay about what lies ahead for them.

Originally starting out as a duo for small club gigs, Jim would play guitar, Corky would play piano, harp, and percussion, and they both would sing. A rotating rhythm section was added when bookings for larger gigs became standard. When they were signed to Vanguard Records, Siegel-Schwall released four records: The Siegel-Schwall Band, Say Siegel-Schwall, Shake and Siegel-Schwall 70. The group moved to RCA/Wooden Nickel in 1971 and released Sleepy Hollow, 953 West, Last Summer and the aptly titled R.I.P. before breaking up in 1974. Siegel went on to pursue a solo career intertwined with a fusion of classical music and blues and Jim Schwall earned a PhD in Music.

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Ed Thompson

He’s staking his position as Pied Piper of the Proletariat. Ed Thompson, Libertarian candidate for governor, added politics to his lengthy and colorful resume of working-man jobs - from boxer to gambler to prison guard to bar owner. He easily won election as mayor of Tomah. So is the Ed Thompson mystique genuine, or is the reality best reflected in the Libertarian party line?

The truth is that Thompson has the ability to sound convincing in both contexts. Thompson is a “people person,” as reflected by long-standing friendships and warm interaction with strangers. His former boxing coach (and current driver), Jim Meckstroth, has been through many of Thompson ‘s previous battles. “He fought as a heavyweight professionally until he was 40,” Meckstroth said. “He won his last fight, but when I asked ‘how many fingers,’ he said he couldn’t even see my hand.” Thompson translated that scrappiness to his bar business. “Anyone who got out of hand, he’d literally pick ‘em up and throw ‘em out,” Meckstroth said. Thompson has also been winning another well-publicized battle. “He’s been sober for eight years now.” But perhaps Meckstroth’s most telling observation of Thompson was from the boxing ring. “Ed was the kind of boxer who would take three punches to land one good one.”

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Tormentula

“Whorrorcore,” was the reply that I got from Tormentula drummer / vocalist Alice Bludgeon when I asked her to describe Tormentula’s music. I’ve wanted to do a story on Tormentula ever since their CD, Submit You Unworthy Soul, came out last summer. Not a pretty record and occasionally not easy to listen to, but nonetheless a superior record of enraged estrogen recorded for all of the world to hear and one of the best hard rock CD’s to come out of Wisconsin. So impressive is Submit Your Unworthy Soul, that the CD was stolen from my office while I was setting up this article.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from these women with faces made up better than KISS, playing music to stomp gonads to. What I did find was an intelligent and articulate woman (drummer / vocalist Alice Bludgeon) whose love for rock and roll music is as passionate as Angus Young. “I think that music should be challenging to the musician and to the listener,” said Bludgeon.

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Boris The Sprinkler

When you think of Green Bay, there is only one thing that comes to mind, it’s the hometown of that zany punk rock band, Boris the Sprinkler. These Pop Culture abnormalities are so endeared in their hometown that the mayor has proposed to change the name of their obscure football team to “The Green Bay Sprinklers” and the name of the stadium to “Reverend Norb Field.”  Who the hell is Reverend Norb and Boris the Sprinkler, you may ask?  Well sit down, pop a beer, light a cigarette and read on, but I must warn you that after you’re done reading this article, you may know less about the Pride of Green Bay than before you picked up this paper. Formed by vocalist and former writer for Maximum Rock and Roll, (not to be confused with Maximum Ink – the paper in your hands) Reverend Norb, super guitarist Paul #1 and a revolving door rhythm section in 1992.  They were and still are influenced by the more zany side of punk rock music, The Dickies, Rezillos and The Ramones.  “Every talentless idiot like me,” confided Reverend Norb, “learned how to play music by listening to The Ramones.”

They released an uncountable number of 45’s, split 45’s, EP’s, LP’s and CD’s, [Although, research put the number at 6 full-length albums and 19 singles].  “For awhile there,” said Mike Sykes, former owner of Milwaukee’s Stinky Record Exchange, “it seemed like Boris the Sprinkler were releasing a record every week.  I couldn’t keep up and had to dedicate the entire store to them.  I went out of business one month later.”

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