Rocktober '10s Song #8: "Run Rabbit Run" by Black Pistol Fire (2014)

In the last 20-25 years, duos have proved that you don't need a full band to make fantastic rock and roll music, with The White Stripes and Black Keys kind of setting the standard with only a guitarist and a drummer.  Many great bands have followed suit, one of which is Canadian, yet Austin-based, duo Black Pistol Fire, comprised of Kevin McKeown on guitar and lead vocals and Eric Owen on drums.

They met in kindergarten (!) in Toronto and began playing music together in high school before relocating to Austin.  They released their first album in 2011, and they began to catch the eyes and ears of music audiences beginning with their 2014 album Hush Or Howl.  I discovered them around that time, and I first saw them at Lollapalooza in 2015 -- and have seen them five more times live since then.  Following in the footsteps of The White Stripes and Black Keys, they play mostly garage rock, with some blue-based and punk influences.  Their songs are generally full of energy, as are their live shows, and they get a hell of a lot of sound out of those two instruments.

I'm going with "Run Rabbit Run" off of Hush Or Howl, though admittedly, it was a tough choice because all the songs on the album are great.  Owen lays down kind of a rock shuffle beat that drives the song, and the song explodes in the choruses.  It's a perfect example of why I've seen them a half dozen times in the last eight years and will see them whenever they come through town.

Rocktober '10s Song #7: "Safari Song" by Greta Van Fleet (2017)

It would be criminal to have a Rocktober celebrating the 2010s without including a Greta Van Fleet song.  Formed in 2012 in Frankenmuth, Michigan -- most well-known, at least to me, for being home to the world's largest Christmas store -- Greta Van Fleet is not, in fact, a woman's name, but rather a band of three brothers and a friend who make great rock and roll music.

They released their debut EP, Black Smoke Rising, in 2017, and the pretty much took the rock world by storm.  The comparisons to Led Zeppelin were ubiquitous, if not sometimes pejorative, but to the haters, I say that I wish there were more bands that sounded like Led Zeppelin and Greta Van Fleet these days.

It didn't take long before I discovered them, and I saw them for the first time at Lollapalooza in 2018.  By that time, they had released another EP (albeit 8 songs, so I don't know why it wasn't considered a full-length album), From The Fires.

"Safari Song," which is on both Black Smoke Rising and From The Fires, was the band's second single and their second #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.  It's a stellar, Zeppelin-esque hard rock song that starts with a great riff and a mighty wail from lead singer Joshua Kiszka, followed by subdued verses mixed in with bombastic choruses.  It's pure rock and roll, and again, I wish there was more modern rock like this.

Rocktober '10s Song #6: "When My Train Pulls In" by Gary Clark, Jr. (2012)

As a student of popular musical history and lover of the blues, I love it when younger generations carry the blues torch.  It's one of those things that gives me faith in humanity.  I remember sitting on my couch and my old condo in 2011.  A friend was over, and we had just discovered Gary Clark, Jr.  As luck would have it, he was playing not too far away, at Space in Evanston, that night.  As unluck would have it, there was no chance we were going to be able to get to the show to see much of it, if there were even tickets available.  But the point is, we thought he was awesome, and that feeling hasn't changed in the twelve years since then.

Clark, like many blue-based guitar wunderkinds, is from Austin.  He has been playing the guitar since he was 12 and got pretty damn good pretty damn quickly -- to the point where the Austin mayor declared May 3, 2001 to be Gary Clark, Jr. Day in Austin.  Clark was 17.

He released his first album that year and then another in 2004, but then took six years to release his self-titled EP that kind of introduced him to a broader audience.  Since then, he's taken his guitar talents all over the world, recorded with the likes of Alicia Keys, Foo Fighters, Booker T. Jones, Tom Morello, and Childish Gambino, among others, and released three full length studio albums.

I'm going with "When My Train Pulls In," off of 2012's Blak and Blu, which was Clark's major label debut.  The album went to #6 on the Billboard album chart and #1 on the Billboard Blues album chart.  The song is a blues-based slow burner that starts with a fuzzy riff.  I've always like Clark's voice as well.  Like many great blues singers, he sounds older than his years.  But most importantly, he absolutely shreds at various points in the song.

Rocktober '10s Song #5: "Near to the Wild Heart of Life" by Japandroids (2017)

For our next song, we go to the Great White North, with "Near to the Wild Heart of Life" by Vancouver-based duo Japandroids.  I love a good word combination, but in addition to that, I first heard about the band not long after they released their 2009 debut album Post-Nothing, which I thought was a clever reference to all the "post-" music genres (post-punk, post-grunge, etc.).  Their music definitely trends towards punk, but with some garage rock, indie rock, and alt rock mixed in.

In 2017, they released their third studio album, Near to the Wild Heart of Life, which was less punkish than their previous albums, expanding the band's musical catalog.  The title track kicks the album off with a bang.  Drummer David Prowse drives the song with breakneck beats, and then lead singer/guitarist Brian King brings a mid-era Replacements/Gaslight Anthem feel to the song with both his guitar playing and vocals.  The chorus is a sing-along, with elements of '80s glam rock with Prowse joining in with King.  The lyrics are very Springsteen-esque, about chasing your dreams and getting out of your hometown, leaving what you know to go to the big city.  All in all, the song just kicks ass.

Hair Band Friday - 10/6/23

1.  "Holy Diver" by Dio

2.  "Pleasure Dome" by Van Halen

3.  "Electric Requiem" by Queensrÿche

4.  "Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)" by Mr. Big

5.  "Hell Child" by Lynch Mob

6.  "Fire and Ice" by Cinderella

7.  "42nd Street" by Spread Eagle

8.  "Tell Me How You Want It" by Damn Yankees

9.  "Bed of Roses" by Warrant

10.  "Louder Than Hell" by Mötley Crüe

Rocktober '10s Song #4: "I Dare You" by The Regrettes (2019)

Our next song is from LA-based band The Regrettes.  The band was formed in the mid teens, and they play a pleasant combination of punk, garage rock, and garage pop.  They have released three studio albums -- 2017's Feel Your Feelings Fool!, 2019's How Do You Love, and last year's Further Joy -- and you can tell their influences are eclectic, from the riot grrrl bands to '60s pop to power pop, among others.

I'm going with "I Dare You" off of How Do You Love?  For me, it's kind of fun to hear more recent bands that are influenced by bands from the early 2000s, and "I Dare You" has some pretty overt Strokes influences.  And right after I wrote that last sentence, I realized the song was co-written by Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, so there you go.  It's a catchy garage pop rocker that makes you wanna tap your toes.  And the video is fun too.

Rocktober '10s Song #3: "The Devil's Bleeding Crown" by Volbeat (2016)

For song #3, we're going across the pond.  Denmark's Volbeat has been making great music for well over a decade.  Their music weaves between metal, hard rock, groove metal, melodic metal, and psychobilly.  And like most Scandinavian music, even the hardest rocking Volbeat songs have a hook.

I like the band, but I've always thought lead singer Michael Poulsen's voice is sometimes too clean sounding.  That's not a knock or anything, but I like some of their songs better live because they sound a little more raw.

Anywho, I'm going with "The Devil's Bleeding Crown" from the band's 2016 album Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie.  The album was arguably the band's most successful to date, reaching #4 on the Billboard album chart -- making it the second-highest charting album by a Danish band or artist on the Billboard album chart -- as well as #1 on the album charts in eight other countries and the Top 10 in another six countries.

The song a hard rocker with a catchy chorus, and it became the band's fifth single that topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (they have had five more since then).  And the video is pretty cool and weird.

Rocktober '10s Song #2: "Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll" by Foxy Shazam (2012)

Song number two of the '10s Rocktober is from another favorite band of mine from the last decade, Cincinnati's Foxy Shazam.  They formed in 1997 at Train of Thought, but then changed their name to Foxy Shazam in the mid aughts, releasing a couple records in the late 2000s before being signed to Sire records in 2010.  That year they released their self-titled third album, and I was going to go with "Unstoppable" from that album, but it wouldn't be couth to start Rocktober with two songs from the same year.

Instead, I went with "Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll" off of their 2012 album The Church of Rock and Roll, which, incidentally, is the only church to which I would want to belong.  In support of that album, they toured with The Darkness on their reunion tour, and that's when I first discovered Foxy Shazam.  They're another great live band, and I've been a fan since I saw them on that fateful night in February 2012 -- which also happened to be the day Whitney Houston died.

I've seen them several times live since then.  They broke up in 2014, but then reunited just in time for COVID to hit.  However, they have put out three albums since 2020.

"Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll" is a glammy banger that has since been featured on the trailer for the second season of the HBO show Peacemaker.  By the way, if you haven't seen the show -- which I haven't, admittedly -- it has an amazing soundtrack of hard rock and glam rock from various decades.  If you like this song and that kind of music is your bag, I highly suggest you check out the Peacemaker playlist on Spotify.

Rocktober '10s Song #1: "I Don't Wanna Hear It" by J. Roddy Walston & The Business (2010)

Our rocking journey through the teens begins with a song from one my favorite bands to emerge from the decade:  J. Roddy Walston & The Business.  I discovered them at Lollapalooza in 2011, when they were playing one of the earliest sets on one of the days.  Along with maybe a couple hundred other people, I got a treat.  They killed it, and I became a fan right then and there.  I would go on to see them another eight times between then and 2018, which means they currently retain sole possession of fourth place on my list of bands I've seen the most in concert.  (And since I know you're curious about the three above them, it's The Hold Steady (18), The Black Keys (11), and Def Leppard (10).)

The band formed in the early 2000s in Cleveland, Tennessee, which is near Chattanooga.  They self-released their debut album, Hail Mega Boys, in 2007, and then a couple years later, they were signed to Vagrant Records and released their self-titled sophomore album in 2010.

I'd describe their sound as, well, rock and roll.  Walston is kind of like a combination of the voice of Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arkansas and the wild piano-playing theatrics of Jerry Lee Lewis -- which always made for a fun show.  They have some hints of southern rock, garage rock, soul, glam ('70s, not hair), and blues rock.  Overall, they put out great music for most of the last decade, with their third album, 2013's Essential Tremors (the song "Sweat Shock" was featured in a Coors Light commercial around that time) and the follow-up, 2017's Destroyers of the Soft Life.  Then, unfortunately, they broke up in late 2019.

I'm going with "I Don't Wanna Hear It" off of their 2010 self-titled album.  To me, it's not only a kickass, foot-stomping, sing-along rock and roll song, but it's one of the songs that I most associate with the band's amazing live shows.

Rocktober is Upon Us!

Here we are again, starting the best month of the year, and at 80 degrees no less!  It's time for Rocktober, and we are in the sixth and final year of my six-year plan of the Rocktober Decade Countdown.  This year, we be looking at -- and more importantly, listening to -- the rock and roll of the teens.  

The 2010s were full of changes for me.  At the beginning of the decade, I had been a father for mere weeks.  By the time the decade ended, I was a father of three kids in grade school, and we were mere months from a global pandemic.

Musically, I don't yet know what to make of the 2010s.  It seemed like it was dominated by pop, teen pop, and hip hop, but that doesn't been there wasn't some good rock in there.  Indie rock was definitely still around, but there was also some solid metal, punk, garage rock, and more.

As I do every October, I'm gonna give you a daily dose of rock, at least on the weekdays.  There will be no repeated artists during the course of the month.  I'm going to try my best not to repeat songs that I have featured in prior Rocktobers or artists that I have featured in the previous years of the Rocktober Decade Countdown, but I make no promises.  As always, the week leading up to Halloween will feature songs with dark, evil, or macabre themes.  CoronaVinyl and Retro Video of the Week will be suspended during Rocktober, but Hair Band Friday will continue because Hair Band Friday never stops.  

As always, remember that this is Rocktober, so these will all be bands, artists, and songs that rock, even though they may not always be from genres or artists that you would consider "rocking" or "rockers."  There will be popular songs, songs that you may never had heard before, and maybe even some bands and artists you've never heard of.  Rest assured, though, everything will rock.