Bettie Page's Bangs (feat. Ben McLeod)

#140 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, Bettie Page's Bangs, features All Them Witches guitarist extraordinaire, Ben McLeod. I first met Ben when he came over to our house in Nashville to buy a Fizzy, one of the custom-made fuzz boxes by my then 8-year-old son, Izzy (employed here by Rich Kirch on the intro guitar figure). Ben sat down in the living room, picked up his guitar, plugged in and at just 16 years old completely blew me away. He had the touch and tone of someone twice his age. And he looked cool too (kind of like a young Joe Perry). Within a few years of that meeting, Ben went on to form All Them Witches, a super stoney, heavy rock outfit, and they began to conquer the world, signing with the German heavy-psych label Elektrohasch Schallplatten and then eventually with New West Records. They are an extremely prolific band, having released 14 albums and a bunch of singles since their inception in 2012. ATW is currently touring the US doing a series of residencies in different major cities including SF, LA, NYC, Denver, and Austin. If you haven't seen or heard them I highly recommend you do. I hope you enjoy this little nod and wink to the stoner rock of my day (Train Kept A-Rollin' anyone?). 

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA and diabolically mixed and mastered by the Supreme Ruler of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen.

A Face In The Crowd (feat. Lyle Workman)

#139 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, A Face In The Crowd, features the freakishly talented musician, Lyle Workman. A Bay Area native and long-time Angelino, Lyle is a highly respected and sought after composer and player. I had the pleasure of jamming with Lyle twenty-five years ago with Tubes drummer Prairie Prince and although I didn't know Lyle by reputation, he had already been in Bourgeois Tagg and had played on two Todd Rundgren albums, it was quite apparent that this guy was not your average rock and roll singer/guitarist. His compositions were intelligent and challenging and his playing was hyper stylized. Fast forward to 2021 and the magic of the interweb and here we have Lyle doing his thing on my thing. I was really impressed with Lyle's enthusiasm for the project and also his humility, he generously suggested other players that he was excited about for the series. Not necessarily what you'd expect from a cat whose discography contains collaborations with Frank Black, Sheryl Crow, Shakira, Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan, Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones & Michael Bublé as well as composing music for films such as; Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin & Forgetting Sarah Marshall and tours with Sting & Beck. I hope your neighbors enjoy this as much as you do when you crank the shit out of it...you really have to!

The backing band on this track is my Bay Area comrade, Scott Amendola, (Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter) bangin' on the drums and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. Drums were tracked at Scott's house, bass & rhythm guitar at NTA in San Bruno, and guitars at Lyle's studio in LA. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.