Modern Action Records » Bands

MANIAC

Modern Action — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 02:32:07 +0000

…were formed in Los Angeles, California in 2012. Zache Davis moved to L.A. via Seattle where he played in bands like The Girls and The Cute Lepers. After injuring himself in a serious bicycle accident in L.A., he became a drug dealer to pay his extensive medical bills. Andrew Zappin, an L.A. transplant from Dayton, Ohio had never played in a band before but honed his lead guitar chops for years playing along to Cheap Trick records. Along with music video director Ardy Fatehi (who played in Portland, Oregon punk band Goons of Destruction), they formed the band Maniac, recruiting Richie Cardenas of Clorox Girls, Rough Kids and Neighborhood Brats on the drums. When Ardy Fatehi was forced to work on location in another city, Davis and company decided to ask Justin Maurer of Clorox Girls and L.A. Drugz to fill in on guitar. This fill-in job became a permanent one, and Maurer began to contribute to song writing and arrangement duties. After recording their first single, Richie Cardenas left the group to go back to school while also working full time for the US Postal Service. To bring the band incest full circle, they brought in James Carman of Images and L.A. Drugz to play drums.

REVIEWS OF THEIR DEBUT LP BELOW:

MANIAC – DEMIMONDE LP
Welcome back on board all you drunks, freaks and faggots ! Wave goodbye to your pubes and dreams ´cause you´ve checked in for a bumpy flight to Party City, homebase of MANIAC and departure point for a Tour De Punk unicycle ride nonchalantly shot from the hip with an almost brassy off pat level of sleaziness and ease.Tune in for a middle finger Snot Pop Operetta with cubistic spandex trousers rebuilding the glorious history of professional beer can stabbing and the frivolous power of the walrus moustache movement created by four visionaries (whose past in rowdy rockers like CUTE LEPERS, SUSPECT PARTS, CLOROX GIRLS, LA DRUGZ, GIRLS or DEADLY WEAPONS could and should already fill shelves in the epicurean section of human history alone) who set forth to kick that damn C-Major Scale in it´s boring ass and create a final musical monument of blood, bogy and banana splits instead. Within´ the scope of this mission they´re first dismantling the concentrate of their prior work into it´s trippy molecular L.A. Punk components ala WEIRDOS or EYES before finally infusing the whole rotten neuron bomb soup into Leonard Graves´ veins Re-Animator style and watch him mutate into a befoddled super soldier with suspender tights wanking towards Third World War waving the Pink Flag of WIRE against the enemy noise annoying BUZZCOCKS troops. Indeed, just like this record, a battle of epic proportions ultimately imploding in all it´s glory at the Rodney Bingenheimer M.A.S.H. for coiffure-accidents.
9/10
(Vibrator Buzz – https://vibratorbuzzblog.wordpress.com/)

MANIAC – DEMIMONDE LP
MANIAC are gentlemen punks from Los Angeles. They are what they call a supergroup, being comprised of ex and current members of bands like CLOROX GIRLS, CUTE LEPERS, THE GIRLS, IMAGES, L.A. DRUGZ and RED DONS. Demimonde is their first long player. With echoes of everything from Cheap Trick to early Wire to modern-day greats like The Briefs, Demimonde hits that perfect blend of catchy ’77 punk and jittery new wave. And with all due credit to engineer MARK RAINS at Stationhouse Studios and DANIEL HUSAYN of Red Dons for the mastering job to make this baby loud and raucous.
(Taken By Surprise – https://takenbysurpriserecords.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/maniac-demimonde-lp-out-now/)

MANIAC – DEMIMONDE LP
Maniac might not be a name familiar to you before you gazed upon this review but La Drugz and Cute Lepers are but two bands you should have heard and maybe by the time you reach the end of my words you’ll be tempted to venture into the red link at the bottom and check out this bad boy.’Live Like Bats’ thunders in on a bass rumble that will test your speaker low end. Andrew Zappin (guitar), James Carman (drums), Justin Maurer (guitar/vocals) and Zache Davis (vocals/bass) sure as shit know how to pen a great tune and they might as well start from the top, mixing up punk rock aggression with new wave attitude this is a winner, folks, and it fires straight into the Rocket From The Crypt-inspired ‘Dim Sum’ and the sonic blast is exciting and well up for it! Sure, it’s not new territory for this L.A. band but cutting a great record isn’t as easy as going into a studio and BINGO! there you have it. ‘Dans Le Sang’ is like a snarling dog and in fairness spread out over the eleven tunes on offer the pace rarely drops and neither does the quality. One rattles into the other as ‘Rerun Ritual’ proves with another great prominent bassline courtesy of Zache Davis as the guitars slash like prime time Keith and Mick with a familiar riff bastardised into a punk rock anthem. It’s great that all these players are in numerous bands yet can pen different tracks and a variety of styles yet I’ve been blown away by the songs they keep coming up with. ‘When I’m Gone’ is dirty punk rock ‘n’ roll yet it has a melody that is right from the Soda Pop Kids or Exploding Hearts and that’s no easy task. To wind up the album ‘Alright Okay’ could be a Cute Lepers track such is the ferocity and attitude of the thing but there isn’t time to hang about and as soon as this album starts cooking it’s 100 miles an hour in your face punk ‘n’ roll but don’t think for a minute that any song suffers because of the attitude and style – in fact, it’s pretty faultless as far as marrying the complete package goes.
(Uber Rock – http://www.uberrock.co.uk)

MANIAC – DEMIMONDE LP
Taut shit! Raging shit! Taut, raging shit! And that’s the best kind! Sounds a little like those tight, angular bands who used to be tangentially popular among the Hozac set in the early Y2K era, with maybe a little of that ‘90s neo-Brainiac art school disconnection, but mostly this is just a big ol’ fast-paced sledgehammer to the xiphoid process. I can usually tell when a band is from Southern California just by listening to them for maybe ten seconds, and was somewhat surprised I couldn’t ID this band as such ‘til I did some research and found out they’re led by that dude from the Girls and Cute Lepers, relocated from Seattle. I remain undefeated in this regard. BEST SONG: “PartyCity” BEST SONG TITLE: “Wendy, Same Thing?” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I don’t know anyone else who spells their name “Zache.” – Rev Norb/Razorcake
(Razorcake – http://www.razorcake.org)

MANIAC – DEMIMONDE LP
Maniac is a L.A. band that sounds like a Pacific Northwest band. They come by it naturally though since a few members are from the top end of the I-5 and used to play in bands like The Girls and Clorox Girls. I love those bands and others such as The Spits and The Briefs who managed to bring something cool to a land long thought barren in the wake of the mainstream takeover in the early ‘90s. Anyways, Maniac can’t help but sound like these amazing bands, but the magic happens when they take it to a whole new level. Buzzing, jerky guitars and harmonies you can’t get out of your head with an icepick are the order of the day. Maniac is a party band and it’s a party that I want to be at. I know that this album was delayed with all of the pressing plant issues that are happening in this day and age, but I am here to tell you that it is more than well worth the wait. I can only hope they head up the Northern Corridor to play some shows. –ty stranglehold/Razorcake
(Razorcake – http://www.razorcake.org)

Swingin’ Utters

Modern Action — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 11:57:08 +0000

“I guess the classic funny story about our band is how we got our name. Our old name, which was “Johnny Peebucks and the Swingin’ Utters”, we shortened because people’s attention spans are too short. I guess everyone kept forgetting it. Anyways, Johnny got very drunk with some friends up in the mountains and pissed his pants and puked all over himself. Later he was very hungry and they drove to Taco Bell where he paid the lady with a piss-soaked dollar bill. She asked if he’d been swimming and Johnny replied, “No, I pissed my pants”. Hence “peebucks”. Swingin’ Utters is from our friend’s cat with big ‘uns.”

Peripherique Est

Modern Action — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 11:56:54 +0000

PÉRIPHÉRIQUE est c’est le cinéma de Boulie Lanners sur scene! C’est l’ambiance Benoît Delépine et Gustave Kervern (le chanteur fait une apparition dans leur dernier film!)
Textes très bien vus, justes, concis, sagaces et subtils. Au niveau guitares, c’est de la dentelle, entre Johnny Ramones et Brian James (The Dammed), pur plaisir sauvage. Bref, le genre de groupe qu’on aimerait entendre tellement, tellement plus souvent

The Stitches

Modern Action — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 15:59:23 +0000

The first 16 seconds of “Sixteen” are everything you need to know about the Stitches. Mike Lohrman counts off, sounding oddly alone, the room echoing behind him. The song lurches: raw, ragged, as low and slow as a B-17 bomber. But before you can finish the thought, theyve jumped a beat ahead. “Sixteen” revs up and then doubles over itself. Its all those months of speed and strangling boredom…….you know the rest of the story…

The Bodies

Modern Action — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:42:04 +0000

Born in 1996…currently on life support…

A typical Bodies show:
Bad sound, musical mistakes, incorrect lyrics, way too much smoke, retards-a-plenty…and a lot of fun…(see evidence below)

the BRiEFS

Modern Action — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:07:42 +0000

Intro

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Verse

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Chorus
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Zack Zack

Modern Action — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 20:05:38 +0000

Zack Zack is the new band from Smail and Lotze from the legendary Berlin Punk outfit THE SHOCKS. If any of you aren’t familiar with the SHOCKS, immediately fix that now and go seek out all of their releases, which are all essential. Zack Zack is completed by Andy from THE CREEKS and Marius from THE MINUS APES. They play a blend of the patented SHOCKS ’77 pogo punk mixed with late 70′s-era power pop resulting in a killer new genre of POGOPOWERPOPPUNK….

Amoebas

Modern Action — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:14:25 +0000

Based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Amoebas are without doubt one of the best up-and-coming punk bands I’ve heard in recent years. Their sound takes me back to the glorious mid-‘90s – when The Stitches dominated Maximum Rocknroll top ten lists and the almighty Prostitutes were unleashed upon an unsuspecting punk world. You just don’t hear many bands like this anymore! Amoebas take that classic “snotty” punk rock style and infuse it with a touch of early ‘80s California proto-hardcore (they may or may not have taken their name from the Adolescents song). The “hit” is “I’m A Nervous Wreck”, a flat-out ripper of a tune that combines fuck-off attitude and simple catchiness in all the best ways. It’s got everything – cool bass lines, melodic guitar leads, a raging rock and roll backbeat, and a supremely snot-nosed lead vocal. Killer! Also great is “Gimme a Fix”, the A-side from the band’s sold-out debut 7” on Gimme Gimme Records. Young, loud, and snotty never goes out of style! I dig those Steve Jones by way of James Williamson guitars, and I always love a band that can deliver a ripping tune in two minutes or less. I really like what I’m hearing so far. The song title alone tells you that “Perverts and Rats” is gonna be an awesome track! I’ve always wanted to visit Grand Rapids so that I could finally taste a Founders Dirty Bastard on draught. Now I have a second reason!
-Lord Rutledge (Now Wave Magazine)

NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS

Modern Action — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:11:31 +0000

NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS – self-titled EP
I’m sorry, words just can’t describe how incredible Neighborhood Brats are. Seriously, just go get this now! It’s on Modern Action records, which, as I’ve said before, seems pretty much infallible at this point. This disc went into my car where it plays over and over and over again. My only complaint is that five songs aren’t enough. Where’s the LP?
(Ty Stranglehold – Razorcake)

NEIGHBORHOOD BRATS – 1-sided 12” EP
The whole L.A./S.F., northern/southern California punk rivalry is a fuckin’ farce man, designed by lazy minds and a back-pocket excuse to go beating on someone you don’t know. Point in case: L.A. transplant Jenny Angelillo, formerly of the Orphans, taking up the Penelope Houston/Avengers role while one-year-ex-OC dude George Rager plugs in through guitar riffs reminiscent of Circle Jerks “World Up My Ass.” I’m not sayin’ it’s a SF’s band’s lovefest, but borders are for xenophobic fucktards and I’m looking for world peace… one neighborhood at a time. Looking for no-thinkin’, jerk-you-from-your-seat punk rock? There’ll always be worm-wiggle-on-the-floor room for ‘em in my record collection…
(Todd – Razorcake)

Modern Action

Modern Action — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 15:08:21 +0000

Northern California punk rock band dedicated to bringing back the 3 guitar attack ala The Eagles and The Angry Samoans…

MODERN ACTION: Molotov Solution LP
This is something to behold. This is punk rock in its purest form, in my opinion. The music bounces and throws you around. If you’re not outright jumping around the room, your legs are bouncing and your hands are tapping. The words have something to say, but know how to balance with some fun. I’ve got a hunch that I’d be gleefully picking pieces of my skull out of the back wall upon seeing them play live. It makes sense that there are members of The Bodies involved. You can hear it. Everything about this disc rules. I’m going on the hunt for more Modern Action now! –Razorcake Magazine