Garagerocktopia is half a year old; Keith Richards is a lot older than that

In March, we launched this little project we call Garagerocktopia to promote and inform about so-called “garage rock.” As we said in the second post, we acknowledged that any genre, when you think about it, is pretty hard to nail down exactly. What is “garage rock?” We always knew that our idea as to what garage rock is exactly would change as we did the blog, and just as predictably, it changed even more as time went on.

Though we set up this shop barely more than six months ago, we have lots of great features for you to check out.

Frankly, we’re amazed at some of the interviews we, as a new blog, have been able to land. Our expectation is that, as we become more known, we’ll be able to get more and more. If you’re new to the blog, here are some of the features you must check out.

The Pretty Things: As we’ve said on this blog on more than one occasion, this band is every bit the artistic force that other bands of their era – the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Small Faces, and the list goes on – were. But, as happens often in the music biz (and for better or worse, it is a business) the suits at the label have conspired, purposely or not, to keep them from being as legendary as they should be.  And sadly, making artistic, clever and creative rock and roll is sometimes a liability rather than an asset. Check on that for the Pretty Things.

Those of us who love British Invasion rock and are knowledgeable about have always been able to tell you about them. And check out our feature here.

One funny little note: because of the time difference, I had to do the interview with Phil May at 2 a.m. California time. What was cool was that I could tell my wife that I was up at 2 in the morning, on the phone for an hour with a pretty thing, and she didn’t mind!

Sid Herring: Talking to the Gants leader was honestly one of the most fun and pleasant interviews I have ever done, not just for this blog but in my 20-plus years as an entertainment writer.

Unbelievably down to Earth, Herring truly schooled me up on what having a rock and roll band in the ‘60s was all about.  Life has taken its potshots at Herring, but rather than being a bitter old man (like I probably will be), he’s a joyful, friendly bloke who, by the way, still makes a lot of cool music.

Genya Ravan – Also incredibly down-to-earth and very candid, the feature we did on Genya Ravan is still probably the most popular feature story on this blog. There is serious talk of a movie based on her life (you could probably do a major motion picture, plus sequels on what she’s been through) and if you read our feature, it’ll clue you in just a little bit.

Kevin Anthony – I love this feature because it’s all about a normal, middle-class American guy who does his best to make the music he loves available to the whole world. He’s quite successful at doing that through his internet radio station, Psychedelic Jukebox. And thanks to that station, others can enjoy music that, for some , they thought they would never hear again. This was the very first feature we did on this blog, and it still remains one of our most popular.

Frank Morris – What I was saying a few grafs above about surprises is demonstrated most beautifully in this feature. Morris was in a fine band in Meridian, Mississippi called the Jesters. It was a band called the Jesters that got me interested in garage rock in the first place.

As I did a little digging, I found out that there were at least three garage rock bands from the South called the Jesters. In addition to Morris’ band, there was a better known outfit by that name out of Memphis. There was another Jesters out of Georgia, and the song that hooked me so much, “Wrong Ticket,” was by the Jesters of North Carolina. This doesn’t even include the New York doo-wop band also called the Jesters.

I figured all this out after I set up the interview with Morris. But, I went ahead with it because I have actually had the good fortune to work on stories which take some interesting twists and turns, and oft-times those stories turn out to be the best of all.

As it turned out, Morris had a lot of great insights on a lot of great music. I’ll be honest – some of it was music that I make fun of my friends for listening to.

But, and I’ll bet more than a few of you have experienced this: sometimes the story behind the story is also fascinating, even if you don’t care that much for the subject at hand.

Morris has been friends with so many great artists, from Paul Davis, a true superstar of soft rock, to people hustling their behinds in Nashville to establish their own legends, to members of some of today’s most popular rock bands. Hearing his ground-floor accounts of these artists was truly an absorbing experience.

Moulty: Victor “Moulty” Moulton was the first real-deal garage-rocker to grant us an interview. He was another guy who was friendly, pleasant and had some awesome stories to tell. His band, the Barbarians, are surely one of the first markers on the road to modern-day, butt-kicking rock and roll, but like so many pioneers, the Barbarians never quite got their due.

But cry not for Moulty. More than 50 years after one of the Barbarians’ signature tunes, “Hey Little Bird,” music fans are paying accolades to Moulty and the Barbarians. Music is by no means the only thing Moulty has done – he currently runs a successful business. He is also an accomplished martial artist who, though he doesn’t claim credit for it, was one of the first martial arts practitioners to incorporate music into his art.

The idea of this blog is to present all facets and all generations of garage rock. Helping us do that have been the super-cool Norwegian band the Dogs, and very recently, Japanese modsters the Absolude.

Both of these bands have a real appreciation of garage, freakbeat and related styles and do a wonderful job of keeping those traditions alive. In the case of the Dogs, they put a distinct punk/Scandi-rock spin on their music, while the Absolude faithfully recreate the music that the band members never tire of hearing – or playing.

For both of these bands, despite the fact that they sing in English, they are struggling for recognition outside of their countries.

I think if they were in the United States, or the UK, or elsewhere in the English-Speaking world, they would probably be a lot bigger than they are. Both have had “Coolest Song in the World” selections on Little Steven’s Underground Garage, which is nice, but generally doesn’t change careers so much. But we’ll do our best to get a lot more ears listening to them.

Recently, we also had the pleasure of interviewing Pat Walters of the Spongtones and ex- of the Paragons, who had one of the great songs of the garage era, “Abba.” Like pretty much everybody else with whom we’ve had the pleasure of talking, Walters was a friendly guy with a lot of great stories to tell.

We remember listening to the Spongetones back in the early ‘80s, and this story also was a great way to remember how cool their music was – very pop, but without the empty-headedness and superficiality that gives pop a bad name to some.

Doing this blog has been an incredible pleasure. In some cases, such as with the Pretty Things, we’ve been listening to the music of the artists featured here for a long time. In other cases, though, like with the Dogs and the Absolude, from one song we learned that both bands have a lot more great music, and often the tune that gets the “Coolest Song…” is often not even their best.

Either way, actually chatting with these fine artists, listening to the passion they have for their music, and hearing about music was all about in years past, as well as now, has made this project a mighty gratifying one.

We have to thanks some of the labels as well. They haven’t always been able to get the artists to talk to us, but they have been generous with hooking us up with some music. That is much appreciated as well.

We do have other great features in the works. We don’t want to say anything too much until the interviews are done, but do stay tuned.

In some other odds and ends, Keith Richards fans have a little bit to chew on of late. How many of us joked in the ‘80s that he could play Frankenstein’s Monster without makeup, or had the countdown going on as to when he would finally overdo things and end up in that great jam session in the sky.

Well, the joke’s on us. The last Rolling Stones album, Rough Justice, was a torrid set of songs and probably their best since Exile on Main Street. The Stones seem to be in the pattern of one album every several years, which leaves the members lots of time for their solo projects.

For Richards, the winning streak continues. His latest album, Crosseyed Heart, is getting excellent reviews, and for good reason. Richards dishes everything from traditional acoustic blues (the title track) to reggae-pop (“Love Overdue”). There are even a few Stones-styled rockers for good measure, like “Heartstopper.” That advanced age that we once made fun of has given Richards an amazing certitude that few rockers, old or young, can ever hope to achieve.  

Also, Netflix recently started featuring a documentary on Richards, Under the Influence, also receiving solid reviews. If you’re really into Richards, search “BBC” and “Keith Richards documentary” on Youtube. BBC Four in the last few years also did an informative and entertaining bio on Richards.