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Pictures of You

To this very day, you can go to the east side of Detroit, and, on any given street, in any number of houses, you will find the varied beginnings of some rock 'n roll band. They practice in garages and basements, on equipment they inherited from older brothers, friends, and fathers, but they all share the same dream: to create rock 'n roll music. This too, is where The Romeo Flynns came from. Heavily influenced by the British invasion of the 60's, a time when it was all about the song, they learned how to do one thing well. They learned how to compose songs that people want to hear. Combining their British influences with the Power Pop scene of Detroit in the 80's, The Romeo Flynns, Jimmy Moroney, D. Lawrence Lee and Jeff Kenny, decided to take up the challenge, answer the call, and rose from the ashes of what they once were to what they are today. For them, it's still about the music and the songs. They've been criticized for putting too many 'good songs' on their album. Criticized by well intentioned people whose interest is more in the marketing than the music. But The Flynns remain loyal to their fan base and insist always, in reaching deep down and producing the best they have to offer. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand what they're trying to do through their music. Whether it's the up-tempo, foot stompin' power pop beat of Gonna Feel Alright, or soulful ballads like Every Time We Part or Kristine, The Romeo Flynns want to move you - want to reach you with an emotion that only comes from listening to a well constructed song. Songs that touch all of us in the same way. Pictures of You, their debut CD, is meant to be listened to as albums once were, in it's entirety as a thematic collection of songs. Even though each cut stands on it's own, there is a story within the whole. All you have to do is listen. There is a message there for all of us. Because we all have gone through the same or similar circumstance sometime in our lives. From the opening dialogue of the Prelude to the orchestrated finale in the Reprise that completes the story, you will agree that the journey through Pictures of You was well worth it.

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Price: 23.64 EUR excl. shipping

Twenty Years

Sometime around 1990, I bought a used multi-track recorder. My cousin, Mitch and I started writing songs by just playing whatever came into our heads while the tape was running. We often started by intentionally trying to produce something that sounded like somebody else and other times......we just played. We added guitar to most of the songs and even enlisted a couple of "real" guitar players (Dave Davies and Greg Brauer) to add tracks on some of them. At some point, we just stopped. We pretty much forgot about the whole idea of actually producing a finished album and the tapes went into boxes. I found the boxes in 2008 but, by this time, the tape recorder was way-past working. Fortunately, a friend had a similar recorder that was "almost" working. I combined parts of both and ended-up with a machine that would playback the old tapes. This was just about where it also became painfully obvious that time is not kind to audio tape that has been stored in attics, garages and basements for twenty years. Most of the tapes were too far gone to use, yet I still transferred all that showed any hope of restoration into a digital format. After about a year of work, the number of possibly workable songs shrank from over thirty to only eight, but this disappointment turned-out to be a "happy accident." It always seemed to me that the minimum number of songs needed to constitute "album" status was ten, but there were only eight workable songs. This motivated me to complete two songs that would probably never have gone beyond the "demo" phase. I contacted Dave Davies (one of our original "real" guitarists) to see if he would add a guitar solo. In one session, he recorded the guitar breaks for "Doo Dah" and also added some new guitar parts to some of the older songs. Final mixes, mastering, artwork and other post-production work burned about another year on the twenty-year clock. The result is an accidental collection of songs that reflect a wider range of influence than what is usually expected. Twenty Years was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. Larry Hensley October 10, 2010.

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Price: 19.88 EUR excl. shipping

Sniff Test

Through half emptied beer mugs in the San Francisco airport lounge a project was conceived. Completing a west tour Clint Sabon and Dave Petrie began discussing and eventually decided to collaborate on an original punk rock project. Takashi Iio was then seduced into joining and Sniff Test was born. With the coffee pot humming and the basement smells wafting, the trio immediately began rehearsing. Finally in a bizarre, one day marathon session recorded the instrumental tracks for 12 songs. Vocals were added and five of the songs were mastered in time for a EP and a west coast tour ensued. The group hit the road for a west coast and Pacific Northwest tour. After blasting through sixteen states in two weeks the band returned home to finish vocals for the remaining tracks. The completed album is chock full of musical and lyrical rants about procrastination, playgrounds, the myth of modern day vampires, psychology, razor stubble, lawn mowers, neighborhood bars, self fulfillment, garages, passion in the workplace, personal hygiene, sports and philosophy.

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Price: 17.13 EUR excl. shipping