Handcuffs commonly are thought of as restraint devices immobilizing the other party they are being applied to. However, in this case, The Handcuffs are anything but restrained. The Handcuffs unleash well-crafted rock ‘n’ roll schooled on an encyclopedic knowledge of its history. I had the opportunity to converse with Brad Elvis -- the man on the skins (Elvis Brothers, The Romantics, Screams, Big Hello) -- and vocalist/guitarist/saxophonist Chloe F. Orwell.
To take a different approach I thought I would start by volleying over some songs to put The Handcuffs to the test!
Brad and Chloe, come on down! You are the first contestants in the inaugural edition of The Jukebox Jury.
Burn The Rails was released on June 3 via Pravda Records.
Jukebox Jury
By Chloe F. Orwell and Brad Elvis of The Handcuffs
Fanny - Blind Alley (1971) LIVE
Man, why were they not huge rock stars? Incredible players, tight as fuck, and, yeah, a good-looking band. Powerful. Compelling. Is it because they are all women and it was the early ‘70s? This could be Slade or Grand Funk Railroad or Humble Pie. This is the live version of a song that ended up on their second album, Fanny Hill, produced by Richard Perry and engineered by Geoff Emerick (!) at Apple Studios in London. They were probably ahead of their time and the music industry just wasn't ready to be that evolved. Damn.
Dust - Pull Away/So Many Times
Oh yeah, we know some stuff about Dust -- featuring bassist Kenny Aaronson (who played with everyone later on from Stories to Bob Dylan to Joan Jett) and drummer Marc Bell (aka Marky Ramone), who were teenagers when they first started playing in this band. Marc Bell went on to play with Richard Hell and The Voidoids before joining the Ramones. Hard to believe it's the same drummer because here, in Dust, he was so much busier and more elaborate. Guitarist Richie Wise became known for producing a lot of KISS records. Classic/hard rock power trio here. Really old-school analog sounding, too. Can definitely hear why KISS wanted Richie to produce them. Upon hearing this song, we're pretty convinced that KISS was inspired to write Black Diamond.
Sir Lord Baltimore - Healing Head (I Got Love)
1971, ah, yes, another band claiming to be the first band to be categorized as heavy metal and another power trio. Does anybody remember another power trio called Blue Cheer (1968)? Dust and Blue Cheer are a little more palatable for us, though. This song feels like music as eXtreme-sport with a noisy, chaotic and kind of exhausting mix. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but a little goes a long way. It's like Spinal Tap before the producer arrives.
Edgar Broughton Band - Apache Drop-out (1970)
Oh, this is mainly a cover of Captain Beefheart's "Drop Out Boogie," right? Right off the bat it kind of reminded us of Mother's of Invention's "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right." Upon further listening, we realized it's also a combo cover of The Shadows "well-known song "Apache," hence the song title (duh). Very old-school 7” single sounding. Nice fade-out at the end.
Pink Fairies - The Snake
Is this power trio day at Jukebox Jury? This song has a really cool, deep, lo-fi-sounding thing about it. It's not quite glam, it's not quite prog, it's not quite punk. It's eclectic but really accessible. The driving bass really makes this. It's almost the lead comping instrument. The guitar solo is tasty and interesting, but when the guitar does some muffly/rhythmic things, it makes the whole combo a three-part rhythm section. You can feel that they probably had a lot of fun recording this song. The chemistry kind of shines through in this record. We're fans of Pink Fairies (circa 1973 - the Larry Wallis version), and we weren't that familiar with this lineup, but now we're going to have to look for this record to add to the collection.
Mick Farren - Bela Lugosi
Perfect transition from Pink Fairies since Mick Farren was a one-time member (and Larry Wallis also played with him on his solo record). Sounds like Farren's tiptoeing into new wave territory here for sure. It's got a Revillos (or Rezillos, depending upon what day it is) vibe, too. This is actually pretty cool because we know Chrissie Hynde (pre-Pretenders) and Sonja Kristina (Curved Air] -- we're huge fans) sang on his album and it sure as shit sounds like they may have been doing background vocals on this song. Although, we don't know if Wilko Johnson (who also played guitar with Farren) is playing on this particular song...FUN FACT: he was in one of Chloe's all-time favourite shows as a recurring character, Game of Thrones. This is a catchy tune. Thanks for the earworm.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads - This is What We Find
Ian Dury & The Blockheads can do no wrong. We don't care what song it is, it's all delightful. He was like a latter-day Stiff Records version of Ray Davies. This song is very Kinks-like with a ska twist. Fantastic little saxophone bridge. Ian was one of those singers who would never even make it past the first round of auditions in any of these The Voice-like competition shows. Many of our favourite singers (past and present) wouldn't make it. Ian told stories in his songs (again very Ray Davies-like) and his delivery was that talkie-singing that almost seems like a precursor to rap. Primo musicianship on this and all of his records, too. Just delicious.
Mountain - Don't Look Around (1971)
Come on! Mountain? Yeah, one of the most underrated rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time. I mean, the great Leslie West is named as a top guitarist in lots of lists (deservedly so), but the band as a whole was fucking amazing. Maybe the American version of Cream. Although Mountain had a keyboardist, Steve Knight, who rarely got any recognition, but was phenomenal. Bassist Felix Pappalardi (tragic death), who also helped produce, arrange and write with Cream, and drummer Corky Laing was like a locomotive rhythm section. So powerful, but it almost seemed effortless, like their instruments were extra limbs on their bodies. Just mind-blowingly great. This particular song almost has a Hendrix feel. Kind of a non-song within a song. It's a bit addictive. One more fun fact: Brad's ringtone on his phone is a Mountain song.
