Artist description Don't be fooled. You may see the greasy hair, the double bass, and the leather jackets and think you're in for some kind of Sha-Na-Na nostalgia kick, but you ain't. Believe me. The Spectres take rock & roll and strip away all the extraneous junk: no choirs, no orchestras, no extended dance remixes. They boil down raw rockabilly, fuzz-bomb garage punk, and speed-addled surf n' drag into a butt-kickin' elixir of prime-evil, gutbucket rock & roll.

Music Style Rubber Room Rockabilly

Musical Influences Link Wray, The Ramones, Johnny Burnett, Gene Vincent, Johnny Cash, Motorhead, New York Dolls

Similar Artists The Cramps, Reverend Horton Heat, Southern Culture on the Skids

Artist History The Spectres started annoying neighbors with their unholy racket in early '97. Since then they've played played most every club in Seattle (as well as a few in Vancouver & Portland) and embarked on a raucous West Coast tour that took them as far as Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Halloween '98 saw the release of their debut CD 'Rubber Room Rock', which has garnered them a fair amount of acclaim locally, not to mention some great gigs around the North West. They are currently planning a nationwide tour for July/August 1999. Be afraid . . .

Group Members Jesse James, Guitar, Vox; Austin Frankenquist, Slap Bass; JR Vermin, skins

Instruments guitar, bass, drums

Albums Rubber Room Rock (1999)

Press Reviews Deathrow #32:Great album from this American trio. I've said this many times, but I'm a sucker for well written songs, good riffs and arrangements and this album has every ingredient to tickle my musical taste buds. The title track is a future classic, just you wait, and of the rest . . . so many are good with Hot Li'l Hellcat being about my next favorite. I dig the vocal sound and style as well as the instruments which all sound cool and are played well. This is about as good a CD as I've heard from anyone in the last 5 years and refreshingly, doesn't rely on 100 mph thrash for impact. Instead, this album merely suggest where others spill their guts, hints at something a little unsavory, allowing the listeners' imagination to wonder and worry about the rest of the picture. Rubber Room Rock is both chilling, yet strangely humorous in places (or am I just warped?) and with it's crystal clear production I can't fault it. The Rocket No. 295, Feb. 10 1999:Do you remember the nights you went looking for trouble on a country road, driving your souped-up 50 Merc as if the devil were coming up fast behind you? Recall passing a bottle of Wild Turkey amongst your friends while the sounds of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent crackle from your dashboard? I don t. In 1959, when rockabilly was at its peak, I was nine years away from birth. Rubber Room Rock, an impressive first offering from Seattle trio The Spectres, will cause some to remember their pre-Kennedy hell-raising days and is sure to trigger a flood of false memories for many others not fortunate enough to have been born in the right era. Although The Spectres image is cartoonish, right down to their stage names (Austin Frankenquist, J.R. Vermin and Jesse James), Rubber Room Rock is authentic, hard-edged, early rock n roll. Due to a somewhat lo-fi production, Vermins drum kit and Frankenquists stand-up bass are right in the forefront, occasionally obscuring James guitar and vocals. However, the songs have all the energy of a high-strung juvenile delinquent. Their cleverly written lyrics are delightfully comical and focus on the pertinent topics of the day: incarceration (Comin Home, Hot Lil Hellcat), premature death (Rockabilly Macabre), horror movies (Tombstone Boogie, Me & My Cannibal Baby), and, of course, sex, booze and fast cars. The talented Spectres dance on rockabillys grave in leather and denim, resurrecting the spirits of long-dead pompadoured legends, and seem to have a hell of a lot of fun doing it. (Steve Stav)Maximum Rocknroll, February 1999:. . . give this one a listen . . . 10 Things #20:This is a local psychobilly band, I'm surprised I've never heard of them before because they sound pretty f**kin' good. For fans of the Reverend and Demented Are Go, fun and rockin'. (Dan)

Additional Info T-Shirts, Stickers, and we're on mad comps

Location SEATTLE, WA - USA

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