Los Angeles, California: It’s been 45 years since the Fuzztones established themselves among New York City’s grooviest ghoulies, and the psycho-garage fuzzpunks are still walking the earth, still lithe as lillies, and as fresh as a newly dug plague pit.
Their last album, Friends and Fiends (also available on Cleopatra Records) found the Fuzztones joining forces with a host of sainted icons, from Junior Wells to Screaming Jay Hawkins; and dropping some delicious surprises as well - Ann Margret sings “Born To Be Wild”? Betcha never expected that.
And you probably weren’t expecting this one, either, as their new album Buried Treasure unearths a veritable cornucopia of squirming, squawking grave-grinding raves and hauls them screaming into the light.
“Most of the songs will… be familiar to hardcore Fuzztones fans” acknowledges, frontman Rudi Protrudi (still one of the best names in rock, by the way). But the performances most certainly won’t be.
“This collection is composed entirely of previously unreleased… kick ass studio versions, often recorded by line-ups differing from the ones who recorded them originally.”
Take the new single “I Never Knew” for example. According to Rudi, this organ-swirling slice of locked-in-the-garage claustrophobia is “one of only two songs (the other being ‘Don't Speak Ill of the Dead’) that came to me fully-formed in a sort of audio hallucination while driving to rehearsal.
“I taught it to the band immediately, the original version appearing on the Fuzztones Action EP, back in 1990.”
A live staple for many years (there’s a great version on 1991’s Lysergic. Ejaculations live album), it was rerecorded for 2008’s Horny Hell. But, as Rudi puts it, not only should you “dig this new version,” you can rest assured that “there’s plenty more where this came from.”
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_ineverknew
There is indeed. Rudi continues, “While rummaging through my sorely-neglected attic recently, I stumbled across a recording simply entitled ‘rhythm tracks.’ My curiosity sufficiently aroused, I made a bee-line to my man cave, where I spent the next hour reviewing tracks I’d forgotten existed - in fact it wasn't until the third or fourth song that I realized the source. These were the rhythm tracks for Horny As Hell, minus the vocals, horns and Hammond organ.
“The sound quality was excellent, and the mix was different than the final version, with a strong accent on the hard stereo guitar interplay of Lenny Svilar and myself. In other words, this shit ROCKED!!! Not only that, but there were enough smoldering tracks for two albums - easily!!
“I took the recordings into the studio, added brand new vocals and keyboard (contributed
by current Fuzztones' organist Nico Secondini) and presto! Buried Treasure!”
It’s weird, sometimes, to think that The Fuzztones have now been with us for probably longer than all their primal influences put together… weird, but also gratifying. Because, no matter how long you’ve been a Fuzzmaniac, they never stop stunning you, and they never grow old. Some of these songs are positively ancient Fuzztone history. But they could have been recorded just now.
And two of them actually were. "69" is a reworking, and long -established re-wording of the Sonics' classic, “Strychnine," while “One Night Stand” is the band’s take on the 60s garage classic by the Grotesque Mommies, with a few lyric changes thrown in to coincide with the Fuzztones' philosophy. It was recorded on tour in Spain last year by the current Fuzztones line-up of Rudi and Nic, plus Marcello Salis (lead guitar), Pablo Rodas bass) and Marco Rivagli (drums).
Track List:
1. I Never Knew
2. 99th Floor
3. Be Forewarned
4. Third Time's The Charm
5. Brand New Man
6. 69 (Strychnine)
7. Cheyenne Rider
8. One Night Stand
9. Invisible
10. She's Wicked
11. Yeah Babe
12. Barking Up The Wrong Tree
ALBUM: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_buriedtreasure
