Never Give Up On Your Hallucinations - Shindig!

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Journal Star

Nebraska group sticks to rock with new album

By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:30 pm

Don't tell Brimstone Howl's John Ziegler that rock 'n' roll is dead, retro or needs to be replaced.

"I don't like it when people say, ‘It's rock 'n' roll, it's been done before. You should try to make a new type of music,'" Ziegler said. "I had an epiphany the other day. Rock 'n' roll is like snowflakes. You'll never get the same song twice. The possibilities are endless, and it should be perennial, like snow."

That's like the rock 'n' roll this band plays, which can be traced from Elvis Presley to the Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, The Ramones and The Strokes.

The Nebraska band, which has been around in various incarnations since singer/guitarist Ziegler and drummer Calvin Retzlaff met in 1997, will celebrate the release of the vinyl version of "Big Deal. What's He Done Lately," its fourth album in as many years, tonight at O'Leaver's Pub in Omaha.

That disc moves a bit away from the driving, high-octane blues-based sound that has been Brimstone Howl's trademark since its 2005 debut, "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The loud, fuzzy, buzzing guitars of Ziegler and Nick Waggoner still drive the irresistibly propulsive music. But there are hooks galore across "Big Deal," and a handful of songs could easily be classified as power pop.

"The poppier element of rock 'n' roll comes out in the record - The Flamin' Groovies, stuff like that," Ziegler said. "I've always liked poppy music and so has Nicky. We're getting older. Maybe we're not afraid of not being tough rock 'n' roll dudes now."

Recorded to tape with no digital equipment used anywhere in the process by Costa Mesa, Calif., producer Mike McHugh, who's worked with the Black Lips and Jon Spencer, "Big Deal" is Brimstone Howl's third album for Alive! Records.

Even though it doesn't play the folky, indie rock most associated with the state, Brimstone Howl is a true Nebraska band. Ziegler lives in Omaha, Waggoner and bassist Scott Cline are in Grand Island, and Retzlaff lives in Lincoln.

"That makes it a long drive for someone for practice," Ziegler said. "We practice enough to make records and play shows. Maybe it's good we're far apart and practice infrequently. It keeps it lively and fresh."

As their decade-plus persistence has demonstrated, Ziegler, Waggoner and Retzlaff are in rock 'n' roll for the long haul.

"The thought of being in a band for six months or a year is a depressing prospect for me," Ziegler said. "I don't want to be in a hobby band. Some people may say this is a hobby band because we don't tour very much. But we're still together, still going."

Brimstone Howl rocks on even though the core trio haven't made much money playing in the band, have seen a number of bass players come and go and endured the disappointment of having 2007's "Guts of Steel," their most promising and promoted album, fail to generate national buzz.

"I'm a pretty stubborn, determined person; Nicky and Calvin must be, too," Ziegler said. "The original excitement and glamour of being just out of high school and starting a band has worn off. It's gotten more realistic. Now we're at a point in time where it's just about the music. I used to be jealous of bands like the Black Lips and Jay Reatard. I wanted to be on the road a lot. Now I'm happy to make the albums I do. I feel pretty privileged."

Rest assured, Brimstone Howl will keep making records, and those albums will be all killer, no filler rock 'n' roll.

"Like (legendary rock critic) Lester Bangs said, ‘Rock 'n' roll is a hamburger,'" Ziegler said. "It's for consumption. It should be fun, and it should be done."

October tour dates

HACIENDA
DAN AUERBACH w/ The Fast 5
Oct 3 @ ACL Aftershow – Austin, TX
Oct 4 @ ACL Aftershow – Austin, TX
Oct 5 @ The Mohawk – Austin, TX
with ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO
and Los Lonely Boys
Oct 5 @ The Birchmire - Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 6 @ The Birchmere - Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 7 @ Keswick Theater - Glenside, PA
Oct 9 @ Pollack Theatre Monmouth UW- Long Branch, NJ
Oct 10 @ Shea’s Performing Arts Center - Wayne, NJ
Oct 11 @ Highline Ballroom - New York, NY
Oct 14 @ Palace Theater - Manchester, New Hampshire
Oct 16 @ Merrill Audotorium City Hall - Portland, Maine
Oct 17 @ Zeiterion Theater - New Bedford, MA
Oct 19 @ McCarter Theater - Princeton, NJ
Oct 20 @ The Historic Avalon Theater - Easton, Maryland
Oct 22 @ The Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN
Oct 23 @ Old Town School of Folk Music - Chicago, IL
Oct 24 @ Northern Lights Theater - Milwaukee, WI
Oct 25 @ Alltel Center - Mankato, Minnesota
Oct 27 @ Oneida Casino - Green Bay, Wisconsin

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Oct 10 @ Bohemian Cafe – Greenville, SC
w/Left Lane Cruiser
Oct 14 @ Lee’s Palace – Toronto, Ontario
Oct 15 @ Petit Campus – Montreal, Quebec
Oct 16 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Oct 17 @ V Club – Huntington, West Virginia
European dates
Nov 13 @ Nove Fonte Velha - Rio Maior, Portugal
Nov 14 @ Porto Rio - Oporto, Portugal
Nov 17 @ Oficina Munic de Teatro - Coimbra, Portugal
Nov 26 @ Libanim - Nimes, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason - Nantes, France
Nov 28 @ Blues S/ Seine Fest. - Mantes La Jolie, France
Nov 29 @ Le Galion - Lorient, France

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
Oct 1 @ Chabada - Angers, France
Oct 2 @ Astrolabe - Orleans, France
Oct 3 @ AB (with Tinariwen) Belgium
Oct 5 @ El Lokal - Zurich, Switzerland
Oct 6 @ Bad Bonn - Dundingen, Switzerland
Oct 7 @ The Trabendo – Paris, France
Oct 8 @ 106 - Rouen, France

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Oct 17 @Vice Scion Garage Festival - Portland, OR
OCT 23 @ Barley St. Tavern – Omaha, NE

BUFFALO KILLERS
Oct 2 @ Ravari Room – Columbus, OH
Oct 3 @ Dayton Music Festival – Dayton, OH
Oct 16 @ Peach’s – Yellow Springs, OH
Nov 6 @ The Southgate House – Newport, KY
Nov 7 @ Gerstle’s – Louisville, KY
Nov 13 @ 180 Main – Dubuque, IA

BRIAN OLIVE
Oct 23 @ Beachland - Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 30 @ The Comet - Cincinnnati, Ohio

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Oct 19 @ Bateau Ivre – Tours, France
Oct 20 @ BT59 – Bordeaux, France
Oct 22 @ El Camino – Caen, France
Oct 23 @ La Peniche/Ground Zero Fest – Lille, France
Oct 24 @ Le Kaluma – Cherbourg, , France
Oct 25 TBC – Rouen, France
Oct 26 @ Les Lucioles – Le Havre, France
Oct 27 @ La Nef – Angouleme, France
Oct 28 @ Trabendo – Paris, France

LEFT LANE CRUISER
Oct 5 @ The Northside Tavern – Cincinnati, OH
Oct 6 @ The Green Lantern – Lexington, KY
Oct 7 @ Hal and Al’s – Columbus, OH
Oct 8 @ The V Club – Huntington, WV
Oct 9 @ The Garage – Winston Salem, NC
Oct 10 @ The Bohemian – Greenville, S
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Oct 12 @ The End – Nashville, TN
Oct 13 @ JJ’s Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN
Oct 14 @ The Hideaway – Johnson City, TN
Oct 15 @ Visulite Theater – Charlotte, NC
Oct 16 @ The Star Bar – Atlanta, GA
Oct 17 @ Knoxville, TN
European dates
Oct 30 @ La Boule Noire – Paris, France
Oct 31 @ La Peniche – Chalon s/Saone, France
Nov 1 @ Le Galion – Lorient, France
Nov 4 @ Peniche Sonic – Lyon, France
Nov 5 @ Queen Kong Club – Neuhatel, Switzerland
Nov 6 @ Caves Du Manoir – Martigny, Switzerland
Nov 7 @ Le Transformateur – Fribourg, Switzerland
Nov 8 @ El Lokal – Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 9 @ My Way – Freibourg, Germany
Nov 11 @ Cortinan Bob – Berlin, Germany
Nov 12 @ The Paradison – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nov 13 TBA – Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 15 @ Popdium – Sneek, The Netherlands
Nov 16 @ Little Devil – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Nov 18 @ Club Keller – Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 19 @ DB’s – Utrecht, The Netherlands
Nov 20 @ Grand Wazoo – Amiens, France
Nov 21 @ L’Appel D’air – St Brieuc, France
Nov 22 @ Le Chalan – Binik, France
Nov 24 @ St Eupery – Bordeaux, France
Nov 25 @ Sant Des Seins – Toulouse, France
Nov 26 @ Cafe De Paris – Perpignan, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason – Nants, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Nov 28 @ Festival Blues Hauts De Seine – Mantes La Jolie, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies

THOMAS FUNCTION
Oct 1 @ Webster Hall – New york, New York
Oct 2 @ Bruar Falls – Brooklyn, New York
Oct 3 @ Garfield Artworks – Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 4 @ The Summit – Columbus, OH
Oct 5 @ Lager House – Detroit, MI
Oct 6 @ Brass Rail – Fort Wayne, IN
Oct 7 @ Ronny’s – Chicago, IL
Oct 8 @ Club Garibaldi’s – Milwaukee, WI
Oct 9 @ Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Oct 10 @ Replay Lounge – Lawrence, Kansas
Oct 11 @ Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
Oct 12 @ House Concert – Provo, UT
Oct 14 @ Funhouse – Seattle, WA
Oct 15 @ The Den – Tacoma, WA
Oct 17 @ Vice Scion Garage Festival – Portland, OR
Oct 19 @ Stork Club – Oakland, CA
Oct 20 @ Hemlock Tavern – San francisco, CA
Oct 21 @ Blue Lamp – Sacramento, CA
Oct 23 @ 5 Star Bar – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 25 @ Pink Elephant – San Diego, CA
Oct 26 @ Modified – Phoenix, AZ
Oct 27 @ Train Yard – Las Cruces, NM
Oct 30 @ Lounge On Elm Street – Dallas, TX
Oct 31 @ Beerland – Austin, TX
Nov 3 @ Saturn Bar - New Orleans, LA
Nov 4 @ Alabama Music Box - Mobile, AL

September tour dates

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Lebowskifest - Speed of Sound Tour
Sep 8 @ Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
Sep 9 @ Blue Cactus - Lead, SD
Sep 11 @ First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
Sep 12 @ Crunchy Fog - Greenbay, WI
Sep 13 @ Portage Theatre - Chicago, IL
Sep 15 @ North Side Tavern - Cincinnati, OH
Sep 16 @ Majestic Cafe - Detroit, MI
Sep 17 @ Velvet Underground - Toronto, Ontario
Sep 18 @ La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec
Sep 19 @ House of Blues - Boston, MA
Sep 20 @ IM Automata Chino - Jersey City, NJ
Sep 22 @ Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Sep 24 @ Court Tavern - New Brunswick, NJ
Sep 25 @ Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
Sep 28 @ 9:30 Club - Washington DC, Washington DC
LIVE album out November 24th on Alive records

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Sept 9 @ Bay area fun time - Oakland, CA w/ Devon Williams
Sept 10 @ Spaceland, L.A. w/ Devon Williams
Sept 11 @ Che - San Diego CA, w/ Devon Williams
more dates coming soon

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Sept 9 @ Cafe Bourbon - Columbus, OH
Sept 10 @ Bruar Falls - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 11 @ The Cakeshop - NYC
Sept 12 @ Sailor Jerry - Philly, PA
Sept 14 @ The Oasis - New London, CT
Sept 15 @ The Triple - Richmond, VA
Sept 17 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 18 @ Now Thats Class - Cleveland, OH
Sept 19 @ Louie‚s Trophy House - Kalamazoo MI
NEW album out November 24th

RADIO MOSCOW
Sep 8 @ Bali Satay - Ames, Iowa w/ Mondo Drag
Sep 9 @ Ribco - Davenport, Iowa
Sep 18 @ Capones - Ames, Iowa
Sep 25 @ DG's Taphouse - Ames, Iowa
more dates coming soon

BRIAN OLIVE
Sep 29 @ Northside Tavern - Cincinnati, OH w/Drummer
more dates coming soon

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
European tour :
Sep 8 @ Thelka - Bristol, UK
Sep 9 The Old Market - Brighton, UK
Sep 11 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 12 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 13 @ End Of The Road Festival ˆ Salisbury, UK
Sep 15 @ Arlington Arts Centre - Newbury, UK
Sep 16 @ Norwich Arts Centre - Norwich, UK
Sep 17 @ The Musician - Leicester, UK
Sep 19 @ The Boardwalk - Sheffield, UK
Sep 20 @ Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK
Sep 21 @ The Duchess - York, UK
Sep 22 @ The Live Theatre - Newcastle, UK
Sep 23 @ Tolbooth - Stirling, UK
Sep 24 @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut - Glasgow, UK
Sep 26 Open House Fest. @ Black Box - Belfast, Ireland
Sep 27 @ Sandino's Cafe Bar - Derry, Ireland
Sep 28 @ Whelan's - Dublin, Ireland
Sep 29 @ Crane Lane Theatre - Cork, Ireland
NEW album out this winter on Alive records

BUFFALO KILLERS
Sept 9 @ The Bear's Place - Cambridge, MA
Sept 10 @ Nectar's - Burlington, VT
Sept 11 @ Dover Brick House - Dover, NH
Sept 12 @ Union Hall - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 25 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 26 @ Southgate House - Cincinnati, OH
more dates coming soon

MONDO DRAG
Sep 8 @ The Bali Satay - Aimes, Iowa w/ Radio Moscow
Sep 9 @ Racers Edge - East Moline, IL
Sep 10 @ The Darkroom bar - Chicago, IL
Sep 11 @ Carabar - Columbus, OH
Sep 12 @ W.O. Wrights - Fairborn, OH
Sep 13 House show - Bloomington, IN
Sep 29 @ The Picador - Iowa city, Iowa
DEBUT album for Alive records out this winter

Alive FREE digital sampler on Amazon

Get the FREE Alive digital sampler from Amazon.com
For a limited time only!

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Disc Exchange

Lincoln, Nebraska four-piece, Brimstone Howl might just be "an ass scratch away from the truth." Their fuzz/reverb laden goulash of punk, garage rock, and blues just might be part of the answer to the lame state of affairs in the mainstream of American rock and roll today. Produced by Detroit's Jim Diamond and released on Alive Records, who seem to have the golden touch in my book, We Came in Peace is a Frankenstein album if you will, a mixture of several different and eclectic musical influences from the days when rock and roll still meant something and had a larger place in society. We could just have easily seen the Brimstone boys sharing the stage in the CBGB heyday with the Voidoids and Television, but no one is criticizing or complaining. Hell, better late than never.
With this high energy record, Brimstone Howl seems to be living by the Viv Savage mantra: "Have a good time, all the time." This album starts things out with a full throttle, keeping it wide open for the majority with up-tempo, out of control songs that flow together like a Ramones concert using quick transitions and similar chord progressions. You hardly get a chance to catch your breath as one track ends, when the next one comes barreling out of the gate, kicking you while you are down. Make no mistake however, this is not strictly a punk rock band or album. The sound is more of an amped up Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins on speed, with a hint of garage psychedelia and dirty blues. Vocalist John Ziegler reminds me of a mixture between Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, and Lux Interior (R.I.P.) of the Cramps, with a bit more of a blues swagger at times. The guitars, along with vocals and everything else at one time or another, is drenched in reverb, keeping things echoing at every moment on the album and adding to overall vintage feel. The tones are fuzzy and dirty, with thick rhythms and soaring lead lines that whine and snake in and out of each verse and chorus. Rhythmically, drummer Calvin Retzlaff is the driving force throughout the entire album, with his four on the floor and fast eighth-note snare and floor-tom grooves. Apart from the music itself, the lyrics really caught my attention and are indeed in the spirit of great rock and roll. I mean, how can you go wrong with lines like, "Said the big red rooster to the mother hen- I'm back the shit again." Probably my favorite passage comes in "The World Will Never Know", a psychedelic narrative that sounds similar to the early work of the Electric Prunes, and states, "Her mother gave me a red glare of millennial loathing, so I gave her one arrogant finger. And I covered her porch in gravel. That made the correct impression." Come on now, how much more rock and roll can we get? For me, it is not the fast paced, make-you-sweat songs that stick out, though they are mighty fine indeed. Personally, I feel that the songs that stretch the influential boundaries take the cake and make the record much stronger indeed. These include the aforementioned "The World Will Never Know" and the psychedelic blues in "Easy to Dream" and "Obliterator." What comes to mind first with "Easy to Dream" is the Velvet Underground in the heroin years, complete with a hypnotic eighth-note feel among the sleigh bells, piano, and tom-toms and guitar lines that fall in and out of tune and tempo. "Obliterator" seems to channel a big Canned Heat influence with mainly spoken, sometimes howled lyrics that could easily be a personal take on Conrad's Heart of Darkness. No shit, this track is like John Lee Hooker speaking of his own "blood rituals of the Congo land" and is just the kind of color and spice that gives this album its cherry on top.
Bravo to Brimstone Howl for doing something different and giving us more of the rock that we all once loved. Do yourself a favor, if you love old rock and roll, garage, punk, and the blues, lend this band your ear and definitely check out anything that Alive Records has to offer. They do things right in the way it used to sound back when rock and roll was much stronger. One can only hope that bands like Brimstone Howl and entities like the good folks at Alive will keep it going to hopefully see things come full circle. It is about damned time. - AB / Disc Exchange

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Rave Magazine

Gothic punk stompers unleash fourth album

Brimstone Howl are four young men from Nebraska who sound like they’ve just returned in their time machine after a jolly afternoon of thumping Mods in Brighton Beach. Their latest album We Came In Peace (recorded by one-time White Stripes collaborator Jim Diamond) is a sneering and surprisingly three-dimensional rock & roll record. No-nonsense opening tracks They Call Me Hopeless Destroyer and A Million Years sound like a brylcreamed, black-clad alternate universe version of Radio Birdman, while they come across as fearsome blues lurchers in Obliterator. There’s even a catchy pop song in Easy To Dream which slows down Them’s Here Comes The Night riff and adds echoey Spector piano and twanging Link Wray guitars to make a deliciously dark concoction. And a few grey sky soundscapes aside, We Came In Peace moves along at a rattling pace, with lots of tumble-along rockabilly rhythms, stinging guitar and Lux Interior-via-Jon Spencer howl-croon vocals. Quite fabulous.

****

MATT THROWER / Rave Magazine

BRIMSTONE HOWL - PopMatters

There is a pungent smell of sulphur blasting out of Lincoln, Nebraska. Thankfully, it’s not the end for all us sinners as predicted in the King James version of the Bible, but a barely controlled unleashing of some of the finest reverb-drenched rock ‘n’ roll to be heard in quite a while. With We Came in Peace, their fourth album in three years, Brimstone Howl have surpassed all expectation by turning in a record that galvanizes their seat-of-the-pants garage-punk stomp with razor-sharp lyrics, while production by Detroit’s Jim Diamond (think the White Stripes’ first two albums and the Gore Gore Girls’ latest) keeps it crisp without the loss of the band’s cavernous, gritty sound. The four-piece outfit’s description of their most recent effort as “weird fictional adventure stories, and beginner blues guitar lessons for mongoloids” barely scratches the surface of the strangeness beneath.

Recorded in just four days at Diamond’s studio, Ghetto Recorders, the 15 tracks here keep up a relentless pace throughout. Spine-tingling lyrics rub shoulders with fuzzed-out rockabilly. Lead singer/guitarist John Ziegler howls, croons, and screams about being a mere “ass scratch away from the truth” on the country-swamp ‘n’ roll of “Obliterator”, recalling a vibrant Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. He tells the excellent spoken-word tale of a young sociopath’s love on the run ("The World Will Never Know") and describes a boy’s delight at signing up for the US Marines ("USMC") so he can trade “in the cunny for a little bit of physical pain”. All the while, the boys from the backbeat keep it tight with Calvin Retzlaff’s pile-driver drumming and latest bass player Matt Shaughnessy (the band haemorrhage bassists - - eight or possibly nine, but who’s counting) fuelling the frenzied delights offered up by numbers like opener “They Call Me Hopeless Destroyer” and the feral rampage that’s “Catamite Blues”, where “eunuchs weep” as Nick Waggoner’s phosphorescent guitar solos light up the “valley of pain”.

Although at times reminiscent of both the Cramps’ wigged-out wanderings and the Damned’s mid-’80s psychedelic side-show Naz Nomad and the Nightmares (a gracious bow to ‘60s suburban punks) with a rocket attached to their butts, this never feels like the guys are aiming at recreating a sound or period, but simply finding their niche in a very crowded garage and letting in a little fresh air.

After six years of getting their name out there through constant touring and three increasingly good albums, the band formerly known as the Zyklon Bees (the Howl’s album debut in 2005 Seven Means Run was initially released under that name before controversy—it referred to the gas used in the Nazi extermination camps—forced them to change it) may very well get their wish of making a living solely by playing music, preferably in front of audiences exceeding 100 each time they get up on stage. Let’s hope so for all our sakes. “It’s kind of a weird record in parts,” claims lead guitarist Nick Waggoner. Indeed. - Alan Brown / PopMatters

ROLLING STONE - Killer Bands on Alive Records

SMOKING SECTION by Austin Scaggs

Killer Bands on Alive Records

September 24, 2008 3:20 PM

Photos courtesy of Alive Records

Burbank-based label Alive Naturalsound Records are boasting a sick young roster. Here are a few of our favorite young bands:

Hacienda:

• Brothers Abraham (keys), Rene (bass), and Jaime Villanueva (drums) and cousin Dante Schwebel (guitar).
  
• Discovered by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced their latest album, Loud is the Night.
• Obsessed with the Beach Boys. Look like Mexican-American Kings of Leon.
• On tour now with Dr. Dog.

  Hacienda - "Shake Ya"

Brimstone Howl:

• Led by singer John Ziegler and guitarist Nick Waggoner, with Calvin Retzlaff on drums.
• Cross between The Clash and The Misfits. Part fuzz, part grunge and a machine gun back beat.
• Legendary producer Jim Diamond (The White Stripes) produced their latest, We Come In Peace.

  Brimstone Howl - "Child of Perdition"

Buffalo Killers:

• Power trio with bassist Zachary Gabbard, brother Andrew on guitar. Joseph Sebaali holds it down on drums.
• Blues, classic rock and lot of hair.
• Dan Auerbach produced the latest record from the Buffalo Killers, Let It Ride.

  Buffalo Killers - "Get Together Now Today"

Click more to check out their latest videos.

Hacienda - "Shake Ya"

Brimstone Howl - "A Million Years"

Buffalo Killers - "Let It Ride"

BRIMSTONE HOWL - JournalStar

By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO

5 stars

“We Came in Peace” is the best real rock ’n’ roll record of 2008.

It just happens to come from Nebraska’s very own Brimstone Howl.

A massive assault of garage punk honed to perfection by legendary Detroit producer Jim Diamond, the disc takes the propulsive, big-beat, big-hook, fuzzed-out Brimstone Howl sound to a new dimension, rarely pausing for breath in its taut, slithering attack.

Diamond, who has worked with The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs and The Henchmen among others, puts just the right touches on the music — a keyboard here, lots of echo there — and singer John Zeigler has written his best set of tunes yet.

Those songs shift from sci-fi weirdness, as in the trip to the nuclear city in “Hero of Gold,” to the dramatic spoken-word tale “The World Will Never Know,” which starts out sounding like autobiography but turns out to be a creepily romantic story of a loner who gets himself shot by the law, and “USMC,” about a guy signing up for the Marines.

“Obliterator,” a bluesy slide through the jungle, is followed by the psychedelic“Summer of Pain,” with Nick Waggoner’s guitar going wild against a driving beat that spins keyboards into the mix. Then things roar away on the sexually charged “Bye Bye” that hints of the Stooges.

“Catamite Blues” is, in fact, 21st-century blues, a futuristic screamer with Zeigler shouting about seeing blood in his veins and Waggoner’s guitar twisting the old sounds into something fresh and new.

But, as always, Brimstone Howl isn’t afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve, touching on the Cramps on the greasy, harmonica-driven “Child of Perdition,” the Velvet Underground on “Easy to Dream” and a little Ramones-tinged power pop on “A Million Years” (OK, it has guitar solos and the Ramones never did, but who cares?).

Brimstone Howl has been one of my favorite bands since I saw them in a previous, controversially named incarnation playing Duffy’s Tavern four or five years ago. They’ve just gotten better and better, and the collaboration with Diamond has brought them to a recorded peak that matches the intensity and entertainment of their live shows — the highest compliment that I can give to any rock ’n’ roll record.

Oh yeah, “We Came in Peace,” which hits stores Tuesday, was made loud to be played loud. Crank it up!
JournalStar.com

BRIMSTONE HOWL - RCRD LBL

There's something so simple and easy and necessary about Brimstone Howl of course they're from Nebraska. From the sound of "A Million Years," it seems like these five fellas could play a goddamned sock hop in a school gym and without missing a beat go and set a dark and sweaty club on fire. From the catchy as hell hooks to the cooler than cool vocals Brimstone Howl know their way around a rock song. With records out on Boom Chick and SYA it seems logical that the band has found a new place to rest their hat with Alive, currently putting out some of my favorite straight up, balls to the wall, twisting the night away rock and roll. Brimstone Howl may say they need a million years but in two and a half minutes they make the girls swoon, the fellas dance and the room fall in love. - Christen Thomas / RCRD LBL

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Colorado Springs Independent

AUGUST 14, 2008
Sulfur, so good
Brimstone Howl wants to be your American band

By BILL FORMAN
Colorado Springs Independent

Brimstone Howl: Definitely not a pop-punk band.

Having already recorded with the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and White Stripes producer Jim Diamond, Nebraska's Brimstone Howl is making a name among analog purists and rock 'n roll revivalists.

And even though their Diamond-produced album, We Came in Peace, isn't due out until next month, lead guitarist Nick Waggoner is already thinking about the next one.

"I would happily go back and do another record with Jim, but the other place I like is the Distillery in Costa Mesa [Calif.]," says Waggoner. "I think some of [Distillery producer Mike McHugh's] records sound kind of fucked-up, but I like that."

In fact, We Came In Peace has a few elements of its own that reach beyond the boundaries of conventional alt-rock, whatever that is. The swampy "Obliterator" aims for classic Cramps/Gun Club terrain, while "The World Will Never Know" stands out as a funereal, spoken-word-dominated track that Waggoner agrees is the band's creepiest song to date.

"It's kind of a weird record in parts," he says.

Still, most of the album resonates with the garage-rock, British Invasion and early punk influences that, over the course of four albums, have become Brimstone Howl's stock-in-trade. John Ziegler's vocals remain somewhere between early Mick Jagger and a less affected Lux Interior, while Waggoner's guitar work on "Easy to Dream" is reminiscent of post-Velvets Lou Reed.

All of the above, Waggoner confirms, are artists the band listens to, though he's reluctant to take on the labels that are typically associated with them: "It's kind of like the Ramones saying that they weren't a punk band. They said they were an American band. And Radio Birdman — when people were like, "You're the best punk band I've ever seen,' they were offended by that."

In the studio, the quartet likes to record the old-fashioned way, playing live through tube amps onto 2-inch tape, with just one or two run-throughs.

"We don't do a lot of takes," says Waggoner, "unless somebody's doing something that sounds really stupid."

Speaking of which, Brimstone Howl wasn't always the group's name. Its first album was initially released under one of the band's previous monikers, the Zyklon Bees, an allusion to the cyanide gas used in death camps. That drew e-mails from the Anti-Defamation League.

"That's not really the real reason we changed the band name," says Waggoner. "It's just kind of stupid to have a joke band name. It was a joke, and we're not a fucking pop-punk band, so it didn't make any sense to keep it. It was just stupid."

Of course, Britain's Joy Division was offensive for much the same reason, but at least that was a good name.

These days, the band currently known as Brimstone Howl tours relentlessly, but still gets mixed reactions on its own turf.

"Sometimes we'll pack a place, and other times we're just playing to the same 20 people," says Waggoner. "I think there's just too many options for entertainment nowadays. Back in the '60s, there was nothing to fucking do, so people would go out to see some music."

— bill@csindy.com

BRIMSTONE HOWL video - live in LA

BRIMSTONE HOWL - New album!

BRIMSTONE HOWL TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM
“WE CAME IN PEACE” ON SEPTEMBER 2

ALBUM PRODUCED BY DETROIT’S LEGENDARY JIM DIAMOND
BAND TOURS U.S. AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, EUROPE IN OCTOBER

PERFORMING AT MONDO HOLLYWOOD
ON AUGUST 8 WITH THE ELECTRIC PRUNES!

FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD: A MILLION YEARS

Los Angeles, CA – We're proud to announce the upcoming album release from Nebraska’s 60's influenced garage and old school punks Brimstone Howl. The follow-up to their Dan Auerbach produced debut, the band enlisted Detroit’s legendary producer Jim Diamond to man the boards for their sophomore effort, "We Came in Peace", hitting stores September 2nd.

Led by charismatic singer/songwriter John Ziegler and guitarist extraordinaire Nick Waggoner, with Calvin Retzlaff on drums, the boys traveled to Ghetto Recorders in Detroit for a very productive recording session with the legendary Jim Diamond. Described by NME as "Beatles-headed psych-nerds with a taste for razor sharp snake-rock, We Came in Peace is the follow-up to Guts Of Steel (Alive 2007) an album hailed as "unholy hot-wiring of the Sonics, the Damned and the Blues Explosion" (Magnet) and "cranked lo-fi blues rock from Nebraska's hoodlums" (Uncut).

Despite its cryptic title We Came in Peace is another fun explosion of fuzz and American-gothic chit-chatter, with "weird fictional adventure stories, and beginner blues guitar lessons from mongoloids," as they like to describe it. The album is packed with great songs, including the amazing power punk pop "A Million Years," the Cramps-worshiper "Child of Perdition" or the VU-psych influenced "Easy to Dream".

Brimstone Howl will begin a U.S. tour in September, followed by Europe in October with additional dates being added through next year. Currently, the band has been sharing stages with fellow travelers Jay Reatard (who produced one of their first singles) and the Black Lips, among many others, gathering reviews such as this one: "Pumping with hot red blood, they slopped their rock & roll around the room: dirty, gritty, just right. For the finale, the four players became two piggyback stacks. The playing continued as the dueling human towers wobbled about the room, knocking into the lampshades and ending up in a heap of bodies on the floor and a blistering wall of noise. Now THAT'S how you do it." (Orlando Weekly).

The CD version of We Came in Peace includes one bonus track not on the VINYL version. The first LP pressing on purple vinyl is a limited edition run of 500 copies.

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Magnet

BRIMSTONE HOWL - NME, Uncut

BRIMSTONE HOWL : Video "One Quick Minute"

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Amplifier, Kerrang

Amplifier review of "Guts Of Steel":
“I’m twenty years old and the tribe is done / I may not live to see twenty-one.” As long as there are American garages reeking of oil, gas fumes and no heat nor air-conditioning there will be bands such as Nebraska’s mighty Brimstone Howl which belt out raw, unadulterated blue collar rock ‘n’ roll for the unwashed masses. Produced by Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Guts of Steel is unfettered by modern technology, sounding as if it was actually recorded in a …garage. Singer John Ziegler channels the ghosts of Jim Morrison and Rob Tyner with reverence and aplomb whilst his able bodied mates: guitarist Nick Waggoner (Brian Jones lives!), bassist Austin Ulmer and drummer Calvin Retzlaff rip and tear the roof off the joint. Akin to all great rock poets, Zeigler’s capacity for self examination is expansive, as evidenced in the blues dirge “Six and Seven” wherein he confesses “I am cracked / I am insane / what kind of rot / do I have on my brain.” “I’m A Man” takes its cue from the Muddy Waters’ classic, copping the master’s attitude and m-a-n libretto. Highly recommended for old-school (MC5 / Stooges) rockers and modern (Strokes / White Stripes) rockers alike. - Tom Semioli

BRIMSTONE HOWL - I'm A Man video