I just got the Atomic Fireballs' second CD, Torch This Place (1999), in the mail, and I am totally
rockin' out here in my office as I spin it for the first time. I first heard them on the extremely uneven Haunted Mansion movie soundtrack (sucks a lot less than the movie), with the amazing, high-energy, shoutin' and hollerin' Man with the Hex. This is loud, vibrant, unrelenting big band jump blues that makes you want to get up and dance and dance and dance. They hail from Detroit, and haven't put out an album in nearly a decade, but this disc
smokes.
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the latest
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i want caviar and chitlins for breakfast
This is actually one of the few bands I've ever seen in person. They put on a great high energy show[1]. I saw them at Sudsy Malones (one of the few good things about Cincinnati), a bar/laundromat not too far from my apartment at the time.
[1]They're one of the things that really got my wife into swing dancing, but I suppose I shouldn't hold that against them.
You might also want to check out the singer/songwriter's previous band, Gangster Fun. They were (or are - their MySpace page mentions they just had a reunion show) a pretty great ska band from Detroit that were always a lot of fun live.
This band was a heartbreak for me. They came out just a swing was dying and the single never got a shot. I remember a radio programmer telling me "Yea, it's a good song but it's very 3rd quarter 98'"
I'm proud to say I worked with them, John Bunkley the singer was one of the most talented performers I had ever seen.
Thanks for digging this record up, it deserves to be heard.
-Rick-
www.rickgoetzconsulting.com
I love shagging to Atomic Fireballs!
Thats collegiate shag btw ;)
zuvembi, you lived on/near Short Vine?
(#7)
Yes, about three blocks away. I lived on Eden in two places (for about 4 years total), one near the corner of Highland, and one near Charlton.
For the real thing I highly recommend Louis Jordan.
Wow, how cool. My cousin was in this band, and I saw them perform a few times. The CD is great, and they were fantastic live.
Polomoche@8: I can sing about 200 Louis Jordan songs from memory and there's not a one of them particularly like the Atomic Fireballs. There's no universe in which Jordan is remotely close to "jump blues."
I discovered Atomic Fireballs a few years ago via Rhapsody. I was on a swing kick and stumbled into them. They are frigging awesome. If "Man with the Hex" doesn't get you swinging, well, you could only be emo.
Personally, I miss the all but dead swing and ska bands like nothing else. The vast majority of "alternative" music today has all the cheer and love for life of a mass cultist suicide. Speaking as someone who recognizes that, but the rest of the world's standards, I am pretty well to do, well fed, and likely to have my age reach for the 22nd century mark, I just can't identify with self hating stuff that passes for music these days. Yeah, I have had girl friends dump me and loves lost, but eh, life is still good and there are three billion other women in the world I have yet to met.
Ska and swings rejection of self pity, self hate, and wallowing in its own misery is what makes me love those now nearly dead genera. Even at its most pessimistic and self hating, ska laments misfortunes with a smirk, some trumpets, and the realization that, if nothing else, there will always be sex and alcohol left in the world.
I miss you swing and ska. Come back and show the kids a good time.
They rock!
I would love to see a new CD from them... but, alas... :(
I gotta say, if it's at all possible to see them live, do so (and now that I realize how grammatically bad that was, if you can see them while dead, do that too)! If you know a promoter (XJ I'm looking at you in LA especially) see if they can be booked!
Oh man, I saw them at the M-Shop in Ames about ten years ago, and I've never seen a more high-energy show than they put on. They had probably ten or a dozen musicians crowded onto a stage that was maybe big enough for 4, and the singer didn't stop moving for a second. By the end of the show, everybody i nthe place was drenched in sweat, grinning and hollering. I wasn't even that into the swing revival, but those guys set the joint on fire.
Haven't thought about them in years; thanks tfor the memory!
I can sing about 200 Louis Jordan songs from memory and there's not a one of them particularly like the Atomic Fireballs. There's no universe in which Jordan is remotely close to "jump blues."
Cory - I have to respectfully disagree, and - I'm afraid - really disagree. I too, can sing them all, know my jazz, swing, and jump history very well, and have spent a good portion of my life as a professional musician in this very genre so I do hope I know what I'm talking about...
To quote wikipedia (granted not always an accurate source but more or less right here): "Jump blues is a type of up-tempo blues music influenced by big band sound. It is characterized by a jazzy, saxophone (or brass instruments) sound, driving rhythms and shouted, highly syncopated vocals and earthy, comedic lyrics on contemporary urban themes. Unlike most other types of blues, the jump blues relegates the guitar to the rhythm section.
Before known as "Jump Blues", this form of music was known as "Blues and Rhythm", then "Rhythm and Blues". The jump blues first appeared in the late 1930s, and was enormously popular in the Forties and early Fifties through artists such as Louis Jordan... etc etc"
That entire definition screams Louis Jordan! He was a great (and very underrated) alto sax player, of course his band was influenced by big band (in fact he was Chick Webb's lead man for years at the Savoy Ballroom until a certain Ella Fitzgerald was discovered... His band, in fact, was scaled down out of necessity because with the war rationing big bands could not afford to travel). His was one of the first bands to really take syncopated shout vocals and the like to a new place; as I'm sure you know he is credited as a major influence on hip-hop as well.
He has some great songs from the 30's and of course he owned the airwaves in the 40s - but if you mean to imply that jump blues was a post-Jordan phenomenon, I think not. Few people know, for instance, that Jordan's producer, Milt Gabler, was the same producer for Billy Haley. The style is almost an exact copy, substituting a swing beat for rock... So when they say he was the grandfather of rock and roll, they weren't kidding (in fact, on a bit of tangent, if you ever listen to the intro of "Ain't that Just Like a Woman" it is nearly note for note the same as Johnny B. Goode by another huge Jordan fan, Chuck Berry - one of the few songs where the guitar isn't relegated to the rhythm section).
Anyway, I'd also argue the entire modern revival of "jump blues" started with Joe Jackson's "Jumpin' Jive" - essentially a Louis Jordan cover album with a few Cab Calloway songs thrown in.
I think you can find Louis Jordan songs from all segments of his lengthy career that pretty much define the jump blues genre...
This is not to say the Atomic Fireballs aren't a great band, but I'm quite sure they'd agree as well that Louis Jordan is the one and only.
So, Polomoche, which Louis Jordan song do you think sounds like "Man with the Hex" or "Caviar and Chitlins?"
Louis Jordan's delivery, composition and arrangement style is pretty much totally, absolutely different from the Atomic Fireballs'. Even songs like "Cheese and Cornbread" and other uptempo numbers feature much more choral vocals, a smoother delivery, a generally slower-paced arrangement, and a lot more comedy that the Fireballs.
Indeed, there's practically *no* comedy in the Fireballs' songs, which makes any comparison to either Calloway (who had a similar energy but again, an utterly different delivery from the Fireballs) or Jordan thin indeed.
Just because they're in the same genre and Jordan got there first doesn't make him "the real thing" -- with the implication that this is the false or denatured thing.
Have you heard any of the Atomic Fireballs' catalog?
There is no catalog per se- there is an independent record called "Birth of the Swerve" which was a self release and produced by a friend of the band's. That and Torch this place are their only records.
Many of the songs on Birth of the Swerve were re-cut and put on Torch this place. The band did cut a cover of "Luck Be A Lady" with Arif Mardin but the project the song was cut for was shelved. There were 2-3 tracks cut for Torch this place that didn't make the record including a remake of "catfish ball" from the indie record, a great slow tune called "Junction street" and a big band version of "Swing Sweet Pussycat" which was cut for use in the end title of the Neve Campbell film "Three to Tango".
Another funny fact is the band played an extended version of "Swing Sweet PussyCat" during the swimsuit competition of the Miss USA pageant in 99' which would later raise great problems with the town of Branson, MO. I am told that the pageant was no longer welcome in Branson shortly afterwards partly because of the songs suggestive lyrics. (Me Personally- I didn't think they were so bad but...)
The band no longer plays together, they broke up some time in 99' or 2000 but the Singer John Bunkley has played the occasional gig with his first band Gangster Fun and is slated to go into the studio for a new project in July of this year (08).
As for comments about Louis Jordan- yea, I'd say he was an influence for the band for sure. The singer John was also compared to Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong although for pure vocal comparison I'd say Tom Waits is a better match than Armstrong.
-R-
I actually had the drummer, Geoff Kinde, give me drum lessons for a year at a local drum shop. Great guy, awesome band. I should dig these CDs out of my collection :)
Am I crazy, and/or do these guys not have a website? Some guy owns the domain and has set up "A website dedicated to All Things Important... to me."
So, Polomoche, which Louis Jordan song do you think sounds like "Man with the Hex" or "Caviar and Chitlins?"
"Caviar and Chitlins" --> "Beans and Cornbread"
"Man with the Hex" --> "Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man"
"Drink Drank Drunk" --> "What's the Use of Getting Sober, When You're Gonna Get Drunk Again?" (that's got to be one of the greatest titles ever)
In terms of sound you have a point in that this is more of a swing revival record than jump blues, which Louis Jordan basically defined. Still, the Jordan influence is very strong; I'd say its most like some of Jordan's later records, "Whiskey Do Your Stuff", etc., as there are no swing drums for this band and they aren't as tight orchestrally. The arrangements are basic swing & blues, very standard. They definitely share a novelty element as well.
The biggest problem I have with this record is not the band at all... In my mind they fall into the "very unique, creative/different, potentially terrific band that signs with a major label and has the life literally sucked out of them" category.
I never saw them live but I'm sure they were phenomenal. The problem is that almost all these swing revival/jump blues kind of bands were recorded by over-the-hill rock producers who didn't understand the nuances of the genre - the guy that did this record, for instance, had Chicago and Aerosmith on his resume. So they rock up the drums in a separate room, boost all the levels so the sound dynamics are washed out, overdub and layer effects and reverb on top of all the instruments and basically ruin the edge and rawness that made the band and genre great. You end up with record so slick and polished that what made the band great has been covered over...
There's only one revival band I know of that hasn't done this: The Squirrel Nut Zippers, who take all the tones really seriously and retain the spirit of the genre in their recordings... (And in fairness, there is only one producer that is good enough to record acts as diverse as the Beastie Boys, System of a Down, and Johnny Cash, and do it all well: Rick Ruben...)
One thing this band did try to do that I admire is stay original and add their own flair to a very well-traveled genre. I like when bands takes from the old and add a new twist - the mashup sort of thing - rather than just playing a cover or imitating what was done better by the originals... (i.e.; why listen to Bryan Setzer's "Jump, Jive, and Wail" when the original Louis Prima version blows it away?) They should have taken the ska/Fishbone influence and run with it... They wrote original songs, the guy's voice is unique, could have gone somewhere new and innovative, but perhaps they were steered into convention by their label (and in fairness to Brian Setzer, The Stray Cats were exactly that: an homage to the old with a fresh, totally different take...)
Anyway, if you're still reading this ramble, when it comes to music I suppose what really matters is if it speaks to you, if it makes your feet tap and want to dance, if it makes you feel good - not even the most cynical chap like myself can touch it. Though Louis Jordan still gets my vote!
You think that Man with the Hex sounds like "Someone Done Hoodoed the Hoodoo Man?" Apart from having similar titles, what do they have in common?
Admittedly not a whole lot... Man with the Hex is more a Cab Calloway-like swing tune - not jump blues, but I think I covered that in my ramble... as opposed to Caviar and Chitlins, basically a Louis Jordan song with different lyrics.
You'd be surprised how the similarities jump out once you adjust the one key element (which you nailed earlier): tempo. Take that Joe Jackson record I mentioned, and compare his cover versions to the original Jordan ones - the difference is simply tempo (and the some of the same production issues I mention above), but they sound much more like the jump blues revival stuff this record typifies. "You Run Your Mouth and I'll Run My Business", "How Long Must I Wait for You", "Jack You Dead" all good examples.
If you like this stuff, check out Lee Press-On and the Nails.
THANK YOU CORY for recommending this! I just borrowed this via InterLibrary Loan from one of my system's libraries.
My system DOES loan AudioVisual material, and if your library does too, we'll happily loan it to you! --I know this for sure, I work there!
I'll have it back to the home library soon so y'all can request it. ;D