BANG! RECORDS

In an experimental lab, Dr.Brighton created AWO with early versions of his molecular digitizer. Four Memphis musicians, at crossroads in their musical careers submitted themselves as subjects for Dr. Brighton’s experiments. He sent them through the molecular machine and they joined forces as AWO on the other side.

Tee Cloar (Guitar), Greg Easterly (Bass), Jay “Big Daddy� Thomas (Farfisa), and Steve Parkinson (Drums) joined forces in the first incarnation of AWO. Veteran musicians of Memphis and New Orleans, the members came from established bands such as Neighborhood Texture Jam, Compulsive Gamblers, Royal Pendletons, Doctor-A-Go-Go and The Wallendas. Slipping into a riff-rock groove and pounding it became the style of the band. The loose rock ‘n roll produced by AWO is well represented with the tracks presented here.

AWO played “Ophelia� live once, and were requested to record it ASAP. “Ophelia� is a rollicking groove about the exploits of one of Memphis’ most infamous political figures, State Senator Ophelia Ford. However, the initial success of the band was short lived as Parkinson became victim to the side effects of molecular digitization and left Memphis in search of Dr. Brighton’s lair in the Ozark Mountains. AWO enlisted the help of veteran drummer Chris Craig of Black Oak Arkansas and Lord Tracy. They recorded the riff that became “Rock ‘n Roll Doofus� during an early rehearsal and later completed the song with an old computer. This lo-fi rock anthem captures the spirit and feel of an old rock show at an auditorium full of sex dolls.

Richard James, born on a rock in outerspace just outside the empire city, was raised on a steady diet of psychedelic rock & roll and demon-purging country music. His spaceship crash landed deep in the heart of Memphis after a few cosmic collisions with New York and Nashville. Backed by local misfits and sometime-legends, he has become know for his all-night, bar-dancing, guitar-levitating, brown-liquor-down-the-back-of-your-throat live shows.
This wildman insanity summons a similar magic in the studio where Richard can be found twisting knobs, breaking strings, and reading ancient texts into a spinning microphone just to add to his huge stockpile of songs. All these elements coalesce to earn him his reputation as Richard James: The Man Who Never Sleeps.

Ross Johnson is a criminally minded mental patient who has somehow avoided capture, arrest and incarceration for most of his long life. He has been making terrible music since the late 1970s, mostly in Memphis, Tennessee.
This is just another horrible record by an equally horrible man except that the late, great Jim Dickinson performs on it for inexplicable reasons. This track almost sounds like music when Jim is singing and playing guitar.

Enjoy...if you can. Caveat emptor indeed.

Miss T White is all things to all people : Singer, songwriter, drummer, recording artist, twin sister, entrepreneur, and professional partygiver/hostess with the mostest.
Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas (the land of giants, by the way), lady T first hit the Memphis scene in 1984 and soon joined the forces with the Hellcats as percussionist and later as drummer for those wild spirited gals. She went on to play drums and sing with Alluring Strange, a group that rose from the ashes of the Hellcats.
She also played drums with Alex Chilton, Townes Van Zandt, R.L. Burnside, to name a few.
She is also a solo act, folks, she writes em, sings em and plays em all by herself.
You bettah check her out,ya'll..

Memphis born, and raised by AM radio and old Rock-n-Roll 45s-- Harris Scheuner's best friend has always been Rock-n-Roll. In 1967, when Harris was 2 yrs old, the song The Letter came out and quickly became his favorite. In his mind he imagined it being sung by an old black man.
By 13 yrs old Harris was playing drums, then some years later started playing other instruments and singing. During freshman year at MSU he was exposed for the first time to "The Underground" or The Counter Culture" or whatever the kids are calling these days, and became a reborn fan and follower of the Dickinson/Chilton contingency of the Memphis music scene-- which mostly happened around the World Infamous Antenna Club.
Harris played with many of the local bands of the time including The Randy Band and The Panther Burns-- first as the bass player, then as the drummer, and even getting to do some gigs with Alex Chilton, (who it turns out was a 16 yr old white kid when he sang The Letter, not an old black man.) Not just a player, Harris has recorded audio of The Klitz for the movie "The Watermellon" has developed up and coming musicians for such bands as The Hellcats, Los Pimpin', and The Alluring Strange, and is both an audio and video documentarian of live shows by local heroes Mudboy, the Neutrons, Alex Chilton , and many other local bands so that these shows not be lost to history.
All in all I think it's safe to say that Harris Scheuner is not the worst thing to come out of Memphis!

Le jazz primitif. The Rolling Head Orchestra plays music from the age of prohibition, be it the 20th century or the 21st. Weaving primitive swing with the rebel music of the 1960s and 70s, they are the sole purveyors of what some call GARAGE JAZZ. Yet, in the tradition of Duke Ellington, they aspire only to be "beyond category". They offer you a soul sonic spark to jumpstart inner revolutions of the mind, always swinging!
RHO is a veritable Memphis All Star band (for those who troll the swingingest and rockingest scenes),featuring Tom Lonardo, Marc Franklin, Jim Spake, John McClure, and John Whittemore. Songs, singing, piano, and guitar are by 'Alex Greene the Professor,' a pod spore and onetime member of yon Reigning Sound, yon Luv Clowns, yon Big Ass Truck, and yon Kropotkins. With RHO, he composes exotic instrumental vistas and blue jungle tableaux with shrieks (anthro-illogical jazz); or the band may present mind-jarring political songs when Alex is in rant mode.

Prohibition is Now, baby!

The Kropotkins were founded by drummer Jonathan Kane and violinist/ banjo player Dave Soldier in NYC in 1992 after they heard Mississippi fife and drum music and flipped out. We asked was what would rock n' roll sound like if it went down those rural routes? Sid Hemphill showed you could mix the bass and snare drum with the banjo, fiddle, and guitar and vocals. Everything can be played without electonics at a barbeque. We asked our favorite musicians on their respective instruments, singer Lorette Velvette from Memphis, violinist Charlie Burnham, guitarist Dog (Mark Deffenbaugh), and drummer Alex Greene, also from Memphis.

Johnny Lowebow A.K.A. John Lowe was born in the Red River Delta of Arkansas. He lives in Memphis, Tn where he owns and operates Xanadu Music and Books.
There he makes his own instrument, the Lowebow. John plays the Lowebow a bass and guitar hybrid and drums all at the same time in his One Man Band, Johnny Lowebow.
After a 3 yr stint busking on Beale St. with Richard Johnston, and Robert Belfour he has gone on to open for such bands as Iggy Pop, Tav Falco, and Pat Macdonald. His music utilizes multiple instruments, in a new format that combines rock, blues, and gospel in a stream of consciousness performance. “I am attempting the surrealist ideal of creating new icons for the liberation of myself and music�