Category: video

Coming May 5 : Rocket 808 – ‘House Of Jackpots’

(photo by Mike Fickel)

“House Of Jackpots”
video directed by Frostine Shake

Rocket 808’s self-titled debut album came out in late 2019, and luckily, absolutely nothing happened in 2020 to divert the world’s attention away from the release. Combining the primitive analog drum machine of 1970s New York underground icons Suicide with the raw guitar of Link Wray, Rocket 808 blasted rock n’ roll guitar into our new, weirder present. Now Rocket 808 returns with a new LP, ‘House of Jackpots,’ taking up where the previous record left off while adding some new elements to juice things up.

Still channeling Alan Vega, the Cramps, and Duane Eddy influences from the first LP, ‘House of Jackpots’ further explores 1980’s television cop show themes and Ry Cooder film scores. “Punk rock Mike Post” might not be something you knew you needed, until you hear the first cut of the record. Slide guitar gives you your own personal screening of Wim Wenders’ “Paris, Texas” in your mind’s eye, or imagine if instead of the Barry De Vorzon intro, “Simon & Simon” opened with a trash-rock instrumental instead. Saturated in big-screen iconography whether its surf tunes for 100-foot waves or David Lynch soundtracks for a grimy 1970s Las Vegas strip, ‘House of Jackpots’ takes you out of our current reality that frankly, we all probably want to forget anyway. Covers of 1950s proto-goth Jody Reynolds and reviled eighties electro-rockers Sigue Sigue Sputnik give nods to the obscure rock n’ roll weirdos of the past while dragging them into the future.

Recorded by Grammy-winner Stuart Sikes and mastered by Crypt Record’s Tim Warren, ‘House of Jackpots’ takes electronic punk rock guitar noise into the 22nd century.

Rocket 808 is John Schooley – guitar, drum machines, vocals

Produced by John Schooley
Recorded, engineered and mixed by Stuart Sides at Big Orange
Mastered by Tim Warren. Vinyl lacquers by Carl Saff

stream “House Of Jackpots” / preorder ‘House Of Jackpots’ on LP (Bandcamp / 12XU big cartel)

Coming January 24, 2020 : Xetas – The Cypher

(video directed by Kana Harris)

Xetas – The Cypher (12XU 120-1)   out January 24, 2020

Why do people start bands anymore? To get rich and famous? Compliment re-tweeting? To gain the respect of their peers in the RIAA? I don’t know, and I don’t have a computer so I can’t look it up. But I bet sometimes bands get started with no goal at all, beyond basics like don’t lose the keys to the practice space, and to share the excitement of making music together. From there, the goals become things like, get better at it, and do it more. But, again, no computer here, so, don’t know 100%.

Xetas have been doing exactly that, making wired, joyfully intense music ever since their first 7” in 2014. Their first two albums, ‘The Redeemer’ and ‘The Tower’, are compact, high-voltage, furniture-throwing gems. With ‘The Cypher’, they emerge after a year of work as a one-minded beast. The songs blast off and burn, but carry a new depth and weight. Inside gusts of ferocious noise there are subtly sweet melodies that stick in your head; volume gets quiet, tempos charge, slow down, stutter, and implode. The sounds are of a deeper dimension, surprising glimpses of (what’s that?) and (huh wow!). It all creates a rich emotional dimension, which you feel even while the band is thrashing you around in its jaws like an alligator.

Instantly you notice the vocal arrangements. Everybody sings every song, whether dividing verses or in unison, in true crew fashion. It’s a moving statement of intent. Punk rock? To be sure, but punk can mean anything goes. David Petro’s guitars come in countless layers of tension, incorporating punk mowdown and bad trip psych, at times bringing to mind Pen Rollings, Tara Key, and Roger Miller. On “The Objector,” bassist Kana Harris’s voice effortlessly shifts emotional gears as she reflects on power and change, leaving you to meditate on the lyrics “no one here will remember the old landscape.”

Maybe it’s a concept record? Could be, if the concept is figuring out how to survive by being yourselves, how to get better and better every day at being a band, and leaving nothing on the court. Isn’t that a concept every band should have? Is that even a concept? Isn’t that reality? It’s like I have to look everything up these days. – James McNew 



Xetas :
David Petro – guitar, vocals,
Kana Harris – bass, vocals
Jay Dilick – drums, vocals

‘The Cypher’ was recorded throughout 2019 at Estuary Recording, Austin TX and produced by John Michael Landon and Xetas.

stream / download “The Hierophant”

preorder ‘The Cypher’ on LP/CD  : 12XU / Bandcamp

(photo by Angela Betancourt)

(photo by Angela Betancourt)

“There Is No Exit Here” – The Xetas Tour Movie

“There Is No Exit Here” is a 62 minute film directed by Xetas’ Kana Harris, shot entirely on an iPhone 5 and captures the Austin trio in preparation for /during their summer 2017 tour in support of their second album, ‘The Tower’. Featuring bandmates David Lee Petro, Jay Dilick, Harris and a succession of peers/associates encountered during their self-booked travels west, ‘No Exit Here’ showcases Xetas in their DIY element and provides a glimpse or several into a touring circuit that’s far removed from the festivals and package tours that litter the news cycle.

order ‘The Tower’ from 12XU or via Bandcamp.