Lester, 13, and Nofightin
I write a good deal, both in time spent and volume. Hmmm...I think I've written at least four thousand words in the past month for freelancing, and that's outside of any fiction or other work I may have done, like blogging and whatnot.
Most often lately I've been writing about cars or motorcycles, mostly the bike stuff. However, I like music also, and I had some time and some material that needed to go out, so I did a piece for a blog for which I am a contributor. It's called Nofightin, and it catalogs the history and activities of the now-defunct LA blues rock outfit called the Red Devils. They were a big little bang back around the early to mid-90s. It seemed they were right on the brink of really breaking out. Hell, they had freakin' Rick Rubin produce them - they were on Def American (when it was still Def American, yes).
The band imploded, ultimately, and the members went their separate ways. For the most part, they are still all keeping busy on the music scene. The bassist and drummer have no shortage of work. I caught the bassist, Jonny Ray Bartel, playing with John Doe and Exene Cervenka in their folk-punk outfit The Knitters a couple years back. The lead guitarist is out on the east coast now with a roots music outfit. I'm not sure about the rhythm guitarist, and I need to track that info down.
The vocalist and harmonica player, Lester Butler, isn't with us anymore. He died of an overdose under suspicious circumstances in May of 1998. I only saw him once before he passed. He was friggin' amazing. It was one of the greatest shows of my life, and worth the drive from Indiana to Kentucky and back in the same night to make it happen.
Lester did one solo recording after the Devils split. It was called 13. After going out of print, copies of it eventually started going for a hundred bucks on Amazon. Now some enterprising little label has decided to release it again. It has new cover art, and I hope, though I doubt, that it has some additional tracks. I ordered a copy just to be a completist. I'm hoping that at the very least there are some new photos to go with it. Maybe.
My little writeup includes the label's initial press announcement of the release, plus my first realization that the disc was for sale. You can find it, plus lots of other info about related West Coast roots music bands here: http://nofightin.com/2011/02/20/hightone-announcement-for-new-signings-1997/
Enjoy.
Most often lately I've been writing about cars or motorcycles, mostly the bike stuff. However, I like music also, and I had some time and some material that needed to go out, so I did a piece for a blog for which I am a contributor. It's called Nofightin, and it catalogs the history and activities of the now-defunct LA blues rock outfit called the Red Devils. They were a big little bang back around the early to mid-90s. It seemed they were right on the brink of really breaking out. Hell, they had freakin' Rick Rubin produce them - they were on Def American (when it was still Def American, yes).
The band imploded, ultimately, and the members went their separate ways. For the most part, they are still all keeping busy on the music scene. The bassist and drummer have no shortage of work. I caught the bassist, Jonny Ray Bartel, playing with John Doe and Exene Cervenka in their folk-punk outfit The Knitters a couple years back. The lead guitarist is out on the east coast now with a roots music outfit. I'm not sure about the rhythm guitarist, and I need to track that info down.
The vocalist and harmonica player, Lester Butler, isn't with us anymore. He died of an overdose under suspicious circumstances in May of 1998. I only saw him once before he passed. He was friggin' amazing. It was one of the greatest shows of my life, and worth the drive from Indiana to Kentucky and back in the same night to make it happen.
Lester did one solo recording after the Devils split. It was called 13. After going out of print, copies of it eventually started going for a hundred bucks on Amazon. Now some enterprising little label has decided to release it again. It has new cover art, and I hope, though I doubt, that it has some additional tracks. I ordered a copy just to be a completist. I'm hoping that at the very least there are some new photos to go with it. Maybe.
My little writeup includes the label's initial press announcement of the release, plus my first realization that the disc was for sale. You can find it, plus lots of other info about related West Coast roots music bands here: http://nofightin.com/2011/02/20/hightone-announcement-for-new-signings-1997/
Enjoy.