Hot Wax: The Reverend’s Summer Singles Playlist (2025)

Summer has finally opened its eyes and shaken off its long hibernation here in WNY, which means that those of us who reside on this frozen tundra are seeing the end of a long, cold, and wet spring season and staggering into the three-month inferno that is summertime ‘round these parts. The pile of 7” singles teetering in a haphazard pile in the Reverend’s office is threatening an unfortunate workplace disaster, so I thought that I’d pluck a few of the more worthy slabs ‘o wax from the stack and let you know about them with this year’s “Summer Singles Playlist.” Listen at your own peril…

The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown – “Trill Seekers” b/w “Bananas” (Getdown Entertainment)
This one actually came out back in 2023, but it’s been given repeated spins on the trusty ol’ turntable since Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown bandleader John Heintz sent me a copy late last year. Side A’s “Trill Seekers” is a funky amalgam of Funkadelic and Sly & the Family Stone with the former’s wigged-out guitar strokes (courtesy of Timo Somers) and the latter’s undeniable rhythmic sense (provided by bassist Remco Hendriks and drummer Wesley Ritenour, along with wah bassist Cody W. Wright). It’s a pulse-quickening instrumental foot-shuffler with a bit of horn honk and an undeniable groove. 

Flip this gorgeous purple flapjack over and spin the “B” as in “Bananas” and you’ll find a similarly funky jam tho’ with more of a jazzy feel as a backdrop, the performance led by Keith Anderson’s frenetic saxplay and Bobby Sparks II’s nimble keyboards. Throw in Hendriks’ monster bass line, Jack Iron’s rock-solid timekeeping, and some delightfully skronky guitar via Tim Stewart’s out-of-control id and you have another liver-quivering, deep pocketed performance. The 7-incher is packaged in a thick quality fold-out sleeve adorned with gorgeous gonzo artwork by Jim Mazza and Jeff Wood.   BUY OR DIE!   

The Low Spirits – “You Lied” b/w “Never Said I Need You” (Outro Records)
The Low Spirits are a contemporary garage-rock outfit hailing from Rochester NY, but they sound like the Seeds cruising down Hollywood Boulevard on their way to Bido Lito’s. This latest 7” slab kicks off with “You Lied,” a punky high-octane treatise on love and betrayal fueled by Ryan Moore’s unrepentant keyboard-bashing, guitarist Michael Maier’s fuzztone string-pulling and snotty lead vox, and a heavy-as-uranium rhythm section comprised of bassist Richie Dejohn and drummer Zachary Koch. All of the guys contribute backing vocals, which add even more momentum to an already exhilarating performance. 

B-side “Never Said I Need You” rocks just as recklessly, but with a more somber vibe provided by Moore’s excellently-moody keys and moodier vocals, punctuated by shards of atmospheric guitar and well-timed backing harmonies. If you’re a fan of the Nuggets/Back From the Grave-inspired rock ‘n’ roll then you’ll dig the hell outta the Low Spirits!   BUY OR DIE!

Nervous Eaters – “Man’s Got A Right” b/w “No More Idols” (Penniman Records, Spain)
Boston’s Nervous Eaters are, in my estimation, one of the sorely overlooked punk rock outfits of the 1980s, a “one and done” major label flash ‘n’ the pan that subsequently went indie, releasing a handful of rockin’ elpees before calling it quits. Eaters guiding light Steve Cataldo reformed the band in 2018 and has since provided fans with two wonderful new albums on Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records label. This recently-released import single dives into the time machine to offer up two previously unreleased vintage tunes. Side A’s “Man’s Got A Right” is a slaphappy slice of early ‘80s punk with a power-pop heartbeat, Cataldo’s low-slung vocals pumped up by the band’s gang harmonies and Jonathan Paley’s delightfully-tortured fretwork. 

Bassist Rob Skeen and drummer Jeff Wilkinson are a strong rhythm section, never more apparent than on the B’s madcap “No More Idols,” which one-ups the Ramones with a machinegun arrangement that features chainsaw guitar and more manic beats per minute than any slackjawed EDM wank-off. Both tunes provide unbridled energy, guaranteed to kick yer pacemaker into overdrive. Dave Anderson (of the Rochester NY band Calidoscopio) does an impressive job resurrecting what seem to be unreleased demos, bringing them back to life in the studio, Frankenstein-style.   BUY OR DIE!

The Shitkicker Rebellion – “White Light, White Heat” b/w “99th Floor” (Penniman Records, Spain)
The Shitkicker Rebellion is singer Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost and some of his friends from ‘round the Rochester NY area (sensing a theme here, are we?). Prevost, of course, has released four fine blues-rock albums over the past few years, each guaranteed to tickle your eardrums and pound your medulla oblongata into submission. Prevost gets his NYC groove on with this groovy new black pancake and a turbocharged cover of the Velvet Underground’s “White Light, White Heat” that comes into the DMZ hot with snarling vox resembling a cross between Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. The backing band offers tilted harmonies, and the song’s git solo is razor sharp, devastatingly recorded in the red for major mondo distortion. It’s a spine-yanking cover of a legendary tune that many have tried, but few have mastered; kudos to Prevost for blitzing an otherwise overplayed cover with unrelenting energy and attitude.

The poop-punting B-side (sorry, couldn’t resist…) is an equally inspired cover of the Moving Sidewalks’ 1967 treasure “99th Floor.” As the former frontman of beloved garage-rockers the Chesterfield Kings, Prevost can growl these Nuggets-styled gems out in his sleep; he’s no slacker, though, so he imbues the performance with a crackling, uncompromised punkish ferocity that is calmed only slightly by the mournful wail of his harmonica in the background while guitarist Ryan Moore (The Low Spirits) doesn’t so much as mimic Billy Gibbons’ guitar noise as re-writes its DNA. Guitarist Paul Morabito delivers a subtle-but-strong instrumental backdrop while the rhythm section of bassist Rick Cona (Chesterfield Kings) and drummer Zachary Koch (The Low Spirits) provide a cold steel consistency to the song’s runaway locomotion.   BUY OR DIE!

The Reverend's Winter 2025 Playlist (The Continental Drifters, Old Town Crier, The Big Ol' Nasty Getdown, Tommy Castro & the Painkillers)

It’s cold as a penguin’s patootie outside as I write this – a measly four degrees with a minus seven wind chill here in WNY – so it’s time to crank up the Victrola and spin some hot tunes to melt the ice from your eardrums and push away frostbite for another day. Here’s some of the Reverend’s picks for winter playlists, every one guaranteed to get rid of yer ‘winter blues’!

The Continental Drifters were easily a decade ahead of their time, or maybe a decade too late, depending on your perspective. Featuring a brace of skilled songwriters – Peter Holsapple (The dB’s), Susan Cowsill (The Cowsills), Vicki Peterson (The Bangles), and Mark Walton (Dream Syndicate) – and a slew of talented noisemakers, the Drifters were an ‘80s-era college rock dream band with the jangle to prove it. They released four albums over a decade (1993-2004), their final album actually recorded as their first, and they danced at the intersection of pop and rock at a time when musical culture was dominated by some of the ugliest and most brutal sounds one could capture on tape.

As shown by White Noise & Lightning: The Best of the Continental Drifters (Omnivore Recordings), music this intelligent, creative, and oftentimes beautiful is timeless, a magical talisman just waiting for an audience to find it. With this collection – and the band’s recent biography of the same name penned by Sean Kelly – the door to rediscovery by a younger generation is wide open. Pulling material from all four of the Drifters’ albums, and including a previously-unreleased live track in the form of the electrically-charged “Who We Are, Where We Live,” White Noise & Lightning offers up everything from the gorgeous pop ballad “Mixed Messages” to the hard-rocking “Don’t So What I Did,” as well as the band’s folkish ‘theme song’ “Drifters,” beautifully sung by Cowsill. Dig into the Continental Drifters, the best band you never heard! Grade: A+   BUY! [Omnivore] 

Old Town Crier (a/k/a Jim Lough) has received digital ink here before, notably for the 2023 LP A Night with Old Town Crier, which Lough used to raise money for The Pine Street Inn, a Boston-area non-profit fighting homelessness. The four-song EP Motion Blur (self-produced) was recorded in the winter of 2004, the tape promptly lost, and then rediscovered last year. Keeping with his usual ‘modus operandi’ Lough has released Motion Blur on Bandcamp, with half the proceeds going to the Plymouth COPE Center at bamsi.org, a pretty cool and worthwhile non-profit that is creating “equal opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities and mental and behavioral health challenges.”

Motion Blur depicts the imaginative rocker in a different light, with a bit of twang in the grooves and a rockabilly heart. The short, sharp shock of “Back Door” swings on the hinges of a truly reckless guitar lick that eats at your brain like a politician’s promise while evincing a cowpunk aesthetic. The toothier “Rebecca” welds a standard honky-tonk dancefloor rhythm to a slinky Exile-era Stones soul groove with wiry, madcap fretwork and a joyous spirit while “Country Boy” is a hillbilly rave-up with clamorous instrumentation and revved-up vocals that go down like a Mason jar full of ‘shine (smooth, with a finish that kicks yer ass). Closer “Real Good Friend” injects a ‘60s-era garage-rock vibe into the mix, like Sky Saxon riding a mechanical bull at Muhlenbrink’s Saloon in West Nashville, with some mighty fine git pickin’ driving the vox. The EP is a delightfully lo-fi affair but nevertheless displays plenty of heart and soul with its performances. Grade: A   BUY! [Bandcamp]

Any outfit with a name like The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown is certain to get the Reverend’s attention, and the band’s spicy debut, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 (Org Music), lives up to its billing. Masterminded by producer/bassist John Heintz, The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown has been bubbling under the public’s consciousness for better than a decade, but the seven-song RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 EP (which delivers all of the energy and cheap thrills of a full-length LP!) should raise the band’s profile and deserves every dollar you throw out for a copy. Digging into a long-lost funk goldmine with a veritable ‘who’s who’ of musical talent, the EP features name players like Jack Irons (The Red Hot Chili Peppers), Angelo Moore & Norwood Fisher (Fishbone), Jimi Hazel (24-7 Spyz), Larry LaLonde (Primus), Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), and Ra Diaz (Korn), among many others. Of course, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got the swing, and superstar studio party times have been known to go awry before, but it’s all good with The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown.

Opener “All Together Now” is a solid musical statement, an energetic instrumental with jazzy horns blasting above a hardcore funk rhythm and embroidered by the legendary Nocentelli’s bluesy shards of jagged lead guitar. “Body Magic” offers up P-Funk’s Ronkat Spearman delivering his silky vox above a spry, space-age funk ensemble that mixes brass and percussion with a soul undercurrent to booty-shaking effect. The throwback vibe of the instrumental “420 Ocean Drive” displays echoes of prime ‘70s-era Funkadelic with P-Funk axeman Eric McFadden leading the charge with imaginative and powerful leads, yet still manages to explore new and exciting musical territories. Fishbone’s Moore takes the microphone for the low-slung, raunchy “Spirit Stain” with Jimi Hazel weaving some devastating guitar licks beneath one of the boldest, nastiest, and entertaining cosmic grooves to ever tickle your cerebellum.

The avant garde instrumental “Ten Hits” may be the most intriguing and fascinating cut on the EP; led by Primus guitar-wrangler Larry LaLonde and featuring Fishbone bassist Norwood Fisher and Mike Dillon (from Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade) on vibes and tabla, the performance definitely digs into exotic turf to deliver a gem of a lysergic fever dream. Instrumental versions of “Body Magic” and “Spirit Stain” are as engaging and electric as the vocal versions, but possible with more heft given the change in focus. Blessed by the almighty Godfather himself, George Clinton, The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown is the real deal, RepurposE Purpose Vol. 1 a stone-cold killer with big funk energy and – most importantly – the undeniable sound of a bunch of musical brethren making a joyous noise just for kicks. Grade: A   BUY! [Bandcamp]     

Tommy Castro has been knocking around the blues world for 30+ years now, but has never gotten the mainstream recognition his status deserves. Since his 1995 studio debut Exception to the Rule (and with the Dynatones before that), Castro has been preserving, yet pushing blues music to new heights. He’s won a slew of ‘Blue Music Awards’ from The Blues Foundation, including the coveted ‘B.B. King Entertainer of the Year” award an unparalleled four times. He’s an electrifying performer, an underrated singer and guitarist, and yet he wouldn’t be picked out of a lineup if he stole a ham sandwich from Carnegie Deli.

It doesn’t matter, tho’, because what pop music ignores, blues fans heartily embrace and, as shown by Castro’s latest effort, Closer To the Bone (Alligator Records), the man still has a lot to say. As usual, Castro’s guitar playing in the grooves is sharp, clean, and concise, reminding of B.B. King but with a little toothier bite to his solos. Even after decades of shouting the blues, Castro’s vox remain strong, soulful, with a touch of grit. “One More Night” is a swinging, Texas-flavored blues romp a la Stevie Ray, but with less six-string pyro (but still some…) while “Keep Your Dog Inside,” a duet with the multi-talented Deanna Bogart, evinces Elvin Bishop’s sense of humor while still managing to sizzle like a steak on a hot grill (and name checks the jocular Bishop in the outro).

“Ain’t Worth the Heartache” rides an exotic backing rhythm and Billy Branch’s harmonica wizardry to nirvana while on “Freight Train (Let Me Ride),” Castro channels Johnny Winter with his wicked Resonator play. The old-school, West Coast jump blues of “Bloodshot Eyes” jumps right out of the speakers and grabs you by the ears and, really, all of Closer To the Bone is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on the face of any blues fan. Castro is more of a traditionalist than, say, Joe Bonamassa or Walter Trout, but neither is he afraid to mix a little rock or jazz into his blues sound. Neither is he hesitant to call upon his influences (B.B. King, Albert Collins, Stax Records) when needed to make a point. As such, Closer To the Bone is both an amalgam of everything that has come before in the blues world with Castro still managing to put a contemporary spin and energy to the sound. Grade: A   BUY! [Alligator]