For several years I
lived in the city of Pontevedra while studying Fine Arts. During this time I
met Juan Leiva (Guly) and together we decided to start a garage band which we
called “Los Villanos de Boraville”. It was 2005 and the city of Lérez did
not know what was coming. One month after the first rehearsal we recorded
our first demo titled “Alligator Wine”. Soon we consolidated both the line-up
(Arthur Morgan joined on bass and Alberto “Six Fingers” on Farfisa) and the
sound, starting to work on what would be our second demo: “La Noche del
Cazador”. In these two demos you can perfectly perceive our taste for the
Garage Rock of bands like The Sonics, Grass Roots, Los Negativos, The Fuzztones,
Miracle Workers, Link Wray...
In April 2008, we released our first CD "
Haciéndolo En La Boraway" (Velvet Cave Records) from which two songs were
extracted for the compilation "The 6th Generation Nation Vol.1" by
Velvet Cave Records, another for volume 2 of the same compilation and two for
the compilation Megaton Yeye Vol.11 (Bonvivant Records).
In the summer of 2009 we
recorded our second LP. "Coolio Weeckendo: Acción, Psychosis y Rock and
Roll" which never saw the light, although some songs can be listened on our
bandcamp site. The cover of this second work was commissioned by my friend, the
graphic artist, Nieves Prado. -Source
Los Villanos de Boraville is the side project set up by Israel on the
fringes of the Tumbitas. A 60's garage band with organ in a Miracle Workers /
Long Ryders vein with some surf parts (“Impala”) and a good half of the songs
are sung in Spanish (not immediately obvious, but there is at least one great
success, ”El Sabado Adios”, and long live the gloomy sundays).
We will also remember the first track "The Haunted House" from
this album “Haciéndolo En La Boraway”, which is reminiscent of the Chesterfield
Kings “Stop!” era.-Source
Los Villanos De Boraville - Haciéndolo En La
Boraway (Velvet Cave Records 2008) FLAC320
"I Hate You Baby!" is an album that perfectly defines Jonny Chan's creative period, first with The Covingtons, whose best-known song gives title to this record. Born in Detroit Jonny Chan started his garage punk wanderings in the 80s, but it was when he moved to New York that he founded the New Dynasty 6. In 1998 they published on Dionysus Records their debut "So ... You Want Action" and after ten years they return with this album, "I Hate You Baby!"... a double album divided into “Nine pieces”, an excavation of all existing works, edited, unedited, acoustic, demos, TV Shows and a special live edition on Joe Belock's WFMU radio show "Three Chord Monte".
Speaking about the songs of Jonny Chan is to mix entertainment with pure
pleasure, the "jangling" of the "garage" rock with the sounds from the
"British Invasion" are a constant presence, in songs like “Hook, Line
& Sinker”, "I Say Yeah!”, Gimme A Kiss" and "See My Way", but talk
like that about so few songs is even more reducing, because the
revelations, the games of hidden music, background music are so
important that this record, least because everything in it has a
beginning, middle and end, is essential, requiring us to several
hearings. Absolutely fantastic. -Francisco Ribeiro
After a decade of delays, the second Jonny Chan & The New Dynasty 6 album has finally lifted off the runway. It could be said that “I Hate You Baby” was a decade in the making or a decade overdue. Whatever your perspective, Sound Camera Records has ventured over the coiled barbwire and rescued this previously unreleased treasure from the dust yards of no availability. The reconditioned album, lovingly renovated by Sound Camera Records as a bonus tracks galore 2CD edition, is ready to land under the glow and into the stereos of the 60s garage world.
Some may recall Jonny Chan & the New Dynasty Six made a major dent in 1998 with their debut album “So You Want Action” featuring “Little Black Egg” lyrically rendered in Mandarin Chinese. Others might remember their extensive interview atop an ambulance in Flipside Magazine. Still others might think back to their live shows and festival appearances (e.g., Fuzzfest ’97 in Atlanta and L.A.’s Dionysus Demolition Derby) where they opened up the sense of anything could happen and many times frequently did. In fact, during their "It's All About Me" finale, an amusement park character walked into Detroit’s Magic Stick (a venue loft above a bowling alley). It was a surreal and perfect jolt for a stripped-down garage festival called Gutterfest held during Indian Summer ‘98. So what happened in these intervening 11 years besides the usual compounding conflictions of work, school life, egos and musical differences? I will refer you to the CD booklet for both sordid details and brushes with fame. The music will be the main focus here.
You may be thinking, “This sounds like any garage band that managed to play a live set on WFMU, shake some NYC action at Manitoba's Bar and release a record on Dionysus or SFTRI.” Yes, the band was guilty of crash landing at any moment, being comprised of shifting and incongruent lineups while sending out infrequent communiqués over intermittent cut-rate websites. In this turbulence, lies the genius of Jonny Chan & the New Dynasty 6. They could sound so sharply focused and other times spinning out of control--and out of their heads. In the end, Jonny Chan is kind of like art or life itself—sometimes there’s understanding or momentum, but most other times something entirely else it transpiring. This is the soundtrack to both the clarity and chaos.
The instrumental “Hook, Line & Sinker” sets the album off in true go-go motion before setting stage for the downbeat and folked-up “I Say Yeah” featuring a soaring Rickenbacker solo that recalls the Optic Nerve and the Nightcrawlers at their finest. On "It's All About Me,” the band reaches its summit with the song’s perfect arrangement, shifting dynamics and musical execution. The first time I heard the flowery strums of the intro at the aforementioned Gutterfest show, I thought they were going to cover The Monkees’ “The Day We Fell in Love” which would not only be heretical, but truly dangerous to play in rough & tumble 1998 Detroit. Everything comes together for them in this instantly connecting and signature song touched by the divine spark. Next, “See My Way” surges things forward and displays their Kinksian side. (JC & ND6 belted out a charged up cover of the Kinks' "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." at the same Gutterfest show.) The song is also a perfect vehicle for Chan’s rush hour vocals conveying a native Detroit gunk accent clashing and converging with a transplanted snotty New York one. Chan’s vocals end up veering somewhere between John Felice of the Real Kids and the garage-pop sensibilities of Robert Wojz (of the Insomniacs). While this might not sound appealing under monitor glass, the voice is captivating, distinctive and a perfect fit for either a heartfelt ballad or a fast fuzz-filled ride.
The overflow reservoir department brims with an alternate and superior take of “This is the Place” overlaid with the more congruent vocals by Jonny vs. Wayne’s huskier straining lead vocals heard on the proper album. As every good architect has a trail of bad projects behind them there are a few throwaway pedestrian numbers (e.g. “Fatty Fatty Two by Four”) which were understandably sent to the impound. The real revelation is the pristine folk-rocker “I Want What I Can’t Have” which rates up with “Time Has Gone” from their debut album. One can only surmise sounding too much like Manfred Mann’s “Pretty Flamingo” layered with a veneer of “Norwegian Wood” disqualified this minor-key magnificence. While it may seem surprising this discerning Mr. Chan, who knows his Knaves from his Saturday Children, would have a Manfred Man blind spot, the head honcho of Sound Camera Records testified in Oakland County Circuit Court of no chicanery and Mr. Chan was truly unfamiliar with # 1UK hit from 1966. Flagrant rip off or not, this song is immaculate folk ‘n’ roll with an undercurrent of raga echoing in the distance. JC & ND6 always seemed attuned and aligned to regal feel and look of the Chicago ‘60s bands—from the Dunwich label in particular. This is testified in their glorious cover of “A Girl as Sweet at You” from their debut and the acoustic version of the Knaves’ “Your Stuff” which rounds out disc one. It’s not every decade that you hear a band covering the Knaves. Disc two features the Mosier Safe Sessions with its very apt echo making these rehearsals a Mondo Mid-sixties blow out. Also included on disc two, is a solid and satisfying WFMU set (15.5 songs from Joe Belock's Three Chord Monte program) from the dawn of this decade.
While coulda, woulda, shoulda surround the legend of Jonny Chan and the New Dynasty 6, these are only shadows contrasting with the moments of brilliance. With the perspective of time, Chan has come to terms with the missed opportunities, “It was 2000, Garage was hotter than it had ever been and we did everything wrong, we blew it big time. Nobody was willing to do what was needed to be done including myself.” Even if the band was able to ride the momentum, make an appearance on the Sopranos, play at the Randall's Island Donut Festival and release a glossy record on Wicked Cool, this path would have belied the unraveling energy of band lead by the unorthodox and unbounded spirit of Jonny Chan. Conversely, if the band was able to sidestep the fallows and minefields, they maybe could have achieved a string of releases and international festival appearances placing them in the upper echelons of the garage world. Nevertheless, this recovered bounty of previously unreleased recordings emanates with Chan’s considerable talents and vast capacities in commanding musical order while simultaneously dishing out the chaos. Furthermore, the story and sound are far from over as anything can happen when you enter the indomitable world of Jonny Chan and New Dynasty 6. -Ted Liebler
Jonny Chan And The New Dynasty 6 - I Hate You Baby! (2CD Sound Camera Records 2009) FLAC12320
