Monday, October 19, 2009

The Ramrods - Jivin' n' Twistin' ep (1986, Kentucky Rifle)

Did the word 'ramrod' not have a have a homosexual connotation in 1986 or are these the coolest teen boys in all of history? (from Fagatron 2093 blog).

Though they only had one ep (this one) to their credit, Kenmore, NY's (that's Buffalo to you) Ramrods seemed to occupy a special place in the hearts and minds of western New York's hipster music cognoscenti, both past and present. Behold, an unassuming, pubescent quintet from the suburbs of snowdrift country as they skillfully wind their way through a trio of rhythmically sophisticated garage rock numbers, with the agility and mastery of men twice their senior. Call it "maximum power pop." 
 
More songs were recorded. Many of them in fact, some of which finally saw the light of day on a limited cd-r to coincide with a 2005 reunion concert at Buffalo's Mohawk Place. While that disk may be the subject of a future Wilfully Obscure post, the prospect of a proper CD reissue of Jivin' along with more material from this era was bandied about at the time of said reunion, but I've heard nary a word since. Any of you old schoolers in the know about the Ramrods, don't hesitate to flood the comments section...
 
A. Fun Night
B1. Metamorphosis
B2. Feel It
 

3 comments:

evr said...

They were incredible live. Some of the shows they played with bands like the Splat Cats were so much fun. It felt like there was this really cool movement of garage rock happening in Buffalo back then! Bill Scott shoulda been a big star!

I think this EP and the track on We Killed McKinley were the high points, even though the recordings feel a little sterile to me.

Wish you coulda been there Spavid!

Unknown said...

Norman is my uncle

Buffalo Music Archive said...

Would love top hear this one. Please re-upload if you have the opportunity. Thank you.