THE FUZZTONES

As the countdown to the release of the Fuzztones’ Buried Treasures album continues… July 18, in case it’s not already tattooed into your calendar… New York City’s favorite psycho-garage fuzzpunks unleash the third single from the set and it might well be the most aptly-titled of them all.

“Third Time’s The Charm” is an absolute swamp monster, a pile-driving melange of soupy organ, protesting guitars and panic attack percussion. A band composition, it has long ranked among the Fuzztones’s most deliciously realized time slips, a garage groove that simply bellows sixties suburban punk rock in your face. This take, however, screams louder than ever before, as Fuzztones frontman Rudi Protrudi explains.

“They say ‘Third Time’s the Charm,’ and we can’t help but agree.”

“Third Time’s A Charm” first appeared on the band’s 1990 release, Braindrops, before resurfacing on 2008’s Horny as Hell. Here, however, “is an updated version, recorded, but never released, by the Horny as Hell line-up, minus the horns, Hammond organ and female backing singers – along with newly recorded vocals and combo organ (provided by current Fuzztones organist Nico Secondini).”

The line-up is completed by head ‘Tone Rudi on lead vocals and wah wah guitar, along with Lenny Svilar on lead guitar, Surrealistic Pille on bass and Mad Mike Czeksj on drums.

Stream the single: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_thirdtimesthecharm

And, looking ahead to the album, Rudi warns, “There’s plenty more where this came from!

“Most of the songs on the album will… be familiar to hardcore Fuzztones fans,” he acknowledges. But the performances most certainly won’t be. Buried Treasures is composed entirely of previously unreleased… kick ass studio versions, often recorded by line-ups differing from the ones who recorded them originally.”

It’s weird, sometimes, to think that The Fuzztones have now been with us for probably longer than all their primal influences put together… weird, but also gratifying. Because, no matter how long you’ve been a Fuzzmaniac, they never stop stunning you, and they never grow old. Some of the songs on Buried Treasures are positively ancient Fuzztone history. But they could have been recorded just now.

And two of them actually were. “69” is a reworking, and long -established re-wording of the Sonics‘ classic, “Strychnine,” while “One Night Stand” is the band’s take on the 60s garage classic by the Grotesque Mommies, with a few lyric changes thrown in to coincide with the Fuzztones’ philosophy. It was recorded on tour in Spain last year by the current Fuzztones line-up of Rudi and Nico, plus Marcello Salis (lead guitar), Pablo Rodas bass) and Marco Rivagli (drums).

The thrills don’t end there, either. The Fuzztones documentary, The Fuzztones Vs The World, directed by Danny Garcia, is already out and about, and if you’ve not caught a glimpse of it yet… where’ve you been?

Track List:

I Never Knew
99th Floor
Be Forewarned
Third Time’s The Charm
Brand New Man
69 (Strychnine)
Cheyenne Rider
One Night Stand
Invisible
She’s Wicked
Yeah Babe
Barking Up The Wrong Tree

CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=fuzztones+buried+treasure
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_buriedtreasure

It’s been 45 years since the Fuzztones established themselves among New York City’s grooviest ghoulies, and the psycho-garage fuzzpunks are still walking the earth, still lithe as lillies, and as fresh as a newly dug plague pit.

Their last album, Friends and Fiends (also available on Cleopatra Records) found the Fuzztones joining forces with a host of sainted icons, from Junior Wells to Screaming Jay Hawkins; and dropping some delicious surprises as well – Ann Margret sings “Born To Be Wild”? Betcha never expected that.

And you probably weren’t expecting this one, either, as their new album Buried Treasure unearths a veritable cornucopia of squirming, squawking grave-grinding raves and hauls them screaming into the light.

“Most of the songs will… be familiar to hardcore Fuzztones fans” acknowledges, frontman Rudi Protrudi (still one of the best names in rock, by the way). But the performances most certainly won’t be.

“This collection is composed entirely of previously unreleased… kick ass studio versions, often recorded by line-ups differing from the ones who recorded them originally.”

Take the new single “I Never Knew” for example. According to Rudi, this organ-swirling slice of locked-in-the-garage claustrophobia is “one of only two songs (the other being ‘Don’t Speak Ill of the Dead’) that came to me fully-formed in a sort of audio hallucination while driving to rehearsal.

“I taught it to the band immediately, the original version appearing on the Fuzztones Action EP, back in 1990.”

A live staple for many years (there’s a great version on 1991’s Lysergic. Ejaculations live album), it was rerecorded for 2008’s Horny Hell. But, as Rudi puts it, not only should you “dig this new version,” you can rest assured that “there’s plenty more where this came from.”

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/thefuzztones_ineverknew

There is indeed. Rudi continues, “While rummaging through my sorely-neglected attic recently, I stumbled across a recording simply entitled ‘rhythm tracks.’ My curiosity sufficiently aroused, I made a bee-line to my man cave, where I spent the next hour reviewing tracks I’d forgotten existed – in fact it wasn’t until the third or fourth song that I realized the source. These were the rhythm tracks for Horny As Hell, minus the vocals, horns and Hammond organ.

“The sound quality was excellent, and the mix was different than the final version, with a strong accent on the hard stereo guitar interplay of Lenny Svilar and myself. In other words, this shit ROCKED!!! Not only that, but there were enough smoldering tracks for two albums – easily!!

“I took the recordings into the studio, added brand new vocals and keyboard (contributed by current Fuzztones’ organist Nico Secondini) and presto! Buried Treasure!”

It’s weird, sometimes, to think that The Fuzztones have now been with us for probably longer than all their primal influences put together… weird, but also gratifying. Because, no matter how long you’ve been a Fuzzmaniac, they never stop stunning you, and they never grow old. Some of these songs are positively ancient Fuzztone history. But they could have been recorded just now.

And two of them actually were. “69” is a reworking, and long -established re-wording of the Sonics‘ classic, “Strychnine,” while “One Night Stand” is the band’s take on the 60s garage classic by the Grotesque Mommies, with a few lyric changes thrown in to coincide with the Fuzztones’ philosophy. It was recorded on tour in Spain last year by the current Fuzztones line-up of Rudi and Nic, plus Marcello Salis (lead guitar), Pablo Rodas bass) and Marco Rivagli (drums).

Track List: