Chopper Producing New Phantom of the Black Hills EP
Chopper is producing the new 3 song EP for hellbilly/doom country artists the Phantom of the Black Hills, it will be available digitally Dec. 30th on Ratchet Blade Records. It will be titled Black Hearted Killer and is the follow-up to 2012’s ENEMY!.
The69cats.com Is Live
The website for Chopper’s new goth n roll band The 69 Cats has gone live, check in to get info on their upcoming EP, future tour dates and check out the new photo galleries. Click HERE to visit.
Heathen Apostles In The Studio
The band has begun tracking their next record, an 3 song EP due February 2014 on Ratchet Blade Records. This will be the follow up to 2013’s Boot Hill Hymnal, once again Chopper will be producing. Check back for more info on this and other upcoming releases.
Goth n Roll Band The 69 Cats is Formed
Chopper has joined forces with Jyrki 69 (69 Eyes) and Danny B. Harvey (The Headcat, Rockats) to form 69 Cats, a gothic rock n roll band that has a 3 song EP due out on Halloween on Cleopatra Records. Check back for more info, the band will begin recording their debut album shortly, and a European tour is in the works.
69 Cats
Heathen Apostles on Instagram
Check in with and follow the Heathen Apostles @heathenapostles or visit them on their new Instagram page where you’ll see candid photos and videos from their live shows, video shoots and recording sessions. Be sure and tag and share any Heathen activity you’re a part of, whether it’s at a show, record store or witches coven! Here’s the link:
Heathen Apostles “Boot Hill Hymnal’ Pre-Sale
The Boot Hill Hymnal pre-sale launches today, order now and get an autographed cd for $4 off the SRP and early shipping! For more info click HERE.
Heathen Apostles “Boot Hill Hymnal” Now in iTunes, Amazon.mp3
You can now get a digital copy of Boot Hill Hymnal from iTunes and Amazon.mp3, click the links below to preview and download your copy today. The cd will be available at heathenapostles.com on Friday the 13th of September.
Doghouse Lords New Website Is Live
The Doghouse Lords (Chopper, Javier Matos, John Bazz and Bill Bateman) have a remodeled website and it is now live. Check it out and pick up a copy of their debut cd “Diggin’ at the Doghouse”. They also have a new release coming this Summer on Ratchet Blade Records. Click here to visit: www.doghouselords.com
“Dark Was The Night” Video in Pre-Production
The Heathen Apostles are preparing to enter pre-production for the second video from their upcoming EP (due Spring 2013 on Ratchet Blade Records). Directing the video will be Victoria Vengeance from a storyline she created.
Victoria Vengeance and husband filmmaker Gris Grimly
Nikki Hill at Viva Las Vegas
Nikki Hill’s set at Viva Las Vegas with Chopper on bass was a smashing success, she received two well deserved encores and was the hit of the weekend. You can get more info on her at nikkihillmusic.com. Here’s a fan video from the set:
“The Reckoning” Video Debuts Online
Chopper’s latest band the Heathen Apostles’ debut video ‘The Reckoning” is up and online, “The Reckoning” will be on the upcoming EP on Ratchet Blade Records, due out Spring 2013. The video was directed by the band and features legendary photographer Edward Colver as the Demonic Preacher:
HeathenApostles.com is Now Live & Get a Free Download!
The Heathen Apostles website is now up and features a limited time free download of their first single “Dark Was The Night”. It also has photo galleries featuring work by Riley Kern, Mila Reynaud and Edward Colver as well as news on their debut recordings and video. Click the link below to visit:
Heathen Apostles Shooting Debut Music Video
The Heathen Apostles are currently shooting the video for “The Reckoning”, off of their soon to be released debut record. It features photography legend Edward Colver as a demonic preacher and will come out in Spring of 2013. Check back for more info on the video’s release as well as the release of their debut EP, and for news on the launch of their website heathenapostles.com. Below are some screen captures of the raw footage.
Heathen Apostles Currently Recording Debut
Chopper has teamed with vocalist extraordinaire Mather Louth to form his latest project the Heathen Apostles, and they are joined by bassist Thomas Lorioux and some very special guests in the studio writing and recording their debut, tentatively scheduled for a spring 2013 release. For more info on Mather visit her website by clicking HERE.
Mather Louth
Doghouse Lords on AMC’s “Breaking Bad”
The production team for AMC’s hit series “Breaking Bad” chose the Doghouse Lords’ song “Gambler’s Guts” for episode #503 “Hazard Pay”. We feel the fact that the song was playing during a prison scene is irrelevant…
Doghouse Lords
Wanda Jackson Performs for Hurricane Sandy Relief
On Saturday November 30th Chopper backed Wanda Jackson as she performed on KUT radio in Austin, Texas to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy. Also in the band were Danny B. Harvey on guitar, Tom Lewis on drums and Damian O’Grady on piano. The appearance was filmed, here’s Riot in Cell Block #9:
Chopper in Shattered Platter Feature
Chopper did a piece for the vinyl record website Shattered Platter where he recommends lps, turntables, speakers and booze:
Scott “Chopper” Franklin (The Cramps/Wanda Jackson/ Charley Horse/The Mau Maus) gives suggestions for blues & roots music to check out.
Low Estate 16 Horsepower
All of 16 HPs records are on heavy rotation around here, but Low Estate gets the most spins. If a Faulkner reading ever needed a backing track this would get the call. You’ll think you’re listening to the Devil hisself, but when you find out singer David Eugene Edwards is actually deeply religious, you’ll be even more intrigued.
Blues Classics by Memphis Minnie
In my latest project the Heathen Apostles we are doing Black Rat Swing, and ever since pulling out and listening to this record to learn it, I haven’t been able to stop. Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey may have gotten all the accolades, but Minnie is the real deal. This is a great cross-section of her best sides from the 1920’s to the late 1940’s.
Red of Tooth and Claw Murder By Death
When I first put this record on I thought I was hearing the soundtrack to Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, and later when I read the lyrics I knew I was. First Adam Turla’s amazing voice kicks you down, then Sarah Balliet’s great cello steps on your throat. Get two copies of this, you’ll wear the first one out.
Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever Scott H. Biram
This is stripped-down, one-man-band music at its best, but Time Flies is as slick as anything you’ll ever hear. SHB manages to capture both the grit and melody of Leadbelly, along with some great Hank Williams, Sr. storytelling (though a little “rougher around the edges”). He puts on a great live show, too.
Lil Son Lil Son Jackson
Some (incorrectly) call Lil Son a poor man’s Lightnin Hopkins, but this Texas blues stands on its own and also has a great swamp feel to it. On this record (1960 re-recordings of some of his earlier hard-to-find classics) he gives Jimmy Reed and Slim Harpo a run for their money. It’s a recent Arhoolie re-issue, shouldn’t be hard to find.
Well, I go through turntables like crazy, so I keep a stack of them in a back room. The current one is a Technics DC Servo, next up…?
I go through JBL home speakers and a bottle or ten of Old Overholt.
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