Monday 14 December 2009

Bazooka Jo - Night After Night (1989)




A-Side: Night After Night
B-Side: Talk Of The Town

Stoke-On-Trent is not the most glamorous sounding place in the world but it was the town that spawned one of the most short lived glam metal acts ever. A band that’s single has become the find of a lifetime for yours truly and that band is….Bazooka Jo!
These wham-bam, flash in the pan, glam cats only put out the one single “Night After Night/Talk Of The Town” through the independent Scarecrow label and their own Jet Girl Music in 1989 and were never heard of again. The most bizarre thing is, that I only have the single to go off and nothing else for information. I crawled around the internet but still I don’t even know each dudes name!? Zip, nada, nothing I’m afraid.


My father had stumbled across it at a record store he’s frequented over the years, saw the four hairspray hooligans on the black & white printed cover - with their singer who looks like a young Sam Fox - and thought of me (He really thought they were all chicks though, hot ones too). He took me down there a week later and I picked the sucker up for about £5 max (thanx pops!), got home and searched high and low to see if there were any other copies out there, but alas. I had found a gem, possibly the holy grail of my entire record collection. I’m guessing too, that the band only had a few thousands, maybe even a few hundred copies of this single knocked up. They were unsigned and obviously everything they did in striving for rock stardom was ultimately decimating the lining of their tight leather pockets.

But what do they sound like, I hear you cry! They sound like pretty much every new bunch of rag-tag Maybelline motherfuckers that were trying to hit the big-time back in ’89. They are very much in the style of Pretty Boy Floyd, albeit heavier. Bazooka Jo also sound a bit like fellow British metallers Wraith and there is a strong Sweet influence present on both tracks. A-Side “Night After Night” is a corking tune! It has a cool riff, decent vocals (nothing outstanding), fantastic and memorable choruses with great production and arrangements. If I was to be critical in any way it would be that the backing vocals aren’t very strong and I was left wanting for a face-melting guitar solo. B-Side “Talk Of The Town” is also a good little number, but nowhere near the level of “Night After Night”. It’s a shame that these guys didn’t get picked up, as they sound extremely competent and better than a lot of artists I could mention that did get signed 20 years ago. If anyone knows any more about Bazooka Jo and if the band members are out there somewhere, get in touch. I would be eternally grateful….

RATING:
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© Flash Metal Circus

3 comments:

  1. Dude, i´m a die-hard glam collectionist .
    do u know where can i download this record , if there´s a torrent or something?
    Well, i asume that it´s imposible to buy anywere...

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  2. In know these guys well. I use to hang around with them 'back in the day' They were a great band, giged around the midlands a lot. Chicks loved em

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  3. I was the bassist in Bazooka Jo(e).
    Andy Bal- vocals
    Jason James- bass
    Steve Simmonds- guitar
    Stove - Drums
    Theres a Bazooka Joe facebook page.
    The band is no longer together but still keep in touch with each other.

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