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| “in-de-pend-ence n. 1 the state or quality of being
independent; freedom from the influence, control or
determination of another or others 2 [Now Rare] an
income sufficient for a livelihood”
- Webster’s New World Dictionary (Third College
Edition) |
| Y’see, no matter how far things spiderweb and branch
out, it’s always gonna come back to one thing: scary.
Scary, scary, and - since we’re already talking about
it - scary. |
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Hearsay has it that the only thing scarier to sprout
from the muck and mire of South Carolina’s swampland
than guitarist Willy B is his partner-in-grime Evil
Presly. Whereas Mr. B has that gentlemanly Southern
smarm and a drawl that simply drips with “git th’
shovel”, Mr. Presly - a leather ‘n leopard wrapped
mass of mange, canines and charisma that’s charmed the
pants off more than one chimpanzee - is a brash,
one-man avalanche. Put simply, put the two together
on a stage, in a van or bar tab and somebody’s gonna
end up hurt and bawlin’. |
In For The Kill
Album Cover
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| In the early 1990’s, the pair joined forces, vowing to
destroy the boggy boredom and stereotypical
sasquatchshit that was plaguing their local music
scene. With an unhealthy devotion to horror films and
frighteningly diverse musical tastes in tow, the
Demonic Duo decided that the best way to pay tribute
to their heroes - Conway Twitty, Iron Maiden, Etta
James, The Specials and the Ramones among them - were
to hammer them all into a shaker (no stirring, thank
you) and serve the whole steaming and
quickly-congealing mess over ice. A few years of
doing so laid waste to not only a few band members,
but a handful of demo recordings, compilation
appearances and scads of hellish live shows as well,
culminating into a deal with indie label Rockduster
Records and the release of The Independents’ debut, IN
FOR THE KILL. Extensive touring for IFTK resulted in
shows with Voodoo Glow Skulls and Blink 182, as well
as blossoming a friendship between Evil and Ramones
bassist CJ Ramone. A few opening dates of the Ramones
ACID EATERS tour followed, ending with The
Independents being taken under the motherly leather
wing of Joey Ramone, who volunteered to manage and
produce the band. |
The Metro
Chicago, IL |
1997 saw the band signing up to release the 7-song
STALKER EP on Elevator Music, and then heading out
onto the road yet again and teeming up with Rancid,
Reel Big Fish, Green Day and several dates of the
Ramones’ Farewell Tour, as well as the CMJ and South
By Southwest conventions. Touring was followed by
stints in the studio to record songs for the
hilariously-hits-home Bruce McDonald film, HARDCORE
LOGO, a Joey Ramone/Daniel Rey-produced cover of
Danzig’s “Mother” and several as-yet-unreleased
ditties with Ramone himself handling vocals. 1998 was
celebrated with the release of a self-titled single on
Hellcat/Epitaph as well as dates on Van’s Warped Tour,
the New England Ska Fest and opening for everyone from
Ronnie Spector to Cheap Trick, Citizen Fish and
Sebastian Bach. The grueling recording for their BACK
FROM THE GRAVE album (also produced by Ramone and Rey)
was broken up by an appearance in Robert Tucker’s
horror spoof FATAL RINSE, shooting videos for the
songs “Little Blue” and “Death Notice” with renowned
director George Seminara (Ramones, Danzig, Beastie
Boys) and a $60,000 incident involving the abduction
of their van, trailer, merchandise and equipment -
some of which being irreplaceable gifts from the
Ramones. BACK FROM THE GRAVE and THE UNHOLY LIVING
DEAD EP were both released independently (no puns)
before the band set off on a tour of the U.S. with the
Misfits - dampened considerably by the untimely
passing of Joey Ramone on April 15, 2001. |
| 2002 was spent vanning to and fro with the likes of
The Queers, The Eyeliners and The Briefs and several
headlining stints. Early 2003 saw the release of the
live opus LIVE FROM MURDER BEACH as well as
compilation contributions for the likes of Cleopatra,
Fast Music and Peephole Records and even more live
debacles with The Pietasters and Voodoo Glow Skulls.
An extremely busy 2004 (which included the release of
the FULL MOON ARISE EP/CD-ROM, a rousing rendition of
“Sword Of Damocles” on Spring Man Record’s THE ROCKY
HORROR PUNK ROCK SHOW comp and a successful “No Rest
For The Wicked” U.S. jaunt) came to a rather unnerving
end in mid-November. In the first days of making their
long awaited UK/European debut with pals The
Dangerfields, The Independents were involved in a
horrific bus accident in England that left their bus
driver in cranially critical condition and a cut and
crisped Willy B with numerous rattling crumbs
previously known as a left arm. |
| Upon mending up and returning home, it was only a
matter of weeks before the punishment gluttons were
back at it, burning up asphalt, eardrums and
Alka-Seltzer with two full headlining campaigns and
another lengthy stint with The Queers. Because of
outstanding sales (damn ‘em!) BACK FROM THE GRAVE and
LIVE AT MURDER BEACH had to be repressed not once, but
twice and 2005 was brought to a catastrophic close
with the final touches being put on the long, long,
looooong awaited ETERNAL BOND. The forecast for 2006
is as bleak and black as it’s always been:
scary-as-all-hell with a 110% chance of abject terror
and piss-jetting panic. That is, more music (ETERNAL
BOND, a reissue of STALKER with bonus tracks,
performances with Joey Ramone on the LIVE AT THE
CONTINENTAL compilation CDs and DVD), more Constant
Commuter Miles, more jugular-jabbing joyrides, more
finger flippery, more broken bicuspids and more
satisfied ‘n sighing gothapotami than you can shake
your foot-long coney at. |
Evil Presly and Willy B With
Joey Ramone
Manitoba's, NYC 12/12/00 |
|
Be ascared. Be very fucking ascared. |
Willy B with coffin guitar
Jax, FL 9/10/02 |
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