The Hangmen

Now i wasn't there but this little record from 1989 must of been a lightening rod amongst the rock n' roll underground.....just ask members of L7, Social Distortian and the Supersuckers!

Despite being on Capitol records, coverage in the Metal rags of the day and having their record produced by Vic Maile (Ace Of Spades, Live At Leeds) they never caught on, anyway....

Despite their Los Angeles residence and bandana'd sleazy demeanour they were in fact miles away from the LA rock scene populated by thousands of hairspray poofters and sleazy rock dogs trying to keep it real and street in the wake of Guns N' Roses surprise success.

They were more from the other side of the tracks musically speaking laying waste to brain cells in squalid celebration of real rock n' roll with more like minded musical partners in crime the Joneses, Tex And The Horseheads, The Gun Club etc.

This is a totally rippin' sleazy hard rock glam blues punk n' roll record that brings to mind everyone from Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Gun Club, The Stooges, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper Band etc.

You could say the only other bands doing this at the time were the Rock City Angels and the Sea Hags.....in fact you could say the Hangmen and the Sea Hags were seperated at birth, only since the Hags were more fixated on primo 70's Aerosmith and the Hangmen were more buried in the Stooges dirt!

They actually got signed by Geffen in the early 90's after being dropped by Capitol and had a record in the can that was produced by Rob Younger or the legendary Aussie rock n' roll band Radio Birdman.....but once again as Geffen had a habit of sabotaging their own bands (see Geffen curse) it never got released to remain in Geffen's vault's forever.

Out of nowhere in the early 2000's, Bryan Small and his Hangmen starting releasing great records thanks to Mike Ness and are one of America's greatest rock n' roll bands at the moment.

The Hangmen - Rotten Sunday 1989 promo



The Hangmen Myspace

www.myspace.com/theehangmen

HANGMEN are a Shiney fave...and everything you said is true...

Smalls snotty nasal vocals...the glitter and dogsh*t sound of the guitars...the over all YES this IS rock & Roll...attitude.

Why they were'nt huge I shall never know...When I was young and in a band we covered "Rotten Sunday"...

Then we also covered "Christmas Vacation" by DESCENDENTS and "Love Song" by THE CURE and "Nile SOng" by PINK FLOYD...guess we were weird...

I remember owning this disc way back in the day, but nothing from it. And now that disc is long gone.