Mark Sultan Let Me Out & Shows # 785, 786, 787

Let Me Out was released in October 2018 on Dirty Water Records on vinyl/CD and on cassette through Burger Records. Recorded at Sultan’s Sound Imperfection Studio in the woods of Berlin, this album is the latest release from Sultan, who has a plethora of releases in his discography with other groups such as The Spaceshits, Les Sexareenos, The Ding-Dongs, The King Khan & BBQ Show and as Mark Sultan/BBQ. The songs on this album are layered in fuzz guitar lines, 60s styled Farfisa organ and soulful vocals and rhythms. Let Me Out also has a punk influenced energy that when combined with the other elements that make up this album creates a world of its own.

“Coffin Nails” digs into the listener’s subconscious with fuzz guitar, surf guitar lines, 60s organ stabs and soulful bass and vocals. Lyrically with words such as “You dropped your casket/Into my heart/And there you stay girl until we part/Cause this world don’t mean a thing/It never did it never will” themes of anger, loss and love are cast alongside a desire to not be held down by the aspects of negativity. “The Other Two” delves into a lament for a connection between two people. In between Farfisa organ flourishes, guitar stabs, drum fills and a catchy chorus that states “Three out of five people looking for love/I wanna be the other two”, Sultan’s vocals grab a hold of the listener’s attention with a heartfelt melody that avoids all cliché. “Everybody Knows” dips into a more cosmic, psychedelic atmosphere. With a deep, catchy bass groove, Sultan croons over simmering organ, subtle guitar parts and a chorus revealing the complexity of trust and the words that are often left unsaid that come along with it as the lyrics emphasize “Looks like everything came true/And there’s nothing left to do/Cause everybody knows/Everybody knows”.

“Believe Me” cuts below the surface with a groove taking inspiration from The Count Five, as it changes time signatures, creating a strong dramatic effect, “Don’t Bother Me” picks up the pace with up-tempo drums, organ and revolving basslines, “Last Chance” creates tension amongst fuzzy guitar breakdowns and catchy verses that seem to float between the choruses, “Humiliation” attacks with its stop and start riffs, drum build ups, crashes and otherworldly organ parts. Lyrically, with words such as “So come back baby into my heart/I don’t feel no shame/The prying eyes of a vengeful god are to blame”, this song calls for a sense of understanding from past mistakes and confusions. A new intensity grows with the psych garage of “Let Me Out”. This song festers with a frustration and need to move forward, “Heed This Message” musically goes back to some early 50s rock sounds mixed with early 60s soul and garage sounds, while “Black Magic” floods your speakers with organ, vocal harmonies and jangly guitar. “The Problem” moves back and forth with its own mesmerizing rhythms amongst lyrics such as “And maybe that’s the problem man/That you don’t understand/The way I wanna be” that plea for individuality and a sense of identity. This is a theme that is even more relevant today, but also one that can have many layers to it.

Drum fills and R&B rave up guitar riffs come in with the next track, “Tragedy”. With the lyrics “Drowning in an ocean of obscurity/Got no patience/I ain’t got security” and “Maybe the world’s slipping/None of that matters without you by my side”, this song searches for a place, but is also a love song with a Kinks/Animals musical outlook. “Wasting Away” ends Let Me Out. With slow, fluid organ parts and surf-inflected guitar mixed with pulsing basslines and a marching drumbeat, Sultan seems to be embracing the chaos of life whether it is good or bad. Let Me Out sizzles with intensity, authenticity and strong songwriting. A cohesion presents itself throughout this album with many layered possibilities and lyrical meanings. With all the instrumentation performed by Sultan himself, the music here may be a collection of 60s garage psych songs, but the album does not revel in nostalgia. Let Me Out finds its own voice and is set free with Mark Sultan’s impassioned vocal melodies and innate musical abilities showing why Sultan is a master of his craft.

Show 787 (Originally Aired On August 10th, 2019)(David Berman, Mark Sultan, B Boys, The White Stripes):

1. Silver Jews - Honk If You’re Lonely
2. Purple Mountains - All My Happiness Is Gone
3. Wilco - Red-Eyed And Blue
4. The Unintended - Beautiful Things
5. Smokey & The Feelings - Chores
6. Rheostatics - I Wanna Be Your Robot
7. Aweful - Lucid Dream
8. Oh Sees - Heartworm
9. Mark Sultan - Coffin Nails
10. Mark Sultan - Everybody Knows
11. Mark Sultan - The Problem
12. The Original Sins - Making Up For Lost Time
13. Light Bulb Alley - Walking Backwards On The Moon
14. Pow Wows - Hidden Future
15. The Black Lips - Noc-A-Homa
16. Shotgun Jimmie - 401
17. The Exits - Cheam
18. The V.I.P.'S - Who Knows
19. B Boys - I Want
20. B Boys - Cognitive Dissonance
21. Parkay Quarts - The Map
22. Ronald Regean Story - (Your Love Has Turned My Heart Into A) Hand Grenade
23. Psychic Void - Internet Human
24. Teenanger - Teenanger
25. PIL - Annalisa
26. Simply Saucer - Here Come The Cyborgs (Part 1)
27. The Pointed Sticks - The Witch
28. Danny & The Darleans - Soul On Ice
29. MC5 - Lookin' At You
30. The White Stripes - Stop Breaking Down
31. The White Stripes - Broken Bricks

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 10.

Show 786 (Originally Aired On August 3rd, 2019)(Jack Oblivian, The Oblivians, Ty Segall):

1. The Challengers - Skinned Shins
2. Revels - Revellion
3. Jack Obilivan - La Charra
4. Jack Obilivan - Scarla
5. Reigning Sound - Call Me #1
6. Oblivians - Shut Your Mouth
7. Oblivians - Something for Nothing
8. Membranes - The City is an Animal (Nature is its Slave)
9. The Black Fever - Keep You
10. Ty Segall - Radio
11. Ty Segall - Taste
12. The Hives - Good Samaritan
13. LTD - Leather Boy
14. Almighty Defenders - Cone of Light
15. King Khan Experience - La Responsabe
16. The Jackets - Steam Queen
17. The Vandells - French Girl
18. Iggy Pop - James Bond
19. Purple Mountains - Margaritas at the Mall
20. Leeroy Stagger - Strange Attractor
21. Digawolf - By the Water
22. Paul Jacobs - Stay at Home
23. Uppers - Parapet
24. Idles - Mercedes Marxist
25. METZ - Leave Me Out
26. Titus Andronicus - Beneath the Boot
27. Dude York - Unexpected
28. Snail Mail - Thinning
29. Necking - Go Getter
30. Snake River - Jeanie, I Know When I Want to Go Home

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for August 3.

Show 785 (Originally Aired On July 27th, 2019)(The Replacements, Foggy Tapes, Cellos):

1. The Replacements - I'll Be You
2. Violent Femmes - Hotel Last Resort
3. The Feelies - Fa Ce La
4. The Sadies - Leave this World Behind
5. Ron Leary - Miles
6. Snakies - Cobra High
7. X - Under the Big Black Sun
8. Prince - Sex Shooter
9. The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
10. Talking Heads - Mind (Alternate Version)
11. Buzzcocks - Airewaves Dreams
12. Shotgun Jimmie - Cool All The Time
13. Dumb - Some Big Motor Dream
14. Cellos - Slow Revolution
15. Not Of - Tectonic Plates
16. Mannequin Pussy - Patience
17. Lungbutter - Depanneur Sun
18. Necking - Spare Me
19. Light Bulb Alley - I Don't Owe You a Thing
20. Foggy Tapes - Fly in my Head
21. Raised by Weeds - Another Day
22. The Routes - Mantohihi Brother
23. Takeshi Terauchi & the Bunnys - Black Carnation
24. Purple Hearts - Scooby Doo
25. Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers - Before the Beginning
26. Priests - Carol
27. Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty (Peel Session)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 27.

The King Khan & BBQ Show Radio Special & Show # 762

The King Khan & BBQ Show are a Canadian garage duo from Montreal. The band is comprised of King Khan and BBQ, which is an alias for Mark Sultan. The duo formed in 2002 after a series of bands that both Khan and Sultan were playing with disbanded. Prior to this, Sultan and Khan collaborated in a band called The Spaceshits, who disbanded in 1999. When King Khan, then going by the name Blacksnake, decided to live in Berlin, that group ended. He would go on to form King Khan & The Shrines following this. Around this time Mark Sultan formed the garage rock band Les Sexareenos. In 2002, Sultan began performing and recording as a one-man band under the name BBQ. It was not too long after this that Khan and Sultan began collaborating and recording together. With Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) on drums (bass and snare drum), guitar, vocals and King Khan on vocals and lead guitar, the band mixed elements of punk rock and doo wop, combined with their garage rock mentality to create a sound all their own.

The first self-titled King Khan & BBQ Show album was released in 2005 on Goner Records in the US and on Hazelwood Records in Europe. The King Khan & BBQ Show was recorded in Hamburg, Germany by DM Bob. The album captured the band tapping into a sweaty, wild, rock and roll atmosphere. In the same spirit of early rock and roll, The King Khan & BBQ Show featured songs such as “Waddlin’ Around” which chugs along with a 60’s garage rhythm, doo wop, and heart wrenching vocals provided by Mark Sultan and “Fish Fight,” a R&B rave up complete with Chuck Berry rhythms and driving punk dynamics. This song, like many on the album show that even though there isn’t bass on the album, the songs have a lot of soul. “Hold Me Tight” taps into a Cramps-like groove, complete with the words “Hold Me Tight” that come in near the choruses which sound like they are from Bobby Pickett’s 1962 Halloween classic “Monster Mash,” “Am I The One” features Sultan on vocals and a lone electric guitar and echoes 50s rock ballads, while “Mind, Body & Soul” claws and floats with an undeniable groove that sucks the listener into the King Khan & BBQ Show universe.

Following the release of the band’s first album, they embarked on a world tour playing in the US, Europe and South America. The band gained a reputation for their wild, energetic and controversial live shows. In 2006, they released What’s For Dinner? For this album, King Khan & BBQ Show sunk deeper into their own universe blending their early rock and roll, garage, soul and doo wop influences adding more of a mix of punk influences. “Treat Me Like A Dog” features a faster garage stomping rhythm as Mark Sultan howls over top, “I’ll Never Belong” is a bittersweet love song with lyrics such as “And after all/I'm on my way again/Come back who knows when/But you never let me go/But I will never belong to you” that is sung with soul as musically 50s rock and roll meets 60s garage. “Zombies” is snarled out by King Khan as Sultan holds a loose groove in the background. Lyrically with words like “I don’t wanna be alone tonight/I’m gonna walk with the zombies baby,” the song exudes a 70s punk influence as the character in it would rather wander into a world of horrors than to be confined to the boringness of the relationship reflected in this song. “Dock It # 8” ramps up a Chuck Berry influence as it attacks superficial rock and roll clichés lyrically, “Too Much In Love” drifts into doo wop territory with its infectious groove, “Learn My Language” is a 15 second punk rock attack that draws on a Black Flag influence, while “Blow My Top” brings hypnotizing grooves, and "What’s For Dinner?” is a catchy song with revved up garage riffs and lyrics that delve into family life paranoias.

Invisible Girl followed in 2009. This album was recorded at Moon Studios in Berlin and The Bomb Shelter in Brooklyn, New York. The production qualities seem to be less lo-fi than previous releases from the band, however, there is an undeniable raunchiness and humour that runs throughout. The album features songs such as the innuendo filled opening track “Anala,” the punk infused “Animal Party,” the sure to offend soulful punk of “Tastebuds” and the soulful, 50s/60s rock blend of “I’ll Be Loving You.” The album’s title track could be one of the catchiest songs ever written by the band with its psychedelic guitar tremolo effects and irresistible choruses. The hooks and melodies found here are extremely strong, but also the sleaziness factor is also high. On Invisible Girl the band found a balance between their wild outlandishness that at times offends and their ability to write strong song hooks. During the tour for Invisible Girl, Leo Chip (of the band Deadly Snakes), joined The King Khan & BBQ Show for some live dates as a drummer/organist. However, in 2010 the band split.

In 2015, The King Khan & BBQ Show returned with the album Bad News Boys. Recorded and produced in Sultan’s Berlin studio, Bad News Boys begins with the doo wop, garage stomp of “Alone Again”, a song drenched in 50s rock ‘n’ roll influences. Sung by this duo’s drummer, rhythm guitarist and main vocalist Mark Sultan, the song strikes a powerful, yet melodic chord that not only introduces us to King Khan & BBQ Show’s first album in a while, but it is also seeped in 50’s rock ballad drama. “Alone Again” evokes a togetherness in contrast to the songs surface message. The King Khan & BBQ Show are alone and together again creating their own brand of musical mayhem. “Illuminations” sung by King Khan shines with a 70s punk groove, while he sings of being a spark in the dark within a world of bright distractions as the chorus tells us “Illuminations/Don’t let them leave you behind,” “Ocean Of Love” brings back the band’s soulful influence, mixed with their brand of doo wop and in this case, sand dusted, glassy rhythms. “Snacking After Midnight” brings rusty rhythms and B-horror movie lyrics, along with the murky “Killing The Wolfman.” “Never Felt Like This” is a nostalgic love song, as with ‘’Buy Bye Bhai,” which brings forth strong, haunting soulful melodies.

The King Khan & BBQ Show have continued to tour off and on since 2011/2012. Throughout this band, after their initial split and even currently, King Khan and Mark Sultan have continually collaborated and recorded with other musicians and recorded music on their own. Most recently Mark Sultan has released a full-length album called Let Me Out and King Khan released his solo album Murderburgers in 2017. The music that they create whether it is together, with other groups or on their own taps into a musical world that can be soulful, or raw and dirty rock and roll. As stated in a press release for Bad News Boys “Their mission is to revere rock’n’roll – the real stuff – enough, so that they are permitted to invoke its spirits and ghosts using magick, using their raw soul - for good or for bad - to evoke the smells and feelings that confuse and delight.”

Check out these extended interviews with King Khan and Mark Sultan:





The KK&BBQ Show Playlist:

1. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Illuminations (Bad News Boys - In The Red Recordings - 2015)
2. The King Khan & BBQ Show - I'll Never Belong (What's For Dinner? - In The Red Recordings - 2006)
3. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Fish Fight (The King Khan & BBQ Show - Goner Records - 2005)
4. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Animal Party (Invisible Girl - In The Red Recordings - 2009)
5. The Spaceshits - 60 Nights of Boredom (Misbehavin' - Sympathy For The Record Industry - 1999)

KING KHAN INTERVIEW

6. King Khan & His Sensational Shrines - Spread Your Love Like … Peanut Butter (Spread Your Love Like Peanut Butter - Sounds of Subterrania - 2000)
7. King Khan & The Shrines - Land of the Freak (What Is?! - Vice Records - 2007)

MARK SULTAN/BBQ INTERVIEW

8. Mark Sultan - Believe Me (Let Me Out - Dirty Water Records - 2018)
9. Mark Sultan - Axis Abraxas (Whatever I Want - In The Red Recordings - 2011)
10. Les Sexareenos - Everybody Sexareeno! (Live In Bed - Sympathy For The Record Industry - 2000)
11. The Ding-Dongs - Ding-Dong Party (The Ding-Dongs - Norton Records - 2010)
12. The Tandoori Knights - Bucketful (Curry Up! It's The Tandoori Knights - Norton Records - 2010)
13. The Almighty Defenders - All My Loving (The Almighty Defenders - Vice Records - 2009)
14. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Hold me Tight (The King Khan & BBQ Show - Goner Records - 2005)
15. The King Khan & BBQ Show - What's For Dinner? (What's For Dinner? - In The Red Recordings - 2006)
16. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Ocean of Love (Bad News Boys - In The Red Recordings - 2015)
17. The King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl (Invisible Girl - In The Red Recordings - 2009)

Download/stream this episode here!

Canadian Garage & X-Ray Crocodiles … Show # 407

Change of pace this week my blog will be featuring three music videos, the first from Mark Sultan.

Mark Sultan is a Canadian musician from Montreal, Quebec. He has been associated with many Garage Rock groups such as Spaceshits, Les Sexereenos and has been involved with numerous other bands. He is perhaps known more for his work with King Khan & BBQ Show (Sultan going under the pseudonym BBQ), but he has also been releasing music under Mark Sultan for quite some time. Playing as a one man band covering guitar, vocals and drums, Mark Sultan has released The Sultanic Verses in 2007, $ was released in 2010, and in 2011 he released two albums at once Whatever I Want and Whenever I want. Most recently Sultan has released a live album entitled War On Rock 'n' Roll, which is a live album that was recorded in one night in September of 2011. The video below is from a show he did in Philadelphia a few years ago.

X-Ray Spex were an English female fronted Punk Rock group. The video here is for the song "Identity" a song that comes from their Germ Free Adolescents album that was released originally in 1978 via EMI. The song features their classic Punk/Post-Punk sound with a horn section along with Poly Styrene's erratic vocal style. The Germ Free Adolescents album featured many Anti-Commercialism based lyrics, but the song "Identity" was a song that was about exposing realities in a different way, the song is partially based on Poly witnessing a girl slash her wrists in a club bathroom. This is a rare music video made for the song for promotional purposes. Poly Styrene passed away in 2011.

Crocodiles are a San Diego based band that have just released their third album Endless Flowers. This Noise Rock band has been compared to bands such a Jesus And Mary Chain, Spacemen 3 and Echo & The Bunnymen sound-wise, but they originally had their beginnings in other bands. The main members of this group Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell formed Crocodiles after their pervious two bands Some Girls and The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower split up. The band was initially a two piece band and now has become a five piece band featuring previous members of Blank Dogs and of the Punk Rock band The Slits. Endless Flowers continues the bands visualistic imagery based on love, life and death and features a more fleshed out sound with its noisy guitar sounds that waver in and out of organ riffs, drums and steady bass lines.

The Play List

1. Transistors – Abandoned
2. The Hunches – Lisa Told Me
3. Sleater-Kinney – Combat Rock
4. Kestrels – Decoder
5. The Pygmies - Don't Care About You
6. Mark Sultan – Song In Grey
7. Hooded Fang – Love Song
8. The Sonics – Like No Other Man
9. The Imperials – Flash And Crash
10. The Polymorphines – The Clean And The Dirty
11. Deer Tick – The Bump
12. The Fan Club – Going Mental
13. The Diodes – Polaroid?
14. X-Ray Spex – Identity
15. Erase Errata – Tongue Tied
16. Mode Monderne –Strange Bruises
17. David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging
18. Crocodiles – Sunday (Psychic Conversation # 9)
19. The Passengers – Face With No Name
20. The Hitmen – Didn’t Tell The Man
21. Brazilian Money - Can't Live In A Vacuum
22. Young Canadians – Well, Well, Well
23. Alternative TV – Action Time Vision
24. The Victims – Television Addict
25. The Hives – These Spectacles Reveal The Nostalgics

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 5. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Ten of Hearts...The Mark Sultan Story....Show # 295

Coming from Montreal, Quebec, Canadian musician Mark Sultan has been in numerous bands. He started out playing drums with a band called Powersquat, they were known for their live shows which often turned violent. By 1995, Sultan helped form the band The Spaceshits where he would become lead vocalist. The Punk/Garage band would become known for their live shows as well, which were sometimes violent and would not last more than 10 to 15 minutes. They were often over the top featuring fireworks and flood lights. As a result, the band was banned from many clubs and in 1996 they released their first EP tilted I'm Dead. Winter Dance Party, The Spaceshits first full length album was released in 1997 on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label. After a European tour and being banned from numerous venues in Montreal, The Spaceshits split up by 1999.

Sultan's next band was Les Sexereenos. The band took their name from a pulp novel by Ron Haydock. Mark Sultan was not only the lead singer in this group, he was also the drummer at the same time. The bands sound drifted more towards Garage Rock and featured organ. They released two albums Live! In the Bed (2000) and 14 Frenzied Shakers in 2001. The bands albums were released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label and in 2005, 28 Party Dancers from Montreal's Finest a compilation of the bands seven inch releases was released. The band has played several live shows with bands such as the Detroit Cobras, the Von Bondies, and the Deadly Snakes. By 2002, Les Sexereenos were pretty much over and Mark Sultan began recording under the name BBQ. In BBQ, Sultan drummed, sang and played guitar simultaniously. a self titled debut was released by BBQ in 2003 on Alien Snatch Records and it adopted more of a Garage Rock sound. In 2005, BBQ's second full length album Tie Your Noose was released on Bomp! Records. In the very same year, Sultan recorded a single with a new band called The Mind Controls (covering guitar and vocals), who adopted more of a Punk sound. Growing dissatisfied with being a one man band, Sultan teamed up with formed Spaceshits bassist King Khan to become the band The King Khan & BBQ Show. 

In 2005 The King Khan & BBQ Show released their first self titled album, and toured America, South America, Austraila and Europe.  The band mixed elements of Garage Rock, Doo Wop and Punk. What's for Dinner? their second album was released in 2006 on In the Red Records and in 2009 The King Khan & BBQ Show released their third full length album Invisible Girl. Mark Sultan released his frantic debut album The Sultanic Verses in 2007. In 2010 Mark Sultan released his newest album titled $. The album was released on Sultan Records, an independent record label owned by Mark Sultan that features many Garage Rock bands. Mark Sultan has played under numerous names and in 2009 recorded an album under the band name The Almighty Defenders with members of The Black Lips and King Khan. The Ding Dongs, a project featuring Mark Sultan and Bloodshot Bill will be releasing an album in 2010 on Norton Records.

This is the last day to vote for the CJAM awards.  So if you are a visitor of this blog and or listener of my radio show, your vote would be greatly appreacted for Revolution Rock.  Vote Now!

The Play List:
1. The Wipers - Return of the Rat
2. Stone Temple Pilots - Tumble in the Rough
3. Pluto - Locked and Loaded
4. Burnt Ones - Gonna Listen To T-Rex (All Night Long)
5. The Dishrags - Vicious (Live)
6. The Evaporators - Crispy Space Bacon
7. Mark Sultan - Go Beserk
8. Mark Sultan - I Get Nothin from My Girl
9. The Cinch - Mystery Train
10. The Spades - Tear It Apart
11. Eddie & The Hotrods - 96 Tears
12. New York Dolls - Private World
13. The Ugly - To Have Some Fun
14. The Vapors - News At Ten (Single Version)
15. T.Rex - Jeepster
16. The Who - Heatwave
17. Awesome Color - Zombies
18. The Misfits - Hollywood Babylon
19. Magazine - My Mind Ain't So Open
20. Codine Velvet Club - Hollywood
21. Blondie - I Know But I Don't Know
22. TV Smith's Explorers - Walk Away
23. XTC - Life Begins at the Hop
24. Devo - Gut Feeling

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for April 13. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.