Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
The Trashmen
The Trashmen were an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, in 1962.
The original line-up of the group featured guitarists Tony Andreason and Dal Winslow, bassist Bob Reed, and drummer Steve Wahrer.
Along with Co ...
. The band was formed in 1984 by vocalist Billy Miller and his wife, drummer and co-vocalist
Miriam Linna
Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter B ...
, in the wake of a prior band collaboration, The Zantees. The couple were at the time editors of the rock and roll culture fanzine ''Kicks'' and on the threshold of launching
Norton Records
Norton Records, is an independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller in 1986. The label concentrates on rock, rockabilly, primitive music, punk, garage rock and early rhythm and blues. Guitarist Bruce Bennett replaced original guitarist Mike Mariconda shortly after the band was formed. Marcus "The Carcass" Natale replaced founding bass player Mike Lewis (a one time member of both the
Lyres Yoke lutes, commonly called lyres, are a class of string instruments, subfamily of lutes, indicated with the code 321.2 in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification.
Description
Yoke lutes are defined as instruments with one or more strings, arrange ...
and
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James M ...
), prior to recording the A-Bones second E.P. ''Free Beer For Life'' in 1988. Tenor sax player Lars Espensen further filled out the group from 1990 until 2010.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' described the band solely in terms of its label, calling the group "dedicated rock revivalists", and noting "The A-Bones include Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, proprietors of Norton Records, which worships rockabilly, 1960s garage and anything having to do with that most cartoonish rock archetype: the juvenile delinquent in a leather jacket." In its overview of the band the
Trouser Press
''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...
' online music guide praised the A-Bones' "new levels of sloppy enthusiasm" and stated that the band's "joyously cruddy sound is built on Linna's simple but effective pounding, Miller's manly grunt, and Bruce Bennett's unexpectedly inventive guitar work." The Village Voice declared that a 2009 A-Bones recording "may be the missing link between Andre Williams and
Jay Reatard
James Lee Lindsey Jr. (May 1, 1980 – January 13, 2010), known professionally as Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. He was signed to Matador Records. He released recordings as a solo artist and as a member of the Rea ...
, if Jay had any groove in his grit." According to a series of postings on the WFMU Ichiban blog and
WFMU
WFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey. Since 1998 its studios and operating facilities have been headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. It broadcasts locally at 91.1 Mhz FM, i ...
's own Beware of The Blog blogsite, the band's choice of cover material has ranged from songs by no-hit obscurities like Mike Waggoner and the Bops, to covers of
The Troggs
The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English garage rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", all ...
,
Larry Williams
Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...
,
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...
,
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
Aside from recording five albums, two EPs and roughly a dozen 45s on various labels, the A-Bones also served as a backup band for acts such as
Hasil Adkins
Hasil Adkins (April 29, 1937 – April 26, 2005) was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His genres include rock and roll, country, blues and more commonly rockabilly, and because of his unusual playing and singing style ...
Ray Sharpe
Edward Ray Sharpe (born February 8, 1938) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. His best-known single was "Linda Lu". Sharpe was described by one record producer as "the greatest white-sounding black dude ever".
Background
Born in ...
, The
Flamin' Groovies
Flamin' Groovies is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965, originally co-led by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. After the Groovies released three albums, on Epic ('' Supersnazz'') and Kama Sutra (''Flamingo'' and '' Teenage Hea ...
' Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan and many others. Though the band broke up in 1994,
the A-Bones reunited in 2004 and performed gigs in North America, Europe, and Japan with their core line-up of Linna, Miller, Bennett and Natale. The group was occasionally augmented live by Yo La Tengo's
Ira Kaplan
Ira Kaplan (born January 7, 1957) is a co-founder, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter in the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo. He is married to the band's co-founder Georgia Hubley.
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Kaplan formed Yo La T ...
, who contributed keyboards and guitar to 2009's ''Not Now!'', 2014's ''Ears Wide Shut'', and other recent recordings. Miller died on November 13, 2016.
Discography
EPs
*''Tempo Tantrum'' (1986)
*''Free Beer for Life!'' (1988)
LPs
*''The Life of Riley'' (1991)
*''I Was a Teenage Mummy'' (1992)
*''Music Minus Five'' (1993)
*''Crash the Party: The Wild, Wild Sounds of Benny Joy'' (1996)
*''Not Now!'' (2009)
*''Ears Wide Shut'' (2014)
Norton Records
Norton Records, is an independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller in 1986. The label concentrates on rock, rockabilly, primitive music, punk, garage rock and early rhythm and blues.Andre Williams)