THE RAUNCH HANDS: Rodeo Song 7″

Description

An unissued 1985 studio recording of a WILD-ASS cover of the filthy-lyric 1981 country novelty by Showdown, plus an unissued 1987 rehearsal room blasting raver original. Comes with a 4-page 6.7” x 6.7” booklet tribute to singer/lyricist Michael Chandler, who passed away on April 23 2018.
the MUSIC? ripping, absolutely ripping ROCK and ROLL music. and, i must say, RODEO SONG is simply the most JOYOUS, most goddamned FUN fucking song of 2019.

NYC, Feb 1983: Chandler and guitarist Michael Tchang started their duo Tchang & Chandler. In 1983 Chandler was roped in to a 2nd gig as lead howler for ’66 garage cover band The Outta Place, recording a mini-LP for Midnight Records. On February 4 1984 Tchang ‘N’ Chandler, with two extra cats, Vince Brnicevic on drums and George Sulley on bass, became the RAUNCH HANDS and burst onto the “stage” at NoSeNo. Mike Mariconda then joined up on guit for his first RH gig on St Patrick’s Day, March 1984. The Raunch Hands had their vinyl debut, ”Tiger Guitars”, included on “Back From The Grave 3” in June 1984 and soon after their first two 7” singles (the 3-cut “Stomp It” 1984 EP on Egon Records, the self-released 1984 “Ford/Stroll” 7”). In late 1984 they recorded 6 cuts that got them signed to rather large indie Relativity as 1985’s mini-LP “El Rauncho Grande”. “El Rauncho” and 1986 LP “Learn To Whap-A-Dang” on Relativity allowed the band to really start hitting the road, playing 185 shows across the USA and Canada in 1985-1986, including, bizarrely enough, 10 shows opening for Siouxsie & The Banshees, as Siouxsie’s stage crew were huge fans of the filthy lyrics and raw sounds. In late 1986 they faced the misfortune of losing Tchang and Vince and their manager/booker and getting dumped by Relativity. The Hands took on a new drummer and guit/sax man  and continued playing, rehearsing and writing new songs and joined up with Crypt in July 1988. Crypt asked the RHs  if they wanted to do an alb, and “Payday” was recorded in October at Coyote Studios in Williamsburg and released in Jan 1989. In May 1989 the Raunch Hands flew over to Madrid to self-book 27 gigs in 60 days of bare-bones struggle thru Spain-France-Germany-Holland-Italy-Switzerland-Austria. Crypt moved to Hamburg in January 1990 and began booking a slew of three more European RH tours (22 gigs in 1990, 35 gigs in 1991, 42 gigs in 1992) and a Japanese tour in 1991 – and the releases of “Have A Swig” LP (1990, Crypt), a live-in-Barcelona LP “Fiesta!” (1990 on Spanish magazine Ruta 66),“Million Dollar Movie” EP (1991, Crypt) and “Fuck Me Stupid” (1992, Crypt).
A particularly succinct 1985 quote by Byron Coley sums the RHs up: “The Raunch Hands are an American band. On that you can rely. Their recorded legacy is as American as a mattress damp with Iggy’s night-piss steamin’ in the trailer park. What can ya do in the presence o’ this sorta mojo-genius but fall on your bruised knees and ask how the hex such a great band never happened in just this way before? What’s required t’get genius movement o’ this sort going is a few guys who know a lot more about records than most people, decidin’ they’ve GOTTA have a band, right NOW. They take every trash lick you’ve ever like, throw it in a whinin’ blender and serve it as the official drink o’ some state you’d sure as hell love t’live in. Part Punk, Part Surf, Part Soul, Part Country, Part ‘Billy, it can be all these at once. All without falling into any tagable “bag” you could hang on your wall. Truly this’s the heart of the transcendent white trash experience, laid NEKKID for all the world to see. Some of the rockin’est best, hard-ginchin’ spew that New York City’s ever hocked up. They fuckin’ rule.”

Tracking:
A – Rodeo Song
B – Four Naggin’ Wives