JSNTGM 013

Z/28 - "Wrecks From The Highway"

Reviews

Ted Kane - SPONIC July 2003  “Z/28”  Wrecks from the Highway RATING: (3 reels) 2003 - JSNTGM Records - CD
A white-trash worshiping rockabilly band from Scotland? Well, why not? The UK has given us a lot of authentic blues and punk artists through the years, so I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that Z/28 pulls off that down and dirty hillbilly sound as well as they do. Still and no disrespect intended to Waylon Jennings I find the group’s cover of “Dukes of Hazzard” a bit disconcerting. Is that what McLuhan’s “Global Village” has led us to? Satellite broadcasts of inane American TV shows through billion-dollar satellite networks to Scotland? But, on the other hand, didn’t Ringo marry Daisy Duke? Surely Z/28’s two minute rave-up on the show’s theme (its best part, Daisy's cut-offs, notwithstanding) is less of a travesty than Caveman. Anyway, I digress. Wrecks from the Highway is a short burst of high-octane punkabilly that holds its own with the records of that type made on this side of the Atlantic. Like the Stones’ infatuation with Americana expressed in songs like “Parachute Woman,” Z/28 (as in the vintage Camaro model) cooks up a lyrical stew of guns, girls, UFO and car cultures that shows the bands love for aspects of American culture that must seem greener when viewed from the other side. Each of the CD’s 14 tracks is framed by an excerpt from a B-movie, a gimmick that gets old as the album runs its course. But the songs themselves all have a good driving beat and an earnestness about them that few bands can match. If you are the type of fan who spells the word out r-a-w-k, you’ll enjoy this one.

Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway CD (JSNTGM Records) Lowcut Fanzine
Scottish redneck punk? As absurd as it sounds these cowboy highlanders pull it off perfectly with their awesome Johnny Cash/Nine Pound Hammer/The Clash/New Bomb Turks hotrod tunes. With tongue firmly in cheek Z/28 rages through 14 country fried punkrock tales of guns, FBI, cars, UFOs, girls etc. It's only fitting they do a hilarious cover of Waylon Jennings' "Dukes Of Hazzard" theme. I'd give anything to see these wackos kick some hillbilly ass in Nashville's clean cut C&W circuits, all the good ole boys'd take a dump in their Stetson hats from fright! YEE fuckin' HAW!! Probably the best band from Scotland I've heard since Rezillos/Revillos.

Z28 Wrecks from the Highway - Trash Compactor
After I'd given the first couple of cuts a casual listen, I pretty quickly came to the conclusion that this record wouldn't come as recommended. The band tries so hard to play that dragster punk rock thing in the vein of the Supersuckers or the Didjits but the results are pretty mediocre. The polished sound doesn't help either. These were my initial thoughts and they almost sealed the fate of this CD as a nice attempt that unfortunately misfired. I say almost because I completely changed my mind the second "Another Fine Day" blared out of the speakers... What happened? Well, from that song on the guys finally cut loose and inject a heavy dose of poppy harmonies into their country-punk and voila, the entertainment value of "Wrecks From The Highway" increases dramatically. Imagine the Vandals (circa Slippery When Ill) meet retro rockabilly and you'll get a good impression of what this record is like. I'm pretty sure that the combination of beer and a Z/28 show makes for a hell of a party. (mack)

Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway (JSNTGM) Punk and OI in the UK Website
Take King Kurt or the Meteors give them a louder amplifier and a bucket full of speed and a splash of Green Day, light blue touch paper and stand well back. Well not quite but this is another cracking album. Psychobilly meets pop-punk. You simply have to get for the cover on here it's a cover of the 'Dukes Of Hazard' theme tune. Andy

Gildas Dig It! Fanzine issue 28 June 2003 “Z/28” “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY”
"La Camaro Z-28 est un modèle musclé de chez Chevrolet. Z-28 est un groupe anglais qui voue aux muscle-cars une passion sans bornes, du genre à empiler soigneusementles numéros de Gearhead Mag à côtés des exemplaires 70's de Chromes & Flammes dégottés aux puces. Le groupe (formé en 96) pratique un rock'n'roll autant influencé par les doubles carbus que la country (ils reprennent le "Dukes Of Hazzard" (Cours après moi Shériff !) de Waylon Jennings, braconnent sur des terres laissées en friche par Nine Pound Hammer et la voix du chanteur a souvent des accents Lux Interior/Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Ajoutez-y une touche de garage attitude, quelques riffs 70's, une louchée de 50's Roll, des bruits de bolides au démarrage, la pincée d'humour indispensable à ce genre d'entreprise, une giclée de Southern rock, des solos barbelés et quelques notes de banjo, secouez énergiquement le tout et voilà. Le résultat s'appelle Wrecks From The Highway et s'avale d'un trait. Le cauchemar de la prévention routière recommence...

Torch http://www.rockhardplace.com lucky 13th May 2003 Z-28 - "Wrecks From The Highway" - JSNTGM
From the UK comes the rowdy, raucous sounds of Z-28. They're play a version of Cowboy Punk/Rock N' Roll with a great sense of humour. The guitars are smokin' the vocals are raw and dirty and the songs remind one of Johnny Cash meets The Sex Pistols. I don't think this CD does the band justice, I imagine this material would sound great live in a pub with a few to many beers in ya. It's worth picking up this record just for the version of Waylon Jennings' "Dukes Of Hazard". "Girl Crazy" is (and I don't know why) laced with cartoon sound effects. It's actually pretty damn funny, but again, I'm not sure why. They shine on tracks like "Kick My Amp" which is borderline out of control, but it's so raw and real you can't help but appreciate what they're doing. Hopefully they can improve a bit on the overall production, the bass is pretty weak on the album as are the drums. If this happens, I think they'll really be onto something. They do have a certain charm to them, even if it's not your style, you'll like this band.

BLUE Back Street Heroes #229 May 2003 “Z/28” “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD ALBUM of the MONTH - 5 Choppers
Somewhere just outside Las Vegas, where the land meets the sky and the desert gets kind of out of focus, there is a parallel universe, and a hotel of the fifth dimension with a flashing neon light that’s on the blink. The car park is full of road grimed hotrods, Cadillacs with huge fins, and the occasional casually-parked UFO. Inside the bar the guys all have cool haircuts and cooler stares and the girls all look like Betty Page and have long red fingernails and everyone wears leopardskin. In this hotel off the highway to nowhere, the z/28s would be the house band. This is the first album from the z/28 (Who hail from Scotland, not Nevada or Oklahoma) and from the first track, ‘Nitro’, I was smitten, then again I grew up on the Cramps and the Meteors and Elvis and Johnny Cash, some of the zees’ influences, which probably means we’re second cousins or something. Most of the tracks are played at breakneck, tooling-along-the-highway speed, which might account for why, of fourteen tracks, only two are over three minutes. Only a couple of songs don’t work, the slower (‘slower’ being a relative term here) track, ‘My Friend Scott’, which is on the bland side, and ‘Gun Girl Crazy’ which is just annoying. There’s a good song under there, but while they were in the studio the band found the ‘Cartoon Sound Effects’ tape . . . Only two songs are covers; ‘Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash’ is a manic reworking of the old 1954 Clovers hit, while Waylon Jennings’ ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ needs no introduction, gets none, and still weighs in at under two minutes. Although the whole album is less than thirty minutes long, you’re exhausted by the end of it! Utterly brilliant. Available for a measly £6 (which includes P&P) from JSNTGM Records PO Box 1025, Blackpool FY3 0FA

Z28 - Wrecks from the Highway
Hey, this is quite good. Solid garage punk`n`roll with great 50ies rockabilly vocals and some cool guitar parts here and there. Z28 don`t try to sound mean, they got melodies and quite good ones, too. This is by far the best from this pack. As it seems these guys kept a sense for humour. That`s cool, I like this.

http://www.therawk.com/ Z/28 - wrecks from the highway (JSNTGM) Mark Anthony
Hot rod punk 'n' roll from scotland? yep and these guys have a nice feel to their rawk too. describing this is hard cuz the sound changes throughout from supersuckers grease to replacements shuffle to clash-ish clang to cranked up rockabilly to stones-y roots...and sometimes more than once at a time. this is one of the funnest things i've heard in awhile and the cool between song soundbites (and the in-song cartoon f/x on "gun girl crazy") just add to it. the cover of waylon's "duke's of hazzard" theme song only adds to the misplacement of these dudes! this is cool shit!! the best i've heard from scotland since the first undertones record...and a great sexy cover too!!

Savagemagazine.com Z/28 Wrecks from the Highway CD
These guys are totally into the hot rod rock’n’roll thingee. Not only hot rods though, probably horror flicks and the whole 50’s shebang. Soundwise it’s like a mix of Nine Pound Hammer, the X-rays and a few more loud rockers + mix in some 70’s hardrock. Not bad, but not too good either.. Nice sleeve by photographer David Perry who did the Hot Rod and Bordertown books. (Thomas) JSNTGM Pobox 1025, Blackpool, FY30FA, UK www.jsntgm.com www.thez28s.com

Z/28 - NO BRAINS FANZINE http://www.nobrainszine.tsx.org
Z/28 are some kind of rock'n'roll punk. Sounds like Elvis meets Dead Kennedys and Ramones on highway. But I miss something here. I don't know what exactly. I think it's the production, it's too clean and guitars sound too neat. Z/28 sound too nice - guys put more sweat and energy in your next album and distort the guitars a bit more. Make it more dirty and sweaty, maybe drink some more beer before going into studio. "Gun Girl Crazy" or "Light In The Sky" are really good songs, only if they were recorded better. This can sound much better.

Z/28 Wrecks From The Highway Sugarbuzz Magazine http://www.sugarbuzzmag.com/Artist/
High octane, fuel injected, hot roddin’ country pop punk good time rock is just one of the ways to attempt to describe Z/28’s music from their incredible new CD “Wrecks From The Highway” on JSNTGM records. Well to be honest, this stuff is nothing like music I have experienced before. This CD is a fucking mind blower. From the opening “Nitro” to the last notes of “Kicking My Amp” the songs are chock full of funny car, alien, fuck the pit stop, non-stop mayhem. Songs like “ Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash”, “Never”, “Shut Down”, and “Dukes Of Hazzard” leave you grinnin’ and a droolin’. This CD should have come with an advisory claiming “Seat Belts Required While Listening.”

Z/28– Wrecks from the Highway CD – Inside Knowledge Magazine (JSNTGM Records)
Why does everybody keep saying Elvis died? He keeps on popping up in various rock n roll and punkrock bands across the globe. He’s got to earn a living too, now he gave up singing in Vegas, right? Z/28 combine spicy rock n roll, with punk and of course the king on vocals. Good, fast barbecue rock! Slap a burger on the fire first and have a couple of beers, and a huge party. Get behind the wheel, totally drunk, put the stereo to maximum and become a wreck on the highway. The Dukes of Hazzard tune got covered go figure. Martijn Welzen

Z/28 "Wrecks From the Highway" (JSNTGM Records, p.o. Box 1025, Blackpool, FY3 OFA, UK; www.jsntgm.com) REAL ART MAGAZINE
For a long time I've missed good modern British punk! Well, I'll begin with another thing... For a long time I've been trying to like the classic of mod-punk The Jam - without any success. In every even very energetic song there were a couple of pop-music moments which spoil the whole impression! Z/28 sounds fantastically like the Jam, but no compromise with pop music at all!!!Very, very energetic, they use pieces of different styles (country, rock'a'billy, oi! & etc.). Easy musical minimalism is indemnified with excellent vocal job and numerous inserts - collages... The song " Outlaw Machine " has made to remember about " Dead Today, Hip Hip Hooray! " Rancid Hell Spawn. I write something very strange - the Jam, rock'a'billy vocal and Rancid Hell Spawn!!! The best recommendations for the amateurs of mod, rock'n'roll (in its most rigid interpreting) and good British punk! PS: Why there are no texts in the booklet?!!!

Z/28 "Wrecks From The Highway" (JSNTGM CD) Smashin Transistors
Cars, women, aliens and red necks is what this is all about, these boys know their southern Rock & Roll. But wait what’s that you say? They’re from Scotland! Well they certainly studied their Elvis and Billy Lee Riley with some X-Files thrown in for good measure. I had to look outside to check and make sure there was still snow on the ground cause this CD made me think I was crusin’ on a summer day with the top down and a case of PBR in the cooler on the back seat with a couple of big tittied Martian girls in front gettin’ freaky. This album is a Rock & Roll must on the car radio while crusin’ the back roads of Venus. Excellent combinations of attitude filled 50's Rock-a-billy and good old fashioned Punk Rock blazin’ guitar work make this a summertime crusin’ classic (now we just need summertime and our drivers licences back). (JSNTGM) (Review by Benny Brylcreem)

Z/28 ... "WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY" ... JSNTGM Full Moon Fanzine
Gee, Elmer, I felt I should warn y'all, and yer kin too, 'bout some shit-kickin' hot-roddin no-goodniks that are kickin' ass hereabouts. They've got this album, "Wrecks From The Highway" that they're peddlin' to the local merchants. Don't let Billy-Bob hear about it, you know what he was like when he listened to The Cramps; if he hears this he'll start building a flying saucer in a crop circle. If a bit of moonshine-tinged rockabilly can have him digging up Uncle Esther under a full moon, this album will have him fornicating buck-naked on top of a hot-rod! All them songs about vampires, U.F.O.'s, guns'n'girls, the F.B.I. (say hello to Cousin Franklin), and all sortsashit; goddammit, they're weirdos! They've been listening to them no-good Rezillos and that dog-darned Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and someone give them some 'go-blind-for-a-day' moonshine. Then they let them in one of them new-fangled re-cording studios, and the next thing ya know, we've another god-danged elvis thang on our hands. And you know what happened last time. This is the devil's music, and we should buy every copy from every store, and burn them all on a big bonfire.I mean, just look at their songs, all about 'lights in the sky' and all that mumbo-jumbo, The Good Lord never wanted us to rock'n'roll, we should be in church right now! But they're in a deserted barn, surrounded by hot-rods, watching B-movies like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes", drinking moonshine, and havin' a hoedown with Gene Vincent and Sid Vicious. They even sample Wolfman Jack, ferchrissakes! Ah'm tellin' ya, boy, when I see yer Mom (or yer Aunt, yer sister, whatever....), Ah'm gonna get her ta get her fat , lazy ass ta round up every copy of this offence against The Good Lord, and burn 'em all in a huge holy bonfire. Once her tush is outta the trailer, we'll round up every copy of this re-cording, before it corrupts every God fearing, goat-fuckin', cousin-marrying, shit-kickin, red-necked football scholar-ship-riding country boy in yhe whole damn county. Hey, maybe Jerry Springer'll do a special on it! Cousin Fritz

Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway CD (JSNTGM Records) Summer of Hate
I like EDDIE COCHRAN. I like AC/DC. I like Punk Rock. I imagine Z/28 do too. Sure sounds like it. This is really good stuff. Party music. Party as in excessive drinking. As in having your hand up a teenage girl's skirt. As in watching your best mate fall out the window. Good, good stuff. Of course the band is from Scotland, and probably have a limited experience of FBI Men and all that. Are there any highways in Scotland? I don't know, and I don't care. This is fucking great. Here's the deal: If you like BETTY PAGE, street car racing, loud guitars, JACK HILL movies, high energy, TURA SATANA and having fun this is for you. No dull 70's rock, don't let the Hot Rod/Pin-up thing scare you, this ain't more of that fake Action Rock we're all bored with. This is for real. Banjos and all. I don't give a fuck if you buy this record or not; I've got it and I'm gonna play it. That's all I need to know. I could go on about this, but I'm gonna turn it up and have a drink instead. As BON SCOTT put it: there's gonna be some rockin' at the show tonight.

Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway (JSNTGM) Punk and OI in the UK Website
Take King Kurt or the Meteors give them a louder amplifier and a bucket full of speed and a splash of Green Day, light blue touch paper and stand well back. Well not quite but this is another cracking album. Psychobilly meets pop-punk. You simply have to get for the cover on here it's a cover of the 'Dukes Of Hazard' theme tune. Andy

Z/28 – Wrecks From The Highway – JSNTGM Part Time Punk Zine
This CD is a quite neat fusing of Garage Punk and Country and Western, with a hit of straightforward Rock and Roll thrown into the mix. The vocalist has the kind of nerdy-but threatening voice that lends itself well to the material. Z/28 even do a cover of the “Dukes Of Hazzard” theme! They are from Scotland, a country that has for some reason always taken C”n”W to its heart….why is that? Sometimes Z/28 do kind of resemble a Texan Rezillos, which is not a bad direction to go in. My favourite tracks are “Outrageous” and “Shut Down” on this on the whole promising and original CD.

Z/28 “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD – Punk Information Drectory (Will Adanoy)
Appropriately enough, my first listen to this CD was driving home from the P.O. Box in my Z/28 Camaro. I first became aware of Z/28 some time ago from guitarist, Rockin' Rick Buzzin' who sent me an e-mail and introduced his band. It was always fun receiving e-mail from Rockin' Rick because he always played in character as if he was some kind of whacked out cowboy (I miss those e-mails, Rick). This is a band that harkens back to yesteryear in sound. There is a lot of country influence and a lot 50s influence. At times they sound a bit like Elvis Presley when he still had attitude. Lots of songs about cars and women. Solid punk rock sound with killer lead guitar. The album ends with a balls out rocker called Kicking My Amp. All in all a very solid release.

Z/28 “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD Kerrang (Rae Alexandra) (JSNTGM)
Sketchy rockabilly from Scottish hot-rod fanatics. When it’s four Scotsmen playing your ultra-American rockabilly you just can’t help but question its authenticity. Sure Z/28 couldn’t help being born on the wrong side of the Atlantic, but unoriginal is unoriginal whatever country you’re in. While these howlers play the kind of garage rock’n’roll that makes you wanna hop in a droptop and drive through the desert, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before and/or better. And even if you look at “Wrecks From The Highway” as a good drinkin’ n’ fightin’ record, there are several cringe-worthy hiccups to distract you. The yee-hawing on “Outrageous” is a problem, the cover of “The Dukes of Hazzrd” theme is ill advised, and the utterly ridiculous cartoon sound effects inappropriately scattered throughout “Gun Girl Crazy” are downright unforgivable. One for British hot-rod conventions only, then.

Z/28 “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD - (ARTCORE Fanzine #18)
These be rockin’ garage psyched-out damaged Scottish loons, all fried up with on some Yankified 50’s freeway desert U.F.O. kinda trip. This sounds like a cross between JOHNNY X AND THE CONSPIRACY, THE CRAMPS, JOHNNY CASH and THE GOOD TIME CHARLIES playing back up to some shitkickin’ sour mash cock-fight in Louisiana in 1963. All I can say is; ‘you’re gonna look pretty funny trying to eat corn-on-the-cob with no fucking teeth!’ (3/5) JSNTGM

“Z/28” – “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD (The Blackpool Evening Gazette)
Out now on the JSNTGM label is the stunningly good Wrecks from the Highway.They might sound like psyched out countrybillies but the nearest they’ve got to Nashville is the Split Level Studio at Newbridge, West Lothian. They inherit a musical world somewhere between the Ramones and the Cramps, and rarely top the three minute mark with anything they sing. Z/28 put punk into Charlie Calhoun’s 1954 gem your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash and know a thing or two about when to yee-haw on Waylon Jennings’ Dukes of Hazzard. Elsewhere it’s all their own work and no wonder The Spacequeen finds it difficult to keep drumming at their speed – but it’s hard to turn off this set of 14 mini-masterpieces. We don’t know the cost, but whatever it is it’s worth it !! Robin Duke … (JSNTGM PO Box 1025 Blackpool FY3 0FA – only £6.00 including p+p – a steal)

Z/28s – “Wrecks from … (Self Titled CD) ” CD/ 28:33 (FRACTURE Fanzine #23)
Kinda hokey 50s/60s garage punk, the stuff that goes down a storm at those Las Vegas weekend grinds, that’s fine, I can see the attraction but I feel not the allure. It’s just too gimmicky for me, sure I used to love the CRAMPS in small doses, but I just get real tired of this real quickly. Not enough of those real important hooks, I’m sure it’s fun as hell to play this type of music and maybe it’s best appreciated in a whiskey-soaked bar, crackling out of an old analog 50s PA system. But man, this was pretty hard work to sit through and I’m just not a fan of kitsch 50s artwork and style, unless I am someplace where the authenticity drips real. Nah this is definitely beyond me, and this is from someone who loves GIRL TROUBLE, The FLESHTONES and The CRAMPS when the mood hits. But it’s not so much the style that is as perturbing, as the lack of any quality songwriting. They even manage to turn the “Dukes of Hazzard” theme into a bland squib. That should be a shit-kicking, redneck, drink, fight and fuck anthem! I’m just not sure British people should be allowed to partake in this genre, it rarely seems to work. (DS) JSNTGM, PO Box 1025, Blackpool, FY3 0FA, UK.

Z/28s – “Wrecks from … (Self Titled CD) ” Organart - Webzine
RELEASE 13 "Z/18 - Wrecks On The Highway" (JSNTGM) - Low slung garaged up Chevy-with-fins flavoured rock and roll that comes dressed in leopard skin print and splattered with punk rock oil. There's a cover Waylon Jennings' Dukes Of Hazard - imagine if you will a wrecked and splattered General Lee after a motorway ruck with the Yo-Yo's or Dog Toffee..... punk wreck and roll indeed. Contact Just Say No To Government Music, PO Box 1025, Blackpool, FY3 0FA.