KILLER TONE JONES – PURE BLOSSOM FROM A BAD SEED
CD – released October 2021
Reviewed 20th January 2022 by Nick Constantine
Firstly, I’d like the band to say a few (well quite a lot!) words about themselves -
Killer Tone Jones are -
There is one main band member Steve Jeffery who wrote all the songs.
He used to be in The Midniters a late 80s Neo Rockabilly band that played at the Klubfoot and toured with the Stray Cats.
Steve uses session musicians on some tracks. Serena Sykes from Bamboozle on bass and Charlotte Beattie on Saxophones.
KTJ now have a live band consisting of Steve Cubbitt on drums, Nik Allen on Bass, Tim Bennett on very noisy guitar , Jules Lawrence on Sax, Steve Jeffery on more twangy guitar and of course KTJ on vox.
Garage meets surf meets old school psychobilly.
Imagine if Link Wray and The Cramps had an illegitimate love child then Killer Tone Jones would be the bastard of them all!
2019 saw the release of three EPs. Crush The Bone’,’Bombora’ and ‘Helloween’. In during the plague lockdown two more EPs ‘Sharknado Apocalypse’ and ‘Monsters’ were released. In 2021 the debut album ‘Pure Blossom From A Bad Seed’ was released.
2022 has another two albums pencilled in plus a few surprises
It's Psychotic, hypnotic and a real rock and roll tonic. Check out the EPs
‘Pure Blossom From a Bad Seed’
Calling all earthlings
The evil overlords of Planet X have now gathered together a collection of rock n roll psychomania from Killer Tone Jones and turned it into a debut album. ‘Pure blossom from a bad seed’
The album was originally slated for 2020 but we all know what happened then and the world can only deal with one plague at a time. Songster Steve Midniter commented ‘ it’s been ready for a while now and we
can’t wait to get out to gig it’
There are thirteen original tracks that cross to the dark side of rock and roll in a style that people who already know the work of Killer Tone Jones will no doubt be familiar with.
There are journeys to other worlds and phantom aliens, more bone crushing real life horror stories as well as melancholy tales ofserial killing clowns and voodoo toy makers.
In fact, for the initial lucky owners of the new album there is a limited edition ‘Tales of Terror’ digital comic which contains all the fun filled gory details and back story of each song on the album.
The album is available for download, streaming and purchase as a CD from Halloween 2021.
That’s enough from them! Now my bit!
So, hey! Lets check out the tracks -
THE PHANTOM PLANET
With an old B Movie type intro, this surf style instro starts with cool drums, it’s more than a nod to the 60s classic instrumentals, but not surfing along this time, we’re off to Planet X to confuse some friendly aliens!
CRUSH THE BONE
‘CRUSH! CRUSH! CRUSH THE BONE!’ Based on a brutal murder committed by a student in Florida, this is hurtling along into a psychotic knees up of a sort of ‘ Do the Crush A Bone’ dance! The brand-new dance craze for all the groovy young cannibals!
INCINERATE
Based on a story of an arson attack at a Japanese anime studio. Raw tribal drumming, grunting, suspenseful guitar and sinister, whispering vocals all lead to an upbeat excitement that the fire has taken hold as planned!
GROWL
Grrrrrrrrr! Raw, bluesy, deep down & dirty, right at the bottom of the sleaze bin. Whatever it is down there, you don’t want it to get out!
ROADKILL
With a mesmerising riff that could have been easily influenced by The Cramps ‘What’s Inside A Girl’, this burns along at a similar pace, telling a story of a sick and sinister barbecue.
BOOM BOOM BURLESQUE
Hotting up the pace now, this racy track is hurtling around the theatre of sleaze, flirting with two satanic exotic dancers, the devil’s cheerleaders, who are on a mission to thrill and kill!
HAPPY THE CLOWN
An eerie start, haunting guitars set the mood for you to meet Happy the clown. A serial killer that performed at the circus and under his mask had clown eyes and smile tattooed on his face. He’s whispering menacingly at you, while in the background surreal melodies, reminiscent of music boxes, childhood and circuses, interact with sirens and the sound of sinister cars approaching.
RED SNOW
With a start reminiscent to the Cramps ‘The Way I Walk’ it then picks up into a fast pace with a rambling guitar. Telling the story of a young couple making a pact and jumping from a high rise building in a snow storm. This is what they must have heard in their heads urging them to make the leap.
HELLOWEEN
A creepy, western guitar, fuzzy, rockin’, foot tappin’ track. But don’t tap that foot hard, it might fall off! The undead are coming to have a listen...run away while you still can!
DEVILS JUICE
Distorted guitars with whoops and yells front a frantic, train-rattling-over-the-tracks beat, with what sounds like Happy the clown returning to do shots of the Devil’s juice with you, turning you mental, fearless and feeling no pain!
SHORT DROP ROPE
Sounding a bit like a speeded-up, mash-up of The Cramps ‘ I Can’t Hardly Stand It’ and The Guana Batz ‘Night Watch’, this is a tale of the last man to hang in England by the method of the short drop rope. An infamous highwayman and gentleman robber, the blood curdling sounds of his last breath can be heard every year on the anniversary of his execution.
VOODOO MONKEY TOY
Another haunting and scary start to a story about a one-eyed recluse who had a small workshop cutting keys in the back of the local locksmiths. Over time he grew bitter and angry against the people who had ridiculed him. He created a voodoo monkey toy and used it to take revenge, which can be heard in this bluesy, dirty, satanic, horror, chanting, tribal and deranged track!
WALK WITH FIRE
And we finish with deep blues and heavy guitar with riffs that sound like Link Wray has risen from the dead, just to record this instrumental about walking on fire to prove your innocence - get burned and you’re guilty!
I love this album! What a debut! The whole concept has been very carefully thought out and the attention to detail is one thing that sets it apart from many, many other releases out there. The CD starts and ends with an instrumental track. Already this seems like an intro and summary, it’s not just a bunch of songs, it tells a story, it’s a journey, it’s a musical comic book, in the vein of Marvel (but a lot darker and scarier!) Which is reinforced with the bonus digital comic ‘Tales of Terror’ (available to the first 100 orders) which absolutely complements the music and takes it to another level! I would love to see this released on vinyl with the comic included – it would be a real collectors’ piece.
It has been extremely well produced, the sound is absolutely spot on and oozes quality. Musically, the comparison with The Cramps is obvious, as well as the likes of Demented Are Go, Screamin Jay Hawkins and Hasil Adkins, but they don’t copy, they grab all the bits they like and do their own version of them, sometimes only a hint of the style, but the influence is obvious, but in the best possible way. Some of the tracks on here are downright scary! There are the 50’s B Movies, Hammer House of Horror, 70’s low budget horror such as Day Of The Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc, mixed with the horror comics, but where The Cramps mixed this with a bit of glam and humour, Killer Tone Jones seem to add a much darker and sinister feel to the genre. A masterpiece as far as I’m concerned! Hope you like it too, just don’t listen to it too late at night, if you’re on your own, in a house in the middle of the woods and all the power goes off!
“The stories in the comic are a mixture of fact and fiction. It's a
crazy world out there!”
The pleasure links are below
Apple music Killer Tone Jones page
Amazon music Killer Tone Jones page
Killer Tone Jones Spotify artists page
Music CDs
To book the band please contact them here
Email planetxsounds@gmail.com
