Kenny Vaughan and Steve Almaas, NYC April 2017
I remember my first encounter with the Suicide Commandos back in 1978 as if it were last week. Three intense characters hit the stage and shook the building like a terrier shaking a rat by the neck, attacking every song like a swat team. They were serious, but they had fun. They were intelligent, but played real, raw, rock n roll. They owed as much to The Stooges and the MC5 as they did to The Ramones or The Pistols, and they delivered every tune off of their first album, "Make A Record", as if their lives depended on it.
Now, 40 years down the road, those same three individuals have come together to write and record a second studio album for the Twin Tone label. "Time Bomb" is an unlikely record. The Commandos took almost 4 decades off, and no one saw this one coming. These guys are not cheeky music biz insiders. They are a direct continuation of what they were doing in 1979, a time when you didn't hear things like "demographics"," target audience ","soft ticket sales", and "sponsorships." These are the guys that rehearsed in the garage, toured in a crummy van, wrote their songs from personal experience, reflecting their politics, and always remaining true to their commitment to what they believed to be right. Time Bomb by The Suicide Commandos is, in every way, a better record than their first one. Explosive, articulate, intelligent, and unhinged. That they have survived and managed to deliver it is one of the greatest things that has happened in a good while. Real rock n roll, made by three real individuals, completely free of the normal, self conscious, predictable confines of the music biz. A triumph of unbelievable proportion. Crank it up, you're in for a wild ride.
-Kenny Vaughan, lead guitarist, Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives