• “Mr Rebel” set to a picture of the housing album cover. Thanks to pont.
“Fantastic Proto-Punk from the USA”
From their album “Darling… It’s Too Late” released in May, 2015.
Hey, I’m getting a name-check… and it twangs terrifically. How could I not post this one up? That said, I’m getting that slightly guilty feeling for posting up the only cover version on the album, but, what the heck, it’s all good as trendy folk are wont to say these days. ’twas originally done by Eddie & The Showmen in 1963. Nope, I’d never heard of ’em either. Er, it’s all good : – )
Mark Deming at All Music has this to say:
Conjuring up a swampy fusion of surf, garage rock, and rockabilly that suggests the Cramps hitting the beach midway through a drunken bender, Guantanamo Baywatch are a trio from Portland, Oregon determined to bring good, trashy fun back to rock & roll. Guantanamo Baywatch were formed in 2009 by guitarist Jason Powell and bassist Chevelle Wiseman; Powell, originally from Seattle, coined the name for a fanzine piece, and liked it enough that he asked his friend Wiseman (who had moved to Portland from Palo Alto, California) to join a new band that would use the handle. Wiseman, who had taken cello lessons as a girl, was drafted to play bass, while their friends Nina and Cole filled out the lineup on second guitar and drums. However, Nina and Cole’s presence in the band was short-lived, and after Devin Trainer became the band’s new drummer, they opted to continue as a trio. By the fall of 2010, Trainer was out of the group, and with Chris Scott (another California transplant and a former surfer) behind the drums, Guantanamo Baywatch finally had their definitive lineup. Releasing a self-titled album that quickly went out of print, Guantanamo Baywatch began touring aggressively through the Pacific Northwest and up and down the West Coast, earning a reputation for their manic live shows, gloriously tacky stage wear, and enthusiastically greasy approach to surf music. In 2011, they signed with Portland garage punk label Dirtnap Records, and the band’s first album for Dirtnap, Chest Crawl, appeared in the spring of 2012. The group jumped to Suicide Squeeze Records for its third long-player, 2015’s Darling… It’s Too Late.
I picked up on this via Mark Whitby’s June 2015 show on Dandelion Radio. (Yep, I really am that far behind!)
It’s available at Bandcamp.
the last great record 