When this came in I got confused, surely there is another band with Ranch Davidians in the title I thought? – that’s right the indie rock group from southern California, but it wasn’t them, they were the Stevenson Ranch Davidians. This is an entirely different outfit.
Still from California this L.A. trio’s sound is somewhat confusing, blending distorted psych, primal rockabilly, grungy punk and bluesy soul
Linchpin of the band is guitarist/singer Tex Mosley: one-time alumnus of Philly’s legendary Afro-punks Pure Hell, for whom he co-wrote the track ‘No Rules’ before joining up with that band’s drummer Spider in Bad Actor. Relocating to the West Coast, Mosley embroiled himself in the L.A. punk scene, hooking up with skate/punk legend Duane Peters in Gunfight, Black Flag founder Keith Morris in Whores Of Babalon and Geffen-signed rockers The Hangmen.
Now, describing themselves as “garage proto-punk reprobates on the 5th day of a 4-day creep”, Mosley has joined forces with guitarist/singer Will Bentley and drummer Max Hagen as this defiantly bassless trio . The Spirituals From Life’s Other Side EP threw down the gauntlet with its smouldering psychotic R’n’B. Now they’re back with their full-length debut for Heavy Medication Records.
“Rock’n’roll is still respected and celebrated in Europe, so we were happy to catch the ear of a cool Euro label like Heavy Medication,” says Mosley. “They really understood where we were coming from and helped shape what would become our debut LP. We hope we can fly over and play for European audiences in the near future.
“I’ve always loved the minimalism of Suicide, and that less-is-more approach is hardwired into the Davidians’ DNA,” he adds. “That’s probably why we never bothered recruiting a bass player. We’re huge fans of The Cramps and The Gories, neither of which had bass players, so we didn’t feel we needed one either.” That being said, Greg ‘Smog’ Boaz of Tex and the Horseheads played bass on one of the songs on the album.
It’s loud, unforgiving, and hangs somewhere between Chicken Shack and The Stooges with a dose of Stax soul added just to confuse this listener. Ted manages to channel Iggy in places.
Anyway I’ll be featuring a track on Aural Delights on 29th January – it is released on January 20th.
Different Noises 
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