dimanche 28 avril 2013

The Throbs



Once again I discovered this band via the english music press (Kerrang for instance) cause as usual the french one didn't bother to be relevant.
Tagged as the New-York response to Guns N Roses, The Throbs were the hot new deal for sleaze rockers. They looked good, gonna released an album produced by Bob Ezrin, the man behind the breakthrough of the Alice Cooper group (which meant the world to me) and were ready to conquer the planet !
I grabbed a copy of the aforementioned LP as soon as it get available - got a free pin with their logo on it - and finally heard the darn thing. Even if I thought that the sound production was too smooth I loved it and -almost 25 years later- still do.
Unfortunately, a few months later the band was dropped by their record label and next thing we knew they were over with both Ronnies (Magri and Sweetheart) gone.



You can trace an early incarnation of the band back in Toronto, Canada where Ronnie "Sweetheart" Collie was from. Formerly a guitar player in different bands he swapped the guitar for a mic and was joined by Jeff Campbell (guitar), Michael Lotimer (bass) and Peter Lotimer (drums). The band released a mini-album entitled Proud to be loud in 1986.



After a trip to New-York City circa 1988, Sweetheart decided to moved there and formed a new version of the band with 2 musicians he just met in a club : Pete "Pagan" Trainor (guitar) and Danny "Discipline" Nordhal (bass).
At first, quite similar to the canadian version but with a more glam orientation, the arrival of Roger Ericson (Angels in Vain, Smashed Gladys) who eventually replaced Pete,  made evolve their style to something more 60s blues influenced à la Rolling Stones.




Not so long after they've been signed by Geffen records, the english guitar player Ginger (former London Quireboys at the time) even spent a few weeks as second guitarist but only played once onstage with them at the Cat club for a Valentine's day gig before being debarked by the band.

But it was the definitive line-up, Ronnie Sweetheart (vocals), Roger Ericson (guitars), Danny  Nordhal (bass) and Ronnie Magri (drums) who went to record The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds.



Like I said above, the career of The Throbs was short, Geffen didn't know how to manage the band so they gave up on them. Enabled to take the right decisions to keep going they disappeared in late 1991/early 1992.

Ronnie Magri went to New-Orleans where he was involved in the New Burlesque scene, Ronnie Sweetheart vanished for a while but Roger Ericson and Danny Nordhal tried to pursue as The Vibes.


In 2003, a reunion show with all former members was booked at Don's Hill, N-Y-C and since then you may catch a 'Throbs gig, always with Sweetheart and quite frequently with different players. New recordings are unlikely, but they may still have a few cards up their sleeve, who knows ?








The Throbs  "Proud to be loud"  - 1986 - Precision records

Side one : Here comes the night - She's so pretty - Everybody's gonna have a real good time
Side two : I'll do what I want - Oh love - Nuclear Attack - I was gonna









The Throbs  "The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds"
1990 - Geffen records

Underground - Come down sister - It's not the end of the world - Dreamin' - Honey Child - Rip it up - Ocean of love - Only way out - Sweet addiction - Ecstasy - Strange behaviour

The Throbs "Come down sister" single - 1990 - Geffen records

Come down sister (LP version) - Promotional copy
The Throbs "Come down sister" E.P. - 1990 - Geffen records

Come down sister - Ocean of love - Dreamin' 
(All tracks taken from The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds)











The Throbs  "The Language of Thieves and Vagabonds"
2007 - Rock Candy records (reissue with bonus tracks)

Underground - Come down sister - It's not the end of the world - Dreamin' - Honey Child - Rip it up - Ocean of love - Only way out - Sweet addiction - Ecstasy - Strange behaviour
Bonus tracks : Rainbow - The queen of borrowed lights



























3 commentaires:

  1. Hi! I never heard the "Proud to be loud" release... I tried to buy one on ebay but it's a pretty obscure release...
    There is any chance to have it on web?
    Thank you for this article, Throbs are one of my obsession!

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  2. Hello Joey,

    From time to time a copy pops up on the web. Only get lucky to find one at an almost reasonable price, there's still one out there for 75$ (discogs.com). And if you are an obsessed Throbs fan you might extend it to The Vibes (I'll post something on them in a near future).
    Cheers,
    Matt

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  3. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/second/id950762126

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