RIP LIFER

A few days ago I heard that Dexter Romweber had recently passed away. Fu-huck. This one hurts. He was the real deal, a little full of himself when he was younger but musically, man, pure manic rocker. That was in the Flat Duo Jets, a rockin' combo, good and raw. Even as a kid Romweber's taste was early rock 'n' roll and rockabilly. As he got older, it was still classic sounding shit but a little more under control. Here's just a few things, early stuff and a couple later cuts from the Dexter Bomweber Duo. The video below is from a 1987 music documentary about the Athens, GA scene, There's tons more stuff at YouTube, as well as clips of his later duo, the Dexter Bomweber Duo.


The party starts at 3:12

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Listen:
The Flat Duo Jets - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Flat Duo Jets - Golden Stings mp3 at Leave You Wanting Less
Dexter Romweber Duo - Lookout mp3 at Internet Archive
Dexter Romweber Duo - Picture of You mp3 at Internet Archive
Video:
Flat Duo Jets - MTV 120 Minutes segment at YouTube 1985
Flat Duo Jets - Dark Night at YouTube 2016
The Flat duo Jets - Lonely Wolf at YouTube
The Flat Duo Jets - Hoy Hoy at YouTube
Visit:
Dexter Romweber, Raucous Torchbearer of the Power Duo, Dead at 57 at Indy Week

RESPITE VIA CHEAP ASS GUITAR

If you were around during the eighties, and by that I mean out of your mothers womb and of musically cognizant age, you'll remember what it was like. The music was shit. Hair bands, synth based or hair metal, they were everywhere. Less than a decade after punk rock, it seemed all of that back to basics stuff was for naught. Rock 'n' roll was just as bad off, if not worse, than it was in the seventies. One night back then, I'm flipping through the dial and see a nineteen year old, living in a shithole he refers to as "the mausoleum", giving a guided tour of the shack. He points out pictures he's got on his walls, Elvis, Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Little Richard and James Brown. It was pretty refreshing to see youthful reverence, particularly on a channel that might be showing the Flock of Seagulls. Then there's a short clip of him and his drummer playing outside of the shack. Guitar, drums, and a good voice. Primitive as all get out, with virtually everything unnecessary stripped away, No bass player, rhythm guitarist, stage, or "proper" equipment. None of that nonsense. I was sucked in. It was my first exposure to the Flat Duo Jets.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Flat Duo Jets - Rockin' Bones mp3 at The Walrus
The Flat Duo Jets - Go This Way mp3 at The Datas In
The Flat Duo Jets - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Flat Duo Jets - Golden Stings mp3 at Leave You Wanting Less
Video:
Crazy Hazy Kisses at YouTube

THE TRUE BELIEVER

Come hell or highwater, Dexter Romweber has always stuck to his guns. While completely capable of playing the game, he's always seemed to know his role. He is a rare bird, a true believer. A believer in classic rock n' roll. It was apparent in the 80's documentary "Athens, GA Inside Out" and in old clips from MTV. He's seen as a young kid, then in the Flat Duo Jets, who idolized Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Elvis, and James Brown; he stood out as as one of the few who ignored what would have been easy. While half the population of Athens was getting all new wavey n' shit, he paid tribute to his heroes, rock n' roll artists whose peaks came and went before he was even born.

It begs the question, what is a career? Doing what gets you paid the most, or doing what you love and just getting by? For some, the dilemma is wearing a necktie or wearing a guitar. For Romweber, it's getting new wavey n' shit, or playing timeless well written songs, be they ballads or flat-out rockers. Even if it means playing at a neighborhood block party. While the ultra big time may have eluded him, he's won the respect of some pretty big names. The Cramps. Jack White and Iggy Pop have all name-dropped (and more). On his 2009 album, "Ruins of Berlin" (of which, only 1,000 were pressed), he's joined in duets by Cat Power, Neko Case, and Exene Cervenka (LL Dexter R, indeed!). In a perfect world, Dexter Romweber would be huge.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Dexter Romweber Duo - Lookout mp3 at The Line of the Best Fit
Dexter Romweber Duo - Picture of You mp3 at There's Always Someone Cooler Than You
Dexter Romweber Duo (w/Jack White) - Last Kind Words mp3 at Cover Me
Dexter Romweber Duo (w/Cat Power) Love Letters mp3 at Bloodshot Records
Dexter Romweber Duo - Still Around (live at a block party) video at YouTube
Dexter Romweber Duo - Guybo mp3 and 18 more live tracks at Southern Shelter
Jack White, Cat Power, Exene Cervenka and Neko Case testify at YouTube
Flat Duo Jets - Rockin' Bones mp3 and two videos at The Walrus
Dexter Romweber interview and sidewalk performances, 3 videos at The Village Voice
A shitload more of Dexter Romweber videos at YouTube

THIS IS WHAT SWEAT, ALCOHOL AND CIGARETTE SMOKE SOUNDS LIKE.

The first time I heard the Flat Duo Jets was in the late 80's and it was, unbelievable as it sounds now, on MTV. It was a segment on singer-guitarist Dexter Romweber, filmed in the shack he lived in behind his family's house, in Carrboro, North Carolina. He was just a kid, about 19, and had a remarkable reverence for early rock n' roll, specifically citing Elvis, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Little Richard and Gene Vincent ("there ain't gonna be a wildest [sic] rocker ever again"...). The end of the segment showed a short clip of the Flat Duo Jets performing in front of the shack. The one thing that was striking about the footage is that they seemed like the real thing, nothing forced and not posing. Primitive rock n' roll without a spec of show biz. Very few bands were playing this sort of stuff at the time and it was a full-on aberration on MTV.

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I had one of their early records, Go Go Harlem Baby, which I played the shit out of, but lost track of at some point (I used to lose a lot of records.) A while back, I bought a used copy of Lucky Eye, their last album. It wasn't nearly as raw as I had remembered them sounding and I was kinda disappointed. Then I saw who produced it, Chris Stamey, an 80's indie pop guy who I've always considered a little too tame for my tastes. Case closed, Lucky Eye was put in the "will not coddle (even though they no longer exist), sell when needed" stack.

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Yesterday I ran into a post on The Devil Has the Best Tuna about a soundtrack for Two Headed Cow, a documentary about the Flat Duo Jets, and was stoked to find out that there was an accompanying soundtrack with all early stuff, and just as raw as I had remembered them. Here's three songs on one blog and another at a second blog, all four no-brainers. This is the best new (to me) rock n' roll I've heard in a long time, stripped bare and absolutely pure. It's not indie, punk rock, psychobilly, no wave or any other hyphenated crap category. It really does seem like the sound of sweat, alcohol and cigarette smoke.

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Flat Duo Jets - Rock House mp3 + Everybody's Movin' and Rawhide at The Devil Has the Best Tuna

(Alternative link for the same three songs at Oregon Live)

Flat Duo Jets - Rockin' Bones mp3 at The Walrus
Dexter Romweber interview at Perfect Sound Forever

Video clip here