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rick blaze

  • keepin up with the jonesKeepin’ Up With The Jones – The Ballbusters (Vicious Kitten)

    You might question the validity of this four-song EP from the Worcester, Massachusetts, band that used to be Rick Blaze and The Ballbustersuntil their frontman’s demise in 2011 following protracted health issues. After all, it’s been 23 years since their second album and first for Vicious Kitten(the “Manhattan Babylon” CD) and one of the guitarists, Dave Cuneo, has also since shuffled off this mortal coil.

    It was easy back then to write off Rick Blaze and The Ballbusters as yet another Thunders-besotted outfit from the backblocks whose fascination for JT's dubious lifestyle choices got in the way of them making it out of their own backyard. The cover art for this EP is all a bit too obvious but its arrival prompted re-visits of “Manhattan Babylon” and its 2001 follow-up “People’s Republic of Rock and Roll”, and they retrospectively hold up as righteous slices of swagger that owe as much to Mick and Keef as  J. Genzales.