THE GAS HOUSE GORILLAS: Press/Reviews

Remember those hoodlum friends you had when you were a teenager? Remember the way they used to hang out down by the drugstore in their zoot suits, snapping their fingers and acting too cool for school? Well, they grew up to be the Gas House Gorillas.

This primo jump blues band has it all: an amazing rhythm section, awesome sax playing, fabulous guitar, a killer frontman, and fantastic songs. And more than all that, these guys have the ability to cross over from jump blues to swing to rock and back again, often within the same track.

“All She Wants To Do Is Rock” boogies and swings and rocks and kicks and, like most of the tunes on this disc, has an absolutely infectious hook. Hiro Suzuki positively wails on guitar, taking the whole thing up and way over the top. Rick Fink’s suggestive vocal delivery is magnificent.

“Memories Of You” is a quieter, sweeter number, blending pop with a gentle swing and a touch of blues. Tim Veeder’s sax backing is exquisite, and again, Suzuki lets his guitar go for broke, this time eliciting a lonely and heartrending cry. “Swing That Thing” is a piston-pumpin’ masterpiece, giving Veeder more room to ply his trade. “Nine Lives” is pure, rhythm-section-led evil, racing along at breakneck speed. Upright bassist Crusher Carmean clicks away like a madman, while drummer Dan Hickey keeps it tight and oh so right.

From romantic ballads to raucous dance tunes, the Gas House Gorillas have got it covered. They even have the good taste to offer up a rendition of the Groucho Marx classic, “Everyone Says I Love You.” Now, that rocks!

How is album cover art related to the music contained in the CD? No simple answer to that one is there? When the cover is a cartoon of a rowdy bar scene with patrons ranging from passed-out-on-the-bar to gorgeous hunk with admiring babes to a jumping lunatic in a straight-jacket, well.... you just know this has got to be a fun album. Fun – especially with a name like The Gas House Gorillas.

Based in Brooklyn, New York City, GHG is Rick Fink (vocals), Dan Hickey (drums), Hiro Suzuki (big Gretsch guitar), Crusher Carmean (aluminum chrome upright bass), Tim Veeder (Sax). With a killer voice, Rick Fink (after successfully fronting rock bands for years) found his true calling when he formed the Gas House Gorillas. His song writing skills and boundless high energy blur the lines that separate Jump Blues, Rock, and Swing, creating a mixture of American music.

Their main website reveals the origin of their name, “As Bugs Bunny fans may recall, the Gas House Gorillas were the team of Brooklyn mugs the ‘wascally wabbit’ was up against in the 1946 classic ‘Baseball Bugs.’”

Both of their websites emphasize their live shows, “At a Gas House Gorillas' show the crowd plays just as important a role as the musicians on stage. Whether singing along, cutting a rug, or adding their two cents to the between song banter, this kind of interaction is what makes a Gorillas' show great.” Many songs on this, their second album try to capture some of that performed-live-donnybrook.

The CD kicks off with Wynonie Harris’s “All She Wants To do Is Rock,” and it is sung just as suggestively as the hucklebucking original. Saxophone leading the way, balls out vocals, background vocal accents, mid song solos by sax and smoking guitar, bass popping, drums kicking – simply put it is Rock and Roll heaven.

The second number is a complete change. Original tune “Queen of the Night” is a jazz inflected stunner. While the guitar and bass flow, the real showcase is Tim Veeder’s creative sax floating over, under, around and through the vocals.

“Where Did Harlem Go?” is a 1:33 minute upbeat rip replete with scat, whistle, some vocals through a harp mic, and a bass/drum rhythm show. The fun is pumping now.

“Kidney Stew” is a great smooth-groove cover of Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson blues. “Memories Of You” slows the pace for dancers looking for a tight embrace. Blending pop with a gentle swing, the song is reminiscent of classic songs of early rock and roll. Hiro Suzuki gets an amazing organ-like sound from his guitar.

For 80 seconds, you may think you have blown your speaker woofers as “Everyone Says I Love You” plays. Sounding like a wavering-speed 78 rpm record, Fink sings a 1920s-esque, Betty Boop sounding humorous love parody ala Groucho Marx. It immediately gives way to wild bass string popping on “Nine Lives.” Hold on because this Rockabilly snapper is completely over the top in the vein of the best Stray Cats energy explosion of vocals, guitar, and, in this case, saxophone.

The closing number, “Burglar in the House of Love,” leaves us rocking with more of the instantly likeable singing of clever lyrics, great guitar, sax and rhythm that make this album a fun trip to retro-ville 50s – 60s Rock and Roll where most baby-boomer blues fans began. Only one thing left to do, see these guys live!

Yeah! The Gorillas are back!

I caught these guys last year at The Red Bank Blues & Jazz Fest, and they were... AMAZING! They took a sedate crowd and brought them to a fever pitch, especially when bassist Crusher Carmean jumped off the stage with a this big-ass, stand-up bass, running through the crowd, up a steep hill, and back up on stage - never missing a beat! I felt like I was back at The Leopard Lounge (at Club Bene in Sayreville), with all those cool retro-swing bands that promoter, DJ, and all-around cool cat Lenny Lounge (and let's not forget his main squeeze Kit Kat), put on.

The new CD opens with "All She Wants to do is Rock," which sounds like a jilted boyfriend’s lament, but it actually turns into a swinging, rocked-out dance number. Don't look to deep for political, or over-emotional songs. The Gashouse Gorillas are only here to get you out on the dance floor and shake your tail feathers - and that's a good thing!

"Kidney Stew" is flat-out New Orleans blues with The Gorillas’ special mojo. Rick Fink- vocals, Crusher- bass, Hiro Suzuki- guitar, Tim Veeder- sax, and Dan Hickey- drums, are the ligament heirs of the retro-swing genre, that are not only are keeping it alive, but bringing it to the next level. Big Band, Bop,
Swing, Rockabilly, and even Punk Rock are the foundation of bands like The Gashouse Gorillas, Cherry Poppin' Daddys, Brian Setzer, etc. On tunes like "Last to Know," or "Nobody's Fool," "Three Words," and "Stay," the band does get a bit sentimental, taking you to the submarine races, but they wisely keep away from any type of self-pity in favor of ain't-nothin'-gonna-keep-me-down, upbeat vibe, like Dion & The Belmont's "The Wanderer."

The closing number, "Burglar in the House of Love," is barrel-house rock and roll! An all-out rocker that leaves you wanting more! And to get more, you gotta see The Gas House Gorillas live! Check their website, you won't be disappointed! - Phil Rainone

The Gas House Gorillas
Five Gorillas Walk Into a Bar...

This is truly a breath of fresh air. The Gas House Gorillas do tremendous things to old fashioned rockabilly rock n' roll. The entire album has a good sense of humor about itself without diminishing from the quality of the songs. The vocals are clean and simply enjoyable. The guitar, saxophone, and bass flow. And the drums have a great ability to back up the band and have the freedom to go on their own tangent. Every instrument adds something to each track which makes this album simply amazing. The album starts off with a humorous and fun track "All She Wants to Do Is Rock." The saxophone flows perfectly with the vocals and the guitar is simply old fashion Rock n' roll, from its rhythm to its solo. The third track, "Where Did Harlem Go," shows the dexterity of the drummer and saxophonist while keeping a steady fast upbeat pace.
"Nine Lives" has a great rockabilly feel similar to that of the Stray Cats (no pun intended.) It has an immense punk rock sense to it while keeping the theme of old fashioned rock and roll that is evident throughout the entire album. The solos on this track are great, the guitar and sax just explode into phenomenally energetic paths, and the lead singer's screaming into the microphone just blows your mind.
I could go on for a page about how well done this album is, but due to a need to condense I'll stop here. The album brings something new to the table that this decade has seldom seen. I can't praise this album enough because it is truly a definite buy. I hope for the best with these guys because they truly deserve it.

There is no band better than the Gorillas!!! Five Gorillas Walk Into a Bar... is one of the few discs I listen to everyday!!! Live or recorded, there is no band more fun and energized!!! They blend so many styles that it will knock your shoes off!!!

You just can't keep good gorillas down. Mighty Joe Young had several hits, King Kong keeps coming back, and now, THE GAS HOUSE GORRILAS have returned. Unlike those former famous gorillas, whose first hits were their best, "FIVE GORILLAS WALK INTO A BAR......", the latest release by THE GAS HOUSE GORILLAS, which features many new band originals - is as excellent as their first.

The five, gorillas for whom this discs title refers to, are: RICK FINK on vocals, CRUSHER CARMEAN on bass, TIM VEEDER on tenor sax, HIRO SUZUKI on guitar, and DAN HICKEY on drums. Now let's go listen.

It's no wonder that "ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS ROCK", it's probably because she's listening to this track. However, the Gorillas may have something else in mind when they say "She wants to rock and roll all night long". This hot rocker features fabulous vocals by Rick, with alternating heat being provided by TIM and HIRO on sax and guitar. Meanwhile, the rhythm Gorillas are furiously fanning the fire.

While RICK is asking "WHERE DID HARLEM GO?", the band seems to have musically found it. This short, swinging, one and a half minute track - featuring some great scat by RICK, is very reminiscent of the era when Harlem, NY, was one of the city's hot spots.

The Gorillas do a great job on "KIDNEY STEW", a cover of a song made popular by one of my early blues influences, EDDIE "CLEANHEAD" VINSON. This one features the band tightly locked into a smooth groove throughout the track.

"MEMORIES OF YOU" is one of those tracks that, just after the first few beats, has the slow dancers taking their partners by the hand and leading them to the dance floor. This one brought back great memories of some of the classic songs of early rock and roll. This is the kind of stuff that most of us blues fans grew up listening to and THE GAS HOUSE GORILLAS make it sound as good now, as it did back then. Great vocals by RICK on this one.

"NINE LIVES" is what you might need if you listen to this track while driving. Calling this one an all out jam would be an understatement. If an all out jam were equal to driving on I-95 at a pretty fast speed of 85, "NINE LIVES" is the vehicle that just blew by you making it look like you were standing still. Now you got the picture? This track may very well be the wild and frantic cousin of a song by The Boss - "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"......it could have easily been called "Tenth Avenue, Freak-Out".

"SWING THAT THING", as with several other tracks, is one of those short numbers that I could have easily taken a lot more of. Of course, by hitting replay I did, but this should have been at least double in length. Once again, the Gorillas are all in a smooth groove on this swinging shuffle featuring more great sax and guitar leads.

Some of the discs best rhythm, guitar and sax work can be heard on "NOBODY'S FOOL". CRUSHER, DAN & HIRO are all on the mark and TIM is easily at discs best, as he makes the tenor sax alternately sound like it's a baritone and an alto. Great stuff.

Other tracks on "FIVE GORILLAS WALK INTO A BAR......" are: "QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, "EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU". "LAST TO KNOW", "STAY", "HEP CAT KING OF EVERYTHING", "THREE WORDS" and "BURGLAR IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE".

Not only have I had the pleasure of reviewing both of THE GAS HOUSE GORILLAS CD'S, but about two years ago, at the Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival, I also had the pleasure of being blown away by their live act. I highly recommend you check out the band at www.gashousegorillas.org - and make sure you tell them the Blewzzman's responsible for your visit.

GAS HOUSE GORILLAS WANT YOU TO HAVE A GOOD TIME

Irvington native Rick Fink has brought his love of comedy, cartoons and music together in his band Gas House Gorillas.

"We're really playing party music," he said. "It's really just about getting people to have a good time."

Gas House Gorillas will perform at the Stanhope House in Stanhope Nov. 18.

"We thrive on audience participation," said Fink. "You never know when I'm gonna be right next to you or when I'm gonna be pulling you onstage. When we play, it's pretty crazy."

Gas House Gorillas started as a jump blues, swing and classic R&B band dedicated to carrying on the legacy of Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway, Louis Prima and Sam Cooke in late 2003.

"I wanted the band to be really eclectic," said founder and lead singer Fink.

The lineup originally included Fink, saxist and accordion player "Handsome" Dan Alvaro, guitarist Jimmy Prav and drummer Joe Geary. Upright bassist Chris "Crusher" Carmean came on board six months later. Japanese blues guitarist Hiro Suzuki replaced Prav in spring 2006.

"We started out playing in New York," said Fink, who is now based in Brooklyn, N.Y. "It was really hard to build an audience. A lot of blues clubs were closing. We found ourselves gravitating to New Jersey."

The New Jersey Jazz and Blues Foundation has done a lot to bring the band into the limelight. The group also appeared this past summer at the Red Bank Blues and Jazz Festival.

Today, the band has expanded its repertoire to include country, rockabilly, zydeco and rock 'n' roll.

A typical song list might include covers of Wynonie Harris, Gene Autry, Percy Mayfield and Elvis Presley.

"It's just music I've always listened to," said Fink.

Fink also stresses a sense of humor in his music in keeping with his love of the Marx Brothers and Bugs Bunny.

"It's all just a sensibility and a way of looking at the world," he said. "The Marx Brothers are brilliant. I call myself a Marxist."

Gas House Gorillas derives its name from the Brooklyn baseball team that played against Bugs Bunny in the 1946 classic cartoon "Baseball Bugs."

"I knew all about the old Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons," said Fink. "'Baseball Bugs' was a great one. I always thought someday I'd like to have a band called the Gas House Gorillas."

The band is well known for its rendition of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse," from a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Fink wrote most of the original songs on the band's self-titled debut CD in 2004.

"I wrote 'Misery' because my wife was mad at me because I'm so moody," he said. "It's kind of tongue-in-cheek. Same thing with 'Find a Little Boogie.' The lyrics are just ridiculous in that song."

Of late, the other guys in the band have been penning songs, too.

"I think we've really hit our stride now," said Fink.

"Aside from Fink's tradition-based originals, the Gashouse Gorillas — who take their name from a Bugs Bunny cartoon — play inspired versions of tunes by Wynonie Harris, Gene Autry, Cab Calloway, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke and Percy Mayfield."

"There's no doubt that these guys love music. It shows not only in their playing, but also in the songs and style they've chosen to present on their self-titled CD. Featuring jump blues, modern small-combo swing, even sweet country, these hep simians can pound their chests proudly about their debut release."

"Thanks to 'Roots' musicians Rick Fink and his Gas House Gorillas, our beloved borough again proves itself a melting pot- this time of Americana!"

"Solid tunes, talented musicians and vocals to make your momma swoon."

"Rick Fink is an intense, charismatic and uninhibited performer, willing to go as far as he has to go to get an audience crazy."

"When the band is having as much fun on stage as the crowd, you know you’re in for a special night!"

"For Rick Fink and his Gas House Gorillas, performing is what being in the band is all about."

SWINGING WITH ANIMATION

File Rick Fink and His Gas House Gorillas under swing.

No, wait, make it jump blues.

Rhythm-and-blues?

Roots rock?

Americana?

Novelty?

On second thought, don't file Rick Fink and His Gas House Gorillas at all -- they won't fit neatly in any drawer.

Leave 'em out and let 'em rip.

"I wanted this band to be really eclectic," Fink says. "I wasn't looking to put together a swing band or a scene band, where you have to do the right kind of dance to show up at our gigs. I just wanted to do something that everybody could latch onto and have a good time."

In practice, that means "Seven Nights to Rock" and "Last Chance Motor Ride" cheek-by-jowl with "A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid" and a virtuoso rendition of "Minnie the Moocher" that has frontman Fink ambling off the stage, microphone in hand, to direct the "hi-de-ho" call-and-response from the audience.

That's just the beginning. You might also hear Fink launch into the quintessential blues heart-tugger "Please Send Me Someone to Love," shortly after his crack band (Joe Geary, drums; Jimmy Prav, guitar; Chris "Crusher" Carmean, bass; "Handsome" Dan Alvaro, sax and accordion) have rocked the joint with "Powerhouse," the Raymond Scott jam familiar from innumerable Bugs Bunny cartoons.

And if Fink gets drunken hecklers, he always can nudge them offstage with a chorus of Groucho's "Hello, I Must Be Going."

"I'm a big Marx Brothers fan and a fan of old Warner Bros. cartoons, Tex Avery cartoons," he says. "There's a lot, musically, you can get from those cartoons. It's all the pop music of its day."

Those cartoons gave Fink something else: a band name. As Bugs Bunny fans may recall, the Gas House Gorillas were the team of Brooklyn mugs the wascally wabbit was up against in the 1946 classic "Baseball Bugs."

Launched three years ago, Fink's lively combo might seem at first like a delayed hangover from the swing revival that briefly flared up in the mid-'90s with bands like the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. But from the outset, Fink had something else in mind.

True, he does make a concession to the swing crowd with his attire: pork pie rakishly down over the face, bowling shirts and so on.

And true, bass player Carmean does play the obligatory upright bass -- in his case a wild, all-metal instrument he built himself. "You have to be a weight lifter to lift it up," Fink says.

But swing is only one dish in the buffet. In Fink's smorgasbord, you'll sample the entire range of American pop music as it evolved in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

"I'd been a fan of this music for years, but I'd always been a rock singer before," says Fink, who also plays acoustic guitar.

The Irvington native (he's lived in Brooklyn for more than a decade) spent most of his career in hard rock bands like Boomwhack, which had brief -- very brief -- major-label action with Sony in the early 1990s. "It was so quick, we got whiplash," Fink says.

But always, in the back of his mind, was the Louis Jordan, Louis Prima, Cab Calloway brand of rhythm-and-blues he grew up with. "I always had this dream that when I got older, I would front this big band," he says.

When he finally decided to go retro, he did it with a will.

"I completely gutted my CD collection and went for nothing but vintage recordings," he says. "I started to download music. I really did my homework before I started the band."

As a result, you're liable to hear things a little less obvious than the typical "Jump, Jive an' Wail" of the average lounge band.

"Some of the guys in my band are surprised when they hear me throw out some names," he says. "Like, I'll throw in a song and I'll say it was originally done by Slim and Slam [Slim Galliard and Slam Stewart], and the band members will be surprised. I really threw myself into this."

At any rate, the audience never seems to question the mix-and-match of Fink's set list. Though it might pain some hard-line swing purists, Fink concedes.

"We did a private party once, in a penthouse, and they wanted to do a swing party," he says. "They got a dance instructor who gave lessons at the beginning of the night, for a half-hour. What's great is that after that, we came on -- and everybody went out and completely forgot the lesson. They just started shaking it and having a great time, dancing any way they wanted. Meanwhile, the instructor was up there looking completely distressed."