Vintage Sleaze from a new band: Babylon Shakes

​When you visit the Babylon Shakes website you will find this description:

"Lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Clark is no stranger to sleaze rock. As the songwriter and frontman for bands like Smashed Alley and Last Call Messiahs, he delivers catchy, dirty rock n roll songs with a distinct Hollywood rasp. Babylon Shakes rhythm section includes veteran musicians Gary Jordan and “Morty” Jeff Mortimer. Each with over 30 years of experience touring, recording, and performing live. Make no mistake despite the extensive experience, they haven’t slowed down one bit since they began playing music at an early age. They each still play with a chip on their shoulder with much still to prove, feeling energetic and ready to Rock! These two have rocked the stage together countless times with bands such as Kage, Bought by Blood, and most recently Last Night’s Villain. Their dedication to their musicianship and stage show is as entertaining as it is musically euphoric to the audience."

So, now you know who Babylon Shakes is. What you don’t know is that they are funny and nice and this music is something that is coming from deep in their souls. Having spent so many years in different bands having these guys come together at this stage in their lives, when there is a whole new generation of  “new blood” in the hair metal scene, is bound to shake things up a bit.  As a fan of hair bands, sleaze metal and all the amazing bands that rocked my youth I am thrilled to find that the music I loved is still going strong. 

I gotta tell you I had planned to do a podcast of the interview I did with Chris, Gary and Morty. I dutifully recorded our conversation so that I could edit and air it on the station. Yeah, I discovered that I do NOT have a voice for radio and I might have been a bit nervous because it seemed like “uh-huh” and “yeah” were all the words I knew. So, nope, you don’t get to hear my interview with Babylon Shakes. But I will tell you that even though they rubbed it in that I haven’t been able to go to M3 yet, we had a very nice conversation about the music, about their plans and the fans. 

I’ve been playing Velveteen Libertine over and over then the guys sent me a copy of their next single to put on the station and it has been added to my new favorites. Sunset Striptease- you’ll hear it playing often on The Manamal Streaming Radio!!!  The sound of Chris’ voice does remind me of Faster Pussycat back in the day- that Hollywood rasp that made me fall in love with songs like “No Room for Emotion” and “Cathouse”. But he also has his own sound that blends magnificently with the music. Each song I’ve heard feels like a full story- you hear a few notes, you get sucked in to the lyrics, you are rewarded with guitar riffs and in the end, you know it’s done but you still want more. There’s a sense of wildness just barely restrained in the music and it rocks me down to my soul. I have no problem classifying Babylon Shakes as a vintage sleaze band right up there with the bands from my youth. I’m thrilled that one of the “new generation” bands is actually a group of guys with experience, with age, who know the value of “our” kind of music.

​So, while Babylon Shakes is a new band on the metal scene they’re not inexperienced kids just getting started. They know how to reach people, they are dedicated to putting out only their best efforts and I can tell you now that they are going to have a huge following. Be sure to grab their 5 song EP out next month! Check out their video below, and then go like them on Facebook to find out where they will be performing and keep up to date on releases, videos and merchandise!!

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