You Need To Know This! A Barrence Whitfield & The Savages Primer

YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS!

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IN THE EIGHTIES MUSIC WAS PRETTY

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The Real World Was Not

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yeah, yeah, yeah, there were THE RAMONES, THE SEX PISTOLS, PATTY SMITH, THE TALKING HEADS, THE CLASH...in the SEVENTIES...so we’re not talking a music revolution here. but by the MID-EIGHTIES, THE CLASH werealloverthemselves,andwhileTHE TALKING HEADS were burning down the house, it was not with the raw energy of their earlier albums.

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in boston, in nightclubs like THE RAT, THE CHANNEL, TT THE BEARS, THE MIDDLE EAST, CHET’S LAST CALL, bands were creating some raucous sounds and somereallyfucked-upperformances, but we mean that in a GOOD way. bands like THE DEL FUEGOS, HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE, PIXIES, DMZ, THE LYRES, TREAT HER RIGHT, LEMONHEADS, MISSON OF BURMA, STRANGLEHOLD were using the power of punk to rip apart the seams of PRETTY and RIP IT down to the basics;full-onenergymeetingpower chords, bopping drums driving the heavy angst right out of the air, pogoing the audiences into oblivion --though the CHEAP BEERS usually had a hand in that as well.

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peter greenberg, guitarist and founding member of THE CUSTOMS, DMZ, THE LYRES was fed up with the shit his bandmates were taking and giving and making, so he left. like all guys who look good with a guitar in their hands, know how to play the sucker well, and love music to no end, he did what anyone in their right mind would NOT DO in a crowded scene of scenesters, all vying for the brass ring of a major deal while making little to nothing every night at dive barsandso-callednightclubs that had seen better days twenty years ago; HE STARTED ANOTHER BAND.

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PETER took PHIL LENKER with him and enlisted one BARRY WHITE as their singer--no not that BARRY WHITE, god no. this BARRY was a coworker at nuggets, boston’s best used record store. now, if one is going into the music business, let alone in a rock band, never mind being the lead singer in that rock band, the name BARRY WHITE--conjuring up the image of that five-timegrammyaward-winning,ultrasmooth soul singer of sex tape-like disco hits--the name BARRY WHITE is NOT what you want as your moniker. especially after being carded countless times by bouncers at boston bars and asked to croon “TOUCH ME BABY (YOU SEXY THING)” like the real BARRY WHITE.

so BARRENCE WHITFIELD was born.

WHITFIELD for the legendary motown producer and BARRENCE just because. to tweak the sensibility of the card-carrying liberals, college professors and their wives, the newspapers, musicreviewers,aginghippiesand,basically anyone trying to be politically correct in the middle eighties, the four white guys in the group, on guitar, bass, sax and drums,weretobe called THE SAVAGES. 11

THEY MADE A RECORD...

FROM ALLMUSIC: “It clocks in at under 30 minutes, so these days it qualifies as an EP, but the Savages’ debut record is a scorcher. A 100-mph rave-up from the moment Barry screams his way through Don Covay’s “BIP BOP BIP” to the go-for-broke “SHIP SAILS AT SIX.” Peter Greenberg’s garage grunge guitar sounds great propelling these tracks, and THE WHOLE THING JUST SCREECHES PARTY.” 12

THEY GOT DISCOVERED BY ANDY KERSHAW OF THE BBC: “ASTONISHED” IS THE WORD HE USED IN HIS MEMOIR. CHECK IT OUT!

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BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES shot out of Boston in the mid‘80s with the force of a cannonball.

Through their sweaty dance party shows and love of primal soul, they were to R&B what the Cramps were to rockabilly--a gateway musical drug for nascent underground roots mavens...*

*TRUTH IN ADVERTISING DEPT.: this is from the recent press release of BLOODSHOT. Yes, it’s marketing spooge, but BLOODSHOT’s founders were fans right from way back THEN. So this spooge is shot right from the heart.

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From POP MATTERS: Anybody who saw BARRENCE WHITFIELD AND THE SAVAGES during their original heyday 30 years ago remembers them as an exciting live band. Whitfield was one crazy-ass performer who would jump all over the stage and into the audience— sort of the East Coast equivalent of COUNTRY DICK MONTANA of California’s the BEAT FARMERS. From TROUSER PRESS: On his spectacular first album, backed by a frisky quartet of young, greasy roadhouse rockers (including a couple of EX-LYRES), Whitfield stakes his reverent claim to the priceless hipshake legacy of SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS and other venerable titans of primal rock’n’roll. Whitfield is a tremendous vocalist with a bloodcurdling falsetto, the enthusiasm of a drunk amateur and the easy control of a seasoned pro.

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AND BECAME LEGENDARY

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Which is another way of saying they broke up after making some great freaking music and tons of loyal fans.

Why? Because, as all bands find out sooner or later, it doesn’t matter how GREAT they are, if they can’t play for REAL MONEY, or have a RECORD DEAL that pushes them over the edge to STARDOM instead of pushing them deeper into debt, they don’t have enough money to pay all of the bills all of the time.

So they make choices... stock images created by professionals. do not try this at home.

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PETER GREENBERG and PHIL LENKER welcomed in the working week, doing business-like things that brought in the dineros that helped them pay the bills. On the side, they kept performing and creating the kind of music they loved in order to keep them sane during the 9 to 5.

BARRENCE meanwhile kept up his profile in the music biz touring first with a whole ‘nother set of SAVAGES, then as BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SEAT SNIFFERS, BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE MONKEY HIPS, BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE MOVERS, BARRENCE WHITFIELD & PLUS 4 and recording with TOM RUSSELL among others.

Even as punk went pop with GREEN DAY and BLINK 182 charting, the organic soul and blues he was dishing out night after night, with a passionate, though punk, edge, was never able to shoot BARRENCE to the level of success he so well deserved.

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Something like 20 years go by...like the turn of a page.

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BARRENCE WHITFIELD

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PETER GREENBERG

Here they are.

The SAVAGES are back with a kick-ass record from BLOODSHOT. In case you had any doubts, they’ve honed and chiseled their rocking live performances so as to guarantee YOU WILL singe the top of your head off.

PHIL LENKER TOM QUARTULLI ANDY JODY

That’s one reason why they call BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES “smoking.”

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from the feature in USA TODAY In the Boston of the 1980s, Barrence Whitfield & the Savages shows were legend.

“Those were the days where I was pretty much throwing myself to the wolves — and the floor, the wall and the chandelier,” recalls Whitfield, the leather-lunged shouter who put a group of the town’s garage-rock veterans, like guitarist Peter Greenberg and bassist Phil Lenker, through frenzied sets of retro-styled R&B and obscure soul covers. “Each night, we’d walk off, Phil would have a bloodied lip. I’d be ripped up; my pants would be tattered in shreds. Peter’s wrist would be sliced up from strumming the guitar.”

While Whitfield may have learned how to survive a show intact, the group’s new Dig Thy Savage Soul, on Bloodshot Records, still showcases a wild musical abandon.

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OTHER FINE REVIEWS SO FAR...

“Good God Almighty, this is it!” INK 19 “Boston garage/R&B legendBarrence Whitfield, possessing otherworldly pipes that range from a low feral growl rumbling the nether regions to a scream that would make Little Richard blush, belts out originals and crate-diver covers with the formidable and aptly-named Savages.” BLURT “Their secret weapon though, is ex-Lyre Peter Greenberg, whose fiery guitar riffage and left-field songwriting sizzle.” UNCUT “if you want to discover the animal within you then the steaming, rolling and evil humming R&B-and Rock n’ Roll-Scene, where Punk is played with fury and power, this is the perfect place for you to be. Chuck Berry meets Jack White. Any questions?”

EXPULS [Germany] “The best record in the band’s career.” VINYL DISTRICT “If you like good old fashioned Rock & Roll, buy this album. If you are a fan of gritty Soul and real Blues, buy this record, and if you are looking for a fresh, unique listening experience that could have been released in 1969, 1979, 1989, or 2013, most certainly buy this album.” COOL ALBUM OF THE DAY “...Whitfield’s larger-than-life vocals evoking Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, Captain Beefheart and Graham Bond.”

CLASSIC ROCK [UK] “Since Dap-Tone and the like have revived an interest in classic soul, this could do the same for another disappearing musical form: rock and roll.” OFFBEAT “The chemistry between these guys puts your grandparents’ happy marriage to shame.” POPSHIFTER “Barrence Whitfield’s turbocharged voice is still hot enough to sizzle bacon fat.” CENTER DAILY [State College PA] “The real deal.” DAILY LOCAL [Philly]

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BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES DIG THY SAVAGE SOUL (BLOODSHOT) 01 SEPTEMBER 2013 — BY BRETT MILANO As collections of vintage, long-lost garage rock and R&B go, this one’s mighty hot: The opening “Corner Man” has the primal pound of a prime Sonics track and recording quality to match; you can practically see the sweat on the recording console.

“Blackjack” is just the sort of crazed instrumental (with a few vocal interjections) that lights up dozens of compilations. The singer screams his head off throughout, but when he tears into a ballad—like “I’m Sad About It,” which would sound like early Atlantic Records if the band was reined in, which it surely ain’t—you can tell the guy has serious soul.

Hold on, you say: This isn’t a reissue at all, but an actual 2013 recording? Boggles the mind, even if you know the backstory. The Savages were in fact formed in Boston back in 1984; guitarist Peter Greenberg and bassist Phil Lenker had spent a few years playing wild garage rock with the Lyres. In Barrence Whitfield, they found a screaming maniac in the Little Richard/Esquerita mold, but one who could also put a sensitive number across when he felt like it. The band tore up the Northeast and attracted some high-profile fans (Los Lobos still have Whitfield onstage whenever they’re in the same town), but imploded after two years. The ex-Lyres retired and Whitfield carried on, with various other Savages and sundry bands—getting deeper into soul and growing quite a bit, but never quite matching the abandon of the early albums.

Until the original nucleus reunited three years ago, that is; and Greenberg’s guitar pushes this one into overdrive. But the difference on this album—the second of the reunion, and first for a big-ish label since a fling with Rounder in the ’80s—is that half the material is original, and the covers are so obscure that they’ll be new to all but the most industrious collectors. A buried treasure like “Bread” (which, Whitfield claims, is the one thing that will impress the ladies) hasn’t lost its relevance; and he delivers both the screams and the soul. Since Dap-Tone and the like have revived an interest in classic soul, this could do the same for another disappearing musical form: rock and roll.

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DIGBOSTON 9/4-9/11 2013

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MORE QUOTES WE DUG OUT OF THE CLIPPINGS

“Barrence is back, bigger and better than ever, playing with the right guys, The Savages, who first helped Barrence explode onto the scene in the 80’s.

Raw and powerful, the way I like it, shot through with unexpected humor.”

PETER ZAREMBA, THE FLESHTONES “Barrence Whitfield is THE Barrence Whitfield of R&B.” ANDY KERSHAW, BBC “Rock royalty.” BOSTON HERALD 27

as they reviewed the guys in SWEDEN:

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BBC TWO: Later...with Jools Holland in America on PALLADIA after 10/31/2013

“Blues med en rejäl nypa punkattityd.”

4/5 ****

UNSOLICITED PLUG: Don’t forget to nab a copy of Andy’s Memoir, NO OFF SWITCH. It’s extremely entertaining. Like a night at a Savages show, and then some. As Joe Strummer noted about Mr Kershaw’s prowess in the ways of the world: “Without you we wouldn’t know nothin’!”

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DIG THY SAVAGE SOUL On BLOODSHOT [CD] Cat BLD-CD-208 / UPC 744302020822 [LP] Cat BLD-LP-208 / UPC 744302020815 [DIGITAL]

First pressing of VINYL has SOLD OUT! Don’t worry, we’re making more. barrencewhitfieldsavages.com facebook.com/barrencewhitfieldsavages @BWandTheSavages