The Thirteen – Record Release Show
This is from the Thirteen record release party which was at Long in the Tooth Records in Center City Philly on Saturday June 29th 2013. I messed up and missed the beginning of the first song – sorry. (Bio stolen from their web site) The Thirteen play loud, raucous Rock ‘N’ Roll with plenty of melody and hooks. Think of all the bastard children of Chuck Berry from the Stones to the Faces to the Replacements on down and it will give you some approximation of what this power-pop trio is shooting for.
Back in 2007, the band was not much more than a studio project born of singer/songwriter Sal Cannestra’s desperate desire to make music again after relocating to Philadelphia. He met up with Figgs bassist and producer extraordinaire Pete Donnelly who offered to put together a band to help bring Sal’s songs to life. With the help of drummers Chuck Treece (McRad, Bad Brains, Urge Overkill) and Matty Muir (U.S. Rails) as well as lead guitarist Joe Iacovella they recorded the band’s debut, The Secret History of the Thirteen.
But no self-respecting band stays in the studio forever and by the record’s release in Fall 2008, Joe and Sal wanted to bring these songs to the people. So they recruited kindred soul Peter Santa Maria (Jukebox Zeros) on bass and… well, let’s say a short succession of various drummers, and started playing shows around Philly. A few more personnel changes in 2011 left Sal the sole guitar play but also saw the addition of Jack Kontes (The Flyswatters) as the band’s first full-time drummer.
Summer 2012 found The Thirteen ready to record again. This time Peter handled the engineering himself and then placed the tracks in the hands of Stephen Egerton (Descendents, ALL, FLAG) for mixing and mastering. The resulting album, LIFT – OFF!, showcases 12 tunes brimming with garage rock urgency, laced with infectious riffs and more than its share of clever, heartfelt lyrics. The band will be playing up and down the east coast in support of this delicious slice of wax and look forward to winning over new friends every place they play.
More info on the Thirteen go to their site. To buy the album go to your local record store or here
Audio files
Cop Shoot Cop from the Khyber in Philadelphia. The tape did not have a date on it but I’m guessing it was 90 or 91. Their initial line-up included Tod A. (vocals and high-end bass), James Coleman (sampler), Natz (low-end bass, occasional vocals), David Ouimet (sampler) and Phil Puleo (metal, drums). I saw them at least 2 or 3 times in Philly and they always but on a good show. Their early stuff was heavy industrial with heavy Bass, drums, metal and sampling. Later they started to remind my of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds while still keeping their own sound. If you want to check out the early stuff go to 
Helios Creed from the Khyber April 1990. The video was dark with most of the lights only on the drummer but it’s pretty much the entire show. From his comments I guess this was the first time Helios played Philadelphia. bio: Helios Creed founded Chrome in San Francisco around 1977 with vocalist/drummer Damon Edge, guitarist John Lambdin and bassist Gary Spain. Over the following five years, Chrome explored punk and hardcore, with an increasing reliance on synthesizers, tape loops and samples from TV. The group broke up in 1982, and Creed was dormant for several years until his debut solo album, X-Rated Fairy Tales, appeared in 1985. Another dry spell endured until the end of the decade, when Superior Catholic was released on the Subterranean label. (Both albums were later reissued on one disc.) For his third album Last Laugh, Creed moved to the grunge imprint Amphetamine Reptile. He recorded Boxing the Clown, Kiss to the Brain and Lactating Purple for AmRep, but has also released albums through the industrial label Cleopatra — including Busting Through the Van Allan, Cosmic Assault and a self-titled album.