The Z/28 Wrecks from the Highway Album has reached many corners of planet earth and here is what humans have had to say about it!
Clark Paull i94bar June 2004 WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY- Z/28 (JSNTGM) As you can probably already tell from their name, the Z/28 being a once mighty and proud example of good old American muscle, these Scots live by the credo that if it's got tits or tires, it's gonna give you problems. And like any chopped, channeled, and cherried iron sled, it may take a while to warm up, but once it does, hold on to your arse. Alright, enough with the car analogies...
For the first third of "Wrecks From The Highway," Z/28 have it on cruise control (sorry...), preferring to churn out a rather pedestrian, lumbering. lacklustre brand of three-chord rawk, which falls just this side of memorable. Sure, their guitars grind and buzz and their drums rumble and crash, struggling steadfastly but without purpose or direction. Let's call if "faceless" for lack of a better term.
Opening instro "Nitro" kicks up a righteous cloud of dust for about a minute before seguing into "Medium Rare" and then into the acoustically-driven "FBI Man," snippets of movie dialogue popping up here and there. Yawn...
Then, like a good, swift kick in the pants, this album finally gains a full head of steam and it all comes together with "Another Fine Day," tough as nails, sizzling, and delivered with a mission, Skid Mark Tyme blathering like John Denney of LA's late, lamented Weirdos, The Spacequeen on drums, The Strangler on bass, and Rockin' Rick Buzzin' (enough already with the names!) setting a desperately frantic pace behind him. Kind of makes you wonder what the hell they were waiting for.
After another short film soundbyte warning against taking that first puff of a marijuana cigarette (yes, it can make you go psycho!), Z/28 shift gears (groan...) into crunch pop territory with "My Friend Scott" and then "Gun Girl Crazy," the latter being perhaps their finest moment - 1:56 of Tyme (no pun intended) warbling over a simple yet undeniably catchy chord sequence from Buzzin' that sticks like peanut butter, punctuated with cartoon sound affects. And if you think songs about little green men and hovering metallic discs begin and end with Husker Du's "Books About UFO's,"
check out "Lights In The Sky" and Buzzin's intentionally hopeless guitar solo.
Speaking of Buzzin', the guy can play a little bit, not soloing too much, but almost sawing, hacking, and chopping his guitar into grist every chance he gets, and he gets a big chance on "Outrageous," playing his way into your cerebral cortex, if not your heart. A cover of Charles Calhoun's 1954 nugget "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash" begins with a goof - Tyme slobbering a few lines acapella like a redneck necking a jug of 'shine - but once the rest of the band kick in behind him, it's all business.
Unfortunately, despite a throbbing, greasy rip through Waylon Jennings' "Dukes Of Hazzard," Z/28 end with a whimper instead of a bang, back to the mundane punk-by-numbers of "Outlaw Machine" and "Kicking My Amp."
In the end, Z/28 have delivered half a great album (in this case, half equalling about fourteen minutes), the best songs crammed with time-honored chords and more hooks than a pirate convention and the worst nothing more than joyless, empty exercises in sheer volume. If the knuckle-cracking euphoria that coats the chewy bits could somehow be spread out a little
more evenly, these guys could rule the world, uh, maybe Scotland.
Lindsay Hutton Next Big Thing September 2004 - WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY- Z/28 (JSNTGM) Z/28 hail from Edinburgh. I've seen 'em a couple of times over the many years they've been together and they're great live. Snarling NPH type barnstorming fused with a surf sensibility that sounds a little thin on cd but there's no way i could play this as loud as it really should be played. Not without removing the roughcast. Girl on the cover looks a little like Drea De Matteo. Havin' a lollipop before she goe's lookin' for Silvio and Christofah. Sure you've heard it all before but it's fun and it was brewed in a city not known for producing much in the way of rock'n'roll over the years. A castle they can do but...
Jens LowCut Magazine July 2003 Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway CD (JSNTGM Records) Scottish redneck punk? As absurd as it sounds these cowboy highlanders pull it off perfectly with their awesome Johnny Cash/Nine Pound Hammer/The Clash/New Bomb Turks hotrod tunes. With tongue firmly in cheek Z/28 rages through 14 country fried punkrock tales of guns, FBI, cars, UFOs, girls etc. It's only fitting they do a hilarious cover of Waylon Jennings' "Dukes Of Hazzard" theme. I'd give anything to see these wackos kick some hillbilly ass in Nashville's clean cut C&W circuits, all the good ole boys'd take a dump in their Stetson hats from fright! YEE fuckin' HAW!! Probably the best band from Scotland I've heard since Rezillos/Revillos.
BLUE Back Street Heroes #229 May 2003 “Z/28” “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD ALBUM of the MONTH - 5 Choppers Somewhere just outside Las Vegas, where the land meets the sky and the desert gets kind of out of focus, there is a parallel universe, and a hotel of the fifth dimension with a flashing neon light that’s on the blink. The car park is full of road grimed hotrods, Cadillacs with huge fins, and the occasional casually-parked UFO. Inside the bar the guys all have cool haircuts and ccooler stares and the girls all look like Betty Page and have long red fingernails and everyone wears leopardskin. In this hotel off the highway to nowhere, the z/28s would be the house band.
This is the first album from the z/28 (Who hail from Scotland, not Nevada or Oklahoma) and from the first track, ‘Nitro’, I was smitten, then again I grew up on the Cramps and the Meteors and Elvis and Johnny Cash, some of the zees’ influences, which probably means we’re second cousins or something. Most of the tracks are played at breakneck, tooling-along-the-highway speed, which might account for why, of fourteen tracks, only two are over three minutes. Only a couple of songs don’t work, the slower (‘slower’ being a relative term here) track, ‘My Friend Scott’, which is on the bland side, and ‘Gun Girl Crazy’ which is just annoying. There’s a good song under there, but while they were in the studio the band found the ‘Cartoon Sound Effects’ tape . . .
Only two songs are covers; ‘Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash’ is a manic reworking of the old 1954 Clovers hit, while Waylon Jennings’ ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ needs no introduction, gets none, and still weighs in at under two minutes. Although the whole album is less than thirty minutes long, you’re exhausted by the end of it! Utterly briliant.
Ted Kane - SPONIC July 2003 “Z/28” Wrecks from the Highway RATING: (3 reels) 2003 - JSNTGM Records - CD A white-trash worshiping rockabilly band from Scotland? Well, why not? The UK has given us a lot of authentic blues and punk artists through the years, so I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that Z/28 pulls off that down and dirty hillbilly sound as well as they do. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.bold.gif
Still ? and no disrespect intended to Waylon Jennings ? I find the group’s cover of “Dukes of Hazzard” a bit disconcerting. Is that what McLuhan’s “Global Village” has led us to? Satellite broadcasts of inane American TV shows through billion-dollar satellite networks to Scotland? But, on the other hand, didn’t Ringo marry Daisy Duke? Surely Z/28’s two minute rave-up on the show’s theme (its best part, Daisy's cut-offs, notwithstanding) is less of a travesty than Caveman. Anyway, I digress.
Wrecks from the Highway is a short burst of high-octane punkabilly that holds its own with the records of that type made on this side of the Atlantic. Like the Stones’ infatuation with Americana expressed in songs like “Parachute Woman,” Z/28 (as in the vintage Camaro model) cooks up a lyrical stew of guns, girls, UFO and car cultures that shows the bands love for aspects of American culture that must seem greener when viewed from the other side.
Each of the CD’s 14 tracks is framed by an excerpt from a B-movie, a gimmick that gets old as the album runs its course. But the songs themselves all have a good driving beat and an earnestness about them that few bands can match. If you are the type of fan who spells the word out r-a-w-k, you’ll enjoy this one.
Gildas Dig It! Fanzine issue 28 June 2003 “Z/28” “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” "La Camaro Z-28 est un modèle musclé de chez Chevrolet. Z-28 est un groupe anglais qui voue aux muscle-cars une passion sans bornes, du genre à empiler soigneusementles numéros de Gearhead Mag à côtés des exemplaires 70's de Chromes & Flammes dégottés aux puces. Le groupe (formé en 96) pratique un rock'n'roll autant influencé par les doubles carbus que la country (ils reprennent le "Dukes Of Hazzard" (Cours après moi Shériff !) de Waylon Jennings, braconnent sur des terres laissées en friche par Nine Pound Hammer et la voix du chanteur a souvent des accents Lux Interior/Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Ajoutez-y une touche de garage attitude, quelques riffs 70's, une louchée de 50's Roll, des bruits de bolides au démarrage, la pincée d'humour indispensable à ce genre d'entreprise, une giclée de Southern rock, des solos barbelés et quelques notes de banjo, secouez énergiquement le tout et voilà . Le résultat s'appelle Wrecks From The Highway et s'avale d'un trait. Le cauchemar de la prévention routière recommence...
Torch http://www.rockhardplace.com lucky 13th May 2003 Z-28 - "Wrecks From The Highway" - JSNTGM From the UK comes the rowdy, raucus sounds of Z-28. They're play a version of Cowboy Punk/Rock N' Roll with a great sense of humor. The guitars are smokin' the vocals are raw and dirty and the songs remind one of Johnny Cash meets The Sex Pistols. I don't think this CD does the band justice, I imagine this material would sound great live in a pub with a few to many beers in ya.
It's worth picking up this record just for the version of Waylon Jennings' "Dukes Of Hazard". "Girl Crazy" is (and I don't know why) laced with cartoon sound effects. It's actually pretty damn funny, but again, I'm not sure why. They shine on tracks like "Kick My Amp" which is borderline out of control, but it's so raw and real you can't help but appreciate what they're doing. Hopefully they can improve a bit on the overall production, the bass is pretty weak on the album as are the drums. If this happens, I think they'll really be onto something. They do have a certain charm to them, even if it's not your style, you'll like this band.
Mr X ROCK The Z\28's “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” 22nd May 2003 If you have seen the other pages I have made you might have heard about them already, but if you haven't I suggest you find out. Punk rock that could blow your ear drums apart, funny lyrics and great tunes, they are definetely worth looking out. You maybe wont find them in your local Virgin or HMV but in the smaller shops might do them. Check out their site www.thez28s.com for news and MP3's.
Cousin Fritz - Full Moon Fanzine May 2003
Z/28 ... "WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY" ... JSNTGM 13 Gee, Elmer, I felt I should warn y'all, and yer kin too, 'bout some shit-kickin' hot-roddin no-goodniks that are kickin' ass hereabouts. They've got this album, "Wrecks From The Highway" that they're peddlin' to the local merchants. Don't let Billy-Bob hear about it, you know what he was like when he listened to The Cramps; if he hears this he'll start building a flying saucer in a crop circle. If a bit of moonshine-tinged rockabilly can have him digging up Uncle Esther under a full moon, this album will have him fornicating buck-naked on top of a hot-rod! All them songs about vampires, U.F.O.'s, guns'n'girls, the F.B.I. (say hello to Cousin Franklin), and all sortsashit; goddammit, they're weirdos! They've been listening to them no-good Rezillos and that dog-darned Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and someone give them some 'go-blind-for-a-day' moonshine. Then they let them in one of them new-fangled re-cording studios, and the next thing ya know, we've another god-danged elvis thang on our hands. And you know what happened last time. This is the devil's music, and we should buy every copy from every store, and burn them all on a big bonfire.I mean, just look at their songs, all about 'lights in the sky' and all that mumbo-jumbo, The Good Lord never wanted us to rock'n'roll, we should be in church right now! But they're in a deserted barn, surrounded by hot-rods, watching B-movies like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes", drinking moonshine, and havin' a hoedown with Gene Vincent and Sid Vicious. They even sample Wolfman Jack, ferchrissakes! Ah'm tellin' ya, boy, when I see yer Mom (or yer Aunt, yer sister, whatever....), Ah'm gonna get her ta get her fat , lazy ass ta round up every copy of this offence against The Good Lord, and burn 'em all in a huge holy bonfire. Once her tush is outta the trailer, we'll round up every copy of this re-cording, before it corrupts every God fearing, goat-fuckin', cousin-marrying, shit-kickin, red-necked football scholar-ship-riding country boy in yhe whole damn county. Hey, maybe Jerry Springer'll do a special on it!
http://www.cr-entertainment.ch/ May 2003
Z28 - Wrecks from the Highway JSNTGM Records Hey, this is quite good. Solid garage punk`n`roll with great 50ies rockabilly vocals and some cool guitar parts here and there. Z28 don`t try to sound mean, they got melodies and quite good ones, too. This is by far the best from this pack. As it seems these guys kept a sense for humour. That`s cool, I like this.
James Smart - The LIST Magazine ‘Glasgow and Edinburgh Events Guide’ #465 April 2003 3/5
PUNK POP Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway (JSNTGM) Z/28 are from West Lothian, but take their inspiration from the kind of hick stomp favoured by mutants in empty corners of North America. Luckily, they charge it with punk rock (this 14 track recorrd clocks in at an impressive 28:33), and also inject a fair dose of humour into the proceedings. Songs like ‘Another Fine Day’ and ‘Outrageous’ storm along at a tempo that would make a gabba producer gush, and while Z/28 sometimes sound like a low-rent, speeded-up bunch of Clash fans, they have the vim andvigour to get away with it.
Ian - Part Time Punk Zine #6 April 2003
Z/28 ? Wrecks From The Highway ? JSNTGM 13 This CD is a quite neat fusing of Garage Punk and Country and Western, with a hit of straightforward Rock and Roll thrown into the mix. The vocalist has the kind of nerdy-but threatening voice that lends itself well to the material. Z/28 even do a cover of the “Dukes Of Hazzard” theme! They are from Scotland, a country that has for some reason always taken C”n”W to its heart….why is that? Sometimes Z/28 do kind of resemble a Texan Rezillos, which is not a bad direction to go in. My favourite tracks are “Outrageous” and “Shut Down” on this on the whole promising and original CD.
Karl Backman - SUMMER of HATE FANZINE April 2003
Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway CD (JSNTGM Records) I like EDDIE COCHRAN. I like AC/DC. I like Punk Rock. I imagine Z/28 do too. Sure sounds like it. This is really good stuff. Party music. Party as in excessive drinking. As in having your hand up a teenage girl's skirt. As in watching your best mate fall out the window. Good, good stuff. Of course the band is from Scotland, and probably have a limited experience of FBI Men and all that. Are there any highways in Scotland? I don't know, and I don't care. This is fucking great. Here's the deal: If you like BETTY PAGE, street car racing, loud guitars, JACK HILL movies, high energy, TURA SATANA and having fun this is for you. No dull 70's rock, don't let the Hot Rod/Pin-up thing scare you, this ain't more of that fake Action Rock we're all bored with. This is for real. Banjos and all. I don't give a fuck if you buy this record or not; I've got it and I'm gonna play it. That's all I need to know. I could go on about this, but I'm gonna turn it up and have a drink instead. As BON SCOTT put it: there's gonna be some rockin' at the show tonight.
ANDY http://www.punkoiuk.co.uk/ April 2003
Z/28 - Wrecks From The Highway (JSNTGM) Take King Kurt or the Meteors give them a louder amplifier and a bucket full of speed and a splash of Green Day, light blue touch paper and stand well back. Well not quite but this is another cracking album. Psychobilly meets pop-punk. You simply have to get for the cover on here it's a cover of the 'Dukes Of Hazard' theme tune.
ARTCORE Fanzine #18 “Z/28” “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD These be rockin’ garage psyched-out damaged Scottish loons, all fried up with on some Yankified 50’s freeway desert U.F.O. kinda trip. This sounds like a cross between JOHNNY X AND THE CONSPIRACY, THE CRAMPS, JOHNNY CASH and THE GOOD TIME CHARLIES playing back up to some shitkickin’ sour mash cock-fight in Louisiana in 1963. All I can say is; ‘you’re gonna look pretty funny trying to eat corn-on-the-cob with no fucking teeth!’ (3/5) JSNTGM
The Blackpool Evening Gazette “Z/28” “WRECKS FROM THE HIGHWAY” CD Out now on the JSNTGM label is the stunningly good Wrecks from the Highway.They might sound like psyched out countrybillies but the nearest they’ve got to Nashville is the Split Level Studio at Newbridge, West Lothian. They inherit a musical world somewhere between the Ramones and the Cramps, and rarely top the three minute mark with anything they sing. Z/28 put punk into Charlie Calhoun’s 1954 gem your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash and know a thing or two about when to yee-haw on Waylon Jennings’ Dukes of Hazzard. Elsewhere it’s all their own work and no wonder The Spacequeen finds it difficult to keep drumming at their speed ? but it’s hard to turn off this set of 14 mini-masterpieces. We don’t know the cost, but whatever it is it’s worth it !! Robin Duke … (JSNTGM PO Box 1025 Blackpool FY3 0FA only £6.00 including p+p a steal)
Willy Aadnoy http://www.punk-information.com February 9, 2003
Z/28 “Wrecks From the Highway” JSNTGM 2002 Appropriately enough, my first listen to this CD was driving home from the P.O. Box in my Z/28 Camaro. I first became aware of Z/28 some time ago from guitarist, Rockin' Rick Buzzin' who sent me an e-mail and introduced his band. It was always fun receiving e-mail from Rockin' Rick because he always played in character as if he was some kind of whacked out cowboy (I miss those e-mails, Rick). This is a band that harkens back to yesteryear in sound. There is a lot of country influence and a lot 50s influence. At times they sound a bit like Elvis Presley when he still had attitude. Lots of songs about cars and women. Solid punk rock sound with killer lead guitar. The album ends with a balls out rocker called Kicking My Amp. All in all a very solid release.
Benny Brylcreem http://smashintransistors.homestead.com March 14, 2003
Z/28 Wrecks From The Highway (JSNTGM CD) Cars, women, aliens and red necks is what this is all about, these boys know their southern Rock & Roll. But wait what’s that you say? They’re from Scotland! Well they certainly studied their Elvis and Billy Lee Riley with some X-Files thrown in for good measure. I had to look outside to check and make sure there was still snow on the ground cause this CD made me think I was crusin’ on a summer day with the top down and a case of PBR in the cooler on the back seat with a couple of big tittied Martian girls in front gettin’ freaky. This album is a Rock & Roll must on the car radio while crusin’ the back roads of Venus. Excellent combinations of attitude filled 50's Rock-a-billy and good old fashioned Punk Rock blazin’ guitar work make this a summertime crusin’ classic (now we just need summertime and our drivers licences back).
Mark Anthony http://www.therawk.com/ March 18, 2003 Z/28 - wrecks from the highway (JSNTGM) hot rod punk 'n' roll from scotland? yep and these guys have a nice feel to their rawk too. describing this is hard cuz the sound changes throughout from supersuckers grease to replacements shuffle to clash-ish clang to cranked up rockabilly to stones-y roots...and sometimes more than once at a time. this is one of the funnest things i've heard in awhile and the cool between song soundbites (and the in-song cartoon f/x on "gun girl crazy") just add to it. the cover of waylon's "duke's of hazzard" theme song only adds to the misplacement of these dudes! this is cool shit!! the best i've heard from scotland since the first undertones record...and a great sexy cover too!!
FRACTURE Fanzine #23 Z/28s “Wrecks from the Highway ” CD/ 28:33 Kinda hokey 50s/60s garage punk, the stuff that goes down a storm at those Las Vegas weekend grinds, that’s fine, I can see the attraction but I feel not the allure. It’s just too gimmicky for me, sure I used to love the CRAMPS in small doses, but I just get real tired of this real quickly. Not enough of those real important hooks, I’m sure it’s fun as hell to play this type of music and maybe it’s best appreciated in a whiskey-soaked bar, crackling out of an old analog 50s PA system. But man, this was pretty hard work to sit through and I’m just not a fan of kitsch 50s artwork and style, unless I am someplace where the authenticity drips real. Nah this is definitely beyond me, and this is from someone who loves GIRL TROUBLE, The FLESHTONES and The CRAMPS when the mood hits. But it’s not so much the style that is as perturbing, as the lack of any quality songwriting. They even manage to turn the “Dukes of Hazzard” theme into a bland squib. That should be a shit-kicking, redneck, drink, fight and fuck anthem! I’m just not sure British people should be allowed to partake in this genre, it rarely seems to work. (DS) JSNTGM, PO Box 1025, Blackpool, FY3 0FA, UK.
Mack - Trashcompactor March 24 2003
Z/28 » Wrecks From The Highway « CD - 2002 JSNTGM. Nitro / Medium Rare / FBI Man / Shut Down / Another Fine Day / My Friend Scott / Gun Girl Crazy / Lights In The Sky / Outrageous / Your Cash / Never / Dukes Of Hazzard / Outlaw Machine / Kicking My Amp
After I'd given the first couple of cuts a casual listen, I pretty quickly came to the conclusion that this record wouldn't come as recommended. The band tries so hard to play that dragster punk rock thing in the vein of the Supersuckers or the Didjits but the results are pretty mediocre. The polished sound doesn't help either. These were my initial thoughts and they almost sealed the fate of this CD as a nice attempt that unfortunately misfired. I say almost because I completely changed my mind the second "Another Fine Day" blared out of the speakers... What happened? Well, from that song on the guys finally cut loose and inject a heavy dose of poppy harmonies into their country-punk and voila, the entertainment value of "Wrecks From The Highway" increases dramatically. Imagine the Vandals (circa Slippery When Ill) meet retro rockabilly and you'll get a good impression of what this record is like. I'm pretty sure that the combination of beer and a Z/28 show makes for a hell of a party.
Rae Alexandra - KERRANG no.945 March 2003
Z/28 “Wrecks From the Highway” JSNTGM “these howlers play the kind of garage rock n roll that makes you wanna hop in a drop-top and drive through the desert” “look at “Wrecks From the Highway” as a good drinkin’ ‘n’ fightin record”
Brainless - No Brains Zine June 2003 Z/28 “Wrecks From the Highway” JSNTGM Z/28 are some kind of rock'n'roll punk. Sounds like Elvis meets Dead Kennedys and Ramones on highway. But I miss something here. I don't know what exactly. I think it's the production, it's too clean and guitars sound too neat. Z/28 sound too nice - guys put more sweat and energy in your next album and distort the guitars a bit more. Make it more dirty and sweaty, maybe drink some more beer before going into studio. "Gun Girl Crazy" or "Light In The Sky" are really good songs, only if they were recorded better. This can sound much better.
WRECKS AVAILABLE from
http://www.plastichead.com/http://assemblylinemusic.comJSNTGM, PO Box 1025, Blackpool, FY3 0FA, UK.or any good distribution outlet!
ALL MERCHANDISE AVAILABLE @ GIGS!!!!
Come along and earn a cd or receive your Medical from Dr Strangler
After a simple swab, orfice cleaning, injection and a rest
ya can wear one of these little certificates with pride!
What the critics have had to say about the Z/28
BLACK FLAG meets ELVIS!!!!
Owes as much to Johnny Cash as it does Johnny Rotten!!!!
A mix of Johnny Cash and AC/DC!!!!
Looks like the CRAMPS playin the CLASH!!!!
