BLACK GASOLINE

Come the wee hours of Jan. 1, 2006 there's going to a whole lot less of Helvis seen around these parts. In fact, Helvis will be a mere memory. But that's not because the band's breaking up. Truth is, Scotty Baddhart and the boys are becoming Black Gasoline. Why the change from the ultimate nom de rock?
Baddhart explained that one of the problems was simply that there are at least two other bands that employ the Helvis moniker. One is an Arizona-based punk outfit bent on informing the public that Metallica's sucked for over a decade (Holy cow! News flash!), the other is a pagan thrash group from England. Helvis ICT would have been faced with potential lawsuits and may have been blocked from publishing if it kept the old name.
Longtime friend Heath Leffel suggested the name and, Baddhart said, the members eventually conceded to the change. The quintet tested the waters by putting the name on its MySpace account and a few fans caught on.
"We put it out there like a flickering neon bulb," Baddhart said. "It was there and then gone. People were like, 'What? I must have been seeing things.'"
The group knows that a name change can lead to an uphill battle but is taking steps toward a smooth transition. Its first official gig as Black Gasoline will be on Dec. 31 at John Barleycorn's with In The Wake and Moreland and Arbuckle. - f5

Black Gasoline (formerly Helvis, in the event you've been living under a toadstool) closed out the night, shimmering like a brilliantly sequined g-string at a Chippendale's revue. BG's new material — "Dirty White T-Shirt," "Never Enough" and "Anthem For An American Burnout" — takes the quintet to whole new levels of awesomeness. Bobby Comfort and Co. have been working on putting some of that down on tape for y'all, so hang tight.
- f5

Thursday night saw the first of six shows in the Air Capital's T-95-sponsored Battle of the Bands. For the next six weeks, a total of twelve bands, three at a time, will slug it out on the stage of America's Pub. Bands are judged on talent (Do they limp along or are they a well-oiled machine?), showmanship (Are they more Pat Boone or Robert Plant?) and feedback from the audience (Are you folks really ready to rock?). T-95's Mike Stuart said that six bands will be invited back to the pub at the end of the battle for a live recording session, the results of which will be released on a compilation disc highlighting the best of the best. (Weekly winners are announced at 2 p.m. every Friday on T-95.) Thursday night featured a head-spinning, "What the h?" bill of Soak, Helvis and Zero Fixx.
First up were Soak, who played a very quick set of hardcore-ish metal that was notable mainly for its energy and faithfulness to the sub-genre to which it belongs. But the band, topless drummer or no (relax, it's a man, man), proved little match for the straight-ahead, we-drink-raw-eggs-for-breakfast champion glow of Helvis, who, true to form, came out swinging and didn't relent once during their 10-song set. With the quick uppercut of "Born To Kill" and the mighty left hook of "Pesci" alone, the quintet transformed the otherwise upright and strong-willed throng of beer drinkers and their lovely companions into a sea of rock and roll bobbleheads who had little choice but to obey the new king of kings.
Part of that kingness comes from the fast-acting guitar machine that is Scotty Baddhart and Jesse Jack Heartattack, who, at times, recall the dirty dignity of classic guitar duos such as Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner (Lou Reed, Alice Cooper) with a dash of Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Brad Whitford (circa Toys In The Attic, at least) tossed in for good measure. It's dangerous, the kind of stuff that they can't show you cautionary films about in eighth grade health class, though they're probably working on it as we speak. Not that it matters, 'cause you have no choice but to hear it, then dive in headlong anyway.
But Baddhart and Heartattack are also a study in contrasts. Whereas Baddhart stays near the front of the stage, serving as a second to frontman Bobby Comfort, Heartattack lurks half in the shadows, communicating not as much through movement as through music. He's joined there by bassist Slim Chance who feeds off Comfort's mainman mania while locking in with drummer Rhyno Coaltrane's chest-thumping beats. But it's exactly that balance of the aural and visual dynamics that make Helvis as much fun to watch as they are.
By the time they closed the show with the three-prong attack of "Ghost of Rock 'N' Roll," "Blacklight" and "Wheezy," the audience seemed ready for more, ready to hang on for another chunk of the evening, though it was not to be as Zero Fixx had yet to take the stage.
At America's Pub for a two-night stand, ZF hit the stage with their metal and rap hybrid sound and rocked da' house pretty deftly, though it was clearly Helvis's night to shine and no one was going to walk out of there (well, except maybe the sprawling Zero Fixx posse that'd been there most of the night) saying otherwise.
Both bands will be back Thursday night to duke it out again. Don't forget to scream - f5

Had the Rev. Ed Phrelps known that Helvis and the Gunning System were coming he might have assembled his peculiar army of white trash pre-teens and their burned out, drug-addled parents, drawn a circle of hate around the perimeter of Topeka's Booty Scratch, the very club where both bands will on this very special night make their State Capital debut, and called for an out-and-out culture war.
But he didn't.
And still there's the potential for trouble.
Helvis guitarist Scotty Baddhart can regale anyone within earshot with road stories that involve both fists and knives. There have been escapes both heroic and harrowing in the past and it's no secret that everyone in this camp has felt the peculiar mixture of pride and shame that comes from paying a bar tab higher than $40 and the awkward mixture of disorientation and relief found later in the evening on a cold and merciful bathroom floor.
Since forming roughly three years ago, Helvis has endured its share of celebration and storms. It's been heralded as one of the best local live bands in Wichita and garnered the respect of its local peers — whether Moreland and Arbuckle, Mesa Falls To Mephisto or Ricky Fitts — and what the mighty Mess once called out-of-town rock stars, including Les Hell On Heels, Red Planet and Boss Martians. But despite an impressive catalogue of hooky tunes the quintet has yet to record a full-length album and, according to Baddhart, it won't for some time.
And if its audience has been largely stable over the past two years its lineup has not. Original guitarist Jesse Jack Heartattack left in late 2004 and although Pauly Rod (also of the Gunning System) quickly entered the fold, Baddhart and vocalist Bobby Comfort admit that losing Heartattack, who'd been a deep well of musical ideas from the beginning, brought songwriting to a prolonged standstill.
"We didn't write a song at all for a while," Comfort said.
"We played around with bits and pieces and never settled on any one thing," Baddhart said. "When Johnny [Cockward, drums] replaced Rhyno [Coaltrain] things changed. And I think it had a lot to do with the fact that he and Pauly have been playing together for so long in other bands. I think Pauly's ideas seem to come across better with Johnny behind him. It was just more cohesive. But the songs have been coming along like they're on an assembly line. Which is strange for us, but cool."
The new songs that the band has integrated into recent live sets come off as being consistent with the group's earlier material but are more refined. At least musically. Asked to comment on his lyrics, the surprisingly shy Comfort says that his lyrics to newbie track "Never Enough" are pretty straightforward: "It's about not getting enough tail, basically."
Those songs come out in the set at the Booty Scratch. Though not necessarily as the band intended them. During an all-too-brief set from Green Reaper (fronted by former Beauty Pageant members Heath Leffel and Steve Turner) the problems begin. The owner won't let Turner drink anything on the stage for fear that the guitarist/vocalist will spill something on the monitors and, come the Gunning System's soundcheck, the soundman tells Rod that his guitar is too loud for the room. Second guitarist Colby Short is forced to face his stack o' amps toward the wall, making it difficult to hear himself.
The band members, including bassist Slim Chance are visibly unhappy and they channel that frustration into a set that reads as powerful from a certain vantage point but clearly disappoints them. When Helvis takes the stage it's more of the same and the word comes at the end of the night that the Booty Scratch will not be seeing the likes of the last two bands anytime soon.
Later, all three bands retire to Steak and Shake for a late night breakfast and to congratulate Leffel and Turner on their new endeavor. All of these players share a history that is incredibly intertwined. Baddhart points out that Cockward and Rod are in the band not only because they can play well but also because they've been longtime friends.
"I've known Kevin [Ware, the Gunning System] for a long time and, basically, through seeing the Beauty Pageant play I got to know Johnny and Pauly," Baddhart remembers. "A friend of mine said, 'You're going to hate 'em. They sound like Bruce Springsteen.' I decided that I'd see for myself. I saw them and said, 'We're playing together. That's it. From now on, when we play, you'll play and vice-versa.' And that's pretty much how it went down until they broke up."
Whatever heaviness happened at the club dissipates as everyone catches up on current happenings before retiring for the night at Turner's house. Some are drunk, others worn down by travel and a long day at work before the gig and sleep comes quickly and by the next afternoon Capital City is safe again.
- f5

February 21, 2008

Black Gasoline :: She Gave Us Magic
CD Review
By The Rocker

I don’t know what they are growing in those plains of Kansas, but mix it with the Blue Collar work ethic of the Aerospace industry, throw in some early BLACK SABBATH, some MONSTER MAGNET and some BLUE CHEER, put it in a corn cob pipe and smoke it. Oh yea, what does the singer sound like? Well, if David Lee Roth and Jim Dandy had a shouting contest, the first one to lose their voice is out and the winner sings for BLACK GASOLINE, hoarse and all. Now you get the picture? What we’ve got here is 50 minutes of loud, groove-laden, bluesy stoner rock called ‘She Gave Us Magic’. The band is of course BLACK GASOLINE, a Wichita based quintet. This is not clean cut conservative rock from Kansas. No, these guys get down and dirty, while adding muscle to their boogie. The band is made up of Scott Baddhart, who plays badass bass, soulful singer Bobby Comfort, along with drummer Kendall Newby and Mr.Tone Paul Deceglie on guitar, while keyboardist/guitarist Lovell Hackman adds that extra perfect touch to the band’s sound. Oh brother what art a sound it is. The CD seems to have a unique intro to every song, sometimes the songs start one right after the other. Check out the very first intro to “All Night”, a high energy rocker that kicks the CD off in the right damn way. Listen for the wah + fuzz = badassolo from Paul. Listen for drummer Kendall’s lead foot stomping drum beat and cowbell kicking off “Dirty White T-Shirt” while he channels Keith Moon with his drum fill. It’s songs like “Castor Oil and Marmelade” along with “Sattellite Girl” that you really hear the David Lee Roth in the husky voice of frontman Bobby. All this is wrapped around the low end, Geezer Butler like bass playing of Scott that drives these songs. Songs that include the six minutes opuses ‘A Ghost Is The Highway” and the final track ‘The Boy Who Destroyed The World”. The CD is almost split in half by the groove laden instrumental called, “Transmission Interlude”. This CD takes us on one hell of a ride. The only question is, what did Wichita, Kansas give us? “She gave us magic” and BLACK GASOLINE, will put a spell on you.

Review by The Rocker - All Access Magazine.com

05/23/08
Reviewed by - Matt Rowe

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Black Gasoline
She Gave Us Magic


The first intriguing element about new band, Black Gasoline, is their name. Black Gasoline is a 5-member band (from Wichita, KS) that has drunk deeply from the well of ‘70s riff metal. If you remember Thin Lizzy, then the first song off their new album, She Gave Us Magic, will whisk you back to that time. But Thin Lizzy is not the only fount that they drink from. There is a clear taste of Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and other classic ‘70s boogie Rock outfits in this brew.

Black Gasoline uses the traditional instruments in the jet-powered way exclusive to those heavy riffing bands that sprung up like weed throughout the era of the ‘70s, especially the beginning to the middle of that decade. With epic sounding songs like “The Boy Who Destroyed the World,” the 7-minute plus “A Ghost is the Highway,” and the cowbell-filled “Dirty White T-Shirt,” this band has provided an album’s worth of vintage heaviness.

If you like your music with more than a twist of a bygone era that touts Black Sabbath/Thin Lizzy/Deep Purple, and other like power-riff bands that provide the flow of blood to Black Gasoline, then you’re in the right place. Head over to their MySpace page and get a listen for yourself. But you’re better off snatching yourself a copy of She Gave Us Magic right away for the immediate thrill.



- Musictap

Man-About-MySpace: Black Gasoline

Posted by Dr. Flucke (04/02/2008 @ 2:12 pm)

Black Gasoline is the ultimate MySpace band, summed up in one sentence from the band’s MySpace bio: “With its debut album She Gave Us Magic, Black Gasoline demonstrates exactly why it has long been hailed as one of the most promising bands in Kansas.”

They do have something of a Deep Purple/AC-DC/Grand Funk je ne sais quoi to ‘em–and let’s not forget that, despite those band’s shopworn licks and FM oversaturation, when they came out they were awesome. And some rock fans pine for the days when men were men, rock stars were rock stars, and guitars were loud.

I, for one, give these working boys two thumbs up, and hope you do, too. Here’s a video of their song “Lady Iron Wing” from She Gave Us Magic released last November….rock on!
- esdmusic.com

Black Gasoline: She Gave Us Magic


Black Gasoline, the Wichita, Kansas 5 piece outfit's latest CD, She Gave Us Magic is a 12 track CD that reminds you instantly of the Monster Magnet, Kyuss, Clutch and a splash of old Sabbath influence. Fuzz box distortioned and detuned guitars layered with razorblade cut vocals and a very '70's vibe, are what this CD is all about. Throw in a splash of organ for an almost Steppenwolf kind of feel and Black Gasoline give you a very authentic sounding head trippy experience.

Those raspy vocals are soulfully delivered by front man Bobby Comfort, who is backed up by guitarist Paul Deceglie, keyboard player/guitarist Lovell Hickman, bassist Scotty Badhart, and drummer Kendall Newby, for a truly group effort. Tracks like the catchy rocker, "A.C.T.I.O.N.", the instrumental groove heavy, "Transmission Interlude" or the dirty riffing of "CoalBlackCloud" best show what Black Gasoline are made of on She Gave Us Magic. Heavier grooves and cool riffing are the two main things that make up Black Gasoline". If you dig the '70's vibe of "Desert Rock" or "Stoner Rock", then you will most likely be a Black Gasoline fan.

In the year 2008, it's pretty cool to find some bands that are hell bent on keeping the '70's alive. That was the era when a band could do what a band wanted to do & not be overly concerned on how many records that they sold. And with that they were able to be creative and Black Gasoline has that vibe. A bit derivative, but at this stage of the game, who isn't? She Gave Us Magic is a pretty fun record to listen to and isn't that what's it all about?!


Track Listing

All Night
Dir-ty White T-Shirt
Lady Ironwing
Castor Oil and Marmelade
A.C.T.I.O.N.
Transmission Interlude
CoalBlackCloud
A Ghost Is The Highway
Pesci
Sattellite Girl
The Fever
The Boy Who Destroyed The World
Added: August 17th 2008
Reviewer: Butch Jones
Score:
Related Link: Band's MySpace Page
Hits: 193
Language: english

- Sea of tranquility

"Black Gasoline adds their stamp by throwing in an ample amount of good time boogie and some radio-friendly hooks."
Arzgarth
StonerRock.com - stonerrock.com