Album Notes

Between 2000 and 2008 Simon Chainsaw recorded 9 albums. However only 5 were released leaving 4 discs and a mountain of outtakes, demos, versions and covers collecting dust on shelves somewhere in Kreuzberg, Berlin..... UNTIL NOW. These discs are now available in JOHNNY RIOS SONIC RANCHO SESSION BOX SET / SERIES.

SIMON CHAINSAW - FIRE DOWN BELOW recorded was in 2000 and is
DISC #1 of JOHNNY RIO’S SONIC RANCHO SESSIONS BOX SET / SERIES'

SIMON CHAINSAW - FIRE DOWN BELOW
After 2 years of touring in Europe with Simon's previous band VANILLA CHAINSAWS, they returned to Australia and signed to a major label. Instead of this being the logical continuation onto something bigger, they got lost in the business world of corporate rock and after a number of lineup and management shuffles the band called it a day. Burnt out and disheartened Simon left Australia, with him an old tape of 70’s Aussie punk (after all it’s the only punk that really matters right?) After traveling around Asia, India, and Sth America, Simon stopped by to visit some friends in the States…Together with Steve Gardner (ex GAMMA MEN/NOISE FOR HROES FANZINE), he formed the CHAINSAW MEN, recorded the ELCTRIC JUJU album and spent the summer hanging out in South Chicagos blues bars seeing some of the best players he could imagine. Bluesmasters in their 70’s playing with the same passion they would have had in their 20’s. Some who (back in the day) had never even taken the trip uptown to Maxwell St… but didn’t care either. Blues by night, punk by day and SIMON got right back to his roots! Back to where the music was just about the music and not the corporate bullshit he’d been sucked into. Over that summer SIMON wrote some 20 odd songs and made acoustic demos in a Kevin & Andreas basement. These songs would become the basis for the BADASS ROADSHOW & KRYSLER BROHAM SESSIONS…. A little further down the track SIMON met up with old buddy “BIG AL CREED” in France and they started laying down the tracks, then over to Berlin hooking up with another old pal STEPHAN GRUJIC.... and that’s when he met up with me and JOHNNY RIO for the first time. JOHNNY had just opened his studio and it was still pretty primitive but he gave SIMON a floor to sleep on and for the next month we called in a slew of hard hitters and we laid down some 25 tracks! .... SIMON called it his ROADSHOW, I said it was truly BADASS, hence the name “BADASS ROADSHOW” was born... however the discs release was jinxed … but by then SIMON had already gone down to Brazil, found a raging underground scene in Sao Paulo, recorded his infamous BASTA disc with THE FORGOTTEN BOYS, formed his own band S.C.H.K. (SIMON CHAINSAW & THE HIPPY KILLERS) and stayed there touring brazil where he eventually ended up living. In the meantime FIRE DOWN BELOW sat on some shelf for almost 10 years gathering dust ….until now…. It may be naive, rough and a little underproduced in places … but enjoy this disc, coz it’s from the heart, it’s where SIMON got his soul back and coz this is where the SIMON CHAINSAW story REALLY begins…. MAX STRAMMER - BERLIN - 2008

For more info check out
www.simonchainsaw.com/johnnyrios.htm
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JOHNNY RIO’S SONIC RANCHO SESSIONS – WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT???

In the early 2000’s, before SIMON CHAINSAW relocated to Brazil he spent a lot of time in Germany, and a lot of that time was spent hanging out in BERLIN. On one of those early stints there he hooked up with JOHNNY RIO and was invited to do some recording in JOHNNY’S newly opened studio ‘JOHNNY RIO’S SONIC RANCHO”. Together with STEPHAN GRUJIC on the controls the 3 rawkers created a partnership that has lasted almost 10 years with JOHNNY’S hand involved in seeing 8 albums and many more other songs being recorded or mixed at the studio. However, only 4 albums made it onto wax, leaving a treasure trove of hard rawking locked in the vault. Now JOHNNY RIOS SONIC RANCHO SESSIONS gets this unreleased material out to give your speakers a good dusting out! However there’s a catch. The BOX SET is actually a SERIES, each disc will be released over the space of 1 year (3 months apart). The 1st disc comes with the slipcase… then you’ve just got to fill it up! You can get each disc as they come out… or SUBSCRIBE and get each disc as it’s manufactured (so you’ll have them way sooner than the release date!) LIMITED EDITION OF ONLY 300 HAND NUMBERED COPIES!!! SO BE FAST!! CHOOSE YOUR OWN SERIES NUMBER!!! Disc #1, #2 & #3 + FREE SLIPCASE is ready for shipping NOW!!! #1 - FIRE DOWN BELOW- PUNK MEETS DETROIT WITH HARD RIFFS & WAILING SOLOS..features BIG AL CREED (ex new christs) helping out on guitar & songwriting duties! Comes with FREE SLIPCASE. #2 - ROCK’N’ROLL URANUS – THE TRUE DEFINITION OF PUNK’n’ROLL! stiff little fingers, clash, ramones, saints, birdman, motorhead all rolled into one. EXPLOSIVE ROCK ACTION!! #3 - GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD – HIGH VELOCITY RAWK.. has some of Brazil’s nastiest rawkers helping blow up a storm. DESTINED TO BE A CHARTBUSTER #4 - BUZZ CUTS – OUTTAKES, VERSIONS & DEMOS. This is a fantastic collection of covers, different recordings, early versions with alternate lyrics, forgotten gems and stuff that for one reason or other never got onto disc. ROUGH DIAMONDS AND POLISHED TURDS!!

GET ALL DISCS at CD BABY or contact SIMON CHAINSAW at simonchainsaw@yahoo.com