“Four kids from Blawnox, PA. They formed in 2012 after watching the horseradish potato chip episode of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone… and spontaneously started to create original music inspired by 50’s frat rock; 60’s psych and 70’s punk. The band immediately started cranking out the steam rollin’ high voltage transmission rock n’ roll that Blawnox is known for and melting the brains of unsuspecting hipsters everywhere!”

Check out the band on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The band has been quickly garnering some buzz recently and 3/4 of them are still in HIGH SCHOOL! They are in the midst of recording their debut for Get Hip Records. I want to thank Zack Keim (Guitar/Vocals), Zach Stadlander (Bass/Vocals), Bob Powers (Lap Steel) and Sam Berman (Drums/Vocals) for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.

• The first album you ever bought?
• Zack Keim: “The Velvet Underground & Nico” CD. Bought it with grass cutting money in middle school. Blew my f*cking mind.
• Zach Stadlander: The first album I could remember buying was probably one of the old Green Day records. I was into them when I was young.
• Bob Powers: “Crimson & Clover” Tommy James and The Shondells.
• Sam Berman: Smash Mouth “All Star Hits”.
• Your last album bought?
• Zack: “The First Four Years” LP by Black Flag. It’s remarkable.
• Zach: The last album I bought was “The Ballad of John Henry” by Joe Bonamassa.
• Bob: “Black Lips Live at Third Man Records” LP.
• Sam: “Sandwich” by Psychostick.
• Favorite album of all time?
• Zack: I don’t really have a favorite album of all time… because my favorite album changes all the time. Currently, the Swamp Rats record “Disco Still Sucks”. Man, if you wanna hear some good FUZZ and Rock N Roll. That is the record!
• Zach: “Appetite For Destruction”. I think it has everything that a great rock record should have, especially ATTITUDE.
• Bob: “In The Court Of The Crimson King” by King Crimson.
• Sam: “Wasting Light” by Foo Fighters.
• Least favorite/most disappointing album?
• Zack: “Reverse Shark Attack” by Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin. I love Ty and Mikal with a passion but this album was too noisy for me.
• Zach: “Chinese Democracy” by Guns N’ Roses. What a disgrace.
• Bob: “Unconditionally Guaranteed” by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band.
• Sam: All “Kidz Bop” albums.
• First concert attended?
• Zack: Allman Brothers about 8 years old. Saw them at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pavilion.
• Zach: PNC Park in 2004. Pearl Jam opened for the Rolling Stones. It was glorious. I actually preferred Pearl Jam at the time though.
• Bob: Led Zeppelin at Three Rivers Stadium, 1973.
• Sam: Los Lobos. Saw them perform in the middle of the World Trade Centers when I was 4.
• Last concert?
• Zack: Driven Lifeless at The Altar Bar. Awesome teenage Pittsburgh punk band & good friends of The Nox Boys.
• Zach: My last concert was at Scumbag’s in Natrona PA. (Run by the amazing TR Rinkes) My band played on a large bill including Dotdotdot-shelovesmenot, The Artless, and Au Revoir.
• Bob: The Slide Brothers at this year’s Pittsburgh Blues Fest.
• Sam: Saw our friends Driven Lifeless at Altar Bar with Zack.
• Favorite concert ever?
• Zack: I been to so many shows… hard to answer but when I went to see garage rock legends The Cynics at Mr. Smalls, that was awesome! Hanging with friends, meeting some awesome local bands including Neighbours and Meeting Of Important People, moshing with bandmates, and becoming good friends with The Cynics. What more could you ask for?
• Zach: Stone Temple Pilots at the Trib Total Media Amphitheater. Dean Deleo has HUGE Tone!
• Bob: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Trio in New York City about 10 years ago.
• Sam: Foo Fighters at Consol Energy Center.
• Least favorite concert?
• Zack: Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em. I went through this crazy rap phase.
• Zach: My least favorite concert was the one at my house, that ended up being cancelled.
• Bob: Led Zeppelin, 1973.
• Sam: HED PE at Stage AE.
• Favorite thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?
• Zack: I love da burgh.
• Zach: I love Pittsburgh because there are so many unique little things about it. I keep seeing new places, new scenes that make me think that Pittsburgh is becoming a much more “hip” place to be.
• Bob: Pittsburgh is an old roll top desk with secret compartments.
• Sam: I enjoy living in Pittsburgh. I think there is a lot of opportunity here. I think the city has potential to have a good music scene. I think it would be great to change the music scene rather than give up on it.

Thanks, fellas. Congrats on all the recent well-deserved love. Looking forward to the first album. You were really fun live!