WHITE DOPES ON PUNK…The Gleaming Spires: Songs of the Spires, Walk Well Lighted Streets, Welcoming A New Age, Bootheels: 1988: The Original Demos

Back in the 1980s, the LA music pop scene was being filled with sounds of Punk and New Wave bands like Talking Heads, Blondie, The Police, etc. Drummer David Kendrick teamed with bassist Leslie Bohem to form two bands, The Bates Motel and The Gleaming Spires, eventually joining up with the ultra artsy band Sparks (for those keeping score). These three albums from 81-83 chronical those Reagan years, with added bonus tracks from Bates Motel and other ditties.

The music from Songs of the Spires is filled with synthy tracks bordering on Nintendo pulses, teamed with artsy sardonic wit and a punk attitude. The following two are a mix of Duran Duran, George Michael solo material, Miguel Bose’ and suffer from the Curse of the Catchy Chorus. An interesting time capsule, but serves more for the background of a retro party than something to take with you on a road trip, unless you’re heading for the Love Shack.

Consisting of guitarists Tobi Miller and Jakob Dylan (on Strat and Tele, respectively) along with Luther Russell/b-voc and Aaron A. Brooks/dr, the Bootheels were a one album wonder in 1988, with this album being a collection of their original demo tapes and a few rehearsals. Except for a New Orleans-ish “The Deal”, the album is filled with punk/new wave chord riffs, chunky rhythms, hard hitting drums and gruff vocals, sounding like an opening act for The Ramones. If they took their name from the famed Byrds’ song “Mr. Tambourine Man”, these bootheels did go a wandering.

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