The Rousers were an integral part of the Manhattan punk music scene in the late 1970s, becoming one of the acts that were central to the Max’s Kansas City in the years after B-list comedians stopped dropping by to drink alongside A-list members of the city’s art scene. Inspired by the rebellious rock of Duane Eddy and fueled by the energy particular to young men making their way in the world and living at society’s fringes, the group came close to deals with RCA and Sire but both were scuppered by management politics and general indecision.
Now, a group of recordings tracked by the legendary Ed Stasium have found their way into the world via Left For Dead Records. It’s the sound of early rock ‘n’ roll thriving and climbing toward the shore of the 1980s, a sound that indicates groups such as The Del Lords and Stray Cats (members of the pre-Cats group Bloodless Pharaohs were contemporaries of The Rousers) would have been hip to these sounds one way or another. This new collection, titled Rousers 1979 Sire Session brims with newness nearly half a century after the songs were committed to tape and is available on both vinyl and CD, the later version featuring bonus tracks.
Former Rousers drummer Jerid O’Connell recently chatted about the group’s origins, their life at Max’s Kansas City and friendship with Seymour Stein, the legendary Music Building, and being part of a scene that spread beyond rock into film and the visual arts with the arrival of Keith Harring and Jim Jarmusch with the lingering specter of a latter-day Robert Mapplethorpe still walking the streets.
Host/Producer: Jedd Beaudoin
Theme Music: Torin Andersen
