"Sonny Vincent is a true punk pioneer, we all know that already. But did you know how deep this man's well of punk madness really goes?"
Well, it’s taken seven long years since that statement was made, but luckily, here we are with a full LP’s worth of those recordings we’d wondered about, providing a pivotal glimpse into one of NYC’s most shadowy figures of the underground. It’s almost incredulous that his rock’n roll lineage goes back this far, with his first recording made while home on leave from the Vietnam War, and yet he was still a part of the first wave of 70s Punk. If you remember the FURY 7” we released, along with THIS massive interview, it was apparent that there was more to dig up, and luckily our engineer was able to shine up these riveting primitive proto-punk monsters into reality. Distance were in a primordial heavy psych state on their earliest recording here from 1969, but the VOICE that you know so well is already in place, and cuts through the foggy throb like a knife’s edge. Distance was Sonny’s first active band, and were known to have opened for The Dogs & Suicide in 1973, as per the two incredible handmade flyers included on the back cover, and as the liner notes can attest, provided a real-life slice of shock-rock insanity.
On this archival LP, you’re treated to three previously unreleased Distance studio tracks from 1969-71, along with a 1972 radio advertisement for a FURY show at Greenwich High School, as well as both FURY tracks from HZR-125 remastered, plus the alternate version of “Flying.” Possibly the best intersection of The Stooges, Budgie, and Black Sabbath we’ve ever heard. The second side kicks off with three Liquid Diamonds tracks, both 1973 tracks from HZR-155 remastered here, as well as a sizzling previously unreleased studio demo from 1974, right when the band was starting to lean into Testors territory.
Speaking of which, the latest recording on the LP is from one of the earliest Testors recording session, a 1976 studio gem called “Scary” which appears here today on VictimofTime.com for the first time anywhere, and provides the bridge from the later Liquid Diamonds sound, into the grittier Testors tonality. And the interview liner notes, are nothing short of a revelation as well. From the bass player in Distance serving life in prison for killing the guitarist in his next band, to Sonny almost ditching out on returning to the USMC and joining the Manson girls on their bus. And from sharing a hotel room with Sterling Morrison on tour with Maureen Tucker, to hanging out with David Peel and Ed Sanders of The Fugs, Sonny has such an insane backstory and this LP should hopefully shed some much needed light on his early years in the New York City trenches.
Sonny is still oddly removed from most NYC Punk history books & the general dialogue, so this release should fill in the gaps and solidify his place in time, with his cache of heavy hard rock stunners, and proto-punk freakouts included herein these sickening grooves. We can only hope he decides to write a book of his own someday, but until then, this thunder-soaked sonic savagery will have to suffice.
And here was have the never-before released track "Scary" from the earliest days of the TESTORS in 1976, feast your ears on this NYC Punk nugget, finally available after 44 years. And grab a copy of the new Sonny Vincent: 1969-76 Diamond Distance & Liquid FURY archival LP at fine record stores everywhere, or direct from HoZac right HERE.
