By Noe Gutierrez
Formed at the beginning of the Third Millennia, Mighty Jack are the quadruple attack of Marc “Cooska” Gentry on guitar and background vocals, Charles “Count Chuckula” Ellis on guitar, lead vocals and keyboards, Aaron C. Ramson “The Hawaiian” on bass and vocals and Jeff “Papa Looch” Bowman on drums and vocals. Mighty Jack will be performing live on Friday, October 16th at Schmidy’s Tavern in support of the 8th Annual Concert for Autism and on Saturday, October 17th at The Date Shed opening for Puddle of Mudd with The Rebel Noise. For these two shows Mike Webb (Zao, Wiseman, The Agents, The Phantoms, Chicken Fried Watermelon) will be guest drummer as Papa Looch is currently touring the East Coast with Nick Oliveri and Mike Pygmie in Mondo Generator. The players have changed but the music remains the same, kick-ass!
Mighty Jack have performed their balanced blend of punk/surf/lounge rock in a multitude of desert venues that include The Red Barn, Tack Room Tavern, Schmidy’s Tavern, The Hood Bar & Pizza, The Riverside County National Date Festival, The Hi-Desert Playhouse, The Indio Performing Arts Center (IPAC) & J. Dees Landing just to name a few. Just to give you an idea of their sound, Mighty Jack is recommended if you like The Ramones, Reverend Horton Heat and Weezer all rolled into one. And if you don’t rejoice in it, they don’t really give a shit. They are, without a doubt, desert rock and roll outlaws.
The Rock Offices of Bowman, Ellis, Gentry & Ramson are aligning to record new music and are making plans to tour behind it. “We have some old songs that never made it onto “Russian Roulette” plus new material that is begging to be recorded for posterity’s sake.” Mighty Jack’s debut album Russian Roulette, recorded at Brad Garrow’s Dead End Studios in 2006, is available on iTunes. The members of Mighty jack have a long established history firmly etched in desert rock lore.
Bowman has played drums for Unsound, The Agents, The Whizards, Waxy, Nick Oliveri’s Uncontrollable and now Mondo Generator. Ellis has performed in The Phantoms, The Agents, The Whizards, and Up The Irons a tribute to early Iron Maiden. Ramson was in Crematorium, Epicedium and is at present bashing his bass for Perishment. Gentry was in Groovalopacus, The Pedestrians and has now formed Aphrodisiac Jacket, a salute to the music of The Cult.
You have two opportunities this weekend to see Mighty Jack live. You don’t want to wait, trust me. Please make your best effort and maintain that sinister urge as these are the final two shows for The Tiki Man. It’s no roll of the dice, you are guaranteed to be a winner unless there’s some sort of rocket attack. Keep on shiny diamonds!
The proclamation below best exemplifies what the band is about; a ‘Mighty Jack Manifesto’ if you will.
“In a world where a punk rock drummer teams up with a self-proclaimed lounge singer, add a well-structured rock guitarist and throw in an L.A. Death Metal bassist for good measure, you would think that you would have a mess. Well, you do when they go on too late and they are ten beers and three shots in. Otherwise, you have an electric ensemble that takes off like a screaming rocket. They sizzle. They dazzle. Sometimes they will even pay for your parking. You will be taken on a rip-roaring ride that will feel better than sex…well… at least better than sex with someone you find repulsive. From The Coachella Valley in sunny California, hold on to your Mai Tais because here comes Mighty…sorry…brb”. – Author Unknown
Upcoming shows:
Fri. Oct. 16th @ Schmidy’s Tavern, Palm Desert for the 8th Annual Concert for Autism
Sat. Oct. 17th @ The Date Shed, Indio Puddle of Mudd with The Rebel Noise
[Photos By Steven Young]
