Punk rock veterans, THE HOLLYWOOD STARS, announce first live album
Building on the success of last year’s Sound City archival release, The Hollywood Stars today announce details of the band’s first live album, Live on the Sunset Strip. The 12-track collection will be released on CD and digital download via Burger Records on October 31, 2020.
Pre-order Live on the Sunset Strip: HERE
The Hollywood Stars were originally assembled by rock impresario Kim Fowley in 1973. According to an essay written by Fowley for Who Put the Bomp! fanzine, he envisioned the group as a “West Coast version of The New York Dolls.” The reality turned out to be a bit different as the Stars were more conventionally handsome, and quickly gained a huge female following on the Sunset Strip glam rock scene. The Stars also differed from the Dolls in that their music was mostly free of grit and jagged edges, and instead gained instant pop appeal with its combination of soaring bubblegum hooks and sharp powerpop arrangements.
The Whisky A Go Go on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip had been The Hollywood Stars’ home base from 1973-1977. After an absence of 42 years, the reformed Stars made a triumphant return on July 18, 2019, a gig that will soon be preserved for posterity as Live on the Sunset Strip. The band was introduced to the stage that night by Rodney Bingenheimer, the legendary local deejay and current host of Sirius XM’s “Rodney on the Rock.”
The lineup of The Hollywood Stars which appears on the live album is Scott Phares (vocals), Ruben De Fuentes (guitar), Terry Rae (drums), Michael Rummans (bass), and Chezz Monroe (guitar). All but Monroe were part of the group in the 1970s.
Phares says, “Playing the Whisky again brought back memories of all those amazing people who saw us there in the early days—John Lennon, Angie Bowie, Iggy Pop, Danny Hutton, and all of our great fans. It was a true homecoming.”
In the days leading up to the Whisky reunion, LA Weekly’s Brett Callwood published an interview with Phares and designated the show as one of the paper’s weekly “Concert Picks.” The following month, Callwood chose the newly-released Sound City as his “Album of the Week.” Sound City was a “lost” album the group had recorded in 1976 but it went unreleased until August 2019. It then joined an album discography which also includes The Hollywood Stars (Arista Records, 1977) and Shine Like a Radio: The Great Lost 1974 Album (Last Summer/Light in the Attic, 2013).
The Hollywood Stars were the first musical group to record the classic rock anthems “King of the Night Time World” and “Escape,” songs which were later covered on multi-platinum albums by Kiss and Alice Cooper, respectively. Both songs appear on Live on the Sunset Strip and were co-written by Fowley and original Hollywood Stars member Mark Anthony. Two additional tracks on the album, “Supermen Are Always Gentlemen” and “Tough Guys Never Cry,” were written by Canadian musician Mars Bonfire who is best known for writing the rock anthem “Born to Be Wild” for Steppenwolf.
Live on the Sunset Strip: Tracklist
1. King of the Night Time World (Mark Anthony, Kim Fowley)
2. Escape (Mark Anthony, Kim Fowley, Alice Cooper)
3. Sunrise on Sunset (Mark Anthony, Kim Fowley, Skip Battin)
4. All the Kids on the Street (Mark Anthony, Kim Fowley)
5. Supermen Are Always Gentlemen (Mars Bonfire)
6. Modern Romance (Terry Rae, Scott Phares, Kim Fowley)
7. Tough Guys Never Cry (Mars Bonfire)
8. Shine Like a Radio (Kim Fowley, Peter Lyons)
9. Too Hot to Handle (Mark Anthony)
10. I Can’t Help It (Mark Anthony)
11. Make It to the Party (Ruben De Fuentes, Mark Anthony)
12. Habits (Mark Anthony)
Recorded on July 18, 2019 at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, CA
Engineered at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles by Paul Roessler
