The Stooges Drummer Scott Asheton 1949-2014 & Show # 501

On March 15th, 2014, Scott Asheton, best known as the drummer in the band The Stooges, passed away. Scott performed with The Stooges on all three of their albums along with his brother Ron, who passed away in 2009 due to a heart attack. Scott and his brother Ron, along with original Stooges bassist Dave Alexander formed the core rhythm section of the early line up for The Stooges, which had its beginnings in 1967. In a recent post on Rolling Stone, Iggy talked of his time with Scott Asheton, calling him “magnetic, and having a “boxer’s authority” when playing drums. In the article, Iggy Pop discusses the band’s early stages and his transition from drummer to lead vocalist and taking the center stage. He taught Scott Asheton how to play the drums in the early embryotic stages of The Stooges. Iggy Pop elaborated on this in the very same Rolling Stone article:

“I first met Scott Asheton when I was working at Discount Records in Ann Arbor to augment my drumming. He used to stand with [future Stooges bassist] Dave Alexander at the corner of State Street and Liberty, which is grand central for the University of Michigan campus. Scott impressed me immediately by his obvious physical gift. He remembered this better than I do, but he would bug me to teach him how to play drums.

Following The Stooges first break up in 1971, there was a period of time when Scott along with his brother Ron were in limbo before being recruited by Iggy Pop to reform The Stooges with James Williamson on guitar, and original guitarist Ron Asheton moving to bass. They would record what many feel is The Stooges best album Raw Power in 1973. After the band split again in 1974, Scott Asheton and brother Ron Asheton would continue music separately through with other groups. Scott would go on to play with a variety of other Detroit related groups such as Fred “Sonic” Smith’s post MC5 band Sonic’s Rendezvous Band along with fellow Detroit musician Scott Morgan. Scott Morgan had been in a Detroit Garage group called The Rationals in the mid 60s, but Scott Asheton would go on to play with Scott Morgan and his related projects such as Scot’s Pirates and The Scott Morgan band throughout the 80s. Additionally, Scott Asheton played live with Iggy Pop in 1978, and played with Sonny Vincent & His Rat Race Choir along with Captain Sensible of The Damned, among other bands. The Stooges reunited in 2003 and eventually went on to record two more albums 2007’s The Weirdness, with Ron Asheton on guitar and in 2013 Ready To Die with Raw Power era guitarist James Williamson.

Although The Stooges were overlooked for the most part when active as a band from 1967-1973, they have since gone on to become not only a cult classic band, but also a band responsible for having roots into what was to become Punk Rock. The Stooges are still a highly influential band and important group in Rock history and it was Scott Asheton in the drummer seat. Currently there is a documentary in the works about The Stooges that is to be done by Jim Jarmusch.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Spys - Welcome To The Cruel World My Friend
2. The Poles - CN Tower
3. Blam Blam Blam - Battleship Grey
4. Thee Mighty Caesars - I’ve Got Everything Indeed
5. Dead Drugs - Get Weird
6. The Revelions - Sighs
7. Scott Morgan - 16 With A Bullet
8. Sonic’s Rendezvous Band - You’re So Great
9. The Stooges - TV Eye (Takes 7 & 8)
10. The New Values - Straight Line
11. Damaged Bug - Photograph
12. Papermaps - Poor City
13. Public Image Limited - Memories
14. Johnny West - You Make Me Feel Like An Impotent Squadger
15. Novels - Mr. Foster’s Teenage Daughter
16. Indian Wars - Won't Do A Thing
17. Neil Young, Bob Dylan & The Band - Looking For A Love (Live San Francisco, CA Kezar Stadium 1975)
18. The Polymorphines - Mainstreet Jimmy
19. The Stomach Mouths - Waiting
20. The Pagans - I Don’t Understand
21. The Diodes -We’re Ripped
22. The Skids - Masquerade
23. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Going Gong Gone

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for March 25. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

City Slang ... Sonic's Rendezvous Band & Show # 375

From 1975 to 1980 a band existed in Ann Arbor, Michigan known as Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. The band was composed of Fred “Sonic” Smith (previously of The MC5) on guitar/vocals, Scott Morgan (previously of The Rationals) on guitar/vocals, Gary Rasmussen (previously of The Up) on bass, and ex-Stooges drummer Scott Asheton. Although relatively unknown while they were still active by the mainstream, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band has now elevated to legendary/cult-like status. During their time as a band they only ever released one single "City Slang". The "City Slang" single had the same song on the A side and the B side, although one side was labelled as a mono version and a stereo version, the single contained the exact same song on both sides. “Electrophonic Tonic” was recorded to be the B side of the "City Slang" single, but due to lack of funds the band could only afford to put the one song on the single. Original copies of the "City Slang" single, originally released in 1978 now go for hundreds of dollars.

The band essentially formed from the ashes of The MC5, and The Rationals. Smith and Morgan became friends and prior to the forming of Sonic’s Rendezvous band, Fred Smith contributed lead guitar to Scott Morgan’s first solo single (1973's Take A Look/Soul Mover). The two then decided to form a band, which would go through many line up changes in the rhythm section. The band played their first gig as The Orchids which featured Ron Cooke of Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels on bass. The gig was poorly attended due to a large blizzard that occurred during that night in the bands early incarnation. Shortly after Cooke was out as Scott Asheton came into the group as their new drummer and Gary Rasmussen of The Up signed up on bass. The line up was now complete and the band changed their name to Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and began playing more gigs around the Michigan area starting in 1975. They tried to veer away from playing songs from each of their respective musical pasts instead opting for new original material, but slowly built up a following. The band combined the high energy Rock style of The MC5/The Stooges, with the soulful Garage ethics of The Rationals, but at the same time took a step into a new direction. Several songs were longer songs, evolving from jams that the band had together during rehearsals. Major labels seemed to avoid interest in this band, despite their local following and talent, but things were different then. It was around 1978 that the growing tensions between Smith and Morgan reached greater levels. Eventually the band faded to a stop in 1980.

The bands legendary status was maintained by their fan base through bootlegs released in the 80s of band demos and live shows. Sonic's Rendezvous Band gained international attention during the late 70s Punk scene, which despite the band no longer being together, their fan base grew. In the late 90s, the studio recording of the song “Electrophonic Tonic”, the intended B side to “City Slang” was released by Alive/Total Energy Records. This generated a new interest in the band and two albums were released titled Sweet Nothing (in 1998) which compiled a good quality live recording of the band from Ann Arbor in 1978 and City Slang (in 2000), which followed due to the success of Sweet Nothing. City Slang combined live recordings with the bands 1978 City Slang single, both albums are now currently out of print and were released by Mack Aborn Rhythm Arts. In 2006, Easy Action a UK record label released a six CD box set of Sonic’s Rendezvous Band material. Simply titled Sonic’s Rendezvous Band Box Set, the six CD’s compiled demos, rehearsal recordings, studio material and four live concerts. In 2007, another live recording was released from when the band played The Masonic Temple in 1978 in Detroit.

Following his time with Sonic’s Rendezvous band, Fred Smith married musician Patti Smith in 1980. In 1986 he worked with Patti on her album Dream of Life collaborating as a songwriter, producer and guitarist. This would be one of Smith’s last recordings, in November of 1994 Fred “Sonic” Smith passed away due to heart failure. Scott Morgan continued to tour and record as a solo artist and with groups such as Scots Pirates, Power Trane, Dodge Main, and The Hydromatics. Gary Rasmussen continues to play music as a studio musician and Scott Asheton currently plays with the reunited Stooges. The band reunited as The Rendezvous Band in 1999 featuring Deniz Tek (of Radio Birdman on guitar) in place of Smith at The Magic Stick in Detroit, it was released in 2000 under the titled Getting There is Half the Fun. More info on The Sonic's Rendezvous band can be found at http://sonicsrendezvousband.net/.

This Week's Play List:

1. Teenanger - Too Nice To Say No
2. Ghost Knife - Omnipotent
3. Rock 'N Roll Monkey & The Robots - I Should've Stayed In Detroit
4. Flamin' Groovies - High Flyin' Baby
5. Guage - I Saw You On The Telephone
6. Johnny Jaws & The Sharks - Out of Love
7. Pointed Sticks - Part of the Noise
8. Joy Division - Interzone
9. Crocodiles - Soft Skull (In My Room)
10. Mode Moderne - Radio Heartbeat
11. Colleen Green - Green One
12. Hoa Hoa's - Going Out With Her
13. Dog Day - What She Says
14. Empire - Him Or Me
15. The Only Ones - Re-Union
16. XTC - The Rhythm
17. Blue Orchids - The Flood
18. Models - Man of the Year
19. Magazine - Sweetheart Contract
20. Laughing Clowns - In Front of Your Eyes
21. Indian Wars - Old Hotel
22. Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Sweet Nothing (Live)
23. Sonic's Rendezvous Band - City Slang (1999 Mix)

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 25. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.