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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted · Edited by Boogs

    41 minutes ago, downliner said:

    Hidden track on Like A Dog CD :)

    Iz: Yeh I'm calling about the dog for sale.
    Yeah, what do you wanna know?
    Iz: You still have it?

    :headbang:

    Oh ok, I was wondering if it was the bit at the end of “Like a Dog”, or if the long instrumental bit of “Everything’s alright” got its own song title. So that spoken bit was right at the end? Lucky you @downliner to have a copy of the Like a Dog cd! Was that a limited edition or what?

    Edit: Duh - I just listened to my humble iTunes version of “Like a Dog”, and realised what that scratchy spoken bit was all about! Thanks for transcribing it, @downliner. So “Mental Instruments” (now I know it has a name all to itself) sounds like “Just Don’t Know” - that ties things together nicely. 

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, Claudia333 said:

    Hi...This is my first post here, and it was great to discover this thread about Izzy.

    And to see that recent photo of him at the film festival. 

    I just wondered if anyone could tell me anything about the Trance Mission track on the Ride On album. I've often wondered which instruments are being played, and who is playing what.... And was it written solely by Izzy? Has he ever played it live? I thought I once saw that he'd played it in Japan?

    Thank you!

    Welcome, Claudia!

    As far as I know, Izzy himself plays the sitar on Trance Mission (presumably a proper sitar this time, not like the one he reportedly rigged up during his GN’R days).

    Great that you’re here  :hug:

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    20 hours ago, cindy1985 said:

    He was doing drugs longer than any­body, but he ended up getting it together better than anybody, and then he left the band because he got clean and couldn't be around us."

    ☝🏽 Part of Steven’s quote about Izzy. 

    Makes me so proud of Izzy Stradlin. It’s not easy to escape a life of drug addiction. Glad he got out alive and kept on being so creative. Way to go, Izzy 👏🏽

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    Ok so here’s what Izzy had to say about 117 Degrees.

    Taken from: https://web.archive.org/web/20101225141332/http://www.chopaway.com/viewtopic.php?id=523

     

    THE ALBUM

    Izzy Stradlin recently discussed the songs on 117° (Geffen Records). Produced by Stradlin, Eddie Ashworth (Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, Sublime), and Bill Price (the Sex Pistols, the Clash), the disc was recorded in England, Trinidad and California and released March 10, 1998

    "Ain't It a Bitch": That's one of the last songs I wrote for the album. It's a frustration song, dealing with some of the hassles involved in putting a record together. It's a very Stonsy thing. The open-G tuning - if you do that, you'll get that Stonesy sound.

    "Gotta Say": We recorded that in London. It's about people who bullshit you, and seeing right through them. Someone I knew was doing that, being a real pain in the ass. That was kind of a moody time. But, you know, it passes. Eddie [Ashworth] plays mandolin on there.

    "Memphis": This was written by Chuck Berry. He was a true innovator, and he's got such an incredible history. I love his stuff. It's never too heavy. You never put on a Chuck Berry record and go, "God, this is depressing." It's all fun.

    "Old Hat": That's a piss-take, kind of riffing on some stupid, clichéd stuff. The cocaine line is a reference to the old rock star bullshit, and how you just get over it. While we were tracking the song, the North Hollywood bank robbery was happening. And I was thinking how even stuff like that, you see it so much on TV that it becomes old news. You just kind of bet on the car chases. You become cold.

    "Bleedin'": That's about someone I knew who was still bellyachin' about this chick who'd split a long time before. It's kind of a "get over it" song. I haven't even told the guy it's about that it's about him. Maybe if I tell him, he'll finally get on with his life.

    "Parasite": Angry - that says it all.

    "Good Enough": This was recorded in Trinidad. I felt like everything in my life was fine, but I was getting a lot of flak, a lot of judgement calls on my life from other people. And I thought, "Wait a minute, man. This shit's GOOD ENOUGH for me! I'm happy with it. Fuck you!"

    "117°": That's a full-on roead-trip song. My dad, brothers, uncle and I all rode Harleys from Lafayette [Ind.] to New Orleans, then down to Texas. Then just my brother Joe and I rode to L.A. We were out for eight or nine days total, ridin' eight to ten hours a day, cruising along with nothing to think about. Riding all day is like therapy. By the time we got to Yuma [California], though, it was 117°.

    "Here Before You": I have no idea what this song's about. I just woke up one morning with the chorus in my head. I think I'd heard that song "I Saw You First," by John Cougar Mellencamp, and it stuck with me. That line seemed to describe a real innocent, childlike mentality. But then the song turned into a car-oriented song. I was gonna call it "The Parking Lot Song." You know how people get in parking lots - "I saw that space first!"

    "Up Jumped the Devil": That's a Ronnie Dawson song. He's got a great record called Ronnie Dawson: Monkey Beat that I got turned onto in Indiana. There are about ten real rockabilly tunes on there - simple, basic stuff - that really stick. On this version, the guitar's tuned down to a low D, which gives it a thick, swampy sound.

    "Grunt": This is my favorite song on the record. I worked on it for quite a while. I started it in Indiana, and we tracked it in Santa Monica. I wanted something like "Frankenstein," by Edgar Winter.

    "Freight Train": I have a thing about trains because I grew up by the railroad tracks. I've always loved 'em, the sound of the whistle, the way you can feel it go by the house. In fact, I still live by the railroad tracks.

    "Methanol": We had a speedway motorcycle that ran on methanol. It's really high-octane stuff - highly explosive. Those bikes will go from zero to 60 in three seconds, just wicked fast. I had jugs of methanol in my garage, which is how I got the idea for the song. It started out with the fast riff, and then Rick came up with the drop-down riff we sing over. Then it turned into a song about cars.

    "Surf Roach": I wrote this with my brother Joe. He lives in Lafayette and he's a real good musician. We've always jammed, but it's the little-brother syndrome, where you smack him in the head and say, "You can't play!" We hang together all the time when I'm back home. He was helping us out as a guitar tech when we were recording in Santa Monica. We were jamming on acoustics, and hi came up with this really cool, fast part that ended up in the song. It really made it work. Before that, this was a little three-chord thing I was gonna toss. I've always liked surf guitar, and over the past couple of years I've really gotten into the Ventures, all that stuff. Then I saw "Pulp Fiction" and it got me really fired up - I headed straight for the guitar.

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Tori72 said:

    Oh I never noticed. I wanna see that. I admit it makes sense if he's thinking of himself as well :)

    I could be mixing up the shows, but in the Amsterdam show I think he actually says "Take a look". I'll have a quick look through some other Ju Ju Hounds live videos to see if it's another show I'm thinking of. Here's the bit before "Take a look at the guy", at 36:37 or so:
     

     

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, kkferro72 said:

    @Boogs, from what I see that's exactly what I have. Thanks for saving me of another sneeze section tonight! :lol: The press kit is very simple, white pages written in black. If it had some special texture or pictures in it, I would scan it. ;)

    Actually, what I copied and pasted in above didn't mention anything at all about the "Shuffle it all" song meaning, so what you posted under the song lyrics yesterday seems to be all we have.

    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    Not sure if this would help move along the discussion about the song lyrics, but here are a couple more bits of info about the Ju Ju Hounds album (from Wikipedia, sorry):

    - the album peaked at no. 102 on the US album chart, and at no. 42 in Australia

    - 'Shuffle it all', 'Pressure Drop' and 'Somebody Knockin' were all released as singles. Shuffle it all got to no. 6 on the US rock chart, and Somebody Knockin' to no. 13

    So those last two are probably the best-known Izzy solo songs. Since Shuffle it all actually also had a promotional video made, that one helped fans to understand where Izzy was coming from at that point in time.

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    2 hours ago, kkferro72 said:

    @cindy1985, actually the songs descriptions are not inside a magazine. They are white papers I received from the record company because I must have written to them and asked for it (don't remember). By that time I used to do it a lot. There were no internet so I used to write to the addresses that came on the albums back covers, the index of magazines, etc. I have lots of things received by mail. Even a GNR fan club Conspiracy Incorporated membership card. I'll take a look at it again tonight.

    @kkferro72, were you referring to the 1992 Geffen Press Kit? I'm pasting it all in here in case it saves you having to scan it all (even though we'd love to see what the papers looked like too). Incidentally, there was a similar song-by-song description for 117*, when we get to that album, we can post it in too. Text below was copied from here: 
    https://web.archive.org/web/20101225140542/http://www.chopaway.com/viewtopic.php?id=512

     

    IZZY STRADLIN AND THE JU JU HOUNDS

    THE HISTORY

    "The best thing about this is, it's not a complicated thing. It was fun."

    That's how Izzy Stradlin describes Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds -- a band and a debut album, launched October 13, 1992 on Geffen Records worldwide.

    Recorded in Chicago and Los Angeles and co-produced by Stradlin and Eddie Ashworth with mixes done in Copenhagen, the album is influenced by some of the musical styles Stradlin heard growing up, from the Keith Richards-style riff which opens "Somebody Knockin'" to the Beatlesque psychedelia of "How Will It Go" to the sinewy reggae skiffle of "How Much" and the country-blues of "Time Gone By". There's also a duet between Izzy and Ronnie Wood on a cover of the latter's "Take A Look At The Guy." The lead track, "Shuffle It All," has a Lou Reed-meets-Rolling Stones attitude, something of a "tumble on the wild side."

    The album was preceded in Europe on September 14 by a four-cut EP, Pressure Drop, which includes "Been A Fix," "Came Unglued" and "Can't Hear 'Em," plus a revved-up cover of Toots & the Maytal's reggae classic, "Pressure Drop," the only track also included on the album.

    It's been 13 years since Stradlin packed his drums in the back of his Chevy Impala and left his hometown of Lafayette, Indiana bound for Hollywood. He hooked up with high school buddy Axl Rose and became a founding member, rhythm guitarist and a songwriter of Guns N' Roses. Stradlin was the primary songwriter of such G N'R classics as "Patience" and "Mr. Brownstone," as well as the writer or co-writer of 12 songs on Use Your Illusion I & II, including the solo-credited "Double Talkin' Jive," "Pretty Tied Up" and "You Ain't The First."

    Tell Stradlin it took a lot of courage to talk away from one of the biggest bands in the world in November of 1991 and he laughs. "It was a pretty tough thing," he acknowledges. "I was pushed and pulled in any number of directions. It just wasn't working out for me on any level and I couldn't seem to communicate my side of it, y'know. I couldn't really get through to anybody. I've known Axl a long time and I still have a lot of feelings for those guys. But I had to leave to get sane and somewhat normal. To get back to reality, I guess you could say. I'm happy. I don't know what the future holds or anything, but what the Ju Ju Hounds have done is good. I'm pleased with it, and if other people dig it, that will just be icing on the cake."

    When Stradlin flrst left G N'R he returned to Lafayette and decompressed by riding trials motorcycles over obstacle courses. "I wasn't interested in music after all I'd been through," he says. "But when wintertime came to Indiana, I was sitting in a room with a guitar in the comer and it was the only thing that seemed to make sense." I began writing songs and recording them on eight-track until I had an entire demo album."

    He called his friend Jimmy Ashhurst, who had played bass for Broken Homes, and the two began working on the material. But they didn't want to record with just the two of them and the process took on a momentum of its own when Ashhurst opened up his little black book and began bringing in musicians like former Georgia Satellite guitarist Rick Richards and ex-Cruzado/Bob Dylan drummer/percussionist Charlie Quintana to round out the core band. They represent a U.S. melting pot of references: a west coast bassist, southwestern drummer, and deep south guitarist to complement the midwestem frontman.

    As the project progressed more guest stars showed up, like legendary keyboardist Nicky Hopkins and one-time Face lan McLagan, Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, reggae vocalist Mikey Dread, guitarist Jah-T and more.

    Stradlin was sensitized by the simplicity of his music and new life.

    "During the recording we had the LA floods, earthquakes, the riots and the studio even got hit by lightening while I had headphones on. But it was great. Those are the kind of things I'd never noticed before back when I was doing drugs and stuff," Stradlin recalled. "Concentrating on playing music is what gets me off. I wanted to do a cover for the single sleeve with me in a pair of headphones and dark glasses, just listening to my music. I don't hear the bullshit."

    The Ju Ju Hounds play more for the feel than to be analytical about what they're saying. A lot of the Iyrics aren't intended to be understood. It was such a groove Iyric, slurred in the backing vocal on a demo recording that sounded like "ju ju hound" that gave the band it's moniker.

    Stradlin has been stabbing handfuls of pushpins into a world map to mark the places the band will hit on its maiden tour. They'll start with a club tour of Europe and the U.K., plus a short foray to Japan before they begin touring the U.S. early in 1993. "On the road I always wanted to get out and see the people and places around town," enthused Stradlin. "I'm really looking forward to playing again."

    THE ALBUM

    Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds was recorded in Chicago and Los Angeles, with mixes done in Copenhagen and was co-produced by Izzy and Eddie Ashworth. Stradlin discussed the making of the record and offered the following track-by-track comments:

    "Somebody Knockin" (Stradlin/Ashhurst): "Most of these songs are pretty vague and abstract because, when I write, I end up throwing together a bunch of thoughts that don't really blend together in a story. This one started as a guitar rhythm. It's probably a flashback on all the different visitors I've had over the last seven years since the success of G N'R."

    "Pressure Drop" (Frederick Hibbert): "That's one of my favorite reggae songs ever. Originally we were going to cover it reggae style, but it was just too good. I figued we'd just fuck it up, so we just turned it completely around. But to give people an idea of where it came from, we put a little bit of the original version at the end."

    "Time Gone By" (Stradlin/Richards): "We found ourselves going back to the music we were brought up on. This is a root-ish song I co-wrote with Rick Richards. He popped that riff, Charlie had a real cool drum thing he was doing. I wrote some lyrics and we put it all together. This one came real easy. A collaboration I was really happy with."

    "Bucket O' Trouble" (Stradlin): "That's a real slammer."

    "Got Away" (Stradlin/Ashhurst): "It's just a mood; not about anything in particular, more like a collection of thoughts. Which doesn't make this any easier for you, does it? It's one of the first collaborations I've ever done with someone outside Guns N' Roses. Since '85 and that band started, I hadn't done anything with any other group or artist as far as songwriteing goes. It was a little weird at first. Once we bagan recording the material I came out with, new stuff kept coming up."

    "Train Tracks" (Stradlin): "That's the only song which is really autobiographical in a nutshell. Where I grew up in Indiana, we used to live by the realroad. That's where we hung out and smoked pot. If you weren't in school or working, that's where you were...down by the train track."

    "How Will It Go" (Stradlin): "Definitely a song about change that you feel. I listen to so many different types of music, I guess it just rubs off on me. This was another song written in one sitting. Originally, I was going to record it with just me and an acoustic guitar. After I played it in the studio, we added keyboards and drums."

    "Cuttin' A Rug" (Stradlin): "We had a real good time recording this. When we went to Chicago, the hotel we stayed at would have live music every night and all these people would be there, laughing, buzzing and dancing. When we went out, we'd pass all these reggae, rock, thrash, punk and jazz clubs on Clark street where people were just having a good time. Being in L.A. I'd forgotten how it was in some towns where the music scene thrives seven days a week and people are cuttin' a rug. This is just a fun song about loosening up."

    "Take A Look At The Guy" (Wood): "That's from Ronnie Wood's solo album, I've Got My Own Album To Do. We collared him when he was having a listening party for his new album over at A&M; Studios. Ian McLagan knew him from the Faces days. We went out to dinner and I asked if he wanted to do a duet on the song. It took a couple of days, but we got it together. We took turns singing. That's his guitar solo at the end. Four in the morning..."

    "Come On Now Inside" (Stradlin): "That's a really soft, moody song with piano. It's the slowest tune on the record. It's about winter in Indiana, which is both dark and cold."

    For good measure, Stradlin also commented on the rest of the Pressure Drop EP tracks:

    "Been A Fix" (Stradlin): "That was sort of an angst song. I thing I was reflecting back to when I was first taking a look around after the success of G N'R and what a fuckin' mess it felt like I was living in. We left Hollywood dirtbags and we came back heroes. What a fuckin' trip. Originally, the track was called 'Sure Been A Trip.' Then I changed it to 'Sure Been A Bitch,' then we mixed it up so some of the vocals are 'been a trip' and some are 'been a fix,' as in jam, like you're in a fix."

    "Came Unglued" (Stradlin): "That's the fastest song I've ever written in my entire life. I'd just gotten off the phone with somebody and I went back into my bedroom and recorded this in one take with my guitar and a little miniature buzz amp at full distortion. Then I went back and wrote down what I played, divided it into verse and shoruses and wrote the lyrics the next day. It's sort of fragmented, but it's about coming apart completely. Because that's how I felt at the time. Like I was coming unglued. Then I wrote the song and I felt just fine."

    "Can't Hear 'Em" (Stradlin/Ashhurst): "I like reggae because you can listen to it anytime, anyplace, anywhere. When ever I get a little wound-up, I put on a reggae tape and I can just kick back. Whenever we'd finish up a song in the studio, we'd go straight into a 15-20 minute reggae jam. Of course, our version of reggae doesn't sound like the stuff from Jamaica. It's kind of like our version of it."

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    Wacky World of The Ominous Ninja Izzy Stradlin and NO! Gang

    in THE JUNGLE

    Posted

    3 hours ago, downliner said:

    Also I'm in the UK too and not had any problems playing the videos here.

    Aha so I need to ask you a question - are you able to access anything at all from 117 degrees anywhere online? I can’t see any song or video from 117 on iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, nothing. I got the cd, took over a month to arrive from somewhere far away, but that’s it.

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