Out Now: Unsung Gems Vol.1 “My Uncle Geno’s Band” – The Justice League Of America (SM039)
Strange Mono is extremely excited to announce the release of the first of our “Unsung Gems” series featuring The Justice League of America. The JLA were active from 1979-1983 in Bergen County NJ and NYC. These 14 tracks, artfully restored and remastered by Chris Lawson-Allen, offer listeners a chance to connect with one of NJ’s totally unknown, totally worthy rock bands.
Overspilling with talent and energy the songwriting speaks for itself, from the crunchy Kinks-esque “Can’t Stop Love” and “Settled Sons” to the powerpop guitar licks of “Palisades Park” and the melancholy political sentiment of “Madman”. Though the styles may shift from Blues Rock, to New Wave, and Powerpop the sincerity of songwriting can be heard all throughout. Our hope is to bring these total unknown 80’s rockers out of obscurity and into a new generation of listeners that desperately need them!
“They were already a band when I found their ad for a drummer in the Aquarian (which was the local music scene magazine in the tri-state area). We played a lot of places once” says drummer Geno Timlin on the band’s formation . “Influences were all over the place for the four of us. We all like rock and roll and the old blues men. I think the old bio explains us pretty well. We were just having fun.”
“The Justice League of America passed its members through a decade’s worth of city streets, baseball parks and suburban basements before they settled on a partially shared identity. Specifically, a hatred of triviality and a love for music, especially American music, and even more especially for the music that bounded from radios through the night air and down school hallways and, like a rock, through the windows of those who choose to ignore what they choose to ignore. The mayor of Metropolis, drawn to and repelled from what they sing, is still not sure what he thinks about these self-appointed upholders of justice. The business community remains similarly unconvinced, as well as some of their peers, who choose androgynous costumes and postures as from a big trunk placed in the attic for their business purposes. The Justice League of America — Bryan Brown, Frank Palmieri, Gene Timlin and Bob Torsello– plays rock and roll music, and those things which are honest that give birth and spring from it”
-From the bands original 1981 press bio
All Proceeds are being donated to Doctors Without Borders