With a line-up as stable as those boring old men, the Rolling Stones, New York's Fleshtones have been rockin' the world for nigh twenty years now. Tell me about endurance! Unlike the Stones, the Fleshtones, haven't softened, polished or commercialised. And thank God, they've never been corrupted by money, groupies, dope, record company executives, they've never tried to mix with the high society either.

Only the other day I talked to a friend about them. Discussing the TOP 100 albums of all time, we both felt that somehow the Fleshtones ought to be among the bands listed. We both agreed on a lack of any appropriate recording doing justice to their high energy live shows - one that would satisfy those attending their shows.

I've seen them live more often than any other 80s band and never found them failing in their aim/duty to deliver rock'n'roll stripped to its most basic - lacking in gimmick, boasting reliance on power, drive, stamina, general good taste and - yes - technical ability to bring across what I'd call the essence of rock'n'roll. And now they were scheduled for another Euro tour, and you could have bet your bottom dollar that I would be there. Lacking a good agency and suffering from the disinterest in bands like theirs, they admit to having problems with touring in the USA - but the band can call Europe their second home being constantly around for years and years. Occasionally Peter Zaremba questions his motivation to do live shows, especially when you don't get to do anything but sitting around waiting for the show to come up, but once he's setting foot on stage, he knows that it's the place where he belongs. "Playing is always fun, no doubt about it." he says.

The Fleshtones of today are still basically the same old gang with a front-line of Peter Zaremba, vocals, harmonica, maracas, and Keith Streng, guitar, with Bill Milhizer drumming and Ken Fox (ex-Jason & the Scorchers), their latest comer, handling bass duties. they have been going since 1976, been around constantly despite side-projects like Peter Zaremba's Love Delegations (featuring a number of Fleshtones however) or Keith Streng's Full Time Men (being like his all-star-all-friends band), setting their stripped-to-the-bones-and-no gimmicks rock'n'roll as an example against pretension and bombast in Rock. They've got a number of classic albums behind their belts, now they've returned with their masterpiece, "Laboratory of Sound" (US: Ichiban, Euro: D SPV 084-45812, 1995). Set up nicely in the beer garden of the Underground club in Cologne on a beautiful April eve before their show, the band doesn't fail to agree. Keith: "Most Likely." Peter: "Yeah!" Most consistent so far? P: "I think so, I think we got it right now, after 20 years!" K: "It's pretty straight-ahead. Not too embellished. That's the way Steve Albini does things." P: "People always kept saying, 'You know, your records are good, but they don't sound anything like the band'. And I think we finally achieved that."

My predilection with brass in Rock has been sufficiently documented among these pages but none could supply it better than the Fleshies - as they were lovingly called by a couple of friends of mine. With Spaeth they had one of the last remaining rock'n'roll saxophonists, blaring away and adding a dimension to their sound that none of the traditional rock'n'roll sax players have been able to achieve. He was called the Fleshtones' mentor, I'd rather he'd be the mentor of a generation of up and coming new players. And he's no longer part of the band. P: "Gordon's always been involved with the band, before we even began. The only way we would become a five-piece again would be with Gordon. He's very ill these days - physically as well as mentally." Bill: "Maybe he'll play with us, local shows." P: "He's a funny person to work with." So it's nothing programmatic to have saxophones. B: "It's always been people we know. The idea of having him on the record was to reintroduce him. And see how he felt up to it. This guy has been so important for the band." P: "He's very colourful. He's always had such great ideas. But we wouldn't be looking for a replacement for him." Ken: "We were heading for this anyway. We were gaining a lots of confidence as a four-piece, we were writing songs for a four piece, we no longer feel naked without brasses." P: "I'm definitely not thinking of songs with horns in my mind at all any longer. I always did though. They were definitely a vital part." Ken: "Things are circular anyway, so who knows what happens...?"

Their albums averaged about one in two (years). It was the early 80s' "Hexbreaker" and "Roman Gods" that cracked the market for them, still being cult albums among their faithfully devoted fans. However, it took them 15 years to come close to their live sound with the 1991 "Powerstance!" (which Axel Keunecke remembers me buying at Twangtone Record shop in Berlin, as he recently told me on the telephone). Yet it's their latest offering however that captures them the way they deserve. And it need Steve Albini in the producer's chair to achieve it. K: "Albini hardly ever made any suggestions. And he usually likes first takes best. It was the exact polar opposite working with Dave Faulkner. You know, "Powerstance!" sounds mechanical." P: "He's obsessive." K: "He's a perfectionist. Everything has to be exactly right, otherwise it's no good for him. As a result it took much more time to make the record, so it wasn't as much fun. I love Dave and we're good friends. He calls me regularly from Australia. When he comes to New York, he stays for a few days. I think "Powerstance!" is a great album, but a different approach totally. Being a perfectionist it's not the first take that's good for Dave. It was different working with Peter Buck as well, except he's more for embellishment and production, caring of sounds and adding instruments. I like that too. He's not a fanatic like Dave. Who's striving for perfect pitch and clean separation etc." Steve Albini is more the engineer then. K: "His albums never say 'Produced' but always 'Recorded by Steve Albini!'" Ken: "He's not really concerned about what to bring in material wise. He says it's none of his business. Whatever you do or want to do, it's going to be recorded as faithful as possible." K: "You know some producers get in and arrange and rearrange songs and do preproduction rehearsals and these kind of things. Only after the fourth or fifth day, when the songs started to take shape and he began to be sure what we wanted to do, he began to make suggestions." Ken: "We've still got some material that we recorded with Albini, like 6 tracks, which haven't been used. And we finished the recordings in two weeks."

I found "Laboratory of Sound" to be faultless. A stomper as a starter, appropriately titled: "Let's Go!" - it immediately sets controls for a flight into Fleshtones music land. It is the song the Ramones haven't written for ages. Just listen to drummer Milhizer whipping the hell out of his snare. They then take the pace back a bit for Nat Freedberg's "High on Drugs", a song remarkable for its exquisite guitar rhythm work, you know, this Streng guy has more rhythm licks up his sleeve than Keith Richard's got medical bills in his drawers. "Sands of our Lives" starts with a jangle like an early REM work, before it suddenly spits fire for the chorus like the dragon of St George, exemplifying how the lads have learned to achieve working simultaneously on different levels. Then "Nostradamus Jnr." adds a darker mood to the so far strict rock'n'roll scope, and it refers back to the band's tradition, a kind of "Hexbreaker" combined with Plan 9's way of handling "Five Years Ahead Of My Time". For the first time we hear those cherished background chants and Gordon Spaeth's sax is adding a bit of extra drama.

It's a bluesy tune - "The Sweetest Thing" - that makes the band shine in all their ability of combining deep-rooted guitar rhythms with a jingling melody line. A bit of "Heart of Stone" background singing plus a short, but energy laden guitar solo, to imagine what it's all about - yeah and Peter's voice as passionate as possible. "Hold You" is the way the Fleshtones do a love song - tight rhythmic patterns to effective lead lines and Peter's relaxed baritone. This is a tight little ditty, almost of hit potential with its sympathetic chorus "I'll hold you in my arms tonight - hold you". Naturally developing from its predecessor comes "Accelerated Emotion" and thus the pause between the two songs is a bit shorter than the rest. Even some hints of double lead guitar - more indicating what they could do if they wanted, but how they kept to their roots because they chose to do so. This song could be standing as the perfect example of what this album is all about: a rejection of technical wizardry in favour of what really determines the music - the song. Looking at the composers credits bearing the consistency of the tunes in mind, you wonder they haven't come from the same hand/mind, but are either collaborations of Peter and Keith or written by them separately. Are you becoming like identical twins as composers? P: "Probably. Lots of times I thought I had written "Hold You!!" Ken: "I thought I recorded all the bassparts on "Powerstance!", ha! ha!" P: "And funnily the songs we came up with sounded more like our old type of stuff. And Ken pushed that a little in that direction, too. The lyrics usually are the slowest part. It's hard to think of things to say or even more, not to say. Anyway, we do our songwriting every which way. If we do it together, Keith usually comes up to my apartment." K: "The bassplayer on "Powerstance!" was Andy Shernoff, the ex-Dictator. On one song we had Ken to do the bass." P: "Andy is a good guy really, but he is a bit stiff as a bassplayer. He also did a Euro tour with us, when we did the tour with the Pogues and the Stray Cats."

"Laboratory of Sound" is marked by a tight, efficient rhythm section, the coolest rock'n'roll riffs I've heard for a long time and Zaremba's voice in better shape then ever. Its natural roughness is paired with the relaxedness that makes it an instant winner. They still handle the voice as one of the instruments which means it's not as prominent and upfront as on most records, something that makes the typical sound of the band. And they can sweep up any style in rock'n'roll, like "Train of Thought": It is the Fleshtones' way of handling R'n'B-Funk, and for a second time the band soups the song's sound up with a bit of brass and some harmonica and - ironically - with some "Sympathy for the Devil" - like "hoo-hoo's" - which almost gives it the quality of a pisstake of the dirty old men's music like "see how much better we are playing your game!" Uttering this idea and trying to prove it with stressing the likeness in structure of "The Sweetest Thing" to "Heart of Stone" 3/4 of the band didn't see it, only Milhizer realised the similarities. They nicely answered me during the show and followed "Train of Thought" with "American Beat" (which was not on the setlist) and when Fox winked his eye at me I realised their train of thought. Well done, lads.

The speed is higher for "One Less Step" with its call-and-answer vocals and the wild rock'n'roll guitar solo. The album's energy climax is probably "A Motor Needs Gas" which combines all the best bits off previous Fleshtones albums. In the guitar intro Streng almost sounds like the Screaming Blue Messiahs' Bill Carter on his high notes. Once the battery has thus been charged, it's no holds for the band and off they go into the "Psychedelic Swamp" which is the Fleshtones indulging in everything they stand for. Mighty guitars and a short brass wail, too short, I'd say, because with every bit added this album leaves you wanting for more. To add another facet the band performs a short pirouette and heads off in the other direction with "Fading Away". It is them playing with Beat-Punk, a kind of '95 version of Kasenetz-Katz Bubblegum Power Pop complete with organ and a biting lead guitar slowly coming forward out of a forest of harsh rock'n'roll riffs. Yeah, "A Little Bit of Soul" used to be a classic Rock track, and it proved that Bubble Gum had more genuine Power than Heavy Metal ever did. With this notion in mind, the band finishes "Laboratory of Sound" with their kind of "96 Tears" - "We'll Never Forget". It shows that this album must be played for maximum results, it feigns the impression of a live show. Better even to put your headphones one. Seal yourself off and let their directness kick your ears! It's straight rock'n'roll with muscle. P; "And a touch of psychedelic garage R'n'B!" With some Soul. P: "We deserve to be much more popular. I see so much music now that is kind of very close to what we do. And having such a popularity although it's done by people who haven't got us much verve or who aren't as entertaining as us." K: "We've just seen an Oasis show. And that band's so band! I've never seen a band as unable as them to give the audience back what they were giving. You see this audience was absolutely swinging and having a good time, and the band up there was so lame, so detached, failing utterly to deliver! Hanging behind their microphones and instruments like paralysed!"

There is a dedication on the album, to Rick R, saying "... no we haven't!" K: "It's dedicated to Ricky Rothchild, a good friend of Peter and mine - he played in the Love Delegation. He's dead." P: "No we haven't forgotten you! And there's a good song for that, too, and I had Rick in mind when I wrote that." "We'll Never Forget". Now the circle closes.

As we were talking about the impression of a live show concerning the album, after shouting 'More!' 55 (no more, no less!) times, the band will come back to treat you to their version of Jimi Hendrix's "I Don't Live Today" as an encore. It's the blow that finally sinks the Rolling Stones "Like A Rolling Stone", and it's the kiss of rock'n'roll life for the Hendrix original, like "see how much better...". K: "Peter has been working on this arrangement for 20 years." P: "Yeah, it wouldn't have made sense on the last record... (K: "No, not with Peter Buck!") It was actually the record company's idea, their only good one, to make it the bonus track. (And not to mention it on the cover!) People told me that the first time they realised it was there was when they forgot and left the record on!" K: "It's great when you fall asleep and that comes up and wakes you!" They also recorded a version of the Guess Who's "American Woman" with Albini. P: "The idea of which might sound horrible to you. It's still unreleased, but it might appear on some Greek record. One of the few things Albini actually tried to interfere with was... he didn't want us to record "American Woman". You know it is an awful song..." Ken : "But our version is pretty good. Like with "I Don't Live Today", we do it completely our way. It's an entire new song now!" K: "I actually hated the original. It's probably got the worst guitar solo I've heard in my life. Randy Buckman used that wonderful, ancient Gretsch guitar, and I don't know how he could screw up a Gretsch sound so horribly." B: "The drums are equally terrible! Our versions are always very different from the originals. It's worthless to do covers, unless you make them your own songs."

Who's arranging this tour? P: "Independent and optional." Ken : "I don't understand the name at all." P: "What's optional?" The payment perhaps? Ken : "The name somehow doesn't inspire confidence!"

The moment they enter the stage (or not) you realise this is a band, a group of friends that get along well with each other even after many years, and so the rapport was faultless. With the music setting in we rushed into the club to stand amazed before an empty stage! Thanks to the wonders of modern achievements (transmitters!) the band came marching up the hall and would be frequently leaving it only to reappear through the backdoor - all in Indian file. "They've been covering miles today." Sabine, Uli's wife claimed afterwards.

Their set was modelled around the songs on the album, though they in no way adhered to their set list (at least after the first three songs) which I had the opportunity of investigating due to it being scotch taped to that tiny Farfisa Peter is in the habit of playing frequently. Ken is a bundle of energy and his mimicry and stage movements are almost worth the money alone. He and Milhizer pounding away on the drums like it was a farewell gig, are a perfect rhythm section, and with Streng brandishing a glittering, golden 61-series Gretsch, the band still has one of the great true rock'n'roll lead guitarists. Their sound is as tight as Fox's trousers, and if there is an adequate description for their show, it's no gimmicks rock and roll. Zaremba has never been questioned as their lead singer, has he, and with a healthy complexion the band was ready to show muscle. Their chorus singing was clever, involving all the members of the band, and their stage presence is refreshing, despite the number of live shows they've got behind their belts. They adopted the famous 'Powerstance' and even had the audience down on their heels at a time. If you're keen on a good night out with a band that doesn't fail to deliver (music wise and show wise) then you know where to go - and you'll see, they are playing their game with conviction and a tongue in their cheek!