Hell, some of these guys have even been to art school, but what painting could ever match the Fleshtones inspirational versions of "Soul City" or "Wail Baby Wail" (Hi-lites and Kid Thomas respectively). But the heart of the matter is their own songs, which really are SONGS in the classic sense like the one's you can't forget.

These include Fleshtone masterpieces like "Fascination", "Just How I Feel", or perhaps their top of the pops to shake a hoof on the dance floor to, "Shadowline". Originals seem to exude a "bubblegum and beer" sensibility.

I've been raving about these guys to friends so long this is more natural than eating Dorittos, watching "The Honeymooners", and falling in love every day. Yeah I've seen the Tones (as their fans affectionately call them) more then any band EVER and that's something to be real proud of. In the most dire situations these guys have come through and flown high, rising above all in their quest for the AMERICAN SOUND.

Which is what they've got, the AMERICAN SOUND with an AMERICAN BEAT to be played in the U.S.A.. It's real hard to compare them with other groups or sounds. I figure they should've been on Nuggets Vol.1 or Pebbles Vol.2. The Fleshtones don't sound like any of those bands specifically, it's more a question of emotions and attitudes. The Tones HAVE been know to perform "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White", "Cara-Lin", or a Rivieras inspired "Let's Have A Party".

The members certainly deserve a mention here, for if not for them the stage would consist of a bass, guitar, mike stand, and drum kit with no cool sounds from the amps. So let's have a round of applause for Peter Zaremba, vocals, harmonica, percussion, and mike stand. Keith Streng, guitar hero with amazing ability for looking innocent when questioned by the police. Jan-Marek Pakulski on a bass that's either too big or too small for him, and last because I mentioned the others first is Lenny Calderone on drums and sticks.

The Fleshtones rock any joint, but the Club 57 and Maxwell's in Hoboken, N.J. (where a scene from On The Waterfront was filmed, so it's still a cool place even if you don't dig Sinatra) seem to be particularly fave haunts. The last gig at Maxwell's was stopped by the Hoboken police force and great amounts of money were quickly offered to N.J.'s finest by fans and dB's alike in a desperate attempt to um, persuade the cops to play one more song. No such luck though, not even for a reprise of their instrumental hit "Atom Spies".

The Club 57 was the site for some incredible teen twist parties featuring not only the Fleshtones, but the Zantees as well, while in its smaller incarnation on St. Marks Place the Tones have played two hot gigs at the new 57 Club at Irving Plaza.

Since a great performance at N.Y.U.'s "Battle Of The New Wave Dance Bands" the Fleshtones audience has greatly increased. The show also had the boss Zantees and Nervous Rex. One Impartial observer mentioned that the Rex "look like bags of potatoes with smile faces written on them" on stage. Anyway, back to the Tones, though they played to generally small crowds before the N.Y.U. gig, they've really caught on with a good number of fans at all the gigs in the area.

Though they've been signed to Red Star Records for over a year, no records have been released until now, with the Keith Streng vocalised "Critical List" b/w "The American Sound" appearing soon on a 45. The 7" will be coming out in the U.K., distributed by Radar. Though the group isn't too happy with the disc since it wasn't recorded from the master tape but rather from a 2-track due to somebody's error, I'm sure it'll still be great and inspiring to everyone with ears.

I've had an opportunity to hear their (as of now) unreleased LP and it's real boss, with lot's of acoustic guitar thrown in for a real surprise. Like everything else the Tones do for some reason it works.

Covers come and go rapidly, with a couple of exceptions, in the Fleshtones world. No matter how unlikely the source may be the Fleshtones always manage to rock 'em out, sending fans scurrying like swamp rats to the dance floor. F'rinstance last time I saw 'em the Tones started off with an old Girl Scout (or something like that) song called "Girl From Baltimore". I can't think of any other band that could turn something like that into a supreme rockin' bopper.