Damone is a shoo-in for the "Best Band You've Never Heard Of."

[Ivan May]

Based out of Boston, MA, and led by teenaged singer/guitarist/songwriter Noelle Leblanc, Damone was a shoo-in for the "Best Band You've Never Heard Of." Boasting a fastpaced sound that fused Heart with Cheap Trick, The Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day, Damone released their debut album, From The Attic, in 2003, for RCA Records. The lead single, Frustrated Unnoticed, received constant college radio airplay and gained renewed interest after its inclusion in the comedy film Rugrats Go Wild (which is how I found out about this band)

 

 

 

However, due to legal complications following its release, RCA dropped Damone. By 2006, with having contributed to the soundtrack of the comedy Wedding Crashers, they signed with Island Records and recorded their second album, Out Here All Night, in 2006.

 

 

 

Sadly, most of their records are now out of print, but the group did reform in 2011 (albeit without drummer Dustin Hengst, who died that year of alcohol related illness.)

Damone was one of my favorite rock bands in the 2000s. I remember MTV playing their videos a lot growing up. I actually wrote to guitarist Noelle Levblanc a few times, but she never wrote back.

 

If you like fast paced rock with female vocals, ala Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne or Joan Jett, you will LOVE Damone!

 

You should also check out Noelle Leblancs solo project, Landfill Lullabies. It has a very Alanis Morissette or Smashing Pumpkins sound to it.

 

https://thelastnoelle.bandcamp.com/album/landfill-lullabies

[Caevan O’Shite]

I like the riff and guitar tone on "Out Here All Night"...

[KuruPrionz]

Drummer is leading brilliant tempo changes on Frustrated Unnoticed.

 

Never heard of them, not a style I can listen to steadily but they would have been fun live no doubt!

 

[CEB]

Sounds like they are gating the hell out of the drums and using a LA2A to make the guitar pop on the top tune.  I wonder what they sound like live.  

[CEB]

found stuff

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

I like Damone but my vote goes to Root Boy Slim and The Sex Change Band.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDqFvxOaaDg&list=RDFDqFvxOaaDg&start_radio=1&rv=FDqFvxOaaDg&t=379

[Caevan O’Shite]

12 hours ago, CEB said:

Sounds like they are gating the hell out of the drums and using a LA2A to make the guitar pop on the top tune.

I thought the entire thing sounded a bit "loud" and compressed, somewhat along the lines of Rick Rubin's work. I'm not so sure I like that...
 

 

12 hours ago, CEB said:

I wonder what they sound like live.

 

12 hours ago, CEB said:

found stuff

I think I like the way they sound live there better than the compressed, loud overly produced sound on their studio tracks...
  

  

5 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

I like Damone but my vote goes to Root Boy Slim and The Sex Change Band.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDqFvxOaaDg&list=RDFDqFvxOaaDg&start_radio=1&rv=FDqFvxOaaDg&t=379

Oh man!! You had me from the beginning of the very first bar of "The Loneliest Room In The World" with that lush vibrato effect on the late, great Ernie Lancaster's guitar there!! 🪐🛸💖✨ Knocked me out!

 It's just low enough in the mix that I'm unsure just what he used for that effect there... waddya think?
    
 

[KuruPrionz]

8 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

I thought the entire thing sounded a bit "loud" and compressed, somewhat along the lines of Rick Rubin's work. I'm not so sure I like that...
 

 

 

I think I like the way they sound live there better than the compressed, loud overly produced sound on their studio tracks...
  

  

Oh man!! You had me from the beginning of the very first bar of "The Loneliest Room In The World" with that lush vibrato effect on the late, great Ernie Lancaster's guitar there!! 🪐🛸💖✨ Knocked me out!

 It's just low enough in the mix that I'm unsure just what he used for that effect there... waddya think?
    
 

I'm not much for sussing out details in vintage mixes, sorry. Back then vibrato could be a Leslie or it could be a Uni-Vibe, I don't think there was much else on the market at that point. Some engineers were still putting their hand on the edge of the tape reel to slow it down a bit here and there (the origin of flanging, word comes from dragging the flange of the reel). 

 

I just know that Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band threw down hard with tight, punchy arrangements and lyrics from the bowels of Reality. 

HUGELY under-rated and virtually unknown on the West Coast. A friend who moved from Baltimore to Fresno turned me on to the band and the music.

We used to play Mood Ring "You broke my Mood Ring, You broke my Mood Ring, You made my Mood Ring sweat!" 🤣

[Caevan O’Shite]

1 hour ago, KuruPrionz said:

I'm not much for sussing out details in vintage mixes, sorry. Back then vibrato could be a Leslie or it could be a Uni-Vibe, I don't think there was much else on the market at that point. Some engineers were still putting their hand on the edge of the tape reel to slow it down a bit here and there (the origin of flanging, word comes from dragging the flange of the reel). 

 

I just know that Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band threw down hard with tight, punchy arrangements and lyrics from the bowels of Reality. 

HUGELY under-rated and virtually unknown on the West Coast. A friend who moved from Baltimore to Fresno turned me on to the band and the music.

We used to play Mood Ring "You broke my Mood Ring, You broke my Mood Ring, You made my Mood Ring sweat!" 🤣

Aaah, I didn't realize that this was from around '79!

Thanks for turning me on to them; I was vaguely aware of the name Root Boy Slim, but really hadn't heard him/them as far as I recall.

Not for the weak... not even for the strong.  

I don't know as that sounds like a Leslie there, but maybe... I know about flanging's history and the old school tape reel manipulation, etc.; I doubt that's it. There's also the possibility of the "harmonic tremolo" that was on some early '60s Fender amps, too. Maybe even a phaser like an MXR Phase 90. I'll break out Uni-Vibe, TC Pitch Modular, phaser, and Harmonic Tremolo later and compare.
      
Sorry to have highjacked your thread, IMMusicRulz!   
     
 

[KuruPrionz]

33 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

Aaah, I didn't realize that this was from around '79!

Thanks for turning me on to them; I was vaguely aware of the name Root Boy Slim, but really hadn't heard him/them as far as I recall.

Not for the weak... not even for the strong.  

I don't know as that sounds like a Leslie there, but maybe... I know about flanging's history and the old school tape reel manipulation, etc.; I doubt that's it. There's also the possibility of the "harmonic tremolo" that was on some early '60s Fender amps, too. Maybe even a phaser like an MXR Phase 90. I'll break out Uni-Vibe, TC Pitch Modular, phaser, and Harmonic Tremolo later and compare.
      
Sorry to have highjacked your thread, IMMusicRulz!   
     
 

A bit older but truly timeless. WWIII is still relevantly irrelevant (and irreverent!), My Wig Fell Off and In Jail In Jacksonville leave one not knowing whether to laugh or to cry (or both) and there's more. Genius level stuff in my book. I'm not good at names but one of guitarists also arranged all the songs and was noted as a talent in Guitar Player magazine many years ago. 

They had it going on and that's that. 

[Caevan O’Shite]

2 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

I'm not good at names but one of guitarists also arranged all the songs and was noted as a talent in Guitar Player magazine many years ago. 

Probably Ernie Lancaster (I only know 'cause after you posted that, Elizabeth and I requested RBS from Ms. Google [Google Home] and listened, and I searched up stuff on Root Boy Slim and The Sex Change Band.)
      
 

[KuruPrionz]

49 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

Probably Ernie Lancaster (I only know 'cause after you posted that, Elizabeth and I requested RBS from Ms. Google [Google Home] and listened, and I searched up stuff on Root Boy Slim and The Sex Change Band.)
      
 

The whole band was good, everybody played well and in diverse styles. 

Youtube has Boogie Till You Puke which features the Rootettes. I've known about them for a long time and the songs still crack me up!

[Caevan O’Shite]

On 9/14/2022 at 11:44 AM, KuruPrionz said:

I'm not much for sussing out details in vintage mixes, sorry. Back then vibrato could be a Leslie or it could be a Uni-Vibe, I don't think there was much else on the market at that point

I figure that in 1979, Ernie Lancaster would have had the following options available:
 

• A Leslie or Vibratone powered rotary cab
• A Magnatone amp with Vibrato
• An early '60s Fender amp with "Harmonic Tremolo"
• A Uni-Vibe
• A phaser, chorus, or flanger pedal
   

And so, I tried to duplicate that beautifully simple vibrato with several of my pedals...


Real Uni-Vibe set to Vibrato Mode comes pretty close to the same sound! "Chorus" Mode isn't too far off, either... Those had been around for quite a while by '79...

My '79 MXR Flanger actually sounded the closest, practically dead on with its Regeneration all the way off, Speed high and Manual and Width fiddled about. (I haven't tried my '80s MIJ Arion Stereo Flanger for this, but I may as well before long... ) This specific make and model flanger came out in what, '76 or before? It's even not impossible that he used MY flanger!      

My Phaser was too 'blippy'. Various phasers had been around for a number of years then, and the MXR Phase 90 and other MXR phasers were all over the place...

My TC Stereo Chorus/Flanger + Ptich Modulator wasn't bad at all for copping that- and great in its own right- in Chorus, Pitch Modulator, or Flange Modes. Surprisingly, its Chorus Mode sounded more similar to that recording than its Pitch Modulator Mode did! There were at least three chorus pedals around in the mid to late '70s, including the TC, plus the Roland Jazz Chorus amps...

I have yet to try my two pedals that are realistic sims of Leslie and Fender amp style "Harmonic Tremolo", respectively, and compare to that recording. I'm expecting that the Leslie sim will have less pitch change and more tremolo-like amplitude/volume change, and also have more of a touch of phase/chorus characteristics.

A Leslie/Fender Vibratone rotary cab or sim thereof might sound closer yet than most Leslies...  I also expect the "Harmonic Tremolo" to sound a bit different.

A Magnatone amp with Vibrato or a good sim of that would probably be very close; in fact, I'm wondering if it WAS a Magnatone amp that he used!

All great sounds, though! A lot of fun to taste-test and compare trying to get the same sort of warbling vibrato as on the guitar in that song; and a lot of fun to play, period! And- this has convinced me that I need not GAS so much for that Boss VB-2w Waza Craft Vibrato pedal- I can get a lot of the sounds of that stomp with the ones I already step on!