Titus writes:
Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, the Von Bondies
formed in 1997 and after inevitable changes of personnel, played on
until 2011, when they disbanded after fourteen years. They reformed in
2020, and planned a big reunion tour, which never happened due to the
Covid 19 pandemic. They have headlined tours of their native United
States, plus the U.K., Europe and Australia, and unbelievably have had
as their support bands, the likes of Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and the
Subways. As a mirror image of bands in the 1960’s/70’s like the
Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Doors appearing on the Ed Sullivan
Show, the Von Bondies have appeared on The Late Show with David
Letterman. Jason Stollsteimer has been the unofficial leader of the
band since formation, and back in 1997, with former member Marcie
Bolan, he went to a concert headed by the Cramps and Japanese band
Guitar Wolf. Back then he had a job that many would love – looking
after the Bar at a local Bowling Alley, but the concert performance I
mentioned inspired the duo to form their own band, Baby Killers.
This
new band toured with other Detroit bands The Detroit Cobras (more
about them in the coming weeks), The Go, and The White Stripes. For a
reason unknown to myself, after recruiting Don Blum and Lauren Wilcox,
the band changed their name to the Von Bondies. You no doubt read my
little piece on ‘Long Gone John’, owner of Sympathy for the Record
Industry Records. Well, John attended the Von Bondies’ gig in Detroit
in 2000, and they were promptly signed to the label, releasing a couple
of singles. By this time, Jack & Meg White had attained
considerable fame as The White Stripes, and Jack produced the Von
Bondies’ debut album in 2001 called ‘Lack of Communication’ which
interestingly included a cover of Sam Cooke’s ‘Bring it on home to me’.
In
2002 the Bondies relocated to San Francisco to work on their next
album, but on returning to Detroit for a while, Stollsteimer had a
violent disagreement with Jack White, and was treated for injuries, at
Detroit Receiving Hospital. A fact hardly reported in the UK media was
that White pleaded guilty to assault. In 2004, the band finally
released their second LP, and it turned out to be a real breakthrough
album, called ‘Pawn Shoppe Heart’ on Sire Records. It reached No. 8 in
Billboard’s Top Heatseekers Chart. The single released from this LP
was ‘C’mon C’mon’, which reached No. 21 in the UK Singles’ Chart.
Their third album ‘Love, Hate and Then There’s You’, was released in
2009, on Majorodomo Records, by which time Stollsteimer had been joined
by Don Blum, Christy Hunt & Leann Banks – this was the final line
up before the band disbanded in 2011. It was perhaps a cruel twist of
fate (Covid 19) that the band’s positive reformation plans were
thwarted in 2020.
It
will come as no surprise that legendary DJ John Peel really took to
the work of the Von Bondies, and gave them considerable airspace on his
Radio One show. The band played three sessions in 2001, 2002 and
2004. In one memorable Peel Show, John’s son William telephoned his
father and said that he had been to see the White Stripes and the Von
Bondies in Edinburgh and that they “were amazing”. The band also
performed live sessions for the BBC, from the Reading Festival in 2002
and from Glastonbury in 2004. The track I have requested Lex to play
is the title track of the ‘Lack of Communication’ LP, recorded live on
‘Later with Jools Holland’ in 2002 and it can be found here.
