Wicked Cool

Two new Christmas covers from Wicked Cool Records

This weekend Little Steven's Underground Garage will debut two of the coolest Christmas songs in the world, available now for digital download at the Wicked Cool Records website.

*Norway's Cocktail Slippers, whose third album "Saint Valentines Day Massacre" is out now, vamp up the 1984 George Michael penned hit "Last Christmas." In this video, the all girl band romp around their hometown of Oslo, Hard Day's Night style.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1tBSfhHvVs

The single can be purchased here:
http://www.wickedcoolrecords.com/shop/bands/cocktail-slippers

*Striking a poignant note after the passing of Michael Jackson, Danish band The Breakers cover the Jackson 5 classic "Christmas Won't Be The Same This Year." Stream the song here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYsMYvUKxoo
or download at http://www.wickedcoolrecords.com/shop/bands/the-breakers

The Breakers are currently recording a new record (out next Spring/Summer) which channels The Rolling Stones, Kinks, Yardbirds, and other rock and roll dance bands that were influenced by the soul music of Motown, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals.


http://www.wickedcoolrecords.com/

http://www.shorefire.com/clients/wickedcool

http://littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/

Fun blog post from one of our shows back in Mars!

10:50PM The Cocktail Slippers (Red Eyed Fly)

I went to the Red Eye Fly to see The Woggles, which had a decent sampler song that sounded more interesting than The Pink Spiders back at The Red 7 Patio. Unfortunately, the venue was running a full time slot behind schedule. The previous band had not even started. I started to walk back, but then noticed that The Cocktail slippers were on my list, they just were conflicted out by the Cute Lepers. I listened to their sample again on the curb outside the Red Eye Fly, and decided to go back inside to catch the show. Rob eventually joined me.

This show was one time when tardiness actually worked in my favor, because I got to see a really good, fun band that otherwise would have been conflicted out of my schedule. From Norway, this band sounded and looked very much like the Go-Gos, except that instead of having only one somewhat-talented musician (and a drummer who literally counted while drumming on their music videos), ALL the musicians in this band had talent and mastery of their instruments. The Go-Go Dancers who came on the stage in the middle of the show were interesting, but they did not make the show. The music did.

Although some might scoff at the Go-Gos reference, the Go-Gos actually served a significant role in rock history (yes, I said "rock history" in the same phrase as "The Go-Gos"), and I do admit that I actually like The Go-Gos. At a time when the recession of the early-80s hit us hard and lots of music was dour and hard and serious, they became popular on a cultural need to just have some silly, musical fun. And if you listen to the music again, it actually wasn't all that bad. O.K., the later songs like "Vacation" were pretty bad (which is why they faded), but "We Got The Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed" actually are catchy tunes that caught our attention and ran up the charts for a reason. If you can't have at least some fun listening to the Go-Gos every one in a while, then I pity your miserable soul and hope you find similar light-hearted happiness somewhere in the world.

I met the singer after the band finished, and she was shorter than she appeared onstage, which I took as a sign that I thought she was larger than life. (It's a common tendency to think of musician or actors you admire to be taller than they actually are. When people find out Tom Cruise is rather short for a guy, they freak out. Same with Patrick Swaze or Jenny Aniston.) I also ran into the keyboard player (Mona) and guitar player (Stina) at the Red 7 after the Teenage Bottlerocket show. They were from Norway, jah. And they were nice, just as I expected them to be.

Great reviews in The Netherlands!

(4 out of 5 stars)

Norwegian Rockheroins


"We are the Japanese of the north", said singer Pelle Almqvist from Swedish band The Hives once about the ability of Scandinavian bands to bend well know popmusic styles to their own. The Norwegian girlrockgroup Cocktail Slippers can be added to that list. In 2007 they released their debut album, that got a little bit stuck in well-mend urge to imitate, but on Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre everything seems to fall in its place.

The Cocktail Slippers outshine in a form of style earlier used by Blondie, Joan Jett, The GoGos and The Bangles and which finds its roots in sixties girlie pop of the Shangri-Las, The Ronettes and the first all-girl group Goldie and the Gingerbreads. Tough girl with cotton-candy hairdo’s sung with exiting, heated voices about successes and failures in their lovelives, in big orchestrated songs which often came out of the hitfactory of New York’s Brill Building.

In the new-wave are the girl groups became more down to earth by adding electric guitars and singing organs. Cocktail Slippers start where Blondie’s Denis ended, with catchy harmony vocals and songs that tell in simple words (baby, baby) about the cruel truth of love.

Guitarist Little Steven from Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band saw the 5 girl play and immediately offered them a record deal, overpowered by their devotion to rock & roll and the self-assured voice of leadsinger Modesty Blaze. A cover version of Connie Francis’ 1964 hitsong Don’t Ever Leave Me shows flawless where these ladies get their inspiration from, not far from the place where Bruce Springsteen found his melodramatic rockfeel. Little Steven co-produced the album and wrote the title track St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a beautiful song about a love that is put through the test in a hurricane. The melody is one you think that has always been there.

Strong songs like the heavy doowopping Love Me Back and the on Da Doo Ron Ron from The Crystals inspired You Do Run give new vitality to a timesless pop-perception, played and sung with a holy believe in own abilities.

Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre rages on for 37 irresistible minutes and has to be put on repeat straight after that, simply because the world lacks a modern-day girl group that gets close to staing in the shadows of these wonderful ‘old-fashioned’ Cocktail Slippers.

GREAT SHOW AT THE ØYA FESTIVAL!

Thank you Oya Festival for booking us! It was a great show! Despite the pouring rain, it was thousands of happy, smiling raincoat dressed people watching us, dancing and having a good time. As so did we!!!!! Thank you all!


(Photos by Steffen Rikenberg og Julie Loen)

Cannes Lions Festival 2 Shows June 24th 2009

We went to Cannes to do two shows for the advertising world at the Lions Festival. It was great fun, and we hope we get the chance to go back to France soon!

Dinner.

Boss.
Cannes sailors.


Backstage at the Pallais.
The house we stayed at.

ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE – JUNE EDITION!

"Norwegian Devil Dolls"
By David Fricke

It is not patronizing to call the Cocktail Slippers - five women from Norway who make their own garage-rock racket and sing their you-done-me-wrong songs with avenging-angel-army harmonies - a girl group. It's straight shooting. The line from Lesley Gore's 1963 hit "She's a Fool" and Connie Francis' 1964 single "Don't Ever Leave Me" to the Slippers' robust covers on Saint Valentine's Day Massacre (Wicked Cool) runs right through the no-pushover sugar of the Shangri-Las and, in Slippers singer Modesty Blaze's challenging purr, Blondie's Deborah Harry. The Slippers also draw, expertly, from the boys in love with that sound - the Ronettes-with-fuzz yearning of the Ramones; Bruce Springsteen's way with Bril Building mini-opera - in the shiny charge of "Sentenced to Love" and the carousel-organ rolls in the title track (written by Springsteen guitarist and Slippers co-producer Steven Van Zandt). In full hosanna, in songs such as "In the City" and "Gotta Crush," the Slippers sound a lot like the Go-Go's but with gats instead of L.A. Cheer, and a mule kick in their high heels. It's all retro action but written and detonated with the study and delight of modern rock & roll women in constant touch with their inner filly.

BLURT MAGAZINE: Cocktail Slippers

8/10

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

(Wicked Cool Records)

Fair or no, all-girl bands are judged by either the commercial success of such distaff outfits as the Go Gos and the Bangles, or by nostalgia-enhanced memories of the queens of proto-punk, the Runaways. Never mind that female rock bands, though fewer in number than their masculine counterparts, are just as diverse, quirky, and creative as any other band, regardless of critical biases or preconceived notions.

This is the critical and commercial environment that welcomes Norway's Cocktail Slippers, a five-woman band of Scandinavian bad girls, unabashed rockers all with hearts of gold. Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, the band's sophomore effort, is a modern day classic of garage-pop goodness, evoking memories of both the raging femininity of Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes as well as the snarling tomboy, take-no-shit attitude of Joan Jett's best solo work.

The band members collectively write a fair rockin' song, sweeter than the Donnas, punkier than the Eyeliners, and tunes like "You Do Run," with their vocal harmonies and whipsmart lyricism, slashes of manic guitar and explosive drumbeats, pay homage to 40+ years of girl-group history. "Gotta Crush" is a delightful throwback to a simpler era, with engaging harmonies, a simple but universal plotline, and overwhelmingly beautiful wall-o-sound production. "Round & Round" rocks harder, with a punkish intensity, roaring riff-heavy guitars, and guttercrash drumbeats.

The best bet on Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, however, is the title track. Penned by producer Little Steven (Van Zandt), the song's combination of '60s pop vulnerability and leather jacket tuffness is bolstered by delicious vocals and harmonies, a haunting melody, swells of genius keyboards, and a broken-hearted lyrical undercurrent that will have you reminiscing about your first love. If there was even a shred of justice in this cold, cold world then this song would be a mondo-huge radio hit, the album would sell multiple truckloads, and the Cocktail Slippers would be the toast of the town.

Standout Tracks: "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre," "You Do Run," "Gotta Crush"

REV. KEITH A. GORDON

BERGENSAVISEN (BA): Veldig bra!

Av Frank Johnsen

Litt punk, litt rock, mye harmonisering og fengende låter.

Jentene i Oslo-bandet Cocktail Slippers bryter absolutt ikke ny grunn med sitt andre album, men de oser i hvert fall av rockekredibilitet.

Little Steven har produsert, arrangert samt skrevet låter. Medhjelper er den tidligere Ramones-produsenten Jean Beauvoir.

Yngve Sætre i Duper på Møhlenpris har mikset alt. Og det låter fett, litt sånn Runaways møter Hole møter 1950- og 60-talls pop.

Litt punk, litt rock, mye harmonisering og fengende låter. Little Stevens signatur åpner garantert dører – og dette er et album han har lagt hjerte og sjel i.

Så lenge jentene leverer såpass kule låter som her, er fremtiden lys.

Låter å laste ned: «Sentenced to Love», «St. Valentine's Day Massacre».

Yahoo Music included the Cocktail Slippers in their "New This Week" summary.

It looks like a bunch of people are discovering SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE. Spread the word...

Varden: Ingen slakt med Cocktail Slippers

COCKTAIL SLIPPERS: Bandet består av Ingjerd Sandven Kleivan på sang og keyboard, Stine Bendiksen på gitar, Astrid Waller på bass, Lene Vinje Simensen på gitar og Bente Larsen på trommer.

Jentene har gjort en god jobb og Little Steven har gjort en god jobb. Cocktail Slippers lister seg ikke rundt på tøfler, de rocker…

Vi snakker om det norske jentebandet som Bruce Springsteens gitarist Steve Van Zandt (også kjent som Silvio Dante fra tv.-serien “The Sopranos”) falt for. Albumet kommer ut på Little Stevens eget plateselskap, Wicked Cool Records, han har skrevet to sanger til dem og han har arrangert og produsert hele greia. Åtte av låtene har jentene skrevet selv.

Vi snakker Blondie, The Go Go's og Runaways, om vi må sammenlikne. Rock med klare popelementer. Melodiøst, tøft og selvsikkert. Bare hør hvordan de håndterer “You do run” og hvordan de frekt og freidig blander inn en over 40 år gammel slager.

Herlig. Et par-tre sanger butter litt, men ellers er det en fornøyelse å høre et norsk band gjøre slike album.


Helge Ottesen

VG: The Bangles med tatoveringer.

Det skorter ikke på kvinnelige 1950- og 60-tallspastisjgrupper i hovedstaden. De fleste av dem bryter aldri ut av sjangergettoen, men virker tilfredse med å tilbringe sine karrierer i mørke kontinentale rockklubber, spillende for mennesker som allerede liker og mener nøyaktig det samme som dem selv.

Cocktail Slippers, derimot, har tilstrekkelige mengder The Bangles i seg til å krysse over og nå ut. «Saint Valentine's Day Massacre» er tvers gjennom trivelig pre-«British Invasion»-inspirert poprock som eksisterer i et evig solrikt, jinglene og janglende «time warp» der verden både begynner og slutter med det å ha en stilig, lettere rebelsk «boyfriend».

Platen er arrangert, produsert og utgitt av Steven Van Zandt. Han bidrar også med to låter. Deriblant tittelkuttet, en nesten komisk typisk «Jersey shore»-popbasill med et ultrasjarmerende orgeltema. Van Zandts arbeidsgiver Bruce Springsteen prøvde å lage årgangspop à la dette på sitt album av året. Han mislyktes. Det gjør ikke Cocktail Slippers.

ANBEFALTE KJØP: «You Do Run», «Saint Valentine's Day Massacre», «Love Me Back», «In The City»

MORTEN STÅLE NILSEN

Dagsavisen: Gamle takter, ny giv

Rannveig Falkenberg-Arell

Oslogruppa Cocktail Slippers skapte medieoppslag da de for ikke lenge siden ble tatt under vingene av «Little» Steven Van Zandt, gitarist i Bruce Springsteens E Street Band (for ikke å glemme Sopranos-kjendis). I tillegg til å gi ut denne plata, jentenes tredje, har han bidratt med to låter, men de beste sporene står de for selv. Med «Saint Valentine‘s...» går femkvinnesbandet tilbake til det originale «girl group»-begrepet. Plata er en frisk blanding av orgelbasert garasjerock og klassisk soulpop, med en liten dæsj vestkystcountry oppi det hele. Band som spesialiserer seg på denne typen retro-sjangere har lett for å bli litt for opptatt av å perfeksjonere stilen framfor å ha noe interessant å komme med, men dette styrer Cocktail Slippers unna. For det første har de en riktig god vokalist i Ingjerd Sandven Kleivan, og de tjener mye på å flørte med litt forskjellige innflytelser. Men aller viktigst er selvsagt låtene, som førstesingelen «In The City» og «Fool For You» – Cocktail Slippers kan rett og slett lage gode og fengende popmelodier, uten at det blir pusete. *****

Aftenposten: Fartsfylt festmusikk

Svein Andersen

Sjarmerende fartsfull rock'n'roll som aldri glemmer det melodiøse.

Vi skjønner hvorfor Steven Van Zandt/Little Steven (stikkord: Bruce Springsteen/The E Street Band og TV-serien The Sopranos) falt for disse jentene. Van Zandt har, sammen med bandet og Jean Beavoir, produsert platen, skrevet to låter og gitt ut albumet på sitt eget plateselskap.

Det er som om du blir tatt tilbake i tid, til den gang rock og pop var del av samme uttrykk.

Før musikken ble fanget av sin egen selvhøytidelighet. Til tiden da garagerocken var en drivkraft. Cocktail Slippers har friskhet, pågangskraft og stor melodiøs forståelse. Koringen sitter som et skudd, rytmikken er medrivende og gitararbeidet står ikke tilbake for noen.

At et av de for tiden beste jentebandene er norske, bør være en gedigen fjær i hatten for miljøet som har trodd på dem.

Rock skal være moro, og Cocktail Slippers står for festmusikken.

Little Stevens' Cocktail Slippers

LIVE CITY, Anna Lovinda

Det skapte selvsagt medieblest da selveste Steven Van Zandt aka Little Steven, kjent fra the E- Street band og tv-serien Sopranos, tok damene i Cocktail Slippers under sine vinger og skrøt de til himmels i fjor sommer. Og det er ikke for ingenting at han gjorde det!

Oslo har jo en liten jungel av rockchicks med pin-up stil; Cables, Bazooka Boppers, og Electric Ladyland for å nevne noen, men Cocktail Slippers har nok vært en stor inspirasjonskilde for samtlige av disse.

Flere av jentene i Cocktail Slippers startet The Barbarellas som var temmelig poppis på slutten av 1990 tallet. Allerede i 2001 debuterte jentene som Cocktail Slippers med skiva ”Rock it!”. Siden har bandet hatt noen utskiftninger og både oppturer og nedturer, men med det nye albumet ”St. Valentines Day Massacre” viser de at de er still going strong.

Little Steven selv bidrar på låten ”Heard You Got A Thing For Me”, og selv om det er en spennende låt, så lager Cocktail Slippers selv bedre og mer fengende låter. ”Sentenced To Love” er den tøffeste av de alle - jentene tar opp arven etter The Runaways i god stil, mens låten ”YouDo Run” uten tvil er i 1970-80 talls stil og minner mye om The Go Go’s og Belinda Carlisle. Vokalist Modesty Blaze høres til tider til og med ut som Belinda.

”Round & Round” føyer seg inn i rekken av heftige rockelåter som setter seg på hjernen og med det kan man konstantere at Cocktail Slippers fortsatt hører hjemme i girlband-heaven sammen med The Go Go’s, The Runaways og The Bangles for å nevne noen kronjuveler!

Cocktail Slippers on TV

We did a performance on todays God Morgen Norge. We´ll also play our single "In the City" on "Senkveld med Thomas og Harald" on TV2 on Friday night. See you there!

Great reviews in Norway!

We have received great reviews today, wich makes us all veeeery happy! (We will post them here later). The reviews are in Dagsavisen, VG and Aftenposten.

Review; The Courant

The Cocktail Slippers prove that not all music from Norway has to be kult and full of ravishing grimness. In fact, their hard-driving, hook-heavy garage rock sounds more like it could have come out of California than the land of church burnings and viking worshippers. You can think of them as the Go-Go's harder-rocking European nieces.

On their second record for Little Steven Van Zandt's Wicked Cool label, they continue to do what they do best, playing energetic and fun music with a side helping of classic girl-group cool.

Songs such as "Sentenced To Love," "In The City" and "Anything You Want" showcase a knack for delivering exciting slices of rock, while the Van Zandt-penned title track shows them in full vintage pop mode, laying their hearts on their sleeve with classic harmonies and hand claps. "Love Me Back" is a fuzzed out caveman stomp, bolstered by a ultra-poppy chorus.

Sure, California supplied most of the best girl-group action of yore, but it's time to start looking a little farther east, and way north, for this latest blast of sugary cool. You won't be disappointed by this sunny record, which arrives just in time for summer. Remember to wear your shades.

Essential download: "Anything You Want"

-- Thomas Pizzola

ALBUM RELEASED TODAY!

Our new album "St. Valentines Day Massacre" is being released in Norway today! (And the US tomorrow!). It has been a busy year! But now, it is out there. You can buy it at Platekompaniet, iTunes or on Wicked Cool Records website. Hope you like it!

Tomorrow we will perform at "God Morgen Norge", and on Friday on "Senkveld - med Thomas og Harald". We will perform our new single "In The City". You can also see the brand new video for this song on youtube - with a special guest performance by: Steven Van Zandt/Little Steven. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMuBIT-zklM&feature=channel_page

Rehearsing with Joan Jett (well almost...)!

At the rehearsal room in New York,  Joan Jett was rehearsing with her band in the room next to ours! We knew she had been playing our songs on her radio show, but meeting her by chance like that was a real rush. The Runaways was a real inspiration growing up, and Joan was sooo nice and just as beautiful as ever! 

SXSW - GREAT review: Cocktail Slippers

By Michael Corcoran | Austin360, Friday, March 20, 2009, 03:24 PM

An early highlight of Little Steven Van Zandt’s Magical Mystery Mondo Matinee at Antone’s Friday afternoon was a short, yet scorching set from this six-piece all-girl band of harmonizing garage punks from Oslo, Norway. Though the women onstage could almost pass for runway models, they know how to give the sometimes too reverent genre of underground garage a kick in the droopy black jeans. They generated some needed fresh air.

At times they sounded like Blondie or the Shangri-Las, but they play harder than those bands, smiling all the while. Gorgeous and gracious are not qualities that go together, but these Slippers are no divas and they seemed genuinely touched when the crowd picked up on the clapalong at the end of “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre".

With members of the Sonics and Sky Saxon looking down in delight from the VIP section, the gals started off with a theremin mood piece, then dove right into the guitar assault, with the rhythm section nailing the bottom down tight. “Summer In The City” turned the dank club bright and it was hard not to feel the righteous heat.

The Cocktail Slippers play tonight at 11 p.m. at Red Eyed Fly, but if you can’t catch them then, head on over to the Spiderhouse Saturday when the Slippers play at 2:30 p.m.