Flat Duo Jets "Wild Wild Love" 1988 - The '88 Outtakes: Unreleased Studio Demos

Classic reissue and rareities collection by Flat Duo Jets PFor more than three decades, Flat Duo Jets have been the American rock undergrounds secret, as hugely influential among musicians as they are obscure to the broader mainstream…
..And much of the Jets reputation is based on their first full length album, the roots-rock landmark Flat Duo Jets, originally released on Dog Gone Records in 1990 and coming back into circulation on a two-CD set, Wild Wild Love, to be released by Daniel 13. Singer/guitarist Dexter Romweber and drummer Chris Crow Smith were still teenagers when they formed Flat Duo Jets in Chapel Hill in 1984. Inspired in equal measure by the Cramps haunted rockabilly and vintage drive-in horror movies, they cooked up a metallic version of rockabilly that sounded as if it had been launched into the deepest quadrants of the astral plane. I had this place behind my mothers house, The Mausoleum, and thats where we formed the Jets, says Romweber. It was this campy 40s horror kind of place. Gothic, but not English neo-gothic more like the Addams Family and thats what we tried to make Flat Duo Jets. The combination of Romwebers wild-eyed rockabilly howl, madman surf guitar and Crows pulverizing runaway-train drums made for a stage show that blew minds all over the college-radio circuit. The Jets spent just enough time in R.E.M.s hometown to appear in and steal the 1987 documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out before they expanded to a trio lineup and connected with producer Mark Bingham to record Flat Duo Jets, an album that still sounds just as powerful today. No overdubs, no nothin, just straight to tape like it was 1957, Bingham says of the recording sessions. So we had to do it right the first time. - amazon
trax:
01 Bring It On Home 02 Minor Swing 03 You Made Me Cry 04 Love Has Its Jokes 05 Penetration 06 Rock Me Baby 07 Wild Wild Lover (Outtake) 08 Apple Blossom (Time Mix) 09 Bumblebee Boogie 10 Look Down 11 Sleepwalk (Take 7) 12 Harlem Nocturne 13 Justine

Sara R.I.P. & Dexter R.I.P. but still around! From the Romweber Family,
"It is our sad duty to inform the world that our beloved youngest brother John Michael Romweber II – you know him as Dexter -- died at home on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. He was 57 years old, and found by his sister Monica. It is believed he died of natural causes; a medical exam is pending.
Singer, guitarist, artist and bon vivant, Dexter Romweber was one of the most acclaimed artists of the roots-rock underground, going back to his time with the Kamikazes. But the band that put him on the map was Flat Duo Jets, the guitar/drums duo he started in 1983 with Chris “Crow” Smith(and later with Tony Mayer on bass). While the Jets never broke through commercially, their fiery sturm and twang was a major influence on artists including the White Stripes, X, Cat Power and Neko Case.
After the Jets broke up in the late 1990s, Dexter played in a variety of acts including The New Romans and Dex Romweber Duo with his sister Sara. He released more than a dozen group and solo albums over the years, playing everything from wild-eyed rockabilly to Rachmaninoff-styled classical piano. His most recent album was "Good Thing Goin’,” released in 2023. Romweber was preceded in death by his sister Sara; brothers Joe and Luke; and most recently his mother Sara.

We will have more to say soon, but ask for privacy at this time."

p.s.: Within a year I lost 4 best friends, Aloys, Georg, Michael (Gaius) and Theo. Today I happen to be posting the Flat Duo Jets album and then find out that Dex died yesterday! Is death on my hands or is it keeping me alive?