
Jason Kane & The Jive – Rising Smoke
If you want to experience the single “Rising smoke” by Jason Kane & The Jive, I suggest you do so through the power of the video. In it, long-haired, bearded, sweaty men play doomy Sabbathy riffs in a smoke covered room. As David Lee Roth once said, “the music should look the way it sounds”. Here, it certainly does.
One of the key characteristics of stoner-rock is that a good riff gets extended to infinity and beyond. It takes Jason Kane nearly 3-minutes to approach vocal duties. Once he does, the results are convincing. There’s clearly a nod to early 1970s classic rock excess, and it pleasantly reminded me of the great soul-rock histrionics of Steve Marriott.
Finally, as if you didn’t see it coming, the tune descends into a galloping rhythm, before the group tidy it all up and return to the main theme. Classic rock fans will rejoice.
Face Command – El Rey
Face Command announce that their intention for the song “El Rey” was to sonically describe what it’s like to fall over after one too many tequila shots. Fittingly, this is a song developed through live jams and it shows.

The frenzied fuzz out riff, sounds like someone trying out an amp at a record shop and fighting really hard to break it. The rest of the tune seems to be the work of a rock band looking to get playing time at a hardcore-punk bar.
If it weren’t for the spoken-word interlude, I would be afraid this is all to be taken seriously. But, alas, Face Command are in it to soothe the souls of biker gangs, and have a good laugh just the same.
Face Command are based in Sydney. They are led by singer Tyler Broyles. Here’s a review of the 2020 single “El Rey”.