mxdwn PREMIERE: Oozelles Release Funky Garage Rock Tune “Fangs”

Hailing from Los Angeles, Oozelles are a rock & roll sextet with some most excellent pedigree. Boasting former members of Warpaint, Starlite Desperation, Dante Vs Zombies, Sex Stains, Detroit Cobras and more, they have a weirdo garage punk sound that manages to sound different from the thousands of bands that fall under that banner. Today we’re prememiering the band’s righteously funky new song “Fangs” from their upcoming debut self-titled full-length record that’s out May 1 on ORG Music.

The band made their debut in 2019 with a 7″ released on Jack White’s label Third Man Records – a pretty promising start for the psych-punk band. “Fangs” is the second release from Oozelles, following the first single “Refill the Swamp,” a slow-motion Cramps-style rockabilly slowburn with wailing organs and sinister guitar licks.

“Fangs” ups the BPM significantly, trading in a villainous sound for something a little more inviting, the guitars from Samuel Banuelos and Phillip Minnig taking on a demented twanginess, bounding along with the upbeat drums and Dante White Aliano’s vocals sounding like a punk rock preacher from hell as he sings “remove your fangs off of my neck!” It’s all over in just about two and a quarter minutes, begging you to hit repeat.

With Banuelos and Minnig on guitars, White Aliano on vocals, the lineup of Oozelles is rounded out by former Warpaint drummer David Orlando, bassist Jada Wagensomer and saxaphonist/multi-instrumentalist Gregory Marino. The songs on Oozelles are described as being about “Human trafficking, secret doors at weddings, war criminals in mental hospitals, hippie arson, premature burial, vampire sugar parents, pathetic, blood soaked manifestos, and pit bulls attacking pizza delivery drivers,” with “Fangs” clearly being the one about “vampire sugar parents.”

The upcoming debut LP was produced by White Aliano “somewhere between the old Bob Baker Marionette Theater and the desolate exteriors of the Sci-Fi film, ‘They Live.’ For those that don’t remember, that would be just outside of Downtown LA when John Nada (played by Roddy Piper) visits a shanty town.

Oozelles track list

A1. “Secret Door”
A2. “Fangs”
A3. “Refill The Swamp”
A4. “Why Do You Eat People”
A5. “Hideous Thing”
A6. “News Theme”
B1. “East Of The River”
B2. “Rickety Ship”
B3. “Arson Dolphin”
B4. “Can’t Get Out”
B5. “Dots”
B6. “Cry Blood”