Brimstone Howl

Lincoln, Nebraska-based rockers Brimstone Howl approach garage rock with such commitment that the White Stripes' popularization of the style prompted them to reject the label outright. Even so, their sound merges Sixties-rooted blues, beat, and punk in a way that has built an ardent audience both domestically and overseas. The group revolves around the core trio of Nick Waggoner on guitar and vocals, John Ziegler on guitar and vocals, and Calvin Retvlaff on drums, while additional players move through the lineup over time. Formed in 2002 as Caesar the Greaser, the band adopted the name Zyklon Bees in 2004. Regular performances across the Midwest cemented their standing as one of Nebraska's premier garage punk acts, leading the Zyklon Bees to issue their first album, Seven Means Run, in 2005. The moniker, drawn from Zyklon B—the poison gas deployed in Nazi extermination camps during the Third Reich—sparked enough backlash that the recording later appeared under the revised name Brimstone Howl. Continued road work yielded the follow-up Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! later that same year, along with a series of seven-inch singles on assorted independent labels, among them "Blood On The Rocks, Blood In The River," which Jay Reatard produced and engineered. The band then aligned with Alive Records to deliver their third long-player, Guts Of Steel, in May 2007, followed by We Came in Peace in 2008 on the same imprint.