Shooting Gallery Self-Titled

In keeping with the spirit of 1992, let’s talk about another disc that was released that year – Shooting Gallery’s Self-Titled debut. Despite being what we now call a super group, the disc all but sunk to the bottom of the ocean never to be heard from again. Matter of fact, the only way most will ever find out about it nowadays is random youtube excursions or reading about Hanoi Rocks. The connection to Hanoi is guitarist extraordinaire, Andy McCoy. This was his second attempt at life after Hanoi, the first was the Cherry Bombz, which was basically Hanoi without Michael Monroe. Other members of Shooting Gallery were alumni from the bands Kill City Dragons, Psychedelic Furs, Sham 69 and Lords Of The New Church – kind of a mixed bag with more nods to 80’s New Wave music than anything; you can certainly here those influences in the music. Is that the reason why the album sank, maybe, but the music heard here was still Glam/Sleaze – still the year was 92 and bands of this ilk were being chased out of town by the thousands.

As I’ve already mentioned you can hear the New Wave/Pop vibes in the music right off the rip – the opening track “Restless” starts off with one of those typical 80’s guitar melodies that we’ve all heard a million times and the rest of the song follows suit at fevered pace. I swear I’ve heard the track in a movie before, it sounds that familiar. The disc also features a few covers – the Van Morrison classic “Brown Eyed Girl”, which the band treats appropriately, I actually prefer this version to the original, but that’s to be expected considering my love for this genre of music. The next cover worthy of a mention is the Hanoi Rocks classic “Don’t You Ever Leave Me” renamed “Don’t Never Leave Me”. This is the best track on the album to me, but I could be partial because I’m fanatical about the original version. The differences are of plenty but aside from Billy Bangs vocals, (which are spectacular) they’ve cut out the entire bridge of the song where there were spoken words. It doesn’t really affect the song too much, if anything it might flow a little better to some folks. The other cover on the album is “House Of Ecstasy” an old Cherry Bombz cover, I much prefer this version, because I didn’t care much for the Bombz, they sounded a bit generic and the production value just wasn’t there. That’s not the case here, the song is updated and performed with slick precision making it much more fun and enjoyable.

There are several more songs on this disc that’ll scratch that Glam itch we all experience here and there. Personally, I think this is McCoy’s best work outside of Hanoi Rocks, is it as good as Monroe’s solo work, you be the judge. I’m just happy I’m able to experience both on a regular basis! For you record fiends this album was pressed on vinyl, but of course it tends to get pricey, but it can be had for about 40$ – well worth it. I don’t have it yet, but it’s on the never ending want list! Check the link out and if you dig it, look up Kill City Dragons – it features Billy Bangs on vocals, another long lost piece of Glam/Sleaze brilliance.