Untitled Document

FOR IMMEDIATE FUCKING RELEASE

The Mighty 18 Wheeler made Westwords Moovers and Shakers for 2009
Clike here to read about it.

Who: THE MIGHTY 18 WHEELER
What: The Release of the new album, "STIMULUS PACKAGE," on FIST MUSIC
When & Where: Friday, May 8th, Bender's Tavern, Denver; & Saturday, May 9th, Hodi's Half Note, Fort Collins

The Mighty 18 Wheeler, one of Denver's loudest and most dynamic live acts, announce the release of their third album, "STIMULUS PACKAGE," and will celebrate with two CD Release parties, the first in Denver at Bender's Tavern on Friday, May 8th, and the second in Fort Collins at Hodi's Half Note on Saturday, May 9th.

For more than eight years The Mighty 18 Wheeler developed a large audience and reputation for the blistering, near psychotic rockabilly sounds of "18 Wheeler" and "Charmed Life," their previous albums. Known for their loud clothes, their loud instruments, and their humorous need to out-rock, out-drink, and out-dress themselves, if not everyone else, Bobby Smith on lead guitar and vocals, and Jimmy Kolodziej on upright bass and vocals, logged countless three hour sets, miles touring, and empty bottles of beer and whiskey.

"Instead of slowing down, we noticed that we were starting to play harder and louder," Smith says their recent material. "You can start to hear it on 'Charmed Life.' It was just a natural thing for us to do."

Pushing their sound into edgier, more punk and metal territory, and appearing with acts such as Nashville Pussy and The Living End may, in fact, have disoriented and alienated some of their early fans.

"We didn't care," Kolodziej says. "We did the right thing." Describing their music as "somwhere between Eddie Cochran and Motorhead," the Motorhead impulse began to win out. "You can't just keep doing the same thing or you get stuck. And you start to suck," Kolodziej added.

Bobby Smith, a Colorado guitar legend, knows a lot about the creative energy generated by investigating different styles of music. Raised in the hot bed of the 80's Los Angeles Metal scene, Smith pushed his talent to become lead guitarist for the now legendary Jumpin' Jimes, a band that helped define the neo-swing movement. And out of that band he moved effortlessly into early rock and psychobilly by founding, in 2000, 18 Wheeler, named for his father's form of employment.

Meeting Jimmy Kolodziej in 2002, formerly of the Hillbilly Hellcats and Johnny and the Blades, Smith knew he'd found a like minded, i.e. near-insane, musician.

After tapping drummer Matt Wiggins, a Wyoming native and veteran of the Denver Punk scene, the band made a radical decision to add a singer. In a typically irreverent, if not suicidal decision, they asked Bret Bertholf, known in town as his hard country alter-ego Halden Wofford, a crooner and sometime yodeler, if he wanted to give it a try.

"I kept saying to them, 'you guys are crazy, are you sure you want to do this?' And they kept saying 'hell yes!' What could I do?" Bertholf says.

"In a weird way," he adds, "it sort of fits with the country thing. I was playing once at the National Western Stock Show and this bull rider kept telling me about his favorite country band in Oklahoma that always played Skynard and Pantera. Then there's all these punk rock guys who love Johnny Cash and Hank Williams. I finally just admitted that kids in the country and the suburbs have to go through AC/DC and Zeppelin before they find a lot of that old stuff. For me, this band is like a rite of passage."

Invigorated by the freedom they found pushing the envelope, Smith, Kolodziej and Wiggins went immediately to work writing new material and identifying songs they wanted to record. The result are eight tracks of rock and roll intensity recorded by Chris Fogal (the Gamits and Tauntaun) at his Black in Bluhm studio in Denver.

"We did it fast, we did it cheap, and we did it dirty, because we were angry, broke and drunk," Smith said.

"And we called it Stimulus Package because, well, that's what it is," Wiggins added. "We can say to people, did you get your Stimulus Package yet?"

CONTACT: Bobby Smith, 303-702-0652