The Fleshtones

Group from New York City, formed in the late 1970s. Often tagged as garage rock revivalists, the Fleshtones mix the fuzz guitar and Farfisa organ sounds of that genre with rockabilly, '50s and '60s R&B, and surf into a potent retro stew the group likes to call "super rock." The group formed in 1976 in Queens with vocalist/keyboardist Peter Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng, bassist Jan Marek Pakulski, and drummer Bill Milhizer and aimed to return rock & roll to the simplicity and unself-consciousness of the '50s and early '60s. (The group was often joined on-stage and in the studio by sax player Gordon Spaeth, who passed on in 2005.) The group fit nicely into New York's punk and new wave scene, and an early single, "American Beat," attracted the attention of independent label Red Star and, in time, I.R.S. The group's debut EP, Up-Front, was released in 1980 and was followed by their first full-length album, Roman Gods, and Blast Off!, an unreleased studio album recorded for Red Star in 1978. 1983 produced Hexbreaker, widely regarded as the Fleshtones' finest album. The band continued to record through the '80s and released Powerstance in 1992 and Beautiful Light in 1994. (Powerstance also marked the debut of new Fleshtones bassist Ken Fox, who replaced Pakulski in the lineup and has been with the group ever since.) While the group's popularity dipped under the radar in the last half of the '90s, in 2003 the group bounded back when they were signed to the potent indie label Yep Roc Records and released one of their best albums, Do You Swing? An equally solid follow-up, Beachhead, was issued in 2005 and was produced in part by Detroit garage rock kingpin Jim Diamond. Fleshtones side projects include Keith Streng's band Full Time Men, which featured R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, and Peter Zaremba's Love Delegation. In 2008, more than 30 years after the group formed, they released Take a Good Look, proving their ability to be just as raucous as they were in the good ol' days.


Miriam Linna began her music career as the first drummer for the Cramps in 1976 New York. The Sudbury, Ontario, native went on to pound the skins for the Zantees and frat-rock luminaries the A-Bones. Linna is perhaps best known for co-founding Kicks magazine and Norton Records with her husband, the late Billy Miller.

In 2014, Linna teamed up with producer Sam Elwitt to release her first solo album, the wall-of-sound tour de force Nobody's Baby (Norton), which was lauded as the best album of 2014 and reached #1 on the influential WFMU. Linna hit the ground running in 2015 with her second solo album Down Today.

Miriam Linna will be joined onstage by her backing band Nobody's Babies, led by Sam Elwitt, with Justina Davies, Matt Fiveash, Ira Kaplan and David Lindsay.