pattern around the parking lot, like we used to do at the Elm Road McDonald’s when I was a kid. After twenty minutes or so a queer little voice breaks the silence between CD changes on my car stereo. "Hey you old pervert, get outta here." An altogether different yet piercing falsetto quickly follows the first and chimes in beating the CD to its punch. "Go back home to your wife and kids and quite acting like you’re still eighteen you creep." 
I shot a coy, knowing smile at the voices and felt a rush of heat flush my face. I stole a reflective glance in my rearview mirror at the creep they were now giggling about. The rose colored lenses spoke volumes; I had become the worst sort of abysmal cliché. 
I closed my eyes for a second and wondered whether I should go into a rage or just cry. Instead I just sent some of the middling age weight from my midsection rippling down my pasty legs to the gas pedal and quickly pulled out of the beach parking lot. I caught another glimpse of myself in the mirror and ripped the sunglasses from my face hurling them into traffic. 
The stereo remained strangely quiet and I certainly didn’t need it to right now. I fumbled with some buttons, hit it a couple of times, and then finally realized that it was off. I flipped it on and head west on River Road waiting for some sounds to soothe the dull pain my ego was suffering. A menacingly sexy song called "Got my Kicks" told me that I’d get more than I bargained for, and I didn’t even know who the hell was singing it. Quite frankly I didn’t care.
Sandra Black isn’t a girl, at least none I know of, although it’s a pretty name for a girl. Sandra that is (I like Sandy for short). Sandra Black isn’t a guy either. Well it isn’t a guy, it’s five guys, but none named Sandra, or Black for that matter. Strangely enough Sandra Black is just a band name. I’m sure there’s some really good story behind it, but I don’t have the slightest clue what it could be. Wouldn’t it be so cool if it were something like what I wrote above? Some dudes always diggin’ this chick and she like dogs them out at one time or another, but these guys, being enterprising rockrollers and all figure they hold the Ace in this game of sexual cat and mouse and decide that they were going to take away this girls name. They’d name their band after her! When they finally hit the BIG TIME everyone would know the Sandra Black, the rockroll band Sandra Black, not some lousy bimbo named Sandra Black back in West Virginia. That is NOT the story here. I don’t know the story behind this Sandra Black band’s name, but that would be a cool story nevertheless. 
Part of my story is true though. Not much, but one little detail is: West Virginia. Sandra Black is from West Virginia! Can you believe it? No one can. I mean nobody I’ve played this record for. Most folks listen for a little while and say something like, " West Virginia? No waaaay!" or, "You gott be kidding me?! West Virginia?" All variations on a theme, you know?
But it makes nothing but perfect sense because no one who has heard this thing can recall the last time they’d heard such a solid and assured alterna-rock record that didn’t flat out suck in some way or another, big or small. I mean usually you can find good musicians who are trapped with some goof who sings and writes embarrassingly dumb lyrics, or you’ll have your poet laureate types who write ghastly melodramatic tunes over sub par music, and you may stumble onto the occasional fantastic band that doesn’t have a half a song in them. There is all sort of misguided nonsense going on out there these days and everyone has owns a CD burner, so, needless to say we’ve all suffered a bit these past years. But this Sandra Black thing, it’s different. I didn’t even look to see how far along the thing was until track 11, and there are only 12 tracks! That’s quite a success. What tops it all off is that track 12, "Betty Rides Shotgun", is a good tune in and of itself! Astonishing.
What does it sound like you ask? Well, hmm, that’s sort of tough. It’s like the Smashing Pumpkins maybe, but not nearly so whiny. It’s hard assed ("Got My Kicks"), and tender as hell ("Track 3" which is exactly track number three! Uncanny!), it’s from West Virginia and makes me wish the rest of the clowns trying to even approach this kind of whirring alterna-rock and roll were too. 
Driving my car three hours since the beach incident listening to the Sandra Black disc the entire time I finally shake the reality check that had earlier sent me reeling like a ponderous old fool. I find myself lured deeper and deeper into the dreamlike flow of a song called "Star City", maybe it was the references to "driving around / in Star City" (which I was…driving around that is, not in Star City or anything, but driving around yes). The September night air had gone cold and my windows were wound up, a can of Busch Beer cooled my thighs as they warmed it up, and Sandra Black wept a tune called "Tounge Tied" as another summer slowly escaped. I poured the warm beer down my throat, tossed the empty in the back seat, belched, and turned the stereo up loud. 
You better fucking believe I ain’t eighteen anymore. I’m nearly twice that now and that’s just old enough to remember, and miss, what rock and roll once was to so many people. I may be too old for the teen mainstream, and I probably expect a whole lot more from my music than the acne demographic. But I am also nobody’s fool, I do realize that the kicks come along fewer and further between in an ever the younger youth driven culture, but when they do it’s usually something like Sandra Black that helps put it all back into perspective. 

Indie-Music

http://www.indie-music.com/article.php?sid=169

“Sandra Black is a great rock band. (Yes, it’s a band, not a solo artist).” I’ve been listening to Sandra Black’s self-titled CD for three days now. Before I talk about the CD as a whole, I just have to say this: The first track, “Got My Kicks,” is the perfect rock song. I love this song. I listened to it every morning at least twice as I was getting ready for work. It’s an attention-grabber from the very start, when all we hear is Billy Zwiener’s raspy voice moaning, “’n I got my kicks, ‘n now I’m sick.” The two-note guitar riff repeats in the background, and then the song slams into full gear with Zwiener’s voice turning into a combination of whisper and scream. I can’t understand a word he’s saying, but that doesn’t matter. I have to blast this song when I play it. My neighbors want to kill me and my new roommate is having serious second thoughts about this living arrangement, but I don’t care The rest of this CD lives of to the promise of its first track. Sandra Black is a great rock band. (Yes, it’s a band, not a solo artist.) They experiment with all kinds of sounds, even recording a couple of these tracks in a bedroom instead of a studio. (For one of them, “83 Wagon,” this is the perfect environment. This song has a dreamlike feel bordering on the nightmarish with its raw feel and unstable-sounding laughter). These guys sound like what would happen if you put the Smashing Pumpkins and Pink Floyd in a blender. “Track Three” (which is, oddly enough, track 3) has a psychedelic quality and what sounds like a television blaring in the background. “Pushin’ It” is catchier rock with powerful percussion – in fact, the percussion is a standout on several of the tracks, including “Bloom” and “Tongue Tied,” where the driving beat is relentless. These songs have attitude, even the slower ones, like the acoustic sway of “Snare Drum Sound." I also have to mention the song that runs a close second favorite with me: “Nyabinghi Dance Hall.” This reminds me of something The Ramones would do. At under two minutes, this is a crazed, slamming shotgun blast of a song with mixed sounds of chaos in the background – dogs barking, something crashing to the floor. This is another song that must be played loud. I could write about this band all day, but my landlady is banging on my door. She looks ticked. Gotta go.

Firesideometer

http://www.firesideometer.com/reviews/revSandraBlackSandraBlack.html

Sandra Black is not a girl. Sandra Black is a band, and a pretty good one at that, as their first full-length album demonstrates. Sandra Black is a roller coaster ride of rock stylings and dynamics. Vocalist Billy Zweiner frequently sounds like a more "rawk" Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes); it's a bit of a whiny voice, yet oddly catchy and unique because of that. The band makes fine use of dual guitars, whipping up a nice aural soup. First track 'Got My Kicks', sounds like Honey's Dead-era Jesus and Mary Chain, and builds slowly to a blazing finish. Second track 'Pushin It' should be a single, with its soaring chorus and killer guitar fuzz. The unfortunately named 'Track 3' is another winner, sounding much like a Badly Drawn Boy alternate. The middle of the album bogs down quite a bit (maybe the band wasn't quite ready for the full-length), but ends on an up note with 'Betty Rides Shotgun', an *ahem* drivingly melodic closer. I certainly could have done with the gratuitous sap of 'Good Lord'; in fact, there are several religious references throughout the course of the album, which makes me a little uncomfortable. Oh well, whatever floats your psyche, I guess.Sandra Black is certainly a promising indie debut album from one of West Virginia's up-and-comers. And the album has pretty darn swell art, too. Keep your ear out for these guys hitting it big. 7.0For more info, or to buy the CD, check out www.sandrablack.com -Shawn

http://www.adequacy.net/reviews/10-01/10-1-01.shtml#sandrablack

Melodic girlie swooning rockRIYL: Smashing Pumpkins, Pinehurst Kids, GlossaryPast Picks of the Week- Who is Sandra Black? Not the band but the reason behind it's name. This is not a solo artist by any means. And while Sandra is a fairly common female name, this group contains four or five males (the line up listings change throughout the material) whose pictures do not resemble the sound you hear coming forth. I even looked up the website and did my research in the imagery areas. Thus away to listen I went.As of 1994, these boy's have been rocking the West Virginia area on several compilations, two EP's (July & one for demo purposes) and now the self-titled LP release in my hand. It's not often I will say this, as I reserve it for sincere moments, but this band should be all over college radio if not the mainstream lines by now. This came out last year in all of it's sex-appealing, rock-out glory. In short, where has it been hiding?Sandra Black start out with a kick off strong attitude on "Got My Kicks" with cymbal-heavy repetitive guitar and screaming younger Billy Corgan "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" vocal style. His name is even Billy, and he has a wonderful voice. Short and sweet and Pulp Fiction Mia Wallace dance-worthy. It leads to "Pushin It," a much more familiar coat made of fur, pop, and catchy harmonic break downs. Another radio hit times 10. Usually I like the slow songs on albums best. These guys brighten my mood, and in this case, it's a good thing. Music is so agitated and ill anymore. This isn't emo or depressing or angry. I think in today's world, that says a lot if you take the time to think about it. Music is all about sharing time with some fine folks who can at least provide you with a comfortable chair to sit in, and that is what Sandra Black does. While still providing entertainment in rock very much lacking boredom through-out it's 12 tracks Intertwining keyboards, drum kits, and three guitarists, Sandra Black has plenty of room for instrumental portions of emotion that sort of drive into you and hit home somehow. The arangements and guitar-driven harmonies are accompanied by, for the most part, meaningful lyrics that fit well with the music lines. It gets down to business and comes out direct so that you sort of just feel connected in a relaxed and empathetic way. Every band should at least have one song like this. If you're wondering why, well because it is honest. It's realistic, sincere, and close to all of our holes that sometimes need it's patch." Snare Drum Sound," the ninth track, is one of those sadder looks at the way it is with cute lyrics and melodic guitar strings. Not so much love songs or driving or typical song plots, but trickle guitar and a soft song to follow. Some are silly, and some rock your rock out. While some make you smile and some are like a sigh, just take a deep breath and reassure yourself that you can hear it through a second time today, and it won't become monotonous or any less enjoyable but might stick words and dance steps in your shower that day. Slide guitar, dual layered thick vocals, and all of the good stuff included in a great variety of wonderful sounds that all relate well with each other. Everyone needs this album. - Jessika