Jon Caspi & The First Gun Are The Bad News Bears In New Video

05-10-2023

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(Missing Piece Group) New Jersey punk/americana rock outfit Jon Caspi & The First Gun shared the music video for their fan favorite song, "Raise 'Em High!", featuring Jesse Malin on vocals, and Dez Cadena (known from Black Flag and The Misfits) on guitar. The new version of the single was released late last year alongside a special-made beer of the same name by New Jersey's Alternate Ending Beer Co, which the mayor of Aberdeen, NJ signed a proclamation making it the official beer of Aberdeen Day. The song was praised by BrooklynVegan, Asbury Park Press, New Noise Magazine, The Punk Site, NJ Indy and more.

"Raise 'Em High!" was originally inspired by watching an underdog baseball team beating the best team in the league, so when the band decided to do a video the best inspiration was a similarly-themed movie, The Bad News Bears. The cast includes all the band members as well as Dez Cadena with a few nods to his role in Black Flag's famous video for their song "TV Party", an MTV favorite in the 80's. Another star of the video is legendary WFMU DJ, Glen "Jonesey" Jones (Sundays from 12-3pm), who a couple of years ago chose "Raise 'Em High!" as his official 2pm "toast song" which is at the center of a large Facebook group where folks post selfies of themselves toasting each other to the song.

"Making the video was one of the best days of my life, which I mentioned to my family and they were like 'What about us?!' They were not thrilled," Caspi said with a smile. "When I saw Dez's performance I was blown away. He's really funny. The whole video is a comedy but there are laugh-out-loud moments and Dez has many of them. Jonesey is also a natural and should be a major movie star. The whole cast brought it." Pete Jager, the band's guitarist, adds, "I can't believe how great this came out. The quality is so professional. It's shot incredibly well. I can't wait for everyone to see it."

Jon Caspi & The First Gun are also celebrating a 7" vinyl release of "Raise 'Em High!" being put out by Fake Chapter Records on May 13th at Randy Now's Man Cave in Hightstown, NJ. The release is a double-A side with Jon Caspi & The First Gun's version of Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown" with Cadena on lead vocals. For collectors, this will be especially exciting as there is no previously recorded version of the track with Cadena on lead vocals. Cadena was the lead singer for Black Flag for a brief time. The show will also include a performance by a reformed The Vibrators V2, a legendary UK punk band.