The Amplifier Heads recall a UFO radio signal with retro-pop flair on ‘That Girl Betty’
The Amplifier Heads recall a UFO radio signal with retro-pop flair on ‘That Girl Betty’
Turn the radio dial back 63 years to Barney and Betty Hill’s infamous alien encounter with Sal Baglio and Jen D’Angora on Friday, September 13
BEGIN TRANSMISSION: Listen to ‘That Girl Betty’ via Bandcamp
Norty Cohen’s immersive alien rock opera ‘They Came To Rock’
in development for an off-Broadway theater run
BOSTON, Mass. [September 13, 2024] -- On a lonely stretch of highway in rural New Hampshire lies a tourist attraction unlike anywhere else on the East Coast. It’s situated along the Daniel Webster Highway in the sleepy town of Lincoln, where, way back in 1961, Barney and Betty Hill encountered something not of this world – a UFO encounter and abduction that has become the blueprint of what we think we know about aliens, drawing roughly 3,000 tourists to the infamous site each year.
And legend has it that if a tourist turns their radio dial to just the right spot, they too might hear a transmission similar to what the Hills heard on that fateful night. It sounds a little something like “That Girl Betty,” The Amplifier Heads’ new single that steps into a musical time machine to recreate what might have been heard in the car as aliens hovered overhead during the most famous alien abduction incident in American history.
“That Girl Betty” is the latest offering from The Amplifier Heads’ acclaimed Rum Bar Records album Songs From They Came To Rock, the soundtrack to Executive Producer Norty Cohen’s immersive alien rock opera.
After debuting in Nashville as a one-off back in 2021, the theatrical production of They Came To Rock is in development for an off-Broadway launch, and has signed on artistic director and writer Ed Valentine to the project. (Keep it locked to theycametorock.com for updates.)
The retro-pop, ‘60s-kissed, and Phil Spector-inspired “That Girl Betty,” featuring guest vocals from Jen D’Angora (Jenny Dee & The Delinquents, The Shang Hi Los), is set for spotlight release on Friday, September 13, just a few days before the September 19 and 20 anniversary of the Hills’ wild night headed home to Portsmouth on an otherwise quiet rural highway in the Granite State.
“When Norty Cohen asked me to write for his musical They Came To Rock, I took the approach of what people might have said and thought about Betty’s story rather than simply recount the event,” says The Amplifier Heads’ Sal Baglio. “‘That Girl Betty’ takes the Phil Spector girl group sound of the early-’60s with a rather cheeky lyric, as did the single ‘Space Cadette’ which was also loosely based on Betty Hill.”
The Hills’ experience, like “That Girl Betty” and its recalling of The Shangri-La’s and The Ronettes, has a certain timelessness to it. Dubbed by one historian as the “Adam and Eve of alien abductions,” it’s forever weaved into popular culture today, inspiring books, movies, and what we think of when we envision aliens more than 50 years later.
An enduring saga, lectures and discussions on the Hills and what they saw – and ultimately experienced first-hand, from being stalked by unexplained bright lights overhead to actual contact with non-human creatures – en route from a returning home to New Hampshire from a vacation in Canada. But all the discussions from here to California seldom answer a very simple question: Who are they, and what do they want?
They Came To Rock attempts to provide a very simple reason for aliens visiting Earth. And it all starts in 1947, less than 15 years before the Hill Incident, as the invention of the electric guitar sent reverberations through space, catching the attention of extraterrestrials and bringing them to Earth to do one thing: Rock out.
From there, the history of rock and roll is interspersed with increasingly frequent sightings of aliens and unexplained encounters that continue to this day, as recently as "large, disc-shaped crafts" hovering over Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado in July, and last month’s widespread spate of “unidentified flying objects” sightings over Southern California.
First debuting in Nashville three years ago and receiving praise from Rolling Stone, Cohen’s theatrical production of They Came To Rock details the story about friendly little green men coming to Earth – which they call The Vinyl Frontier – in search of the type of music heard through static and noise on their radio. Contact between humans and aliens has enjoyed an unlikely conduit, and that bridge is rock and roll. Everyone loves tribute shows. This is a tribute to the rock genre, told through alien sightings that began in 1947.
"Whatever the aliens are thinking,” Cohen says, “rock and roll has a song for it.”
Released in April, The Amplifier Heads’ Songs From They Came To Rock details the history of this unexpected and previously unthought-of relationship between aliens and rock music. Cohen provided a list of historical incidents and situations of alien sightings and interactions, like the abduction of Betty and Barney Hill, and Baglio and the other writers not only referenced those stories, but augmented them outward to include what others may have thought of their adventure.
“The term rock opera has come to mean different things to anyone's interpretation,” Baglio says. “There is a lyrical and musical line that follows through the record. Some fantasy, some fact. It is a musical speed rocket trip and the seat belt sign is off!”
With widespread press and radio attention, the barnstorming soul-fire title track was premiered by The Spill Magazine, and retro-pop singles like “The Best It’s Gonna Be” and “Something Went Down” (about the most famous UFO event in England's history, taking places at Rendlesham Forest on Christmas 1980) enjoyed heavy rotation on Little Steven’s Underground Garage on SiriusXM. With 10 original compositions held together by eight transmissions, pulling historical news and radio broadcasts on alien sightings over the past several decades, the 18 tracks on Songs From They Came To Rock draw from a history of American rock and roll.
Here on “That Girl Betty,” Baglio performs guitars, bass, strings, piano, vocals, and is joined by the aforementioned D’Angora, with Samantha Goddess also on vocals and Dave Mattacks on drums and percussion.
“Songs From They Came To Rock is very different from all of my previous Amplifier Heads records which are essentially recorded solo with the assistance of one or two other musicians,” says Baglio. “With it being a soundtrack, I chose to work with many good friends which gives the record an entirely varied and different sound than anything prior.”
Baglio adds: “I continued writing songs with the theme of space, aliens, alienation and rock and roll. I merged fact with fantasy along with a personal take on the story line. I was given the idea that aliens heard radio signals from Earth and came here in search of the source of rock and roll.”
Now everyone that visits that lonely highway, even more than 60 years later, can hear it too.
‘That Girl Betty’ production credits:
Words & Music Salvatore Baglio (ASCAP)
© ℗ 2023 Sunset on Mars Publishing (ASCAP)
Produced by Sal Baglio
Recorded & Mixed by Warren Babson Bang-A-Song Studios Gloucester MA
Mastered by Jonathan Wyner M-Works Mastering Studios Somerville MA
Artwork by Sarah Downen
Executive Producer Norty Cohen
Appearing on ‘That Girl Betty’:
Jen D’Angora: Lead vocals
Sal Baglio: Guitars, bass, strings, piano, vocals
Samantha Goddess: Vocals
Dave Mattacks: Drums & percussion
Media praise for ‘Songs From They Came To Rock’:
“Like a cross between Orson Welles’ legendary ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast and Ziggy Stardust (with a small sprinkle of Monty Python along the way) this is a highly entertaining and enjoyable record that gets the balance between humour and songwriting just right. Mars attacks, but Amplifier Heads save the day!” _Fear And Loathing Zine
“Songs From They Came To Rock, the fifth album by The Amplifier Heads, is the most essential soundtrack album to be released in a good while… The concept for the story is the stuff of genius: in 1947, the birth of rock and roll brought aliens to our planet in search of these wondrous sounds they were picking up on their radios… Songs From They Came To Rock can stand alone as a great spacey garage rock album and companion piece to The Amplifier Heads' third album SaturnalienS. On another level, you might find yourself getting lost in the story and eagerly awaiting a revival of the theatrical production.” _Faster & Louder
“East Boston-bred Sal Baglio has been a leading light of the Boston rock scene ever since he formed The Stompers in the late 1970s. More recently, he’s been penning songs from a rock opera about rock ‘n’ roll aliens. The piece has been performed in Nashville and now has been put on wax by a cast that also includes Boston musical luminaries Jen D’Angora, Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks, and screamer supreme Barrence Whitfield. Let’s hope this most fun extraterrestrial affair gets mounted on a Boston stage in the near future.” _WBUR, Boston’s NPR, Spring Music Preview
“What I love about albums like Songs From They Came To Rock is that they are either going to annoy you or float your boat but for me it was the latter category and had me on that cruiser out at sea. It had a cosmic, galactic almost other-worldly charm about it and runs at around the thirty minute mark so won`t overtake your life to any significant degree.” _Maximum Volume Music
“Songs From They Came To Rock is an intergalactic musical experience that you can’t afford to miss.” _The Whole Kameese
“Is there a genre called ‘extra-terrestrial rock’? If so, Sal Baglio has mastered it. The Amplifier Heads’ latest release, They Came to Rock, was created as a soundtrack to a rock opera about an alien invasion. It’s a trip through space and time – emphasis on trip. And it’s outta this world good.” _Power Pop News
“Barrence Whitfield steals the show on Sal Baglio’s Amplifier Heads’ release ‘They Came To Rock’. This is from a live rock opera that played in Nashville a few years ago. Aliens come to earth to find out who are these people making this ‘rock music’? The song is stamped with that Barrence vocal that is hard to deny…” _Boston Groupie News
“Wham bam bloody wham bam. Move your furniture, put on your blue suede shoes and get ready to go out off your head on this riff-roaring retro rocker. Boogie woogie yourself around and around, turn up the horns, play air guitar and sing your lungs out. Get my drift? Now open your windows and doors and let the neighborhood go bonkers too. Hells bells. Hallelujah. Rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay.” _Turn Up The Volume
“The Amplifier Heads have a new album due next month that’s also a rock opera about an alien invasion. The first single sees the Boston band join forces with Barrence Whitfield, so we simply can’t resist this one. ‘They Came to Rock’ is a groovy and swinging garage rock song that is going to work for anyone that enjoys music that is just fun. And that’s what this song is. Any song called ‘They Came to Rock’ better be fun, and The Amplifier Heads break out the horns to insure that. Plus, Whitfield might be the most underappreciated vocalist in all of Boston. The man has a truly powerful voice that is just meant to provide a good time. This might be the best pairing in all of the Boston music scene this year.” _If It’s Too Loud
Media praise for The Amplifier Heads:
“It has five of the five elements I look for in music, not unlike my five essential audio/video food groups. Those include Blondes, Martians, hooks, melodies and Willie & the Hand Jive, among others. Baglio barada nikto!” _Bill Kelly’s Blackhole Bandstand in Little Steven’s Underground Garage
“Set your phasers to stun and crank this one up. Loud. Repeatedly.” _The Secret Weapon Radio Show, Woody Radio
“Sal Baglio and Jen D'Angora have been involved in some of the best Boston bands from back in the day as well as the present. That's the great thing about it, they both continue to be active in the ‘scene’ and crank out fantastic music!! It's only fitting that Sal and Jen get together on this newest hit single by The Amplifier Heads called “Something Went Down!’” _Rising with Skybar, WFMO Radio
“Always great news concerning any developments with The Amplifier Heads. It’s a spaced out sonic spectacular with an outta this world sax supernova! Love Jen’s vocals!” _Rock Never Rusts
HOMEPAGE . SPOTIFY . BANDCAMP . INSTAGRAM . FACEBOOK . YOUTUBE . RUM BAR . THEY CAME TO ROCK
