The Last Conspirators

“Following up on their 2007 debut long player, Warparty, Albany’s Last Conspirators have unleashed another shot across the bow of a too-often-complacent rock soundscape.  The songs evince an unshaken belief in the punk-rock ethic, starting with the all-in, soulful commitment of front man Tim Livingston’s vocals. Although the defiance of songs such as “History” and “Who Wants a Revolution Anyway” is present and correct, the music is anything but punk-by-numbers agitprop. The line-up of Livingston, bassist Jeff Sohn, guitarist Terry Plunkett, and drummer Al Kash is a vibrant testimonial of the Capital District’s close-knit but eclectic scene. The Conspirator’s sonic DNA is encoded with elements of glam, post-punk, psychedelia, and roots-rock. “Luther Hamilton’s Blues” struts forth on a bedrock rhythmic foundation, then layers on guitar fanfare that is by turns fractured and plangent before Livingston turns the lyric of a personal quest into a parable of a nation’s search to restore its collective mojo, underscored with Iggy-style primal howling. These recordings possess an immediacy that hints at the band’s infrequent but powerful live performances. Sure, the amps are cranked up really high, but the dynamic arrangements are the real payoff for the listener. “History” begins with anthemic guitar scrubbing, propelled by a hook-laden bass line before Plunkett launches the band to the stratosphere and back, pausing with Livingston cutting through the onslaught with an impassioned cry of “It’s too late for the future!” It’s never too late for music with this much craft and heart.” — Jeremy Schwartz Chronogram Magazine
- Chronogram Magazine

“Tim Livingston gets political in a punk rock way on the Last Conspirators' sophomore release, "When It All Comes Down."Tracks like "Luther Hamilton Blues" and "Who Wants a Revolution Anyway" sizzle with old school rock 'n' roll rage, backed by a crack rhythm section and Terry Plunkett's big guitar.With its surf-inflected guitar breaks and pointed lyrical lampooning, "Long Live TV," co-written with bassist Jeff Sohn, conjures a melodic, mellower Dead Kennedys. Best is "It's Late," a ballad about the fears and joys in a long-term relationship. The Last Conspirators are a band with deep roots. 30 years ago, Livingston was vocalist for the pioneering Albany punk band The Morons and his snarl remains intact, even if his topics have matured. Drummer Al Kash was also the motivator behind Fear of Strangers, who created a national buzz long before the good kids in Phantogram were born.Perhaps it's fitting, then, that the brief "When It All Comes Down" ends with "History," the riffing ersatz title track that proclaims "it's too late for the future!" - Times Union, Michael Eck - Times Union

The Last Conspirators are honored to have been selected by the Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music to be part of "Strummerville DIY", Check out the great work this charity is doing to create new opportunities for aspiring musicians. http://www.strummerville.com/the-last-conspirators/ - Strummerville.com

"Tim Livingston’s quartet have pulled off a rare balancing act. The sociopolitical character of his songs are given such confidently forceful flight by the taut guitar-bass-drums that the music is not a backing track to broadsides, but its beating heart equal. It’s also a well-known fact that if you don’t have a good drummer you might as well stay home, and in Al Kash, the Last Conspirators have a great one." - Metroland Magazine

"A five-song follow-up to Warparty, this equally potent recording hints these guys are not only are on to something good, they're just getting started. Fronted by Upstate NY punk legend, Tim Livingston (whose credits go back to Killed-By-Death style Albany punks, the Morons), the band fills the same sonic space as the Clash, Adverts, Ruts, Stiff Little Fingers and New Model Army. If you want to know where the real songwriters in punk are this day and age, look no further" - Big Takeover Magazine (Bryan Swirsky) - The Big Takeover Magazine

“Okay, it took me a while to listen to this entire CD because I had to play the first track, “Luther Hamilton Blues,” about ten times in a row. Yeah, it’s that good. A psychedelic tribal vamp evolves into a chanting punk verse before finally blossoming into a glorious pop chorus. Frontman Tim Livingston excels at writing hook-laden, politically charged paeans to pop culture, and his commando team (crackerjack Nippertown music veterans Al Kash on drums, Terry Plunkett on guitar and Jeff Sohn on bass) play it rough and crunchy on the band’s powerhouse sophomore disc. Other standouts include the Clash-like “Who Wants a Revolution Anyway?” and the ferocious, go-for-the-throat, garage-rock rumble of “History,” but there’s not a clunker in the bunch. “Long Live TV” (is this the third song Livingston has written about television?) evokes the ghost of Robert Hazard, while “It’s Late” is a tender and delicate ballad that stacks up the requisite dramatic refrains.Produced by Chris Fisher at his Easter Island Studios in Coxsackie, this 5-song EP – the follow-up to band’s 2007 full-length debut “War Party” – gets pretty close to capturing the energy of their live shows, and if the New York Dolls played sixties psychedelic pop, this is what it would all sound like. Potent stuff.” - Nippertown

"Frontman Tim Livingston was an original '70s punk, leading Albany's Morons when that was brave down on the Bowery - never mind the Hudson Valley. You can deduce his age (and likely his three band mates) but you'd detect little vestige on WARPARTY. Maybe because he hasn't made an LP in 15 years (Since GHOSTRUNNER's lone Beneath the Apocalyptic Rain), or because he works at valuable '60's reissue label Sundazed - but the appetite remains for a variety of styles replete with political awareness. Reviewers flail at pinning this down, raining comparisons from Voidoids, and the Flesheaters, to the Jam, later Clash, Love and New Model Army. I hear Love, '60's blues rock balladry, ballsy post-punk mashers like 80's Australians, and dexterous guitars that prove ballast for Livingston's burning convictions like "American Son" and our in-foerclosure U.S. of "Innocent"." (drivingrainmusic.com) —Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover
- The Big Takeover

THE TIMES UNION BEST CDS OF 2007
The Last Conspirators WARPARTY (Driving Rain) - " The most potent politically charged disc of the year, walking the tightrope between punk passion and polished professionalism."

“Tim Livingston, the lead singer and dynamic frontman who formed the Morons while still a teen, is leaping back into the spotlight with a new band, the Last Conspirators. Featuring 10 sharp, original tunes from Livingston, "Warparty" is a ferocious album, brimming with barbed, political protest anthems, set to a surprisingly varied musical
attack by guitarist Terry Plunkett, drummer Al Kash and bassist Jeff Sohn. The high energy of Livingston's punk days is still there for all to hear, but now there's more -- echoes of the New York Dolls, Little Steven, even Neil Young's Crazy Horse. “Rock 'n' roll keeps on rockin'.” - Greg Haymes The Times Union - The Times Union

“Like Mike Ness or Iron Cross’ Sab Grey, onetime Morons frontman Tim Livingston has settled into punk-rock middleagedom : still capable of the two-minute flame-thrower, but also digging roots rock, harmonicas and the mid-tempo in general, with political insight you just don’t have when you are 19. Warparty is an album of torch songs and patriotic protest tunes - think American Oi! with out the hooligan tomfoolery - performed in a hodgepodge of styles: There’s OG, Clash-ish punk rock, a John Cougar-Springsteen hybrid, artier 70’s guitar rock and even a beach-party jam. Livingston’s words can be incisive and poetic, as on Warparty (“Last night in an enemy village/They treated us like guests/ They fed us with compassion/We burned it when we left” ) ... Overall an engaging, if inconsistent, album.”
— Evan Haga HARP Magazine - HARP Magazine

“Longtime local scenesters will probably know Last Conspirators main man Tim Livingston. From 1979 to 1982 he fronted pioneering Capital Region punk outfit The Morons, which regularly held court to pogoing throngs at clubs like Bogie’s and the Chateau Lounge and shared bills with top draws like The Cramps, The Stranglers, and, of course, Blotto. After The Morons burned out, Livingston returned with another project, Ghostrunner, which released one album, 1993’s Beneath the Apocalyptic Rain, before calling it quits.But, as they say, you can’t keep a good man down. Nearly 15 years later, Livingston is back with The Last Conspirators, a quartet that brings a welcome, Information Age crunch to the tough, melodic sounds of late ’70s/early ’80s Brit-punk; think The Clash, The Jam, maybe The Ruts or the UK Subs, but with slightly glossier production values and lyrics that take shots at the soul-sucking, high-tech Noughties. (Check out “Crash,” brimming with grinding guitars and Livingston’s hoarse, desperate vocals; or “Walking in Hellfire,” a moody tour de force highlighted by some sweltering guitar leads.) Warparty, however, isn’t just one rocker after another. The disc also features a handful of protest ballads, Dylan- and Arthur Lee-influenced tracks like the title cut and “American Son,” a commentary on suburban alienation. Though The Last Conspirators formed as a studio-only enterprise, the group headlined a release party for the record in March. Does this mean there may be more gigs to come? See this month’s Nightlife Highlights, opposite, or visitwww.DrivingRainMusic.com.”
—Peter Aaron, Chronogram Magazine, All Music Guide.com
- Chronogram Magazine

One of my fondest memories of visiting New York for one of the mondo sixties blow out shows was meeting Tim Livingston while he was manning the Sundazed Music merch table. I was never aware of his punk outfit from "the day," The Morons, but I like this latest group. The sound here is straight ahead rock and roll with an eccentric vocal edge. Tim sings and writes all his material. The Last Conspirators remind me a bit of Richard Hell and The Voidoids, Saccharine Trust and The Flesheaters. Tim sings passionately about war, alienation and life in a crazy world. Fellow Sundazed rock god Bob Irwin mastered the tracks and lent guitar duties on one track, "Walking in Hellfire." Music is in Tim's blood and he brings a wealth of influences to his songs. '60s psychedelia and '70s punk rage permeate this eclectic mix of angst rattled modern rock.
— Garage & Beat Magazine - Garage & Beat Magazine

"On the Last Conspirators new CD, 'Warparty', the unflappably laid-back Tim Livingston sounds like he's unraveling a little; conjuring up a more deranged version of Mick Jones of the Clash. Trust me, that's a good thing, as are tunes like the mid-seventies CBGB's folk-rock of "American Son", the spacy guitar psychedelics of "Help", plus the ripping "Tribulation Blues" which recalls vintage Richard Hell & the Voidoids. And when's the last time you heard a song that reminded you of Arthur Lee's "Message to Pretty"? The title track does just that, at least to these ears. Best of all is "Crash". Other than the unavoidable reality that it's on a tiny Upstate NY indie with no distribution, this song has got hit written all over it. " - Jeff Jarema, Here 'Tis Magazine - Here 'Tis Magazine

“The power, the raw energy, the passion. This was one of the most honest shows I have seen in a long time. Keeping true to their 80’s punk soul, The Last Conspirators, led by Tim Livingston, belted out some killer songs and often seen trying to bust out of the relatively small stage for such a band. At one point he vaulted over the stage rail, got in the face of the crowd with his direct lyrics, and didn’t back down. This episode was recorded at Larkfest ’07. The band was first in a long line up of bands to go on. Even though they started at 11:00 am they still managed to generate a healthy crowd. It must have been the power, the raw energy, and the passion of the music. - CRUMBS Radio - CRUMBS Radio

"An ex-Moron (his Albany band of the 80’s) Tim Livingston has a new configuration called the Last Conspirators, and a lot to say. Part of Albany’s vibrant punk scene on Lark St., in the 80’s, the now Hudson Valley resident Livingston last released a CD in 1993, so he had plenty of time to produced and write all the tunes, and it was then mixed by ex-Conehead Buddha man Chris Fisher. Livingston is aided and abetted by renowned drummer Al Kash (Savoy Brown, Fear of Strangers) bassist Jeff Sohn, and ace guitarist Terry Plunkett; whose layers of guitars and sharp solos really up the ante. With Warparty, an anxious late 70’s early 80’s straight-ahead rock groove prevails. Full of conviction and urgency, Livingston’s capable voice pushes and powers tunes like the chaotic lead off track “Help” and sixties sounding “American Son.” The formidable, hard charging “Crash!” has an
in-your-face ranting rap about the information highway and the inherent shallowness of Internet based networking (“websites, chats, blogs, spamming”) the lush “Walking in Hellfire,” is a sure highlight with it’s impassioned delivery and fine guitar work (provided by guest guitarist Bob Irwin), while title track “Warparty (a soldiers song)” has an antiwar vibe complete with harmonica. “Lee Harvey Oswald” (the mother of all conspiracies) is slow and vacant, and the song “Surf Rocket” sports a retro vibe to kill. There is an apocalyptic overtone to all of this, and Livingston knows how to get his point across, that is; that he is running out of patience with world leaders and war, and can’t take it anymore. It’s about time." — David Malachowski The Daily Freeman - The Daily Freeman

"We have put "Who Wants A Revolution Anyway" into the Local 518 mix. Great catchy tune with lots of energy! You really did a great job with the entire EP! It was hard picking between all the songs. Luther and History are hot hits as well! Well done!" - Dave Michaels WEXT - WEXT RADIO

“Most artists record too often. A handful don’t record enough. Tim Livingston falls into the later category. This blistering CD is a testament to his songwriting skills. His great vocals, coupled with a stellar band, makes the Last Conspirators (Warparty) one of the years most unexpected pleasures! Stand-out track “Walking in Hellfire” is astounding and other outstanding songs like “Tribulation Blues” and “Crash!” make this CD an essential purchase.”
— Jim Barrett Host of Kaleidoscope Radio - Kaleidoscope Radio

(On the Last Conspirators Live) “Well if you really want me to be honest I will. I thought your performance was how should I say, Fuckin’ incredible. The band is top notch and you are a great up front showman. True pro's ! Thanks so much for playing. You guys have set the bar higher for any of the upcoming bands we have. So much energy radiates from the band and as far as lyrics you have so much to say. I Loved it Tim and don’t change a thing. I listened to your CD all the way home. Just keep pumping out some of the best punk rock this area has ever seen and you can quote me.” - Billy Bucher- FreakShow Booking Agency - FreakShow Booking Agency

“Longtime Albany punker Tim Livingston has a new band -- Last Conspirators -- and a
potent new album -- War Party. He's singing protest songs that merge Woody Guthrie
and New Model Army. Dig!” — Michael Eck Performance Place WAMC - Performance Place WAMC (NPR)

“Produced by Chris Fisher (Conehead Budda) at Easter Island Studios, The Last Conspirators’ “When It All Comes Down” is the follow-up to the band’s recent “Warparty,” and it continues with its rocking apocalyptic themes. The Hudson Valley-based band features leader Tim Livingston on vocals, the venerable Al Kash (Savoy Brown, Commander Cody) on drums, Terry Plunkett on guitar and Jeff Sohn on bass. From the ominous “Luther Hamilton Blues,” facetious (we hope) “Long Live TV” (powered by a dreamy surf guitar and impassioned vocal) and the revolutionary taking inventory rant of “Who Wants A Revolution Anyway,” the Last Conspirators rock — and rock hard. There’s a sense of history here, a tip of that hat to what came before, but a firm, non-nostalgic acknowledgement of where we are now, which is needed and appreciated. Real rock for real people”?— David Malachowski The Daily Freeman - The Daily Freeman

“Hi Boys, I enjoyed your music! Makes me wish CBGB's was still rockin. Thank you for letting me listen. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.“
- JACK DOUGLAS, Producer