(photo by Frank Mullen)

Amber Valentine of the band Jucifer-

Dean's newest endorsee is best summed up by excerpts from her bio written by Jeff Clark (Editor, Stomp and Stammer)...

"Athens, Georgia-based Jucifer--- so named because "it had this evil connotation, but also was sort of sweet-sounding", much like the band's music--- began somewhat conventionally in 1994 as a rock trio. But when their drummer split, guitarist Amber Valentine convinced her (then-bassist) boyfriend Ed to climb behind the kit. Although he'd never really played drums before, the move proved pivotal. Something that we decided long ago, our sort of Ôcredo'," Valentine continues, "is that we do whatever we wanna do." That protocol reveals itself further on Jucifer's first album, Calling All Cars On the Vegas Strip. Originally released in August 1998 on the band's Crack Rock label, the remastered Capricorn issue highlights the subtleties and ambitions of Jucifer's ingenuity, qualities that lift them above most rudimentary rock spuds".

"There are horns and violins creeping out of the shadows; menacing basslines; hallucinogenic hip-hop scratching underscoring "A More Luminous Skin" and "Nickel to Roll;" acoustic guitars on the unrelentingly catchy "Hero Worship;" the wet velvet lick of Amber's narcotic whispers in "Superman;" her multi-layered nighttime howls in "Code Escovedo" and "Glamourpuss"... These are just great, spooky rock songs, the kind that crawl under your skin and percolate for days".