This year Valentine's Day is also Valentino's Day – TONY VALENTINO of The Standells, that is! And it's a very punk rock – and sexy – holiday, too, as Tony releases his new single “I'm A Sexy Punk Rocker” on February 14. It's up for pre-sale at www.bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com now and will be streaming worldwide on the street date. Following Tony's new versions of three Standells classics (“Barracuda,” “Dirty Water” and “Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White”) released as hit singles last year, the new track is the first original tune to debut from the sessions which have yielded a new full new album – DIRTY WATER REVISITED – soon to be announced by Big Stir Records and due on Vinyl and CD later this Spring!

Leaping a decade forward from the '60's roots of The Standells, Tony and songwriting partner GARY KALUZA – who also sings and plays bass and guitar on the track – have unleashed a fierce anthem of punk rock rebellion that's nostalgic and fresh all at once. “It's still 1979 in my mind,” Kaluza howls as Tony churns out riffs and licks with his well-honed signature garage-punk sound. The connection between the Sunset Strip heyday of the garage-rock late '60s and the punk-rock renaissance in the same setting some ten years later couldn't be clearer.

While Tony can certainly say he “started in LA / before the pay-to-play” as the song declares, he's known for the classic garage rock music of The Standells. But his complete embrace of the '70s hardcore sound shouldn't come as any surprise. “People have been calling me The Godfather Of Punk for a long time now, because of how much my guitar sound influenced those early punks, in LA and all over the world” says Valentino. “Writing and recording this song was my chance to prove it!” And that he does, as punks and former flower children alike will surely agree.

“I'm A Sexy Punk Rocker” is one of a pair of new originals which join reimagined recordings eight Standells classics on the album DIRTY WATER REVISITED. Together they paint a vibrant picture of not just Tony's legacy on the LA and worldwide garage rock scene, but also where he is now. After six decades of touring and recording, all of that energy – call it garage rock, punk rock, or just plain rock and roll – is still at TONY VALENTINO's command. Stay tuned for news of the new LP's release as the year unfolds... and Happy Valentino's Day!