Nostalgia isn't what it used to be

Process is Dead

2010-05-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Process is Dead - S/T [Bummed Out Records, 1998]

While this blog's devise seems more and more inevitable as my stack of unblogged personal supply of 90's regional punk vinyl gets smaller and smaller (only a few records and tapes left before I'm dry), recent excavations, contributions and discoveries are helping us cheat death more and more.

A recent trip to East Nashville's The Groove Record shop not only dug up yesterday's High Strung 7", but this self-titled gem from Nashville's Process is Dead. In an era when Victory Records was reigning supreme over an army of vegan straightedge "individuals" in matching cut-off camo shorts and beaded necklaces, Process is Dead seemed to be representing the Nashville's own version of that movement rather well. Dallas Thomas from Booby Hatch and High Strung was in this band at one point (though, not on this recording). Other members went on to play in Symptoms and Here We Go, Boys. If you don't remember these guys, you probably know what to expect: loud, heavy riffs of cacophony distortion, syncopated beats, and screams akin to a 10,000,000 dead animal souls crying out from the walk-in freezer at McDonald's. Enjoy!

High Strung - See You at the Bottom 7"

2010-05-17T16:31:00.001-07:00

High Strung - See You at the Bottom [ Denied a Custom, 1998?]

If you're not familiar with High Strung, I blogged about them before. Didn't know this record existed until I found it at East Nashville's The Groove recently. Judging by the price, and the Japanese sticker/liner notes, this is perhaps an import or maybe just cleverly designed to look like one. Who knows. Who cares. It's got 7 cuts of anthemic politically-charged, live for the moment high speed punk rock on it from what were future members of Asschapel, Snakeskin Machinegun, Hans Condor, Pine Hill Haints, Natchez Shakers, etc etc With all the liner notes and handbills jammed into this thing, nowhere is there a year indicating when it was released. I'm pretty almost positively sure this band disbanded by 1999 or so, so I'm guessing around 1998?

Tres Kids - The Fast Food Haunted House Conspiracy

2010-05-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Tres Kids - The Fast Food Haunted House Conspiracy [Bear Records, 1996?]

Tres Kids are a pretty standard hardcore trio from Athens, GA. They played my town twice that I recall. I remember the first time liking them a lot. But the second time not so much, thinking they'd changed their sound considerably. I was also 18 and very drunk at both shows, so who knows. I do remember at the second show giving the singer a very hard time, pretending he was Rivers Cuomo (he did look a lot like Rivers Cuomo) and that I was his biggest fan (I was an extremely big Weezer fan). Dude was a little freaked out. But I was also convinced he was hitting on my girlfriend, so I felt justified at the time in not relenting.

Half these songs were recorded live on what I'm assuming is a college radio show. Not the best recording, but in terms of punk rock, it's as good a recording as any. The rest were apparently recorded at Rivers Cuomo's house. There's a cover of Subhuman's "Mickey Mouse is Dead", which i'm guessing no one ever bothered to license. Enjoy!

Alabama Mysteries pt. III: Decatur! - "City Limit"

2010-05-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Decatur! - "City Limt" [You Not Sneaky, 1995]

The third and final (for now) installment of my 'Bama mystery series comes in the form of a band called Decatur!

First, a little background for those not from Alabama:

Decatur is a neighboring city to my hometown of Huntsville, known (at least at the time) mostly, almost solely, for having a water park and an unclaimed baggage store and little else. From what I can glean from the sleeve, these kids hailed proudly from there and shortly before or after making this recording (judging by the mailing address provided) moved to Auburn, Al for school and released this on their own You Not Sneaky label.

The tunes are about what you'd expect from a small town pop-punk band in the post-Green Day era punk wave. Judging from the lyrics and liner notes, this is a record made for shits and gigs intended mostly just to amuse themselves and their friends. Which isn't to say it's bad. Shit is pretty catchy and worth a listen.

Alabama Mysteries pt. II: Hinge - "Offcenter"

2010-05-06T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hinge - Offcenter [Rhetoric Records, 1995]

I don't remember exactly why I bought this record, but I'm guessing it was because it was released on what I thought at the time was the same Rhetoric Records label that released The Larry Brrrds, Teen Idols and the like (it isn't). I don't recall whether the fact the sleeve states clearly that this band is from Prattville, Alabama had anything to do with it or not.

Only upon listening to it now do I recall that I gave this a good many spins at one time. To look at the phoned-in cover art, you'd never guess this disc holds some pretty rockin'-ass ams. It reminds me a good bit of early Kill Rock Stars bands like Slant 6, Adickdid, Tribe 8, Versus, etc - crudely recorded, dissonant, jangled messes of guitars forging some angsty but catchy tunes.

But the mystery remains, who is Hinge? is this their only record? Are they still playing? Are they in different bands now? Have they grown up, started families, and put punk rock away all together? If you have any information on the history or whereabouts of this band or its members, comment below.

Alabama Mysteries pt. I: Bert - Ambient Doug

2010-05-04T08:33:00.001-07:00

Bert - Ambient Doug [House O'Pain, 1996]

Here's a mysterious band called Bert. This record was given to me recently (and by recently, I mean a year ago and that I'm just now getting around to posting it) so I have no personal history with this band. But, from what I gather off the sleeve, they were from Montgomery, Alabama so they definitely qualify for this blog. The best story I can give you is on the back of their record sleeve:

The music on this piece of plastic was originally recorded back in 1992 for a twelve song cassette called SLOP... but we can't seem to remember who the hell recorded it or where any of it took place. The vocals back then were spewed from the mouth of Larry Terrell (who also co-wrote the lyrics), but the ones you'll hear on this record were re-recorded by Moamar at Derek Paletto's Glass Onion Studios, in Montgomery, Al on May 16, 1996. The muse was remixed a few days later.

Okay, that doesn't really tell you much at all. All you really need to know is that this record has some awesome noisy, jangled post-punk/grunge/hardcore rock that's not so much fast or heavy as it is noisy and abrasive – and still yet, kinda melodic?

[update]: Mystery Solved! from the comments:

bert was a band from Montgomery, Al that were around for five or so years. You can still buy some of their later works online from Chicken Ranch Records at http://www.chickenranchrecords.com. All of the previous members went on to form various other bands and just recently two of them started a band together called "No". Here is a link to their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/musicofno

Gimcrack / Candy Snatchers Split 7"

2009-08-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Gimcrack / Candy Snatchers Split 7" [Stiff Pole Records, 1995?]

I was fortunate enough to pick up this little gem during one night when Gimcrack played my town back in 1995. I remember popping a dubbed cassette of these two cathartically melodic jams every day into my tape deck when I was 17, on my way to my summer job (also bought a t shirt that was too big, and wound up cutting up and pinning it to the back of my jacket that fall). I understood at the time they were from Birmingham, Alabama, but fortunately for all of us, they've got a Myspace that clears up any speculation. Turns out they're from a tiny town called Atmore which I'd never heard of. The rest of the story, in their own words, is as follows:

Four kids, who grew up in the south, started kicking back at their one horse town. They formed Gimcrack in a rotten old shed in the country and pulled out the sounds that were beating around inside their heads. They played various places around the gulf coast, but gravitated towards Pensacola where they were able to share the stage with many cool local and touring bands. Gimcrack hit the highway two summers in a row to spread the infection and see the country. The band was alive from ’93 to ’96, had an album and an EP on Stiff Pole Records, another EP on Backspin Records, as well as songs on numerous compilations. Moving on as many bands do, Gimcrack was able to leave a deep impression in the thick mud of south Alabama and make many friends while doing so.

The Candy Snatchers also have a myspace, but their bio is way too long to post here. This was a substantially more popular band from Florida, but I never gave their side of this record much of a listen. Not sure why, because listening now, it's pretty damn good. If you want to know more about them, check them out here.

Torture Kitty - "The Kid with the Crazy Eyes + 5

2009-07-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

Torture Kitty - The Kid with the Crazy Eyes + 5 [House O' Pain, 1996]

Though, I never owned this record before it was generously donated to the blog by House O' Pain Records, I remember this band well -- mostly because I hated them. However, I was one of the few who did, as they played Huntsville rather often to bigger and bigger crowds. Listening to this now, they weren't so bad. I think it's just the same haterade i'm spilling even today when everyone is gushing over a band I can't see the big deal in.

Anyways, what you got herea Knoxville, TN band playing the kind of mildly-threatening hardcore pop punk that was all the rage in the 90s a la The Queers, Screeching Weasel, and Squirtgun. Also of note is that this record was produced by none other than Mass Georgini who has produced and/or played in all those previous influences mentioned.

The Beautys - "Sweetheart! Sweetheart!" 7"

2009-07-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Beautys - Sweetheart! Sweetheart! EP [House O' Pain, 1997]

Another, much appreciated donation from House O' Pain. These guys hailed from Ft. Wayne, IN, which may be slightly out of my jurisdiction, but since when is it punk rock to start following rules and shit? Once again, I'll use this rare opportunity to let the band's Myspace profile speak for itself:

1995-2003 The Beautys are a hot blooded trio of rockers that hail from the seemingly innocent city of Fort Wayne Indiana. They have toured the U.S. several times and have shared the stage with such rock-n-roll luminaries as: the New Bomb Turks, Electric Frankenstein, The Dwarves, The Donnas [the name dropping could go on and on]. The Beautys have also garnered good reviews for their independent releases, as well as their releases for labels such as: Hopeless/ Sub City, Mutant Pop, and House-o Pain records. The Beautys play a wicked combo of sleazy,high-energy punk rock. Whether singing songs about the blue collar angst of living in a soul sucking factory town, or ripping it up in the key of hangover flat, these freaks really mean it. So what if 1/3 of the band is a card carrying estrogen factory? This is no shy, retiring, girly-poo kind of set up going on here. Chica Baby swings from angel to demon as she sings and hammers away on her guitar while Erick and Salsa Dave lay down the beats the old fashioned way, fast and hard!

Stupid Americanz

2009-07-02T07:22:00.001-07:00

Stupid Americanz - Lost Cause EP [House O' Pain, 1991]

Stupid Americanz were a hardcore punk band from Nashville, featuring a pre-Teen Idols' Phillip Hill on either guitar or bass. According to its catalog number (HOP-001), this is also legendary Music City punk label House O' Pain's first release.

Somehow this record found a great deal of popularity in my home town 4 years after its release, long after the band had dissolved, and understandably so. It's packing a dangerous combo of fury & melody in the vein of Bad Religion, but instead of politics, their songs are all about zombies, beer, and giving your friends a hard time for no reason. If I were in the habit of rating these records with a star system (and I've considered it), I'd give this thing 4 out of 5.

Pink Lincolns - Sumo Fumes 7"

2009-07-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

Pink Lincolns - Sumo Fumes 7" [Stiff Pole Records, 1993]

I feel like I'm finally catching up on some Florida coverage lately. First with the Stun Guns, then Load, and now this 7" I picked up once upon a time by the Pink Lincolns. These guys were a very popular band in their day, and are apparently still rockin' it.

From Wikipedia:

The Pink Lincolns are a punk rock band formed in Tampa, Florida in 1986 by vocalist Chris Barrows and guitarist Dorsey Martin. The rest of the lineup has frequently changed and currently includes bassist Kevin Coss and drummer Jeff Fox. The band has released five studio albums and six EP's as well as splits with Screeching Weasel and The Queers.^[1]^[2] The cover for the bands album Suck and Bloat was drawn by Iggy Pop, and their album Pure Swank was produced by Bill Stevenson of The Descendents.^[3]

This single isn't very representative of the band. One side has a cover of X Ray Specs "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!", and an uncredited track I'm assuming is an original and possibly called "Monsters". The other side has a cover of "I Got You" by Split Enz.

Teen Idols / Mulligan Stu Split.

2009-07-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Teen Idols / Mulligan Stu Split 7" [Rhetoric Records, 1995?]

If you follow this blog at all, you've probably read enough about the Teen Idols to get an idea of who they are and what they sound like. Mulligan Stu is a little punk pop band from Rockford, Illinois who are apparently still playing. Teen Idols do the original "Peanut Butter Girl" and a cover of Lindsay Buckingham's "Holiday Road" from the Vacation movies. Mulligan Stu contribute the infectious "I Used to Love You" as well as a cover of "Crash" by the Primitives.

Load

2009-06-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Load
Lumberjack Death Luge [House O'Pain, 1994]
+
Sleestack [House O' Pain 1993]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Load. Given these two gems were donated to us here by House O' Pain Records in the name of preserving their historic value -- and not to mention that it is absolutely impossible to Google a band with a name like "Load" -- I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about this band. The main reason I'm posting it here regardless is that it's pretty fucking awesome.

What I can tell you about them is that they were a dirty southern rock band from Miami who played some noisy, heavy, reckless 90s style sludge rock in the vein of Jesus Lizard, TAD, The Cows and the like. [more insight provided in the comments courtesy of Donnie OldSchool].

Teen Idols - "Old Days, Old Ways" 7"

2009-06-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Teen Idols - Old Days, Old Ways [House O' Pain, 1993]

Teen Idols are easily one of Nashville's most successful punk bands, and maybe one of the only to actually outgrow this town. Of course, being a successful punk rock band really only amounts to so much, and pretty much no one I know around these parts now has no idea who they are/were. Still, this success is pretty well documented online. Much unlike 99% of the bands I feature on here, there’s no shortage of info on the Teen Idols. They even have their on Wikipedia page.

Musically, they played speedy, poppy punk rock that was heavy on harmonies and took strong influence the 1950’s both sonically and aesthetically, sporting leather jackets, pompadours, and vintage microphones during their shows.

The band had a ton of lineup changes in their time with the only constant being the group's mastermind, Phillip Hill. Hill is an extremely talented guy with a background in the technical side of things. He eventually found himself more useful and successful behind the scenes producing and playing with the likes of Anti-Flag, Rise Against, Screeching Weasel, The Independents, Common Rider, Even in Blackouts and The Queers.

Teen Idols went on to release stuff on Honest Don's and Fueled by Ramen (where fellow Nashvillian's Paramore would find success many years later), but this record here is their very first, released on Nashville's own House O'Pain Records.

According to their Wiki page, the band has gotten back together and signed with Fat Wreck Chords. Their Myspace page confirms at least a bit of this with quite a few shows booked around the Midwest and Northeast.

Stun Guns - "I Can't Believe It's Not Murder" 7"

2009-06-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Stun Guns - I Can't Believe It's Not Murder! [Star Crunch Records, 1993?]

I just realized last night, that although I ripped it more than a year ago, I've never posted this little gem from Miami's Stun Guns. Since my insight is limited to what little background info I've read online and the two times I saw them in their prime, I'll use the rare opportunity of letting their Myspace tell you their story..

They sure didn't feel like "glory days"... 1992. It was hot in Miami, and the city was wrecked from Hurricane Andrew. George Kelley and Mark Fehan from the Trash Monkeys got together with Paul Lecours of Lethal Yellow. Songs were written, beers were consumed, they soon enough hooked up with another once-Trash Monkey's little brother, Andrew Ross Powell, on drums, and started playing as the Stun Guns. A demo was recorded at Sync studios on Miami Beach, and word seemed to be getting around about the songs on the tape. Word also seemed to be getting around about the live shows, which were drunken blurs of flying bottles and chairs and endless guitar tuning, with a couple of songs in there somewhere. People liked this, it seemed. In 93 or 94 Mark had a good idea. He left the band and joined up with Harry Pussy, a band with yet another Trash Monkey, and did some real tours where they got paid and stuff. The Stun Guns went on a brief hiatus/drinking binge, and when the woke up they had Brian Bush from Chickenhead/Los Canadians on guitar. The people at the shows got drunk, a 7" was recorded and released by Miami's Starcrunch Records, a live song appeared on a comp from Space Caddette records, a small fortune was spent on beer at the store by George's house, AND a tour was planned. Two months with the Shaffers from Dalton,GA, Summer '95. The Shaffers, it turned out, were the coolest people on the planet, and this was probably the best time of our lives, except for that last week, but never mind that. While on the west coast we hooked up with the members of FYP who put us up in San Pedro for like a week, fed us, got us stoned, and eventually released our next 7" on their label, Recess Records. Well, 1996-97 on, some more touring was done, shows were played, and we even recorded again. But after a while things fell apart. I mean, we were a pretty volatile bunch. We even got together for a couple of shows after we all moved away from Miami. These shows were mostly in Chattanooga (the polar opposite of Miami), and ranged from great to so bad we didn't even make it through one song. Well, that's how we rolled.

You can find even more loud, mid-temp, tough-guy punk-n-roll from the Stun Guns over at Region Rock and More.

Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot: Discography

2009-06-04T21:20:00.001-07:00

Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot - Complete Discography [House O' Pain, 1993 - 1995]

Oh my friends, how I wish I could whisk you away in a Delorean back to 1994 and allow you to witness the spectacle, the experience involved in seeing the Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot. Imagine, if you will, a stage full of grown men dressed in half-assed drag, one of them sometimes dressed as a Mexican wrestler, playing pulverizing punk rock while a roomful of teenage boys beat the shit out of their peers. It was almost as if this music was chemically engineered in a bathtub full of Sudafed to inspire pubescent males to take out their adolescent frustrations on each other.

I've already said about everything I can about this band in a post I made roughly around this time last year. What that post is missing, though, is two records to complete the total output this band had to offer in their short stay on Earth. Thanks entirely to the band's guitarist Don Kendall, I now possess the missing links in the Fun Girls evolution: their first 7", Hi Doll!, and their last, Diary of a Madwoman. I've posted them here in conjunction with the Lunch Box set and split with The Slackers in case you'd like to snag it all in one fell swoop. I've even tossed in a bonus track, "When I See You Again" from the Nashville Coming Fire compilation just a few posts down. To my knowledge this is more or less the whole of their discography. If there's other stuff out there, I don't know about it.

Rice Harvester

2009-06-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Rice Harvester - S/T 7" [Rice Harvester Records, 1997]

Greg moved to Huntsville by way of Birmingham in a Ford Festiva with little else aside from the clothes on his back. He made a lot of zines in his spare time and found himself in high demand as a drummer, beating the skins for The Grumpies and Joey Tampon and the Toxic Shocks.

Harry moved up from St. Mary's, GA. He had some serious bass chops and made excellent use for them in acts The Wops and The 3D's. He was often unwashed and smelly, but was simultaneously one of the nicest fellows ever to cross paths with most.

Both these guys joined forces with drummer Ben Rhyne (565 Burnouts, The Counterclockwise) to form Rice Harvester-- a scrappy, fierce, care-free and semi-melodic trio named after one of Greg's zines. They relocated to Chattanooga shortly before the new millennium and I personally never heard from any of them again.

Thanks to Region Rock and More for this one, and be sure to check that blog out for more regional Southern punk not represented here.

Booby Hatch

2009-06-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Booby Hatch - Hip Shaking Asscore [House O' Pain, 1997]

Much like in the 80s, many punks in the 90s turned their favor towards metal in the latter part of the decade. Craving something faster, harder, and more challenging to play, the musicians who had the chops were understandably in need of something just a little more.

Featuring members of then recently defunct bands Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot and Highstrung, came Nashville's Booby Hatch. Combining punk's simple fundamentals, the brute force of hardcore thrash and some choice licks from the intermediate guitar player's handbook, this band brought out a brash, bludgeoning style that makes you want to put on a leather jacket, grab a skateboard and brave a drained swimming pool -- all while swirling your hair in a windmill fashion. In all seriousness, this record isn't fucking around. It's not for the faint of heart. But if you think you can handle it, this is some very recommended listening.

Most of this band went on to form the even more metal Asschapel

Rise of the Nashville Compilatons pt. IV: Opry Outcasts

2009-06-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Opry Outcasts [Doug Moody Productions, 1989]

In this final installment in the Nashville compilation series, I bring you a gem excavated from way back in 1989. Now, back in '89, I was getting my school on in rural Alabama, pumpin' my fist to some Cinderella and Skid Row, trying to grow my hair long like Nikki Sixxx, and sewing KISS patches to the back of my denim jacket. Meanwhile, in Nashville, a mysterious mastermind by the name of Doug Moody was putting out slabs of vinyl full of what (at least he assumed) was some of the best rock n roll in town (on gorgeous purple vinyl no less). Half a dozen posts down, there's a Rednecks in Pain record also released by Moody. Like that one, this record has at least 7 record labels listed here: Superseven Records, Thrash Records, Bootleg Records, Ghetto-Way Records, and Mystic Records -- all under the blanket of Doug Moody Productions. Did he run all these labels? Is this the same Doug Moody Productions listed on the Great Balls of Fire OST?

The aformentioned Rednecks in Pain also appear on this comp with what may not be their best recording, but by far one of their best songs. You also get May-Day who contribute some psychedelic proto-grunge to the mix, Caustic Solutions who've laid down some decent thrashcore, and Word Uprising is a hard rockin' southern band who sounds about like their name would suggest. I recommend getting at least for the R.I.P. track.

And this concludes the Music City compage for now -- at least until I get some more.

Rise of the Nashville Compilatons pt.III: Nashville Coming-Fire

2009-06-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Nashville Coming Fire [Vorgo Pass, 1994]

Of all the comps in this series, this is by far my favorite. Upon listening to it, I realized I actually used to crank a cassette copy of this given to me by a friend -- not knowing exactly what it was. I estimate this was released sometime in 1994 -- most of these neglect to put the copyright date anywhere in the liner notes, as copyrights arent' very punk rock. It contains what may very well be Nashville's best known 90s punk bands: Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot, Teen Idols, and The Phanton 5ive. It's also an exponentially poppier record than that scary cover would let on.

I've written a great deal about the Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot before and will post more soon. All you need to know right here is that they were a cross-dressing, hardcore punk ensemble that fared well beyond their home base. Again, a more in depth look at Teen Idols is coming, but for now, just know they were a 50's inspired pop punk group, heavy on harmonies and easily the most successful of any out of this era. The Phantom 5ive are without a doubt the best known - if not only known - instrumental surf group from Music City.

The rest of the bands on this comp actually seem to be little known outside Nashville. I did see Ballpeen Hernia in Huntsville play at some point when I was 15. My memories in conjunction with their Myspace tell me they were kind of a traditional street punk outfit [click those links for more tunes and videos of them playing on the steps of the Nashville Parthenon]. Uncle Daddy is of the upbeat, poppy variety. Not only haven't I heard of Mount, their oblique name makes them impossible to Google. But going from this song alone, I can tell you they were an all-girl trio who played some down-n-dirty Seattle-stlye grunge rock.

As always, any comments you have to fill in the blanks are more than welcome.

Hardcore Time Capsule: Old School Huntsville Resurrected

2009-05-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Angry Kids Unite: Old School Huntsville Hardcore Vol. I

While this is for all intents, purposes and otherwise, a blog about the 90s, I recently stumbled upon a goldmine that enabled me to take just a few more steps back into my hometown's humble beginnings in punk rock. Peer Pressure Productions has done an amazing and thorough job archiving Huntsville, Alabama's 1st wave of hardcore punk from the early 80's on up through 1995 or so.

It goes without saying that this stuff was a couple years before my time, though, I was definitely aware of it well before I was able to participate. My first brush with that scene came when I was handed a flyer while waiting in line to see Suicidal Tendencies open for Queensryche at the VBCC in 1991. I wanted very badly to go, but was instantly denied access by Mom. She said it was probably dangerous and that there would be gangs there. Of course, there was no need to argue, 'cause parents just don't understand. The flyer though, featuring the names of bands like I.R.S., Skeletal Earth, and Random Conflict (all featured here) with the headline "Angry Kids Unite", stayed tacked to my wall for the next 6 or 7 years.

Getting back on track, I assembled this compilation myself, cherry-picking some of my favorite tracks from Peer Pressure's overwhelmingly large archive. Though they may have been living in the butt crack of America, kids in 'Bama had plenty to be pissed off about in the Regan era. This collection features tunes by Alabama's alleged first punk band The Knockabouts, and one of its longest running, Random Conflict (both of whom I've deemed important enough to post about separately in the coming weeks). Other bands include Monster God/Dog, Humanicide, Snapdragon, Insomnia, Skeletal Earth and I.R.S.

If you too are interested in this stuff, by way of either nostlagia or sheer curiosity, I strongly suggest you check out Peer Pressure Productions' Myspace profile, where you'll find a great deal of it ripe for the taking.

Rise of the Nashville Compilatons pt.II : Our Scene Still Sucks

2009-05-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Our Scene Still Sucks [House O' Pain, 1997]

This is the sequel to the compilation I posted the other day. The Nashville Scene article I quoted was actually in reference to this release, but revealing that would have interrupted my flow a little. Since I've know idea who 3/4 of these bands were, I'll let the full clipping tell the story:

Our Scene Still Sucks, a brand-new House O’Pain EP arriving Saturday. The record gathers tracks from several local bands, ranging from the pop-punk thrash of Situation No Win to the grinding hardcore of Process Is Dead. This time, however, the music actually shows signs of health in the local scene, according to House O’Pain’s Donnie Kendall.
“What it’s intended to say is that the Nashville scene doesn’t suck,” says Kendall, co-owner and cofounder of the pioneering local punk label. For the first EP, Kendall notes, House O’Pain had to work to scrape up decent tracks. This time around, he had a wish list of 15 bands, and of those he said maybe 10 submitted quality tapes.
Does the scene still have problems? Sure. Press coverage of punk and indie rock in Nashville is usually minimal, Kendall says, and a brief flurry of outside interest in the local scene seems to have abated. “Last year, and the year before, the kind of music we make started to come out a little,”he explains. “But it’s slipped back underground, which is fine with us.”

For a glimpse into the underground, sojourn to Lucy’s 8 p.m. Saturday night for the Our Scene Still Sucks record-release party, which features Brown Towel, The Vibes, Process Is Dead, Situation No Win, and Junkie War Stories. EPs will be on sale at the door, and the cover charge is $5. And if you really want to keep the local scene from sucking, go to a show and make some noise—or pick up a guitar and form your own band. As Donnie Kendall says, “If more people get into it, it’ll only get better.”

Thee Autobots

2009-05-31T15:29:00.000-07:00

Thee Autobots - S/T 7" [Robbie Van Winkle Rekkids, 1996]

It’s been easy thus far to write about almost all the bands on this blog so far in that, to my knowledge, none of them have read or are even aware of the stuff I’ve posted here. But given the frontman for this next selection is a regular contributor by way of informative, insightful comments, I’m a bit more self-conscious than usual.

From the ashes of Huntsville’s least understood, but most notable nerd-punk band Themack, rose singer/songwriter/guitarist Jack Themack (aka Jack Renuzit, now Jack Saturn) and his then new ensemble Thee Autobots. While Themack always seemed like they just wanted to rock out while coming off as misfits by default, Thee Autobots took every opportunity to stand out, even adding a saxophone player to the mix. The pop cultures references didn't stop with the Transformers-inspired name, with Jack and Co. cramming ironic, dated hip hop references, tongue-in-cheek odes to heavy metal, admiration for 80s breakdancing, and goofy samples in every open space.

The result is an eclectic pop-flavored collection of catchy heartfelt punk songs that takes me back to a time before “pop punk” was synonymous with whiny bullshit. Each cover was originally black & white with the Autobots logo hand-colored red.

Thee Autobots lasted little more than a year, and allegedly have at least 16 other songs released elsewhere or not at all, which Jack has been promising to put out for a few years now. Maybe this post will increase the demand? Jack lives in Portland now and is involved with such projects as Natural Bridges and The Online Romance. Bassist Doug Lehman moved to Nashville in the mid 90s and plays in the signficantly known garage rock band The Clutters. Their drummer Solomon still lives in Huntsville last I checked, playing in a rootsy bar band called The Cracker Jacks.

Rise of the Nashville Compilatons pt. 1: Our Scene Sucks

2009-05-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Our Scene Sucks 7" [House O' Pain, 1993]

From the annals of time and the archives of Music City history, I introduce to you now this four part series featuring those sure-fire golden nuggets of punk rock history -- the coveted compilation 7”.

The first is a tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating package titled Our Scene Sucks by House O’ Pain Records. While I like to inject a little personal insight to each of these reviews, I was 14 when this was released and lived about 100 miles south of Nashville, so most of these bands are unfamiliar to me. But luckily, the Nashville Scene is a little more on top of things. They wrote this about the comp in 1997:

Five years ago, House O’Pain Records issued a broadside of a compilation EP under the modest title Our Scene Sucks. The music was snotty, sloppy, and loud—a ragged artifact of underground Nashville in the early 1990s, when House O’Pain and the appearance of Lucy’s Record Shop triggered a burst of local activity. Back then, the EP’s title might as well have been the mantra of the city’s disenfranchised teenage punk audience.

“What it’s intended to say is that the Nashville scene doesn’t suck,” says Kendall, co-owner and cofounder of the pioneering local punk label... [Donnie] Kendall notes, House O’Pain had to work to scrape up decent tracks.

Of the four bands on this comp: Floor, Lethargic, Canibal Holiday and Teen Idols -- the only one I’m familiar with is Teen Idols, who I saw and enjoyed many times in their prime. But, there’ll be plenty more on them later once I gather up a little more of their catalog. In the meantime, enjoy this 7” time capsule and all its DIY glory and anticipate more of them to come.

Summer Vaction Music: No Fraud

2009-05-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

No Fraud - Babewatch 7" [Truth Music, 1996]

So, it’s summer time. I’m sure lots of you Southerners are prepping for your sunny vacations down in Florida (aka, “the poor man’s California”), so I thought I’d dip down there myself for a post on some FLA punk rock.

Once upon a time, I published a little zine called Urine Idiot. It was a badly written, sometimes funny xeroxed rag full of half-baked ideas I usually half stole from someone else. But despite its flaws, it did make its way into bigger zines like Factsheet 5 and Maximum Rock n Roll, and around the continent via various distros and the like. Well, somehow the guys in No Fraud got a copy. Given the “Baywatch” spoof theme of this record, and the fact that I’d ironically interviewed an actual cast member of the show, they thought they’d send me a copy to review. And hey, 13 years later, I’ve actually gotten around to it. In all fairness, I never actually published another issue of my zine after the point in time they sent me this. I’d moved out of my parents house, gotten a girlfriend, and no longer had the surplus of mind-numbing free time I once did.

As far as background, I’ve managed to find a little on the web -- even a Myspace that may or may not be theirs. It’s also likely the No Fraud I’ve been finding info on is a completely different band, but, if I’m correct, these guys came from Venice, Florida (the "poor man's Venice") and had been around since the 80’s, starting up in that cold, flavorless, spraypaint-and-stencil, late-Reagan orgy of thrash, hardcore, and skate punk.

What you get here definitely sounds descended from that ilk, but a little more light-hearted than the usual. There’s some goofy, ham-fisted skits between songs about Baywatch (“Babewatch”), Milwaukee’s Best (“The Beast”), and the usual anti-authority/society stuff. In traditional fashion, they keep it short, sweet, and cram as many jams into a slab of vinyl as possible (7 in this case). Enjoy it, and don't forget to crank it loud on your way down to Panama city.

Bonus Links:
Early No Fraud 7" courtesy of True Punk Metal
Even more music from what may or may not be the same band.

Highstrung

2009-05-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

Highstrung - self-titled 7" [House O' Pain, 1996?]

So, I may not have grown up in Nashville, but I’ve been here long enough to pick up some clues, pieces, and tidbits about the old days from the folks who were there. Much of this info has come in handy now as I write up this little piece on Highstrung, as I’ve found almost literally NO information on them whatsoever (and of course, I rely on your comments to compensate for the insight that I lack).

Highstrung played my hometown several times in the mid-90’s. And though I never caught them, I did wind up playing a show with them in ’98, opening for The Groovie Ghoulies. Young, obnoxious, and ready to fuck shit up, Highstrung weren’t anything special in the way of their tunes, but their live shows were exceptionally entertaining and their members went on to make some pretty great music in various other bands.

If I understand what I’ve heard correctly, Highstrung actually started out as a band called Fecal Matter. Then only two members, they were both somewhere in the ripe young age range of 13-15. Allegedly, there was a documentary made about them -- and I may or may not have just missed them opening for Propaghandi and Cavity in Birmingham, AL in 1996. Legend has it, their mother did not approve of the “Fecal Matter” moniker, and the band wound up changing the name to Highstrung. After adding a few members, they became the band you hear here on this 7”. The tunes are about what you’d expect from a pack of teenage boys with penchant for speedy beats and beer and an aversion to society, convention, authority, etc.

Eric and Dallas of Highstrung later formed thrash punk outfit Booby Hatch (with Donnie Kendall and Chris Fox of Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot), and considerably successful. full-on thrash metal band Asschapel (also with Chris Fox). Highstrung drummer Roger later joined Pine Hill Haints, Natchez Shakers, and fronted Snakeskin Machinegun.

Rednecks in Pain

2009-05-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Rednecks in Pain:
Sick Semen cassette [demo, 1988]
Your Greasy Granny Got Holes in Her Panties EP [Thrashing Mad, 1989]
The Tribal Dance Sequence of the Yippin' Moo EP [Doug Moody Productions, 1990]
[all three in one file]

As we embark on this foray into Nashville’s 90s punk history, the most logical place to start seemed to be Rednecks in Pain. Since no official information is available to me at current (Google searches are fruitless), the following background info is only what i’ve pieced together.

R.I.P. seemed to be together from about 1988 - 1990 (give or take a year). They released two demos, and two EP’s and remain pretty legendary around these parts. Equipped with a goofy, country boy sense of humor, a nasty disposition, and hardcore punk hooks that could snap your neck, I don’t doubt these guys used to put on a hell of a show.

Singer Cat and guitarist Don Kendall went on to form Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot, who were featured on this blog last year. While the music between the two isn’t a whole lot different most of the time, R.I.P. were a little less focused in terms of style. Tracks like “AK-47” and “Painted a Pretty Picture” stray into hard rock, metal, and psychedelic alternarock territory.

Provided here is 3/4 of their discography. Their second demo cassette, Sick Semen, is mostly there for posterity. I did my best to make it as listenable as possible, but unfortunately, I think this is as good as it gets for 20-year-old DIY cassette release.

Bonus: a little digging turned up this video of a band that may or may not be the same Rednecks in Pain:

The Nashville Motherload: Our First Donation

2009-05-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sending out a big thanks -- and encouraging you to as well -- to Don Kendall (formerly of Rednecks in Pain, Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot, Booby Hatch and one of the folks behind House O' Pain Records). Don unloaded a few pounds of old school Nashville punk vinyl on me this morning. So as I make my way through it, this blog is going to be very Nashville-heavy for the next few months.

If you're an old school Music City punker, prepare for a flood of nostalgia and tell all your old homies to stop in from time to time and check it out. If you're like me and heard most of this from a distance - or just enjoy this kind of shit in general, you too are in luck.

bonus link: TMQ Zine Archive has some more info on Don's House O' Pain zine.

The Liberty Caps

2009-04-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

The Liberty Caps - EP #1 [Darwin Records, 1994]

For a guy who hates ska-punk as much as I do, I sure as hell bought a lot of it back in the day. But hey, I was young. I made a lot of questionable decisions: blue hair, LSD, and super baggy jeans to name a few.

Which brings us back to Huntsville and the skatalogical sounds of The Liberty Caps. The 'Caps were around a good while before I came onto the scene. They were among the first local bands I heard mentioned often in conjunction with Huntsville's long-time rock dive institution The Tip Top Cafe -- which is where I probably saw them each time they played (except for Huntsville's annual music festival, The Big Spring Jam).

I don't know much else about them, except to say they were a reasonably popular band in Huntsville, they were around from 1993 to 1998 (and again from 2006 - 2008), and that they played some unintentionally sloppy straightforward 3rd wave ska fused with other roots-based genres.

Java Christ

2009-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Java Christ - Songs to Confuse Slam Dancers [House O' Pain 1995 - 96?]

I noticed lately, especially with all the Huntsville posts, the Nashville scene has gone a little neglected. This is slightly ironic, I guess, since I now live in Nashville, but actually not so much considering Nashville and Huntsville didn't cross paths much back in the day. Aside from the Teen Idols and Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot, Music City bands didn't frequent Rocket City so much.

Another exception to this is Java Christ. I distinctly remember seeing them on up to three occasions, most especially at Huntsville High School's "Grapefruit Ball" [a public school sanctioned event where I got my first taste of many many classic bands]. The title of this record, Songs to Confuse Slam Dancers, I'm guessing is in reference to the band's tendency to switch it up between ska and hardcore punk -- which of course, isn't at all uncommon in the slightest, I'll try and refrain from slipping yet again into a tangent regarding just how low a threshold I have for ska-punk fusion and focus a little more on this band, even though I know absolutely nothing about them. Fortunately, they have a Myspace that sheds a little more light on their history:

In the Spring of 1995 geoff and nate were in a full-on ska band(w/horns and everything) called Inspector 12.they needed a new drummer so they asked dave to join but there never was a complete practice with all band members present.so geoff,nate and dave decided to just get together and see what would happen as a punk trio.things started to come together and nate recruited ex-bandmate josh (from KY & the Jellies) to sing and so there they were bustin' their chops in a hot-ass garage for a couple of months.the first show was held in the same afformentioned garage along with bands Brazen Youth and Lojaque & the Flaming Nahdbits in dave's backyard at the somewhat legendary(to some anyways) Rosebank residence. As August rolled around there was a series of shows booked at Lucy's Record Shop,The warehouse in Clarksville,The 'Boro,and Haye's House.from there things seemed to take off for about three and a half years the band played shows pretty consistently until 1998.

And that's a hell of a lot more than I could have told you. I will say this title as well as the ska/punk brand isn't all that accurate. The first track, "Gasoline" is actually the only one featuring that special, soulless ska-flavoring bastardized in the way that only suburban white boys can do it. But it's also the catchiest tune on here and one of my faves -- and also the first and last time (thankfully) I've heard the phrase "Gettin' some stinky on my hang-down". The rest of these tracks come straight out of the school of Rancid, with rumbly, musclebound riffs, gang vocals, but sweetened with a little more melody and a dash of humor.

The band has a few more tunes on their Myspace if you'd care to check it out.

Attack of the Huntsville Comps pt. II: Fuck the East Bay

2009-04-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Fuck The East Bay, This is ¡NOK! CD [¡Nation of Kids! 1997]

The Huntsville compilation series continues now with the only other one I own (there were several other cassette-only releases I'm still trying to find). Curated by Joey Tampon, this CD release was originally intended as a split betwixt The Toxic Shocks and North Carolina's Pink Collar Jobs. But Joey was never one to waste perfectly good space on any medium, so he filled the rest of the disc as best he could with odds, ends, knick-knacks and previously released material from a whole bunch of other bands as well.

Most everyone was still doing cassettes and vinyl at the time, so that this was on CD was kind of novel. However, given the questionable choice by Joey to dedicate only one track to each band -- streaming each song continuously, back-to-back -- negates most of the convenience of this format. But it may make for a more interesting iPod experience when the Toxic Shocks' 11 song selection comes up in shuffle mode at your next party.

Some of the bands represented here have already been discussed at length, so if you want more info on The Jawas or The Slackers, look at my older entries.

The 565 Burnouts were a short-lived outfit featuring Neil Delbaccio (The Burning Radios, Toxic Shocks), Jason Burke (Shitboy from Outerspace, Xpia), and Neil's wife Penny. They seemed to be modeled after East Bay faves Blatz, released a demo cassette I never picked up, and played out through the Summer of 1995 before breaking up.

Random Conflict I think it's safe to say Random Conflict have been at it for at least 20 years, save for a short hiatus in the '90s. Coming punk the thrashy skate punk scene of the late '80s, even today, these dudes haven't been changed by the times whatsoever.

The Peeps No scene was complete in the mid-90's without a ska band. While both punk and ska remain enjoyable to me to this day, I've grown to loathe the punk/ska hybrid more than Bill O'Reilly, child abuse, and the Holocaust combined. That being said, I can't help but maintain a special place in my heart of hearts for The Peeps. Subject of a recent, somewhat interesting documentary, this 4 to 8 man ensemble contained members from half the bands in town.

Shitboy from Outerspace This is actually Shitboy 2.0. The first version of the band included J. Tampon, and this short-lived, ressurected edition saw him replaced with Jimmy from Property and The Peeps, Scott Cox from Jabberjaw, and probably someone else I'm forgetting. Also, Elijah Horgan of The Peeps and 5 Star Generals played drums. The band was fronted by Jason Burke, later of The Pins, Paperbox, and now Xpia.

Anyhow. This concludes the Huntsville comp series for now. Hope you've enjoyed,.

Attack of the Huntsville Comps pt. I: Incest is Best

2009-04-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

Various Artists - Incest is Best [¡Nation of Kids! 1995]

When in the business of excavating the remains of an extinct punk scene, some of your best nuggets come in the form of the old compilation disc. Typically, these are the work of several bands pooling their hard-earned cash together to put out a singular record, or perhaps a label with more groups on its roster than funds in its account. I'm guessing ¡Nation of Kids¡' Incest is Best comp was a little of both.

¡Nation of Kids¡ was a record label, zine, and music collective run by no one in particular in the early to late '90s. In fact, from what I can tell, Huntsville's The Crypt Kickers were still using the imprint in the early 2000's. What we have here is a healthy sampling that represents mid-90's Huntsville fairly well. The tracklisting is as follows:

Shitboy from Outerspace - "Dead World"
The Jawas - "Pointless"
Themack - "Fight Song"
Property - "Zone"
Puddle - "Astro Chicken"
The Peeps - "Punk Rock God"

The title, Incest is Best references, I assume, either or both the fact we all lived in Alabama and/or the fact that almost all these bands share at least one member. Contrary to popular belief, incest isn't as widespread in the South as one is taught to believe. However, incest among bands in a tightly knit music community is still pretty commonplace.

Bands like Shitboy (old school influenced punk fronted by Jason "Shithead" Burke -- later of The Pins, Paperbox, and now Xpia) and Puddle (another Joey Tampon surf ensemble), had more or less stopped playing by the time this comp made it out. The Peeps* -- HSV's compulsory ska/punk band -- were by far the most popular epresented here with Themack by far the least popular. As misfits within a larger circle of alleged misfits, Themack's glorious lack of conventional cool made the Fonzie hipsters recoil in horror (I mean, really, who the fuck had a computer in 1995, anyway? ) Property may have been Huntsville's longest running outfit (with the exception of Random Conflict) counteracting with pluck and spirit what they lacked in the way of technical proficiency.

So here you have it. Those of you who were there will surely experience at least a small flood of nostalgia. Those who weren't may at least enjoy the long lost spirit of DIY and find a good jam in the process.

* The Peeps track cuts off a little early. As the last track on the B-Side, it runs a little longer than any amount of 7" vinyl will allow.

The 3D's

2009-04-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

The 3D's - Girls Bikinis Guitars and Blood! [1998, Pequeno Records]
The 3D's - Your Heart is Black EP [1997, Arkham Records]

It’s been a long time, friends. But this blog is back in business -- for at least the time being -- with a few more selections of rare Southern punk rock vinyl.

Despite having every intention of being a traditional garagey surf band, The 3D’s stand out in my head as one of the more coincidentally interesting acts in this very narrow niche I’ve targeted -- and believe it or not, it has nothing to do with the fact I was one of the founding members. Rambunctious, barely-tuned guitars banging out basic mod punk riffs that reverberate wildly in and out of sync with a frenetic, virtuoso hippie drummer sounds on paper like it could really either suck or rule, but definitely doesn’t sound anything like the purist rock n roll outfit Joey Tampon intended. For all intents and purposes, it was his band (lots more about Joey in the posts below). He put the group together and it was his vision we circled underneath and inadvertently deconstructed in the process. As much as he wanted to recreate the purist motives of minimalist pioneers like Link Wray, The Sonics, and Nuggets-era Mod psychedelics, he had to rely on a rag-tag personnel of locals with dissimilar interests to see his vision through, steering it slightly off its course of intention. The result is an exercise in immediacy, efficiency, and just not giving a fuck; a reckless, revisionist romp through ‘60s subculture, filtered through modern punk aesthetics and old-fashioned, small-town Alabama angst.

These recordings are rife with mistakes, fuck-ups, and bad choices. The guitars rarely agree on a tuning. Bad chords, sour notes and the like are shrugged off in every song. The band rarely locks together tight with the songs sometimes teetering on the edge of collapse -- but never do. Somehow it all works. Everyone gets from point A to point B, and it’s all delivered with such urgency and certitude that that actually pointing out the shortcomings would just come off pretentious.

Flowery language aside, The 3D's started as an instrumental surf band and shortly moved into more psychedelic/garage territory but were at our very core still a punk band. We had 3 singers (two represented on recordings) total, 2 bassists (a different on each recording presented here), and eventually 2 guitarists when I left the band and was replaced by Robert Daniel (The Peeps, The Slackers, Counter Clockwise). We toured a bit, released some records, and all in all, it was a good time for everyone.

The first recording here is a long out-of-print 7” called Your Heart is Black. Each of the four songs also appeared on our self-released full length Action-Packed. While Joey sings on all of it, we had a new singer by the time this was released, Kevin Wyle. Kevin was replaced months later by Matt Bakula (The Peeps, The Jawas, Counter Clockwise) who sang on the other selection here, Girls, Bikinis, Guitars, and Blood! -- a 16-song, vinyl-only LP which actually features half the songs from Action-Packed rerecorded (we had a new bassist by this point as well). I still haven’t found my copy of Action-Packed, and the band released another 7” (a split with The Runarounds) after I left the band and which I do not own. So these will have to do for now.

BACK ONLINE!

2008-11-24T18:05:00.001-08:00

Hey... if any of you are still following, I finally succumbed to your demands and re-uploaded all of the stuff i've posted here. All the downloads below are once again active. Sorry it took me so long. Hopefully, I'll get some more stuff posted up here again soon.

2008-03-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

I'm just noticing that the links to the things I'm posting don't stay active for long. In fact, nothing is available except for the last post. I'm working on a way to keep these up, but in the meantime, if anyone wants any of it, let me know and I'll upload it.

Joey Tampon and the Toxic Shocks

2008-03-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Joey Tampon the Toxic Shocks - S/T 7" [Recess Records, 1997]

Joey Tampon's is a name that's already been mentioned here, will come up quite a few more times in this blog, and is by far one of the most enigmatic figures in Southern punk of the early to late 90's.

Joey was a staple of the Huntsville punk scene for the whole stretch of the 1990's, playing in too many bands to count, including, but not limited to: 15E, The Slackers, Shitboy from Outerspace, The Radioactives, The 3D's, The 45's, Puddle, and probably a bunch more I'm forgetting or don't even know about.

Joey is probably most notorious for his eponymous outfit Joey Tampon and the Toxic Shocks - a snotty, minimalist DIY punk trio featuring Neil Delbaccio on bass (Burning Radios, The Wops), and Greg Addison on drums (The Grumpies, Rice Harvester, Jarvis). A quick google search shows the legacy of this band is alive and well, the centerpiece being this self-titled 7" released on the ubiquitous Recess Records. I recall them touring extensively, piled inside a Ford Festiva with their gear strapped to the roof. During their live shows, Joey often wore a self-styled full body tampon costume while playing. Their songs were based on pretty traditional punk themes of the day. When Joey wasn't griping about the fashion choices of undesirable others ("Duckheads are for Fuckheads"), or the oppressive wrath of Johnny Law ("Magnum P.I.G."), he was raging against the machine with anti-authoritarian, anti-conformity, anti-corporate rants like "Everything's a Product" and "I'm Not Going to Kill Myself For You".

Musically, the Toxic Shocks had a solid bassist, and one of the best punk rock drummers in town, but the defining characteristics of their sound was derived from the fact that Joey couldn't play the guitar for shit. This coupled with his signature nasally yelp results in a reckless, slapdash kamikaze collection of minute long anthems that are surprisingly inventive at times. Speaking on song length, Joey is an incredibly economical dude. Like his previous band The Slackers, Joey managed to squeeze no less then 5 songs on each side, making a total of 10 in the 11.5 minutes allotted.

After the band broke up, Joey started exploring his love of surf and garage rock with bands like The Radioactives and The 3D's. Shortly after the turn of the century, Joey Tampon - a man with the word "fuck" tattooed on his body at least 3 times - did a completely 180 transformation, became a born again christian, a hardcore republican, and eventually a Baptist minister. Maybe having a kid changed him just that much, or maybe it's just switching one dogma for another, but I wouldn't expect to hear anymore punk rock out of Joey Tampon. Though apparently, he's really into bluegrass music now.

The Grumpies

2008-03-27T12:28:00.001-07:00

The Grumpies - S/T 7" [Shredder Records, 1997]

Intro:
I'm istening to this 7" right now, and thinking the Grumpies are just as awesome to me know as they were to me in 1996. Given that most of you were not going to see the Grumpies - particularly the shows in Huntsville - around that time, then you have no frame of reference, and so I'll do my best to iterate to you just how awesome this band was to the vast majority of punk rock fans in the area at that time: um... we fucking loved them. We went to every single show they played (and they played all the time), I wore out several copies of their demo cassette in my car (I still have a 3rd generation dub, recorded over a copy of the Neville Brothers' "Yellow Moon" that is barely playable), and over 10 years later I'm still spinning this 7" on heavy rotation.

Bio:
The Grumpies were from Starkville, Mississippi. Their singer/guitarist Jayson (last names are often neglected to be mentioned in punk rock liner notes) was formerly in White Trash Superman (posted on this blog a few weeks ago). Their bassist and second singer Amy, told me once at a show that she had been playing bass approximately six months before joining the band [debate could be raised here on whether females are naturally better musicians, or that the best punk rock is performed by amateurs]. They also had a drummer named Vince who was mad man on the skins. At one point, Vince left or was fired from the band and Greg of Huntsville's Rice Harvester/Toxic Shocks fame joined up with them.

Descripto:
What you'll soon find out, if you're not listening already, is that The Grumpies sound something like if the Chipmunks (featuring one Chipette) got amped up on coffee and amphetamines and played cute, quirky and ultra catchy punk rock at warp speed. In fact, most people I've played this band for were convinced I was playing the record too fast. Having seen them live more times than I can count, I can attest that the record is just fine. They're voices are really just that high.

As a bonus, I'm adding this video I found on a Grumpies fansite:

The Crumbs

2008-03-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

I have to firstly apologize for the lapse in updates. Things have been a little crazy as of late - plus I'm notorious for starting up projects and neglecting them. But I'm forcing myself to make a post tonight.

The Crumbs - I Fell in Love with an Alien Girl... [Recess Records, 1995]

It seems like I had heard of Miami's The Crumbs long before I actually heard them. They played Huntsville (with the Slackers, I believe) but it was on a school night and my jerkface parents wouldn't let me go. I read reviews of this 7" well before I was able to buy it. I really liked the titles of the songs, the band name, the artwork, and pop punk* in general was the shit I lived for, so I decided I liked it long before I bought it and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Once our local record store (Sunburst, R.I.P) got in stock, I was among the first to snatch it up. Well, it didn't live up to all that I'd grown to expect, but I still listened to it on repeat, ad nauseum. Singer Raf Classic sometimes sounds like a deaf Turkish immigrant straining to shit a melody. But the songs are very solid, and you kind of get used to it.

*I should point out for the younger generation that the pop punk of over a decade ago is a slightly different animal than what most associate with the term now. I'm speaking more of bands such as The Queers, Screeching Weasel, and The Mr. T Experience who employed a much thinner production quality, much simpler arrangements, many many nods to the Ramones, and gave us just a little more attitude than your Blink 182's and Good Charlottes and Paramores. Don't get me wrong, they still sang about some whiny shit. There was plenty bitching and moaning and longing for all the girls that neglected to mirror their affection and admiration. They were just a hell of a lot more punk rock about it.

The Slackers

2008-03-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

The Slackers:
Where Were You in '92? (Fay-Get Records, 1994)
Circle A Your Day - (Nation of Kids, 1995)
Split with Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot (House O'Pain, 1996)
+ 1 Bonus track

I don't have the greatest explanation as to why, but it seems no band truly epitomizes Huntsville's concept of punk rock like The Slackers. Maybe it's because most of their members were crucial components of so many other important bands, or that their style and attitude mapped out the template we'd see in most other bands after them for several years to come.

Either way, at the time, you could not have convinced me there were any cooler four guys on Earth aside from these chaps. On the front lines you had the prematurely balding, righteously outspoken, homemade tattoo gallery and bassist/singer Joey Tampon (15E, Shitboy from Outerspace) whose comically nasal outbursts were glued together with the barnacle encrusted, gravel filled, razor blade gargling vocal chords of Heiko Schrepel whose snarling growl was tailor made for this band. On guitar, you had a very young Robert Daniel (The Peeps) who occasionally chimed in on vocals, and like Schrepel and Tampon, seems to have shared a good bit of writing duties. Of course, holding it all down on drums was Matt Seward, brother to Andrew Seward of Against Me!.

Lyrically, The Slackers covered all the hot button issues of the day. Every tune was an unrelenting attack on figures of authority, the pompous bourgeoisie, conformity, society on the whole (but most especially in the South), poseur punks, and of course, those fucking audacious, fancy pants, limousine-riding, money making rockstars (which is semi-ironic considering Heiko went on grace the Vans WARP Tour and Hot Topic stores across the country as the bassist for One Man Army). Semi-irony aside, these dudes sing it with a burning, urgent conviction and enough "fuck you!'s" to make for a pretty entertaining drinking game.

As it usually works in punk rock, the game is all about instant gratification - or at least "ASAP" gratification. You start a band because you want to play shows and put out records. So as soon as you know 4 or 5 songs, it's time to get on stage and into the studio - which explains why so many of the first E.P.'s by these bands are really sloppy. That's probably the case with "Where We You in '92?" which I would guess was definitely not recorded to a click track. But with "Circle A Your Day", they're starting to get the hang of it, and by the time their last recordings came out, they were a pretty tight band - not to mention economical. The Slackers wasted not an inch of vinyl, cramming never less than 4 songs on a side. For the most part, this is their whole discography aside from a few other compilation tracks and 9 or so unreleased songs that NOK! was later selling as part of a box set. All together, they equal up to about half an hour of music.

The bonus track here is (again) from Recess Records' "Play at Your Own Risk, Vol. 2". Rumors around this time were that The Slackers were in talks with San Francisco punk staple Lookout! Records about putting out a record, but the band's demise came when they ventured out to San Fran - a one show tour - to play that coveted mecca of all things punk in the 90's - Gilman Street. Legend has it that they were kicked out and banned as a result of Robert repeating an offensive lesbian joke throughout their set. I'm not entirely clear on the details or exact cause of this next incident, but according to a story Joey told me while we were on tour together as The 3D's, there was an altercation and they ended up leaving a scared and teary-eyed Heiko behind in Oakland, California, and traveled all the way back to Alabama without him. The band played their last show at The Tip Top Cafe shortly after, having members of the audience come on stage and sing in place of Schrepel (I used to have this on video tape but loaned it to Joey and never got it back).

Matt Seward moved away to go to school at Montevallo. Robert Daniel was playing with in the Peeps at the same time as The Slackers and continued doing so afterward. He started a short-lived rock n roll band called The Deadlines, replaced me as the guitarist of The 3D's, and now plays with The Counter Clockwise. Joey "Tampon" Tacon started many more bands, including The 3D's, The Radioactives, and Joey Tampon and the Toxic Shocks before finding Jesus and becoming a Baptist minister. Heiko came back to Huntsville briefly to get some clothes, sell off the remainder of his possessions, and moved back to California for good. As mentioned before, several years later he was on the WARP Tour as the bassist for One Man Army. According to his Wikipedia page, he's now playing with U.S. Bombs.

White Trash Superman

2008-03-05T13:48:00.001-08:00

White Trash Superman - Couldn't If I Tried b/w Wheaties (We Did It Ourselves Records, 1994?)
I don't know a whole lot about White Trash Superman besides the fact that I love this record, their singer/guitarist Jayson went on to form The Grumpies (who'll be covered later on), and they came from the college town of Starkville, Mississippi.
I only saw WTS once sometime in the summer of 1995. They played a pizza shop called J. Gregry's (Jack, didn't you guys play this show?) and I remember then being not quite simple, fast, or sloppy to be what most in Huntsville at that would consider "punk rock". I recall my friend Trey saying something to me in that respect and saying something back at him like "Yeah... I think this is like... 'indie rock'"

One night, probably more than a year later, I was cleaning out my car to find someone (still not sure who, but if you want it back, sorry!) left this in my back seat. Side A sounds like Dinosaur Jr. on a pop punk binge. It's a song that beckons to be listened to repeatedly and will remain in rotation inside your head for days to come. Side B starts out slow, sounding a hell of a lot like Pavement before picking up the pace to morph into something more along the lines of Superchunk.

With a little research, I was able to snag their other 7" "Punk Rock Hero" (which is in this in the file you're downloading) off their Myspace where you can also get these tracks. Although, i recommend you download them here, as i've got them all tagged with cover art and all.

Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot

2008-03-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

Lunch Box [House O'Pain, 1995]
Split with The Slackers [House O'Pain, 1996]

Nashville's Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot hold a special place in my heart, as they're the band that sucked me into this whole damn subculture. I happened upon them at random tagging along with some friends at a show Huntsville's Tip Top Cafe sometime in '94 or so and they blew my poor sixteen-year-old mind. Four grown men in a ridiculous, half asses attempt at cross dressing, playing bone crunching punk rock without an ounce of seriousness to be found. Their frontman sometimes pretended to be (and later actually became) a professional wrestler, they had songs about Billy D. Williams and all kinds of other random shit. It was pretty prime stuff for a teenage boy, and teenage boys they got. Their shows were fucking packed with slam dancing, pubescent punkers trying to break each other's necks in the pit. Up until that point, it was probably the most fun I ever had in my life.

As far as their history goes, I don't know much. I know some of the singer Cat and guitarist Donnie were originally in a band called Rednecks in Pain, and their former drummer Chris has played in bands like Asschapel and Booby Hatch (also with Donnie on guitar) since. But to aid those thirsty for more trivia, I found this online...

A band from the same mid 1990's Nashville hardcore scene that produced Salida, Spider Virus, and Martian Tourist Trap. This group became known for their absoutely legendary live shows. At the high school that I attended, anyone who had actually seen one of these shows was revered and asked awed questions by his or her peers. On at least one occasion, their male drummer played a show clothed only in a Catholic schoolgirl dress made entirely out of raw bacon. The band often threw bottle rockets into the audience and once boiled a guitar onstage. Like much of the rest of the hardcore scene from that time period, though, this band eventually fell into a pop culture black hole, never to be heard from again.

The first record here is part of the "Lunch Box." A box set that contains the 7" you get here, as well as a second, completely random 45 they probably got from a thrift store (mine is "Listen, My Love" by The Highlights). It also came with a little xeroxed booklet, a napkin, a spork, and a voucher for some free Fun Girls trading cards.

The second is a split with Huntsville's The Slackers. We'll get into The Slackers later, but it seems by the time this came out, the Fun Girls weren't playing around Huntsville so much anymore - or their popularity had begun to wane. Either way, it's good stuff.

I really, really, really wish I could include their first 7" Hi Doll! with this. Way back when I bought it, they gave you the option of getting it on cassette. Being that I was just going to dub the record onto a tape and listen to it in my car anyway, I thought that seemed like the sensible option. Apparently, I wasn't thinking much about my future music blog in 1995.

Maybe it was their Music City roots, but Nashville punk bands seemed to pour a little more quality into their recordings and their musicianship was always a bit tighter. Despite my deeply rooted punk beginnings, having a Bachelor's degree in audio engineering often plays a part in causing me to cringe when i hear some of these old records... the cheap microphones, no reverb, no compression, bad mixes. But in that respect, these Fun Girls recordings are definitely a nice break.

Subsonics

2008-03-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Subsonics - Please Kleen b/w Love Comes in Spurts (Worrybird Disk, 1993)

Trying to spread this out as best I can over the South, it's time we moved on a little more East to Atlanta. This is actually the only vinyl I have from around those parts. The Atlanta scene rarely made the drive over to Huntsville, at least not in my day. In fact, I'm kind of straining to think of more than one or two ATL bands that came to town except for Subsonics. I never had the pleasure of catching them when they played my town, but my band The 3D's had the honor of opening for them at the Star Bar in Atlanta circa 1998.

I first heard of this record after reading a review in Alternative Press when I was in the 9th grade. I bought it a few months later when I spotted it in Sunburst Records. Side A is a jangly retro rock n roll jam that sounds something like if VU-era Lou Reed was a little more into meth than heroin. Side B is a cover of Richard Hell's "Love Comes in Spurts" and doesn't sound too far removed from the original.

As for the history of the band, I don't know much. Singer/guitarist Clay Reed and
drummer Buffi Aguero have been the mainstays of the band with revolving bass players throughout the years. They've got something like 5 full lengths, and according to their Myspace, they're still playing around. So if you dig this, I strongly encourage you to check out the rest of their catalog, most especially the CD Follow Me Down.

The Jawas

2008-03-01T20:46:00.001-08:00

The Jawas - What Goes Ha Ha Bonk? (¡Nation of Kids!, 1995)

This seems as good a time as any to mention that since I am from Huntsville, the majority of the content on this site will revolve around the North Alabama punk scene circa years 1993 - 1998. It's the one I grew up in, and will always remain nearest and dearest to my heart. That being said, it was rather a challenge deciding who to spotlight first. So again, I just went with what I felt like listening to at the moment, and that ended up being The Jawas.

The Jawas were very much an anomaly in Huntsville at the time. While everyone else stuck with 3 chord punk rock, The Jawas were sporting heavy metal influences, playing jangly weird chords and in retrospect were even a bit experimental considering the Huntsville scene was hardly one enriched with a great deal of variety. Oh, and people loved the shit out of them. A Jawas show was always packed. Drummer Matt Bakula (The Peeps, 3D's) was prone to wearing a giant bull skull with horns over his head while playing drums, shirtless, with a pentagram painted on his chest. The kids ate it up. This seems like it was one of the first releases on Huntsville's Nation of Kids! label in what I'm thinking was probably 1994. I was in the 11th grade, and it seemed like every punk inclined teenager I knew was rocking this shit in their car on the way to school. Bakula's little brother Patrick did the cover art who was then like 5 or something. He's all grown up now, had a band called Circuit Pop (who is brother drummed for), now plays in the Dastardly Do-Nothings, and makes me feel pretty fucking old.

As far as the tunes themselves, listening now, it's a little hard to describe. These guys were blending thrash metal ("Bionic Bitch") with hardcore punk ("Mocking U") and smoothing it all out with some catchy hooks that had everyone singing along. It's a little punk, a little metal, but definitely not punk-metal. But then, when I think of punk-metal, I think of like early Goo Goo Dolls and all that awful shit Roadrunner records was putting out in the late 80's. Some of the quieter, janglier moments have always reminded me of Sonic Youth or early Nirvana. Most of all, I think this record is a shining example of what can happen when a bunch of kids haven't yet learned the "rules" about playing music and writing songs yet - henceforth, they've got no blueprint to follow, nor do they have to try to hard to venture into left field. A lot of the ideas on here still sound brilliant to me. For example the extended drum stick interludes between parts in "Master Plan." It's great for the same reason a lot of these old punk records are great: It's unreasonably angry, paranoid and overtly nihilistic in that blissfully sheltered way that only high schoolers can be, but also pretty goofy at times and never forgets to be fun.

They put out a second 7" called "A Guy Cut in Half," but for whatever reason, I never bought it. As I recall correctly, their singer/guitarist Donnie (forget his last name - and all my Google searches just came up with message board discussions about Star Wars) moved to Florence and got heavy into Hardcore. Their other guitarist Mark Massey I would see around Huntsville for years to come, but never really saw him play with anyone else. Drummer Matt Bakula later fronted the ska/punk Huntsville super group The Peeps, and surfy garage band The 3D's (which included myself on guitar). He's now got a band called The Counter Clockwise and plays washtub bass in The Pine Hill Haints who just put something out on K Records. Bassist Andrew Seward is probably the most recognizable of the 4 as he's been playing with major-label political punks Against Me! for the last 5 or 6 years.

Chickenhead Won the War Today

2008-03-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

Chickenhead: Everything Must Go! E.P. (4 1/2 Fingers Records, 1993) + 2 bonus tracks

I was slightly too young to have actually been aware of Miami's Chickenhead when they were around, but I heard many stories from the older kids in town in the years that followed. Their shows and antics were somewhat the stuff of legend. Singer Chuck Loose - later of The Crumbs - allegedly set himself on fire during their set. I was later a big fan of their guitarist Iggy Scam's (Onion Flavored Rings, The Hidden Resentments) zine SCAM!, so one day when my friend Jason was selling his records for rent money, I hesitated not from snatching this up from him.

This record is about as raucous, rambunctious, sloppy, and reckless as punk rock gets. It's kind of like if Black Flag got drunk on cheap wine all the time and stopped giving a shit so much about politics and focused a little more on breaking shit, looting, and other general chaotic and (self) destructive behavior. Short and sweet, these tracks all crash and burn in just under a minute yielding maybe about 6 minutes of music total. With just a little research, I found out that Recess Records has rereleased this gem, so I encourage any of you who dig it to buy it here for only $3.

As a bonus, I've thrown in two extra compilation tracks: the song "Young Fidel" from Lookout! Records and Kill Rock Stars joint compilation A Slice of Lemon, and "Ruin Your Day" from Recess Records Play at Your Own Risk, Vol 2 box set which you should still be available from Recess (also includes Black Fork, The Crumbs, Quincy Punx, and The Slackers).

As far as I can tell, the only thing missing here is their split CD with Los Canadians, Mutiny in Miami, which seems to be out of print these days. However, if you're still itching for more Chickenhead, check out what I found on You Tube:

The Larry Brrrds

2008-02-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

It was hard to decide where to start first on this project. I've got lots and lots of mid 90's regional punk rock vinyl in my collection to cover, but I decided to go with the first thing I was itching to hear: The Larry Brrrds. There isn't a lot I can tell you about this band, because there isn't much I know or was able to glean from the internet. What I do know is this:
They hailed from Dayton, Ohio, they had 3 members, they played some bad ass poppy, sloppy punk rock, and I when I was 16, I quit my job at Hardee's to go see them open for Buzzov-en (sadly, i wound up getting high and not even going to the show). The Larry Brrrds played Huntsville once or twice more, but I was never able to check them out. I did, however, snag every record I found of theirs which totaled up to the three we have here. This, I'm sure, is by no means a complete discography. I know that they have a full length CD out there somewhere, and I wish the hell I owned it and/or knew how to find it (that being said, I haven't really looked that hard). I've zipped up these 3 in one convenient zip file [unlike most music blogs I've seen, that's how I'm going to do things. It's annoying to me to have to download multiple zips with only 3 or 4 songs each].

"Eastown" 7" - This, as far as I know is their first release and it was the first I bought way back in 1994 or so. I had just gotten my driver's license and recall spending a few lonely nights listening to it on repeat while driving about aimlessly. It's a one-sided disc with only 3 very short songs. It's much simpler and more conventionally pop punk than the rest of their stuff... not bad, but not exceptionally good, either. Guitarist J.P. Sinister handles all the vocals and pretty much sounds like a frog being strangled in the studio. It's a little rough to get past at first, but the songs are solid and do well to make it worth listening to.

This one is a split EP with a band called Lynnard's Innards. 4 songs, all very awesome, all very short, and all a more mature continuation from "Eastown". There are no credits on this thing, so I don't know which member has decided to join is as co-lead vocalist, but I'm sure as hell glad he did. Sinister's gutteral croaking is now much more tolerable when complimented by (who I'm going to assume is bassist) Lucky Millions, whose pipes are well above par from your average punk rock crooner.

This one has no title, so I'm guessing it's just self-titled. I'm not sure where this one falls into on their timeline, but it's the third and final record I bought of theirs. Side A contains what are probably two of my most favorite punk songs of all time. They're fast, melodic, ridiculously catchy, and make me wish to hell I myself was in a punk rock band right now. Side Two is good, but is powerfully overshadowed by the first and pretty much the reason I had listened to it maybe twice before I just now digitized it.

Bonus Track: This is a very haphazardly assembled compilation* that features a bunch of punk rock bands of varying notoriety (Propaghandi, Less Than Jake, F.Y.P., and even Huntsville's Themack) covering television theme songs from the 70's and 80's. The Larry Brrrds are heard here performing a rendition of the theme from "Fame".
* No booklet is included, just an apologetic, xeroxed slip of paper alerting the buyer that he/she can write for a copy. It also includes a bonus 7" with one song accidentally recorded at 45 rpms while the rest are at 33 1/3.

Download the whole mess here from Sendspace (i don't have any webspace, and until someone offers to let me use theirs, this will have to do - also, if this link has become inactive, just email me and i'll fix it).