Wednesday, April 1, 2009

SGM's Aggression.The metal-punks are taking over Seattle.

While searching for a bit of a story about SGM, I was surprised not to find a thing, except a couple of blogs that didn't give me any new information on the band, and some wise ass comments of how bad the album was. The cover of the Lp reminded me of the trash metal and crossover bands of the ‘80s, although from the first song, "Back in Circulation", I was taken to the Green River "Dry as a Bone" era, but more aggressive...hmmmmm...I guess what comes to my mind now is something between Green River and Cryptic Slaughter full loaded with dumb and moronic lyrics. So the internet sources were kind of cheap, but my luck was that Adem Tepedelen reminded quite a few about the band and also "financed" my blog with a couple of articles. One of them was actually from Backlash music fanzine published by Dawn Anderson (which originally was called Backfire).So now I guess I have enough information to put together a little story about SGM.

The band nucleus was formed in the mid '80s while Paul Uhlir (drums), Cole Peterson (bass) and Rich Credo (guitar) were still in high-school. The band line up changed pretty quickly and in '86 it also included Mike Lawson (a.k.a Mike Loser) on vocals and Kriss Quinn on guitar. In the first two years the band recorded three sets of demo tapes that eventually led them to sign a contract with Medusa Records (a division of Metal Blade).The demo sets were finally released as Aggression in 1988, with the help of Jack Endino. Not long after the album was released, the singer, Mike Loser left to attend collage. So the band recruited another singer, Adam Czeisler. All five members decided to change their names into something that the initials S.G.M. would stand for. It seemed that Shotgun Messiah was so weak, so they finally agreed on Shotgun Mama. By this time they had a good reputation on Seattle, but the band wouldn't last long, they broke up again and Kriss Quinn left to join the first version of Truly.It will reform again as Sweet Water in 1992 with Dudley Taft replacing Quinn on guitar. At this point they sounded nothing like SGM, of course their sound changed after Mike left, and now the band sounded slick and mainstream. So that's kind of it, before we metamorphose this post into a Sweet Water one.

About the tracks...well I understand Cole Peterson (a.k.a Captain Blackout) also shines on "Blow Job", the song "She" is actually a Kiss cover, and "Tap the Keg"-and I won't post this one- is a rap song which reminds me of Beastie Boys back in "da days", and it features Paul Uhlir (a.k.a Pablo) as MC.Enjoy...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

HELL YES. These guys were the Bomb!!! Bascus Eroticus!! Post Tap the KEG please

Dan "Cluster" said...

Ok, here's the link for Tap The Keg
http://www.box.net/shared/gbyh8fku4t

Anonymous said...

If you could, post/link "Mrs. Brown" that would rock. Definitely an underrated song on an underrated album.

Dan "Cluster" said...

Here's a link for Sgm - Mrs Brown: http://www.box.net/shared/9sytzi2hij

Anonymous said...

So good. Tap the Keg!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

These guys really drove the whole Seattle Scene in the late eighties early nineties. Yes I can if SGM says it is ok.

Anonymous said...

GOOD STUFF! LISTENING TO AGGRESSION NOW!!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome stuff, any chance getting the rest of the album linked up?

Avery said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I remember cranking this album loud back in summer of 1988
Found it in a little record store/head shop in st paul mn

Anonymous said...

Found the cassette version in a small record shop in Northampton UK in 1990 then lost it on a house move. The cassette version had 3 extra tracks: United In The Grave/Titty, Lady Dignity and Falling Off Your Head. Finally got another cassette version and my SGM tracks are complete. Don't think there's much chance of a Super Deluxe Special 30th Anniversary Edition coming our way. Thanks for the memories Dan. Pete UK