Friday, June 12, 2009

I'm taking a break once again

Sadly, really sadly my collage exams have just started so I'm finding myself forced to take a break for month or so. So what can I say...good luck to me and I'll be back with a lot of northwest obscurities.See you next time :D
Posted by at 1 comment:

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Thrillhammer: The band that led the way for early Portland indie bands

Portland had an amazing scene going on in the early '90s...It was the home place of dozens of indie band, and although it was in a tight connection with Seattle, the mainstream success was quite a different thing there. Unfortunately it was all pointed to one direction, Everclear, God dammit! This and the story bellow are the main factors for hating Everclear:

When I was six or seven years old my elder sister had this Everclear tape that she used to listen almost every day. One day (guess she annoyed me with something) I recorded a couple of songs from a radio station on her tape. One of the songs I'm preety sure it was The Cure Lullaby...Anyway, when my sister found out...ha ha ha , she beat the crap out of me...And that was the day I started heating Everclear or anything that sounded like it. Fortunately, my sister lost the tape when she borrowed it to someone.

Leaving Everclear aside(I've already mentioned their name enough times) I guess you all know/agree that the top three bands in early '90s in Portland were Crackerbash, Pond and Hazel. What you probably don't know is that Pond and Hazel had something in common, and that something was a short-lived band called Thrillhammer. The band formed in 1990 in Portland, line-up consisting of David Triebwasser-drums, Pete Krebs-guitar, Ben Munat-bass, and Peter also wrote the lyrics. The band did a self-booked tour down the west coast and in May '91 broke up. Looks like they released their only album-Ghiftless- with the help of Steve Albini, when they weren't even a band any more.

Ben Munat recalls : We had actually broken up on our ill-fated tour in May of 1991. But when we got home, we heard from Mike Morasky, our friend in Steel Pole Bathtub (who worked for Boner Records), that he had vouched for us with the newly formed German branch of Rough Trade records[...] The album was recorded in a few days at Dogfish Studios in Newberg, OR (which tragically burned down a few years later). We slept in the studio and got on each others nerves. (Well, I remember for sure that I got on Albini's nerves.) I think we probably needed a bit more directing. Albini has always insisted that he's not a producer, but is just an engineer... a sonic documentarian, as it were.

Since the band sounds pretty earth-shacking to me, I would have really loved to listen to another material, if they had released any (to bad they hadn't). This is one of the records that was really underrated and definitely needs a listen and a comment on the bottom of the post with your personal opinion(so don't be shy). Post-Thrillhammer, David joined Pond, Ben formed Rotor with Dale Moerer, formerly of the Oily Bloodmen, and Pond ex-member Ken Adams. Pete joined Hazel, and after that Stolen Sweets.

Posted by at 10 comments:

Monday, May 25, 2009

An 100% punk rock split/single or a double post

Here's a hot punk single that has to be shared with my readers. An out of print split/single with two MRR bands, so we'll have a different post today...a double post. Well in case you didn't know, MRR stands for Maximumrocknroll, and here's the whole story (that involves radio shows and fanzines). Back to Seattle those two bands (you already met one of them three post ago) are Derelicts and Zipgun.

The Derelicts formed, I guess, around '86. The band members were Duane Bodenheimer on vocals, Neil Rogers on guitar, Ian Dunsmore on bass and Rick Bilotti on drums. They played this drinking-problem punk with really overdriven dirty guitars. Proudly they came up before grunge and lasted a little bit through the 90s, I think they disolved in '93...basically their last record was this split/single that came out in '92, so...

For me, Derelict seems to be the band that defined Empty Record in a way that it definitely fits the profile of other bands signed there. Friends of mine classified them as hardcore punk, and often put them together with a class of bands that included Brotherhood, Jesters of Chaos, The Accused...I mean ...The Accused!!!....come on, that's trash as hell. Anyway I've never heard the original My Dad's A Fucking Alcoholic, but I'm pretty sure I haven’t missed much. Here's everything that Derelicts ever released: Bullet for Fifi 7" (1989, Penultimate Records),Time to Fuck Up 7" (1990, Empty Records US) Misery Maker 7" (1990, Sub Pop & Glitterhouse), Love Machine LP (1990, Penultimate Records) Beir, Beir, Beir LP (1990, Musical Tragedies), Derelicts/ Zipgun split 7" (1991, Broken Rekids, re-released in 1992 by Empty Records),Going Out of Style 1986-1990 CD (1994, Empty Records), and they were featured on the following compilations:Another Damned Seattle Compilation, Bobbing For Pavement, The Estrus Half-Rack , Puget Power.

Cold, funny and sometimes drunk-depressing punk, Zipgun was formed in '91 by Derelicts, guitarist Neil Rogers and singer Robbe Clarke. The full membership also included Mark Wooten on bass and Dan Cunneen on drum. It looks like they’ve initially set up on the name Smash, but they’ve immediately changed it, when Zipgun was suggested.

They were signed at Emty Records were they’ve released almost every material. Before you see the list, you need to know that their Lp 8 Track Player was recorded by the godfather of grunge, namely Jack Endino. Following the band history they disbanded in '94, their last line up featured Ian from Derelicts on bass. They did a/some reunion show/s and they were even featured on Hype! Post-Zipgun...whell Robbe Clarke sang in Against Medical Advise, and eventually formed RC5 and Neil and Ian formed Glazed, and I’ll end this with the release list:10 Seven Inch(1991, Empty Records), Together Dumb/Cool in the Cell 7"(1992, Empty Records), Zipgun/Derelicts Split 7"(1992,Empty Records), 8 Track Player LP/CD(1992,Empty Records),The End/Nothing Cures 7"(1992, Musical Tragedies), I Can't Wait/Tight Black Pants 7"(1993,Thrill Jockey Records), Baltimore LP/CD(1994, Empty Records).

Enjoy...

Posted by at 1 comment:

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

It sounds like Grunge.It's not from Seattle.It's God's Acre!

Here's one obscurity I've been planning to post for a long time....God's Acre.The band made me a hell of a good impression with their song Wood featured on Teriyaki Asthma vol I-V. They sounded like a pure Seattle grunge band (even more after I listened to their first single) and I was a little bit confused to find out that they were actually from Chicago.So...let's check out their story!

God's Acre was started by Peter Houpt in '86 after his band Women In Love disbanded. It looks like he was asked to participate on a compilation released by WNUR in Chicago. He didn't have any band at the moment so with the help of a drum machine, Half A Boy's Life song ended up on Hog Butcher For The World compilation along with bands such as Big Black, End Result, Material Issue, Bloodsport and The Garden.Soon Peter asked Doug Mc Combs from Eleventh Dream Day to fill in for the bass until he found a full time bass player, and he was also joined by Johnny Hearndon from Precious Wax Drippings on drums, but after a few shows he left and Brian St. Clair took his place.Soon after that, Doug also left and Mark Blade replace him as the full time bass player.

The trio recorded a cassette tape,13 Gospel Greats, but only 2 of the songs made it on vinyl. The release was called My Real Cool Time" b/w "She a 7"single that came out in 1988. At short time after, Brian left to join Rights Of The Accused, Craig Bradford filled in for a very short period and finally was replace by Brendan Burke of King Vitamin in '89. In 1990 they released their debut full length album Ten Gospel Greats on Wax Trax Records. Along the years they opened for bands such as NoMeansNo, Eleventh Dream Day, Frightwig, Precious Wax Drippings, Das Damen, and even for that famous Seattle grunge band(in 1990 at the Metro in Chicago)...you know what band. They released Baby in '92, a mini album, and after that I think they disbanded.

Here's a couple of tracks to keep you busy until next week.Enjoy...

from My Real Cool Time" b/w "She 7''
from Teriyaki Asthma vol I-V
Wood(also included on Ten Gospel Greats)

from Ten Gospel Greats
Posted by at 3 comments:

Monday, April 27, 2009

Fast Stories...From Kid Coma

Some people say that if the record had been released in 1991 it would definitely have eclipsed Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger or Screaming Trees Sweet Oblivion. But '91 had already been overdosed with a lot of great albums, so...Truly's debut album was "kept" as the final scream for the Seattle Sound.

Truly was formed in late '89 by Robert Roth (just after his band Storybook Krooks dissolved) and ex Screaming Trees drummer Mark Pickerel. They played a couple of demo tracks for Sub Pop and also opened for Jesus Lizard. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle....ex Soundgarden bassist, Hiro Yamamoto, was invited by Mark to join the band in '91. The same year, in September, their first Ep was released by Sub Pop. I don't know if it’s just me, or the web is more populated with Truly's Ep Hearts and Lungs. And if that's so, the main reason would be the movie Singles(Yes, I've watched the movie but I've never liked it)...Also the Ep described the band as a pure power-pop/indie trio. A highly recommended song will be Married in the Playground which was a hit on the local radio...but let's see what happened later.

The band started the recordings for a full length album in the spring of '92 and lasted till '94, the result...a much heavy sound. Fast Stories...From Kid Coma was released in June '95. Capitol Records released the Cd version of the Lp, and Sub Pop Records released it in a 12" double vinyl. I honestly enjoyed more their Fast Stories... era sound. My opinion: it's more dramatic in both melodic and lyric ways and all the songs seem to have this dream sensation
The Sub Pop version contains an extra song, Aliens on Alcohol. Also, both tracks Leslie's Coughing Up Blood and Virtually were released in '93 as a 7'' vinyl single.


Posted by at 2 comments:

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...

Posted by at 13 comments:

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Bloodloss introduction that is kind of late

Of course the Martin Bland Ramdomized Control Trials post needed an introduction on Bloodloss, but in my sadist vision of my blog I like to often confuse the readers. It was a long time ago when the Australian punk scene made me a good impression with Cosmic Pshycos and Lubricated Goat...that, in a way, reminded me of Mudhoney, and it wasn't long until I got the connection. The missing link was Bloodloss. They all shared common members -beside Cosmic Psychos, so...let's just forget about them for a while- .Of course this happened in the '90s when Bloodloss moved to Seattle, and what I would like to do, is to post one of their 80s’ material. But before that, the so called introduction:

I've got to worn you it's very confusing, and I don't know if I tell it right...so, go search on the interweb.
Bloodloss formed in Sidney in '82, the line up consisted of Sharon Weatherill on vocals, Renetsar RJ on guitar and saxophone, Jeremy Bender on drums and Duncan Coleman on bass. The band changed it's name into Zulu Rattle in 1984, and had one release, Terror Train. Also the band line up changed again, now including Martin Bland on drums and Jim Selene on bass. It reformed again as Bloodloss in 1986 after Sharon and Renetsar had returned from UK, and released a self titled cassette in 1986, and Human Skin Suit in 1988 on Greasy Pop. Sharon left the band and another line up shift with Martin Bland taking over the guitar vocals duties. In 1990 they released Smell Machine 7" and The Truth Is Marchin In LP for Aberrant. Soon the band was put to hiatus after Renestair and Martin had joined Lubricated Goat on a USA tour. In 1991 the band line up changed again, but this time in Seattle with Renestar, Martin and Mark Arm. They released Broke 7'' on Bell town records in '93, In a Gadda da change(1993) and 10 Solid Rockin' Inches (1994) on Sympathy For The Record Industry...and I don't know much from here.

OK, here's what you've all been waiting for, the '88 Human Skin Suit:
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)