Edit: Sorry for the Super Sabado Gigante mega Armageddon post, but it just has to be done that way sometimes. It’s excitement for the many colors and shapes of music, along with the way my brain works. Realize of course that this could have been a minimum of three posts, so you’re a good man Charlie Brown if you made it to the end and managed to listen to a song or two. Expect the next posts to be half this size.
Y’all know I love music, hence this site, duh. Well, I think I’ve also made it clear that getting music in the mail (the nearest store that carries even a marginal selection of vinyl is 150 miles away) is one of those things that, as Dirty Harry would say, makes my day. So I guess this would be a good point to say that if you want to send me music, (old, new, vinyl, CD, even mp3s for the live shit) to review, post, or just out of the goodness of your heart, I will be forever grateful. That request is a little more than cheezy I know, but I never claimed to be cool, just poor. Poor me, shameless. I have been know to say, “if it’s free it’s for me” (although with age I’ve realized that most things do not come without a price and that other things, like venereal diseases are also free). Some of my fellow music bloggers, specifically say they don’t want to be approached by bands to have their stuff reviewed. I figure, what the hell, if you send it, I will listen, and I’m such a sap, even if I don’t like it I’ll probably search high and low to find something nice to say about it (or not). I do not take music lightly, and I’m not a total freeloader, I do use Ebay and some of the smaller labels/distros, like an addict though, even though I can only listen to one song at a time, I always want more. Blah blah blah.
Since my last post, I’ve gotten two such packages of benevolence. One rather large one, I got from one of my oldest friends, Davrick, which I’ll talk about in the main part of this post. The second one was the result of me freeloading at another site. Erich at Good Bad had gotten a comment from “Lackeyland” about an address to send some records. I commented, jokingly, that I too would be glad to receive free records by mail. Well, Brad (as I came to find out) from Shut up Records was not fucking around, got my addy, and promptly sent me a 7″. You never know what you’re going to get venturing into unknown territory with a band you’ve never heard of, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a great record. Severance Package out of Chico, California just plain rock on their “All Down Hill” 7″. That driving kind of early punk, no bullshit sound, featuring male and female vocals. A three piece, that aren’t strangers to making music, but you can read all about that either at the label or their myspace, where you can also hear some of their stuff, including the songs on this 7″. Also found some more web presence on them in the form of a site called Reverb Nation, where you can get even more music, videos, photos, tour dates and whatnot. Understand they have a demo that I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on to post. Anyway, go hit up Brad to get your copy which I think is $7, ppd. One of their live tunes for you,
Miseducated
…and a short one from the 7″ (thanx Brad)
POW!
Along the lines of some seasoned musicians doing no bullshit punk and rock, with a contemporary band, some old friends of mine in Splinter Cell played with another old friend of mine, in his band The Underlings at the Alibi in Arcata, California on February 6th. Back in the days when I was doing whatever kind of dope I could get my hands on and my drinks of choice were either a gin and tonic or a black Russian, the Alibi was my home bar (is Dave the bartender still alive). Now days they put on shows there and I wouldn’t have wanted to have missed that show, but that kind of stuff happens all the time up there. I haven’t heard anything from the Underlings’ set but James of Splinter Cell was kind enough to send me a few tracks from their set. I posted a few of their tunes a while back and thinking about it now I should have made a bigger deal, because I am definitely down with these guys. Check those tunes hidden away in this post. I think the next time I get something from these guys, I’ll make it the main topic of an entire post. For now, join me with a big tall glass of water and dig these tunes from that live set.
Always Pulling Back
I Need a Rope
Robo
If you’ve been following along here at MR, you would know that I’ve semi-boycotted my local “classic rock” station for their repetitive lameness. Now I’ve moved on to two other stations that would be more classified as news/”oldies” stations. The news part is kind of cool because it is a mix of Associated Press news reels and local stuff. The local stuff is mildly interesting and amusing because they’ll talk about things like fatal accidents and whether or not people were wearing their seatbelts or criminal activities like Billy Bob was arrested for his third DUI. The music is in general a bit mellower, not as a rule though, but I think they play a wider variety of stuff. So are you ready for this little ditty? Another one of those tunes I remember as a wee lad, top 40 circa 1974-5. One of the best that folk-pop had to offer in the form of,
Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown
Damn…I love the chorus
“Sundown ya better take care
If I find you been creepin’ ’round my back stairs”
That sent my brain swimming and for a folk-pop “singer songwriter” kind of reason reminded me of two things, John Denver and that TV show from around the same period, Grizzly Addams. I’ll spare you the John Denver (this time), but does anybody remember “The Life and Times of Grizzly Addams? In all of it’s post-hippy-height of the 70’s-ness, at about 7 years old, I loved that show. There was a movie first, then the show for a couple of seasons, then a couple of made for TV follow up movies. Looking back you had some heavy hitting serious 70’s actors on that. What’s cool too is that the main Indian on the show, Don Shanks was actually Indian as opposed to a dark skinned Italian as was often the case in Hollywood. What is a TV show without a good theme song right? Ha, ha…
Thom Pace – Maybe
I had the lyrics memorized to that tune. If you think about it punk was not just about what bands it was influenced by (Ramones, Stooges, MC5…) but also what was distasteful in music. Is it possible that the “singer songwriters” also influenced the rise of punk rock?
So my other package came from one of my oldest friends, must be 25 years nowwe’ve been friends, Davrick. I sort of weaseled my way into that one too, because he was going to give about 75 records to another old friend, Ki, and I told him that if Ki didn’t want them I would definitely take them. As I said, shameless. What I got from him was quite a mix, from Zeppelin to Echo and the Bunnymen to Return to Forever (I’m going to post that live LP some time) to False Confession. I’ve already posted the hell out of Ill Repute but I would have to say that False Confession may be my second favorite of the “Nardcore” bands. Could have sworn I had this 7″ but it’s dust in the wind. This 7″ was their only individual effort other than their demo along with some comp tracks. What I liked about these guys though was that although, up front they were a hardcore band, there was also that feeling that they were in a death rock kind of groove. Like everything I post around here, this is some sweet shit (would you believe, almost everything?). Nothing rare here, I don’t think, it’s been posted by several others, but do believe it’s out of print. We’ll see though I heard Mystic Records was making a comeback. For some reason I feel like someone’s going to come get me for posting this so… I though I would be a completest and see if I couldn’t come up with a semi kind of discography. First you get the 7″… (thanx a ton …deutsche!, I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am)
Left To Burn
Feline
Scared
Our Savior
Just As I Am
Lies
…then a while back, Curious Guy at his killer System Sabotage Chaos site posted their demo. I was personally blown away and just stoked, because no one at the time had posted that. Here’s a few of the tunes from that, but you should really take the time to not only go to his site for the entire demo but also, to check out the massive amount of rarities he has posted there.
Scared
Our Savior
Just As I Am
False Confession also made 4 comp appearances that I know of, all put out by Mystic. One is on the “Lets’ Die” comp and on there along with the rest of the bands featured you get a straight up death rock thing that kills (ha ha)
Inside
They were also on the “Nardcore” comp, with a tune from the 7″ but to my ears it sounds like a different version.
Feline
On the “We Got Power…” comp you get an untitled track that I’ve aptly labeled
(untitled)
I dig everything these guys did, but this last one from the “Mystic Covers…” comp is cool because it’s reminiscent of some of the Devo stuff I posted a while back. Damn good cover and actually if Mystic does start releasing stuff again or you’re an Ebay type, you’d do well by getting any one of these comps, especially this one (all kind of hits). Check it, and later…
Freedom of Choice