You Know Your Way Ain't The Way I Do

"I did see them once, in late 1996.... people who saw them on that tour with the replacement drummer said they weren't a patch on what they used to be, but they blew my head off. It's what they mean by Suction: head down, hammer down, no talking between songs, simplistic barrage." --Rick Stanley (Dropkick Records), "Cold Mechanical Ecstasy: A Brief Oral History of feedtime", Z Gun #3

"The sound of feedtime was pretty much the definition of our limitations." --Tom (original feedtime drummer), Z Gun #3

It's probably not even worth talking about which of Feedtime's three original albums from the '80s was better, because all three were amazing, although I'd probably have to give the edge to "Shovel" (LP #2) if I really had to choose. Not that "Suction" (LP #3, not counting "Cooper-S" which was all covers) was anything less than brilliant, especially since it includes "I'll Be Rested" and "Pumping a Line", two of my favorite Feedtime tracks ever.

My copy of "Suction" was already pretty beat up when I first bought it used, and some of the crackling shows through when you listen to the quieter parts through headphones (something that's not even noticeable through speakers out in the open, or in your car when you're driving around). Still, it's always been hard to pass up buying any Feedtime vinyl I've ever stumbled upon no matter what condition it was in, just because this stuff wasn't as easy to find back then, and the chances of finding any shop owners who gave a shit about Feedtime (great as they were) back then were few and far between. Maybe it's not so easy to understand now, but in my post-hardcore, post-Oi!, post-AC/DC world of the mid-to-late '80s, hearing a Feedtime record (whose music contains all three of those elements, just for starters) for the first time was reason enough to jump around like a friggin' mental case.




Feedtime -

(these files are now listen-only)

"Motorbike Girl"

"Drag Your Dog"

"Pumping a Line"

"I'll Be Rested"

"Valve Frank"