Never Be One Of Them

I think I need to be reminded every so often how impressive it is to see a band that's in total command of their shit. I mean, I like it when bands play it loose and sloppy, bouncing a few covers off the audience's heads and so forth, but then I'll witness the brutal single-mindedness of a band like Oiltanker and think, "That's the way to go." You shouldn't have to be into hardcore to appreciate how a band like Oiltanker sets their goals and achieves them without yielding to anyone, just like you shouldn't have to be told to appreciate any harsh blast of noise once it's twisting your ears off. To say that Oiltanker is worthwhile is like saying cats are stupid, to say that you should willingly seek out this kind of punishment is like saying heart attacks aren't very good for you. There's an absolute bloody purposefulness that exists which is awesome.




I was expecting to see atrilliongallonsofgas as part of the bill last Friday at Whitney House, but I guess they were in the middle of a lineup reshuffling and didn't make it to the show. I did get to see Attentat, though, which is a new band that Sean from the Whitney House is in. I don't really have the vocabulary to describe this type of stuff-- it sounded like metal-y speedcore to me, with a lot of jagged riffs (not necessarily chugga chugga riffs, just jagged) and guitar solos and whatnot-- but it was actually pretty good, and they had a full set list of songs and sounded kinda tight, which is impressive for a new band playing what was maybe only their second show ever. I'd point you in the direction of the Attentat MySpace but they don't seem to have one, though if you look around you'll find that there's a few other Attentats out there (including a rap dude from Germany), so beware of false Attentats. (Attentat MySpace page is up now!)


Oiltanker -

(these files are now listen-only)

"Happiness"

"Drink or Die"

Could You Take Doug Out?

It's been a while since I've posted anything 'Snack-related, so here's the third Prisonshake 7-inch, which is potentially my favorite indie rock single of all time-- plus it's Scat One, which means, well, probably nothing I guess. I seriously own about a half-dozen copies of this, partially because when I'm out buying records I'm too stupid to remember which records back at the house aren't whipped, and partially because the individual playing card sleeves are all just slightly different enough to make me want to buy it whenever I see a copy. Plus, the second pressing has a little playing card sticker on the front (and even those are different colors, too), which makes it look even cooler. Not to mention the version that comes with the poker chips... ahh, what the hell.

The rippin' a-side is what makes this single such a keeper, of course, but it's the moody "Shook Like Roses" that really completes things here. Perfect as a Prisonshake b-side, "Shook Like Roses" would probably be the a-side for any of the above-average '80s jangle/psych bands you could name-- or in the case of The Leaving Trains, their only good song. I'm not gonna post the b-side here, though, thinking that maybe you'll go out and buy this yourself (despite the high quality being offered, copies are still relatively cheap and plentiful).

Since I bought my copies at various times, some of them came with different inserts, so I'm scanning all of them here... including an elephant picture from a newspaper that someone-- the original owner, perhaps-- stuck inside one of the copies. Hardy har har!




Prisonshake -

(this file is now listen-only)

"Deanna"

Ship Full Of Holes

Sometime in the early 90's it became okay for indie bands to rock again, and by rock I don't mean college rock, or punk-tinged rock, but big ol' dumb-ass hair-farming rock-- the kind that gets played on AOR radio. Finger were one of those indie label bands playing big ol' dumb-ass hair-farming rock (if I remember correctly, they even had a half-good single on Merge, of all places), even though this was the kind of shit that Night Ranger or Cinderella fans would wave their Bic lighters to.

As it is, "Ship Full of Holes" is a Kiss-type power ballad with more Loverboy guitar work than you can stand in one afternoon (I like to imagine Screaming Trees sounded like this), but Finger's cover of "All This and More" actually has some real energy to it, at least. Oh yeah, and the drummer also sings, which is generally a bad idea (see: Carpenters, Eagles, Grand Funk Railroad) unless you're Volcano Suns or the Ergs or something... although in this case, the singing drummer is John Howie, who later formed the often-useful Two Dollar Pistols. So there you go.




Finger -

(these files are now listen-only)

"Ship Full of Holes"

"All This and More"

Just Like Rob Halford Said To Me

I used to read Flipside and Ink Disease religiously back in the mid-80's, because even if the records that were coming out of the Southern California punk scene back then didn't always live up to the hype they were getting, there was always enough weirdness going on around L.A. to keep things interesting. Somewhere on this list of oddballs was the band White Flag; even if you didn't care enough to know what they sounded like, once you saw their name in Flipside with the Black Flag bars turned sideways as their logo, you had to admit that just the idea itself was pretty amusing.

I bought this record used for $4 at Brass City Records, which was generally the way to go with L.A. hardcore records; why buy new, when chances were good you were going to be looking to trade in that Social Unrest, D.I., or Vandals record after the first listen anyway. This copy is fairly beat to shit, as you can tell, but that's okay because I had to take the sleeve apart anyway-- hence all the rips and tape marks, not to mention the nametag from the guy who owned it before I did-- in order to scan all the funny little cartoons and stuff that were printed on the inside of the jacket. Right-- not on a liner, or on an insert, but on the inside of the cardboard where nobody would be able to see it. Figure that one out.

Another odd thing about this record is that the running times listed on the labels are all way longer than the actual songs lengths; maybe this was done as a joke, to trip up "Rodney on the ROQ" or anyone who would try to play this record on college radio (which was possible, since "Third Strike" supposedly sold about 30,000 copies, if you can believe that).

I like this record a lot better now than when it first came out, actually. Some of the songs on here are jokes, of course, but they're the kind of jokes I like-- meaning the song about Flipside (specifically Flipside Video Fanzines), "a fanzine for people who don't even know how to read", and "Overlords of the Underworld", which is most likely directed at the MRR/Dead Kennedys crowd ("communist punks, communist punks, communist punks-- fuck off!").

I remember making a mix tape back in '85 that was all hardcore cover versions (stuff like Black Flag's "Louie Louie", or the Dickies' version of "Nights In White Satin", or the Dead Kennedys' "Viva Las Vegas"), just so I could get a kick out of the weird reactions from "normal" people when I'd play it at the record store. One of the songs on the tape was White Flag's cover of the Beatles' "There's A Place", which I loved for the way they made the harmonies during the a capella parts sound just like a limp-wristed Lennon and McCartney. To me, that's friggin' perfect.




White Flag -

"Cross Dogs"

"Celibate"

"Flipside"

"Wake Up Screaming"

"Overlords of the Underworld"

"Middle Class Hell"

"There's A Place"

(these files are now listen-only)

I'm Feeling A Little Inexact Now

Here's the first Creature Did single (note the pre-Danbury address), recorded at legendary Trod Nossel no less. Now, Creature Did may have been the undisputed riff masters of 90's Danbury indie rock, but imagine what Monster Magnet could've done with a riff like this. The chicks and blow would've been piled higher than a Wade Boggs road trip. (Apologies to everyone who forgot all about Monster Magnet* until I ruined it just now.)

According to the back sleeve, a cassette was made with two extra songs on it, but I don't have it. That means there's at least two Creature Did tapes floating around that I don't have, I think.

"You are tewing me the twuth? I beweeve yew!"

*apologies to everyone that can't remember who Wade Boggs is, also




Creature Did -

(this file is now listen-only)

"Undress Your Barbie Doll"

I Count Them All Each Day

The other day I got an e-mail (and it looks like CT Indie got the same e-mail, too) from a guy pitching his new band, Canopy. Now, I get a ton of similar e-mails every day-- your e-mail address becomes worthless once the PR companies get ahold of it and start passing it around-- but this guy was from Connecticut, plus he said he liked Brava Spectre and Estrogen Highs, so I figured that made him more than worth a shot.

When I clicked the "play" button on the first of the mp3s, a ghostly acoustic guitar riff drifted out with a Neil Young-like voice singing over it. Not bad for starters, but hold on; a distorted guitar/bass track kicks in, and now I'm thinking, "Hey, this is actually pretty good." The next song starts, "Underneath", and it's a dead ringer for Magnetic Fields-- not that I'm into Magnetic Fields all that much (okay, I own one CD), but it's good enough to make me want to keep clicking on the buttons. The fourth and last song, "Know", sounds like a laid back John Howie/Two Dollar Pistols track, or maybe something that would be on a Pete Yorn CD (okay, I own a Pete Yorn CD too, fuckit). I mean, none of this is lo-fi (a fact the guy freely admits to) or Home Blitz even, but it ain't bad either.

The hook to all of this is that the guy behind Canopy won't reveal who he is-- maybe he's in another band already and doesn't want to piss anyone off, who knows-- but he does all the recording and mastering and plays every instrument himself. Maybe someone else can figure out who he is from the cryptic photos and singing voice, but for now I can't. In any case, he says he wants to continue releasing new songs every couple of weeks or so, and in fact he's already got another new one up ("He Didn't Hide", which has a great distorted bass line, reminding me of "Holland, 1945" almost-- see the very bottom of this post).

If you want to hear some of these Canopy songs for yourself, you can either click on the individual song titles below, or download the whole thing at his web site here.




Canopy -

"Cheated Again"

"Underneath"

"Know"

"He Didn't Hide"