It would probably be an understatement for me to say that Her Tears are unheralded, seeing as they came from a Danbury scene that relatively no one outside of Ct. cared about then or can recall now anyway ("next Seattle" legend be damned). With their hard-edged, fuzzy guitar-pop sound (similar in style to scene-mates Monsterland, though much more pseudo-Brit), Her Tears definitely had the songs to go around. I don't even remember the other bands from Ct. that I interviewed back then acknowledging Her Tears all that much, although that seems kinda funny since Matt Chiavelli ("Matthew Drag") designed the record sleeves for a whole bunch of other Ct. indie releases. Maybe it's because Her Tears never seemed to play out a lot, or maybe it's because they never managed to release an album (though they did have a full-length demo cassette, from '92). Or maybe it's because some of their song titles reminded people of old Ministry records, who knows.
Although their best song can be found elsewhere-- "Pill Cutter", a compilation track that's pretty much awesome-- this is most likely Her Tears' best record. It's also the first release ("Poof #1") for Popfactory, a New York label with a serious Creation fixation (the runout groove for this even reads, "Thanks to Alan McGee for inspiration".) Popfactory had a run of about a dozen or so singles, most of which were moderately great and are worth tracking down. If not, there was compilation LP of Popfactory singles, which I should be posting shortly.
Her Tears -
"Ultra-Crush"
"Moxie"
(these files are now listen-only)
11 comments:
Just found your blog via finding your old one. I like this one better. Read my genius comment on SAUCER TO SATURN at your old blaggin' spot.
Yeah, I'm like a reverse Kent McLard-- my new project is way better than my previous one.
"Every little thing she does is magic..."
If Her Tears sounded like the Police I never would've listened to them, if that's what you're trying to say.
Her Tears was one of the first local bands I ever really knew existed in CT. I thought "There's music? In Brookfield? Huh?" and I saw them a number times at WCSU. I have the Loop de Loop tape too and a demo, (or I think it's a demo I lost the case for it). I still think this is pretty awesome music...
(plug)
ANYONE WHO CAN READ THIS:
I AM ATTEMPTING A BIG PROJECT OF
A WRITTEN HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT
PUNK ROCK!! IT WILL BE A ZINE AND HOPEFULLY A BOOK...
If anyone wants to be a part of it, write something, tell a story, share some photos, flyers etc. Please get in touch with me.
-dave
tacolove at gmail.com
Her Tears was one of the first local bands I ever really knew existed in CT. I thought "There's music? In Brookfield? Huh?"
Yeah, it was the same way with me when I heard the Farmertan 7" in '95. "Wait, there's a good band from Waterbury?"
Played a bunch of shows with these dudes. They were amazing live. Matt's guitar tone was ungodly.
Yeah, Her Tears were totally great, just some great records that were shamefully overlooked.
This is definitely one of my favorite Ct. singles ever.
Anyway, the mp3 files on this post are now listen-only (non-downloadable) files. For those of you who missed the boat, I will gladly respond to any e-mailed requests for the original files.
By the way, if you were a Her Tears fan back then, check out another Ct. band that's playing around now - Wonderlust. They sound a lot like them (though they've probably never heard Her Tears before).
Oh yeah, I forgot - check out Champion Collision also. Matt and Brett from Her Tears, with a guy from Penfold (anyone remember them?) also.
Been looking for a recording of Topless anyone have a good one?
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