NEON PISS - Demo -Tape - 2010

    Kyle roadied a couple of times for my band and we would talk shit in the van about starting a band together when we got home. It didn't actually seem like it was gonna happen, but then one day, he called me and said we should practice soon. He had gotten our friend, Bryan to play bass and Bryan asked Barker to play guitar. Within a couple of months, we had played one show and recorded this demo in Berkeley. The place we recorded at was a warehouse where Lionel Trains manufactured the sounds of their model train sets. So, basically, we were playing these songs within a few feet of a whole lot of little trains. Also, Neil Young is one of the owners of the place...or something like that. The recording was mixed in a house that was littered with broken glass, overturned chairs and a lot of garbage.
    We made around 400 copies of this tape total and they're sold out. We're not repressing them. A label in Germany made around 150 of them and those are sold out too.. So, now I'm putting it online, even though there's about 45 other places to download it. This is the direct recordings..not ripped from the tape.
  We re-recorded some of these songs and recorded some new ones in Portland with our friend Stan Wright at Buzz or Howl on the fourth of July. It's going to come out as a 12" record in the fall of this year. Then, we'll probably go on tour.If you wanna know where we're gonna go, please be sure to check the NEON PISS blog in the future.

                             In Olympia...2010.
                              NEON PISS Demo

FUCK THE CURSE - Compilation Tape - 2000

   FUCK THE CURSE is a compilation tape I put out in 2000 that served as a follow-up to Iggy Scam's "Technical Difficulties From Day One" tape from 1997. Both tapes chronicle punk bands that reside in a loosely defined part of the Southeastern US commonly known as "The Region". A lot of these bands shared members, tour vans, houses, romantic partners, diseases, and more. I'm happy to say that I put out this tape 11 years ago and I am still good friends with a large amount of the people who played (or still do play) in these bands.
   Most of these songs were not featured on any records and were never on anything else besides this tape. They were recorded in houses, storefronts, warehouses and in some cases, a real studio. The recording quality is all over the place, but that's punk, right?
  The title comes from a JARVIS practice tape where they were talking about how all our friends' bands could not afford to get decent recordings. It just seemed like we were all cursed to have these fucked up recordings and toil in obscurity for the rest of our lives, which is fine.
  That's all....you can read the inserts (included in the download) for more information. Here's all the bands and songs on here...

DOWNLOAD. Updated Aug 2013

REACTIONARY 3 - Tape- 2002?

   My band got lumped onto some crappy hip shows back in 2003 as a favor to a friend. We played some boring ass bar and then played at the Knitting Factory with some fucking shitty bands that bored us to tears. We almost fought the audience. It was stupid. When we got back to playing beautiful DIY warehouses in New England, one of the first bands we played with was REACTIONARY 3 (and DARK LION, but we'll talk about them in the future). It was so nice to be back with a band that did not give a fuck about commercial interests, backstages, or any of that shit. Travis would thank every person in the room for coming out and working their shitty job to be able to give them gas money to get to the next town. I swear, he is the most appreciative person of the DIY lifestyle that I have ever met. He thanks the person taking money at the door, the person who felt like making food for the bands, the people who had the show at their house and the person who brought that one essential cord for the PA to work. Mikey would have his head down, wrecking his bass, playing hard as fuck. Ryan would be doing the same (except wrecking the drums), playing these precise beats, making it look totally easy even though it's really not. They won me over when the rest of their hometown of Gainesville could not do the same. Honest, heartfelt, kinda post-punk, kinda Minutemen-ish, totally triumphant. Fuck yeah, R3!

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Link updated 8/11/15

Fun fact: I think I now own the drumset used on this recording....
Edit: No, I don't.

Epilogue 8/11/15: I received the news a few days ago that Travis Fristoe from R3 was not a part of our realm anymore. I didn't know how to take it. Mike T called me to tell me the news as I stood in my friend's yard in Portland. I absentmindedly pulled the petals off of a flower and crushed it in my hand while on the phone. I hung up and dry heaved. I felt numb. I had no idea of the trajectory his life had taken since I was no longer in his immediate orbit.
   I don't want to eulogize him right now but I want to remember what a fucking impact he made on me and the people I know. When Travis talked to you, he made you feel like the special human that you are. A hand on the shoulder. His awkward, full-faced smile. This is still too much for me and I can't write it. Fuck this. The people who knew Travis or were touched by his writing (or music) know what I'm talking about and I don't have to explain it...and that's good, because I can't right now.
   I think my friend E. Conner put it best when she said this in regards to TRUE FEEDBACK STORY (one of Travis' old bands): Almost 15 years ago, (they) showed me a kind of punk where it was ok to be sad and smart and still be angry. To look beyond the cultural creators that dominated the underground and reach back into the entire devastating and beautiful history of art and life. Travis showed me the inside of my room in a new light. No longer alienated from the world but the champion of a new one. Rest in Peace. 

Photos of R3 at Wayward Council in Gainesville by Shannon Smith. She said Travis stopped setting up his gear at this show to come over and introduce himself to her because he knew she lived in town, so they should probably know each other. 

ONION FLAVORED RINGS - "One Big Onion" - Tape- 2001

    Before the ONION FLAVORED RINGS, there was THE FUNYUNS, which was just Steve Funyun playing his songs on the streets of Miami with his guitar and battery powered amp for anyone who would listen. Those songs are now classics in my mind...or maybe I've just heard them so many goddamn times. Even though I have heard these self-loathing pop songs more times than I have probably called my mother in my life, I still find myself drawn to them time and time again. I loved "I'm Used To It" when I first heard the FUNYUNS version back in 1995 and I still found myself singing every word to it when I stumbled across Steve playing it on the street two months ago.That's the thing: Steve still plays on the street all the time with little-to-no fanfare. You can find him in the BART station on Powell Street or at the corner of 24th and Mission playing to a small crowd.
   This tape was the first of many recordings by ONION FLAVORED RINGS and contains many of Steve's classic songs, including one of my all-time favorite anti-love songs, "Remarkable". I've seen OFR turn off all the lights in a room and play "Mummy" in the dark countless times, which was always lots of fun. "The Shame of Quantum Physics" hints at the braininess that was to come in the future of this band. Then, of course there is the sad classic "I'm Used To It", but I never understood why Steve didn't finish the final, biting line of the song on this recording....which is "I'm tired of crying for a cold world". Maybe he was tired of it? Who knows? If you live in SF, try and catch Steve playing on the streets sometime. It's always a pleasure.

                       

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 OFR playing to an insanely appreciative crowd in Asheville, NC. 2003. It felt like we were gonna all fall through the floor that night because the wood was bowing so much. Photos by me.

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Link updated 3/2020

IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT - "Trashed Is Good" - LP - 2002

   This IPCP LP from 2002 is right up there with my favorite albums of all time. It's blown out, anxious, energetic, inspiring and as dark and moody as Mid-City New Orleans. This record catches IPCP at the peak of their angular punk years and doesn't shy away from some inventive Improvisation.  They take some songs from their 2001 tape (look a few posts back) and expand on them to make them fuller. I love everything this band put out, so expect even more in the future.
  This was the first release on their own label, Trd Wd (and here), which is still releasing great music. This album was recorded and mixed at their warehouses by them in NOLA. The covers were beautifully hand-printed. The download has a couple scrapes and skips because this record has been well-loved and has had a rough life.

                       Trashed Download is Good...Updated Nov 2013

ORIGINS

   Why the name "Remote Outposts" for a music blog? I like the sound of it. I like that it doesn't tie anything down to a certain genre and I like that every time I say it, it reminds me of this article that I actually got the name from, which is about going totally fucking bonkers in Antarctica.   Enjoy.

TEM EYOS KI - 7" - 2000

    I went to a show in Asheville in 1999, not knowing that the bands playing would destroy my mind forever. The bands were SUBMISSION HOLD, ANTI-PRODUCT, THEUSAISAMONSTER, MARGARET MOTHER OF THIEVES and the unfuckwithable TEM EYOS KI. It was kind of a dream show and sometimes I even believe it was too good to be true that all of these bands would converge on this one slimy basement  with a creek running through it all on the same night....but I have the poster to prove it and I'm sure someone somewhere has the pictures.
   For me, TEM EYOS KI destroyed the show and every band after them (which was every band besides MMOT) did their best to top them, but just couldn't do it. TEM EYOS KI had raw power, beauty and so much fucking energy. Their songs sped from raging thrash/metal to utterly triumphant, soaring melodies that get stuck in your head for years.
  Unfortunately, their full LP's power didn't match that of the live show. Their 7"s and their tour CDR got really, really close (by the way, if you have a copy of that, CDR please, please send it to me). Maybe it was economics. Maybe it was the mastering process. Maybe it was a bad day, but I really wish that LP was better.
  This 7" contains my favorite song by them, "Aluminalkalyde" and 3 others that show the range of this band and hints at the utter bonkers-ness of their live show. My friend, Nate Powell, has a VHS tape of them playing at a gazebo in Little Rock that is amazing. I lived with him for a month and seriously watched parts of it almost daily and I'm not really the kind of person who likes to sit around and watch live videos of bands.   Here is one clip from the world wide web:

Play this loud and please go start a band that is just as good or better.

                            Photo by Natalja Kent.
                           Download Tem Eyos Ki 7"

RICE HARVESTER - Almost Everything - Tape - 1997

   RICE HARVESTER was a zine. Then it was a band. Then, it was a zine again. Harry played guitar and sang. Ben played drums like a madman and did back up vocals. I played bass and yelled alot. We went on one cross-country tour in a Toyota hatchback that left us broke and insane. Here are the highlights/lowlights from that tour: 1. Playing in the desert outside of Las Vegas with Black Dice and having knives in our boots in case anyone attacked us...which we thought was a definite possibility. 2. Playing in San Pedro next to the giant cooked carcass of an entire pig. 3. Trying to sell cigarettes and the clothes off of our backs to the audience that hated us in Kalispell, MT since we didn't have any gas money to leave their town with. 4. Sharing a show with the great band, MIAMI at my first (of many) shows at Tire Beach in San Francisco 5. Driving from Montana to Denver to find out we didn't have a show...Then driving from Denver to Arkansas to find out we didn't have a show..then driving from Arkansas to Alabama to go home to no show in a town where even our friends didn't like us. I guess that's about it.
  We had a really good time playing these songs and the two other fine young men in this band will always hold a special, mushy place in my hardened heart. I always thought no one liked us and I had about 50 copies of the 7" (out of a pressing of 300) sitting on my shelf for 10 years. When I took them on tour in 2008, they sold immediately and people told me they had been looking for it for years. Weird.
   This tape includes all the songs from the 7" and two extra songs that were never released, including the absurdly embarrassing "Kiss The Butthole". The only things missing are our recorded version of a PUNKY ROCKIT song that has been lost to the ages somehow and the spoken passage from the 7"....which is just me reading a bit from Nick Blinko's "Primal Screamer" while Harry and Ben chant "Popus Adrianas" behind it and then played backwards. You didn't need that, did you? If you have a copy of that PUNKY ROCKIT recording though, please send it to me. I can't talk about this band anymore...If you want more info, check this blog.

   Rice Harvester at Gorin's Ice Cream in Huntsville, AL. 1997.Photo by Butch

                      In a basement in Dalton ,GA. 1998

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TERRIBLES - "White Baby" - CDR - 2009

   The TERRIBLES are hard to explain but I love them. They put a lot of love and art into their handmade releases and nothing they've done has ever disappointed me. That's really saying something since 1. I'm an asshole who has really strong opinions regarding music and 2. they've been a band since 9th grade (that's 1997) and have put out A LOT OF STUFF. Worcester breeds some lovable weirdos and these are some of my favorite weirdos of all. They kind of fall into a prog rock vein at times that is closer to early MEAT PUPPETS rather than like, KING CRIMSON or something like that. I mean, they're punks...it's cool.
    This release is a short 2 song single that has one original and one badass QUEEN cover that blows my mind. Expect many more TERRIBLES releases on here in the future.
   If you want to keep up with their never-changing website, you can find it at Terribles Gram and Gazette

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IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT - "Pretty Totally" - Tape - 2001

    Before I got into punk, Fred Astaire and weirdo performance art held my interest. I was 11 years old. It was weird. When I discovered punk a little later, I felt like I had found my place in this world, but something was missing from it. Sure, there were people with mohawks and metal coming out of their faces, but a lot of their interests seemed to mirror the society at large (at least where I grew up). They still talked about TV shows and they still had racist, sexist, homophobic views. A lot of the punk bands in my hometown were afraid of experimentation and improvisation. At the time, I didn't know there was a whole scene of noisy, arty music, but I formed a group that played straight up noise and absolutely no one liked it, but it was really fun. Then, one day I played a show with IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT and it opened my eyes to what I had been missing for all of those years. They lived in big, dirty warehouses, built their own equipment, recorded everything themselves on analog machines, didn't take themselves too seriously (but played intentionally and seriously) and sometimes did things that could be considered performance art. They didn't own TVs, they hopped trains, they ate out of the trash and were welcoming to anyone that wasn't a complete asshole...and sometimes they were welcoming to the asshole too.
   This tape came out in 2001, not long after I met them and it is my favorite of all of their releases. I told them that this is their "punk album" because some of the other ones delve into soundscapes, field recordings, homemade horns and staticky amps. This one sounds (to me) like an arty band trying to be a hardcore band, not succeeding, and making something else entirely that is both beautiful and steeped in improv. This may not be what you think about it at all, but that's my impression.
  This tape was remastered and re-released on vinyl last year by Unwucht Records  in Germany in an edition of 295 copies. Good luck finding one (I saw one at the Princeton Record Exchange in New Jersey, by the way). The members of IPCP are still keeping busy in numerous ways these days with Uke OF Spaces Corners,  Ancestral Diet , Raya Brass Band, and running Trd Wd Records. Long live IxPxCxPx! Til ____ do us _____.

                                      Download IPCP

   

RESURRECTUM - CDR - 2002

   RESURRECTUM was around for a little while in the early '00's, growling their metallic, bullet-belted asses off about topics such as consent, fucked up wars and , you know, Satan. I think I remember them referring to themselves as a metal band, but they weren't afraid to jump headlong into fast-as-shit-double-bass thrash every once in a while. They drew their influences from IRON MAIDEN and possibly TEM EYOS KI. I'm not the kind of person who would normally play air guitar to a band, but I have been known to dabble a little with RESURRECTUM if that tells you anything. I always liked their live show more than this CD, but can i bring back their maniac sneers and glares? Can I bring back the piercing, live dual guitar solos? Can I bring back the warehouses full of drunk, dread-mulletted crusties waving around 40's while pumping their fists and headbanging? No, I can't...but I can share this Cd with you and you can get the idea.
                  download RESURRECTUM

SUCKERPUNCH - "Hit You Where You Live" Tape - 2000

    It's still dangerous to be a punk in Alabama. If you walk down the street with a mohawk, ripped jeans, a sleeveless t-shirt and a septum piercing in California, someone might ask you where you shop at. If you do that in Wall-Triana, Alabama, you might get hit in the head with a 2x4. If you live in California, Copenhagen, Portland, NYC, Finland, or some other noteworthy place, it's not unheard of for people to track down your band's crappy demo tape and hype the shit out of it all over the world. If you live in Alabama, it's likely that only a handful of people will ever care about your demo and they will also live within a hundred miles of you. Such is the case with Hunstville's SUCKERPUNCH. In their short existence, they only put out this quick demo to give out to people that came to their shows. Sure, the recording is sub-par and muffled, but some of these songs should be southern hardcore classics. The enthusiasm and anger in "Why Don't You" should make this song a mixtape staple. "Hit You Where You Live" is full of post-punkish guitar hooks and gets stuck in my head a lot. I saw these guys play a few times in warehouses and storefronts in Alabama and Tennessee. They never disappointed anyone attending, as far as I could tell.

  ...features former and current members of PROPERTY, PINE HILL HAINTS, and RICE HARVESTER

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MING DONKEY - Solo Guitar Exploration - 1998

   Ming Donkey is a musician, artist, and all around badass from Mississippi. He seems to have music flying out of his pores at all hours of the day, as evidenced by the number of bands he has played in and the stack of original music cassettes he sent me throughout the late 90's. This tape had a few song ideas for our band at the time (The Grumpies) and the longish, guitar-layered, meandering piece that is featured in this download. Most likely, this song was recorded in an old, dilapidated, rat-infested barn in Louisville, MS (that's Lewis-ville, not Louie-ville) on a decaying four track. Also, he was not known as Ming Donkey at this time.
   Nothing crazy intense here....I just think this is a solid piece that is worth sharing. Some of you might want to get really high before listening.

   

 Ming playing in The Grumpies. 1998 in Maxie, MS. Photo by Frankie Chan

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TERRIBLE FEELINGS - "Impending Doom" - 45 - 2011

   I'm only posting this to archive the review I wrote of this record for Maximum Rock N Roll. Here it is:
     There is a chance that this may be my new favorite band, which is a bold claim to make from a measly two song record. TERRIBLE FEELINGS from Malmö, Sweden, sound like they are taking cues from THE WIPERS, GORILLA ANGREB, KNUGEN FALLER and BURNING KITCHEN while maintaining their own voice in the music. It’s difficult to write and produce a two song 45 that people will actually listen to more than a couple times, but this record has me flipping the thing over and over repeatedly because these two songs are both fucking amazing. “Impending Doom” hooks you in with the first staccato guitar chord and keeps your attention throughout the whole song. The lyrics are about losing your faith in just about everything and are so terribly bleak that I wanted to write a letter to the band to make sure they didn’t kill themselves immediately after recording this. On the flip side is “Death To Everyone”, which keeps the bad times rolling. The music is upbeat and poppy, but the lyrics are about complacency and forgetting about your dreams. There is musical interlude that sounds just like that part of that one GERMS song that says “I want out now!”. You can sing those lyrics along with this part and it fits in thematically but doesn’t detract one bit from the song! Clean guitars, steady drums and emotionally dark lyrics all combine to make you dance and feel like shit at the same time Listen to this and imagine living somewhere that only has five to six hours of daylight in the wintertime. This will definitely be one of my favorite records of the year and hopefully there will be enough bleak winter months over there to inspire a full LP.

  You can find out more about TERRIBLE FEELINGS here. You can hear more songs by them on their Soundcloud page. You might still be able to order this record from Sabotage in Germany. If not, the record is supposed to be re-released by Deranged sometime this month.
   As an added bonus, I included their "Tied Up" 7" in the download as well. If you are reading this and you are a member of TERRIBLE FEELINGS, I hope you're okay with this.
                       Download TERRIBLE FEELINGS

THIS BIKE IS A PIPEBOMB - 1st 7" - 1997

   THIS BIKE IS A PIPEBOMB started in Pensacola, FL in 1995 as a new wave band; complete with a keyboard and bouncy songs. They booked a two week tour before they even had a set and then broke up afterwards. Later, they reformed as a three piece trying to play country music and that lasted until...oh, I'd say about 2010 or so. Some people are convinced that they started the genre of "folk-punk" and should be lauded for convincing the youth of this land to pick up acoustic guitars and strum to their heart's content. Others are convinced that they started the genre of "folk-punk" and should be mercilessly fucked with for the rest of their natural born lives. I fall somewhere in the middle of those two beliefs. I hate the shit out of folk-punk, but I love TBIAPB...but not really for their music. I think they are wonderful people that try really hard at everything they do and make their dreams a reality. Once they had an old taxi cab that they wanted to go on tour in, but the transmission needed to be rebuilt. Their drummer, Ted, taught himself how to do it at home and rebuilt the entire transmission on their dining room table...and then they went on tour in a taxi. Terry, the bassist has been running a bar/vegan restaurant/DIY show venue in Pensacola since the 80's and even through its many changes in location, it is still running strong. In the last few years, she has relocated to Chattanooga, TN and opened a 2nd location that is doing well. If you're ever in Pensacola or Chattanooga, I highly recommend eating there and playing/ attending a show.. Rymodee, their guitarist, is still writing songs that are, in my opinion, building on the foundation of TBIAPB, but way better. He and Terry are still playing music together these days in a band called ZIPPERS TO NOWHERE.
    TBIAPB sent this 7" to my zine in 1997, even though I blatantly wrote in my zine that I don't do music reviews. I had never met them and had no idea that they would soon be my friends for life. They asked me to review their 7", so I did. I think I gave it a pretty tepid review, but these songs have definitely grown on me over time. It's TBIAPB at their most primitive, when David Dondero was still playing drums for them, before all of their songs were lightning fast. I learned important facts from this record, like Ted Bundy was caught in Pensacola. I also learned other crazy facts about Ted Bundy from talking to the band, but that's a story for another time. I saw them during this era and they were blowing fire on stage and were more loose, in a way. I'm pretty sure they didn't know what was coming next for them.

                         

This is my first time uploading vinyl. Let me know if it's fucked up.

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Link fixed 3/2020

SPAWN SACS / DRILLER KILLERS - Split Tape - 1996 or '97

   The SPAWN SACS were a fucking trainwreck. Hell, they were two trains colliding into each other, going backwards. They would pass out dead drunk before they played, shit their pants while playing, and give each other blurry tattoos while blacked out at 8 am. They would cover "Blow Up The Embassy" by the FEARLESS IRANIANS FROM HELL and I would get to witness a roomful of the people I love screaming "I wanna kill myself! I wanna lie dead on the floor! It's none of your fuckin' business what I live and die for!". They would try to cram 20 chords into a minute and a half punk song and make it sound mind-blowing. They would dumpster chicken from KFC on tour, reheat it on a grill at someone's house, eat it and shit their pants again. Fueled by stolen whiskey and crappy jobs, the SPAWN SACS migrated south from Michigan to Miami  and then on to Dalton and finally came to a halt in Chattanooga, leaving a trail of shotgunned beers and a lot of broken shit in their wake. Like most bands from the 90's with no money and no thoughts of self-preservation, they did not shell out the money for studio magic. The Spawn Sacs sound best on shitty stereos, playing fast as fuck and screaming their lungs out. This tape will probably not win them any new fans in 2011, but I'm sure they don't give a fuck.

    SPAWN  SACS in a basement in Dalton, GA - 1997. Photo by me.

    The DRILLER KILLERS were pissed and drunk as well, in a different way. Rather than direct their venom at society and religion, the DRILLER KILLERS seemed to have an almost singular vision of B-movie worship and destroying Hollywood. The lyrics to "Malibu is Burning" are still genius to my ears. "I wonder if Barbara Streisand's house is a burning pile of ash? I hope it was her favorite. I wish I'd lit the fucking match!!" The DRILLER KILLERS were triumphant and anthemic, writing a song about fighting rednecks at the bar (where we had punk shows) with the line "The punks will always win!". Unfortunately, they never had any money either (possibly even less than the SPAWN SACS) and never got a very good recording. We're left with these ragged tapes (mine is literally taped together) that have been passed around the southern US for years, but at least we have something to remember them by. Long live the SPAWN SACS and DRILLER KILLERS!

   DRILLER KILLERS in that same basement in Dalton. 1997. photo by me.

   SPAWN SACS at IBP in Chattanooga. 1997. Photo by Ramesh (?)

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PINK COLLAR JOBS - "They're All The Same" - Tape - 1996

   PINK COLLAR JOBS were the first (and last) band I ever played with in the beautiful mountains of  Boone, NC. These four unassuming, overly friendly college students fed my band and made us feel at home in their college apartments. Then, when they got behind the mics and plugged the guitars in, they became our new favorite band; screaming about politics and who-knows-what (you try and decipher these lyrics without a lyric sheet). That little show in a tiny little attic (called the "Jesus Saves Space"...jokey..they were not Christians) spawned some friendships that last to this day. I threw this tape in my tape deck and it stayed there for months. Once, on tour, someone broke out the window of our tour vehicle and only stole the PINK COLLAR JOBS and JOAN JETT tapes, even though all of our equipment and band money was sitting there in plain view.
    "Pennsylvania" is a sorta simple anthem that will play on repeat somewhere in the back of my mind until the day I die. It's been there since '96 and it's not going anywhere. "Without Your Spine" is flawlessly flawed in a totally beautiful way and I still can't believe that Lynn can scream all the words to that song that fast without puking.
  Members of this band went on to play in DEAD THINGS, NASTY PONIES,  and a slew of others including a brass band that I do not know the name of.
   Put this on and remember that NO ONE could afford a good recording in the 90's. No one good, anyway.

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                            Updated 2013