My friend, Chris handed this CD to me with a small little pile of tapes years ago and this band completely took me off guard. I was in the middle of a tour that featured many celebrated folk-punk acts and the first acoustic notes of this CD immediately made me clamor for the "stop" button. I had been hearing enough of this stupid bullshit for weeks and how DARE my friend, Chris fuck with me like this. Then, the drums kicked in...not bongos or a bucket or "like, whatever's around, man", but a real live drum set. It sounded fuckin' good! As soon as Osa's staccato violin riff laid itself over the rest of the instruments, I was hooked...and this was all within 20 seconds of the first song. It reminds me of what people can do with acoustic music, as punks and actually make it sound good. Just because you picked up an acoustic guitar, it does not mean that you have to A) sing about bikes and dumpsters, B) act like you are some weird stereotype from the south (I will kill you) or C) suck. You can still write good punk songs and still be tough as nails (if your intention is to not be tough as nails, that is fine too. Have you heard SPOONBOY or CASSETTE? In all honesty, they are also tough in a completely different vein.)
Members of this band were also in DRUNKEN BOAT, NEW BLOODS and the solo act known as COOL BREEZE. Get into it.
Excellent work, sir! I've really enjoyed a huge chunk of what you have uploaded. Finding new bands and enjoying some obscure releases from some favorites. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI work at a record store in North Dakota that has one of those crazy CD resurfacing machines. If you'd like, I can try running some of what doesn't play through the buffer and see if it helps. No guarantees, but it can't be any worse than not working at all. Let me know if you're interested - my email is neutron.army [at] gmail.com. Take care!
Thanks for the kind words and the offer of CD refurbishment. I realized when typing this entry that my friends at the video store down the street also have one of those buffer things and I should just ask to use it one day.
ReplyDeleteYes you should! No Potential Johns should be left unheard!
ReplyDeleteYou've got a brilliant site, and the Potential Johns demos are what first turned me on to it. Get that CD repaired!
"act like you are some weird stereotype from the south (I will kill you)"
ReplyDeleteas a fellow southerner i wholeheartedly agree. i was in ct over the summer for a tour of some plan it x related bands that i was doing the roadie thing for and was incredibly annoyed by this group of young bandana around the neck punx that had clearly only got on the show in some feeble attempt to get chris to 'sign' them (their singer very awkwardly/rudely forced a demo upon me since chris was no where to be found) i was in no mood for their shenanigans the moment i realized he was trying to bang out guitar chords on a banjo and laying on the most ridiculous stereotype of a southern accent whilst he sang of dumpsters,anarchy and bikes.
I don't miss that aspect of my past for one second. I have been in that exact situation.
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