AIRFIX KITS - Demo - CDR - 2008

   Years ago, I went on a totally failed trip to New Orleans that was supposed to be this fun, get-out-of-town-for-my-birthday-and-forget-everything kind of deal. Instead, I blacked out in a bar, hanging out with a lot of crusty kids that I barely knew while a couple of bands played. I passed out before anything truly fun happened. Things could have been worse. I could have gotten shot again. The highlights of that trip were seeing the MELVINS and getting to go to my all-time favorite record store, Domino Sound. While at the store, I bought a 7" by NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS and the "Blunt Instrument" LP by a band I had heard of called GIANT HAYSTACKS. I knew that I would like the NHFTK record, but the GIANT HAYSTACKS LP totally took me by surprise. I just kept flipping it over and over on my turntable for days, letting the bleak, sparse, MISSION OF BURMA and GANG OF FOUR-inspired songs seep into my subconscious. Their song "Catatonic State" is so good that I found myself wanting to listen to it again before it had even finished playing through the first time. That LP just has a perfect flow to it and sounds so wonderful to my jaded ears.

   A couple of years later, I was planning to move back to the Bay Area and I had a lot of things on my mind. One of those things that lurked around the forefront of my mind (and I'm not shitting you here) was that I would finally get to see GIANT HAYSTACKS play a show and I could sing along to the genius song "Young Shavers" live! Well, imagine my disappointment when I showed up in SF and was informed that GIANT HAYSTACKS had been broken up for almost a year already. Lucky for me, the guitarist and bass player (both named Allan, but one of them has one less "L" in his name) had wasted no time in starting a new band called AIRFIX KITS that, from all accounts, seemed to pick up where GIANT HAYSTACKS left off. I was wondering how I could find out about this band and then I found out that they were playing at the record store just down the street from my house. Boom! I was surprised that none of my friends showed up to see them. In fact, hardly anyone was there at all, but AIRFIX KITS tore through a flawless set that still had elements of their former, bleak, stark sound that I loved and mixed that with a little touch of the mod sound. I was sold. After their set, I told Allan about how much I liked GIANT HAYSTACKS and how stoked I was on their new band. From the look on his face, I could tell that he appreciated the compliments but I was slowly and steadily treading into fanboy territory, so I backed off, unlocked my bike and coasted towards home. Halfway there, I realized that I forgot to get their demo.  Oops! Just in case you also forgot to pick it up at the show, here it is for you.

Download AIRFIX KITS

   Once again, I am in the same boat. AIRFIX KITS has broken up and for some insanely stupid reason, I missed their last show. Let's hope that an Allan or two is working on something new. The Bay Area needs it.

This CD-R is from the collection of Erick Lyle.