Wednesday, December 30, 2020

A FEW THINGS THAT WERE OK IN 2020

  2020 was awful. There's no sense in belaboring that point. I easily spent more time online and in my room than any other era in my life. I'm not going to write about a specific band in this post, but I will provide links at the bottom of the post to the music from this year that helped me get through this bog of shit. Instead, I'm going to tell you about the good things I found or did this year while spending time in my room...stuff that made life a little easier or provided connection or respite from such a harsh reality. 

  
 This is an event that has been happening in Providence, RI for 8 years now and usually takes place at Brown University. I've wanted to go for a long time, but have just never made the trek, due to the twin terrors of geography and finances. This year, due to the more pressing terror of Covid, the marathon was brought to our respective doors via the internet and WELH 88,1 FM (and Fujichia, which we'll get to in a minute).

    The marathon is curated through the hard work of Sakiko Mori and features everything from classically trained musicians to experimental knob turners to rockers to plunkers and more, all interpreting the works of Bach however they see fit. It starts at 7pm EST and runs to 7am. I probably experienced up to 7 or 8 hours of the marathon in my house. During a time that has given me nothing but anxiety and depression, this event helped me to feel at ease in the world. I listened in the dark and while doodling and while baking cookies and while just looking out the window at the street lights. At one point, the radio DJ was an 8(?) year old kid. It ruled. 

   As of this writing on 12/30/2020, the link above is active and will lead you to the audio, along with an hour by hour breakdown of all the performers. 

 FUJICHIA

   Jacob started this site in 1999 and then shut it down in...uhh...2009? 2010? During that time, it led me to a lot of interesting wormholes of information and way-out thoughts. I was sad to see it go away, because it was so wondrous and the internet is full of so much potential, but is largely populated by billboards. This year, Jacob brought it back in the guise of a creepy castle, somehow retaining the charm of its former incarnation while also being better. It is updated every Tuesday and has the tone of "Hey, how's it going? I just wanted to share this thing with you. Even if it's not your thing, we can still hang out." I don't want to get too deep with it, because it's just there to explore (and you should explore all over) and you can discover what works for you. My favorite parts of the site are when I kinda don't really know what is going on, but I'm still intrigued anyway. Like, there's a lot of gatekeeping that happens in the world, but at Fujichia, the gate is always open for you. 

THE TOURING DAYS

  This one came in right under the wire (like 2 days ago) and I'm glad it came into my life, thanks to Tom Bubul. In this blog, Ren casually and eloquently discusses touring with his bands and experimental projects. Here is why I like this: The music I play is (in the simplest terms) largely standard punk and generally falls within the confines of a culturally accepted form of sped up rock n roll.  Ren plays more chaotic, experimental and difficult music. Yet, I'm sure that we have both answered the question of "Did you make any money on tour?" with "No, but the audience in [insert city here] tried to fight me for playing music."

   I found myself laughing out loud throughout this entire blog because I recognized so much of the casual chaos and real danger that Ren writes about. It's compelling and fun and horrible. I highly recommend this to anyone who has ever pulled up to a show in a dying car or woken up in a room with several stray dogs. 

BECOMING A PATRON OF THE ARTS


    I'm not sure when I first came into contact with Janelle Hessig's art, but it was probably her back cover drawing of teenage girls drinking, spray-painting and puking on the back cover of the RAOOUL 7", which I was obsessed with in high school. As a kid, I was really into Peter Bagge, Julie Doucet, R Crumb and Dan Clowes. Janelle's comics seemed to take some inspiration from them but also had it's own voice and felt closer to my life because it was filtered through the lens of grimy punk houses, rotten food and crust-puff lifestyle... and all with gut-busting laffs and style. I followed Janelle's work through record covers, her self-published zines, art shows, flyers and more. As we've all aged, her work has grown up with us and doesn't try to stagnate in some sort of pema-adolescence, which I really appreciate. I was happy that Janelle started a Patreon page this year, so that after all this time, I could be a real card-carrying member of her fan club. I look forward to every bit of art from her and hope there's a book in the future, full of gigantic asses, puking ducks, stink lines and the laughter that we need in this sad, desperate reality. 


COPYSCAMS

   To be transparent, this is my thing and it's on instagram. I went to a record swap in 2019 and noticed that a lot of people were selling old punk flyers. That kind of commerce is definitely Not My Thing, but I do own hundreds of flyers because I can't throw stuff away. I was talking to a friend at the swap about this collection and he encouraged me to document it in some way, because what use is it to just sit in your closet? So, I started an instagram page and kept it simple: the city, state, year and name of the person who made the flyer. That's it. I got really burned out on documenting the stories of everything by writing this blog...and also, it just causes problems in a lot of ways. Fast forward a year and the pandemic hit. I got a little more wordy because I have a lot of time on my hands and it felt better connecting with people by telling a small story about something that happened at the show, if I could remember anything. I decided to be more open to being wrong too...because our memories are faulty. It's updated on most days when I feel like it and usually happens when I'm drinking coffee. If you've been a fan of this blog, you'll probably find something you like in there.

POSTCARDS

   Over the last few years, I've been trying to focus more on film photography and get good at it. To be honest, I still don't know what I'm doing, but it's fun to try and figure it out. Pre-pandemic, I had been tossing around the idea of organizing a DIY photography show with a few friends, but the world quickly squashed that idea flat. I still wanted a way to share photos with people that was offline and accessible when I got an envelope in the mail full of postcards from my friend, Cory Bell. He has been taking photos on 110 film and turning some of them into postcards (find him at @littlecameras on the photo social media). My roommate, Anandi has also been making postcards of her photos for many years now. I wanted to do this too, so I got some pointers from the two of them, picked some photos and had my own batch within a couple of weeks. 

   It's feels really good to connect with people like this and throw my 35mm photos out into the world in a way that is cheap, easily accessible and supports the USPS. Learning how to use online photo editing for the first time in my life has kept me busy as well. I'm all sold out of them for the moment, but I'm hoping to make some new ones in the new year. 


Below, in bite-sized formats, are music releases from this year (and 2019) that got me through this heap of shit, in no order of importance. I always recommend supporting artists directly when you can.

KRIGSHODER - Favorite hardcore of the last few years.

ANGEL BAT DAWID - "The Oracle" LP - This came out in 2019 and is the next generation of amazing cosmic jazz. It was recommended to me by my longtime  friend Adee, who always has the best taste. I also think it's worth noting that this was recorded on a phone. 

MESSAGE TO THE RAT KING - I don't know if these fools wanna stay anonymous, but it seems that way for the time being. Compelling, interesting music from people who know what the fuck they're doing. 

PRISONER - The sound of wondering if your friends are ok

PATRICK JENNINGS - "Immediate" LP - This one also came out in 2019, but I can't stop listening to it. I went on tour with Patrick's old band for nearly 3 months once and it was awful. I'd find myself on the verge of strangling him on some nights only to have him pick up the guitar and deliver his songs with a conviction and energy that would stop you in your tracks. One of my favorite songwriters. I'm glad we're both sober now. 

LEBENDEN TOTEN - "Synaptic Noise Dissociation" LP The sound of insanity. Best heard at fuck-all loud volume. 

2 LAZY BOYS - "The Recline Of Western Civilization" LP - Simple sounding, yet intricate and insanely catchy pop from Oakland, CA. This record is addictive.

ALL HITS - "Men and Their Work" LP Saw them in a park in Portland last year and I immediately wanted everything they'd ever put out. 

DON'T ASK / FLOWER ZOMBIES Split LP  - Got this for one of my favorite Oakland basement punk bands and was also pleasantly introduced to Japan's FLOWER ZOMBIES. A great LP all around. 

Also, shout out to all the friends who have sent random texts, shared nighttime phone calls or just sent anything worth laughing about. Keep an eye on your loved ones in the coming year and take care of each other. 

More into mail than the online world always.

All mail gets a response. 

G Harvester - PO BOX 40786 - San Francisco, CA 94140



Sunday, October 4, 2020

"BIG AND LITTLE SHANK PRODUCTION: SHIT YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE. VOL 1. 17 BANDS, 53 SONGS" - Tape - Comp - 2001

 


     This tape was put out by Big Shank (Jeremy "Big Shank the Bandit" Johnson) and Little Shank {Josh Mayfield) in 2001 and acted as the third installment of the Region Rock cassette comps (links for the first two comps and a slew of other related demo tapes are linked at the end of this post). Region Rock (a term coined by Cinque from the Spawn Sacs, as the story goes) refers to a loose geographical triangle with points in Little Rock, Chattanooga and Miami and does not dictate a certain sound, but rather is a catch-all term for a group of friends playing punk under their own terms. It has been widely defined by people outside of these loose barriers (I say loose because this line has definitely looped up around Asheville, NC from time to time) as something like "bouncy, jangly pop-punk" but I'm certain that these people have never huffed gold spraypaint out of a paper bag while sweating on a porch at 4am with less than 27 cents to their name. Region Rock bands like BRIS, QUEERWULF, SUCKERPUNCH and SPAWN SACS will have anyone throwing those definitions off of the train bridge over the toxic waters of Chattanooga Creek in less time than it takes Ed to shotgun a beer. Onto the tape. 

     The reason that this tape wasn't previously given it's place among all of these other tapes on the blog is this: Josh gave me a copy of this tape when it was released in 2001. When I got it home, I listened to the first couple of JOE SMITH songs before that abruptly ended and I discovered that the rest of the tape was a dubbed copy of the MOTORHEAD album "Rock 'N' Roll", which is a great album. I'm listening to the tape right now. I never got a replacement tape with the proper songs on it, but Orange-SLS Records out of NY was nice enough to send the mp3's over to me to share with you. Better late than never. 

     The main difference between this comp and the earlier ones is that, with the exception of LES TURDS and JOE SMITH, the scope does not venture more than 100 miles out of the city limits of Chattanooga. The tape starts off with JOE SMITH, BRIS, THE MORONS and CAPITAL SICKNESS, who have all been written about extensively on here and you can find links to them below. THE TEENY FLOPPERS were slightly before my time in Chattanooga and I don't know shit about them, but I would see their singer / drummer Carey playing in other bands in Chattanooga and it always blew my mind that he could sing so well while pounding the shit out of the drums. Within 6 songs on this tape, they go through 3 bass players.  

     You will find more info about ADD/C linked below. 

     THE SOCIAL LIES were from Huntsville and Triana, AL and played sloppy, tuneful, screamy, teen punk. They sounded like a tug-of-war between singer / guitarist Brontez's love of riot grrrrl and east bay punk and drummer / singer Tameka's more straight-ahead hardcore approach, Their shows could be intense or just fun, depending on the mood. I saw both. One where they made it through the set with all of us pogoing along with them and another where the two members started yelling at each other and stormed out in front of a stunned audience. Either way, their song "Fuck The Scene" has always stuck with me and they were an important part of this era. The Chattanooga punks basically adopted the band into their town before Brontez moved there. You can find a video of them playing in Chattanooga at Rear Entry (a punk-ran show space) right here.

     COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH was a real rock n roll nightmare fronted by Big Shank, who sadly passed away in 2013. He has so many unbelievable and maniacal stories about him that I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface here. CCS recorded these songs in Chattanooga and the band never had a proper release until 2020 when Josh Mayfield put out a discography tape on his label WereOpossum  Records. CCS was all about drugs, partying and crime, but like, in a real way. I feel like there's STILL things I can't talk about, but I can tell you that the band had to unofficially change their name on flyers to THE PARTY AIN'T EASY because the cops were looking for them. I know that our house was not the only one visited by the Chattanooga pigs...where we were forced to keep a straight face while they asked us if we knew anything about the 7 foot tall graffiti all over town that stated in big bold letters, "COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH." RIP Shank. He was one of a kind. 

     I don't know shit about THE COMPLAINTS either and that sucks. They were from North Georgia and featured wildman Allen with his truly deranged vocals. Sorry I don't know more. 

     You can and should read more about QUEERWULF and THE SHAFFERS in the links below. I think the tracks on this tape are from each of their first demos. If you've heard the lightning-fast live sets from THE SHAFFERS in the past, this slower version will throw you for a loop. 

     THE SPAWN SACS are also written about in the links below, but I don't think most of these songs appear anywhere else and, like just about every other SPAWN SACS song, they are SO. FUCKING. GOOD. Embrace the tape deterioration. 

     JACK PALANCE BAND offers up two songs from their demo (and a re-recorded demo track) as well as one of their shortest, most vicious songs of all time that doesn't appear anywhere else, "Goddamn the Holocaust". 

     There are two tracks from Dalton's most valuable asset (and I know it's the carpet capital of the world), PETER STUBB. The second track "Evil" literally stopped me in my tracks. If you're not familiar with STUBB's long-running musical career, please follow the link below and seek out the short documentary "I'm Like This Everyday", made by Mitchell Powers and Josh Mayfield. 

     LES TURDS, like COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH, were an unstoppable force of drunken depravity led by a very tall, now deceased wild man known as Brian Turd. I don't feel like I can honestly do them justice and they are one of the few bands on here who have a little more of an internet presence outside of this blog. 

     You can and should find more info and an unreleased LP by Alabama's Suckerpunch in the links below. Their two songs on this comp are from their amazing demo tape. 

     F.D.I.A. is another one of those bands from the north Georgia region that I can't remember much about, but their songs on here are awesome. I can't remember everything! Give me a break! 

  All three region demos come from a place of low standards and even lower budgets, so you will have to learn to enjoy the tape hiss and the shitty recordings. But that's why you're here, right? 

DOWNLOAD COMPILATION


Related links to more info and full demo tapes. 

Saturday, September 26, 2020

SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE - 1st Demo - Tape - 1994

 

 

     So, it's been a minute...or two whole years, honestly, but quarantine and isolation do weird things. Let's get to the point of this entry and then there will be extra info after that. 

    SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE is no stranger to this blog, having appeared here and here, but I thought this first demo was lost forever. Recently, it turned up on a tape that I found in the bottom of a drawer and I couldn't be happier. This first version of the band featured Joey Tacon (THE SLACKERS and JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS) on vocals, Jason Burke (565 BURNOUTS and 15E) on guitar, Robert Daniel (THE SLACKERS and THE PEEPS) on bass and Elijah Horgan (THE PEEPS and NIGHT SIEGE) on drums. As I remember, they recorded this demo in a studio (probably Smokin' Studios where almost all of the local punk bands tried to record) and did the whole thing live in one take in order to save money. [Sidenote about Smokin' Studios: the place was mostly just a room in an office park with egg crates nailed to the walls. The guys who worked there would give us good deals because we (the punks) were quick and didn't try too hard for the best sound. Being in a studio was special and just being a step up from a thrift store boombox felt like an 88 track wonderland. Still, we all should've tried just a little harder]. 

     The songs here are fast and loose in the best way. One of my personal favorites here is "Fuck the Goddamn Master Race" with the (sadly) eternal line "Fuck you, you stupid nazi fuck!" A runner up is their theme song (every band should have one) with the line "Crazy, crazy, I'm motherfuckin' crazy!" I did my best to clean up the sound, but this is a 25 year old recording that was already assy to begin with, so don't expect the Silver Jubilee digital remaster, but if you've checked in on this blog before, I'm sure you know what you're in for. 

     The download features the entire recording as one mp3, since there are few breaks and also an extra folder with the songs split up. 

DOWNLOAD IT HERE 

   

     Oh, you're still here? Yeah, I haven't updated this blog in two years and there are no plans to keep updating it with any regularity at all. I stopped doing this thing because I feel like it ran its course and I was no longer having fun doing it. I started this to share a lot of old recordings with the people who were around at those times and, just as importantly, with the people who were NOT around then and could benefit from hearing all of this rad lo-fi shit from the middle of nowhere. Part of me started to feel like a gatekeeper of sorts though and that is a bullshit feeling. There are no gates. Anyone can do this. It also felt weird and very disheartening to find that some people had parceled out some of the comps and other recordings here to only showcase performers online who went on to find fame or a larger underground notoriety, which is maybe the opposite point of this whole site. I don't feel like I should have (or would even want) any control over what happens with these recordings once they are on the internet, but finding that shit is just gross. There's so much going on in the underground at all times and people still just want to focus on the brightest star in the sky, so far out of reach. 

   I hope ya'll are safe and keeping your head above water. Fuck this fascist power structure forever. 

Fuck you, you stupid fucking nazi fuck.