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