Groundhog or Bust
Squinting at my shadow; when will winter end?
No one knows what I do during the other three seasons
I will come to you through crag, twist, and bend
But I am coming for survival; not for you, nor jesus
Don’t get snowed in….
Don’t get snowed in……
I will eat so I can eat again; completing the circuit
Always had a curious streak (I drank poison as a child)
I have hoarded my excitement, but it was never worth it
Crush never came, hammer never fell, and I was stockpiled
Can’t leave the house…the door is blocked
…2-2-10
Songs you should have downloaded by now:
Upon Your Request by The Starvations
Ambulance Station by Nikki Sudden
Let ‘em Know by the Souls of Mischief
Apache Blood Overdrive by NASA Space Universe
I’m going to do a post of a bunch of my favorite oldies. Probably a zip file.
FLESH EATERS Live ‘82 + CHRIS D’S BOOK
The Wedding Dice,
Poison Arrow,
I Take What I Want,
See You in the Boneyard
These tracks come from a live session on KPFK that I believe was recorded the same night as this flier on the left. Or at least the same month. As you can see it’s the Forever Came Today/Hard Road to Follow line-up. Jill Jordan, the band’s backing singer, was also present for the recording and sings on some of these tracks.
What is this???
I’m not going to bore you with a band history; if you give a fuck about the Flesh Eaters you’ve already read it all. However there are some outstanding write-ups out there you may not have seen. My favorite article on the band is Byron Coley’s fantastic ‘82 tour diary, Masterpieces Hexed from the Dunes of Jive Broken Roads. Here’s the link to that.
Also another person I’d like to refer you to is Jay @ Detailed Twang who’s written some original thoughts on the Flesh Eaters. Oh, and if you’re in the googling mood, there’s a neat article @ perfect sound forever called “Heavy Punk Thunder from the Lake of Burning Fire”. That’s a good read too, but chances are if you’ve ended up here in your search for Flesh Eaters etc., you’ve seen em. But read em again, s’time you got reacquainted.
I’m not going to argue for any particular lp being the greatest, I love them all. Particularly the songs “So Long”, “Poison Arrow”, “Lake of Burning Fire”, and “Because of You (Every Legend Dies a Quick Death)”. Over all, I’m a Chris Desjardins fan. His first solo album is beautiful. Divine Horsemen are great too, and I’m pretty keen on the last two Flesh Eaters records.
PART TWO: THE BOOK
What I wanted to say when I sat down to this is that Chris D’s got a book out now. A reissue of his old one, Double Snake Bourbon………. with about 200% more added material!!
It’s called A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die (New Texture BOOKS)
Excerpts
Poetry: You get essentially everything he could find from 1973 to present. Wild stuff, very cinematic.
I wait outside the dog race track
Wyoming picnic parking lot,
me standing out against wide-eyed farmers,
skulls carved clean of brain
leading their wives into Labor…
drops of mucousy blood seep across their foreheadsFinally, I lose my patience
Inside the track, they ask for my I.D.
Muscles flexing bust the bodyguards’ T-shirts
as they work me overAnd then there he is standing over me,
his breath heavy
as if he delivered to blows himself
‘Get up, boy,’ he says,
‘Come into my office.’-Winchester ‘77
Baby, with a sword,
leaving your prey sprawled on the front lawn
with cartoon X’s for eyes,
my little girl in a floppy trenchcoat and hat
trying to avoid the pursuit of the 8mm Saliva Demon
a crazy brother chronicled on silent celluloid
Blue Boy the parakeet perches on your head,
escapes by accident one day when you go outside
and you forget he sits on your shoulder-Baby Lynne
Dream Stories/Fragments: I think a more apt title would Nightmare Journals. Actually, they’re not all horror stories. These come in the form of old and new, well, Fragments. Those I think are straight recollection, what he could remember when he got the pen to paper. Also there is a section of elaborated Dream Stories; there’s more of a literary flourish to these. I think he used to have these published in Forced Exposure. Out of all the material in the book (which is close to 500 pages!) I think the dream stories may be my favorite.
Julie and I decide to settle in for the night. We get out our sleeping bags. Just as we are starting to doze, a fight between some bikers and lowriders wakes us. So we pack up again. I ease the dragster forwards, but have to get out to pull the front end up with my bare hands, shift it around so it’ll fit into the exit lane.
Greasers and bloody bikers spit catcalls out at us as we drift by. Inside the exit land walls, Julie jumps out to chat with an old friend who’s sitting against the fence with a jug of wine. I roll the dragster further one to keep the exit clear
A bearded biker with a big ugly Budweiser cap on races after me. As soon as I’m in the driveway, he pulls out a Luger and starts blasting! I jump at him, pressing his gun hand up into the air. It goes off, fires again and again, once in his mouth, then his left cheek, then his right eye and finally his forehead. But there’s no effect!
He edges the deadly barrel back towards me, and I know I’ve no chance of being so invulnerable.
-Dragon Wheel Splendor
Lyrics: All of Chris’ lyrics 77-04 are included. Here’s some near-and-dear samples.
She sunk on down to Bourbon Street,
where the junkies sang her songs, and the winos kissed her feet
The pimps are too scared to even shaker her hand,
saying, “Sister Lucy Damien’s deadlier than any man!”
All the other whores are clucking their tongues,
disease in their blood and a sickness in their lungs
Well, she killed Koko Joe with her flying left hook!
But the sheriff won’t arrest her because she’s in his prayer book-Sanctuary
If you keep looking in the wrong place
you’re never going to find what you need
I made friends with a rocket
and I put that rocket in my veins,
I put that rocket in my veins,
shot so high up out of myself,
I fell flat on my face
Cute lil’ wild one to boot, cute lil’ wild one to boot,
cute lil’ wild one shot a poison arrow
of flame straight to her daddy’s heart
That shaft pierced where sane women fear to tread,
a heart from which blood can no longer flow-Poison Arrow
The rest of the contents are: seven screenplay ideas, unpublished novels (another of my favorite sections, if you get a chance to paw at the book check out Sacred World and Shallow Water), an appendix of his favorite films (a very long appendix). The whole thing is annotated; he says a lot about the things he made, and even more about things that made him make the things he made! In the back of the book there’s a strong afterword containing some words to live by. “Do not give in“, there’s four of them.
FREAKY FRIDAY GUYS.
Kwanza Bonanza: Feat. Thomas Function, Audacity, Le Face, Thee Makeout Party, Bad Parents, Gabriel Hart,
My Christmas was quite profitable: a jacket, scarf, Chris D’s book, crappy video camera, etc. I made my dad a cd of vinyl rips, I made a book for my mother, i bought my sister a jonathan richman cd where he sings in spanish, and i got my brother Leon the Professional on dvd. Izzy’s getting something too when he visits, if he doesn’t act a fool.
I hesitate to ask what your loved ones bequeathed unto you on the 25th, as you blog surfers are a greedy taking type who never learned proper gift giving etiquette growing up.
So here’s a few presents from the Necrophysicians:
Blue & Green by Thomas Function- I promised this one a while back. Keeping with the series, it’s a b-side, from the Insignificants 7″ to be particular. Very fun track.
Elephant Stomp by Bad Parents- Seems like a lotta the visitors to this page came around trying to hook themselves a zip of Gestapo Khazi’s 12″ EP. Well, this here’s a wild instrumental track from the Bad Parents’ 12″ EP, which the singer and drummer from GK play on. Oh, and by the way cheapskates, GK’s EP is 8$ right now, and comes with a three song demo cd and a badge if you get it at their shows. Get that shit while it lasts.
Wreckless Epic by Thee Makeout Party!- This is the lower fidelity version from their old 7″. on Kapow Records. A mellow pogo builds up to some fantastic rocking out at the end. Totally essential for fans of Thomas Function and Audacity. Pick up their full-length, Play Pretend, and see just how far they’ve come. The version of Wreckless on it is……god.
Naked Nerves by Le Face- Le face.
This track comes from a limited edition 7″ produced by Paul Roessler.
No Future, No Past by Audacity- Thissa one’s from the tour tape they just made. 7.5 glorious new recordings. Dacity takin it to a new level. Changin it up, fuckin it out. The sound’s not everything it could be, but then again it’s a tape. I really have no way of describing this song in terms of other artists. It’s wild stuff, actually goes somewhere, unlike the bulk of what’s “on-the-bubble” today.
Lullaby for the Strange by Gabriel Hart- I think this is my favorite of the batch. The vocal is just beautiful. It’s the Jail Weddings dude. If you want it on vinyl it’s called “The Nightlight” EP
All right, time for some 2009 favorites:
Movies
- Police, adjective
- Inglorious Basterds
- UP
- Cold Souls
- I Love You, Man
Dishonorable Mention:
- Avatar: Pocahontas and Tarzan had an ugly blue baby who somehow understood English and rode dragons for three hours
Records
- Jail Weddings Inconvenient Dreams EP
- B-Lines S/t 7″
- Audacity Winter Tour Tape
- Gestapo Khazi S/t 12″
- AM Alma Mater LP
Great books I read:
- A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (possibly read in very late 2008?)
- Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
- Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
- Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller
- Drown by Junot Diaz
- Search and Destroy #7-11 (best fanzine ever!)
Great Comix I read:
- Bone by Jeff Smith (as well as RASL and Shazam!)
- Watchmen by Alan Moore (as well as Swamp Thing and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
- Bacchus by Eddie Campbell (as well as The Dance of Lifey Death)
- Kings in Disguise by James Vance
- Black Hole by Charles Burns
- Parasyte by Hitoshi Iwaaki
- David Boring by Daniel Clowes
- Epileptic by David B.
- Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
- Sandman by Neil Gaiman (as well as various other good comics)
My favorite flashtoon short: Homestar Runner stars in “Cool Things”
or if the sound in this video is too bad:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/coolthings.html
also, if you are a child, proceed no further down this webpage, it’s very naughty and all your friends at school read it.
Canadian Punk Rock: Northern Necrophilia
Izzy recently told me that lack of sunlight can cause chemical imbalances in the body which leads to physiological depression. Yup, ur-hur, punk and depression, same thing. Now, it might just be the impression I got from that episode of Bobby’s World wherein the family visits their relatives in Canada for Christmas (and when they get there they all have counterparts with different colored hair and different Christmas traditions), but if I’m correct, Canadian Winter is a fucking GAUNTLET compared to that of my home Southern California. And the Sun’s been going down at 3 or 4 around these parts as of late! I can only imagine the shadowy hell that is enveloping our Friendly Neighbors to the North.
“Friendly Neighbors?” you say? Yes, by and by, it is largely due to defunct local group Friendly Neighbors that I’m here blogging today about Canadian Punk. You see, it all started last August. Me and my chums went to The Smell to see the Neighbors, NASA Space Universe, Le Face, and two touring groups from Vancouver. This was the night my beloved Prince shirt was ripped apart by some repressed closet homosexual tough guy in the mosh pit. As it turned out, that was the last time I saw the Neighbors (they kicked ass), but it was also the first time I saw Defektors and B-Lines. I ended up purchasing the Emergency Room compilation (the theme being regulars from the Emergency Room, an all ages diy space in Vancouver), and a B-Lines demotape, at the mild suggestions and nudges of one Kent Friendly.
The Defektors were on the side of the 80s underground; they call to mind bands like Naked Raygun, The Wipers (they even do a Tragedy cover), Shoes This High, Effigies. I also think of Crime because of the chunky guitars and gruff vocals. The track I’m streaming here, Burning Light, is an excellent gloomy number from the awesome Emergency Room compilation lp, and it kind of deviates from the sound of the songs on their single. The other material I’ve heard from them is a little rougher in quality, more garagey, whereas this track is smooth potatoes. The vocals on this are a little finer too. Don’t forget to listen to the songs on their myspace!
Burning Light by The Defektors
B-Lines are more on the loud, outta tune side of thangs. Me, I cannot for shit understand people who listen to hardcore, but not punk pop, and vice-versa. B-Lines absconded with the two and married them before the eyes of the children, who truly understand. ‘S’like Buzzcocks teaching Redd Kross some chops while the Angry Samoans meditate to a Ramones lp in preperation for the ensuing battle of the bands, where both seek to unseat Eater sitting on the Plugz’ shoulders from the champions’ pedestal. B-Lines drummer, I think his name is Bruce, is one of the few real punk drummers. It’s not sloppiness, like many assume. There’s an actual style. If I had to describe it, it’s like hyper minimal jazz or whatever. He’s got chops s’what i mean. These two tracks are from their debut 7″ EP which I gobbled up when the band made their surprise return to The Smell this past summer. Also, somewhere, out there, on the internet, there is a fantastic live set from a radio show called “thunderbird live” or something where the band discusses, get this……. HOCKEY!
Busy Man by B-Lines
Leaving & Dryer Fire by B-Lines
Now for the task no parent wants: pigeonholing White Lung (whom I have never seen). All right, stream of consciousness time. John Morton’s ferocious post-Electric Eels punk band X___X, morphing into UXA long enough to write lyrics and get everyone together, blacking out and waking up as Really Red in Austin, then U-Ron realizes he’s actually D. Boon and trades one of his spare copies of Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat to Rikk Agnew for American Youth Report. Oh, some australian shit too. This band is all around great. Hard to say what makes it. The bass sound is so thick I’m retarded, and the guitar cuts right through that. The drums AND the vocals are strong, tuff stuff. The first track is one of the b-sides from their recent Magazines 7″, and the latter appears on that record as well, but the version here is from the Emergency Room lp.
Backhouse by White Lung
Therapy by White Lung
White Lung plays @ the Smell this February. Check their page for West Coast Tour dates.
And now some oldies!
Scratches and Needles by The Nils: I found out about this fantastic punk pop band through Joe Stumble’s post of their Sell Out Young Ep at Last Days of Man. They started up in the 7os around the same time as Redd Kross, roughly the same age too. And they were brothers to top it off! They didn’t start making records til the 80s though. Far as I can tell, they were big fans of The Wipers, Clash, Dils, and New York Dolls. They’ve got a retrospective cd now called “Green Fields in Daylight“. Grievously, their singer, Alex Soria, committed suicide a few years ago. In light of the intro to this post, there may seem to be a crass tone. I mean no disrespect to Alex and his brother.
Grafitti: "Get modern or get fucked"
The Dishrags, are a bit older than the Nils. I found out about them through my friend Greg, guitarist for the Friendly Neighbors. Oddly enough, Joe Stumble posted one of their videos about a week after I got into the Dishrags. Apparently they’re Canada’s first all-female punk band, something which seems to be more common over their than here in California. The Emergency Room Lp, for instance, has loads of bands with girls in them. It’d be nicer if we could have more of that over here without the usual asswipe saying “People only like ‘em ’cause they’re girls.” The Dishrags first record, Past is Past, caught the attention of Joe Strummer, who insisted on playing with the Dishrags. Here is the a-side of that single, which any Canadian reading this heard when they were in diapers, as well as a later track.
Past is Past by The Dishrags
Death in the Family by The Dishrags
Because We All Have Those HUMAN MOMENTS!
Izzy Pod here, yet again to bring you more music that will violate your perceptions of reality, alter your consciousness, or at the very least, tickle your fucked up fancy. The band that I share with you today is none other than the Bay Area’s own, Strip Mall Seizures. The band is a five piece synth-punk-klezmer-mutant-combo: two cups of step-the-fuck-back and a teaspoon of don’t-mess-with-me. Singer Jew-D Bawlz patrols the stage like a malfunctioning wind up doll with an insane, but all too knowing smile on her face. Her vocal style can go through a myriad of styles including screaming, whooping, hollering, and even barking. The guitars are there more for texture than actual chords or picking, but rest assured it is all very structured. The bass is jagged and relentless, like careening down river rapids in an inner tube. The aspect that really adds to the fucked up sound however, is the keyboards. Bork Schism (who has an amazing solo project called Nero’s Day At Disneyland). They sound so messed up and malfunctioned and circuit bent, however if you listen closely, the song structures almost resemble classical music at times. Their live performances are extremely insane, and I have heard reports of people leaving their shows missing teeth and clumps of hair. I don’t know how much more I can say about this band, but get everything you can by them. If you enjoy music that can make you dance, slam dance and scare of the faint of heart, then Strip Mall Seizures are the download for you.
Introducing Gabriel Hart (the most run-on sentences ever)
This post revolves around the music of my buddy Gabriel Hart. He’s a singer/lyricist/guitarist/composer living in downtown Los Angeles. Gabe is someone whose music really made me want to start this site. Hopefully, that won’t flatter him a bit. He’s a friend after all, and when this makes him Lionel Richie famous, I won’t be able to look him in the eye anymore. His bands, Starvations, Fortune’s Flesh, and Jail Weddings have been oddly seldom written about considering their fanbase and the years he’s been at it. These fans are mostly born losers/drug abusers/etc. I suppose, and those types usually don’t waste time blogging. Me however, I’m a winner. In typical sportsmanlike fashion, I’ll try my best not to bloat this write-up.
Breakin’ My Black Heart by The Starvations (b-side of first single, ‘Shut Up Sirens‘)
Upon Your Request by The Starvations (off of their second lp, ‘Get Well Soon‘)
Purgatory by The Starvations (off of their third lp, ‘Gravity’s a Bitch‘)
A few years ago, my brother used to play songs over and o’er by this band called The Starvations. I didn’t know that was their name then, I just recognized the songs, and tied them together through the singer’s weird voice (that’s Gabe, today’s subject). Down the line after finding out their name, I asked Kevin (my bro) for the music. During the in-between time I had fallen in love with the Flesh Eaters, Gun Club, These Immortal Souls, Dream Syndicate, Rik L Rik. I think that’s an alright way to describe The Starvations……. if you only use punk references. If it’s details and “insight” you want, well, something that always struck me about them was the influence of country/rockabilly in the drumming (Ian Harrower). Not neo-fagabilly; more along the lines of the old southern stuff Lux Interior used to listen to. But I don’t actually know anything about rockabilly. Not sure if they had more than one guitar in the early days (they formed around ‘96 if I’m correct), but at their best they had two guitarists; Gabe and Ryan Hertz. Working together they got a sharp, yet warm sound going; something like the Pogues, something like Dave Alvin. They also added a girl on keyboard/elec piano and accordion;Vanessa Gonzalez. The keyboard added to the old California punk feeling. No particular bands really come to mind, and that’s a good thing. The accordion bolstered the nice Irish stench of it all. All I can say about Jean-Paul Garnier’s bass is listen to Upon Your Request.
Fortune’s Flesh tread very similar ground to The Starvations (after they broke up in 2005). Gabe and Ian were still present, with a few friends on hand from other bands. This is not to say they felt like nothing new. Nope, not at all. This band never released a single record, though Gabe tells me they recorded an album. So here’s something special. One of the prettiest songs I ever heard a man sing.
Mutual Fools by Fortune’s Flesh (unreleased)
Death Country by Gabriel Hart (the ‘Nightlight‘ Ep)
These Fleeting Moments by Jail Weddings (‘Inconvenient Dreams‘ Ep)
Fortune’s Flesh didn’t last very long though. I don’t know what it was. I’m not going to ask. Since then (2007?) Gabe released an acoustic solo-ep called The Nightlight, and has formed a new band. And mandaddy, is it a band! 10 members strong, and lead singers are always made out to be the stars, but fuck man, far as I’m concerned that number is not in excess. What you get is some very layered records. Great shit, good for many listens in a row. My favorites are the bass and violin. Live, they take forever to set up, but are well worth it, despite the lack of brutal pits at their performances. Ideally, they should play open air. The charge of the rhythm section would be amazing. JW are fucking far from what the Starvations were. A lot more tender songs, just check I Thought You Were Someone I Knew on they myspace. Did I mention the Weddings are replete with dualing female singers?
So that’s my impression of Gabe’s music in a nutshell. The scant, hacknyed reviews of his records might lead you to believe that he’s a creepy lech, jeffrey lee pierce wannabe, star-in-the-making, godhead, or genius. Maybe he is all those things at one time or another, but what they always neglect is that he’s a human. Same as everyone who ever lived. To me personally, he’s been a kind guy who let me get away with being awkward, and in my experience, most people don’t do that.
What you want; What we got
There is function on WordPress known as “quickpress” and figgered i’d give it a whirl to mention something that’s been, well, tickling me.
WordPress has a window at the blog dashboard called “top searches” and it shows you some of the google searches that led people to your page.
Sometimes they are rather off topic (punk is the topic) due to the fact that ALN hosts a variety of “words” from the english lexicon. We don’t discriminate.
Here are some of my favorites:
Necrophilia
Romantic Necrophilia
Necrophilia Romania
Gestapo Torture
Chones
Strong Fuck
Pictures of Famous Gestapo
Nasa Egypt
Necrophilia HIV Story
Abuse party
While weaker stomachs would shrink from their blogging responsibilities, we have taken a personal mission, to love and accept every little baby who should arrive at our doorstep, regardless of which sewer mutant dropped them off. We didn’t plan on this, but God delivered you to us, and by scout’s honor WE WILL LOVE YOU. Even the 12 year old nazis. Like I said, we don’t discriminate. Keep on keeping on taboo seekers, perhaps we will yet satisfy your craven desires; and maybe even a few of our own…………
What the hell else was he supposed to do??
fat people having sex in a pool, teens, black teens, donkey punch, kkk, antifa, speed metal, iron maiden, the misfits, led zeppelin, cher, supple tits
