Saturday, August 31, 2013

GbV: Ranked!

People have been doing this for a while now, especially since the announcement that English Little League  may be the final Guided by Voices album.  I needed some time, it's a daunting task and before I go any further I have to say that the middle section of this list is almost total bull.  Those albums are so matched in quality it is very difficult to rank them.  Also, anyone reading this probably already knows that this is like 40% of the story at most with all the EPs and compilations.  After all this is the most prolific band of all time we're talking about.  Maybe the Fall has more material, but it's much more similar than GbV's catalogue, isn't it.

So, from best to least-best, here is the ranking of the great band's 20 full-length records and their three categories.

THE TOP:

1.  Bee Thousand
It's flawless, diverse, gorgeous, and funny, of course.  But that could be said about most of these albums.  What separates Bee Thousand is its transcendence.  Like the best works from the Beach Boys, Yes, Young Marble Giants, etc., this album is aiming for the heavens and finds it in all its abstract, untouchable beauty.  Probably the greatest album ever made.

2.  Alien Lanes
This is the equal to its predecessor in terms of music, but is a bit more down to Earth.  Some people prefer it, and I think that must be that it is less taxing emotionally and for that reason more fun, especially with it's bookending tracks.

3.  Under The Bushes Under The Stars
Still underrated, the band's move into professional recording has some of their greatest moments such as "Your Name Is Wild," "Man Called Aerodynamics" and "Drag Days" for starters.  In a lot of ways, it's the ultimate "classic lineup" album (considering Jim Greer logged more time than Greg Demos in actuality) and is the one to open your eyes beyond the sound of the last two records.

4.  Propeller
This was the first one to be "final" before living up to its title and transitions them from Midwestern dreamers and shows everything the band had to offer, especially in that of Tobin Sprout whose songwriting makes its debut along with his unique recording style.

5.  Vampire on Titus
This one is a grower.  Recorded in a rush by Bob, Jimmy, and Toby it is stripped down and really weird, but these songs are some of their best and have some of the widest range between energetic folk-pop of "Wondering Boy Poet" to the nightmarish "#2 In The Model Home Series" to the epic "Marchers in Orange."  A masterpiece for the true fans.

6.  Earthquake Glue
Since the reformation of the classic lineup people have been leaving out the professional era, but a lot of great music was made at the time and I think this is clearly the best thanks to tracks like "My Kind of Soldier," "The Best of Jill Hives" and "Secret Star" - at 4:43 one of band's longest songs.  Underrated, overlooked, one of the best.

7.  English Little League
As tragic as it would be to see the band's days purely in the past, they may have ended very well.  The reunion albums just got better and better and the latest may have been the biggest step up with this diverse set. Slowly revealing its brilliance, it captures everything that made them the best band on Earth in 1994 now with professional knowhow and years of wisdom gained.

THE MIDDLE:  

8.  Tonics and Twisted Chasers
The classic era's "hidden" album is a stripped down set of nostalgic classics ("Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something and 5") and weird experiments ("My Thoughts Are a Gas") that proves more than any other how quickly and perfectly the band could shit out genius.

9.  Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
The early period is the most overlooked and the scarcity of the albums and the absence from the live sets, but they are all worthy, and this is my favorite thanks to songs like the rocking "Navigating Flood Regions," "Paper Girl" and the epic "An Earful O' Wax" with one of the greatest solos int he band's discography.

10.  Half Smiles of the Decomposed
The band's second "final" album, and the last of the underrated professional era featuring guitar god Doug Gillard may be a bit spotty, but closing track "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" could not have been a more perfect conclusion and is one of their strongest and most personal tracks of all.  Add "Window of My World," "The Closets of Henry" and the Ingmar Bergman-inspired "Girls of Wild Strawberries" and you've got a pretty great album, plus the biggest integration of synths of the band's work.

11.  Isolation Drills
Sometimes I'm kinda cold on this one, but perhaps their biggest attempt at appealing to chumps has a lot of charm and that's apparent seconds in via opener "Fair Touching."  There's no shortage of classic pop here and with the Strokes' big endorsement at the time it's a wonder we didn't hear songs like "Chasing Heather Crazy" and "Glad Girls" on the radio, especially if you have seen the latter's video.

12.  Do The Collapse
I am a firm believer that this album doesn't suck, even if "Hold On Hope" does.  Had that song's single not been padded with the sessions' best tracks, the strength of this album is unfathomable.  There are a few other stinkers, but songs like "Things I will Keep," "Wrecking Now," and "Womrhole" are enough to qualify this as one of their better albums.

13.  The Bears For Lunch
The third reunion album is the first one I would really call solid, unlike its predecessors, everyhting is pretty good even if its highs aren't as high, but with heights like "Waving At Airplanes," "You Can Fly Anything Right," and the lo-fi "Dome Rust," there's not much to complain about.

14.  Class Clown Spots a UFO
A huge step up from the last one, their second album of 2012 is still a bit spotty, but Tobin Sprout bursts out some of the greatest songs of his career on "Starfire" and "All of This Will Go," but Little Bobby Pop's not too shabby either with songs like one of the heaviest rockers of all time "Tyson's High School."

15.  Devil Between My Toes
The debut full length (following excellent EP Forever Since Breakfast) is unintentionally lo-fi album is one of their loosest and most fun, though certainly their most derivative, particularly of R.E.M. on the set's best songs "Hank's Little Fingers" and "Hey Hey Spaceman."  It's a different band, but still a great one and the heavy closer "Captain's Dead" foreshadows what they would be doing in the professional era with its dense harmonies.  With Big Daddy on the cover the legend is born.

16.  Mag Earwhig!
The death of the classic lineup coupled with the brief era of "Guided by Verde" and the beginning of the Pollard-Gillard collaboration makes for an unusual album.  It's a more hard-rock flavored affair, highlighted with the Gillard original "I Am A Tree," but the best moments are in the classic style like "Learning to Hunt," "Can't Hear the Revolution" and the classic lineup's last masterpiece "Jane of the Waking Universe."

17.  Same Place The Fly Got Smashed
This album was the one concept album they managed to make.  It's tribute to aging into a drunken waste shows how being an unrecognized genius was taking its toll on the Ohio schoolteacher at its best on "Pendulum."  The love song to alcohol "Drinker's Peace" is the universal favorite, but I think nothing tops closer "How Loft I Am?"

18.  Universal Truths and Cycles
Giving up on the mainstream, they returned to Matador on this album that despite a few (really) great tracks like the piano-driven "Back to the Lake" and "Everywhere With Helicopter"just doesn't work tht well overall.  Not bad, grown on me enough to avoid "the bottom," but one of my least favorite, though it's good songs...

THE BOTTOM:

19.  Sandbox
Always considered their worst, and in the band's opinion their "creamiest."  There is a sound of insincerity and defeat in the overly-clean production, even on great songs like "Long Distance Man," "Everyday," and "Can't Stop."  Too bad, 'cause what a lineup.

20.  Let's Go Eat The Factory
It's like they didn't even care.  It's hard to believe they had been playing together again for over a year when they put this out.  The faithful knew it would get better, but this album is the ultimate example of Pollard's problem with quality control.  I'll admit that sometimes I like this more than Sandbox, but the lack of effort is just kind of offensive.  You can tell Toby may be on his game more than Bob, but I still can't think of his songs.  Just "Donut for A Snowman" and "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" have much to offer.  It's too bad, a lot of people still think the reunion albums such thanks to this mess.

By no means definitive, but thanks for reading.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Roots, Part 9: Uncovered! The Popes!

In part 7 I realized I mentioned the Popes who existed for a week (possibly longer with more people in the same name - transition from Xyster to Hurtu era) in 2002.  Just me and Aidan at Summer Music Programs plus Jeff Ziga and a girl named Jen, both instructors, on drums and guitar, respectively.  It was rare for a band to be so unconcerned with being "mature" at Summer Music programs and this EP's two originals are repetitive, droney instrumentals.  The guest guitarist questioned our open-ness to "goth," but at 15 I explained to her what goth really was with these tracks.

We had a great week and I go to sing "Transmission" and "Beat on the Brat" as the two of us were able to explore our, or probably just my stupid teenage musical ideas for a week.  In a lot of ways, this is a more "professional"-sounding version of The Power of Rawk but with more sax.  Either way, more teenage outsider rock.

The next week we were thrown into Chronic Insurgence, and unfortunately I could not find Watergun Outlet, that band's fascinating EP when I was in New Jersey.  Not sure what else to add, you know the characters already, all there is the music and if you can believe it, all the album art!

Also, I was temporarily unaware of Shane McGowan's band of the same name, and that's why it did not stick.  The names were chosen to be religiously offensive.

Back, front cover

The inside.  Pictures taken that Tuesday and scanned from Weird NJ.


Back cover, can't remember the source of that image
DOWNLOAD:  The Popes - Shabazz! (2002)

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

A Tribute to Will Stratton

A little late on this but, last Friday was a pretty exciting event.  It was the tribute to Will Stratton coupled with the release of the album available for purchase that also goes to his Medical fund.

It was a pretty fantastic sow held at Spin in Manhattan - a large basement ping-pong club.  I wish I wrote this earlier so I could remember it better.

First there was Beat Radio.  That was a two-man group.  Not usually into that kind of thing, but it was cool.  Next you had Kid in the Attic who I had previously seen at a rooftop show with pow wow! and Crazy Pills on Andrea's birthday.  It's just one woman in a red hat and this was certainly a better venue for her than a drunken Bushwick party.  Both artists are on the tribute album and make pretty cool contributions.

Aaron Roche was the next to perform, an older guy and collaborator of R. Stevie Moore's.  Naturally that piqued my interest and his set, though long awaited from the set-up time was pretty awesome.  It started really quiet and then got louder as he had two young female vocalists with him for harmonies that reminded me of a more successful version of what the Dirty Projectors try to do.  With mostly pre-recorded backing and high intensity, his set reminded the most of John Maus.

The Next two sets were more personal by New York friends Jesse Rifkin and Trevor Wilson.  Both of them are on the tribute album as well, and by then things got so emotionally taxing that I couldn't even pay much attention to Wilson's set, though it was clearly a continuation of Rifkin's with a lot of delicate beauty.  You should look into both artists.

Will closed the set himself which was an unexpected treat, up to some point, and though he was underrehearsed, I doubt I've seen him play better.  It was overwhelming.  There were only three songs in his set but it was the highlight despite some great competition.  He is looking surprisingly healthy and in good spirits, so we all have a lot more to look forward to from Will.  His next album is entitled Gray Lodge Wisdom and will be quite a change of pace, and I personally have very high hopes for it.  A demo of its title track (sure to change a lot) is included in yesterday's article's package.

Photo by Mike Raynes

Photo by Jeff Nasareno
Well, there goes my policy of not reviewing friend's shows, but I have to push the BENEFIT ALBUM and how you should buy it.  I was asked to include a couple tracks and I chose Jesse Rifkin and David Garland's.  The former because it is quite a radical reinterpretation of an old favorite differing from either artist's usual sound, and the latter because of that artist's connection to Connie Converse and the Documentary my wonderful girlfriend Andrea is making about her.

Well, here are those TWO TRACKS, but you really should just buy the album, probably several times.

Anyway, my mind has stopped functioning, rather it's malfunctioning and I should probably stop.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Friends

So the last series was really self-centered, but this whole time it was all with the intention of putting out a collection of songs by my friends.  Most of the are the fascinating characters mentioned in my previous articles.  I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by geniuses my whole life, most of them musicians, and many of them collaborators.  Though some may be over or under-represented in this set, I tried not to have any favorites, I merely wanted all the major projects represented.  Alameda and Basking Ridge probably make up the majority of the lot, but people I know from college (the bridge to all, I suppose) and LA are in there too.  Now for the long explanation int eh only order that makes any sense:  Alphabetical...

Colin O'Brien-Lux is a Maryland-bred performance artist in Los Angeles who has been active in many communities in the city and is perhaps best-known for his Winter 2012 clown show Everybody Nose Nothing Means Anything And I'm Very Worried, which unfortunately coincided with Super River's debut.  Not to discuss my own band too much, but the connection is a major one as Jesse Johnstone did the engineering on the EP Angel Will You Marry Me? from which both these tracks are taken and played drums on one song.  Other drums were played by Miles Marsico and bass came from Andrew Lewis, who played in Skin Rat.  Last I know he was performing as Grandma in a very atmospheric and intimate way that should not be missed.  "Scarf" is one of the most powerful tracks I have heard in a while.

The Darflers is a project led by Alex "Flash Gilmore" Hatatsis that has also featured fromer Funbeatles/Sunfighter Marty Skeels and local legend (and portrayer of Nagatoku in "Gundam Driver") Chris Arnold.  The band had an emphasis on power-pop with green musician Halatsis skillfully pulling off both bass and vocals.  Not much has been heard since, but Halatsis is now in a band with Big/Ewox member Alyssa Polizzi before her move to LA.  "Best Boy" comes from the Spencer's Girl EP, and "Another Lonely Girl" is a demo with lyrics penned by yours truly.  One of my two appearances in this set.

Flash Gilmore & the Funbeatles was Alameda's greatest band, band certainly the greatest live act of 2012.  With firm roots in The Comfy Men, they were comprised of frontman Flash Gilmore, drummer Jerry Ramone, bassist Mick James and guitarists Hazel James and The Glove.  Their uniformed and choreographed shows were a rare spectacle featuring both phenomenal originals and classic covers.  They released the record Debauchery Playground, named after their closing track - the first composed for the project shortly before disbanding in late Spring of 2011.  Unfortunately, the album was recorded months before and the band's playing and songs had improved much in that time, but that's only an issue if you were lucky enough to witness these later shows.  It still stands as one of the best rock records of its time and "The Top" and "Here It Comes" are hardly enough to hear by this unbelievable combo.

Kidz was a project led by Sam Deutsch (who will be explained in more detail shortly) with a collaborator named Mike.  "Move Yo' Body" is a fantastic piece of 90s dance music that shows just how much the artist who cut his teeth in Hurtu/the Shears/Love Athena can do.

The Last Nights was the brief reunification of Funbeatles Alex Halatsis, Paul Igaz, and Arran Rogerson who made a worthy (even by their standards) debut with an improvised set in May 2012.  Before the Hawaii exodus they played a few shows and recorded Dig This from which these two tracks come.  "Dany James" is about the inspirational Oakland artist.  Sadly other classic tracks "Virtual Tibet" and "Guided by C-Mac" remain unrecorded to my knowledge.

Love Warrior was a solo project from Arran Rogerson after the disbanding of the Funbeatles and recorded the album DMZ, a power-pop album mostly about masturbation.

Also from Alameda is One Tribe, the project of Hawaii native Tony O'Toole.  A spiritual figure in the Alameda scene, Tony was the subject of one of the Funbeatles' earliest songs and has been catalyst to much musical growth (in both directions) with most of the Alameda musicians.  Music For My Friends was an ambitious project for him, but turned out to be a success.  It is the source of the atmospheric instrumental "John" and the cover of "30 Century Man," with guest vocals from Alex Halatsis.  "What a Strange Day" is a demo I rather like as well.

pow wow! is the project of Basking Ridge originals Jeff and Eddie Nazareno with roots going back arguably about ten years, or 26, depending on the perspective.  Last year they released the refreshing Don't Stop To Look with a five-member lineup providing big arrangements, tons of hooks, and beautiful harmonies.  The first two tracks are here, but the whole thing is about as good.  The band has had varying levels of notoriety throughout it its career, and their album, one of the finest of 2012 still needs its due.  Unfortunately their future is a bit uncertain, but there is no doubt its members will go onto creating more great music.

Sunfighter is the primary band of former Funbeatles Arran and Sam Rogerson.  They both play guitar and sing and split songwriting duties.  Sweet Machine was another great and overlooked album of 2012 full of catchy guitar rock that evokes all the best stuff and is quite creative in its songcraft.  They toured the West Coast last summer with rhythm section Fed Martinez (drummer in Rogerson's past groups Life on Mars? and others) and Eamon O'Conner, playing with Super River in two instances.  Here are two of my favorites from that record.

SWade is the former alias of Sam Deutsch, one of the most talented and unpredictable artists I know in any regard.  That made selecting tracks from him very difficult.  He can write great classic pop songs, experimental pieces, piano ballads and just about everything in between.  Lately his focus has been on Dark R&B, though with plenty of breaks in between.  He is currently using the name 50 Grand Sam and working on an EP, but just released the song "Hollywood" yesterday which you can purchase on iTunes, and I implore that you do.  These two are different though - "Could This Mean Space?" is an experimental synth pop that is as edgy as it is catchy, and "A Best Friend's Love" is a funny folk-rock demo.  Just two of my favorites among a whole lot.

Volcano Divers is Liam Carroll, from Liberty Corner, not Basking Ridge if you can believe that.  First appearing in this blog as Batwolf's butler Dr. Alphonzo Vengeance (yes, we had a doctor for a Butler), he has recorded a lot of noise-pop in this form and here are a couple of my faves.

Will Stratton is another old friend from Basking Ridge.  His real name is Will Lulofs and he was a member of Batwolf, the Tangles, and previously Time Well Spent.  He is recovering from Testicular Cancer and planning to return u-time to New York in October.   There will will be more about that in an upcoming article.  Last Friday was his benefit show, featuring a closing performance by the man himself in accompaniment of the BENEFIT ALBUM which I will also discuss in more detail.  Having the most professional career of all (four albums released on real labels) it was also hard to choose material from him, especially considering how much of it has Basking Ridge references.  However I chose one from his first, another from his second, and a demo of the title track for the next.  I am sure it will change a lot before the album is released, but I like this version.  I also used to like the demo version of "You're a Real Thing" more, but that has changed.

As mentioned before, Zero the Astronaut is Alex Adler's solo project after Ways ceased to be.  With so much material he started narrowing it down and went into the studio to record a debut single of "Solitude" and "Misery City."  He played all the instruments except the bass on "Solitude" which, not surprisingly was me.  The songs show both his sides - heavy and complex and soft and stoney, but both have a great deal of raw emotion.  Adler is an excellent songwriter who is firmly in the tradition of the best American rock of the 80s and 90s who has a lot of potential, particularly in his ability to not fear the obvious.

DOWNLOAD: THE BEST OF FRIENDS

I hope you enjoy all these tracks and artists as much as I do.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Roots, pt. 8: Skin Rat

I must admit I forgot about this one.  That's because it began after the inception of Super River, but before leaving California.  It is the first of many Super River side bands, but without a doubt the best-defined.  Almost all of these groups have names and I cannot keep track of them.  Maybe Jesse can, but those are just the ones that he is in!  Every different configuration of the members of Super River has a different name, though the recorded material is usually just lumped in as "Super River."  When others are concerned it's different.  There are countless bands made up of any number of the five of us and our usual collaborators like Miles Marsico, Max Dameron, Colin O'Brien-Lux, Arran Rogerson, David Boe, Michael Solan, Paul Igaz, and many more.  A few I can recall include God Particle, which I believe is the four male members of Super River, Silk & Flowers which is Super River (or at least most of us) plus Max Dameron (and possibly Miles) and of course Kathryne and Miles' project Fake date.

So then onto Skin Rat.

Thanksgiving week 2011 was a trying period for Super River with Jason's schedule changing (or so we thought), Jesse's visit to New Mexico, and Kathryne and Alex's long trips away to Portland and Atlanta, respectively.  We feared they may never come back, but luckily that was not the case and the band continued.  Jesse took this opportunity to test out some new recording ideas in our space at ABC studios, in Glassel Park with the help of me and our friend Andrew Lewis.  These tests were successful as anyone who knows the improvement in sound quality in our recordings from late November/December 2011.  Upon Kathryne's return we recorded the first versions of classics like "It's Dancing Time" and "The Liberty Science Center."

It all began with Skin Rat.  Jesse, Andrew and myself decided to jam for two nights and we had a great time.  We tried a few different configurations instrument-wise, but found the greatest success with myself on guitar and vocals, Andrew on bass, and Jesse on drums.  Unfortunately the bass is pretty low on these recordings but the power of the trio is still apparent on these dark, heavy, and angular songs - all improvised in the usual tradition.  Worth a listen if you were curious about my guitar playing.

"Blood on the Ground" is a noisy and angular goth/no wave track, "DryWings" is is a quick bit somewhat meandering track that would work well in a psychedelic Western shootout.  Pretty cinematic.  "Fly Climate" with its eeire vocals is also atmospheric, naturally of jungle nightmare.

DOWNLOAD:  Skin Rat - Mom's Worst Nightmare (2011)

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Roots, part 7: The Lost Bands

I started playing in bands when I was 12.  That was way too late, but it was hard to find people to play with.  I was mostly a drummer back then, you could say.  When Time Well Spent played at the William Annin Middle School talent show in 2000 it was time to stop dragging my feet.  Time Well Spent was a ska band led by Will Lulofs (aka Will Stratton) who at that time included Laura Allen (drums), Alex Jen (bass), maybe Rob Fehn (sax), Josh Felter (trombone) and I think, Greg Schefler (trumpet).  Later on they included Jeff Nazareno on guitar and Shannon Mackey on vocals.

So I hooked up with Matt Brady who just started playing guitar.  We would eventually call our band Panaphobia, but for the rest of 2000 I switched to bass and we had a revolving cast of members such as Doug Chee, Bo Liu, Alec Signorino, Tommy Holden, and probably everyone else I was friends with in 8th grade. No recordings survive to my knowledge, but Doug Chee made some on his old TalkBoy, but in addition to Metallica and AC/DC covers "The Tower Air Saga" and "Smokey Bear Plays With Matches" were in their early formation.  The former was the first song we wrote with lyrics by Tommy written after a Time Well Spent performance.  Those lyrics returned in a one-off performance from Love Athena much later.  Other names considered/used were The Electric Shoes, (Red) Convulsion, and Safety Hazard.  How embarrassing!

That band dissolved by the end of 8th grade and things settled down on Xyster which featured myself, my brother Aidan, Tommy Holden, and Adrian Rodrigues Ricelli.  That band was a lot more focused on humorous noise rock and a demo recorded with a computer microphone was made on a MiniDisc in the Autumn of 2001.  That has probably vanished, sadly, but it had some cool stuff.  Any fan of The Power of Rawk would have loved what we made.  That day (possibly others too) we recorded songs like "The Tower Air Saga," "Radio Boy," "Creep Street," "Smokey Bear Plays With Matches," and "Randy."  The last was written by guest vocalist Albert Martini who compliments the lyrics about a bratty kid with a Louis Armstrong voice assuring us, "I got the Jell-o!"  It was one of the only songs to utilize the band's dual bass capability.   Tommy was out of the band somehow and replaced with Sam Deutsch before Xyster played Charter Day in Basking Ridge, May 2002 though it was not very successful.  We played "Creep Street," "Virulent," "Love Will Tear Us Apart," and I think "Blitzkreig Bop."  It was intense, I think "Virulent" sounded best even as a broke sticks and played drums with my hands.  At the time I thought we were re-inventing noise-rock.  It mat have been true.  

In the summers of 2001-2003 I attended Summer Music Programs in Bryn Mawr, PA and recorded 6 EPs with 5 different groups, all of whom played a show at the end of the week.  In 2001 was was in the Mejettes which was a pretty sad group of misfits that covered "Brown-Eyed Girl" and began my tradition of singing the Ramones with "Blitzkreig Bop," albeit with incorrect lyrics.  I can't recall what else and I would prefer not to... oh God, one of then was "What I Got"...  The next week I joined Shooting Stars on second bass/multi-instruments.  Shooting Stars had proven themselves the most interesting band the week before, and the coolest kids int eh program with the most diverse and open taste in music and best attitude.  Before me they had written some cool dubby originals and covered A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I Kick It?"  We did an original called "Music," another jammy one which's title I cannot recall, "Now I Wanna Snip Some Glue," and something else.  The Ramones cover was altered to keep it parent-approved, though it still got me in trouble as my own mother found a tube of Liquid Nails I was using to fix an old guitar buried in my room.  It was embarrassing, though the music was still cool.

The next year Aidan joined me and the first week we met Jeff Ziga who was our drummer and goth chick who played guitar.  We called ourselves the Popes and recorded the EP Shabazz!.  We played "Creep Street" and "Virulent" which had evolved to have a few more changes.  Even the super-hip Ziga was unsure of our minimalistic krautrock and Spacemen 3- derived sound, but we did it.  Additionally we covered more Joy Division with "Transmission" and something by the Ramones, I think "Beat on the Brat."  The next week the brothers McEneaney were thrown into another misfit band.  Satisfied with our work the week before we took it easier, but it was pretty difficult.  The band's de facto leader was a blue-haired Hot Topic victim from Chicago named Josh.  He dubbed us "Chronic Insurgence" which he thought was really clever and put this symbol on the album cover that was a total rip-off of the Quake logo, though he denied it to no end.  He played guitar and vocals.  Even worse was a rich redneck from North Carolina named Chuck.  I hit my breaking point with him and threatened him.  The administration had to speak with me, but they sympathized.  Everyone did.  I hope he was murdered.  Both of them actually.  The bassist (I played guitar all week) was the best non- McEneaney int eh band, but still your typical bass nerd.  He loved to slap and was really excited about the release of By The Way, wanting to cover the title track.  Obviously, he had a chin beard.  He was credited on the EP as "Qev."  The band performed a so-bad-it's-good original by Josh - the title escapes me, "Just Like Honey" (which I sang, of course), a jam and a cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" which had a noise breakdown that actually was the band's greatest achievement.  "Just Like Honey" was fun too and is my mom's favorite recording, but the BC Rich just doesn't jive with it.  When we played it Aidan, of course, cranked his distortion all the way up, once to be corrected by Josh who felt the need to remind him it was "a soft song, no distortion."  What an asshole.

These four EPs still exist, unfortunately the first two are in LA.  I'll get them back and post them.  The second two I could get at my mom's place some time soon probably/hopefully.  As for 2003, that was already documented in my article on The Shears.

In Fall 2002, Adrian left and Xyster folded, making way for Hurtu, which has also been documented.  What I failed to mention, possibly intentionally was the Guilty Parties.  This was a punk band formed by André Cernasov prior to joining Pukey and the Vomets and bassist Sean Dlugos.  I played drums, Sam was the singer.  We had some original songs which sadly I can only remember one being a reggae jam with a lot of cursing.  We also did "California Ãœber Alles."  The main original we did though was not bad and pretty funny, though.  We had a good time.  Recordings probably existed, but I know nothing of them.

After that there was The Shears, Mr. Disco, and Love Athena.  In Spring 2004, Sam and I were in pop-metal supergroup Batwolf, a band whose legend is too lengthy and will one day get their own article - hopefully right before a reunion.  I will say a little though, such as that the band included myself, Sam, Will Lulofs, Jeff Nazareno, and Albert Martini, all of whom have been mentioned in this article already.  The five of us assumed the names of five demigod brothers raised by Ganfalf on planet Lovetron named Valhalla O'Shea, Ogrim Doomhammer, Sir Elven Hellspawn, River Styx Milton, and Sabertooth Siren.  We had three songs - "Meat Factory Lovin'," "The Fall of The Wizard," the gorgeous "Love Commander," and an ELO-inspired instrumental.  Instrumental recordings were made of the songs for Albert to practice vocals and have since disappeared.  There were plans to record a record entitled Taste the Rock which would also include a title track, but after two performances that was the end of the band.  The first was at Charter Day and saw the group chauffeured by Mike Raynes in his 1990 Chrysler LeBaron nicknamed "Ron" in full costume.  We played all three fully-formed songs and welcomed Liam Carroll in character as Dr. Alphonzo Vengeance feeding microwaved (and mostly partially-frozen) taquitos to Sam.  He threw a few into the audience, hitting Eric "Big Montana Schneider" on the head with one, prompting a humorous "are you serious!?" caught on a lost video taken by Tommy Holden.  A small, mostly acoustic show was organized in Society Hill by Jeff's place later, but was cut short by power issues and awful neighbors.  It was gorgeous as we set up our instruments and fans by the pond that late spring evening.  Later, Liam made a documentary about the group further developing the band's mythology.
Batwolf illustrated:  Will, C-Mac, Albert, Jeff, Sam, and Liam
That Autumn, following the breakup of Love Athena I joined two other bands, I played bass in neither group.  I served on guitar in Down/B with Jason Paskow (also of Jesus Cookie), Tom Baumgarten, and Taylor Green.  We had some cool sounds and covered "Hey Ya," but I was too busy to keep up and I don't think much happened afterwards.  The other was The Hispanics with Tim King (aka Raphael Agudelo), Alex Talbot, and Adrian Rodriguez Ricelli.  I played drums and we had a cool dissonant, yet danceable post-punk sound in the mold of early Liars, The Ex, and of course, This Heat.  I remember a song called "She Missed The Stop Sign" being one of our best.  We played a party at Paul Niziolek's on December 10, 2004.  Birthday boy Aidan guest starred with us on sax when we played "Sex Bomb" - Flipper, not Tom Jones.  No recordings made to my knowledge.

As high school ended Will, Jeff, and I went ahead and finally formed the ultimate Basking Ridge supergroup The Tangles.  We had three songs and I think recorded at least instrumental racks to all which have all been lost.  A full song "Nightmare Town" was put on a Myspace which has somehow vanished.  It's a shame, it's perfect indie rock, circa 2005.  I tried to put a new version of the Tangles together the next summer with Sheldon Kartush on bass and myself on guitar.  We played "Love Commander" and a few other songs, but nothing else came of it.  That was about it until The Comfy Men, the Ways, Super River, and my new band featuring Jeff Nazareno and Andrea Kannes which has yet to be named.

Oh, also there was The Funkateers who was more of a performance art piece.  Sam played guitar, Ian David Played bass, I think Ryan Clark played drums while I played a silent home-made keytar and Alex Dinsmore and Brian Von Glahn were backup singers/dancers.  I think...  Either way, that was the same day I lost my virginity and Ridge high had it's 2003 Battle of the Bands featuring excellent performances from Tommy Wanish and Jeff Nazareno.  The latter, originally intended to include Will (who was sick), featured not only a cover of "Bizarre Love Triangle," but also a robot battle of Albert Martini as Killtron and Tim King as "Ghetto" Killtron.

Oh, and also I assisted Tim with some emo demos he was making with Lindsey Morelli in 2002.

That's just about everything.  More about my friends and my future later.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Roots, Part 6: (Winding) Ways

Alex Adler, George McTernan, C-Mac
There was another barren period, this time also lasting about three years, but it was perhaps even more barren and a lot of it had to do with not even having an instrument with me when I moved to LA in June of 2009.  That changed slightly over a year later when my family visited.  I needed the thing back no matter what, but it was heightened by the possibility of the Funbeatles losing a member.  Luckily for everyone other than me that never happened.  The bass was useful when I moved to Alameda at the end of 2010, though, but I would not be in a proper band until the following Spring when I returned to LA.

That band was Ways, also known as Winding Ways and sometimes The Ways.  It was led by my college friend Alex Adler who had amassed a large quantity of songs, ideas, and titles, all of which impressed me, such as "Inner Moon," "Alive In Well," "(Oh) Family," "Ocean Vision" and many more.  Just looking forward to playing again, we began and all too quickly found drummer and recent transplant from New England George McTernan.

We began weekly sessions at Echo Park's ultra-hip rehearsal space Bedrock (where less than a year later Super River would be) and got to work on this wide body of songs.   Some of the first were "Zero The Astronaut," "On Pleasure Pier," "Discipline" and "Vice/Versa."  The band's influences were mostly of the 80s and 90s rock type like grunge, shoegaze, and American Underground, though with some space-rock in there too.  Some more specific inspirations were the Wipers, Meat Puppets, and Bobb Trimble, with Adler's dominant guitar style evoking a lot of John Frusciante, Curt Kirkwood, and Trimble.  Those four early songs were recorded in early May by Paul Igaz in his legendary basement with him on drums.  I unfortunately do not have these demos at the moment which is tragic as they may be the best recordings and Igaz' drum style is quite different from McTernan's which offers a very different interpretation of these songs.

Brady Nelson played with us a few times on synth, but we were unsure how needed that was and schedules were not ideal.  Through that Summer we kept playing and our setlist grew and grew into an exciting little show.  That show was finally put on display at the embarrassing Highland Park venue Mr. T's Bowl with current Los Angeles buzz band Spaceships and a "punk" band called Dog Teeth or something, who I guess has a cassette or something.  I found them unpleasant, but Spaceships was great.  We got that show through their bassist Schuyler Stone, also of Benefit Friends (who departed that November for New York) who also, through them got Super River a nice show at Silver Lake Lounge a year later.  It went well for the most part, other than my amp being a bit too loud and my mic being way too loud as the sound guy was not expecting my screams on "Pheonix" which on a good night like that were pretty ear-piercing.

We recorded nearly every rehearsal to varying success.  The vocals were often far too low.  We used some kind of good machine I've seen before, but an iPhone probably would have worked better as it did for Super River.  There were also some really great videos made with the help of Adler's room mate Hee-Jae Park, but those have been taken down.  These are probably the rawest recordings I will share.  Not our best performances nor best sound quality and I think I may even be out of tune on "Vice/Versa," but this is the best I have of the band in its original form.

"Misery City" is probably the most pop-oriented song, with a dark beachy vibe.  Keeping with the nautical theme, common in Adler's work is the ballad "On Pleasure Pier," which was always a lot of fun to play, even at its slower tempo.  "Phoenix" was maybe our heaviest songs and definitely the heaviest here.  It has a rare complexity and was more complicated than most, which made it a lot of fun to play, in addition to the screams.  "Vice/Versa" is another emotional rocker, one where it's hard to find a point of reference, though.

The first song we did together "Zero The Astronaut," is obviously pretty spacy and at its best was a hypnotic piece that we would jam on for a while live despite its radical shifts.  Also a lot of fun on bass.  "Discipine" was a loud fast punk track, sort of like a stiffer Wipers.  "Greener Paper" was also fun and one of our shortest songs that always reminded me of Nirvana for some reason, though I really can't hear it.

The band folded in late 2011 as Adler and McTernan's inability to agree on drum parts worsened and the early days of Super River made me unable to focus on any other projects - I even wrote a song partially inspired by this, also included here.  It is one of the few Super River tracks with me on lead vocals.

I think all these songs have a lot of potential and just needed some fine-tuned dynamics to be classics.  Luckily, Adler has stuck with most of them on his own as Zero the Astronaut - available here.  So far he has recorded "Misery City" and "Solitude" which I have also included.  I was lucky enough to lend my bass to "Solitude," though to see it live, and on the old video was ideal with vocal harmonies provided by George and me.  It was truly something exciting and I have a lot to look forward to from Alex Adler.

THE ORIGINAL WAYS +related

Next:  The lost bands, the future, and the best of friends.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Roots, pt. 5: The Comfy Men

C-Mac, Marty Skeels, Alex Halatsis, Arran Rogerson, Paul Igaz
The Next four years were pretty empty musically.  There were some bands that kept the end of high school interesting that I will discuss in more detail later such as Down/B, the Hispanics, and The Tangles, but once I left Basking Ridge it almost seemed like my days as a musician were over.  That was of course until my first visit to Alameda.

The previous Summer was when that small Bay Area's music scene really began to blossom and I was lucky enough to visit Paul Igaz and Alex Halatsis in the early days and get back to playing some music.  The musicians involved were the three of us plus Marty Skeels and Arran Rogerson.  It should be by now known that the other four went onto become Flash Gilmore & The Funbeatles, one of the finest bands of our time.  This record was made in about one day, I think the second time we played together over Winter break 2007-2008.

It should be noted that the greatest inspiration of this music was not good friends, partying, or seeing "America done right" for the first time, but rather an odd invention designed by Paul:  The Manstroller.  Yes, a stroller for men.  It was constructed out of a regular shopping cart-stroller hybrid and adapted into its new form by Halatsis, Igaz, myself, and local legend Jordan Pollard.
Pollard removes a bar.

I remove another bar.
The Manstroller gave this record - like the Funbeates' Debauchery Playground, a unique 8-track piece, its title, image, and general idea.  It was recorded in Paul's basement, one of the best-sounding locations in which I have ever played music on an analogue 4-track and contains a healthy balance of original songs, improvisations, and classic covers.  The titles are, as is the band name, unofficial and I only name them for reference, and that they are widely agreed upon, rather than the nebulous and forgotten tracks on The Power of Rawk.  Other band name ideas included the Robots and my personal FAvoite, The Gadzooks.

We open with "I Don't Know" demonstrates the band's power of creating a song out of nothing and not caring if it makes sense, so long as it sounds great.  Would you believe?

Next up is the classic title track.  This has been a beloved classic of the Alameda scene since its debut and was even redone true to form by the Funbeatles. It's got some great riffs, and I think is my best work, personally on the album.

Following a cover of "You Shook Me All Night Long" is "When We're 80" a pervy creep-emo send-up about lusting for a much younger girl - especially considering this is a song by 20 year-olds.  It is also quite memorable and catchy.

We moved into more experimental territory with the next track, an improvised song with vocals I call "Where Did She Go?" and then an interesting cover of "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, pt. 1" with great synthesizer from Marty and Alex's aggressive goof-punk that define the record distracting from my sloppiness on the bass.

The record is then closed with two jams.  The first one being quite short with some crazy vocal yelps and a return to the guitar for Marty, and the second being the longest track (though still less than 6 minutes) that I would not hesitate to describe as krauty.

In a lot of ways this band never ended.  With Sam Rogerson in my old place they recorded another record about a year later before becoming the Beatles and later Flash Gilmore and the Funbeatles.  I was a fixture of their audience and played with them on occasion with this band practically reforming for the creation of their song "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead" and the idea of a few more.  Then that ended and we had Sunfighter, The Comfort Creatures, The Darflers, The Perennial Babymen of Alameda, the Last Nights, and many more.



Next up:  Pre-Super River days in Los Angeles with Ways.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Roots, part 4: Love Athena

I was originally going to outline the storied history of BATWÖLF here, but I have opted to end with an article about all the lost bands in one - the ones whose recordings are missing, probably permanently, or never even existed.  So today instead we have what is probably the highlight of this series:  Pudge Athena.

Love Athena's history started off real ugly.  It began one night in the Fall of 2003 when the core trio of The Shears auditioned drummer Peter Cross.  Suspicious something was going on, Alec got a ride over from Sam's mom (which she no longer remembers, if you can believe that) as the four were playing.  We reminded him that he was brought in temporarily and explained we had no intention of ousting him.  Rather we thought a switch to guitar would be beneficial for everyone involved, especially as he has been bringing a guitar to practice each time for quite a while and Sam's interest in keyboards was growing.  After a few songs as a quintet, sounding better than ever before Alex exited in tears and took the name The Shears with him.  It began a dark period between the musicians, but also a new band known as Love Athena.

That was some intense stuff and no fun to write, but that's my side of the story and it always has been.

Most of the practices from then until late Winter were held at Cross's house in Upper Montclair and we came up with a lot of great songs, even as egos were beginning to battle more and more.  We played one show at the Bloomfield Ave. Café in December and another in Alex Dinsmore's garage afterwards.  There was also a show in Sam's basement, but I don't remember if we played.  That night got really dark too.  Really dark.  This was such an awful time, mostly, to be completely honest.

Cross proved to be unreliable and a poor personality match for the band and that spring we brought in classmate Will Floyd on drums.  He was a lot better, not to say Cross was weak, but I can't remember.  I believe it was with him that we recorded the five demos for the planned album Modern Art and the Spaceage Supersuit.

DOWNLOAD:   Love Athena - Modern Art and the Spaceage Supersuit demos (2004)

"A Shot In The Dark" was one of our first forays into synth-heavy arrangements and one of our best songs.  The lyrics, while mostly abstract and at times allegedly ripped off from a friend of Alec's who recorded with Sam are some of the most personal.  Though at a high frequency the synth part is incredibly catchy and moving and make up for some of my goofier moves on the bass.  Aidan's guitar style is defined here and it, along with the steady beat keep this from falling into the then-trendy disco-punk sound.  This is also perhaps the only song from this era with harmonies.

"Autograph" is a rawer and more aggressive take than heard on ¡Swing Pad! and the positively monstrous guitars and heavy drumming make it a superior version in my opinion, to say nothing of the improved vocals, though the clean guitar lead does more to distract than enhance the song.  Luckily, it's pretty low int he mix.

"Morning Glory" also benefits from this rawer performance and production.  Both extended lead guitar and vocals do a lot more for the song as does the faster tempo, which makes it a more fun listen, but less hypnotic than time suggests would have been idea.

"Strawberry Shit" was really something else, and probably the closest thing we came to prog, though 90s indie, funk, and even screamo come into the mix as well... oh and vocoder.  I think there are five-different sections and as weird as this song is it's exciting and definitely the most fun out of these five.  I say this a lot, but there's really nothing else out there like this song at all and you'll need to hear it a lot before you believe it.

Ending this set is "Flying Guillitines" which is another older song that goes back to the days of the Shears, and possibly even Hurtu.  Aidan based the riff off "Stairway to Heaven" if you can believe that.  That Hüsker Dü-esque riff and its accompanying bass line are the charms of this track as the lyrics are more weepy teenage boy stuff in line with The Power of Rawk's "11" and the whole thing gets a little repetitive.  Definitely the sloppiest performance of the five too, but it was always fun to play, probably was cool live too!

The Summer of 2004 slowed things down a bit, but Sam and I kept working on new material with more and more keyboards and dynamics.  Unfortunately, none was ever recorded, but I remember it being some of the finest music I would be involved with making for many, many years.  Ego-related tensions grew and grew until a massive falling out at the end of the Summer.  I went onto Down/B with Jason Paskow, Tim Baumgarten, and Taylor Green, the Hispanics with Tim King, Adriand Ricelli, and Alex Talbot, and then The Tangles with Will Lulofs and Jeff Nazareno before heading out to Boston for school.

NEXT:  Alameda's the Comfy Men.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Roots, pt. 3: Mr. Disco

First and foremost, a wish of a happy birthday to the lovely and exhilarating Super River frontwoman Kathryne Dameron-Johnstone.  In other Super River news, The Ball Python Manual is nearing completion and of course we area all very excited for its release.  It is a dark new direction that captured the feelings of 2012.  I am quite impressed so far.
Kathryne smothered with love from her bandmates and brand-new brother-in-law Daniel Johnstone.

And now onto out main subject, Mr. Disco.  This article precedes Love Athena because the recordings predate the Love Athena recordings I will share.  The band itself began about five months before Mr. Disco.
Mr. Disco began in theory in March of 2004 when faced with a two-week break from school that would affect myself, Sam Deutsch, and Aidan, but not current Love Athena drummer Peter Cross.  Sam and I got the idea of creating a two-man project that would just be for fun and simply rip off Lightning Bolt who were then riding high with the recent release of The Wonderful Rainbow.  Luckily, our music ended up being quite different from the Providence band's.

Sam and I assumed the aliases Arthur Disco and The Lummox, respectively, and began with an impromptu performance at a party hosted by Bobby Tarantino one Friday night in Prince Edward Point, Basking Ridge, NJ.  Liam played that last night, I think with Jason Paskow and Bobby T in a band best known as Bobby T and the Classic Rock Junkies which at one point also included former Shears Alec Signorino and later Jesus Cookie (with Paskow) Jason Sobieski.  First though, Mr. Disco debuted with a brief set dedicated to Ernie Keebler with myself on bass and Sam on drums.

Days later we recorded Larry David Salad Bar at Sam's where I began to play my busted old bass outfitted with an untuneable string and an acoustic guitar string nicknamed "the Machine" played through Sam's distorted Marshall.  All three tracks were recorded and improvised live with samples and synths added later.  The track order on the EP is the same order in which the songs were recorded.  Younger siblings Aidan McEneaney and Jenny Deutsch were also present with the latter being left in disbelief that there were not separate guitarist and bassist.  This is a testament to the power of "The Machine."  This would be the extent of the band's recorded output.

Luckily the band played another live show at The Montclair Kimberly Academy's After Class Thespian Spectacular (ACTS).  The audience was even less welcoming, but we had a fantastic time performing a new piece entitled "Midnight in the Garden of Salad and Breadsticks."  This title was even printed on that afternoon's program.  It was a miracle we were allowed to perform after a rusty set at the rehearsal the afternoon before in front of the often tyrannical Dominique "Domdom" Gerard," but these were the golden years of MKA.  Mr. Disco was informally retired afterwards.

DOWNLOAD: Mr. Disco - Larry David Salad Bar (2004)

"Liam, Show Us On The Doll Where He Touched You" is clearly a warm-up and the record's least impressive track.  It has a surfy vibe and opens with a sample of an AppleTalk transcription of a woman who accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment and concludes with a Charles Bronson PSA.

"Cicada Season" is undoubtedly the strongest track and is one of the darkest heaviest songs you will hear.  Straight out of hell, really, and that's why we agreed that nothing fit better than a sample of a Hitler speech at the song's peak.  No idea what that's about.  We just took a fearless approach in making some very dark music and as odd as it can feel I can't deny that music is very chilling.  This is an achievement and fans of heavy rock should not miss it.  The fun vibe of the band returns at the end with a sample from a Deathwish film.

"Who Do You Sell Ketchup to a Ketchup Salesman" is good too, though clearly steam is being lost and the growing song lengths shows this.  It opens with an exchange between John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn and then kicks in with Sam's classic heavy beat.  Unfortunately the drums are a bit too loud which detracts from some cool riffs.  I don't know what the end sample is, but it's pretty funny.

The one flaw with this record is that it's a bit quiet, so you're going to have to crank it up.  It's a pretty concise little piece of noise-metal and another example of the rare talent possessed by the teens of Basking Ridge in this era.  Listen without prejudice, as they say.

EDIT:  This is a response from Liam Carroll about his performance the night of Mr. Disco's debut:

Excellent piece, although the gig in Bobby T's basement went a bit differently: myself and the Jasons performed sans Alec and Bobby, calling ourselves Automatic Stop (after The Strokes song of the same name). We played first that night, and even though we practiced our asses off for a week, our set was a disaster. We only played two songs, and they both went terribly for various reasons. Then you guys played that totally improvised set afterwards, and I was honestly in shock at how good it was, and dismayed you guys were that much better than us with 100% less practice. I was trying to take The Classic Rock Junkies in a noisier direction anyway, which led to me getting fired from the group, but that's a whole other story.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Roots, pt. 2: The Shears

Much as I love The Power of Rawk being at the top of the page it's time to move on.  I have a lot on my plate to write about, such as this Will Stratton benefit album.  Though I wish that likes of Super River, pow wow! and SWade had been invited to participate you should still download it and donate as much as you ca because I don't know of a better cause.

So back to other personal stuff.  The Shears.

This section began in the Summer of 2003 when the guys over at Barfbag Records such as Alex Dinsmore underlined the fact that Hurtu needed a permanent drummer.  We agreed, but for the interim would pulled in Basking Ridge multi-talented personality Alec Signorino.  He also brought a much better name with him - the Shears.  This name is derived from Billy Shears of Sgt. Pepper fame, and somehow everybody knew that immediately.

The Quartet began work on mostly new songs largely penned by Sam Deutsch and then set off Summer Music Programs in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  Only it was the core trio on this trip.  The first week they were matched with Tim Nelson whose musical endeavors I cannot recall, but whose brother Andy played bass for Philly hardcore group Paint It Black, best known for their contribution to a Tony Hawk video game.  With him they recorded ¡Swing Pad! named after the perpetually dark and messy dorm room that Sam and Aidan shared.  It was the party palace of the program for the next two weeks with the best video games, DVDs, and music around.  The next week, the band took it easy with old friend Jeff Ziga of Little Baby's Ice Cream fame on Smokin' in the Girls Room.

Sadly, I don't have uploaded album art for these inside joke-heavy works at the moment, but hopefully will get them up soon, along with Shabazz! the similar EP I recorded with Aidan and Jeff the year before.

¡Swing Pad!

Opening this EP is an update of The Power of Rawk's "Parallel Lines," now with geometry homework-inspired lyrics.  It's a lot better than the original thanks to the addition of vocals, though the lead guitar is still probably the best part.  The group also reveals their classic riff-based formula on this track.  That was something that concerned me as many expected more changes and typical verse-chorus structure, but they were not hip to real pun/folk.  

Then there is "Morning Glory" with it's similar structure.  It is one of the most legendary Shears songs that was probably the first new one after the completion of the Hurtu LP.  This was the first recorded version and naturally the weakest, though certainly the cleanest and the biggest production with the organ accompaniment.  What makes this song so legendary though was the next version with the infamous and controversial "my name's Alec and I'm gay..." line, sung naturally by Signorino later that summer.  Ridiculous psychedelic fantasy lyrics are matched with blaring leads and a powerful descending riff.

"Autograph" is another one that would go onto be re-recorded in tighter, more enjoyable versions later, but this one is still a winner, the first with more than a riff and certainly the best lyrics on the record.  I love this song and this is the one to hear first.

I finally get to take back the mic on closer "I Hate You," a track you could call the "ultimate Ramones song," despite the fact that it is an original.  It is simpler and even more concise than any song that great band recorded.  It doesn't even need vocals on the chorus.  All teenage punk should sound like this, but how many teenagers have such great taste?

Smokin' in the Girls Room

The loose and fun vibe on this album is emphasized with the opening with the Ziga-sung cover of "Sk8er Boi" capturing the zeigeist of Summer Music Programs in 2003.  If you want to know the truth about this hit song here it is.  The bridge is one of the great examples of Aidan's unique style of guitar playing, somewhat reminiscent of Daniel Ash and Alex Heerman.

This is followed by the hilarious and directionless political outrage of "Society" which shows the more inclusive aspect of this record by featuring a fantastic solo from Aidan and yours truly on background vocals.  It is a simple Pavement-style indie rocker that puts modern double-aged 90s worshippers to shame with all the humor of good ole S.M.  A must-hear for the line "I don't need your Medicare, old people gonna die anyway."

It keeps going with "Pretty In Pink," which has aged better than I would expect.  Like the movie version it has sax, played by Aidan, but in a totally different way.  The drums are a bit off because that's me, but it wasn't too bad and this could be Sam's best vocal performance of the summer.

The album closes with "Guitar Art," an instrumental envisioned by Ziga that captures all of the quartet's bombastic and ironic tendencies for old fashioned metal excess.  I believe that's Aidan on drums!

These two EPs allowed this era of the band be forever intact with a clean sound never possible before and after.  They excel in capturing both the pure idea of these wonderful songs and having the playful attitude and humor of Sam and the McEneaneys.  This is not outsider music like The Power of Rawk, it may be somewhat crude, but this is some of the best music I have ever heard by such young kids and after such a long connection to Summer Music Programs that says a thing or two.  It's no surprise the members went onto such great things.

DOWNLOAD The Shearssssh (2003)

Following the audition of a drummer Signorino departed the band and took the band and took the name with him.  That was the end of the Shears and the beginning of Love Athena, but you will have to wait for that...