Thursday, May 13, 2010

Inch - Stresser


Label: Seed
Year: 1994

This is a relic from the college days, and more specifically, the college radio days, and even more to the point, the music director of the college radio station days. Back then, in those college days, I was a real dick...who am I kidding...I am still a fairly immense dick, and have been my whole life. College or not, I am a judgemental prick most of the time, so I shouldn't try and frame this particular blog entry as, "oh, back in old days, before I matured...".
I'll try again.
I distinctly remember this record coming up for review at the radio station I alluded to before, and it was my job to listen to everything, evaluate it, and decide if it should be included in regular radio airplay rotation. Pretty good job for an asshole, huh?
Anyway, I specifically remember thinking, "m'eh". As in, it wasn't offensive, but it wasn't doing much for me either. It had some elements of Seaweed, who I really liked. It had elements of aMiniature, who I sorta liked. It had elements of Tanner, Garden Variety, Sensefield...a lot of stuff that I either liked, or thought was okay. I put it aside for a second listen and went about my day.
Then, some dude from "Seed Records" calls (as was his job to do) to ask if I had the album, what I thought, would it be an "add" that week, how many "spins" would it get, you know, annoying shit. He was especially amped to tell me that the band had actually hand screened some stickers, and that he would send me some. Neat? But, who cares? He's telling this to a dude who probably had no less than 6 different patches sewn onto his gas station jacket that had been "hand screened by the band". No big deal.
It also came to pass that he slipped up and admitted that Seed Records was actually a boutique label of some major label (that I know forget) set up to give younger bands more credibility or something. Until they were ready for 120 Minutes I suppose. Whatever the reasoning, it really rubbed me the wrong way (please remember, you're dealing with a self-proclaimed dick here), and I ended up telling the guy to forget it, Inch would never be played on that radio station, and neither would any of his other shitty fake-indie bands (Madder Rose [ugh], Ivy [who?], Fuzzy [huh?], or Daniel Johnston [wait, what? what was he doing there...oh well, if you're gonna be a dick, you gotta be willing to draw a hard line...sorry Daniel Johnston]). And that was that. Inch never was played, and rather than ever giving it a second listen, I promptly took it, along with whatever else was never getting played on the station, down to the record store (ha ha, remember those old dinosaurs?) to sell for a couple bucks. Enough for my fifth or sixth burrito of the week I'm sure.
Good night Inch.
Fast forward 16 years and lo and behold, look at what album I stumbled across on the internet? Maybe I was too brash? Maybe this has aged like a fine wine? Maybe it was really good all along, and I should have pulled my head out of my ass?
You tell me.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

great album, thanks

James Joyce said...

That artwork has scam indie written all over it. It was funny how the graphic designers of the time were trying to make something look cool and subversive, but instead made something that would be summarily passed over by everyone on all sides. We can tell the genuine stuff when we see it. The band could have been awesome, but we'll never know because of it's ingenuously fabricated artwork.

proven hollow said...

i could have sworn this band played in the afternoon outdoor plaza at GSU back in the day. maybe? or maybe i'm thinking of a band called STICK, or something equally ridiculous as INCH. anyway, usually it was some kind of hippy quiet folk violin jams or something...at noon...outside....in the plaza...on a 10x10 stage. but this day it was some poor touring hard rock band. was it these guys? i dont remember. all i remember is it had to be the worst gig ever. actually probably not cuz im sure they got paid, which is more than what would have happened if they played a house.

this probably wasn't the band, but i wanted to comment on that show cuz it still sticks in my head. like i'm trying to eat my bagel outisde in the sun and some band starts rocking! fuck that.

i think bloodspoon played that plaza stage too, and the difference. maybe act of faith? or midget farmers? i can't remember. james would know.

where's my early-mid 90s GSU homies at?!

Sector 2814 said...

i remember seeing them open for rocket from the crypt in (i think) 94. definitely downloading this.
thanks!

julius orange said...

haha, you just absolutely described my college experience to a T. i was music director of my station and i got calls from all those label dicks and i wouldn't play any of their major label shit either. cheers to being a dick.

Vinyl Record LP said...

I am very curious to hear this could you please re-upload this i tried doing a youtube search not much comes up

FootballRugby said...

you can get the link here

http://www.mediafire.com/file/u6ue1mipzjzc3m1/Inch+-+Stresser.zip

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f2-K7gLi518J:http://i-am-sposob.livejournal.com/tag/links%2BINCH+-+STRESSER+1994&client=safari&rls=en&hl=en&ct=clnk

Michael Paprocki said...

As much as I can understand your feeling deceived, we (Inch) had no idea we were being presented as being on an indie label. Our friend Ryan did actually create the album art at his house and our manager was/is a graphic artist who did the layout so it was very much a diy effort that was forwarded to the printing company. Unlike some bands we cut our teeth in the local San Diego scene and were picked up at an indie music convention called the Independents Music Seminar. We were truly disappointed we were misrepresented but were unaware of it until years later. I am still proud of this album.

Michael Paprocki said...

The late front man's ex posted some our songs
https://youtu.be/VeUI4YBWKFs

 
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