Drive Like Jehu - Demo

Label: self released
Year: 1990

If you were to make a list of the "Best Bands of the 1990's" (and honestly...what kind of nerd would have the time to do such a thing?!), Drive Like Jehu would be in the mix, right? I mean, in among Fugazi, and Unwound, and Archers of Loaf, and Craw, and Neurosis, and Sonic Youth, and Sunny Day Real Estate, and Deadguy, and Chavez, and Harvey Milk, and Boilermaker, and Oasis, and Radiohead, and Nirvana, and Quicksand, and Helmet, and Today Is The Day, and Smashing Pumpkins, and....
I should really make a list.

All that aside, here are four songs in demo form that would all end up in album form on Drive Like Jehu's first album. Nothing to really think about. It's Drive Like Jehu, one of the best bands of the 90's (or so they say).

DL

the catalyst - marianas trench +9

label: the perpetual motion machine
released: 2008

i  figured that since they'd gotten brought up in the snack truck albuming down yonder....

this is a collection that combines the band's MARIANAS TRENCH EP with various other songs they'd contributed to splits and whatnot.

at the drive-in and the melvins and nirvana and pageninetynine and hawks....
yep.

DL

snack truck - harpoon

label: the perpetual motion machine
released: 2004

you like hella?
what about lightning bolt?
what about ultra dolphins?
what about brainworms?
what about the catalyst?
what about "y'know. that weird shit comin' outta richmond,man."?

DL

zao - liberate te ex inferis

label: solid state
released: 1999

as a tribute to the french prog rock band from the early 70s....
what?
oh.
as a tribute to the JAMES BOND villain....
what?
stop interrupting me.
fine.
as a tribute to the mountain located in northern japan....

ok.
enough.

i remember the day when i was turned onto this band/album. it sparked my (limited) interest in all of that christian hardcore business (the other bands being: early embodyment...training for utopia...a little norma jean...living sacrifice...and the reaction was always funny when i'd mentioned to the people that would hear me listening to them that the band was signed to a christian record label..."whaaaaaaa?!" was the general consensus). there was a music store that i would frequent. i'd struck up a friendship with the owner. we had some band likings in common. one day i came into the store and the song "skin like winter" was being played over the stereo system. there was one other person in the store at the time. one of those very perturbed teenager looking types that was obviously looking for some original (not re-released - underlined) limp bizkit album. so i walk in and give the owner (who was always there) a nod and headed over to peruse the magazines. i was kinda sorta getting into what was being played. and then i was introduced to the songs "intro" and "savannah" (he'd obviously started the album over...also: those 2 songs should never EVER be split up). i was hearing neurosis (the band). i was hearing EVENT HORIZON samples. i was hearing carcass-like vocals. color me intrigued.

and from that day on i was labeled a zao fan.
and yes.
even the SELF-TITLED album.
admittedly it's a little touch and go after that.
but still a fan.

and not that any of you really care.....
there's more to the music store story.
after going in there multiple times and having multiple conversations with the owner it turned out that we were related.
he was a cousin.
he'd randomly showed me his driver's license for some reason during a visit and viola!
it was nice knowing that i shared a bloodline with someone that had good taste in music.

and that is my zao story,kids.

one last thing: i'm not a fan of the band's first vocalist as he sounded like an angry kid going through puberty while being strangled.
maybe he didn't want to do his homework.
maybe he didn't want to mow the lawn.
something like that.
we'll never know because he doesn't want to talk about it geeeeeeez!

DL

leaders of men - 1.18.11 - high noon saloon - madison,wi

some of you may remember the band the united sons of toil.
and some of you may be aware of who tyranny is tyranny.

what does any of that have to do with this?
a name.
a regal sounding name.
russell emerson hall.
vocals/guitar guy for the united sons of toil.
vocals/guitar guy for tyranny is tyranny.

mr. hall is a fan of the band joy division.
back before the united sons of toil split up in 2012 the band played under the moniker of "leaders of men" a few times.
they played joy division covers.

vocalist/guitarist russell hall was bernard sumner.
drummer jason jensen was stephen morris.
bassist bill borowski was peter hook.

they brought in one time pachinko vocalist chris vance to be ian curtis.

this is them being joy division in front of a group of people.

1 - no love lost
2 - wilderness
3 - walked in line
4 - a means to an end
5 - shadowplay
6 - the kill
7 - colony
8 - disorder
9 - new dawn fades
10 - dead souls
11 - day of the lords
12 - the ice age
13 - she's lost control
14 - sound of music
15 - interzone
16 - warsaw
17 - exercise one
18 - transmission

DL

rabbits - lower forms

label: relapse records
released: 2011

melvins.
buzzov*en.
hawks.
whores.
guitars that sound like a bass because the band doesn't have one.

yeah.

DL

v/a - judgement night

label: epic records
released: 1993

i'm just going to leave this right here.
just know that i've never owned a pair of jncos.


1 - helmet/house of pain - just another victim
2 - teenage fanclub/de la soul - fallin'
3 - living colour/run dmc - me and my microphone
4 - biohazard/onyx - judgement night
5 - slayer/ice t - disorder*
6 - faith no more/boo-ya t.r.i.b.e. - another body murdered
7 - sonic youth/cypress hill - i love you mary jane
8 - mudhoney/sir mix-a-lot - freak momma
9 - dinosaur jr/del tha funky homosapien - missing link
10 - therapy?/fatal - come and die
11 - pearl jam/cypress hill - real thing
*=medley of songs by the band the exploited ("war"/"uk '82"/"disorder")

DL

Batpiss -Nuclear Winter

Label: Every Night Is A Saturday Night
Year: 2013

You'll be excused if your first thoughts upon hearing the band name and album title are that they must be a pretty sweet retro-thrash party band. I get it. Retro-thrash party bands are a dime a dozen these days.
But...
But, shouldn't you have more faith in me (the actual "me", not the royal "we"...Ipecac has posted one too many Judgement Night cassingles for unfettered faith. Gotta earn that shit back) to not subject you to some pedestrian-ass joke metal? Have I ever led you astray? Seriously? Think about it!
No way.
Batpiss aren't retro-thrash party metal. They're not metal in the least. Not "thrashy" at all. They possibly party. Or, probably party. They are Australian, and Australians seem to have the peddle to the metal at most times. So, let's assume they party. You could make an argument they are retro, if the retro in question was more 1992 than 1987. There is no Exodus influence to be found, but you could hear some Guzzard, some Jonestown, some Hammerhead, and some Mudhoney. No disrespect to Exodus, but I'd much rather draw from that scuzzy, free-wheeling rock-n-roll well of Amphetamine Reptile and SubPop than some toxic waltz cheese (was Exodus the "Toxic Waltz" band? I would ask Ricki Rachtman, but, I don't know how to get in touch). That's my opinion anyway. But I tend to favor hazy grunge over heavy metal.
Now, if we could only get Ipecac to promise no more rap-metal...

DL

v/a - kamikaze: music to push you over the edge

label: continuum records
released: 1995

"extreme music for radical sports"
"the ultimate heavy metal exercise tape"

and you know that those above statements just have to true,yeah?
why else would that be stated plainly on the cover for everyone to see if it weren't.
right?

it's got everything to satisfy your extreme needs....
fudge tunnel
into another
skatenigs
kid rock

so press "play" and slam some of that extreme blue and get gnarly,bro.
but you'd better hurry up.
your parents will be home soon.

1 - inch - i'm the cat
2 - heatmiser - stray
3 - stanford prison experiment - super monkey
4 - fear is fatal - rescue me
5 - fudge tunnel - grey
6 - skatenigs - regret
7 - the pleasure elite - media feed
8 - wargasm - wasteland
9 - the beyond - sacred garden
10 - kid rock - i am the bullgod
11 - eleven - crash today
12 - into another - poison fingers

DL

scrotum grinder - the greatest sonic abomination ever

label: prank
released: 2001

some of you may remember me mentioning the fact that i'd lived in florida for a time during the early part of the 00s.
it was in a town just outside of tampa called brandon.
there really wasn't all that much to do there.
if'n you were to ever have to look for me you'd be able to catch me at either the barnes & noble or this one music store that i can't seem to remember the name or this record store called sound idea (which was conveniently located right down the street from me).

fun fact: the owner of sound idea was also the vocals guy for a band called murder-suicide pact. he'd also had a label called burrito records. he also wrote a book.

and whenever i had a spare dollar i'd always go into the sound idea.
i'd discovered a few bands whilst perusing the racks.
and this was one of them.
i'd never heard of the band prior to purchasing this album.
truth be told i'd bought it for the band's name alone.
i'd ended up buying this album on both cd and vinyl.
why?
because.
that's why.

they weren't together for all that long.
they'd released this and an ep and a split with fellow floridians combatwoundedveteran.

they have links to bands with names like:
memento mori
failure face
no statik
hankshaw
assuck

but enough with all of that.
if you dig bands like kill the man who questions or early kylesa or guyana punch line or robot has werewolf hand or the already mentioned combatwoundedveteran....
that is if you've even heard of any of them.
you have?
wanna get together and hangout sometime or something?
don't worry.
my parents will be there the entire time.
they're legally obligated to not leave me at home alone anymore.

and if'n this sort of thing interests you....
there's a slapshot cover.

DL

buzzov*en - 8.8.98 - fireside bowl - chicago,il

i'm a native illinois-ian.
and it took me leaving the state to attend a show at the fireside bowl.
i'd been living in south dakota at the time and was visiting a friend that lived in chicago.
prior to the show i'd lived about an hour and a half away from the fireside.
but no.
i waited until i was living 706 miles away.

lame?
probably.

the year was 2004.
i'd went to go and see the bands:
american heritage
yakuza
burnt by the sun

and in case you're interested....
i'd also went to the bottom lounge and saw make believe/need new body/hella during that trip.
it was also the one that had the better turn out.
there was barely anyone at the fireside bowl show.
i don't know.
i didn't take a headcount.
but i was the only one there with a girl.
me: 1.
everyone else: nothing.

1 - intro/at a loss
2 - a lack of
3 - kakkila
4 - flow
5 - red/green*
6 - junkie**
7 - don't bring me down***
8 - splinter my eye
9 - to frown/outro
*=big boys cover
**=instrumental lynyrd skynyrd cover
***=ELO cover

DL

Ochre - Demo

Label: self released
Year: 1995

Had a good friend (not really past tense, he's still a good friend [if you can believe that]) who moved from Atlanta to Isla Vista to continue school in 1994, where he quickly fell in with the local hardcore scene. Mostly centered around Kent McClard and his Ebullition Records and newly formed Heartattack fanzine, and conceivably still mourning the loss of the town's greatest cultural export (not including burritos); Downcast.
Not exactly how, but my buddy ended up roommates with Rob Fracisco. Rob had just formed a band with some guys who were alumni of other area bands (nothing unusual here) with the intent of stirring up a local scene that was maybe, possibly, crawling up it's own ass in the dark days of screamo, paper bag 7" covers, and dialers. He wanted to play something super aggressive that would send a jolt of energy through the crowds of stick-straight, folded arm show-goers of the era. He wanted to "bring it back", as it were. To mosh, man.
So, Rob rounds up Jeff Capra on guitar (of Embassy, Manumission, and a future member of  Uphill Battle, Broken Needle, Blasting Concept, A Sometimes Promise, and Staring Back), Mike Locke on second guitar (also from Embassy, later of Incurable Complaint), Brian Tamborello on drums (again, from Embassy, and also later of Incurable Complaint, but also from Strictly Ballroom, Transitional, Pyschic Ills, and some brief work with Boredoms and Dntel [his brother's{?} band]), and Cabe (last name withheld) of (you guessed it, Embassy) on bass to record a clutch of tunes Jeff Capra had been working up on the side of Embassy.
Together this crew put together eight songs of power violence hardcore that slashed and sludged their way across 14 minutes of start/stop attack in the grand tradition of Neanderthal, No Comment, and Eyehategod. Blistering speed tempered with crusty swamp gas stomp. West Coast fucking power violence man. And this demo was birthed into the world with little to no fanfare (maybe Monkeybite fanzine reviewed it), but luckily I had an insider source who turned me on to the band.

So then fast forward another year (or so) and this same friend resurrects his nascent record label (Phyte) and puts out an Ochre 7". How that record didn't wind up a minor classic of the time, I'll never understand. It's seriously crucial. Tough as nails.

So then fast forward another year (or so) and this same friend floats the idea of living together for a summer in Isla Vista at the same time I'm looking around for an internship, and California seems like a pretty good spot. And it was (assuming it still is) a good spot, and a great summer. More beach volleyball than I care to admit to, but had a blast, traveled around California doing dumb shit, saw some good music, met some great folks, "worked" at Heartattack (which is law for those who own an Econochrist 12" and are within 50 nautical miles of Goleta, CA), and helped to craft one of the most beautiful pick-up soccer scoring combinations of my pick-up soccer career (Mike Phyte and I worked every Sunday morning to perfect our cross to diving header...and the day we connected....phew...I mean..it truly was the Beautiful Game that day. I think Steve Aoki might have been playing goalie...just to make the story even better). Point being, it was a fun time in Isla Vista.

But one of the real highlights was discovering that Ochre had left three songs unfinished from their prior recording session, unmixed and with no vocals. You see, the band did what most self-respecting bands do, they released a great record and then split. It's the honorable thing to do. In the case of Ochre, most of the band went on to other bands (also, what you do), but the singer Rob Fracisco just dipped out back to Orange County where we was from and (without really knowing the story) left a slight (ever so slight) bad taste in a few folk's mouths (not mine...mine is minty fresh). So, the idea was kicked around to Jeff Capra to maybe finish those songs with new vocals, because there was another mutual friend, Jeff (different Jeff), who was starting up his new band (Left For Dead), and had talked to Mike about doing a 7", but they really only had enough recorded for one side of a 7", and these three unfinished Ochre songs would maybe fill up one side of a 7"...and you see where this is going, right?! Jeff Capra was in, Left For Dead was in, so now all we had to do was write some lyrics, and bark like a couple of mongoloids for an hour or so, and voila, Mike and I are the "new singers of Ochre". At least for one afternoon. On those three songs.

And that's the story, that nobody every asked for, of how babies are made.

P.S. - Rob was better at singing for Ochre.

DL

henry rollins

i came across this whilst going through the stuff i have on the computer.
it had been forgotten about.
and now i'm going to share it with you.
it's henry rollins being henry rollins and doing henry rollins stuff.
and i've dubbed it: ROCK 'N' ROLLINS
enjoy y'all.

1 - lonesome,on'ry and mean
2 - sexual military dynamics
3 - t-4 strain
4 - delicate tendrils
5 - bottom
6 - laughing man (in the devil mask)
7 - ghost rider
8 - kick out the jams
9 - freaked
10 - i see through
11 - fall guy
12 - hard
13 - four sticks
14 - let there be rock

1: taken from LONESOME,ON'RY AND MEAN: A TRIBUTE TO WAYLON JENNINGS
2: taken from the mike watt album BALL-HOG OR TUGBOAT?
3: taken from the soundtrack to the movie SPAWN
4: taken from the LES CLAYPOOL AND THE HOLY MACKEREL album
5: taken from the tool album UNDERTOW
6: taken from the tony iommi album IOMMI
7: suicide cover taken from the soundtrack to the movie THE CROW
8: fronting the bad brains with a bad brains cover taken from the soundtrack to the movie PUMP UP THE VOLUME
9: a song done with the band bling idiot god taken from the soundtrack to the movie FREAKED
10: taken from the soundtrack to the movie JOHNNY MNEMONIC
11: taken from the soundtrack to the movie DEMON KNIGHT
12: an early version of the song found on the TURNED ON album
13: taken from ENCOMIUM: A TRIBUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN
14: ac/dc cover with the hard-ons

DL

jane's addiction

what we have here is one of those "unofficial" release things.

and not matter what all of your friends say you only really need 2 jane's addiction albums:
NOTHING'S SHOCKING
RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL

"no. seriously. before he was a judge on that shitty tattoo show he was a musician. no. not the red hot chili peppers."

1 - my time
2 - whores
3 - pigs in zen
4 - ain't no right
5 - i would for you
6 - idiots rule
7 - trip away
8 - mountain song
9 - no one's leaving
10 - the she did
11 - ted,just admit it
12 - ocean size

1-8:  11.13.86 - the pyramid - hollywood,ca
9-12: 11.27.87 - arcadia theater - dallas,tx

DL

Great Falls - Accidents Grotesque

Year: 2013
Label: Hell Comes Home

Ever roll down a hill inside of an oil drum?
This record os sort of like that feeling. Flailing limbs, confusion, battering, discombobulation, and ultimately, pain. A bumpy ride, but thrilling nonetheless.

Sidebar: has the phrase been coined "bocce"? As in, "this band sounds a little like Botch, it's bocce."?

Great Falls does sound a bit bocce, but they skew meaner, and heavier and more like Kiss It Goodbye, from whence 1/3 of the membership came. Super pummeling noisy hardcore attack.

DL

ringworm/brain tentacles - split

label: a389 recordings
released: 2016

this is kind of a strange pairing.

what you get here is some metalcore/punk business from the band ringworm.
they cover "poison" by the band venom.
and then there's brain tentacles.
it's made up of members of keelhaul (bassist aaron dallison) and discordance axis (drummer dave witte) and yakuza (vocalist bruce lamont providing some horn action).
they cover "innocence and wrath" by celtic frost.

it's as if converge and a not so wacky sounding fantomas did a split.
or something like that.

and in reference to brain tentacles: a one thomas "i've played bass in both rorschach and kiss it goodbye. what the fuck have you done with your life?" rusnak has been quoted as saying "i fucking love this band".
that's gotta mean something,yeah?

DL

rollins band - a clockwork orange stage

this is some rollins band playing the roskilde festival over in copenhagen,denmark back in 2000.
you know.
if'n you hadn't already put that together for yourself.
and yes.
there were squat thrusts.

so yeah.

1 - you let yourself down
2 - what have i got
3 - hotter and hotter
4 - thinking cap
5 - love is so heavy
6 - hard
7 - tearing
8 - monster
9 - summer nights
10 - frozen man
11 - get some go again
12 - are you ready*
13 - rocker*
14 - bad reputation
15 - change it up
16 - your number is one
17 - do it
*=thin lizzy cover

DL

black sabbath - live at last

label: NEMS
released: 1980

we can all agree on the fact that all you really need are the first 6 black sabbath albums,yeah?
and yes.
there are a few of you out there that like the TECHNICAL ECSTASY album.
and sure.
there are a few of you out there that seem to think that there are more reasons than just "a hard road" to give NEVER SAY DIE! any sort of attention.

"hey,bro. what about dio-"
i'm just going to stop you right there.
just stop.

this was sabbath at the top of their game.
wanna fight about it?
just give the 19 minute jam that is "wicked world" a listen.
just do it.
do it.
fun fact: when i'd come across this on cassette at a k-mart back in the 5th grade it melted my brain. as far as i was concerned the other stuff was all just filler.

1 - tomorrow's dream
2 - sweet leaf
3 - killing yourself to live
4 - cornucopia
5 - snowblind
6 - children of the grave
7 - war pigs
8 - wicked world
9 - paranoid

DL

Bataille - The Wolves Amongst The Flower

Label: Classic Cult Grotesque
Year: 2015

On the backs of the Pretty Please post, here's another Atlanta band to throw dirt in your eye and key your car. Formerly called Georges Bataille Battle Cry, but thankfully now, the simpler Bataille, and brute powerhouse of scathing menace.
Almost exactly one half post punk and one half noise rock (and yes, I am aware of the fine grain of hair splitting that sentence evokes...but, it's what you gotta do, if this is what you're doing), but all black everything. There's a distance between the band and the listener that seems purposeful, as a way to keep you (assuming you're playing the part of "Listener" in this production) at arms length from the genesis of this din, just on the edge of a very bleak performance. Shadowy, and loudly echoing off of every surface, the songs serve to disorient as much as entertain.
And there's an entire philosophy behind all if this that I am not inclined to understand (or maybe care?), in that the band is based on the writings of Georges Bataille, and the band speaks by quoting philosophers and intellectuals that I have never heard of and am too dense to attempt to grasp. It's tough to penetrate the artifice of artistic intellectualism, and frankly, rarely worth the effort, but in the case of this band there is a visceral release that cuts through the manifesto-speak and leaves you breathing in deep gasps of acrid smoke.
Plus, you're probably way smarter than I am (it would be hard not to be), so maybe this "anti punk" band's grainy squall will connect with you on both the physical (that part goes without saying) and mental (read a book or two) level. It's well worth investigating.

DL