it's negative approach being negative approach on the radio in new jersey back in 2008.
have you ever been on the radio not followed by the words "was last seen driving...."?
didn't think so.
1 - lost cause
2 - can't tell no one
3 - sick of talk
4 - hypocrite
5 - dead stop
6 - whatever i do
7 - tied down
8 - evacuate
9 - your mistake
10 - why be something that you're not
11 - pressure/fair warning
12 - nothing
13 - borstal breakout*
14 - never surrender**
15 - solitary confinement
*=sham 69 cover
**=blitz cover
the situation we've got ourselves here is some bands play some music. and maybe you listen to that music. and then maybe you end up liking the music. and then maybe you find yourself selling your plasma so you can get more of it. and then maybe you find yourself selling your gram gram's tv so you can get more of it. and then before you know it your life becomes an AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL. it's a slippery slope. just be careful.
vol.1: 1 - festering rinyanyons - afraid 2 - mercury players - new hooker abatement rule 3 - pachinko - adonis of denver 4 - thug - fear of dog
vol.2: 1 - eyehategod - dixie whiskey 2 - floor - iommi 3 - despise you - smile & play the part 4 - despise you - lie & get by 5 - apartment 213 - decay 6 - thug - cancer causes rats
Shiny Grey Takeover number one, and our inaugural host is: Michael Joncas
Mr. Joncas has been doing me the personal favor of reviving one of my favorite micro-strains of rock music with the two albums his former band The Kneads released in 2015 and 2017, and more recently with his new band Harrison Ford Mustang (see previous post). He has a real knack for crafting a catchy, punky, rollicking indie banger...and then doing it again and again. Windows down, played loud, and sung along to even more loudy, type stuff. Find it and get it.
So, below are a handful of tunes that Michael wanted to highlight for his Takeover, and his thoughts on each (which means you're momentarily spared from my fart jokes). Enjoy, and make sure you check out Harrison Ford Mustang!
Basement Life - Fire
Basement Life has put out two killer albums, 2017's Love Is Not Real and 2018's Devour. Being from
Greensboro, I have had the chance to see and play with them many times and watch as their songwriting has matured. Just recently they opened for another Greensboro band, Old Heavy Hands, and they played a set of almost all brand new songs. The tunes were a little longer, filled with lots of twists and turns driven by Caleb's Jawbox-esque beats. Eric's love for the Cure mixed perfectly with Gavan's 90's indie rock love. Looking forward to these being released. The song that stands out to me is Fire from Devour. Gavan starts out sounding a lot like Blair from Knapsack, building up the intensity to the singalong chorus. Check it out for yourself - https://basementlife.bandcamp.com/album/devour.
"It's all bullshit! It's all bullshit!!"
boygenius - Me & My Dog
I have listened to the 6-song ep by boygenius more than anything else lately.Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers put their individual styles together to create a magical piece of work. Full of echoey textures and harmonies and clean haunting guitar work. Main problem with it is it's length.Far too short.Keeping fingers crossed for a future full-length.I chose to share a live version of Me & My Dog recorded live in The Current studio.The piano is more in the forefront than the recording. Great harmonies!!
Personality Cult - Burned
Personality Cult, outta Carrboro, NC, put their debut out on Drunken Sailor Records last year and it has rarely left my turntable since I bought it from them when we played the Que Viva! Hopscotch Festival Day Party with them at Slim's last fall. Up for my album of the year. Tight songwriting and punchy hooks ala the Buzzcocks make me anxious to get my hands on their sophomore release which has already been recorded. Check out the entire album here:
My next two posts are focused on the bands I go back to more than any others. Growing up in the DC area I was lucky to see a million great shows. Fugazi never let me down - live or on recordings. The first time I saw them was at d.c. space opening for Kingface. It was a very early show and Guy had not yet started playing guitar at shows. He was adding backing vocals and lots of dancing. He did take over vocals on Break-In and was a blur of energy - all over the place. I did not get to see Rites of Spring, but this song was a taste of what they must have been like like. I love the breaks with Ian's guitar riff fill-ins. I chose a live version from a show in 1991. Dig the on stage dancer and surprisingly nothing was said about the stage diving.
The Cure - 100 Years
My all-time favorite, the band I have loved forever and probably seen live more than any other, is The Cure. To me, Robert Smith and the gang have done little wrong in their career. After meeting the Red Hot Chili Peppers after seeing them play on the Mother's Milk tour, I have not wanted to meet bands I liked for fear of them being assholes like Anthony Keidis. However, I would love the chance to sit down for a pint with Robert Smith though. Here's a live version of 100 Years from 1984 featuring Andy Anderson (RIP) on drums. Gloomy perfection.
Jawbox - Tools And Chrome
Been listening to a lot of Jawbox in preparation for the show at the 9:30 Club on June 28th. What a show it was too. They sounded amazingly tight and seemed to have a great time. Loved watching Kim's smiling face throughout the entire set. Bill and J's vocals were totally onpoint and Bill was non-stop motion. Only disappointment was they didn't play Tools and Chrome - the first song I heard by them. I chose to share the version from 1990 Desoto/Dischord split as opposed to the version from Grippe. A little more raw sounding.
Chastity Belt - It's Obvious
Loving the Walla Walla, WA band Chastity Belt. 2017's I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone is a perfect piece of indie jangle guitar pop. They have a new album coming out in September and you can pre-order it here - https://chastity-belt.bandcamp.com/album/chastity-belt. They are touring the states this fall and I can't wait to catch them in November at Motorco in Durham, NC. I love this song, It's Obvious from the 2017 release. Instruments are a mix of The Cure and Hum with a layer of beautiful reverb-y vocals. Dig it.
For Squirrels - Long Live The King
I did not hear of For Squirrels until coming across this article -https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/13/remembering-for-squirrels-20-years-after-tragedy-s/. Give it a read and you will see why I quickly checked them out. I instantly came to love their early R.E.M./grungy sound. Wish I had discovered them long ago. Example is a 90's masterpiece that many never heard. Not a track on it is a skipper. Here is Long Live The King. Listen for that Frank Black-ish scream.
Ovlov - The City
Grapes, the opening track from Ovlov's debut album, Am (Exploding in Sound Records) kicks off with a beautiful blast of feedback before kicking into a wall of guitars ala My Bloody Valentine. The album is chock full of love for bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Hum. I have their discography on constant rotation, but I specifically love the Greatest Hits, Vol. II release that is a compilation of Ovlov's tunes prior to the release of their debut album. Every track is a banger and is meant to be played loud. Also check out the bands Stove and Pet Fox, both off-shoots of Ovlov.
Fill your earholes with the fuzz-filled track, The City, which includes vocal help from Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz.
Poptone - Ok This Is The Pops
Growing up in the 80's I came to love bands like The Cure, Bauhaus, Public Image Limited, Love and Rockets, Echo and the Bunnymen, discovering them on MTV's 120 Minutes or the DC area radio station, WHFS. So I was very excited when I heard that Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins (Love & Rockets, Bauhaus, Tones On Tale) were revisiting their early bands and touring as Poptone. Kevin's daughter, Diva Dompe filled out the sound as the third member of the band, playing bass, keys, drums where necessary. When I found out they were coming to the east coast I jumped at the chance of catching them in Richmond at The National. What an incredible show, especially the chance to hear the Tones on Tales tunes live since they only existed for such a brief period. Poptone re-recorded a batch of songs and put out a self-titled album, did one more tour and then from what I can tell, called it a day. Was really hoping for some new music from the trio. Check out Ok This Is The Pops.
If you know me (and count yourself lucky if you don't), you know there isn't much I hold sacred. Or even remotely care about...I mean, if we're being honest. Not like, "full blown nihilist" kind of "don't care", just more like, "I'd rather not, cause I'm pretty sure it will end up disappointing, and I'm confirmed lazy as shit, so...yeah...let's not", kind of "don't care".
Make sense? Doesn't really matter, and, if you're anything like me, you wouldn't care anyway.
But, what does matter to what we (I) are (am) talking about it is that for whatever reason (immaturity? I'm guessing?), my old home state of North Carolina holds a special place in my heart, and more specifically her bountiful musical offerings shall forever illicit involuntary spasms of joy in my rapidly decaying human-like Symbiote. Kinda like, I hold the music of my NC upbringing as...something akin to sacred. If my emotional void will allow.
And yeah, I know that you must tire of hearing me opine for some thirty plus year old tarheel glory years (the state mascot, not the school mascot of the hated University of North Carolina [Go Deacs!]), but, goddamn y'all, when it hits, it fucking hits! I've spent years on this very dark and cobwebbed corner of the internet lamenting the lack of catchy, guitar based, indie rock in this day and age, that you used to trip over in every burg across NC, from Tate Street to Trade Street to Hillsborough Street, to Tuckaseegee Road, to East Main Street. It was as ubiquitous as Jesse Helms jokes, and it became part of any North Carolinians (of a certain vintage) DNA. Didn't matter if you loved Buzzov*en and C.O.C. and Antiseen and Blownapart Bastards...you still could hum any Archers of Loaf song requested on command. That's just how it goes.
So then, a few years back, this band The Kneads comes up and introduces themselves as the literal spawn of Greensboro, NC (honk if your friend had his balls stepped on whilst laying on his back in the middle of the pit at a Christ On A Crutch show at The Miracle House Of Rock) indie rock royalty; Raymond Brake and Geezer Lake, like the fucking Ghost Of NC Indie Rock Past himself! And they delivered the goods! Do you remember me raving about their two albums? Does anybody remember laughter? They were perfect nuggets of everything fun and pure and exciting about that specific, and wildly difficult to replicate, strain of underground music. If you never heard them, you should absolutely go and seek them out...I'll wait here.
Back?
Ok, well, like everything terrible in this careening cesspool of a life (there's that nihilism-adjacent good cheer), right when things are going great, The Kneads up and call it quits. Didn't even have the common courtesy to leave a note. I mean, here I was, like an asshole, operating under the auspices that we are living in a Kneads World, when I get wind (a foul wind) that the band broke up. Egg on my face (vegan egg replacer, actually). But...and let's talk about your big "but"...those dampened tidings carried with them a promise of redemption. For, while The Kneads were put to sleep, from their still warm corpse arose a new band with a couple of the same guys and a very similar raison d'etre...to craft super catchy, memorable, fun songs that bear the genetic markings of the Merge, Alias, and D-Tox, record labels.
It works...again. Harrison Ford Mustang continue to stoke my long distance love affair with the treasured sounds of the greatest cultural export The Old North State has produced (with apologies to Meadowlark Lemon), the ramshackle, punkish, sardonic indie rock that can only originate from the fertile soils of North Carolina. Thank you Harrison Ford Mustang, your service should be recognized by a Sir Walter Raleigh award! (I assume...I actually don't know if that's a thing).
P.S. - please note how proud I am that I didn't mention Superchunk once, in this entire NC-centric write up.
"i'm working/but i'm not working for you/slack motherfucker" fuck yeah! fuck you,bro! you just wait. what happens if i quit? who's going to dip frozen food products into hot oil then,hmmmmm? you? i doubt it.
and scene! thank you.
here superchunk give you one of theirs and a cover of a song called "night creatures" by a band called the flys.
perhaps you've heard of triple eye industries. some of their signings can be found hither and thither on this very blog. i'm not going to tell you where. you look like a hunter,what with that sleeveless ted nugent t-shirt you seem to like wearing alot.
TEI (as folks in the know call it) has its headquarters in milwaukee,wi. it's rumored that lenny and squiggy had jobs there once upon a time. what do you mean by "who the fuck are they?" get outta here! kids nowadays. sheeeeeeeeeeeesh!
but i digress.
the label has an annual multiple days fest that goes by the name TRIPLE EYE INDUSTRIES FEST that gets held in both milwaukee and chicago. yes. the chicago in illinois. there's only one fucking chicago! how do you keep getting in here?! dammit!
sorry.
this is a compilation that was made for the 2016 edition of the fest. and now you can enjoy it. and now you'll be able to lie to your friends about attending. if any of your friends get all "i was there and i didn't see you" just tell them that you were probably in the bathroom. works for me every time.
1 - volunteer - hitch 2 - tron jovi - mongoloid* 3 - them teeth - whitewash 4 - the terrible news - terrible hands 5 - the rutebega - ladder 6 - stock options - laika 7 - soup moat - comfy one 8 - northless - the curse of being 9 - hot coffin - hammer throw 10 - buildings - burlap 11 - war brides - day drinking 12 - heat death - obsolence 13 - high priests - what it was *=devo cover
rapeman is what happened after big black and scratch acid split up.
you got your steve albini here.
you got your david wm. sims here.
you got your rey washam here.
most of you know the names. some of you don't. but this is as far as i lead you.
this was a set that they played on the radio. yeah. once upon a time bands were known to do such things. those were the days,bro.
this was a six day festival put on by calvin johnson (singer: beat
happening...also head of k records) at the capitol theater in olympia,wa
back in 1991.
it pulled in "alternative" bands from all over the place (hence the international part).
ian mckaye took tickets at the door.
this is "indie" before you could overhear it saying such things as "their earlier stuff is way better" from a corner booth at a starbucks. a snowhat in the summer? is that thing a scarf or a blanket? come on now. i'll be waiting for you out in the parking lot.
1 - scrawl - clock song (go girl go) 2 - nation of ulysses - shakedown 3 - pastels - speedway star 4 - melvins - charmicarmicat 5 - L7 - packin' a rod 6 - spinnanes - jad fair drives women wild 7 - seaweed - bill 8 - shadowy men on a shadowy planet - they don't call them chihuahuas anymore 9 - kreviss - sandi's song 10 - some velvet sidewalk - curiousity 11 - mecca normal - strong white male 12 - courtney love* - motorcycle boy 13 - unwound - bionic 14 - rose melberg - my day 15 - fugazi - reprovisional 16 - bratmobile - punk rock dream come true 17 - kicking giant - this sex 18 - fastbacks - impatience 19 - mark hosler/steve fisk/bob basanich - customer service breakthrough 20 - beat happening - nancy sin 21 - reprise *=not that courtney love
it's helmet. and you should already know about helmet. it's cop shoot cop. and you should already know about cop shoot cop. helmet gives you a demo. cop shoot cop gives you a live song. say thank you to helmet and cop shoot cop,kids.
growing up did you ever have that one friend that didn't seem to say all that much and he always just seemed kind of awkward and he had a dark sense of humor? he'd tell jokes like "yeah. i finally went and did it." and you'd be all like "did what?" and he'd be all like "i killed her. she talked back." and then he'd start laughing and at first you didn't know if you should start laughing along but you knew if you didn't you just might get a pounding because he was bigger than you so you'd start laughing and laughing and laughing and then be all like "oh man! good one!" and he'd just still be laughing and laughing and then he'd stop and look at you and say "you wanna see the body? let's go. i'm driving. we're stopping for beer first." and then you'd see the body and then drive around listening to slayer until you could figure out what you were going to do about the situation.
if you answered "no" it's probably because you were that friend. it's ok. your secret is safe with me. nice denim jack by the way.
1 - hallow's eve - lethal tendencies 2 - slayer - die by the sword 3 - fate's warning - kyrie eleison 4 - slayer - captor of sin 5 - slayer - evil has no boundaries 6 - agent orange - fire in the rain 7 - slayer - tormentor 8 - wipers - let me know 9 - burning spear - happy day
you know what today is the day is all about. this ep was remastered and re-released on record store day back in 2017. as you have probably already seen: this isn't that version. this is ripped straight from the cassette.
it's just 2 fellas and a drum machine up on a stage doin' what they do.
have you ever been on a stage doing anything?
yeah.
i just knew that i'd seen you somewhere before.
you can't fool me.
i'd recognize that chest hair and that cleavage anywhere.
do you still have the tassles?
what about the richard nixon mask?
where you going?
fine.
just walk away.
i've got your schedule.
you're just going to love performing after that act from tijuana.
1 - blind
2 - wake
3 - spite
4 - dream long dead
5 - bigot
6 - circle of shit
7 - angel domain
8 - crush my soul
9 - weak flesh
this is the boys doing their thang acoustic style on the radio for the people.
1 - the only minority 2 - this ain't no picnic 3 - little man with a gun in his hand 4 - nature without man 5 - instrumental jam 6 - bob dylan wrote propaganda songs 7 - plight 8 - the big foist 9 - fanatics 10 - joy jam 11 - if reagan played disco 12 - self-referenced 13 - this road
it's husker du playing the part of husker du in front of a crowd of people in madison,wi. it's something that you should never do because no one would believe that you're husker du. i don't care what your mom says. "you can be whatever you blah blah blah." that's right. i just blah blah blah-ed your mom. want me to say more? didn't think so.
1 - birthday 2 - something i learned today 3 - it's not funny anymore 4 - from the gut 5 - wheels 6 - everything falls apart 7 - chartered trips 8 - somewhere 9 - eight miles high* 10 - sunshine superman** 11 - pink turns to blue 12 - broken home,broken heart 13 - drug party 14 - diane 15 - gravity 16 - masochism world 17 - bricklayer 18 - tired of doing things 19 - what do i want? 20 - pride 21 - data control 22 - out on a limb 23 - helter skelter*** 24 - in a free land 25 - birthday 26 - statues *=the byrds cover **=donovan cover ***=the beatles cover
in keeping with the postings of the ill fated SHINY GREY MONOTONE radio show....
this is one that i'd put together and the theme was (you guessed it) jello biafra.
so with that being said....
1 - dead kennedys - i kill children
2 - lard - pineapple face
3 - w/cage - grand ol' party crash
4 - w/d.o.a. - that's progress
5 - w/mojo nixon - will the fetus be aborted?
6 - w/zen guerilla - speed demon
7 - tumor circus - the man with the corkscrew eyes
8 - dead kennedys - terminal preppie
9 - dead kennedys - too drunk to fuck
10 - w/nomeansno - jesus was a terrorist
11 - and the guantanamo school of medicine - electronic plantation
12 - w/the melvins - those dumb punk kids (will buy anything)
13 - dead kennedys - holiday in cambodia
14 - lard - i wanna be a drug sniffing dog
15 - w/mojo nixon - convoy in the sky
16 - w/life after life - still is still moving to me*
17 - w/nomeansno - sharks in the gene pool
18 - dead kennedys - forward to death#
19 - tumor circus - take me back or i'll drown our dog (headlines)
20 - w/the melvins - islamic bomb
21 - w/zen guerilla - jezebel
22 - dead kennedys - moon over marin#
23 - w/nomeansno - ride the flume
24 - and the guantanamo school of medicine - strength through shopping
25 - dead kennedys - police truck
26 - w/the melvins - halo of flies**
27 - w/d.o.a. - we gotta get outta this place***
28 - dead kennedys - night of the living rednecks#
29 - dead kennedys - halloween
30 - lard - drug raid at 4am
*=willie nelson cover
**=alice cooper cover
***=animals cover
#=live
believe it or not but iowa existed before that band slipknot came along. believe it or not but there have been other bands from iowa that aren't slipknot....
iowa beef experience sludgeplow house of large sizes horny genius the tanks voodoo gear shift scrid
just to name a few.
and then there's everything on this here compilation. yeah. i know. slipknot is on it. but before they became the angry janitors of angst they had more in common with mr. bungle than...oh...i don't know...korn. "but there's corn in iowa,bro." that's a different kind of k-corn.... i can see where this is going and i just don't have the time for it so yes...there's corn in iowa. now where was i? ah yes. jncos were friggin' ridiculous. and turn your hat around the right way. damn hippies.
1 - gauge - timothy 2 - nodding begonias - spencer's supper 3 - smilin' jack - rainbow vision 4 - slipknot - do nothing/bitchslap 5 - meerkats - i fell in love with a teenage vampire 6 - the rathbones - sin & song 7 - stonefish - tomorrow 8 - 12 gauge floss - pride & envy (live) 9 - great big freak - millennium 10 - grooveyard - fire it up 11 - kelly pardekooper - black wearin' fellow 12 - nadas - hatman 13 - chronic love - don't say no 14 - junk poet - low 15 - jason reed - yesterday 16 - sojourners - pretty as a picture 17 - paranoid by noon - aggressive cresent plunge
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