By now many Flyer readers have learned that someone entered River Records at 822 S. Highland late Thursday afternoon and fatally shot longtime proprietor Jerry Gibson during what police suspect to be a robbery. Police were called to the store around 5 p.m. and found Gibson unresponsive and bleeding just inside the front doorway. They have no suspects as of this writing but are canvassing the area and reviewing nearby security/CCTV footage for any evidence.
Jerry’s brother Lowell is the founder of Gibson’s Donuts but also spent many years managing the store’s comic book inventory, while Jerry handled the mountains of vinyl on hand. Local musicians Jeffrey Evans and Greg Cartwright of the Oblivians and Reigning Sound both logged several years as employees of River Records.
River Records’ veritable maze of bins (under and atop tables), and shelves and leaning towers of records attracted vinyl hounds from around the world. Many of us in town harbor great memories of blocking out an afternoon to engage in said activity while simultaneously enjoying some conversations with Gibson, who regularly spun (true) tales of A-list celebrities and famous musicians who’d shopped at the store.
This senseless tragedy has taken the life of a genuine Memphis treasure and living legend. The death of Jerry Gibson (who was in his early-80s), makes this a sad holiday season for those who knew or were friends with Jerry. Thoughts go out especially to the Gibson family.
If you have any information about this crime, please call Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH.
The debut album by The Bangles recently got the Record Store Day treatment
Afghan Whigs- Black Love (Expanded Edition) Rhino 3LP
While it truly hurts my brain to think about how this band’s 1992 – 1996 three-album hot streak might or might not resonate with folks today, Black Love was nonetheless one of the definitive documents of this ’90s underground rock anomaly. And let’s not forget that Memphis’ own Paul Buchignani was the Whigs’ drummer on this album, having built a relationship with the band after working at Ardent Studios, where they recorded 1993’s discography high-point, Gentlemen (parts of Black Love were also done at the studio). Black Love has never been reissued on vinyl since its original release in 1996. No pressing count is given for this expanded 3LP edition.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights
The Bangles- Ladies and Gentlemen… The Bangles LP (Omnivore)
Founded in 1980 as The Bangs before avoiding a potential legal kerfuffle by changing their name to (The) Bangles, this all-female quartet emerged from the L.A. punk/hardcore reactionary offshoot sub-scene that (unfortunately) designated itself the Paisley Underground. So with The Dream Syndicate, Salvation Army/The Three O’Clock, Thin White Rope, Green On Red and The Blasters as contemporaries, the material recorded and released by the Bangles between 1981 and 1984 isn’t exactly a dead-ringer for 1988’s #1 mega-smash ballad “Eternal Flame”, the almost-shelved novelty nonsense of “Walk Like An Egyptian” or even the Prince-gifted “Manic Monday” that kicked off the band’s period of success in 1985 (but even their hits, save for the ballad, were toothier and more guitar-oriented than other pop confections of the day).
Ladies and Gentleman… was curated by the band and originally appeared (via their own Downkiddie! Records imprint) in digital-only format exactly two years ago on Thanksgiving Day 2014 and this marks its first time on vinyl. Along with their debut 7” from 1981 and the self-titled 12” EP that followed in ’82, Ladies and Gentlemen also features a strong selection of rarities/unreleased/etc, including the band’s great cover of Love’s “7 and 7 is”. Edition of 2000.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (2)
Big Star Complete Third Vol. 1: Demos to Sessions to Roughs 2LP (Omnivore)
This will no doubt be a no-brainer for many, especially anyone who’d prefer a staggered approach to acquiring and digesting in its entirety the Complete Third boxed set released earlier this year. Complete Third Vol. 1 is, as the sub-title implies, the first of three 2LP sets that will eventually make up the whole of what is offered by the boxed set. 2500 pressed.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (3)
Bolt Thrower- Those Once Loyal Metal Blade LP
England’s Bolt Thrower carved their own place in the initial death-metal era of the late-80s/early-90s, not only because they featured a female in their ranks (bassist Jo Bench) but also on the strength of the rhythmic bulldozing effect of massive and dense but melodic guitar + guitar + bass riffing the band perfected around 1990.
Those Once Loyal eschews the Games Workshop/World of Warcraft cover art that came to represent Bolt Thrower albums throughout the ’90s, and instead features a tasteful image memorializing WWI around which the record is themed (all B.T. albums carry a specific war or military-history theme). The band was active on-and-off in in a live capacity since this album’s release 16 years ago but broke up for good following the recent death of drummer Martin Kearns. 1000 pressed on gold vinyl.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (4)
Death Grips- Fashion Week/Interview 2016 Harvest 2LP
Two recent instrumental releases, 2015’s digital-only Fashion Week and the Interview 2016 EP (Get it? There’s no interview!) from earlier this year, together on one 2LP set released in a pressing of 3000.
Regardless of whether you regard Death Grips as brilliant, a completely overrated hoodwink, or something in between, there’s no doubt their legacy will be discussed in terms of historical importance and lasting influence a decade from now.
Electric Wizard Witchcult Today (Metal Blade) 2LP
Quite possibly the gold standard in doom/sludge/stoner-metal, the UK’s Electric Wizard floored the metal community (and some outside of it) when, half-a-decade into their career, they dropped the next-level and now appropriately seminal genre landmark, Dopethrone, in 2000. One of the heaviest (essence and execution) bands of all time, Electric Wizard have so far followed that album with five more menacing mountains of riff-craft in celebration of the occult, H. P. Lovecraft, criminal dirtbaggery and the diggity-dank.
Any fan of metal or heavy music should be cozy with this band’s post-Y2K discography, proof that something forward-thinking, singular, absolutely crushing and catchy as hell can be done with the doom/sludge/Sabbath template. Electric Wizard has a knack for giving their best songs the most asinine titles, as is the case with sample track below, “The Satanic Rites of Drugula.” This pressing of 1000 (one clear disc and one silver disc) isn’t likely to remain in print forever.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (5)
The Geto Boys “Mind Playing Tricks” 12″ (RapAlot)
Never before had a known quantity in the then-exploding gangsta/hardcore-rap genre let its guard down lyrically in such a fearless and honest manner as did this Houston crew on their 1991 masterwork, We Can’t Be Stopped. “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” was the most prominent example of this, tackling the reality of mentally unraveling as a result of the lifestyle and surrounding environment.
As with other releases in this legendary group’s (who should be just as retroactively respected and huge as NWA, IMHO) back catalog, the song carries a dark sense of humor and is insanely infectious. Proceeds from this 12″ will go to The JED Foundation, which works to promote emotional health and suicide prevention among college/university-aged students.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (6)
GWAR Black Friday Ltd. Edition Picture Disc 7″ (Metal Blade)
An EP of two cover medleys that GWAR did for The Onion A/V Club in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Oderus (the late Dave Brockie) features on the A-side version of Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” (which morphs into The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”), and his successor, Blothar (Michael Bishop, GWAR’s bassist from 1988 to 1999) handles on B-side’s medley of The Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls” (re-imagined as “West End Ghouls”) and “People Who Died” by The Jim Carrol Band. Hey, why not?
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (7)
Mike Watt + The Bobblymen The Bobblymen 7” EP (ORG Music)
I would wager a guess that “bobblehead” is not copyrighted but Mike Watt has a knack for coining his own terms so maybe that explains the unfortunate name of his latest backing band. Moniker and equally cringe-worthy cover art aside, drummer Bob Lee and members of Watt’s Missingmen and Secondmen bands assist in realizing three songs he wrote but never recorded some 35 years ago during the early days of the Minutemen. Edition of 1000.
Record Store Day ‘Back to Black Friday’ Highlights (9)
Other recommendations worth checking out:
Tav Falco & Panther Burns “Sway” b/w “Where The Rio Del Rosa Flows” 7” (ORG Music) Ed of 1000.
Isaac Hayes Do Your Thing Now 12” (Again Records) Ed of 2500.
Rudy Ray Moore This Ain’t No White Christmas LP (Traffic Entertainment/Dolemite Records) Ed of 1200.
Napalm Death/Melt Banana “Like Piss To A Sting” split 7” (Ipecac Recordings) pressing of 2000,
Xiu Xiu Knife Play LP (Graveface Records) Ed of 2000.
American Noise Volume One: Smart Studios Era 1 LP & The Smart Studios Story documentary DVD.
Not many popular musicians, regardless of genre, remain consistently prolific for over three decades behind a body of work defined by its unique balance of artistic veracity and success of the household-name variety. Even rarer is such an artist who frames his 60th birthday with one of the highest profile, most creatively relevant as well as critically acclaimed years in said career. But that’s exactly how 2016 has played out for Dwight Yoakam, perhaps mainstream country’s longest established purveyor of rugged individualism who hit the big 6-0 less than three weeks ago on the 23rd of October.
Just a month earlier, Yoakam released his 20th studio full-length, Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars…, which features 11 bluegrass reinterpretations of songs from his back catalog with one rather notable exception: a similarly styled cover of “Purple Rain” that was recorded as an impromptu gesture of mourning as Yoakam and band received the tragic news on April 23rd (their third day in the studio) of this year.
Per an interview with Rolling Stone, Yoakam was originally made uncomfortable after the fact by his band’s cover of the Prince classic, but he was encouraged to include it on the album (it’s the closing track and was released as the second promotional single) by former Warner Bros. Records president Lenny Waronker.
Yoakam’s resume as a respected TV and film actor was also bolstered this year by roles in Amazon Studios’ eight-episode, straight-to-web legal thriller Goliath (reuniting him with his Sling Blade costar Billy Bob Thornton), the “Bar Fights” episode of Drunk History that aired just a week prior, and a second-billed turn in the feature-length oil field drama, Boomtown.
Dwight Yoakam has been a country music outlier from the start, when his organic honky tonk and country-rock stylings were considered commercial kryptonite against the ultra-slick, post-Countrypolitan urban cowboy sound and aesthetic with which the industry was enamored during the early ’80s (essentially responsible for country’s first true wide-scale acceptance into mainstream popular culture). Yoakam’s understandable disenchantment with Nashville took him to L.A., where he focused on playing venues favored by that scene’s underground roots-rock and punk bands, sharing bills with the Blasters, Los Lobos, and X before self-financing his debut album.
Yoakam has also regularly displayed pretty good taste in non-country covers by releasing versions of the Clash’s great pop moment, “Train in Vain,” as well as Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me.”
Brooklyn’s Yeasayer has released four full-length albums, two EPs and two live albums since debuting with 2007’s All Hour Cymbals. Depending on one’s preferred source of biographical information, Yeasayer formed in 2005 or 2006. Within a year or so the band (static core trio of co-founders Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder) were among the many beneficiaries of the blogosphere’s omnipotent kingmaking era when large fan-bases materialized out of thin air, as did prominent placement on the national/worldwide mainstream indie landscape of the day.
If this larger phenomenon seems so far back on the cultural timeline it might as well have occurred on a different planet, keep in mind that the particular decade (or just under a decade in this case) that has passed since Yeasayer’s emergence is one that frames an especially tenuous and fluid musical climate.
Yeasayer Tonight at Minglewood Hall
Similarly, the four years between 2012’s Fragrant World and this April’s Amen & Goodbye could also mean curtains for many bands, so not only are Yeasayer survivors, but they also possess a respectable skill at continuing to pull something ambitious and unique out of their original sonic patchwork of world-beat, dance-friendly prog-pop.
Their formula also features complex takes on electronica and synth-pop, and myriad other elements that together should not work at all, much less result in such an accessible and relatively successful end product with each album. Get to Minglewood Hall tonight by 8 p.m. to check out Yeasayer and opener Lydia Ainsworth. The show is $20.00.
Originally emerging out of the the Austin, TX nascent punk/hardcore scene in 1979 as The Stains, the band that would become MDC completed that city’s trio of major players (The Dicks and The Big Boys being the other two) in the early years of our nation’s hardcore movement. Their first and only release as The Stains was 1979’s “John Wayne Was A Nazi” / “Born To Die” 7”, an introduction to the sort of confrontational M.O. that would coalesce once the band relocated to San Francisco and began operating under the infamous MDC moniker.
MDC’s full-length debut, titled Millions of Dead Cops after the first meaning behind their initialized band name, appeared in 1982 in two versions: A self-released original and a remixed (by Geza X no less) reissue by both the band’s R Radical imprint and the Dead Kennedys’ Alternative Tentacles label.
MDC Tonight at Murphy’s
Widely considered a classic document of early, hyper-politicized American hardcore, the set of now-classic HC blueprint songs provide the best summation of Dave Dictor and MDC’s “political humanist hardcore.” Besides a couple of songs that, unsurprisingly, reprise the album title’s (and for the moment at least, their moniker’s) whack-upside-the-head unsubtlety regarding where the band stood on law enforcement, other targets in their cross-hairs are highlighted by “Corporate Deathburger” (McDonalds), “America is So Straight” (homophobia- Dictor, like The Dicks’ Gary Floyd and Big Boys’ Randy “Biscuit” Turner, was one of the movement’s only openly-gay front-men), “Violent Rednecks” (self-explanatory), “I Hate Work” (ditto), “Church and State” (uh…ditto-ditto) and many other pointed interpretations of mainstream American culture at that moment in history.
After some negative blowback from within the punk/hardcore community about the original meaning of the band’s name, MDC was then “Multi-Death Corporation”, “Male Dominated Culture” and the mouthful “Misguided Devout Christians” (plus others) at different points on their long timeline. A slew of stylistically-disparate (though no-less politically/socially/culturally-charged) albums were released over the next decade-and-a-half, such as 1986’s Smoke Signals, 1987’s This Blood’s For You, ‘89’s Metal Devil Cokes, Hey Cop! If I Had A Face Like Yours… in 1991 and Shades of Brown in 1993 (with a tour of Russia that made MDC the first ever American punk band to do so).
After a hiatus during the second half of the ’90s, Dictor reactivated a lineup in 2000 and MDC released Magnus Dominus Corpus album in 2004. The band, in various incarnations led by Dictor, has released an impressive number of split LPs and EPs with other bands, plus several live albums over the last decade. This year marks MDC’s 35th anniversary and something tells me Dave Dictor has some commentary about the near chaotic state of current affairs facing not only our country at this juncture in history but the entire world.
The undoubtedly packed evening at Murphy’s (doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the Facebook event page makes note of a very achievable “90 person capacity”) will kick off at 8:30 p.m. with Negro Terror (a hardcore spinoff of local roots/dub reggae aficionados Chinese Connection Dub Embassy), more Memphis no-B.S. hardcore from Hauteur, our venerable institution of genuine thrash metal Evil Army, and Wartorn. Door price is an un-arguably fair ten dollars.
The second 1985-1991 wave of glam-metal (aka “hair-metal”, “pop-metal”, “bubblegum-metal”, and “95% Crap”) framed the internal reactionary upping of the bar by Guns N’ Roses, as well as estranged origin band L.A. Guns. Guns N’ Roses’ moniker is a combination of the band names “L.A. Guns” and “Hollywood Rose”, as Gn’R’s founding 1985 lineup featured singer Axl Rose and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin from the latter and former’s Rob Gardner on drums and Tracii Guns on lead guitar (there was a fifth guy, bassist Ole Beich, but you get the point).
L.A. Guns self-titled major label debut for Polygram was released in 1988 but it was the follow-up, 1989’s Cocked & Loaded, that finally brought the band mainstream success behind the not-entirely-representative hit, “The Ballad of Jayne” (the album also features guest backing vocals from Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen). 1991’s Hollywood Vampires benefited from glam-metal’s absolute final moment of glory and reached #42 on the Billboard Album Chart.
L.A. Guns’ Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns at Rockhouse Live
Any form of metal that experienced a creative high-point during the ’80s had a very rough time after January of 1992, but it was glam-metal that really got the kill-shot the month that Nirvana’s Nevermind went #1 on the Billboard 200…the nuanced irony being an accidental phenomenon kicked off by an authentic post-hardcore band unleashed the often unauthentic marketing campaign disguised as an organic musical style and movement we know as “grunge.”
Most glam-metal bands dissolved then resurfaced post-Y2K on cruise ships, at casinos, and fairs to capitalize on the nostalgia circuit (change the venues and we’d be discussing O.G. post-punk and late-80s/early-90s indie-rock), while others remained active for all or at least part of the decade and attempted to become stylistically amenable to the rapidly-changing rock landscape.
After a three-year hiatus (1991 – 1994), L.A. Guns went for latter and released three more studio albums before the close of the ’90s that find the band’s customary sleeze-and-grit bumping up against their takes on everything from thrash metal to Pantera groove-chunk testosterone to Nine Inch Nails/Ministry-style industrial metal to whatever the hell you’d call Cake and the Butthole Surfers’ “Pepper”.
L.A. Guns’ Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns at Rockhouse Live (2)
Founder Tracii Guns endured until after the release of L.A. Guns’ 10th studio album, 2002’s Waking the Dead. The L.A. Guns timeline began in 1983 and has experienced enough lineup instability to warrant a stand-alone Wikipedia page to chronologically map all of the band members.
There have been two L.A. Guns active-one lead by longtime vocalist Phil Lewis and one by Tracii Guns-during separate and concurrent stretches since 2002, as well as the legal actions (for rights to use the band’s name) that one might expect from this sort of thing. Tracii Guns has helmed several other bands alongside L.A. Guns plus those with variations on that band’s moniker.
Earlier this year, vocalist Phil Lewis and Guns reunited as “L.A. Guns’ Phil Lewis + Tracii Guns” and that’s exactly what’s headlining tonight at Rockhouse Live. Supporting them is glam-metal outliers Enuff Z’nuff, who scored two hits with “Fly High Michelle” and “New Thing” from their 1989 self-titled major label debut. The band hails from Blue Island, Illinois (just south of Chicago) and established their own strain of glam-metal that’s heavily informed by the power-pop of Cheap Trick and psychedelic pop.
L.A. Guns’ Phil Lewis and Tracii Guns at Rockhouse Live (3)
Stylistically unmistakable due to singer Richard Butler’s gravelly but tuneful vocal style and the presence of saxophone throughout their discography of seven full-length albums, the Psychedelic Furs were one of the more successful and visible alternative/college-rock propositions to break in the states (like the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Modern English) after having originally emerged from the U.K. post-punk movement. Moody classics like “Imitation of Christ” from the self-titled 1980 album and the menacing but timelessly catchy “Dumbwaiters” from their ’81 follow-up, Talk Talk Talk, are now-definitive examples of how the band could straddle the fence separating post-punk and alt-pop ear candy, while they clearly excelled in the latter category with the whopper hook of “Love My Way” (from 1982’s Todd Rundgren-produced Forever Now album).
The original version of “Pretty in Pink” that opened 1981’s Talk Talk Talk album was brought to the attention of screenwriter John Hughes by his script muse (and Furs super-fan) Molly Ringwald. Hughes’ brat-pack mega-hit of the same name is very loosely based on the track, and the rerecorded radio-friendly version of the song on the soundtrack rocketed the band beyond college-radio subculture and into the arena-sized mainstream for a spell. In 1991, after releasing seven full-lengths, the Psychedelic Furs went on hiatus until 2000, when founding brothers Richard and Tim Butler (bass) reunited the band (which has actually been based in the states since 1983). They’ve been touring a slightly different lineup of the band ever since. In preparation for the band’s appearance at the New Daisy Saturday night, we spoke with Tim Butler about his band’s origins, early days, second act, and saxophones.
The Memphis Flyer: You first broke out of the original U.K. post-punk scene at the turn of the ’80s, but officially formed a bit earlier in 1977 when the first wave of punk was still happening …
Tim Butler: It was sort of the end of punk rock … I consider the end of punk when the Sex Pistols split up. Richard and I got the impetus and kick up the ass to do it from seeing the Pistols in ’76 at this place called the Flat in London, and we were just blown away. It was right then that we decided we wanted to form a band.
I’ve read that the Stranglers were a big influence, too …
No … not really their music, but Jean-Jacques Burnel, their bass player, was a big influence on me personally with his bass sound and style. Our musical influences were more Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, some Stooges, and some Bowie, mixed with the energy and aggression of the Sex Pistols.
What influenced the inclusion of a saxophone? Would that be Roxy Music?
Actually, that wasn’t on purpose or planned at all. We were jamming around at home with some of my other brother’s friends, like Roger, our guitar player, and he had a friend, Duncan Kilburn, who happened to play saxophone. He just turned up one day to jam, and we liked the sound of it. We didn’t purposely include a saxophonist for effect. It just sounded good, and there you are.
The saxophone seems to do much more than simply fill up a space in your overall sound in place of keyboards or synths, especially on your first two albums …
The whole thing was that when we were starting out, we had two guitar players, a saxophone, plus me, and all of us were fighting to be heard. We didn’t really know when to lay back, so it was like a wall of chaos. The reason we started to use keyboards at all was that when we were recording the second album, Talk Talk Talk, our saxophonist went out to a club, got into a fight, and someone broke his jaw. So because he obviously couldn’t play sax, he just brought a keyboard into the studio and started playing parts. From there the use of the keyboard expanded.
As the producer for the subsequent album, 1982’s Forever Now, did Todd Rundgren have an impact on that? What was it like working with him?
Not really. When we went over to record with Todd, we had all the demos of the songs and 90 percent of arrangements already written. Working with him was great. We wanted to move into using strings and had recorded with a cello player on the demos. We’d heard his album, Deface the Music, where he does covers of Beach Boys and Beatles songs and did all of the cello and string parts of the original songs himself. Plus, we were big fans of Todd’s and thought he’d be a perfect producer for the album. And he was. It’s my favorite of all our albums.
Any plans to record and release new material?
Yeah, we’ve been recording new material and hope to have it finished in time to release an album at some point next year. But we’ve been taking our time to make sure it’s exactly what we want a new Psychedelic Furs album to be.
Let’s play Jeopardy! They took on Sharon Osbourne in a public feud circa Y2K and came out the winners (perhaps that’s because the crux of the dispute happened to be Coal Chamber, her clients at the time). They teamed up with Jack White and Jeff the Brotherhood on a Mozart composition titled “Leck mich im Arsch” that really does have scatological basis (it loosely translates to “Lick my A**”) and really WAS NOT a collaboration born of comic irony.
They spent years doing more of it themselves than most entities acceptably associated with “D.I.Y.” They probably get hundreds of Christmas cards each year from older employees of Faygo Beverages, Inc. They released their first EP in 1991 and that was 14 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, 7 Eps and 37 singles ago.
While the rest of the world got a ton of mileage out of their existence as a generous punchline, a cult of fans coalesced that is more clearly defined, loyal and insular than anything (of its type) ever witnessed in pop culture. They have turned pop/rock history’s notions of “theme” and “concept” into an ongoing and rather complex alternate universe known as the “Dark Carnival Saga” that gives The Illuminatus! Trilogy a run for its money.
They boast what might be the greatest disparity between critical hatred and commercial success in the history of popular music. Their fortuitous decision to don face-paint has made them physically ageless in an era of great ageism while logic would dictate that musical and aesthetic choices should have aged like a Happy Meal in a hot back seat, but no expiration date approaches. They sued the FBI and…well…sort of won. They wrestled for Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1990 to 1997, for the WWF in 1998, the WCW for the next two years, and have performed in the self-formed Juggalo Championship Wrestling (originally known as “Juggalo Championshit Wrestling” because…why not?) ever since.
Three different bonus albums were released in conjunction with their 12th studio effort, The Mighty Death Pop!:
1. A covers album with interpretations of House of Pain, N.W.A. Tears for Fears, Public Enemy, and Christina Aguilera,
2. An hour-long tribute to Too Short’s 1987 porno-narrative “Freaky Tales” (that also shared its title),
3. A remix/outtakes/unreleased collection that featured guest appearances by Three 6 Mafia, Color Me Badd, Ice Cube, Geto Boys, and Kottonmouth Kings. Their in-house Psychopathic Records (once again distributed by Sony’s RED Distro) has been in operation since 1991 and is a production company that handles professional wrestling, release of music and videos by its massive roster of artists, tons of merchandising, and as of 2010, allegedly generates around $10 million per year in revenue. (They count Pearl Jam and Gong (!?!) among their musical inspirations. And of course, there’s “Miracles.”
If your answer was “Who is Tom Waits” or “Who is Fugazi?” then apparently you just stepped from a time machine. That was, of course, a tiny non-chronological snippet of Insane Clown Posse’s last three decades, and however one might feel about their history and static empire, there’s no doubting that it’s one of the only genuine “others” in modern music culture.
As for more recent ICP-related news, in customary macro-style the group released The Marvelous Missing Link: Lost and The Marvelous Missing Link: Found last April and June, respectively. Bringing ICP (and it appears, just ICP…though there will no doubt be some guests of some stripe onstage) to Memphis is the 2nd leg of “The Riddlebox Tour”, named so because the aforementioned two albums constitute the first and second (respectively) parts of the 3rd Joker Card in the second Deck of the Dark Carnival Saga.
It has been announced that summer of 2017 will see the release of the pair’s next studio album, The Diabolical Karma Twins. Tonight’s (Wednesday, 10/5) ICP show marks the group’s Hi-Tone debut after headlining three package tours at The New Daisy since 2009.
Seeing the Hi-Tone undergo a Juggalo transformation for an evening will be interesting, to say the least, and on some (or many) level(s), it may be the craziest show yet to grace the club’s Crosstown location. Doors open at 6pm and the all-ages show will be $23 advance and $25 dos.
In the world of modern-day metal and heavy music, there’s a thin line between natural, inspired, boundary-free explorers, and inorganic, obnoxious, attention-starved genre-jumpers. Some bands straddle the fence and some are unfortunately defined by the latter, but Richmond, VA’s Inter Arma is the rare specimen that pulls off the former.
Given the stylistic restlessness of Inter Arma and the band’s ability to rock it with ease, their city of origin isn’t terribly surprising. Richmond has exported more metal and hardcore of note over the years than most mid-sized urban areas, boasting GWAR, Lamb of God, Arsis, Windhand, Cough, Avail, Municipal Waste, and Pig Destroyer to name a few. But Inter Arma is not some amalgam of what these fellow Richmond bands have mastered, or an outfit that wants to show you how easy they can switch from grindcore to free-jazz to J-pop to grunge to death metal while making crazy faces.
Inter Arma at the Hi-Tone
Formed about a decade back, Inter Arma is now touring behind Paradise Gallows, their third full-length and most recent title for Relapse Records, the band’s home since 2013. Paradise Gallows follows 2014’s The Cavern, a 40-minute single-song “EP” that really drove home what this quintet was capable of.
Paradise Gallows swings between doomy-death metal with understated vocals, sky-reaching piano-driven “post-metal” (whatever the hell that is), and classic power-metal guitar harmonies-often within one (usually epic-length) song. Piano is tastefully used to bolster more epic instrumental passages, and Paradise Gallows is meant to be ingested as a single piece of music rather than a song-cycle.
Inter Arma dabble in heaviness that’s actually trying to shoot for the future of the form rather than rewrite or repurpose the past, a refreshing aspect in these retro-fascinated times.
Opening for Inter Arma is Colorado’s Call of the Void, another Relapse Records offering that mixes modern grindcore, crusty heavy hardcore, and wailing guitar leads- meaning they share the same fans as His Hero is Gone, Brutal Truth, Buried Inside, post-Y2K Napalm Death, and especially Trap Them.
Call of the Void songs lean towards the longer (2-3 minutes) side for this type of stuff, allowing for plenty of references to the aforementioned bands and extending the punishment to its logical breaking point. Local hopefuls Sunfather will kick off the evening. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the cover is $12.
…as well as something to accompany the preview profile feature I wrote in this week’s print issue of The Flyer.
“Youth of America” (B-side to 2010’s Sludge Glamorous 12” EP and 2nd track on 2001’s live Electroretard album)
The total number of live recordings in the official Melvins discography is collectively ten times the size of most bands’ entire output. And like the entire catalog, it can be a minefield of alienating middle-fingers to the curious novice. This live cover of The Wipers’ untouchable slice of early-80s American post-punk approaches the ten-minute mark just like the reactionary (against the under-a-minute hardcore “rule” of the day) original.
Considering the shared Pacific Northwest region of origin and the Melvins’ array of not-so-hidden influences that have nothing to do with hard-rock, metal or heaviness (like the Throbbing Gristle fixation that recurs throughout the band’s discography), it should come as no surprise that this is a loyal yet improved-upon treatment of one of the best songs by a groundbreaking and inspirational band that probably touched the nascent incarnation of the trio in real time. One of the better stage-to-record translations of the double-drummer, Big Business-appended four-piece lineup of the Melvins.
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints
“A History of Bad Men” (from 2006’s (A) Senile Animal album)
Perhaps you recall being glued to the mid-season stride hit by HBO’s True Detective and wondering “What is that playing in the background?” during the scene in which the protagonists attempt to infiltrate a terrifyingly authentic roadhouse bar that doubled as an open-air meth market. Inserted into the scenes as if it came from whatever band might be playing on the stage that the viewer never sees, this six-and-some-odd minutes of perfect doom-metal riffery and vocal hooks is immediately infectious. “A History of Bad Men” showcases a Melvins newly-re-energized by, and thoroughly utilizing, the then-new incorporation of Big Business’ Coady Willis (formerly of Murder City Devils and Dead Low Tide) and Jared Warren (formerly of Karp, Tight Bros From Way Back When, and The Whip).
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints (2)
“Hospital Up” (from 2010’s The Bride Screamed Murder album)
Please keep in mind that I am including this song based on what happens before the 4:10 mark, when a typically-Melvins curveball is thrown with an abrupt shift into free-jazz for the final minute-plus. Leading up to this silliness however, “Hospital Up” stands as one of the poppier, dare I say, prettier songs that retains the band’s primary heaviness and other defining elements.
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“You Can Make Me Wait” (from 2014’s Hold It In album)
The Hold It In album sees Osborne and Crover joined by Butthole Surfers’ Jeff Pinkus on bass and Paul Leary on guitar, and while “You Can Make Me Wait” isn’t the first time the Melvins have ventured into electronic pop territory or just decided to blindside fans with whatever the hell they felt like doing at the time, it’s easily one of the best and most infectious. Like some of 1999’s Bootlicker album, this song bears more than a passing resemblance to some of the best pop made by Ween, another wildly-prolific unit with a legacy that has more similarities to that of the Melvins than one might think.
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints (4)
Gluey Porch Treatments (1986)
This is technically the Melvins’ first full-length album, though there’s now several album’s worth of material that predates this release in the form of Eps, 7”s and unearthed demo recordings that date back to 1983. And while the Melvins had already dipped a toe in slow, heavy and plodding songwriting structures, it wasn’t nearly as fascinatingly bizarre, huge or as ground-breaking as this album, namely in a hindsight-improved context of the mid-80s American post-hardcore, crossover and underground metal environment into which it was released.
That being stated, it has aged wonderfully (probably due to how long it has taken the rest of the world to catch up to what was going on here) and is absolutely unlike anything else that was happening at the time. Gluey Porch Treatments is the first Melvins release to really spread the incorrect sonic reputation of “slowest and heaviest band in the land” despite the album featuring plenty of “blisteringly-fasted and heaviest band in the land” moments throughout. 1989’s better-known and more critically-acclaimed Ozma album is an extension of this album and both were rereleased together on CD.
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“Night Goat” (1992 7” single on Amphetamine Reptile, slightly rerecorded version from 1993’s Houdini album)
This “signature” song is actually unlike much of what the press and fans had framed as the “Melvins’ sound” up to this point in history. Instead of the absolutely massive guitar riffs that guitarist Buzz Osbourne had learned how to stretch, pull, layer, compress, or otherwise manipulate into any song structure imaginable, the guitar creates sheets of noise that undulate in and out of the bass riff that is the song’s real backbone. After appearing on 1989’s Ozma, 1991’s Eggnog EP and Bullhead LP, bassist Lori Black (Shirley Temple’s daughter, Buzz Osborne’s then-girlfriend, formerly of San Fran metal-punks Clown Alley, and musically credited as “Lorax”) makes one of her final recorded appearances with the band on this song.
“Night Goat” was originally released as the A-side to a 7” single on 90s noise-rock clearing house Amphetamine Reptile (this would begin a long on-and-off relationship with the label that continues to this day) in 1992 and then resurfaced in a slightly rerecorded version as the second track on the excellent Houdini album the following year.
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints (6)
“The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)” (from 1999’s The Maggot album)
Not to bely the strength of Melvins originals by getting all cover-heavy with this list, but this interpretation of “The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)” – originally released in 1970 as one of the final songs penned by a drug-skewed Peter Green during his final days in Fleetwood Mac – strikes a perfect balance between reverence of the source material and a cover remade in the mold of the interpreter. It’s also the centerpiece of the especially-strong and intense 1999 album, The Maggot, released as the first in a trilogy that would find the band returning to dominance after issuing some willingly alienating and spottier releases during the 2 – 3 years that followed the three great major label albums that appeared between 1993 – 1996.
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints (7)
Lysol (aka Melvins aka Untitled aka Lice-All) (1992)
Of the three originals in this six-song set, two (“Hung Bunny” at almost 11 minutes and “Roman Dog Bird” at seven-and-a-half) present a consummate example of the aforementioned “slowest + heaviest” formula the Melvins had been developed up to that point. Both are precision weirdo-doom metal stretched out in such a way to keep the listener’s attention even though it seems like an entire grindcore song could fit in between each mountainous guitar riff. A huge influence on how the band Sleep would soon expound upon the approach as well as on the countless bands that have saturated the last quarter-century with their slower, more pummeling tendencies.
Original label Boner Records re-released the album in 2015 as a 2LP set that includes the great and similarly-spirited Eggnog EP from 1991. Lysol also contains wonderful covers of Flipper’s “Sacrifice”, the Alice Cooper Band’s “The Ballad of Dwight Fry” and “Second Coming”, originally by Cooper himself. Note: One characteristic of this album that bolstered its influence was the lack of a track listing on any version of the release and mastering of all six songs as one uninterrupted composition.
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints (8)
“At The Stake” (from 1994’s Stoner Witch album)
If you like what I’m going on about in the previous entry, check out this 8 minutes of menace delivered with, yet again, one of the band’s greatest riffs. The Stoner Witch album was the middle child of three major label efforts and in many ways the most straightforward collection, with a definite lean towards hard 70s boogie-stomp than metal, than anything the band had yet to do…except for this.
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song.
“Honey Bucket” (from 1993’s Houdini album)
The Melvins can do fast just as good as they can do slow, and they did it better than this later on, but there’s something about this little burner that just annihilates the entire backdrop of ill-conceived metal reinvention undertaken in a panic during the early-90s “grunge” explosion. To clarify…it is not hard to imagine this song as seeded by the band thinking “let’s show Metallica what they should have been doing since Master of Puppets,” though I’d be floored if there was any kernel of reality in that admitted stretch.
Due to the early Pacific Northwest origins and unwitting associations with Nirvana that lead to this album (and the two that followed) appearing on Atlantic Records or a subsidiary thereof, the Melvins attracted a really stupid “godfathers of Grunge” tag that could not be less appropriate to any listener who has given their pre-1996 output more than a casual graze-over. This rather straightforward thrasher serves all of that early-90s alt-metal radio-friendly crap with a “better than you” notice as well.
A Non-chronological and Totally Incomplete Listicle of Melvins Highpoints (10)
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