
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUxX2nNOhWs&ab_
Self Released (2023)
Bad Idea hail from Minneapolis, a city that has produced more than its fair share of bands that I really dig. And while the bulk of bands I have enjoyed from this fine city have skewed towards the pop punk side of the spectrum (with some detours into Big Drill Car sounding territories), Bad Idea are playing a old school/garage-y sort of punk rock that I don't typically associate with Minneapolis. Granted, I don't live there so it's possible a thriving community of likeminded bands exist, but they aren't typically on my radar.
Most people that know my taste in punk rock will know that Bad Idea don't immediately fit the bill. It's not as hooky as I would prefer and there certainly aren't many vocal harmonies as are on a lot of records I own, but they still resonate in a way that most bands like this do not. A major reason is because of the quality vocals. So many groups like this are shouting and hollering and yelling in a way that my tender ears do not appreciate. This singer is one that can actually sing. It's gruff, maybe in a less gravelly Lemmy sort of way, but he's carrying a tune and that goes a long way with me.
Some of the songs are straighforward in a beat you over the head sort of way, and I don't click with those quite as much. But then there are a few that lean more towards my wheelhouse like "TV Brain" and "Act Of Violence." I wouldn't call them pop by any means, but there's a different level of dynamics there that elevate them higher. As far as the songs that are of the more straightforward variety, if you like your punk rock a little more old school and traditional, particularly with a tinge of garage energy, this is probably a record you should check out. They do this style better than most.
Bad Idea - Sonic Hellride:
https://badideampls.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-hellride
Top Drawer (2023)
When I think about it, it seems kind of inconceivable that the last Subjunctives album came out four years ago already. Sunshine and Rainbows still feels like a new record to me and while I'm fully aware that my sense of time has been distorted over the past few years, it's wild that I'm holding the band's new record thinking 'boy, they sure pumped out another one of these pretty quick.' Yet the entirety of how long it takes to get through high school has happened since the last one. Feeling old yet?
Let's Try This Again picks up where Sunshine and Rainbows left off, with Ean, Jeff and new drummer Wendell crafting poppy punk songs that lean on Bob Mould style guitar crunch as much as they do Sicko style irreverence and tight hooks. I had mentioned when I wrote about the first Subjunctives record that this was the Ean band that was able to scratch my Sicko itch, and while there's probably a better way to phrase the sentence in a way that doesn't make it seem like I'm dealing with some sort of rash, it's still true. This makes me feel like it's 1996 again, hanging out in the record store and just enjoying the way the music was making me feel.
Lyrically, Ean is really in top form here. We've got songs about smart pop punk vs. dumb pop punk, career paths, Covid, fuckers and Lance from J Church/Cringer. It's subject matter that certainly resonates with me and it's refreshing to hear an album that feels thematically targeted to someone in their 40s and 50s. And that's not to say the kids won't be able to get down with these funky sounds. I'm sure many in their 20s will agree that these tracks slap. Which is a somewhat obnoxious way to say that this kind of pop punk always feels universal to me. Even if the specific topics might skew to an older demographic, the overall feelings of battling insecurities, fears and trying to celebrate the things that help get you through each day are common themes that everyone can relate to.
Start to finish, it's just as strong a record as Sunshine and Rainbows. We've got short fast songs, we've got mid tempo guitar pop and we've even got a cover of the Sicko song "Believe" played even faster than the original. To me the biggest difference between Let's Try This Again and the last record is in the vocals. The way they are recorded is much more slick and it's dripping with massive harmonies on just about every song. It sounds full, crisp and and impeccably recorded, though it is missing a little bit of the scrappiness that I tend to associate with Sicko and the first Subjunctives album.
2023 is a year that, for me, has really been lacking in new albums that I've connected with. There's been a some, but I can't remember a year where I've bought fewer new records. Luckily, The Subjunctives were aware of my plight and put out a record that reminds me that there's more to life than 90s reissues. There's also people from the 90s still writing great music.
The Subjunctives - Let's Try This Again:
https://thesubjunctives.bandcamp.com/album/lets-try-this-again-2
Milan (2023)
I don't buy a lot of soundtracks on vinyl, but I have been picking up some of the cooler ones that get released. If it's Godzilla or Toho related, that's probably an instant buy. Then there are others that pop up randomly like Cowboy Bebop and Star Wars type stuff. I don't buy all of it, but I will pick up the occasional record that I think is cool.
I don't watch much anime. In fact, I really don't watch any. The only exceptions are the aforementioned Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion. I stumbled across Evangelion in college, maybe in 1997 or so? It was recommended to me and I started buying the VHS tapes that were being released at the time. Two episodes per tape and lots of trips to Suncoast Motion Picture Company. I loved that show and though it was so interesting and powerfully written. Until the last couple of episodes anyway, then it just kind of goes a little crazy and I don't really understand what's going on.
The thing I always remember about the soundtrack is "Angel Attack," a rousing piece that captures the sound of impending doom perhaps better than anything since the Imperial March. The rest of this soundtrack is only kind of OK. I mean, nothing is bad or anything, but when I listen to it I'm not getting that immersive experience that I tend to while listening to other soundtracks. Maybe I'm just not as familiar with the music of Evangelion, but it's not until the closing version of "Fly Me To The Moon" that those nostalgic memories hit again.
This was out of print for a while, as best I can tell. It recently got repressed and I was able to pick it up for pretty cheap, so I did. I'm glad to have it, but as far as soundtracks that I'm going to listen to often, this one will end up being lower on the priority list.
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Original Series Soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kymSzIaRe3oEW786pYicK32t9v_c7A0f0
Virgin (2015, Reissue)
Double Helix (2023)
This will be a quick write up today as I just posted a much lengthier missive about this fabulous record the other week. Please go here if you want me to tell you how great the music is: https://www.ibuywaytoomanyrecords.com/2023/08/the-pretty-flowers-company-sleeve-lp.html
For today, I wanted to show off the limited, alternate sleeve version from The Pretty Flowers record release show. They did 47 of these in total and they were sold at the show, with a few leftovers winding up on Bandcamp. The folks at Pretty Flowers Inc. were kind enough to make sure that my alternate sleeve came with the opaque blue version of the vinyl, so I have both colors now as well. It also came with a signed promo photo straight out of 1997. I haven't seen one of those since my time writing at my college newspaper many, many moons ago.
This is one of those variant hunts that I've tried very hard to keep from overtaking my record collection. For the most part, I'm much better about only buying one version of a record when it comes out. But there are sometimes bands or variations that tug at my heart strings and I just can't help myself. This is one of those records and I'm happy to have it.
The Pretty Flowers - A Company Sleeve:
https://theprettyflowers.bandcamp.com/album/a-company-sleeve
Tim/Kerr / Geffen (1996)
Skiploader is a band whose name I remember being kicked around in the 90s, but they weren't a band I had ever spent any time with. In fact, I'm not even positive I ever heard a single song by them back then. One of my buddies, Jason, had mentioned them to me a little ways back and it reminded me to give them another listen. I did, and then I picked up a sealed cutout of their first full length, From Can Through String. It was cheap and sealed, so that was a bonus.
My original expectations were that this would be the sort of slow twinkly emo that was in vogue in 1996. Sad sack music lamenting all of the things wrong with the world. The fact that it was on Geffen should have clued me in that it would need to be more exciting than that, and it is. Skiploader's album is an energetic blast of catchy songs with big, crunchy guitar chords. Is there an emotional undercurrent to the songs? Absolutely, but it's done in a way that makes everything more dynamic and interesting than your by the numbers pop punk band of the era.
In fact, the band this album makes me think about the most as a comparison is actually Seaweed. Both vocalists have the strained, but powerful delivery and the guitar riffage also has moments of similarity. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Skiploader is quite as good as Seaweed was. Seaweed had an intensity level that Skiploader can't match. But Skiploader is carrying on a similar tradition and this record is way better than I would have figured based on everything I knew about them before actually listening to it.
Skiploader - From Can Through String:
https://skiploader.bandcamp.com/album/from-can-through-string
Numero (2023)
This 7" was originally available at the Primavera Sound Festival that took place in Barcelona. Unwound and Karate both played on day three and were grouped as part of the third font size (out of four) on the poster. As both of these songs are also available on albums by each band, I assume this was mainly released to be a take home trinket of the experience. Lucky for record dorks like me, Numero put some extra copies up on their website, so I was able to keep my Unwound 7" collection up to date.
On the Unwound side we have "Look A Ghost," from their Leaves Turn Inside You album from 2001. While the later era Unwound records are definitely not my favorite of their overall discography, this song does stand out as one of the best. It's not quite as noisy as I usually want my Unwound songs to be, as they rely more on a clean (as in not distorted), but muddy guitar tone. The playing is intricate though and it's not sleepy like some of the band's other later era songs.
Karate is a band I never listened to. I'm not entirely sure why as they aren't a band that I can point to and say "I don't like them because ______." I just never listened to them and I think I always thought of them as a slow, kind of boring band. Now that I've heard their contribution to this 7", "There Are Ghosts" from the 1998 album The Bed is in the Ocean, I'm not sure my assumption was incorrect. It's not a bad song, it is pleasant enough, but it has that slow, smooth jazz sort of indie rock vibe that never did anything for me. Maybe they have other songs that are a bit more dynamic and exciting, but this one is kind of just there.
If you didn't go to the festival and already like either band, I'm not sure this is an essential release as you probably already have the song. But for that segment of people that need to hunt down things like this, you can get it at a reasonable price from the fine folks at Numero.
Double Helix (2023)
Of the records I've written about over the past five years or so, I'm not sure that any connected with a certain segment of my friends more than Why Trains Crash, the first album from The Pretty Flowers. I wrote about it back in 2018 and most of the people whose taste in music most closely matches mine seemed to love it. And not just love it, to further evangelize it to others. Watching that happen for a record I loved so much was really quite wonderful. My circle of music friends often agree on what bands are good, but there was something pretty special about the way every seemed to connect with The Pretty Flowers.
Fast forward to 2023 and five years have gone by. That's a pretty long time since their last record and factor in that the five years that went by felt more like thirty and I wondered what would happen when A Company Sleeve finally came out. Well, everyone I know loves it and that includes me in a big way.
Despite being fully aware that I do it, I often fall victim to the trope of trying to compare a band to other bands to try to help explain what they sound like. There's only so many times you can write things like 'catchy' and have it really be a description of the music that you're listening to. I still think that the bands that I most associate with The Pretty Flowers when trying to come up with a comparison point are The Weakerthans (for the storytelling component and hooks) and early Built To Spill (for the band's ability to weave in more complicated guitar attacks, but not overwhelm with unnecessary solo wanking).
Even without referencing these touchstones, it's impossible to not gush over how expertly this entire album has been crafted as a body of work. The individual songs are all spectacular, but the way they flow from one to the other is a masterwork in sequencing and thought put into making this feel like an album and not just being a pile of twelve songs. This is not a concept album, but the concept of these songs being an album was obviously something that was taken very seriously.
I can't say enough great things about this record. It's hands down the best record I have heard all year so far and I'm not really sure anything else is even close. If you are ever the sort of person to put stock into anything I write and didn't pick up on the first Pretty Flowers album, listen to me this time and make sure you grab A Company Sleeve. A shoe in for album of the year if John Reis doesn't put out anything before January.
The Pretty Flowers - A Company Sleeve:
https://theprettyflowers.bandcamp.com/album/a-company-sleeve
Intercord / Hollywood BASIC (1992)
Big Neck (2023)
I feel like the 7" is a dying art form. The cost of getting one pressed these days is so high and the resulting price that you need to sell it for to not lose money seems a bit crazy to me. I'm not saying that labels are over charging for them in general (though some probably are for sure), but it's just how much they cost now. As someone that's been buying 7"s since my dad let me buy the "Walk Like An Egyptian" one at Sam Goody as a kid, it's kind of crazy to see $15 7"s becoming the norm.
Now, Big Neck isn't charging $15 for theirs, so kudos to them for that. And kudos to them for releasing a 7" at all. So many bands and labels have given up on them completely. In some ways, Pharma is the perfect band for a 7". It's five songs long and all but one are under two minutes long. A throwback to punk rock 7"s of yore.
That said, there were a lot of punk rock 7"s back in the days of yore that I didn't buy because they were kind of like this. There's lots of yelling over distorted guitar, at times frantically placed and kind of sludgy at others. It's just not the kind of punk that ever really connected with me, though I have to give the band credit for their ability to make the vocals sound truly otherworldly and insane. There's a chaotic energy captured that really is above and beyond a lot of bands playing this sort of thing. Unfortunately, this sort of thing isn't really my speed.
Pharma - See?:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/pharma-see
Spartan (2023, Reissue)
Chrysalis / AOI Records (2023, Reissue)
Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.
Of the De La Soul records I have written about thus far, Stakes Is High is the one that I really knew nothing about. While I'm familiar with the phrase 'stakes is high' as part of the vernacular, I never had listened to this record prior to purchasing this reissue. I wasn't even sure I was going to buy it as it came out in 1996, which is typically a few years removed from any hip hop I've historically cared about. I've gotten more open minded about hip hop that came out after 1994 in recent years, but I'm still often trepidatious about release post-Golden Era.
Now that I've spent a little time with Stakes Is High, I could make the argument that it's the best De La Soul record. It doesn't necessarily have the best songs, the highs aren't as high, but as a consistent record, it's pretty aces. A big help is the fact that it's not bogged down with a bunch of crummy skits, you can actually listen to this as a record without getting interrupted by nonsense that ceases to be even remotely funny after about the third listen.
On Stakes Is High De La just brings great beats and great rhymes. No Gimmick. This was the first album they recorded without Prince Paul helping out with production, but that doesn't hurt the beats at all. Even though this is a '96 release, the feel is absolutely of the era I always gravitate towards. I was pretty sure I was only going to buy the first three De La Soul reissues, but I took a chance on this, their fourth, and I'm really glad I did. Does that mean I should give their next record, Art Official Intelligence a try? I'm not sure, but I'm considering it.
De La Soul - Stakes Is High:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m2ITVdSZ6vxDIoaifH7LI8A0dXT1nTa0I
Big Neck (2023)
I wanted Chinese Junk to sound like Chinese Telephones, but that's an unfair expectation to put on a band only based on their name. Funny enough, they do have some sonic similarities, but the tunefulness of the songs is a separating point between the two bands.
Chinese Junk are playing fast, Ramones-style, downstroke heavy punk rock. Musically, it's catchy in a similar way to Johnny & co., but it's very much a rougher, lower fidelity version. All but one of the albums fourteen tracks clock in at under two minutes and that one outlier only breaks the two minute mark by four seconds. It's maybe a bit trashier than is my usual cup of tea, but there are endearing qualities about a band that just sets up and blasts through a dozen of so songs at warp speed.
The vocals are where things are a little dicier for me, and it's the same observation that I've made a thousand times. The recording quality of the vocals is just a bit too rough and distorted for me. Now, I don't like over-produced, slick vocals, but I don't prefer them to be blown out to this extent. The Marked Men are about as distorted as I can take before they've gone overboard, Chinese Junk is a bit past that. That said, I really think the record is pretty strong for this style of band. If the vocals were reigned in a bit more, I could probably get behind it.
Chinese Junk - Fly Spray:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/chinese-junk-fly-spray
Spartan (2023, Reissue)
Rush / P.R.O. (1994)
Sounds Rad (2023, Reissue)
I'm a much bigger fan of The Mr. T Experience than I am of the Ramones. I know the Ramones' hits and they range from 'fine' to 'pretty great,' but they aren't a band that I ever connected with and I think part of that is just because of my age. They were an older band and I was more focused on what was going on around me during my formative years than I was about what was going on in the past. And on top of that, they weren't old enough for my parents to care about them, so I didn't hear them growing up like I did The Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra, Tom Petty and that sort of thing. The Ramones were just in that sweet spot where they were somewhat invisible to me.
The Mr. T Experience, on the other hand, was front and center in my life, particularly in 1998 when I was twenty-one and the original version of this album was released. Clearview Records was doing a gimmick where they were having bands cover entire Ramones albums and when Road To Ruin was up, The Mr. T Experience stepped to the plate. I have the original version of this from when it first came out. It had a felt cover and was on split color vinyl. I remember being psyched that I had gotten my hands on the limited, fancy-pants version, though I don't actually remember listening to it very much.
Now that I have this newly re-released and revitalized version, I'm still not sure it's going to be an album that I revisit with a ton of frequency. It is better than I remember it being and I think a lot of that is because of how they spruced up the way everything sounds. It's much fuller where it needs to be and brighter in the other spots. MTX does a perfectly serviceable job on these songs, though I can't pretend to be super familiar with several of the originals. "I Wanna Be Sedated" is still a lot of fun, no matter what band is playing it.
It's a little perplexing to me why this album was prioritized so high on the list in the Sounds Rad reissue series. It certainly should be reissued, of course, but if you were to ask me, there are other albums I would have put in line before it. Regardless, it's important to own and I'm happy to still be getting the 'dibs' versions of these albums. I am eagerly awaiting the earlier Mr. T Experience albums, in particular, and am hopeful that Making Things With Light is coming very soon.
The Mr. T Experience - Road to Ruin:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nbhaCiozW08Qk06GzudRNQd8bQ0Hg6xP8
Spartan (2023, Reissue)
I recently got my hands on the vinyl box set of all three Knapsack albums. Rather than try to write one really long review that encompasses all of the albums, I figured I would break this into multiple parts like I have with other box sets I've written about. For the next three Friday's we'll visit each of Knapsack's albums. Even though I have the original pressings of each album, the box set was just too cool to pass up. This week, we're starting with their debut, Silver Sweepstakes.
While this was the first Knapsack record that was released back in 1995, it was not the first album of theirs that I heard. I started off with their second album, Day Three of My New Life. I had to backtrack and get this album. It was also the last album of theirs that I picked up on vinyl, having only added it to the collection about ten years ago or so. I did have the CD for ages, having picked it up in the late 90s.
Of the three, it is the Knapsack album that I listen to the least. That's not to say it's 'the worst' record or bad in any way, it's just that the band improved so mightily over their next two albums that they kind of left this one in the dust. All of the necessary components for Knapsack fun are here. The crunch guitar riffs, impassioned vocals and general feelings of angst are all exactly what I want from a Knapsack album, but the band managed to pull them off even better on the next two releases.
The reissue that is part of this is an exclusive colorway that only came with the first 300 copies of the box set. When they sold out, the label did through together a little over a hundred more with some vinyl variants that were also available separately. It sounds great and they have also added the song "Don't Mind," originally the B side of the Trainwrecker 7". I'll write a bit more about the box itself when we get to the last album, but know that the box is pretty crazy with a big old book full of Knapsack information. A very nice set and really makes rebuying these albums again worth it.
Knapsack - Silver Sweepstakes:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lci8rB0w87aaTOD72uv3kXQ8HOYKxaKs0
Select (1992)
Hello From The Gutter (2022)
Navel is a band that I have been listening to for quite some time. There were part of the initial wave of Japanese punk rock that I got into via split 7"s on the Snuffy Smile label. I originally bought these splits for the likes of Broccoli, Chopper, Skimmer and Hooton 3 Car, but I walked away being fans of bands like International Jet Set, Blew, Lovemen and Navel. Navel initially appeared on split 7"s with Travis Cut and Skimmer/. Eventually they started releasing some full length albums and I've been chasing their records ever since.
This 7", so the liner notes on a couple of websites say, was originally going to be part of a 7" released in 2000 on an American label. I'm pretty sure I know what label that is, as I think they were going to try to put out a Chester Copperpot 7" as well, but I'll not name them right now. It's coming out all of these years later as a flexi that was originally sold at a show they played, with the leftovers making their way out into the world. I got my copy from Servo from Bloated Kat records, so many cheers to him for helping me out.
Both of the songs did end up on Navel full lengths, though these are early versions and different recordings. "Rainfall" is the first track and also was on their album Heartache. It's a midtempo song, perfectly capturing Navel's ability to write a catchy song, even when drifting into territory that some might say feels a little melancholy. It's not too dissimilar from the album version, though to me the backing vocal harmonies are a little more pronounced on the 7".
The second song is a quick, hardcore blast called "Bystander." It ended up as the closing track on Navel's second album, Depend. Super fast, shouty punk rock has never really been my thing, but it never bothers me when a pop punk band throws something like this on one of their albums. Snuff does it all the time. Mostly, for me, this album is another great Navel 7" for my collection. I dig the artwork and am happy to add it to the pile of great records this amazing band as released.
Snappy Little Numbers / Motorcycle Potluck Records / Big Neck Records / Keep It A Secret Records / Shield Recordings (2023)
It's been about ten years since I first discovered Spells when I picked up one of their 7"s on a lark while buying an LP by Hooper. In those intervening years, Spells have unleashed a torrent of releases. A couple of full lengths, yeah - but their bread and butter, to me, feels like singles and one offs. Loose Change, Vol.2 compiles eighteen songs that had previously been available on singles, splits, comps and some that were digital only. That's a lot of songs, and I'd like to point out that this is the second volume of Loose Change. Vol. 1 just came out in 2018.
For a band as prolific as Spells, there's sort of a little trepidation. Is a band releasing this much material just recording every idea, noise and fart that they can think of? Which is why it is always so surprising to me how high the quality of all of their songs are. Everything on this LP is really great. There a a few really short songs, but there are no throwaways on this edition of Loose Change.
I always compare Spells to having a similar vibe to Rocket From The Crypt. That's not to say they sound alike, because they don't most of the time. But, they are a band that exudes that same sort of infectious energy and every time the next song fires up, it's a party. I'm always psyched when a new Spells record is released, and even though I've heard some of these songs before, having everything put on a single LP just makes my life so much easier. It's a blast to be able to throw this LP on, sit back and join the Spells party. And yes, I see that Zoinks! sticker on the cover.
Spells - Loose Change, Vol. 2:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/loose-change-vol-2
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/spells-loose-change-vol-2
https://motorcyclepotluckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/loose-change-vol-2
https://keepitasecret.bandcamp.com/album/loose-change-vol-2
https://shieldrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/spells-loose-change-vol-2
Be With (2022, Reissue)
My initial introduction to Rick was the first Drive Like Jehu album. No, I wasn't ahead of the curve and a fan of the band from their earliest beginnings or anything like that. I just happened to buy their debut album first. I was a pretty huge fan of Rocket From The Crypt and by 1995 or so I was really starting to dig in and hunt for anything of theirs I could find. I had heard that John Reis was also in another band called Drive Like Jehu, but he didn't sing in it. As this was the mid 90s, there really wasn't an easy way for me to check out this band to see if I would like it. You kind of just had to commit to buying something.
What I ended up doing was something of a scheme to try to minimize my financial risk. There was a record store in Montclair, NJ called Let It Rock. It may not have been the best store in the area, but it was another one to check out. They did the old 90s gimmick of opening all of the CD cases, leaving the cases on display and putting the CDs themselves behind the counter, to help deter theft. They had the first Drive Like Jehu CD there. My friend Joe had a birthday coming up and my master plan was to buy the Jehu CD and listen to it since the CD was already unsealed. If I didn't like it, I could just give it to Joe and no harm, no foul since Joe knew that's how Let It Rock rolled.I listened to that CD and I did enjoy it. It didn't change my life at that exact moment or anything, but I definitely liked it. I don't actually remember if I ended up keeping that exact CD or if I gave that one to Joe and bought my own copy anyway. I think I kept the one from Let It Rock, but some of these memories are lost to the sands of time. Regardless, I did become a Drive Like Jehu fan in that moment. Fast forward a few weeks or months later and I saw the second Drive Like Jehu album at my usual record store, Flipside in Pompton Lakes. I picked it up having enjoyed the first one.I was absolutely, completely unprepared for Yank Crime. The opening, rolling bass line of "Here Comes the Rome Plows" started and the moment that the chaotic ferocity of the rest of the band kicked in, I knew something in my life had changed. I had never heard anything like this before. The jagged, screeching guitar riffs swirled around a propulsive and driving rhythm section. And then there was that voice. Rick sounded like he was trying to claw his way out of some type of confinement using only his voice. As if the sheer power of his vocals could knock down any door or wall impeding him. I liked what I heard from Rick on Jehu's self titled album, but this was a revelation.
What hit me more than anything else was how the intensity of his vocals varied based on the needs of the song. He showed a surprising amount of vulnerability and in the next breath eviscerated what stood before him. Combine that with the absolutely magical connection he had with John and it's no wonder that to this day Yank Crime is one of my favorite all time albums. Top five of forever, desert island whatever. No matter the gimmick you want to use to categorize it, Yank Crime is as important to me as just about any other record I can think of.
We're in 1995. Jehu was essentially done at that point, so the years went by with no new music and no shows that I could see. They were a band frozen in amber, one that I just barely missed but had such a monumental influence on how I felt about music. This brings us to the year 2000 and the rise of Hot Snakes.
I don't remember the first time I heard about Hot Snakes, but there's pretty much no way that it wasn't on the old Rocket From The Crypt message board. That thing was where I've met so many people that are important to me to this very day. At the time, it was the number one news source for Rocket related information. When word got out that John and Rick were making music again, it is hard to explain just how excited I was to hear it. When Automatic Midnight was released, my jaw hit the floor.
This wasn't Drive Like Jehu, this was something different. Tighter, with more economical songs. Hooks and passion and everything you want rolled up into one perfect, Wipers influenced band. Yes, you could hear echoes of Jehu. You could also hear bits of Rocket and Pitchfork, there was something special happening with this band, the sum of its parts reflecting all of the member's past triumphs. It was magic again.
I saw Hot Snakes twice on their very first set of East Coast tour dates in 2000, which I think were among the first handful of shows they ever played. I saw them at Maxwell's in Hoboken and also at Mercury Lounge the next night in NYC. I don't remember how I got in to the Mercury Lounge show as myself and my friend Justin were left standing outside of a sold out show in December. Justin was trying to convince me to try to use my Rocket tattoo as some sort of leverage to get us into the show, but that wasn't something I was comfortable doing, nor is there any reason it would have worked anyway. I think ultimately we ended up being able to buy tickets from someone with extras on the sidewalk. I'm just glad we were able to get in.
Those shows were amazing, they played the entire first album and one extra song, which I think remained unreleased, though I don't actually remember what that extra song was anymore. The biggest part of the experience was that I finally got to see Rick in person. When the band was playing, he was as I imagined, commanding the performance and just being the center of the maelstrom whipping around him. He didn't have the natural banter or innate on-stage charisma that John has, but he had a presence and a gravitas that let you know he was the anchor and emotional center of what the band was presenting to the world.
I saw Hot Snakes countless times whenever they played the East Coast. At least twenty times and I have so many memories from the various shows. I remember when they played Bowery Ballroom and broke out the Drive Like Jehu song "Luau." I was so blown away that I broke my watch jumping around like a maniac.
It was Hot Snakes being a group that I first connected with John on a level other than just being a dude at all of the shows. I worked at a radio promotion company called AAM and got in touch with John through a contact I had at Vagrant records. When the second Hot Snakes record, Suicide Invoice, came out, I knew I had to help out and I ended up being able to. We worked something out and I got to send out copies of the album to college radio stations all across the country. This was the first Swami release we got to be involved with and it opened the door to help out with every single record until I eventually left the music industry in 2007.
That meant I got to promote Yank Crime to college radio when it was rereleased in 2002. Talk about a dream come true. It's funny looking back on it now. Yank Crime felt like a record from another generation, even though it was only eight years old at that point. Compare that to how long ago those first few Hot Snakes records came out in relation to 2023 and it sure feels like time warps the older you get.
I don't have too many personal stories about interacting with Rick. I've always known John better. But I have two that stand out during my time at AAM. The first is that he designed a logo for us that we used as part of a CMJ party we had. Someone in my office wanted a design with a wolf it and I got in touch with Rick to ask if he could make us something that said AAM and had a wolf on it. He did. I don't even really know why as he didn't charge us anything.
He came up with a boy scouts inspired logo that we used for flyers, put on pins and even had a couple of sweatshirts made up with it on. My sweatshirt is up in my attic somewhere, so that's why I'm not putting in a picture of it now. I also cannot find the actual files of the logo and was only able to find a really pixelated version using the Internet Wayback machine. But I do have these two pins that we had made using the wolf logo.The other story I have about Rick from my AAM days was at the Knitting Factory in 2004. Audit In Progress had just come out and we had sent it out to radio. I came to the show early with a bunch of album artwork posters. The goal was to have the band sign them and personalize some for some of the college radio stations that were being particularly supportive. This sort of promo work isn't really fun, but it means a lot to the college kids that make college radio work.
John was writing lots of funny messages to stations, Mario and Gar were also getting in on it a bit, but Rick was different. I'm not going to say he was annoyed or bothered by the process, in fact he was very nice and generous with his time, but when he was signing stuff he was doing so in the most exaggerated and funny way I've ever seen. You couldn't possibly ever tell it was his signature, just making the broadest, wildest pen strokes. The resulting signed items were absolutely unique and I'm really happy I hung on to one, even though it's been in a poster tube for almost twenty years now.Hot Snakes would eventually called it a day (for now) and stopped playing in 2005. A few years later, Rick resurfaced with Obits. Obits had a lot of the styles and sounds that I expected from Rick, but filtered through a band that was not as loud and aggressive as Hot Snakes or Jehu. These songs were a little more open, they were textural and dynamic. It was interesting hearing Rick without John, but the ending result was three more albums (four if you count the singles comp) full of classic Froberg brilliance. I saw Obits several times during their run.
The shows that jump out the most to me are both shows they played with Night Marchers (John's band at the time). The first was at Santos Party House in December of 2008. I had never been to that venue before and have never been since, but that was one of the louder shows I have ever been to. Both bands just killed it. The other show was a secret show in Brooklyn somewhere at this tiny little bar whose name I do not remember. It was the night after Night Marchers played Siren Fest in 2010. Carlos from The PeeChees gave me the heads up that it was happening and it was a wonderful, intimate show surrounded by friends.
Hot Snakes came back in the early 2010s playing sporadic shows at festivals and some familiar haunts on mini tours. It was great seeing them again, but I wasn't at all prepared for the mother of all reunions when Drive Like Jehu started to play again. It began with a show at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego. I just couldn't get out there from a money standpoint and was heartbroken to miss it. I did watch it live on the organ's web stream and have vivid memories of sitting in my apartment at the time, hugely inspired and hugely bummed out all at the same time.
Luckily additional shows followed and I made my way out to Chicago for a one-two punch of the band playing at Riot Fest and also a club show the night before. That club show in 2015 at the Bottom Lounge is one of the greatest shows I have ever been to. Surrounded by Swami friends from over the years, it was a night over 20 years in the making.The only other time I got to see Drive Like Jehu was the next year at Irving Plaza in NYC. I don't know why I didn't go to the Brooklyn show on that same tour, I assume because it was in Brooklyn, which can be a giant pain in the ass to get to from NJ. I can't say this particular show was as otherworldly as the others. Rick didn't seem to be in good voice that night and the show suffered a bit as a result. I mostly bring it up as it was such a bizarre outlier. I've seen Rick play dozens of times, and this is the only time ever that something was off. But even with that, it was an incredible experience and was the only time I got to see Jehu with my wife, so it is a night I will always treasure,
I was able to see Rick was with Hot Snakes in Jersey City in 2019. They were coming off of their incredible 2018 album, Jericho Sirens. An album that seems impossible to have been made fourteen years after their previous record as it sounded every bit as vital and ferocious as the three that came before. As usual, the show was amazing and you could just feel what a special band they were. In particular it was very evident what a special connection Rick had with John.
That Jersey City show was the last time I would see Hot Snakes and Rick. I certainly had no idea that would be the case at the time. Hot Snakes didn't play any shows after early 2020 that I'm aware of. It's hard not to feel like everyone was robbed of more time with a great band. A few weeks ago, Rick had posted online that the next Hot Snakes album was nearly done. I don't know if we'll hear it, I don't know how much of it was completed. I know that I hope to hear it someday, but if I do, it seems inconceivable to me that I'll never hear those songs live. Or any of the Hot Snakes songs live. Or Jehu.It is completely unbelievable to me that I won't see Rick again, standing on his side of the stage. Generally inconspicuous and good natured. Just a guy standing there. Until the music started. Then he became a force of nature that moved me in a way that few musicians have ever moved me. Nothing I have already mentioned even touches on his incredible work as an artist. I could say so much about the imagery he used on album art, T shirts, zine ads and proper gallery style artwork. His visuals cut through the bullshit and showed the same type of raw emotion that his music and lyrics did. But it also showcased his sense of humor and ability to engage in commerce while poking fun at it.
I didn't know Rick personally to the point where I can comment on him too much as a person. Though everything I have ever heard or read about him makes it seem like he was a really grounded guy with a wry sense of humor. That shows in his art.
Rick Froberg is one of the most important musicians that has existed in my life. Despite blathering on for far too many paragraphs, I don't feel like I've really explained just how important he has been to me. I can rattle off and describe experiences I had over the years, but I can't really describe how his music has made me feel. It is cathartic and hopeful, messy and meticulous, beautiful and ugly. But more than anything, to me it has been inspiring. I am so grateful I have had his music and art in my life for nearly thirty years. It is so tragic that he isn't with us any longer, but the world he created will be with me forever.
Chrysalis / AOI (2023, Reissue)
Big Neck (2022)
Toeheads aren't a band I was familiar with prior to listening to this album, but it looks like they've had a bunch of singles and tapes and the like released over the past few years. This is their first proper full length LP on Big Neck.
I can't say that I love this album, and it's really down to the vocals more than anything else. They have that echo-y, howlin' from a cave thing that is kind of prevalent in some garage rocking bands. I'm not saying I need smooth, clean vocals - Frankie Stubbs is one of my all time favorite singers, after all - but sometimes when vocals are this blown out, I feel like it takes away from the overall package.
Musically, I think this record is pretty fun. The guitars are loud and cutting, the rhythm section has a stomping propulsion and the energy level is right where it needs to be. You can tell this is a band that is into what they are doing as it really shines through. But for my personal taste, the vocals are just a little too rough around the edges and it takes me out of the album a bit.
Toeheads - A Cruel Winner's World:
https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/a-cruel-winners-world
Snappy Little Numbers / Debt Offensive (2023)
Night Court released a double cassette salvo in December of 2021 and May of 2022. These were really fun albums and as usual, my biggest lament was over the fact that they had not been released on vinyl. Well, Night Court is back with their new album and this time, we've got wax.
Much like their last two releases, Humans! is full of tight, economical pop songs. I've compared the band to So Cow every time I've written about them, and I'll do it again now. The way they construct their low-medium fi songs is similar to my ears, even though the vocals are much different. I've always struggled to find a good touch point for the vocals, but listening to this album really crystallized everything for me. I can't listen to Night Court and not hear a little bit of Ween in there now.
Night Court is not as goofy or silly as Ween is, but if you've spent any time with Ween's catalog, you are well aware of their pop chops. There's a similar spirit here and in the vocals I can definitely feel a kinship as far as inflection or delivery. There's probably a little bit of Mike Krol in there two, from the garage-y side of the equation.
No matter how you want to try to identify their influences, there's no denying that Night Court has a winner with Humans! It's a fun, fuzzy pop record and that's before we even get to the album closing Abba cover. Despite the exclamation point in the title making my sentence structures look ridiculous while writing about it, Humans! is a record worth going out of your way to check out.
Night Court - Humans!:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/humans