the Jesus Lizard - Peel

If you know anything about a Jesus Lizard show you know this, it's sweaty and drunken. Believe me, there were plenty in Nashville last night filling this criteria. Drunk bumps into me, I in turn bump into girl next to me. Whoops! NO big deal. She than has the nerve to turn to me and say, "Your arm is sweeaty!"

Well, excuse-fucking-me princess! Do you have any fucking clue at all as to where the fuck you are?! You should've felt the dude that bummed me!

I just calmly turned to her however and replied, "No, I think it's you."

Zing bitch!

Just be luck then you weren't this guy...

Last night I felt 16 all over again.

Today however, I feel twice that and in pain.

The show last night at the Exit/In was phenomenal further sealing the fact that they were the best live band of the 90's! Dare I say Dave Yow may very well be...fuck that...IS the best frontman since Iggy Pop and a band that original and tight (and shiny) has been sorely, SORELY missed for the last decade and change. I was lucky enough to see them a hand full of times in the mid-nineties and they always left me standing with my mouth agape. The closest it got to a religious experience for me was going to a JL show. Last night was no exception. It's no wonder these guys seem to be just as influential now as they were two decades ago when they first came out.

So here are some John Peel sessions dating back to their original hey day of '91 and '92 in honor of last night. Not sure how terribly hard to find these are but I'm pretty sure they've never found their way onto a proper release. I can't even remember where I got them anymore to be honest.

In true Jesus Lizard "one word title" form, we'll refer to this simply as "Peel".

Here's video of their set opener "Puss" last night. Oh Mr. Yow, yer such a cut up with yer jokes and yer antics!

Twitch - Medicine Ball

Ahhh...where to begin.

At the tender age of 13 this was easily one of my top 3 favorite bands. Right behind Nirvana and Tool I suppose. (Hey, cut some slack, I was 13 after all.) At the time Kalamazoo's Twitch was easily the most promising band playing in west Michigan, if not all of MI.

What really set Twitch apart from their proggy, art-metal leaning K-zoo brethren was their more rock based verse chorus verse song structures and the amazingly unique croon of vocalist Chris Bryers. It was heavy and original enough for the metal guys and musicians, noisy and simple enough for the grunge kids, and yet still accessible enough for the college rock crowd. I'm sure Bryers' vocals helped with the later as well. There was a warm honesty in his almost "Peter Gabriel via Satan" voice that I'm sure wet a panty or two. (If I remember correctly, the one and only time I got to see them he got hit in the face by the bra of an over enthusiastic female.)

Based on the strength of their self released "Homewrecker" EP they got signed to Grass Records. Based on the strength of that Grass release "Beaten Senseless and Giddy With Love" they got signed to RCA. What happened from there remains a mystery to most. I remember reading a review of the advanced copy of "Medicine Ball" in a local music rag. I think it even showed some art work (be it small) that I never saw again. Rumor had it that RCA could only keep one of their MI signings (the other being the one hit blunder Verve Pipe. Fucking "Freshmen"!). Subsequently, Twitch was dropped and this EP went unreleased. From the sounds of it there was a whole other albums worth of material recorded that got shit canned as well. As it seems to happen too often in situations like this, this prematurely ended a band that had yet to peak in popularity or potential.

I got this on cassette tape at one of thier (last?) shows in K-zoo. I'm not sure if it followed being dropped or if it was during them floating in label limbo. It did seem like they were selling these out of spite either way. Just a hand dubbed 90 minute tape with a Xeroxed lime green sleeve that simply read "TWITCH - Medicine Ball".

I'm throwing in their contribution to the Grass Records tribute to Frank Sinatra ("Pretty Colors") and the b-side to the Jedi 7" ("Wick") just to fatten to zip and sweeten the deal. More info on Twitch can be found here and here. "Homewrecker" and "Beaten Senseless..." are available on iTunes. I suggest you get them both. They are phenomenal. Chances are good though that if you're here getting this from me, you own both and already know that.

Jaks - Here Lies the Body of Jaks

I first found out about Jaks the good "ol' fashioned" way... live. I saw them on (I believe) a New Years Eve show (95/96-ish?) at the Reptile House in Grand Rapids, MI opening for my local favorites at the time 9-Volt Tongue. (As a quick side note I'd like to say that I have a 9VT 7" that'll make it's way on here eventually but unfortunately I lost their killer demo tape along the way. If you some how stumble upon here and have a copy of said 9-Volt Tongue demo tape please, please, PLEASE contact me!) I remember thinking Jaks were really weird. Different from anything else, locally anyway, and also thinking they were just plain "weird". 

In retrospect, Jaks pretty much spews forth the Jesus Lizard/The Birthday Party flame just to turn around and piss it out with vinegar. No surprise that two of their recorded efforts were indeed "recorded" by the one and only Steve Albini. Live they were complexly bombastic yet sloppy and, well...creepy. I remember the drummer being really good and singer Katrina Ford doing one of the best Dave Yow vocal impersonations. Not in a "girly" way either...just period. Shit, she sounds like a dude for the most part. Only in recently discovering The Birthday Party have I noticed how much they borrowed from their sound as well. Especially in Jaks "eerier" moments. The vampire themed lyrics don't hurt those eerie aspects either. There's something strangely vaudevillian going on here...huh. 

Huh?

Anyway, these guys (and girls...sorry); alongside Morsel, Mule, Wig, and Philo Beddow (who I believe also played that same said show and will also be covered here soon); made up a pretty cool Ann Arbor, MI scene at the time. I think two (the Albini ones) of the three releases covered on this Three.One.G collection were on the tiny, short lived, Chicago noise rock label Choke Inc. Records (home to the likes of Craw and Milkmine) which makes perfect sense.

Oh yeah, I also threw in a couple of tracks I found on random compilations. One I found on itunes from a comp I couldn't find out much about. It does sound live though. The other is apparently a cover of a Sesame Street song. 

"Here" lies the body...

*Link removed*

Hum - Fillet Show *plus b-sides and rarities

In honor of Hum's upcoming New Years Eve and New Years Day shows at the Double Door in Chicago I'm gonna post their virtually unknown first album. I only very recently found out about these shows and tried to get tickets but of course, to no avail. This album is also another recent discovery. I've known about it for a while now but only acquired it as of late. I think the first thing you'll notice right off the bat is some one else takes over lead vocal duties other than Matt Talbot on a couple songs. Those also tend to be the songs that sound least like what people came to recognize as Hum's sound. Also, the lush drone, expansive song writing and almost metal-like wallop is traded in for more of a poppy, stripped down indie-punk sound more similar to that of their neighbors in the Poster Children (who will show up on here eventually). I'm very glad they developed the way they did. This is by no means as essential as "Electra 2000" is, that being the first album from the "quintessential" line up. This is however kind of a neat glimpse into where this band started out if you are a fan and a nerd like myself. 

"Fellatio???"

Also, I'm gonna include the most relevant b-sides and rarities I acquired from h-u-m.net. If you're a fan and haven't ever checked that site out, do so. From what i can tell it's a fairly well maintained fan site. There are some full demos, videos and wallpapers for download and other info that might be worth a look.

"It's the waste of a song..."

For your viewing pleasure we have a video for "The Pod". The first song off their major label debut "You'd Prefer An Astronaut". Shit, I didn't even know a video for this song existed!

If you are one of the lucky ones who gets to see this on New Years...bite me. (I remember seeing this 120 Minutes and being amazed by their drummer. He hits hard as hell!!!)

Tad b-sides and rarities

Tad is the shit! You should really know this by know. The whole ax wielding, ex-butcher/lumber jack insano redneck mystique rules! Sheer genius! I mean seriously, who wouldn't want to party with (or listen to jams by...) this guy?! 

Redefining heavy in the age of Sub Pop, Tad should have been huge. (No pun intended.) Tad was the human embodiment of the sound he created. Taking their name from the main man himself, the sheer girth of their sound was only ever rivaled really by the Melvins.  Squealing, belching, grunting, riffs just throbbing...it truly does sound like a fucking maniac beating his guitar with a rack of lamb ham-fistedly into oblivion. Especially on this older, more primal sounding stuff. That's not to say there is no musical value here. Tad truly had an amazing ability to combine a real "wam and thud" mentality with a pop sensibility and some descent vocals. They always "tongue in cheekly" played so beautifully into the persona created that you couldn't help but smirk along and sell the legend with 'em, sweatily head banging the whole way. I mean fuck, the guitars sound like a fucking chain-saw!

This is a collection of early 7" b-sides and compilation contributions I entitled "Kills Roaches Dead". The title is lifted from the back of a Tad shirt I got when I saw them open for Soundgarden on the "Superunknown" tour in high school. This might not be absolutely everything but it's all I could find and I think honestly, it's a pretty comprehensive collection. Missing are some of the post-"Infrared Riding Hood" 7"s. I read recently here that there is a plan in the works to release those songs and other unreleased recordings from the time right before Tad called it quits sometime in '09. 

Here's the infamous "banned from MTV" video for "Woodgoblins" playing up the lumberjack thing. They were deemed to ugly for MTV's sensitive eyes. hahahaha

Here's Tad performing live on some random talk show or something. 

Here's a teaser trailer for the Tad DVD that's out entitled "Busted Circuits and Ringing Ears".

It is highly recommended! 

Stompbox - Stress *plus some b-sides

I by no means feel like I'm reinventing the wheel or revealing some great secret here by posting about this band. I've seen it a couple other places (shit, their own bass player has it posted on his blog) but for me not to would be weird because this album was one of my favorites growing up and is still one I love to jam on more than an occasional basis. 

I've heard it said that they sound like "Neil Fallon fronting Helmet" and i guess for the most part this could be true. Imagine further maybe if "Inhaler"-era TAD and Page Hamilton started a band and invited early Clutch's Neil Fallon and Iron Lung of Scissorfight to trade off on vocal duties. However, unlike the other bands I've mentioned so far, Stompbox had way more of a bouncy "moshable" quality. Maybe it was that hometown Boston hardcore influence sneaking in. 

I first discovered this band on Headbanger's Ball and was instantly hooked by there ultra heavy, down right hammering, staccato groove. It also didn't hurt that I was completely stoned and their singer resembled some grungy, bellowing burn out that would always be down with "puffing a J" with ya. There was always something very tongue in cheek about this band that 

I admired. Could've been that they had songs called "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "Fool For The City" that had nothing to do with the classic rock originals. For the most part the album maintains it's heavy, head bobbing riffathon giving way to frequent melodic "grunge like" vocal tendencies. Even though Stompbox play some "lunkhead-ish" type of metal I think some real solid musicianship shines through. I remember reading the vocalist was the original choice to front Geezer Butler's GZR project. It would've been a lot cooler if he did.

"I AM NOTHING..."

Like S2R in my previous post...Stompbox was another fantastic band that was scooped up in the post-Nirvana signing frenzy, slated to be the next "Big Thing", was improperly pushed, failed to put up winning numbers and was subsequently dropped.  I spent years after trying to find anything else recorded by this band as this was there only "proper" release. 

Recently, much to my surprise, I came across the only previously read about "Travis" EP on iTunes. Even more surprisingly, through blogging around, I acquired unreleased tracks from the "Stress" recording session as well as some rare comp tracks. Most of the tracks are re-recorded songs from the "Travis" EP but there's a couple I hadn't heard along with a Gang Green cover "Alcohol" (b-side to the Halloween Day Massacre 7") and a cover of the Tree (another awesome Beantown band!) song "Question Abuse". I've compiled those plus the only un re-recorded "Travis" track "Lobotomizer" and another single b-side I had here under the fitting title "Now, What's It Worth". 

As always, you can find a shit load of copies of "Stress" here for cheap or in bargain bins across America.

Here's the "No Woods" video I saw on wheeed. A lot of people feel that Disturbed ripped off the verse riff. I couldn't agree more! 

Here's a interview with the previously mentioned bass player, Patrick, telling what happened post-"Stress".