Cromwell - 7" tracks

Here I go talking about shit I don't know about again. Well, in all fairness there is not much info on this band that I can find via thee ol' inter-web. I do know they came from Detroit, had only a hand full of releases (only 7" I believe) and that there are a boat load of bands that aren't them named Cromwell. I also know I saw them once amongst a swarm of old drunken polocks and really liked them. It could of been one of their last show for all I know because I don't remember getting another chance to see them again.

Cromwell started off , from what I gather, sometime in the mid-90's and kinda had a noise rock meets hardcore thing going on. Think maybe Deadguy-ish but less metal. There might be an affiliation to the Detroit band Bog Blast (maybe none more than by label). By the time I saw them with my own eyes they had a different singer/guitar player (Vince Williams of The Christpunchers and currently of Year Of The Pig). It was also this line up of the band that can be found on the split 7" with Detroit legend heavyweights Thoughts of Ionesco.

So what I present you is three 7" and, to the best of my knowledge, the extent of the bands released material. First off is their debut 7" on Anti-Music followed by their split w/ the Atlanta band Scout. Lastly is Cromwell's contribution to the above mentioned split with Thoughts of Ionesco. Overall a cool old band that, from what I can tell, never got much due beyond the confines of Detroit.

Enjoy!

New layout, new leaf!

Hey there! If you're reading this it means you haven't erased me from your bookmarks yet due to infrequent posting. It also means that your enjoying (and you know you are) the new layout donated by my dear old friend (and hopefully future contributer...hint hint) Chantal! Hopefully this new layout will breathe a little new life into this blog (ie: make me get off my ass and post more frequently).

I do have some post coming. Honest! It just becomes such a process to transfer vinyl to cd that I get to lazy to do it. Some are not on record, so for those I have no excuse. That being said, I'll quit being a lazy ass and get some stuff up soon. I have some nice unsung, MI jems in the the works too that should please...someone anyway. I know I enjoy 'em!

Also note the player at the top right hand side. I'll try keeping some of the things I post on there for your previewing pleasure.

So...once again, if you follow this blog even a little, thanks for coming back. If you're new here, stick around because more is on it's way.

Fall is here... a leaf will turn.

Tad - Oppenheimer's Pretty Nightmare b/w Accident On the Way to Church

Inspired by the Brothers of the Sonic Cloth post over at Mindgrinder (which also included some Tad b-sides I didn't have) I'm finally get this up here. TAD...you should know him, you should love him. This ->HERE<- is their final release musically as TAD the band and a fine one at that. As I stated in my previous Tad post, there were talks of releasing a discs worth of some unreleased, post-"Infrared Riding Hood" jams (like maybe "Mummified Cop" from the Tad myspace?) but with BotSC in what seems to be full swing who knows how long that could take to see the light of day. Hopefully this is just a teaser of what that disc could have in store. This is a vinyl rip I did so it does have some scratches and pops but it's cool, right? We'll just call those "character noises".

Screw it! For the hell of it I'll throw in the two songs from "Live Alien Broadcast" that to the best of my knowledge have never been on a proper studio release as well.

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!

9-Volt Tongue - I Eat Evil (Like A Shovel Full of Shit) b/w Foaming Anal Cleanser

Here's the 9-Volt Tongue 7" I talked about in the Jaks post. God I loved this fucking band! They were down tuned, heavy as hell, loud as fuck and, as you can tell from the titles of this 7", totally obnoxious. What every good rock band should be!

Growing up an hour and a half north of Grand Rapids didn't really make me a local so my knowledge about this band is limited. Attending shows there happened sporadically due to the long-enough drive and the memories are hazy at best due to the amount of pot smoked on the way. What I do remember (I think) is that they opened for the Jesus Lizard in Detroit once and did shows in some sketchy ass buildings and basements over by the Reptile House (as well as IN the Reptile House). Two of 9-Volts' members were from the GR punk band Wheelchair Motherfuckers as I learned here. I remember their singer, Hans, being some what small guy and best described as "wiley". I think I remember he had some weird patch of hair on his shoulder that he would expose and the bass player would lick and...umm I dunno... Must've been good pot!

Anyway, after this 7" they released an awesome 5 or 6 song cassette that I almost played til it broke and now can't find anywhere. I heard they record a full CD after that (maybe with a different singer) that went unreleased.

As always, info on this band via the internet is limited (non existent). Though a Myspace search did reveal some dumbfuck band from Battle Creek, MI that has compromised the moniker. Artist Direct had a little blurb but that was it. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment. As I stated before IF YOU CAN GET ME A COPY OF THEIR CASSETTE OR ANY OTHER RECORDED MATERIAL PLEASE CONTACT ME.

...damn I miss that tape.

Did I mention this 7" is on translucent brown vinyl with red streaks in it? If only they some how could've added corn...

...like a shovel full of shit.

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.

Philo Beddow - S/T EP

I mentioned this band a while back in the Jaks post and I'm finally getting around to posting it. Like I said in that post, I think they played that same Grand Rapids show as Jaks if I remember right. Regardless, Philo Beddow was yet another great and "unknown outside of MI" band. I remember seeing them another time at an in-store performance during one of Ann Arbor's notorious Hash Bash weekends. They had Craw stickers all over there stuff which made perfect sense. I believe they played together quite a bit. Philo Beddow definitely rock in a very similar way. Imagine Craw mixed with Quicksand maybe? Weird, right? I know but it worked well. I think they had more hooks and were overall more accessible than Craw.

Pop-Craw?!

Anyway, finding info on this band anymore is not easy. No Myspace and as you can see I had to take a picture of the cover just to present it here. I believe they had a 7" out before this that I don't have and it appears they put an album out a bunch of years later that really sounds nothing like this.

Here ya go "Knucklehead"!

My next couple of posts are gonna shed some light on some MI bands that I feel have been long over looked. I'm not sure what it is but it seems that there are so many great bands there that, for some reason, go virtually unnoticed outside that region. Lack of touring? Maybe. Lack of giving a shit? More likely. Lack of quality? No. I don't think so anyway...