Friday, November 28, 2008

God Don't Make No Junk

Sonn Av Krusher has a show Saturday Night the 29th (that's tomorrow) at the Drunken Unicorn with All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Princess Thunderstorm from North Carolina and the great American Cheeseburger from Athens. This posting is not so much about the show, but the incredible flyers that Gray Kiser makes for our shows. Enjoy, and if you feel inspired come on out.

Also, we have some Youtube footage of our last show at the Star Bar here and here and here and here. Thanks to Hell Comes to Town for the video technology support mechanism. We'll also be playing with them on January 10 at the Drunken Unicorn, so mark your calendars.

December 2 Update: Thanks to everyone for coming out, and sorry about the amplifier explosion. It turned out to be a blown fuse, so no worries. Special thanks to American Cheeseburger, Princess Thunderstorm and All Night Drug Prowling Wolves for making us look like complete amateurs and putting on such a great show. We'll be playing this Friday night at Wonderroot with The Sunglasses and The Subliminator, so hopefully our amplifiers will work properly this time.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Spiney Norman - Inspiration from the Early 90s


Here is the download: Spiney Norman Discography

1-5 from "Draft Style" single
6 from Atlanta Hardcore Compilation
7-20 from "Cops n' Coffee" demo

In my early high school days, I was friends with a few girls in my neighborhood that were into punk music, and they had a circle of friends (one of whom I later married) who were also into punk and personally knew some of the local bands out there. One of these bands was Spiney Norman, and after I heard a few songs of their "Cops n' Coffee" demo on the WREK punk show (I believe was called "Coup de Grace" at that time), they became my favorite band in Atlanta. A lot of their humor and inspiration came from Monty Python, especially their band name and the name of Spam their guitarist, but they were really absurd and funny guys. I got to know Spam the guitarist somewhat, as he later practised a few times with the Go-Steadys, but loved to play little guitar licks and noodles so much over our music, it just didn't work out. Greg the drummer was (and probably still is) the owner of Dagwood's Pizza on the corner of Holcomb Bridge Road and Spalding Drive in Norcross. I would have dinner there sometimes with my Mom and know that the dude behind the counter making pizzas was the drummer of an incredible band. Greg the singer was a little older than us, or at least he seemed to be at the time. He owned a house in the area of Dagwood's and also owned several guns. He was that guy you knew in your teenage years. Lastly John Paul the bassplayer was the first guy I knew who could properly grow a beard, and had this amazingly smooth, flowing bass style for hardcore music.

I saw them play many times, first at Milo's but then later at the Wreck Room and finally the Somber Reptile. They were a good bridge from the Gwinnett hardcore scene of Act of Faith, Crisis Under Control, etc. to the bands from other parts of town such as Quadiliacha and Midget Farmers. They lightened the mood at shows, and were great musicians and wrote really catchy songs. I never got the Cops n' Coffee demo back in the day, but luckily Steve Wishart transferred it to CD recently and sent it down for me to post. With 14 songs, it's like having a Spiney Norman album that was never released, but I remember every song from their live shows. Brian Kincheloe told me once that he recorded something like 30 songs with them right as they broke up, but the music has stayed all this time on reels, never to be released. They played several "last shows", and finally broke up around 1994 sometime, and they are sorely missed. The Gregs went on to form Lake Ponchatrain's Very Own Batch of Gimps with Brian Kincheloe from the Skats and Chuck Petrakopoulos from Jenkin's Ear, and released a tape on Moodswing Records, but I think the band didn't last more than a year or so. John Paul started playing in a band called Big John Trail and the Linda Lovelace Experience with Kasey Relford, who later played in Gaijin and Remuxers, and also released a tape on Moodswing Records but once again broke up after a year or so. I believe Spam moved to California, but I really have no idea. I haven't seen any of them in over ten years now, maybe I'll head over to Dagwood's and see if the Gregs are hanging out.

This is the back cover and lyric sheet for their only single. Spam thanks his guitar, Charlene.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Free Show Thursday with your friends Sonn Av Krusher at the Star Bar


I was remarking to my bandmates how I have actually seen this flyer posted around town, most notably in Decatur outside Java Monkey next to a flyer for the band "Cute Is What We Aim For" that had been changed to "Gay Is What We Aim For". I never have my camera for situations like these, but when you have a name like that, what do you expect? Anyhow, we're playing a free show with Rizzudo, who are one of the only bands still around from the turn of the century Atlanta scene. In fact Chocolate Kiss played our last show with them in 2002, so it will be good to play with them again. The Durant brothers are the best. Also on the bill is The Forever War, but my understanding is they had to bail out due to an out of town job interview for Ben. Jobs are certainly important in these times. Miles From Pangea are playing, who should be interesting as well as Grand Prize Winners. Thanks Pine Magazine for giving us the show, and I hope to see everyone there.