Paper Lions / I Am The World Trade Center Split 12"

Here is the Paper Lions side: Paper Lions split with IATWTC

Here is the IATWTC side: I Am The World Trade Center split with Paper Lions

Also, you can always find the first Paper Lions album here: Paper Lions - The Symptom And The Sick

It's a rare but amazing thing when you are into a band that broke up a long time ago, and somehow years later you find a release by the artist you previously never knew existed. I can be a little out of the loop sometimes, but when I was in CD Alley in Chapel Hill last month, I found this Paper Lions split 12" with Athens' I Am The World Trade Center on Doubling Cube Records in their used bin. I never knew Paper Lions released anything other than their first album, and some of their best songs as well! They were definitely a band on an exponential curve, it was a shame they had to implode so early. This 12" has them refining their sound into a proper postpunk dance/disco outfit, much like "Solid Gold" era Gang of Four or Magazine but completely modern and ripe for a breakthrough. Instead they broke up and went their separate ways - Jesse Smith into Carbonas/Gentleman Jesse, etc., everyone else going into various projects and duties including Teenage Meth Lab, Chris playing bass for Maserati, and Josh playing drums with Elf Power. I have always liked the bands associated with this crew, whether it be The Kossabone Red, Some Soviet Station, At the Price of the Union, or any of their current bands, they have always put out great music.

I Am The World Trade Center has plenty of history to go around, and I was always an outsider to that scene in Athens so I am not going to expound on them too much. I always liked their version of Human League's "Don't You Want Me", which was always a party starter at their shows, so I'm glad they recorded it for this split. You can find Dan Geller from IATWTC playing in Ruby Isle and running the re-launched Kindercore Records, one of the great local labels of the past 20 years.

Here is what Doubling Cube had to say about the release:

I am the World Trade Center (IATWTC) and the Paper Lions team up for an exclusive vinyl split 12" EP released jointly by Echelon Productions and Doubling Cube Records. IATWTC kicks off the A side with "No Expectations", a track pulled from their fulll length, The Cover Up, and which signals to their maturing as a band, though still rooted in the beat-and-hook pop electronica of their previous efforts.

Following are a pair of covers; a sublime Minority Report remix of the IATWTC’s rendition of the Stone Roses’ "Shoot You Down", and an interpretation of Human League’s "Don’t You Want Me", which has long been a favorite at their shows and now finally appears on record.

Over the last few years, IATWTC has traveled the globe, spreading their message of dance music for smart people — a concept scarce in these days of progressive house and hand-me-down rave culture. They’ve found themselves in the company of other smart, young bands making this emotionally based electronica like The Postal Service and Her Space Holiday. IATWTC’s concept has also always included a healthy dose of romance as well, which goes straight back to their heroes in bands like Berlin and Blondie, where the onstage (and on-tape) chemistry of alternately warring and loving couples was frequently half the attraction.

On the flip side, with production by Josh McKay of the critically acclaimed band Macha, the Paper Lions burst out with their set of tunes, the explosive "Mission Statement", "Line-Up", and "Every Time", which features IATWTC’s Amy Dykes on lead vocals and hearkens back to the days of early Blondie.

When Paper Lions sat down to begin writing new material in the Fall of 2003, they found that their earlier inspirations of 90’s era post-rock had been shaken off - instead they opted for a continuation of the ideas laid down by early post-punk bands like Wire, Killing Joke, and Public Image Ltd... Paper Lions incorporated these influences into their already diverse songwriting abilities. The results of the recordings with Josh McKay were astonishing and a huge step forward for the band. These songs envelop the listener with urgency and tension, much like the first time you placed a Rough Trade Records release on your turntable.

Paper Lions - Our First Peer-Rockstars

Here is the download: Paper Lions Album

I saw Josh Lott the other weekend at the Highland Inn, and he told me that after 14 years of living in Athens, he has made the move back to Atlanta and started law school. This is in a way the end of an era, as more and more old friends from Athens have left that town for good and now I know nobody there when I visit. As you probably know, Josh was the drummer for many bands including At the Price of the Union, The Walt Lariat (as bassplayer), Paper Lions, and later Teenage Methlab and Elf Power. Paper Lions was the amalgamation of two postpunk Atlanta/Athens heavyweights Some Soviet Station and At the Price of the Union, with Josh adding drums to the SSS strings of Jesse Smith, Chris McNeal and Justin Snyder (also formerly of the Kossabone Red). To me they were not so much like Some Soviet Station with a different drummer, but something else entirely. They were much more melodic and less aggressive compared to their previous bands, and with a little Jawbox in them along and some modern postpunk that would seem to fit right in with some of the edgier popular music today.

They were the first band from our immediate network that really made a run for it as a professional band. They quit their jobs, toured as much as possible, and put out a quality recording on a reputable label. They bought real equipment, had a real van, played real clubs (not DIY house shows), worked very hard on their songs and their musicianship, and generally put everything they had into their music. I remember every show I went to of theirs was packed, and they seemed to get very popular very quick, at least in Atlanta and Athens. I am not sure of the later history of the band, as I moved away while they were at their apex, but my understanding is that Kindercore Records who put out their album folded suddenly after a bad business deal and left Paper Lions with no label or records to tour under. Also the grind of heavy touring, etc. burned them out and they threw it in sometime in 2004 or so. They had all the elements of a great modern popular postpunk band, and could have taken it farther than any band before them, but somewhere along the way things went off track. Maybe that is not what they wanted in the end, or maybe the frustrations of the grind got to be too much. I know I couldn't do it myself, it's not an easy life. I wish them all the best, and success in their current endeavors.

Here is an interview they did for Performer mag back in 2003:

Here is the artwork for their album "The Symptom and the Sick":

The Start of a New Generation - The Kossabone Red

Here is the album and 7" for download - The Kossabone Red LP and 7"

Since Jesse Smith finally released a full-length album with his Gentleman Jesse and His Men incarnation (which is one of my favorite local releases in years), I thought it would be nice to post what I believe is his earliest recording here. In fact, the 7" does not even include him, as The Kossabone Red was just Justin, Chris and Nick at the time.

If you have never heard The Kossabone Red, they were part of the strange era of DIY punk/emo/whatever generated by the midwestern bands such as Cap'n Jazz/Friction/Braid/Promise Ring/Get Up Kids/etc. during the mid to late 90's. I saw them a few times during this period, and although they were pretty rough around the edges, they should be given credit for attempting what is pretty complicated stuff while they were essentially still high school kids. I know that I wasn't playing songs with such abrupt changes and structures when I was their age, I was more interested in being juvenile (which we thought was being clever). Also, it is important to note that so many bands took on this type of music during this time, and so few of them were really good at it. My favorite was of course Friction, due to the Car Vs. Driver connection, but I think Braid were the tightest at it, and probably took it as far as it could go during their time. It helped that they had a Black Flag-level of practicing/recording/touring to give them that level of tightness. Cap'n Jazz probably put out the best record of this genre, but they could be a mess live (at least when I saw them).

So these guys were around in the late 90's, and Nick played drums on the first 7" only, and their replacement drummer Jeph started Airoes and other various bands (sang in Portrait, played drums in Electrosleep International among other things from what I hear), while the trio of Justin, Chris and Jesse stayed together to play in Some Soviet Station (with Lee Corum on drums) and Paper Lions (with Josh Lott on drums) until the early to mid-00's when Chris and Justin moved to Athens and Jesse stayed behind in Atlanta to play in the Carbonas and started Gentleman Jesse and His Men. I saw Justin working at the Grit in Athens a few times, and he played with Josh Lott in a band up there called Teenage Meth Lab for a little while. Chris has been playing bass in Maserati (at least on tour), and the story goes on.

These guys have all made excellent contributions to the Atlanta/Athens local music scene, and represents another generation of kids coming up and pollenizing this group of bands, musicians, etc. as we get older and stay at home more.

Also, here is some additional information that Scott McFarland (aka Scott MC) commented on this post:

A bit more on the history of this band -Ripcord started out as a 3 piece - brothers Justin and Nick playing guitar and drums, respectively and Chris on bass. They all went to Roswell high school (but Justin might have been out of high school by then). I think it was Chris who gave a us a demo tape (or maybe their 7" (on legendary Crazy Man Records out of Roswell)). Gavin and I thought it was great so we booked them to play a show at the I DEFY (I have no idea who they played with). I think they later realized that there were a few other bands around the country called Ripcord so they changed their name to Kossabone Red. Right about the time of the name change Jesse joined the band. Jesse was in another band at the time called Pax 13 with his brother Lee on drums. I seem to recall Jeph playing with them for a minute as well.I think Nick got sick of doing the whole band thing and quit as drummer. That is when Jeph started to play with them. Nick never did another band after that but he is still around Atlanta going to the occasional show now and then. We decided to put out an LP but I had extremely limited funds so we more or less recorded it ourselves at Under the Couch for free, so I will take all the blame for the sound quality. Luckily I could scrap together enough pocket change to pay Lewis to come in later for a few hours to do the mix.One thing I do remember about that recording session is that it was the same Saturday afternoon that a bunch of local scene kids got arrested at a Yerkes. I think some of the footage from the protests made it on the local news.

So, like most punk bands, these guys broke up very shortly after the LP came out. Hell, it might have been before it came out because I don't remember ever doing a record release show. The LP got some great reviews and I think if these guys had stuck together and done just one tour more people would remember this record. The good news is that the core of the group (Justin, Chris, Jesse) stuck together for many years after that and treated us to several great bands (Some Soviet Station, Paper Lions, etc). I don't know if Alex only has a digital copy of the Ripcord 7", but I have a real copy in case you guys need the artwork. Also, the Kossabone Red LP did have an insert. PC Josh carried on the Atlanta DIY tradition of working at Kinkos so he hooked me up with 1000 full color copies. Kinkos more or less financed the majority of the Concurrent releases. I have a few copies of this LP sitting around if anyone wants one - just let me know.

Atlanta Singles Week 26 - At the Price of the Union/Some Soviet Station Split

Here are the two songs from the split 7": At the Price of the Union/Some Soviet Station

I have a large stack of classic singles put out by Atlanta bands over the years, and I am trying to keep a regular post going each week to showcase these records. This is planned for every Monday, but I already missed the first one, so we'll just have to see how well I can keep to my schedule. Let me know if you have any requests for old 7"s that you haven't heard for a long time, or would like MP3s made, as I might have them.

The first single in my stack was the split 7" on Buddy System Records (our friends in Brooklyn who helped put out the hal al Shedad records), with Atlanta/Athens bands At the Price of the Union and Some Soviet Station. At the Price of the Union consisted of Craig Dempsey from Lowboy and The 42 on guitar as well as Josh Lott on drums and Luke Gilbert on bass. They were a power trio in the vein of Hoover (you can tell they were big fans) but with a slightly more Ebullition-style hardcore thrown in. Craig is one hell of a guitarist, and the band could ride that deep bass postpunk groove like there was no tomorrow. One interesting thing is that Josh as a drummer plays right-handed, but with his left hand on the hi-hat and right hand on the snare, like Doug Scharin in June of 44 and Codeine and also coincidentally Francis Jensen from The 42. Playing drums like that is strange, normally as a right-handed drummer you hit the snare drum with your left hand and kick drum with your right foot, producing a natural side to side "dancing" motion. With Josh's style of drumming, you have a much more up and down motion without the swaying, and my main concern with this method is that you may lose the natural rhythm of your body when keeping a beat. Fortunately Josh didn't have this problem, and as an advantage, his right hand was free when it wasn't hitting the snare, so he could do a lot more tom work in the songs. Luke is also a natural groove-oriented bassman, and fits Craig's style perfectly. They are so matched together, it's like one guitar unit that cannot be separated. Chocolate Kiss played with them a few times, and I have to say they would put on one hell of a show. They lived in Athens, but was not really considered an Athens band as all three members originally came from Stockbridge (south of Atlanta), and we had known them for so long. They also played Atlanta all the time, not like some other Athens bands that never play the big city. Other than this split 7", they came out with a 5-song CD on Buddy System, which also had a plane on the cover. There was something with them and airplane/military imagery, it was cool. "Shifting" is also a great song, as should be when doing a split 7" with another band. The band didn't last much longer after their CD came out, and Josh went on to play with the string-guys in Some Soviet Station under the name Paper Lions. Craig and Luke went on to form Thoroughbred and released a single a few years ago, and still jam together but I believe no current bands at this time. Josh later played in a band called Teenage Meth Lab with Justin from Some Soviet Station, and now is the drummer for Elf Power.

Some Soviet Station was of course a powerhouse in their own right. They were like taking Drive Like Jehu and making them a band on Dischord Records, and you got an idea of how the did their business. Jesse Smith (ex-Kossabone Red) is a great frontman, Lee Corum (ex-Chapterhall) is one of the great drummers of our town - a real drummer's drummer, Justin Snyder and Chris McNeal held their own in respective duties, especially in Chris' backup vocals. They also used a lot of airplane imagery in their band, which also seemed to work with their sound somehow. Their song "Pistol-Whipped" was a hit single of theirs, with some of the strangest lyrics for this type of music. Click on the insert below to check them out. These guys got pretty popular, but after their full-length came out on Moodswing Records they somehow fizzled. Jesse now fronts the band Gentlemen Jesse and His Men, and they just released an LP on Douchemaster Records. Lee has been playing in many bands over the years, including Copa Vance, Home of the Wildcats and most recently Lay Down Mains, which is about to release their full-length on Moodswing Records.

Definitely good "turn of the century" stuff here.

The Origins of the Mid 90s Roswell Scene - Ripchord, Pax 13 and The Strange Death (of Silas Deane)

Above: Lee Corum at Sprocket's
Below: David Axelrod in a garage

Today is a triple post of sorts.

The first is Ripchord, here is the download: Ripchord 7"

The second is Pax 13, here is the download: Pax 13 Demo

The third is The Strange Death (of Silas Deene), here is the download: TSDOSD Tape

The idea for this post first started when Alex LaRoche sent me a recording of the Ripchord 7", and soon after Scott MC sent me the Pax 13 demo tape, and soon after that, Jordan Noel sent me a recording of The Strange Death (of Silas Deene). All three bands existed during the middle to late 90s in Roswell, Georgia, which is where I happened to live from 1986 to 1993.

Three bands from the northern suburbs of Atlanta, back where everything started for me, but several years later, after I was already over the hill. The idea for this post first started when Alex LaRoche sent me a recording of the Ripchord 7", and soon after Scott MC sent me the Pax 13 demo tape, and soon after that, Jordan Noel sent me a recording of The Strange Death (of Silas Deene). All three bands existed during the middle to late 90s in Roswell, Georgia, which is where I happened to live from 1986 to 1993. I didn't know these guys until the Kossabone Red and Chapterhall were fully up and running, but everybody has a beginning, and this is part of theirs. The guys in these bands are personally responsible for such later contributions to Atlanta/Athens music as Some Soviet Station, Mock Heroic (supposedly these pictures above are actually of them), Chapterhall, Paper Lions, Copa Vance, Home of the Wildcats, Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Teenage Methlab, Lay Down Mains, Breakheart Beat, Baryshnikov, Love It to Deth, Dream Girls, Little Francis, and many more that I'm forgetting. Please send comments with whatever stories and recollections you might have from these guys, they are a great group of kids and kept local music going in Atlanta during some pretty lean times.

Here is an overview of Ripchord and Pax 13, graciously provided by Scott MC from Concurrent Records/Portrait/Chapman Park:

Ripcord started out as a 3 piece - brothers Justin and Nick playing guitar and drums, respectively and Chris on bass. They all went to Roswell high school (but Justin might have been out of high school by then). I think it was Chris who gave a us a demo tape (or maybe their 7" (on legendary Crazy Man Records out of Roswell)). Gavin and I thought it was great so we booked them to play a show at the I DEFY (I have no idea who they played with). I think they later realized that there were a few other bands around the country called Ripcord so they changed their name to Kossabone Red. Right about the time of the name change Jesse joined the band. Jesse was in another band at the time called Pax 13 with his brother Lee on drums. I seem to recall Jeph playing with them for a minute as well. I think Nick got sick of doing the whole band thing and quit as drummer. That is when Jeph started to play with them. Nick never did another band after that but he is still around Atlanta going to the occasional show now and then.

Just to round out the post, Jordan Noel provided me an overview of his band with Lee Corum (Some Soviet Station, Copa Vance, Home of the Wildcats, Lay Down Mains):

The Strange Death (of Silas Deane) was a post-hardcore Atlanta band in the style of the San Diego / Three.One.G sound during the mid-late 90s. The 3-piece consisted of two members of the recently defunct hardcore band Between Shadows, Jordan Noel and David Bryan, and then Chapterhall drummer, Lee Corum. TSDOSD existed for only a brief moment in 1998 and never played a proper show (although one show had been set up at Sprockets and later cancelled). During summer 1998 the only semi "shows" took place when friends would come to rehearsals. Although only 3 songs were written most of the material the band played was an improvisation. Unfortunately, any rehearsal tapes documenting the improvisations (we're not talking jam sessions, we're talking noise and rock mayhem) have been lost in the shuffle of the past 11 years. BUT, there is still a rehearsal tape of the 3 written songs. The tape was recorded on a karaoke machine in Lee's parents basement.

TSDOSD Line-up:
David Bryan - guitar/vocals
Lee Corum - drums
Jordan Noel - bass/vocals

Thanks again to Alex, Scott and Jordan for the music and stories. Hopefully we didn't let too many skeletons out of the closet on this one.

At The Price Of The Union - Live

Here is the download: At The Price Of The Union - Live

I believe this show is from Under The Couch, probably around 1999 or 2000. As I have posted before, ATPOTU was definitely of the Hoover/Regulator Watts vibe, with some Great Unraveling/Convocation Of thrown in. They always put on a great show, and had a very devoted following. I remember when Chocolate Kiss played with them at UTC, their whole audience stood outside while we played, and once they loaded in, everyone came in and packed the place out. It's always fun when that happens, especially when there are windows in the venue where you can see everyone ignoring you.

In this set they play two songs from their Mechanics of Wind CD, put out by Buddy System Records, now held by Stickfigure Records, and one unreleased song. The Owens brothers from Buddy System became friends of the ATPOTU guys through The hal al Shedad, and kept the Buddy System/Atlanta connection going for a few more years after hal dissolved. As mentioned before, ATPOTU was Craig Lee Demsey (guitar) from Lowboy, The Forty-Two, Aslund Constant, and afterwards Thoroughbred and a later version of The Good Friday Experiment. Luke Gilbert (bass) went into Thoroughbred with Craig after this band broke up, and Josh Lott (drums) went on to play in Paper Lions, Teenage Methlab, and Elf Power before enrolling in Law School. You can most easily find him at the Highland Inn Ballroom, that is where I seem to run into him most these days.

One more story about this band, supposedly at one of their early shows, they played a tape of only the John J. Rambo lines from First Blood on a boombox while they were setting up and in between their songs, which I think is brilliant and would like to rip off someday. "Let It Go ... Let It Go..."

The Kossabone Red - Live at WREK March 25, 1997

Here is the download: The Kossabone Red - Live at WREK - March 25, 1997

I have posted a good bit of the studio output of KR in the post here, but as the WREK Underground Recordings has been broadcasting these snapshots of our Atlanta music history, I thought it would be a good idea to archive a few of them here for others to enjoy at their leisure.

So we have the classic combination of Jesse Smith, Justin Snyder and Chris McNeal in its semi-original form, starting as Ripchord and then moving on to later permutations as Some Soviet Station and Paper Lions, each time changing drummers but keeping the two guitar/bass unit intact. Of course Jesse continued on in Carbonas, Gentleman Jesse and His Men, C.O.P.S., Gaye Blades, etc. and Justin/Chris teamed up with Josh Lott in Teenage Meth Lab, and now Chris plays in Vincas as well as some guest appearances in Maserati. All of these guys have over 15 years in this "business", so as much as they probably want to move forward and not remember what they were doing in their teenage years, it deserves admiration, and made them the musicians they are today.

Some Soviet Station

Here is the download: Some Soviet Station album

When I first saw Some Soviet Station play, there was a definite “I’m fucking in, you’re fucking out” feeling, with SSS being the ones that were fucking in, and myself being the one that was fucking out. Even though they had been around in bands like The Kossabone Red and Chapterhall, this was the band that took what had been done previously in Atlanta and did it better than almost everything that had come before. The torch had been officially passed to the next generation, and they were it. This was my favorite of the Lee Corum/Jesse Smith/Chris McNeal/Justin Snyder bands, they basically owned the Echo Lounge 10 years ago, as much as bands like Act of Faith and Car vs. Driver owned the Somber Reptile 15 years ago. It was a shame they were so short lived, only releasing a split 7” with At the Price of the Union on Buddy System and this full length on Moodswing Records, as they made some rough attempts at touring and imploded somewhere along the line. Funny enough, the band basically came back together soon after with Josh Lott from At the Price of the Union replacing Lee Corum in Paper Lions, while Lee moved on to the supergroup that was Copa Vance, then Home of the Wildcats, then Lay Down Mains, and finally Gold Standard, but I’m sure there are several others I’m missing.

Of course they will be playing before The hal al Shedad next Saturday at the Drunken Unicorn for the Gavin benefit, and I am not looking forward to them making everyone (including us) look like complete amateurs – see my previous post on character builders to see what I mean.

Here is the rest of the artwork for the CD (click to enlarge). There was supposed to be an LP version, which would have been beautiful with this packaging, but that is a story I have heard many times before.