Krusher Is Coming To Town

Sonn Av Krusher will be playing this Saturday night at Eyedrum (we're moving up in the ATL high culture scene), hopefully around 10 PM. We are also playing with The Forever War which features Ben Lukens from Hal al Shedad/Ananke/Amverts/Cough Syrup, Kip Thomas from Fiddlehead/Freemasonry/Galanas Cerdd/Haricot Vert/Chocolate Kiss/Third Season, Gary Flom from Purkinje Shift/Rebar, and Shawn from Haricot Vert. This is an awards show for the upcoming Corndogorama as well as a benefit for Terminus Magazine in Atlanta.

This was announced as the happening thing to do on Saturday night according to the Creative Loafing blog here. Hope to see you at the show.

5/25/08 Update: Here is the set by Sonn Av Krusher, recorded on my "taser".

5/27/08 Update: Here is the Forever War set, also recorded on my "taser".

The Skunks - Chaos In Skaville!

Here's the recording: The Skunks - Chaos In Skaville

The Skunks were technically a DC Ska band, but I found out recently that their original singer Joe Hottel currently lives about a mile from my house in Atlanta, and I recently transferred their demo tape to CD, so I thought I would share it. I saw the Skunks with their original lineup twice, both times at the Masquerade. The first was them opening for the Toasters, and some of my friends went up to Athens the night before and caught the show at the Shoebox and were completely blown away. When the Toasters played, the Skunks were dancing in the audience and doing mambo trains - they were real fans of the music. When I saw them the next night, they opened with "Greyhound" and the place just went nuts. They had a huge horn section, even a clarinet player, and wrote some amazing horn lines to their songs. Very few ska bands from that time period wrote horn parts as good.



Later, I saw them again on April 18, 1993 at the Masquerade at a ska/oi fest with Bad Manners headlining (see flyer below). This was one of the last shows Joe played with the band, and I stole the set list (see also set list below). Joe moved down to Atlanta, and they replaced him with a new singer that was not nearly as good. The Go-Steadys played with the new lineup at the Somber Reptile soon after, and I was frankly a little disappointed. They released two albums on Moon with this singer before calling it a day, but this first demo is extremely difficult to find online - that is why I am posting it here. Enjoy.



Check out the lineup! I believe this is also the same day that I first ate at Tortillas.


They covered YMCA

Fiddlehead - Hometown Heroes

Here is the download: Fiddlehead en masse

Songs:

1. Waiting with Dave

2. Hard Genny

3. Lock End

4. Bleat

5. Slingshot

6. Sourdive

7. King Friday

8. Coppertop

9. Good Numbers

10. Bone Idle

11. Gordo

12. Breaker

13. Ex-Lion Tamer

14. King Friday

15. Sour Dive

16. Hard Genny

17. I Can Make You Young Again

18. Moneyman

19. Circles

1-6 from "Dod e" CD

7-13 from "The Deaf Waiter" CD/10"

14-15 from "Refuel" Compilation

16 from "Bag of Jakes" Compilation

16-17 from "The King Must Die" Compilation

18-19 from "Moneyman/Circles" Single

Fiddlehead was an amazing Atlanta band that seemed to exist on a different plane from what I was doing at the time, which is strange since I ended up playing in a band with one of them for 5 years. I saw them only a few times, once when the opened for Fugazi at the Masquerade in 1991 when Fugazi was touring under the Repeater album, once when they played the Somber Reptile in 1994 with Car Vs. Driver and Hoover. While I was in high school playing clubs like Milo's and The Wreck Room, they were releasing records on a national label (Allied Recordings), they were touring the country playing clubs (not houses), and they were writing some awesome songs, especially considering the era in which they existed. I still think “Waiting With Dave” is one of the best songs ever to be written by an Atlanta band, then or now. That song was all they needed to be brilliant, but they released several 7”s, comp tracks and an Album/10” before moving on around 1994. The lineup included Geoey Cook, Mike Haggerty (who joined the Navy when Fiddlehead broke up and then later played in John Brown), Bruce Bohannon (who played guitar in bands such as Freemasonry, Copa Vance, Monte Casino, Jumpstart), Kip Thomas on drums in the early part of the band (later to be in more bands than you can mention), and Kyle Spence on drums in the later part. Kyle Spence, along with Jerry Fuchs, are in my opinion the two best drummers Atlanta has ever produced. Kyle has played in and maximized the greatness of so many bands over the years, including Fiddlehead, The Martians, Harvey Milk, The Tom Collins, and even played with J. Mascis on some tours and who knows what else nowadays. At the time, Fiddlehead were the kings of post-punk in Atlanta, and I'm glad to have gotten to know at least some of them better over the years. I have included everything I have of theirs, but I'm sure there is a demo tape or something out there, so if there are any songs missing, please let me know.

There are several urban legends about Fiddlehead, one is that Kip promised Bruce once that if he drank an entire bottle of hotsauce in their van, he would go in and buy Bruce a guitar. Bruce did it, and Kip bought the guitar for him. Also, supposedly when they were on tour they were supposed to play a house and the owner/promoter completely flaked on them and didn't set up the show, so they went to their van, got a fire extinguisher, and unloaded it on everyone in the house before leaving. Lastly, there is a great photo montage on their myspace page where they pass the Guns n' Roses tour busses on the highway and Bruce sticks his butt out the window with GnR Sux! written all over it. I'm sure there are plenty more, but that is all I can remember at the moment.

Here is what someone wrote about Fiddlehead in a blog called

Built on a Weak Spot:

Fiddlehead was a tiny band that existed in the early 90’s that were based out of Atlanta, GA. They put out a few 7 inches, a 10 inch record, and two CD’s before calling it a day. I had no idea what I was going to do for today’s update, but earlier I was just sitting around listening to my iPod, and the song “Gordo” happened to pop on from their album The Deaf Waiter. It had been awhile since I had heard it, but it immediately reminded me at how great this band was. Their history is sort of an unfortunate one, as they were never satisfied with the recording of The Deaf Waiter and along with that would run into label issues when it came to getting paid, which according to their page on MySpace, is still an issue unfortunately. However, through whatever frustrations, thankfully the band stayed together long enough release what they did.

Below: Artwork from the "Dod e" CD on Allied Recordings, which was a collection of two singles on the label (1992-1993)

Below: Artwork from "The Deaf Waiter" Album on Allied Recordings (1994)

Insert from the "Refuel" Athens-Atlanta Compilation CD (1993)

Insert from the "Bag of Jakes" compilation single (1991)

Artwork from the "Moneyman/Circles" single (1991)

Hot Atl DIY Site

Chris Ware, who played bass in the Blame Game and now plays in Fag Static and Thy Mighty Contract has set up a Wiki site devoted to DIY music from Atlanta:

www.hotatldiy.com

This is going to be a good resource for finding music and information on Atlanta bands, so I give him props for the initiative and hope the best for the site. I have already worked on the Hal al Shedad and Chocolate Kiss pages, and read the Act of Faith page, which is amazing.

Tortillas Party!!!

Ben Davis, my favorite saxophonist, guitarist and former burrito master had a "Tortillas Party" a few weeks ago, where he made all the classic burritos from Tortillas. Tortillas was my favorite restaurant in Atlanta, and completely sustained my vitality during my college years through massive amounts of starch and cheese. I ate there first in early 1993 with Crystal Bradley and Rick Moore from Barrel/Galanas Cerdd/Copa Vance/Home of the Wildcats/Lay Down Mains when I was just graduating high school (we ate in the booth under the stairs), and ate there last in 2003 right before I moved to Amsterdam. Someone put together a Myspace tribute page for Tortillas, check it out here. Also, special thanks to Ben's in-laws for hosting this very special event, they were super-cool.


Original Toy from Tortillas, with the Green and Red Sauce


My choice - regular bean and cheese with rice (to soak up the juice), and some chips with red sauce. Even the trays are perfect.


Classic menu - including Super Burritos!!! Click to enlarge.


Ben working his magic - if we could only get Dane to make some Sweet Tea

Ultivac in the Year 2000

Promotional poster for the album - released on Buddy System records

Here is our complete studio recorded output: Ultivac Album + Bonus Track

Ultivac started as a long-distance project when Jon Lukens moved to New York, and Ben Lukens (bassman for Hal al Shedad) and I wanted to work on a hybrid of the sequencer music Jon was making under Retconned (check his stuff out here) while we were on bass and drums, respectively. What resulted was a band that was neither Hal al Shedad or Retconned, but a unique band on its own. We would "write" songs by Jon transferring various sounds from his sequencer to mini-disc, and mail them to us in Atlanta. Ben and I would write bass and drum parts to the sounds, try to block them out into songs, and then send him the results. Also, some songs were initiated by Ben's bass parts, and Jon would "play" the sequencer like a keyboard and add layers of sound/chirps/noise/etc. Check out "No Results" for the best example, but "Unloaded" and "Impossible" have elements of this as well. A few times Jon would fly down to Atlanta and visit family, etc. but also bring his ASR-X sequencer and we would "practice". Jon added a special click track that was usually a high timbale hit (CHANK!!!) that I only could hear in my headphones, and it was a real challenge but a blast to just lock into that clanging in my head and play. There were no concerns about slowing down or speeding up, and live it felt like everything was going in slow motion, as I usually play things extremely fast in a live setting. Eventually we had enough songs for a show, which we played at MJQ in Atlanta and here is a picture:


I like how the speaker is the main focal point in the image, and we are just rocking our set in the background. I also have a recording from that show, which I will post soon. Luckily, thankfully, gratefully, Matt and Mark Owens from Buddy System records were into the music and helped us record and put out an album, engineered by Ed Rawls from Hal al Shedad at his studio The Living Room. These are included tracks 1-9 of this posting. Track 10 "2 X 2" was recorded in the GA Tech AV room by Alex from Ananke (more on them later). I remember that this was an extremely difficult song to record, and it was supposed to be on a compilation, but I'm not sure if it ever came out.

Here is what Phil Dwyer wrote about Ultivac on the Zen and the Art of Face Punching blog:

ultivac was 1 part retconned, 2 parts hal al shedad. and thats exactly what it sounds like. take jon and his toys from retconned, and team them up with ben from hal on bass and james from hal on drums. i was really knocked over when i heard this. its like the best elements from both bands combined into one. that's all i can really say about it. probably one of the least known atlanta bands of the time. but yet another in a long lineage of quality from all of these guys. warning: some of these songs drive my dogs insane.

We played one more show at the C-12 warehouse in the West End of Atlanta around 2001 sometime, and haven't played since. Ben moved up to New York and started a band with Jon called Amverts, and eventually both of them moved back to Atlanta and are living here now. There have been plans to resurrect the concept of Ultivac, but adding Josh from Deerhunter on guitar, as the technology has improved tremendously over the past 8 years and Jon and Josh have some interesting gear, so looks to be pretty exciting. I will keep you posted.

Here is the cover and lyric sheet for the Buddy System album (click images to enlarge):

All About Scout

Scout's "Economics" Side of Moo Cow 7"

Here is their full discography, graciously provided by Scott Wishart which sounds better than any of my transfers as they are from the original master tapes:

Scout Complete Recordings

Here is the song info:

SCOUT – DISCOGRAPHY
1. Tomato (asylum)
2. Economics (slalom through interpretational milestones)
3. Intravenous Everything
4. The Lemming Constant (red sea)
5. Metro
6. Past Perfect Tense/Coop
7. Mute Bastard Lesson (marxist)
8. Two Inch Rule (carpetback)
9. Parallax (feedback the factory’s bullshit)
10. Bookmobile of Apathetic Propaganda (don’t say “fuck” on the Sabbath)
11. Eljer (3n)
12. Salts of Aluminum (toxin theory)
13. High Noon
14. Maggard
15. Bearded Clam
16. Tusk
17. Q
18. Lie

Ervin Lockett-guitars, vocals 13-18
Scott Wishart-drums, vocals 1-12
Tim O’Brien-guitars 1-10
Theo Witsell-bass, backup vocals 1-10
Lewis Lovely-bass 11-14
Robbie Morris-bass 15-18

1,2 from “Economics” 7” on Moo Cow
3 from “Amnesia” comp on Ebullition
4 from “Ground Rule Double” comp. On Divot/Actionboy 300
5 from split 7” with Cromwell on Alone
6-11 from split Lp with Freemasonry on Lunchbox
12-14 from second demo13-18 from first demo

Car Vs. Driver played with Scout more than any other band during its existence, probably because our bass player was the older brother of their drummer. They were a band that definitely needed repeat listenings and shows to fully appreciate, as their music and presentation were so dense and layered it would be difficult for the casual observer to comprehend. One thing that was nice about their recordings is that they would always provide explanations for each of their songs, which cut through a lot of the abstractness and ambiguity and gave the songs a clear, deeper meaning. So few bands actually do this, so it is nice when a band lays it out like this, and this is a band that definitely benefited from this approach. Their songs had many noisy parts where the lyrics were spoken and buried in the sound, their song titles were cryptic, their drummer did most of the singing, and their songs were usually these huge orchestrated opuses that could sometimes sound like 5 or 6 songs put together. It was an overwhelming experience to see them play, but when we would tour with them, I would get into a groove and really start getting into their music. My favorite song was Salts of Aluminum, because it had such a great repetitive ending that really stood out live. I'm not sure if they liked it very much, but I always requested it and after a while they started incorporating it into their set.

There were also several eras of Scout throughout the years, as I believe they existed from 1992 until around 1996 and although their most powerful and cohesive lineup was the Scott Wishart/Erv Lockett/Tim O'Brien/Theo Witsell quartet, my favorite was the trio from around their second demo of Scott, Erv and Lewis Lovely, aka the Caucasian drummer, the African-American guitarist, and the Asian bass player. Lewis played this white Rickenbaker bass with a Rat pedal that sounded awesome and fuzzy. Check out High Noon, Maggard, Eljer and Salts of Aluminum to see what I mean.

Erv on Guitar in Texas - I loved that blue Hamer guitar of his, and was bummed when I saw him play later and he didn't have it.

After Car Vs. Driver broke up, Steve Wishart replaced Theo Witsell on bass as Theo moved back to Little Rock, and they did a proper US tour (one that CVD never did). I remember Steve telling me that Erv brought something like 5$ with him for the entire tour, and had to eat the leftovers from everyone's meals after they were done. He was dubbed "cleanup" for that tour. Steve also told me that they became so annoyed with him over the course of the tour that they would finish their meals even though they were full so Erv couldn't eat just to be spiteful. I don't think I ever saw them with this lineup, as I believe they broke up soon after the tour. I think two Wisharts in one band is probably pretty tough to deal with.

Scott lives now in Charlotte, NC and runs Lunchbox Record Store - check it out here: Lunchbox Records. The last I heard from Theo is that he is living on a farm/commune in the Little Rock area and giving back to our mother Earth. Erv was working at the Local in Atlanta for many years and played in Ostinato with Scott and later played with Atlanta bands such as Motherfucking Tourettes, but I believe has now moved away from Atlanta. Tim lives in Atlanta and unfortunately I heard his house burned down recently. Supposedly he took a shower and left some candles burning, and when he got out the house was engulfed, losing everything. Lewis was a bass player for several Atlanta bands, but over the past several years has been a high-class soundman touring with many bands I can't remember and has an infinite collection of hilarious tour stories regarding Korn, Marylin Manson, Weezer, etc. Steve Wishart moved to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and finally New York where he played with several bands including Fields Lay Fallow with the guys from Spirit Assembly and To The Mean with some of the SA dudes as well as the drummer from Policy of 3 and the singer from Amber Inn. He may be moving back down to the Atlanta area soon, so stay tuned.

Unfortunately Scout never released a proper album of material - only a split 12", a 7" and several compilation songs and demo tapes. This is really too bad, as they were a good band that deserved the recognition that was given to many other bands around the same time, but life can be like that sometimes. Later Scott and Erv formed Ostinato Grove/Ostinato and recorded a great album which was never released, and also didn't ever get any recognition. I will post that soon, and you can judge for yourself.

Here is the insert from the split 12" with Freemasonry (Lunchbox no. 5) - Click on any image to enlarge:

Scout's Second Demo Tape (Front and Back)

"Tomato" side of Moo Cow 7"

Insert from Economics/Tomato 7"

Split 7" with Cromwell (front above, back below)

Split 7" with Cromwell Insert (front and back)

The King Must Die Compilation - 1992

Here is the compilation: The King Must Die

I never owned this tape back in the day, but it was in the pile of stuff from Chad Wiener, so I transferred it to CD and had a listen. Many of the bands I had already known before. Midget Farmers played with Balrog at least once at the Wreck Room, and I met one of the guys later in Athens who was supercool. I saw the Labrea Stompers open for Gas Huffer at Hoyt Street Station in Athens, and seen several of the Jim Stacy bands since. Roosevelt was my favorite band that I never got to see, and was even scared to talk to Ballard the drummer for years afterwards just because of my awe over that band. Fiddlehead of course was awesome, and this tape has some good Kip-era songs included. Hayride was always interesting and had some crazy songs - I played in Finletter with the guitarist's brother Brian Sweeney when I was in high school. I had heard of the Fuzzy Sprouts, Thornyhold, and Flap from back in the day, but I believe this is the first time I actually heard their music. Overall, I think it is a good picture of what local bands were like back in 1992. A lot of chorus pedals, a lot of plucking/slapping on the bass, some bad overall songwriting, but in general a decent compilation.

What is my favorite on here? Of course Roosevelt, as "Scooter" is still one of my favorite local songs, and "FNA" by Balrog is pretty awesome, and "Andre" by Lagerhead is not too bad as a band/song I never heard before. "Hard Genny" by Fiddlehead is one of my faves of theirs, and Hayride's music always entertains. What do you think is my least favorite? You would maybe think the Fuzzy Sprouts song, but it's so far down that plucky/funky backroad that is so seldom travelled these days, it almost makes the song awesome in its time-capsule quality. You only need to hear 10 seconds of it to know it is from 1992. Lenny is pretty bad, but comparable to Red Emma from the State of the Union comp or many other female-fronted groups of the time. Really the absolute true clunker on this comp in Audiac. Their name is familiar, but does anyone know these guys now? I'm not one to talk, as I have been involved with some bad stuff over the years, but in terms of this compilation, it is the goat. At MJQ, Ed tells me that at closing time they used to like to turn on the house lights and blast "Reign in Blood" by Slayer, and that usually cleared the crowd out pretty quickly, but then everyone started getting used to it and kind of looking forward to it every night, so a new strategy had to be developed. I would recommend playing "Swish" by Audiac from this compilation, as I think that would effectively shut down any party anywhere. They really don't make 'em like that anymore.

The tape cover, one-sided


The insert that came with it (nice rant) - click to enlarge