J.S.O.L
38
TRUE SOUNDS
OF LIBERTY
TRUE SOUNDS ARE OFTEN DE-
CIPHERED AMONGST EDUCATED, SHEL-
TERED MINDS, BUT PATRIOTIC VOICES
NURTURED ON REBELLION, ESCALATE
THE TRUE BOUNDS OF THE REALITY OF
YOUTH."
-DAMIEN PYTHIAS
TSOL, a band product of the recent
LA. explosion era, has been a unit for
approximately a year and a half. Their
available material consists of: an early
EP, an 11-song LP, and a just released
4-song EP on ALTERNATIVE TENTA
CLES. In May, TSOL plan to be on a
major East Coast/Midwest tour, cov-
ering New York, Chicago, Boston...all
the big cities.
TSOL recently graced the San Francisco City for two
shows of screaming entities. One night at the Elite
Club (the old FILLMORE hippy joint) and an enchanting
evening at TARGET VIDEO. The Elite Club show, TSOL
shared the billing with the likes of the BAD BRAINS and
Jello Biafra & the DEAD KENNEDYS (Jello's interview is
in the works, by the way). This major event brought
SKATEPUNKS out of the woodwork from almost ev-
erywhere within a 200-mile radius. Kids, whose
hometowns had names like Sacramento, El Sobrante,
San Jose, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Walnut Creek and
Pleasanton, created nearly sixty percent of the audi-
ence present. These kids had two things in common:
they loved to thrash and they lived to skateboard.
TSOL appeared onstage after an extreme, harshly-
good performance by the BAD BRAINS. (This makes
the second time this man's witnessed the magic of
the TRUE SOUNDS OF LIBERTY) TSOL's lead singer, Jack
Ladoga this time around (last time he called himself
Alex Morgan), prowled the stage, whirling hand ges-
tures, never duplicating a pose. His eyes were under-
lined in black El Marko. Penned on his right cheek was
a daisy, his left the letters L-O-V-E. He wore on his per-
son what looked like Goodwill discards of Sammy
Davis Jr. circa 1969. Péter Lentment designer
Psychodelic violet satin pants? Mike Roche, the player
of the bass, lurched about stage left, lanking and ac-
centuating each and every lick. Ron Emory, the mad-
man at the guitar, tore on the unbelievable layback
twangers. He wore the fuzz suit that his mamma
made him. Tod Scrivner sat at the stool and thumped
out the bottom beat of the set.
They played all of their standards including DANCE
WITH ME, DIE FOR ME, SOUNDS OF LAUGHTER and an
encore of SILENT SCREAM. Thrashers ran amuk across
and off of the stage, sometimes even pausing in pairs,
or threes to catch a breather and share a smoke or
beer before resuming dives. The band played on by
not being in the way as much as possible.
TARGET VIDEO IN THE MISSION DISTRICT,
THE NEXT DAY
TSOL awaits in an unchastized sheetrock chamber.
After full-scale conversations relating towards music
skate and women topics, the following truths reveal
with tasteful understanding the true. TRUE SOUNDS
OF LIBERTY.
Prior to TSOL's present state, the members were in
other "Noise" (Punk) bands; Vicious Circle comes to
mind, whose shows leaned heavily towards the
bloody side. Jack Ladoga explains his early singing be
ginnings, I used to scream a lot at the neighbors, I
practiced screaming out of the car window. He
seems as if he looks in a mirror while he screams, he
has it down that much. He has the screamer look.
Good features for a decent tight-faced gape.
On whether or not the band's direction or misgiv
ings were still along the political vein, Mike Roche of-
fered, "Anything one does is politically based in one
form or another.
The first LP was political. Basically what TSOL
wanted to put out first. The LP came out with sort of
an eerie tinge to it. Some songs spooky, others politi-
cal or devilish. Ron told me, "If Jack writes a song feel-
Ing he's suppressed, if he writes a song about a girl
such as LOVE STORY. Like on the new record, WORD IS
is a love song, about a boy and a girl. No political over-
tones. We don't feel any less the Punk or less the Rock
'n' Roll or less or more anything. We're musical.
Hearing this, Jack Ladoga immediately reflected to-
wards the new Ep for circumstance, "Okay, one of the
new songs...?...?...uh, THOUGHTS OF YESTERDAY, IS
more about an old businessman watch his life go, by
doing the 9 to 5 until he turns around and realizes his
life is turned to nothing. WEATHERED STATUES, that's
mainly about the old war veterans, the people who
work for the government. They were useful when
they were young, now they're old, they can't fight,
they're worthless, the government just ignores
them.
Mike then adds, "They've got mental problems and
health problems and no one cares nothin' about
them. Like at the VA. hospital, they arrested them all
In the middle of the night and they kicked them off of
the lawn, and the only reason they were protesting
was because they didn't get any of the benefits they
were promised when they needed them."
This leans a bit towards politicalness. It says that
these young men are very much concerned with
human interest. "We don't want to fight." Jack Ladoga
said, clenching his fingers together and looking down
at his twiddling thumbs. "Especially in something like
El Salvador. We're (the U.S.) backing a fued govern-
ment that's just oppressing the shit out of the poor
people. That's happening, you know. And our country
expects us, you know, for the good of the country.go
kill these poor peasants who don't have shit anyway.
That's crap.
The new TSOL release is a different direction from
the LP, which is a different direction from the EP.
which is a different direction from the next thing and
the next thing that will be after that. On the first side
there are two songs, MAN & MACHINE and WEATH-
ERED STATUES. MAN & MACHINE, a rather fast-paced
song, has more to it than it seems on the first impres
sion.
When I'm driving in my car
I don't care about anything
WEATHERED STATUES, a charming song that stands
alone. Adept words for Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Gnarled hands hold canes where the guns once were
before/Taunted by the children whose parents lives
he saved.
The sad story of many thousands who suffer this in-
decency. An ignorance that is ten times worse than
the violence they once committed.
Silver gleams upon his chest/Sweat gleams on his
brow. Spending his last pennies on cheap wine and
sin.
Side two holds THOUGHTS OF YESTERDAY and WORD
IS. THOUGHTS... has the sound of a song that you know
what it is but it escapes you. You know the words, but
you just can't seem to remember them. In reality, it's
a new song, and it's a good one.
WORD IS tends to lean towards a spooky, funky.
eerie sound. It's a love story. She says she loves me,
Her friends say she don't/I'm so confused, don't know
which way to go.
There's a lot to be said about boys and girls and
WORD IS pretty much sums it up.
Released through Alternative Tentacles, this EP rev-
olutionizes the new music sound, proving that you
don't have to be loud & fast to be good & hardcore,
Taking a turn toward finesse, TSOL alters its sound
once again.
"We do what we want," Jack Ladoga says, "not to
put out the Punk attitude, but I don't give a shit. We'll
say what we want, we'll play what we want, we'll be
what...???, you know. In L.A., people look at us and say.
'Oh, those guys, they're always assholes. No one gets
mad. We could go out and play Lawrence Welk waltz
tunes and they wouldn't care anymore because they
know we're just having fun, just a good time and
that's what matters."
It was then that Mike inserted a line of vocalization,
"The bands we play with all of the time probably hate
our guts. I think they've stagnated, they've stopped
progressing. They'll probably have their kids grow up
to be PUNK ROCKERSI
"You either skank or die," is what Tod says.
TSOL'S advice to promising or unpromising skate
bands (by the way, Tod & Mike are both heavily into
skateboarding) was that they should just 'commit,
have fun and play with your friends."
As a closing comment, Jack Ladoga said, "Tell all of
the Italy people to find out who is doing that show, to
contact the guy, and tell him to pay for us to send us
out there, and then he'll do it."
-Vlaadimir Blutonoir
39