NOTES
How pitiful that a band as great as the
True Sounds of Liberty should ever
reform without any original members
and put out wannabe rock hero gar-
bage sludge to tarnish a once lofty
name. Anyone who heard the band's
early releases, including the classic
self-titled first EP, Dance With Me,
Weathered Statues and Beneath the
Shadows would shudder to hear the
souless pseudo-metal-pop the new
band has put out. But, just as countless
fans gave up on ever hearing the power
chords of "Abolish Government" or
"Sounds of Laughter" again, the true
band reformed as LOST recently to
play a gig with Bad Religion at the
Hollywood Palladium. Whether this was
a passing flashback or a re-awakening
remains to be seen... The Accused
are back from tearing the heads off
Europeans with their splatter speed
horror show sounds, just in time to
release Straight Razor, a six-track Ep
that's finally finished fermenting and is
now ready for public consumption...
Double thump school. Dos features the
twin bass sounds of Mike Watt from
fIREHOSE and Kira from Black Flag.
Dos is all the bass and nothing but
the bass (with a
little vocals), says
Watt. A new album
is due out soon...
Worthy of note:
between the Min-
utemen and fIRE-
HOSE, Watt and
George Hurley have
rocked eighteen
tours, fifteen al-
bums and three
hundred songs.
And they're still
living in San Pedro.
D. Boon would be
proud. The Odd
Numbers have just
released a new sin-
gle Something New
that protests the
current oil war in
the sand dunes of
Kuwait... Olive-
ДЛЯ ЯАВ
lawn, featuring big Longtime rocker Mike Fox from Hemi strums down at Marsugi's in San Jose
skate photog O on
guitar, grinds grunge with a new album
Sap. Corey and Gavin O'Brien,
Jason Jessee, Mike Prosenko and
Aron Arno have formed a new band
FROM THE UNDERGROUND
Twice as much
bass to love in
Dos. The war
in the Gulf
draws fire
from Jello
Biafra and the
Odd Numbers.
The Hard Ons
pop a big 12"
4p. All is LOST
for TSOL
Seattle grunge
pop talk. Joey
Ramone
remixes unre-
leased Stiv
Bators.
SUB-POP
Four years ago. Bruce
Pavitt and Jonathan Pone-
man were wise enough to
put out the first Sound-
garden Ep "Screaming
Life. Today, they head the
notoriously famous Sub
Pop record label, releasing
an average of one record
per week. And, they've
picked up some long-
range goals along the way.
1 want the Sub Pop logo
to be as omnipresent as
the Coca-Cola logo,"
states Bruce,
In its original incarnation,
Sub Pop was a fanzine
started by Bruce after he
Bruce Pavitt of Sub-Pop Photo: MF
left college. Sub Pop 100, the label's first album, came out in
1986. "We just piecemealed it together. At the the time, it
seemed like an extraordinary amount of money, says Jon-
athan, "but if you have good bands and don't live in a
congested market, I think you can start up a record label
practically anywhere. You just have to be willing to take a risk."
but don't have a name at press time...
Talk about a busy guy. Jello Biafra
appears on no less than three new
releases, including a full length Lp
collaboration with Canadian rhythmo-
thrash mongers No Means No called
The Sky Is Falling And I Want My
Despite their big underground popularity, Sub Pop bands are
not a mainstay on college radio. This lack of exposure makes
touring that much more important. "If you can get people
excited about your live show you're going to generate a much
better buzz on your band than going into a studio and
spending two million dollars on a recording," Bruce says.
With groups like Mudhoney. Tad and Nirvana, the label is
used to criticism that all Sub Pop bands sound alike. It doesn't
bother Jonathan. "It's fine." he says, "1 can understand why
one would do that, but similarly, I think that there are a lot of
distinctions between the bands."
It doesn't bother Bruce either. He thinks the bands compli-
ment each other. There are a lot of people who look forward
to hearing stuff that sounds like the archetypical Sub Pop
sound, so it just makes the whole thing more interesting."
That noise-like thick guitars and fuzz box vocals-is con-
sciously cultivated at Sub Pop. It's the sound that says "Sub
Pop brand The Seattle sound is a product of the scene most
of the original bands emerged from. It was an outgrowth of
the scene that was happening at the Metropolis, which was a
big all-ages club where some of the bands played their first
gigs, Jonathan says.
Grunge was born under the mossy rocks of the Pacific
Northwest, and it looks like it's going to stay. "I think that New
York bands are overly-intellectual and bands from LA. are too
pre-packaged. Bruce states boldly. "In Seattle, it's less
artificial. It's friends playing music in front of other friends, and
If they come up with a hit song, then everybody goes out and
buys the single. It seems very genuine to me." - Kirsten Voris
Mommy. Jello also collaborates with
Steel Pole Bathtub as Tumour Circus
RICKTER
Hemi. Hemi 7. Super-1
charged SF molten rock that'll
blow your gaskets and seize
your bearings. Look for the
second single by these foomer
Drunk Injuns soon. Gas
Huffer. Emy Ep. Here's more
high-octane sound waves from
the Northwest. Fout furious
lunes to fill up on Didjit
Fuck the Pigs 7 One of my
favorite Touch and Ge bands
that just plain rock the house.
B-side has a superb cover of
the Dickies 'Give It Back
Bitch Magnet. Ben Hur, Lp
Psychotic grunge from North
Carolina that will pool your
eyebrows off. Deranged
madness for the darkside in all
of us. Melvins. Bulhead, Lo
on a cool, new, loud single called Take SCALE
Me Back Or I'll Drown Our Dog and
finally a spoken word single, Die For Oil
Sucker, that speaks volumes about the
current Gulf crisis and includes a fold-
out poster sleeve of anti-war draft resis
tance organizations as well as a slew of
little-publicized facts about the war....
Those goofy punks from San Jo, the
Diesel Queens have a new single out
called Orchard Supply Hardware, and
It's guaranteed to rattle somebody's
cage. The guy who thinks he's more
punk than Sid, that self-mutilating, oral
copulating, urinating, defecating, mas-
turbating mother f*cker G.G. Allin, has
a new one out called Anti-Social Per-
sonality Disorder. G.G. is currently in
the slammer for felonious assault, but
maybe when he's sprung he'll do the
world a favor and carry out his promise
of a rock 'n' roll suicide on stage... But
hey, if you want to listen to some good
music, check out Gutterboy's melo-
dious rocker featuring Johnny Koncz
from Kraut on drums... Meanwhile,
Ultraman destroys all monsters with its
latest release Non-Existence. We're
talking hard-hitting punkarocka chock
full of feed and leads, not to mention a
respectable cover of the Damned's
ballroom broiler "New Rose" And
speaking of those dastardly limeys,
Captain Sensible is in the studio
recording a new album, which should.
be out soon, he says. "But not with any
of those miserable cunts from the
Damned, though I love them, I really
do" Steve Caballero's band, The.
Faction is back in black with a cassette
Ep called Laid To Rest... Speaking of
skater rock, The Boneshavers lay it
down hot and hard with Motorpsycho, a
new album of shock rockabilly and the
vocal work of Bob Denike... Regret-
tably, we inform of the passing of a
long-time friend, Chris Grayson,
soundman extraordinaire for the Chill
Peppers, D.O.A., Dead Kennedys, et.
al. Known by many in the underground
scene which he contributed so much to,
we will always remember the sounds he
made so sweet... Poetry is life, man,
savor it. Dig the Jack Kerouac box-set
featuring four cassettes of pure beat.
poetry set to music... Nobody knows
the blues like John Lee Hooker. At a
recent Great American Music Hall gig in
SF, the Hook was heard to holler, "My
knees are bad. I ain't going down on my
knees no more." Sounds like some
skaters we know. -Brian Brannon
The heaviest keep getting)
heavier Slow-churried power
riffs from hel that stick to ya
Ike molasses Flower Loo
pards, Purple Reign Lp. Tony
Adolescent and crew are back
weth the third Lp that's every bit
as good as Heaven's Closed
Mor-
Gettin' better with age
dred In This Life, Lp. Here's
The new skull-splitter that
blends more funk and rap to
Mordred's medieval metal
ways. Well-produced and
plenty of scratchin' by DJ
Pause
Dwarves, Luciler's
Crankshaft. Ep. Some re-
issued material on this 7
brings the true meaning back
10 puns. Hard, fast, lots of
leedback and lyrics that will i
ruin relationships Derelicts
Love Machine Lp. Another fine,
Seattle outfit that I can sum up
by saying, "if you want punk
you got it Hard-Ons,
Yummy, Lp. Third Lp by this
infamous Aussie trio. Just as
driving as their past efforts and
my favorite so far a Ror-
schach, Remain Sedati, Lp
One of NY's newer HC divi-
sions that has some early
C.O.C. intuence. Good stu
Bolt Thrower. Cenotaph, 12
BT's latest lung ripper, with a
killer live track. Will the
earache never end? Watch for
the Grindcrusher four this
summer
Various Artists
From Twisted Minds Comes
Twisted Products, Lp NY
gathering of noise freaks with.
the kee of Action Swingers
Swill and Surgery just to
name a few. For twisted lis-
teners only Mind Funk,
Mind Funk Lp. Pat Oubar (ex
Uniform Choice) and previous
members of M.O.D. and Celtic
Frost bring forth their debut
that surely will funk with your
mind... The Mummies, Shits
vo 7 Cursed garage punk
that wraps you up and never
comes unraveled
-Fick Rotsen
IN THIS LIFETIME
FEEL
FEAR OF GOD.
70 THRASHER MAGAZINE
71