FROM THE
NOTES UNDERGROUND
AFTER WORKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE FOR
USELESS PLASTIC LOGO STUFF EITHE
STHANKS
MOTORPSYCHO
Forget skate
rock, Pagboy
plays hockey.
Touring the country in a cramped,
stinky van can make or break any
band. The trip might result in bloody
noses, broken hearts, VD and knock
From left to right: down drag-out tights, or a tighter,
vocalist Larry
Damore, bassist
Steve Saylors,
drummer Joe
Haggerty and
guitarist John
Haggerty defy
any so-called
hockey playing
bands, from Bod
wiser, road-seasoned group. During
a hell tour of over-heated radiators.
dropped transmissions, blown head
gaskets and cancelled gigs. Victim's
Family was stuck in Niagara Falls with
no money for food because any cash
had been spent on beer to salve their
consuming depression. "We were
basically starving," says guitarist
vocalist Ralph Spight. So, he and
bassist Larry Boodhroyd found a
baked potato stand were they spied a
bucket of scorched spuds that had sat
under the heat lamp too long. The
musicians explained their plight and
scored the grub. "Let me tell you,"
Spight says, "food never tasted so
puck joust. good. That was 1987, and Victim's
Religion to
D.O.A., to moct
them on the ice
for a full-scale
84 Тнозне Масл
know the Reds were going to score
three runs in the first inning." Cincin
nati eventually lost and the Wigs
ended up quite loaded after making
friends with everyone in the bar. We
couldn't find our way back, so we
started to argue." says Dull By the
time we got there, we all hated each
other and didn't even want to play
Halfway through the show. John
Curly, the bass player, bent down and
I put my foot on his ass and kicked
him over. He turned around and
wacked me in the head with his bass
and we started fighting. The audience
thought it was part of the act. The
band left the stage and another fight
broke out in the dressing room. Drum.
mer Steve Earle and the Wigs' man
ager tried to break it up and got
punched in the process. "In the mean-
ime." says Duli, the owner of the bar
said it was in our contract to play a full
hour. We wiped the blood off our faces
and played some more. I don't think
anyone in the crowd know what hap
pened. We're all still friends now, but
we spend a lot of time away from each
other." Confession is the Wigs' latest
moving on from where Up in left off.
meandering between misty serenades
and post-apocalypse guitar pop
Son of Mustang Ford" by Swerve
driver was inspired by Jack Kerouac's
On the Road and movies about racing
down two-lane highways. On the
Raise album, Swervedriver smears
expansive landscapes that stretch be
yond the horizon with four or five gui
tars washing across the canvas at
once, each playing a different riff. "It
creates the massive guitar sound we
like to get." says bassist Adi Vynes.
That album's good for listening to on
headphones because you can pick up
all the different bits. An unfortunate
side effect of loud-rocking road music
is tinnitus a constant ringing in the
ears brought on by too much volume.
"Most rock musicians have it or will get
it," says guitarist/vocalist Roger
Miller. 1 played in Mission of Burma
each inflicts heavy damage.
The aburdant tape overdubs on
War create an industrial feel
Christ on a Crutch. Crime
ERICKTER
SCALE! Whan Pys One. Cd. Hand
Family now has four US and three
European tours under its belt. "Most of
them have been good after that," he
says, 'so I guess we
paid our tour karma."
Their last album, White
Bread Blues, "shows
the effects of smashing
a hyper-speed tunk
thrash nightmare into
the band's sick musical
blender," he says.
Where the last album
was optimistic about a
screwed up world, The
Gem is heavier, bigger
and more pessimistic
Last October, the
Cincinnati-based
Afghan Wigs was
ready to play a gig in
Boston the same night
as the first game of the
National League play-
affs. The Reds were
batting the Pirates, so
the band went to a bar
to catch the game. "We
decided to do a shot of
tequila every time the
Reds scored a run,"
says singer/guitarist
Greg Dulli. "We didn't
Unsane, Lp. This NY three-piece
crushes everything in its way and
sends shivers down your spine.
Beyond Helmet. Upside Down
Cross, Cass Boston's evilest gnarl
est bend featuring ex-Groincids, were
cast out of town and barned forever.
The Cross is in constant search of
safe refuge and new venues to reign
their terror Carcass, Descanting
the inabotes Cd. Carcass is back
with more pathological terminology
They must spend months on re-
search.) A standardized metal
menagerie of longer songs that's not
as chaotic as previous efforts but sil
gets my brutal approval... Fitz of
Depression, 7. Now on Meat
Records of Tacoma FCD's second
single throws down hardcore in the
snotty fast fun category... Cosmic
Psychos, Blokes You Can Trost Cd
Veteran Aussie punk at its finest...
God Bullies, Wir or Everybody, Cd
No GB record sounds the same but
Northwest thrashcore that
sounds like Final Conflict. Stumpy
Joe. One Way Rocket Cd. A pop blast
of consistent upbeat energy, wrench
ing gitar and entertaining lyrics. They
preserve the Seatfe garage flavor...
The Dickies, Locked & Loaded Cass
A quality live recording of greatest
in 1990 that proves The Dickies 311
have the Midas touch... Drive Like
Jehu, Cd. Featuring John Reis of
Rocket from the Crypt, this has poten
sal but doesn't represent them live
Best Kissers in the World, Cd.
Another great digital single from Sub
Pop. The Sale-based Kissers crank
hilarious parodies. The Crows
Hammerhead, 7", Dual singles from
the Am-Rep research series on color
pic discs. Both were featured on Dope
Guns & Fucking sampiers. Grétus,
Brown Cd. Tough political SF indus
trial foursome with quitar heavy, tape
saurated substance. Their ive shows
are mesmerizing, and burly videos
accompany the sets Rick Rotsaert
until it got real
scary, otherwise
we would have
gotten real big and
people would have
got sick of it and
we would have
had fifteen houses
each. After the
break-up, Miller
formed Birdsongs
Of The Mesozoic
and developed his
"maximum electric
piano sound,
while trying to
keep the stage vol
ume to a mini-
mum. Then he did
a solo tour and
formed No Man
who road tripped
recently, sleeping
on floors all across
the country. No
Man's latest album
was titled How
The West Was
Won to capture
the aggressive and
THRASIED
cynical nature of the band's music.
"The west wasn't won," Miler says, "it
was stolen and then demolished"...
Though they just completed their first
tour, the members of Pegboy are not
new to the trials and tribulations of the
road. After all, they hail from Naked
Raygun, Bloodsport. The Effigies
and Bhopal Stiffs. It's not bad for our
first tour" says bassist Steve Saylors.
"It's a lot of ground-breaking, a lot of
driving and a lot of headaches." Vocal-
ist Larry Damore agrees in a hoarse
voice, "We've had our share of blown-
up amps and burned-out cars, but it's
definitely worth it. We'll have a lot of
crap to talk about when we get home."
Pegboy plays rousing anthems that
ring with a mesmerizing guitar sound
Strong Reaction is an album of crunch
and feeling with songs that rock to the
bone and lyrics that come from the
gut. As for the band name, Saylors
says that, like Pegboy songs, it can be
interpreted on different levels. "It can
moan a lackey or a peon or a coffee
boy," he says. "And one other mean-
ing that we're not going to get into,"
Damore interjects. We'l let people go
out and research it. One cold and
snowy night at 2 a.m., The Dough-
boys were driving through Canada.
Suddenly, the roof of their trailer blew
off, scattering their equipment down
the road. All hope seemed lost until a
van with a huge trailer pulled up. It
was Miss Nude Universe to the res-
cue. Venus Delight stepped out and
offered the use of her trailer. A few
Doughboys got to ride in the van, says
singer/guitarist John Kastner. "She
had a monkey, two 15-foot boa con-
strictors and iguanas running around,"
he says. "We traded her T-shirts for
some nude posters. She was as nice
as she was beautiful." The band
fittingly recorded "Deep End" on
Happy Accidents about the ups and
downs of touring. "Playing in a rock
band is like having four wives," says
Kastner. "They're all nagging and
complaining about their lives, and it
smells bad. You're married to the
band, and basically, you're fucked," he
says. "But, we're not complaining, it's
what we chose to do." -Brian Brannon
Simple
Shoes
PURE GUM RUBBER SOLE
NO CARDBOARD IN
THE MIDDLE
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NO BIG LOGO HYPE
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Eric Maye
1100 IRVINE BLUD. SUITE 486
TUSTIN, CA 92680
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Swing Ford.
WRENCHED
So-Cal psychomatic motor grunge.
From Seattle...NOT!
HR-61205-214
Produced by Jim Faraci
Management: Ron Peterson... PR. Presents
Available on Hollywood Records compact discs and cassettes
85