A
C/DC COMPARISONS ARE ALL you
are probably going to hear about the
debut LP from Olympia, WA's Tight
Bros From Way Back When, Runnin'
Thru My Bones, and they won't be too
far off, but there's definitely something more
there. There is a lot of the same dirty feel that
AC/DC had, but these guys manage to inject
some Detroit sound and undeniable punk
roots...Ray Stevens, one of skatepunk's earli-
est legends, has been back at it for a while and
just put out a CD/EP of his band, Clay
Wheels. Ray plays bass and sings, skater Eric
Powers drums, and Mike Fox from the
Dwarves rounds out this lineup, as they
tromp through five tracks that range from
melodic and a little heavy to a finely executed
surf romp. Oh yeah, Ray is also the mayor of
Rainer Maria
San Jose...Another fine elpee to come out is
the new one from the Loudmouths, and it's
appropriately entitled Get Lit. More blasting
punk mayhem from Pete the Ox, Dulce, and
Beth, who have been playing as a three-piece
and touring foreign lands, representing
America through booze, smokes, and punk
rock. Scambassadors?...Snottiness will never
go out of style as long as the world has snot.
The Shifters are kind enough to offer you a
booger sandwich of fine snotty punk, showing
an early side of punk with its energy intact.
Look for "Don't Care" 7" on Rip Off. The Kent
3 have put out a single on Sub Pop's revamped
Single's Club, wherein the buyer gets a single a
month. They might be hard to track down in
stores, but grab this one if you see it. It's a new
version of an old song they did with an old
lineup, "The Sleeper," backed with a new song
that is one of their craftier weavings. eMpTy
records picks another winner with the
Catheters, whose three-song single smokes
with reckless abandon. Sometimes the shit I
get in the mail actually turns out to be worth-
while. Case in point: The Distillers 7" on
Hellcat. This shit cranks, and the vocals seri-
ously remind me of Joan Jett at her punkest.
Speaking of getting shit in the mail, if you
think it's got what it takes, send it my way: PO
Box 419, Tempe, AZ 85280-0419...On the pulp
front, the latest issue of Gearhead has hit the
racks, and it's the Bikes and Tattoos issue,
along with a trip to check out high-octane rock
in Sweden. It also comes with a killer split sin-
gle, featuring founder of fuzz Davie Allan and
his Arrows, and modern purveyors of fuzz
Mudhoney. Another fine zine to come out
recently is another edition of Cometbus. Aaron
is really punk's bard, and although it seems his
stuff is getting more well known than ever, it
completely retains the honesty it's always
had...Wesley Willis has been on the road
again, this time bringing just his keyboard and
some prerecorded stuff, to wow the crowds.
Wesley is a 300+ pound schizophrenic from
Chicago who has a knack for writing some of
the funniest shit ("Michael Jackson, you are
a homosexual to the max!/You should be
ashamed of yourself!/Sucking those young
boys' dicks!") and putting it to his repetitious
keyboard playing. It's honestly hard to fathom
what's going on at a show; some people are
pretty supportive (why not help an entertainer
live it up?) but it seems as though some come
to heckle or view it as a freakshow. It's pretty
entertaining, if repetitious, even if he didn't
play my personal fave, "Cut the Mullet."-Wez
Lundry... "With the new album, I feel like Pete
Townsend! I feel like I am in The Who. This
is a rock 'n' roll album for me."
Repent has what seems to be three different
titles! On the front of the record it says Total
Fucking Genocide, on the back it says Rock 'N'
Roll Genocide, and on the skinny side label it
says, PS We Still Hate You, Love, Loli and the
Chones. Whichever way you wanna go with it,
you're gonna make a fine purchase when you
go to the local record shop and snag it.
Anyone who got ahold of their first LP PS We
Hate You will be glad to hear that this album
continues in the same snot-nosed kid vein as
that album. It's too bad those kids who shot up
that high school in Colorado a couple of
months back hadn't got a chance to listen to
this album first; then maybe they only would
have gone after the jocks. Loli and guitarist El
Chingón have also formed another outfit with
a couple of guitar-brandishing lasses called
Bitchschool. No recordings as of yet, but I
"Michael Jackson,
you are a homosexual
to the max!"
Kyle Fischer, the guitarist of
Madison, Wisconsin's Rainer Maria, is
ecstatic. You can tell because he can't stop
smiling. And why should he? With their brand-
new album rippling through the land on most-
ly word-of-mouth sales, a full summer tour on
the way, and a dapper new haircut to boot,
Fischer seems to be the happiest man alive
tonight. I was trying to explain to a friend the
other day why Rainer Maria are so appealing.
I mean, they take these three basic staples of
rock, with Caitlin DeMarrais on bass and
lead vocals, Fischer on guitar, and William
Kuehn on drums, and manage to completely
wield a sound of their own. In fact, they make
music that is interesting, which is becoming
harder and harder to do in these days in a
scene that can be as static as a Promise Ring
record playing continuously on repeat. With
their second release on Polyvinyl records, Look
Now Look Again, bowling the kids over, Rainer
Maria manage to single-handedly knock down
the notion of the dreaded sophomore slump.
One of the most remarkable elements to
Rainer Maria is their ability to appeal to a wide
audience, which can consist of a potpourri of
punk rockers, indie rockers, and even hardcore
kids among others. Fischer says, "There is a
huge hardcore crossover, and that surprises
me. I am grateful for that. It is a great thing
that we can appeal to a wide number of differ-
ent kinds of people. We play to people who
might not listen to each other's music normal-
ly."-Anna Goldfarb...I have a fixation with the
greatest band ever to emerge out of East LA
(sorry, Los Lobos): Loli and the Chones.
Any poor soul who read this Notes bullshit on
a monthly basis should know this already
though, seeing as I write about the Chones in
just about every issue. Well, this time I've
actually got some solid news about these
Boyle Heights rascals. Their new album on
saw them play with fellow
Repent recording artists the
Have-Nots in a little
Hollywood bar a while back,
and they were full of bitchiness. Loli and the
two other girls alternate singing duties
between themselves while El Chingón plays
the skins. Plenty good and I can't wait till they
put something out on wax. -Andy Harris...On
the hip-hop front, my tapedeck's alive with
the sound of a new Beatnuts album; A
Musical Massacre promises to be more of
the dumb (as in: cold gettin', not: as a post)
rhymes and ridiculous beats (they're ban-
gin', son) that we've come to expect from
the 'Nuts. In the "as catchy as Off The
Books" category, "Watch Out Now" or "I
Love It," featuring Cheryl Pepsi Riley look
like the hottest competitors. "You're A
Clown," with Biz Markie contributing the
hook and one of his trademark "M-izza, M-
izza" freestyles to the mix might just take
the place in your jeep's heavy rotation slot
from Big Pun. Three top-notch compila-
tions have also booted The Roots' Things
Fall Apart out of my CD player this month;
first is the Gang Starr greatest hits two-
disc jammy titled Full Clip, A Decade Of
Gang Starr, it features three new songs;
unfortunately only one of them, the
title track, is worthy of appearing
alongside such classics as "Manifest,"
"DWYCK," and "Just To Get A Rep." The
two others are the multi-artist powerhouse
hitters Rawkus Presents Soundbombing II
and This or That, from Sway and King Tech
of the infamous LA hip-hop radio show,
the Wake Up Show. These compilation
wonder-twins activate in the form of street
level mixtapes, with the mixing done by
the Beat Junkies for Soundbombing II and
DJ Revolution for This or That. Both also
feature multiple guest freestyles and exclu-
sive songs, allowing you to feel like you're
listening to a late-night radio mix show
whenever the hell you want. True 54
Notes From The Underground
30footFALL
Ever Revolving,
Never Evolving
Check out 30footFall's brand
new release, "Ever Revolving,
Never Evolving their first on
www.nitrorecords.com Nitro Records. In stores now!
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