Wednesday, October 12, 2011

...Ear Plugs

A few words on music’s that have made it back to my ears in one form or another… As release, MP3 or whatever… Much of it focuses around the documentary that I just so happened to catch on the Documentary Channel one odd night. I was lucky enough to catch a doc on early Chicago punk-rock called You Weren't There A History Of Chicago Punk 77-94. The doc is a verily well-done, in-depth something great-something great account of The Chi-Punk scene complete with time spent on inner scene rivalries and drama that is still testy to people decades later. A jam-packed, highly recommended compilation has been released featuring many of the bands Naked Raygun, the Effigies, Strike Under, Big Black, Articles Of Faith, Silver Abuse, Mentally Ill, Subverts, Negative Element, Tutu & the Pirates, DA, Toothpaste, The Way-Outs, Rights of the Accused, Savage Beliefs, End Result, Trial by Fire, Seismic Waves, and Painterband. 

I enjoyed all the footage and coverage of the bands on the comp as well as the film but my favorite section of the movie dealt with the early punk (of course) that included footage of The Mentally Ill doing “Gacys Place” and a band I had not heard of until the movie, Tu Tu & The Pirates who have also had an LP of their material released that has a strong showing of Punk-Rock (with the dash) back when it was “punk” to have a beard. Their solo issued record is well worth any effort you may put to acquiring the release. It’s called “Suburban Insult Rock For The Anti Lectual” and features some of the best, bordering proto-punk/snotty KBD type beard-punk that money could buy. If you hear songs like “Delinquent Rat” or “Doin’ Nothing” and don’t feel moved and are at least partially convinced at the true coolness of the tunes, then something IS wrong… “Beard-Punk” Fuck yeah! The movie comp also has a version of “Surf Combat” made famous by Naked Raygun, but not entirely a Raygun only song, by a relatively unknown band, The Way-Outs that sounds as if it could have been Black Randy & The Metrosquad doing the track. It is verily superb. 

In the movie, a large chunk of the coverage dealt with the importance of the venues, which, at times, was verily comedic and exhibited excellent story telling, including coverage of a venue called OZ that, Back In The Day did a compilation of its own celebrating the scene called Busted at OZ. Well, that has been re-issued too featuring a slew of the same bands features on the doc soundtrack. Both the movie comp and Busted at OZ play well together and accent each other nicely. You could pick either one and get the gist of what was happening, but trust me, you need both comps to fulfill your craving cause I cant imagine having to choose just one. Go ahead, be the UntraAmerican™ and get both while you can! Just as with Tu Tu & The Pirates, DA have their own fully re-issue to deal with including fem-punk rocking’s that continue what you were introduced to in the doc and Busted at Oz comps. DA sorta have a more post-punk feel to their thug, but its as easily impressive when grouped together with the punk-hardcore scene they existed in. in fact, in some ways, its even more impressive… 


Mp3 versions of The Ed Davis Band Keith Richards’ Dead fully made their way to me so I do not have to be inconvenienced with flipping over records. If I had heard The Ed Davis band as a teen, and appreciated it as much as I do right now in my life, I would have started a zine called LET’S FUCK EACH OTHER after their song. So now, that awesome release is available at the touch of a button! Wow! At this moment, I feel inclined to extend a ‘Thank you’ to UltrAmerica, you’re the best… 


A close bruddy of mein, Timothy “T-Wray” Combs has been navigating himself thru a storm of creativity recently and some good stuff floats among the wreckage. Survivors include “The Devils Blues” a song about a guy that sells his soul to the devil, but the devil didn’t hold up to his side of the deal and now he is left with a damned soul and residence in the poor-house. T-Wray is gathering his songs for a solo release that will be titled Bimbo’s Wish and I’m lucky enough to have a close spot to T-Wray during the storms and calms that tend to afflict themselves accordingly to true artist.  


A collection of Jesus and Mary Chain demo’s, or what I perceive to be demo’s, released under the title of “Send Me Away” made it to my ears that feature rough recordings of material that are heavily on the moody side… Good songs, that have an impressive showing for what many people perceive to be Jesus and Mary Chain with a heavy pounding drum machine that sounds angry and mean. The sound quality is something to be adjusted to, but a few songs deep into the recordings and you can take “Upside Down” or “Something’s Wrong” for what it is, an awesome song that inspires you to form your own fictional terrorist network whose leaders cant be killed, because they never existed… 

“Walls Have Ears” by The Sonic Youth is a gathering of live tracks from two different shows in 1985 (which was my favorite time for Sonic Youth by the way) and features full on raging versions of “Green Light”. “The World Looks Red” “Kill Yr. Idols” and a double raging version of “Brother James” the only way I feel this release could be more impressive is if it had a good live version of my all-time favorite Youth jam, “Making the Nature Scene” of which I have never heard a live version as good as the version on Confusion is Next which is understandable. During a visit by my parents, with my mom sitting in the back seat with Olive whilst a version of “Death Valley ‘69” was wailing I asked my Mom to describe what she was hearing and she do so with one word: “Dizzy”. PURE GENIUS! 

So now I come to Vegetable and their two-song 7” released by Gilgongo Records. Any regular reader of this blog will know how enamored I am with this band… Bordering on the creepy, I think this band is one of the best I have ever heard. Ever. I have been focusing on “Castration Frustration” much more than their other song, “Sol” but that’s just because I have been hitting repeat on “Castration Frustration” over and over. “Sol” reminds me of material from the band Liliput/Kleenex whereas “Castration Frustration” hits\, as Brighty put it, like something you would hear on Cincinnati’s Hospital Records back in 1982 along side BPA, or 11,000 Switches. Uncle Dave would claim responsibility for Vegetable despite the fact that they are a mew band of youngsters from Arizona. They are that cool. In trying to show interest for the band, in hopes that Gilgongo would release a fully by the band, I may have over-stepped boundaries for a 39 year old dude and truly appear to be from the creepy-side of things, but that’s the risk I’m willing to take. That’s the risk concerning enthusiasm vs. infatuation. You do believe I’m enthusiastic don’t you? I totally understand why representatives of the label and band have seemingly ignored my wall-post and e-mails; I truly do and find no offense in the possible shunning and un-acknowledged enthusiasm. 

Shearing Pinx, another treat from Gilgongo features a noisier Sonic Youth style band. Their Haruspex release is a good listen though. It’s at least interesting because it’s new, and released recently. Rounding out a tic tac punk splattering of Gilgongo releases is Soft Shoulder who remind me of a mid-90’s band that would sound right at home on the Kill Rock Stars label of yester-year. Moody, artistic and noisy. There is a point in there so be careful, it could draw blood if your not paying attention and you hit it the wrong way. Ouch. So I had a $25 iTunes card sitting around since this past Christmas and decided I wanted to cash it in. I looked at and sampled recent releases by Gang of Four, The Cars and even Wire without them really reaching out to me. This all sort of surprised me too. Especially with Wire because I liked what they have been doing since their re-emergence and really liked Object 47 which was sort of dismissed in the description provided by iTunes in their newer one. But this newer offering by Wire just didn’t hit me. So I moved on. Maybe I will just listen to Object 47 a bit more. Perhaps it hasn’t outlived itself yet… So I remembered reading on Josh Rutledges’ blog Faster and Louder about a couple bands that sparked my interest… 

So I looked into it and downloaded Don’t Be So Cruel by Something Fierce. I am VERILY pleased with my purchase. I had previously downloaded “Empty Screens” by the band for free. It was a good song, I’d say. Played it on F.i. #20 and all. Started to like it a bit more there… But when I taste-tested Don’t Be So Cruel on iTunes, I was sorta blown away… After downloading it and giving it a few listens by now, I can honestly say that I am BLOWN away by Something Fierce. It reminds me of The Fuses Eastern Cities released mixed with a bit of latter era Clash approaching’s. Yeah, I like Combat Rock and I’m not afraid to say it! Something Fierce have a fresh approach concerning their sound. In fact, yeah, the production qualities are verily similar to Eastern Cities, a point I have discussed with the band over fB and they admitted that that LP was inspiring to them, so that’s no big surprise… But Don’t be So Cruel I would say, is a bit better than Eastern Cities. That is saying a bunch because Eastern Cities was an awesome record. Don’t Be So Cruel is an example how someone paid attention. Emulated that effort and added upon the direction. Something Fierce put their own spin on something with excellent results. I could listen to Don’t be So Cruel all day long. In fact, I just about have… You know, I haven’t been buying much ‘new’ music lately. With the happenings of life I just don’t have the time, nor money to really invest in finding bands like Something Fierce, so I’m going to use resources like Faster and Louder, Zach Brauns Random Old Records and Tim Adams’ Unbleeding blog’s to help sift through the abyss for what may hit me… 


The Night Birds are another band that Faster and Louder introduced me to. I was drawn in by Josh’s description of The Night Birds bringing to mind a sound mixing of The Adolescents, Agent Orange with a smidge of The Dead Kennedy’s (just a smidge). The other Side of Darkness hits hard. On songs like “Paranoid Times”, “Landfill Land” and “Failed Species” the Night Birds create a sphere of influence that truly make me wish I could skate-board. Maybe I could just walk around with a skate-board and look cool. The Other Side of Darkness is a perfect soundtrack for the last blast. I bet The Night Birds are the sort of band you could sit down and watch Beach Blanket Bingo with and then go get some WC’s and use the phrase ‘Boo-bay’ ala South Dakota Slim, all day long. 


I rounded out the Remaining $5 form my iTunes card with some cool stuff too. Have you ever heard the second, more obscure Live at the Roxy release chock full of more punk-rock unknowns that also played the early punk club in London? One of those bands was a band called Blitz that pre-dates the Oi-ish band Blitz… On the other (cause it’s not a volumed series) Live at The Roxy release, Blitz are the strongest shower being a fem-fronted punk band hammering out one of the best punk-rock songs ever performed, the captivating and propelling “Strange Boy.” So, when I heard that this band had their own CD of a live Roxy showing I looked into it… I was quite disappointed because the live songs on this new CD are not of the same quality that you heard from their Live at The Roxy showing where they blew me away with “Strange Boy” that version and recording was AMAZING. This other live stuff is NOT of that quality. It was rough even by my standards… But the whole release was not a duster. There are a few really good tracks. Studio versions of “London is For Tourist”, “Were OK, Sod You” and a nearly as worthy version of “Strange Boy” were worthy for ‘purchase.’ These songs are great and true original punk rager’s that are right up my alley. I just wonder, where the good versions of their live songs are being stored. If I knew, I would plan a criminal mission to retrieve them; they would be worth violence to recover. 


With the last $2 worth of money, I decided to go with a couple tracks from a collection of Chocolate Horse rarities called Horse Treats. I could really stand to get the whole release, but there’s always next time right? I settled on acquiring copies of “300 Billion Now Living” which is a great song and has me wondering why this wasn’t on Beast because, in many ways it captures everything, and all the different parts of what The Chocolate Horse is all about. It’s a standard song. If you like “300 Billion” you will like all their stuff. The other song I got was “Take The Kids Home” which has a really eclectic mix of sounds ranging from eastern style water-drop drums to a banjo and further to a flute… It’s almost like this sound could be the other end of the spectrum for The Chocolate Horse. A song that you could bookend the total Chocolate Horse experience with. One could say: “The Chocolate Horse Experience ranges from “300 Billion Now Living” to “Take The Kids Home”. These both are good songs; the best offering from what is my introduction to Horse Treats. Someday, I will get the remainder of that release, but until then I’m happy that I got these two songs. 


I suppose one of my favorite local bands, Swear Jar are in the earliest stages of recording a new fully. I promised Shane Chaney that is it isn’t good Im going to steal his shoes at their release show for the record and throw them into The Ohio River. Its my promise to him and good music everywhere.


Last minute ear plugs include items from Destroy All Monsters which I am fully enjoying, a sweet double LP by The Adverts of their BBC recordings which is really fresh to listen to. "Quickstep" is such an amazing song. That bass line kills me dead brothers and sisters! DEAD! Its a real treat. I gIn honor of recent chatter on B.A.G. about cheap bin releases, I scoured Half Price Books Bin's for two finds.  Porno For Pyros debut and a later era Gun Club re-issue from 2.13.61 Records that I have just dove into and cant really comment on as much as I proly could in times to come. I have lots to listen to...




and so I just found a $15 iTunes card.... Oh the choices!


...



Friday, October 7, 2011

Slapping At The Revenge

In the corner of my eye!
All of a sudden...
A spider!
How long was he sitting
on my shoulder before
I noticed him?
…SLAP!!!

It was while writing
a short story called
The Last American
when I noticed him...
... SLAP!
Was the spider, maybe,
literacy’s revenge?
Or maybe it was
America’s revenge?
Revenge against an injustice
that I perpetuated
in the story that I wrote.
...with my literary style...
Against the sanctity
of the written word.
...with my radical views...
Against the ersatz patriotic
belief in my nation?

Revenge.
Sweet, sweet revenge.
One day revengence will find me
no matter how well I hide.
It finds everybody eventually.
So I don’t try to hide anymore...

HERE I AM CRUEL WORLD!
I AM YOURS!!!!

The spider.
It found me...
Spiders can be verily dangerous
as far as creatures go...
I have never liked bugs,
much less spiders.
... SLAP!

I have lots of enemies.
Lots and lots of enemies...
Those lots are a good thing too!
It means I’m doing something right...
Words are dangerous things.
Verily dangerous things.
My enemies make themselves
enemies because of words..
Their position with my words...
Their position in my words...
They find their spot...
It’s their choice...
It’s their doing...
Their problem with me
and my words...
Their overemphasis
in the grand scheme of things.
They draw the lines...
Those lines are not mine!
I defy those lines!
Spies and assassins line up
in groups of four on
the dance floor...
That is also a good thing!

...SLAP!

Let'em line up the way they do.
They love those lines of theirs.
So line up boys, do what you do best!
Line up where I can see'ya real good!
One by one...
By one...
By one...

...SLAP!

Now every itch that surfaces
is a suspected arachnid.
I slap first, then look second.
This...
This slapping at the revenge...
After I have already
relocated to a new spot
to sit and write this poem!
I will slap.
I will move.
I will monitor the lines...
Give them an eye as needed…
Most importantly though,
I…
    Will…
            Wait…

... SLAP!
Revengence
SLAP!


Thursday, October 6, 2011

PUNK-ROCK!!! THE FILTH! THE FURY! BLUE ASH!!!!

The Mudlarks and Socials Struggle Against the Mediocre Tides at Raymond Walters College this Past September

Blue Ash Resident reports 'Shaking House'

-------------------------------------------------

"Many run to it, or from it. Some, into it"
Insecticide.

That peculiar smell was insecticide... I think. At first I thought it was someone’s cologne, or maybe perfume. When I had commented on the possibilities of the aroma being insecticide, Julie seconded my assumptions saying that the chemical and its stench was making her tongue numb.

Oddness...

Right from the start the whole event was shrouded in a peculiar oddness. We [The Socials] were asked to make an afternoon appearance at University of Cincinnati's satellite, Raymond Walters College in a Cincinnati suburb named Blue Ash. Our appearance was to be part of a weekly event that the college held called The Market where a portion of the facilities parking lot was turned into an impromptu farmers style market. At each event there was live music. The Socials were asked to be that music for the 22nd of September.

I know what you’re thinking, so just stop it...

Yes. The Socials were asked to play a Farmers Market... At Universities satellite college during the daytime...So of course we said yes!

Truthfully, we were really itching to do a show. The last time The Socials played was when Julie was just a bit shy of her 9th month of pregnancy carrying Olive. We had still practiced and wrote material in the time since Olive’s birth. There was no question if we were going to do shows again, but when. As Olive approached toddlerdom and began exploring band practices more and finding her own spot in the unit, and this opportunity to perform in a setting where Olive could attend, we accepted the request.

After all, we have played barns deep into the month of October before (Juice played in underwear) so why not a farmers market?

Glad you understand...

Three hours? No, we have lots of songs but The Socials are a PUNK-ROCK band. We don’t play for one hour, much less three. Yeah, we did double sets before, but nothing close to three
Dont Worry, She is with the band!
Olive with the gear!
 full hours. So we would need help. We would need assistance. We would need back up.

We would find all of that (and more) with THE MUDLARKS, a reworked version of the band previously known as GO TO HELL. They gladly accepted the responsibility for bringing the punk-rock to the peoples of Blue Ash.

Sure, there was risk involved. We accepted verily early that once the music started, it could quickly be shut down by the authorities in whatever form they could (or would) take. The Socials as well ad The Mudlarks dually accepted this fact. We would face the masses together! United! We would step out of our comfort zone and rip the box we came in, and tried to earnestly step outside of to shreds!

Whoever said punk-rock was about being comfortable?

Rain, off and on, was the weekly pattern but on the day of the show it was partly cloudy with periods of intense sunshine, an infrequent gentle wind and mild temperatures...

And the smell of insecticide!

Julie and I had visited The Market previously and it really was quite an event... But between then, and now, things had changed and there was a major drop off in vendors. The Market was a mere shade of what it had been... The crowd was sparse (but punk-rock isn’t about quantity, its about quality right?) During the Mudlarks set-up, an older lady that had some sorts of back/spinal problem that left her in a position where she always seemed to be cocking her left arm in preparation of a punch, approached me and subsequently gave me a mouthful about how The Market was poorly organized.

I appreciated her fire concerning her care about the subject. She cared enough to corner me and give me some business about exactly what she thought! With representatives from the college there, with one of the guys even wearing a suit, why did the lady choose me as a depot for her criticisms?

Then her, that lady, with that spinal condition and cocked pre-punch arm...

My weirdo magnet was turned way up, past the high setting, but I decided to leave it there and secretly turn Julies and Juices dials past high to the high-high setting just to see what we would get.

It was like fishing, except we were guaranteed a catch.

The Mudlarks. 09 22 11
The Mudlarks!
The Mudlarks went first. Under a possibility of shut down, The Mudlarks would go first so they wouldn’t feel as cheated if we played and got the axe and they never got a chance to play. With The Mudlarks being first, they had a chance. They started off slowly choosing a couple middle road instrumentals lulling the crowd into a false sense of security. One of these songs was titled "Reggae" and I was later told that it was a totally improved jam. When Todd Witt took to the microphone for a rendition of The Bee Gees "I Started A Joke" (which I originally thought was a cover of a song originally done by Tiny Tim) I was even quietly questioning what was going on. I felt the need to fastly circle around to my compatriots to ensure them that The Mudlarks "were about to bust into it"


downsized_Mudlarks Comin at Ya.jpg
Mr. Witt got new sunglasses this day
Which, certainly enough they did. Their instrumental and cover feign was fucking genius! It was even beginning to work on me! When The Mudlarks did bust into it, they did it in true fashion as only first generation Cincinnati punk-rock veterans could. Pulling from previous efforts as GO TO HELL, The Mudlarks were convincing me that every bit of uncomfort that was being felt by being in the wrong place at the verily wrong time was exactly what was suppose to happen.When Lam (Mudlarks bass player and co-singer) took up mic for a raging rendition of "Voxhall Street" I was shakingly humbled and began to feel as if all the animals in Sea World should instantly be set free. Pull all the drain plugs and let all the fish find dignity in their last gasping breaths as Lam takes them, gently, to the other side.

Photo by Dave Mcdulin
I was asked, at Mudlarks sets end, if I was paying attention. I said I was, and I meant that. I live for sets done by bands like The Mudlarks in places we were at. Outside the comfort zone. Outside the box. Hardly anyone there. Punk-rock!!!

(NOTE: Punk-rock with the dash)

The Socials were plagued with equipment difficulties. It wasn’t showing on this day, but our equipment is made to be dragged to shows and our lack of shows lately had pissed our gear off! Yeah, it got working, but not without making us look like fucking dweebs in the process.

A week before the show, when fine tuning our set, in anticipation of the threat of show closure, we had marked songs with our names trying to pinpoint the exact spot that we would be asked to stop. The Juice had the insanely perfect idea of turning our set list into a document requiring someone to sign off on our set list if they wanted it to stop. A disclaimer! Genius! Each set list was noted with the following:

“___________ wants it to stop.”

At the beginning of our set I placed my copy of the set list to reference, conveniently with a marker, on the ground in front of me.

During the bleeding of our song "Aluminum Interest" a song wrote in tribute to the too soon to be cancelled TV show E-Ring, and a song whose title was lifted from a back cover description of a book featuring inspirational Catholic based poems about kids called "They ARE Like Shadows" (the song I picked as the one we would be playing as we were shut down) I seen a citizen approaching from a residential area from across the street.

I figured that was about to happen, and I figured right. I was deeply into the songs intro before stopping to hear his pleas.

Among other humorous pleas, he claimed that we were shaking his house with the noise from our equipment.
"The Noise Goblin Cometh" Photo by Briighty

"Its rock and roll sir!" Juice proclaimed to, who we would commonly refer to as The Noise Goblin... He remarked how loud our music was to which I replied how it wasn’t that loud to us.

And it wasn’t! We were situated right next to the main entrance of the college with the residential section that rendered the Noise Goblin, being past the entrance and on the other side of the road, about 500ft away. For us to be too loud to him was really a testament to our equipment...

The Noise Goblin was offered a way out... He was pointed to my set list and given the opportunity to sign the set list to make it all stop.

Confused, the Noise Goblin viewed the paper and asked, "Why do I have to sign the paper?"

"Because that’s the rules! Pick up the marker, sign the line, and we will stop all the music... Sign the line and its alllll over!"

He wouldn’t sign the line. He asked us to just turn it down, which wasn’t an option...

You see, there are two ways that we 'turn down the volume' that differ from really turning it down, to fake turning it down.

The end! Finally! Photo by Tim "T-Wray" Combs
Motioning with a hand pointing to what needs to be turn down, and pointing downward means REALLY turn it down (pointing up means to REALLY turn it up; but its rather redundant cause we don’t fake turn up ever).

Motioning with a hand like your turning down a knob is the way to fake turn it down. On cue, once the signal is given, Julie and I go to our volume knobs, ACT like we turn it down and reproach the crowd and strum our guitars softly.

It does the trick every time and it worked this time too. The Noise Goblin returned back to wherever he came from. We finished our set list as planned and deemed the show a raging success.

If you were to get a chance to check out The Mudlarks then I highly recommend it. As for the next Socials show, well, there isn’t one planned. During our set, Olive took up a place center stage with the band. We didn’t tell her to do that, despite what many think. I’m keeping an eye out and trying to book shows at places and times that she could partake of the experience. 

But man, it'd sure be nice to hit The Comet or Northside Tavern or Mayday sometime in the future...

No, punk-rock isn’t about being comfortable, playing in front of a big crowd or making money or anything else that many other fuckwads would deem as a necessity concerning a musical performance. That is a good thing too... Punk-rock is a chorus of defiance in many different forms. If you get one thing from this piece, if you need enlightenment, then let it be the moral (if there is one) to this story... Lets try to end this shit with some wisdom shall we?

"Whatever you do isn’t worth doing unless someone gets pissed off in the process."



Listen to "Aluminum Interest" and the coming of The Noise Goblin HERE

"Like" The Socials on Facebook and see more photos from our show  HERE

The "Press" Release/Bio

THE MUDLARKS
Witt-Guitar, Vocals, Pedals, AccountingLambert-Bass, Vocals, Veteran BarberDavidson-Guitar, Pedals, ScientistCole-Drums, Medically Insured All four men were born into the mid-20th epochal time line to suburban to centaurian engineers, frontiersmen, marketeers, and of course geo-commons both above and within the Eight Great Ohio Underground Valley's in various unconnected counties near the Bay of Fundy.








THE SOCIALS
After a brief hiatus for cloning experiments, THE SOCIALS return with their  onslaught of tempered viewpoints on the skepticism of modern UltrAmerica!™  Endorse Creative-History and its chairman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...  Endorse The Academy of Extreme Science... You name all of your carry-a-long  coolers too right? Learn how the future will only let you down... Again, and again and again ect.Miss Communication (aka "Coach") sings and plays guitar for THE SOCIALS. The  Juice by Jerry plays drums, does backing vocals and knows how to get the  sweetest milk from dairy cows (ask him) and Shawn Abnoxious plays based on his  death-ground.

The Socials also hail from the Bay of Fundy region...





Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Monday, October 3, 2011

Vegetable (Video EP) (X5)

I found these video's when I was looking for more information about the band... Coupled with the two songs from their Gilgongo Records 7" debut I think its safe to say that Vegetable are rocking me like no other band has done in a long time. I thought LeShok were good. Sheesh, move over bacon...


Vegetable have impressed me similar to the time I first witnessed Kill The Hippies back in March of 1998 ( I think it was then). Until that time I thought I was impressed. Since that time, I haven't been this impressed as I have been with Vegetable.


I couldnt choose just one video for this week, so I made a Video of The Week EP of five videos I found of the band, all of them genius in their delivery.

Vegetable's sound reminds me of a mix between ELECTRELANE, THE NUMBERS and THE A-FRAMES... All bands that I have became a fan of in the past 10 years.,,.,.Vegetable are everything ERASE ERATTA wished they were! This is the kind of band that I would have put under my banner of  my Neoteric Punk/Wave movement Back In the Day™ because their approach on song structure and definition is so varied and different. its freshEver since I have been listening and buying punk-rock music; going all the way back to the Tape Days, back before I had a bass guitar and being in a band was still a dream and aspiration; back when I was slaving at a grocery chain waiting until payday to go to Camelot Music Superstore and blow most of it on tapes... Back when I heard something that inspired me... I would take a vacant cassette shell and design my own artwork for a fictional release of a band that would never, ever exist. I would sit at my desk and dream about being in a band as good as Vegetable...

Wish I still had some of those designs laying around...

Well, 20 years later, and hearing Vegetable, I got my band, did tons of cool stuff since then... But listening to these songs, and being exposed to Vegetable, I feel a need to return to that Tape Days innocence... I feel inspired in the most genuine meaning of the word and I'm looking around for a vacant cassette shell and a piece of paper... and a marker...