Somewhere in the middle of getting way-involved whilst reading an alternate history of World War 3 starting from events that came to be known as The Cuban Missile Crisis... Totem, the Fifth full-length from Cincinnati phantoms The Hiders found me... In just the right time, breaking up my WW III reading just moments before a reoccurance of my self-diagnosed 'Thermonuclear Anxiety' or Nucleomituphobia to you newer fans. We all have our good-times and bad-times. Those times when your ten-years old and you know the yield of a nuclear warhead and you get the phone book maps out and see how many 'as the crow fly' miles you are from General Electric. Well, you will remember that guttural feeling long after the statistics are gone.
That's how I am with music... A certain feeling, or if I'm lucky, a certain feeling and event will instantly resurface for at least a shining moment. Hopefully more... Like this:
I don't know when, exactly or how country music... REAL country music died, but I think it happened in that funky-era when you'd go 'Down-Home' [Kentucky] and all your relatives stopped calling make-up doused metal-heads or those with long-hair faggits. Willie Nelson was one exception (there's always exceptions) due to his mane always being braided, but still... I woke up one day and whaddya know! The long-hair was in. I didn't even know peace-talks between 'Country Music' and 'Rock and Roll' were taking place! The acceptance of the long-hair aka "Bad Boy Look" in-conjunction with the creek-watered-down pride-filled shitty-ass music that may have talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk, was here to stay.
As I see it, we live in the days before the fall of our society... No apology for that deepness... All that country music that I heard as a kid on the trips Down-Home with the winding roads that had me sliding back and forth in the slick, Armour-All backseat of a Cadillac, hearing the wind from the window cracked open to ease the smoke-filled car a bit... Country music blaring. Twitty, Haggard, Lynn... Sometimes you just don't know how awesome things are until...
Until those veiled good times are long gone... But we still have the ability for good times ahead. There's always room for a new soundtrack and the latest Hiders release, Totem, is part of the soundtrack redefining what once warring factions of music genres and in the process, bringing some much needed music, GOOD music, to the populace.
Totem is what 'new' country-music should be. It's riddled with hooks, twist and turns and a sway or two, that brings to bare, and expands upon, The Hiders 'sound.' A sound that goes far beyond the alternative music scene of yester-year and gives the people craving different and unique something to chew on for a while. Totem is a audio-treat that you cant find a loud enough stereo for... Totem is perfect for fans of Neil Young, Desperado/Outlier country music, Drive-By Truckers, Josh Ritter, Gram Parsons listeners and, you guessed it, greasy un-kept long-hair outsters. Some may think of The Hiders as a un-noticed secret part of The Cincinnati Music scene but thats just hogwash... You just have to FIND them, but still... No shame in your ability to fail though. After all, they are called THE HIDERS!
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1962 Cuban Missile Crises Alternative Future
