DF the CH, Episode III

As I'm finally all set up in my dorm in England, it's time to continue things with yet another little-known gem from the Kitsap County area.



The Humanoids were a bunch of Misfits-obsessed kids from Bainbridge Island, Washington, and were of the same generation as the aforementione Maurice's Little Bastards and Pantophobics. But while MLB were bursting at the seams with unstable lineups and Justin Maurer's endless energy and the Pantophobics were just goofing around, the Humanoids were a seemingly rambunctious lot (and at seperate points actually featured MLB's Sean Roach and Maurer on the drum throne). According to their way-outdated Angelfire site, singer Jakes was evidently known for self-mutilation when they played live, took a hatchet to an old bandmates' family's antique furniture, and was accosed of stealing from another ex-bandmates' brother. It was disappointing to hear that bassist Bradd was into some white power/NS digs at one point-- even reading Varg Vikernes' Vargsmal and taking a lot of influence from it.

But I digress-- the Humanoids were no racist band, and their Blood and Guts Demo is four slabs of complete and total lo-fi Misfits worship, complete with the off-key drawl of Jakes' singing. "Burn in Hell" tells of the narrator's stokage to...burn in hell, while "Line'em Up" preaches the death squad-style execution of everyone from "Baggy pants potheads [and] wanker wiggers" to "politicians with their pants at their feet." You can pretty much guess what "World War 3" is about, and "Slasher" details the life of a serial killer. All in all, hardly groundbreaking material, but a fun listen for anyone into horror punk.

Download here.

Where are they now?
I haven't a clue about the entire band save for Bradd, who along with a woman named Carrie runs Blood and Guts Records, a horror/oi/psychobilly label with a metal sublabel.

Sorry about the lack of stuff- DF the CH, Episode II

I was abroad in Israel for most of August and am only just now settling into my first real week of school. I've been jonesing to post this release for some time-- certainly one of the most crucial records to ever come out of Bainbridge Island, Washington, along with the Rickets' back catalog and perhaps the Humanoids' sole demo. Yes, this is the mighty MLB/Pantophobics split CD entitled Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Diet Soda.

At the time of release I was twelve years old and knew approximately nothing about music; instead of investigating the local scene, I was content to listen to mainstream rock radio, where crap like Korn were all the rage. I first heard about the Pantophobics from Justin Morgan, their drummer, who was an upperclassman at my middle school/high school. One hell of a funny guy, and one hell of a drummer; his bandmates Zach Lewis (guitar/vocals and also bass with MLB) and Ed Morales (bass/oi oi ois) were no slouches in performing the band's lackadaisacal indie rock, but even on the split's shoestring recording quality one thing is remarkably clear: Justin is fuckin' slamming the skins.

MLB were Maurice's Little Bastards. I first heard them when Justin popped their debut CD Greatest Hits into the computer next to mine in the school library one afternoon and told me that "you haven't heard punk until you've heard these guys." Seeing as how, at that point, my closest experience to punk was Green Day, he was right on. They open this album with what sounds like both bands emulating idle crowd chatter, puncuated by singer Justin Maurer intoning, "Welcome to Winslow, Baaaaainbridge Islannnd." From there, it's nine songs of off-the-wall lo-fi hardcore punk that sounds a whole lot like the Germs only with thumpy cardboard drums and lyrics about "[finding] a safe haven from my teenage anguish and hormonal induced deception" ("Ridin' On Out") and "endless proliferation of selfish materialism" ("Neon Brigade"). I really wish I'd been able to stay long enough at the Teen Center to see them play one spring Friday night, but my parents insisted on picking me up for dinner....MLB were known for their wild live set, and for Justin getting naked mid-song and remaining so for the duration of the set. Shucks...

Meanwhile, I did get to see a set by the mediocre Criminy and the totally awesome Pantophobics. They played a bunch of tunes from the split and their first song ever, a cover of Weezer's "The Sweater Song." For my first show ever, it was pretty awesome and so is their set of songs on the CD. The tunes are solid for what they are, but Justin's aforementioned powerhouse drumming really breathes life into everything. Zach's drawl has its own sort of catchiness, I suppose.

This album is quite clearly a work of friends having a blast together in the crummy studios they cut the songs in–– the bands' musical styles are quite disparate, to say the least. But this is one of those records that, for the better, sounds a lot like high school. Enjoy.




Maurice's Little Bastards/The Pantophobics- Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Diet Soda

Where are they now?
Justin Morgan is a bigtime cyclist and did some European circuits or something. He worked at the local bakery for a time. I thin he also might be in community college or the U of Washington now.
Zach Lewis went to college, if I recall correctly, after all the dudes graduated in 2002. His younger stepsister Leah was in Bainbridge punk band Bad Otis (featuring future Kalakala, Degania, and Helen Killers members), who named themselves after a Pantophobics song of the same name from this very record.
Ed Morales I have no idea about, and that's sort of fitting.
Justin Maurer moved to Portland and formed the Clorox Girls. After roughly ten million rhythym section changes, he's moved the band to London. I had the great pleasure of meeting him at a birthday show the band played on Bainbridge in July 2006. As everyone had said prior, he was about the nicest person ever and gave me an old 7" MLB recorded with their buddies the Shutups.
Sean "the" Roach, who drummed for MLB for a time and on this album, now lives in England as well and plays in Mayday Lewis.
I don't know anything about the MLB guitarist at the time, "Dequine" Fletcher.

DF the CH, Episode I

Welcome to the first part of DF the CH, where I'll be posting free tunes from a local band (most likely defunct) from or around Kitsap County, the area of Washington State I grew up in. I was no music scene figurehead-– just another stoked attendee. A lot of my favorite memories of senior year were at shows on Bainbridge or in Bremerton.

And at most of these was Valley of the Dinosaurs, truly a one-of-a-kind outfit. Four dudes from Bremerton who'd been in a plethora of bands before; their sound was the ultimate rarity: one that was simultaneously unique but wore its influences on its sleeves. Fugazi, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, and At the Drive-In were only a few groups the band cites on their Myspace page.

Jason Clackley and Dustin "Mangina" Mangini were the only two members who stayed in Valley from start to finish. Jason's onstage conviction and hyperactive jumping reminded me of D. Boon, but his voice was 100% reminiscent of bluesy classic rock singers. Call it whatever, but I call it soul- and Jason had it in spades. Dustin was and is skinny as can be– but his boney form belied an incredible energy all his own.

The initial rhythym section was undoubtedly the most locked in– Gavin Temeyer on drums and Kevin Trent on bass. Gavin, in contrast with Dustin and Jason, seemed to have a very concentrated idea of power and focus. Kevin, meanwhile, was the master of melodic interplay. His lines would at the very least differ ever so slightly from whatever Dustin and Jason were playing and it would all just work.

This original lineup released a self-titled EP recorded with Tony Reed of famed locals Mos Generator in 2005.

Every track holds its own; the mix is warm and clear right from the howling feedback briefly preceding the album's opening. "Truffle Shuffle" shifts from a woah-ohhhh verse into a contemplative section about "truffle shuffl[ing] through the seasons" where Jason warns not to "stray from one emotion." "Hey Sonic! Lay Off the Lightspeed" hits you next like a one-two punch and was a catalyst for circle pits countless times. "Mind in An Icebox" is perhaps the one song of theirs I don't think I ever heard live, but that's a damn shame; its swaying, waning riffs pause to give a bluesy guitar harmony break. "March" packs an urgent verse and a guitar harmonics call-and-response in before Jason belts "I TRY MY BEST TO REALIZE!" prompting a frantic break only to slide into a bluesy soft section and then right back to a frantic peak and then back to the soft again. "Time Until Death" was a tremendous slow-burner
with an intense, instantly apparent melancholy never lost, no matter the dynamic shift. The Thin Lizzy part is fantastic.

But what brings me back to every great Valley set I ever saw is "Stop and Go Traffic," the penultimate Jason-ditching-the-mic-and-everyone-piles-up-to-get-it song. The chorus- consisting solely of the lyric "Where do I reside"- was a moment of mass catharsis every time. The speed-along verse was also a great circle pit. In February of senior year, Valley played the Bainbridge Teen Center and the tiny space couldn't contain the madness. Jason broke a string after a song or two, and the band soldered on as a one-guitar ensemble. Kids were zooming around the room, careening into chairs-- my friend Nick even crowd surfed despite the low ceiling. When the band– coaxed by an anxious crowd– played this tune (which at that point they were entirely tired of) at their final Bainbridge show at the Blood Barn in August 2007, Jason ended it collapsed in an exhausted heap on the floor.

You can and should buy the EP on the band's Myspace.

While Kevin Trent was definitely a bass player who knew his role, he eventually left due to a difference of direction. According to Dustin, he "he wanted a more striaghtforward vibe, and Jason and I were trying to be "weirder" and write darker, less catchy stuff." So they brought in Desi, Dustin's younger brother, who was a capable player in his own right but played in much more supportive style suited for the band's subsequent material. VotD Mark II released a sole song on what was initially going to be a split tour 7" but ended up being a 3" mini-CD with Bainbridge's Helen Killers. "Seas of Change was a midway point– a similar catchiness to the first EP's material, but raw and meandering enough to hint at what would come. It was limited to only 50 copies and screened by Nick and Peter from the Helen Killers.


Valley of the Dinosaurs- Seas of Change

Gavin eventually quit as well for reasons I can't recall. Eventually good friend Justin Gallego (simultaneously in The Helen Killers and eventually Degania) joined and brought a new energy to the drumkit. Gavin was clean and relatively smooth, but Justin was a fury all his own and he hit hard. Some drummers make funny faces when concentrated, but Justin was one of the few I've seen who look genuinely emotional when playing, showing either an open-mouthed daze or a stoked smile, he enjoyed every second of performing live music.

The addition of Justin made everything huge, dynamic and cathartic about the band that much more so on their second and final self-titled EP, released in the summer of 2007. I don't know how many copies were produced, but by August they were all gone-- Desi was nice enough to give me the digipak case, hand-stenciled by Tony Wolfe.


This EP was undoubtedly in my top records of 2007 and as such I wrote a review of it for my college's newspaper-- only to have it cut at the last minute before publishing by the copy editor. But here tis:

Few songs released in 2007 were more raw, passionate and genuine at once than this Bremerton, WA-based quartet’s final release. Jason Clackley's voice– whether embodying aggravated rasp, classic rock soul or a melodic croon– soars above careening guitars and powerhouse drumming. Opening with a quiet minute of humming amps and softly picked guitars, the EP quickly erupts with “Sun is Dying.” “You wake up in the morning, with the sunshine and deaths/ a hollow absence in a dream.” belts Clackley, “A selfish hopefulness and a mindset/An argument transparent at the seam.” Cathartic in nature and breathtaking in execution, his lyrics’ heartbreaking sincerity clash with the upbeat tones of the instruments beneath, ramming themselves further into your ears without ever even touching contrived depression or the pigeonholing “emo” term so much music gets labeled as in this day and age. When the finale of “How to Die Completely” hits its last minute, the band climbs a mountainous crescendo only to switch to a slow trudge. Emoting every word, Clackley wails “And I woke up/In my heart of despair,” and there’s no doubt he’s telling the truth.

No other band sounds like Valley. Since they support their music being spread, and are unfortunately broken up, I've posted the EP in its entirety online. So long as you have enough of a connection speed, there's quite literally no excuse to avoid downloading it. Record labels today are so prone to putting out a record and proudly stating, "FOR FANS OF" and naming Pantera or some equivalently broadly influential group that gives no indication of how said record will sound. Valley of the Dinosaurs are simply for fans of music.





Valley of the Dinosaurs- 2007 s/t EP



Where'd they go to?
Jason has a fantastic solo project and his music is worth your ears and dinero. He also drums in the folkier Like Claws! and sings in The Flex.
Dustin is never in just one band. He plays guitar for Sunset Riders (hardcore punk) and fronts President Kennedy is Assassinated (sludgy and heavy).
Justin plays in both Degania and Kalakala when the other members are home from school on break. He also runs Young Summer Records (also see the blog on my bloglist) and is doing great things releasing DIY records for friends' bands.
I don't know what the hell Desi, Kevin or Gavin are up to.