Doughboys, Part II: Crush is Fucking AWESOME

Isn't it awesome when two things you love go together great? I was hanging out with Adam Franklin from Swervedriver between soundcheck and showtime in downtown Seattle and when the Doughboys came up in conversation, he immediately revealed that only was John Kastner a good friend, but also a guitar tech for the Swervies when they played Coachella this past spring. Small world. Apparently both bands gigged together some back in the day...what I wouldn't give to have been born a decade earlier...

Crush arrived while I was still at college. Appropriately, the CD was in fact crushed, the case cracked and the lower-right corner of the case broken off. Dismayed, I gave the seller some neutral feedback and threw the album on.

Holy shit.

Better than Home Again? It's sure as shit in the same league, at the very, very least. But here, most of the band's hardcore elements are completely stripped away. In their place? Pop. Outright, catchy-as-hell vocal harmonies even more accessible than on previous records. Polished guitar tone with just enough messiness in the playing to keep things loose and fun. This is a special record, and not like Home Again; Crush is a rare record: incredibly commercial, but entirely guilt-free. The Husker Du-influenced "honest" sound of Kastner and company's vocals are hardly gone, but soaked in just enough sugar.

There's not a bad song on the record. "Shine" kicks it off with a riff that, well, shines like the summer sun. The energy has nowhere to go but up on the chorus of "Melt"-- its soaring guitars beautifully juxtaposed with the slightly subdued but still active bass fuzztone of Peter Arsenault during the verses. "Disposable" briefly takes things down a notch with a tale of a girl who's "drunk again/on Listerine" and who's "just a toothpaste cap/falling down my bathroom sink." Another phenomal chorus. "Fix Me" explodes with a riff that hits you face first. It's also ripe for photogenic slo-mo headbanging in pop-punk. Don't take my word for it, watch below.


Note John singing the prechorus just before returning to headbanging.

You get all this awesome in just the first four tracks. There's still 2/3 of an album's worth of awesome left.

So go to eBay, sort through the dollar bins and find this record. It can easily be had for under five bucks.

I'll post a song or two soon, check back.

Their Presence is Unquestionable

Atheist were a Floridian technical death metal band and one of the first to incorporate jazz elements into their sound. Their first record, Piece of Time, was a ragin' disc of death/thrash and a very promising debut. The band really came into their own, however, on 1991's Unquestionable Presence. The only traditional death metal element present was Kelly Shaefer's rasp-- but even then, he was one of the more intelligible extreme vocalists of the era. Shaefer and Rand Burkey's guitars clashed over or played with the insane bass style of Tony Choy (who recorded the lines written by original, amazingly promising bassist Roger Patterson, the unfortunate victim of a tour van crash) and the jazzy, almost melodic drumming style of Steve Flynn.

The band reunited and played a whole bunch of festival appearances throughout 2006 and 2007. I was very fortunate to meet, see, and hang out with the guys (including live guitarists Sonny Carson and Chris Baker, filling due to Shaefer's carpal tunnel and Burkey's legal troubles) at their first US show in 13 years for Baltimore's 2006 Auditory Assault Fest. Great guys, amazing set, and overall one of the best nights of my life.

The interview I did with Steve, Kelly and Tony was first published in my school's newspaper, but as of this week it's been published in the fine, long-running metal/punk/grind zine Disposable Underground, written by Richard Johnson of grind 'n' rollers Drugs of Faith. Every single issue he's ever written can be downloaded in PDF form and is worth your attention if you're into any sort of extreme music. Back in the day, he did quality interviews with Carcass, Discordance Axis, Napalm Death, Gorguts, and a bazillion more. Richard will also send you a copy of the zine free of charge, should you want a print copy.

Back to my interview, though-- it's not my best piece, writing-wise. With that said, however, the band's answers are quite awesome and quite thorough. Have a read through some of Richard's stuff, too– he's a great journalist.

If you're scratching your head wondering what the hell jazz and death metal sound like when they're mixed, try their classic "An Incarnation's Dream" on for size.

Atheist- An Incarnation's Dream

Star Wars Can Be Mixed With Goddamn Near Anything And Still Rule

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.

Vinyl Treasures

As the title suggests, what follows are some of my more valuable favorites I've picked out from my LPs. I don't have the most massive collection, but I'm really excited about what I do have. I collect records, but I wouldn't really call myself a "collector" per se because I don't spend massive amounts of money on a single record. As such most of the prized gems from my collection aren't the rarest things out there.

Here are some that have a special place in my heart and/or ears.

My Coroner Collection

A fantastic Swiss technical/progressive thrash metal trio that will surely merit a post of their own on the Squidlair someday. The so-so Noise Records mixing sounds better on these than the remaster CDs I have...Ron Royce's fantastic bass playing comes through quite clearly. I managed to score these from eBay at solid prices; aside from Grin, none ran over 18 bucks.

Top row: 1987's R.I.P.; 1988's Punishment for Decadence (European version with original cover); 1988's Punishment for Decadence (American version with the cover the label put on it...which is cool nonetheless. Skeleton playing a bone with a violin bow! Jimmy Page would be proud.)
Middle row: 1989's No More Color; 1989 maxi-single clear vinyl 12" of "Die By My Hand"/"Tunnel of Pain," both from No More Color; and 1993's Grin, which is the most I've ever spent on a record at $40. I would've never had a chance had I not mentioned on the Atheist forum that I'd give my pinky for it. A few days later, a French guy emailed me about his auctioning off his copy and I pounced. Thanks, Adbhuta.
Bottom row: 1991 "Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)"/"I Want You" 7" from Mental Vortex; 1988 "Purple Haze"/"Masked Jackal" 7" from the Punishment for Decadence era. Their Beatles cover is monstrous, but their Hendrix cover sucks.

Anyone have a copy of Mental Vortex with the original inners (including the poster) intact? Sell it to me.

My Bloody Valentine- Loveless (2008 Aural Exploits Repress)

As previously established, I love MBV. I also love the color red, and and colored vinyl. This is contains all of the above and is number 390 out of 1000. Sounds gorgeous and looks it, too.

Heresy- Face Up to It! (First Canadian pressing)

Heresy are another band I have Tony Pence to thank for getting me interested in. The band were a bunch of Birmingham lads who, along with Napalm Death, ushered in a new era of speed in extreme music. I bought this after buying the reissue of it. Despite the sound differences (the reissue sounds as good as they could make this lo-fi album), this was a fantasic investment. The original pressing contains a little folded sheet not only containing lyrics but also singer/lyricist John's explanations of his songs. He's quite articulate; grindcore, while a genre I often dig, isn't really known for profound thought, but he has a lot of good things to say about a lot of different issues.

According to bassist Kalv, they licensed this record to be pressed in Canada at the same time they pressed it in the UK– and the guy heading up the operation never got back to the band after going ahead with the whole shebang and only sent them a few copies.

Iron Maiden- Live After Death

Iron Maiden need no introduction. This was the first album I ever bought on vinyl, and is basically the best live metal album ever. It has some great tour photos in the inner sleeves, and seeing Derek Riggs art in LP format is like watching your favorite epic movie in IMAX. I'm seeing Maiden this Monday night, and they'll be playing a setlist very similar to this one. Can't wait.

Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream (First pressing)

Tied with Coroner's Grin for the most I've ever spent on a record at forty bucks, also from Tony at Celebrated Summer Records. The current reissues are on orange as well, but not marble orange as both LPs here are. So delicious is the shade of orange that I think of it as something more along the lines of "Siamese Dreamsicle."

Ali Akbar Khan- Ragas of India
I don't know if this is rare or not, but I have an unconditional love of Indian classical music. This was found and bought along with a whole bunch of other stuff for very little at a Rotary auction last year. Khan is/was a very accomplished sarod player and this one-raga-per-side record is very soothing.

Oh, and it has bewbs on the cover. Bonus.

The Doughboys- Home Again
I have also established my love for the Doughboys. The LP of Home Again unfortunately doesn't feature a lyrics sleeve, but the mix sounds much less cramped than the CD version while retaining the sloppy charm.

Nektar
L to R: 1976's Recycled, 1973's Remember the Future, and 1972's A Tab in the Ocean.

Nektar are a fantastically funky prog band with all my favorite textures from that time period- Mellotron, Rickenbacker bass, crooned vocals....I need to throw these on again. My favorite is probably Remember, which is about a blind boy meeting an alien.

Comus- First Utterance (2002 Earmark Records Reissue)
Yes, a repress. This alone was thirty dollars well spent, as it goes for more on eBay and the original will set you back 200, easy.

Comus are a band that will mess with your head, to understate the matter entirely. When I first checked out this album art, my first thought was something along the lines of, wow...will I end up like the guy on the cover?

Then I listened and the answer was a resounding "YES." Let's put on our imagination helms and envision the following: it's 1969. The Moody Blues and Jethro Tull are somehow touring together and, while in transit over a large body of water, crash land on a deserted island in the middle of the open ocean. Scrounging what basic acoustic instruments they could find from the wreckage (the Mellotron is gone, man), they quickly go insane from the solitude and manage to record the results.

That's what First Utterance is like.

Kaveret- Poogy Tales
Last summer, my good friend Alex and I dug through my parents' box of records, which had until that time resided in our garage. Among the mass of LPs we pulled was this- a thinly-packaged white sleeve with a hobo playing hacky sack and a lot of Hebrew letters on it. Alex insisted we play it, and while initially reluctant I finally put it on the turntable. As the music seeped out of the speakers, we were astonished. This wasn't good. It was great. Joyous, wonderfully psychedelic sounds familiar to us from the other '60s and '70s rock we listened to...only this was in Hebrew! It was beautiful and exotic and genuinely happy music.

Turns out my mother had bought the album some thirty plus years ago, when she had worked on a Kibbutz in Israel. Kaveret were huge at the time and she even saw them live.

Apparently this has been reissued on CD. I can't recommend it enough.

EXCLUSIVE Interview with Adam Franklin of SWERVEDRIVER

If you haven't heard of Swervedriver but dig bands like Dinosaur Jr, Soundgarden, and pre-suckage Smashing Pumpkins, you're entirely missing out. The band has returned from indefinite hiatus after some ten years.

I was lucky enough to get in touch with singer/guitarist Adam Franklin and even luckier when said he was down with answering a few questions.

-When I listen to Raise, I hear a lot of Dinosaur Jr worship going on. You guys really work the guitar effects (wah pedals especially) and your vocals are buried. Any accuracy to this perception? And why is your singing so low in the mix?

Dinosaur were a big influence around the time of You're Living All Over Me and Bug, for sure. I don't really know why the vocals were so low but I certainly wasn't that confident with the vocals at the time plus it was also perhaps a prevailing stylistic trend at the time.

-Did you receive any vocal training between Raise and Mezcal Head? The production mixes your voice much better and it carries a lot of melody as well.

Actually I did have one singing lesson that may have been around that time. She was an opera singer and she had a picture of her with Pavarotti on her piano and she had at one time given lessons to Johnny Rotten. At the start of the lesson she got me to reach for my lowest and highest notes and then said "right. I guarantee that in an hour you will be singing 2 notes higher and 3 lower - and she was right.

-What role did effects play in songwriting? Were any riffs written with a given effect in mind, or were they added as an afterthought?

I think it's true to say that sometimes you find a sound and base a song around that sound but you of course have to find a killer melody to use it with.

-For that matter, let's say you're exiled to a desert isle with just your Jazzmaster, your amp and your choice of ONE effect. Which do you choose and why?

Vox Cry Baby wah wah pedal to express my blues at being exiled on a desert island.

-Do you consider Swervedriver a shoegaze band? You guys hailed from the same area, if I recall, and were on Creation and had a lot of influences different from that of, say, Curve or Slowdive.

No. There are certainly some stylistic similarities with those bands, no denying, and particularly on that first album, with the vocals down in the mix etc as you mentioned before, but really Swervedriver has always been more of a rock band.

-Most shoegaze music is often characterized as “druggy.” Would you say Swervedriver’s music qualifies as such? Did drugs play any role in songwriting?

I always say that you probably ought to 'road test' your music to see if it sounds cool on drugs (always better if it does!) and Jimmy was always on 'headphone duty' making sure that the stoners minds' would be blown the requisite amount by some apocalyptic panning.

-What do you think of the influx of new, younger bands labeling themselves shoegaze?

To be honest it puts me off if a MySpace band has 'shogaze' listed as its genre but I suppose it's a valid description at this stage. I think there are cool bands from all ends of the spectrum that take elements of said genre, whether it's Lali Puna or Dead Meadow. The band Film School seem to be doing the right kind of thing - taking the influence and leading it somewhere new.

-What was your lyrical approach? Many of the tunes seem to be about relationships. Any truth to this, or am I completely off-base?

They possibly are - even some of the songs that sound like they're about driving are about pining for something else, like a new place to live or a new person to hang out with. "She's Beside Herself" and "Out" are undeniably about relationships and "For Seeking Heat" is probably the only song purely about speed on the road.

-Were you genuinely feeling murderous in the events inspiring "Last Train to Satansville," or is that just artistic license?

Artistic license - better to write about it than carry out the act! Besides I don't and will probably never own a gun.
-For the love of all things decent, will you PLEASE include "Never Lose That Feeling" in the tour setlist?

Maybe.

-Tomas Lindberg of seminal Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates has gone on record saying he adores you guys, especially the Raise album. Are you a closet At the Gates fan? Would you ever consider letting Tomas get up onstage and bark over "Son of Mustang Ford" if you guys played Gothenburg?

I must admit I wasn't aware of At the Gates until you mentioned them but I just checked their MySpace page and Tomas is welcome anytime. I think.

-What’s your favorite song you wrote for Swervedriver, and what is one you have an affinity for that no fan ever gushes over?

"Maelstrom" is a song that I love but no-one else in the band is crazy about ...but that's okay because I guess I can play it with my Bolts of Melody [Adam's solo album] band! I also like "93 Million Miles From The Sun," which is a re-write of "Harry & Maggie."

-Whatever happened to the studio you guys won after the Geffen lawsuit fiasco?

You mean the studio that we built from Geffen advance money? I wish we really had won it! The band Ash nearly bought it but in the end we closed it down.

-What inspired the band's reunion?

The time was simply right.

-What are the top 5 records you're listening to right now?

Serge Gainsborg - Les Annee Psychedeliques
Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue
Scott Walker - Boy Child 67-70
The Still Out - Crystallised
The Darjeeling Limited - OST

-Anything you’d like to say in closing?

Support your local indie record store!

Official Swervedriver Website

Asa is a Shitty Musician

It's true, but that won't stop me from doing a post about the song I did for my Computer Music class this semester. If it sounds rushed, it is. I was asked to write program notes for when it was played live at the culmination concert, and they are as follows:

“You Have Only Now” was composed during the late winter/early spring months of 2008 by Asa E. While he considers himself a bassist before a guitarist, he had a few riffs kicking around that were written on the latter instrument and attempted to assemble them in a cohesive, song-like manner, adding in odds and ends where necessary. While he attempts to not to rip off his direct influences, he’s quite open about the fact that My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, Jesu’s Silver, Opeth’s Still Life and Dinosaur Jr’s You’re Living All Over Me albums were all in rather heavy rotation at the time of writing, and hopes that some of the elements come through.

If my underconfident guitar solo (the only time I feel like I've played EXACTLY what I wanted to) doesn't SCREAM J Mascis worship, I don't know what will. Aside from dyeing my hair silver, of course. And yes, the rhythm's off at points and the opening Opethy strum part is totally tempoless. I never said I was good. But as simple and/or lackluster as the piece is, it's the first song I "composed" on my own–guitar, bass, and even that minimal drum loop.

I didn't really say what the song was about because I don't really know. I wanted the wall-of-sound guitar stuff to emote a hazey, euphoric sort of feeling. Don't know if that came through.

For those who haven't stopped reading and/or care about technical crap, the song is in D standard tuning. I ran a Fender Mexi-Strat through my Sansamp Para Driver DI preamp pedal for the initial distortion sound, then added amp simulation, reverb, and some chorus in Logic 7. The bass tracks were written and cut entirely in one night on a borrowed Ibanez SRX300 4-string run straight into the board and EQ'd in postproduction. The drum loop was an impatiently-produced thing based on a pattern from Logic 7's built-in Ultrabeat drum machine. Finally, the glassy synth string melody over the intro was added at the last minute via a Logic Softsynth MIDI patch triggered by a two-octave MIDI controller the studio had by the board.

And with all this said, I give you the mediocrely-titled "You Have Only Now."