Terrific early 1990s fanzine put out by Eric Friedl, pre-OBLIVIANS, just as Goner Records was getting off the ground.
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I missed most of the late 1990s Elephant 6 hullabaloo, having heard a couple of the bands in question. I dismissed some (Neutral Milk Hotel – gawd), sorta liked others (Olivia Tremor Control) and couldn’t be bothered to seek out the rest. That’s how I missed THE MINDERS, which is a goddamn shame. This Denver band were present at the creation of this mythical collective, and from what I’ve heard so far, their Big Star/Beatles/GBV-style pop was head and shoulders above the rest of the crew. You can hear for yourself here, on “Chatty Patty” from their posthumous Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends collection.
As is so often is the case, Erika Elizabeth from WMUA’s Expressway to Yr Skull radio show turned me on to this band, so big ups to her for doing so.
Just as San Francisco’s DWARVES were started to get some notice around the country for their mind-blowing, room-clearing 5-minute shows in the early 90s, Gerard Cosloy penned this piece in the Village Voice, which I’ve saved for over twenty years with the intention of sharing it with you on the internet today.
I just ordered this June 13th, 1981 issue of SOUNDS magazine for a king’s ransom of nearly $14 from a place in the UK. Looks pretty nondescript, doesn’t it? The value that us music obsessives assign to tokens from our youth, however, bears no relation to actual worth.
I was 13 years old when I bought this UK music paper at Little Professor Book Center in San Jose, CA (no joke). It totally upended my musical world. Already a fan of the “new wave” as I was, this was where I first heard the term “indie” – in relation to their Indie Top 20 chart, which was full of punk and post punk 45s that are considered legendary to this day. It was the first place outside of CREEM that I ever saw snarky, dismissive music journalism. (CREEM was a metalhead mag by this point anyway). In England, it appeared, it was all about the small-run 45rpm single, and there were dozens coming out every week from all corners of the UK.
I proceeded from that week in June 1981 to being a regular buyer of Sounds, NME and Melody Maker over the next four years or so. This one somehow got taken out with the trash a long time ago, and in a fit of nostalgia, I decided to spring for it again. Scans forthcoming.
I found my two copies of AWAY FROM THE PULSEBEAT fanzine in the garage this past weekend as I was looking for things to scan for you. This late ‘87 issue might not have any lasting rock heroes featured within its pages of interviews (my favorite among those pictured was Killdozer, whom I probably last listened to in about 1993), but their photos were original and well-done, and the actual reviews touched on all of 1987’s true heroes – Lazy Cowgirls, Laughing Hyenas, Pussy Galore, Green River, Scientists and so on.
I’ll have various scans from both issues parceled out here on the ‘Hemorrhage over the next few weeks.
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I’d have to put this track in my Top 20 songs of all time, to be honest. I didn’t hear THE DESPERATE BICYCLES until the ‘00s, I don’t think – not until the internet age was in full bloom. They were only a legend before then – “the ultimate ramshackle UK DIY band”; “agitprop aggressors for taking control of the means of music production & distribution” etc.
The band’s first two singles, from 1977 and 1978, are so unique and special that despite the explosion of amazing punk and deep-underground sounds at that time, their clattering, homebound, bass-driven songs truly have no equal or even imitators.
From WIPEOUT! fanzine #5. Not sure if this was a bumper sticker I could have had on my 1980 Mustang back then.
OUT NOW!
Reality is a Grape LP is available for $15.00 ppd. Use paypal tshannon14@hotmail.com
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A promise is a promise. Here’s “102, 103” from CLOTHILDE, le chanteuse du Francaise circa the late 60s and the undisputed queen of Yé-yé.
Flyer from 1994 “End of Rock” show with The Demolition Doll Rods, Monoshock and Icky Boyfriends, courtesy of Anthony Bedard’s Facebook page. Anthony, who headed up Past It Records, and I put this show on together (we also put out the Doll Rods first single). I actually couldn’t attend it, having been previously committed to some work-related trip to New Jersey or somewhere thereabouts.
My then-new girlfriend Rebecca, now my wife-of-14-years Rebecca, sold the merch at the Doll Rods table in my absence. Everyone we talked to said it was a ripping show, punctuated by Tom Guido, the Purple Onion’s L’enfant terrible, jumping onto the stage multiple times to interrupt the bands, a very common occurrence from the drunkest, worst club owner in history (who nonetheless ran a terrific club for a few years in the mid-90s).
AGONY SHORTHAND 