Images
Robert Palmer, the longtime New York Times music critic, writing about THE FLESH EATERS in 1982 (!).
Terrific early 1990s fanzine put out by Eric Friedl, pre-OBLIVIANS, just as Goner Records was getting off the ground.
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.
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
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).
After posting the wall-pinning track “Muchos Dracula” from Seattle’s TEA COZIES for you yesterday, I decided to do a little back catalog digging on the band in order to provide you with a more rounded picture of this band. Like I said yesterday, their oeuvre goes back to 2006, and it looks like they’ve been laying pretty low for the last three years. Thankfully it’s all on Bandcamp so you can do your own exploring.
My take is that they’re probably peaking right now, because nothing, aside from a great, poppy 2008 45 called “Pretty Pages”, can touch their wild new track. Tea Cozies are rooted in post-punk gronk, along with glossy sheen of fairly indie-esque pop music, and in the right hands that could still be some dangerous stuff. Their album “Hot Probs” from 2009 is more like B- material, with several songs approaching the 6-minute mark and one chorus too many on the others. I’m all for seeing where they go next after this recent mp3 leakage. You still with me?
AGONY SHORTHAND 