NeareSST Relatives, Part IV

I can’t go on like this forever. It’s just not sustainable, this 1-degree-of-SST idea. I mean, there’s only so many SST/New Alliance Records-related fixations a man can reasonably have. And I’ve talked about most all of them over the course of these here NeareSST Relatives posts (the 1st, or 2nd, or 3rd installments in this series will clarify things for newcomers). So: barring the appearance of, say, a TOM TROCCOLI commemorative water bong or a MERRILL WARD annotated tarot deck – this’ll be the last of this series. Now, don’t start stamping your feet: there’ll be other SST rants/raves here is the future, oh yes indeed. But this’ll stand as your last NeareSST affront. Turn it up to 12 and count it off . . .

1. THE PERFECT RAT – “Clouds” (from their Endangered Species, Alone Records, 2007) I once stumbled into The Idea Room – a short-lived coffee house & performance space adjacent to the SST Records HQ in Long Beach in the 90’s – and watched slack-jawed as bassist Greg Ginn, saxophonist Tony Atherton, and an unknown-to-me drummer (Bill Stinson?) coiled loosely together into a freestyle jam. Then, up stepped one Rev. Jack Brewer, who proceeded to intone a stack of obtuse poems like they were particularly nasty death threats/suicide notes. Now I’d seen Brewer perform before, but as I’d missed out on seeing BLACK FLAG and GONE, this was my one and only time I ever saw Ginn play live (though I did bump into G. once manning a cat rescue table outside an LB pet store!). It was urgent, plaintive, intuitive and out there, man.

Now: this CD hits the “market”, and dammit if it ain’t oddly similar. It’s the same core of dudes and the execution’s not unlike that one-off performance, except the twin gtr smudge attack (c/o Mario Lalli and Gary Arce) pushes the sound away from BOHO JAZZ and right on into the smoldering firepit of HEAVY DUTY. A third of this is instrumental, but the rest has Jack right up front, preaching the word – older, but no less ornery or driven. If he’d been a bit more prolific over the years, Jack would stand as a Cali equivalent to THE FALL’s Marc E. Smith in terms of nutrient-rich verbal content. And Ginn’s basslines, alternatingly contemplative and playfully blippity – so unlike his chunkstyle riffing and careening soloing in FLAG! – compel me in totally unexpected ways.

These are a lot more than just TEN EAST demos, pal.

2. BRIAN WALSBY – Manchild 3 (Bifocal Media, 2007) – New softcover by this cartoonist to the HC stars. Brian Walsby has been around for a coon’s age drawing flyers/recordcovers/comics based on our communal slam pit heritage that are boneheaded and bellyaching, in pretty equal amounts. This issue is especially heavy on the SST references, with a couple of great, full-page caricatures based on famous depictions of BLACK FLAG and THE MINUTEMEN, not to mention a hilarious Brady Bunch send-up of Greg, Chuck, and the rest of the gang. Other pieces include “Life After BLACK FLAG” (check that one out here), “Possible Careers for the BLACK FLAG My War Puppet Mascot” etc. . . you get the picture. The fact that Brian returns to this subject matter over and over (not unlike yours truly) belies a real reverence for the entire SST nexus. Bonus: this comes with a CD by Brian’s other favorite subject – THE MELVINS. A lo-fi, unreleased demo tape from 1987, pre-Ozma with Lori Black on bass! Would make a great stocking stuffer fr sure.

3. TWISTED ROOTS – “Every Party Song” (from their Twisted Roots LP, CD Presents, 1986) – Not to be confused with the self-titled TWISTED ROOTS LP/CD on Bacchus Archives (which I recommend heartily), this was a one-off LP by Paul Roessler + a totally different band, including gtrist Dez Cadena and bassist Bruce Duff of the mighty JESTERS OF DESTINY. It was recorded while Paul was in DC3, but acted as a vehicle for his more theatrical, singer-songwritery impulses. It’s kinda sorta similar to the wacko approach Pat Smear took on his Ruthensmear rec on SST that same year (i.e. glitter/croon/pomp), but with a focus on piano-driven pop songcraft. And, for reasons that escape me now, much less successful.

While Ruthensmear delivered what I always considered to be a bitchen, post-wave update of MICK RONSON’s Slaughter on 10th Avenue, here Paul ends up sounding like, I dunno . . . an underground 80’s JOBRIATH? It won’t be the sort of brew most can stand, but hey: I’m kinda fascinated by JOBRIATH, so I can at least follow Paul’s logic. This particular cut is no less sappy/over-the-top than anything else on this rec, but it does have one of them nice melodies both Pat and Paul were once able to toss off during a quick Oki Dog midnight run. Plus, it kinda makes me miss the days when going to see Pat’s DEATH FOLK was a viable Friday night gig out in LA.

Stretches your patience, perhaps – but for whatever reason, I’m still sitting here listening to it.

4. SLUTS FOR HIRE – “Problem” (from The Happiest Band on Earth CD, Flipside Records, 1996) In many ways, the LEAVING TRAINS were odd-men-out within the SST constellation: they were glamfag and willfully Hollywood, unlike all the rest of those dress-down, hairy/nerdy SST rocker types living out in Harbor City or wherever back then. The TRAINS never bothered with boring things like musical chops, and though they wrote great tunes they were often so amped up they’d race through em hastily like they were devouring a tube of Pringles. But like their labelmates, the TRAINS were originally from ‘burbs (well Pacific Palisades, anyway) and they always stuck their tongues out at any urbane coolness/smugness around LA.

As did their screaming kid-sisters, the SLUTS FOR HIRE. The SLUTS were initially the TRAINS + friends in disguise, and they released a stupid/silly single to prove it. Then, Falling James was kicked out for being too old. Soon after, the SLUTS released a full-length CD and became 90’s Flipside mag idiot savant glitterati.

Now I’m not gonna kid you and say they were any shade of genius. But oh man they were soooo much fun live, kicking/yelling/screaming and flinging all their colored hair and bright, thriftstore duds round the clubs, long after most hipsters had lost any kinda fashion sense whatsoever. Seeing them had this unrepentant SPARKS/CELEBRITY SKIN fan thinking he’d died and gone to Tinseltown. Hell, I can honestly say they remain my favorite gig-on-cannabis ever. That’s EVER. Best SLUTS lyric (from “Neil Young”): ”Bruce Berry was a working man/ he used to load that Econoline van/ but that’s not all Bruce was loading . . .” Wish there were still half a dozen bands this fun out in LA anymore . . .

5. BLACK KALI MA – “Evil Clowns” (from their You Ride the Pony CD on Alternative Tentacles Records, 2000) Gary Floyd’s is the third voice I most-closely associate with my home state of Texas. His falls right after ROKY ERICKSON and BILLY GIBBONS, but most definitely ahead of both BUDDY HOLLY and GIBBY HAYNES. And Gary’s is a great one. He screamed out one of the most memorable/iconic songs of the early hardcore punk rock era (THE DICKS’ “Hate the Police”) and howled all over two good SST LPs (THE DICKS’ Kill From the Heart and SISTER DOUBLE HAPPINESS’ self-titled LP) . Gary’s also known for his large stature but by the time he put together BLACK KALI MA he’d lost a heck of a lot of that weight, surely for health reasons. But that didn’t affect his voice one iota. I especially like Gary when he gets all sentimental, since it’s so obvious he’s a big – really, really big – softy underneath it all. Though here, the band is crunching down in that burning, hard ‘n’ heavy Texas blues rock tradition, bringing to mind THE MELVINS circa Stag. Tasty.

6. DEBRIS INC. – “I Love Livin’ in the City” (From their Debris Inc. CD, Rise Above Records, 2005) If SACCHARINE TRUST were soul music, Wilmington-style, then Dave Chandler’s SAINT VITUS were most definitely soul music, Torrance-style. Longhair boys who just wanted to rock it slow, low, and heavy. Nothing more. How many people this side of Terry Riley have been so goddamn single-minded about their mission?

But that GERMS (GI) t-shirt Dave always wore (prominently displayed on the cover of the SAINT VITUS Thirsty & Miserable EP) was the source of many moments of really, really deep thought for me a kid. Like: were all these HC punkers just metalheads reborn with crewcuts? Was THE GERMS’ “Shutdown” a not-so-veiled BLACK SABBATH tribute? Did the Fabulous Furry Freak Bros. listen to THE RAMONES while they got high? It was positively confounding.

As was Dave’s recent DEBRIS INC. project. I suppose this was just a lark – nuthin’ but a diversion cooked up by bassist Rob Holzer (ex-TROUBLE) to get Dave away from the internet porn for an album’s length. They do this FEAR cover, an X cover (“Nausea”), and a bunch of short, blunt riff rants that sound as if they were written in the studio. And while the sum total ain’t exactly substantial (unlike every damn VITUS release), Dave is one unheralded gtrist/musician who actually deserves our unqualified support, even when he decides to goof off. My old boss once described his solos as sounding “like insects scrambling up a wall.” And there’s some of his patented insect-scrambling on this release too – ah, the sound of pure ecstasy! More than a few of us continue to slither in the shadows, patiently awaiting Dave’s next project . . .

7. ANDY & THE RATTLESNAKES – “Patience” (From their Last Summer to Dance comp. CD, Fellaheen Records, 2006) As the 70’s became the 80’s, Andy and the boys held down a couple-year residency at the Taurus Tavern in Culver City near Venice. A pre-SST Records TOM TROCCOLI swooned to ‘em many a night therein, vowing then and there: should I ever get the chance to make a record, I’m gonna record something by this man. He got the chance on his Dog album on SST from ’85 with a wiggy version of this tune, albeit with liberties taken in the lyrical and arrangement department. And last year, Andy finally pulled together all his band’s loose cuts/demos from ‘80-’81 on to this CD.

Time hasn’t exactly smiled on the sound of guys like Andy – the GARLAND JEFFREYS of the West Coast, anyone? But see, people forget that bands like THE MOTELS defined Hollywood street rock way more coherently than, say, THE GERMS did back in ‘77 (Darby & Pat’s thing wouldn’t cohere for at least a year more). And Andy was the spiritually heir to that solid, early MOTELS sound. Aww, now you punkers just relax why doncha, it’s all just music anyway. Some of this band went on to be in BURNING SENSATIONS, but if that bothers you imagine you’re listening to the genesis of all things NIG HEIST and this tune’ll sit just fine.

8. JACK BREWER – No Lunch (Sinistry Press, 1991) A fitting end to this fitting (as in epileptic) series of posts. I bought this slim printed volume of Jack’s poetry at the tiny SST SUPERSTORE that existed on Sunset Blvd. for a year or two in the early 90’s. Pat Smear wasn’t working that day – maybe Kurt had already drafted him into NIRVANA? At any rate, it was left to a miserable-looking Falling James of THE LEAVING TRAINS, clad head-to-toe in drag, to accept my cash payment for this. And in all my travels, I’ve never ever seen another copy. It’s mostly lyrics taken from his various musical projects (SACCHARINE TRUST, JACK BREWER BAND, BAZOOKA, etc.) but there’s some stray bits in here that I don’t believe have ever found their way to record.

Jack’s always had a disquieting knack of melding mythical allegory & religious iconography with the mundane harshness of that $4.25-an-hour suburban CA life he’s been exiled to. His words are timeless, crystaline sweat; they ring out loud and righteous, no matter if he’s reading from high on a pedestal or from the prone position on a beer-splattered rock ‘n’ roll stage. And his art exemplifies that utterly compelling mix of high & low brow aesthetic senses – filtered through the grim reality of service-worker chumpdom – that underpinned all the best SST bands/artists. Dig the blurb.

- – - – -

With that, I’m done. My hope for all you reading these NeareSST Relatives posts? That you will be reminded to plug into the work of these fine, fine ex-SST folks in the near future. Amen.

Vintage SST tuner photos courtesy of Jonathan Charles

Fang Fever

Yup. It’s almost that time of year again . . . freaking HALLOWEEN time!!! Spooky spooky spooky! And to kickstart all those little WARM, TRICKLING BLOODSTREAMS out there, I’m gonna give y’all a quick earfull of

THE ABSOLUTE VERY BEST 1970’s VAMPIRE-DISCO SONGS OF ALL TIME!
Murrrrhhaaaaaahhhhaaaahhhaahhh!!

(OK, OK – so these are also the ONLY 1970’s VAMPIRE-DISCO SONGS I am currently aware of. Please, feel free to point me in the direction of others.)

First up on the chopping block, I give you . . .

1. Hot Blood: “Soul Dracula” (Dynamo Records, US, 1977)
The grandmama of them all. This song’s so funky/scary, you might end up dancing yourself into A FETAL POSITION – or maybe, high-tailing it from the room, screaming BLOODY MURDER. It’s actually only one of 7 songs on what may be the only true 1970’s HORROR DISCO FULL-LENGTH LP (other gruesome titles include “Baby Frankie Stein”, “Dracula Goes Dreamy”, and “Terror on the Dance Floor”). If this doesn’t get your Mummy doing the dirty boogie with Wolfie, I don’t know what will.

Next up in this chamber of horrors is . . .

2. The Vamps: “Disco Blood” (Building Records, Brazil, 1977)
This one is actually more unhinged than “Soul Dracula”, which says a helluva lot. Although there’s also something here that vibes me out a bit – in a distinctly un-Halloweeny sort of way. Like, maybe these VAMP guys might try to pants me if I bumped up next to ‘em on the dance floor. But no matter: it’s still a solid winner at Halloween time. And the picture sleeve (of a GAPING, BLOODY VAMPIRE MOUTH) has me seeing red whenever I stare at a 12″ 45 for too long. Ugggghhh.

Finally, I give you the dearly departed . . .

3. Voltaire with Gary Bribosia: “Dracula Disco” (Polydor, Canada, 1977)
The mellowest entry here, but as we all know vampires often strike WHEN WE LEAST EXPECT IT, so beware. Of course, who could think of sleeping with mad Catskill-comedian VOLTAIRE on the loose? Actually, I kinda think he sorta ruins the prerequisite errie, Halloween mood here. Thankfully, this tune was also released VOLTAIRE-less, and credited to GARY BRIBOSIA alone. THAT version is calculated to lull you into a deep, dark, dreamless sleep . . .

MAY YOU REST IN PEACE.

Pagan Altar Takes Flight

Dig this: we caught PAGAN ALTAR live at ULU in London on Friday night. Their second gig (the first was a couple weeks back in Leeds) in a quarter century! Aaaaaah!

The sound was a bit rough, but nicely crunchy and way LOUD – just like how those early ’80s recordings on their definitive Volume 1 CD sound. Gtrist Alan Jones looked/played just like an aging Jeff Beck, while brother/singer Terry alternated from an easy-going, Essex-dad persona to POSSESSED WARLOCK CHANNELING THE UNDYING FLAMES OF HELLFIRE in the space of a single breath. Their mix of galloping NWOBHM rhythms with those slow, crushing tempos we now come to know and love as D-O-O-M spelt a little bit of Heaven & Hell to these ears. When I shut my eyes, I could almost imagine PAGAN ALTAR were burning a hole in the center of the coming apocalypse, large enough for all us rocker types to pass right on through, unscathed – so we, the chosen few, could keep rockin’ for all eternity.

My wife & I were swaying all night in sea of burners with waist-length hair, HM-patch covered denim, and stinky leather jackets – most of whom had travelled from places like Norway to witness it. Though you can’t see us in the ULU gig clip below, our extra-sore neck muscles from all that righteous head-banging prove WE WERE THERE!

Oh and compliments to the opening bands, especially WARNING, whose towering “funereal doom” sound impressed the heck outta me. But with Patrick Walker’s ernest, soaring vocals, they came across like RITES OF SPRING covering REVEREND BIZARRE. “emo-core doom”, anyone?

DC3’s Liftoff

Yeah that’s right – it’s the other SST band you love to hate.

DC3 was Dez Cadena’s ill-fated post BLACK FLAG gig wherein he was matched with ex-SCREAMERS keyboardist Paul Roessler, then just outta his tangled TWISTED ROOTS. Four albums, a handfull of tours (I saw em open for FIREHOSE and THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS in downtown LA in ‘88), a pantload of gtr solos, and a 100-car long boogie train. How could it ever go wrong?

Their 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th records – yes, I admit it – all had serious drawbacks. The almighty boog showcased on The Good Hex LP would’ve been compelling if it had been played by an imaginative rhythm section (it wasn’t), while Dez’ open-hearted love songs seemed at odds with Paul’s wild OffBroadwayisms found on the schizo You’re Only as Blind as Your Mind Can Be LP. The final, live Vida LP ain’t all that bad I guess, but hey . . . today we come to pay homage to their first LP. The original. The best. The one that stills stands tall with you/me today.

This Is The Dream (SST Records, 1985) far and away, tops them all. This is DC3’s choicest/most inspired collection of songs, including two tunes – “I Believe It” and “Ain’t No Time Here Now” – that the colossal 5-piece BLACK FLAG used to play regularly. But here they’re done one better: not racing hardcore but burnin’ hardrock, a bit slower/heavier and with world-weary Dez instead of manic Hank on vocals. It’s on this record that Paul’s contributions feel the most integrated, the most DC3-like; check out his great and bluesy “Twisted and Turning Inside”. It’s their best produced (by SPOT of course) and their most flowing/intuitive mix of rockin’ & sounds.

Criticisms? Really, I don’t have many. I don’t think others would’ve either, if they’d bothered to listen to it more than once back in ‘86 or whenever. True, this record woulda benefited by the presence of an actual bassist, like Kira. While Paul’s left hand does do admirably, it feels a little less than grounded at points. But this is the only LP outside OVERKILL’s amazing Triumph of the Will to include Kurt Markham, one of the mightiest drummers in the entire SST extended family. Totally unlike the tight, snare-precision he demonstrated on the OVERKILL LP, here Kurt takes a loose but wide-ranging approach, channelling both the heavy AND lighter aspects of BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward. He wipes himself all in/around this rec, as if attempting to get down there and into the void left by the lack of bass gtr. I coulda used a dozen different records with him playing in a dozen different styles (he’s clearly capable) – but, sadly, after this he shut out the lights on rockin’.

The vast majority of beefs levelled then/now can be distilled to the fact that egads! Dez ain’t a punker no more! He’s honestly playing heavy boogie-blues rock! The shame! The horror! This bummed out lame losers who couldn’t possibly comprehend the worth of a ROBIN TROWER LP – let alone a SAVOY BROWN rec – in ‘85. But to the few who bothered (FATSO JETSON’s Mario Lalli and THE MELVINS’ Buzzo come to mind) Dez & co. were/are equated with A LITTLE BIT OF AURAL HEAVEN. We agree, we agree.

All you stoner rock dudes out there, do take note: at this stage DC3 really were vying for the KingsofSoCalHeavyRock crown with nobody else but SAINT VITUS. Yeah ok, maybe with CIRITH UNGOL too. If only Kurt had stayed in the fold . . . if only Spot had stayed in SoCal . . . if only . . . if only . . .

DC3 – “Ain’t No Time Here Now” (apologies for the sudden end cut)
DC3 - “Twisted and Turning Inside”

Texacala-la-la

When I think back on my formative years as a novice rocker dude in SoCal in the 1980’s – I was 10 when that decade began, 20 when it ended – three voices immediately come to mind.

First, there was Henry Rollins: he was either that egotistical meathead who ruined BLACK FLAG for all time, or the raging voice of an entire generation – take your pick. A voice you couldn’t sidestep or deny, no matter what your poison. There was SACCHARINE TRUST’s Jack Brewer: measured poet, spiritual reverend, whirling dervish mystic, perv alkie – all rolled into a fat, greasy $1.50 burrito. He seemed to be lurking around every corner in my teen years, and his lisp brings back countless good/bad memories for me. And then, there was

TEXACALA JONES

Yes she of TEX & THE HORSEHEADS. Never saw em play, but if you did – count yourself lucky. If you listened to college-radio station KXLU as much as I did then, you simply couldn’t get away from that craggy, granma snarl & gruff yelp of hers – certainly, I didn’t want to. It was so unlike anything you were supposed to call “good”. Some unreliable source once said her voice was straight off of The Rugrats. Blah! She always hit me like a ton of bricks – a female Blixa Bargeld if their ever was one. Out of this world, totally Martian, in fact – only grounded hard by the sleazy c&w/blues her bands rocked out behind her.

TEX cut her teeth as an early GUN CLUB/Jeffrey Lee Pierce protégée – her first recording on the Take It! Magazine flexi from ’82 still had Jeffrey playing gtr. She then wisely hooked up with a couple sauceheads straight outta Long Beach’s hardcore punk FUNERAL, who’ve got a great CD of early 80’s material on Grand Theft Audio if yr partial to that early, SOCIAL DISTORTION darkly-rockin’ vibe.

Next: TEX & Co. proceeded to TEAR THAT HOTEL DOWN all around LA for a couple nutso years. Bridging wild post-Hollywood punk with the then-burgeoning big hair hard rock thing, they recorded the very best cuts for the Hell Comes To Your House II comp. LP. Two studio LPs appeared – the first of which is wilder/more drunken, the second produced by X’s John Doe with the superior tunes. Then a bitchen live LP surfaced, recorded in the Netherlands (many other LA post-HC types would eventually follow her snailtrial over there). All before drowning in an industrial-size bottle of JD.

In the mid/late 80’s, she appeared in a number of Z-budget movies – Dubeat-e-o, The Boys Next Door, Border Radio, Dr. Caligari. She then tried to recreate her patented teased-hair madness in TEXORCISM with a young and pre-BACKBITER Jonathan Hall. Them grooves dissipated quickly up into an ever-ballooning mushroom cloud of crack-cocaine smoke. From there, all reports that I have access to were dark, dark, and more shades of dark – though TEX did come up for air for a breath or two to guest on tracks by LA’s RINGLING SISTERS.

After returning to her homestate of Texas, she came roaring back to life in 1998 with the TEXACALA JONES & HER T.J. HOOKERS CD on Honey Records. That one spelt rebirth. It’s good, real good – but it’s been the last to date. WHY?

It’s telling: all the best-dressed female friends I can name (ok I count 3) look to TEX as a primary fashion icon. And when I first got it together to be able to burn vinyl onto my harddrive, who did I turn to? TEX. Yeeeeeah. TEX, you’re the voice we always wanted – not fucking LIZ PHAIR or GWEN STEFANI or KATE NASH or whomever. Come back, TEX! The world really is ending, and soon! Save us, once more!

Do check out the songs below – not 80’s at all, rather from an obscure, mid-90’s Japan-only release by one Mr. DANNY WEST (he of San Francisco’s 80’s big hair kings VAIN) with righteous vocal help from TEX. They demonstrate that backasswards way of “singing” a song TEX has – to glorious, full-flowering effect.

Danny West (w/ Texacala Jones) – “Mr. Vampire Man” and “Burned Out (On Lovin’ You)” (from the Taste the Sounds CD, Polystar, 1995)

Gouge My Eyes

Been floating around in the void we call NO RELIABLE INTERNET ACCESS for faaaaar too many weeks now – but tonight I’m back. To mark this we dive into a

BLACK HOLE

Now there are LA songs, and then . . . there are LA songs. How much more perfect an LA song is there? The why-didn’t-I-think-to-write-that descending riff, the urgent harmonies, the chopping rhythm, and those evocative lyrics (always imagined they were written while speeding 65 mph down the 405 freeway). Just 2 verses, 2 choruses and it’s fucking over with. All brought to you in smelly jeans and a fading t-shirt. Righteous! Here’s 5 versions for you:

1. The Urinals – “Black Hole” (from negative capability . . . check it out! comp. CD, Happy Squid Records, 1998) Written by John (Talley-) Jones. First waxed in 1979 on the URINALS second record – the appropriately titled Another EP. Vitus Matre of THE LAST produced, with an antiquated Dokorder 4-track reel-to-reel, giving their otherwise brittle sound an extra warm, undersea-cave feel. And the best 1 min 18 secs I’ve been able to locate from ‘79.

People like to lump these guys in with BPEOPLE, MONITOR, HUMAN HANDS, SUBURBAN LAWNS etc. – you know, that art-punk thing then coalescing around downtown LA at the time. But as Byron Coley points out in the CD liners, these guys also prefigured the whole early suburban invasion perfectly. They were UCLA kids – proudly dress-down, very non-Hollywood nerdy types. They looked a lot like MIDDLE CLASS and sounded a helluva lot like THE MINUTEMEN would come to, in very short order. All you unrepentant HC types out there owe it to yourselves to spend some quality time with their recordings.

2. The Leaving Trains – “Black Hole” (from the Transportational D. Vices LP, SST Records, 1989) Introduced me to this song, this one did. And so what if, in retrospect, it sounds kinda huried and maybe redundant? Do try to recall the context: these were the late 80’s. THE URINALS were long gone, a mere myth to lots of us. One had little access to the em if you weren’t willing to fork out the $60-$100 a pop for the original 45s. Now I suppose I could’ve hit up some recently cleaned-up, ex-punker type for a cassette dupe of this stuff (I admit I did this a lot back then) . . . whatever, lead TRAIN Falling James was simply paying homage to a great song by the guys that had kindly waxed the TRAINS very first recordings. He earned the right to cover it any way he sought fit. Before the internet, it was cover versions like these that helped pass these songs down to us young ‘uns.

3. The Gun Club – “Black Hole” (from the Divinity LP, New Rose/What’s So Funny About Records, 1991) Again, probably a tribute, as the first GUN CLUB recording was released on the Keats Rides a Harley comp. LP by THE URINALS themselves. But overlook the faux-Steve Lillywhite production and you’ve got a real classy version on your hands. Layering the tune over the half-time drums (lifted straight from LED ZEP’s “When the Levee Breaks”!) was just what a remake of this song demanded – that, and the added extended instrumental outro, with Jeffrey’s screamin’ gtr circling the rafters above yr head. Plus, they’ve gotten all lush and grand(iose) with the harmonies, as was Jeffrey’s predilection. I fucking love it. If you’ve never tuned in to later-day GUN CLUB, then you’re missing out on tragic beauty of a rare order.

4. Yo La Tengo – “Black Hole” (from the Little Honda EP, Matador Records, 1998) The most faithful version here – they even try and recreate that cheap trebly gtr sound by layering on the reverb! I got bored with these TENGO guys/gals in the early 90’s, back around May I Sing with Me. It was at a gig of theirs where I began thinking this “indie rock” thing was kinda/sorta repulsive . . . BUT I’ve always appreciated the respect and attention they pay to cover songs. Only non-LA act on this list, btw . . .

5. The Leaving Trains –“Black Hole” (from the Emotional Legs CD, Steel Cage Records, 2002) My pick of the bunch. Falling James decided to right the wrongs of his band’s original cover, rethought things entirely and came up with this mindbender. It might well be informed a bit by all the other versions listed here! In my puny head, James’ tossed-off croon and wildass approach to making music encapsulates the best of what LA rock meant/means. Long my he TRAIN.