Orange Curtain Call, Pt. II

The writing was on the wall back in the early 80’s Poshboy Records heyday: Orange County came only to play loud, party hard, and fuck shit up. For a hairyass night out this could be a heck of a lot of fun – but as a foundation upon which to create durable, lasting music, it was mighty flimsy indeed. You knew it had run it’s course by the mid/late 80’s, when the dumb (PLAIN WRAP!), the dumber (DOGGY STYLE), and the totally redundant (BIG DRILL CAR) were your best bets for a Saturday night gig down in OC. So when THE OFFSPRING rose to alt.rock prominence in the 90’s hamming it up over pilfered AGENT ORANGE riffs, it was just more of the same goddawful dreck we’d been trying to ignore for nearly a decade.

That said, I’ll always maintain that early OC hardcore punkers had something more to offer, even if sometimes it was nothing but screaming blind rage. Given the conservative social climate at the time, such expression was totally crucial to giving the rest of us permission to cut loose. While they didn’t succeed in changing much, it did make the journey us kids were destined to take into the Black Hole that much more fun. Again, I’m no expert – but this place/time has been on my mind lately. Fr instance:

1. RIKK AGNEW All By Myself (Frontier Records, 1982) While not on the level with other SoCal 6-string innovators like Ginn and Biaza, Rikk Agnew did pioneer an influential take on ringing hardcore punk gtr and a unique, surf-inspired way of arranging and balancing melodic/harmonic content – listen to THE ADOLESCENTS’ “Kids of the Black Hole” or even CHRISTAIN DEATH’s “Romeo’s Distress” (two early Rikk pinnacles) for powerful examples of his style. All By Myself follows naturally from raging ADOLESCENTS achievements, but as the whole shebang was recorded solo, it also emphasizes just how downright arty – in a non-wank, suburban sense – his musical instincts actually were were. Sadly, this more eccentric side to OC punk was quickly buried in the shit-storm of trad HC that belched forth down there then. Would be great to hear more OC musicians today keying in on the subtleties of Rikk’s finely wrought sound.

2. TSOL Beneath the Shadows (Alternative Tentacles, 1983) Always resented the fact that dudes this egotistically cocksure got so big in SoCal back then. But I confess that, to this day, hearing those intro gtr figures on their Weathered Statues EP brings back primal memories of being really young, saying something stupid on a dare, and almost getting my skinny ass pummeled to raw meat. This LP follows on from that EP, bouyed by Greg Khuen’s piano & synth to create a moody pop/punk hybrid that had no real peers around the beaches then. None of these guys were particularly talented (I wish they’d have learned a few musical lessons from them SST boys up the coast – the rhythms are all tick-tick-tick straight ahead) but together they were something else entirely. The songs are really good, Thom Wilson’s production timeless, and the kinda New Romantic, Strawberries-era DAMNED flair an audacious move up against a wall of OC surfer/skinheads. For once I agree with AllMusic’s entry about this by Joe Viglione. Wanna know why punk rock guys go out with new wave girls in OC? This record will help you understand.

3. THE CROWD – Letter Bomb (Flipside Records, 1996) Everybody agrees their earliest Beach Blvd. cuts are classic, but few seem to wanna to confront the less-than stellar reality of their A World Apart LP. That rec saw THE CROWD pulling in the reins a bit, angling toward daylight KROQ airplay – all beneath the weight of lifeless/flat production. Talk about bad timing: at that very moment when every other good band in the area was cranking the aggro up a notch or two, these guys decide it’s time to go power pop! Had it come out a year or two earlier, they might’ve sounded totally forwardthinking – sort of an OC cousin to THE LAST’s LA Explosion. As it was, it must’ve sounded dated within weeks of it’s 1980 release.

But the plain-as-day fact is that their LETTER BOMB CD from ‘96 (newly reissued on TKO last year with bonus tracks) has been far and away their greatest achievement thus far. Somehow these aging surfers ignored all them GREEN DAY yahoos clogging up the works and put out something timelessly bitchen, just like a late 70’s ZEROS or RHINO 39 might’ve, had they persevered. Or hell: what THE CROWD should’ve, as they practically invented this shit. These songs are catchy as a nasty case of the clap, the band loose/live sounding, and the singing cutting the sickly sweet schtick of yore with a nasty bitterness that spells RIGHT ON to me. Even the lyrics shine . . . man, I’d wish I’d taken up that offer of a friend to go see em play back then. Clearly, they were on to something huge.

4. THE DUANE PETERS GUNFIGHT S/T (Disaster Records, 2005) In a world where unreleased demos by HB originators like THE OUTSIDERS and THE HATED can be easily accessed via handy MySpace pages, do we really need this guy anymore? Well . . . Duane represents that living breathing never-say-die older punk contingent (imagine a sun-tanned version of THE MISFITS’ Jerry Only) who are still tucked away in various states of decomposition all around OC. Invariably it was guys this who I’d find myself queuing up behind in Costa Mesa when I was jonesing for a few fish tacos during lunch breaks in the late 90’s. Yes he’s been a chunky, tatted up skate legend now for years in bands like U.S. BOMBS and THE HUNNS, but his voice can still peel paint at 50 paces. This recording – a likeably grim collection of Cali Oi – ain’t one you gotta sell your firstborn to hear, but I like the apocalyptic vibe of the lead in cut “War With You” so I’m glad he’s still flying the flag. Maybe I’m just a nostalgic fuck? Either way, you/I probably prefer to remember Duane sounding/looking something like this.

5. Urban Struggle: The Battle of the Cuckoo’s Nest DVD – coming to an internet retailer near you really, really fucking soon. The slightly earlier, late-Hollywood generation documented in The Decline of Western Civilization was great, but it was at this junction in SoCal history (1981, Darby Crash RIP) that yours truly first became aware of hardcore punkrock. The stark B&W live clips of TSOL, BLACK FLAG, FEAR, & CIRCLE JERKS capture the testosterone-fueled power of them daze perfectly – giving these smog-choked suburbs an even more noirish fatalism than memory alone conjures up. At this point, OC kids had literally mowed down much of old Hollywood and really were threatening THE BIG TAKEOVER. No doubt the vicious crackdown by the Costa Mesa PD was born outta genuine civic fear. Shit, even retrospective interview clips I’ve seen of club owner Jerry Roach looking back on them gnarly times look damn curious. Check out the trailer here.

Orange Curtain Call

Gonna talk a bit about music from that flank of SoCal I always tried my darnedest to avoid, but invariably ended up getting lost in: Orange County. Growing up as a kid in the South Bay, OC wasn’t nowhere except a place you’d caravan to for birthday parties – it was the home of Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Movieland Wax Museum, and the longgone Movie World. Then overnight: it was home to HC punk bands with a knack for nasty, raging tunage – SOCIAL DISTORTION, AGENT ORANGE, THE ADOLESCENTS.

While a few trips to Huntington Beach in the intervening years to see bands play did challenge my preconceived notions, those endless tract home neighborhoods and creepy conservative political groups down there continued to intimidate the hell outta me up until meeting my wife in ‘95, down Irvine way. With a little help from her and a couple of longtime Buena Park residents, my eyes finally began opening to what is actually a fairly unique, richly diverse patchwork of suburban SoCal sprawl. When we left America for the UK, I found myself sorta missing OC. Well, almost.

Now I’m no expert on their music, but recently my attention has been caught by a bunch of records that were born/bred in that godforsaken county. I’ll start with the 60’s/70s, but do return at a later date to a hear a bit about ’80s OC action too. In chronological order:

1. THE HUMAN EXPRESSION – Love At Psychedelic Velocity (Collectable Records, 1994) Just rippin’ garage rock by at bunch of cavemen with Prince Valiant haircuts who sulked around a mid/late 60’s Tustin and Westminster. It’s straight from Sky Saxon’s SEEDy school of 2-chord wonder, with bipolar moods teetering from raging anger to somber mournfulness and then back again, over and over. “You’re sick, and it’s wrong/ and baby it won’t be long/ til they’re readin’ your will” – yes, all you long time outsider types will no doubt be familiar with the inherent pleasure in such wallowing. Even the unreleased solo cuts that leader Jim Quarles did years later develop naturally from the early minimalism and sound strong. This kinda contrary sneer actually makes way more sense coming straight outta trackhome hell than off Sunset Blvd. A small but incredibly vital baby step in the growth of wildass, hairy rocking & rolling.

2. WILDFIRE – Smokin demo (self released, 1970) Laguna Beach boys who first waxed in the early 60’s surf era with Phil Pearlman as PHIL & THE FLAKES. Phil’s freaky work from the 60’s/70’s has been the focus of a number of revisitations as of late, but I prefer the groovin’, heavy motion his old bandmates made after they forged ahead on their own. By the time this demo was recorded, they were living out in Austin, TX and recording at Sonobeat Records – home to dozens of other great TX psych/blues acts at the time. I’m not sure how much of this fuzzfaced, GRAND FUNK-inspired sound was in place before they left CA, though the lyrics do have a feelgood California thing to em. I wish more modern heavy bands could express themselves with such ease – heavy don’t haveta mean dark/angry/brooding, ya know. In the end its irrelevant, since what’s been handed down to us is totally hot, blue, and righteous.

3. HARVEST FLIGHT – One Way (Destiny, 1971) Rock of The Jesus Movement stands as one of the odder musical scenes to develop in the 70’s. It was a Bizzaro-World version of the mainstream rock world at the time, complete with IRON BUTTERFLY organ monsters (AZITIZ), DOORSish prog-blues dudes (AGAPE), and guttural, soulful JOE COCKER types (Larry Norman, Randy Matthews). Lots of these guys were listening to the very same stuff you/I love from that period, and more than a few of em had talent to spare. The better relics they left behind deserve a wider audience than they got from 1/8 page advertisements in backpages of The Hollywood Free Paper.

This LP sprung outta the very earliest OC Jesus Movement stirrings centered around Costa Mesa’s Calvary Chapel, and the main guy here, Evan Williams, was a talented gtrist and all-around musician (for a Christian). Although this is largely a solo project it incorporates an intimate familiarity with all sorts of LA rock stuff around that time – Sunset Strip STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK harmonies, cool DOORSian organ/gtr blues, floaty MU-like acoustic passages – yeah I’d reckon Merrell Fankhauser ain’t a bad reference point for the kind of wide-eyed musicospiritual exploration going on here. If only the lyrics weren’t so fucking intrusive in their BORN-AGAIN BONEHEADEDNESS (and believe me they are), I’d give this one a 9.5 on the psych-o-meter. Me, I try and imagine he’s singing about some little grey reticulan, since the music on this is quite fine, indeed.

4. HONK – Five Summer Stories Soundtrack (Granite Records, 1972) Dennis Catron of THE MECHANICS (see below) names HONK as the best band that OC ever gave the world, and listening to their sweet soundtrack to this surf documentary tonight, I’m inclined to agree. It’s that early 70’s Cali mix of rural/country/jazz rock that most of you dread, and have fair reason to do so. A bit of later BYRDS, some Skull & Roses-era DEAD, a dollop of brassy CHICAGO, all topped with occasional group vocal harmonies that FLEETWOOD MAC would make us all despise a few years later. Yep: this should by all rights suck major dick.

But these guys (& one gal) are so musically inventive and gorgeously melodious with their hippie-as-surf rocking, all comparisons fail to do it justice. And make no mistake, they do rock, when not quietly weaving acoustic-driven instumental passages. Every cut here comes out like a great big pretty smile, every goddamn time. It reminds me of nothing so much as the beautiful pair of MORNING LPs that came out around this time, also in SoCal. Ooh Man the hills above Laguna Beach – laced as they were with copious amounts of Brotherhood of Eternal Love acid – must’ve been real nice back then. Never seen the flick in question but YouTube clips (with different backing music) make it seem like something that might accidentally make your next Friday evening in alone. This LP certainly will.

5. THE MECHANICS – The best late 70’s band from Fullerton – hell, from the whole of SoCal! – that you never heard of. They rocked tightly wound, punk-fueled hardrock songs that belied wide-ranging influences. Yes I hear THE STOOGES and maybe some DEAD BOYS, but also BÖC and that bitchen pre-industry VAN HALEN (see their Gene Simmons demos from ‘76 for proof they once had something to offer) too. THE MECHANICS ended up like something Phast Freddie woulda raved about in the pages of Back Door Man magazine, and sounded as great as LA’s THE DOGS – you know, what new wavers decried as metal, but what hardrockers slandered as punk. They somehow continued sounding amazing long after the LA hardrock scene had completely gone down the toilet – go figure.

Apparently both THE AVENGERS and THE ADOLESCENTS covered their songs, and Rikk Agnew and Mike Ness still profess deep love for em to this day. They have an incredible website maintained by gtrist Dennis Catron full of insightful and hilarious info, great photos, and tons of MP3s not only by them but equally-obscure related acts – it sets a benchmark that I wish every lost band from that time would aspire to. If you like to rock and never heard THE MECHANICS, there’s a money-back guarantee says this stuff’ll absolutely floor you.

Thanks to Rejuvesite for the photo I can relate to

Dada Surf

At a bit of a loss tonight, sitting here as I am trying to get my head around the deeper relationship between surf culture and LA artpunk. Yes: the surf revival dug its skag deep into the late 70’s SoCal music scene, as evidenced by certain aspects of THE GO-GOS, THE LAST, and the TUBESian travesty that was THE SURF PUNKS. And its no secret that alot of early 80’s suburban hardcore punkers rode rhythms and gtr lines straight off of Dick Dale records (see THE CROWD, THE DESCENDENTS, AGENT ORANGE . . .). But those very same tides held sway over Angelenos with decidedly more artistic bents, too.

THE SUBURBAN LAWNS maintained “Gidget Goes to Hell”, while THE URINALS went “Surfin’ With the Shah.” MONITOR infused all manner of eerie Polynesian whatnot into their shrunken-headed sound, when not playing actual surf under the moniker THE TIKIS. Even HUMAN HANDS occasionally went out for a sound ya might refer to as deep sea scuba-punk. Undoubtedly, the sound of surf resonated with them idiosyncratic artistes too, and bigtime. Case in point? New Wave Theatre, ca. 1981:

Frankie Ennui (SUBURBAN LAWNS): We’re talking about outmoded sensibilities, and redundant type mind . . .

Peter Ivers (New Wave Theatre): Outmoded sensibilities like freedom?

Frankie: Like surf culture.

These connections were made explicit on the first LP by THE ROMANS, entitled You Only Live Once (Solid Eye Records, 1983; reissued in wonderfully expanded form by Warning Label Records in 2002). This band was made of art-school guys who’d been in MONITOR, BPEOPLE, and HUMAN HANDS, not to mention AZ’s CONSUMERS. And while the bonus cuts tagged on to this thing showcase their aggro MEAT PUPPETSian roots, the LP proper is striking precisely because it doesn’t come across like an art band. From liftoff to touchdown, THE ROMANS always keep at least one goofy foot firmly planted on their longboard. From high energy breakers like “Moto Tapu,” through the wild fake-jazz soundtrack music of the title track, to country hokum detours that point toward pastures explored more fully on their second rec like “Small World” – this sounds, feels, and smells like a particularly modern, wide-eared instro band ala THE RAYBEATS at work here, not some headache inducing conceptual art project.

Ok ok: so I do hear some of that creepy MONITOR ritual in “Tuned Out”, and the bassline in “Birdbrain” gets me hoping HUMAN HANDS frontman David Wiley (RIP) might leap in with some of his patented aggro speak/singing as some point. But really, this sound was their own. As a teen I had this original LP (with cool Solid Eye postcard insert!) and absolutely loved the glassy Zen calm of “Shorebreak,” which woulda made a great surf b-side back in ‘64. At some point I sold it to Dr. Rick, after he asserted he knew ROMANS gtrist Mikey Borenz. Listening to this CD now, I wish I’d never parted with it.

Here’s hoping somebody like Brian Chidester or Sven A. Kirsten will someday write an in-depth exploration into the 80’s surf/art connection, or that the long-promised MONITOR CD/book will shed much needed light on this subject. But maybe I’m making too much of this, seeing as much of what’s on this CD is pretty straight-forward in its rockin’. Perhaps what THE ROMANS really were, were a bunch of folks floating away from their purist art/punk beginnings and coming into their own as great musicians. Who really cares why it often came out sounding like surf music? On that aesthetic plane where beautiful tiki carvings dance to reverb-drenched gtr lines, it makes perfect fucking sense to me.

Sample THE ROMANS’ You Only Live Once CD here

Nature’s Revelation

In the mid 90’s, no doubt my favorite heavy Maryland band who weren’t THE OBSESSED woulda been UNORTHODOX. The way they’d pile endlessly inventive riffage atop a killer rhythm section to buoy Dale Flood’s passionate singing was and still is hard to beat. At the dawn of the new millennium, it was INTERNAL VOID who had my undivided attention among Wino-less MD acts: the bluesy lead gtr of Kelly Carmichael carried their melodic, mid-tempo tunes into soulful territory that few so-called doom rock bands seemed capable of locating. But oh man it’s AGAINST NATURE who are, most definitely, the most exciting and vital rockers riding the heavy tides of Maryland at present. Hands down, they’re my pick as the most inspiring rock band in 2008.

I only really cottoned on to AGAINST NATURE last year at the urgings of Ray’s Realm in this post. Ray turned me on to what remains one of Thee Great Heavy Records of this or any eon: AGAINST NATURE’s The Anxiety of Influence from 2007. That record offered up two very deep, album side explorations into a modern form of heavy rock composition and playing, in the process redefining the peaks to which doom rockers were capable of soaring in the new millennium.

But that might as well be ancient history. Since then, these boys have released so much music I can barely keep up: two full length CDs, a further pair of 25+ min. CD EPs, not to mention yet another full length CD under their trad doom alterego, REVELATION. They clocked in a total of – get this – 3 hours and 32 minutes of fully formed, kickass rocking over the year. And while I am aware quantity, in and of itself, isn’t particularly meaningful – when the quantity is as varied and rewarding as this body of work is . . . well brother, it’s a Herculean achievement.

Following AGAINST NATURE this past year reminded me of what is was like trying to keep pace with BLACK FLAG as a young teen back in ‘84/’85. You remember: just as soon as you’d get your head around all the new aesthetic choices coloring one Greg Ginn record, along would come another, challenging you to step that much further. From the somber DEEP PURPLE funeral march of their Much in Little & Descend EPs, to the hardrockin’ BANG chug of Natural Blue, to the more optimistic BUDGIE/RUSH inspired prog tones of their latest Accumulus CD, AGAINST NATURE have repeatedly shifted their approach, restlessly reconfigured their sound, and constantly widened their emotional range – all the while remaining, at base, something only identifiable as AGAINST NATURE. Perhaps the continuity across these records rests in the smooth and surprisingly un-metal vocals of John Brenner, who at times reminds me of a more moody, less hickoid Curt Kirkwood. Or maybe it’s the ROBIN TROWER-like breathing room these guys always allow their rocking; nothing is ever rushed or hurried, riffs are allowed to develop in earthy, organic fashion, with leads only materializing in due course. Even then, volume levels only hit 11 when it’s absolutely necessary – which ain’t as often as some of you stoner types might demand. But it’s really a quite beautiful, historically rooted but non-retro rock that they make, and they’ve made it all their own. I absolutely cannot wait to see where they might decide to take it in 2009.

The kicker is that all their music and so much more besides is downloadable free of charge directly from them on their website. They even go so far as to quote 1st century Roman philosopher Seneca on their homepage: “there is no delight in owning anything unshared.” Hear hear! Thus while others debate the morality of downloading copyrighted music from the web and/or whether information just wants to be free . . . AGAINST NATURE are pragmatists who ask: in an age when its unfeasible/impossible to control digital information transfer, why even try? Apparently, they’d rather stop arguing and just get their music out there where the people can actually hear it. And with the music industry collapsing around us all, smart money says that AGAINST NATURE will still be standing long after Warners/EMI/Universal/Sony Music are but a fading, unpleasant memory.

AGAINST NATURE – “Melopoeia” (from Accumulus, Bland Hand Records, 2008)