Lifter Puller - Fiestas + Fiascos

I can't exactly pinpoint when I was hipped to Lifter Puller, which is weird, because there's generally that "Wow!" moment with those bands that I've carried with me since I heard them. Maybe it was the guys from Dillinger 4 talking about playing with Lifter Puller on a riverboat in Punk Planet, or a mixtape from Bachman featuring the Rhymesayers crew dropping LP lyrics into 16 bars. I can tell you it wasn't an immediate thing; I think I had this CD for a month, occasionally listening, before I got it. But I DID get it.

Even though I know Craig Finn was telling stories, there is something unsavory and sordid about Fiestas + Fiascos. Even today it feels hyper-real...a codeine-laced mix of Nighthawks, Jim Carroll and Joe Strummer. This record makes copping dope sound sexy, and deals gone bad sound fun. You want to dance all night at the Nice Nice, then go home to your mattress laid out on the floor and drink shitty booze until 2 in the afternoon. This is the sound of bad choices.

Supposedly there's a Lifter Puller documentary and discography en route. It's not impossible to find F+F or Soft Rock out in eBay land. But enjoy this one while you wait.









Lifter Puller - Fiestas + Fiascos
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: needle tracks, five-day benders, staying up too late

Minutemen - The Punch Line

Boon & Watt, L.A., 1984

I remember how excited I was when I found a slightly watered damaged copy of The Punch Line on CD in the now-defunct CMart in Forest Hill back in 1995. There's an excitement that I've been missing a lot over the past five years in discovering something brand new. My roommate and I were talking last night about going out on Tuesdays and getting knocked out by a band you've never heard before. I'd say it's a function of getting older, but it doesn't ring quite as true as I'd hope. I want desperately to have that nervous, right-before-the-first-kiss feeling again, the way I did the first time I heard Out of Step or A Love Supreme or The Punch Line.

I don't know what else to say about this, other than the Minutemen have always been one of those bands I'd want to emulate if I were in a band. There is no bullshit here; just the sound of D Boon, Mike Watt & George Hurley getting to the point. It fucks me up knowing that a lot of younger folks have missed out on this (and other SST back catalog) due to Ginn's mismanagement of the catalog. I have loved this band for a long time, but still choose this as my sentimental favorite.

"...I'm already on someone's list as a casualty..."

Minutemen - The Punch Line

(click the record to DL)

RIYL: one liners, fucking corndogs

Update - October 30

I'll keep this short. The past three months have been the most eventful in my life. This blog is not about the dirty details of that life; instead, it's about how music has inspired me and helped me become the man that I am today.

With that in mind, I will posting new material starting November 1st. If you've been dropping by, or reading this for the first time, I highly recommend sweeping through the old posts. If there's something I need to re-up, let me know. Otherwise, I think I have some good treats lined up for you.

Bad times do not stay. No matter how dark it may seem, there is always a light.

Ape Mummy

RIYL: new posts

Shook Ones - 2004 demo

(image from the Shook Ones MySpace page)

A real quick one, before it's my turn to hit the Wii Fit. The extended weekend was very boss...thanks for asking. The following things are currently on my mind:

• Who keeps stopping in here from Columbia, Maryland? Leave a note or something, wouldja? We should probably bro down.
• Do I really have to go to San Diego in two weeks? Can't I just hide under my bed and pretend I went?
• Should I even whine about going to San Diego, especially when everyone I bitch to sounds really impressed by it? Should I just remind folks that its name translates to "The Whale's Vagina"?
• Why do cats keep slagging off Shook Ones as a Lifetime rip-off? Don't you like Lifetime? Wouldn't you like kids to take Lifetime as a positive influence on their current band? Or do you just want your bands to suck, not rule? Is that what it is?
  

My favorite recent line from the doods from Shook Ones was that they originally wanted to call their band "Lifespan", but thought it sounded too tough guy HC. Their new record The Unquottable A.M.H. came out a couple of weeks ago. Buy it; it's the tits. Here's their demo from 2004. 4 cuts that'd later pop up on Sixteen. Rough yet crucial, especially coming from a bunch of Washington state fancy lads.










Shook Ones - 2004 demo
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: harmony, TDK C-90s, 3 chord justice

Uniform Choice - Screaming For Change

(photo by Ken Salerno. Lifted with all due respect to Double Cross.)

Happy July 2nd, readers. Welcome to post #66. I'm in a bitchin' mood. I have a 3 day weekend, my main man Batts is rolling in for steaks and booze tomorrow, and I found the first 4 Ramones records at the Borders near work for a mere $5.99 a piece. Life is swell.

I'm a big fan of finding decent records on the cheap. I had no clue who Uniform Choice was when I bought the cassette of Screaming For Change in 1993 for $1. All I knew was there were X'ed dudes on the cover screaming into a mic. Pretty hardcore, eh? It wasn't until I bought the vinyl years later that I noticed the cover was a painting, not a photograph. I guess I wasn't very observant when I was 16. Anyway, this always struck a chord for me, unlike peers like Youth of Today, Bold & Slapshot. I still love jamming "Don't Quit" after a bad day. 26 minutes and 32 seconds of solid, 2nd wave hardcore. Dig on it.

Semi-related note: so this is still available for sale. I didn't think Wishing Well had been a working label in the past 15 years. Who the hell is keeping this in print?










Uniform Choice - Screaming For Change
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: your X extra sharp, brotherhood, moshing

The Lost Patrol Band - s/t

While I think it'd be terribly presumptuous to say Tony Pence is one of my top bros, he's absolutely on my Top 5 List of Musical Gurus. I can run a finger along a rack of CDs or box of 7"s at the house, and at least 30% were purchased as a result of something he's played me, or name-dropped, or pointed out in a zine. I had a dream about owning a record store; he went out and actually opened it. A good dude with impeccable taste...which is why I like to bring him toys.

Case in point: the Lost Patrol Band. There's a good chance I would have come to find these cats eventually. But shortly after he opened Celebrated Summer, I paid Tony a visit, and he was playing this. Great guitar pop? You betcha. Ex- & current members of damned near every great Swedish punk rock band? Absolutely, kitten. I had to have it. But what would stand in my way? It turned out some legal troubles over the band name led to the entire catalog being taken out of print. A low down dirty shame. But no Wayans project ever stood in my way. I pinned this butterfly down in a 3rd floor walkup in Pittsburgh last year. Asking price? $6. Beautiful.

/just finished watching The Kid Stays In The Picture










The Lost Patrol Band - s/t
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: tight jeans, "Who Put The Bomp?", stripes

Fighting Dogs - 2005 summer tour pre-release CD

(photo courtesy of the Fighting Dogs Myspace page, no credit available)

I'm rather disgusted with myself, having traded in a copy of "The Office" UK Complete Series (amongst other, lesser things) towards a copy of Transformers (amongst other, lesser things). So enjoy some late-night Philly crust, courtesy of Fighting Dogs. The crustier things in life are generally slept on here in the Mummy house. Could it be that I spent the first two years of my Baltimore punk rock being lorded over by worthless crust punx (coughCrassholecough)? No wonder I turned out a money grubbing sellout!

That said, I like this record. It's a little more Motorhead and a little less (insert generic D-beat band). I also like this because:

1. It came with a sticker.
2. It came in an envelope.
3. The songs here have mad swagger. Not like cock diesel false bravado...more like "Man With No Name"/light a match on your cheek confidence.
   
4. It was sealed with wax, a most excellent old-timey method of afixation.
5. It cost me $2 when I bought it in the fall of 2005. Hooray thriftiness! You've never let me down!
   

Fighting Dogs - 2005 summer tour pre-release CD
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: when I make Clint Eastwood references