(Re-up, June 2020: this is one of the first things I ever wrote for this blog [if not the first]. It's possible I re-bought this on vinyl last year just to have a vinyl copy.)
She & I drive into DC to see Sleater-Kinney for the first time. We trek down to the old Black Cat, me terrified someone is going to break into the Grand Prix. It's probably the month "Dig Me Out" comes out, so we are fucking down for the show. I think Versus opened. Wow, they sucked. I'm not feeling it at all. Neither of us is legal drinking age, and if memory serves, there was no re-entry that night, so we both hawk the merch stand, furiously puffing cigarettes like only 20-year-olds can.
(Now that I think about it, maybe it was 1998. I definitely seem to recall drinking a beer.)
(But I digress.)
We end up behind the soundbooth, trying to talk over whatever P.A. music happened to be on. She had seen a flier for Fugazi's annual Fort Reno show, and we quickly made plans to attend. The music changes on the P.A. A marching band beat quietly plays. A guitar drops in for 8 bars, maybe 12. Then...fury.
"What the fuck is this?" I ask her. A shrug.
Stop. Start. Weird time signatures. Whispery vocals that barely raise over the driving rhythm. For a kid raised on harDCore and John Coltrane, this was a revolution.
"Seriously, have you ever heard something like this before-" and then I'm cut off by this skronky saxophone. And Mr. Whisper is hollerin' over the beat, and I really want to break a window out. That's how tightly by the throat this track has grabbed me.
I lean in to the soundguy. "Sorry to bug you, man," laying on my best impression of a hipster. "What is this you're playing?"
"They're called Sweep the Leg Johnny. I think they're from Chicago or something."
And that was the first time I heard Shower Scene.
I got to see Sweep live twice: once at the Ottobar, on a bill with Yaphet Kotto, the Exploder & League of Death; and out at the last Michigan Fest, where they were one of three reasons I drove halfway across the country for a show. I've heard them described as math-rock, but they always struck me as a little too aggressive for that tag.
Enjoy the reason I started this blog.
8 comments:
hey dude, the STLG link doesn't work.
Hey! Another old guy making blogs! Nice! I am 31 too... and it seems we share similar music growth.
This band has always been a funny one to me. My girlfriend at the time and I had a hiatus in our dating. She went back to San Diego to spend the summer and ended up dating John Brady, then of Spanakorzo and sometime-member of Swing Kids. (c. 1996) When she came back we professed our love for each other and dated for years after that, but a few months after dating the truth of her fling came out... this is after she came back with Swing Kids and Spankorzo records, which I readily consumed. Needless to say, as a young guy, I was hurt by the truth that she dated someone and didnt tell. Especially since he was in a band that I had begun to adore.
I quickly began to dislike Spanakorzo since it was a chiefly John Brady band, and Swing Kids were more of a Justin Pearson band, but then as I got older, John Brady popped up on more than a few occasions and I have always had pangs of remembering that year when I hated John Brady without even knowing him. Of course, many years have passed and this no longer affects me. That girl and I have been long since broken up, but now a days I chuckle at the idea that I was once very upset with the idea of John Brady and thus hated Spankorzo and Sweep The Leg Johnny.
Unjustly, I might add. Because both bands are pretty good and the guys a good musician.
Anyway, thats my story. Im sticking to it. ^_~
Sweep! I haven't listened to this album in years and now have to figure out which box in my garage it resides in. Who doesn't love Sweep? I think I saw them once at the Fireside way back when.
oh! this has the bassist of swing kids doesn't it? i love swing kids; hence my blogs title. i like harDCore too and coltrane. i have a feeling this is going to be awesome.
I added a link to a place you could buy this (although I'd imagine you could find it on eBay for cheaper than $14). Also added a link to a nice Wikipedia writeup on the band.
damn, sweep and yaphet kotto on the same bill? as great as their later albums are, i still hold a very large place in my heart for 4.19.21.30. if only i could track down 'mental vehn diagram', i'd have all of their released tracks. if faraquet (another fantastic band that transcends the emo and math-rock tags) did a reunion tour and compilation, we can only hope sweep might.
am i missing something ... i can't find the dl link.
i really want this - thanks for the sweep!
in any case john brady dident join STLJ until, what? 1998-1999???........i think the best thing the recorded was as a 3 piece when they did the split with streganona in 95-96...
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