Pope - JohnPaulGeorgeRingo

Like a lot of great bands, I discovered Leatherface just after they broke up. It was Jack Rabid and The Big Takeover (now in its 40th year!!!) that had banged that drum and served as John the Baptist to Frankie Stubbs' Jesus. So, of course, as soon as the impressionable 16-year-old Ape Mummy reads about Sunderland's finest, he goes looking for Leatherface records. Of which there are none available in mid-90s southwestern Virginia. Because small town record stores just don't carry the early Domino catalog.

And so it happened that it'd take another two years until I'd even hear the melodious tones of Mr. Stubbs, and that was via Pope, the band he started with bassist Andy Crighton after Leatherface. The 12" originally released by Rugger Bugger in the UK during Pope's short life-span would get a reissue on CD via the then-embyronic Tokyo label Snuffy Smile in 1996. By then, Frankie had moved on to his next trio, Jesse. But I found the CD during an early visit to Reptilian, and discovered that, even though it wasn't Leatherface, this absolutely lived up to the hype.

I kind of wish I still had that CD; it sells for a pretty penny these days on the secondary market. I believe this rip comes from BYO's 2001 reissue of "The Last" 12" on CD; the Pope songs were tacked onto the back end of that CD. It's the sort of passionate punk rock, in the vein of Stiff Little Fingers, that has inspired so many kids, myself included, to write from the heart, proficiency be damned.

Discogs

Click here to download.

New music from Frankie Stubbs

I've made no secret of my deep, abiding love for Leatherface. Since breaking up on the eve of a North American tour in 2012, singer/guitarist/icon Frankie Stubbs has kept a fairly low profile. Of course, there were the 2018 "Heart Is Home" and "Don't You Ever Say Goodbye" singles, but I don't recall hearing much about either when they came out. His acoustic dates have, with the exception of a Pouzza Fest appearance a couple years back, only taken place in the UK and Europe. So I was proper chuffed to get the e-mail overnight that a brand new EP was on its way to fans in June. Nice country!

Pre-orders are live now for "Blood Orange Moon". Europeans can get it through Little Rocket Records in the UK, while North Americans can get a copy via Rad Girlfriend Records in Ohio. This is a 1,000 piece release: 300 on yellow, 300 on red, and 300 on orange, as well as a measly 100 on black. Former Leatherface bandmate Graeme Philliskirk minds the mixing board and provides backup guitars on "I Liked Being a European" and "Jimmy Jesus". The official release date is June 12, so expect to start seeing your preorders arrive then.

Here's the first song released off the EP, "Jimmy Jesus". It's exactly what you'd expect to hear from a Frankie Stubbs acoustic song: super stripped back to a man and a guitar, with a voice reminiscent of both Lemmy and Robert Wyatt. This is punk rock at its most elemental. Stubbs is rightfully considered one of the great poets of punk. Much like his American counterpart Bob Mould, this latest release shows him at the top of his game.

Check out "Jimmy Jesus" below.

Leatherface / Jawbox - Your Choice Live 023

Photo by P Squared

I wrote about the Your Choice Live series a little bit ago; now let's talk about the first one in the series I ever copped. I snagged this in 1996 primarily because it was a live Jawbox set. Never got to see them live, even though I probably had three years worth of opportunity to do so. Shoot: I got propositioned by an NBC page to attend an episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" in 2009 and turned it down, not knowing that Jawbox was reuniting on the show that night. Jawbox is definitely one of the only gaps in my live viewing, and crossing paths with the members over the past twenty years are some of the few times I've gotten starstruck.

Leatherface, on the other hand, was a band that, at the time, I was only somewhat acquainted with. I had glossed over Jack Rabid's rave reviews in The Big Takeover. But the one record that had been released here in the States, "Mush", got deleted about 3 days after it was released by an Atlantic Records vanity label. So it wasn't getting any reviews in MRR or No Answers, regardless of what an amazing record it was. Leatherface had been broken up for close to three years by the time I snagged this. Nobody I knew was talking about them.

So, yeah, this record was a revelation to me. One of my favorite things about punk is finding something for the first time, and sharing it with everyone you talk to about music. And to hear the power of THE classic Leatherface lineup of Stubbs/Hammond/Crighton/Laing when you don't know what to expect - FUCK, it gives me tingles thinking about it 24 years later. Then to roll right into Jawbox, at the height of THEIR power, playing songs from their self-titled record a year before they'd be released - YES YES YES! I revisit this rarely these days, but when I replayed it in anticipation of posting it, it brought back so many great memories, while still sounding vital and fresh.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Leatherface - Fill Your Boots

I'd love to know why the site traffic jumped from my normal gang of 20 punk rock zombies a day to over 150 folks just today. A lot of kids seem to be watching the Ben Kingsley as Ian MacKaye video I posted back in September. That's kinda cool. I'd just like to know where the hell these people magically came from. As one of my favorite writers once noted, "Comments are the lifeblood of any author, good or bad." So, let me hear from you, interwebs, if you like what you see. Or if you feel I'm only contributing to the further downfall of the music industry with my efforts herein. Either way, a roll call is in order...comment below. It's like a Xmas gift you don't have to pay for!

Speaking of Christmas presents: a co-worker of mine, who knows how into HC I am, dropped my Xmas present on me a little early today.
I haven't read a lot of it, but it's by far the best representation, book-wise, or early American hardcore out there. Get it for the old scenester kid working in the cubicle next to you, or ask Santy Claus to bring you one.

I'm sure it has something to do with its in- and out-of-print status since being release nearly 20 years ago, but people just don't seem to as hip to Fill Your Boots as I think they should be. It's never received a legit American release (unlike BYO's releases of Cherry Knowle and The Last), although it looks to be available via Amazon.uk for the bargain (?) price of 8.79 (that's pounds, sucka). It also sounds a lot more like the Leatherface I fell in love with on Mush. Finally, I totally love the sincere covers of "In The Ghetto" and "Candle In The Wind". I mean, who today would try to pull this off without their tongues firmly tucked into their cheeks?

See you Saturday for more punk rock sounds.










Leatherface - Fill Your Boots
(click record cover for DL)

RIYL: gargling with whisky, Sunderland, karaoke bars

Leatherface - Mush

I never quite got how anyone could slag off Leatherface. And yet I always read damn fools bashing them. I haven't been writing a lot, and today isn't going to bring any real change to that. Anything that could be said about Leatherface has already been said in a more eloquent and heartfelt manner than I ever could. I've had the pleasure of hearing them live twice: in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, I sat outside St. Andrews' Church in College Park, where Frankie Stubbs & co. headlined a Hot Water Music/Panthro UK United 13/Swank bill. I was dead broke, and only about 2 months into an 9 month stay at the University of Maryland. In 2000, Leatherface played the Sidebar in Baltimore. I got and stayed shitfaced drunk, Cross My Heart & Pezz opened, Leatherface lived up their reputation as a fantastic live band, and somehow I made it home, without a scratch. I'm still amazed at the humor, the sincerity and the love that's gone into ever piece of music released by Leatherface. For those folks out there who dream of punk rock that is more than just a caricature of white belts, foot-tall mohicans or eyelinered anorexics, I heartily recommend Sunderland's finest.

Mush is Leatherface's third full-length. Originally released by Roughneck Records in 1992, it received a limited U.S. release by Atlantic Records subsidiary Seed Records in 1993. Since then, Mush has gone in and out of print, with a re-issue coming in 2000 for their 2nd full U.S. tour, as well as a new re-issue coming a few years back on Fire Records out of the UK. This rip comes from the Big Rock Records release in 2000. It is a record I will hold onto for the rest of my life. Leatherface should be going on stage in a few hours in Gainesville...I'm very jealous of the few folks I know who made the trip from Baltimore.










Leatherface - Mush
(note, 1/11/09: I've pulled the link temporarily, since there have been a ton of downloads on this, so obviously cats are interested. I'll probably repost this link, with all-new text, in a couple of months. While Amazon is not very helpful if you want a physical copy of this, they do provide a nice, low-cost MP3 download alternative. So drop the $9, for crying out loud.)

RIYL: Tom Waits, singing loudly while drunk on cheap red, hope