The Mummies Vs. The Wolfmen

Not to sound like I've lived a terrible life, but this year marks the first time that I've carved a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. Chalk it up to a childhood where we didn't celebrate Halloween. It's led to a lack of enthusiasm for the holiday requiring active pushback. So bring on the apple bobbing, haunted hayrides, and drive-by eggings!

The firmest Halloween tradition I follow is, of course, the annual Mummies posting. And what better choice than their double 7" split with the Wolfmen. This is one where you can judge the book by its cover, ably craved by Coop himself! Just picked up a zine from him a few weeks ago; his devil girls still pack a punch. Long Gone John has his fingers all over this one, from the colored vinyl to his appearances bookending the mini comic inside the cover. The Mummies drop a pair of deranged covers of Wilson Pickett and Roy Acuff Jr. The Wolfmen present a pair of originals from their limited catalog...can't say I ever really listen to them. Y'all know what I'm here for.

Eat candy / play trashy music / get a venereal disease / make some bad choices. It's Halloween, y'all!

Discogs

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various artists - Sympathetic Sounds Of Detroit

It was Meg White's 50th birthday a few weeks ago, and it reminded me of the first time I heard the White Stripes. And the Dirtbombs. And Clone Defects, Bantam Rooster, the Detroit Cobras.ymp

It was 2001's "Sympathetic Sounds Of Detroit", compiled, produced, recorded, and mixed by Meg's "husband" and bandmate, the former Doc Gillis. If the goal was to put together a humdinger, then consider it a success. Longtime readers can guess which bands I favor here, but there's not a dud in the entire bunch. Even someone like the Von Bondies, who I otherwise never dug, really bring it on "Sound Of Terror".

(It's the Dirtbombs and D.C.'s, for the record.)

Discogs

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The Stuck Ups - The Stuck-Ups

I'll keep this quick, as the dog will only lay in my lap for so long without being petted.

The Stuck Ups were a turn-of-the-millenium garage punk quartet from Seattle who did two full-lengths for Long Gone John, as well as making an appearance on "Dirtnap Across The Northwest". This, their first LP, is a pretty damned good release from the mid 600's of the Sympathy catalog, slotted right between "White Blood Cells" and "Lack Of Communication". It's a relic of that time when stripped down punk and power pop was getting a lot of well-deserved attention from the general music-buying public. Salad days, my friends.

The dog stirs. Back to my official duties.

Discogs

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The Mummies - (You Must Fight To Live) On The Planet Of The Apes

Today is Halloween, so here's a date-appropriate record to share.

Do you like old tyme rock 'n' roll? The kind that dumb-ass white kids used to make when girls wouldn't pay attention to them? Then this is for you. It's the Mummies, a quartet of dorks from south of San Francisco who created Budget Rock around 30 years ago and will still whip you right in the ass with their blazing sounds. They hated CDs, and lord knows that they probably dislike the likes of yours truly sharing a very influential record digitally.

I picked up the "On The Planet Of The Apes" 7" mostly because of the reference. I think I played the title track on my radio show once or twice, but almost certainly sold it/traded it more than 15 years ago. It's a bummer, because this has a lot of prime Mummies slapped on its seven inches of vinyl. "White Caps" spans two parts across the A- and B-sides, and there's a cover of the Beatles' "I'm Down" on the back end. There's a little Margaret Keane art on the A-side label, and that Sympathy patch on the B...always a sign of quality.

Records come and records go, and you just try not to regret the ones you sent off to their next home. I'll be damned, though, if I don't get a little choked up thinking about how easily I let my Mummies records go. I mean, how could 20-year-old me NOT appreciate a bunch of fellas playing grimy garage and surf whilst draped in toilet paper? I was way too fucking serious back in those days. Chalk it up to capricious youth, a fundamentalist upbringing devoid of Halloween, or too much hardcore orthodoxy. At any rate, it'll cost me a lot more than the $3 to $10 I originally paid to bring these back to my life.

Discogs

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