(The) Monorchid - Who Put Out The Fire?

Monorchid (photo by Drew McDermott)

A monorchid is a being with only one testicle. (The) Monorchid was a brainworm I couldn't shake out of my head, with triple the balls the name would imply.

I came to Monorchid in a backwards fashion. I booked Wrangler Brutes into the Art Space, in no small part because Andy and Brooks from Skull Kontrol were the rhythm section behind Cundo from Nazti Skins and some dude named Sam. I liked Skull Kontrol (check the name of the blog, dog), and someone mentioned that Andy and Chris, the singer of Skull Kontrol, had done a band in DC before that called Monorchid. So I snagged a copy of their second and final LP, "Who Put Out The Fire?", and, well...

This is where I finally learned that if Chris Thomson was involved in something, I'd probably like it. The thru-thread spun through DC to Madison back to DC and on to Chicaog, from Ignition to Fury to Circus Lupus to Las Mordidas, on to Skull Kontrol to Red Eyed Legends to Coffin Pricks. It was going to be punk and weird and beyond cool and worth studying. When I sang, I wanted everything to sound like a glorious ad lib, no matter if it was stream of conciousness or written months before...to possess that sense of cool I always heard in Chris's voice.

"Who Put Out The Fire?" came out the same year as "Terraform", "What Burns Never Returns", and "Starters Alternators". It was a veritable murderer's row of great records from Touch & Go in 1998, which makes their infrequent releases in 2020 a goddamned shame.

Discogs

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Void - Potion For Bad Dreams

From the sublime, to the ridiculous...

It's still kinda amazing to me that two of the great punk/indie catalogs of the 80s, in Touch & Go and SST, have no gotten the comprehensive remastering and reissuing that we saw out of Dischord 10-15 years ago. Not only that, there are rarities from T&G, especially their early hardcore days, that haven't been revisited. I'm thrilled that the early Necros stuff is available digitally on Bandcamp from the band, and that "Tied Down" got new vinyl pressings last year and this year. But it sucks that bands like Hüsker Dü and Minutemen and Naked Raygun haven't gotten even a portion of the scholarly, loving treatment they deserve.

I'll step off the soapbox to, instead, share a record that (probably) rightfully has never been released. In 1983, Void was coming off the previous year's release of their split with the Faith, possibly the greatest split 12" of all time (prove me wrong!). They were the perfect melding of hardcore and metal; like Bad Brains and Motörhead making beautiful monkey love. How could you top such a ripper?

Turns out, you can't. Like their contemporaries in SSD, Void recorded a glam metal record, highlighting not just the fracturing interests of the band members, but also state of the hardcore scene in 1983. The leading lights were growing up, and many were ready to go pro and start making real money off their craft.

"Potion for Bad Dreams" was originally recorded for Touch & Go, a reflection of their alliance with T&G owner/Necros drummer Corey Rusk. But between the band falling apart, the lack of enthusiasm in the recording, and the need to focus on upcoming releases from Tesco Vee, the Butthole Surfers, and Die Kruezen, Rusk shelved this sucker. I say, for good reason.

This rip comes from my copy of the tape that Das Boots put out in 2014/15. I have no clue what generation recording they used for their release; I do know this has been booted almost since the day it was recorded, and my copy is one of the better I've heard. Some of y'all may enjoy this. If I remember correctly, I remember both Sean from White Zombie and Buzz from the Melvins saying in interviews what a shame it was this had never been put out. I'm not one of them, but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be shared.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Negative Approach - The First Year

If you're like me, you enjoy drinking someone else's beer, turning up Negative Approach and running repeatedly into a brick wall. You don't like that, you say? Well, you are missing out. There are very few things better in life than N.A. and a pilfered six-pack of Shiner Bock.

Cheers to Henry at Chunklet and Benn & Rachel at Atomic Books for a rousing Rock Band party last Friday, and for the inspiration for this post. What you have here, in a mere 28 megs of file space, is the first year's output from Grosse Point, MI's finest. What you get is the first demo, the track from the Process of Elimination 7" and the self-titled 7". 21 songs, 18 minutes. You must break something. All of this should be on Guitar Hero, or Rock Band, or some video game.

Negative Approach - The First Year

RIYL: random acts of violence, 1981, shaved heads

Skull Kontrol - Zzzzzz...

This is where our names come from...

It's been a little while, so I won't wax poetic. I wish I had been a slightly more hip person in my early 20's, instead of chasing whatever horseshit I listened to back then. I might have, instead of the obligatory Get Up Kids 7"s, rocked this record, even though I could never grow the mustache to go along with it.. This is totally bitchin' post-hardcore from ex-members of Born Against & the Monorchid. Skull Kontrol covers a Screamers track on this, their 2nd and final release. Still in print, available from Touch & Go and your local iTunes icon. Buy it.









Skull Kontrol - Zzzzzz...

RIYL: breaking glass, one testicle, the floor of ABC No Rio