The song Donna Summer was a b-side on the 12" ep for their hit song When Love Breaks Down (from Two Wheels Good). I found it in a little store in Spokane, Washington and when I first heard it I bet I played it 25 times in a row. It's gorgeous, melancholy, and far too short. Listen:
It is, of course, a well-known and indisputable fact that Black Oak Arkansas were one of the greatest bands ever to stomp their way across this spinning orb of ours.
Folks who know this is true: Nine Pound Hammer, Nashville Pussy, Jello Biafra, Shooter Jennings, Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers), Greg Ginn (Black Flag), Jeff Pinkus and Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers), Jimbo Mathus, Nik Turner, Whiskeydick, and that dude from Lucero that everybody likes.
The rekkid is exactly as you'd expect, and that's a good thing. Nasty, dirty, deep fried rawk'n'roll, with fist-pumpin'n'hill-stompin' southern swagger, a mountain of beer cans stacked in a backwoods clearing. Somewhere there's a dick trapped in white spandex, and it's begging to be set free. You know what we mean.
Summer's fading. Catch this last chance at a kegger busting, '72 Nova destroying blowout!
Gonna have a good amount of mixes hereabouts. A throwback to thee mighty mix (cassette) tapes of yore, when it was all about gettin' the girl/boy, makin' the killer cover, or throwin' down the gauntlet of just how hip we all really were. And hip is where we're going with this'un.
Longer thoughts on the beat generation coming up (with lots of words'n'stuff). But for now....dig out yr bongos, stripey shirts, and shaky caffeine-bombed snappy fingers for a killer, stompin'n'boppin' survey of reefer infused bompshabompalala....or sumsuch.
Hi. Thanks for stopping by. Fans of our old site, Big Rock Candy Mountain, should find much to love here, Some new voices, new direction, new approach. And we can't think of a better band to kick things off with.
Walter Daniels and John Schooley are already legends for those for whom rawk'n'roll is more than just a flyin' V and a devil sign. They're artists that fix the underbelly of yr burnt-out Pinto, covered in the very grease and grime and hard-caked mud of American (whatever that is) music, jiggering and banging and cursing, cranking the innards into a shiny bat chained chrome-plated beast, loud and full of smog-choked distorted burnout, stains on concrete, rear-view window in kudzu, in cotton, in sand, in muddy waters.
Daniels is known for his work, both as the preeminent harmonica player and vocalist, in (take a deep breath) '68 Comeback, Big Foot Chester, South Filthy, Oblivians, Guadalupe Plata, Jack O' Fire, Revelators, Hard Feelings, and untold guest appearances and side projects. Schooley has blasted nasty voodoo geetar and vocals in The Revelators, The Hard Feelings, South Filthy, and, of course, the mighty John Schooley and His One Man Band. Couple'a years ago Daniels and Schooley released the killer LP, Dead Mall Blues. Now they're back together again on Meet Your Death's s/t LP. Mmmm mmmm good.
Joined by the rhythm section of drummer Matt Hammer (Strange Boys) and bassist Harpal Assi (Video, Wiccans), Daniels and Schooley have concocted a strange brew of covers (Exuma, Hank Williams, Bo Diddley, Mose Allison, Beasts of Bourbon, Screaming Blue Messiahs (????)), and claimed them, chained pit bull and all, as their own.
Lead off track "Obeah Man" might be one the greatest slabs of skillet grease committed to tape. A tribal beat, shaken and stirred and primal, Schooley coming in with jagged, beaten oilcan strum, Daniels starting off with a swingin' braggadaccio, all gutteral howlin' like a wolf, wait for explosion. Night train ghost rider harmonica chugging noir, geetar goes sugar cane raw. Then, boom, a swingin' big dick hoot, evil, gutteral vocals into six string destruction, pull back, attack again, distorted razed earth, a plague of locusts, buzzing 'round yr head. Lord god in heaven, and bless my soul!
There's no let-up..."If You Live" string-draggers its way into yr black heart; fuzzed out, bashed out blooze for the punk rawk young set. "Elephant Man" rides a metal groove into submission. Williams' "If Tomorrow Never Comes" becomes an apocalyptic hayride into hell, if hell were regret crushed under monster truck rumbling fumes.
Throughout, Daniels hollers righteous vocal fury, while huffing the harmonica into submission. Hell, he destroys it. It's really good to see Daniels take the lead again, he's been missed. Schooley kicks his legend up a notch, as well, burning tires into molten globs of gassed out napalm, deep dirty and delta seared, Goddam, brothers and sisters! Shout hallelujah!
Meet Your Death's self-titled LP was just released by the great record label 12XU
From the ashes of Big Rock Candy Mountain. A new site dedicated to modern sounds in hi-fi, old-timey hiss and crackle, the art of pen to page, the flicker of the screen, and the visual pop of damaged art. Oh, and trucking songs. There will always be trucking song.
I'm a sucker for well-crafted pop songs, especially ones that break your heart. I'm a sucker for Prefab Sprout.
