As has been announced, Bitch Magnet are reforming to play at least one gig in December, at All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK.  Companion to that is an upcoming reissue program via Temporary Residence, news of which was briefly on the band’s Facebook page until disappearing into the ether, until today.  With today’s formal announcement of the reissue program, it is my honor to present an interview with Bitch Magnet guitarist Jon Fine.  Jon was kind enough to respond to my out-of-the-blue request to interview him, as we’d already initiated a semi-coherent series of email correspondence, but even then the graciousness in giving me more than an hour of his time – on the hottest day of the year so far, for most of the Northeast, is not forgotten.
By Drew Crumbaugh

DC: I guess might as well get started from the beginning.  I was just curious how it all came together at Oberlin.  That’s such a small scene there if anything, you guys and Liz Phair…
JF: Basically I was an itchy underfucked 18 year old from New Jersey.  I had an itch, I was trying to put together a band with some friends of mine, but there was also this skinny Asian dude walking around campus, who was always wearing jeans and a big fucking white T-shirt.  Half the time he was carrying [Hüsker Dü’s] Land Speed Record, so you know, he had to be cool.

Haha…
That was Sooyoung Park.  He was playing in some bands.  We started chatting. I guess this was spring 1986.  I meet him and we start talking about music.  We try to play in my dorm room with his bass and my guitar running through my Marshall 10-watt amp.  He was in another band, he was writing songs, [but] they weren’t that into them.  Early sophomore year, really early, it just became clear that we were going to play together.  He knew this drummer that was kind of a hippie, but we just started playing under the name.  This was fall ’86, I guess.  We weren’t particularly good, I in particular was not good at all, and the drummer wasn’t right for the band.  I desperately wanted to play fast, that was my one thing.  I wanted to be a really fucking fast hardcore band.  Our drummer liked the Grateful…  You know, we just couldn’t quite do that.  About six months in, after recording a demo with another drummer, we precipitated the drummer quitting.  Orestes was playing with another band at that point, but we just grabbed him and he was into it.  Almost immediately it got a hundred times better.  This was now spring 1987.  We recorded a demo with him a week after we started playing with him, that no-one’s ever going to hear…  We really hadn’t got it together yet.  The summer of ’87 Orestes was going to be in Atlanta.  Sooyoung and I had nothing else to do, so we went down to Atlanta too.  There wasn’t a lot to do in Atlanta, but we practiced a lot and we really got it together and Sooyoung’s songwriting took a quantum leap.  At that point Sooyoung started writing the songs that turned up on Star Booty.  Summer ’87 we’re playing "Carnation," we’re playing "Polio," "Cantaloupe"…  We played one show summer of ’87 in Atlanta, with a crappy band called Rotten Gimmick.  It was at this guy’s loft.  At one point during our set there was nobody in the room.  And when I say that there was nobody in the room I don’t mean there was the sound guy, and the guy tending bar, and someone asleep.  Everybody was outside including the guy who owns the loft, including his dog.  Nobody was in the fucking room.  So we just kind of looked at each other, and we said "you know, it’s a practice so we’re just gonna play it."  So that’s the summer of ’87, and from there on it’s a gradual process of getting it together.  We recorded Star Booty in January 1988.

At Oberlin?
Yeah.  There’s a conservatory at Oberlin, they had an 8-track recording studio.  The recordings were super dirty and weird, as anyone can tell from looking at it.  We dragged them to Chicago to get them remixed [by Steve Albini —ed.].  There were enormous efforts placed on it, and it still sounds like a fucking botched abortion that was recorded terribly.  I have a real fondness for it, but it’s a really strange sounding record. We just didn’t know what the fuck we were doing.  We recorded an album, we had the studio for $100 a day for three days. 

Did Steve improve the record?
Yeah, yeah he did.  We’re in the studio, he’d say "you realize on this song, the guitar track is recorded at about the level of the ambient noise in the room…"  That’s how poorly it’s recorded.  What the fuck do I know, I’m 19, I had my head up my ass.  "Just do what you can to try and make it sound like something."  And he did.  Somewhere presumably I have cassettes of it before he mixed it, but God knows what that shit sounds like.

To get a guy like Orestes there with that kind of talent, from the beginning… There were very few of his caliber in that scene that I can think of offhand.
He’s basically ruined me for… I’ve had really amazing luck with drummers, historically.  The first fucking band I was in was with Orestes.  Very briefly in New York I played in a band with the drummer from Phantom Tollbooth, who was a fabulous drummer.  I played with Jerry Fuchs for years.  I was in a band with Kevin Shea.  It was crazy.  But Orestes is the best.  Even my dad, who doesn’t know a lot about punk rock, would see Bitch Magnet and to this day he’d say "you know Orestes was really something."  It’s true… I’ve just never experienced anything like this.  We’d come to practice and Sooyoung would say "here’s a new song."  Sooyoung would play the bass, Orestes would nod his head and play something.  Sooyoung would say "here’s the chorus" and he would play that, Orestes would nod his head and play something, and we’d play the song.  It was literally like that.  When we were putting "Dragoon" together for Ben Hur, Sooyoung would send a tape and he showed up and we would just blast it through.  It’s ridiculous. 
I think Orestes Morfin is the greatest drummer in the world.  He’s just the best.  I’m serious.  Nothing against Rey Washam, he’s a fucking unbelievable drummer.  Orestes is like fucking John Bonham if John Bonham could play crazy percussion.  I’m really serious about this.  This was my first band, this was Sooyoung’s first band that did out of town shows.  We just found this fucking guy.  Also, it turns out that Sooyoung was an incredibly skilled songwriter, and I guess we had a thing going. We got lucky.  I’m honored to have played with Orestes.  When I started playing with these guys, I wasn’t anywhere fucking near them, I was kind of riding their slipstreams for a long time, and still probably am.

Not a knock on the other guy, but you listen to the recordings of you guys that are out there from late 1990 vs. the recordings from before that, and there is a clear difference.
There is, and that was Pete Pollack.  Pete Pollack became the replacement drummer for us [in 1990 —ed.].

He’s good, you can’t deny that…
He’s more than good, I think he got a Ph.D in percussion.  He is enormously good.  His orientation was a little more metal, which at the time I thought was great.  When we had to replace Orestes, we tried out him and we tried out Damon Che.  We were desperately trying to find the drummer from Gore, the Dutch band, [but] we had no idea where the fuck to find him.  We got both Damon and Pete down in North Carolina.  Damon couldn’t really assume with time signature standards on.  For the 4/4 stuff it was unbelievable what he played, but he just couldn’t do the other stuff.  Pete ate that shit up, he was really good and he is really good.  But he was a different drummer, it’s a different style, and it turned out that Orestes was really irreplaceable.

Tell me about Communion.  How did you guys hook up with them? 
It was really complicated at the time.  I think when Gary Held got in touch with us, it was technically Fundamental, which was a distributor that also had a label that was putting out a ton of stuff, most of which wasn’t super distinguished.  It was nothing more complicated than we put out the record ourselves, it sold out, it was easy then.  It sold out really quickly.  We got some good reviews.  People came around and wanted to do something with us.  He courted us in the US, he checked out alright, and we pretty much did it.  I think Communion was something that he did himself, I think at a certain point Communion reflected his tastes a little more.

Did you guys have any problems getting the stuff out in stores?
We had really good luck.  We kept running into people who were immediately really good to us, who wrote really nice things about us, opened a few doors for us.  I was a college radio nerd, I desperately wanted to be on Homestead Records because this was 1988.  Gerard [Cosloy, Homestead label dude] was like that wasn’t going to happen, but he was great to us.  He did a lot of shows with us, he helped us in innumerable ways.  You were kind of going from handhold to handhold, and there was always someone sticking their hand out.  Here’s someone who wants to distribute 250 records, here’s someone who wants to distribute 500 records in Europe, and they’re going to introduce you to someone who wants to put out a record.  And here’s someone else who wants to put out a record.  Here’s someone in Chicago at some distributor, here’s a writer who wrote something really nice who’s going to introduce you to this guy… It happened really quickly.  We pressed a thousand fucking records, and it felt like in 2 or 3 weeks they were pretty much all gone.  By fall break of that year, we were talking to people about the next record, plus pushing the other one, it just happened really quickly.

Is that around the same time that you hooked up with [Mike] McMackin?
Mike McMackin had gone to Oberlin, he’d recorded a Pay The Man session that ended up not getting released.  I think Steve Immerwahr, who went on to form Codeine, had some connection with him.  Initially we were supposed to record Umber in January 1989 with Albini, but Orestes had a death in the family and we had to cancel at the last minute.  Albini ended up giving that studio time to Slint, and that’s when they recorded the session that became the 10" on Touch and Go.  So, I’m happy to have contributed to some significant rock history, as well as playing in this band.

Do you think Umber would have been any different had you stuck with Steve [in January 1989]?
That’s kind of impossible to tell.  I’m trying to think of any songs that ended up on Umber that we wouldn’t have been able to record then, in January.  I think we pretty much had the track selection…  I’m really proud of Umber.  Actually, here’s a big difference.  There would only have been one guitarist there on that, and not two.  It would have just been me, not me and Dave Galt.  You know, who knows.  Mike was really good to work with.  I was disappointed with the sound of it when it came out, because it still feels a little too bright.  Hopefully with the remastering we’ve tweaked it a little bit.

Was there some point where you guys said "hey, we need to get another guitarist in here, it’s too much for Jon Fine to handle"?
The sequence of events went like this:  "Jon, we want you to leave Bitch Magnet." I was not an easy person to be around.  You’re just talking to me on the phone, you can tell I talk fast, I’m gesturing with my hands, I’m pretty high-strung now.  When I was 20, I was out of my fucking mind.  Orestes and Sooyoung, they have their own version of this, but they’re much mellower, quieter dudes.  We’re remarkably different people.  I was not an easy person to be around.  So they said, "We want you out.  We’re doing this record."  About three days after this conversation I pulled Sooyoung aside and said "look, I get it, that you don’t want me in the band anymore, that’s fine.  But we should record this album.  We worked it out, if someone else is on it, fine, but I think this is really the thing to do."  He said, "yeah, you’re right."  I want to just double-emphasize this is my side of it, they have a different side of it, this happened 22 years ago.  So we graduate college in May of ’89, and then at the end of June ’89 we record Umber after woodshedding for about 2 to 3 weeks, 6 to 8 hours a day, in my parents’ basement in New Jersey.

[Songs] like "Americruiser" or "Douglas Leader" stand out from that record.  Do you think they still stand out?
I really like that record.  "Douglas Leader" is very special, and I say that as someone who is barely on it.  When you’re doing something that minimal, it’s gotta really hit right, or else it’s just completely a failure.  And that is hit perfectly right.  "Americruiser" is funny.  Notionally I don’t love it, because structurally it’s not really that interesting, and the parts individually aren’t that interesting, but when I started playing it again with Orestes, I was like, "oh yeah!  I remember!"  He just fucking elevated it.  The conversational aspect of it was nice.  It’s all feel.  The feel of "Americruiser" is really right, and just came out really nicely in the studio, almost accidentally.  At the end, it was 5 or 6 in the morning, I was alone doing overdubs, and I just jammed my fucking guitar up against the speaker and let it go "wrurrrrhhrhrhhhrrrrr" and it turned out to work.  There was no forethought to it.  It was the feel, that Orestes was kind of hanging back a little on the beat, the control in his playing, little weird rhythmic fill-ins here and there that really make it.  The bass part’s pretty nice too…  The soft-to-loud thing is kind of idiotic.  God knows you had all those fucking alternarock bands in the ’90s just grind that shit into the ground.

What was the reaction like to that record once you guys put it out?
People seemed to like it, it got really good reviews.  I knew it was a really good record.  I knew that after Star Booty we had something really powerful up our sleeves, I just knew it.  We all knew it.  It didn’t matter that no-one else knew, and it didn’t matter that we were playing some godforsaken show in Youngstown and 20 people were there, we knew that we were on fucking fire.  That’s a really powerful thing to feel.  I was glad that there was some reaction, that people seemed to like it, but I can’t sit here and quote reviews to you.  We had better distribution, but it wasn’t like Rolling Stone.  Nothing happened that vaulted it out of the post-punk or the post-hardcore underground, which by the way is fine.  I had a lot of weird feelings about it because I really didn’t like the way it sounded, but I was young enough and aggro enough to be kind of pissed off about it.  I don’t think any of us really liked the way it sounded.  But, as I say I just knew it was an incredibly strong record.

Any thoughts at that point of moving to something bigger label-wise, like a Homestead, or any approaches to you guys to do anything?
Our label in Europe went under, and we got picked up by Glitterhouse which at that point was a pretty prominent label.  If Homestead or Touch and Go had called us, we probably would have done our third record with them. I don’t think we were under contract in the US, and you know they didn’t, and that was fine.  It was a little more "rawk" than what those guys were doing, and that was cool.  So we did Ben Hur with Glitterhouse there, and Communion in the US.

What brought you back to the band after the double Dave [Dave Galt and David Grubbs] ’89 European tour?
Sooyoung asked.  I was somewhat dubious, though intrigued.  He sent me a tape of what would become "Dragoon."  I was sold.

How come three different guys did the Ben Hur sessions?  I know you did a session with Albini, and "Valmead" in Louisville… [and two tracks with McMackin —ed.]
We recorded 30 to 35 minutes worth of stuff with Albini.  One song didn’t really belong there, and as we thought it through, we were like "yeah, it’s not really quite long enough, we’re going to have to do some other stuff…"  I just remember getting "Mesentery" and "Crescent" together in the basement of my parents’ house over the course of a weekend.  Seeing if we had the songs, and we kind of hashed them out. "Crescent," I frankly despised when it came out.  I thought it was really kind of a throwaway, a weak, sappy pop song.  It’s not one of my favorite songs, let’s put it that way.  But I think "Mesentery" is really great, [and is] I think Orestes’ favorite Bitch Magnet song.  Orestes had gotten a tape of a rough 4-track of "Mesentery," and when we first started playing it, he was playing something different and really kind of crazy for the first part of it.  We actually had to ask him to play something different because we were losing the thread of the song.  I wish now I had a tape of that, because God knows how amazing that was.  Not that what he’s playing isn’t good, but it was this insane, beautiful thing lost to history.

How about the reissues?  How did that whole thing start?  Have you guys long thought of getting that stuff back in print?
People had approached me or us, at various times.  Jeremy [of Temporary Residence Records] was persistent and has a really good setup, and I guess the timing was right.  Enough time had passed, and we were just in a place where we could focus on it enough.  So we were just like, "yeah, sure."  Not much of a story, I admit.

It’s one of those things that just sort of organically happened, well that’s pretty cool.  You said Jeremy kind of pushed it, so that would explain why it’s not on something bigger like Touch and Go, or something like that?
Touch and Go doesn’t really exist anymore.  We didn’t seek this.  We didn’t call people up and say "Hey!  We want to reissue the Bitch Magnet stuff!"  It was just that Jeremy came to us, other people had mentioned stuff in passing, and he was just quietly persistent.  Clearly he was a really solid dude, doing it all right, super organized.  There aren’t a lot of labels left.  It’s not like we called up Merge, or we called up Sub Pop, and I mean no dis on those guys, I know those guys, it was like "this is fine, this makes sense, let’s do it."  The reissues are going to be a cool package, I’m excited by the idea.

How about the reunion itself?  How did that happen? Did that come from ATP or was that an outgrowth of working together on the reissues?
It was sort of an outgrowth of that.  We were talking about it idly, then we got an offer from All Tomorrow’s Parties that was pretty inspiring.  We were just like, yeah, it pretty much feels right.  It was more important that we had enough time to get it together, because we live in three different countries now.  It’s not like we meet at the practice space, it’s fucking complicated.  We got asked in March, for December.  They made it pretty much worth our while, they’ve been really great to us.  We’re like, "shit, why not?"  Battles is curating it.  I see Ian Williams pretty frequently, he’s an old friend of mine.  He asked, and then I got a call from Barry [Hogan, ATP organizer —ed.].

When you guys first got back together in rehearsal, did it take much time to get back into playing the songs, or did you kind of remember them by muscle memory?
Yeah, there’s some muscle memory.  There’s a constant sort of discovery and us working on it on our own.  I did some serious listening before we started playing, and I realized…  I played "Valmead" on the 1990 tour.  I thought I was playing the record and I realized I was doing it completely wrong, or at least wrong in a bit.  There’s always little things like that to tweak.  Some stuff I have to go back and learn, and some stuff I *really* have to learn.  If we were to get really deep and play everything, there’s some stuff that I’d really have to go back and try to remember.

Does it feel right to be doing it?
It feels great.  It feels fucking awesome.  It feels amazing.We’re looking at doing stuff, but we don’t know what’s possible, we just don’t have anything yet.  We’re not averse to playing other shows around that, no.

I nearly forgot the biggest question, what are you going to do about the hair?  Gonna go buy a wig? [laughing]
Oh Jesus Christ man, I wish I knew.  When my wife first saw me play music, she said "yeah, you do this weird thing where you shook your head around, what’s that about?"  When I first started playing on stage, when I did that there was a dramatic thing going on, but now it just looks like I’m having epilepsy or something.  I don’t know.  I’m going to have to relearn it.  It’s a problem, it’s really a problem.  Maybe I’ll go in a neck brace so I’m not tempted.  Someone told me that Jason Newsted of Metallica actually can’t headbang anymore, he’s fucked up his spine so much from doing it.  So maybe I’ll just have to pretend I’m Jason Newsted or something. [laughter]

Or just have someone on the stage do it for you, have a minion just do the headbanging for you.
Yeah, if [Slint’s] Brian McMahan can get someone to play guitar for him, maybe I can get someone to headbang for me!  [laughter]

The doubly long version of this interview is available over here.

And in case you missed it the first time, here’s the band’s Ho Cakes demo which we put up on the site a few years back. And finally, as a special bonus, here’s a couple acoustic Bitch Magnet tracks, a demo of "Crescent," and a particularly fun/drunk live show from the (Jon Fine-less) Bitch Magnet tour in Enger ’89. (They even do a Codeine song with Steve who was their merch guy at the time!)

Bitch Magnet – Where Eagles Dare (Enger ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – I Just Wanna Go Home (Enger ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – Buick Mackane (Enger ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – Ziggy Stardust (Enger ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – Pea (Enger ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – Sea of Pearls (acoustic ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – Sword (acoustic ’89)
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Bitch Magnet – Crescent (demo ’90)
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Bitch Magnet – Valmead (London ’90)
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Bitch Magnet – Motor (London ’90)
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This summer proves to be big business for Big Business who are now in the middle of a co-headlining tour with Torche. On top of that, it’s their first tour with new guitarist Scott Martin. On top of that, they started their own label Gold Metal, and have brought along their new 12" EP Quadruple Single. And this is going to sound like cliche pandering, but fuck you. There’s no better way to put it: This is some of their best material yet. The dual guitar adds a layer that fits them like a flesh tuxedo. I caught up with them last week when they hit Brooklyn. We talked about the EP, other projects, and other goofy stuff I figured no other journalist would ask.

Scott, you’re the newest addition. How did that come about?

Scott: They had a Guitar Center nationwide tryout thing, and I was at the Hollywood Rock Block one. And I guess I cut the mustard.

Jarred: You came in sixth.

Scott: I came in sixth, and when the other guys found out what was actually going to happen when they joined the band they were like, “It was fun trying out.” They thought they were trying out for Limp Bizkit.

The band started off as a two-piece and have had a history of acquisitions and mergers. Was this an intention when naming the band Big Business?

Jared: It’s probably a coincidence, but it’s a sweet savory coincidence. We’re not trying to take over anyone’s life.

Scott: They’ve taken over my heart though.

You brought along the Quadruple Single EP. Is this exclusive to the tour?

Jared: It’ll be in stores. We’re doing it all ourselves, so we’re just kind of doing what we can afford, but we will provide as the market dictates. If we could press 10,000 of them and sell them all, that would be great.

Are these songs going to end up on an album like the previous Tour EPs?

Jared: Eventually we plan on releasing them on a record. This is not specifically made for the tour. It’s our first foray into our own label and doing it ourselves. It’s all very new, and we’re learning as we go. Anything could happen.

Is the label going to be used for special things like this, or are you going to release albums too?

Jared: We’ll do our full-length when we write enough songs. I don’t think we have the time or the energy or the funds to do anybody else. In a perfect world, we’d release all of our friends’ bands. We’re just running it for ourselves for now.

Were these songs written as a four-piece?

Jared: Yeah. We wrote them all together.

Scott: We wrote a bunch and then trimmed down. We stuck with the four strongest songs. They’re all singles.

Is Guns the perfect theme song for The Expendibles 2?

Scott: Yes! Did you see part 1? Holy fucking shit that’s ridiculous!

Jared: We will happily license the song for Expendibles 2.

After the tour, what’s next for Big Business?

Scott: Writing and doing more of the same.

What about your other bands?

Scott: [Big Business is playing] Total Fest and when we come back from that the 400 Blows record is coming out, and we’re going to do a tour with Butthole Surfers immediately.

Jared: Melvins are going to tour Europe in the fall for three weeks and nothing immediate after that.

Coady: Murder City Devils just recorded a 7”. Two new songs. There might be one or two off-shows coming up in November.

Did you see the Crom cupcake?

Scott: Yeah. I was really stoked. That’s like the highest honor to make a cupcake after us. And it wasn’t just the cupcake. It was that she completely got the joke.

Would you rather open for Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayhem or the Riverbottom Nightmare Band?

Coady: Doctor Teeth.

Jared: Probably Doctor Teeth I would think.

Scott: I would definitely go with Doctor Teeth because I really want to meet Janice. Fer Sher!

Jared: The Nightmare Band is a little one-dimensional.

If you were KISS, and painted your faces for a persona, what would you be?

Scott: A panda bear. It would be hilarious. The right colors.

Coady: I’d be a zebra. Or I could paint sunglasses on my face and a mustache.

Jared: A freebasing accident victim. Just a screechy scorch.

Below is their very first  Tour EP from 2004 featuring early versions of tracks from their debut album.

OG
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Eis Hexe
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Evil Medievil
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Off Off Broadway
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From the same label that would bring you Coldplay, Kylie Minogue and Letoya, Capitol Records had money to burn sixty years ago, and here’s proof!

Starring the greatest vocal talent ever to walk the planet, Mel Blanc plays a record seller in Los Angeles and "somehow" ends up at the Capitol Records bldg (before Frankie souped the joint up in the 60’s). Watch as Billy May plays the hapless customer who bumbles into Bozo The Clown and then rubs elbows with Les Paul and watches Dean Martin in session.

The record geek in me was loving watching a laquer getting cut on an old Scully lathe, but this 30 minute movie is an absolute gem. Worthy of your time and, you know, it almost makes me yearn for a time when the record business actually existed.

Holy motherfucking shitballs. As an aging hipster (or so I’m lead to believe), it’s a rarity that such pablum comes across my, er, uh, ‘desk’ and this, clearly, is no exception.

From a promoter friend of mine that said "dude, The Decade of Rememberance tour is looking for a date!" I mean, come on. I’m only human. Look below. Look at these douche nozzles. Do you really think they’re gonna rage in honor of 9/11? Do they know how to add? 9 PLUS 11? 9 times eleven? Integers thereof? Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This tour could’ve been here. In Atlanta. But noooooooo, it probably is going to end up in some shit splat burg like Jonesboro or Cumming. Me? I’ve got Earth on that night. Sucks, huh?

Here’s their solicitation. (completely unedited)

Hello,
I am looking to set up a show for Atom Smash, Seasons After, and Diversity. We are asking $1500 (negotiable price) 2 hotel rooms, free drinks and food.

We are looking to book the show for September 10th or 11 for a patriotic show in remembrance of 9/11.

Thanks,
Trevor Holtzclaw

(and remember folks, it ain’t gay if it’s American!)

Chris Lopez was the first person from Atlanta I met when I actually came into Atlanta. I had arranged for backline for two shows that Chicago’s Tar were doing with Man…or Astro-Man? in ’93 and they knew him from Dirt when they’d played with them. Cabbagetown was a far different sight now (which is a book in itself), let alone when I moved to the neighborhood in ’98. Chris was quiet, but friendly and polite.

Over the years, I saw Chris routinely in Athens when the Rock*A*Teens were starting and with about the same frequency when I moved to Atlanta. Rock*A*Teens were, and continue to be, this glimpse into a soul-tinged gothic South. And I say this often, but I couldn’t imagine them being from anywhere other than Atlanta. It just fits. (Check out the "A Major Motion Picture" CD I did over here.)

When the Rock*A*Teens disbanded, Chris continued to perform the occasional gig around town. First as Chrisanthemum and then as Tenement Halls around ’03. Listening to their one full length is about as close to perfect as you’ll get. And christ, that record came out six years ago and I still listen to it routinely.

Live performances were rare and usually required persistence. The last two times I had him play shows I did were both with Harvey Milk (due mostly to Tanner’s affiliation thru Seersucker), but that was ’08. Chris’s last last local performance was in ’09 as a warm-up for the Merge anniversary gig that he played later that week. However, there’s not been even a peep since then.

Now granted, Chris has a day job, a wife and a son, but even keeping ear to the ground yields no information. Occasional talks with his wife show her as a big fan of his as well. And yes, she’d love him to write and play more. Whenever I run into the members of Tenement Halls at bars or parties, their responses are equally as puzzling. In fact, the general response is "I’ve not heard from him." Such a goddamned pity.

Well, as a fan of his, I know I’m not alone. And furthermore, I know many of those fans live far from Georgia, and (thanks to no touring to speak of) many have never even had the opportunity to see them perform. And that’s where I step in.

The last couple times that Tenement Halls performed at the EARL, they played a total of five new songs. Much like Knitting Bells, many songs are directed towards his new (and happy) life with wife and (new) child. Will he ever record these in a studio? Who knows? But I know how many times I get asked about Chris and the Tenement Halls when I travel and I feel it a gift to those people that I include these live recordings from The EARL which were handily mixed by good pal Curt Wells. Please enjoy.

Tenement Halls – Am I Your Man? (unreleased live)
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Tenement Halls – Closer To Heaven (unreleased live)
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Tenement Halls – I Can Feel It Coming On (unreleased live)
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Tenement Halls – Ink Black Sea (unreleased live)
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Tenement Halls – West End Rail Line (unreleased live)
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Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh yes….

So back in 2009, I was able to convince a bunch of pals to convene with me in Nashville for The Jesus Lizard’s second smallest club gig during their reunion tour. And was it worth it? Like duh.

About half way through their set, Yow was somewhere atop the crowd and his boot swiped my nose and blood came out forthwith. It’s a rock show. These things happen. But it happened to me. And my glasses. Oh well.

Unbeknownst to me, the show was being filmed and recorded by the same folks that did the Silver Jew and We Fun documentary and, welp, they got themselves one barnburner of a show. No doubt.

Fast forward a year later and the producer calls me up and asks me to design the artwork and in return, I get….a producer credit? Like I’m gonna turn it down. (Therein doubling my IMDb page!) So yeah, CLUB is coming out in August and here’s a preview. Just know that much unlike the rather substandard MVD release a few years back, this current *cough* MVD release will leave the room leveled. Trust me. I’ve watched this sucker enough to know. And hey, maybe you’ll hear the soundtrack on vinyl one of these days….

And hoooooly shit is the new Purling Hiss a smokin’ platter! Buy now.

Ah Cows. What’s there to say that’s not already been said? There’s not a band from the Amphetamine Reptile Records roster that more perfectly embodies the labels sound and aesthetic. To call Cows twisted and demented is to put it mildly. But hey, I’d like to think if you’re reading this you’ve already got a pretty good grasp on what they were all about.

Although AmRep released the majority of their material, there was the classic "Taint Pluribus Taint Unum" full-length that was released by Treehouse Records in the late 80’s. Although the record has been out of print for almost twenty years, the record suspiciously pops up on eBay by the label who put it out. So hey, maybe it isn’t as out of print as we’d be led to believe, huh?

Back in the fall of last year, I went up to the 25th anniversary celebration of AmRep in Minneapolis in the back parking lot at Hazelmyer’s bar/restaurant Grumpy’s. The Thrown Ups, Janitor Joe, Freedom Fighters and other AmRep alum reunited to perform. And for that, a hearty thank you to those bands. But the fact that Cows didn’t perform was a deafening omission to an otherwise perfect weekend of performances. No question about it. The band’s unique front man, Shannon Selberg, made a cameo and I could’ve sworn I saw one of their drummers lurking around. But Kevin and Thor, the bass and guitar of the band, were nowhere to be seen. I mean, what the hell? Such a let down.

While I was in town, I met up with old pal Lori Barbero who’d promised me a chance to raid her massive collection of 80’s recordings. Sure, Lori was the drummer for Babes in Toyland, but what you’d probably not know is that she recorded quite meticulously in Minneapolis throughout the 80’s. Soul Asylum? The Replacements? Run Westy Run? Magnolias? Prince? Yep, all of ’em. Die Kreuzen? Meatmen? Naked Raygun? Live Skull? Pussy Galore? Scratch Acid? Uh huh. Multiple times. In addition to the live recordings (which took me months to transfer back at Chunklet HQ in Atlanta), there were many demos that I never knew existed. And yeah, this Cows demo from 1986 was one of them. Actually, I have two separate versions of this from her collection and this is one.

This demo predates any known material that circulates of this legendary noise band. And well, isn’t giving back to you what I’m here to do? I mean, come on.

Download: Cows singles and Taint Pluribus.

Cows-first demo ’86-Tourist
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Cows-first demo ’86-Red House
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Cows-first demo ’86-Camouflage Monkey
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Cows-first demo ’86-Sittin’ Around
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Cows-first demo ’86-The Pictorial
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Cows-first demo ’86-Mother (I Love That Bitch)
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Cows-first demo ’86-Weird Kitchen/Shakin’ All Over
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Cows-first demo ’86-Cow Jazz/Car Chase
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So it’s no small secret that the folks at Newmerica were instrumental in helping us achieve our ambitious Kickstarter goal last fall. They’re funny. They’re inventive. They’re our kinda people.

Well, here’s their newest project featuring Brent Hinds from Mastodon, To those that live outside of Atlanta, this should serve as Chunklet’s Chamber of Commerce obligation for the year. And for those that are from around our parts, well, we all know Brent, Tom and El Myr. Congrats to all involved.

(And y’saw it here first, kids.)

The late 90’s were kind of a blur to me. Mail and email were keeping neck and neck and there was never a lack of people turning me onto new artists. In addition to this, I was booking a club here in Atlanta five nights a week and working for an ad agency during the day. So yeah, I was burning it at both ends. And really, it was kind of a blast.

Jonathan Kreinik (Trans Am’s touring sound man and studio engineer) told me repeatedly to check out this band that had been at his studio recently…and well, that band was Knodel. Knodel was one of those bands that at the time I was really excited about. It didn’t take very long for me to ask them if I could do a couple limited CD-R releases with them. Both in numbered editions of less than 200. And you know what? The EPs are still pretty darned great.

Okay, sure. The band was clearly geeky. Clearly aspiring to be those bands that they loved (Man or Astroman? and Trans Am come to mind). But man, doing Basic programming as lyrics for a song? Yeah, sign me up.

The first CD-R (edn of 100) was later paired up with more material to make up the 1985 EP which I still love listening to. It’s so late 90’s it hurts.

I was lucky enough to see the band perform once at the club I booked in Atlanta in ’99 (I’m thinking) opening for Man…or Astro-Man? and they were kind of a mess. Not bad. Just not that well formed. Then again, they were kids. I also remember their show as being the first time I saw VHS or Beta who, coincidentally (at least at the time), were mining the same musical terrain as Knodel. VHS and I were actually discussing releasing a record. I dodged that bullet.

Knodel went on to release a full length called "Black Hole" which I thought was an overwrought step backwards. Then again, maybe I’m just a softie when it comes to demos. They just come closer to what the band was doing.

I’m including the ten closest "songs" from the two CD-Rs on the site. However, if you want the entire shebang (in lossless format), just click here.

Postscript: I’ve got a couple copies of these here. Want ’em? Email me and we can work something out.

Knodel – We’re Knodel
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Knodel – Knodel World
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Knodel – Knodel Dance Party
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Knodel – Milk of Mares
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Knodel – Black Hole
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Knodel – Tricky (Run DMC cover)
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Knodel – Yar’s Revenge
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Knodel – Basic/Mr. Scientist
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Knodel – Dance Factor
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Knodel – Do It
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Put up for sale due to insanely high interest. Being printed now. Will be shipping the second they arrive. Free sticker included with each purchase.

Want some stickers (but not a shirt)? Not a problem. Just send $4 via paypal to henry (at) chunklet (dot) com and I’ll send you a handful.