Meandering Memorial Mix

I have lotsa pals making music these days, and they often toss me a demo or two

Here's a few folks I know who are cuttng tracks that i'll toss at ya for yer perusal...

First up are some guys who wish to preserve some of their anonymity while they test out a new sound of sorts...

Known as feisty noisemakers in days of yore, marriages, more money and a fancy Mac enabled with Garage Band have mellowed them somewhat and sees them spinning out some preening poppier material...

Elk Eyes - Mona Lisa

Elk Eyes – So Long

An elk's eyes are apparently designed to detect movement, even the slightest shifting of grass as a predator approaches... but will you approach?

The band name was handed to them by the fairly well known female artist who did their demo cover art, and so if ya like it, let em know what & why at their new and virgin like unfettered & unfriended myspace page...

http://www.MySpace.com/ElkEyes

It's Memoral Day weekend, and if there was ever a better time to post this next all american war referencing track...Uh, I don't know about it, but it was probably back in 2003 when it was first recorded.

I've had this song sitting around for a few years on a demo disc, but i guess it's your turn ...

especially now that it's available officially why not?

Anyhow, things like dual LP & CD releases take awhile when yer an anarchist luddite punk band, and working on a tiny budget with little overall organizational or financial forces backing you.

However, it was worth the wait, and now finally Shotwell's new Patriot CD/LP is out as I write.


Here's track 11, from the orginal demo I've had for awhile, but am now sharing in hopes y'all won't sleep on the rest of this scrappy album.

Shotwell - Halliburton Yawn

I caught the band at a show in SF the other day and they were playing at the finest level I've seen them at in ten years. The bottom end is well represented and of course with the dual vocal/guitar attack featuring Tony Rojas joining the mighty Jimmy Broustis, things get riled up quick. I like the way the two get yelping away over the top, and it was a great sweaty set.

If you'd like to order the new Shotwell Lp or CD, well I suggest you get on it, as they are limited pressings and only $9 postpaid from Thrillhouse Records...

I believe some copies are available through other sources, but I suggest you go direct. ( p.s there are only 600 some copies of the vinyl so get yours now!)

Here's a track that's included on the new LP/CD but first appeared in aversion heard on The Letters From The Landfill compilation from Left Of The Dial records...

Here it is as heard on that collection originally out circa 2004...

Shotwell - Dust Of The Dawn

So... if yer still interested,

we'll finish this meandering memorial mix with just a couple more Shotwell tracks here...

These last two tracks are from Shotwell's last fairly hard to find release,

The Devil Has It's Day

And for all you cover art aficionados, here's some never before seen, at least online anywhere that i know of, original
color mock ups of a cover for the CD reissue in 2006...
this time entitled "for The Devil Has It's day"



Shotwell - Mudpile

Shotwell - Pick Axe

anyhow

if that ain't enough for ya, here's a preview of Shotwell's debut full length Celery Beef & Iron which emerged about 10 years ago on the Broken Rekids lable, the only record they hae available online for downloads...



that should do ya'll for now I suppose

enjoy!

See Ya Later Folks

Saturday Slackfest

Like the aforementioned Jesse Dayton from my last post, the Slackers are American indie music makers I can't get enough of.

I first got hipped to them about 10 years ago, mainly due to their association with Rancid. In fact if it wasn't for the Slackers ska horn infusion and Vic's great Hammond B-3 work on Rancid's Out Come The Wolves, that rough & tumble band likely would have never crossed over as huge via those early radio hits like Ruby Soho and Time Bomb.

Well years have passed and those Brooklyn based Slackers never managed to break like the boys outta Berkeley. They still tour relentlessly, know how to leave a crowd sweaty, and make a helluva fine racket.

I'm tossing in some bonus mp3 tracks for those who wade through the post, the pics and tour dates, so stay alert folks.

These first couple tracks here are from CDs I picked up at recent shows ( see the pics below)









The first track is a Bob Dylan cover, but one that's given the Slacker shakedown, tossing away the original's lopey 70's country twang for a more upbeat traetment that goes here there and everywhere. I imagine that ol' Mr. Zimmerman never imagined this particular Ruggiero scenario...

The Slackers - Wanted Man
taken from From The Boss Harmony Sessions...

This next track is from a recently released Vic Ruggiero solo album, and he when he took a second from busily paying respects to his female fans, and handed it to me at Bender's Bar in da Mission, there was no cover or title on the disc. Fortunately through the internet connected magic of the Gracenote CDDB system I discovered that this baby is entitled "Something In My Blindspot". According to i-Tunes, it just came out this spring and is a fine example of an eclectic indie record with splashes of ska, folk and rock sprinkled throughout.


Here's the title track from this Moanin'' records release, another song that briefly quotes Dylan as well at the start...

Vic Ruggiero - Always Something My Blindspot

The Slackers are busy touring in support of their new album Self Medication which just came out as well recently. Here's a preview of that disc if yer interested.



The Slackers are out and about as usual, but by the looks of these dates, unless you are in NYC, Japan or Glastonbury you might need awhile longer before they hit your neighborhood.

But be sure to make time when you get a chance to catch these guys, I doubt you'll regret it...

Jun 7 2008 8:00P	Irving Plaza	New York, New York
Jun 17 2008 8:00P	Daikanyama UNIT	Tokyo, Tokyo
Jun 18 2008 8:00P	Droom	Sendai, Miyagi
Jun 19 2008 8:00P	Mescalin Drive	Hammamatsu, Hokkaido
Jun 20 2008 8:00P	Sunsui	Osaka, Osaka
Jun 21 2008 8:00P	Club Upset	1-4-23 Ikeshita,Chikusa-ku, Niigata
Jun 22 2008 8:00P	Shelter	Tokyo, Tokyo
Jun 26 2008 8:00P	Glastonbury Festival- Worthy Farm	Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset
Jun 27 2008 8:00P	The Park	Leicester
Jun 28 2008 8:00P	Corporation	Sheffield
Jun 29 2008 8:00P	Soundhaus	Glasgow, Scotland
Jun 30 2008 8:00P	Liquid Room	Edinburgh
Jul 1 2008 8:00P	Carling Academy	Newcastle
Jul 2 2008 8:00P	Robin 2	Bilston
Jul 3 2008 8:00P	Bierkeller	Bristol
Jul 4 2008 8:00P	ULU	London, London and South East
Jul 5 2008 8:00P	The Junction	Cambridge

hey you made it all the way down here!

congrats... here's a bonus cut, The Slackers from the 2006 release Peculiar, in which they are unafraid to express their disapproval of the current lame duck presidential administration and it's myopic vision.

The Slackers - International War Criminal

and here's one from the Peculiar release,their last for Hell Cat/Epitaph, it's perfect for your weekend whatnot, another classic associated with Mr. Bob Dylan ...

The Slackers - I Shall Be Released

Anyhow...

I'm off to go see Mark Mothersbaugh at an art thang in Berkeley...

toodles

Road Worn and Weekend Whatnot

I was in Los Angeles earlier this week,( actual photographic proof seen here in this pic on the Hermosa pier). You can spend a lot of time driving around on the freeway trying not to be horribly annoyed by their heinously "hip" corporate radio. The few minutes I interrupted my own musical choices to listen to the pandering pablum on the airwaves felt like hours. I was quickly inundated with with lousy Linkin Park soundalike atrocities until I was forced to keep the FM on permanent hiatus.

Fortunately I was stock piling music for the long drive up the I-5 and had some self selected tunes to ease the monotony...



So in honor of the fact I made it home (even after the car's ignition failure outside of some sad lil lonely burg named Lost Hills...)

Here's some songs I either listened to or purchased out on there on lonely road to and from nowhere...

The list will get longer as I have time, but here's a few to get this party started...

I heard this track pop up in the CD rotator as the signs for $5 diesel whizzed by out the side windows, I imagined how expensive it must be just to keep a band on the road this summer. I've had this album since it came out circa 1982, and this is from a newly remastered edition of Diary of A Madman that I scored in a Modesto strip mall on a trip a few years ago. I love how the the first three tracks in a row still just sail into the stratosphere like few albums ever...

There's only 8 songs in total, but when ya throw down three totally timeless and still fresh sounding hard rock classics in the first 15 minutes, it's plenty of punch to offer the punters. The mighty "Flying High Again" starts things off with a massive head banging, fist pumping fury, followed by the monumental stomper "Over The Mountain", and then there's this next lil' anthem. For some reason this melancholy meandering mellow metal classic with it's screaming Randy Rhodes solo and seven minutes of balladeering is never far from my heart...

It may sound cheesy, but Ozzy's usually right, and it's decades later and you still can't kill rock n roll, and it is really my official religion and my law... now get out of the fast lane if yer still reading the map...

Ozzy Osbourne - You Can't Kill Rock And Roll

I was startled to come across this next oldie but goodie still in the shrinkwrap at a flea market somewhere between Bellflower and Paramount, and while I prefer Joe Jackson's 1980 original, this version from the Persistence Of Time album in 1990 by Anthrax ain't half bad either...

Especially if yer pickin' up speed on the 10 on an overpass above a huge line of losers trying to get into a taping of American Idol ...

Anthrax - Got the Time

Here's one from the excellent casually corrupted country music makin' fool known as Mr Jesse Dayton. He totally won me over after I caught him opening for The Supersuckers several years back, and I can't ever seem to get enough of his shtick.

This tune is in fact a Supersuckers cover, and this bastard son of George Jones sponges it up and squeezes it out perfectly. This was off his self released South Austin Sessions collection on his Stag label, but he's got lots of other great stuff out you should dig into if yer curious.

Jesse Dayton - Road Worn & Weary

I see he's out and about playing shows with Mike Ness everywhere but here, and all over Texas as usual, and he's even got his Mexican vacation gig in Puerta Vallarta all booked up as well.

Looks like he'll be playing in California at the Ink & Iron Festival on the Queen Mary in Long Beach in early June. That's fine & dandy if yer a tatoo sporting So Cal creep, but I haven't pounded shots with him here in San Francisco since Thee Parkside changed ownership awhile back and he was likely banned for life...

Anyhow, if ya see him ... tell him I'm holdin' my own out here, but I miss him and this shit has to be reconciled... or else...

see ya laters kids...