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After I read Jeff’s staff pick last week, I had to listen to the Briefs’ Hit After Hit. I loved that album when it came out, and Jeff’s pick reminded me how great it is. The way he went through the tracks in his staff pick is part of what made me so hyped on it… every time he’d mention another track I’d think, “oh yeah, I forgot about that song!” It really is hit after hit, and kudos to Jeff for an excellent staff pick and to Wanda Records, who has reissued the record on vinyl (currently out of stock at Sorry State, but we’ll do our best to get more in ASAP).
After I listened to the Briefs, my mind went to another of my favorite bands from that period: The Stitches. I was a fanatic about the Stitches in my late teens and early 20s. I can’t remember when or how I discovered them, but 8x12 got constant play in the late 90s. What a fucking record! Its eight tracks blaze by in 18 minutes, all energy with no letup. Each side features three original tracks dripping with hooks and played at blazing, Dickies-esque tempos, then ends with a cover. On the a-side it’s a snottier version of “Better Off Dead” by La Peste (for me, better than the original), and on the b-side an unexpected choice, “That Woman’s Got Me Drinking” by Shane MacGowan (of the Pogues, but this was a track he released in 1994 with his later band the Popes). “That Woman’s Got Me Drinking” is one of those cover versions where the band nails it so hard it feels like it becomes their song.
After hearing 8x12, I worked hard to pick up all the Stitches’ singles. This was no easy feat. That first era of the Stitches—until at least 1997—existed fully offline, and I don’t think the records were well-distributed, particularly on the east coast. It took years of off and online digging to turn up what I have. I never came across a copy of their first single, “Sixteen,” and it remains a hole in my collection. Fortunately for you, Wanda Records has not only reissued 8x12 but also Unzip My Baby, collecting all the Stitches’ 7”s up to 2010.
Unzip My Baby is laid out like Singles Going Steady, with all the a-sides on the LP’s a-side and all the b-sides on the LP’s b-side. So listening to both sides in a row is sort of like taking the same trip twice. You start with the pre-8x12 single “Sixteen,” which isn’t the band’s best work. It sounds like an average 90s garage/retro punk single, which is what it was I guess. Then you get the 8x12-era stuff. The band had perfected their cocktail here, a speedball of amphetamine-rattled, Thunders-influenced junkie punk. Songs like “Talk Sick” and “Second Chance” are strong, but I think the Stitches’ best songs and performances of the period went to 8x12.
Around 2000, the Stitches returned with a new batch of songs and a refined image that smoothed some of the rough edges of their Thunders-influenced aesthetic and replaced it with more approachable new wave polka dots. The first salvo from this period was “Cars of Today,” which appeared on 2000’s split 7” with Le Shok. “Cars of Today” might be the best song the Stitches ever wrote, built around a mammoth guitar hook and with a classic vocal in the chorus. The artwork looks cool as fuck too, carrying forward the aesthetic of the earlier releases into something just a little more refined.
This was a very exciting time to be a Stitches fan, as each record they put out felt like a game-changer. In my memory, the records in this era trickled out at a snail’s pace, but according to Discogs, most everything came out in 2002. Four More Songs from the Stitches featured, inside its next-level-for-the-time faux-Japanese packaging, another refinement of the formula, slowing things down to Sex Pistols-esque tempos and leaning into the big guitar hooks. Two of these four tracks ended up on the next LP, but for me the version of “Pick Me Up” on Four More Songs is far superior, its creeping tempo (more Spunk than Never Mind the Bollocks) carrying an air of menace the LP version lacks. The “Automatic” single and the live picture disc-only You Better Shut Up and Listen followed and further whetted my appetite.
Then, just as 8x12 captured the best version of that era of the band, Twelve Imaginary Inches wrapped everything up into a neat little package. By this time, the image was more Buzzcocks than Thunders, and the music had evolved to match. The album’s mix is a little slicker and more even, the guitar no longer way up front and in the red, and the songs feel more considered and sophisticated. Were the Stitches trying to make it big? Honestly, I wish they had, because I love this era of the band. The album-only track “Foreign Currency” might be my favorite Stitches song, though it doesn’t sound like any of their others. Like 8x12, Twelve Imaginary Inches is a 100% no-skips listening experience, though rather than 8x12’s full frontal assault, this time there are a few more peaks and valleys, and the record is all the better for it. I remember being so excited to get this record, which I pre-ordered to get the cool limited edition version. It’s on clear vinyl with the artwork printed in spot-varnish, in keeping with the title. When it finally showed up, I played it into the ground. I still remember every word of every song.
After Twelve Imaginary Inches, the Stitches went into a long period of inactivity, at least on the record front. They finally came east in the late 00s, and I went up to Richmond to see them. Government Warning opened up for them, and if I remember correctly, that was the first show for the “European tour” version of Government Warning with Alex playing guitar. I remember seeing the Stitches guys singing along when GW covered Reagan Youth (callback to last week’s staff pick). The era when I was a huge Stitches fan seems like a totally different time of my life than the No Way Years, and it’s weird they overlapped in that way. Certainly neither scene was at its peak, though I thought the Stitches played an excellent set.
The last time I checked in with the Stitches was the 2010 single “Monday Morning Ornaments.” That single appears on Unzip My Baby, and it sounds like a coda to the earlier singles. I’m pretty sure that’s how I felt about it at the time, too. Both songs are cool, but lack the spark of the earlier stuff. Or maybe it’s still just as great and I’m the one who has moved on. There are several releases after that on the band’s Discogs page, but it looks like they’re archival releases, including what looks to be some very early rehearsal recordings. I can’t find a place to hear those online, but I’m curious if “Television Addict” is a cover of the Victims song. I’d love to hear all those records.
Anyway, that’s my take on the Stitches. Great fucking band, and I’m stoked to have them on the shelves at Sorry State.