It's October so of course everyone is freaking out. Maybe it's the weather (it's still barely cool enough to wear a jacket of any sort) or lack of definitive plans but I just am not feeling in the season. A couple years back my wife set up a thing that has been a standard in the music community for a long time, the Halloween Cover Show. At that one show I played drums in a Weezer cover band, sang for the first time in front of a crowd in a Discharge cover band and played guitar for the first time in front of people in a Bikini Kill cover band. It was a wild night and I honestly remember little about it do to being a nervous wreck and coping with that in unhealthy and self-destructive ways as I tend to do. It was a blast though. Sadly it kind of died off the next year (we still had one and it was fun but not nearly as wild as the first) and nobody's really picked up the torch to make it really happen again.
Me singing for "Discharge" How is this relative you ask? Well our prompt was flaws on great albums and a flaw a lot of people fall into is bad covers. I love cover songs, I think they're fun and can really help people progress as musicians, but not all cover songs need to be recorded. I actually came up with this prompt while listening to My America by the FU's, which is twelve minutes and thirty three seconds of perfection and then just falls flat on it's face with the cover of We're an American Band. Yes I'm sure it's meant to be funny but still it's just a painful listen. They could have fit a couple more songs in the two and a half minutes this cover takes up. It doesn't really even stray much from the original. It really just serves as a view into the future of the FU's and the much more rock oriented Do We Really Want To Hurt You? album, which has some rippers but definitely has a lot of hard rock influence. Here's one of my favorites from My America to wipe my mind of having to listen to American Band
Obviously bands of an older vintage didn't have as much of a back catalog of hardcore and punk songs to cover and probably identified more with their peer bands and the songs they heard on the radio. This didn't stop some hardcore bands from finding interesting things to cover (like Minor Threat's cover of 12XU) but a lot kind of just ended up offering up something bland and rather uninspired (we've all done it before). Some times the source material is even a good song but really the performance is nothing new. A good example is Battalion of Saints' cover of Ace of Spades on their Second Coming LP. It's not bad but really kind of brings the energy to a grinding halt and their version is pretty by the books. I'm sure at that point everyone wasn't sick of hearing that song and I'm sure they had a blast playing it. I listen to it sometimes but usually just am done with the record when it gets to that point. Let's also be honest and agree that the 7" version of second coming is better also.
One last one, kind of an under the radar rager is Conflict's Last Hour. A not well known LP from Tucson Arizona that just rips. These past two examples have ended with a cover. Conflict sadly puts theirs next to last and it's a pain. They cover American Woman by the Guess Who. God this song is just sooooo obnoxious. They manage to make it their own and kind of cool and punk but really I can't get past my hatred for the original. But the ultimate problem is having to sit through the cover to get to the last song You Choose which is an amazing song. Rarely do I pick up the needle and skip a track but this one makes me do it two out of every three times I listen to it. Sadly I have no video from the LP but there was a repress on Pukenvomit records well worth seeking out. Here's a track from their demo.
Time for some new records!
This tape ruled! So glad it's now on a 7". Super catchy punk from people who are no strangers. Drenched in reverb and lots of crunch on the guitars yet still manages to be super melodic. This is more of a jump up and down kind of thing than a full on raging kind of thing. This crew is in a million other projects and bits and pieces show through but really their song writing abilities shine more.
First Lp from this already fairly acclaimed band. Take everything from all your favorite UK DIY, Post-Punk and 77' punk bands. This definitely has one of my favorite guitar tones, buzzy and tinny. Lots of sax and upbeat drums make this an instant dance party. Highly recommended for those that like catchy tunes and a good time.
Cool art punk from Portland. Shrill choppy guitars with bouncing bass lines and a snare that pops straight at you. This has a tendency to kind of hang on parts like the Modern Lovers but with a much more Television Personalities tempo and charm. Definitely digging hard on this one.
And that's it for now. I leave you with the world's only satanic 00's house group the D-Devils
I know that's probably a lie but man is this ridiculous.
Skip to content
This tape ruled! So glad it's now on a 7". Super catchy punk from people who are no strangers. Drenched in reverb and lots of crunch on the guitars yet still manages to be super melodic. This is more of a jump up and down kind of thing than a full on raging kind of thing. This crew is in a million other projects and bits and pieces show through but really their song writing abilities shine more.
First Lp from this already fairly acclaimed band. Take everything from all your favorite UK DIY, Post-Punk and 77' punk bands. This definitely has one of my favorite guitar tones, buzzy and tinny. Lots of sax and upbeat drums make this an instant dance party. Highly recommended for those that like catchy tunes and a good time.
