Cometbus #51: The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah

Sorry to who I took this image from!

My cousin lent me* my first issue of Cometbus. When she lent it to me and what issue it was is now a cloudy memory, but really that’s not important. What is important is that after that moment, my life was changed forever. Yeah I know that sounds as cliche and trite as every other statement from someone on when they came of age, and music saved them, blah blah blah. Regardless, since that moment I’ve scoured far and wide for any issues that I may have missed, and I’ve made sure I’ve purchased any issues that may have just come off of the press. And over those many moons that have passed since that first issue that my cousin has lent me, I’ve watched Cometbus expand from just a zine to something else. Something more sizeable than a zine. Something more important.

This time around Aaron threw a slight wrench in the gears. Instead of writing in the style that he is most well known for; that is to say realistic fiction, The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah, is a non fiction novel about Berkeley. More so, it’s about the rise of many pivital businesses (used paperback bookstores, used record stores, poster shops, etc) and even potentially yuppies, stemming from an argument between two bookstore owners in 1963. Though this issue not loosely about his life, you know where the names and places are changed, the relatability factor is not missing. In fact, this issue makes me want to go out and find out more about the city I call home. That Cometbus inspires many people to find themselves (geographically or otherwise) is a testament to how important this little zine is to the people that read it.

Aaron must have spent tireless hours compiling a great number of interviews with Berekely locals; the friends and families of the business owners that have passed away, current business owners, and other notable people integral to the story herein. As with every issue of Cometbus, Aaron offers insight on many things discussed. It definitely helps that he is not an outisder looking in on Berkeley, making this story far from dry or boring.

Cometbus has always been important to the punk rock subculture as it stood, and still stands, as a historical document of the last 25 years. Though this issue is not focused on punk rock or the trappings of life surrounding it, The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah, is no less important or significant. I’ve always felt it to be important to find out the history of where you come from before you put it down, and with this issue Aaron has done just that.
Available from No Idea Records

*Sorry I never returned that issue Chrissy, but surely you understand!

Pinhead Gunpowder- S/T 7″

Five years after the release of Compulsive Disclosure, a criminally short collection of songs from a few previously released 7″ EPs, Aaron Cometbus and company finally return to grace the world with three or four new songs, depending on the format you purchased. Being the completist nerd that I am, I purchased both the vinyl and download format.

Let me predicate this review with the fact I love everything about this band. I love that their songs rule. I love that they’re friends playing music for the love of music. I love that they easily could have a larger label release something for them, yet only release music on their friends labels.

The brilliance in Pinhead Gunpowder has always been in their ability to write some of the best East Bay punk this side of late 80’s. That stands to reason for the, well, obvious reasons. Musically, the songs are more akin to their post Mike Kirsch recorded output (Goodbye Ellston Ave, Shoot the Moon, and various EPs) which is fine by me; those records were always my favorite. I’ve always thought that the songs were stunning poppy and catchy works of art, yet what’s separated them from the rest of the pack is their lyrics. Aaron’s lyrics are always consistently good no matter what band he may be in. As much as I like Billie’s other band (what’s their name again), his lyrics in Pinhead Gunpowder always strike a bigger chord with me. More sentimental for some odd reason.

All in all, this 7″ leaves me feeling the same way all their other 7″s do: Appreciating and loving the new songs, but hungry for even more.
Recess Records

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by: Kate DiCamillo

As a teacher, I read aloud to my students on a daily basis. Over the years I have read some amazing children’s books, and sadly have also had contact with those I would consider to be less than extraordinary. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane happens to be one of those books that falls in line with them amazing stories as opposed to the less than extraordinary.

Set in an ambiguous time (though one can assume it takes place a long time ago), Edward Tulane is a rabbit doll made out of china by Pellegrina for her granddaughter, Abilene. Pellegrina went out of her way to make Edward a very special rabbit by dressing him in the finest clothing made of silk and giving him other trinkets that would set him far above and beyond any other doll. Abilene adores Edward, yet Edward is extremely vain and only thinks of himself. After Pellegrina notices this, prior to the family’s departure to England, she tells Abilene a story of a princess who has no love for anyone, and gets turned into a warthog. The story is told in hearing distance of Edward who doesn’t fully understand the relevance of the story until it is too late. Pellegrina then turns to Edward and tells him, very pointedly, how disappointed she is in him.

Edwards miraculous journey begins when two little boys who were teasing Abilene accidentally throw Edward over the side of the boat that Edward, Abilene, and her family were traveling on toward England. From the point when a fisherman finds Edward in one of his cast nets to the very end when he meets up with Abilene years later in a doll shop, Edward is introduced to a host of different people and owners who take him under their wing. Through disappointments, heartbreak, and even death Edward learns how to love, and finally comes to fully understand Pellegrina’s motive in telling Abilene the story of the princess.

Through great writing The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane had me fully engaged the entire time that I read to the children. In fact, I was so engaged and enamoured with this book that I pined to read it when I couldn’t, and couldn’t wait to finish the book with the kiddies…I had to finish it on my own. I would highly recommend this to kids and adults alike.

A Death In The Family/Manifesto Jukebox- Split CD/LP

Announced after their tour together last winter, this split CD/LP has been a long time in coming. The pairing couldn’t have been better: two great melodic punk bands known for playing intense music similar in aesthetic and sound to some of the greats.

Manifesto Jukebox kicks things off. The first two albums by Manifesto Jukebox (Desire and Remedy) were classic in my book. There was just something about those albums…the rumbling Amebix meets His Hero Is Gone meets Husker Du bass lines, the  melodic buzzsaw guitars, the great bleak yet poignant lyrics. Every time I listen to those albums something new pops out at me. Last years Strain changed things up a bit. Gone were the really dense songs in favor of more (dare I say) airy kinds of songs. Were they bad? Not in the least. That album was really good. I just preferred the really dense dark songs. The three songs on their side of the split follow suit with more of a Wipers quality to them. The songs are poppier in some respects but still maintain some darker undertones. Though they did take a bit of time to grow on me, grow on me they did. On to A Death In The Family’s side.

2006 found A Death In The Family releasing one of the best albums of the year. Overlooked by many (a fairly silly mistake on the part of those reviewers) This Microscopic War completely blew me away. In the time since the release of This Microscopic War, they went on tour, lost a guitar player and got a new one, recorded Let’s Lose (their contribution to the Poison the World Pt. 2 compilation), went on tour again, then recorded the four songs for their side of this split: three new tunes, and their cover of My Pal by God (an Australian band fairly unknown in the states) are again amazing. Kicking things off with Sick of This, A Death In The Family grabs you and doesn’t let go until the very end. As with their previous release, you can expect dynamic songs that pack a punch. Like Dillinger Four, A Death In The Family isn’t afraid to change things up multiple times are throughout the course of a song keeping things interesting, while keeping the listener on his/her toes.

For all of you record collector nerds (me included), this split is available on red wax through Combat Rock Industry Records. Otherwise it is available on CD from both CRIR (in Europe) and on Poison City Records in Australia and North America (via No Idea Records).

Combat Rock Industry Records/Poison City Records

White York- Changing the Wheel 7″

From the old time woodcut screen-printed artwork, to the music splayed out on this two song 7″, White York comes out swinging, and I must say that I’m pretty impressed. Changing the Wheel kicks this EP off and sounds like it could easily fit on the last ‘Tone record, with its 70’s influenced punk (think the Clash or Jam) rounded out with very melodic fore and backing vocals. Very Hi-Fi Devices closes things out with more of the same 70’s influenced punk with a dash of Against Me in there for good measure. Lyrically White York follows the political punk tradition without the boredom of stale over used rehashed “punkisms” which tend to cloud the purity of many bands past and present. If this is where White York is at now, I can’t wait to hear where they will go in the future.

Feral Kid Records

Year Long Disaster- S/T CD

Straight up Southern Rock in the vein of Mountain with hints of Led Zepplin and ZZ Top. To be honest, I’m not sure if I am the best person to comment on this as I’m not really a big fan of classic rock. Sure I love Boston, Van Halen, and AC/DC but other than that I’m really at a loss with regards to reference points, etc. Though I appreciate their musicianship and how talented they are, this kind of stuff doesn’t give me a jolt. Again, it’s not their fault. I’m just not really into classic rock.  

Volcom                                                                                                                                                                        

American Steel- Destroy Their Future CD/LP

The water was chummed with anticipation (for me) months and months ago when a good friend of mine (I’ll call him Mr. X) gave me an indiscriminate copy of American Steel’s six song demo. I knew about them reforming prior to that, but tried to keep it hush hush to everyone but a few close friends that I knew had an equal love for the band. The demo (featuring six of the 12 songs on Destroy Their Future) was a welcome return from their keyboard laden other project Communique, immediately gratifying me to no end. This isn’t to say that I didn’t like Communique, but American Steel would always be my first love. Sort of like All to the Descendents. Months and months went by until another friend (I’ll call him Mr. Z) sent me a link to the new album. Again I had to keep hush hush making me feel like I was holding on to the holy grail.

But now, with a day to go before the official release date, I have to keep quiet no longer. American Steel, welcome back! I’ve missed you. So I assume the big question on lips for anyone that has ever had a remote interest in American Steel is, how is the record. In one word: amazing.

11 (or so) years ago American Steel released their self titled debut CD/LP on New Disorder. A couple of years after that they released Rogues March on Lookout, only to be followed by Jagged Thoughts (again on Lookout). I always felt that their following records built on the momentum from their preceding records. But with Communique forming after American Steel disbanded, essentially picking up where they left off, where does Destroy Their Future (their first record for Fat Wreck Chords) fit in the scheme of things? I would say that it fits nicely somewhere nestled between Rogues March and Jagged Thoughts.

Included herein are 11 new songs, and a re-working of “More Like A Dream” (originally released on a Lookout Records comp) which is enough to make any American Steel fan a happy camper. Like Rogues March, many of the songs are based on a left leaning political platform. Unlike Rogues March which held more obscure seek and find references to such subjects as Cointelpro, Destroy Their Future finds a band spewing more in your face views. I honestly never thought I would hear them use lines like, “No gods no masters, no kings or their court jesters,” from the album’s first song “Son’s of Avarice.” Though their politics are more in your face this go around, unlike many of their contemporaries in the political punk community, their lyrics don’t come off sounding trite or boring. To be honest, it has been a very long time for me to hear a song on the subject of war that didn’t coe off sounding dry and rhetorical. Like Jagged thoughts, many songs come from a personal and poetic point of view. In grand American Steel (and Communique to some extent) fashion, the vocals are shared between the two primary song writers, Rory and Ryan.

Musically Destroy Their Future sounds like an amalgam of the aforementioned records, though not as abrasive as Rogues March nor as quiet and soul influenced as Jagged Thoughts. What I like about Destroy Their Future is no matter how varied the sounds are, the songs still tend to fit together well making for a very solid and enjoyable record from start to finish.  Destroy Their Future is different enough from all of the dilluted crap that passes for punk these making it relevant to the old fans like myself, and new comers looking for someone amazing to call their new favorite band. Thank you American Steel for re-uniting, and releasing arguably one of the best records of 2007. Viva American Steel!
Fat Wreck Chords

Volcom Tour Featuring Valient Thorr, Riverboat Gamblers, ASG, and Totimoshi: August 10, 2007 @ The Garage, St. Petersburg, FL

Prologue

As long as I can remember, the scene in St. Petersburg has been one that has fought to get its shit together. If I had to make a judgement call, I would say that it is worse now than ever before. The old reliable promoters are taking it easy leaving slack club promoters and owners to pick up the slack, yet inevitably drop the ball. Drop the ball they did on this show.

Picture it: My excitement was at its peak when Reid from Volcom emailed me to tell me that the Volcom Tour featuring Valient Thorr, Riverboat Gamblers, ASG, and Totimoshi was coming to St. Petersburg. Months later, much to my chagrin, Reid again emailed me to let me know that the show had been moved from the State Theatre across the street to the Garage. The Garage is a half bit show venue that was initially opened by the folks that lease out the State Theatre, with the intention to showcase local bands. When the local bands lost interest in the Garage for one reason or another, they decided to start booking other regional and touring bands. This show was moved to the Garage because the State Theatre was double booked on the night of the 10th. Then the promoters at the Garage did absolutely nothing to promote it until less than a week prior to the show. It’s as though they wanted to see the show fail.

With that said Friday August 10 finally arrived, and nothing, not even crappy promoters, could take away my excitement. Unfortunately because the promoter never mentioned any door or show times so I missed Totimoshi. Onward to the next band ASG

ASG is a band that I am relatively familiar with. I’ve seen the a couple of times before and really liked them, so I was pretty excited to see them again. I grabbed a beer and made my way to the front of the stage. ASG is a hard band to pen down which is a good thing in my book. Part power rock, part southern rock, part surfer, and part punk rock sensibilities, ASG did a good job of keeping the audience entertained for the duration of their 30 minute set. Next up was the band I was most excited to see play, the Riverboat Gamblers.

Over the last few years the Riverboat Gamblers have built quite the reputation of being one of the best live bands around. How they put everything they have into their live show on a nightly basis is beyond me. Kicking the set off with “Rattle Me Bones” from Something to Crow About, Riverboat focused on songs from their last two albums like the last few times that I’ve seen them play. I was pretty excited by the fact that they played two new songs, “Pilgrims” and “Don’t Answer Me.” Both songs sounded on par with their newer material if not a bit more developed. I love that Riverboat is not afraid to grow as a band as evident from their earlier material up to their newer stuff. Mike left the stage and climbed on things, and the rest of the band flawlessly held everything together. After 45 minutes of seizure inducing movement on the part of the band, Riverboat left the stage as Valient Thorr set up their gear in preparation to close the night out.

After traveling all the way from North Carolina…err, umm I mean Venus, Valient Thorr finally took the stage, and in a blur of hair (head, facial, and body) and sweat whipped everyone into a frenzy. The air was filled with anthems of political conspiracy that one would assume were written about the current climate of repression on the planet of Venus rather than situation on our home planet. You know, because nothing questionable has happened in the good ole world in the past few years that would esteem such rabble rousing. All joking aside, Valient Thorr was once again amazing. Bare with me if you will: Valent Thorr is like a mutation of AC/DC by way of Metallica, a Southern Pentecostal preacher by way of someone like David Icke, and the dudes from your high-school that used to drive around in their T-Top Camero all day whilst being wasted. They (along with Riverboat) are one of the best live bands that I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s the deranged dialog by Valient himself between songs, or maybe it’s their furious seemingly unstoppable steamroller of a live show. Valient Thorr posses that quality that very few bands do that makes me want to see them time and again and never get tired in doing so.

All in all, when you consider the chain of events that potentially conspired against this show, things went off without a hitch. Sure there were those morons in the “pit” that don’t understand that if no-one wants to dance, and you are one of two people total “moshing” then maybe you should count your losses, and give up on the foolish idea that splitting skulls might be a good idea. But I wasn’t going to let those events and morons get in the way of me enjoying a great show, and what a great show it was.

Going Underground: American Punk 1979-1992

Just by looking at the cover of Going Underground, by George Hurchalla I knew this book was going to be right up my Alley. Fully emblazoned on the front cover is a picture of Biscuit from the Big Boys, a band that was (and still is for that matter) very influential.

I originally read a few interviews with Hurchalla in Razorcake and MRR, and the premise of the book sounded fairly interesting; a personal narrative surrounding the rise of DIY punk in the US all the way from its rudimentary beginnings* from the Germs (a band that gave rise to many of the early LA hardcore bands) to the Gilman scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Does the book fully cover every band and every scene? No, but I feel it does a better job than Steven Blush’s American Hardcore for a few reasons.

Like Blush, Hurchalla focuses on a core few bands, but where as Blush maintains his focus on those few bands and scenes throughout the course of American Hardcore, Hurchalla goes above and beyond by writing about lesser known scenes like Cincinnati and Austin and other bands that Blush didn’t hit on like Marginal Man, Gun Club and the Butthole Surfers.

I also really like how optimistic Going Underground. I got a soured taste in my mouth after reading American Hardcore, because Blush went in with the attitude that a few bands were the end all be all of hardcore, and hardcore was dead when their time came. Hurchalla goes beyond that to note that hardcore and punk in general became very bloated, which definitely did change things in the underground, but the true torch bearers kept it alive by holding house shows, basement shows, and starting DIY youth centers, such as Gilman Street, to keep things alive and vibrant.

I also really liked how Hurchalla spoke about the good, bad and ugly side to the bands and scenes that he focused on. For example, when writing about the Bad Brains, he went out of his way to show the hypocrisy in their lyrics by documenting their change from an amazing positive band, to the homophobic reactionary band that they would become.

I do have a few criticisms of Going Underground, one being that Hurchalla could have spoken more about the East Bay scene and bands like Crimpshrine and zines like Cometbus. I have personally felt that Crimpshrine and Cometbus have redefined things in the DIY community. He also spoke nothing about the Pacific Northwest scene and bands like Fitz of Depression, the Fartz, the Accused, Seaweed, etc. But what you have to keep in mind as you are reading this book is that this is his personal narrative of his time spent in the ’80s DIY community, not a definitive end all be all comprehensive guide to every single band that was around at the time. Let’s face it, if he were to pinpoint every band and scene, the book would be way longer than 300 pages and incredibly time consuming (on his part) to compile.

Going Underground is a very easy and interesting read. Hurchalla is very knowledgeable on the subject matter at hand, and it definitely taught me some things that I had no clue about with regards to the ’80s DIY community. Hell, it even got me so excited that I had to break out some of my favorite ’80s releases by bands like the Minutemen, Husker Du, and Marginal Man.Highly recommended.

*To be fair, I fully acknowledge that the New York scene of the Ramones and Dead Boys was(for the most) part the progenitor of American punk rock, but it wasn’t until punk rock spread to the west coast first and foremost, that American punk took on the DIY ideals that we hold sacred as our code of ethics to this day.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists- Living with the Living CD/LP

Let me just say that this CD/LP is hands down (in my meager opinion of course) the best thing that Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (Ted Leo/Pharmacists) have recorded to date. I loved “Tyranny of Distance,” “Hearts of Oak,” and “Shake the Sheets,” but this album by and far blows them away, which is no easy task considering that those albums were unbelievable in their own right.

The songwriting on this album seems to be a bit different in the sense of they are more based in a ‘77 punk (only a bit more updated for the times) kind of place, which suits me just perfectly…that’s one of my favorite eras (Ted has made no qualms what so ever about saying the same) of music. The Costello style pop hooks are still there, but seems as though all the things that Ted Leo/Pharmacists have hinted at over the years, a little bit of dub and traditional reggae here and there, a Jam or Clash inspired riff there, have fully come to fruition on Living with the Living. Just listen to “The Unwanted Things” or “The Lost Brigade,” and you’ll fully understand what I am talking about: both of them are reggae or reggae based, but not in the shitty new school way, more along the lines of the old style. Though I do like the guitar  heroics Ted performs live and on record, I like how he doesn’t really focus on that stuff on this album, making the songs sound more focused. 

The album seems more angry musically, lyrically and vocally as well. For example, “Bomb.Repeat.Bomb” speaks of the need for those in power to vilify someone else as a means of maintaining power. Though the subject matter takes place post WWII, the lyrics (more so than ever) apply to the current state of the US and how we are handling ourselves in the war and all the events that led up to it. I’ve always felt that Ted Leo has been blessed with an amazing lyric writing ability, putting him in the same league as Billy Bragg. He has the ability to write both personal and political lyrics, but also finds a way (like Bragg) to make the personal political, and vice versa.

The recording quality is also top knotch. To me, it sounds like a classic (again, only updated for the times) punk album. Brendan Canty (ex Fugazi) did an outstanding job capturing the power and momentum of Ted Leo/Pharmacists. Going back and listening to his previous releases made me realize that the recording quality on this album is leaps and bounds better without sounding too polished or over produced. It’s not often that you find amazing records that will easily be in the top 10 by the end of the year (the other being Smoke or Fire)  released so closely, within days of each other and hopefully that is a sign of this year ahead. Highly, highly recommended.

PS, get the vinyl version of this instead of the CD. It comes with a code to download the mp3s of the albums tracks, as well as a bonus six song EP which has a Chumbawamba cover. Don’t worry, it’s not “Tubthumping.”

Touch and Go