To be honest, the Times of London hit the right tone when suggesting this band “summons the ghosts of forgotten acid revivalists” like Rain Parade, though I would add True West and Dream Syndicate to their keen mix, a way of summoning the 1980’s heyday of paisley and noir Americana combos. Think of Wim Wenders films like “Paris, TX,” the tuneage of lonesome pines, and swirl rock. With a hint of gothic country and a world weary sophistication, tracks like “Ocotillo Sundown,” when unfolding into waves of broiling guitar, could resemble the work of Wovenhand, mixing ambience with ample shots of tremor-fed volcanic energy in the right places. “Highs in the Mid-1980s,” the opener, in fact, feels like it could sit between the early era of the Church and 16 Horsepower. Perhaps we can call the genre shoegaze alt country: dark without being dismal, and moody and musical without being muddled and myopic.
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So Peter Buck terms them true believers sitting at a crossroad where Johnny Thunders and Son House intersect; meanwhile the co-founder of Bloodshot reminds us that they worked without a blueprint back in the early 1980s, wrapping together a sense of roots and rock full of songs evoking slummy avenues in Miami and lost cowboy dreams. All that may be true, for this confederate-tinged bar rock rattles through your speakers like lost tapes from an era that had yet to undergo a total chokehold by MTV’s faux musique. Sure, much of this seems dirty and derivative, a wink at swagger and sucking mid-1970’s booze and heroin rock, just in flannel and shit-kicker hats. It does not quite resonate with the thunder of Jason and the Scorchers (though they come awfully close on the speed-hitched, twangy, and nubile “A. on Horseback”), or measure spoonfuls of their bitter Nashville tunefulness, yet it does have a festering cowpunk cockiness that could shake and stir the likes of bands under the umbrella of Frontier (Pontiac Brothers, etc.) at the time. The live tracks at the end are mostly documents, not dire, though their cover of “Shake Some Action” lifts the beer-smeared tables and reveals the foundations of the band’s sensibilities to a degree. To prove their allegiance, “Slow Death” reveals the same underbelly — a steady diet of Flaming Groovies. Stand-out tracks include the honky core cretin rock of “All Love All Gone,” mixed by near-genius Steve Fjelstad, who labored behind the greatest acts of Twin Tone (Replacements, Husker Du…). This track is what Blood on the Saddle should have done : noisy, unctuous, toe-tapping, dusty, and utterly lovelorn. The follow-up, “Get Off On Your Porch” delivers all that Max’s Kansas City lowdown lurk, while the mellow fellow “Liked it a Lot” barely has pulse. The Australian rockisms begin on “In the Wildness” which sounds like a dead ringer cousin to the tunes of the Primevals, while the wise-crackin “If This is Love, Can I Get My Money Back?” keeps the irony on full blast. The bastardly, tongue-in-cheek blues of “Penny Instead” is dour and broiling at the same time, while the 1960’s frat rock of “Marlboro Country” will keep your Budweiser warm and frothy. To be sure, the dented heart-on-the-sleeve pop of “But I Didn’t” justifies another quarter in the jukebox.

A Killed by Death kind of historic hamminess seems to fit this blend of mutant 1970’s guitar fizz, with keyboard wizardry meets power pop crunch. Teachers Pet overflows with “new music” wiliness and wonk from the often otherwise lame “me generation” era. “Don’t Need You” has plenty of vitriol (”I don’t want to see you/you don’t belong to the human race”), and the whole energy verges on blitzkrieg boisterousness, but damn that quirky keyboard that gets lodged in my ear like a voracious electric tic. A sign of the old times, perhaps — white punks on hope. “Hooked on You” serves up a surfy, campy roar, replete with so much boy lust and grab-ass neediness that you’ll want to hitch to Lake Erie and hit the winter waves just to impress the barmaids throwing down Pabsts at the dive across from the junkyard. It’s so 1950s (they meet a dance, now he’s hooked…) that you’ll believe punk is no more than raunchy recycled AM dross. In case the pop culture references are lost on your Ipod blustered brain, then quickly turn to the quirky, unrepentant retroism of “Meet Me at the Hot Dog Stand in Half an Hour” (“to make me glad … to take you by the hand…”) to catch the cheesiness in mid-flight. Again, there’s a lack of pomp and pretentiousness that is energizing, but it also makes you feel a bit chumpy as your head bounces like a cheap Hong Kong toy. For blatant localism, try “Cincinnati Stomp,” with its tale of heading to the show early, all amped at 7:00 p.m., ready to pile drive to the front of the stage in order to get the music banging fast and hard. “Teenage Suicide” aims for the midsection, not unlike the New York Dolls meets the Dictators, with its young man angst and bile spinning in a world that fortunately has more girls in the pond, yet the loaded singer lad couldn’t figure it out. And if you are wondering where they literally yank their punk roots from, note the cover of Herman’s Hermits’ “Henry the 8th, I Am,” a garage nugget with stupidity and genius at it core — a knockabout goofball pop template that might have paved the way for every piece of punctilious punk from 1976 and beyond. Plus, Teacher’s Pet offers a homage to Eddie Cochran and company with the blistering, fomented “Summertime Blues.” Although a bit lo-fi, the track comes though bright and clean, live and lean.

“ to disgust

us a little more with ourselves

for being this useless body

made of meat and wild sperm,

hanging, since even before the lice,

sweating on the impossible table of the sky.�

-Antonin Artaud

“Bodies…I’m not an animal!�

-Johnny Rotten

“We are dreaming of sex,

of thieves, murderers, firebrands,

of huge thighs opening

to us like this night.

Some folks like trains,

some folks like ships,

I like the way you move your hips

All I want is a taste of your lips,

boy,

All I want is a taste of your lips.�

-Kathy Acker

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An interview with Pat, singer of Youth of Togay!

Why did the band choose to “queer” not just hardcore punk culture but more specifically straight-edge? Do you think it adds to a sense of subversion, parody, or poaching?

First, Dave thanks for including us with your interviews. Sometimes I feel that within our “genre” we can be over looked as a novelty act, not worthy to be recognized because of the way we choose to carry our message. And although we take a more comedic stance on gay issues, our beliefs and feelings towards these issues are as strong as other artists who express them in a more serious manner. Read the rest of this entry »

An interview with guitarist/vocalist Jim Kaa of the Crowd!!

One of the important themes of the records seems to be how the band fits into history: “we kicked the door wide open.” Do you feel the band has been under-represented in punk history, including the recent American Hardcore, and for what reasons? Do people have amnesia about the inbetween bands, the pre-hardcore Eyes, Skulls, Controllers, you?

That song, “Run for the Money?” was more in response to the Green Day/Offspring commercial success, not begrudging those bands, but all the bands both old and new seemed to be lining up for the big punk payoff. I play because I love playing guitar, writing songs, playing shows, being part of local music scene. I would love to sell a million copies of our next record, but that is not why we play. It was more about having fun than changing the world early on.

Regarding American Hardcore, the people who were there know how things were and that is what matters, not one filmmaker’s opinion. I am sure we will be in the sequel, American Pop Punk(ha ha). The bottom line is that there was no HB/OC punk scene when we started playing parties in 1978 and by 1980 there were thousands. Jim’s lyrics just tell the truth of what took place. Most bands do not realize there were no clubs to play at, very few stores that stocked local music and no accepting audience for music that was actually different from was going on at the time. Read the rest of this entry »

According to one web site, you learned how to lay out artwork by hand, how to use stencils, and manually reproduce designs for the fashion industry. This was an extension of your education, which was, by your account, a bit more commercial than fine art. Could you talk about this manual sensibility, and how it might be different than a young kid raised on Adobe Illustrator?

I went to school for commercial art. I was already making flyers for gigs and other graphics when I started, but that’s where I learned about reproduction art, halftones, stat cameras and graphic art in general. If you wanted to learn about fine art, that was your business. My first full time job was at an embroidery factory that catered to fashion designers, and I did production art there. I did things by hand because that’s all there was. Computers were only being spoken of when I graduated L.A. Trade Tech. The more skills you have (computer or hand) the better, but having a good idea and imagination is the most important thing. It should never matter what tools are being used.

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