Living Dead Format

Do you recognize who did the album art for this split?  It was done by the one and only Mitch Clem!  I’m a pretty big fan of Mitch Clem’s work.  I first got into his online comic, Nothing Nice To Say, back in 10th Grade by the cute punk rock asian girl who sat next to me in German class, that is when she wasn’t ditching school.  Sigh, but enough about old crushes.  Over the years, Mitch Clem has done a number of different online comics, published a book of Nothing Nice To Say comics, done art for ‘Zines like Razorcake and the album art for an ever increasing number of bands, like The Ergs!… But enough of me nerding out about Mitch Clem’s work.  So a while back he announced on his blog, http://rainofbastards.livejournal.com/ , that he was going to be starting his own record label called Facepalm Records.  I’ve been pretty stoked and waiting for this thing to come out for a while.  So you can imagine the joy that I felt when I got this treasure in the mail this week.  I tore the package open as quickly as I could and tossed it onto my turntable.  I was happy to see  the clear vinyl and a sticker of some of Mitch Clem’s work that came with the 7”.  This is the first release of Facepalm Records, which is “A member of the Silver Sprocket Family”, and this pressing is limited to 550 copies that all come on clear vinyl!, and you know me and my thing for colored vinyl.  But I think it’s time that I start talking about the actual music on this pretty little vinyl disk.  It was really hard for me to pick the song from this 7” to upload, seriously.  Both bands Shang-A-Lang and Brickfight fucking rock pretty damn good here.  After listening to the record a couple of times I finally decided to go with Wishing Wells by Shang-A-Lang.  I hope y’all enjoy this song as much as me.  Shang-A-Lang, on this release, is Chris on guitar and vocals, Tommy on guitar and vocals, Tucker on bass and Andy on Drums.  This is a must have if you’re a Mitch Clem fan, like me, or just a fan of good punk rock, straight up.  Get this shit before it’s gone and check out Brickfight’s and Shang-A-Lang’s other stuff, too, I think you’ll like what you hear.  I’m excited to see more from Facepalm Records.

This one goes out to my pug, Scarlett, because this 7” is called Pug Life.  A cute play on words of “Thug Life” and has an adorable picture of a pug in a mug shot as the cover art.  So I was super stoked when I got this 7” in the mail.  I’ve been a big fan of Andrew Jackson Jihad for a while.  So when I saw that they had a new split out I knew I had to get my hands on it.  The 7” is a split between the two bands Andrew Jackson Jihad and Apocalypse Meow.  Yes, Apocalypse Meow, cat lovers you have a new favorite band.  Pug lovers you have a new 7” that you need to get your hands on, because this split is really fucking good.  On this recording Andrew Jackson Jihad is Ben on bass, drums, irie, Stephen on guitar and sing, and Sean on guitar, sing, wurlitzer.  Andrew Jackson Jihad does two great songs on the split, the song here being Island Song.  Apocalypse Meow also has two solid songs on this split, so I really highly recommend people pick this shit up.  The 7” is put out by Traffic Street Records, which I believe is based out of Washington D.C.  The record was shipped out to me super quick, I was surprised to find it in the mail as fast as it came.  It seems that Traffic Street Records has put out a lot of exciting stuff and I’m looking forward to buying more of their releases.  I ordered the poster of the cover art for an extra buck because I think pugs are adorable and I can’t wait to put it up on my wall.  My copy of the 7” came on amber colored vinyl, which just makes it even better for a nerd like me.  Seriously y’all, the songs on here are great if you like either band and the album art is adorable.  Pick up this record if you can.  So take a couple of listens to Island Song and enjoy the great, seemingly troubled to me, music of Andrew Jackson Jihad.

So it’s been a long time since I’ve updated.  I’ve been too fuckin’ poor to buy any new records, it sucked, but on the positive side I’ve been too depressed to care that I didn’t have any new records!  So cut the crap.  Time for me to rant about an other Richmond band whose 7” I got.  Word.  So, have you ever heard of Inquisition?  To some they’re a punk rock legend, whatever the fuck that’s supposed to be.  Some of the guys from Inquisition went on to be Strike Anywhere, I’m sure you can hear the similarity between the two bands in this song, called Fuse.  Band members also went on to form River City High and Ann Beretta.  Anyways, a couple of years back these guys reunited to play a couple of shows in Richmond… people came from as far away as Germany to see these guys play again.  This songis called Fuse and comes off their 7” Ideas Are Bulletproof, which I just happened to find at a local record store, Vinyl Conflict, for five bucks… which is a lot cheaper than I’ve seen the thing go for online.  Crazy shit.  The 7” is short, fast and enjoyable.  Though I think some of the lines are kinda cheesy, like in this song here where I believe Thomas sings the words “ But I will live until the day I die”… Uh, won’t we all?  Besides that the songs are fun and catchy and filled with energy.  This thing came out back in 1995 it looks like from what the record says and was put out by a record label known as Soundhole Records.  Growing up in the suburbs around Richmond, there was this great record store I used to go to known as Soundhole, I wonder if there is a connection between the two.  Huh.  Anyways, on this recording Inquisition was Russ, Rob, Mark and Thomas with additional voices by Kendra Feather and a Leer.  Check this shit out if you ever get the chance!

Well, here we have another Richmond band.  Except this time the band is from the early 1980s!  I found this 7” the other day at Plan 9.  I think it was a good deal for a buck.  The name of this song is There Is A Boy and it is preformed for us here by a band known as Single Bullet Theory.  The record came with the cover and a lyric sheet, but not much information about the band.  On the back of the lyrics sheet there is some interesting art for the other song on the 7”, Peggy Got Her Eyes Full.  The lyric sheet also gives us the Copyright date of 1980, while on the record itself the Copyright date is given as 1981, odd.  The record was put out by Artifacts Records, which according to the art on the record itself was based out of “Richmond, Va.”  A quick Internet search confirmed that the band was also from Richmond, Virginia, anyways, on to the song itself.  I feel like this is a pretty catchy song.  At times I feel a bit reminded of the Replacements, which is a good thing because I’m a pretty big Replacements fan.  But the song isn’t as experimental as a lot of the Replacements stuff was.  To me, it seems like the song was heavily influenced by the Punk bands from New York and L.A. that had been popular around 1977.  This song is a far cry from any form of Hardcore Punk that had started to sweep across America around this time.  But, whatever, I dig this song.  What do y’all think?  I hope to find more about and from this band in the future.

Well, as promised, here is a song from Mouthbreather.  The title of the album is “Thank You For Your Patience” which is something I must express too after taking so long to always update.  The song I ripped from this band is The Night That Richmond Died.  Richmond has survived being burned down at least a couple of times and it’s still alive somehow, so I think it’ll take a lot to actually kill the city.  That being said, living in Richmond, I can’t help but enjoy songs a little bit more that have to do with the city or the local community.  I believe this song is about the death of Jonny Z., a local member of the community that seems to have been friends with a lot of the bands in Richmond. I know Brainworms also has a song in memory of Jonny Z, for example.  Jonny Z. did a lot more than just know guys in bands.  He was also the drummer for the band Tigershark and he helped out a lot with organizations like Food Not Bombs.  I never knew him personally but it’s clear that he touched the lives of many while he was here.  As the lyrics sheet reads, “In loving memory of Jonny Z and Buster Byard.”  But, anyways, back to the song.  The song reminds me somewhat of the classic American song American Pie.  Not in length or style but in the tone and in the fact that the song is about the loss of someone who inspired you deeply, both personally and musically.  Anyways, check the song out.  Check Mouthbreather out.  They did a great set last week with Bridge And Tunnel and I hope to see both bands again sometime.