Mojo Nixon RIP

 The joke punk band Dead Milkmen were super popular with the high school crowd that I hung with (as was the Violent Femmes). I loved them but also found a couple of related artists that I think I made my own. 

One of those was Mojo Nixon. Nixon had a couple of hits (hits being a loose term) in “Elvis is Everywhere” and “Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with my two headed Love Child”. 

I bought the two accompanying albums -1987s Bo-Day-Shus and 1989s Root Hog or Die - records made by Nixon and his partner Skid Roper who famously played the washboard among his other instruments. 

The duo broke up after that. According to Wikipedia, Roper has a lesser profile solo career fronting surf named the Evasions and joining Action Andy and the Hi- Tones with Andy Rasmussen of the rockabilly band the Sleepwalkers but he is still busy. 

I played these two albums a lot and though the singles are clearly high points- the formula of Mojo - crazy loud foul mouthed Libertarian- holds these albums together. They’re not bad bits of root rock. 

I didn’t pick up 1990s Otis but it got decent press and even improbably gave Nixon another chestnut “Don Henley Must Die”. Unfortunately, Enigma Records - the place for all sorts of esoteric rock (Dead Milkmen, Wipers, Roky Erickson, Game Theory, TSOL, Green on Red) and all sorts of metal and thrash (from Stryper to Laaz Rockit to Slayer to DRI to Poison) went under. 

Things go downhill career wise quickly  with 95s Whereabouts Unknown. Even with a cover of the Smiths’ “Girlfriend in a Coma” - which feels like a poor cousin to Elvis is Everywhere- it’s clear that inspiration had ran dry. 

There is another unexpected jewel in the Nixon discography. In 1994, he teamed with Jello Biafra for Prairie Home Invasion. I was so excited about it that I special ordered it from Alternative Tentacles

It is the definition of a cult album but it’s a pretty solid set of tunes - many covers or parodies - in which an almost-retired Biafra got his voice out there again in a roots rock section. The contemporary online reviews from Allmusic and Punk News are mostly bad, but miss the point. I think it stands up.

Mojo would pop up from time to time. He was in movies like Great Balls of Fire, voiced a character in the video game Redneck Rampage and got publicity for supporting Kinky Friedman’s bid to be governor of Texas.  He even made up with Don Henley. 

He would tour. I never saw him but recall friends telling me how smashed he was before performing. 

Reading the obit of Nixon, he started wanting to be Joe Strummer. He would become an icon in his own way instead. Though critics would dismiss him for not being serious enough like Uncle Tupelo or the Bottle Rockets, I think he’s an important touchstone in American Roots Rock. 

Nixon’s latter music career is more known for its outrage than its listen ability. Mojo would have a bit of a rebirth though as a DJ. 

When Sirius XM radio launched its Outlaw Country channel and gave hosting duties to people like Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings and former WWF wrestler Hillbilly Jim, Nixon also got a daily show. 

I rarely listened though because at the time I was able to listen, I had small kids and Nixon was as foul mouthed as it came. Still, it was nice to see him became as close to a distinguished aging gentleman as he was likely to get. 

Elvis is Everwhere is an amazing song. The perfect mix of humor and sincerity. It’s probably surprising that Mojo made it to 66 but he will be missed

Highlighted Band- Surf Zombies

Every scene has local bands that are beloved. I will go so far as extend my local scene to the state of Iowa and by and large the most important musicians to come out of the state are the vastly different Andy Williams and Slipknot. 

Iowa has the usual amount of local favorites but has a few cool Adult alternative artists who have broken through (William Elliot Whitmore, Greg Brown, Pieta Brown). 

The small creative explosion of Ames bands in the Oughts definitely fits in the history as does some of the Minneapolis based bands that played here in those years (and I would include the terrific Sioux Falls band We All Have Hooks for Hands who look to have reunited). My collection is punctuated by terrific local artists like Beati Paoli and HD Harmsen who deserved more attention. 

But when I think of the current Iowa scene, there are two artists that have both a long history and also are currently making music as good as anyone. Ironically, both are middle aged and I think have crossed paths 

One of those is Dick Prall who’s probably a few years shy of 60 and is making this great music as DICKIE

The other is Brook Hoover who is just north of that age and fronts a few bands but the most well known is the Surf Zombies. 

Now, I know there is a sizable crowd in Iowa for rock nostalgia and it’s why the Surf Zombies fill venues but dang if they aren’t a great surf band. 

Surf music is a very niche genre. Though elements of it blend into the oeuvre of more popular rock bands from the Pixies to Agent Orange to the Ramones, more traditional largely instrumental bands in the genre have limited success. 

However, as part of the bigger 90s indie rock movement, some of these bands rode the wave (sorry) to the top. Bands like The Aqua Velvets, the Blue Hawaiians, the Bomboras and others got attention. Surf guitar master Dick Dale played to packed houses and his movie soundtracked our movie theater visits that decade and a couple of bands even broke through to bigger audiences like Man or Astro Man and Los Straitjackets. 

Surf music never truly goes away and seems to be doing well once again in the streaming world - the Space Cossacks, the Insect Surfers, Pollo Del Mar, the Blind Shake and the Vice Barons are some of the many and varied sounds that can be found with albums on Bandcamp and other sites. 

The Surf Zombies has a very modern surf sound and have released six full lengths with the latest 2021s In Color

Watching them open for Southern Culture on the Skids knocked off two bands that I really wanted to see.  Irony being one of the best surf bands on the planet are from landlocked Iowa. 

The band was named to the Iowa Rock Hall of Fame after the first decade of their now almost 20 year career. But like Dale and their most obvious progenitor Link Wray, the band has a sound for multiple generations. 

Doc Watch- Stiv- No Compromise No Regrets

 I watched the Johnny Thunders documentary on streaming and all of a sudden got hit with suggested related content. 

Stiv Bators makes sense as a cult punk icon. In the 80s, he even hung out with Thunders and like minded musos members of Hanoi Rocks and a supergroup was rumored with Thunders and Dee Dee Ramone though of course a group with members like that (covered in the doc) was notoriously unreliable. 

I first heard the Dead Boys in a documentary on New York City punk. The footage of Stiv at full tilt playing at CBGBs immediately made me a fan. 

I bought the band’s first album Young Loud and Snotty which I think is a near perfect album. It’s not quite like anything else- punk or otherwise. 

Around this time, I will never forget, I read a church pamphlet on explicit rock lyrics and they mentioned the Dead Boys. I always thought it was hilarious because I couldn’t imagine anyone but myself even knowing who they were- a band that had been defunct over a decade and hardly got any press. 

You also have to remember that while “Girl I don’t really want to dance, I just want to get into your pants” may not be appropriate for all audiences and the title “I Need Lunch” is suggestive (though it’s a reference to protopunk, feminist and shock rocker Lydia Lunch)

But bands like Motley Crue and WASP had come along and even at this point, they were passingly relevant eclipsed by Slayer and 2 Live Crew. There was no secret agenda to get people to listen to the Dead Boys except in my house. 

I was lucky to see Bators main partner (Dead Boys guitarist) Cheetah Chrome in concert. I thought I had heard Chrome had passed but apparently he’s still kicking. I have heard both that he played often on Nashville (where I saw him) and played rarely. I am not sure which is true 

I never saw Bators but friends had seen Lords of the New Church and said guitarist Brian James was drunk and unruly. 

I had become a Bators fan when he was alive and when he died due to being hit by a bus in Paris. He had been working with a bit of a supergroup that featured Kris Dollimore of the Godfathers (another favorite band of mine at the time) Vom from Doctor and the Medics and Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik. This was covered in places like Rolling Stone magazine but Bators died before an album was released. 

I have never seen the Last Race album that would have consisted of those songs and there’s not a ton of info about it. However, looking at Discogs, I believe it currently exists as “Do you believe in Magyk” (sic) and is available on streaming listed under Stiv Bator (sic). 

Stiv: No Compromise, No Regrets is a documentary much like the Johnny Thunders one. Yet, I don’t think it got the same publicity. There are certain similarities and of course the careers intertwine a bit. 

With his ambition and sense of daring, Stiv was probably always going to make it. There’s a lot of early footage and it’s. Interesting that Stiv was doing what he was doing a good five years before the CBGBs and London punk scenes. He was a fan of Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper and that in you face energy shows. 

His girlfriend suggests he was the ‘only’ punk rocker. This is a bit of fond rememberance but she’s not entirely wrong. There wasn’t much in that NYC scene like him, and you can’t list too many frontmen who gave their all like Stiv. 

The band travelled from Ohio to New York City and CBGBs owner Hilly Kristal saved them by becoming their manager. He got them to work with Genya Ravan. 

I won’t detail everything but the Dead Boys second album (like LAMF by Thunders) wasn’t properly produced. It’s a fine album but the guitars were buried. 

There are some fantastic stories here but Cheetah Chrome had drug problems and it broke up the band. Stiv now at this point wanted to make Nuggets style garage rock and recorded Disconnected for Bomp Records (an album that I love, although it was a detour from punk). On the talk of the album, Stiv said he wasn’t interested in success but wanted a great album influenced by Paul Revere and the Raiders and The Raspberries. 

Stiv’s career (like Thunders) gets messy. Sham 69 singer Jimmy Pursey was leaving the band so Stiv joined with the others to form the Wanderers. 

He then forms The Lords of the New Church with the Damned guitarist Brian James and Sham 69 drummer Dave Parsons. There’s two ways to talk about the Lords and they both are presented here. One was that Stiv was a great lyricist and got MtV play. The other was that the goth tint wasn’t for Stiv and that they never quite got the attention they deserved. 

I think both can be true. There are Lords moments like “Russian Roulette” that are fantastic and others that sound stuck in the 80s. 

I am not sure if Stiv hated goth but I think the band did come before the age it would have really been popular. 

Famously, Stiv got hurt and James puts out an article looking for a new lead singer without telling Stiv. 

Stiv dies in the freak accident in 1990 at age 40 a year after the end of the Lords. The documentary leaves open whether Stiv was obsessed with dying young to make his legacy or it was truly accidental. 

The doc is fine with a great deal of those people who knew Stiv best. It does cover his lows- the drug use, the infighting with band members, a broken heart which led to a drop off in quality on the third and final Lords album - but it does a good job of telling the story and telling the legend. It shows his sense of humor and look at his personal life. I didn’t need to see Stiv taking his pants off repeatedly but otherwise I think it is a solid punk rock documentary. 

90s Whatever… Spain

1995's Blue Moods of Spain has become a bit of a lost classic.

It wasn't quite like anything else at the time (a mix of dramatic brood a la Tindersticks and slowcore). The band didn't appear on the album cover nor in their press materials giving them an extra enhancement.

They weren't complete unknowns though. Their label -Restless Records- was as ambitious as any indie label in the mid 90s.

The band's leader, Josh Haden was son of Jazz Legend Charlie Haden and brother of indie icon / thatdog.'s singer Petra Haden.

Spain made three records, and for a blip on the indie scene, their songs did make an impact though, covered not only by Soulsavers, but on Unchained, the Man In Black himself, Johnny Cash ("Spiritual").

Blue... has a near-five star score on Amazon, though struck with a 3 star review given by allmusic. Individually, there were some excellent songs. "Untitled #1" was easily one of the best songs of that year.

Now, when taken at once, the album does blend together, a collection that could not quite deliver on the promise of the single. Josh didn’t have the presence of a Nick Cave or Stuart Staples, but the soundtrack style ambience was striking.

Spain came back after hiatus with a new album in 2012- The Soul of Spain. Once again, they had a killer single and received critical plaudits. The band released albums in 2014, 2016 and 2018 and have tons of live and previously unheard music on their Bandcamp page.

90s Whatever… Space

 English rock band Space were one of the many Britpop bands to hit it big in the 90s.

Thirty years later, while everyone remembers Oasis and Blur (and Suede and Pulp), you may not think much of Space these days any more than you do of Gene, Supergrass, Ash, or Ocean Colour Scene.

Space's moment in the sun was better than some. They showed up in the Austin Powers end credits with "Female of the Species". "Species" is an instant classic, and the band put out two other songs that rival that - "Ballad of Tom Jones (with Cerys Matthews) and "Neighborhood". All three are just fantastic tunes.

Space had much the same touchpoints as everyone else, but had a bit of an electronic, hip hop/synthpop vibe which made them stand out. Clever lyrics put them on the map with their singles. That said, as one hit wonders tend to go, Space's album Spiders is a surprisingly good listen. Much more of an achievement than you will find from many of their rivals.

If you didn't know, Space's drummer (Andy Parle)died in 2009. They had put the band to bed by then, but a couple of years after Parle's used that as incentive to get the band back together.

They released a new album Attack of the 50 Ft Kebab in 2014, and have since released two more new albums, a "lost" album (which would have been their third album in the year 2000 when they worked with Edwyn Collins), and a box set 'best of' compilation. 

I don't think the new material captures that 'lightning in the bottle' but how could it?. Always a party band, they seem to be intent on playing up the ska edge of the band along with the usual pop and punk influences they already had, with a bit of garage rock, spy and surf thrown in (in the American sense of garage, not the British). Not a bad thing, it seems to capture a natural progression for the band. In that, the new albums actually remind me a bit of the US punk band the Dickies in the juvenile, playful aspect, and though hardly essential, is still a fun listen.

90s Whatever…. Blind Mr Jones

 One of the greatest 90s #90swhatevertunes is "Spooky Vibes" by English band Blind Mr Jones.

They released their debut Stereo Musicale in 1992 and the song was a very minor alternative hit. That said, the impact of the band is such that whenever I run into someone who knows the band, they seem to universally love them.

The music was "shoegaze'- a term that seems to evolve through the years- but in this case, I am talking the original form that attracts terms like "dream pop", adds some of the gothier post punk elements of bands like the Cure and I might compare them to bands like Ride, Chapterhouse and Kitchens of Distinction.

Spooky Vibes is a killer tune, and I don't think any other song on that album could quite capture that magic, but they had a wonderful mix of sounds to their tunes, and probably most uniquely added a flute to the mix. 

Although the band were signed to the wonderful Cherry Red records, and their early EPs included appearances from Slowdive's Neil Halstead, and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, the band never quite reached the heights of some of their peers.

They recorded a second album- 1994s Tatooine but broke up that same year. The two albums have seen some reissuing and repackaging over the years- 2008's Over My Head collects everything in one place.

There isn't a ton of info still on the band, but I did see that singer/guitarist Richard Moore passed in 2023. It's sad that he is gone, but his music is still tremendously loved

Video collage

I think my protocol of taking small video snippets if concerts is fine (I hope( because I generally only use a few seconds and then really to hype the artist. 

Anyway, I am taking advantage of the video collage my phone made for me. I feel like I don't make it to a ton of shows, so this makes me feel better 

Artists I have seen since 2020:

Loose Gravel (Des Moines)

English Beat

Vandoliers 

Old 97s 

Scott H Biram 

Rev Horton Heat 

Jeffery Lewis 

JAWNY

Violent Femmes 

Southern Culture on the Skids

90s Whatever.. Bash and Pop

In rock music, the coolest dude is usually the lead singer aka the front man. 

But throughout rock's history, there has also often been the cool sideman. The guy who isn't the main vocalist, but exudes cool rock image. 

It's Keith Richards, of course as the godfather, but you know the lineage. 

You can name dozens. Johnny Thunders, Jimmy Page, Mick Ronson, Ronnie Lane & Ron Wood, Joe Perry, Ace Frehley, Steve Stevens, Randy Rhodes, Brian May, Nancy Wilson, Peter Farndon &James Honeyman-Scott, Paul Simonon and many more that I surely forget. In more recent years, that list would surely include people like Izzy Stradlin, Johnny Marr, John Fruiscante, Dave Navarro and Kim Gordon. I am talking less of the virtuosos- Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, Flea, Buckethead- though they certainly qualify, but more of the image that puts attitude over talent, like Sid Vicious. 

In which case, Tommy Stinson is on the short list of rock n roll cool. By weird ironic turns and factual arithmetic, Stinson was in Guns N Rose longer than he was in the Replacements, and he had longer tenure in Guns N Roses than everybody in that band save Axl and Use Your Illusion keyboardist Dizzy Reed. 

The Replacements legacy was firm in the 90s, and if anything is more cemented now. Like the Pixies, it's possible that younger generations will know their songs more than mine. I Will Dare, Left of the Dial, B*stards of Young, Kiss me on the Bus, Alex Chilton Trouble Boys was one of the most highly acclaimed music biographies of the 2010s. 

By the accounts I have seen, the 2012-2015reunion tour was a success. Even Paul Westerberg's 2016 project with Juliana Hatfield called the I Don't Cares (while not widely reviewed) got high marks. The 90's aren't a fond time for the Replacements:1989's Dont Tell a Soul and 1990's All Shook Down were well received by all aspects of the rock press. (DTaS is a very good album, even if it is "polished") . Like many "new Dylan's" Westerberg was dubbed the next "can't miss" star, and at the time, everyone predicted many years of commercial and critical acclaim for him. That of course, didn't happen. 1993's 14 Songs was generally well-liked if not universally loved, but the years that followed were marred by what is regarded as subpar material, then label issues, then Westerberg just finally going off and doing what he damned well pleased. Westerberg did get a hit single with "Dyslexic Heart" which still gets played on Adult Alternative stations and is part of 90s Nostalgia. 

 Bassist Stinson formed a band called Perfect, but that band had limited success, before he got a better paying gig in Axl's Army. A quick look at Wikipedia offers obvious and not so obvious live gigs with Soul Asylum, Frank Black, the Old 97s and playing on Puff Daddy's "All About the Benjamins" remix.

But for a brief moment, it did look like the Mats would be successful in the post-Nevermind world. Chris Mars and even Slim Dunlap had albums on the larger indie labels. Stinson went away and made his own noise on the wonderfully titled "Friday Night is Killing Me". It wasn't quite a success, given the fact it became ubiquitous (where I found it) in the cutout bin. Still, in the 90s, everyone got a major label chance. 

FNiKm is a pretty good, if not great album. It is very much what you would expect. Yes, it probably would be a better record with Westerberg, but it's worthwhile. Allmusic gives it a terrible two and half star review, though I suspect it would fare better these days. Removed from any expectation as being the next Mats album, it's a great Mats-style, Faces-type bar band record. It would fit well on the shelf with Keef's "Talk is Cheap" and Izzy Stradlin's first Juju Hounds record. Looking back 30 years later now, it strikes me that it predates Wilco and the Old 97s, two bands that owed heavily to the Replacements 

And shockingly, in 2017, Bash & Pop returned for a second record after almost 25 years. The band is different (the two Foley Brothers he collaborated with in the 90s have since passed away) and that debut record also had contributions from members of Wire Train and Tom Pettys' Heartbreakers (Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell). The new band retains the sound and members of this second lineup could put together a CV as diverse as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Hold Steady, Screeching Weasel, the Black Crowes, North Mississippi All Stars and Stinson-era GnR. It got a decent amount of press, and reviews were positive. I also took the fact that the band was signed by Fat Possum Records as a good thing. In short, Stinson was Americana before there was Americana. 

I imagine we will continue to see stuff from Stinson. In 2023, he started a group called Cowboys in the Campfire with Bash & Pop mk. 2 guitarist Chip Roberts, and once again, press and positive reviews

followed..

Steve Albini RIP

 

I have been writing about 90s music and coincidentally this week, everyone has been writing about the passing of Steve Albini. 

I don’t have any passing insight that you won’t read elsewhere. He famously said he was an engineer and not a producer. He captured bands in a raw, live sound. This was occasionally controversial with PJ Harvey’s second album Rid of Me.

I didn’t have the same tastes as Albini but I would say he worked best when that sound was needed. So on that record as with his most famous recordings Nirvana’s In Utero and the Pixies Surfer Rosa, it was usually a compliment to the band’s style. 

Albini was prolific and had some high profile clients. Again, it only meant that we crossed paths at certain times. His most recent records that I really enjoyed are as often was the case a motley bunch- Flogging Molly (Swagger, Drunken Lullabies), Gogol Bordello (Gypsy Punks, East Infection), the Stooges reunion (The Weirdness), and the Cloud Nothings (Attack on Memory). 

He worked with a range of styles and artists- the Breeders, the Wedding Present, Neurosis, Sun0))), Ty Seagall, Man or AstroMan, Page and Plant, the Manic Street Preachers, Chevelle and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion but really dozens. 

One of my favorite albums was that perfect mix of an unexpected artist with a light sound (the Auteurs) taking a different route with the stark and tough approach (After Murder Park). It is without a doubt one of my favorite albums. 

Albini was active on social media and I consider that I could have interacted more with him (I don’t know what I would have said except telling him how much I loved After Murder Park). 

Albini based in Chicago was a pioneer and not someone who got a lot of national press before In Utero. But as he was well known in Illinois - his bands did have a reputation and it was apparent in their names- Rapeman. Big Black and later, Shellac. Of course, the band the Jesus Lizard eventually made a name for themselves with that noise rock (David Wm Sims played on both Rapeman and the Lizard and Albini produced the bands work). 

Big Black lasted from 1981 to 1987 but by the time the 90s rolled around, they started to get some attention. Many heard Ministry and Nine Inch Nails and said they were only doing what Big Black had done. I listened to their album “Songs about F*cking” and immediately went out to buy it. 

I don’t consider myself a huge noise rock fan but I thought it was a great album. In subsequent years, Pitchfork and the Guardian would herald them as an all time great band. 

In 1994, Albini again put himself in the drivers seat with the trio Shellac and again unexpectedly I was drawn to their debut At Action Park. I haven’t followed the band that closely but their sixth album was expected this year. 

There’s so much that has been written about Albini - a real rock character. Like his peers and predecessors, he embodied the eccentric Producer. He would be in the limelight again as a World Poker champion, of all things, with his biggest winnings in 2018 and 2022. 

Death brings review and in this case, not always glowing. As much loved as Albini was, he equally was a provocateur and his obituary surely would include that part of his life with a focus on how much Albini hated hip hop and dance music, a view that was probably short sided at best and racist at worst. 

Albini’s biggest remembrance may be as that old crank- a meme. He hated certain bands with passion and he had a probably improbable view on technology. I find it funny that there is even a Shellac profile on Spotify at all (any music posted there is surely not his). Albini’s claims that Compact Discs would degenerate was at odds with the professional opinion in the 90s that they would last forever, but time has proven Steve correct. 

 By coincidence, I was watching a documentary the week he passed that had Albini in it (Albini is in a few, he’s pretty inescapable in modern music). I was always struck at the difference in his sound and his appearance. He looked more like George Martin or Joe Meek than he looked like Rick Rubin or a Mutt Lange 

90s…Whatever: Alice Donut

 

I miss some of those fringe bands from the 90s.  Those bands that quietly disappeared, and you only think of when you run across them on streaming or mentioned in a music blog.

I don't know anyone so punk that Alternative Tentacles (the record company ran by Jello Biafra) was their favorite label.  There were a couple of bands on there I really liked, but Jello specialized in signing the most uncommerical acts around (Japanese noise band Zeni Geva, Wesley Willis, dykecore band Tribe 8, the Crucifucks, Dutch punk jazz band Dog Faced Hermans).

Another one of those love-em-or-hate-em bands signed to AT were Alice Donut.  I always thought Donut were kind of like what would have happened to the Smashing Pumpkins if they took a left turn at Gish, or maybe if Sonic Youth wanted to make big dumb rock. They were firmly in that Butthole Surfers/NoMeansNo/fIREHOSE camp of just being too weird in everything they did to become mainstream.

I always kind of dug that psychedelic punk thing they did.  Everything they recorded was pretty interesting, and 92's The Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children is sort of a commercial (as it was) and artistic peak. They got a video played on public access shows and I really seriously love the album. 

That particular album is a song cycle of American angst that Allmusic has retroactively compared to the work of Marilyn Manson, which is odd but possibly fair. 

Even in the age of Lollapalooza and people like Daniel Johnston getting major label deals, AD were never going to crossover, but  they put their effort into making their most mainstream sounding album Pure Acid Park .  Unfortunately it’s kind of a dud to this listener and critics at large who it seems always compared it to the Butthole Surfers Electriclarryland. 

The band broke up soon after, but reunited in 2003 and since recorded three albums with 2009s Ten Glorious Animals coming out on Alternative Tentacles.

There seems to be a certain radio silence since 2016 when a new album was on the horizon but their Last Fm profile proclaims that they will record albums until they die