Concert Review- Southern Culture On the Skids

 One of the bands that I discovered in College Radio was Southern Culture on the Skids. I mean if you have an album named Too Much Pork for Just One Fork, you are going to stand out. The band goes back to 1983 but albums like 1992s For Lovers Only and 1993s Peckin Party EP was putting them on the map. In 1996, they got their major label moment with Geffen’s DGC indie label and although it did not set the world on fire, did gather some attention and musically is probably the best distillation of the band’s sound. The band’s next two albums were able to keep them in the indie spotlight until 2000, and I hate to say it, but I kind of lost track of their band. 

But the band didn’t stop and to their credit, as the world shut down for Covid, SCOTS was trying their best to take advantage of the downtime and released a fantastic album - 2001s At Home With… Before Covid, they had been a touring workhorse, yet somehow I never managed to see them When I found they were playing the local 250 capacity venue, attending the show became my number one priority. The opening band was the Surf Zombies. The Cedar Rapids based band are bona fide local legends, and whereas I usually think of that term as diminutive, in this case, they are a fantastic band - as good as any surf band whose only nearby body of water might be the Des Moines River. 

Whether the audience were brought in by the opener, or by the surf and rockabilly advertised, it was certainly an older crowd. I am not sure what the typical SCOTS crowd would be, but the fabulous folks in their 50s, 60s and 70s outperform their younger (possibly nu metal listening) peers. Iowa is a weird place. SCOTS has a unique niche. It’s almost impossible to describe them without some comparison to the B-52s and the Cramps. Besides the retro obsession and rockabilly and surf influences, there lies the “white trash” celebration that might fit between John Waters and Mike Judge’s King of the Hill. Or is it satire. Songs like “My House has Wheels” don’t make the answer any clearer. No surprise most may know them from the Rob Zombie curated 1998 album Halloween Hootenany, and the band took a moment during the concert to acknowledge the recent passing of Roger Corman as they performed Zombiefied (not the Alien Sex Fiend) and Goo Goo Muck (the Gaylads song made famous by the Cramps) As much as the music, the band is known for throwing Oatmeal Creme Pies, Fried Chicken and (not today) Banana Pudding into the crowd. Which is as great as it sounds. 

Age suits frontman Rick Miller. Now in his late 60s, he really resembles a King of the Hill or Squidbillies character. Bassist Mary Huff may be one of the unheralded female indie musicians of the 90s. She proves a nice counterpoint to Miller and she can sing as if she was born to be a 1950s or 60s country chanteuse. Drummer Dave Hartman is quietly amazing. He doesn’t say much but they moved him so he is pretty much in line of sight with the other two. I suspect that the band’s schtick hasn’t changed over the years, but it’s still hard to beat a group that gets fans onstage to sing about fried chicken and I was so glad I got to see them and definitely recommend them.

Concert Review- Violent Femmes

My adopted hometown has seen some ups and downs as far as bands coming through. It will always fall second to neighboring cities like Kansas City and Minneapolis, even failing in comparison to Omaha. The one thing that makes up for it is that the concerts are usually more intimate affairs. I worry Des Moines doesn’t draw, though. In any case the last couple of years, two venues really did the hard lifting. There is an arena football stadium for the big names, of course. Also a 1200 person theater that usually focuses on songwriters. 

But Des Moines losing a cool 200 capacity venue felt awful - one has finally sprung up in its place. Now, a new spot has been built and is being sponsored by Live Nation will bring in some large names. Bands like The Black Crowes, Pixies, Chicago and Gladys Knight have been some of the first to play here. But somewhere in here, the downside and upside is also augmented by the remodeling of the Val Air Ballroom. I had only been there to see Wilco, pro wrestling and MMA. A history that goes back over a century. The image draws forth images of 40s and 50s big bands but the renovation caused it to close for a year and a half. Anyone who is anyone has come through and I just don’t get to too many concerts anymore but I am glad I got out to see the Violent Femmes. 

The Femmes are touring behind the 40th anniversary of their second album Hallowed Ground. They had been touring last year on the 40th of their first album, so this tour is featuring both played in their entirety. That doesn’t leave much for a Greatest Hits but they have been doing two song encores and we got American Music and I Held Her in my Arms. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Hallowed Ground but I of course knew the first song which is a great opener. Country Death Song In retrospect, I am not sure that the Femmes get their dues as the roots of Americana. Released in 1984, I know Nick Cave and others were doing Goth country in Australia, it’s really kind of a late 90s/early 00s thing with Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin albums kind of opening the genre and bands like BR549, the Handsome Family, Th’ Legendary Shakeshackers, Slim Cessna and 16 Horsepower bringing old school country death ballads to a rock audience. 

The Femmes were doing it before that with this album, of course. Like 16 Horsepower, audiences weren’t sure that Gordon Gano was mining from Christian lore or an actual Christian. Famously, he was the latter. (Brian Ritchie, however is an atheist and has always been a tense counterpoint to Gano. An 2018 interview with Gano in Magnet suggested the two’s interactions with each other are completely limited to band performances) Hallowed Ground is not quite the album the debut is but it is an interesting album with a lot of highlights like “I Hear the Rain”. Gano played expertly on guitar and fiddle, Ritchie on his unique bass and drummer John Sparrow on two snares and a charcoal grill. Gano’s voice is exactly as it sounds on record. 

The insecure frustrated teenager who wrote this album. I always think Modern Lovers-era Jonathan Richman is the prototype and dozens of 90s indie frontmen the progeny but Gano might be the best to ever portray that angst correctly. The band as always was accompanied by the Horns of Dilemma. Gano came out for the second set with his long hair down and the kind of colorful bathrobe looking outfit that he used to wear. The Violent Femmes debut a-side is probably as good as any five songs recorded in a batch. It makes for a definite crowd favorite. The B side isn’t half bad either and also has the strong anchor near the end of Gone Daddy Gone. The band hardly said anything to the audience. Gano before going into American Music- a perfect peak for the bands talent said “This place was good enough for Sinatra so it’s good enough for us” (referencing the Ballroom’s history). But without any interaction, there was just something in Gano’s presentation to communicate to the crowd (There’s also a noise ordinance so maybe there wasn’t time to fool around). 

I was glad I got to see the band. I was a bit worried that I arrived at door open and that place wasn’t packed (NuMetal band the Disturbed were playing the same night at the Arena) but that only guaranteed a good view as the place did seem to fill the 2000 person vicinity by show start.

Real Estate- Daniel

The local public radio station has been playing songs from Daniel the new album by long time indie band Real Estate and I have been digging it. 

The band released their debut in 2009 and to my ears, they feel very much like the bands of that time like Death Cab for Cutie and the Shins. I never really took notice of them until their last album 2020s The Main Thing had a song featured on an Uncut sampler and I liked it quite a bit. 

Many reviews of this album mention REM. It’s not a perfect analogy for me but I think the thread of American indie rock is there. This album definitely reminds me of those Aughts bands with a poppy indie feel that could get chart success- Death Cab and Shins of course, but bigger picture also Vampire Weekend, Deerhunter, Best Coast and Wilco. 

Being their sixth album, it won’t get noticed by the Pitchforks of the world, who move on after bands reach a certain age, and it may not be something for those who like rougher edges, but I think it’s a solid sounding album that I think you will find holds up years for now- even if the radio landscape of the past no longer exists for it to get played on.

Documentary Watch : Joe Strummer: The Future is Unknown

I have been watching music documentaries and like in the early days of cable and satellite TV and VHS tapes, in these days of streaming, there are so many options. I find a half dozen Clash docs with even the most basic search. But I wanted to watch the well regarded and well promoted The Future Is Unwritten- the story of Joe Strummer. 

It is as fantastic as one can hope so. It covers the early years through the Clash as a new band to stadium superstars to his wilderness period back to being productive. There are a ton of stars. They are not identified but 95% of the time they are recognizable or identified well by dialogue. There's Terry Chimes, Tymon Dogg, Joe Ely, Keith Levene, Topper Headon, Don Letts, and Palmolive from the Slits. Mick Jones and Bernie Rhodes appear in footage. There’s fans like Johnny Depp, John Cusack and Bono and those who crossed paths in those post-Clash/pre-Mescaleros wilderness years- Xander Schloss, Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, Flea and Courtney Love 

The theme of the interviews is the idea of gathering around the campfire and that fits the final plot. There’s music from all over his life that sounds familiar and is Strummer on radio DJ ing and playing his favorite songs which stretched from Dylan and Guthrie to Tim Hardin and Nina Simone to U-Roy and Andres Landero There’s tons of footage of Strummer too. 

It’s nice to see the doc offering a candid view of Strummer equally the good and bad. I am sure it was a push of being the idealistic troubadour and getting your music to the masses. This probably hurt not only Sandinista but tore his band up and probably tore him up as he was getting away from his ideals as the Clash grew bigger. Strummer wasn’t good at conflict and Bernie Rhodes squeezed his way into the Clash music making process. I still wonder what Strummer could have done (with or without Jones) without Rhodes intervention. 

I became a Strummer fan during his Wilderness years. It’s nice to see it covered here - Earthquake Weather and the movies he was involved in - Walker, Straight to Hell and Down By Law. I’m not sure what else Strummer could have done. He needed that time to find his way back. Strummer gets an unexpected Hollywood ending though sadly he passes at 50. However, he was creatively refreshed again with the Mescaleros. He even was on South Park and worked with Johnny Cash. Then famously, he reunited with Mick Jones for a fire fighter benefit five weeks before he passes. Julien Temple sets out to make the definitive film on Strummer and succeeds

A few more words on the Beatles- Get Back and Let It Be

I took on and finally finished the near eight hour Peter Jackson helmed Beatles documentary The Beatles: Get Back. 

As a teen, I loved 1982s The Compleat Beatles- the Malcolm McDowell narrated biography that has since been replaced by newer media. In many ways, my complaint about Get Back is that I would love to have seen it as a narrated story. That’s not Jackson’s goal. He wants to present these 21 days with minimal intrusion. 

 This doc has been covered extensively but I do want to add my thoughts. As the biggest band in the world, you can’t blame the Beatles for wanting to do something magnificent as they discuss a concert in front of the Sphinx, Primrose Hill, Parliament or in Asia. There surely is something to those bizarre “Rattle and Hum” moments like making a movie where you play gangsters, farmers and knights or filming your rehab and band’s therapy session. Equally, one can feel that any band surely would just rather make music than something grandiose (and surely even more so if you had been recently forced into some Ken Kesey bus role play ) 

Famously, we know that George briefly quits the band. To an outsider, it seems they surely could have talked it out. Surely, the cameras and pressure and having your songs pushed to the side would do a number on anyone. Lennon suggests (probably not seriously) that they can replace George with Eric Clapton. As often occurs in these types of stories, one wonders if a hiatus would have solved some issues. (The answer here most likely is that the band was chartering new territory and the idea likely never popped into their heads coupled with the animosity of the ensuing years). 

 I think the one thing everyone picks up on is the presence of Yoko. It’s clear that teenage John and Paul did everything together as but as inevitably they grew, they started to share their songs first with their girlfriends before bringing them to each other. It’s nothing nefarious. It’s surely the natural evolution of any young band. This doc debunks the Evil Yoko myth we have heard for decades but we do see politics starting to pull apart the seams. Paul and John play to their stereotype. Paul the hard working musician with his eye on the prize. He creates the song “Get Back” in literally a matter of minutes. John is the creative dreamer who probably needs to be reigned in. To be fair, I like both but it feels like they’re solo careers bear this out even more The transition to “Paul McCartney and the Beatles” is probably a story that comes up in a lot of bands breakups. 

Another thing most everyone brings up is how things seem to improve when Billy Preston shows up. It is interesting to ponder how adding someone like Preston might have changed the sound of the band had progressed. I suppose the biggest revelation of the doc is just how music is made in the studio (in this case, specifically the Beatles in the late 60s). Hard work, boredom, jams, laughter, creativity.

I thought I should next watch the now restored and re-released (and maybe now redundant) 1970 Let It Be film (now added to Disney +). Again, without some background narrative, it feels a bit formless. The contemporary criticism may have been on the money. It is just footage of the band in the studio. Not that doesn’t hold any interest in itself. I have said I am not a fan of the bands later work but listening to it again, I feel like it would be similar to complaining about Achtung Baby or Metallica’s black album. The band is anticipating the music of the next decade and chose to change to the future instead of staying in the past. The finale of course is the rooftop concert which we know would be the last performance. 

Let It Be transitions with no explanation. We know from Get Back that the concert was the final decision to get something done before the studio time was up. The crowd reaction is quite fun. It’s happening in real time and there isn’t that gravity of the situation which would be added with time.

Documentary Watch: Theory of Obscurity- A Film About The Residents

I will never forget. I was in high school and listening to alternative music and someone said “If you want to hear a weird band. You ought to check out the Residents and they have a new album of Elvis songs”

The implication being the Sex Pistols and the Cure weren’t mainstream but they sure weren’t as submervise as the Residents. I bought 1989s The King and Eye immediately.

In retrospect, it probably wasn’t a good jumping in spot ( the Allmusic review of 2.5 stars feels accurate) - I probably would have had a better reaction to their first two much more loved albums- but regardless I now had the Residents in my life.

In college, I became good friends with a big fan of the band. “Cult Band” is a term that gets thrown around a lot but they truly are the definition of that.

I have always been interested in what they are doing and they always seemed to be on the brink of new technology. I am probably not proud to say that my favorite moments of theirs are what might be their most accessible- 1991s Freak Show and 2009s The Ughs (in this case both of these albums are rated 3 stars on Allmusic and are some of the lowest ranked on that site. So it goes.)

I did get to see the Residents in concert which seems like a bucket list band. I believe it was the 2008 Bunny Boy tour. I don’t feel like I remember a ton of details bit it was certainly interesting

A key component of the Residents was the mystery. Certainly, more recent artists have taken similar approaches, but the Residents were surely the first major artist, and we loved to guess. Could it be one or all of the Beatles? That was far fetched but a lot of people thought it could be Frank Zappa.

As the Residents certainly aged, there was a bit of the lifting of the veil with some alignment to the group’s business company The Cryptic Corporation.

Hardy Fox who died in 2018 was identified as the bands main composer. Homer Flynn remains the band’s manager and shares the songwriting credits with Fox from the band onset.

The original four members of the Cryptic Corporation included Flynn, Fox, John Kennedy and Jay Clem. Kennedy and Clem left the corporation in 1982 around the time the band was in financial straits amidst an European tour.

In the last few years, I have made friends with Residents fans online and can be found in these corners of the internet and had exchanges with artists I never would have suspected.

I finally sat down and watched the band’s documentary 2017s Theory of Obscurity. For a band that doesn’t really have a “history”, this doc couldn’t be any better.

It is a history of the band who as weird as they were, somehow managed to stay in the spotlight. It also interviews all the members of the Cryptic Corporation and follows their journey from Louisiana to San Francisco.

It also interviews the people who worked with them throughout - early friends, later era celebrities like Penn Jillette and those bands that are closest to descendants of the band- Primus and Ween and perhaps their cousin Devo. (Who came to some of the same artistic aesthetics independently of the Residents but Jerry Casale complains here that the record company focus on Mothersbaugh broke the band teamwork).

There is a lot of early footage. There’s the story behind their iconic before their time videos and there’s a ton of behind the scene stories like Vileness Fats and their other memorable videos, the origin of the art including the iconic eye and a look at the fandom

I don’t know that the doc could be any better. It might have been nice to have more info than the brief flash of info on Ralph Records or collaborators like Snakefinger but it would be too much.

I recommend it to any Residents fan even if you only have the slightest appreciation for them or are just hearing of them. It is the kind of documentary that makes want to go out and create. It’s also an amazing story of a true American artist that transcends music into visual arts.

Shane MacGowan RIP

Shane MacGowan has now been gone six months and I never got around to writing about him. 

 I don’t know that I have any insight but 1988s If I Should Fall From Grace with God and 1989s Peace and Love were huge modern rock hits. My first Pogues album was their next one and the seams had fallen apart on 1990s Hells Ditch. People hate this album and they hate me for defending it. It is the bomb that it was when it was released, but it is definitely a mood and I think you can make a case for at least a handful of tracks. It was reissued in 2005 with extra tracks and though Punks News gives it a whopping four star- a review I doubt many would agree with - I find little fault with that that. I was able to follow the band after that but I wasn’t crazy about what I heard. No one was. 1993s Waiting for Herb and 1996s Pogue Mahone are MacGowan-less records to round out the band discography (Though in the “select a song” 21st Century, the Spider Stacy sung “Tuesday Morning” is a fine addition to any playlist) I tried following MacGowan post Pogues with the Popes but it wasn’t my thing (with a differing opinion, Allmusic gives 1994s The Snake four stars).

I never did buy those popular late 80s albums, eventually opting for 1991s Essential Pogues which was a misnomer only covering the three Island Records albums and Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah EP. Those are great songs but the band had released two albums before their American success- 1984s Red Roses for Me and 1985s Rum Sodomy and the Lash. Once I was able to find these imported CDs from a big city record store, I did. 

In my mind, Rum… is about as good as it gets. It creates a genre in itself - not only obvious bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly but any band that fuses punk to traditional sounds- Gogol Bordello, Frank Turner and the Felice Brothers It’s not that the Island Records are bad. It’s that they are a more commercialized version of what the band created on those first two albums- Wild and raw. The band smartly mixes their own songs with a selection of traditional ones. Elvis Costello produces and as he did with the first Specials album and Squeeze’s East Side Story nails it.

90s Whatever...... Kramer

 I’m writing about 90s music and just happened to listen to Mark Kramer’s first appearance on a podcast which was for his friend and collaborator Penn Jillette.

Kramer is all over 90s music. His record label Shimmy Disc was the first place many cult bands recorded. His list of bands that he would end up producing include Gwar, King Missile, Galaxie 500, White Zombie, Urge Overkill, Daniel Johnston, Low, Naked City, Ween and Half Japanese.

He was half of Bongwater with Ann Magnuson. A group that was one of the weirdest bands on Earth and yet somehow broke through via college radio and cable TV. Their final album 1992s The Big Sell Out is a personal favorite.

That success didn’t really translate to Kramer’s solo career, but for me and my friends, the ambitious 1992 triple Lp The Guilt Trip was as important as the George Harrison album (All Things Must Pass) its cover referenced.

I was in a spot where I could keep up with Kramer’s work. I picked up 1994s The Secret of Comedy and probably should reconsider it. Allmusic gave it four stars and Jillette said it’s one of his all time favorites. I also picked up 1998s Song from the Pink Death.

Allmusic gave that album two and a half stars and I remember thinking it was a bit disappointing but now that I peruse the track list, I notice it’s stuck with me more than I thought.

He also formed a duo with Jillette called Captain Howdy who released albums in 96 and 98. I love the self titled debut which is so quirky with guest spots from Debbie Harry and Billy West of Ren and Stimpy. I either didn’t know or forgot about the second disc.

Kramer had some issues around this time where he got out of music. He went to work for James Randi, the magician and skeptic. In 2006, he announced Second Shimmy and has slowly became once more his prolific self. In 2016 and 2017, he released two albums of Brill Building covers.

In 2020, he relaunched Shimmy and has been busy since with the band/album Let it Come Down being his most high profile album in some time.

He has since collaborated with Pan American, Laraaji, Britta Phillips, Paul Leary, David Grubbs and others.

The podcast was a nice “visit” with Kramer hitting so many aspects of his career. Bongwater being the unmentionable. But covering his time playing with the Fugs, producing Urge Overkill’s big hit “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” (which Kramer put together while the band passed out) and backing GG Allin in a band with Steve Dasinger and J Mascis (I think these are the tracks on the ROIR album Hated in the Nation)- “We practiced ten songs knowing there was no way we would be performing ten. We didn’t”.

Album Review- Cody Jinks - Change the Game

It’s probably not possible to listen to the new Cody Jinks album Change the Game without thinking how the country radio landscape has changed in the 9 years since Jinks released his well regarded Adobe Sessions and the 3 years since his last new record. 

There’s critically acclaimed Zach Bryan, critically loathed Morgan Wallen and rapper turned Country superstar Jelly Roll- as big as any three stars in the genre. They have moved the needle from the so called Bro Country and party anthems to more introspective and personal lyrics. Things Cody Jinks has been doing for over a decade. So even in the hyperbolic entertainment industry, I will allow that Jinks did what he claims in the title track. 

The shift in country music is in debt in part to Jinks. To either his credit or detriment, Jinks did do it all on his own largely outside of the industry. He has a rabid following but he never got the radio hit that someone like Chris Stapleton and others did. Jinks doesn’t really sound “like” Bryan. As a metal singer turned outlaw country act, Jinks is probably as rock oriented as he is related to something on country radio. He’s similar to Copperhead Road -era Steve Earle in that aspect. (To further prove this point, Jinks covers “Take this Bottle” from Faith No More’s 1995 King for a Day Fool for a Lifetime album).

Online fan reviews seem to be tethered to the fact that his early albums were so good and that he won’t be able to top them. That’s a problem practically every artist will hear but Change the Game has some strong songs that make it stand out and I think (as do the online crowd) that you would have to go back 4 albums to 2018s Lifers to find an album as good. And it is a good album but it’s positive and negative is its ambition. Songs like the title track and I Can’t Complain are standouts but elsewhere, songs like Working Man seem like an attempt to connect with a radio audience. That is okay. 

It is not a bad album and the fact that someone with a similar vibe like Tyler Childers can get airplay means Jinks isn’t unwilling to try. This is also Jinks first record going sober. There are a few songs on here about that and they are my least favorite, though that’s probably coincidence- opening track Sober Thing is strong lyrically and Take this Bottle- a duet with Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl Aday is just too commercial radio for me It probably sounds like I am describing Change the Game as a mixed bag, but I rather like it. Jinks is eleven albums in including a prolific five albums in the last six years. He still sounds vital and I think he still has a lot left to tell.

Wayne Kramer RIP

I am writing about 90s music and I didn’t plan on including Wayne Kramer, though he is a fit that I will explain later. However, I have been meaning to write about Kramer since he passed away in February. I have fond memories of our local record store. It was always a dollar or two more expensive than the chains but most people forgave the owner who was a big personality. He was a true grown 50s rocker. He had colorful import records at expensive prices. I bought a few and don’t regret it (T Rex, Slade, The Clash) One record I bought was “Kick out the Jams” by the MC5. If you researched the roots of punk at all, you would hear about the MC5. 

Although I never was obsessed with the 5 as I was with bands like the Stooges and New York Dolls, Kick Out the Jams is a strong album. Then again, it is a different strain of punk. Influenced by Sun Ra and James Brown as much as it was by the Sonics and the Kingsmen, it’s not so much punk as it is a precursor to metal, grunge and stoner rock. My next purchase was Babes in Arms- a ROIR cassette only compilation put together by Kramer in 1982. It is sort of a de facto Greatest Hits gathering alternate takes of the bands best songs from their short career. It was released on Compact Disc in the 90s and has been re-released at different points. 

While it is not a must-have (with its odds and sods variety), the early version of Looking at You (later covered by the Damned) might be the wildest punk song ever. Kramer most famously went to prison in the 1970s as captured in the Clash song Jail Guitar Doors. He briefly joined Johnny Thunders in a band called Gang War and the early days of Was (Not Was)- he’s on their 1981 debut. Kramer in the 1980s was a carpenter and a woodworker. But he came back to prominence in the 1990s. 

In 1995, he released the comeback album The Hard Stuff backed by the band Clawhammer. Punk label Epitaph (ran by Bad Religion’s Bret Guerwitz) was enjoying its largest success and now, Kramer was on the roster. The Bad Stuff got a lot of attention. It’s a bit of an unusual album. Nothing like the Bad Religion/Offspring type of music most Epitaph bands made. It was if anything like the jazz punk of Black Flag and maybe a bit of Charles Bukowski and Jim Carroll. More records were released in 1996 and 1997. 

In 2014 he had a successful jazz album. In 2008, he wrote a book also called the Hard Stuff and started touring the MC5 again which had reunited in 2004. The new 5 were Kramer and the other surviving members (Michael Davis, Dennis Thompson) have at various times added Handsome Dick Manitoba, Gilby Clarke, Stevie Salas, Kim Thayil, dUg Pinnick of Kings X and Marcus Durant of Zen Guerilla among others. It was expected the most current iteration of the MC5 was expected to release a album in 2024.  Bob Ezrin was producing with a guitar heavy sound with guest spots from Tom Morello, Slash and Vernon Reid and Brad Brooks as the band’s singer. If the MC5 album doesn’t come out then Kramer’s final epitaph might be Alice Cooper’s 2021 album Detroit Stories - a themed album that pays tribute to their home town. Cooper covers Sister Anne, the MC5 song and Bob Seger. Guests include Grand Funk Railroad’s Mark Farner and the surviving members of the Alice Cooper Group. Kramer can be found on 10 of the album’s 15 tracks- stepping away for the songs that feature Cooper’s famous 1970s band

90s Whatever... Helium

There is always great music in every era and I know I am biased but the 90s did seem to push some creativity to the commercial tops. 

I remember hearing Helium for the first time and thinking that it sounded like nothing else. In fact, they seem to fit into what seems like a 90s band template. They released two albums and lasted from 1992 to 1998. It’s almost like the scene was so rocket powered and like other great scenes and eras, the music industry decided what could and couldn’t sell and pushed everything else away. 1995s The Dirt of Luck with opener Pat’s Trick has to be on a short list of greatest 90s albums. 

The bands follow up was recorded with Mitch Easter and critics cite unlikely influences like Yes, King Crimson and early Genesis. Band leader Mary Timony was so talented that she couldn’t be kept down. She had a productive solo career that led to another spot on year end Best Ofs with 2014s Rips- the debut of her band Ex Hex. 

Like so many of these 90s bands, one can’t necessarily talk about concert attendance or album sales, but influence. Helium was a big influence on Sleater- Kinney. Sleater- Kinney have cut such an unique path that they seemingly came from nowhere with maybe some Ramones albums, early riot grrl records and admiration for trailblazing British post punk bands like the Raincoats and the Slits, that you almost miss a Helium connection. But it was there and recognized. Timony recorded an album -2011s Wild Flag with Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater -Kinney which was a critical and chart success. Timony also plays in Hammered Hulls, a band fronted by Alec MacKaye. She also made Rolling Stone’s 2023 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list. 

As I have been featuring 90s music, it’s also notable that Timony has a new solo album. Her first solo work in 15 years and her first significant album since Ex Hex’s second record in 2019. Her drummer on the album is Dave Mattakcs who played on Fairport Convention’s Liege and Lief and Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter. Pitchfork and Uncut give it positive reviews. 

While putting this together, I was reading the biography of Helium. The original band was named Chupa and featured another classic 90s indie rock artist Mary Lou Lord along with Juliana Hatfield’s brother Jason and rhythm section Shawn King Devlin and Brian Dunton. It was Devlin and Dunton (and Polvo guitarist Ash Bowie) who joined Timony in Helium. Devlin and Dunton were members of another great indie band called Dumptruck. 

Those bands could also deserve entry in the College Rock hall of fame. Dumptruck being a contemporary of Game Theory, REM and Miracle Legion predating the Americana and alt country music. Polvo breaking musical ground for later bands like Explosions in the Sky and Cursive.

90s...Whatever........... Railroad Jerk

 The 90s were a heyday for quirky rock, yet while Beck and Pavement made big names among the Spin and Alternative Press set, Railroad Jerk's biggest moment (like many bands of the era) was probably that their video for "Rollerkoaster" on Beavis and Butthead.

Yet, I preferred RJ to the more well-known slackers. They had a harder rock sound, and were a good blend of post-rock bands like Pixies and Sonic Youth with Beefheartian blues folk.

They put out 4 albums for Matador, and broke up while recording album #5 in the late 90s. Wikipedia doesn't have much info on the band's members (or much info on the band period), but singer Marcellus Hall and drummer Dave Varenka formed White Hassle.

White Hassle released their debut on Matador in 1997 but the follow up album in 2003 and two more in 2005 were released on smaller labels. Though Wikipedia does quote Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock as a fan.

In 2011, Hall released a solo debut for Brock's Glacial Pace label and that was followed by a self released 2013 album.

Bandcamp and other streaming services now have a new Hall solo album I Will Never Let You Down released on February 9 of this year, but this has not been updated on his Wikipedia page. Press for this particular album includes quotes from actor Bob Odenkirk.

Hall has a second career writing a 2018 graphic novel called Kaleidoscope City among other comics, illustrations and books. Wikipedia also lists a number of children books illustrated by Hall.

I think One Track Mind still holds up. Allmusic damns it with a three star review. Similarly, Rateyourmusic users don't score it high but do some mostly complimentary.

They remind me of the incredible music that came out in the 90s. As I often do, I wonder how much their mix of blues and roots rock and noise influences would fit much better in the 21st Century. Contemporary reviews would compare them to Beck and Jon Spencer, who were about the only major figures doing that at the time.

Heck, I might even have to check out Hall's new album since Saul Goodman said so.

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