Perhaps the best part of working in a record store was listening to music all day, talking music all day, and sometimes turning people onto bands worth their time and money. England’s Pete & The Pirates is definitely one of those bands I would have been enormously excited to share with anyone crossing the threshold of my workplace. Vocalist Tommy Sanders’ voice and guitarists David Thorpe and Peter Hefferan may nod to Bends-Era Radiohead, but the tunes also harken back to the melancholic genius of New Zealand’s Verlaines. Pete & The Pirates’ debut album Little Death is out now and available. I could write paragraph after paragraph extolling the virtues of this band’s art, and yet all one really needs to do is listen.
Pete & The Pirates - Not A Friend
Almost a year ago I was so excited to get my hands on Jim Walsh’s Replacements Biography, I even bought one for a friend. In my mind I had already heard conversations we might have concerning the one book that would capture all of The Replacements reckless magic to the page. Furthermore I was hoping that perhaps some light would be shed on lead ‘Mat Paul Westerberg’s experience of being a member of the notorious four. Since all I had read in interviews portrayed him as guarded and sharing few details, I simply knew this would be my new favorite rock and roll read. Sadly, the book attempts to explore an elusive, electric topic by tackling one of rock’s more interesting bands in the last thirty years and what results is actually mediocre, quite unlike the rapturous enthusiasm the Replacements instilled in even the most jaded music listener.
Jim Walsh’s rock bio The Replacements: All Over But The Shouting: An Oral History will have to do until Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson decide to open up and bleed. The book is not without its charms, but ultimately comes off as more of a ‘little brother’s journal’ ratting on his big brother’s pot smoking, drag racing, and dirty magazines albeit in glowing admiration.
Walsh’s book succeeds best in its affection for guitarist Bob Stinson and attention to his importance to what made The Replacements a band impossible to ignore. The young bassist Tommy was the punk, Bob - the classic rock dude with Paul bouncing between with Chris Mars keeping furious time.
Walsh writes of a time when Paul Westerberg would stroll into Peter Jesperson’s (Founder of Replacements’ label Twin Tone Records) record store only to snag the Replacements vinyl in the bins, haul it to the basement and proceed to break the record albums. Something in Westerberg’s mischieviousness saw this as a funny joke - but it also illustrates the attraction and repulsion the band had with fame. One step forward, two steps back was the band’s attack for years, which alienated the curious and only endeared themselves more to those that already loved them.
I first discovered The Replacements on a scrappy little cassette tape thanks to Yreka, California’s 1980’s High School Basketball Star Kirk Wulf. Besides turning me onto The Meat Puppets, Husker Du, and Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians; Kirk had recorded me a copy of Let it Be. “Favorite Thing” hooked me, made me a fan for life…Months later I drove three hours to see them at Chico, CA’s Ping Pong Palace (which later became a Gold’s Gym) and was not disappointed. Despite Paul reportedly being ‘under the weather’ the band pored through originals with a few of their ‘legendary’ covers tossed in (U2’s “I Will Follow”!?!) with enviable energy and flair.
It’s Not Over!
Atlanta’s Black Lips and San Diego’s Muslims (now called The Soft Pack) continue to flaunt the same genius songcraft and impetuousness that surely would register with anyone and everyone that fell in love with The Replacements.
I like to play the game - “Which band would sound best in a tiny local barroom?” and answer it myself - lately it is always comes up Black Lips. The Atlanta quartet is releasing its fifth album at the end of February, and by the sound of its first song available to the public; we may be in for a, dare I say, more reflective Black Lips?? “Starting Over” is about the sweetest jingle jangle pop song I have heard in years, with vocals that sound barely pulled from the morning pillow.
San Diego’s Muslims (recently renamed The Soft Pack) will be opening shows for The Black Lips in Europe this spring. The pairing makes perfect sense, as The Muslims pull from the same sixties psych puddle as Black Lips and yet add their own aggressive VU twist to things
As much as I miss the Replacements, their spirit is alive and well.
The Replacements - Favorite Thing
Muslims (The Soft Pack) - Beside Myself
I’m not a huge Ryan Adams fan. He’s a talented songwriter for sure, but I liken him to a Rivers Cuomo—prolific to the nth degree, but only one out of every five songs is really worth a damn.
I write this following the recent announcement that Mr. Adams would be stepping away from music for a while … to recharge the batteries if you will. The blog entry on the songwriter’s Web site (which has since mysteriously been removed) explained that abuse from being on the road—most notably his hearing—is one of the main reasons for the hiatus. He’s also going to write some books, including a volume of poems called Infinity Blues due out in April.
Rumor has it that Adams has hundreds of unreleased songs … like I said, prolific—and I’m sure there are some stunners in the bunch. Looks like we’ll have to wait and see. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and looking back, Heartbreaker is still his most consistent record. But it’s this epic yarn from 2005’s sans-Cardinals album 29, with its wirey arrangement that is absolutely flawless.
“Strawberry Wine”’s tragic storylines are told through Adams’ achy vocals and sparse guitar strums. The song crushes me every time and gives me confidence that Ryan Adams could fare well as an aspiring novelist. Always with a sad ending, of course.
“Strawberry Wine” - Ryan Adams
I have written different pieces for the local weekly where I confessed to moving to Chico, CA for music and the band 28th Day. When I moved to Chico in the late ’80’s, 28th Day was no more with Barbara Manning having moved to S.F., and Mike Cloward playing around town in different bands. Guitarist Cole Marquis had joined The Downsiders whom were looming large on the local scene.
In 1987, The Downsiders’ debut had already been released on North Carolina’s Black Park Records. The album’s cover art was a psychedelic swirl of confusion, mud, and color not unlike the aural textures buried in the waxen grooves. The album’s best songs suggested a band barely on the brink of its experimenting with its own sound. “Another Horn’s Cry” was a pop anthem worthy of rapturous attention while “Fourth Falling” and “Mudslide” were better examples of the dark corners the band was attempting to explore and would on the follow up All My Friends Are Fish.
The Downsiders were a great band on vinyl but an even better one live. There was always room live to explore any space within the songs for improvisation and dramatic dynamics. Live, the band would often cover Bo Diddley’s “Mona”, Richman’s “Pablo Picasso”, and what I always found to be their best choice, The Gun Club’s “Promise Me”.
I believe I must have seen the band play close to one hundred times. Each show was different and powerful for a variety of reasons. The Downsiders opened for many visiting acts such as the Throwing Muses, Firehose, and Mudhoney. Usually The Downsiders set proved more formidable than the name act that followed. Much of this was due to the quartet’s instinctual ability to bend its songs into new and fantastical shapes on the live stage.
Unfortunately no recording truly, and sufficiently captured what made this band essential. There exists a four song demo that has yet to see the light of day. The demo includes “She’s Orbit” and “Black Sun” which may be the band’s most powerful and beautiful songs. What The Downsiders were doing in the early eighties set a precedent for bands such as Polvo, and even later, Trail of Dead. Melding melody, chaos, and grace all in one heated rush - The Downsiders were among the very best of the early nineties post-punk guitar bands.
The Downsiders - “Another Horn’s Cry”
The Downsiders - “Fourth Falling”