So what we have here is a tape that I thought was a blank from the Chris Thomson tape dump of ’09. And yes, the a-side was blank, but I flipped it over to find that it was a practice session by Skull Kontrol which was Chris’s band with his then-wife Kim and Brooks from Born Against. And yeah, it would be cool enough if it was just the short-lived band blasting thru the tracks on their two Touch & Go EPs on a boombox at their practice space, but no, it’s far more than that.

….the tape (ergo the title

Apart from rough versions of most songs on the two EPs, I was able to cobble together eleven (!!!!!) tracks by the band that were never released in any capacity. Okay, okay, the fidelity isn’t the best, but I’ve had SO MANY PEOPLE ask for anything from Chris’s tape archive that I thought it best to just throw this out there to appease the masses.

Also, due to the limitations on my end on blog postings (I can only post a maximum of ten tracks per entry), I’m including a link to download all nineteen tracks in all their scratchy lo-fi glory. There’s still oodles and oodles of stuff here from Mr. Thomson, but I’m pacing myself. Or rather, I’m making all of YOU pace yourself. You’re welcome!

Skull Kontrol live.

And as an aside, holy jesus, it’s been forever since the last posting and well, I have a good excuse. The new Chunklet book is coming along at an alarming pace that might actually outdo The Rock Bible as far as speed of completioni. Right now we’re at three weeks and it’s really shaping up nicely, thanks for asking.

There’s much more to come. Promise.

Tour poster given to me by Mr. Adam Reach!

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 1 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 2 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Mater Delores (Screamers cover) (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – False Ceilings (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 5 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 6 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 7 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 8 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 9 (Midgets tape)

Skull Kontrol – Untitled 10 (Midgets tape)

It seems fitting that with the reunion shows of Floor nibbling at my heels that another kick-ass piece of the Florida rock puzzle is being put into place.

Dove were a three-piece fronted by Floor drummer Henry Wilson who were often times unfairly compared to High on Fire, but I just always considered them the Zep-fueled bastard baby brother band of Floor. I only got to see them perform a couple of times (and they killed it both times), but considering they only had one self-released CD and a split single with Floor to their name, I think they did mighty okay for themselves in such a short period of time.

In 2005, Dove was to open up for a reunited Harvey Milk at the EARL, but they broke up shortly before. Such a pity. They were cranking out new jams at an alarming pace and even though it devolved into three long-haired dudes playing shirtless on stage, it was really a sight to behold. No homo.

And now, five years later, the fittingly-named label Financial Ruin has really out-done themselves with a spectacularly packaged LP of Dove’s self titled release. A lovely silkscreened outer sleeve, LP jacket, a mess of reproduced flyers, a handful of stickers, a patch and two different colors of vinyl and all for $15?! And only 300 copies. Wait, are you serious? Yes, well the label has only a few spare copies remaining and well, hey, you don’t really want to blow it, do you?

Fifteen bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click on some of the random links above and listen to a live Dove gig and a few demos. Yes, you’re welcome.

You know, time has a weird way of flying away from me and it wasn’t until a couple hours ago that somebody reminded me about The Star Wars Movie.

Back in issue 12 (in 1997!), I wrote at length about it and well, it’s finally up on youtube! I wish I had a dollar for every person that got in touch wanting to buy a copy of the VHS tape because maybe I would’ve put it out myself.

Astroman? used to play this before all of their gigs back in ’96 when Pez D. Spencer (TSWM director) was touring with them.

I never get tired of watching this. And be sure to watch the second part.

Enjoy!

I’d think by now it’d be pointless to tell readers of Chunklet.com who Eric Davidson is, but here’s the quick synopsis. He was the singer for one of the best bands of the 90’s, The New Bomb Turks (read more about my history with him/them here). Since the band has gone from being a full time endeavor to a labor of love (time permitting), Eric writes. He’s written things here and there for countless publications (Chunklet included!) and has his first book coming out in a couple months called "We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001". Actually, Eric asked for me to write for the book and he was left to tell me that it was cut. So be it. I’ve been in his shoes. But don’t fool yourself, "We Never Learn" is teeming with the kind of detail and enthusiasm that only somebody like Eric could accurately write. Out of my excitement about this impending release, I asked Eric a few questions for the website….

So give me the personal run down of exactly what We Never Learn is.

It’s a bunch of pages bound by glue and shit. But seriously folks, it’s basically a rundown of that strata of trash punk bands and their indie labels from the 1990s (mostly, with some late-80s antecedents) who were neither swept up by the "alternative rock boom" or the Green Day/Offspring neo-punk trend; nor were all-out noise fringe-sters. Just hard-working rock’n’roll bands that basically took their re-lit on fire sounds from 50s/60s raw roots, 70s punk, and kind of eye-rolled the leftover macho hardcore dogmatics. Ended up getting sideways validation when that "neo-garage" trend of the early 2000s finally hit (White Stripes, Hives, Strokes, Jet, Donnas, etc.). And loads of my pals and I in said strata noticed that the major mag press for that trend was either only mentioning the old blues and classic rock these new bands liked, or treated it like a fad — when bands like Dwarves, Supersuckers, Mummies, Devil Dogs, Oblivians, NBT, Bassholes, Jon Spencer, Gories, Cynics, Didjits, Billy Childish and many many others were doing the updated raw roots garage thing for about a decade; many still doing it. And with bands in this tome — like the Mummies, NBT, Oblivians, Gories, Rip Offs and others — reuniting of late, it’s become apparent that these bands have had a slow-boiling influence for newer bands like Black Lips, King Khan & BBQ Show, Jay Reatard, Vivian Girls, Human Eye, Times New Viking, and many more…
    Yes, there’s basically a Death of a Salesman "Attention must be paid" vibe; and my band, New Bomb Turks, is in it a bunch. But it’s not a memoir or whatever. In the end, it’s mostly just loads of wild stories and insider low-rung music biz myth-busting (and around 100 rare fliers/pix/ephemera) that I think would make a great read for any music fan, even if you don’t think the Sons of Hercules are underrated.

Judging by phone convos with you, you cast a pretty wide net, but you were still selective about the bands you chose. Why?

It’s weird. First off, there are only so many bands you can cover. As it is, I interviewed over 130 people for this, over a two-year period, and I’m sure I’ll still get shit for that band "you should’ve fuckin’ talked about, dude!"
    I guess when you take on a topic to write a book about, and there’s a company of any size willing to pony up moola to print it and distribute it, you have to make a confident assumption that they think they know what you’re talking about; and that this is your idea, and just go with it, assuming many will disagree or nit-pick or whatever. Especially considering the bands/style in this book basically has never had a book written about it. Original Gaunt drummer Jeff Regensberger asked me, "So, is this like ‘Eric Davidson’s Favorite Bands’?" And yeah, sort of. But I did include bands that I personally don’t think are that great, but other people mentioned them as being important for numerous reasons; or I remember them having some modicum of success at the time (considering the cult status of most of the bands here) and should be mentioned.
    I basically narrow it down to two lanes of trash garage-punk driving — one being the ultra-lo-fi end (Gories, Mummies, Oblivians, Teengenerate, In the Red, Rip Off Records, etc,) and the faster buzz punk style (Dwarves, Devil Dogs, Supersuckers, NBT, RFTC, Crypt, Sympathy, etc.). (I mostly laid off the surf stuff, though Estrus and some of their bands are in there…) Yeah, it’s a wide net, but I can say that unlike many rock books, the author here was actually in a touring band for 13 years. And I also have been writing freelance since 1989. My editor said, well, if anyone’s gonna write about this stuff, you’re the one to write it.
    Oh, and the editor wanted a kind of "Best of" list at the end of the book. But I made sure to ask a few deep-throated record collector cats to weigh in; and I listed it alphabetically. 50 singles and 100 albums. Should be fun for debate, but at least I didn’t just say, "Hey, Blood, Guts & Pussy is the greatest record of all time!"

I know you didn’t want this to be a "punk rock thru the eyes of the Turks" but would you consider that a bad thing?

Not really, I guess that could be a fun book. But I just thought from early on that since I am casting a wide net, I’d like to get a lot of voices in here. Originally, the idea was to have loads of sidebars straight from many horses’ mouths. But when I handed in the book at twice the length they wanted, I had to cut LOADS of stuff; and the sidebars for space/layout reasons too. Being my first book, this was a total learning experience. Also, from early on, the editor and I agreed that a kind of memoir would be goofy, cuz let’s face it, I’m neither an experienced enough book-length writer to turn my own life into it’s own solo story; and New Bomb Turks ain’t exactly U2 or Springsteen; hell, not even Rocket from the Crypt on the household name scale. But I did try to interview the bands so that if they had a story about, say, getting into a fight with a German fan, I could say, "Yeah, that happened to us," and the conversations, I think, went off on more in-depth tangents than just a usual rock writer would be able to follow….And I’d say 95% of the people I interviewed (and that includes fans, fanzine writers, groupies, and booking agents in addition to the mostly bands/labels) trusted me, knowing I too have puked on stages, fought with club owners for that extra 27 dollars, and been shoved at after-parties by jealous boyfriends many a time.

The author doing what he does best with the Turks at Stache’s ’92?

I know you hacked my part out (no hard feelings) but how much ended up on the editing room floor, so to speak?

    Yeah, seriously, they wanted about 80-100,000 words max — and I handed it in at 167,000 words. Same goes for images in the book, gave them like twice too many. I was able to salvage a bit of those aforementioned sidebars as quotes in different sections. And we’ll be launching www.weneverlearnbook.com around the time of the book’s release, where I’ll be periodically posting stuff that got cut from the book, and adding interviews or blog rants or whatever. Maybe not too many blog rants, the world has enough of those damn things…

What one piece that was cut do you wish remained in the book?

    Too many to mention, but the Henry Owings piece, of course. But seriously folks, this great ol’ pal from Toronto wrote a great story of her and her 14, 15 year old girlfriends seeing the Dwarves for the first time and going to a Denny’s afterwards that was a great, sleazy, ultimately heartfelt story. Chet (Quadrajets) gave me an amazing story about playing Garage Shock and other intense personal things, but it was just too long. I had to cut loads of stuff from my New Bomb Turks pals, and that was really really hard, of course. Mike Rep gave me a good/funny list of his favorite records no one would think he’d like. And I had to cut many things that were personally important to me, but again would come across as memoir-y. Oh, and a great story of a failed Gaunt t-shirt design. Again, too many to mention, but hopefully many of them will get onto the website.
    All that said, I will say that I have learned once again that editing — despite the prevailing opinion of interweb weenies — is a great thing and helps your writing. I think the absolute best stories made the book, the book reads better for it, and had it been 167.000 words, it would’ve been about 600+ pages, and most trash-punk fans would’ve looked at it, and it’s probably $30 price tag, and said, "Fuck that!" And if I just dumped it onto a website, you couldn’t take it to the can with you and use it in case the toilet paper runs out. Take that, Kindle!

Also, are you planning on a book tour? Speaking engagements? Signings? When is the book officially out?

    We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 comes out in June on Backbeat Books. I am planning a book tour, late-June/early July. Lots of readings around NYC/Brooklyn during the summer too. I’ll let ya know when the dates are set. I’ll have We Never Learn Facebook/MySpace pages going too, so probably put the dates on there. I hoping to do a reading/Q&A thing; and I’m also compiling a DVD of very rare clips of bands from the book, and I’ll hopefully be able to show that at all the readings too. Maybe a band playing afterwards too, depending on the venue…

TOUR DATES!
June 26
Brooklyn, NY
Bell House
NEW BOMB TURKS reunion gig, featuring LiveFastDie and the Ex-Whites
Early show! Reading, 6:30; bands, 8-10:30; DJs at front bar ‘til whenever…

June 29
Seattle, WA
Easy Street Records
book signing, 3pm (20 Mercer St.)
Snoose Part Dieu (in Greenwood), reading/DVD showing, 8pm

July 1
San Francisco, CA
Reading/DVD at Hemlock Tavern

July 2
San Francisco, CA
DJ party @ Pop’s Bar (2800 24th St.; Mission District; btw Bryant St. & York St.) – 9:30-2am; featuring your’s truly and DJ “Classic Bar Music” (Erin, from Top Ten)

July 7
L.A., CA
Stories bookstore?
Reading/DVD action

July 9
Columbus, OH
Wexner Center
Reading/DVD action; after-party at Café Bourbon St. w/bands

July 10
Columbus, OH
Surly Girl Parking Lot Blow-Out?- New Bomb Turks gig, plus the Gibson Bros. and Scrawl!!! (Early evening; more bands TBA)?- More action later with the Cheater Slicks and the Oblivians!!! — at The Summit, right next to Cafe Bourbon St.

July 13
Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art

So this will be one of numerous surveys that we’ll be posting to accumulate "the funny" for the new Chunklet book. This is one of four "Acceptable Reasons" pieces that’ll be running in the book which, unless you’re a total dick, you’ve offered to help with.

Motherhood is a terrible thing, right, Mrs. Cobain?

Here’s what our buddy Emerson Dameron had to say:

"Speak your "truth," but remember that Chunklet takes a hard line on acceptability. God don’t make junk, junk exists only because God don’t, and we don’t publish it."

So a couple years ago, Chunklet came out with our second book, The Rock Bible. It was fueled largely by Chunklet staffers (Teasley being the main one), and quickly involved people from all over the world. And you know what? It was great! Even if people had one line to add, it all helped and it strengthened the Chunklet community. The crazy thing about The Rock Bible, though, was that it was completed (for the most part) in nine weeks of me sitting at Aurora Coffee in Little Five Points here in Atlanta and sifting through the never-ending assault of emails and comments on the Chunklet site. It was a blast!

And now, dear Chunklet reader/fan/writer/nerd/whatever, the time has come for us to embark on our next big project. I’m reluctant to divulge what the subject of the new book will be until it’s more organized, but I’m again soliciting our readership for assistance because, well, anybody that would want to write for us must think they’re pretty good. But you know what? We’ll be the judge of that…. Kidding. We’re not that harsh. It just seems that way.

But yes, there will be more than a number of places for individual writers to shine with "articles" or "chapters" but there will also be TONS of opportunities for people with knowledge in areas such as geography and history to help.

I’m really excited about this new project, and I really look forward to all that get in touch. Feel free to email me and catch the fever!

     I remember the exact moment I first heard of Come. It was 1991 and I was living in Madison. My then girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend was singing the praises of Thalia Zedek and a former band she’d been in, Uzi. He was especially excited about a new project she was involved with called Come. Considering his adulation for Thalia Zedek, and since I trusted both his taste in music as well as my ex’s, I quickly set out to find anything I could by both bands.
     Uzi, it turned out, were a Boston band from the mid 80s. Unfortunately, tension between the two founding members, Thalia Zedek and drummer Danny Lee, led to the early demise of the band after only a few years together. They recorded one EP for Homestead records, but the breakup occurred before its release; hence, the five song EP, Sleep Asylum, was posthumously released in 1986. Unfortunately, distribution of the EP was not great and it was quickly out of print. Despite the lackluster distribution, word of mouth helped elevate Uzi to a band of near legendary status. When I finally tracked down Sleep Asylum, I quickly understood just what the all the hoopla was about. It rarely left my turntable for months.
     In 1991, Come had just released their first record on Matador, Eleven:Eleven. Several months earlier, they had also put out a single called Car on Sub Pop for the label’s "Single of the Month Club." Come, though I was not aware at the time, was a bit of a Comeback for Zedek. After Uzi’s breakup, Zedek joined New York’s Live Skull and collaborated on three records. She had also gradually developed a nasty heroin addiction. After the breakup of Live Skull, she returned to Boston to kick the habit and attempt to get back on her feet.
     Come started after Codeine drummer, Chris Brokaw, along with two recent Athens transplants, Arthur Johnson and Sean O’Brien, began jamming together in Boston. The three got in touch with Zedek and asked her to join them. Zedek accepted and found herself collaborating on a project she finally felt at ease with. Uzi was a band whose two co-founders never saw quite eye-to-eye. And with Live Skull, Zedek felt like somewhat of an outsider looking in on an already well-established band. A temporary visitor, if you will. But with Come, Zedek found herself involved from the ground floor up. Furthermore, with Brokaw, an Oberlin College graduate, she found an immediate musical affinity. After the release of Eleven:Eleven, Brokaw quit Codeine to devote himself full-time. The early nineties found Zedek back on her feet indeed.

     Come‘s sound was a brilliant amalgam of bluesy Rolling Stones circa Sticky Fingers and Patty Smith. Zedek openly cited Smith as a crucial influence and a major reason why she picked up the guitar in the first place. And on Eleven:Eleven, Come paid homage to the Stones by covering "I Got the Blues."
     I only managed to see Come a total of four times. I first saw them in Chicago at Lounge Ax on April 17, 1993. I know the exact date because I recorded it! They played a total of one hour. I was so enamored with the show that I resolved to head back to Madison and write the band ASAP. One aspect of the show that threw me for a loop, apart from how tight they were live, was just how goddamned many cigarettes Brokaw and Zedek smoked in the course of that fantastic hour. We’re talking chain smokin’ people. Yet, what made Come truly special was the instinctual manner in which Brokaw and Zedek’s guitars played off one other. It was as if both musicians were truly inside one another’s head. In my letter to the band, I recounted just how much the band moved me, both live and in the studio, and then finished the letter imploring them to not smoke so much.
     I received a reply from Chris Brokaw. Chris modestly confessed that he thought the Lounge Ax show’s set list was a bit cumbersome and had not worked as well as they’d hoped. In sincere honesty, I responded back that the set list worked well and all the songs flowed together perfectly. Chris and I began writing letters to one another and a loose, faceless friendship of sorts formed. In several letters, I asked Come to play Madison and my wish was granted around a year later.
     During the months leading up to Come‘s first Madison show (at Club de Wash), I was like a nervous ten-year old kid waiting to meet his favorite baseball player in person. When I did finally introduce my girlfriend and myself to Chris, we both found him to be an extremely kind and modest person. By that time, Come’s second record, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, had been released and Chris had I had been discussing it in letters for some time.
     Words cannot adequately describe just how amazing this record is and just how much it moved me and still does to this day. This record, simply put, is a masterpiece. Suffice it to say that it’s one of those incredible records that, like any amazing art, may move a person so much it actually makes one shed tears. Think "Sixteen Blue" and "Unsatisfied" by the ‘Mats, Big Star’s #1 Record, the Jayhawk’s "Anne Jane" or the Pretenders "2000 Miles," especially after your little brother has just passed away. You get the picture. We all have those bands and records that are truly cathartic for us. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell FLOORS me.

(cribbed from Magnet)

     Before the show, Chris asked me which song I especially wished to hear off of the new record. For the life of me, I don’t remember which song I requested, but I’m pretty sure it was either "Yr Reign," "German Song, " or "Arrive." What I do remember is that the show was amazing, though not quite as great as the Lounge Ax show. What I also remember is that I got good and drunk throughout the show and pretty much made an ass out of myself after the show while drunkenly telling Chris the show was "Awesome." My nervousness about speaking to one of my favorite band’s members somehow required liquid courage and to this day I still regret my inebriation.
     Come would eventually play Madison one more time, though by that time, I had moved to Seattle. After Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, both Arthur Johnson and Sean O’Brien left the band. In 1996, Come released Near Life Experience with only Zedek and Brokaw remaining as original members. On NLE, Come utilized a number of stand-in musicians, including Mac McNeilly, Bundy Brown, and John McEntire. This record also marked the first time Brokaw would sing lead vocals on any song. The two songs, "Secret Numbers" and "Shoot Me First," represented one-fourth of all of the songs on the record. The superb working relationship between Zedek and Brokaw remained steadfast, especially evidenced by Zedek’s willingness to share the microphone.
     Around 1996, I was again able to catch Come when they played the Crocodile in Seattle. They were the opening band, if memory serves me correctly, for Girls Against Boys. It was a good show, not a great one. Brokaw spent the entire show on a chair and the new band just did not sound quite as tight as the original four. Then again, Come were a lot like pizza or sex. Even on an off night, they were still thoroughly enjoyable.
    Before that show, I introduced myself to Chris once again and only told him my first name, explaining who I was. He immediately said my last name, which impressed me. By that time we had ceased writing one another, so I was especially flattered.
     I managed to see Come one more time at the Crocodile. They played a very solid and enjoyable show, this time headlining the show. I think the year was 1998 and it was around the time of their final release, Gently Down The Stream. Shortly thereafter, in 1999, Come disbanded.
     A few months back, Henry asked me if I had any good radio shows of Come. I told him I had a few and then he asked me if I’d be willing to write a quick piece on them. I quickly told him that I would. I eventually sent Henry some live radio shows, one of which Chris Brokaw sent me back in ’93 after I’d sent him the Lounge Ax show I recorded.
    Truth be told, this piece was difficult to write. I struggled to understand the reason why, and, as I later told Henry, the answer eventually dawned on me when I began listening to Come often again in order to find extra inspiration. The cause for the writer’s block was the exact same reason I had almost completely ceased listening to Come in recent years. They are so emotionally intense to me that it’s frankly difficult to revisit their records. Perhaps it’s also that their music reminds me of the old days–lost love, the passing of time, the drifting apart of friendships, the loss of an immediate family member, etc. There you have it. Not exactly uplifting words on a humorous music magazine’s site.
     Since the breakup of one of the greatest bands of ’90s-nay, one of the greatest bands ever in this writer’s humble opinion-both Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw have remained very active. Both have released more than a few solo records. Brokaw has also been involved in several other bands, most notably the New Year, Consonant, and Dirtmusic.
    And for the record, if Chris, Thalia, Arthur, or Sean happens to read this (or anyone else ever involved in creating Come’s music), I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for providing the world with some truly amazing music.

Come – WERS 1992

Come – William (Peel Session 92)

Come – Off To One Side/Bell (Peel Session 92)

Come – WMBR 1991

….A PRESS RELEASE...FOR A MIC STAND! Some band calling themselves "Five Finger Death Punch" (clue No.1) issued some days/entries ago via their website the big announcement of their new mic stand! Now, while I can appreciate the creation of something out of nothing, & fair bit of artistry, to issue a press release about your mic stand makes Spinal Tap look like Les Rallizes Dénudés.

Take that, Ben Weasel!

The big HEADLINING TOUR announcement also includes the rather classy touch of the first "100 Ladies Get In Free". Whether this also includes chicken wings and a bucket of brew, I do not know? First the Kings Of Leon are peddling $108, plain, grey, t-shirts. Now this group of down-tuned, tattooed Man-Trigs are celebrating that which could be replaced by a broom stick. What’s next? Radiohead issues press release about new "blip sound" created on MacBook? Oy Vey.

(Seems the Ben Weasel ref. is making some heads scratch. Dude use to duct tape water bottles full of beer to his mic stand, complete with sippin’ tube running all the way up to the mic. Hence no need to break Ramones-stride mid-song, so there. Thanks B.A.D.)

MacGyver, 1-2-3-4!

Finally! Attendees of the Whirlyball show will get a special present at the door and we just got it to the manufacturer in time!

Design by Chris Bilheimer

If we have any left, you can email me for one.

And to answer the question on everybody’s mind, the air freshener’s smell is "space".

I remember hearing Rye Coalition in the mid-90’s and lumping them in with a lot of really sweaty (yet seemingly interchangeable) hard punk bands that were coming out on labels like Troubleman and Gern Blandsten. At the time, I was living in Athens and it seemed like they played Atlanta a bunch. And, of course, it appeared that Atlanta’s DIY scene was absolutely smitten with Rye. When I moved to town the band had just put out their album "He Saw Duh Kaet" and I got to see them play to a dozen or so people at Under The Couch. I won’t lie to you, I really dug them.

I found their love of playing with each other quite endearing. Furthermore, as the years progressed and I put on a number of shows with them, I found them to be pretty nice guys. A bit TOO modest, but still. Nice. Guys.

Rye Coalition at the Chunklet SXSW party, 2005?

And as time progressed, I think I witnessed three really drastic musical changes in their sound. They started with a sort of post-ABC-no-Rio hardcore sound, went full bore into sounding like The Jesus Lizard and then veered sharply off course again and went straight into sounding like a classic rock band. Now, some would argue that they were just unable to find their "sound" or were just changing to see what could be "popular", but you know what? I don’t think they should be knocked around for trying to make music that they love.

Sure, they were derivative. Sure, they had a hard time keeping fans. Sure. You’re right. But then when the band was lured by a major label and had their record produced by Dave Grohl it almost signaled a change! Like, instead of Buckcherry becoming a "hard rock" band, it would be guys that were just guys. Not some pre-packaged bullshit.

Well, as you can see from the documentary trailer that I’ve included, Rye had shitty luck even then. The record was finished and then the label shit the bed. I don’t know the exact details of the drama that unfolded afterwards, but the record that Grohl produced was soon put out on Gern Blandsten and just collected cobwebs.

…uh yeah.

Shortly thereafter, I asked Rye to play the Chunklet SXSW party at Sound on Sound to which they happily obliged. Personally, I thought Rye were fantastic, but to be frank, they weren’t doing the indie rock slumming any more. They were trying to go for the brass ring. But well, as with everything Rye did, it was mired in a halo of bad luck.

I’m not sure when Rye officially broke up (or even if they have) but here it is 2010 and over half of the band is playing in the Black Hollies and the other half are slugging it out back home.

This takes me to the two tracks that I’m including in this post. Dave Leto, Rye’s affable drummer, sent me a friendly email along with a request if I could post the band’s final two songs to the Chunklet site. Here’s what Dave said about these two tracks:

"Jimmy Iovine wanted to hear our hit before he released our album on Interscope. He kept saying "I don’t hear a hit."  No shit Sherlock, we didn’t write hits…
His famous quote was "I wanna hear their ‘Dirty Deeds’ "So Justin and Jon went home and wrote out the structure, chord changes, etc of "Dirty Deeds" and we gave him two songs that were almost IDENTICAL to that. They are fun to listen to, no reinvention of the wheel here….We still rocked harder than 99.9% of bands."

Now, I’m certainly not going to turn a friend down, but man, these tracks are as shameless in their love of AC/DC as they’ve been as shameless in their love of other musical touchstones over their career.

I’m certainly not trying to knock Rye, but man, it’s bittersweet that these polished studio tracks find a resting place on this site. That said though, I always will have a soft spot for Rye.

Rye Coalition – Hard Luck (final recordings)

Rye Coalition – High School (final recordings)