Edgar Breau and Simply Saucer... More than a band... Pure Vision... The world's first Taste of Complete Perspective...
Nazi Apocalypse is my favorite song by this band. It was written in 1973 and recorded in 1974 placing this band ABSOLUTELY LIGHT YEARS beyond their peers. There was no one else in the world making music even remotely like this at the time.
Edgar's vocal stylings are reminiscent of Lou Reed and his band's music is what I would call punk, and much more advanced than any other proto-punk I've heard from the time period. They were more punk than the Stooges and the MC5, more punk than anything I've heard from HoZac's archival series ie. Fury etc.
Simply Saucer's influence is tremendous but chances are if you're not from Canada, you've probably never heard them. It's unsurprising that a band this peerless and ahead of the wave that came after them never found commercial success abroad or really even at home. They had a successful single in Canada with Bullet Proof Nothing but quickly dissolved as they discovered their pursuits sadly had no future.
Perhaps given the right management or maybe if they were from LA, things could've been different. They are touring sporadically again and Edgar just released a solo record.
A few months ago, I reached out to Edgar on Facebook and asked him for lyrics to Nazi Apocalypse. He finally got back to me and here they are, proving again that it never hurts to ask! Don't be afraid to reach out to your heroes. They're probably more attainable than you think.
Here are the lyrics- courtesy of Edgar. Pretty fucking cool, huh???
Nazi Apocalypse
I know you kiss just like a blitzkreig gone amiss
You say I'm wrong
It's bye bye honey baby so long
I, I, I , I , I'm cyanide over you
I, I , I , I , I'm cyanide over you
Nazi Apocalypse
Adolph and his henchman in their crypts
Eva, Eva Braun
says bye bye honey baby so long
I, I, I, I, I'm cyanide over you
I, I, I, I, I'm cyanide over you
You should have listened to your mama
Remember what she said
You better mend your evil ways boy, lest you wind up worse than dead
+ NEW Promo Single from Le Tour!
"An indie-psych rocker for fans of Deerhunter's Weird Era Cont. or Sonic Youth's mid period career output. One can even hear some Brian Eno-esque swarms of insects infiltrating the transitions." - NME
Here we have a brand new lineup. The Trux have added a real drummer in place of the drum machine and a keyboardist. This is a drastic upgrade to the band from just two years ago in Ann Arbor when we first hear them live. Listening to the playback, it sounds like this was probably recorded to soundboard but then traded between fans on cassette so there's a modest amount of generation loss but all in all this recording is pretty hi-fi considering...
It's an excellent performance, and a great jumping in point if you haven't heard the band live before. You barely hear Neil sing, if at all. But he and Jennifer are both totally present and the music sounds rad. These are all danceable interpretations of the band's earliest and weirdest work. You can even hear a bit of a Gary Numan influence on the keyboards.
Awesome stuff!
"Rock and roll used to be thought of as a unique combination of individuals coming together to create a sound. That idea is total bullshit, just another myth. We fashion ourselves after jazz sessions from the '20s, which were made up of whoever was around, or in the tradition of the Brill Building, Phil Spector, or Stax-Volt, where there were anonymous session musicians. This way there's a different chemistry for each session." - Neil
I am about to embark on a little project here- uploading a treasure trove of extremely rare live Royal Trux recordings. I'm short on time right now so this will be brief, but live recordings of this band in their prime are very hard to come by, and scattershot to say the least.
What you're looking at here is the first of a comprehensive series of live shows that I am personally uploading for free streaming through Youtube. Finally, people will have a chance to hear this stuff.
This collection is huge, amazing, and every bit as strange as you could imagine given this band's reputation for shady dealings and instability.
Will be back with more information soon. Let this, their earliest known live recording serve as a small taste of what's to come... "I want to make music 'til I die or whatever, but at the same time I'm not gonna deny that I'm also in it to achieve prosperity." - Neil
As I sit here now, I'm wearing a Waylon Jennings zip-up hoodie and listening to the Dead C's Trapdoor Fucking Exit- namesake of this blog. Misspelled, I know. Earlier I started the day listening to Wolf Eyes' newly reissued Dread cassette. "Burn Your House Down" was a milestone of my childhood which is actually kinda funny if you think about it. Picked that one up @ Bric a Brac Records in Logan Square about two weeks ago. After that, I listened to the Beatles' first three albums on Spotify- Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and A Hard Day's Night. Really the vocals of the Beatles are pure magic. No other band will ever achieve the ragged professionalism of Paul, John, and George. I spent the entire afternoon guessing at who's voice was whose [sic] as I drove Uber around Chicago. It was slow. I remember a pretentious old couple who actually didn't believe it was the Beatles for some reason. Would I lie to you? Come on, people!
Eventually I made it to Rubber Soul which, blah blah yeah, everyone knows is the greatest album ever and there has been SOFUCKINGMUCH written about it already. But picture this, I just listened to it for the FIRST time today. It was INSANE!
Then I spent some time researching Keith Jarrett who I've actually still not ever listened to. There was a fabulous story about him that I heard... He played a concert in France, or Germany maybe in the 70's. He shows up and has a meltdown because the piano he's supposed to use apparently is unplayable- out of tune everywhere, keys are sticking, worn out felt etc. And on top of all that, its too small and not even loud enough to really be heard clearly at the back of the sold out 4,500 capacity auditorium where the performance was to be held. So naturally, he refuses to play...
It just so happens that the person putting this show on was possibly the most determined and precocious 17 year-old girl in the world. She spent the entire afternoon tuning the dissonant piano herself and oiling keys that were sticking and somehow got the piano into (barely) playable shape. Jarrett still refused to play until she begged him not to disappoint the 4,500 strong crowd and to save her reputation. He agreed, stating, "Only for you. Remember that."
What followed, and keep in mind that I personally have not listened to this recording or any of Jarrett's other material yet, was a seminal performance in which Jarrett was forever captured in the purest moment of improvisation. It was recorded and became the highest selling solo-piano performance CD of all time. Pretty inspirational tale... I'm not really sure why I'm telling you this except to say that I listen to all kinds of music and I think you have to if you ever hope to be able to understand sound as an art form. And after 32 years on this planet I've heard a lot, learned a lot, and for the most part cast aside my listenings as I moved onward to more obscure recordings and broadened my musical knowledge.
But there's a few bands I will always be grateful to come back to...
Sonic Youth is one of them. I've spent years now listening to this band with a near-thirty year career arc and who almost never flinched from their anti-commercial roots. Even as they crossed into the mainstream, their music and imagery remained tongue in cheek. It's as if they were poking fun at the record executives by intentionally turning people off. Look at the leer and pomp of Goo, an album which can be best described as a feather boa or maybe a blowjob- as was the original title idea from the band.
You guys probably also know a bit about this band already. Or, if you don't, might this be a step down a long and fruitful sonic tributary. So much can be said about this recording. It's physical appearance dates back to a fan club mailing in 1984- the year I was BORN. It arrived as a cassette only. I have not been able to find any photos of the actual tape itself but the artwork is pretty straight forward, cheap photocopy collage. Very typical of punk and DIY bands even still today. There's a philosophy at play here. Just let it be what it is. It's a piece of what they hoped and knew was going to be a very long and comprehensive oeuvre. I first heard it while trawling through some online database of live SY. It was a big site. Anyone remember the name? Sonic Tooth?
The music really does not sound at all dated, apart from the shoddy recording quality. I like that though. It adds to the ideology. In Chicago, there are no-wave bands today that don't sound a whole lot different.
Early Sonic Youth is heavy and abrasive, almost terrifying. Picture them, as twenty-something's on tour in the mid-80's and playing "Death Valley '69" in the Mojave Desert. What did people think of them back then? Absolute monoliths.
There is a lot of tape manipulation happening in this recording. One song is dubbed faster than the Chipmunks. There is some interesting panning on a few other tracks. There's really so much fucking more I could say about this recording but I just got home from the gym after working all day and that's about all I can muster for now. Let me know if you want a copy and maybe I can dub you one or something.
Man.. I wish I was a member of the Sonic Youth fan club in the 80's.
It’s been three
years since my last post… I've met so many people and I have so much to say about them. Here's a start and I'm barely scratching the surface. Apologies to anyone I'm leaving out this round, I'll get to you eventually.
FLESH PANTHERS
… Or “Los Pantheros de
Flesh” as I lovingly refer to them. The Flesh Panthers are the ultimate party
band. It does not matter how much beer they smoke or how much weed they drink,
they will always crush every single performance. Remember when everyone used to complain that no one danced at shows in this city? Not anymore!! FP’s bassist, Lucas, is the
reason that people now mosh at shows in Chicago. And drummer, Michael, is an absolute powerhouse supercharging the band’s impeccable melodies
into nonstop crush-your-beer-can-in-your-hand anthems. You think you’re being
drenched in reverb but it’s actually just alcohol and you’re happy to sop it
up.
Mac Blackout Band are “the kings of the old wave of Chicago punk,” I overheard at Coles Bar one
drunken night in January. Mac Blackout is an icon in punk music today and his
massive breadth of work speaks for itself. He’s been regularly churning out art
for bands all across the country, effectively stamping the scene with his godly
approval. Whether it's Functional
Blackouts, Daily Void, or Mickey (pictured above), Mac's imprint is left like a sizzling brand on everything he touches. With a sound that might have
been more at home in an earlier decade, the Mac Blackout Band is the prototype
for the future.
The typical Absolutely
Not song consists of about a two-and-a-half minute plunge down the rabbit hole
of what can only be described as the very essence of pure unfiltered energy.
This band begins at a level of intensity that very few bands ever achieve
throughout their entire recording careers and ends somewhere completely
un-fucking-fathomable, until you see them live and you finally understand. Donnie Moore has a rapid fire intellect and it reflects in his music. You get it.
You already know them. They are the best.
When I saw Brett,
V-Cop’s bassist, on stage dressed as Carl Sagan for their Halloween 2014 show
I knew I had truly fallen for this band. Velocicopter rips! And their
frontWOMAN Meg might be one of the most talented people in all of Chicago.
Their last full length, Pals,
was a tour de force that struck me like a ton of bricks. The closing track for
the album, “Major Arcana,” sends shivers down my spine as it reaches
it’s climax with Meg’s vocals reaching a critical roar. The intensity will
shake you. And with the layered feedback ala Smashing Pumpkins Gish it’s absolutely fucking BEAUTIFUL!
The raw enthusiasm of
this band grips me. I cannot stress enough how much it means to see people who
honestly believe in what they are doing and are so genuinely into MUSIC. It’s
fucking infectious! And it’s exactly what the music world needs MORE, MORE,
MORE of. I really didn’t think that this band could do much better than “Don’t
Get Rocked Unless You Wanna’ Get Rolled,” from their debut cassette Big In
Chicago because let’s face it, music doesn’t really get a lot better than that. Period. But in the last few
months and with their outrageous Speed Trap ep, we’ve seen MAMA put out some of the most insane singles I have EVER
heard!!! ROCK 'N ROLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!
I’d say that Joe Schorgl is the
reincarnated Dan Kroha (Gories) but that dude is thankfully still alive and making some of
the best music of his career. The Sueves are pure excellence
and with the current lineup they’re going to boil over into a larger
consciousness faster than you can say, “House Rockin!” They’ve got about a
million songs and basically are a compact pissed off volcano of shred. Did I mention Joe's artwork is mind blowing? I heard
these guys are big Trux fans too. Figures.
Always been a damn good
group. Chris Kramer is a true songwriting force and one of the only people I
know who seems to actually make a living from touring. Respect! With the new lineup
featuring guys from Today’s Hits (or shits?) and Magic Milk, Slushy is becoming
something bigger sounding than I think Kramer ever anticipated. Shout out to
Brent Zmrhl who let me do sound at Crown Tap way back when I was actually
updating this blog regularly! This band is far fucking out.
**Not a band but... still a presence nonetheless. Who is the real Blaze
Man??? Legend has it, if you turn all the lights down, spark
one up and say his name three times, his Blazeness will reveal himself to
you!!
Found this one in the Shake Shop. Just some cool midwestern lo-fi, guess they've gone punk since. Glimmers of doomy solo Thurston Moore works. Also hints of Folk Implosion (before Lou Barlow stopped making good music in 1995)... "Gotta' get more o' that wet stuff," if ya' know what I mean. Another excellent and unique creative offering from the Siltbreeze catalogue.
