4.21.2011
SS10: Feedtime 05.21.11
feedtime Shovel LP (Aberrant, 1986)
feedtime's reign was through the mid to late 1980s - a period of underground music that is legendary for being pretty dire. In reality, there were good things happening, but like the early 70s (once considered a musical wasteland), much of the good stuff was buried by crap. Punk bands had gotten really into "musicianship" or long-drawn out pot-head jams or the lure of commercial success and a lot of bands concentrated more on style than anything else. So what was on the surface was pretty crummy. However there were a few high points: feedtime was one of them. Their back-to-basics, no frills approach to rock & roll meant meaty chords, tough songs, high energy and no bullshit.
feedtime wasn't just 1-2-3-4 Let It Rip. There was a little more. These Aussies really dug country blues in their songs you heard killer slide guitar and mutated blues progressions. I'm not talking fedora topped, hawaiian shirt wearing white dude blues or soul patch, flaming dice tattoo'd punk blues - but a perfect mating of Robert Johnson, flipper, and the Ramones. And that isn't all: feedtime were not only well versed in rock & roll (listen to their "covers" album Cooper S, a terrific collection of remakes owned by feedtime) but built on the sound of fellow Australian bands X and The Scientists. And for many of us who gobbled up feedtime records as they were coming out, feedtime was as good, as vital, and as important as X, the Scientists, the Saints, and any other Aussie punk legends.
I am bringing feedtime to the States to play just one show as the original recording line-up as part of SS10, a weekend of shows in celebration of my record label's - S.S. Records - 10th anniversary. feedtime will be playing on May 21, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco. Tickets and other information can be found at the SS10 website. Pass it on!
Meanwhile, enjoy these two songs from Shovel, feedtime's best album.
# posted by Scott Soriano : 18:20
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Love the blog as always.
I have to say that maybe it's because that's when I first started really listening to music, but I have a soft spot for a lot (not all) of mid to late '80s punk/hardcore etc. Some bands learned to play better and I think it was a good thing. Alternative Tentacles, Bluurg, Workers Playtime and some other labels had rosters of bands that I think were quite good and a bit of a change of pace from straight up thrash and hardcore.
In the '90s I think things really went downhill. That's when (thankfully) I started searching back in time for great music - and have I ever found it!
I have to say that maybe it's because that's when I first started really listening to music, but I have a soft spot for a lot (not all) of mid to late '80s punk/hardcore etc. Some bands learned to play better and I think it was a good thing. Alternative Tentacles, Bluurg, Workers Playtime and some other labels had rosters of bands that I think were quite good and a bit of a change of pace from straight up thrash and hardcore.
In the '90s I think things really went downhill. That's when (thankfully) I started searching back in time for great music - and have I ever found it!
Sorry, I don't agree that "music really went downhill" in the 90's. Lots of great bands during that time period. Lots of great music being made today.
I am very skeptical of the idea that there are musical lulls - of one period being better than another. I think this notion has more to do with nostalgia than anything else. You site the late 80s being your high point for music, which is counter to the prevailing thought. The late 80s has a rep of being shitty, while the 90s is thought of as a period of musical rebirth, especially of punk rock. As stated in my post, people used to write off the 70s as a musical wasteland, at least until punk saved the day in 77. This claim is pure rubbish, perpetuated by the UK music press, to elevate the status of Brit rock & roll. Nowadays we know better. We have access to "proto-punk" and all kinds of post-psych hard rock, as well as Big Star style pop, Latin rock, and so on.
Really to claim one era of music is superior to another is as misguided as proposing one region makes the best music. One my prefer an era or region or genre but that does not make it "the best" or another era/region/genre worst.
I am very skeptical of the idea that there are musical lulls - of one period being better than another. I think this notion has more to do with nostalgia than anything else. You site the late 80s being your high point for music, which is counter to the prevailing thought. The late 80s has a rep of being shitty, while the 90s is thought of as a period of musical rebirth, especially of punk rock. As stated in my post, people used to write off the 70s as a musical wasteland, at least until punk saved the day in 77. This claim is pure rubbish, perpetuated by the UK music press, to elevate the status of Brit rock & roll. Nowadays we know better. We have access to "proto-punk" and all kinds of post-psych hard rock, as well as Big Star style pop, Latin rock, and so on.
Really to claim one era of music is superior to another is as misguided as proposing one region makes the best music. One my prefer an era or region or genre but that does not make it "the best" or another era/region/genre worst.
Hi Scott -
What '90s bands/labels did you like?
By the mid-'90s I pretty much gave up on punk and "alternative" music because I was enjoying so little of it, but I'm open to suggestions.
What '90s bands/labels did you like?
By the mid-'90s I pretty much gave up on punk and "alternative" music because I was enjoying so little of it, but I'm open to suggestions.
Damn, there's too many to list! But if you like garage punk many fine records by Registrators, Teengenerate, New Bomb Turks, Motards, etc. The Oblivions were easily one of the best bands of the decade. All the early Blues Explosion records are great (check out the singles collection on In the Red). Excellent records out of the riot grrl scene by Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Skinned Teen, etc. On the indie tip, great records by World of Pooh, Sebadoh, Tiger Trap, Henry's Dress, Belle & Sebastian, Thinking Fellers Union, US Saucer... Great experimentalish stuff by Lake of Dracula, Caroliner, Dead C, Merzbow, Naked City, God is My Copilot, etc. Classic records by legendary bands like Sun City Girls and the Styrenes (We Care... is one of my fave records ever). And it was an especially good era for punk 7" (see http://static-party.blogspot.com/)
Oh some labels: Bag of Hammers, Siltbreeze, In the Red, Slampt, Bad Vuggum, there are tons more.........
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