Out of the Vaults #15 - The Didjits - Little Miss Carriage

Each week or so my wife will dive into our CD cabinets (The Vaults) and randomly pull out one of the thousands of CDs. The chosen album will then be given to me and I will talk about the Cd for awhile no matter how good, bad, obscure or embarrassing the chosen disc is. Where did I buy it, when did I buy it, what was my first reaction to hearing it, do I still listen to it today etc, etc, etc


Out Of The Vaults #15 - The Didjits - Little Miss Carriage Ep


In 1994 a small California band called The Offspring released and album named Smash. At Track #10 was a song called "Killboy Powerhead" which was originally written and recorded by Rick Sims and his band the Didjits on their 1990 Hornet Pinata album. At first Smash went relatively unnoticed but almost a year later the album took off and reached #4 on the Billboard Charts, selling over 12 million copies.

The story goes Rick Sims bought a $600,00 condo with the money from royalties



Whether it be with The Didjits, his short stint in The Supersuckers, his later band The Gaza Strippers or even while playing guitar on the B-52's Fred Schneider solo album, guitarist Rick Sims is Rock and Roll. His manic driving guitar hooks burn holes through any speakers. As "James Meat" in the mysterious Lee Harvey Oswald Band, Rick proves he can rule the drums too.

All Rick has to do is put on his "Rick Didjit" suit and he becomes a guitar monster. When I say "suit" I mean literally a suit. Pretty nice ones too. I always wondered what his dry cleaning bill was like on tour.

When it comes to the Didjits catalog Little Miss Carriage is the perfect place to begin. The album starts off with the greatest album lead off guitar riff ever. EVER. When track 1 "Dirt County Road" kicks in you better grab onto that roll bar. It's going to be a bumpy ride. Track 2 "The Man"keeps the groove going, even adds a little bounce to the mix, all the while Rick's guitar hooks  ringing in every direction. Doug Evens's driving bass let's you know Track 3 "Jimmy" will be not be letting up. The revved up "Sugarfox" finishes off the EP but there is still one song we missed.

The Didjits were always great at picking the right cover songs to fit their sound. On previous albums and singles they had covered Little Richard's "Lucille", The MC5's "Call Me Animal", Devo's "Mr DNA" and Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" with The Plasmatics "Monkey Suit" on a later album. Little Miss Carriage is no exception. Montrose's "Rock the Nation" is given the complete Didjits treatment while still showing respect to the Monthrose (who had a young Sammy Hagar on vocals) original.

Besides four great original songs and one perfectly fitting cover song, Little Miss Carriage has one thing every other Didjits album does not have: Rey Washam. The former Big Boys, Scratch Acid, Rapeman, Tad and (at the time) future Ministry drummer hits the drums harder than most. Although I hate to take anything away from the Didjits original hard hitting drummer (and Rick's brother) Brad Sims, Rey's drums on Little Miss Carriage really do bring the band's sound to a whole new level. Savor every beat because on Que Sirhan Sirhan, the Didjits next and last album, Todd Cole takes over the kit.

At only five songs Little Miss Carriage does leave you hungry and salivating for more. Lucky for you the Didjits have five more incredible albums to sink your teeth into.