1999 Falsies/El Secondhand Tour Diary

 June 12th - New Brunswick, NJ - Day 2

The house we were staying at was the A.D.L. house of New Jersey. ADL stands for Animal Defense League. It actually said it on the door. 

Oh great. Vegans. Mean vegans. 

In place of artwork on the walls were pictures of animals being tortured in laboratories. Framed too! They also had a cabinet full of tapes containing raids they carried out on animal testing facilities.

Besides the two girls, there were a couple guys living there too. One's name was Chet and he was actually a pretty cool guy. I was telling him how I brought a new camera to “document” some of the tour but did not have time to pick up any film. He then opens up a drawer and pulls out 10 rolls of film. From his job at Staples. Then he proceeded to give about 12 packs of batteries. 

I offered him money but he would not take any from me. I gave him a CD and a 7” out of the distro.

The second guy who lived there was Dariyus. Dairy for short. I thought it was pretty ironic his name was Dairy and he was a vegan. A militant vegan at that.

The girls said he was a dick but when I talked to him he did not seem that bad of a guy.

We went down to the Melody Bar for the Hot Water Music/Leatherface show since the Falsies were off that day. 

While waiting outside for the show to start we heard sounds of fire engines. I do not think at any time in my life that I have heard fire engine sirens. They ended up coming to the place I was at.

This Melody Bar was on fire. 

Luckily it was nothing serious but the bar had to be shut down for the day. 

The show was moved to 331 Somersett, a house around the corner that sometimes hosted shows. Originally the show was supposed to be two different shows. One at day and one at night. With the change in “venue”, they decided to combine them into one show. 

The new lineup includes Error Type 11 ( a Sound Exchange Alumni), Radar Mercury, Ensign, Kid Dynamite, Hot Water Music, and Leatherface. 

I think it actually turned out for the better. 

Aaron and I set up our distro and sold tons of shit. Plus we gave away a Falsies sticker or patch with

331 Sommersett 

each purchase. So despite not playing the Falsies still got some good exposure.

We met some of our friends from around the including Jim from Kill Your Idols, Coach from Two Man Advantage, Chris the bassist from Purpose, Mike from Savage Boys and Girls Club (who was now playing bass in Kid Dynamite, who was playing the show) , and of course the guys from El Secondhand.

Of course, I finally got the chance to see Leatherface, one of my all-time favorite bands who I never thought I would have the chance to see. I bought three shirts. When was I ever going to see them again?

Numbers 59 - 50 of My Top-100 Favorite Albums of All-Time

Numbers 59 - 50 of My Top-100 Favorite Albums of All-Time

* means I bought the album right when it was released or at the latest a few months

# means I discovered it later 

59) Young Fresh Fellows - Electric Bird Digest

(1991, Frontier) - Young Fresh Fellows were a very good fun band before the Fastbacks' Kurt Bloch joined them on the 1989 album This One's for the Ladies. Kurt’s thick buzzing guitar hooks really brought the band to a new level. On Electric Bird Digest they really hit their mark. Pre-Nirvana thick Butch Vig production really makes the music shine too. (*)

58) Teenage Fanclub - A Catholic Education (1990, Matador)- When A Catholic Education was released Scotland's Teenage Fanclub was compared to Dionsaur Jr. Although I can hear some similarities in Gerard Love's bass player to Lou Barlow's on early Dinosaur jr albums, I think they end there. On this album the band has a lot more sloppy noise and distortion going on with slightly buried vocals then their next album 1991's Bandwagonesue (I like to ignore the 1991 contract filler The King)but you can still hear the melodies emerging through. (*) 

57) The Connells - Fun and Games (1989, TVT)

- North Carolina's Connells were another band I discovered through the College Record Store chart on the last page of Rolling Stone Magazine when Fun and Games was released. On this album the band dropped the post/punk sound and faux British accents of the first album that often had them compared to The Smiths, and the Irish folk influence of the second album for more of a full rock sound. This often got them compared to their fellow southerners R.E.M. I never really heard the resemblance. (*)

56) Jets To Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary (1998, Jade Tree) - I feel bad liking an album that was written out of a struggles drug addiction, and pretty much every on Orange Rhyming Dictionary is. But songs by Ex- Jawbreaker Blake Schwarzenbach's new bands debut are just so good. The vocals are definitely cleaner than with Jawbreaker and the music more rockin' which brought different opinions from fans of Blake's former fans. I loved the album, as well as Jets to Brazil's next two albums, immediately. (*)

55) Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder (1991, Columbia) - A band and album that at the time really sounded like no one else. They may have been the first band I ever heard with two bass players. One playing normal bass parts while the other plays it like a second guitar. Jessica Corcoran's production really adds a nice 3-D sound to the twelve songs. Unlike many people I like their next two albums. Still neither one comes close to the perfection of God Fodder. (*)

54) Helmet - Strap it On (1990, Amphetamine Reptile) - On Helmet's next album 1992's Meantime the band began to become too technical for me. By the time they put out Betty in 1994 I could not really get into them anymore. On  1990's Strap It On the band was at their most primal. So much urgent chaos, noise, and shouted vocals. Even the slower song "Sinatra" is very intense. Producer Wharton Tiers somehow manages to contain just enough of the madness for the band to record a very good debut album. (*)

53) Leatherface - Mush (1991, Roughneck)

- Leatherface singer Frankie Stubb's scratchy voice may be a turn off to some. When I first heard the band when WNYU played “Dead Industrial Atmosphere” I was instantly hooked. A few days later I picked up Mush, then on Seed Records in the States, and found twelve more fast melodic songs with great riffs and hooks. There is even an awesome cover of The Police's "Message in a Bottle" at the end. (*)

52) Big Drill Car - Album/Tape/CD Type Things (1989, Cruz) - All along this list I have used the word "hooks" repeatedly. if for some reason you are not sure exactly that this is make sure to check out this Big Drill Car. Album/Tape/CD Type Thing contains for than any album of my collection. Along with Frank Daly's clean vocals make this one of the most fun punk albums out there.  Like Public Image Ltd.'s 1983 album the actual title depends on which format you own it on. (#)

51) Propagandhi - How To Clean Everything (1993, Fat Wreck) - How to Clean Everything may be the only album I can sing all the way through without it playing. Including the Cheap Trick cover at the end. Twelve fast tracks with sarcastic sociopolitical lyrics, a few self-admittedly stolen riffs and an "anti-ska" ska song in the middle. (*)

50) The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986, Rough Trade) -If this list was for the band's whole career The

Smiths would be much higher. Possibly even Top - 20. For complete albums, though the Queen is Dead falls right in the middle. So many great classics on this album. It along with the almost equally great and classic albums have all stayed in my rotation for the past 30 plus years. (*)

Next Up 49 - 40

Out Of The Vaults #7 - Leatherface - Minx

Each week or so I will ask my wife to dive deep into our CD cabinets (The Vaults) and pull out one of the thousands of  CDs at random. The chosen album will then be given to me and I will  reflect on the disc for awhile in this blog no matter how good, bad, or embarrassing the chosen disc is. Where did I buy it, how old was I,what was my first reaction to hearing the album, do I still listen to it today and anywhere else my stream of conscious takes me in regards to the "Out Of The Vaults" weekly pick.

Out Of The Vaults #7 - Leatherface - MINX

The first time I ever heard the band Leatherface was in 1992. WNYU had a great afternoon rock and roll radio show between the early afternoon jazz and the nightly sports recap. It was only a small window of time between two and four o'clock but I could fill pages and pages of this blog with bands I first heard on that radio show.

One of those bands was the Sunderland, UK band Leatherface. The song played was "Dead Industrial Atmosphere". The band's "Bad Religion with the Richard Butler (of the Psychedelic Furs) on vocals" sound had me in the car on the way to Tower Records before the WNYU DJ had finished telling which album the song was from. Luckily when I reached Tower someone working there found out the song was from the recently released album Mush.

Since Mush was released on the very short lived SEED Records label it was in and out of print very fast, leaving the album only available as a very expensive import. Looking back I consider myself pretty lucky to have been able to buy the record since none of the bands later albums would be released domestically until 2000 when the reunited Leatherface released Horsebox. Because of this I was not able to hear Minx, the 1992 follow up to Mush until 2001 when I accidentally ran across a copy in the cut out section of the Rockefeller Center F.Y.E.

Although Mush will always remain one of my all-time favorite albums, Minx starts off a lot smoother. The lead off track "Wallflower" takes off like an airplane. The sky is clear. Sit back and enjoy the flight.

A few tracks in we hit "Fat Earthly Flirt", with a hook right up there with "Not A Day Goes By", "I Want The Moon" and all those other great songs on Mush. There is a pause in the middle of the song. A lone bass guitar riff is the planes engine sputtering for a bit before it kicks back in and the planes dives back into it's groove.

The next track "Do The Right Thing" is my favorite Leatherface song of all-time. If they could hear the smoothness of the guitars and the incredible lyrics, even the biggest critics of lead singer Frankie Stubb's gravelly voice would be won over by this song.

When we hear the revved up engines of  the guitars on Track 6 we know we have met our destination of another classic Leatherface song. "Heaven Sent" is right up there with "Do The Right Thing" as one of the best songs in Leatherface's arsenal.

At Track 7 "Don't Work" it's time for the pilot to some fun and show off a bit. Pull off a few stunts before going into the dark storm of the two songs which follow.

"Dustbin Modo" at track 10 is a throw back to the late 80's punk rock beginnings of Leatherface's debut album Cherry Knowle. The song is a little bit of turbulence to shake things up a bit and make the flight a little interesting.

The turbulence is gone by the time we reach the final song. "Pale Moonlight" brings the album to a close and the flight to smooth landing.

In 2002 Fire Records released Minx only to have it quickly go out of print once again. Luckily it is still available on iTunes. Download it before you go on your next flight.