Face - Big Chief

I've heard it argued by people (especially with the recent 20^th anniversary of Nevermind) that Grunge was the last big movement in Rock and Roll. Since 1994 when Kurt Cobain chose to remove himself from the equation, there has not been a sub-genre that has equalled the resonance that grunge had with the general populace or even just the music press. And it's true that “the Seattle sound” was one of the last local scenes to make itself known to the world in such a big scale. Like Liverpool and San Francisco in the 1960's or New York In the late 1970's or Manchester in the late 1980's the Northwest scene exploded and then died down a few short years later. Like all of these local scenes that were suddenly popular, bands that didn't sound a whole lot like each other were all pigeonholed together based on their geographical location. For example, Mudhoney and Pearl Jam are a world away from each other in terms of the tone of their sound and their style, yet as they are both Seattle bands from the late 1980's and early 1990's they are “Grunge”. Even bands that were not from the Seattle area were given the label, just because they happened to be loud, indie-rock bands from America. It's a tag that many bands have tried to shrug off but some of them bear more similarities to the genre as a whole than many of the bands who originated in the Pacific Northwest.

Soulforce Revolution - 7 Seconds

Ever since Michael Azerad's wonderful book, Our Band Could Be Your Life changed my listening habits and opened my ears to the history of independent rock and American hardcore punk, I've paid attention to how these bands, the hardcore acts especially, changed their sound as time went on. Most of these acts were short lived but so incredibly intense that they packed more changes, turbulence and development into a few short years than many bands fit into decades. Black Flag slowed down to a darkly sludgy pace on their later records after changing drummers and singers as many times as they changed pants, whilst Husker Du went from the kings of short, lightning quick hardcore to almost single-handedly inventing indie rock. It seems for a lot of hardcore bands, playing that particular style of music loses its appeal after a while and they move on to embrace other, less abrasive genres.

Silhoutte - Shoes

The more I hear the words post-punk used to describe bands and records, the more unsure I become of what the hell it actually means. I know that it technically means “after the punk movement” but that seems really bloody vague even for a musical genre. I've heard it used to describe hardcore punk, electro-rock, grunge and even acts that I'm fairly sure are first wave punk bands. I think to me it best describes bands like Mission Of Burma who took the punk attitude and attack on board but explored different avenues with it in the early 80's. It would be easy for me to lump Shoes into the vast melting pot of genres that seems to compile the collective idea of post-punk, based on some of the strong influences I can hear in their music and the time during which they were at their most prolific. But I won't. Especially since their first album came out in 1975.

Their sixth album Silhouette is one of the more underrated records in their catalogue which may have something to do with the fact that it never got a release in the USA despite the band being based in the somewhat hopefully named, Zion, Illinois. They were dropped by Elektra in 1982 and retreated into their home studio, without one of their original members, to work on this album which was released on Demon Records in Europe in 1984. It's a somewhat mixed bag. Mainly keyboard driven but with a strong hint of jangle-pop guitars and at times (especially on Twist And Bend It) lo-fi, before that was even a genre.

Get My Message, the albums opener is a track that sounds undeniably eighties, with all the hallmarks of a catchy Pop/Rock song from the early part of that decade. The intro could easily be a song by Rick Springfield or Dave Edmunds with its pumping guitar and bass lines. Then the jangly lead guitar line comes in but is soon replaced with another, more distorted lead line. All in all I think there are 3 different riffs in the intro before the vocal come in. Later on in the song the typical pop/rock sound starts to slip away with the introduction of reversed vocals in the bridge section, hinting at the synthesised sound that seems to dominate this album.

Just in-case you didn’t get the hint though, the next track hits you full force with the sound of synth pop. Will You Spin For Me, has an almost Devo-esque intro to it. A simple riff played on synth over a sparse drum beat that occasionally explodes in a reverberant hand clap and a staccato guitar riff inserted every few bars. However the vocals soon make Devo comparisons irrelevant as the vocal line is somewhat smoother and far more pop orientated than Mark Mothersbaugh's trade mark squawk. This is quite obviously meant to be a fairly mainstream sounding pop song but it's relatively left-field influences give it a strange edge that I personally think does the track a world of good!

Some of the other tracks don’t fair so well though. When Push Comes To Shove for example is a rather weak song that to me sounds like an instantly forgettable pop song that suffers greatly from being placed immediately after the very strong tracks at the start of the album.

Side two kicks off with the bizarrely aggressive sounding I Wanna Give It To You. The vocals are fast, almost undecipherable and slightly distorted and delivered with a growl that, after listening to the relatively pop sounding first side of the record, is pretty surprising. The song itself is rather un-astounding but the production is so strange in comparaison to the rest of the record that it makes for a rather interesting listen.

The Jangle Pop influences make a welcome return on Turnaround with a 12 string guitar taking over from the synths to drive the song with layered harmonies over the top. Running Wild carries this on with very pleasant results but the synth is already starting to creep back in underneath the ringing 12 string. By the next track the keyboards are back in full force. Personally I think that Oh Angeline would have been better as a guitar driven song as the dated synth sounds now make it sound cheap and somewhat throwaway. Although the song is cheery and catchy the production lets it down and leaves it somewhat lacking.

If I had to define this record as one genre I'd call it Power Pop. A very late 70's, early 80's genre that relied on both 12 string jangle and synth power, basically used to describe the more underground and interesting elements of Pop-Rock. Though there is a lot more going on here than that. There are prevalent Devo influences on some of these tracks (I'm fairly sure that the drum track from Bound To Fade is almost identical to Whip It) that are mixed in with a strong pop sensibility. That sensibility is the one thing that connects all these songs on an album that swings quite quickly from guitar driven rock to synth pop to almost lo-fi pop. The sound changes from song to song but it seems to be an album without any defined roles as all the band members are credited with having played a little bit of everything. Each one takes it in turn to play bass, guitar, drums and keys. An interesting approach that wields some really nice results but possibly not the most coherent record I’ve ever heard, which is by no means a bad thing!

The Fire Theft - The Fire Theft

Reunions seem to be quite a popular thing now. Bands that long ago broke up are re-uniting to play shows, make albums and dig up the past. It’s generally thought of as a crappy thing to do. Cashing in on their former glory and trampling what’s left of their legacy into the dirt. They’re not always a bad thing though. I’ve been to about 5 Dinosaur Jr shows since they got back together and I genuinely like the last two records they’ve put out (though neither hold a candle to “Bug”). My point is, sometimes it works, some bands just make better music together than they ever would apart.

Not all reunions are as blatant as that though. Bands reform under other names and go off in whole new directions. Same members, different music. The Fire Theft is the product of one of those kinds of rejuvenations. The band started off as Sunny Day Real Estate, a pioneering emo/indie act from Seattle. They were one of the few bands from that city in the early 1990’s that weren’t a grunge act, despite being signed to Sub Pop. Frontman Jeremy Enigk’s high pitched and somewhat strained voice was miles away from the guttural growl of the likes of Eddie Vedder. This and the bands emotionally charged lyrics and less riff heavy music separated them, regardless of geography, from a genre that, by the time their first album Diary was released, was in its dying days. After just two albums the band split and bass player Nate Mendel and drummer Will Goldsmith went off to join the Foo Fighters. Sunny Day reformed without Mendel in 1997 and released another two albums before separating again after their label Time Bomb Recordings fell apart.

Eyes Adrift - Eyes Adrift

The word supergroup, to me at least, has always had negative connotations. I always thought they were made up of musicians whose ego's have outgrown their current bands and have decided to go and make records with people more worthy of them. Plus the music is rarely as good as anything any of the musicians have done before. I once heard someone comparing it to food. Taking various aspects of your favourite foods and combining them isn't necessarily going to make something amazing. Music is not just about good musicianship, which is something that supergroups tend to overlook.

After turning my nose up at all of this, it may seem contrary of me to then extol the virtues of a band who are essentially a 90's alt rock supergroup. You would be right. But I'm going to do it anyway.