USS Horsewhip were an amazing band from Bellingham. After high school, a lot of my friends moved to Bellingham to go to Western (Washinton University). One of the guys I know started hosting shows at the house he and a few others were renting.He had always had a great taste in music so, one weekend, a small group of us went up to see one of the shows. I have to admit that, initially, I was pretty unimpressed with the bands playing in living room, it was the same uninspired, boring indie stuff I usually avoid like the plague, so I went upstairs to smoke some weed (this is Bellingham I'm talking about, after all - not only is it a college town but it's also like an hour's drive from Vancouver BC). I was probably up there smoking for over an hour when, after a lull in the noise coming from below, this incredible roar tore through the house - the floors started throbbing & the windows began to shake like a Parkinson's patient. I set the bong down & descended the stairs to investigate this furious assault on my senses & ended up walking into the beginning of a set by USS Horsewhip. I stood, transfixed & totally loving every minute of it. At the time, I really hadn't listened to a lot of the local stuff I'd grown up loving for a couple years (Botch, Blood Brothers, Karp, etc..). I was preoccupied with my newfound love for funk, soul, reggae & r&b - but something about the Horsewhip grabbed me by the balls & reconnected me with a type of music I thought I was over & I've been grateful for that every day since.
If you dig these guys, you should check out the bands they formed afterwards: Police Teeth & Black Breath. Both bands are on myspace & at least one of them still have USS Horsewhip records available for sale.
Today's download is the ep:
USS Horsewhip vs the Kids
Thanks for the shout-out! It's nice to see someone still remembers us. Where was this show at? We played a lot of house shows, almost all were fun, and they all were different.
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