If you grew up in the greater Seattle area and attended all ages shows during the era that this blog covers, chances are you spent some time at the Old Fire House teen center in Redmond. Today's offering is the Old Fire House benefit compilation that was released in the early 2000's and features 24 blasts of nostalgic noise. The track listing features pretty much every amazing local band I remember seeing there in those days: The November Group, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Sicko, Botch, Gas Huffer, Teen Cthulhu, Undertow, Waxwing, Akimbo, Automaton, Murder City Devils...etc
We got 99 posts and, uh, this is one. I'm going to let Mr. Rambo have the centennial post, but before the videos, I just want to say a little something in the holiday spirit.
I'm not sure when exactly I found Arthur Rambo's blog. Back then it was called He/Sheattle. I think it was around the time of the Doomsday 1999 post. I'd loved that band, and was trying to find out what became of them. (I did find, eventually, that the charismatic frontman Zack Carlson moved to Texas, worked with the amazing film fans at the Alamo Drafthouse, and, oh yeah, WROTE THE BOOK ON PUNKS IN FILM.)
I poked around the previous posts, and added it to my Google reader. It didn't take long for me to notice that Arthur was posting about a lot of bands that I knew at some level personally around high school and college. Raft of Dead Monkeys, The Prom, Drowning in Lethe,The Vogue, Soiled Doves, Suffering and the Hideous Thieves. The list goes on. Once he posted about March 15th and Portal, I knew something was up. Either I knew Arthur or I WAS Arthur. I contacted him, and as it turns out, I wasn't him, but I did indeed know him. Let's just say we had once shared a fleeting affinity for lawn bowling. Longish story. So anyway, before long I was in the proverbial Wonkavator, posting about my favorite things, from the lone album by Display (who, unbeknownst to me when I wrote the post, were actually back together after nearly 10 years and a few months away from playing shows) to the Christmas EP by Fishboy and Carleen Jean Death Machine.
Of my 19 posts, the most popular one is clearly the unreleased Jough Dawn Baker LP. As far as I know, this had only been in the hands of friends of the band, and we were fortunate enough to be the first blog to post it online. This is the kind of thing that gets me excited about posting here. It's our hope that those of you who like this blog will check out and like our Facebook page (we post extra stuff there), tell your friends, and mostly importantly, SHARE YOUR STUFF WITH US. Demos, unreleased/unfinished albums, self-released records, scans of flyers, stickers, photos of shows, VHS tapes, whatever you have. If you can't get it into a digital format, we can help. We just want to be a conduit for all the amazing post-grunge music. This is for everyone who spent their nights at the Old Firehouse, The Grange, Ground Zero, The Velvet Elvis, RKCNDY, and The Paradox.
So, I guess this has turned into my Thanksgiving post. I'm thankful for Arthur for inviting me to write here, for all the people who've made the great music we get to share, and for you, for sharing our love of this stuff.
Now, as inferred by the title of this post, for those who don't haven't liked us on Facebook or may have missed some posts, here's the second batch of videos I've posted from my own VHS tapes.
Raft of Dead Monkeys - Reunion show 1-03-04 at Studio 7
Suffering and the Hideous Thieves - Las Vegas 9-23-03
Here are the Suffering and the Hideous Thieves tracks from their split double disc with The Hush Hush. While not as polished as the tracks on Real Panic Formed, it still sounds amazing
Suffering and the Hideous Thieves were an ensemble cast lead by the mighty Jeff Suffering formerly of 90 lb Wuss & Raft of Dead Monkeys. Though I don't think they ever really broke up, Jeff joined the band for their "first show in three years" back in January,2009. The concert was a benefit for former Raft & 90 lb Wuss guitarist John Spalding who had passed away the previous November. Since that time, some of the members are apparently still operating as a band, though the new incarnation is now know simply as The Hideous Thieves and does not feature Jeff Suffering in the lineup. The album I'm posting here, Real Panic Formed, came out in 2002 and has always reminded me of a combination of Thoroughlev-era Raft of Dead Monkeys along with the the darker, more confessional material of Pedro the Lion.
"Who the hell are Raft of Dead Monkeys?" That's the reaction you're most likely to get if you ask a record store employee or damn near anyone about this band. Sure, they've got a page on Wikipedia... but these guys are a mostly-forgotten gem from the late 90's & early 2000's. The band consisted predominantly of members from 90 Pound Wuss, Roadside Monument and Suffering & the Hideous Thieves. They released an e.p. called DBM on Make Believe Recordings in 1999, an album by the name of Thoroughlev on Burnout Records in 2001 & had one song on the 'Is It... Dead?' Seattle hardcore compilation which was released by Crash Rawk, rocknroleplay & Sub Poop records in the year of our lord 2001. They also had an unreleased album called "Joey the Pigfucker" which I believe (based on the liner notes inside of DBM) was originally going to be called "Hot Pants College" - though a song by that name appears on Joey the Pigfucker. Raft basically had two different musical periods: DBM era Raft was more punk, while Thoroughlev was a bit more like Roadside Monument or even Sharks Keep Moving, kind of indie/math rock & not quite as abrasive. Joey the Pigfucker shows them merging the two sounds. I just learned that John Spalding, who played in both Raft of Dead Monkeys & 90 Pound Wuss, passed away on November 23, 2008 from cancer. There is a fund set up in his name at Bank of America. It is "John D Spalding Medical Fund" you can go in to any Bank of America and make a deposit. All funds will go to the family to help pay expenses.
If you've got any more specific info about RODM, have any memories, or if you have problems with the links please leave a comment. DBM Joey the Pigfucker Thoroughlev
