Display to Play Next Satur-Day

Big news: Display, whose lone LP and other miscellany we recently shared with you, dear readers, have reunited and are playing their first show in over nine years. It's next Saturday, March 9th, at Chop Suey, with Kinski. Also, my birthday is tomorrow. Pretty rad. So, here's that post, so you can get up to speed on why you must be there.

Dalmatians - Ruff Drafts CD-R

Dalmatians were a synth party rap 3-piece. I saw them one time, at Drone Hill, a house in Beacon Hill where Craig of Black Japan lived. It was right after my buddies Display suddenly broke up, and I was pretty bummed out about the way things went down. I found myself talking to a few folks, one of whom introduced herself as "Chicken", which I thought was odd but chalked it up to presumed hippie parents. Turns out she was in the opening band, the lead squawker, as it were, and all three members had made-up names. Chicken yelled simple raps and jumped around while "Pongo" pounded a small drum kit, and "Balsa" yelled/rapped along with Chicken, triggered sequences, and played simple synth parts akin to 8-bit game soundtracks. Much dancing ensued, a fun time was had by all, and the band's songs were mostly enthusiastic uptempo encouragements to party and have a fun time. It was fitting, and it was exactly what I needed in that moment.

If my memory is correct, it was one of the band's earliest shows, and they only had the four songs on this CD-R they were handing out. People loved it so much that when they finished those four, they played at least one of them again to appease the crowd.

I don't think Dalmatians lasted very long, but they were a lot of fun. Balsa's next band put his real name in the title, as the Brian half of Casy & Brian. Pongo, aka D.W. Burnam, was later in a band called Katherine Hepburn's Voice with Shannon Perry, Dalmations' very own Chicken, who would later form the punk duo Butts, and is now apparently more focused on painting. You can see her work here.

Download the 4-song EP here.

Here's a two-part video of a Dalmatians show at the Punkin House.

Vermilion demo tapes, CD-R EP, and 7"

Vermilion, spelled with one "L" for some unknown reason, were a two-headed beast from Everett. The first head was the Texas is the Reason/Roadside Monument - influenced emo period of 1998-99 or so, wherein the lineup consisted of high schoolers Eric Yates on guitar and vocals, Eric Junge on drums, Danny Oleson on bass, and Colin McBride on guitar. This lineup produced a couple demo tapes, one of which is included here.

The second head of the beast emerged after Yates left to focus on Portal, the remaining members listened to tons of Slint and Don Caballero, and Bryce Shoemaker was brought in handle the increasingly math-y guitar duties. Danny took over the vocals, which became less and less frequent, and shifting complex time signatures and complicated, dynamic instrumentation became their calling card. They put out a CD-R and lone 7-inch (both also included here) before driving out to Chicago to record with Steve Albini what would be their only LP, "Flattening Mountains and Creating Empires", featuring artwork by Roger Dean, aka the guy who painted all the Yes album covers.

After going their seperate ways, Colin and Danny opted to get away from all the complexity and started the pop band Speaker Speaker. Eric Junge started Patrol with Doug Lorig of Roadside Monument (a major early influence), Bryce formed Bronze Fawn, and Eric Yates kept bouncing around between bands, most recently as a member of Tit Pig.

Download the tape, 7", and CD-R, with full art scans, here.

Update: I finally got around to the other demo tape of theirs that I have. I'm guessing this is from 1999. 5 songs, plus a 3 song set that I recorded, probably at the Grange. Download that here.

The Catheters - The Kids Know How To Rock 7"

The Catheters were a punk rock band from Bellevue, WA that played together from 1995-2004. While this 7" wasn't their first release, it was the first studio material by them that I ever heard. A buddy of mine bought a copy after a show we went to during the Summer of '99 and I remember us being really impressed, both with their live show and the record. The Catheters definitely matured over time and by the time they released their 3rd and final record in 2004 they were light years beyond where they were at on this e.p. but this is the way they sounded when I first fell in love with their take on the sound of snotty, teenage rebellion.

The Kids Know How To Rock

BlöödHag - Gorgeous Ladies of Writing 7"

If you're an avid follower of this blog, you probably already know who BlöödHag were but, in case you're unfamiliar, here's a brief biography: BlöödHag was a death metal band from Seattle (1996-2010) whose lyrics were odes to various sci-fi, horror and fantasy authors. During their time together they not only toured your typical music venues, they also toured playing in libraries all across the country.

Tonight's download contains their Gorgeous Ladies of Writing 7" (1999) complete with scans of the record's sleeve and of the accompanying G.L.O.W. swimsuit calendar

Gorgeous Ladies of Writing 7"

Point of Interest compilation tape #1

The first Point of Interest compilation tape came with the 15th and final issue of the Point of Interest zine (pictured above). POI was focused almost solely on the local 90's punk rock music and this compilation serves as a glimpse into what was going on in the Northwest scene at the time. I remember buying this tape from Jay who ran the POI zine and distro, at a punk show in Woodinville (mentioned briefly here) back in the day. When I took it home and played it in my boombox, my 13 or 14 year old mind was blown away by the sudden realization that anyone who wanted to could put out a tape, compile a zine or form a band. DIY was something I'd heard talked a lot about before but this zine, this tape and that local scene were the first time I'd ever witnessed any of it in action.

Containing 15 tracks of varying sonic quality, our final download in what has been without a doubt the blog's most exciting year in existence thus far, take a look at this tracklist:

01. The Degenerats - Do Society a Favor
02. The Degenerats - Riot Squad
03. The Degenerats - America is Dead
04. John Q Fascist - Manhood
05. Larry - Custom Engine/Stone Cold
06. Flight 800 - Fly the Friendly Skies
07. Flight 800 - Isle of the Lepers
08. Submission Hold - Ed Anger
09. Submission Hold - Analysis
10. Cease and Desist - Crust as a Solution b/w Burnt Out (these two tracks run together)
11. The Bloodclots - Common Cause
12. The Bloodclots - Paint Thinner
13. The Deviants - Beer
14. Mark Bruback - Society's Disorder

P.O.I. compilation tape (I am currently out of town and unable to scan images but when I return I will be updating this post with the actual cassette artwork)

I left in all of the tv show soundbites that were used (in most cases) in between bands but edited out some of the longer silences. The two Cease and Desist tracks were much quieter than everything else on the tape and in an effort to further amplify them it also amplified the accompanying tape noise - also, given their running together, I found it impossible to separate the tracks.

Cannibal - Tryin / Wasted Lives 7" (1985)

I've been running low on things to post these days, what with my usb turntable crapping out on me a while back, but I still browse sites like Discogs, Gemm and ebay regularly in the hopes of finding stuff for the blog. And That was how I discovered this gem, which promptly shot up way out of my price range but, thankfully, the seller had uploaded great quality rips of the two tracks from this release, so a big "thank you!" to whoever you are.

Cannibal featured members of other oldschool local punk bands such as The Fartz, Enstruction and Maggot Brains. This 7" serves as their only apparent release and it is a two track blast of dirty mid-80's Seattle style punk rock that was self-released in 1985.

I don't know any more about these guys, if you've got any information about their history please don't hesitate to share it with us in the comments.

Tryin b/w Wasted Lives