* I kid. It's still good, because like I told you, Pete Campbell is no rock n' roll loser. Even nowadays, while working as a janitor at an old folks home he's still kicking ass, as he proves, rather nicely, on this recent track, Rich Folks Are People Too."
The Sweaters second album, 1993's Let Me Out, has hideous art and good songs.
"You're playing in an empty bar" leader Pete Campbell wails on "Give 'Em What They Want", and we know he's been there. Then when Joey Shithead (?) grunts along with the mildly political "A Little Bit of Fascism" the band's bar-rock-pop-punk grows rawer. In fact, the shouted vocals and ragged guitars on tracks like "Something" and "The Back of my Hand" (not the Jags song) are reminiscent of some of the hard sloggers of '77 like Chelsea or the UK Subs. And through it all Pete's song-writing stays tight and his aw-shucks attitude remains unflappable.
Campell's began by leading a spiky new wave band named Pink Steel, who played in the late seventies Vancouver punk scene, alongside, the Pointed Sticks, the Young Canadians and the Modernettes. Pink Steel put out two singles, one of which is available thanks to the earth-shatteringly wonderful site known as Killed By Death Records.
Next, during the retro-lovin' Og era (seehere) of Canadian music he lead the Wardells, a jangly power-pop band with an eternally sunny disposition. The Wardells released two slabs of vinyl and made a series of ultra-low budget videos that belonged to that follow-the-song's-narrative school of video-making that so dominated the eighties. The Wardells album is now available at Wilfully Obscure!
Then as the nineties got guitar-heavy, Campbell formed pop-punk band the Sweaters. The Sweaters rubbed shoulders with the pre-Dookie pop-punk underground even if, as so-called "older guys" they employed a kinda rock n' roll bar band style. Campells' lengthy history, only served to make their 1991 album, The Pop Thing, stronger, catchier and wittier. Campbell's lyrics, whether celebrating Young Fresh Fellows/Fastbacks' guitarist Kurt Bloch in "Kurt Got Hurt", offering a pep talk in "Don't Let Things Get Ugly" or decrying identity-politics group think in "The Pop Thing" are always a highlight of his work. Like all his best songs , the title track, "The Pop Thing" is a rip-snorting power-pop-punk tune, with kicking backing vocals and a good chunky rhythm.
Years ago, NoMeansNo's record label, Wrong Records, put out a series of hockey-themed records called Puck Rock (See here). Gracing the first volume from 1992, was The Sweaters, playing the contrarians with a grumpy yet rollicking tune called, "Hockey Sucks."
A fitting song to listen to as the interminable NHL playoffs slowly grind down.
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
If you have any questions or music to donate you can contact me at musicruinedmylife (at) gmail (dot) com
Re: Re-Ups
MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
Download Kick Me CD
Pete Campbell is no rock n' roll loser.
Next, during the retro-lovin' Og era (see here) of Canadian music he lead the Wardells, a jangly power-pop band with an eternally sunny disposition. The Wardells released two slabs of vinyl and made a series of ultra-low budget videos that belonged to that follow-the-song's-narrative school of video-making that so dominated the eighties.
Then as the nineties got guitar-heavy, Campbell formed pop-punk band the Sweaters. The Sweaters rubbed shoulders with the pre-Dookie pop-punk underground even if, as so-called "older guys" they employed a kinda rock n' roll bar band style. Campells' lengthy history, only served to make their 1991 album, The Pop Thing, stronger, catchier and wittier. Campbell's lyrics, whether celebrating Young Fresh Fellows/Fastbacks' guitarist Kurt Bloch in "Kurt Got Hurt", offering a pep talk in "Don't Let Things Get Ugly" or decrying identity-politics group think in "The Pop Thing" are always a highlight of his work. Like all his best songs , the title track, "The Pop Thing" is a rip-snorting power-pop-punk tune, with kicking backing vocals and a good chunky rhythm.
