Monsula" Nickel 7" (1992)

To see my list of ten great Lookout Records singles (part one) please go visit The Big Takeover.

Monsula (Paul Lee on vocals, Chuck Goshert on guitar, Bill Schnieder on bass and Jeff Stofanon drums) got tagged as sounding "D.C." a lot in their time. There seemed to be a doppelganger District of Columbia hidden in the East Bay with bands like Fuel, Jawbreaker and Monsula playing a gritty, emotional brand of punk that could make Ian Mackaye bob his bald head. Unlike most of their fellow Lookout Records bands (more HERE) and more like their D.C. counterparts, Monsula's songs grew less hooky and more complex as they evolved. This musical shift led some minimalist-types to conclude that the searing "Razors", from their debut E.P., Nickel, was their greatest moment.



So while it's inarguable that 'Razors' is the band's most remembered song (it was re-recorded for their debut album and covered by Cringer) the band were a pummeling live band (they played Winnipeg twice in the early 90's) and their debut album, Structure, has some kick-ass songs like "Indestructible".

A1         Firecracker        
A2         Missing You        
B1         Razors        
B2         When Will It End

Monsula at the Royal Albert Arms Hotel, Winnipeg MB Canada, 1992

So what do you think of Monsula? Of Razors? Let us know in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Nickel 7" link).

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Capitalist Kids: Sarah/Ayn (2012)

It's clear that Austin's The Capitalist Kids are fixated on old-school Lookout Records bands (more HERE), what with the above single's homage to Mr. T Experience's Love is Dead album and their Too Big Too Fail CD nodding to Screeching Weasel and The Queers as well as MTX. However, as this tribute to Republican boner-bait Sarah Palin and Ayn Rand shows, the band's originality resides in its sarcastic take on curent American politics, which comes off like a mash-up of early Green Day and The Daily Show. Via.
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The Parasites: Hang Up (1997)

The Parasites (more HERE), spent much of the nineties being recklessly prolific, sporadically brilliant and sadly marginal. The1996 single, Hang-Up did get released by big-time pop label Lookout Records (more HERE) but that never brought the band the audience it deserved. This single was another criminally neglected three-song e.p. where Dave Parasite channeled the ghosts of Joey, Dee and Johnny to create a pop music with guts.

 

Tell us what you think of the work of these here Parasites in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Hang-Up 7" link).

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Tilt: Live at Gilman St. (1994)

Cinder Block was a dominating presence in nineties pop-punk band Tilt (more HERE), which seemed to rub some listeners the wrong way. While perhaps the rub lay in Block's powerful voice, which, since it could effectively alternate between piercing and growling, may have seemed a bit showboat-ish to nineties punk audiences, the most ever-present critique was always of her lyrics. Critics used words like 'elliptical' and 'pretentious' or "Oddly overwrought lyrics...like teenage poetry" to describe her unusual way with words. A male co-worker from the music store I once worked at went out his way to disdain the chorus of "Acathisia", which went something like, "I got these shoes for nothing and they have lasted me forever, searching up and down the long highway".

While I'd be willing to admit that her lyrics do sometimes sound they've come directly from the pages of her writers' notebook, she still has a unique and memorable style of writing. There's not real any analogous lyricist in rock n' roll. Perhaps imagining  combination of Brett Guerewitz of Bad Religion and Exene Cervenka of X might offer an approximation of her style. A favourite Block line of of mine, one that may indicate why the band never gained Riot Grrll cred was the line from "Crying Jag", "Everyone knows I'd sell my sister for cigarettes / Why shouldn't I she'd do the same to me". Love it or loathe it, who else writes like that?




Crying Jag

Everyone knows I'm on a crying jag
Pay me no mind I do it all the time
I could show you
Do you want me to show you
Call it a day or you can pay my way
Gonna cry till I'm all cried out
I could show you
I could easily show you

[chorus]
You may say I live on easy street
You can think anything you want to think
Come by some time my door is open to you
Where I can show you how easy I am

Everyone knows I'd sell my sister for cigarettes
Why shouldn't I She'd do the same to me
We could show you
We could easily show you
If you only knew you wouldn't be so upset
What if she's in league with me
We can show you
We can easily show you

Everyone knows I'm on a crying jag
Pay me no mind I do it all the time
I could show you
Do you want me to show you
Call it a day or you can pay my way
Gonna cry till I'm all cried out
I could show you
Do you want me to show you

[chorus]

*

Their Fat Wreck-Chords near-hit "Libel' from 1995 continues Block's singular style ("Can you hear it? Ignorance personified")





To buttress my argument for Cinder & co.'s power (and to put an end to this sprawling post) I'll offer up a good-sounding live show of the band playing a full-tilt set of songs from their two best albums (1993's Play Cell and 1995's Till it Kills) at the mother church of pop-punk, Gilman Street.


What's your view on Cinder Block's lyrics? Let us know in the COMMENTS section. (where you'll find the Live at Gilman St.  link).

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Cobra Skulls: Subterranean Homesick Blues

Reno's pop-punk-rockabilly cats, Cobra Skulls go down to the basement cuz there's something down there - and it turns out it's a feverish take on Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". The track is from a 2009 split release with Andrew Jackson Jihad on the Under the Influence 7" series put out by Suburban Home.

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