I've gotten some positive feedback regarding the music I've been posting lately. Dean Rispler was evidently chuffed about the Hot Corn Girls praise, as was Life in a Blender. Once again, I'm trying to limit the selections to music that is either frustratingly arcane, unsung, out-of-print or difficult to find. Since I'm landlocked today (with Charlotte now finally taking a hard-fought midday nap), I thought I'd post a few more. Get yer downloadin' digits ready!
First up, I thought I'd provide an mp3 to go with the Life in a Blender video of "Chicken Dance" I posted last week. Evidently not everyone has a Windows Media application on their computer, so not everyone was able to actually view the unfettered and unfeathered GENIUS of the Chicken Dance video. Now, you can at least hear it: Download lifeinablender_chicken_dance.mp3
Don't forget to also check out the band's website! Tell'em I sent'cha!
Today's next selection comes from the preternaturally ribald trio of rock'n'roll reprobates, The Unband. Once upon a time, when the earth was young, the oceans were still steaming and the skies were filled with the piercing shrieks of descending pteradactyles (the mid-90's, basically), the Unband was a degenerate little unit trying to cut it in the fast paced world of big time rock. During a brief episode in their illustrious career, the band set up camp in the Costa Mesa bungalo of my dear friend Rob's otherwise oblivious step-mother for a prolonged spell of neighbor-worrying debauchery. It was during these halcyon days that I first encountered them in all their rocktastic glory. I remember them playing at an open-air bar somewhere on the Pacific Coast highway, all symetrically dressed as either bellboys or head waiters, barring excellently-monikered drummer Eugene Ferrari, who sported a kilt `neath his pressed white shirt & bowtie. Combined with his then-bedraggled dreadlocks, Eugene made for a disarming sight, especially when performing an unsolicited hand-stand mid-set, unwittingly displaying -- to use his own words -- his "fruitcup" (as any bleary, obstreporous Scottish person will tell you, one doesn't wear a damn thing under one's kilt). The Unband may not have been acquainted with the notion of finesse, but they were a ceaselessly entertaining live act in those days.
Time passed. The Unband honed their metallic-garage-punk fury to a less shambolic attack (Eugene even sheered off his dreadlocks). The buzz started to spread. After sharing some memorable bills with acts like the Upper Crust, the Candy Snatchers, Nashville Pussy and the Pleasure Fuckers, the Unband rose through the ranks. The last time I caught them, the Unband had signed to a major label and released an album, called, somewhat fittingly, Retarder, and were opening for the likes of Dio. After this point, the erratic trajectory of the band is hilariously captured in bass player Mike Ruffino's hugely entertaining memoir, Gentlemanly Repose: Confessions of a Debauched Rock'n'Roller, available at finer bookstores.
As documented in Mike's book, I gather the band eventually called it quits. Despite some memorable live shows (complete with a giant, inflatable hand that THREW THE GOATS!) and tours with the august likes of Def Leppard and Motorhead, the Unband's particular blend of weapons-grade trouble eventually pryed them apart. The band did play a reunion show here in NYC back in September, but I've no idea what has become of them otherwise.
This particular track does not come from Retarder, but rather from their independently released debut album, Chung Wayne Lo Mein (1994, MoonPig Records). Ladies and gentleman, I give you the Unband's "ABCDEFUCK!"Download unband_a_b_c_d_e_f_u_c_k.mp3
Enjoy.
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