What's up with US Maple?

Pretty much been on a U.S. Maple bender since getting on board with the thread revival. Really wish there was more guitar playing like this in the world (I am older now and can appreciate that they don't get very loud, or go for real histrionics, just totally unique and engaging parts). Makes me want to be in a two guitar band.

That part in "Ma, Digital" where the guitars decide to go into a unison riff and actually "rock" is so great, though really it is all great. Love Al on that song.

Also, wanna say that the Coptic Light song posted above is great! Wish I had given that record more time when it came out, it came to the radio station I was DJing at but for some reason I just didn't connect with it. Gonna track that down for sure.

Oddly enough, both Coptic Light and Storm & Stress have the same drummer, Kevin Shea, who is really talented. Plays in Talibam! and a bunch of other stuff now.

was never huge into this band at the time but had acre thrills and talker, both of which i was intrigued by. i think i'd be more into them now. there's a bunch of good live footage on youtube.

i bought talker, 69 love songs, and dongs of sevotion on the same trip to chapel hill, without really knowing anything about any of them

For those who aren't that familiar with U.S. Maple, another fun fact is that Al Johnson, the singer, has one of the cameos in the movie "Hi Fidelity". He plays the super nerdy guy who comes in looking to buy the Captain Beefheart record:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOwjVVSNOtY

I can only imagine how "Talker" sounded when included in a batch with "69 Love Songs" and "Dongs of Sevotion".

Sang Phat was my first introduction to the band-- a grad student from Knoxville-- and I didn't like it. Later that week another friend told me to get Talker and that did it.

I hadn't seen "Hi Fidelity" but that clip is funny

"i've given maple a whole lot of thought and i think the thing with them was the dichotomy of playing this sort of obscure/skewed music that never really let you get your footing juxataposed with a live persona that was kind of in your face and flashy, almost rockstar like in a way that you'd think they were playing this really anthemic stuff....

― i dox in yellow gox dox socks (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 18, 2012 5:33 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink"

I think this is a real key component of this band, they were playing strange/weird music but acted like they were playing Jesus Lizard cock-rock and it managed to piss off noise heads and rock dudes in equal measure. They legit made people mad in a way other more explicitly confrontational bands never did.

I always loved that their shows, were just that, shows, you got it and loved it or you didn't and hated it but they didn't seem to care at all and weren't going to give you any hand-holds one way or other.

Conceptually, I can't think of a more important band in shaping my own approach to music. Number one with a bullet.

this is my fave live clip so far, there's some real attitude going on here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LfdQQ0rbr8&feature=related

I always called them Cubist rock.

Also, just pat oursevles on the back, upper mississippi sh@kedown and I spent so much time in early twenties listening and seeing this band and people were constantly like "ugh US Maple is awful!" but we were always: one day this band is going to be seen as so ahead of their time and influential.

xpost (never thought the U.S. Maple thread would be moving too quickly for me to keep up with!)

Yeah, that's a pretty solid description.

ugh this totally makes me want to start a new band

That kind of transgressive approach you're describing, chr1s, in my experience, it doesn't do well in hometowns but it exports well

Yeah, I have been playing guitar a lot and for the first time in a long time feel like a band could be a good idea.

Wish I had known dudes that were into U.S. Maple earlier than I did. I got into them right as things were winding down for them.

My enjoyment of stuff like US Maple has actually made it really hard for me to learn guitar. I'm trying to learn fundamentals, but in the back of my mind I'm always like " ... or I could just play it like this."

I think it was a review of Acre Thrills in SPIN, of all things, that initially piqued my curiosity (and subsequently opened the door to the wonderland that is Skin Graft).

i think that audiences that were into US underground rock then were really accepting of noise or dissonance and fucked up vocals and confrontation as long as it ROCKED in a fairly conventional manner....Maple denied you the right to rock out or pump your fist, which is why i think they could really irritate ppl

the wonderland that is Skin Graft

When I was 19 I asked local dude in an improv outfit and a math-metal band for some music recommendations (or maybe he just felt moved to give me them) and he insisted I rush out and buy some US Maple. I couldn't find their albums, but I did find the Camp Skin Graft label comp, and wow that opened up a lot of things.

(eventually I found some US Maple albums and even more eventually I came to love them instead of just scratching my head at them)

Huh I wonder if there's a Skin Graft S/D thread
Nope

btw i just discovered the camp skin graft comp is on spotify!

Another killer version of La Click

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT0uhGIraGw

xp That is awesome and recommended listening but you cannot spotify the FREE STICKERS

(tries to resist the urge to throw the desk over and growl SKELETON KING at all my coworkers)

i think that audiences that were into US underground rock then were really accepting of noise or dissonance and fucked up vocals and confrontation as long as it ROCKED in a fairly conventional manner....Maple denied you the right to rock out or pump your fist, which is why i think they could really irritate ppl

Yeah, the 90s had so many bands pushing the "spazzy", noisy, dissonant, and heavy angles, but U.S. Maple didn't really play ball fully with any of the usual moves, other than the dissonance usually existing in their songs. Plus, Al Johnson just really sold those songs in such unusual ways. I can't imagine any other singer working the magic that guy did on those songs.

At least one of the S&S guys found US Maple very sketchy, as in "they're biting our stuff! Of all the stuff to bite!"

(tries to resist the urge to throw the desk over and growl SKELETON KING at all my coworkers)

― still small voice of clam (a passing spacecadet), Friday, 19 October 2012 15:31 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha this will be my favourite ilx post of today just fyi

Ehhhh...I don't really think US Maple and S&S were all that similar, really. Avant rock is a big playing field.

i think that audiences that were into US underground rock then were really accepting of noise or dissonance and fucked up vocals and confrontation as long as it ROCKED in a fairly conventional manner....Maple denied you the right to rock out or pump your fist, which is why i think they could really irritate ppl

― i dox in yellow gox dox socks (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 19 October 2012 15:20 (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also my distance from it notwithstanding, this seems really true and likely a followon from the 80s also, in that I have had cause to think/read about Sun City Girls quite a bit lately and much the same seems to be said of their shows

x-post I think the S&Ser in question was more annoyed that his particular stuff was being bitten, to be honest, but it was an out-of-character remark by a very nice non-competitive person so I won't be more specific.

W/r/t S&S: I had seen U.S. Maple at least twice before I even heard of Storm & Stress who I thought were good...and there are similarities but Storm&Stress were a much more "conventional" experimental band (haha), esp live.

also Shorty wasn't exactly Superchunk either

Yeah, I have a really hard time imagining that the players in U.S. Maple were looking towards Storm & Stress (or Don Caballero or whatever band folks from Storm & Stress were in before) for inspiration or ideas. Seems pretty clearly to be an extension of Beefheart rather than any other bands around at the time. Guys seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do and it didn't seem to have anything to do with other players/bands around at the time (to me at least).

Seems like maybe someone from Storm & Stress wanted more recognition for their playing style.

Generally speaking, I think US Maple was a refinement of what I wanted from Shudder To Think.

ha that's weird

Could maybe lob a "this sounds like Polvo" comment at this more than anything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYf3g4i91fg

Not that I think US Maple and Shudder To Think sound a bit alike. I just really dig the idea of catchy riff rock thrown into a blender.

i can hear some definitely hear some similarities between the guitar playing in u.s. maple and in don cab but it's more with "what burns never returns"-era don cab, and USM already had a couple of albums out by that point. just seems like contemporaries coming up with some similar ideas based on similar inspirations at the same time, and aside from the guitars the bands are so different.

didn't realize m. gira produced talker

The comment was made in the summer of 1998.

...and I could see his point at the Empty Bottle gig where it was uttered more than in the 1997 video, so let the penny drop on the cognoscenti.

agree w n/a - there were tons of bands kind of mining different veins of the same kind of thing at that time...

also, no disrespect to storm & stress, but maple had a lot of skin graft bands they toured with and were sort of a likeminded community with that they probably were influenced by

grandavis is right, I've always felt a Polvo connection w/Long Hair.

S&S I always assumed were part of the Joan of Arc crew

The only time I saw these guys live I had miscalculated and was halfway between drunk and really drunk :(

Just went and listened to some Storm & Stress for the first time in a long time. Obviously it had to be Ian Williams that was concerned about the musical biting, and I can see where he might see some of his phrasing present in U.S. Maple, but really not much. The context is so different, and S&S really does sound more like Joan of Arc and other "post-rock"-y things than the mutated rock of U.S. Maple.

Sorry, not really that concerned and don't wanna bash S&S, just thought it was silly and wanted to explore it a bit. I think S&S is pretty cool actaully, but just can't imagine why a dude in that band thought U.S. Maple was "sketchy" in re biting their shit. They weren't exactly headlining big venues or selling records, you know?

Them being a trio and me feeling like a jerk for having said too much, I will neither confirm nor deny yer speculation.

in any case, this being a us maple thread i think that any reasonable person can agree they definitely carved out a unique niche in the world of mid-90s post pigfuck rock

Hey, sorry, not looking for confirmation at all. Just an obvious assumption. Wouldn't hold that kinda thing against anyone, its a natural thing to do (i.e., compare your playing to other players).

fwiw US Maple was around before Storm & Stress.

I saw S&S in a record store way back, I think touring on their first record. They were awesome, and especially the drummer. They were playing in front of the store's front window and he turned around and dragged his drum stick across the glass mid-song, making this piercing squeal. It was terrific.

Never saw US Maple live but really wish I did. I love Talker to death.

All this talk about 90s avant-rock/pigfuck/post-pigfuck bands is making me nostalgic. Does anyone remember The Cranium? I haven't heard them in a zillion years but in my mind I lump them in with this wave of bands. Did not realize until doing a bit of googling last night that two guys from The Cranium started Gang Gang Dance.

listening to camp skin graft!

lake of dracula y'all!

yona kit!

you fantastic!

Yeah, and the other half of The Cranium went on to form Blood Lines with two girls who themselves would go on to form Telepathe. Blood Lines were for a while my favourite live act, never saw The Cranium though

i want a Now Wave t-shirt

http://s3.amazonaws.com/delivery.midheaven.com/c/119591/images/6472166050650_main.jpg