Die Kreuzen + Drive Like Jehu

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These bands remind me a lot of each other.

What else is like this stuff other than Pitchfork, Hot Snakes, RFTC, etc.?

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 17:53 (twenty-three years ago)

There's one Honor Role song that's pretty much the blueprint for pre-Yank Crime Drive Like Jehu: "Lives of Saints # 137". Also, they started out as a hardcore band, so that's a bonus of some sort. The discography CD is worth picking up, but if you're a vinyl person I'd say hunt for the records--the mastering on the CD is a bit too polished.

― Diego Hadis (dhadis), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 18:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, they don't sound like eitherJehu or Die Kreuzen, but they're an influence on both: Void. Their side of the split with Faith is incredible.

― Diego Hadis (dhadis), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 18:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know whether Die Kreuzen was as big a deal out in San Diego as they were in Mpls/Madison and D.C., perhaps so.

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 15 October 2002 19:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Die Kreuzen was a bit more heavy metal than Drive Like Jehu though, right? I mean, the first 2 or 3 DK records had some fine and incredibly tuneless hardcore moments, but then they veered towards much more shreiky metal territory, with arpeggios and stuff, even.

― g (graysonlane), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 19:43 (twenty-three years ago)

sorry i mis-typed shrieky (it isn;t even a real word i don't think)

― g (graysonlane), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 20:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Die Kreuzen were fairly big in Hull,England circa 1984 (well,two or three of us liked em so much we travelled to London to witness them playing w/Rapeman and Sonic Yth)
Their 1st album (1982?) was precision, Hardcore.
I would hazrd a guess that the likes of Prong and even Voidod were influenced by their latter stuff.
Yeah sure ,Dan Kubinski, shriekeyed like some codpieced spandex wearing 'banger, but for some reason that godawful vocal style was the perfect match for the music. Or maybe it wasn't? Perhaps Die Kreuzen would've been even better without the metalvox?
To me Die Kreuzen almost deserved a piece in THE BEST BOOK EVER Michael Azzerad's 'this band could be your life'(such a great book, not sure i've messed up the title).
Every ground breaking band in that book were as much without obvious influences as any around at the time, in the then 'indie/underground'scene. The 'scene' that will never be repeated.

Or perhaps I'm just a jaded old fucker?

― panico (panico), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 20:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Whatever else you have to say about them, they were definitely one of the first punk bands to have long, straight, stringy hair covering their eyes! At least a year before Black Flag.

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 15 October 2002 21:11 (twenty-three years ago)

They're a total snob namedrop band :)

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 22:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Black Flag.
Damaged.
My War.

The rest was largely shit.

Dils went long and stringy hair way before either.
And what about Bad Brains?

― panico (panico), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 23:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Bad Brains weren't long and stringy, Bad Brains were mini-afros and dreads.

― Ian Johnson, Tuesday, 15 October 2002 23:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Aren't dreads long and stringy?
Mine were anywhere. Especially when combinded with my Bolton Mullet.

If truth be told and it should be, one of the main reasons I shied away from homegrown UK 'punk' was that most of the decent USA bands didn't give a fuck about uniform dress. The music was the big deal and the US bands did it way better. In those heady days, anyhow.

― panico (panico), Tuesday, 15 October 2002 23:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Whatever else you have to say about them, they were definitely one of the first punk bands to have long, straight, stringy hair covering their eyes! At least a year before Black Flag.

Dez had long hair before Die Kreuzen had a record out.

― gygax!, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 00:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Dez Cadena
I'm with you. Please. The long haired 'non punk image/punker than the exploited was one of the main reasons i dug Flag over 'our' shit. Anyday.
While I'm at it, Ginn's atonal solos were the best things ever. bUT , the latter stuff got a bit too 'metal' for me.

― panico (panico), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 00:11 (twenty-three years ago)

one of the main reasons I shied away from homegrown UK 'punk' was that most of the decent USA bands didn't give a fuck about uniform dress. The music was the big deal and the US bands did it way better.

greg ginn in a peach izod, tight cord shorts and argyle socks... way more punk than leather and a mohawk. cf, justin pearson in the last 10 years... esp. justin and gabe diving into a pit wearing nothing but leopard thongs....

(",)

YaYaYaYaY!

O_o

― gygax!, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 00:29 (twenty-three years ago)

To my ears, the Icarus Line captures the spirit of Jehu better than most bands claiming them as influences. Honorable mention: Faraquet (though more mathy and less angry).

― Nick Mirov (nick), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 02:25 (twenty-three years ago)

That second Die Kreuzen album, October File--THAT was a real eye-opener. Black Flag had already gone all shaggy and sludgy, but that seemed like some of kind of act of desperation (or boredom). The Die Kreuzen boys, they wanted to get all metal, and went much further in that direction much faster and more convincingly than BF. I loved that album, but being something of an orthodox punk/indie guy at the time ('86), was kind of embarrassed by it too, cause it was so hairy and shrieky and, ulp, sorta goth too--albeit in a beer-drinking, flannel-flying Midwestern sorta way.

― Lee G (Lee G), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 14:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Are you serious about Faraquet Nick? I love their first 7"'s, but that full length was such a snoozer.

There's no need to lament the loss of Jehu with Hot Snakes around anyway. And the new RFTC album is actually really great. Reis' first good non-HS work since Scream Dracula Scream.

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 14:46 (twenty-three years ago)

There's no need to lament the loss of Jehu with Hot Snakes around anyway. And the new RFTC album is actually really great. Reis' first good non-HS work since Scream Dracula Scream.

I wholeheartedly DIS-agree. The Hot Snakes records (esp. the last one) are so TAME in comparison to Drive Like Jehu's. To me, it's akin to comparing Kevin Shields' stint in Primal Scream to My Bloody Valentine... or why kids get all hot and bothered over The Black Heart Procession or Pinback when Three Mile Pilot played to half empty clubs on their last tour (outside of San Diego).

Not to say the Hot Snakes records are bad, just very watered down in the intensity department... which is like the big draw for me.

If I were to write the history books (and I do have plans), RFTC will be notable only for having the guitarist of Drive Like Jehu... and Jason Crane, but that's about it. (i like their first few singles but blah... Jon Spencer Syndrome).

^_^

― gygax!, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 15:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Does minimal = tame? Yeah, the HS albums don't have the crazy guitar interplay that made Jehu so great, and the songs are much shorter, but I, personally, like it just as much. Maybe because Rick sounds so melancholy (especially on Suicide Invoice)... It's just a different mood that he's going for, and I think it's just as successful in its aims. But: I was most excited at a recent HS show when they played a Jehu song. So maybe that confuses things, maybe not.

I like RFTC. Scream is a great record. Great pop. Paint as a Fragrance, Circa Now and Hot Charity are also great. Group Sounds had one good song ("Ghost Shark") and RFTC was an abomination. But Live from Camp X-Ray is really good. I was fully prepared to hate it, but it won me over.

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 15:55 (twenty-three years ago)

for future reference "TAME" = tame. sorry about that.

Rick did not write one lick of music for Automatic Midnight, so naturally as a RFTC fan, you may connect better with that record.

Suicide Invoice I think suffers from dragging tempos (which was certainly not a problem with Drive Like Jehu).

For me, I like Rick's songs, singing, guitar playing a lot. A lot better than John's. So... there you go.

― gygax!, Wednesday, 16 October 2002 16:05 (twenty-three years ago)

I would consider myself a bigger Jehu fan than a RFTC fan, so it's not quite so simple. But this is just getting into subjectivity. Suicide Invoice is a bit plodding, but I adore the title track especially. And yeah, John's voice is pretty earnest (which I normally dislike, but in this case I do), while John's is bland but extremely effective (maybe because of its blandness over such amazing music?).

I also like both Three Mile Pilot and Black Heart Procession (Pinback has one or two good moments). So you hate me!

― Yancey (ystrickler), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 16:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Lee
you are bang on the button in respect of October File.It had to be titled that.
Spooky (yeah goth), but oozing melancholy, eventhough I couldn't fathom the words from Kubinski's cock rock voice gone wrong. I did prefer it went he dropped the shreek for the likes of 'Cool Breeze', which I forced onto every mix tape I did for my poor friends in the mid 80s.
I'd just been dumped by a girl called Elizabeth to coincide with Century Days. Maybe that's why they meant so much to me? Wallowing in the misery. Sad bastard.
Nothing changes.

Regarding the other half of the thread,Hot Snakes pound the shit out of RFTC. Must find the Jehu cd I had , which I'm sure is buried in someone elses racks. Seem to remember the guitar being in that great tradition of deliberately fucked up but in control and somehow melodic, for want of a better description.

― panico (panico), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 16:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Are you serious about Faraquet Nick?

Not really (hence the "Honorable mention" quasi-disclaimer), since Faraquet aren't nearly as intense as Jehu, but I was listening to "The Fourth Introduction" the other day and was struck by the similarities in style-- I can't think of many other bands that do the tight bludgeoning drone/riff thing as well. But the similarities definitely stop there.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Wednesday, 16 October 2002 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Wasn't The Icarus Line produced by Mark Trombino or something?

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Thursday, 17 October 2002 02:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Everyone is produced by Mark Trombino. TRUSTcompany was produced by Mark Trombino, for fuck's sake!

― Yancey (ystrickler), Thursday, 17 October 2002 14:08 (twenty-three years ago)

seventeen years pass...

https://shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/die-kreuzen-s-demos-receive-long-awaited-proper-reissue/

https://www.songpreserve.com/index.php/component/muscol/D/71-die-kreuzen/204-demos

― sleeve, Saturday, 12 September 2020 16:11 (five years ago)

That 'cover' is awesome.

https://shepherdexpress.com/downloads/50591/download/AlbumReview_DieKreuzen.jpg?cb=f697ccdd8910713400a8ec39eb9a5fb2&w=660&h=

― earlnash, Saturday, 12 September 2020 16:32 (five years ago)

haha I didn't catch the Blue Note tribute at first, thanks

― sleeve, Saturday, 12 September 2020 16:36 (five years ago)

I could just Die Cruisin.
well known low rider band innit.

I used to have the skeletal wolves from the 1st lp sleeve on the wall behind me a few years ago.
& i remember seeing Kim Gordon in one of their tshirts ata London SY gig in the 80s. I thought the band didn't play London before the Sir George Robey gig i was at. Maybe that was around teh time whoever is talking about up thread.

― Stevolende, Saturday, 12 September 2020 16:39 (five years ago)

iirc pretty much all the demo songs got proper studio versions on their 1st EP and LP. I've heard some of the demos on bootlegs - not sure if any of them were actually better than the later versions? be interested if anyone thinks the demos were the superior versions, maybe if this reissue has decent sound quality they would be worth checking out again?

― CP Radio Gorgeous (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 12 September 2020 16:47 (five years ago)

sadly these appear to be MP3/streaming only, but yes in general I agree - the LP versions proper totally smoke all the earlier versions, even the Cows And Beer ones. I'm just glad this exists as an historical document.

― sleeve, Saturday, 12 September 2020 16:49 (five years ago)

five years pass...

Just discovered Die Kreuzen though Neko Case on What's In My Bag. Such a glorious sound, makes me wonder how many bands like this I'm missing out on, need to dig more.

I got the CD version of October File, odd that there's no external note to let you know the debut album is on there too.

There's a new book about them and here's an interview with the author
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/booked-on-rock/die-kruezen-milwaukees-1puNRkXq9m8/

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 24 October 2025 21:18 (seven months ago)

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