Die Kreuzen + Drive Like Jehu

Or perhaps I'm just a jaded old fucker?

The rest was largely shit.

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

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.

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

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

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).

^_^

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

That 'cover' is awesome.

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

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

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.

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?

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.