A few years ago I bought a heavy metal magazine named, well the name isn’t important. I read a few articles and several reviews until half way through the magazine I realized there wasn’t one negative criticism in the whole fucking thing. It was blowing the horn of metal and it didn’t have one bad thing to say about the dozens or maybe hundreds of bands covered.
It was pretty hard to believe all those bands were beyond reproach so I lost all respect for the integrity of the mag and I threw it and the CD it came with away. That’s what you’re dealing with here while I'm anxious to do my part to preserve and archive LV music history I also don't want to be a static participant. I'm ready to talk shit. Not out of malice, but becasue it's fun to write and read messy bullshit. And messy bullshit is what DIY is all about. I refuse to be a cheerleader for past Las Vegas music. This shitty attitude stems from the unending cynicism and disgust endemic to living in Las Vegas, Nevada. If I think the band sucks I can’t bite my tongue and act like I give a shit. Even if they're good I'll do my part to find any flaws and be a dick about it just to keep things interesting. And grounded.
Specific criticisms aside any “band” that gets together long enough to record something is worthy of respect. Especially in the stone ages of the 80’s and 90’s. My opinion comes solely from the recorded music and should not be seen as a reflection of how good the band was live or how important they were to helping the scene to move forward, or backward as the case may be.
It feels good to put myself back into that time by hearing this mess again. It was a discovery then, it's a discovery now. I'm happy to learn more. I hope more music resurfaces. It's worth remembering warts and all.
But… it’s also fun to talk shit about horrible music. In fact it’s more fun and usually more fun to read text filled with piss and vinegar. And yet, do I really want to piss off people for no good reason aside from the fact that I think they made shitty music? So I ask you reader: should I rip stuff that sucks and post it here with commentary that rips the sucky demo apart? Or, do I divorce myself from such negativity and refuse to share music that at least a few people will find remarkable. I don’t know. I want to be fair but I also want to be real.
Fuck fair. Here’s an interesting recording that I have mixed feelings about. It was sent to me by my good friend Nate Robards who was the guitar player in
Boba Fett Youth (BFY),
Part-Time Whore (PTW) and currently
Elements of Now (EON). He sent a package with a few tapes and another package with a t-shirt form EON as well as their new demo CD.
It’s fuckin RAD.
I ripped the cassette shown here. I’m guessing he dubbed this cassette before sending it to me as the tape in question looks pretty new and he wrote Nostalgia on it which I’m taking as a swipe at me for all the bullshit I’ve written on this blog. Very funny Nate.
So I’ve got mixed feelings on many levels. First I’m grateful to Nate and others who’ve sent me stuff they’ve ripped, or sent stuff for me to rip. It’s been fun and I think people are getting something out of it. On the other hand I’m a little scared of this exploding in my face and I’m suddenly getting cassettes mailed to me hand over fist. On the surface this seems like a great thing and I’m not opposed to lifting the floodgates and requesting all nature of cassettes be sent to me if people wanted. But how many of these cassettes would suck? Moreover I don’t want to see KL becoming a repository of mediocrity as well as shit I love. I’m doing this because I love the music first off and I want to hear it. I’m only releasing it to the public because I hope it will get out there so it can stay out there in the event that maybe if I lose all my shit someday in the future I’ll still have a Leap Frog Society or Fuck Shit Piss collection I can always find to download from someone online.
In any event I’ve heard from over a dozen people who have demos and shit they’d like to contribute and so far only 15% of those people have come forth to contribute so I guess I shouldn’t be to worried about being overwhelmed by people sending me their KUNV recordings. Most of which I don’t want to spend hours translating. But I’ll still offer up my assistance in ripping stuff if it seems like something I’d like. By now you should know what I like if you’ve been reading along so far. Mainly hardcore punk demos but I’ve got a soft spot for metal, pop, and other curiosities that Vegas produced along the way. It’s only fitting I stick to the Vegas themes as a requirement at this point.
So the broadcast. I can’t tell you what date this broadcast aired. It’s got to be like 91-93 which were pretty rocky years for the Vegas underground rock world. As mentioned previously there was a huge amount of in fighting in the underground. Nazi versus anti-nazi was at it’s peak around then and so music in my opinion suffered. I don’t recall a favorite band from this time. I somehow didn’t hear or see the band Lady until well after they broke up but they were kickin it by this point. Intentions of Hate was happening. Wholes, F.I., Heroines, god knows there were more but the local bands featured in this broadcast of the Lunch With the Parents Music Resource Center were Junkie Nuns, Foot Long, Bent Tool, and Zub Zub.
Lunch with the PMRC was a radio show aired on 91.5 KUNV in Las Vegas, Nevada during the early 1990’s through the mid 90’s. It took the place of the Hardcore show which happened in the 80’s and it featured Locals Only for the last hour of each broadcast. It was a great show and has proven to be a good resource for tracking down music from local bands at that time. Nate sent a second Locals Only tape which I’ll post sometime in the future.
This is where more mixed feelings come into the picture. I have been looking for the Foot Long demo for years now. My brother had the demo and we rocked out in my parents garage smoking the weed. I thought it was a great demo on par with Lady’s second demo. For a lack of cassette tapes he recorded a Leap Frog Society practice over the Foot Long demo and I never got to hear those song again. Until now. It was a nice surprise to hear parts of that demo on this tape.
I was never a fan of Junkie Nuns or Bent Tool but they were stalwarts. Although I admit to understanding the direction Junkie Nuns was trying to go. They just never seemed to get there. The effects heavy shit was always almost cool but not cool enough to make it to the finish line for me. I had the same opinion of many Vegas bands around that time. The scene was in flux as the 90’s started and I think everyone was hoping for something to rise to the top. Seemed like we had to relearn everything after the flood. And so the music was searching for new avenues as well. Maybe it was desperation that kept me hoping someone would take the reins like Fuck Shit Piss did? No one from this time period could fill that vacuum but not for a lack of trying.
I wanted to like Junkie Nuns even if they looked a little goth which annoyed the hell out of me. I think they were going for some disjointed industrial punk or something like that. I think everyone from that time was really into shit like Skinny Puppy, Ministry. After the release of Thrill Kill Cult's Sex On Wheels I was big on the "industrial music" backlash and I guess I never really got over it. Hard not to because it's a style and aesthetic that certainly hasn't aged well. Not to say Junkie Nuns sounds like any of that shit, I mean they didn't even have synths if I recall. So maybe they were on the Butthole Surfer end of that sound?
Anyway back then I was still taking psychedelic drugs so I was hoping to zone out on their effects heavy music but every time I saw them a fight broke out or I wasn't high enough. That’s how I felt about the Wholes. It was always really close to greatness but they seemed to be holding back. Tension. I’m sure both bands were on as many drugs as I was on at the time if not more and that couldn’t have helped things much overall. These recordings make me think twice about Junkie Nuns. But I doubt I'll think about them a third time. I'm probably not high enough.
Also included here is Bent Tool. Again not one of my favorite bands from that time but there is plenty of in between song gabbing that's got it's funny moments.
But the real gem of this find as mentioned is the Foot Long demo that remained a mystery to me for so many years. It’s not the Holy Grail of Vegas demos. But I do give them credit for being so passionate and creative in a time of great indecision during those turbulent years. This broadcast only includes four of the seven songs from their demo Caffeine and Adrenaline But Mostly Adrenaline. But the songs hold up. It sounds like a more Metal version of Lady in some respects. I knew Todd Flannery the drummer from this band although he won’t return my Facebook prompts. I didn’t know any of the other guys in this band. I think. Although I remember seeing Scott Baxter and his twin brother around a lot back then. I never talked to them because they looked like the British Bulldogs wrestling duo. I was prejudice thinking anyone with a bunch of muscles can’t be that cool to hang out with. Maybe I’m wrong but I kinda doubt it.
These songs rule. Glad to score this one again but I’d still love to hear the rest of their demo. Share if you got it. I can't remember everyone's names. Please share that info if you got it as well.
Much respect to all these bands for even existing during a war torn changing of the guard for LVHC.
I got no pictures to add to this post. If you want to include some get in touch.
I’ve had a bitch of a time embedding a link on this blog which will allow you to download whole folders. Now Mediafire is charging me $7 a month to host these files and I’ve got so many files on their server that I can’t switch to something else. So I’m including a link which may work for downloading the whole folder. You tell me if it works. This rip has the entire broadcast in the sequence as it is found on the tape. I’m including links for each individual track if the folder DL doesn’t work for you. What a pain in the ass.
Try to download the whole folder here.
OR...Download individual tracks below:
You may have noticed I don't have the titles for these songs. If you know the titles of any of these songs feel free to share in the comments section.
