Sunday, May 13, 2012

Viva Las Vegas Compilation



            This comp documents a scene I know very little about, and I got almost nothing to go off of.  I wanna say it came out in 1983 so in that respect it’s well ahead of my time.  I heard rumors of Vegas having wildly disparate “punk” scenes that actually went all the way back to the 60’s with numerous parties and shows happening at Pabco and other roundabout places.  Shit, back then Pabco was like 15-20 miles outside of town!  That must have been the shit.  Who knows what happened?  Better tell your stories now...  Maybe we'll get some deathbed confessions?  

            I guess every snot-nosed generation that comes up makes a big racket, at least since the 50’s, maybe even earlier.  Perhaps there were some ornery bluegrass pickers out on Frenchman mountain kickin up their heels in 1905 keeping their hootenannies secret and trying not to piss off the old folks?   It could have happened.  Am I repeating myself?    

            It’s a predictable cycle; each generation that comes down the pike thinks they’re the shit until they get jobs and families and stop making that Ruckus©.  Some of them anyway.  Something tells me people who went to shows featuring the bands on this compilation think Fuck Shit Piss was chump change years later and they especially think the Boba Fett Youth/Leap Frog Society years, if they know about that shit at all, were an absolute joke in comparison.  They're probably right?  

            We all become that old codger telling the kids their music is shit compared to what we went through.  I like to think I’m more open minded but I’m no different.   I went to a basement show here in Portland when I first moved to town hoping to support a guy I knew from Vegas as his new band was playing.  The sound was awful.  I couldn't hear his vocals, and yet tons of kids were jumping up trying to sing his lyrics into the microphone.  It was cute, totally derivative of Crimpshrine, and it made me want to throw up.  I've rarely gone to a punk show since.  So yeah.  I'm just like every generation from before.  I'm not that interested in what "punk" is doing today and I haven't been to interested in it's evolution, or stasis, since I stopped contributing to that scene.  For me it's equal parts "that's not how I'd do it" and "been there, done that."  Fuckin kids these days....

             I’ve been hoping for the next exciting youth explosion of music for a while now but since it hasn't been forthcoming I've instead regressed into loving R&B dating from the 60's through what's happening today, along with golden age Hip Hop. Rarely I'll get a wild hair and stumble over some  hardcore thrash classics in my record collection but that thrill only lasts for one side of one record usually.  If the latest and greatest for today’s generation is Dub-Step I feel sorry for the kids today.  Maybe I've only heard the shitty dub-step and I'm missing out on the really solid stuff?  Well, I'm at least thankful Nu-Metal died a thousand deaths so the kids aren’t completely without taste.  But you can set your watch to revivals so the Nu Metal revival is probably only a short time away from exploding again.  I was bitching about the lack of spark/originality in new music to a friend some time ago and she remarked that music has gone downhill since they took music out of the public schools curriculum.  Maybe there’s something to be said for that? 
    
            Truth is there’s a million underground scenes all over the world today.  I just don’t know about em cause I don’t get the text messages.  Arena rock is also on it’s last legs so what comes next has the potential to be exciting.  Since I'm approaching middle age chances are good I won’t find out about the new shit until it’s not cool anymore.  

            This is a page out of Las Vegas history.  I don’t know shit about so I won’t bother to try and analyze it.  I don't know if it was the pinnacle of what the Vegas underground had to offer but I'm sure the folks who went to the shows with these bands will say it is.  The MIA songs on here are good finds.  I recall seeing the Self Abuse logo spray painted on the wall at the unofficial smoking section around the corner from Eldorado High School in 1988.  I'm sure I bought weed from some hessian while standing in front of it.  I spray painted that logo on numerous walls myself because I liked it so much even though I never got a chance to hear em until checking em out here.  Good stuff.  I’m glad I defaced property in their name. 

            Anyway.  I got no pictures of the tape cover, no pictures of the bands, no nothing.  I'm not even sure if that's the real title of this cassette.  And yet the music lives on.  I have little or no connection to the scene documented here.  I just thought it was interesting.  Vegas was a small town until about 1990.  It must have been something back in 83 for the bands and the audiences.  Making punk rock exist out of pure momentum out in the middle of nowhere.  Good for them.  And us. 

            I got this compilation from some guy in England of all places.  Weird.  Good show old chap!  In addition to this comp it's worth mentioning that I found this guy from France who's got some weird Vegas demos I've never heard before including a Sampson's Army demo, Abeyance, Remains, and Personal Regrets.  He don't speak English so good so I don't know what he's going on and on about in the emails we've exchanged.  Maybe you'll have better luck talking to the guy.  Although he did share with me an obscure Self Abuse demo you can play online but not download.      

Download Viva Las Vegas Compilation below

5 comments:

  1. hey chad i'm from Northern Ireland not england dude! its part of the u.k.

    hey i got them abeyance/sampsons army demos if you want em uplaoded?

    let me know.
    good post btw.


    here's a review of the vlv comp

    http://www.killfromtheheart.com/albums.php?id=8496&rec_type=comp

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  2. Whoa sorry Rob. Didn't mean to insult you!

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  3. it was'nt an insult,dont worry about it man,my sis was born in england!

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  4. Hi, man ! Thanks for the compilation.. I really like this music d(0_=)b

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  5. Hi there I have this Comp with Artwork posted on my YT Channel but I had no Insert with Tracklist...Until Now!
    Thanks for sharing.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Zp2N8I-ys&t=7s

    ReplyDelete