pop culture - TL:DR (That's Long, DID Read)

La Flamme et le Lys: Métal Noir Québécois

Firstly, the black metal of Québec (at least the black metal I am talking about) has little or nothing to do with Canada. Nothing against Canada (or Canadian metal for that matter), but what makes this scene so distinctive is the backdrop of the history of Québec/Nouvelle-France as a nation (lots of fascinating info here), not to mention the French language, especially romantic perhaps, to people like myself who don’t understand it.

Two ironies recur endlessly in black metal: firstly, despite the avowed individualism of almost every BM band, the genre has come to be defined in part by national scenes, with various identifying features. The most obvious (because most famous and because it put many of the genre trademarks in place) is the Norwegian scene of the early 90s, but for me, the Québec scene has arguably been the most distinctive and consistent over the last decade or so.

Secondly, despite the rhetoric of superiority common in certain areas of the genre, much of the best black metal (especially the nationalistic/heritage-leaning kind) takes a large part of its melancholy atmosphere from a history of defeat and hardship rather than one of victory and supremacy; the image of snow covered ruins or desolation that grace the cover art of a large proportion of black metal releases may represent the defeat of black metal’s enemies, be they the Christian church, or modern urban civilisation, but the fact is that nowhere in the world is there or has there been a black metal elite ruling over a subjugated population of cowering slaves.

In fact, more commonly than not, ‘heritage BM’ (absolutely horrible term, can’t think of a less insulting one) has at its heart the supplanting of native cultures and traditions by Christianity, but with Québec the focal point historically is the destruction of the colony of New France and the (to a degree ongoing) marginalisation of its culture and traditions within the later UK/US-influenced construct of Canada.
This kind of history of hardship, neglect and respect for nature and tradition is the exact mixture of musical/historical/ideological inspiration that can make nationalistic (a sinister word, but it doesn’t necessarily have the fascist connotations of National Socialist Black Metal, of which see here) BM such a potent-sounding music.

It should be pointed out though, that the settlers of Québec were not the first people there, and the history of the native peoples of Canada is even more marginalised and bleak than that of the first European settlers.
Sadly I have yet to hear any native American black metal, if there is such a thing (I would like to hear it if there is). Possibly the essentially European (and, taking into account the influence of the blues, even African) nature of heavy metal makes it unlikely to be embraced by heritage-minded individuals of native American backgrounds.
Still, the fascinating history of New France and Québec is more than troubled enough to account for the emotion that exudes from the best black metal of the nation.

There is no doubt that in the New France the settlers’ lives were difficult; even aside from the daily hardship that was (and in many places still is) inherent in the lives of people living from the land, the extreme climate and landscape of Québec – especially in the winter – made peoples’ existence precarious at best.
The paintings and drawings of Dutch emigrant Cornelius Krieghoff (seen here) – in some ways a parallel figure, in BM at least, to Theodor Kittelsen in Norway – vividly depict these struggles while also representing something of a nostalgic ideal through their picturesque depiction of an isolated and self-sufficient community. It should be noted though, that the history of New France dates back to the 1500s, so by the time of Krieghoff’s travels in Québec in the mid-19th century, the people’s connection with France was already a near-mythical one.

Perhaps because of the vast differences – not just in terrain and climate, but also government and society – between France and its colony, New France quickly gained an independent identity of its own. Though the language and many of the traditions would remain French, the connection between Québec and its mother country would quickly become minimal, despite various rebellions against the English-speaking oppressors throughout the 19th century.
All of these factors have helped shape the character of Métal Noir Québécois. Although not one homogenous sound, most of the bands have some common ground. Much of the imagery of the genre is that common to black metal in general; the iconography of forests, frost, snow, autumn and winter landscapes – it is particularly appropriate for Québecois black metal. There is a strong vein of nature mysticism in the music, often lurking as a subtext, but occasionally, as in Neige et Noirceur’s masterful Hymnes de la Montagne Noire, taking centre stage.

Likewise, the use of folk elements is hardly new to black metal, but the distinctive folk music of the area uses instrumentation unusual to BM (such as accordions as well as fiddles) and has a unique, archaic flavour which is extremely evocative when used well. Neige et Noirceur again provide a good example with their strangely sea-shantyish Ancien Folklore Québécois.

It’s not all ‘New France’ though; although primarily French-speaking, other influences helped shape Quebec, as the presence of Dutchman Cornelius Kreghoff in the colony suggests. In fact the excellent-but-mysterious one-man project Ziel Bevrijd has a Dutch name, suggesting (maybe?) an alternative heritage, although Viingrid writes lyrics mainly in French.

Musically speaking, the strongest influence on the Québec bands is probably Burzum, specifically the albums Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Filosefem, the primitive mix of fuzzy guitar and fairly basic synth being surprisingly adept at conjouring epic wintry landscapes as well as desolate misery.

Recommended Listening:
I can’t stress strongly enough that I am not in any way an authority on the black metal of Québec and there is every chance that I have missed out major artists as well as minor ones. A good rule of thumb is that if is from Québec and released by Sepulchral Productions or Les Productions Hérétiques it’s probably worth a listen. These are all good:

Sorcier Des Glaces

This band has been around since the late 90s and if not the most distinctive – or the first – of Québec’s BM bands, they have never made a bad record. Atmospheric but more upbeat (as well as faster and less French) than many bands in the scene, albums like the definitive Snowland and 2011’s The Puressence of Primitive Forests are highly recommended to fans of expansive post-Burzum BM.

1837
A pretty marginal band, but with a name derived from the year of the Québec patriotic uprising and a (to my knowledge) sole EP, Prologue (2010) to their name, 1837 seem in some ways to be just what obscure local BM is all about. The EP is strong, but pretty harsh, very similar to Celtic Winter-era Graveland.

Forteresse
Perhaps the greatest of all Québec BM bands, their manifesto-like Métal Noir Québécois defined the genre, bringing together Burzum-esque epic-but-melancholy BM with traditional Québec folk music and imagery. Les Hivers de Notre Epoque is if anything even better, less ferocious but even more atmospheric.

Sombres Forêts

In a similar vein to Forteresse, but slightly more ambient and snow-shrouded and less folk-influenced, Sombres Forêts are one of the more melancholy bands in the scene. To my ears their best album to date is 2008’s Royaume de Glace, a despairing masterpiece with some of the best vocals of any Québec BM album, especially when Annatar shrieks hoarsely over relatively clean guitars on songs like the great The Forest.

Neige et Noirceur
Another one-man band whose style veers close to Forteresse (and indeed Burzum) at times, NeN have a discography which encompasses folk, ambient and of course atmospheric BM elements, all albums are good, but Crépuscule Hivernal sans fin sur les Terres de la Guerre from 2009 has a particularly intense and obscure atmosphere.

Neige Éternelle
Pretty much a definitive Sepulchral signing, the best songs on Neige Éternelle’s 2013 self-titled debut bring a strongly Darkthrone-like flavour to the Quebec sound (check out L’appel de la Mort for a perfect synthesis of Burzum, Darkthrone and Métal Noir Québécois)

Brume d’Automne
A somewhat schizophrenic band, Brume d’Automne veer between some of the most folk-influenced music in the genre (for example La mort d’un patriote from their debut album Fiers et Victorieux) to a strongly punk-influenced sound on songs like Quand Les Corbeaux Crient Leur Haine.

Monarque
Far more typical, being essentially a very prolific one-man project (sort of – Monarque is sometimes joined by a live drummer) in the epic/atmospheric BM vein. Another artist with no bad releases (that I’ve heard) but the 2013 opus Lys Noir is particularly strong.

Gris
Another great band signed to Sepulchral, Gris play extremely poignant-sounding, at times lush BM, very sophisticated and with at times a Shining-like quality. It’s hard to choose between their two excellent albums, the first, Il Etait Une Forêt somehow has a magical, almost hushed quality even at its most raw, heavy and tormented, while their latest A L’Âme Enflammée, L’Âme Constellée… has a vast epic grandeur.

Chasse-Galerie
A strongly folklore-inspired band where Québec BM meets Falkenbach, Chasse-Galerie specialise in high-velocity melodic BM with at times a heroic flavour and lots of good tunes.

Ziel Bevrijd
Mentioned above, this strangely-named act is far from prolific (and sometimes scorned for the lo-fi qualities of its output), Ziel Bevrijd’s self-titled album and split with Csejthe (a very good band who don’t quite fit what I am writing about) should definitely be checked out by anyone into bands like Marblebog or (of course) Burzum.

Nordmen
Pretty standard orthodox BM with a strong atmosphere, NS by reputation (hard for me to say based on song titles in French) and pretty good despite a slightly thin sound.

Ciel Nordique
To date, Ciel Nordique have released one demo, in 2005, but it’s a very accomplished one, balancing aggression and melancholy perfectly.

Délétère
Still relatively new on the scene, Délétère so far have one excellent full length album, Les Heures de la Peste to their to their name. Better still, because more raw and concentrated, are the demos collected on De Ritbus Morbiferis; a set of songs that utterly embody the raw melancholy and stormy, snow-covered landscapes that define Métal Noir Québécois.

And that’s probably enough for now….

The Lucky Ones Were The First To Die! The 1980s post-Mad Max Apocalypse

However successful George Miller’s 2015 Mad Max movie was, for a variety of reasons it is unlikely to have the impact of the second (and by extension, the far superior first) one did; the release of 1981’s Mad Max 2 (known internationally as The Road Warrior) coincided with the boom in home video (specifically home video rental; those were the days when to actually buy a movie on VHS cost outlandishly vast sums) and the fact that it was set in a barren landscape with details (cars, clothes, technology) that were recognisably contemporary, but generally beaten-up, rather than gleamingly futuristic meant that its look and feel was easy to imitate on an extremely low budget. The storyline, too, was simple and dynamic in the style of a spaghetti western; requiring only a few key locations, a small cast and some action, it was apparently eminently imitable. Except of course, that George Miller is a masterful director and the pre-Hollywood Mel Gibson was an immensely charismatic and capable actor.

There was also the atmosphere of the early 80s; people may now, on the whole, be more scared than they were then, but the threats of the 21st century are rarely as monolithic and inescapable as the fear of nuclear war once was. The cold war, pre-Gorbachev, created a paranoia that pervaded not only obvious movies like Wargames (US) and When the Wind Blows (UK), but also silly flag-waving nonsense like Rocky IV. Not surprisingly, this is a feature of life in the 80s rarely acknowledged by the nostalgia industry.

Aside from Mad Max 2, the other cinematic progenitor of the 80s post-apocalypse straight-to-video movie was John Carpenter’s 1981 masterpiece(ish) Escape From New York. In fact, so influential are these movies that many of those that follow could (and will) justifiably be referred to as ‘Escape from Mad Max 2’ movies. Most of the classic derivative B movies can be easily identified by the presence of a post-Mad Max/Snake Plissken hero – lone, brooding, grizzled, leather clad, often with unacceptable hair.

Due presumably to it’s powerful final scene, the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes is evoked every now and then, albeit on a less epic scale; even less obvious, but arguably still there, is the distant influence of HG Wells’ The Time Machine, with its vision of a small ‘civilised’ ruling elite (Eloi) living in comfort and bestial devolved humanoids (Morlocks) roaming the wilds. A debased version of this idea; a small group of nice, civilised people terrorised by a group of not-nice, non-local people, helped by a nice, non-local person or people is so widespread in cinema (westerns, samurai movies, Night of the Living Dead etc etc) that it’s hard to say where exactly it originated (actually, probably somewhere quite obvious/well known, but I will look that up after it’s too late for this article).

Since the 1920s, most Hollywood movies have historically tried to sell themselves with a snappy tagline; as you will see, these movies have some of the best ever coined. So here is a selection of worthwhile post-apocalyptic movies that gives an idea of how varied even such a narrow subgenre can be…

Countdown to Apocalypse…

Technically pre-dating the 80s straight-to-video post-apocalyptic cycle (and influencing it?) but definitely worth a mention is

Damnation Alley (1977)
Tagline: You Have Seen Great Adventures – You Are About To Live One

Basically a bunch of TV and B-movie actors driving around the desert in ridiculous Robot-Wars-looking modified vehicles. Many of the factors that would become clichés are firmly in place here; a shattered, post-apocalyptic world (cheap desert locations), a ramshackle group of survivors (though less fashionably ramshackle than in Mad Max 2 and its imitators), a pretty basic ‘quest’ style theme (in this case a search for fellow survivors).
In terms of general filmmaking competence and originality this, though not great, is far above the standard of the general 80s movie of this type.

Another early entry that sets the tone for what was to follow is…

Ravagers (1979)
tagline: 1991: Civilisation is Dead

It really IS dead; in this yawn-apocalypse, Richard Harris tries to find a way to safety through a decaying post-civilisation landscape populated by warring gangs. It is far less exciting than one would think possible.

Post-Apocalyptic Raids

Not surprisingly, the true Escape from Mad Max 2 subgenre was defined by the work of Italian B-movie/exploitation directors. One of the true genre-setting movies, and pretty ubiquitous in video shops back in the 80s is Enzo G Castellari (director of Jaws ripoffs, horror movies and The Inglorious Bastards (1978))’s opus:

1990; The Bronx Warriors (1982)
tagline; The lucky ones were the first to die!

The disclaimer here is that there is no apocalypse as such; but the movie is 100% in the post-Escape From New York genre, with the Bronx declared a warzone and sealed off from the rest of the world, left to the feuding gangs that inhabit its decaying tenements and warehouses.

In fact, the movie is kind of an amalgam of several sources, most notably Walter Hill’s all-time great The Warriors (1979) and it owes as much to Romeo & Juliet and to spaghetti westerns as it does to the usual subgenre films. It is fun, more or less, but it has serious pacing problems (not to mention dubbing issues) that put it firmly in the z-list. The characters too are confusing – storyline-wise Mark Gregory’s ‘Trash’ should logically be the hero or the villain but isn’t really either. On the plus side, though, there is a character called ‘Toblerone’! This movie was part of a seam of post-apocalyptic movies with ‘Bronx’ in the title, possibly influenced by the depiction of the Bronx as violent no-man’s-land in Paul Newman vehicle Fort Apache The Bronx (1981)? Bronx Warriors itself is followed by the very similar but not-at-all-better Bronx Warriors 2 (Escape from the Bronx). Everything you need to know about that one is on this better-than-the-movie poster:

Another, but better Escape from Mad Max 2 movie is Fred Olen Ray associate Steve Barkett’s

The Aftermath (1982)
tagline; Hell in the Aftermath; who will survive?

Mad Max‘s bizarre mutant biker-gang leader was (strangely yet memorably) called Toecutter. The Aftermath has a gang of mutant weirdo bikers led by B-movie god Sid Haig’s ‘Cutter’. Despite the utter lack of originality, the story (slightly influenced by Planet of the Apes: astronauts return to Earth to find it a post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited by gangs of violent criminals et cetera) and direction actually make this a very watchable B-movie.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for:

She (1982)
Tagline; Sandahl Bergman tempted Conan and now she is ready to take on the World

Even the truly great Sandahl Bergman (of Conan the Barbarian etc) can’t save this plodding post-apocalyptic updating of H Rider Haggard’s classic adventure novel She. There are lots of excellent and bizarre elements; werewolves, gladiators, mad scientists and so on – but (a key genre fault, this) the pacing is bad and the atmosphere flatter than a dust-swept wasteland. A sad waste of talent, especially since it was directed by non-schlock Israeli director Avi Nesher.

Similarly unambitious but more fun is giallo maestro Joe (Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals) D’Amato’s…

Endgame (1983)
tagline; For An “Endgame” Champion In The Year 2025, There’s Only One Way To Live. Dangerously

‘Escape from Mad Max 2’ again; this film shares many parallels with the later The Blood of Heroes (see below) and looks forward to The Running Man, but is much more fun than either. Telepathic mutants, violent game shows, warriors, what’s not to like?

Similar but SO much better; perhaps the ‘Escape from Mad Max 2’ movie of all time also arrived in ’83, in the shape of Italian exploitation master Sergio (La Montagna Del Dio Cannibale) Martino’s opus…

2019: After The Fall of New York (1983)
tagline; Mankind will prevail if it can survive the year 2019…

After a nuclear war, naturally, (this film, like John Carpenter’s, actually names the – now alarmingly close – year, rather than giving the usual vague-but-infinitely-more-sensible date of ‘the near future’) society has broken down, technology has failed and gangs of radiation-infected mutants roam the ravaged wasteland blah-de-blah.
In this case, what’s left of society is being led by the evil and repressive “Euraks”, while a rebel Federation fights for the survival of the old ways of life (presumably those same ways of life which led to the apocalypse, but that’s people for you).

In a blatant ripoff of Escape from New York, the Federation hires a mercenary (though not a nothing-to-lose criminal like Snake Plissken) called, somewhat loftily, ‘Parsifal’, who, naturally owes allegiance only to himself and his own survival and *snoooooore* but nevertheless accepts the mission to travel into the heart of New York(!) to retrieve the only fertile female left on earth.
The key to this film’s enjoyability is its utter trashiness, and to be fair, the survival of the human race does seem like more of a ‘prize’ than the life of the President or fuel. Fun, nasty and definitely unboring, like B movies should be.

Speaking of ‘Escape from Mad Max 2’ …

Stryker (1983)
tagline; After the holocaust, nothing matters but survival also, perhaps better; The Odds are a million-to-one. And Stryker is the one.

Uninspired taglines for an uninspired movie; Filipino exploitation master Cirio H. Santiago (TNT Jackson, Nam Angels) directs this opus in which, after the inevitable apocalypse, the world is running out of water (of course), and a group of Amazons guard the last known freshwater spring but are attacked by a gang of blah blah blah, until moody, monosyllabic tough guy “Stryker” turns up to help them out. You know the rest.

more of the same in….

2020 – Freedom Fighters (1984)
tagline; When earth becomes an arena… murder becomes a way of life.

Joe D’Amato again, but on much weaker form, this super cheap plodathon tells the story of a band of grizzled warriors fighting against fascism in post-holocaust Texas.

Business as usual in Bobby (The One-Armed Executioner) Suarez’

Warriors of the Apocalypse (1985)
tagline: They turned paradise into hell!

Although firmly in the Escape from Mad Max 2 mould, there is a welcome flavour of heroic fantasy in this movie. After civilization has inevitably been wiped out by nuclear war, a ridiculous leather-clad adventurer leads a group of wanderers on a search for the fabled Mountain of Life, on the way encountering mutants, pygmies, ladies in fur bikinis etc. FUN.

A very welcome if sadly very bad addition to the genre is…

Robot Holocaust (1986)
tagline; It’s machine versus man in the ultimate battle for the future!

Finally, someone (in fact Tim Kincaid, director of Bad Girls Dormitory and gay porn) realised that there might be robots after the apocalypse! In this timeless masterpiece (as much heroic fantasy as anything else) a ‘drifter’ called ‘Neo’ and his rusty robot sidekick battle evil authorities who are using slave labour to run their power station, with extremely low budget results.

More typical (but less fun, and shockingly an even weaker premise) is…

Steel Dawn (1987)
tagline; there are several, none great. Best is probably In this frightening time, one man makes a difference

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, an evil gang are menacing a peaceful group of survivors because they want to steal their water. *YAAAWN*, and then a ludicrously bearded warrior in the shape of the late, great Patrick Swayze(!) arrives to sort everything out. Yep, it’s ‘Escape from Mad Max 2’ again, only more good-natured and much less fun.

But what happens when you cross ‘Escape from Mad Max 2’ with the superior 70s sci-fi movie Rollerball, I hear you ask..?

The Blood of Heroes (ridiculously aka The Salute of the Jugger) (1989)
tagline; The Time Will Come When Winning Is Everything

The second half of the 80s produces especially threadbare variations on the post-apocalyptic straight-to-video movie and this is one of the worst; in this future, the ragged survivors of nuclear war aren’t looking for fuel, Presidents, ladies or even water; they are playing a nasty yet somehow extraordinarily dull version of football. ‘The Time Will Come When Winning Is Everything’ – hopefully not for a while yet though.

Fred Olen Ray got a brief mention earlier, and it would be strange if one of the ultimate Z-movie directors of the era hadn’t dabbled in a (presumably lucrative) straight-to-video genre: of course he did!

Warlords (1988)
tagline: He came out of nowhere. A stranger, a soldier… and maybe a saviour

Seriously cheap (though less so than Olen Ray’s Lovecraftian yawnathon, Phantom Empire) this endlessly boring Escape from Mad Max 2 movie has a cast of maybe 10 people, several of whom play handily-masked mutants that hero David Carradine despatches every 10 minutes or so. The ‘plot’; Warlord (Sid ‘the Cutter’ Haig) kidnaps a girl and takes her into the mutant-ridden wastelands. David Carradine rescues her. Even the fairly formidable quantities of gratuitous nudity that 80s B-movie directors revelled in fail to make this watchable to post-adolescent people.

Almost too late, but just about worth a mention is

World Gone Wild (1988)
tagline; 50 years after the end of the world the only ones left are nuked-out, zoned-out burnouts. The wildest adventure of all is about to begin.

Actually it really isn’t. A small role for Adam Ant as a bad guy is perhaps the most memorable thing about this ‘ragtag bunch of survivors protecting dwindling water supplies’ movie, but it is more-or-less watchable and fun.

AFTERMATH…
‘More-or-less watchable and fun’ may be a modest achievement, but it is but an unattainable dream for the most recent additions to the genre. There are (leaving aside ‘big’ movies like The Road and The Book of Eli which, whatever their faults, are not B-movies in the usually accepted sense) comparatively few these days, but those that there are (that I have seen) are on the whole not even as enjoyable as the lamer entries here, and in some cases (Doomsday (2008)) fall into all of the old ‘Escape From Mad Max 2‘ cliches, without even the excuse of cashing in on a recent, fashion-changing blockbuster. And then there is the new Mad Max. But if Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy and actually being released in cinemas just seems too commercial, there is enough of the 80s apocalypse out there (if not available on DVD, let alone Bluray) to keep even the most hardened leather-clad mercenary busy for some time...

Independence as a State of Mind: the Bosque Records story (1988-2001)

Romantic intro…

Records (even really bad ones) are mostly just what the word suggests: a unique record of a specific performance, made on a particular day or days, by people in a particular room or rooms, who were in whatever mood they happened to be in at the time.

Record labels are, at their best, a time capsule of an era (or, if they go on long enough, time capsules of eras; see for example the lavish Rise and Fall of Paramount Records box sets), bringing together and preserving these voices and sounds and making them accessible for as long as the technology exists to play them.

Naturally, the more focussed or niche (or just small) a label is, the stronger the time capsule quality is; which brings us to Bosque Records. Although the big names of the 90s Scottish indie scene (Primal Scream, Belle & Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, Travis, Shamen etc etc etc etc) are well remembered by posterity (or else are actually still around), they were simply the most visible/commercial/successful elements of an extremely vibrant and wide-ranging scene, which had its roots in the punk era and evolved throughout the subsequent decades in a variety of unpredictable and sometimes whimsical ways.

At the less commercial end of the spectrum was Tom Worthington’s Bosque Records, initially based in Edinburgh (rarely noted for its music scene) and then Glasgow (always noted for its music scene). In the period 1988-2001 Bosque released a handful (twenty-something) of distinctive, often powerful releases by artists as diverse and idiosyncratic as Dominic Waxing Lyrical, Gilded Lil, Starstruck and Trout. A small output perhaps; but it fulfils the ideal that (presumably) all labels start out with; you can pick up a Bosque release, be it punky, experimental, bluesy, dancey, with the confidence that you will hear something different, something interesting, something unique. And that is a real achievement.

In some ways, Bosque was documenting the end of an era; changes in the music industry, along with (and partially caused by) the birth/growth of the internet and the (temporary, as it turned out) death of vinyl records meant that the indie scene of the early 21st century would be less local and often less experimental, thanks to the appearance in the mid-90s of ‘indie’ as a term denoting a specific style/genre of (mainly guitar-based) music.

The original meaning of indie was in fact exemplified by small labels like Bosque; truly independent, devoted to whatever music their owners wanted to release, regardless of style and fashion or commercial potential. Indie releases from the 80s and 90s have their own special charm; like the music itself, the hand-drawn logos, the artwork and design have a resolutely non-corporate appeal, an expression of freedom and the non-elitist sense that art isn’t something precious or pompous, and that it has everything to do with your life.

Tom was good enough to share his reminiscences (and pictures; please see his Flickr albums for proper photo credits) with us;

When and why did you decide to start a label?

“I was in a band in Edinburgh, named Hee Haw and we had recordings that we wanted to release. In 1988 we first put out an 8 track cassette ‘Splash your head’ that sold quite a few (200?) so logically we thought that we would next do a vinyl record which was the 5 track 12” ‘WrigglEP’ in 1989 (bosc 006). Of course we should have done a 7” or 2 x 7”s but we had ‘label support’ from Fast Forward who persuaded us that the 7” was wrong for us and the ‘market’. And we were impressionable so that is what we did. It was alright, Peel played it and we sold a few, gigging as much as we could.”

Where did the name Bosque come from?

“Bosque (my spelling) is/was a word in common parlance in Forres, Moray, the town where I grew up. It means, roughly, excellent or sound, as in mighty. There was a Bosque cassette compilation in 1994 that featured The Manxish Boys, Pink Kross, Starstruck, Gila Monster, Policecat etc. This was called ‘Humpy Bosque’ (bosc008c) which suggests that it is an incredibly wonderful thing – which it kind of was. The name was of course awkward and annoying, always requiring to be spelled out to people, B O S Q U E.”

What were your biggest influences when you started the label?

“Punk rock. Vanity self publishing. Desire to document. Validation. Independence.”

What is your favourite record label, if you have such a thing?

“I shall plump for Shimmy Disc. But also early Flying Nun. Ankst Records too – I so admired their thing and was always actively seeking a decent band that communicated in Gaelic. But to my knowledge no such band has ever existed.”

Was there a specific guiding principle/vision behind Bosque records?

“Initially no, not really, it was a collective necessity and a shared responsibility. But after the Hee Haw releases it became me and Mark Gibbons, and that’s where it got freaky, and free. We were so in love with music, our own and that being made all around us. We were passionately involved, music and art and poetry was all that mattered. We knew that we had to take complete control and somehow, that is what we did. After Mark & I moved through to Glasgow in 1995 he started to have more fun. He joined and recorded several other bands and became less and less involved in Bosque. It was mostly me then, in a cheap white suit, a bit stoned.”

You were involved in the Bosque Burlesque events as well as the records, was there a spirit of camaraderie between the label/bands/fans?

“Well yes there was. I mean not always, because we were purposely juxtaposing things and deliberately trying to integrate many strands of the cultures that we were interested in. The Bosque Burlesque shows were a good example of this approach. Bosque was always about widening things out, finding connections and introducing jarring elements that tickled our fancy. We were trying to be free. And straddle the medias. There was such a great scene in Glasgow in the mid 90’s. We hardly cared about the rest of the world, we had all the excitement and all the tunes right here in our city. It was, essentially, a very wonderful time. The grotty basements and the parks and the cheap bars were full of individuals experimenting with their lives, throwing all that they had against the wall to see what would stick (a Will Prentice observation).

< Minx Grill

Seemed like everyone made music, wrote zines, put on gigs, we were just very, very present. Really I was too involved to ever be successful at the label game. I was a little bit older than most of us and I found myself in some kind of welfare/surrogate uncle role for lots of lovely, amazing, needy people. But at the same time I was trying to be a responsible safe bet to London promo/label types, fuck that wasn’t very comfy for me. But someone had to do it…

But aye, looking at the photos I took of the Bosque Burlesque shows, just about everyone in the audience was in bands themselves – and lots of them still are! A lot of fun, so many stories…”

What are your favourite Bosque releases and why?

“I suppose that the Sativa Drummers / Rockaragnarok split 10” (bosc024) summed up the ethos pretty well – and it is a great record. Sativa Drummers were a collective of drilled, politically motivated ravers with drums who would turn up from over the horizon at every demo or radical event in the east of Scotland. Mark Deas recorded this record and marshalled a massing barrage of drums, with minimal tape loops that conjured up an Albini-esque finale. Rockaragnarok on the other side were associated with and even shared members and lives with the Sativa Drummers but played an entirely different, timeless plas-rock psyche that amazes me still. But I am proud of all that we released. I just wish there had been more.”

Are there any Bosque artists you feel deserved wider exposure?

“Pretty much all of them. Seriously. I honestly believe that when they were on form, Gilded Lil were one of the greatest rock & roll bands of all time – and Trout were punk rock incarnate. Starstruck were pretty incredible at times and I am extremely proud of it, even if I say so myself. And what to say of Dominic Waxing Lyrical? I hardly know where to start, but the good thing is that he has not stopped and that is perhaps in some small way, due to our documenting and validating his music and stance on life back then.”

<Gilded Lil live c.1998

Were there any bands around then you wish you had signed but didn’t?

“Lots, I had so many ideas, so much enthusiasm, but so little money. There were so many good ideas for records, it’s a wee bit painful to think about them. I was useless with the business and admin but was convinced all through doing the label that someone, some big label or distro or individual would support and bankroll me through a load of releases. I had the bands ready, and the ideas and energy. It didn’t happen though.

I very nearly got to make a record with Mr. McFall’s Chamber (trumped by Robert Fripp).

I would have loved to have made a record with the Country Teasers.

There was to be a Starstruck picture disc 7” on the subject of red hair that just never happened dammit.”

It felt like the UK indie scene really changed around the time of Oasis, when suddenly commercial appeal/mainstream success started to be a goal, rather than something to be suspicious of, was that how it felt from the inside?

“I don’t think I cared that much. That stuff was all so crass and bland to me. Starstruck actually had a run in with Creation records around this time. Dave from Fire/Paperhouse Recs wanted to re-release the 1991 Starstruck cassette album ‘It’s fun, it’s easy. It’s you’ (bosc005) on CD on his Seminal Twang label – which was a fantastic idea, we were thrilled. And he was keen, he got us to do some recordings for various compilations, flattered us, gave me beer money, put us on the guestlists and generally held out the prospect of looking after the band, he was just really enthusiastic. But then he got head hunted to Creation where it all went wonky. Although we went with him there (without having signed anything, duh) his priorities suddenly seemed to change to immediacy and cashing in on what had become indie as a style not independence as a state of mind. We were palmed off, were bottom of the pile and basically forgotten about, which was deeply frustrating and resulted in Saskia and I going into the Creation offices at Creation and removing the Starstruck artwork and tapes. Disappointing, extremely. But we never were going to fit into that scene. Maybe we never were going to fit into any scene… Thus the subtitle to the Starstruck ‘Moi et Beatrice Dalle’ cassingle (bosc009) in 1993 was ‘No Creation Now!’. It also includes our classy version of the Beach Boys ‘Surfers rule’ which we had recorded for a Seminal Twang compilation with Murdo from The Cateran and Margarita from The Fizzbombs/Rote Kapelle.”

How far (if at all) do you think the label was shaped by being based in Glasgow? It definitely felt like Glasgow had a scene in a way that Edinburgh didn’t…

“Well Bosque moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1995. Couldn’t be bothered with Edinburgh any more. Glasgow was absolutely the place to be. I was coming through twice a week anyway. Mark & I had both split up with girlfriends in the east and besides we had added a rhythm section to the Starstruck sound and they lived in Glasgow. So we loaded a van and hit the M8.

Mid 90’s Glasgow was grotty but kind of perfect. Bands would form, flicker and break-up in a day. 15 people would huddle in a bedsit to watch a VHS of a Cassavetes film. Folks would meet at the photocopy shop, start a new zine. We all forgot to eat. The 13th Note and Sleazy’s could be so perfect of an evening and sincerely we did not give a fig for the rest of the world, we had our own. We made friends for life. Very interesting when Richard Hell or Kim Fowley or The Make Up came to town – Glasgow gave more than it got. Amazing.

Of course I remained closely involved with my pals in bands in Edinburgh and felt obliged to introduce and promote their thing, first to Glasgow and then anywhere else that would have them…. This Edinburgh connection seemed like a trump card for Bosque, it felt important. But when I’m in Edinburgh I always want to get back to Glasgow to see what’s going on.

So yes, Bosque was shaped by Glasgow, but perhaps in hindsight it would have benefitted from a slight remove. But that’s not the story.”

Was running the label a financial struggle? Was it ever a full-time occupation?

“Well yes it was a struggle, eventually a bit of a disaster. It was so hard to even make ends meet and I never made any money to speak of, it all went back into the bands, their records, tours etc. But for a very long time I was so motivated and convinced of a beautiful outcome. The satisfaction was from being with fantastic, hilarious, talented people and making music and records. And between me and all the other labels, we did document an important and exciting time in Scottish culture. We did.

But yes I had to work through it all to pay my own way. And I sold furniture, records, all kinds of stuff, just to complete recordings and make the records that I believed in and was committed too. My enthusiasm knew no bounds.”

Was distribution ever a problem?

“Distribution was always a problem. We existed in a window of time where provincial rock & roll had little currency outside of our scene and the internet was but a baby. Post Fast Forward (1990 or so) there was no Scottish distro network to speak of so we were trying to deal with the London distributors and certainly for Bosque that was generally a highly dysfunctional & unsatisfactory relationship. These firms always seemed to be at it with us, but I freely admit that I was pretty dim about it all and not good at the language of bullshit or of playing hard-ball, both of which seemed to be required skills in manouvering within the London music industry. So probably most of our sales were at gigs, direct to shops and through the mail. But can I say that Paul Kearney is a lovely man!

As far as the web went we were actually really on it and did even attempt to live-stream a gig in 1995 as Mark & I and Saskia & Clare from Sally Skull were involved in Scotland’s first internet café then – but it all went tits up, which was another reason for escaping Edinburgh. We subsequently had a website and tried to work that but in the absence of streaming/downloads/secure server it was never a realistic way of running the label.

Sally Skull live, c.mid 1990s

My complaints about distro should not obscure the wonders of the myriad bedroom distros & the international pop underground which supplied the Bosque P.O. Box with cute letters containing fivers and ten dollar notes and IRCs and cheques in return for our vinyl – which meant that there was always a wee bit of money around for the essentials of life.”

Why/when did Bosque close?

“It all got very messy in late 1998/1999. Drugs and depression, death and despair. I had promised certain things basically the Gilded Lil album (bosc028), and I just had to hold on until that was released, which wasn’t until 2001. But I so very badly wanted/needed to get out, quit, take a back seat and get some rigour and honesty back in my life. It was a sad end to an extraordinary time. So very much energy had been put into the venture and there was not so very much coming back at me.”

What do you think of the Scottish/UK indie scene nowadays, do you still follow it?

“A bit. I go out and see bands in Glasgow sometimes. Lots, maybe even most of my friends make music, some of them have never stopped, I guess that they cannot and indeed why should they. There is still a lot of fantastic music being made in this country, particularly of course here in Glasgow. Great bands, labels, venues – loads of crossover into visual art, film and the written word. Exactly as it should be and, I am glad to say, it just don’t stop.”

Looking back at Bosque, do you have any regrets? Would you do it all again and if so what would you do differently?

“No regrets, fuck that. Never again. Onwards.”

Heartfelt thanks to Tom for taking the time to answer my questions! See many more great photos from his archives here

See the Bosque discography here

“Cheap Turd”: the mysterious charm of Valet Girls (1987)

Valet Girls (1987)
Dir. Rafal Zielinski
Starring. April Stewart, Meri D. Marshall, Mary Kohnert
Valet Girls is a poorly made, badly paced, atrociously acted, flatly filmed, desperately unfunny, trashy near-exploitation movie; it has almost no redeeming features; so why is it so great?

Mostly, this must be due to ‘period charm’ – they probably do make crappy movies like this nowadays, but somehow the tone of the modern post-Farrelly brothers, bottom-of-the-barrel comedy is incredibly charmless even by the standards of the z-grade sub-Police Academy humour that plagued straight-to-video films 30 years ago.

What’s funny (peculiar) about Valet Girls is that it doesn’t even have the courage of what convictions it has – the movie poster and publicity suggests a raunchy (indeed, near-pornographic) teen movie, but it is in fact, significantly less titillating than Porky’s, Revenge of the Nerds or even the aforementioned Police Academy itself.

The perfunctory storyline can be summarised extremely briefly; three girls (April Stewart, Meri D Marshall and Mary Kohnert – only the latter was to make further appearances on film) start working as valet parking girls in LA in order to make it in show business. Ironically, the film seems to have been in part an unsuccessful attempt to launch the music career of the appealing but not overly star-powered Meri Marshall; as far as I can tell she had some success in Germany. To that end, she sings a handful of forgettably likeable synth-pop songs, somewhere between Tiffany and Debbie Gibson stylistically.

So what is the appeal of the film? Partly the utter woodenness of the three leads – their intense anti-charisma becomes, to the sympathetic viewer, a kind of endearing charisma. The same can’t be said for the irritating young men who are outwitted by the girls throughout the film and whose names I can’t be bothered to look up. Probably the biggest names associated with the film are John Terlesky (best known to sci-fi/fantasy fans as the title character in the below-par comedy sequel Deathstalker II) and Ron Jeremy, in one of those roles that demonstrates why his career never took off when wearing clothes. Naturally, being the kind of film this is, it wants to have its cake and eat it; we are supposed to see the girls as go-getting young business women, aiming for the stars, but doing it all for themselves; all well and good; and in fact they are both smarter and tougher than the males in the film. As luck would have it for the people trying to sell Valet Girls to a youth audience, though, the girls’ business venture requires them to be sexy (at least I presume they are supposed to be sexy) and to dress (relatively) sexily throughout.

Mainly though, it is that ‘period charm’ – modern movies set in the 80s may carefully research and study the hairstyles, the fashion and music of the time to give an authentic 80s appearance for those too young to remember, but Valet Girls is a compendium of the kind of attempts at fashion that were unsuccessful then and have never been revived, but which were nevertheless a pervasive part of the 80s pop culture universe; witness for example the majesty of the jerky new wave-ish cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ played by ‘The New Psychotics’; an 80s movie producer’s idea of what the kids might (but didn’t) think was cool. All eras have these kind of things, but the time preserved here has, like the 1920s seen through John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra, a poignancy even in its silliest details; for those of the right age, this was their youth and is an era which shall never return.

Valet Girls may be the longest 90 minutes or so you will ever watch – and in terms of plotting, acting, comedy and direction it makes Weekend At Bernie’s 2 look like Weekend at Bernie’s, but on the other hand, if you are old enough to remember the 80s (or wish you had been alive then) and wallowing in amateurish anti-nostalgia appeals to you then you could possibly do worse.

Footnote: the title of this article isn’t just me being mean, it comes from a ‘hilarious’ moment of Police Academy style humour where one of the girls insults one of the many irritating men who populate the film:

Rosalind (April Stewart): “Cheap turd!”

Archie Lee Samples (John Terlesky): “what!??”

Rosalind: “I heard”

For similar experiences see also:
Biggles; Adventures in Time (1986) (80s nostalgia)
Mesa of Lost Women (1953) (50s B-movie nostalgia)
Her Reputation (1933) (30s B-movie nostalgia)
Grange Hill (1978-1990-ish) (an authentic British 80s childhood experience, only without the swearing)

LIVE DEAD: Mayhem 1990

Suicide and murder will get a band noticed, but more than enough has been written about all that elsewhere (best short version; Ian Christe’s Sound of the Beast, best longer version; Michael Moynihan & Didrik Søderlind’s classic Lords of Chaos), so…

Looking at the history of the notorious/famous/classic/tragic 1988-91 lineup of Norway’s black metal legends Mayhem (Dead [vocals] – Euronymous [guitar] – Necrobutcher [bass] – Hellhammer [drums]), the surprising thing about the band isn’t that that they did not manage to finish recording the album they were working on (De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, eventually released in 1994 after the deaths of both Dead and Euronymous) but that they managed to achieve anything at all.

Famously broke, hungry and with little audience existing at that date for the kind of music they were making, the band nevertheless made a huge impact that lasts to this day. They professionally recorded only a few songs (notably Freezing Moon and Carnage, recorded in 1989, but not released as a single until years later when, again, literally half of the lineup on the record were dead) but their influence on their contemporaries was huge and they even managed the impressive feat of touring outside of Norway, albeit in a severely haphazard and underfunded way.

L-R Euronymous, Dead, Hellhammer, Necrobutcher

The band only played a handful of concerts, mostly around 1989-90, and luckily (and surprisingly) most of those were captured on tape for posterity, with varying degrees of technical skill.
The surviving concert recordings appropriately take place mostly in the cold of winter, (February and November, 1990) and give a picture of the band’s evolution from the rudimentary (if extreme) gore-obsessed black metal of their 80s demos, to the intense and atmospheric black metal that was to kick-start the musical style of the whole genre as it is now known.

The setlist for Mayhem’s shows throughout 1990 seems to have stayed more or less the same, although early favourite (and title track of their 1986 demo debut) Pure Fucking Armageddon was superceded by the vastly superior and more thoughtful new song Pagan Fears in the later shows. It is well-documented that Dead self-harmed during several, perhaps all of these shows, but (maybe luckily) the results are never audible, although there is at times a palpably intense and uncomfortable atmosphere.

The Great War: Live in Jessheim, February 3rd 1990

The first surviving concert recording (I think; I haven’t researched this as thoroughly as I intended to) seems to be a show in Jessheim, Norway from February of 1990, just over a year before this version of the band imploded with the suicide of Dead in April 1991. The recording is, to be charitable about it, not great; harsh, tinny and noisy. It does capture the enthusiasm the band still had at this point, although they were to become noticeably tighter by the end of the year.

1. Deathcrush
Despite a fair amount of surface hiss this is a very strong, gritty and listenable version of the old classic from the 1987 mini album of the same name. Dead roars a few times, but seemingly the only part of the lyric he knew this night was “Deathcrush!!” Pretty good nonetheless.

2. Necrolust
Lots of crowd noise and hiss make this a less satisfying listen as the music is a bit muffled and distant. Still, a pretty good version, as far as the bass and guitar (the most audible parts) are concerned and Euronymous’ solo is less tuneless than sometimes. Again, it seems like Dead only sings some of the lyric, but possibly it’s just that his vocals are lost in the surface noise. One of the more enthusiastic crowd reactions of this period though.

3. Funeral Fog
The crowd (or at least a couple of people) actually chants ‘Mayhem! Mayhem!’ before Hellhammer plays the blastbeat intro to Funeral Fog. A noisy, bad recording can’t hide the fact that the band are playing an excellent version of the song; Dead’s vocal is noticeably more engaged than on the earlier songs, and his delivery, deeper than usual, comes across surprisingly clearly. Euronymous’ guitar playing is excellent, intense and precise and the atmosphere of the classic ‘True Norwegian Black Metal’ comes across perfectly. The song ends in an eruption of feedback but the crowd reacts with enthusiasm.

4. Freezing Moon
Dead gives his usual intro (“When it’s cold and when it’s dark the freezing moon can obsess you” over whines of feedback before the band launches into a messy (at least poorly-recorded and hissy) but still powerful version of one of the all-time classic anthems of black metal. The band (especially Euronymous) plays a little less certainly than in later recordings and Dead’s vocals in the slower part are swamped by the guitars, but the atmosphere of the song still comes across effectively and the crowd reacts vocally.

5. Carnage
The crowd continues to chant and the band launches into an abortive version of Carnage that collapses just after Dead has shouted the opening line. There seems to be an issue with the guitar and Euronymous plays a few random chords before the band launches back into the song, playing an intense but messy version, made challenging to the listener by the poor quality of the recording.

6. Buried by Time and Dust
Dead’s usual semi-comprehensible intro leads into a false start where the band plays a bar or so before the song cuts off, then starts again. The recording makes it all a bit buzzing and monotonous but it’s still an undoubted advance on Carnage.

7. Chainsaw Gutsfuck
Dead barks the title and the band lurches into life, playing that simple yet ominous riff hard and heavy. As with the rest of this show, the volume of the guitars and level of hiss makes it a less than pleasant listening experience, but it was never supposed to be nice.

8. Pure Fucking Armageddon
More feedback and some tuning sounds take up the first few minutes of this highly chaotic version of the title track from the band’s first demo. The small audience chants and cheers, Dead finally announces the song and, after another false start and more chanting the band finally plays, extremely fast and loud but also tunelessly. Unless you like pure noise, this is pretty unpleasant, and the end is cut off, making it an unsatisfying version of one of their less impressive songs.

Dawn of the Black Hearts: Live in Sarpsborg, February 28th, 1990

Probably the most famous of Mayhem bootlegs, Dawn of the Black Hearts has always enjoyed a kind of semi-official quality, since it features a photograph of the scene of Dead’s suicide taken by Euronymous and intended by him (you would think, somewhat unrealistically) as an album cover.
The photograph was presumably sent to Colombia by Euronymous himself, and in 1995, following the murder of the guitarist, the also late Mauricio “Bull Metal” Montoya used it as the cover of the original edition of the album on his Warmaster label, which also features some live tracks recorded by the previous Mayhem lineup in Ski in 1986. Incidentally, the title comes from lyrics written by Darkthrone’s Fenriz which includes an excellent reference to Satan’s “hooven clooves”.

1. Deathcrush
The slightly tinny quality makes this particularly feral version of the perennial Deathcrush a bit hard on the ears, but Dead’s shriek manages to equal Maniac’s unhinged performance on the original 1986 mini-album, no mean feat.

2. Necrolust
After a very short pause for whooping from the crowd, the band launches into a churning version of another venerable classic. The slow, stomping intro riff is more effective than the blasting passages, and Dead’s voice is a little lost in the noise (although he delivers his lines with an occasional hint of Celtic Frost-ish swagger). Star of the show is Hellhammer, who basically pummels the song to oblivion. The crowd sounds a little taken aback but approving, chattering and shouting good-humouredly through Euronymous’ guitar tuning before Hellhammer’s curt intro leads into…

3. Funeral Fog
The first song of the set to be penned by the lineup actually playing is noticeably superior to its predecessors, the blasting passages being both fast and relatively complex/melodic. Dead is audibly more enthusiastic and Eurnonymous’ guitar playing loses its sloppiness, playing the song’s intense interlocking riffs with speed and precision. The tremolo-picked riff following the verses is aggressive, atmospheric and completely definitive of the ‘second wave’ of black metal that the band was bringing into being. The reaction of the (presumably quite small) crowd is suitably enthusiastic.

4. Freezing Moon
After Dead’s usual introduction the band is led into a slightly clumsy version of their signature tune by three cymbal crashes. Once the song gets going everything falls into place, but there seem to be some minor timing issues during the intro. Dead’s especially hoarse vocal is extremely effective during the slower passage, although the performance is derailed a little by Euronymous’ solo, which is basically the same as usual but seems to be in the wrong key.

5. Carnage
Back to the earliest years of the band for this messy, noisy blastfest. The band is fast and powerful but also more ordinary than in the preceding songs; Dead rasps, Euronymous plays a speedy would-be technical solo but it’s only in the thrash-toned lull before the last section that the song has much character.

6. Buried By Time and Dust
Another Dead-era classic, and the man himself delivers a highly theatrical monologue leading into the song, possibly his best delivered intro, although the band unfortunately doesn’t quite start when they should. When they do though, they play this, one of Mayhem’s most dramatic tunes, with intensity and precision. Only the trebly quality of the recording mars what is still an excellent performance, especially if the bass is boosted. The relatively poor sound quality does highlight how great Euronymous’ skeletal riffs are though. It also gets one of the more vocal responses from the crowd.

7. Chainsaw Gutsfuck
The monolithic intro to this sounds as good as always, but Dead’s vocals are buried in the noise, making the whole somewhat monotonous.

8. Pure Fucking Armageddon
Dead intones ‘Only death is real!’ a few times before the band storms into one of their earliest, but not best songs. Still, a rousing end to an intense show.

The album ends with the aforementioned live tracks from Ski (or Lillehammer, depending which sources are correct) from 1986, but the recording has comical speed issues typical of old concert tapes; – think Donald Duck on vocals.

Live in Gleisdorf (?) (date??) 1990

There is little information available (at least I haven’t been able to find much) concerning this concert, credited as taking place in Gleisdorf, Austria, but just as likely to be somewhere nearer to the band’s home. That said, the fact that the band seemingly ends the set with Pagan Fears suggests that it could have been part of the ‘mini-tour’ that visited various locations in the former East Germany in the later part of 1990.

A bootleg with the tracklisting below seems to be available, but I don’t have it, so I have only written about the bit I could find online. The nice thing is that it doesn’t seem to be one of the other recordings re-packaged in the usual bootleg manner, so whether or not it’s really from Gleisdorf, it does seem to be a different concert from the usual 2 or 3 that turn up.

1. Deathcrush
The recording is very poor indeed but reveals that the band plays the opening at a more relaxed pace than usual. It is played are noticeably more tightly than on the earlier recordings and Dead’s vocals sound more coherent, so despite the very poor quality of the recording it’s a surprisingly enjoyable version of this venerable tune.
2. Necrolust
3. Funeral Fog
4. Freezing Moon
5. Carnage
6. Buried by Time and Dust
7. Chainsaw Gutsfuck
8. Pagan Fears

War and Sodomy: Live in Zeitz, November 24th, 1990

Also known simply as ‘Live in Zeitz -1990’, War and Sodomy is a better quality recording than the more famous Dawn of the Black Hearts, with the band tighter and more muscular sounding than before and with a more gritty substantial sound, although the vocals are occasionally lost in the (lack of) mix.
The recording was made during the band’s troubled mini-tour mentioned above, which took them to the former East Germany, although concerts further afield were also planned. The setlist had now become equally split between older material and the newly-written songs, giving it more of the ‘true Norwegian black metal’ sound.

1. Deathcrush
The murky sound of this concert begins with some semi-incoherent growling from Dead, but once the music starts the sound is reasonably clear and less harsh than sometimes. The band sounds powerful and better-rehearsed than on earlier concert recordings but unfortunately Dead’s vocals are a little quiet and echoey.

2. Necrolust
The deeper sound gives the intro a particularly ominous quality but once the blastbeats begin it’s all a bit of a blur. Not the worst version, but Dead’s vocals are mainly an incomprehensible croaking noise.

3. Funeral Fog
One of the highlights of the show, even with the dulled top end the atmosphere and power of the song comes across brilliantly, Euronymous’ haunting melody cutting through the swimming-pool acoustics. Dead is still (appropriately) a little lost in the wall of sound, but his despairing croak surfaces from time to time.

4. Freezing Moon
A very slightly different intro from the usual (Dead rasps ‘when it’s cold & when it’s dark’ rather than the other way round) leads into a towering version of the classic Freezing Moon, second only to that on Live in Leipzig. Euronymous’ solo is almost the same as there but not quite as good. Otherwise this is pretty much perfect, Dead’s voice is harsher and deeper than usual but clear and comprehensible.

5. Carnage
A good version of the song, but like much of the earlier material, Carnage was starting to sound a little tired compared with the newer material. Euronymous livens it up with some rather screechy soloing but although full of energy and aggression it isn’t a highlight.

6. Buried by Time and Dust
Dead’s somewhat garbled introductory statement seems shorter than usual but the band plays the song with authority and intensity. Again, the vocals are a little lost in the sound (especially towards the end when there is some very squealing feedback) but overall a strong version.

7. Chainsaw Gutsfuck
Again sounding a little pedestrian compared to their more recent material, this is a pretty good version of the Deathcrush classic, with the vocals clearer than on most of the songs here and some nice playing by Euronymous.

8. Pagan Fears
At the beginning of the year the band had still been ending their shows with the venerable Pure Fucking Armageddon, but it was replaced in later shows by the mighty Pagan Fears, one of the best tracks written by this lineup of the band. The band is tight and focussed and Euronymous plays the intense riffs perfectly. The recording is somewhat detached from the rest of the album, the intro and applause are cut off, robbing the show of some of its atmosphere, but it’s worth remembering that these recordings were never intended for the CD format so it’s possibly just to do with the mundane reality of turning the tape over to continue recording.

Live in Leipzig: November 26th, 1990 (Eiskeller Club)

The only official live album featuring Dead and the best of these by far, Live In Leipzig, despite many rough edges, captures the band at its best, delivering definitive versions of many of their songs. Interestingly, the setlist here combines all of the songs they had been playing throughout the year (it may just be that this is the only complete show), making it the perfect live document of the era.

1. Deathcrush
As on the ‘Gleisdorf’ version, the band leads into this version of Deathcrush slower than usual before reaching the usual blasting tempo. After all the previous bootlegs it is extremely refreshing to hear Dead loud and in the foreground and with all instruments audible behind him and little surface noise.

2. Necrolust
A solid, brutal version of Necrolust gets a slightly muted response from the crowd, to Necrobutcher’s audible exasperation. His shouted ‘Come on Leipzig! is a rare occurrence for a band who – at this period – tended to stick to minimal, scripted* interaction with the audience.

* possibly not actually scripted, but Dead does seem to have worked out three or four standard monologues for live performances

3. Funeral Fog
As if to shake the audience out of it’s torpor, the band launches into perhaps the best ever version of Funeral Fog. The band’s (and especially Euronymous’) playing is precise and aggressive and Dead delivers his peculiar but seemingly heartfelt lyric about a deadly mist in the Carpathian mountains with throat-ripping intensity. Euronymous’ tremolo-picked melody is one of the highlights of early 90s black metal. The crowd finally reacts with some excitement and Dead delivers his introductory monologue to…

4. The Freezing Moon
The band plays the classic intro at a deliberate, powerful pace before leading into perhaps the definitive version of their most famous tune. Euronymous’ solo is as peculiar as ever, but more inspired and less off-key. Arguably superior to the drum-heavy studio version this lineup also recorded (see above), this is one of the milestones of the band’s career. The audience sounds relatively enthusiastic, but not enough for Dead, who chides them before the band leads into a pummelling version of…

5. Carnage
A fast, precise version of this older song (presumably one the band were still particularly fond of, it is one of only two songs that Dead recorded in the studio.) It’s a strong performance but not their best song, despite Euronymous adding some more modern black metal touches to his guitar parts.

6. Buried by Time and Dust
Feedback somewhat spoils Dead’s introductory speech and the band launches into a good, extremely fast version of this classic with very precise guitar playing but a slightly rattling drum sound compared to most of the album.

7. Pagan Fears
Without doubt one of the best black metal songs of the era, this version of Pagan Fears falters slightly after the intro as Euronymous seems to get slightly lost in the timing of the brief slow section. As soon as the song launches into the first verse though, it picks up, becoming one of the highlights of the set. Dead’s rasping delivery makes the most of one of his best, most enigmatic lyrics.

8. Chainsaw Gutsfuck
Anticlimactic after Pagan Fears, the intro to Chainsaw Gutsfuck is nevertheless as powerful as ever, but the song just sounds a little too primitive compared to its predecessor. A good version though, prowling and sinister, but although Dead delivers the lyrics as well as anyone could, their crudely ‘shocking’ quality seems hopelessly ineffective after the mysterious atmospheric allusiveness of Pagan Fears. After much subdued but good-humoured crowd noise, during which Dead (or Necrobutcher?) exhorts the crowd to join them, the band finally plays…

9. Pure Fucking Armageddon
Probably the best, most intense version of the song, this is heavier and more riff-oriented than usual, although Euronymous does play a seemingly improvised and very messy solo. Disappointingly, the song fades out just as it ends, with no real sense of the crowd’s reaction, a slightly bathetic end to an iconic release.

As far as Mayhem’s recorded legacy in concerned, Live at Leipzig marks the end of an era. Within six months of the concert, Dead had committed suicide, after which Necrobutcher quit the band and this version of Mayhem came to an end. Although it almost certainly didn’t feel like it at the time, they had actually achieved quite a lot for a bunch of weird kids from what was then not a country known for its heavy music.

Within a couple of years, Euronymous too was dead, and the classic Mayhem was no more. Subsequent lineups have made important contributions to the black metal genre and the band endures to this day, but the mystique that draws people to the band still belongs to those early years which, it shouldn’t be forgotten were about music as much as anything else.

Dead (Pelle Ohlin) & Euronymous (Øystein Aarseth) RIP

Once Upon a Time in Argentina: Swords & Sorcery, 1980s style

If the heroic fantasy movie has become synonymous, post-Lord of the Rings, with state of the art special effects, epic locations and massive budgets, there was a time, not so long ago, when its natural home was the video rental shop and its scope, although theoretically limited only by the imagination, was in fact reliant on ready-made formulas and the cheapest epic locations that small studios could afford; usually, it turns out, in Argentina.

Despite the lowliness of the genre’s ambitions, the poverty of its ideas and sometimes the modesty of the actors’ talent, the 80s swords & sorcery genre is not without its merits. Like the post-apocalyptic sci-fi with which the fantasy genre sometimes crosses over, most of the films under discussion here were basically the aftershocks of a couple of hugely successful films. The main progenitors are probably: Star Wars (1977) and its sequels, which set the standard for fairly basic (and familiar) mythology-derived plots (well, less mythology than pulp literature, especially the works of Robert E Howard and his imitators) as vehicles for spectacular action. Again, theoretically spectacular; on the whole there is nothing more dramatic than swordplay and possibly a few flashes of crudely animated magic.

Related but not so influential on the fantasy genre was Desmond Davis’ cheesy classicClash of the Titans (1981), which to an extent revived an interest in mythology and adventure, but mostly renewed the popularity of Ray Harryhausen’s earlier masterpieces. John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981), too, was a high profile release, but although loved by many (myself included), it remains – like Boorman’s sci fi masterpiece Zardoz – something of an acquired taste, too specialised (and perhaps too British) to have much effect on the low budget video scene.

The biggest influence of all though – and the initiator of 80s swords & sorcery cinema proper – was John Milius’ epic, if plodding Conan The Barbarian (1982). Visually beautiful and symbolically powerful, Conan is in a different league from its imitators, but alas, many suffer from the exact sort of pacing issues that make Conan such a long two hours. The simple ‘orphan-seeking-revenge’ plot is one imitated again and again throughout the great sequence of cheap 80s fantasy movies. There were of course genuinely good/interesting/enjoyable fantasy movies made in the 80s; Ridley Scott’s flawed Legend, Ladyhawke, Labyrinth and even The Dark Crystal, but this article is not about those. The shelves of the local video shops were heaving with ‘genre’ movies: post-Porkies, sub-Police Academy risqué comedies, post-Star Wars sci-fi (Ice Pirates, The Last Starfighter et al), horror series galore (a long article could be – and probably has been – written about Cannibal movies alone).This list isn’t anywhere near complete (like most of these niche genres, the sheer quantity of these kinds of movies is amazing), not all of these movies are very watchable but they are all worth mentioning.
Starting near the top end of the genre, an archetypal 80s Swords & Sorcery adventure is…

Beastmaster (1982)

Essentially Conan with ferrets, Beastmaster tells the tale of the He-Man-esque ‘Dar’ (Marc Singer), who goes on an animal-aided quest for revenge against those who killed his family.
The storyline, basic though it is, allows for the usual combination of encounters with bizarre creatures, evil warriors and comical companions. Less usual are the beasts that give Dar his title; a slightly aged-looking black panther, a bird and a bag of ferrets. What Beastmaster has that many of its peers (and influences) don’t, is watchability. It’s silly, it’s cheap and sometimes dubiously acted, but it isn’t boring.
Beastmaster has a particular kind of sequel, shared by others in the genre; the (presumably even cheaper) ‘fantasy hero goes through a portal into modern day USA’ plot. These are worthy of (and may get) an article of their own some day; the undisputed genre classic is of course Dolph Lundgren’s immortal Masters of the Universe (1987).

Where Conan the Barbarian was unusual was that, thanks to Arnie’s famous physique, it effortlessly lived up to its Frank Frazetta-style poster. The poster was in fact almost as influential as the movie; Peruvian fantasy art icon Boris Vallejo single-handedly made many a B-movie actor and actress look puny and pallid in comparison with his Olympian depiction of them. Boris is arguably one of the most accomplished painters of the 20th century, but it’s fair to say that his heroic, dynamic poster designs are one of the reasons that the Deathstalker series feels so disappointing. Worth a look though, especially…

Deathstalker (1983)

Post-Conan in the extreme, Deathstalker tells the story of a – by Conan/Boris standards – not-quite-muscular enough dork called Deathstalker, who is sent on a quest to find various objects and free a princess from a magician. If you had never read a single fantasy novel or seen a single fantasy movie this would still feel hackneyed and unremarkable. But if you like the clichés of the genre it’s plodding but enjoyable.

In Evil Dead style (though far less inspired), the sequel was not to be a true sequel at all, more of a lampooning of the genre. And it went by the thrill-inducing name of…

Deathstalker II (1987)

deathterl — Deathstalker (John Terlesky) meets the legendary (but real) wrestler Queen Kong

The ‘story’ of this movie is perfunctory in the extreme, with Deathstalker (now portrayed by the hardly-muscular-at-all John Terlesky) mainly indulges in smart-arsey wisecracking dialogue. Although the ratio of lame to funny is definitely weighted towards the ‘lame’, there are a few funny lines and the overall feel of the movie is likeably silly. The hero may be less heroic, the scantily clad beauties less scantily clad, but it is probably superior to the original nonetheless.

Deathstalker III (1988)

introduced another lead actor, an even cheaper production, fewer jokes and an almost statically aimless plot. Rick Hill returned for the final instalment in 1991, but although it retained some of the humour of the other sequels, it was severely lacking in the mayhem, violence and gratuitous nudity which gave the original movie what flavour it had.

Similar but a lot better is…

Amazons (1986)

The key to the appeal of Amazons; basically a limp quest movie, is that despite the perfunctory plot, bad acting and poorly staged fight sequences, the characters are extremely likeable and their soap-opera relationships are very watchable, though the low-key villain (some bearded guy) undermines the drama a little. Trashy fun.

A fondly-remembered, if somewhat boring movie, Hawk the Slayer (1980) is a modest British film. Hawk… predates most of these movies, and is a wooden, plodding film, but fun for those who like the ‘unlikely band of adventurers; dwarf, elf, giant and man’ type of quest movie. Jack Palance makes an excellent (if obtrusively American) villain as the scarred Voltan.

Sorceress (1982)

Cheap, inept, badly acted (and oddly, apparently dubbed in parts though clearly being in English), this is nevertheless a fun, completely watchable movie. The plot doesn’t really bear repeating.

If watchable cheese is what you want, you could do far worse than…

Barbarian Queen (1985)

Much like Amazons, only delivering more of the gratuitous nudity implied in its cover art, Barbarian Queen is a simple revenge thriller/plodder, a tougher and less sentimental movie than Amazons but also less memorable. It does, however satisfy on the cheesy B-movie level as no doubt intended.

Yet more of the same in…

The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984)

Despite his undoubted talent, David Carradine’s presence was rarely the indicator of a good movie, and this is no exception. A simple story, based on Kurosawa’s classic Samurai drama Yojimbo sees Carradine as a nameless moody swordsman becoming involved in the feud between two villages who are competing for the ownership of the only well in the district. A simple, dramatic plot can be no bad thing, but here the pacing and dialogue make for a long 81 minutes, despite the generally well-staged fight scenes and mainly decent acting.

Honourable mentions:
The Sword and the Sorceror (1982)
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
She (1982)
Ironmaster (1983)

By the early 90s, the genre seemed to have run its course and, despite the odd one-off, the heroic fantasy genre lay dormant until the twenty-first century, when Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy brought swords and dragons back into the mainstream once again. The plots may remain the same, but changes in filmmaking techniques, fashion and special effects mean that now the 80s swords & sorcery genre feels as remote and archaic as Cimmeria….

Petty Obsession: Hair Metal you never hear in the movies

With the resurgence of all things 80s in the last decade, it was inevitable that hair metal would have some kind of renewed popularity, but even so, its respectability is surprising. Mötley Crüe for instance, seem to have far more credibility now than they did (in the UK at least) back in the 80s. Which is nice and all, but it’s a bit disappointing that posterity has largely selected the same tired selection of Guns ‘n’ Roses, Def Leppard & Bon Jovi songs as definitive of the era. Especially sad when there were so many great albums released that failed to have much impact, even the first time round. Such as…

Easy Action – Easy Action (Tandon, 1983)

This Swedish glam band was influenced by 70s glam rock and especially by Hanoi Rocks (look at the album cover) and featured singer Zinny Zan (later of Shotgun Messiah) and Kee Marcello, who would resurface a few years later in Europe. Pretty much every track is a perfect bubblegum glam masterpiece; so much so that Poison pinched the melody of ‘We Go Rocking’ for their own classic, ‘I Want Action’. There are two versions of this album; the original is the best as they re-recorded standout track ‘The End of the Line’ in a less good, slow version for the rerelease.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: All of them! (except maybe the somehow not-so-great opening track ‘Rocket Ride’)

D’Molls – Warped (Atlantic, 1990)

D’Molls were from Chicago and their self-titled debut of 1988 featured a couple of truly great hair metal anthems (notably ‘D’Stroll’ and ‘777’) alongside a lot of forgettable dross. Not so follow-up Warped, which despite being released at the tail end of the glam era is as sleazy and catchy as ever, but with a lot more heart.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: several, including the great ‘My Life’ and über-ballad ‘This Time It’s Love’

Faster Pussycat – Faster Pussycat (Elektra, 1987)

If there was any justice in the world this album would be as well known as Appetite For Destruction – in many ways Faster Pussycat are similar to early G’n’R, but they have far more character and a kind of New York Dolls-ish soulful atmosphere which is admittedly less MTV-friendly than Axl and co. Taime Downe is, to my ears a far more likeable vocalist than Axl, and whereas G’n’R always seemed destined for stadiums, Faster Pussycat are more suited to the sleazy dive; and they sound all the better for it.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: take your pick – ‘Bathroom Wall’ or ‘Ship Rolls In’ would be as good as any.

Fastway – Treat or Treat OST (CBS,1986)

Fastway weren’t really a hair metal band; but (partly thanks to the movie it was written for) Trick or Treat is totally a hair metal album.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: They already were, but ‘After Midnight’ is a towering AC/DC style classic.

Glorious Bankrobbers – Dynamite Sex Doze (Planet, 1989)

It’s surprising that Swedish glamsters Glorious Bankrobbers aren’t better known; their version of hair metal is tougher and more rock ‘n’ roll than many of their contemporaries; far more in tune with modern taste in fact, being somewhat similar to bands like Duff McKagan’s Loaded (albeit with catchier tunes).

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Hair Down’, despite some fairly laughable lyrics.

Hanoi Rocks – Two Steps From the Move (CBS, 1984)

Hanoi Rocks were arguably the architects of hair metal; but they mostly weren’t actually metal at all, as this classic pop/rock album proves. 1983’s Back To Mystery City is even less hard-edged but just as good.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Don’t You Ever Leave Me’ – the perfect hair ballad, or on a more classic hair metal note, ‘High School’

Dogs D’Amour – In the Dynamite Jet Saloon (China, 1988)

On the whole, UK glam bands tended to imitate the style and sound of their US counterparts, but the micro-scene that included Dogs D’Amour and The Quireboys had an altogether rougher, more shambolic (not to say drunken) atmosphere. The music was scruffier too; less metal, more romantic, but on this classic sophomore release Dogs D’Amour managed to keep it all together and produce a set of classic and predictably whisky-sodden rock anthems.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘How Come It Never Rains’ – simply a great, melancholy-yet-uplifting rock song.

Helter Skelter – Welcome to the World Of Helter Skelter (Noise, 1988)

SILLY but great, this album has more than its fair share of ultra-catchy, not at all heavy songs and one misleadingly hard rock opening song. The cover art is almost like a kids TV version of the Pretty Boy Floyd album. The band did in fact have a silly furry mascot.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: so many to choose from but today I’m saying towering feelgood anthem ‘Innocent Girls’

Kingpin – Welcome to Bop City (CMM, 1988)

The best glam metal album ever? 100% glam and tacky and 100% metal, Kingpin was Zinny Zan’s follow-up to Easy Action. After the album bombed they relocated to the US, changed their name to Shotgun Messiah and re-recorded this same album in a slightly inferior form. They still weren’t massively successful though.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Don’t Care ‘Bout Nothin’ – but they are all appropriate

Anthem – Gyspy Ways (King, 1988)

Japanese glam, less well known than Loudness or E-Z-O but probably a bit better than both.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Midnight Sun’

Lion – Dangerous Attraction (Scotti Bros, 1987)

Strangely unknown album, full of great, classy hair metal, a tiny bit like Ratt, only marginally heavier.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘In the Name Of Love’

Madam X – We Reserve The Right (Jet, 1984)

Most famous as being the band where the Petrucci sisters (of Vixen) and Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row) started out, this album is essentially a hair metal cheese festival: great. Sadly, Sebastian was not in the lineup that recorded the album.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘We Want Rock’

Nasty Idols – Gigolos on Parole (HSM, 1989)

This slightly weak Swedish glam album is strong on attitude but sadly not songs; there are a couple of great ones though.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: Undoubtedly ‘Gimme What I Want’ – classic.

Phantom Blue – Phantom Blue (Shrapnel, 1989)

Quite heavy for a glam-ish album, this is simply excellent 80s metal made by glamorous ladies.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Why Call It Love’

Pretty Boy Floyd – Leather Boyz with Electric Toyz (MCA, 1989)

One of the all-time great hair metal albums; look at the cover! Plus, every song is a sleazy, feelgood anthem. They were just too late to be huge, but they should have been.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ALL OF THEM

Shout – In Your Face (Music For Nations, 1989)

If the idea of Christian hair metal seems anything other than genius to you then I pity you. Like all hair metal, Shout are inherently ridiculous, but take it to another level. At the same time, it’s just good; kind of Whitesnake-ish bluesy hair metal, with lots of heartfelt, nearly-but-not-quite-preachy lyrics.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Waiting’

Show & Tell – Overnight Sensation (Medusa, 1988)

Quite bad indie hair-metal but they WANT to be famous so badly that they can’t help being likeable. Plus they do have a couple of songs that survive the threadbare production values.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Hairspray Blues’

Sleeze Beez – Screwed, Blued and Tattooed (Atlantic, 1990)

Very Americanised Dutch glam; and good stuff too, a bit like White Lion.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Stranger Than Paradise’

Tigertailz – Young & Crazy (Music For Nations, 1987)

The ultimate UK hair metal band. Despite their very MTV image there is a British tinge to their hair metal sound, kind of Duran Duran-meets-Motley Crue.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘She’z Too Hot’

Alien – Cosmic Fantasy (Ultranoise, 1984)

I don’t know much about Alien, but this is a very peculiar mini-album, a mix of classic hair metal and some spacey psychedelic bits – not great, but SOME of it is great.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Don’t Say Goodbye’

Wrathchild (UK) – Stakk Attakk (Heavy metal records, 1985)

Complete trash with a 70s glam rock feel and some classic, basic anthems.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Trash Queen’

Coney Hatch – Friction (Vertigo, 1985)

Maybe more ‘melodic hard rock’ than true hair metal, but utterly 80s and very good, this album has a plethora of catchy, atmospheric tunes.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘The Girl From Last Night’s Dream’

Celtic Frost – Cold Lake (Noise, 1988)

Famously disastrous for Swiss black/death metal legends Celtic Frost, this is a uniquely dark & sleazy glam classic that sounds like no other.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Petty Obsession’

Nitro – O.F.R. (Rampage, 1989)

Hair metal taken to its farthest extreme, this is a horrendously overbearing album made by a group of over-talented music teachers. A headache waiting to happen, but it does have its moments.

The song that should be used on the soundtrack to some lame movie: ‘Freight Train’

Woman Power! Ms Marvel & 1970s ‘Farrah Fawcett Feminism’

Problem: It’s the 70s, you are editor-in-chief for Marvel Comics, the biggest (or joint-biggest) comicbook publisher in the USA. Your readers are mostly fairly young; you want to move with the times. Your top titles regularly receive mail from female readers who want to feel represented, not just as a sidekick or team member, but as a bona fide title character.

DC has Wonder Woman after all, and for all her old-fashioned qualities, she is iconic. Marvel doesn’t (yet) do ‘old fashioned’. Simple; except for the fact that the majority of the readership (and indeed the vast majority of comicdom’s creators) is still male. By and large, these young men and boys are okay with empowered, intelligent and charismatic women. They do want them to be sexy though. After all, to be ‘an ordinary person’ is kind of not what superheroes are about, and in the comicbook universe of the time (and even now, mostly), the superheroine is ‘feminine’ (ie curvy), athletic and fond of tight clothing, where her male counterparts are musclebound and fond of tight clothing. So…

Ms Marvel – whose name alone is strongly redolent of the 70s – was one of many comics launched by Marvel in that period to cash in on (or, more charitably, to fulfil a recognised demand for) a specific phenomenon or corner of the comics market hitherto neglected; at the high end of the scale, they attempted to redress the racial balance of their output a little with Luke Cage; Power Man (and, a few years before that, the superior Black Panther) and far further down the ladder of actual relevance, Captain Britain was launched as part of the then-new Marvel UK imprint (and, several leagues of magnitude more trivial even than that, with the great Dazzler they cashed in on the disco craze), but Ms Marvel was all about a very glamorous, Charlie’s Angels*/Cagney & Lacey, 1970s version of feminism. Despite the disclaimers around their creation, there’s a lot to be said for these kind of characters; comic readers are used to different artists/writers stamping their personal style on Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, Spider-man & co; but anything perceived as messing with an icon (witness the Supermullet fiasco of the early 90s) does not go down well. These kind of less venerable characters are far more flexible; writers and artists can experiment with them, change them with the times and, if the central core is strong enough, all is well (which is not to say people don’t have their favourite teams/stories etc; see below).

*she even borrowed Farrah Fawcett’s iconic hairstyle, albeit in a manner more suitable to gymnastic crime fighting. Unlike the Angels though, she had no ‘Charlie’ pulling her strings…

joe — a typical moment of Ms Marvel Mayhem

In the original Ms Marvel series, Carol Danvers was a successful journalist who, in a moment of slightly uninspired (but damn it, still brilliant!) Stan-the-Man-ism became a female version of Marvel B-list superhero Captain Marvel (himself rather uninspired & definitely not to be confused with the legendary golden age Captain Marvel later known as Shazam.)

As a Marvel title in its own right, Ms Marvel didn’t run for long, but at its best it is pure entertainment with a slightly compromised but definitely not half-hearted message of female empowerment. Although (naturally) a sexy superheroine, Carol Danvers was the usual put-upon Marvel character, endlessly worrying about work deadlines, angry bosses etc. However, her insistence on her equality with (or her evident superiority to) her male colleagues (leotarded and otherwise) and her general lack of husbands or steady boyfriends – though old news in the world of actual real people by 1977 – was refreshing in the muscles and capes world of the Marvel Universe.

Mainly written by the eternally underrated Chris Claremont, the comic had heart and action aplenty, although at times the superheroics (Ms Marvel battled an endless list of Marvel’s more ridiculous non-iconic villains during her brief run) get in the way of the rather more fun soap opera-like elements of the strip.

mooneysinnott — Mooney & Sinnott make Ms Marvel look good

The nearest thing the book had to a regular art team was Marvel greats Jim Mooney and Joe Sinnott, perhaps not as glamorous as John Buscema or Jack Kirby, but with their own stylish, hard-edged approach, which in the early issues gave the series a bold, dynamic feel in keeping with its forthright character. Although other artists were to draw Ms Marvel, it is undoubtedly the Mooney/Sinnott team (like the individualistic work of Mike Vosburg on the generally quite comparable Savage She-Hulk around the same time) that gives Ms Marvel its vibrant character.

shulk — Mike Vosburg’s individualistic She-Hulk

The only ‘star’ artist to ever draw Ms Marvel in her original 70s series was the great (and sadly now late) Carmine Infantino, who gave her a finely detailed, subtle sparkle very different from the feel of the classic issues, but it was too little, too late and shortly after premiering a new, vastly less good (though at least not second hand) outfit (which however seems popular with cosplayers, which is something), the comic was cancelled. Ms Marvel herself continued (and continues) to pop up all over the Marvel universe,* but it’s the Claremont/Mooney/Sinnott issues that have that special something missing from many a ‘better’ comic series.

*2019 update; she finally got her own movie, kind of. Captain Marvel wasn’t quite Ms Marvel, but it was good

It’s easy to mock the sometimes clunky melodrama of Ms Marvel, but in fact the book is absolutely typical of Marvel comics in the late 70s, regardless of gender. Her outfits (especially the original/best) are no skimpier than most Marvel heroes, and her domestic woes are absolutely on the same level as Peter Parker and co, and in that sense Ms Marvel; glamorous, tough, funny and hard-done-by, is a true feminist icon of her era; albeit one designed to entertain while reflecting the changing social landscape, rather than actually challenging the status quo. It’s just a shame, though not a surprise, that in the 70s, no woman actually got to write or draw her strip.

carminefanto — Carmine Infantino’s stylish and elegant Ms Marvel

The Story of an Artist; Daniel Johnston covered

Due to his highly idiosyncratic, sometimes unnerving style and often rough and sometimes non-existent production values, many people prefer to hear the songs of the great Daniel Johnston performed by others; they are wrong – but there are many great covers of his work. The following selection is not comprehensive but all of these are definitely worth hearing…

1. M Ward: To Go Home (from Post War, 2006)

Guitarist/Singer M. Ward (of She & Him, Monsters of Folk etc) recorded a superb version of Daniel Johnston’s ‘Story of An Artist‘ for The Late Great Daniel Johnston, but this is even better; one of the best songs from arguably Johnston’s best album, The What of Whom, this version rocks without losing any of the complicated but intense feeling of the original.

2. Beck: True Love Will Find You In The End (Discovered Covered – the Late Great Daniel Johnston)

Perhaps DJ’s most covered song, nobody quite captures the hopeful desolation of the original recording, but Beck’s version gives the song a mournful Neil Young-esque acoustic guitar & harmonica treatment (slightly reminiscent of the great ‘Out on the Weekend’) and makes up in authority what it lacks in fragility.

3. Camilo Kraxberger: I’m Gonna Buy Me A Car (Hola che, como andas- Homenaje Argentino a Daniel Jonhston)

The Argentinian (I presume) anthology Hola che, como andas- Homenaje Argentino a Daniel Jonhston contains many versions of songs that are even more ramshackle than the home-recorded originals, but there are some gems here too. Singer/songwriter Camilo Kraxberger sounds almost as fragile as Johnston himself on this great, non-amateurish recording. Less melancholy than the original, but much creepier and with excellent use of sampled car salesmen.

4. Lumberob – Honey I Sure Miss You (I Killed The Monster; 21 Artists Performing the Songs of Daniel Johnston)

This wonderful version seems to be exactly Daniel Johnston was aiming for on his own extremely affecting but slightly scratchy and wobbly original recording. Sometimes a smooth professional approach tends to bland out some of the original feeling, but here it is sophisticated without being too mainstream and works perfectly.

5. Drowning Your Mother: Mask (listen here)

This slightly basic cover takes the obsessive, morbid aspect of the song and makes it the whole point: it’s droning, deeply unhappy and great.

6. BMX Bandits: Do You Really Love Me? (from Star Wars)

As a songwriter and performer Duglas Stewart has the same kind of vulnerability (if less desperate on the whole) as Daniel Johnston, and the BMX Bandits are the perfect band to cover this very Beatles-eque song, retaining the feeling completely while giving the sound of a real band (although in fact the version on DJ’s Artistic Vice (1990) is also pretty much professional and polished.

7. Eels: Living Life (Discovered Covered – the Late Great Daniel Johnston)

This quietly powerful version of a somewhat manic original is based to some degree on Kathy McCarty’s also-great version of the song. Mark E gives a suitably world-weary quality to the optimistically dissatisfied lyric and the whole thing is beautiful and over far too quickly.

8. Kathy McCarty – Like A Monkey in A Zoo (Dead Dog’s Eyeball)

There are lots of good covers of this (Teenage Fanclub & Jad Fair’s would be the best if Jad could sing in tune), probably one of Daniel Johnston’s most accomplished early songs as well as one of his saddest. Kathy McCarty gives it a seemingly inappropriate jauntiness but somehow it works.

9. Virginia Verstraeten – Lousy Weekend (Hola che, como andas- Homenaje Argentino a Daniel Johnston ) – also a nice video)

Another (again, I think) Argentinian singer and a lovely weary version of this satisfyingly bitter song.

10. Karen O & the Kids – Worried Shoes (Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack)

The delicate, mournful piano and xylophone(?) makes this one of the prettiest DJ covers. Karen O is always a great singer and she makes the most of one of Johnston’s saddest lyrics on this perfect version of an always-great song.

11. Guster : The Sun Shines Down On Me (Discovered Covered – the Late Great Daniel Johnston)

This song has one of DJ’s most Beatles-esque melodies and matter-of-fact but poetic lyrics and Boston band Guster do it justice with a great, wistful performance.

12. Eddie Vedder: Walking The Cow (various live versions, here’s a nice one)

It would be nice if Eddie Vedder would record a studio version of this (he may have, I am pretty ignorant about Mr Vedder and his works). Whereas most covers of this classic song (Kathy McCarty’s is a very good example) more or less follow the tempo of the original (the same pounding rhythm as a lot of DJ’s chord organ-era songs), this version is slowed down without losing the atmosphere, fragility or meaning of the song. Plus he sings it very nicely.

13. The Pastels: Speeding Motorcycle (single, 1990)

Speeding Motorcycle is, though undoubtedly one of the great Daniel Johnston songs, a difficult one to cover; so much of its effect comes from the original, deeply unhappy performance. Somewhat oddly, The Pastels make it into a very 1990 dance-pop song. It works though, although Yo La Tengo’s version is kind of better on reflection.

14. AKA Lurholm: Fish (Apskaft tribute to Daniel Johnston, 2011)

One of my favourite DJ covers, AKA Lurholm unexpectedly turns DJ’s rueful, extremely self-aware semi-love song into a convincing up-tempo ska tune, adding a cheery quality while while not losing the feel or atmosphere of the original: who’d have thought?

15. Uni and her Ukelele – Silly Love (2010)

This perfect, assured cover has all of the emotional power of Johnston’s various versions, but is a little less wobbly. As beautiful as Uni’s ukulele is pink.

16. Indigo Morgan – Like a Monkey in a Zoo (2010)

This is remarkable not just for being a superb version of this wonderful song, but also because Indigo Morgan manages to be kinds country without automatically being unbearable. Nice guitar playing too.

17. Thistle – Love Not Dead (from The Late Great Daniel Johnston – Discovered Covered)

Very similar to the original but with a girl singer: i.e. great.

18. Young Statues – Silly Love

Another very nice version of one of Daniel Johnston’s most affecting songs, this time by New Jersey-based indie band Young Statues. Although there are several great versions of this by Johnston himself (the Live at SXSW and Fun versions especially) I’m not sure that he has ever recorded the definitive one yet.

19. Aaron Robinson – Peek a Boo (2009)

One of the real hidden gems on this list. Peek a Boo is probably one of Daniel Johnston’s most accomplished early songs and Aaron Robinson gives it the kind of professional, but still emotional, recording that it deserves. It seems strange that a song so specific to one individual (“I painted a bar and I never got paid…”) could be so successfully covered by another singer, but that’s always been one of the great things about music, hasn’t it?

20. Joy Zipper – Held the Hand (I Killed The Monster; 21 Artists Performing the Songs of Daniel Johnston)

Baleful but calm and strangely ‘nice’ (but still very creepy) version of this supremely creepy song.

21. Pear Shape – Walking the Cow (2013)

Another nice version of the oft-covered classic, this time by Australian indie band Pear Shape, this one is wistfully happy and summery and has a nice, cheap video too.

(Don’t) Lower Your Expectations; the evolution of Oblivionized

We’re not quite at the ‘albums of the year’ stage yet, but when we are, Oblivionized’s Life is a Struggle, Give Up will be featured prominently. From their earliest demos onwards, the band has epitomised the vital UK underground extreme music scene, with a series of always high-quality releases varying from dirty, chaotic grindcore to extremely technical death metal and I have been lucky enough to be writing about the band since those early days, mostly for Zero Tolerance magazine. Back in April I caught up with one third of the band for Pun-Based Name Pending and below is (a slightly revised version of) what came of it:

It’s always* nice to watch a band grow and evolve and although Oblivionized have just released their first album Life is a Struggle, Give Up, it’s the culmination/distillation of five years or so of progress and transformation that has seen the band go from the powerful, technical death metal-infused grindcore of their earlier work to something looser, less metal, more intuitive and distinctive, far harder to define, but no less intense.

*disclaimer; if they are any good it’s nice. Otherwise it’s annoying.

The band’s history is short enough that it’s fairly easy to track down all of their work to date; it’s totally worth doing that. discography

The style the band has arrived at since shrinking to a trio in 2012 isn’t very much like any other band I can think of. Drums/guitar/vocals sounds like a pretty skeletal basis for an album, but the concentration on these components gives the music a sparse, elemental feel and an emotional impact that matches the harsh minimalism of the lyrics. On earlier releases the technical skill of Sammy Urwin (also of death metal band Regurgitated Life etc) was often used in a powerful but fairly conventional (riffs/solos) way and the songs seemed to be carefully composed for maximum dynamic impact – which was very effective. On Life Is A Struggle though, the technical aspect (though no less impressive) seems less to do with killer riffs and heaviness than with an almost jazz-like telepathic intensity, comparable in a way to Painkiller circa Guts of a Virgin, but with a more personal/introspective focus. The album perfectly captures the live sound the band showcased on last year’s This is S.O.A.N. split with Razoreater, losing none of the immediacy of the live tape, but giving everything more precision and a sharper impact.

Well, that’s what I think anyway; here are some thoughts from vocalist/lyricist Zac Broughton:

It’s been quite a long wait for a full-length Oblivionized album, but it definitely feels like now is the right time for it, do you feel like this is the Oblivionized lineup for the foreseeable future? Was this the first time you ever wanted to record an album?

I’d say this is the third album me and Sammy have written for Oblivionized. Before Abhorrent Evolution (2011) Geoff (Bradley, guitarist), Sammy and myself over the course of nine months or so, demoed a twelve track album in my room. We turned the best from those demos into four songs when Jon and Phil joined and recorded them and released as Abhorrent Evolution. With that five piece line up we wrote nine, maybe ten songs for an album, we demoed two of them and released that as Nullify The Cycle… That album obviously never happened and I’m happy it didn’t. I realised recently that I haven’t been doing music just for fun, I enjoyed hanging out with my mates putting demos on myspace and going to gigs and that, but I’ve turned expressing myself through music it into my life. Being able to express myself honestly, not just screaming negative fantasies, or telling people how fucked the world is… which it is, lets be honest, we’ll likely all be dead in twenty years if that. But actually making something that I can be proud of and feel is an honest representation of what this is. So basically, if all the music we wrote, people’s lives we’d been part of, positive and negative experiences we have had as a band and individuals during our time together hadn’t happened, neither would Life Is A Struggle, Give Up… I don’t know what I’m trying to say anymore but I think I said it.

The title is great because it can be read as super-negative or actually positive, listening to the album it kind of feels like both; very bleak and angry but at the same time full of passion and energy, what would you say is the overall feel or theme?

I spent a lot of time trying to make sure I wasn’t telling anyone what to do or how to think, I’m not interested in that, so you can take them how you like. For me the album expresses exactly how I felt while writing it; simply put, life is really hard and I’ve wanted give up, just become what other people expect or want me to be. I chose not to and decided I’d live for myself, nothing matters anyway, so why give a fuck about other people and their opinions if the end result is your unhappiness.

One of the things that is really noticeable about the album is the way each element of the music has the same importance/focus, is that easier to do that as a three-piece band than it was in the past?

That is something Will bought to the band, in the past we’d had bass that was kind of an accompaniment, with guitars that played separate parts, make things more dissident but we’d made the drums all blasting and double kick. When Will joined and we became a three piece, Oblivionized became three different personalities working towards something.

You tour and play live a lot, was it important to produce an album that captures the sound you have live?

We don’t want to create much on record that we can’t recreate live as just a three piece. We recorded drums with just Sammy and Will playing together, no click track, no triggers or drum replacement, just take for take. Sammy then recorded his guitar parts and I did my vocals last, Tom (Corrupt Moral Altar, Vagrant Recordings) added some singing bells to I Pity You and Justine (Employed To Serve) did some extra vocals on Your Mouth Is A Wound, besides that it’s just us three in a playing music in a room.

Secret Law records seem to be doing a really good job of promoting the album, how did you come to sign to the label?

Will was just hanging out with his mate Tom and Tom was most likely saying “bro I might start a metal label” and Will probably said something like “yeah that’d be rad dude, my band has an album no other labels want to release!” and it just snowballed from there, Ed and Tom are fucking on it, they’ve picked up Desert Storm and they just picked up a new band called Funeral Pact who are rad.

Do you have as much control and involvement in all the aspects of making and promoting the album as you did when you were putting things out yourselves?

We still do all the same stuff, we just have some mates working with us now. It’s good to be part of something like Secret Law Records where we are working together to get something heard.

I’m sure the music is carefully worked out etc, but compared to your older work it has a kind of explosive, spontaneous quality, almost like free jazz, is there any element of improvisation in the way you write songs together?

Some songs were written with all three of us in a room bouncing ideas off each other, basically pushing a song in different directions until it met a conclusion, others were Sammy bringing ideas to me and Will, or Sammy and Will bringing ideas to me. After I’d improve vocals until I knew what the song was about. More simply put, It’s all just ideas and things that happened, musically and lyrically.

A related question; I’m not sure which are the newer and older songs on the album, but it seems like the band has gotten a bit looser and less rigid over the past couple of years, would you agree?

Before Geoff (Bradley, now of Atonement) left the band, he said something along the lines of “it’s time Oblivionized stopped writing shredding guitar exercises and started writing songs.” So that’s what we did, weird avant-garde jazz grind songs, or something.

One of the things I really like about the sound Oblivionized has now is that it’s impossible to label in a meaningful way; there’s something really special about the contrast of the technical guitar playing with the kind of intuitive, non-robotic drumming and super-emotive vocals but it isn’t typical ‘tech-grind’ or any of the usual labels you are given. How do you describe your music as it is on the album?

I honestly can’t, when we started out the idea of a genre was a huge joke to us. We started in 2008 it was weird man, you remember all the bands calling themselves “Ultra Guttural Brutality” and “Brutal Technical Slammin Death Metal” yeah? We all thought it was funny, some reviews called us Technical Death Metal, others said Deathgrind so we called ourselves “Misanthropic Technical Deathgrind” and it was hilarious. So we don’t really mind; Trve Kvlt Heavy Core.

the Life Is a Struggle artwork by Mark W. Richards (Heavy Hand Illustration)

You seem to push yourselves further with each release, is that something you do consciously? Do you have a ‘comfort zone’ as a band and if so is it something you avoid staying in?

I feel like we are aiming for something musically and we haven’t reached it yet, I love music and really enjoy being involved with underground bands and new bands. Lots of people come and go, make new bands and there are some brilliant bands out there if you want to find them. There are also a lot of bands that sound just like Converge, Napalm Death, or someone else and that’s rad, go for it, I enjoy seeing those bands play… but I’d like express myself, not someone else’s self.

Since the early days of the band it seems like the lyrics have become more and more focussed and specific and possibly more personal, is writing and performing an emotional or cathartic experience?

The lyrics are all developing an idea; it’s fully developed, yet I’ve been exploring the same idea for a long time. Making this music and performing is a very cathartic and important experience though, I feel sorry for any musician or listener that doesn’t have that connection to music.

LINKS:

Secret Law Records homepage

Heavy Hand Illustration