My first band, The Groot Velours (1987-1990) released a 7 song cassette in 1989, In God's Basement. The song "(I Get So) Hysterical" was included on the compilation What's All The Fuzz About (What Wave) out of London, Ontario in 1989 and has since been digitized and archived by CHRW in London. The production wasn't the best and the final mix seems to be sped up a bit making my voice sound a bit chipmunkish and overall the sound is tinny. Having said that, the song was actually pretty good and the main riff was cool. The mp3 that's out there is corrupted and you can't download it properly. Since then it has been linked to a few sites, but without any info on the band and a slightly wrong title.
For the record, here are the proper credits:
(I Get So) Hysterical (Schilling-Smith-Willett)
The Groot Velours
Produced by the Groot Velours
Engineer: unknown
The Groot Velours line-up
Mark Schilling: vocals
Rick Smith: guitar
Rob Willett: bass
Craig Caron: drums (1988-1990)
Jeff Sheeler: drums (1987-1988)
I hope to remaster the Groot Velours recordings as well as the recordings of my next band Liber Null (1992-1995) and put out some sort of compilation to download.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
I, Hipster Doofus
I am currently listening to Scott Walker's The Drift. What do I think of it? Do I like it? I've read that it's difficult. It's his first album since 1995 and the album he released that year, Tilt, is apparently even more difficult. The Trouser Press describes it thus: "[Tilt is] almost unclassifiable. While it recalls Tim Buckley's Starsailor for the uncompromising boldness and a tendency toward dissonance and atonality, it's unique as an epic psychodrama. Tilt suggests an experimental-industrial opera with a pared-down, cut-up libretto; an unnerving cycle of fragmented, minimalist lieder. The contrast with Walker's more straightforward earlier work is staggering."
The Drift continues this approach, and again the Trouser Press warns us that the album "suggests an artist bent on exorcising all popular nuances from his work, stripping it of triviality, light, levity and easy pleasure."
Who, exactly, is Scott Walker? You may be familiar with the Walker Brothers. They had a hit in the mid-60s called "Make It Easy On Yourself." (You know it). They were a bit of a response to the Righteous Brothers and were made up of three Americans, none of them brothers or Walkers, who, having been rejected commercially in the US, moved to the UK. (Being in the middle of swinging London, and, away from the draft, was a bonus). The Walker Brothers had a few hits in Britain and in the late 60s Scott released some solo records, four titled Scott (numbered 1-4 on CD reissues to make things easier) and as a solo artist, Scott Walker became well-known (in the UK and Europe) for both his striking, deep baritone, his lush songwriting and his interpretations of Jacques Brel.
The Walker Brothers did some nostalgic, money-making reunions, and Scott continued to release dark pop records. He was also becoming a favourite of a new creed of rock snob, the Hipster Doofus. The descendents of Lester Bangs, Hipster Doofuses were mainly university educated men (often MAs, and almost always humanities majors) who not only took music very seriously, but glommed onto several specific iconoclasts, who tended to be obscure, but, and here's the important part, still connected to the mainstream somehow. The point is, you have not heard of Music God A, but you should have, since he wrote Song X for Band C, or produced songs for Singer T and so on. The musical snobbery is subtle: this is not necessarily inaccessible music, just misunderstood, or maybe the timing wasn't right, or they were fucked around by an unsympathetic record company. Here's some examples:
Lee Hazelwood, producer, singer, songwriter of odd country-tinged pop songs which he sings in a rough Texas drawl. Why you might know him: he wrote and produced "These Boots Are Made for Walking" for Nancy Sinatra.
Gene Clark, singer, songwriter, a pioneer of country-rock and recorded several records which are acclaimed but sold nothing. A self-destructive sort, he was supremely talented but his fear of touring and performing live and his crippling insecurities led to a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse and he pretty much pissed off everyone in the music business and burned every bridge along the way. Why you might know him: he was the original singer and main songwriter for the Byrds. He was the one standing in the middle with the tambourine, he wrote some great songs on the Byrds' first two albums, plus "Eight Miles High" which was on their third, but he left the group before that album was finished, mainly because of his fear of touring and flying, but also because his songs were routinely set aside in favour of Bob Dylan covers. He recorded several solo LPs and records with Dillard-Clark and an claimed late 80s comeback with Carla Olson of the Textones, So Rebellious a Lover, and basically created the template for alt.country (and even here he's overshadowed by Gram Parsons). Gene succumbed to his demons and liver disease a few months after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Byrds.
Scott Walker, singer, songwriter. Walker made lush pop records and later some really strange minimalist, experimental records. Why you might know him: the Walker Brothers and "Make It Easy On Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore."
Others to google: Joe Meek, the Free Design, Alex Chilton.
Not counted: The Velvet Underground, because they never had a hit and you've heard of them. Hipster Doofuses love VU of course, but it provides no Hip Cred to name-drop VU or Lou Reed, John Cale or Nico. (You may mention that Moe Tucker played drums for Half Japanese or made some cool solo records or Sterling Morrison played guitar for Luna on "Friendly Advice" and "Great Jones Street" on Bewitched. Bonus points for mentioning that Doug Yule had a band in the 70s called American Flyer and that he was the only official member of VU not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and that Nico was never a member of the Velvet Underground, hence The Velvet Underground and Nico).
What about Syd Barrett or Roky Erickson? I haven't decided. What about outsider music like the Shaggs or Jandek? Different category. Another category still covers Love.
* * *
I've just finished listening to Scott Walker's The Drift. What do I think of it? Do I like it? It is difficult. I'll need to listen to it a few more times. I do like his early solo stuff. And here I begin to ponder my own Hipster Doofus status. Why do I like the oddball music icons? Is it about Cred? Long before I listened to much of this music, I was a fanatic about 60s music (I still am) and that included the Byrds. I was aware of Gene Clark as a songwriter and had heard that he released some solo records that never sold much. Scott Walker, the Free Design and a few others came to me through reputation, mostly reading about them. Did I then force myself to like this music? Play the first Scott album for someone. What did they think? Sounds like adult contemporary, right? What about the Free Design? "Kites Are Fun"? It's kind of like the Association ("Cherish", "Never My Love", "Windy"). Now, are they cool? So why is the Free Design cool? What about the Hipster Doofus deification of Burt Bacharach? Isn't that what grown-ups listened to in the 60s when their kids were listening to the Stones and Hendrix?
The Drift continues this approach, and again the Trouser Press warns us that the album "suggests an artist bent on exorcising all popular nuances from his work, stripping it of triviality, light, levity and easy pleasure."
Who, exactly, is Scott Walker? You may be familiar with the Walker Brothers. They had a hit in the mid-60s called "Make It Easy On Yourself." (You know it). They were a bit of a response to the Righteous Brothers and were made up of three Americans, none of them brothers or Walkers, who, having been rejected commercially in the US, moved to the UK. (Being in the middle of swinging London, and, away from the draft, was a bonus). The Walker Brothers had a few hits in Britain and in the late 60s Scott released some solo records, four titled Scott (numbered 1-4 on CD reissues to make things easier) and as a solo artist, Scott Walker became well-known (in the UK and Europe) for both his striking, deep baritone, his lush songwriting and his interpretations of Jacques Brel.
The Walker Brothers did some nostalgic, money-making reunions, and Scott continued to release dark pop records. He was also becoming a favourite of a new creed of rock snob, the Hipster Doofus. The descendents of Lester Bangs, Hipster Doofuses were mainly university educated men (often MAs, and almost always humanities majors) who not only took music very seriously, but glommed onto several specific iconoclasts, who tended to be obscure, but, and here's the important part, still connected to the mainstream somehow. The point is, you have not heard of Music God A, but you should have, since he wrote Song X for Band C, or produced songs for Singer T and so on. The musical snobbery is subtle: this is not necessarily inaccessible music, just misunderstood, or maybe the timing wasn't right, or they were fucked around by an unsympathetic record company. Here's some examples:
Lee Hazelwood, producer, singer, songwriter of odd country-tinged pop songs which he sings in a rough Texas drawl. Why you might know him: he wrote and produced "These Boots Are Made for Walking" for Nancy Sinatra.
Gene Clark, singer, songwriter, a pioneer of country-rock and recorded several records which are acclaimed but sold nothing. A self-destructive sort, he was supremely talented but his fear of touring and performing live and his crippling insecurities led to a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse and he pretty much pissed off everyone in the music business and burned every bridge along the way. Why you might know him: he was the original singer and main songwriter for the Byrds. He was the one standing in the middle with the tambourine, he wrote some great songs on the Byrds' first two albums, plus "Eight Miles High" which was on their third, but he left the group before that album was finished, mainly because of his fear of touring and flying, but also because his songs were routinely set aside in favour of Bob Dylan covers. He recorded several solo LPs and records with Dillard-Clark and an claimed late 80s comeback with Carla Olson of the Textones, So Rebellious a Lover, and basically created the template for alt.country (and even here he's overshadowed by Gram Parsons). Gene succumbed to his demons and liver disease a few months after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Byrds.
Scott Walker, singer, songwriter. Walker made lush pop records and later some really strange minimalist, experimental records. Why you might know him: the Walker Brothers and "Make It Easy On Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore."
Others to google: Joe Meek, the Free Design, Alex Chilton.
Not counted: The Velvet Underground, because they never had a hit and you've heard of them. Hipster Doofuses love VU of course, but it provides no Hip Cred to name-drop VU or Lou Reed, John Cale or Nico. (You may mention that Moe Tucker played drums for Half Japanese or made some cool solo records or Sterling Morrison played guitar for Luna on "Friendly Advice" and "Great Jones Street" on Bewitched. Bonus points for mentioning that Doug Yule had a band in the 70s called American Flyer and that he was the only official member of VU not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and that Nico was never a member of the Velvet Underground, hence The Velvet Underground and Nico).
What about Syd Barrett or Roky Erickson? I haven't decided. What about outsider music like the Shaggs or Jandek? Different category. Another category still covers Love.
* * *
I've just finished listening to Scott Walker's The Drift. What do I think of it? Do I like it? It is difficult. I'll need to listen to it a few more times. I do like his early solo stuff. And here I begin to ponder my own Hipster Doofus status. Why do I like the oddball music icons? Is it about Cred? Long before I listened to much of this music, I was a fanatic about 60s music (I still am) and that included the Byrds. I was aware of Gene Clark as a songwriter and had heard that he released some solo records that never sold much. Scott Walker, the Free Design and a few others came to me through reputation, mostly reading about them. Did I then force myself to like this music? Play the first Scott album for someone. What did they think? Sounds like adult contemporary, right? What about the Free Design? "Kites Are Fun"? It's kind of like the Association ("Cherish", "Never My Love", "Windy"). Now, are they cool? So why is the Free Design cool? What about the Hipster Doofus deification of Burt Bacharach? Isn't that what grown-ups listened to in the 60s when their kids were listening to the Stones and Hendrix?
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