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The Living Deadbeats L.P.
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By:
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Adam Rebelius
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Mood:
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other
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Date:
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06/10/2012 06:34:59
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Music:
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The Living Deadbeats (What else?)
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As most people know, I'm as old as the hills. I come from an era where if something was labeled, "Punk Rock" we listened to it and decided if we liked it or not. We didn't have categories or sub genres back in my day! My generation had no problem listening to Black Flag one minute, The Exploited, after that, Husker Du next, The Misfits, The Minute men, etc etc you get the idea. Nowadays everyone and everything is divided. The new generation wants to align itself with one particular category, and ignore the rest of all the good bands out their because they're from THAT group. You got the kids in black wearing circled A t-shirts who only listen to bands that sound like CRASS or Discharge, and they won't talk to the kids that dress up like it's 1977 and listen to traditional British punk in the vein of The Sex Pistols or Clash, and they reuse to talk to the kids who wear leather jackets, torn jeans and black high top sneakers who listen to every 5th rate RAMONES clone in existence, and, they in turn won't go see any bands that take it's cue from the second wave of British punk bands who wore leather jackets and either looked like they had porcupines on their heads or had mohawks. (And don't even get me started about the elitism surrounding "Oi!" and all the skinhead wannabes who NEVER went without a hot meal or a roof over their head, and BOTH parents held down HIGH PAYING jobs!)* Anyhue, if you're a fan of late 70s-early 80s California/West Coast punk/hardcore, and you like Pacific Northwest Garage Punk on the side, I can highly recommend this record! The first two releases by this band focused more on the 60s punk/garage side of music with a heavy influence from bands like The Sonics and The Wailers, with some 1977 era female fronted punk bands like The Avengers, X, and a touch of Legal Weapon for good measure. (See my blog, "The Living Deadbeats" for a review of their first two releases to refresh your memory) Well, that sound is still, there, but this album has a LOT more hardcore/punk sounds on it. Yes, it IS still derivative in a lot of way, but DON'T call this band "Retro" That would be calling bands like The Jam, The Bangles, or The Monomen retro, and that would be rather unfair. No, what these people done is they have acquainted themselves with the music of the past, learned what made that style of music work the first time around and learned it well. (Sometimes I think a little TOO well. There IS one song that "Borrows" from one of my favorite Social Distortion songs, but if I can let The Clash and The Jam slide from borrowing from The Who, than I'm willing to let this go as well. After all, is there REALLY anything new under the sun?) I'm happy to say, that while there is still a strong focus on Northwest Territory style 60s punk/garage, there's a lot more punk here than on previous releases. A week ago, I posted a statement on the bulletins section of this site about what this band reminded me of. This band, and this release, at least for me, takes me back to a time in my own youth where we only had one record store that specialized in the latest hard to get records from all over the world. Oh, sure. Back in the day you could go down town to a major record store and find a cut out copy of the first two Clash albums, Generation X, The Plasmatics, even a copy of the first issue of "Ramones Leave Home" w/ "Carbona, Not Glue" but that's because these records were on MAJOR labels handled by most distributers. But if you wanted a record released on DISCHORD, SST, POSH BOY, SECRET, or whatever independent labels existed in that day you had to go to the one store that stocked it. (And back then there WAS ONLY ONE store in Chicago that had all that!) People like myself shopped at that store religiously! It was a store that sold the independently produced fanzines, and had flyers for upcoming independent shows that were all ages. (And all ages shows in Chicago of big name, out of town bands were few and far between. Unless you knew about Club C.O.D. or The Space Place, there was almost nowhere for a minor to go hear good punk bands in Chicago, except for The Ramones' yearly pilgrimage to The Aragon Ballroom, but I discussed that before in a previous blog)The music on this L.P. has successfully transported my back to that time in my life. In days simpler when we didn't judge music by what category it fell under. If it was called "punk Rock" we wanted to hear it, and we spent our hard earned cash on it, feeling like we were all part of a secret society of people who had knowledge of this strange new, wonderful and exciting music. I can remember the days sitting around my bed room scraping resins and drinking cooking wine and being pissed off to the max because X was in town but the show was 21 and over with NO all ages shows scheduled! Or having enough money to catch the train down to Space Place, which, at the time was in a "Sketchy' part of town. (Luckily nobody, but the C.P.D. messed with the place) I'm trying to write a review of the new Living Deadbeats release, but I end up waxing nostalgic! This alone should tell you power of the music here! If you're my age, chances are this record will have the same effect on you. If you're part of a new generation, then you need to listen to this release because they got it right. Take it from an old timer like myself. If you are a fan of female fronted California/West Coast punk from 1977-1983 in the vein of The Avengers, X, Legal Weapon, With a little bit of The Bags, The Alleycats, and even some Sado-Nation and Arizona's Conflict thrown into the mix, (And a tribute to the East Coast by unconciously channeling The Lunachicks) along with The Sonics, The Wailers, and even some Iggy and The Stooges, then believe me when I tell you, this is one album you WILL want in your collection. Lord knows I play this one MUCH more than I play their previous two releases. (And those were actually good!) The New Living Deadbeats L.P. will be made available to the public next Friday. (June 15, 2012) They are also embarking on a tour of Canada From their home base of Vancouver B.C. to as far east as they can travel w/o killing each other in the process. (And even playing Miss Molotov's wedding! Congrats to the bride and groom) Please make sure to visit their home page here for more information. *Also my apologies to the REAL skinheads who were born and raised skinheads and ARE the genuine article. I've just met too many posers in my 47 years of life on this earth that WEREN'T the real deal! When Dr. Martens cost over $150.00, flight jackets and Fred Perry shirts at over $75.00, and they ALWAYS seem to look brand new, one begins to question where the person in question has been in life where they identify themselves as a "Skinhead" ESPECIALLY when they're able to afford almost EVERY "Oi!" record or Ska re-issue ever released! (And I've met more than my share of THAT type of "Skinhead")
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