Thank God for the C*nts
My band hasn't had a rehearsal in two months. I'd be hurting for some musical interaction if it weren't for the C*nts.
In a Chicago punk history radio documentary a couple of years ago, Steve Albini listed the C*nts among the first batch of Chicago punk bands. Those bragging rights have largely been ignored by the C*nts themselves. Probably because they don't need the has-been tag and partly because they aren't any less (or more) a band now than they've ever been.
The C*nts take heavy queues from Iggy & the Stooges and the likes of ? & the Mysterians, basically Midwest garage. Only their name (which rhymes with "runts" unless they're in mixed company, then it sounds like "seanotes") nods to the more spit and gob of the underground scene from which they floundered.
They put out a single in 1978, Chemicals in the Mail and released at least five more singles, nine full length records, and appeared on a handful of compilations including one I released last year. In 1988, Pravda Records put out A Decade of Fun 1978-1988 a record containing all their singles up to that point as well as some new material. Disturbing Records released their CD Eat My Nuts as recently as 2004. It's a significant catalog stretching exactly thirty years. Yet for all this time, I'm not sure if the C*nts have played even as many shows as they have records.
As far as I know they've only played one city - maybe only one neighborhood. But their reach is as global as their interests. Garage collectors from all over the map grab their vinyl when it shows up on Ebay. For their part, the Pocius brothers and their C*nt cohorts always keep an ear out to the avant-garde. Mike P. has been corresponding with Jandek amongst others since the early 80's. He writes for Lumpen magazine where you'll find him reviewing modern art under the pen name "the Art Fag." Brother Al is an abstract painter known in these parts mostly for his Robert Rauschenberg/Ray Johnson inspired cardboard art. Guitarist Michael Hernandez has developed his own brand of global notoriety as a visual artist, particularly with his series of stamp art. His works appear in fine arts museums worldwide.
The point here is that these 50-something rockers are still hard to keep up with, especially when you get them in a room together to hash out the C*nts songbook. That's what Snake and I have been doing the past couple of months since they asked us to perform with them for an upcoming show at VersionFest.
I got to tell you man, rocking out these simple garage tunes is a hell of a lot of fun. Looking forward to the show. We're playing with Skarekrau Radio, the freeeeekiest folks from St. Louis I've ever met.
Speaking of which, here is word from my man Snake - this week's Host of
Chicago
o Snoop Dogg, Stanley Fish, the culture war,
r the end of the world, and the coming of the age
n of the teaching of kuu love.
e
r This old man has been fishing.
. The beach and sun has inspired him
. to shoot his mouth and pen off lately.
. Good to see it aired publicly, but I will probably soon tire of his crotchety and bitter amusements.
It is hard to miss how this "battle" has played out in the last few years. Why some regress as soon as new ideas are established is beyond me, but it always seem to be the way (you know, french fries become less French because they reject the rhetorical threats of a terror filled world). Hopefully this battle in the political arena will have shed enough of its stupidity in the last eight years that we can move away from it for a while and our reflected world will encourage much more civil and interesting conservations. But after the fear of a world seen more in the lens of a "bellicose drama," we can maybe appreciate what we used to (or some may still) disdain. For example -
http://skarekrauradio.bizland.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/04/snoop-dogg-ku-klux-klan-b_n_95045.html
and
http://www.dougfeith.com/
All beautifully comic and self-reflective, except for the latter. I hope soon the day will come when our words are a little more "izzle-ish" and our shadows are not filled by pools of blood and oil. I agree the subject of French theory filtered through academia is really a lot of bs, but there is even more bs in trying to argue against the position it posits. Iraq should have taught us that, "there is nothing outside-the-text." I just hope that the movie we are about to enjoy is not "Fishing," because this old man writes like he plays basketball - lobbing threes until he hopes one goes in. Snake.
Snake - Is the editor of 9/11 Times magazine, circulation 1.
Gems from the C*nts Sing-Along-With-Mike Song Book
Blow Your Mind
Joe's Poem Part One
Mystery of You
In a Chicago punk history radio documentary a couple of years ago, Steve Albini listed the C*nts among the first batch of Chicago punk bands. Those bragging rights have largely been ignored by the C*nts themselves. Probably because they don't need the has-been tag and partly because they aren't any less (or more) a band now than they've ever been.
The C*nts take heavy queues from Iggy & the Stooges and the likes of ? & the Mysterians, basically Midwest garage. Only their name (which rhymes with "runts" unless they're in mixed company, then it sounds like "seanotes") nods to the more spit and gob of the underground scene from which they floundered.
They put out a single in 1978, Chemicals in the Mail and released at least five more singles, nine full length records, and appeared on a handful of compilations including one I released last year. In 1988, Pravda Records put out A Decade of Fun 1978-1988 a record containing all their singles up to that point as well as some new material. Disturbing Records released their CD Eat My Nuts as recently as 2004. It's a significant catalog stretching exactly thirty years. Yet for all this time, I'm not sure if the C*nts have played even as many shows as they have records.
As far as I know they've only played one city - maybe only one neighborhood. But their reach is as global as their interests. Garage collectors from all over the map grab their vinyl when it shows up on Ebay. For their part, the Pocius brothers and their C*nt cohorts always keep an ear out to the avant-garde. Mike P. has been corresponding with Jandek amongst others since the early 80's. He writes for Lumpen magazine where you'll find him reviewing modern art under the pen name "the Art Fag." Brother Al is an abstract painter known in these parts mostly for his Robert Rauschenberg/Ray Johnson inspired cardboard art. Guitarist Michael Hernandez has developed his own brand of global notoriety as a visual artist, particularly with his series of stamp art. His works appear in fine arts museums worldwide.
The point here is that these 50-something rockers are still hard to keep up with, especially when you get them in a room together to hash out the C*nts songbook. That's what Snake and I have been doing the past couple of months since they asked us to perform with them for an upcoming show at VersionFest.
I got to tell you man, rocking out these simple garage tunes is a hell of a lot of fun. Looking forward to the show. We're playing with Skarekrau Radio, the freeeeekiest folks from St. Louis I've ever met.
Speaking of which, here is word from my man Snake - this week's Host of
Chicago
o Snoop Dogg, Stanley Fish, the culture war,
r the end of the world, and the coming of the age
n of the teaching of kuu love.
e
r This old man has been fishing.
. The beach and sun has inspired him
. to shoot his mouth and pen off lately.
. Good to see it aired publicly, but I will probably soon tire of his crotchety and bitter amusements.
It is hard to miss how this "battle" has played out in the last few years. Why some regress as soon as new ideas are established is beyond me, but it always seem to be the way (you know, french fries become less French because they reject the rhetorical threats of a terror filled world). Hopefully this battle in the political arena will have shed enough of its stupidity in the last eight years that we can move away from it for a while and our reflected world will encourage much more civil and interesting conservations. But after the fear of a world seen more in the lens of a "bellicose drama," we can maybe appreciate what we used to (or some may still) disdain. For example -
http://skarekrauradio.bizland.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/04/snoop-dogg-ku-klux-klan-b_n_95045.html
and
http://www.dougfeith.com/
All beautifully comic and self-reflective, except for the latter. I hope soon the day will come when our words are a little more "izzle-ish" and our shadows are not filled by pools of blood and oil. I agree the subject of French theory filtered through academia is really a lot of bs, but there is even more bs in trying to argue against the position it posits. Iraq should have taught us that, "there is nothing outside-the-text." I just hope that the movie we are about to enjoy is not "Fishing," because this old man writes like he plays basketball - lobbing threes until he hopes one goes in. Snake.
Snake - Is the editor of 9/11 Times magazine, circulation 1.
Gems from the C*nts Sing-Along-With-Mike Song Book
Blow Your Mind
Joe's Poem Part One
Mystery of You
3 Comments:
I love those art stamps.
oh my jeebus you have my interest piqued. is there anything still in print? i do have your comp but would like to hear more.
cardboard art? oh my doublejeebus.
man, i got to tell you. the youngsters ain't got nothing on the oldsters when it comes to live performance (with all due respect to the black lips of the world). i sure would dig seeing them live. my fave shows from the last couple of years have been radio birdman, the sonics, the lyres, the fleshtones. swagger beats cockiness by a landslide.
I noticed that Pravda put some stuff on eMusic and the like but not the tracks previously released on vinyl.
You'd have to hunt down the records on Ebay. Or enjoy the tracks linked from this post - they are all early stuff. Joe's Poem wasn't even release. It's a test print. I ripped them all from vinyl at the Monastery.
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