Mocket - Fanfare

Having mentioned my love of analog synthsizers in the last post, I thought I'd continue on that track with one of my favorite 90's new wave bands, Mocket. I first experienced their synthy punk pop genius when they played with Atari Teenage Riot & Add N to (X) at RKCNDY in the summer of 98 or 99. Mocket opened the show and they were great. Their drummer played without a bass drum, instead, he wore a shoe with a drum trigger placed in it, which, as a drummer who'd recently fallen in love with classic drum machines, I thought was really cool. As soon as Mocket finished playing, I went & bought a few 7"s from them, then I fought my way back to the front of the stage, ready to see Add N to (X) & get my second synth fix of the night.

Fanfare

The Prom - In This Way They Found Me

This is a follow up to a post I did a while back on The Prom. I'd originally asked if anyone had access to a copy of their first album, as I'd lost my copy years ago. Well, no one had it but I ended up finding a copy, so here it is - In This Way They Found Me. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for a synth (blame it on my love for Gary Numan, The Rentals & 80's new wave in general) & that's probably why I like this album a little bit more than Under the Same Stars. It has the same quirky piano-laden ballads you'd expect if you've heard their 2nd album, but it's also got some great analog synths pulsing through a few of the tracks. Dig it

In This Way They Found Me

Doomsday 1999 - Maniac On the Floor 12" & Racist Unicorn 7"

What is there to say about the almighty Doomsday 1999? They were a brutal, fierce, eardrum piercing grind/thrash band from Seattle. Members have/had played with the godforsaken Teen Cthulhu, the pulverizng Nervous System, the screeching Black Man White Man Dead Man, and the garishly costumed The Powers of Darkness Shall Reign Blood Upon This City For 500 Years.
Zack Carlson - Vocals + Travis Nakamura - Drums + Brandon Nakamura - Guitar/Vocals = 3 guys who have most likely experienced more hearing damage the any air traffic controller that ever lived.

If anyone out there has their demo or any bootlegs, please upload them somwhere & let me know where I can find them
Maniac On the Floor

Special thanks go out to bootarms for uploading the Racist Unicorn 7"

UPDATE: 2003 Demo and a live set can be found here

Area 51 - Discography

Area 51 were a Seattle hardcore punk band with duel male and female screamy vocals. The members were Spencer Moody, Andrea Zollo, Dann Gallucci, Andy Sells, Derek Fudesco & Sterling Callier. Andrea, Dann, Dekek & Sterling had played together in The Death Wish Kids. Spencer, Andrea, Dann & Derek went on to play in The Hookers, who went on to become the Murder City Devils

Area 51 Discography

Death Wish Kids - Discography

The Death Wish Kids were a punk band from Seattle who existed from 1994-1996 They released one 7" in the short period that they existed (pictured above). The members were: Andrea Zollo, Dann Gallucci, Derrek Fudesco & Sterling Callier. Members have also played in The Hookers, Golden Ticket, Area 51, Murder City Devils, etc...

Death Wish Kids Discography

Peter Parker - Migliore!

Peter Parker were (perhaps still are?) a glorious power pop trio that rocked my fuckin' socks off back in high school. The band consisted of Matt Paker on guitar/vocals, Mona Parker played bass/sang & Steve Parker (aka Steve the Producer) played drums. I first saw them play with Harvey Danger & Rat Cat Hogan somewhere in Olympia back in highschool & they blew me away with their rockin' pop sensibilities. I had actually met the members of the band before I ever heard them, a few of my friends in school were big fans of theirs & had befriended them & one year I ended up eating a St. Patricks Day feast of corned beef & cabbage with them at someone's house. I went and saw them play later that year & my girlfriend at the time bought a copy of this cd, their first album, at the show. Later, she made me a tape with this album on one side & studio versions of the set list from the Tori Amos show she dragged me to later that summer on the other. Needless to say, Migliore is the only side I ever listened to. I hadn't heard this album in around 8 years but recently tracked down a copy on cd. I was surprised to find that I remebered the words to most of the songs, which to me is an acknowledgement to how excellent & catchy this album really is.
Migliore

State Route 522 - Retrospective

State Route 522 was a Seattle-based mid-90's post-hardcore band. They broke up in 1997 and three quarters of the group went on to form Sharks Keep Moving. After Sharks Keep Moving, Jake Snider formed Minus the Bear.
Here is everything they released:

Retrospective

Here is a link to a blog that has some stuff by Sharks Keep Moving

The Hookers

The Hookers were: Spencer Moody : vocals, Dan Gallucci : Guitar, Andrea Zollo : Drums, Derek Fudesco : Bass, Brandon Angle : Organ.

Something like six months after recording this & with some minor personnel changes they became the Murder City Devils, and the rest is history...

Get Hooked

The Prom - Under the Same Stars

The Prom haven't made a peep in quite a few years so it's pretty safe to assume that they are no longer active. Their first record, had a bit more of a synth-pop/indie feel to it, the album was called 'In This Way They Found Me' and was released in 2000 on Portland-based Panther Fact Records. Their second record, 'Under the Same Stars' was a much more ballad filled, piano-driven affair. It came out in 2002 on Barsuk records.
Under the Same Stars

USS Horsewhip vs The Kids

USS Horsewhip were an amazing band from Bellingham. After high school, a lot of my friends moved to Bellingham to go to Western (Washinton University). One of the guys I know started hosting shows at the house he and a few others were renting.He had always had a great taste in music so, one weekend, a small group of us went up to see one of the shows. I have to admit that, initially, I was pretty unimpressed with the bands playing in living room, it was the same uninspired, boring indie stuff I usually avoid like the plague, so I went upstairs to smoke some weed (this is Bellingham I'm talking about, after all - not only is it a college town but it's also like an hour's drive from Vancouver BC). I was probably up there smoking for over an hour when, after a lull in the noise coming from below, this incredible roar tore through the house - the floors started throbbing & the windows began to shake like a Parkinson's patient. I set the bong down & descended the stairs to investigate this furious assault on my senses & ended up walking into the beginning of a set by USS Horsewhip. I stood, transfixed & totally loving every minute of it. At the time, I really hadn't listened to a lot of the local stuff I'd grown up loving for a couple years (Botch, Blood Brothers, Karp, etc..). I was preoccupied with my newfound love for funk, soul, reggae & r&b - but something about the Horsewhip grabbed me by the balls & reconnected me with a type of music I thought I was over & I've been grateful for that every day since.
If you dig these guys, you should check out the bands they formed afterwards: Police Teeth & Black Breath. Both bands are on myspace & at least one of them still have USS Horsewhip records available for sale.
Today's download is the ep:
USS Horsewhip vs the Kids

Jough Dawn Baker

Jough Dawn Baker were a dark chaotic hardcore band from Bellingham, WA that existed in the mid to late 90's. Members of JDB have gone on to play in bands such as Heiress, Born Anchors, Caparza and Man Years. During their brief existence they released a self titled 7", a 12" split with Vade and had several songs featured on different compilations. Today's collection of downloads is my attempt at compiling their entire discography.
Self titled 7" (with sleeve art and lyric sheet scans)
Jough Dawn Baker / Vade Split 12"
4 tracks from various compilations (features the songs: Muttonfist from the Brewing comp, Bridgework from the Excursion comp, a cover of "Freedom" called Five Twenty Four by Rage Against the Machine from the All About Friends compilation and am untitled track of unknown origin)

Soiled Doves

Soiled Doves is the name that The Vogue started going by after their keyboardist left the band (see earlier post: The Vogue). Soiled Doves broke up in 2001, their album "Soiled Life" came out posthumously on GSL in 2003. The picture above is taken from the Soiled Doves 7" which contains two tracks from the aforementioned album. As Johnny Whitney began to focus more on Blood Brothers, Soiled Doves mutated into the band The Chromatics, who then morphed into Shoplifting.
Soiled Life (*re upped with bonus track taken from the GSL 50 comp)

Mukilteo Fairies

The Mukilteo Fairies are of often mislabeled as 'punk' but were basically a screamy grindcore band. They are probably most famous for their hilarious name (a play on the name of a local ferry line) & for the bands that the members went on to play in. Today's download is a collection of all the songs from the Closet Check EP & a few compilation tracks, everything I've manged to track down by them so far.
Jason Reesce (also in: ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead, Honeybucket) John Quittner / Quitty (also in: Bastard Bitch, Behead the Prophet No Lord Shall Live, Brent's TV, Dukes of Burl, Honeybucket, Pinhead Gunpowder, The Special Friend, Tight Bro's From Way Back When, Witchypoo) Joshua Plague (also in: Behead the Prophet No Lord Shall Live, The Special Friend) Rebecca Basye (also in: The Emerald Down)
Take a ride with the Fairies

Special Rites EP available here

The Whip

The Whip were: Jared Warren - bass and vocals. Joe Preston - guitar and vocals. Scott Jernigan - drums. Scott & Jared were 2/3 of the seminal northwest hardcore band Karp & Joe was a former member of The Melvins & Thrones. So, needless to say - The Whip are some heavy, hard hitting bastards & it's very sad that their 7" stands as their only output available. Just as they started making some serious noise around town & getting written up in The Stranger for their ferocious live shows, The Whip ended when drummer Scott Jernigan was killed in a boating accident on June 10, 2003. Musically, the Whip picked up the hardcore torch right where Karp left off, so if you're a Karp fan, or a fan of anything heavy, you'll probably dig the Whip. So, here is their self titled 7" and, for some bonus eardrum hammering pleasure, I've included a decent quality bootleg set that I came across on soulseek as well.
The Whip 7" & live set

Vade

Vade was a band that featured future-Blood Brothers, Johnny Whitney, & future Gossip member Hannah Blilie. (I don't know who else was in the band so please send me some info if you've got it). I got to see them once, when I was 12 or 13 years old, either with Lying on Loot or Run Away Laughing. I remember thinking they were very cool because all the members were only around 15/16 years old at the time & they had a girl in the band, which was pretty rare in the high school age band scene in the area at the time. In the mid nineties, Vade, along with Jough Dawn Baker & Karp, were among my favorite screamo/hardcore bands. Vade released a split 12" with Jough Dawn Baker, a 7" and a demo cassette. Johnny & Hannah also played together in the bands The Vogue & Soiled Doves a few years after Vade (see earlier post - The Vogue).
Saturn 7"
Vade side of the split w/ Jough Dawn Baker
Self-titled cassette

Drowning In Lethe

Drowning in Lethe was an indie/screamo band from the greater Seattle Washington area. They released a CD-R in 2001 (Self-released), a Self-Titled 7” and a split 7” with Deadseraphim. Both official releases were on Pictora Pilota and were released in 2002. A 2003 recording for a full-length album, Alpine Lakes Wilderness, exists, but remains unreleased. Lethe broke up in 2004. All the guys, sans Nick, went to Bothell High School (Bothell,WA) and could be seen daily drinking lots of Surge, hanging out & touching each other inappropriately in the halls. Easy to spot, even at a distance, the boys stood out, usually dressed in their finest tight band T-shirts, tight denim jeans and tight jean jackets. They also had really greasy hair. They worshiped bands like Botch & the Locust and played shows with the Blood Brothers and many other bands who were hip & active at the time. Members have also played in the following bands: Vats of Blood, Murdered in Mexico, Skyline Divide, Mercy House Youth, Fires to the East, The Assailant, Elba, Navigator vs Navigator. These days the guys are either hippies or they're dead.
I took this text from the Drowning In Lethe Myspace page. I'm trying to get a hold of a copy of their unreleased album for a future posting on this blog.
Drowning In Lethe CD-R (contains the tracks from both 7" releases & 2 other songs)

The Vogue - As Brass & Satin

The Vogue are most famous for being a side project of members of The Blood Brothers and featured Adam Miller, Hannah Billie, Johnny Whitney, Casey Wescott and Devin Welch. Johnny Whitney & Devin Welch were both in Blood Brothers - though Devin left Blood Brothers before their first album came out. Johnny & Hannah Blilie had previously played together in the awesome hardcore/screamo band Vade. Hannah is also the twin sister of Jordan Blilie, the other vocalist in Blood Brothers. The Vogue released a self titled 7" and an album called As Brass & Satin (both on Made In Mexico Records) before eventually becoming the band Soiled Doves after the departure of their keyboard player. Soiled Doves broke up in 2001, their album Soiled Life came out two years later on GSL. Since then, Devin Welch & Hannah Blilie played together in the band Shoplifting, Hannah also now drums for the band The Gossip. Devin is currently in the band Past Lives with Jordan Blilie, Mark Gajadhar & Morgan Hederson, all ex members of Blood Brothers. Johnny Whitney is currently in the band Jaguar Love with Cody from Blood Brothers & Jay from Pretty Girls Make Graves
As Brass & Satin

The Vogue's 7" Ep can now be found here

Raft of Dead Monkeys

"Who the hell are Raft of Dead Monkeys?" That's the reaction you're most likely to get if you ask a record store employee or damn near anyone about this band. Sure, they've got a page on Wikipedia... but these guys are a mostly-forgotten gem from the late 90's & early 2000's. The band consisted predominantly of members from 90 Pound Wuss, Roadside Monument and Suffering & the Hideous Thieves. They released an e.p. called DBM on Make Believe Recordings in 1999, an album by the name of Thoroughlev on Burnout Records in 2001 & had one song on the 'Is It... Dead?' Seattle hardcore compilation which was released by Crash Rawk, rocknroleplay & Sub Poop records in the year of our lord 2001. They also had an unreleased album called "Joey the Pigfucker" which I believe (based on the liner notes inside of DBM) was originally going to be called "Hot Pants College" - though a song by that name appears on Joey the Pigfucker. Raft basically had two different musical periods: DBM era Raft was more punk, while Thoroughlev was a bit more like Roadside Monument or even Sharks Keep Moving, kind of indie/math rock & not quite as abrasive. Joey the Pigfucker shows them merging the two sounds. I just learned that John Spalding, who played in both Raft of Dead Monkeys & 90 Pound Wuss, passed away on November 23, 2008 from cancer. There is a fund set up in his name at Bank of America. It is "John D Spalding Medical Fund" you can go in to any Bank of America and make a deposit. All funds will go to the family to help pay expenses.
If you've got any more specific info about RODM, have any memories, or if you have problems with the links please leave a comment.
DBM
Joey the Pigfucker
Thoroughlev