Trusty - A Name To Depend On 7" EP (Soma Records 1989)

Trusty were a punk band from Arkansas who became Dischord's first non-D.C. signing. However this post isn't about how they changed their sound into a cross between The Spindoctors and Big Drill Car. This E.P. has a definite hardcore lean and Flex claims that there is a straight edge lean on this E.P. Lyrically I don't really hear it. However this debut EP does bring the early works of bands like 7 Seconds and Dag Nasty to mind and I bet these guys listened to their share of Gorilla Biscuits too before recording this slab of vinyl.

These songs later appeared on an album called The Paul Years which Truant records only pressed 1000 vinyl copies but later released the album on CD.

Download Trusty - A Name To Depend On 7" EP New updated link.

The Bats San Francisco Bath House, Wellington April 5th

First band up were Minisnap. Minisnap are one guy with three of The Bats featuring Kay Woodward on vocals. Like the band 75 percent of their members are from they play perfect indie guitar pop that should be getting commercial radio play but likely isn't. They played a lot of songs from their Bounce Around album but as I'm useless I don't own the album and don't have a setlist. However I do have a Youtube clip from the show.








Next up were Wellington band, Holiday With Friends who I knew absolutely nothing about. They're an indie type pop band who used to filter The Velvet Underground, The Strokes, Patti Smith, Jonathan Richman and The Ramones according to another blogger. The band feature three females and two males, this ratio is important because there are four singing band members. There were some lovely keyboards, glockenspiels, and handclaps utilized throoughout their set. Their sound to my ears was like Lloyd Cole meeting Nina Hagen while UK Squeeze played in Dr Who's tardis. They managed to get a lot of the audience up and dancing.




Then The Bats came on and played a lot of new songs mixed with old songs. I really enjoyed hearing Boogey Man live and thanks to the wonders of Youtube you can enjoy it at a differing level of enjoyment from mine.




Then they left and came back with an encore which featured Block of Wood and North by North. As I was walking home I heard one young Asian guy who can't have been much more than 20 say to another; "I especially enjoyed those last two songs."
Just thinking that those songs by The Bats are over 20 years old amazes me. The band's audience were a mixture of young and old. I saw people old enough to be my parents and I'm no spring chicken at the wrong side of thirty.