Silver Screams - Creep Joint Scratch (2014)

 I usually don't quote one sheets or band bios but this one is worth it as it actually sums up the band due to being written by the band rather than a publicist.  "Silver Screams is a punk rock and roll band from Boston, MA.  Like it nihilistic?  How about three aging punkers playing the best music they know how to nobody, with no career aspirations, zero street cred and no greater point whatsoever.  It's a power trio screaming into a void before they die, because they're not dead yet.  They have jobs and families and the whole thing is very nearly a waste of time.

Whatever.  Every single one of us is going to die and Silver Screams is going to play some killer sets before it all goes down in flames."

I love that attitude.  There's a big love of early English punk here as the band's name is taken from a song by The Damned.  There's a mixture of punk and post-punk that is highly reminiscent of UK Subs "Endangered Species" album."The Evidence" will put a huge smile on fans of the UK Subs more anthemic material.   There's a nice and sleazy Stranglers bassline that opens "Climbing Mt Rumpke" which has a 999 meeting Dischord bounce-along feel to it.  If I was forced to pick the best song on this five song release "Climbing Mt Rumpke" would be my choice.

That they got The Descendents artist, Chris Shary to do their artwork is more points in Silver Screams' favour.  You can buy their CD and MP3's from their bandcamp site(linked below) but be quick if you want a CD as they're limited to 50 copies.

3.5/5



http://silverscreams.bandcamp.com/album/creep-joint-scratch


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Down By Law - Last of The Epitaph

When Dag Nasty covered Wire's 12xu some people excusably assumed that the band were covering Brian Baker's other and/or better band Minor Threat. Here is Down By Law covering the singer, Dave Smalley's other and/or better band Dag Nasty.



And here is Down By Law's final Epitaph album with the telling title of Last of The Sharpshooters. I remember reading an interview with Dave Smalley in some metal magazine years back where he stated that he really looked up to Paul Weller and there's no denying the influence of The Jam on this album and DBL's other material.

Fly the Flag

Dag Nasty and ALL videos

Dag Nasty 's first show with Shawn Brown on vocals. I've heard that before joining the Black Flagish Swiz Shawn Brown was kicked out of Dag Nasty because his vocals weren't melodic enough. Watching and listening to this to my ears he seems close to Can I Say period Dave Smalley. I heard this. I heard that. What do I believe?

And here's ALL playing The Descendents' song Coolidge. I did a double take when I noticed who was playing guitar.



There's two full ALL shows from the early nineties on this youtube channel and the sound quality is quite good.

Dag Nasty - Field Day (1988)

Happy New Year. After saying that music download file blogs suck I've decided to post an out of print album for download. So I guess my New Year's resolution is to stop saying things I will later contradict(actually it's not).

Anyway now that it's 2008 it's been 20 years since above pictured album was released. Dag Nasty were a highly influential pop-punk band during the 80s. Some credit them with being one of the originators of the emo movement. I first heard of Dag Nasty in the late 80s/early 90s due to pre-internet tape trading being one way of discovering new bands(to you). I was interested in hearing Minor Threat and was sent a tape with Dag Nasty's Wig Out at Denko's album because Dag Nasty featured ex-Minor Threat members. To my ears at the time, the more personal lyrics and punk sound crossed with pop was much more appealing than Minor Threat's straight edge thrash which had lyrics and a philosphy that meant nothing to me.

Eventually I discovered a double CD which had both Dag Nasty's Wig Out at Denko's album and Can I Say. Can I Say features Dave Smalley(who is now better known for fronting Down By Law) on vocals and retains a hardcore punk sound but Wig Out at Denko's has Peter Cortner on vocals and largely due to his vocals is more pop-orientated.


Dag Nasty had a reputation as a straight edge band partially due to having an ex-Minor Threat member. The Wig Out at Denko's song Crucial Three hints at the 'rules' of straight edge set down by Minor Threat. However during the time of Field Day Dag Nasty had decided to experiment with being coke-heads so some of the band's recording budget disappeared on 'inspiration'. At times it sounds like Peter Cortner is singing with a bad dose of the flu. However the song All Ages Show sounds like it could have come from Field Day and was my reason for searching high and low for this album. Field Day never earned Dag Nasty any money however Peter Cortner still receives royalties from Wig Out. The band cover The Ruts song Staring at the Rude Boys, Wire's 12XU (when the band played this live many people thought they were discovering the guitarist's better band as Minor Threat also covered the song. There are re-recordings of the songs I've Heard and Under Your Influence(which features a tacky Led Zeppelin 'baby baby' part) which originally appeared on Can I Say with Dave Smalley on vocals.

Field Day is very much a mixed bag of alternative/pop/punk/metal and at least one song sounds rooted in 80s glam metal. It seems fitting that guitarist Brian Baker joined the glam metal Junkyard a year after the recording of this album. After Dag Nasty finished touring this album they became more or less a studio band with Dave Smalley on vocals that seems to release an album every ten years.

Download Field Day here

Link now goes to a rapidshare link from another blog.




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