L.A. RECORD is deliriously delighted to present the planetary premier of “Role Play,” the new video from Raw Geronimo’s 7″ of the same name. Chloroforming has never seemed so adorable! Thrill to this high-test new wave and grab a copy of the single from Neurotic Yell here!

Sigh’s Smell of Farewell, the Cocteau Twins tribute night at the Smell, was also a night of interesting musical collaborations, as every single performance was an amalgamation of musicians. First up was Life Group, a project featuring co-organizer Scott Cornish, and former member of Veer Right Young Pastor, members of Soft-Boiled Eggies, and current members of Devon Williams’ band. They remained faithful to the original tracks instrumentally, but featured all-male vocals that lent a punkish bent to the tracks. Next was the premiere of QUeUe, a new project with members of VoicesVoices, howardAmb, and dubBUMBA, with guest vocals by Leila Adu of New Zealand. With an array of drum pads, synthesizers and a q-chord, they took immediate ownership of the songs with a very original set. ParallaxTwins, an offshoot of former BlackBlack member Luis Naranjo’s solo project, ParallaxScroll, working alongside former Hello Astronaut Goodby Television bandmate Danielle Elowe was heavy on the industrial end, with a bass heavy performance built around synthesized beats. Magic Johnson returned to LA from Portland for the show, employing their signature male/female counterbalanced vocals. They played a tight and hard-hitting set with the addition of their original bassist, as well as a guest appearance from his current VietNambla bandmate on drums for Wax & Wane off of the Cocteau’s debut album. Upsilon Acrux performed with Tes Elations’ vocalist Barrie Rose. Backed by two drummers, their set was dynamic, powerful, and loud enough to drown out even a semblance of thought, yet Barrie’s vocals remained elevated above everything else, and she best captured the glossolalia effect employed by Elizabeth Fraser. While there were many great performances this evening, their closeout cover of Donimo may have been my favorite. The idea of an Abe Vigoda/Dunes super group on it’s own is tantalizing enough for most people, and given the comparison to Cocteau Twins that Dunes has already drawn, I was looking forward to their interpretations quite a bit. They delivered a high energy, albeit chaotic set which culminated in a dance party led by Kate Hall of Dunes to Iceblink Luck. Much like the Crass tribute at The Smell several months prior, the night was a beautiful way for a community of musicians to celebrate their mutual love of a common influence.

—Walt! Gorecki

[View with PicLens]

Download: Animals & Men “John Of The Sword”

(from the s/t EP available now from Convulsive!)

Courted by Adam Ant—a relationship from which they politely withdrew when he suggested hiring a studio band to re-record their songs—and noted by John Peel, Animals & Men were positioned to take whatever version of fame and fortune the first wave of U.K. post-punk had to offer. But when the big boys came calling, they turned around and walked back to their tiny mining town in the grasslands, where they stayed with their unreleased tapes until good ol’ Hyped 2 Death re-presented them to the world. Encouraged by the release of retrospective collections, A&M have not only reunited but restarted as a working band, releasing brand new, extremely ferocious songs like “John of the Sword.” They’ll play their first-ever U.S. shows this month. Founders Ralph Mitchard and Susan Wells speak now from their living room, where they play in war paint with the door open while the neighbors marvel. They will perform at the Smell Thursday. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

As young punk kids, you had a zine called Stranded in the Jungle and you got to meet Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. What’s the first thing you say to Screamin’ Jay when you’re six inches away from him?
Ralph Mitchard (guitar/vocals): We basically bribed our way into the dressing room. There were these Welsh teddy boys in there and they kept saying things like, ‘Screamin’ Jay! Screamin’ Jay! Have you ever met Jerry Lee Lewis?’ I asked him if he was back playing R&B now and he went crazy and said he’d never stopped playing R&B! He sort of chewed me out.
So could you say that Screamin’ Jay Hawkins … screamed at you?
RM: Well, yeah—that’s true. He made me feel about three inches tall. I sort of went exit stage left—pursued by a bear, you know?
When you started the band, you said you deliberately wanted to be obscure—like the 13th Floor Elevators or the Velvet Underground. What’s so attractive about the rock ‘n’ roll netherworld?
RM: I don’t know. It’s funny because the very first song we ever recorded was the song ‘Render Us Harmless,’ which is complaining about the music industry. We started out with this idea that we were going to be abused. We were quite cynical—but we were actually quite right because record companies that were interested in our first single saw us as being like Altered Images or the Undertones. It’s not like we hate those bands or anything, but it suddenly became evident that we were going to become caricatures of ourselves. Unless you’re really desperate, that’s not a very interesting possibility.
Why did you already think you’d be abused?
RM: We just spent a lot of time beating ourselves up. When we’d play gigs we’d beat ourselves up afterward. It’s just part of our nature. We’re not comfortable having praise heaped on us. We basically turned down a Peel session. He called us and asked if we’d like to do a session, and we told him we’d prefer he listen to our new stuff before saying yes or no to that … but he didn’t really think it was any good! If we’d just shut up and taken the thing and run with it, we would have had a Peel session.
What was the most important thing about the band to you? The thing you’d never let get watered down?
Susan Wells (vocals): We always kept our integrity, I think. I always kept my clothes on.
Didn’t one magazine offer you coverage in exchange for sexy photos?
SW: Yeah—we could have gotten on the cover of Sounds if we’d made some comment or done some photograph. I think the fact that Ralph and I are in a relationship always gives us a backing. We just say, ‘No, we don’t want to do this. We don’t have to and we don’t want to.’ You just realize if you’re not going to play the game, you’re not going to get the exposure, so you think, Well, is it worth playing?
You convinced a bank to give you a loan to put out your ‘It’s Hip’ 7”. How do you get a banker to pay for a punk record?
SW: In those days, they were just keen to get you signed up for loans and things. If it looked fairly viable, they’d do it. I mean, they got their money back.
Did they?
SW: Well, we paid the loan back. Whether we actually made the money back, I don’t know—but we definitely paid the loan back. I mean, you have to.
So when the record didn’t sell, you threw almost all of them in a dumpster?
SW: Well, yeah—quite a few of them. We needed the room.
Everybody who reads this will be spasming in pain because they’d love to have one!
SW: That’s real life for you.
RM: There are so many stories of people tipping their life’s work into a dumpster. At the time it didn’t really seem like anything because it was kind of a failed record, really. John Peel only played it, like, the once. We got to see Yo La Tengo do a cover version of it a couple of years ago. That was pretty weird. In a massive auditorium where people sat down. It was very surreal. At the time it just seemed like a bad idea that had been received badly. Having this suitcase full of unsold singles was like having something laughing at me.
Did you miss the suitcase ever?
RM: No, we brought the suitcase back. Just the records we got rid of.
In your liner notes, you say the band was based on exploring interesting combinations—like Chicago blues with punk or Link Wray and the Shangri-Las. What ideas did you have that you never got to try?
RM: The last thing that Sue and I recorded in the early 80s was with a local rockabilly band. We got this idea that we wanted to do rockabilly so we recorded ‘I Ain’t Never Worryin’’ and ‘The Man With the Spiked Toed Shoes’ with a rockabilly band. We were called Red Hot and the Sans Culottes. The idea was that we would all dress in French Revolutionary fashions and have a guillotine and things like that. We were going to make a video with the guillotine and people roaming about in Revolutionary gear. It was the mid-80s, I suppose. We got as far as recording the record.
Did it ever come out?
RM: No, it’s still knocking about. One day it will see the light of day.
How many of your ideas have been proved correct by now?
RM: The idea of mixing punk and blues was one of our ideas, and it’s kind of slightly to our sadness that John Peel didn’t really like it—but he really liked the White Stripes. Kind of in a way we could have done that … but on the other hand, we didn’t. I think we were definitely some of the earliest people to think about the idea of mixing punk and blues.
What’s something that seemed like a mistake or missed opportunity then? But you realize now you dodged a bullet?
RM: The whole Adam Ant thing was best that we didn’t do it. At the time he was sort of manipulating us—saying we should be called something else and that we should do this and that we should do that. We were desperate but we weren’t that desperate. That was kind of a good near miss.
So what made you say, ‘No, we’re not going to do it!’
RM: It goes back generations, really. That’s a funny thing. My grandfather was a miner and in a general strike they had to go back and he said he’d rather eat grass than go back and my father was a Labour politician and he had all these crazy principles about never wanting to be in management. We always had this thing ingrained in our family history. It’s the same with Sue. Her father’s always been very eccentric in his work choices. It’s part of our heritage to be sort of awkward, I suppose. There are lots of incidences in our family history that show people turning away from licking the lollipop.
Did you see that mirrored in punk? Is that part of what brought you to it?
RM: Yeah, of course. Initially it seemed like a really great grassroots thing. We used to organize our little punk evenings and everybody would come from the surrounding towns and villages. We’d play records and pogo and talk to each other. Everybody would bring their records along and be, like, ‘Yeah, you should play this one.’ That was fun. And you’d sort of meet the types of people from the neighborhood that you’d normally be fighting—but because you’re sort of unified by punk, you’ll be friends.
When did that seem to disappear?
RM: There was sort of this element that a certain amount of our original punk friends got into—that sort of violence, wearing the Nazi armband … It was originally a unifying philosophy but it became, like, ‘These people over there … ’ Factions started to happen. And then things like mod came along and two-tone and it became subdivided factions of factions.
I feel like you were always looking for something independent but still somehow unifying and diverse at the same time.
RM: Part of my musical background is that if somebody’s doing something really good, eventually someone will come and knock on your door and say, ‘Yeah, we think that’s cool. Can you play this university?’ Taking the long view, we’re pretty happy with the way things have been. We thought that might happen, you know?
You thought that even back in the 80s?
RM: Yeah, I think so. Before punk I was a mad blues aficionado and it was all about field trips and recording things and obscurity. That was part of our ‘what we mean’ sort of thing. If we’d have moved up to London, which would have been the obvious career path, we think we would have become just another band, I suppose. In some ways, it’s tempting to do that—to become metropolitan like everybody else. But on the other hand it’s also quite tempting to be the band that didn’t go to London and get put through the sausage machine. In some ways it’s a risky business, but obviously it sort of helps us. I mean, we used to go to London quite a bit when we were being our most musical but we never, ever really wanted to live there.
Is there a lasting, positive effect of punk that’s still around? What good things were accomplished from 1979 to 1982?
RM: Personally, I think it’s the idea that it doesn’t have to be technically brilliant. It’s sort of bad to be doing something that’s two-thirds brilliant. If you take poor old Poly Styrene—you know, we’ve been mourning Poly Styrene—‘Oh Bondage, Up Yours!’ … you can’t polish that. It’s like a moment of genius. If people can avoid trying to polish things that don’t need polishing and just get them out there and have fun with it, I think that will be the thing. Sometimes it’s nice to see the stitching and the construction lines because it shows how you do it yourself.
In that live video of ‘John of the Sword,’ is that your own living room you’re playing in?
SW: It is. It’s our front room where I am now. We were going to play on the patio but it rained so we all had to move indoors. We lived in a long row of houses with gardens in the front so people were in the gardens. They were watching but they were standing under the trees in the gardens so they couldn’t really quite see us. They could hear us.
Do you have war paint on?
SW: Face paints, yeah. It’s the opposite of putting on a lot of fancy makeup and thinking, ‘Look how gorgeous am I.’ Now, I realize I’m not a pretty young thing. I am who I am—so I just let myself look a bit more interesting sometimes.
Have your kids ever complained that your band is too loud?
SW: No, no—they wouldn’t dare.

L.A. RECORD PRESENTS ANIMALS & MEN WITH WOUNDED LION, DUNES AND KIT ON THUR., JUNE 30, AT THE SMELL, 247 S. MAIN ST., DOWNTOWN. 9 PM / $5 / ALL AGES. THESMELL.ORG. ANIMALS & MEN’S NEVER BOUGHT, NEVER SOLD IS OUT NOW ON MISSISSIPPI AND ANIMALS & MEN’S SELF-TITLED EP IS AVAILABLE NOW FROM CONVULSIVE. VISIT ANIMALS AND MEN AT MYSPACE.COM/ANIMALSANDMENTERRAPLANES.

I arrived at about 8:10, since the doors opened at 8, and gave my 10 dollars that would go to Japan. Not many people were there, so I sat there waiting for Dark Moon to play (again…I should have taken the hint by then) and it wasn’t until about 9:45 that David Scott Stone began playing synth. He is currently in LCD Soundsystem and has been a regular act at the Smell for a while. Everyone watched as he skillfully played music that made the entire building shake. After that, it wasn’t long before SFV Acid began, and played more electronic incredibly loud music. Not many people seemed to be into this, it didn’t seem to be anyone’s preferred type of music. All I could say was “Alyssa’s first rave” during these two sets of synth. I did enjoy the occasional 1980s sounds that SFV Acid created. Most people moseyed around during and after this, wondering what ever happened to Dark Moon, and when No Age would finally play. I sat next to the door where the only seats were available in the crowded Smell, as people kept going in and out letting the cold freeze me to death for hours until No Age got on stage at around 11:10.

None of us were sure why, but the two men that we had all been waiting for stood on stage for 10 minutes, made noises with synth and guitar, and stopped. They didn’t play any No Age songs. My anticipations of the night as I headed to the Smell were that I would be moshing crazily along to “Fever Dreaming” and hearing Dean’s hard drums and Randy’s fulminating guitar. Instead I was literally on my toes waiting until the noise turned into a song I was familiar with, and I genuinely thought Dean would step away from the synth and start playing an invisible drumset. I was fooling myself, and when they finished I just said “What the fuck?” as my friend said “I could have just gone to the Red Cross and handed them my 10 dollars.” A lot of people asked No Age about it, and they said they were trying something new but couldn’t continue because of technical difficulties. People asked for their money back, as a sarcastic asshole who stood next to the door said to the disappointed No Age fans, “You got your money’s worth, huh?” Not to say that I wanted my money back; I was glad that I was donating my money to Japan. I just wish I’d foretold this, because I wholeheartedly would have rather given my money to the Red Cross, perhaps taken a nap, or maybe projected some live footage of all the MWTX bands on my wall and pretended I was in Texas. Yet I spent my gas/parking money to sit in the cold for nearly 4 hours and get a headache. Basically, the event should not have said that two bands were playing who did not even play. Only good news: 2,000 dollars were raised and donated to the earthquake/tsunami victims in Japan. Good Job, the Smell, you tricksters, you!

—Alyssa Holland

On Tuesday, February 22nd, at the Smell, FYF gave us an amazingly line-up: Cold Showers, Catwalk, Austra, and Vivian Girls. This was Vivian Girls’ of Brooklyn’s first show in L.A. in over a year, according to bassist/vocalist Katy Goodman, so the show was crowded with devoted fans. The Smell usually offers $5 shows and, despite the raised price of $8, this one sold out quickly. I waited outside for about 20 minutes next to a dumpster that reeked of piss, and the doors opened right at 8:30, just like they said they would. Cold Showers got the night started a few minutes after 9pm.

Cold Showers had a short set, and my immediate response to them saying “We’re Cold Showers” was, “I like hot showers,” to which my friend responded, “Taking this a bit too literal.” We enjoyed their ’80s sound. They often gave me a Pixies or Joy Division feel, and I was pleasantly surprised since this was the first time I had heard them. Their songs were generally slow-paced and sort of quiet, but a few of them kicked in and got me dancing.

Next up was Catwalk, a three piece band of guys that are obviously passionate about their music. The singer always had an intense face, and the drummer looked like he was psyched to be there as he kept giggling and looking at his band mates. My favorite song was their second, “Please Don’t Break Me.” They harmonized beautifully, with a bass that complimented the guitar, not just following it, but taking on its own sound. Catwalk followed Cold Showers wonderfully with a similar ’80s sound that we all adored. Another song I really loved was their last, “Baby Please,” which the singer sang passionately, and they all ended their set happily, which made us all feel good as well. This band was also new to me, and I was overjoyed at this point to have heard two phenomenal bands whose shows I could now frequent.

Catwalk

The third band up was Austra, an electronic band from Toronto. This band was definitely ’80s reminiscent, but in a different way from the previous bands. It contained backtracking, keyboard, bass, drums, and the very powerful voice of Katie Stelmanis. My first impression was that their music was far more serious than fun and upbeat like the previous bands. Katie’s voice is beautiful and has a lot of range. The song that stood out from their set was “Beat And The Pulse,” which reminded me heavily of an Annie Lennox song. The bass was pulsating and strong, just like Katie’s voice. Being the complete opposite of serious, I felt a bit out of place with such serious music and the serious attitudes of the musicians. Yet I was definitely pleased with their talent and catchy songs—another band worth keeping tabs on.

The Smell suddenly got super crowded, to the point where I could barely move. Vivian Girls quickly got on stage and they started out with “Never See Me Again,” from their first album, Vivian Girls. This song is incredibly fast-paced, and the crowd was ecstatic about it and began moshing right away. Next was “Can’t Get Over You,” from their second album, Everything Goes Wrong—a song that gets stuck in your head easily, played at a pace that had us dancing and moshing. Then came the slower 2nd track, “I Heard You Say,” from their new album due in April, Share the Joy. I hadn’t heard this one yet, and I really liked Katy’s harmonizing backup. They also performed the 1st track from Share The Joy, “The Other Girls,” a playful song which guitarist/vocalist Cassie Ramone sings with her out-of-tune-in-the-best-way-possible style. They followed with a track from their 1st, “Wild Eyes” which is my favorite song by them. It is upbeat and catchy and embodies their noise. Next was “Lake House,” from Share The Joy, which displays their common kick-snare-kick-snare drumbeat and the addictive pairing of Cassie and Katy’s voices. They alternated Share The Joy—Everything Goes Wrong—Share The Joy—Everything Goes Wrong with “Death,” “When I’m Gone,” “Sixteen Ways,” and “Survival.” “Death” reminds me of “Institutionalized” by Suicidal Tendencies because Cassie straight up talks in the beginning of it. “When I’m Gone” has an addictive drum beat, “Sixteen Ways” is another new hit, and “Survival,” an old favorite. They slowed things down with “Before I Start To Cry” from Everything, a song about “ex-boyfriends and love.” They played “Dance (If You Wanna)” from Share The Joy, which reminds me of an Okmoniks type 1960s garage song. They came out for an encore that the moshers went crazy for and went back stage, where I followed to talk to current drummer Fiona Campbell about their superb set and finish off my FYF night at the Smell.

—Alyssa Holland