Dive: notes from the music underground

Creepsville at The Clubhouse

Last stop of the Nekromantix/Koffin Kats/ Chop Tops tour in Tempe, Arizona 12/16/07. Click on images to open full size pop-up.

I'm still alive...

Personal circumstances have forced me to pick up extra hours at the "real job," so things have been a bit on hold, but I should be posting some new photos this weekend. And I did do a short interview with Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks when they came through town, so bear with me people...I'll be back.

The Damned - Phantasmagoria

The Damned – Phantasmagoria

 Rating = (4.5 out of 5 stars)

The Damned have gone through many phases in their disorderly career. They started out as one of the first British punk bands, along with the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Generation X and countless others. The Damned would (unlike the Clash) take a decidedly non-righteous, fiercely undisciplined rock and roll attitude toward their craft. The original lineup featured Rat Scabies literally setting things on fire in the background, Captain Sensible and Brian James flailing about and screaming in the audience’s face while flanking either side of the stage and Dave Vanian stalking the front while howling and crooning in inimitable vampiric fashion.

But by the time “Phantasmagoria” hit the shelves, those days were long behind them. The lineup had been shaken up about a half dozen times, Captain and Brian James had both left the band to pursue other interests and the band’s sound had matured to an almost unrecognizable degree. Gone were the speed-punk thrashers, replaced with brooding Goth ballads and poppy sing-along choruses. The wild, off-the-hinge punk years seemed long behind and only the experimental aspect remained from the music of the band’s early years. Looking back over the band’s musical output, one could see a clear progression into the late 80’s MCA era sound that dominated the album. From the early, unpolished Garage Punk of “Damned Damned Damned” and “Music For Pleasure” into the slightly more refined work on “Machine Gun Etiquette” and straight into the Psychedelic buzz of “Strawberries” and “The Black Album” which carried only a hint of the original punk sound. The natural evolution of the band clearly pointed to the gloomy Goth pop on “Phantasmagoria” and it’s follow up album “Anything”.

As horrible as it may sound to some of you, the metamorphosis from a straight forward punk rock band to a poppy British Goth band allowed The Damned to create some of their most staggering music. This entire album is like the soundtrack to a dream. Not a pleasant, fluffy love dream either… “Phantasmagoria” sounds like a surreal, feverish nightmare. Like some sort of drug-induced hallucination on a hot summer night.

The album opens on “Street of Dreams” with a questionable solo saxophone… like something out of a black and white film noir, but suddenly the song explodes into a crashing B-minor chord with heavy Goth organs and a rumbling bass line. You immediately know you are listening to The Damned when Dave Vanian’s voice descends into the mix… “If you can’t sleep tonight, and if a fever grips you tight, there’s a place we must explore – Open wide the door”. The song continues with haunting sing-along choruses and does not relent until fading into the next track – “The Shadow of Love”. Track two starts with a low growl from some sort of unholy beast and a simple, but effective guitar riff by Roman Jugg (who is tragically underrated as a guitarist in my opinion). Scabies picks up the swing-shuffle beat shortly thereafter and the bass trots along while Dave croons one of the best vocal tracks of his recorded career.

The third track, “There’ll Come a Day” begins in a similar, glorious fashion focusing on Roman’s effortless guitar work and Dave’s melodious vocals, but with added fragments of harpsichord piano in the background to add to the surreal overtone. The next track “Grimly Fiendish” is a strange bit of psych-out weirdo pop that only a band like The Damned could create. The bizarre, child-like choruses of “Bad lad, bad boy” sound like something off an elementary school playground.

Tracks seven and eight are both airy pop songs, “Edward the Bear” featuring Roman Jugg on vocals while “The Eighth Day” returns the microphone to Master Vanian. The next track “Trojans” is a boring instrumental track, and the only track on the album that I almost always skip, which brings the vinyl version of “Phantasmagoria” to an unexciting close. But I have both the vinyl version and the CD version, so I am treated to two bonus remixes - “Grimly Fiendish” and “Shadow of Love”. The remix of “Grimly” differs only slightly from the original adding a few extra choruses and breakdowns and a sample of a cash register slamming closed at the end of the track (I’m almost sure the cash register sample was an intended joke by the band. They had to know that die-hard fans would still pick up the remixed version of the song, even though it was essentially the same track, which equals more money for them, with only minimal effort necessary). And finally the best track on the entire album – The “Ten Inches of Hell” version of “Shadow of Love”. This time, Scabies does not fuck around with the drums. He hits them hard and solid as soon as the track begins. Once the beat is laid down, a heavy synth rhythm track is thrown in with the country swing bassline and the heavily echoed vocals. The track extends to over five minutes with added refrains, choruses and a guitar solo or two. The album comes to a suitably spooky close with the sound of a desperate, panting female and a werewolf howl. 

“Phantasmagoria” has been out of print in the US for over ten years, but I’ve recently spotted brand-new reissues of this album in record stores. I advise you all to track one of the little bastards down and add it to your record collection. It’s completely fucking essential. 

Tracklist:

1. Street of Dreams
2. Shadow of Love
3. There'll Come a Day
4. Sanctum Sanctorum
5. Is It A Dream
6. Grimly Fiendish
7. Edward The Bear
8. The Eighth Day
9. Trojans
10. Grimly Fiendish [The Bad Trip Mix] (CD only)
11. The Shadow Of Love [10 Inches Of Hell      Mix] (CD only)

Similar sounds:

Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
The Cure – Disintegration

New Photo Gallery

I'm quickly realizing that while I have a lot of archived photos, putting one up daily will create a lot of redundant subjects, so I'm switching to periodic photo posts. This will keep quality up, as well. I plan on filling in the "gaps" between my regular features with photos and commentary on them. This will also allow me to develop the other content I want -- band profiles and interviews,as well as podcasts.

If you need a daily fix of photos -- music and otherwise -- I have a blog for my photography site.

Show Calendar 1/6 - 1/12

• 1/09 Circle Jerks - Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ all ages
• 1/11 Calabrese - Blakes on Telegraph, Berkley, CA, all ages
• 1/12 Stitch Hopeless and the Sea Legs - Rogue West, Phoenix AZ, 21+
• 1/12 Calabrese - Showcase Theatre - Corona CA, all ages
• 1/12 Starlit - Key Club, West Hollywood, CA, all ages
• 1/12 The Iris - Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ, all ages
• 1/12 Fed-Ups - Casablanca, Phoenix, AZ, all ages

Photo of the Day - Devil Doll

Oops, I've been slacking off here a few days with work and being sick for a couple of weeks, but I'm back on track now. This is from a show back in October at the Surly Wench in Tucson.

I was trying desperately to shoot available light only, but it's so hard in dive bars. This was one of the non-flash shots, which I didn't do a whole lot of that night. Some shows it simply feels too disruptive to be flashing away. Not to imply there was anything mellow about the evening -- that Devil Doll belts out a sassy set. It's a nice change from the madness I normally encounter.

Photo of the Day - Corpse Show Creeps

This was at the Mad Sin show in Scottsdale. Quite a long show, and I shot this set early on, before getting banged up and dehydrated. This was back when I tried to shoot every band at a show. I've since realized that it's too much work while I'm there and afterward with the processing, but I still usually shoot one of the first bands to get "warmed up" and get my lighting for the night. And sometimes I make some great discoveries  of  bands I've never heard before.

Photo of the Day - The Chop Tops

I had seen the Chop Tops once before this when they opened for Mad Sin, and don't get me wrong, they were good then, but this night, they positively tore shit up. I think when you have a lineup like these guys, Koffin Kats and the Nekromantix on tour, it really pushes bands to do their very best. It's kind of a synergistic effect, where the sum becomes far greater than the individual parts.

I'm happy to report that unlike the Mad Sin show, I didn't lose any memory cards this time. I rather infamously lost the disc at that show that contained a great chunk of the Chop Tops set and virtually all of the Koffin Kats set. I went back to Chasers the next day when they opened, crawling around on that nasty floor looking under the stage with a flashlight. No go.

I cried like a girl over that. Probably because I am a girl. And Nick Feratu of The Limit Club called me to make sure I wasn't going to, as he put it, "kill myself."

Okay, I know I tend to take it all too seriously, but I'm not THAT bad. Not quite, anyway.

(Trust me, those who know me are laughing right now.)