John from Stationary Heart Records has been out there longer than most blogs, I have a copy of that first Casiotone single and still put on the Black Ladies single once in a while. SH doesn't press often, but when they do, you can bet there's a damn good reason, like John couldn't say no, which I'm guessing was also the case with this single from The Coffin Pricks.
"Group Home Haircut" is after that scratchy totally compressed guitar sound after teasing this one in with a little bit of distortion jangle...and quickly grinding away with a high tempo bassline. Chris Thompson is taking this in his usual completely punk direction, they're more than capable, with years of history behind all these guys from Circus Lupus, Monorchid, Skull Kontrol, Red Eyed Legends and Ignition. So lots of attitude ...and when this hits the chorus it's rapid fire staccato chord stops and starts, with a huge burst of wall distortion punching in. Chris is firing away, not snotty but definitely pissed. Sounding like the Damned or the Adverts, a distant almost unrelated cousin to that english sound, with a Jawbox direction loose and classic, relying on that repetition. This gated guitar burst chorus is where it changes to a harder edge pop than all emotion of punk. Vocals are thin and back, virtually no effects crafting this punchy more than punk catchable track, straight ahead delivering, you want an oil change you got it.
B-Side's "Right Kind of Loot" is getting even faster and the jumbled crunches of guitar aren't getting any nicer, there's multiple layers of incredible guitar here going from a beefy Replacements guitar distortion and raspy vocal back through an early age punk, driven by these great effects on the strings, always barreling ahead a million miles an hour. The last track, "Cielo Drive" gets just plain dirty, that talky suicidal tendencies and not-adding-up-math Wire sound. Jam together a combination that shouldn't work and you'll hit more than a solid recognizable combination ever will. Screechy loop and higher vocals trying to rise above. They're capturing all that kind of enthusiasm and force from a group of guys who have been there and don't need to prove a thing.
Doug has some nice things to say about this single and you'll actually learn something.
(Coffin Pricks in the way that they're little pokes when you're already dead? Shit...stop it.)
Sleeve art by John Herndon from Tortoise - why would a skull possibly need a bandaid?
Awesome.
John from Stationary Heart wants everyone to know about the Coffin Pricks EP's release show in Chicago at Subterranean TONIGHT with Hollows, Radar Eyes, and Summer Girlfriends.
Group Home Haircut
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