We’ve waxed on at length here before
about our great love of all things Tar Babies.
I’ll go as far here as to say that this stuff is amazing.
I’ll go as far here as to say that this stuff is amazing.
Not necessarily because it’s all breathtakingly innovative (as Bucky notes below, these EPs are deeply marked by their formative influences) – this is not the self-realized high art of Fried Milk, but at points, not too far away from it either (most notably the terse dream of “Kicking” and the skewed riffage of "Virgin Sound").
These here EPs are testament to the depth and breadth of the Tar Babies musical odyssey.
NTM a fucking slice in time.
But I’ll shut up, and let you read them here in their own words, courtesy my hand-typed transcription of Bucky Pope’s wonderfully recollective liner notes to this 2005 Aussie CD re-ish of their first two records:
Before Face The Music came out in 1983, the Tar Babies had already opened up for the Misfits in NYC, rolled our van in Raleigh NC, played a whole lot of shows in city parks and stinky basements, and a few in a pilgrim church.
But I’ll shut up, and let you read them here in their own words, courtesy my hand-typed transcription of Bucky Pope’s wonderfully recollective liner notes to this 2005 Aussie CD re-ish of their first two records:
Before Face The Music came out in 1983, the Tar Babies had already opened up for the Misfits in NYC, rolled our van in Raleigh NC, played a whole lot of shows in city parks and stinky basements, and a few in a pilgrim church.
Before that, Robin and I were in the Bloody Mattresses.
In 1980, there were a handful of “punk rock” bands in Madison, Wisconsin, but it was before hardcore, so they were all doing their own out-there kind of music. My first punk show was the Appliances at the Memorial Union. They were great but I threw up in the ladies lounge and I had to walk five miles back to my mom’s apartment.
Back then there was an excellent club in Madison called Merlyns. We saw Iggy Pop, The Selector, Black Flag, Sun Ra, X, The Revillos, Minor Threat, Slits, Bad Brains, and the Replacements several times, all within its year-and-a-half-long life.
In 1980, there were a handful of “punk rock” bands in Madison, Wisconsin, but it was before hardcore, so they were all doing their own out-there kind of music. My first punk show was the Appliances at the Memorial Union. They were great but I threw up in the ladies lounge and I had to walk five miles back to my mom’s apartment.
Back then there was an excellent club in Madison called Merlyns. We saw Iggy Pop, The Selector, Black Flag, Sun Ra, X, The Revillos, Minor Threat, Slits, Bad Brains, and the Replacements several times, all within its year-and-a-half-long life.
Most of the punks were college students who listened to British punk.
We were younger and listened to Black Flag and the Germs.
Robin was the singer of the Bloody Mattresses. We covered the entire second side of the Circle Jerks’ Group Sex record. That was the summer of 1981. That fall, Robin’s younger brother was deported from Switzerland for selling acid at his high school. He had been living there with his parents, but had to finish his senior year in Madison with Robin as his legal guardian.
That winter Robin and I started the Tar Babies with Dan, who was the guitarist from another West High School punk rock band, Mecht Mensch. Dan played drums with us. Jeremy was the bassist in Mecht Mensch but joined our bad as well to do vocals. I was on guitar, Robin on bass.
Our early sound was inspired by DC hardcore bands. Our first four songs were superfast one-two, one-two, one-two beats under distortion-box bar-chords (you can tell which ones they are when you listen to Face The Music).
Robin was the singer of the Bloody Mattresses. We covered the entire second side of the Circle Jerks’ Group Sex record. That was the summer of 1981. That fall, Robin’s younger brother was deported from Switzerland for selling acid at his high school. He had been living there with his parents, but had to finish his senior year in Madison with Robin as his legal guardian.
That winter Robin and I started the Tar Babies with Dan, who was the guitarist from another West High School punk rock band, Mecht Mensch. Dan played drums with us. Jeremy was the bassist in Mecht Mensch but joined our bad as well to do vocals. I was on guitar, Robin on bass.
Our early sound was inspired by DC hardcore bands. Our first four songs were superfast one-two, one-two, one-two beats under distortion-box bar-chords (you can tell which ones they are when you listen to Face The Music).
We recorded four more songs about six months later and had become Black Flag wannabes. You’ll see what I mean when you hear them. That was Face The Music, 1982-83.
Over the next couple of years we played Minneapolis with Husker Du, Milwaukee with Die Kreuzen, and Chicago with Articles of Faith and tons of other bands, as well as doing that ill-fated East Coast tour that ended in Raleigh. And when those bands played Madison, Robin set up their shows.
We recorded again a year later and were still kind of imitating Black Flag. Those songs were the first part of Respect Your Nightmares.
Over the next couple of years we played Minneapolis with Husker Du, Milwaukee with Die Kreuzen, and Chicago with Articles of Faith and tons of other bands, as well as doing that ill-fated East Coast tour that ended in Raleigh. And when those bands played Madison, Robin set up their shows.
We recorded again a year later and were still kind of imitating Black Flag. Those songs were the first part of Respect Your Nightmares.
The summer of ’84 we recorded “Lazy Decision,” “Suffer the Pain,” “Kicking” and “Virgin Sound.” This is where we lost Jeremy and fell off into the weird funk-rock hybrid that we coasted out the rest of our career with on SST.
We were pretty young when we started the band. I was 16, Dan was 17, and Robin was a college freshman. At the time, I thought hardcore punk was mostly pretty lame. A lot of time shows were just a bunch of kids standing around while being sonically assaulted by a band whose singer was really pissed off about Reagan and the fascist cops.
But looking back, it was a pretty interesting time in music. Punk was still on the outside. The biggest punk bands barely sold 20,000 records and would never get a mention in Rolling Stone.
We were pretty young when we started the band. I was 16, Dan was 17, and Robin was a college freshman. At the time, I thought hardcore punk was mostly pretty lame. A lot of time shows were just a bunch of kids standing around while being sonically assaulted by a band whose singer was really pissed off about Reagan and the fascist cops.
But looking back, it was a pretty interesting time in music. Punk was still on the outside. The biggest punk bands barely sold 20,000 records and would never get a mention in Rolling Stone.
Ordinary people had no clue. The kids at my school thought punks were fags and our music was shit.
Now, of course, they’re using punk rock to sell flat-screen TVs.
Now, of course, they’re using punk rock to sell flat-screen TVs.
I’m glad I was born when I was and got to experience punk when it was still stupid.
Dave Lang took the initiative to re-release our first two EPs, as well as a bunch of other songs that were recorded during the same time. I say fine.
Dave Lang took the initiative to re-release our first two EPs, as well as a bunch of other songs that were recorded during the same time. I say fine.
If this music raises a smile from somebody who remembers what it was like back then, all the better.
2 comments:
Funny how Deep Wound & Tar Babies were two of the more profound, dense and smart hardcore bands that evolved into things so much more.
i was thinking precisely about Deep Wound when I posted this.
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