#Fuck the NRA too

[theotherpacman]

tw gun violence

I work with children and I can think of little more sickening than having to watch them crawl under their desks as practice for if someone ever shows up with a gun to try to kill them all.

for us, this is peacetime. this is peacetime. I know it isn't peacetime everywhere but it's peacetime here. are you listening to me. we are not at war. I had to stand there and watch the kids crawl under the desks so that they'll be ready to do that if someone shows up with a gun to kill them. a gun that would almost certainly be easily legally obtained. so many children have been killed in schools by people with guns (legally obtained guns this is peacetime) that this is procedure. I was standing there thinking about what I would do if there really was someone here to kill these children under my care - the scissors I would take in my hand as a weapon and where I would stand guard and the threats I would scream as I attacked. wondering what the children were thinking about, under their desks.

[commodorebuzzkill]

Well, it's literally impossible to make them care about gun deaths or assault weapons proliferation. Sad truth of it is, I don't think we could get an assault weapons ban passed anymore even if Kamala Harris were president elect and the Dems controlled both houses of congress.

Smith and Wesson, Colt, Remington etc. are too busy making bank off of the sale of AR-15s for any restriction to be put in place, and their customers are insanely loyal.

Wanna know something super fucked up? Every mass shooting effectively serves as an advertisement for assault weapons. Generally, you will see a spike in sales of AR-15s and the like in the days and following a mass shooting because customers fear a ban on the sale of the weapons, so they go out and grab more.

We're so far beyond broken when it comes to gun legislation in this country that there's essentially no prospect of fixing it for decades at this point. The left has effectively lost the argument at this point, and the more militant the right gets, the more folks on the left go out and buy their own guns because they are rightly scared of right wing lunatics shooting them and being acquitted in court. So enough of the left doesn't want to bother gun reform that we can't really build a large enough coalition to do anything about having the highest rate of gun deaths of any country on earth.

[etrangersvoyageant]

in an ideal world there shouldn’t be a target, let alone a place, for gun violence. however, this is not an ideal world. still even someone as tr*mp shouldn't be a target, despite the fact he sowed the seeds of chaos and carnage for many years.

what struck me most after the attempt is how both candidates said this kind of violence has no place in their country. perhaps they should recheck the map, because the american statistics for gun violence are nothing to be proud of. due to their lack of strict gun control, they have created a country where bullets can be put on one’s grocery list to be brought home and a generation of teenagers and young adults who have nightmares about school shooters. didn’t the supreme court recently rule in favour of an additional magazine, making some guns even more lethal? your country, president elects, is far from an ideal world. so, if this shocked you, you should probably do something about it. realize what your military industrial complex has done to your country and the rest of the world, how it has influenced and still influences the lives of millions and understand your words sound hollow to me.

[adorabledaylilly]

So angry at a white man on Twitter I want him crushed and ground up by a train

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

I almost said “wish your dogs good luck” like they’d understand it… so give your dogs you pets as good luck :)

🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️

🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟🧟

They would! Because they're little geniuses! (Kidding they are but dogs). BUT THANKS THEY DID GREAT! They passed every test.

21 for 🛏️:

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“You really think I would do that to you?” Buck asks, a little heartbroken. Because, honestly? What the fuck?

“Not you, maybe,” Tommy replies.

Buck feels cold. 

“Don’t do that,” he says. “Don’t talk badly about Eddie in front of me. Especially not about that. You don’t get what happened there.”

“No, I really don’t,” Tommy says.

“I’m serious,” Buck replies. “Drop it.”

“Okay, I will. But answer a few questions for me first,” Tommy challenges.

Buck grits his jaw, but lets Tommy continue. 

“I get why he needed to be away on Father's Day, but what’s the reasoning he’s giving you for now?” Tommy asks. 

God. Jesus. Can he fucking move past this? For Eddie to, like, lure Buck into an affair, he’d have to want to have an affair with Buck. 

---

21 for 🧟:

---

“You do that a lot,” Eddie observes. “Help.” 

There’s a pause. 

“Well…” Buck starts after a moment. “I guess I just like feeling helpful.”

“Firefighters, I guess,” Eddie mumbles, feeling the beginning of a yawn creeping up on him. 

“Yeah,” Buck replies. “Sorry you never got to be one.” 

“Me too.”

September 7th, 2018

Eddie has never been a shoot first, think later type of firearms user. Not in the slightest.

He grew up around a lot of those types of people. Card-carrying NRA members who collected semi-automatic weapons for the hell of it and got a thrill out of blowing tin cans to shit. It was never Eddie. The military only hardened that resolve. The power you have behind a firearm shouldn’t be taken lightly. Killing someone had taught him that.

Today, though? Today, Eddie just shoots. 

[ymaohoh]

Max's relationship with Eddie and Chrissy headcanons?

This is a GREAT prompt. Thank you!

One of my favourite Hellcheer fic/prompts to read are the ones coming from other character perspectives (POV's). I've seen a few from Max's viewpoint and they are KILLER.

(I want to quickly link two fics in particular which stole my heart: 'still awake, playing chase with the sunrise' a oneshot by @cyraclove and 'she said to me forget what you thought' multi-chapter by @majicmarker)

So my thoughts (and this follows the 'Chrissy Lives AU idea')

Max initially minds her own business about Eddie and Chrissy's flirting because why should she give a rat's ass about the way he clearly goes all gooey and soft for her, and the way she gets all silly and pink and giggly? Dustin and the others LOVE it and drag Eddie to filth for his antics but Max is more reserved. She's got her own stuff going on, you know?

But she's good at observing. She's the first one who twigs Eddie's made up excuses to walk past Chrissy's locker a hundred times a day (which is NOT on his route) and the way his eyes are glued to a certain table in the lunchroom. She notices Chrissy peering at Eddie over Carver's shoulder and the way she giggles into her hand when he says something weird and wacky. She doesn't share these observations with the group because it's not her business but she rolls her eyes when they finally piece it together - 'idiots', she thinks, looking at Lucas fondly.

Max knows Chrissy speaks to Ms Kelley too but she never brings it up, nor does Chrissy. Following Chrissy's first encounter with Vecna, the party try and figure out connections between the victims but Max stays totally silent when they ask. That's Chrissy's business and she's sure as hell not ratting her out. Chrissy appreciates this and they share a knowing look before they both spill the beans that yeah, their lives suck.

When they realise how important music is to keeping them grounded (literally) and how it helps against Vecna's visions, they sit down together and create 'happy playlists'. Their music tastes are way different but it's an oddly fun way to spend an afternoon. She's kinda' glad someone else is going crazy too - makes her feel less alone.

Chrissy is right off the bat keen to be nice to everyone and show she wants to help (they don't expect much initially but she proves them wrong after demonstrating a killer dropkick and she's a crack shot - her dad's a member of the NRA). Max is reluctant at first - she doesn't trust easy - but Chrissy is persistent and Max finds herself opening up. It's nice to have another girl around and Chrissy is kind and honest and sweet. If she ever had a big sister - she'd want her to be like Chrissy, you know? She listens when Max talks.

(Chrissy wins El round too which helps. Max learns she can enjoy the odd girly moment and not have it diminish her 'tough girl' exterior - Chrissy paints El's nails bright purple and shows Max how to bluff at poker. Sometimes they team up with Nancy and Robin too).

Max gravitates towards Eddie more than Steve or Nancy (or the other 'adults'). Maybe because he's from the same crappy background or because he doesn't care about shitty family drama and require a million answers. She likes his Uncle Wayne too and his accent when he calls her 'Red'.

Max is (unfortunately in her view) the one who witnesses Eddie and Chrissy taking their...whatever it is...to the next step. She's hanging outside her trailer when she sees them hurrying out of Eddie's van. Eddie's hands are ALL over Chrissy as he practically carries her inside. Eddie spots her though, and later asks (with the cockiest smile ever seen) if she can keep it hush hush until Eddie and Chrissy figure out what this means exactly, but Max responds flatly, "cat's out of the bag, dipshit. Everyone knows already." Eddie flushes bright red but she doesn't think it's from embarrassment at being caught - he looks so crazy fucking happy.

But she thinks they're good together. She watches as they progress (quickly) from friends with feelings, to sucking face, to becoming honest-to-god soulmates. They work well together. Eddie brings Chrissy out of her shell and installs some of his notorious confidence in her, and Chrissy cares for Eddie and makes him stand taller. Max thinks that's what relationships should be like.

(she finds Chrissy upset at school when the cheerleaders ditch her after finding out about Eddie and Hellfire, and she tells Chrissy bluntly they suck and helps her dab at her spoiled make up. Those phonies don't matter - she's got real friends now. It's the first time she calls Chrissy a friend).

She's never seen Eddie look so serious as when it comes to Chrissy and her safety - which is different from his usual goofy dramatic self. When Steve suggests using Chrissy as bait (a Daphne, if you will) Eddie gets a real hard look in his eyes and tells him to think of something else before Chrissy says bravely yes "if it'll help". Eddie watches her, makes sure her ammo vest (which is way too big) is strapped on tight, and Max see's him fucking lose it when Chrissy comes this close to danger. When she gets back, safe, Eddie holds onto her hand like it's a lifeline. ('synchronized denial' by empress of snark inspired this one).

(Chrissy screams like a banshee when she sees Eddie being attacked by demobats. Max spots real fire in her eyes as she swings at it with her baseball bat).

She's never believed in soulmates (thought it was a gimmick for movies and love-sick tweens) but when she looks at Chrissy and Eddie embracing after Vecna is finally defeated? (the soft look on Eddie's face, the way Chrissy nuzzles into the crook of his neck), she understands Eddie and Chrissy are just meant to be together and would be in any alternative universe or dimension. Fucking Star-Crossed Lovers. She doesn't know if she and Lucas will ever be like that (she's still a kid, okay?) but maybe one day.

(Chrissy doesn't live)

Max doesn't know Chrissy personally but she knows she speaks - spoke (goddamn it) - to Ms Kelley too. Knew she was vulnerable and she was hurting. When the party are talking about connections between victims, Max remains silent (again). Fuck that. She's not giving up Chrissy's secrets even if she's no longer here. Chrissy deserves better than to be discussed like a throw-away character in some dumb horror movie.

As she grows closer to Eddie and the others, she notices the weight around Eddie's shoulders and the haunted look he gets when he mentions Chrissy and what happened in his trailer. He flinches every time her name is uttered. She wonders if there was more to their relationship then just a brief moment in the woods?

Thanks 'nonny

[thessalian]

Thess vs TLOVM S3, Ep 2

Right. I've had nap. I've had toast. I'm still tired. But I am going to do another episode of TLOVM, even if I'm being slow about it because new eps don't drop until Thursday and I don't want to spend too long going, "Is it Thursday yet?", even if that is the CR catch-phrase.

"You never bothered to ask." I don't know why that hits me so hard, but it does. Possibly because it highlights how Percy was so blinded by trauma, fear, and anger that he just took what was offered and barely even remembered that it came from somewhere outside, whereas Ripley went into that bargain with her eyes wide open. It definitely highlights that Ripley is not the sort of person whose mercy you want to be at, because she has less of it than "No Mercy Percy" does.

That whole opening just highlights exactly why Taliesin winces every. Single. Fucking time someone in Exandria pulls a gun.

"Believe me; I've tried--" Gilmooooooooooore ... what did you do? If you're trying coquettish winks at the Hand of Ord, it's because you did some shit. ...That or you tried to get one into bed and you're talking about your famous charm falling flat for once, which you would never do, so-- No. No. Focus on the current bisexual disasters running around Marquet.

...OMG. Ripley's a NRA nut. And the picture she's painting is basically the USA right now. ...Which is not a good thing. Because, Ripley, that force you're talking about someone overwhelming? THEY COULD BUY GUNS TOO.

...That was hesitance and I don't like it. But the twins figuring out crime with the ranger/rogue combo is awesome.

Yeah. That was hesitance. J'mon sa Ord is not stupid. Then again, considering who and what J'mon sa Ord is, they couldn't be. I mean, even without certain parts of the what, you don't rule someplace like Ank'harel if you're stupid.

OMG SCANLAN YOU ARE SUCH A DAD. Without the right as yet to make that kind of brag, but ... you're Scanlan.

...Yes, Kaylie. LITERALLY.

Oh, Percival, you'd better have a plan to wreck shit up while no one's looking.

"Asshole even ripped off my font" OMG.

N'awwwwww Vex! Wait. This might be the instead of the huge fight that killed Percy that one time. It makes sense; Percy's grabbed in the place of the help Ripley hired, we don't have the issue about bringing in Kynan or the whole Allura / Kima thing, they still get Cabal's Ruin at the end of it, and...

Wait. In the campaign, the Plate of the Dawnmartyr was already in the Hells. Is Percy about to wreck up Ripley's plans by sending Orthax and the Plate to the Hells?!?

I have to watch the bisexual disaster Scooby-Doo gang if I want to find that out.

This ... is so Grog. And ... this is how GROG gets the intel they need. Okay, I love this.

See, Season 1 Grog felt infantalised. It feels like Grog's characterisation got closer to how Travis originally played him the more involved Travis got in the writing. ...I wonder if that's why he got more involved in the writing. I guess I would, in his shoes; "Fine! I'll write the loveable idiot myself!"

Aaaand that's where that sneak peek comes from. I've seen this.

He tells Kaylie she's his only family ... but he kinda lies. This is going to be problematic.

I FUCKING CALLED IT!

Vex, your heart was in the right place ... unfortunately in this case, possibly, but how the fuck can you do that to Percy again after he was the reason you died the LAST time?!?

Aw, crap.

Oh, good lord, Scanlan. I was kind of hoping you'd have some conscience about your friends getting chased, but he's just hiding from the law?!?

And the little dragon. Perfect.

Keyleeeeeeth ... no. No you're not.

Yeah, you know how bad this looks, guys-- Oh, for fuck's sake, Percy. I mean, I get feeling responsible for making the thing in the first place, but at some point, you have to forgive yourself, not only because sometimes trauma makes you do dumbass things, but also because HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO MAKE RESTITUTION IF YOU'RE-- wait. Transformation what-now?

...Oh, gods, the second-hand embarrassment is strong. But I take it back about the "hiding from the law" thing; he was just ... too torn to be any good to either of the people he wanted to be with at that time.

Ah. Transformation this-now. Oooooooooooh shit. I hope they can undo this shit-- Scanlan?!?

Scanlan, what--? Oh. Even drunk, you can pull out a last-minute clutch move.

.........All that and it was fake Plate?!? Well. That gives us the trip to the Hells, and the big fight with Ripley later to get Cabal's Ruin. Okay!

I think at this point that my only problem with this element of the series is ... well, the thievery. It feels like trying to fanangle an audience with J'mon sa Ord, while not as visually impressive, could still have resulted in an investigation leading to Ripley. Possibly less tension, though ... but there are ways!

Aaaaaaaaaanyway, this is a good place to leave things until Monday - Sunday's way too full of stuff, given D&D Sunday and Silent Hill 2 remake dropping. My D&D group should feel very flattered. I set aside brand new unread @seananmcguire novels for sessions, and I will be setting aside a game I've wanted to play for at least fifteen years for session too. Because I love them and I love our story.

[weneverlearn]

Kurt Bloch: An Awesome Guy Who Awesome People Like

Rocking with the Fastbacks and recording all your favorite bands since 1979

Fastbacks, 1988; Kurt Bloch far left, Gumby t-shirt

“There truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic!” - Kurt Bloch

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By: Eric Davidson

I’ve been thinking a lot about joy of late. Like pure, eyes-to-the-sky, skipping down the street joy. There is a paucity of it around right now.

We could follow a zillion trails to and from how we got here, but this is ostensibly a music blog, so I’m going to make a quick stab at the roots of this unenviably joyless position we’re sitting in, rock-wise.

The Fastbacks were joyful. Starting out in 1979 in the dawning days of Seattle’s punk scene, they became a local fave on the basis of action-packed shows stuffed with careening pop hooks, irked energy, and a friendly, guffaw around onstage demeanor that didn’t exactly scream “pre-hardcore era.”

Fastbacks retreated for a few years, circa 1988, and when kicked back into gear a couple years later, found themselves being a preferred opener for a load of grumpy grunge bands who I’m guessing hoped to absorb some of the Fastbacks positive energy to counteract their mope – which the Fastbacks were more than ready to supply.

A mélange of metal volume, fleeting bouts of prog whimsy, Ramones tempos, and BubbleYum stickiness, the Fastbacks created a  singular sound. Like most great bands, they never fit into any particular zeitgeist – too raggedy for the pop punk contingent, too peppy for the grunge trend, they nonetheless retained a respected status among bands who appreciated their consistently grabby tunes and fun live show.

Despite any remaining expectations of what “success” was supposed to be, by the turn of the millennium the Fastbacks became that precious thing – one of those awesome bands that awesome bands like.

It should be noted that, while grunge soon gained a definition as a downer genre (that has taken root since), Bloch and company palled around with that Seattle scene from the get-go, and knew many of them as fun rocker kids just trying their best to get through seven months of rain by rocking. 

The Fastbacks kept careening forward right through the ‘Alternative Rock” era that ignored all the fun underground garage punk and instead painted rock as increasingly dreary and grievance-based. The early 2000s came, and the Fastbacks took their leave.

They’ve recently gotten back together for occasional reunion shows. Always holding them together throughout their stop/start whirlwind of a career was ace guitarist/producer and philosophical center of the band, Kurt Bloch.

Bloch, who began his career as a recording studio whizz with Fastbacks, never stopped twiddling the knobs for lots of your favorite bands and/or underrated acts. We checked in with him on his ongoing mission to bring fun to the fringes despite the mainstream consistently choosing incorrectly.   

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Kurt Bloch, rockin', 1990 (Fuck the NRA. I will assume Kurt's t-shirt here was de rigueur '90s irony.)

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What was the first album you loved; and what was the first album you loved because of its production?

Good question, hard to answer. I think it was 45s and AM radio that got me going on recording qualities, how loud some of the great hits of the early-’70s sounded. How some records sounded like they were a band playing inside your head. I think I was aware of EQ and compression sounds early on, how the drum fills would sort of obliterate everything behind it on some songs. How the guitar would be so loud in the breaks. How, if the record didn’t have enough treble, it would be unexciting; if there was too much then it’d sound wimpy.

Then getting into albums, and FM radio, you’d listen to Larks’ Tongues In Aspic or Dark Side Of The Moon, and they had this spacious quality that was rad; the Scorpions’ Fly To The Rainbow was right in your face, really up-front and close. Then, going to see bands live, we’d see the coliseum style shows – that was so cool, but then getting to see bands in smaller spaces where you could hear the amps on stage, and feel the sound pressure in the room –now that was a mind-opener. You could feel the Marshalls and the actual sound coming off of the stage.

Then when punk bands started playing, that’s when it started getting interesting. You know, like I just saw this killer band that sounded so great at the show, and their record sounds like a bowlful of shit. Why?! That leads to one-track, two-track, four-track tape recorders, and each time you record something, you have a whole book of revelations of what to do and what not to do. So many great recordings from that early punk era without a bunch of reverb. It was another revelation. A lot of those early digital reverbs that everyone had, I just hated that fake trebly, scritchy sound. Rather just not use any reverb than that icky sound.

How did the Fastbacks form?

Kim and Lulu were high school friends of ours, The Cheaters was our neighborhood band; only lasted a couple years but they were good ones! When that band disintegrated on-stage, there was still band gear in my parents’ basement. Kim (Warnick, bass/vocals) had been in a band, The Radios, and Lulu (Gargiulo) wanted to play guitar and sing. Somehow my parents didn’t put a stop to it all, so we started playing a couple times a week. Not saying we got good, but we got better.

How long before you felt you had locked into the Fastbacks’ sound?

I reckon whatever “sound” we had was pretty well established early on; it was just whatever we wanted to do. Of course we loved the punk bands of the era first and foremost, but also the ’60s and ’70s pop music we grew up with; and the hard rock bands of the ’70s too! And I always was a fan of the wonderful arrangements and sound of the ’70s prog bands, once I started writing most of the songs, these things would creep in.

Live, 1986

I have this romantic vision of Kim Warnick as a long-haired rocker teen crashing parties and such. Is that correct?

Ha ha ha!! We were all pretty good (bad?) at crashing parties, some of the shit we did makes me wince thinking of it all. But it was 1977, ‘78; things were different back then, a different kind of boredom ran rampant through kids’ minds back then. There was a real disdain for society, maybe not to the degree of the UK bands at the time, but still there nonetheless. Often there was nothing to do other than the proverbial let’s go fuck shit up. And the music was such a part of all that.

So you got a story about something back then that would make you wince now?

Back when we were teenagers in The Cheaters, we would go to pretty desperate lengths to create excitement. The Cheaters singer, Scott Dittman, was maybe the funniest person I’ve ever known, and often in our search for something to do, he would drive a car full of us down to the frats at the University Of Washington. We’d go crash frat parties, rarely did we fit in unnoticed. You’d grab some keg cups and try to hang out, usually immediately, “Would you please leave.” And that didn’t often sit well with Scott. If we were going to “please leave” then we would not leave without exacting some sort of a toll. I guess we could run pretty fast, or we would’ve got our asses kicked pretty well back then. Somehow a few weeks later we’d go back to the same frat house that had a bookcase upended or a row of bikes knocked over, and lo and behold, the same thing would happen again. Of course we were never hired to play any frat parties.

Scott also loved to fight. He took boxing lessons and was always trying to teach us how to fight too. You knew when the gloves came out it was time to find something else to do. “Come on, you just gotta keep your guard up.” (smash smash smash) “You said you weren’t gonna hit us in the face.” Yeah right.

The Cheaters and The Accident (another erstwhile punk outfit) set up a show at a non-punk bar, somewhere down by Olympia. This would’ve been 1979 maybe. There were no roadmaps for like-minded or “friendly” places to play, outside of the major cities. But we were trying to do something, anything, and our double bill got the booking. This bar had a dance floor that also was used for bar fighting. There must have been some sort of organization to the fights, but it was sanctioned bar fighting. No-one was on the dance floor or anywhere near it when we started, so Scott tried to solicit a fight or two during our set. This was unfriendly territory, we were all, “Stop this nonsense!” But once you told Scott not to do something, well he was going to double down of course. Fortunately no one took him up on his offers, and we got out unscathed, but the bar owner took me into his office at the end of the night and gave me a rundown on what we needed to do to become successful in the music business, and the first thing was to get rid of that singer.

1978

First Fastbacks show, February, 1980 – any memories of it?

Oh, totally! The first Fastbacks show, it was at a rec center in a quiet neighborhood, it was three bands: The Vains, Psychopop, and The Fastbacks. We were all friends, and it was all three bands’ first shows. Very ramshackle, but we cobbled together a sound system, someone had a few lights, everyone brought what they had, and the show went on. A little rough around the edges, but the power didn’t go out, no cops were called, nothing was ruined – an early triumph for sure.

Was the power pop zeitgeist of that time a thing for Fastbacks? Did you feel a part of it?

No! For sure the New Wave was hitting strong at that point, but we were certainly not embraced by the new wavers at all. I suppose for that first year, we were pretty terrible, but we had some friends and people who wanted to give us a chance. Getting Duff (McKagan – yes, that one from Guns ‘N Roses) to play drums was the first step into making the band more listenable, but we were still a long ways off of what the general public would consider valuable music. We got kicked off of a show after our first set (of two). “That’s okay, you guys don’t have to play another set.” And I was all, “What do you mean we don’t have to?!” Oh, I get it.

Then when the hardcore bands cropped up, we were pals with some of them, but we weren’t furious enough for them really. I recall some sort of fury at a DOA/The Fartz/Fastbacks show. It required some foresight, which many didn’t possess, to support any kind of music that wasn’t 100% punk. Conversely, the proper power pop bands, well, we were a little too power and not enough pop, I reckon. We wanted to be that, but it’d take a bit still to hone those chops.

Had Duff McKagen played in any band before that?

Duff was the bass player in The Vains, who played that Laurelhurst Rec Center show. That was his first show. He must’ve been 15, barely 16?

Did he exhibit behaviors that would later align with Guns ‘N Roses’ infamous lifestyle?

We were still pretty reeled-in at that point, no one really even got plastered, no one started doing drugs yet. Might’ve been some Budweisers around, but nothing stronger yet.

Guns 'N Roses 2nd show, 1985

Got any Vains stories, recollections of a show, or the general scene from whence they came/played? Was there a good raw, original punk scene in Seattle in late '70s? I'm aware of Soldier and some other bands, but I wanna get it from the horse’s mouth.

The Vains only played three, maybe four shows total. In the late ’70s into early ’80s it was pretty hard to keep something going if you were any sort of impatient. Most bands never got the chance to play enough to iron out any difficulties, or taste any sort of real success. Lots of arguing over what direction to take, stick to your punk rock guns, and play to a rental hall of your friends; or try to get “jobs” in the bars, which would mean being stricken with the “cover band” tag, which was NOT punk.

1978

The Enemy worked the hardest, yet still couldn’t crack the code in 1979. The Telepaths, The Blackouts, The Lewd – everyone broke up, or moved away and then broke up. The Fartz made a pretty good go of it, but even they sorta morphed into Ten Minute Warning, and then morphed into an art band… The Silly Killers stayed pretty punk. The Living ripped it up for their short lifespan. But they were all in that 1982 dilemma, you can almost see a line in the sand, drawn in the summer of 1982. Not a lot of bands made it across that line that summer.

The Enemy live, 1980

If I remember it was some sort of divine intervention that The Fastbacks reconvened in 1983 to fire it up again, it was nearly the end of the line. But it was also clearly a new beginning, a new lease on life, a new crop of kids started bands in those Metropolis years; the Metropolis was a new all-ages venue that I would consider the petri dish of the next bundle of bands.

As the ‘80s took hold and punk rock hall shows were sort of the only stage for many of our bands, after a couple years of not getting to any sort of next level, it was clear that there needed to be a re-grouping of some sort. We’d see our friends’ bands get actual paying gigs in bars – if they were non-punk sounding. Of course many of the punk bands went to the dark side of ’80s metal. Everyone was looking to do something that could “go somewhere.”

Somewhere right in that 1982 corridor, drugs started flourishing, stupidity set in. Duff came with us Fastbacks as a “roadie” in 1984 down to L.A., and when we came back I reckon he moved to L.A. to escape that whole rigamarole. No one was getting anywhere here anyway. A bold move at that time, at the advanced age of 20!

1987

Word is Fastbacks have had between 12 and 20 drummers. Short of naming every single drummer, are there a few you’d like to point to as having had a particularly interesting stint; or who went on to other bands?

Gosh, all the Fastbacks drummers had something great about them. There were a few who only did one show. I publicly apologize to those who didn’t last. Those were strange times. I don’t think there are any unsolved mysteries in the Fastbacks drummer world, Dan Peters, who recorded a couple songs with us but no shows, Tad Hutchison, and Tom Hendrikson, who each did one show…. Some convoluted moments for sure, and all killer drummers!

Do you think if you would have remained drummer for Fastbacks that you would have still gotten into production?

Yeah, I think the fascination with recording was parallel to the live playing side of things, it was always there in my constitution. Wanting to learn, wanting to figure out how to make records that captured how killer bands sounded. It was such a tall order back then. Seemed like the old guard [engineers] didn’t “get it,” or were prohibitively expensive; and so many of the others didn’t sound kickass like we wanted. Of course this comes from the actual band, first and foremost; that is learned the hard way! But if the band blazes at their show, it seemed that their records should sound blazing too, but that wasn’t often the case.

1988

1989

From what I remember, the Fastbacks rep was that of the favorite local band of all the Seattle bands, and hence got on as openers for bands who would soon get huge during that whole grunge thing…

Pretty hard to say from the inside view. We had the unfortunate hurdle of being broken up from late-1988 till mid-1990. A lot of opportunity probably squandered during those times. But, unlike anyone else I can think of, we did get a second chance via Sub Pop, and another decade of rock. I know we were quite lucky in that department. We never did gigs large or small with Nirvana, Soundgarden, sort of the class of ’89. We did share a slightly miserable practice space with Green River and later Mother Love Bone. Always pals with those cats, so we did do opening stints with Pearl Jam in 1996, all around the world.

What was miserableness about it?

Oh man, that place… It was in a basement in Pioneer Square, the old, original downtown Seattle. The Great Seattle Fire devastated downtown in like 1889, and they rebuilt the city on top of the old city, one floor higher. So our basement was on the level with the old, original city; some rooting around could be done. There was no bathroom or running water down there, so you had to go to the bar a block away to use the facilities, but often you just couldn’t be bothered. In the space next to ours, it was a smashed up, decrepit old room that we moved all the garbage from our side into. No lighting of any sort, so it was all flashlights if you had them, and filling up bottles of pee and putting them where ever we could find room.

But of course we raged supreme down there, some epic parties, bands playing, and whatnot; of course no water or facilities, but grand times in the ’80s. Somehow, I ended up being in charge of paying rent, not the best job for me to take on. It meant tracking down Andrew Wood once a month and trying to get him to pay his share of their rent. First it was Malfunkshun, and Green River was there too. We might’ve blown up before Mother Love Bone started? I think I remember Green River blowing up too, after their California trek; it would’ve been not too long after that that The Fastbacks unceremoniously imploded. But for a while it was definitely a rager.

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Nifty, random link I stumbled on with some cool early Fastbacks fliers, stories, and live stuff.

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1992

While you didn't play with the "biggies" of the scene as much as I thought, got any early Nirvana or Soundgarden tale of any sort you'd like to share?

Our fabled practice basement was just a couple blocks from The Central, a venue that was sort of home base for a lot of stuff. The Vogue as well, it was on the north end of downtown, we were on the south end. Many people had keys to the place, so it was not surprising to duck in between sets at The Central, to have cheap beers or whatnot. I first saw Soundgarden at The Central, and they were certainly mind-blowing. Would’ve been ’87? Quickly became a favorite Seattle band, and when their first 7” came out, my roommates hated me. I had a tendency to play those 45’s over and over and over again. But they played The Central a lot, and just got better and better, heavier and heavier. I remember the first time they played “Beyond The Wheel”, it was at the Vogue. I was standing next to Mark Arm and we looked at each other and just said FUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH…

The first Nirvana show I saw was also at the Vogue, it was maybe not the greatest Nirvana show, but man I thought that singer was amazing. Shortly after, Jon Poneman (Sub Pop co-founder) was at the bar there and said, “If you buy me a coffee now, I’ll give you a 45 tomorrow that will change your life.” An easy proposition. Sub Pop HQ was half a block away, he gave me a “Love Buzz” 45, and once again, the roommates had a reason to hate. I must’ve played that record 100 times in a row. Might’ve taken them a bit to find their pummeling style, but man they sure did. Then after Bleach had been out a while, all the rumors of major label this and major label that… So exciting and weird.

Who is a favorite Seattle “grunge era” band you really dug and maybe didn’t get the recognition you think it deserved? Mine are the Derelicts and Zipgun.

Of course! Pure Joy, Flop, H-Hour, the Meices – wait they were actually from SF… Huge Spacebird, Once For Kicks…. Have you got an hour or so?!

I know you are no doubt tired of this question, but do you have a late ‘80s/early ‘90s story or show that happened where you thought, “Damn, this Seattle scene thing is getting some real attention? This is fucking weird.”

After the Fastbacks blew up in 1988, I started playing with the Young Fresh Fellows, and we were off and running pretty hard right away. Certainly a parallel path from the Seattle Grunge Explosion, but a decent path it was! I was pals with Jon and Bruce (Pavitt) at Sub Pop when they started, so I’d go hang out at their early HQ/distributor place downtown. It was amazing to see some of these bands blow up when they did.

Young Fresh Fellows, 1989; Kurt Bloch far right

I suppose the thing that sealed it for me was listening to the advance cassette of Nevermind on a Young Fresh Fellows trip. Scott McCaughey had been assigned to review it for local music rag, The Rocket, and I nabbed it from him on a trip out East. It totally blew my doors wide open. Already having been a superfan since that “Love Buzz” 45, and seeing a couple of the shows they did here before going out to record that album, then hearing it for the first time on headphones; then as our tour progressed, seeing the record just going ballistic at every record store, it was just crazy. It never stopped getting bigger and bigger. This is so fucking weird!

Strange feeling of seeing a local band you saw shlubbing around town or peeing next to them at a dive, to hearing them play in a grocery store in Nevada, or whatever....

Soundgarden was the first one I remember blowing up. They went from Sub Pop to SST to A&M – they sorta seemed to have their shit together pretty well. Alice In Chains were kinda off our radar, they were only on the Rock radio stations; it wasn’t until their second album that I noticed that they actually were killer. But Nirvana, they were crazy cool from the get-go, not in the FM Rock station sort of way, but the punk underground sort of way. Plus I didn’t really know them at the beginning, so there was way more mystery about them. A couple legendary Seattle club shows before they went off to start Nevermind; the OK Hotel first playing of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” we were just transfixed – What the fuck is this?! Then the Off Ramp show, they went on really late, and got cut off right before 2am. Somehow the club picked up the empties and let the band play on into the night, and what a show it was. Then… nothing.

Didn’t really hear anything from Nirvana ‘til the advance cassette of Nevermind went out, and of course thinking, if I like this so much, it’s probably never gonna go anywhere. Wrong. It was like a slow ball of fire, radio then record stores, like every record store playing it, every magazine… It would’ve made you hate a lesser band, but it really was great so there was a sense of pride attached to it all. Finally something we loved is big. But then how big? There seemed to be no end to it. It was everywhere. And so weird to think that kids dug something that was blazing and amazing.

Were you defacto producer of Fastbacks from the get-go of recording?

Oh for sure. Not by strong-arming anyone, but just because there was no money, and no one else could be bothered! Our first 45 was with Neil Hubbard and Jack Weaver, as we were doing a song for a Seattle comp LP, and as per the usual, just recorded some extra songs in our allotted time. The first EP was Peter Barnes, drummer for The Enemy, killer Seattle band and very much an inspiration to all the bands in the late-’70s in Seattle. Then after that, it was trial by fire.

Can you tell me more about The Enemy, and their local import?

The Enemy pretty much initiated the punk “scene” in Seattle. There were a few bands, but they started a club, it was all ages, March, 1978. Otherwise it would’ve been hall shows, but The Bird brought everyone together. Originally only open for a few months, but there were shows there every Friday and Saturday, it really did give us something to do.

My first band, The Cheaters, might not have actually played anywhere if not for them. We could have languished in my parents’ basement forever if not for being stopped by The Enemy members at a Ramones show: “Hey! Are you guys in a band? Would you want to play at our club we’re opening up in a few months?” Of course we said yes, we didn’t tell them that we were just barely a band, we’d never actually played a show, nor would we maybe ever had if not for their offer. We were just teenagers, my brother Al was still in High School. But they took us in and let us play shows. The drummer, Peter Barnes, filled in for a night our real drummer couldn’t play.

Everyone knew each other, when it was time to record what was to be The Fastbacks’ first EP, Peter volunteered to be our producer. He figured out how to get cool, kickass sounds and make things happen. No one had any money or experience so it had to be on a budget, but he made it happen. The record turned out great. “In America” was on the commercial new wave station, we thought we had it made!

I thought I knew what to do, to various degrees of success. Conrad Uno at Egg Studio did much of our first album. He was wise beyond words and also a great teacher. After that LP was finished he was all, “You can do all this, I think, I’ll be back at the end of the night to close up!” Then it seemed like the right avenue. So many producers seemed like they just wanted to add stuff in order to have their presence be felt. I always felt, like – what is the least amount of stuff we can have on here to make it happen? Less stuff, but louder. Certainly not against adding things, but also happy to leave things out as much as possible. Always loved the one-guitar bands that didn’t double everything all the time. Makes you think a little harder about what you’re doing.

1994

Okay, I will name a band, and you give me the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your production gigs with them:

Presidents of the U.S.A.

We’d do several takes of any given song, as the band was learning them, Chris (Ballew, singer) would play his two-string bass flawlessly every take, and sing a scratch vocal that could’ve been used as the keeper. Never a mistake, never less than killer every time.

Robyn Hitchcock

Also just an amazing music machine. Put him in an iso booth with a mic for vocal and one for acoustic guitar. He’d show the band a new song and go into the booth, sometimes it would just be one take and they’d nail it, with the lead vocal included. Never a lyric sheet in sight. A brain that truly works overtime. Peter Buck playing his 12-string on a song that he had just heard, and plays flawlessly the first time. Great Peter quote: “I like to get things right.” Indeed!

Fastbacks

Ha!! Some of the recording we’ve done astounds me to this day. It’s like any idea we had, we’d just do it. I swear, no one ever said, “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Listening back to the early ’90s recordings, there truly is something about inspiration and enthusiasm that really is inspiring and enthusiastic! Some of that music is pretty weird, even some songs that I wrote, I can’t imagine where they came from. I know we did them and all, but what was the impetus, where did they come from?!

Nashville Pussy

Another tale of just trying not to ruin a band that sounded killer. Amazing to think that they all fit in the tiny live room at Egg for that first album. The sheer volume of air pressure in there was unbelievable. A perfect example of what we’d set out to do, just try to not let the recording process get in the way of the recording. And nominated for a Grammy! I went with them to the Awards show – limo, booze, and afterparties. We were scheming all the horrible things that we’d say when we won the award, who we were gonna thank, who we were gonna blame. Of course there’s no way we’d win, they barely could say the name of the band when reading off the nominees! But what an experience. So many laughs.

Mudhoney

Five Dollar Bob’s Mock Cooter Stew (Reprise, 1993) doesn’t get enough props. I think it’s a great record. I really tried to make each song sound different and killer in its own way. Dan Peters (drummer) is always dishing out the quality.

Young Fresh Fellows

It’s easy to work quickly with a band you’re in. You kind of already know what’s going to happen, you know how to set up since you’ve already seen what works and what doesn’t over the last decade or two. We had intended to record maybe four or five songs for Tiempo De Lujo. Somehow we’d crammed all four of us in the basement here; after the two days we’d recorded twelve band tracks – so an album it was! Toxic Youth as well. We’d gone over to Jim Sangster’s living room to learn a few songs before starting recording the next day, and once we got going, they just kept coming and coming. When inspiration strikes, keep the tape rolling!

Can you describe Conrad Uno's Egg Studios; the kind of size or situation you were dealing with? Was there like a famous recording board there you worked with?

Egg Studio, where I and others honed their chops, was a welcome alternative to the “normal” studios of the time. It was truly a basement studio, the performance room was smaller than an ordinary living room. Many bands’ rehearsal spaces were larger than this. But it really did have a relaxed feel to it, and loud bands could all set up in the room and play live and get a good sound. Mudhoney, Nashville Pussy, Supersnazz, Devil Dogs, Supersuckers, Zeke – it was home base for so many great albums.

Conrad Uno moved into the house in maybe 1987, I reckon we finished Fastbacks …And His Orchestra there; and by early 1988, we began Very Very Powerful Motor, then the Sub Pop 7” and Zücker sessions. It began as an 8-track studio. Conrad brought in the Spectrasonics console that was formerly at Stax/Volt studio – rumored to once be owned by Paul McCartney, under whose purview a varispeed knob was installed. The knob remains, it’s Paul’s Knob. The console is now at Crackle And Pop studio here in Seattle, and is working better than ever.

Before Mudhoney began their third album, Piece of Cake, their second at Egg, they bought a 16-track machine for the studio, and that was the classic setup for so many records there in the ‘90s.

1996

I personally would love to hear about making the classic Devil Dogs album, Saturday Night Fever (Crypt/Sympathy for the Record Industry, 1994). Whose idea was it to make it kind of like a party, with friends and fans whopping it up in the studio between songs?

It was their idea from the beginning to make it a party album, “You have been invited… to a party!” Another band that didn’t need any fancy fussing about, they already sounded like a house on fire. Just tried to record them and not get in the way, make sure that the playback sounded like it did in the room with them.

Definitely the last night of the session, they invited all their Seattle friends over for a party, and we played the songs from the album through twice, if I remember, and just had a mic in the room while they were going. All the bottles clinking and all the blabbering was totally what happened. There was so little time to get everything done while we were there. They had booked two gigs on recording days – one out of town in Bellingham! Basically it was like wrangling the Three Stooges to record and mix a full album and an EP in like five days. Let’s just say that the morning hours were not particularly productive. But fortunately, when they were on, they were unstoppable. And so fuckin’ funny! What a fucking great record!

Oh yeah, definitely the most hilarious band to tour with too! We did a month with them once in Europe, traveling in the same packed little van. And even the bad hungover mornings in the van drives would lead to so much cracking up. Singer Andy G. sometimes stood up and imitated Tom Jones live. Anyway, can you recall who all was in the “crowd” on that record?

Honestly, I don’t! The studio was in a neighborhood, so all sessions had to be finished by 10pm. I loved the idea of recording a loud listening party and then mixing that in with the album, but it was so precarious to cram a bunch of drunks in the tiny studio and try to not let any gear get ruined, while still egging on loud misbehavior. Then getting all the cats out of there by 10 and not annoying Conrad or his neighbors in the process.

You must have some fun Andy G. stories too.

All three of those guys had their moments! Andy, Steve, Mighty Joe. Someone should’ve given them their own TV series. It might not have lasted very long, but what a show it would’ve been. I’ve never seen a group rile each other up the way they did. Should’ve had a room mic going constantly while they tried to make a group decision. There was way more work than we had time for. Somehow we got it all done, but just barely.

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Crypt Records, 1993

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And here’s where I decided to check in with Devil Dogs drummer, Mighty Joe Vincent, to get some more details on their Bloch party: "So, in the friends crowd [on the Saturday Night Fever album] was Eddie and Dan Bolton from the Supersuckers, James Burdyshaw and the rest of the Sinister Six, and a bunch of really cool women whose names have escaped my memory banks.

We def recorded on the Stax board. I remember because we had hopes that there was some soul residue left in the cables that might coat our tracks.

We totally loved Kurt. What’s not to love? I do remember that it was a Crypt budget recording so we had to make every minute count, so we were mixing until we were all so tired we were delirious. I’m pretty sure we went ‘til 2a.m. or something like that, but that was mixing. We did that in the middle of a tour, so we did about two weeks of gigs from NYC across this great nation of ours as well as that other great nation to our north, then out to Seattle. While we were doing it , we had a gig up in Bellingham, so we took a day off to drive up there.

I remember Scott Mccaughy was working there at Egg. I was talking to him one day and he told me his days of playing out on the road were over as his wife just had a kid and he had to be a good dad and provide a steady paycheck. I really felt bad for him. And then of course, a short time after that, Pete Buck asked him to come on the road with R.E.M. and said he would pay him a million dollars. Like an actual million dollars. That always made me happy to hear."

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And now, back to Kurt Bloch!

Who were bands you liked to tour with? And/or, a classic Fastbacks tour story?

We had some great west coast tours with DOA in the early-to-mid ’80s, they were definitely an early inspiration to go head-on and charge through best you can. They certainly blazed a trail for the rest of us to follow, doing everything themselves, like Black Flag did from Southern California. The ’80s were a rocky road for the Fastbacks. We played a lot of shows in Vancouver, BC, as well as Seattle, but it was a lot of problems and fighting, ha, and it wasn’t until the ’90s that we actually went out for any length of time – certainly getting into occasional serious trouble with The Meices, Motocaster, Gaunt, and even the New Bomb Turks!

Pearl Jam asked you to do some stadium shows in 1995, arguably the peak grunge year. How did you relate to the whole fame/stadium situation surrounding those shows?

It was January ’95, Pearl Jam asked us to play a radio show from their rehearsal space. I kinda didn’t know what they were talking about, and maybe sort of blew it off. I was trying to finish a Sicko record that night, couldn’t be bothered. I did like their Vitalogy record, “Not For You,” “Spin The Black Circle.” The rest of the Fastbacks were all, “C’mon, we’re doing this!” And I grudgingly told Sicko I was going to have to leave early. I didn’t even bring a guitar, I knew that Stone had a cool ‘50s Gold Top, maybe I could use that.

Then of course we get there and it’s really fun, just a big party scene, tons of buddies and band cats. We played three songs on the Pearl Jam gear setup, maybe Kim talked on the radio, drank some beers, great time! That was cool enough, but then they asked us to open a few shows at the end of the year, Salt Lake City and San Jose I think, and we’re all like, “Hell yeah!” And everything went well, then, “Would you want to go do a U.S. tour, oh and maybe a Europe tour following that…?” And we were all, “Hellz yeah!” And that all went great, clearly we would be the next big thing, the world is gonna love us, nothing holding us back now! We had a great record out, New Mansions In Sound (Sub Pop, 1996). Man, that was it – lots and lots of fun, great shows. We invented an auxiliary opening band for some of the shows, The What. We played Who tunes with Eddie Vedder incognito with a wrestling mask. We drag Mike McCready out for jams, Stone Gossard to sing one of his PJ songs, Eddie did “Leaving Here” with us a couple times, just great rock times in the giant venues. Somehow it didn’t lead to us being the Next Big Thing, but it was fun to pretend for a few months.

1994

Any good backstage shenanigans stories?

There weren’t a whole lot of super shenanigans. They had an espresso machine onstage every night, so we’d all slug down coffees, blast through our tunes, and then get drunk and watch Pearl Jam. Sometimes we would annoy their wonderful crew by being loud and boisterous aside of the stage, spilling bottles of wine or whatnot, but not much more than that. Everyone got along really well, and it was well-protected against after show bullies or negativity. We’d just keep on our course, often ‘til the huge sports arena closed down and they’d kick us out after everything had been loaded out – and we’d still be back there cranking tunes and running around.

It was totally like an arena-sized version of a living room party most every night. Their crew moved all the gear, we barely had to do anything except play every night.

I know you knew some of their members from earlier in the scene, but did you know Eddie Vedder before he got asked to join Pearl Jam?

I might not have met Eddie until the live radio show we did? He came up from San Diego. Didn’t know him before then at all, but we were fast friends. We would spend hours talking about the Who and riding around on the catering carts and smashing into the walls of the arenas. Come to think of it, we were probably very annoying. But no one, like, smashed up their hotel rooms or anything. It was probably comparatively tame.

Might sound weird, but while playing in the Seattle scene -- which is generally described as kind of serious, or dark, or junkies, or you know, “grungy” – did you and the Fastbacks feel kind of out-of-place; or are those kind of definitions of grunge and that town/time not correct?

The Seattle “thing” certainly was a dark, serious sound. That isn’t to say that every musician was dark and serious, but that darkness prevailed. To say The Fastbacks felt a little out of place at that point would be correct; but I always thought we were here first. It’s not like we didn’t dig lots of the bands, but it also wasn’t like we would try to take them on at their own game. It just wouldn’t’ve happened. We did do a version of “Swallow My Pride” – Green River’s, not The Ramones – on Sub Pop 200 [compilation], after a Soundgarden version too; but it ended up being menacing only in a Blue Öyster Cult sort of way, rather than ala either previous version. Slow and heavy just wasn’t in our DNA.

Columbus, OH, 1993 (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

I remember when Fastbacks stayed with New Bomb Turks while on tour in 1993, you guys, well I think specifically Lulu, made an amazing Thai meal for us. Did you always cook for bands you crashed with, or just for us ‘cuz we’re so awesome and nice?

Ha. I think the wonderful cooking was a bit of a rarity. We weren’t much of a crash on people’s floor kind of band by the ’90s, but sometimes it was great to have a day off and some good ideas! Remember that Metallica VHS box set had just come out, and we watched it ‘til the end because Lulu and I both worked on the film crew for the shows they filmed in Seattle, and we wanted to see if we, several years after the actual shows, got any credits at the end… and sure enough we did. Reason to celebrate!

Columbus seemed to love you. What were some other fave towns you played?

Always a great time in Columbus. Not necessarily Cleveland though. We weren’t the hard-touring road warriors that a lot of the other (more successful) bands were. It was whatever city we had friends in that were the best. Vancouver BC, San Francisco, L.A., NYC, maybe Albany, Columbus, Istanbul…

Contract and ticket for 1993 Columbus, OH show. (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

Highly technical and professional stage diagram implorations, Columbus, OH, 1993 show (Courtesy of Bela Koe-Krompecher)

I could be wrong, but you didn’t go over to Europe a lot, did you? Were you able to procure any production work from Euro bands you met whilst on tour there?

Oddly, not a lot of Euro tours… Seems like we should’ve done more, but there was always something. Young Fresh Fellows did some great trips, especially in Spain. Fastbacks Spanish tour was a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Not because of the people in Spain, no sir. We certainly lit it up in Japan once, though!

I did a couple albums for Les Thugs, the French band. One of them in Seattle and one in Angers. May have been bookended with some music travel. It’s amazing to look back at the old calendars and see that between tours with the Fastbacks and Young Fresh Fellows, recording with those two bands and recording other bands. Man, there were times when there was nary a day off, those ‘90s months were packed! Gotta consider myself pretty lucky. And so many killer records I got to be part of.

As a producer, do you feel you are mainly bringing an “ear” to finding the sounds the band wants, or do you try to gently impose a certain style and sensibility over the whole production?

Always try to keep the kickass factor high. I would never try to impose anything other than to try to keep everyone happy so they could do their best work, and not do the same bit over and over and over. Work hard and play hard, but not to overanalyze every little thing. Not under-analyze either, but if it’s killer, it doesn’t matter if everything “lines up” perfectly, or if the choruses speed up a little bit. Try to capture what is great about a band live in concert, and not dilute that if you can help it. Don’t add a bunch of crap just to put your mark on a project.

It's interesting how you professed a love for prog, but you had an innate sense of not always overdubbing too much – note your comment about loving bands that only had one guitar, etc.

The true exciting prog bands started coming out around 1968 and ’69, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator; Pink Floyd and Moody Blues had already been around but maybe weren’t quite included. Recording technique at the time was still fairly straightforward for the most part, there was of course room for overdubbing on an eight-track machine, but most of the first-wave prog bands’ recordings were not overloaded with overdubs. The magic was what they did with their four or five musicians, the arrangements you hear on the record were the same instrumentation as they played live. Some of the songs would have been concocted in a studio, but it wasn’t until later that walls of overdubs became commonplace.

That’s where the greatness of the original bands lies – cool vocal arranging and melding several songs’ worth of ideas into one track. Not a lot of room for squirminess either, it wasn’t so easy punching in on a giant eight-track tape machine in 1968. You made one mistake on that verse? You do the whole thing again!

Okay, gotta ask, with as much exposition as you’d like – what was your favorite recording session(s); and worst recording session(s)?

Pretty much always subverted the disasters. A time or two I told a band, after seeing a live show, that they weren’t quite ready to record yet; play a few more shows and practice a lot, record your practices and actually listen to them constructively. Studio time is expensive, practice time is (or at least was) cheap. You don’t have to have every bit of every song nailed down exactly, but do have most everything pretty well figured out, and be ready for criticism during the recording. If the rhythm isn’t working, be prepared to fine-tune your part so it is; if your harmony vocal is a half-step off, go ahead and adjust!

Some of the great sessions are those where I feel that I learned things, a new piece of gear, a new way of looking at things. Overwhelming Colorfast, Supersuckers, Les Thugs in France, The Meices in Florida… Or the records that just slammed out of nowhere. Devil Dogs, Flop, Supersnazz, Nashville Pussy. So many first albums by bands where they have been playing the songs at shows for a year or two, the tempos are up, the blood is pumping, get rid of the headphones and make it like you’re playing a gig. Play the song three times without stopping. Play three different songs in a row without stopping.

1999 (Courtesy of your's truly)

You’re still actively producing. What have you worked on recently you’d like to highlight? And what’s coming up?

There’s always some great Seattle band records going on – Bürien, 38 Coffin, Once For Kicks, Insect Man, The Drolls, Zack Static. These days, some records take a while to finish, I suppose it’s the nature of the business now. Trying now to clean the slate and get these out the door before starting new ones!

And there’s maybe a new Fastbacks coming, no?

There was no plan of any sort. We were having lunch as we sometimes do, and started talking about a couple songs it would be fun to learn and maybe record. Our pal Joe “Meice” Reineke had recently finished an ambitious and fantastic recording building in his back yard; wouldn’t it be fun to check that out….? Well let’s call him and see what his schedule is. Oh! he’s got a day open, whaddayasay, let’s take it. Well there’s a few other songs we could learn, let’s make it two days… I guess we’d better practice… What if we did enough songs for an album? Maybe we did! Got some band tracks, everyone played their butts off! Now we gotta make more magic. No target completion date nor avenue to release, but everyone is excited to finish it!

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Post Script: This article sprung from an editor at a national mag asking if I wanted to do a story on Kurt Bloch, which of course I said yes to cuz Kurt's a great guy and I've been a Fastbacks fan for a goodly spell. But some months passed and plans changed, and so here it is! Also, I would've put more videos in this piece because the Fastbacks have a ton of great songs, but I guess I just learned there is a 10-video limit for a tumblr post. Who knew?

All images courtesy of Kurt Bloch, except where noted.

[howlingday]

Nora: (Typing on her computer) Hm... What's another word for massive dong?

Weiss: (Kicks down the door) Nora! How is my fic coming along?

Nora: Oh! I'm done! I was just about to send you the document after change just this one word. (Scoots away) See? I typed it out exactly as you asked me to, with no creative liberties taken beyond your request!

Weiss: Oh, I love it!

Weiss: But also I hate it.

Nora: Great! I'll just send this and you can- WHAT WAS THAT YOU JUST SAID THERE, DARLING?

Weiss: I hate it! It looks like fandom trash, Nra. It's simply no good!

Nora: Ah, but I made it specifically the way you asked me to.

Weiss: Yes, but now that I'm seeing it right in front of me, I can recognize that this is FUCKING GOD AWFUL.

Nora: Ah, but I showed you a preview of the work in progress only THREE HOURS AGO and you said it was perfect.

Weiss: Yes, and clearly you must have made some sort of grave mistake in the "final".

Nora: Ah, but I followed the strict guidelines for your vision down to the very letter.

Weiss: I'm sorry, but this story is simply too cringe in it's current state and I cannot allow it to be displayed on my blog, my dear.

Weiss: No, I don't think I can pay you for this version. Would you mind starting over from scratch?

Nora: Ah, sure thing, darling.

Weiss: Wonderful! Ta-ta! I'll be off kicking orphaned puppies now! Farewell! (Leaves)

Nora: Bye-bye, Weiss! Have a great night!

Nora: ...

Nora: (Goes on the DustNet)

Nora: (Types into search engine)

"how illegal is murder"

[yellowocaballero]

milagro!!! i LOVE GL!milagro stuff. is guy still the first GL she meets? i am v curious what his story (and john’s) ends up looking like in this au in general, but my first exposure to him was in jaime’s bb run so i’m hoping that pseudo mentorship still exists here somehow

IS!! THAT!! A GIANT!! GREEN!! FIST!!

Green Lantern Milagro is the most god-tier take and we need to return to it. My "Kyle rebuilds the GLC to be woke and Milagro is the most feral Lantern" idea is actually super old - I think it's in the Reverse Robins Universe, in some unpublished stories - but it's still good. Let the furries make the judicial system. Do it. Let them free.

Let's say:

Guy Gardner was the second Green Lantern on Earth. Everything that Hal was, Guy is not. He's a hothead, meathead, go-getting action hero wannabe who has to be the biggest, the best, and the strongest. He's abrasive, selfish, mean, and short-sighted.

Guy Gardner is exactly like Hal Jordan: an All-American hero, angry and rude in a way that his colleague John Stewart could never get away with. He's part of the NRA and thinks Trump has some points. Too wimpy to make a good President, though. Give him a President who can last five minutes in the ring with Guy Gardner!

Despite his differences with the more professional and cool-headed Hal, he was shocked and horrified at Coast City's destruction. Where other heroes expressed sympathies and turned away in discomfort with his overwhelming pain, Guy stayed with him. He doesn't like to spread it around, but he's a registered school councilor - doubled with his middle school gym teacher thing - and he stayed at Hal's side through his grief as long as Hal let him.

When Hal disappeared, Guy was the one who knew in his heart that he had killed himself. He had been expecting it.

He had not been expecting his ring to break.

Guy loses it all. His power, his respect. He can't go back to who he used to be. He's not a gym teacher or school counselor anymore. He's Guy Gardner. You can't ask Guy Gardner to be a civvie.

The only thing he keeps is his Justice League International membership. He wanted to quit, but his friends (family, but none of them would admit it) needed him to stay. They had already lost the second Blue Beetle so recently, and they can't lose anybody else. Booster Gold's grieving his husband too. In that way, in some way, Guy's still needed. Guy has to be needed. But Guy has to be a hero too, and he feels like he's dying slowly by degrees in powerlessness.

Then Booster calls the JLI, drunk as a skunk and deep in a panic, saying that there's this kid in El Paso running around with Dan Garret's scarab in his SPINE, how did this even HAPPEN, how did he get it WORKING, where the hell is TED - Ted's dead, he's still dead, what the FUCK do we do, he's a baby he's gonna DIE TOO, everyone's gonna DIE -

A gym teacher and licensed counselor knocks on he door of a house in El Paso.

Booster was right. Jaime Reyes is a snot-nosed kid who's getting his ass kicked up and down to Sunday in every fight, and either he's gonna get himself killed or he's gonna blow up the city. Nobody else but the JLI ever gave a shit about Ted, and nobody's gonna give a shit about this kid with an orphaned legacy. He needs a personal trainer and mentor and he needs one right now. Jaime Reyes needs a hero, even a washed up old asshole like Guy Gardner.

And his little sister throws a heck of a punch. Oh, Guy is keeping Milagro. She's learning boxing!

An asshole, shallow kid enters the scene. A new ring appears. The last Green Lantern disappears to find the truth. Guy leads his own life. It's not like his old one, but it's good. That kid Jaime's become a good hero, and his little sister is the coolest kid on the planet. A Trumper on the street says something shitty to Jaime and Milagro about illegals and Guy lands on him the signature Guy Gardner punch. Trump's an asshole idiot, anyway. Next time, Milagro lands the signature punch. She has learned well.

A young man returns. A truth is told. A fucked up orange ring is on Guy's finger. And now he'll have to learn how to be a hero all over again.

The orange ring isn't powered by bravery and willpower. It's powered by greed. It's a greedy, cruel ring. It's mean. But Guy's pretty greedy too. And Guy's a mean son of a bitch.

Guy Gardner is the first Orange Lantern. And he's everything Hal Jordan is not: a man with a voracious need to protect and help. A man with an endless appetite for love, and to give love. A school counselor, and a mentor to some pretty nifty kids. Guy can never get enough of being a hero. He'll never stop. And he'll always help.

Because he's Guy fucking Gardner!

[anarcho-masochist]

Taking a firearms and toolmark class right now, and it is annoying me because when doing research you have to wade through hundreds of NRA gun-loving redneck blogs before you find a reputable source.

Now, I'm from rural Northern WI. We're talking, deep in the forest, anyone who wasn't living on a foreclosed farm was probably a logger, townsfolk once tried to stone my mom out of the town for being a witch kind of rural. Inbred enough community that one family had three sets of twins that each died before the next set was born and they were fraternal twins but each set looked identical to the previous set. Stuff like that. The true northwoods experience.

And once, a kid who went to my mom's school died, and his dad brought his gun to the school and threatened to shoot. This was in maybe the late 70s or early 80s, and around there, the school's rule was that you had to have your ammo on a different shelf than your gun. Most people hunted at least a portion of their food because groceries were too expensive. The man was dead in seconds and had over 20 gunshot wounds. Some would say this is an argument for everyone having guns. The first time I heard that story, I thought that was the point my mom was going for. I mean, our family had over 40, and I'd been taught to shoot from a young age. My mom said it was a failing. The guy was bereaved and in a mental health crisis, but he wasn't likely to actually open fire. She thought it was a situation that could've been de-escalated if anyone had taken even a moment to think before reaching for their gun. Of course, mass shootings are awful and we can't truly know how it would have gone.

But every time I have to read one of those sources where the author is like, "In those self-defense situations when you need your gun, you'll want to be able to fire multiple rounds quickly/have the best stopping power/whatever"

99.99% of people will never need their gun except on a planned hunting trip or perhaps fucking their partner with it.

Learn to use your goddamn brain and maybe preventable firearm deaths in the US will go down. If someone tried to mug you and you shoot them, you're the bad guy there. The mugger is desperate and broke and probably doesn't want to kill you. The few examples I hear are always stuff like this. Someone shoots a mass shooter? It has happened. But there have also been times when someone successfully de-escalated a situation where someone was threatening to shoot up or bomb a place. I won't judge anyone for carrying a gun for self-defense, especially after I got old enough to learn why my grandpa did (that's a story for another time), but I sure as fuck will judge anyone who talks like you might find yourself in an action movie at any moment and a gun is the best solution.

Are you scared? Are you ready to feel badass and so prepared? Click this affiliate link for a discount on .38 Special.

God, I can't stand it.

[animentality]

I don't particularly like the Purge movies, but it does annoy me when people say they hate the Purge movies because they "support the idea that humans without laws would immediately kill each other."

You know. A somewhat conservative, pro-state message.

But I say this simply, and carefully:

The Purge movies are the opposite of that. Completely.

From the beginning, they have always been a scathing criticism of the middle class and the wealthy for their blatant disregard for the lives of everyone else and their love for state sanctioned violence.

They aren't even fucking subtle.

Every villain in those movies dress like fucking Republicans. They worship guns. The Purge in universe only exists to fund the NRA.

The first movie was about a black man being hunted by Ivy League looking ass white people in suits and shit.

Said black man was the only decent person too, and he saved the people in the house he took refuge in, despite the fact that they beat his ass up and were going to give him to the crazies that were chasing him.

Purge 2 was about how state sanctioned violence always affects the underclasses more than the wealthy, since the wealthy can buy fancy defenses and nice weapons, while the poor are forced to defend themselves by any means necessary.

Purge 4 actually showed the FIRST PURGE in a majority black community, and guess what they were doing?

Having sex in public.

Doing drugs and partying outside.

It was stated that white people in charge literally had to unleash a serial killer on the community to force them to commit acts of violence.

And the latest purge, Purge 5 I think, was centered entirely on the struggles of immigrants, trying to cross the border and not get murdered during Purge night.

So no.

The Purge movies do NOT say, "Oh people would immediately kill each other if given the chance."

They actually say, rich white people would kill minorities if given the opportunity.

And are they wrong?

Seriously.

Lord of the Flies moment, guys.

Neither Lord of the Flies, nor the Purge movies suggest that people would kill and cannibalize one another as soon as they can without the rules of society.

They both say actually, privileged spoiled brats who are used to having everything would support violence for the sake of violence.

[study-coffee-chicago]

Crazy to think that not even 2 hrs away from me, there is an active shooter on a college campus and I am just driving to work as usual. I ordered donuts for Valentine’s Day tomorrow, no doubt some of those other kids did, too. It was just supposed to be a normal day at college for them and now it’s turned into one of the worst days of their lives. Fuck this country and its love affair with guns and the fucking NRA.

[beardedmrbean]

Wait

The Native Americans are fighting against the wokies?

It not surprising because how problematic they see things as. Fuck the recent Predator movie Prey did more to preserve the Comanche language it’s was also fully dub into it

But seriously I seen it in black media, notice how 95% of black media only focus on blm stuff or how many black historical figures are often erased by white wokies? Like black peopke can’t thrive in capitalism…please ignore that restaurant owner that inspire the Disney Princess Tiana

But back to the natives, yeah they would attack you guys. The left can barely understand Japanese POP CULTURE much as native historical stuff.

Good luck natives…tbh I think I know more about the Iroquois playing via playing a fictional historical game more than what leftist learn about native Americans in college.

But seriously I seen it in black media, notice how 95% of black media only focus on blm stuff or how many black historical figures are often erased by white wokies? Like black peopke can’t thrive in capitalism…please ignore that restaurant owner that inspire the Disney Princess Tiana

Admittedly it got shit on pretty hard in the Tulsa Race Riots, but "black wall street" was a thing and there were many thriving former slaves and children of former slaves at that point. Would have been nice if they'd managed to rebuild I will admit the cards were not just stacked against them, there was bulldozers pushing those cards too, few still managed.

Would have been nice if they could have been more able to defend themselves properly, trying to find NRA activity for southern Black folks post reconstruction/Jim crow era not much popping up other than.

Begin Tangent

This guy who just popped on to my radar.

Born in North Carolina in 1925, Williams’ experience mirrors that of many African-Americans of his generation. He moved to Detroit as part of the Second Great Migration, where he was privy to race rioting over jobs. He served in the then-segregated United States Marine Corps for a year and a half after being drafted in 1944. Upon returning to his North Carolina hometown, Williams found a moribund chapter of the NAACP. With only six members and little opposition, he used his USMC training to commandeer the local branch and turn it in a decidedly more military direction. The local chapter soon had over 200 members under Williams’ leadership. If nothing else, his leadership was effective at building the movement from the ground up.

An early incident is particularly instructive in how effective these new tactics were. The KKK was very active in Monroe, with an estimated 7,500 members in a town of 12,000. After hearing rumors that the Klan intended to attack NAACP chapter Vice President Dr. Albert Perry’s house, Williams and members of the Black Armed Guard surrounded the doctor’s house with sandbags and showed up with rifles. Klansman fired on the house from a moving vehicle and the Guard returned fire. Soon after, the Klan required a special permit from the city’s police chief to meet. One incident of self-defense did more to move the goalposts than all previous legislative pressure had.

Monroe’s Black Armed Guard wasn’t a subsidiary of the Communist Party, nor an independent organization like the Black Panther Party that would use similar tactics of arming their members later. In fact, “Black Armed Guard” was nothing more than a fancy name for an officially chartered National Rifle Association chapter.

He got a bit more militant later on, I will blame a good deal of that on the fbi doing what the fbi did to black people that stood up for other black people. Not gonna call him a hero just yet because I haven't looked far enough into him to have a full picture, but this stuff is pretty damn heroic. Remember gun control has frequently been used as a tool to keep minorities in check, and will continue to be used as so until more people put their foot down.

End tangent __________________

Ya we went over this before with Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben among others, removing minority representation in order to not offend white leftists who will just find something else to be offended about anyhow so just please ignore them and ask the people you're supposedly doing it for, I will say I'm glad that the "latinx" debate is over, only took most of Latin America and the royal Spanish society both saying it's stupid and insulting to get it killed.

Also don't try to turn it around on white people because

_____________________

We eat this shit up, fighting whites one went on sale, sold out really fast and the money went to a scholarship program for indigenous students I think, it's in the link and they should make them again if you ask me.

[x-v4mp3y3lin3r-x]

conversations about gun control are really fucking frustrating ESPECIALLY with other leftists because a lot of them just don't know anything and therefore can't comprehend that people have more complex opinions that aren't just "we need to ban all guns" OR "anybody should be able to buy guns"

and I'm not just talking about staying educated on gun laws (though that's also something everybody should do) but I just mean that a lot of leftists are too fucking stubborn and adamantly refuse to acknowledge the truth about gun crimes, instead they just want to engage in roundabout screaming matches that get us NOWHERE

the only way we're gonna get stricter gun laws is if y'all learn how to cooperate with people who you don't 100% agree with, because there ARE gun owners out there who advocate for better gun safety but y'all lump them in with NRA freaks and dismiss everything they say

it just feels like a lot of leftists are more interested in being contrarian than they're interested in actually finding solutions to problems. throwing a fit and screaming at people who're trying to find common ground with you isn't helping.