My old bro and bandmate Ed came through big time with this one...perfect timing as I got the Walking Dead Compendium (issues 1-48 of the comic book) on the same day. My needs were definitely satisfied. This, the newest release from Eugene Oregon's The Underlings, as Mork from Ork would say, is THE SHAZBOT! I listened to it twice in one sitting and could not find a bad moment in it. It's all over the place with this one, they hardly leave a genre unturned...rock, hard rock, garage, punk, hardcore and maybe even a little power pop. I had Ed do a little write up for me to give you the band in the band's own words...
The Underlings have been operating with the current line-up since late 2006. I met Bryant at work and Dave responded to a craigslist ad I posted for a bass player influenced by Television / Minutmen. Bryant was in a bunch of Seattle-area bands including Hai Karate and the Putters and other bands in Ellensberg before that. Dave was in a hardcore band in Memphis back in the 1980s. I've been in a few bands, including Garden Weasel and my own Ed Cole and the College Girls of Tora Bora, which was a very self-centered songwriter-type band, but I was determined to make a real
BAND band when I set about starting the Underlings. I appreciate the steady nature of the Underlings' rhythm section dudes. We seldom miss a gig, we practice weekly most of the time and we try to have a good work ethic about what we do. I envision us punching in every time we play a show. We are in it for music, friends and food. We all dig MC5, New York Dolls, Hendrix, X and the Wipers and 70s rock as well as metal and punk and garage, but we really are not any of those kinds of music - I always think we are just plain old Rock and Roll with Punk leanings. We recorded this album -
"Edgy" - on tape at a legendary Portland studio called Smegma. The engineer is Mike Lastra (assisted by Mark Ellsworth). Mike has a long history of recorded music in Portland - many of the best groups ever, such as Poison Idea, Turbonegro and the Need as well as our bros the Pass Out Kings all have recorded there. The picture on the center fold of the CD is of the St. Johns Bridge, which is what we viewed out the window while we were recording. After we recorded and mixed our CD, we played a ton of gigs, saved all of the proceeds and released the CD with no fuss and no official label or BS. I think the funnest thing about making a CD - or any band endeavor - is that it is really fun to actually finish something you start, especially if you are working as a team, and I think that really happened this time around. We intend to keep gigging, even though I recently moved to Portland and the other members live 2 hours away in Eugene. We have upcoming gigs at Slabtown in Portland on June 16 and then we are playing again at our favorite Eugene bar Luckeys on June 22. We haven't booked any other gigs lately, but stay tuned to
Underlingsrockandroll.com for shows and news and shit. If people want to download our music and give us $$$ please check out
theunderlings.bandcamp.com . We will soon have our physical CD for sale at
cdbaby.com/Artist/TheUnderlings PEACE.
Seriously, if you are some kind of purist and can only handle a genre or two, this is bound to have at least something to satisfy that for you. I think they've improved upon their previous CD
Operational Excellence but I really liked that CD too. As I said before these guys are no bullshit green amateurs to creating music and there is a sophisticated tightness through out. They are fucking around or dabbling, this is the real deal, Northwest Rock and Roll. Go and get this thing, you will not be disappointed. I had a hard time picking tunes for your sampling pleasure, they are all good in their own way so here's just the first three tunes as they appear on the CD (I'm going to go listen to it again)...
Not Like You
Speedway
Edgy
My old bro and bandmate Ed came through big time with this one...perfect timing as I got the Walking Dead Compendium (issues 1-48 of the comic book) on the same day. My needs were definitely satisfied. This, the newest release from Eugene Oregon's The Underlings, as Mork from Ork would say, is THE SHAZBOT! I listened to it twice in one sitting and could not find a bad moment in it. It's all over the place with this one, they hardly leave a genre unturned...rock, hard rock, garage, punk, hardcore and maybe even a little power pop. I had Ed do a little write up for me to give you the band in the band's own words...
The Underlings have been operating with the current line-up since late 2006. I met Bryant at work and Dave responded to a craigslist ad I posted for a bass player influenced by Television / Minutmen. Bryant was in a bunch of Seattle-area bands including Hai Karate and the Putters and other bands in Ellensberg before that. Dave was in a hardcore band in Memphis back in the 1980s. I've been in a few bands, including Garden Weasel and my own Ed Cole and the College Girls of Tora Bora, which was a very self-centered songwriter-type band, but I was determined to make a real BAND band when I set about starting the Underlings. I appreciate the steady nature of the Underlings' rhythm section dudes. We seldom miss a gig, we practice weekly most of the time and we try to have a good work ethic about what we do. I envision us punching in every time we play a show. We are in it for music, friends and food. We all dig MC5, New York Dolls, Hendrix, X and the Wipers and 70s rock as well as metal and punk and garage, but we really are not any of those kinds of music - I always think we are just plain old Rock and Roll with Punk leanings. We recorded this album - "Edgy" - on tape at a legendary Portland studio called Smegma. The engineer is Mike Lastra (assisted by Mark Ellsworth). Mike has a long history of recorded music in Portland - many of the best groups ever, such as Poison Idea, Turbonegro and the Need as well as our bros the Pass Out Kings all have recorded there. The picture on the center fold of the CD is of the St. Johns Bridge, which is what we viewed out the window while we were recording. After we recorded and mixed our CD, we played a ton of gigs, saved all of the proceeds and released the CD with no fuss and no official label or BS. I think the funnest thing about making a CD - or any band endeavor - is that it is really fun to actually finish something you start, especially if you are working as a team, and I think that really happened this time around. We intend to keep gigging, even though I recently moved to Portland and the other members live 2 hours away in Eugene. We have upcoming gigs at Slabtown in Portland on June 16 and then we are playing again at our favorite Eugene bar Luckeys on June 22. We haven't booked any other gigs lately, but stay tuned to Underlingsrockandroll.com for shows and news and shit. If people want to download our music and give us $$$ please check out theunderlings.bandcamp.com . We will soon have our physical CD for sale at cdbaby.com/Artist/TheUnderlings PEACE.
Seriously, if you are some kind of purist and can only handle a genre or two, this is bound to have at least something to satisfy that for you. I think they've improved upon their previous CD Operational Excellence but I really liked that CD too. As I said before these guys are no bullshit green amateurs to creating music and there is a sophisticated tightness through out. They are fucking around or dabbling, this is the real deal, Northwest Rock and Roll. Go and get this thing, you will not be disappointed. I had a hard time picking tunes for your sampling pleasure, they are all good in their own way so here's just the first three tunes as they appear on the CD (I'm going to go listen to it again)...
Not Like You
Speedway
Edgy
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