3 posts tagged “backslide”

It's my birthday today, and as far as I know, nobody died in the music world today.

I got an unexpected birthday present via the internet, in the form of an audio file of the punk/crustcore band I used to sing for in the eighties.  Some of you out there may remember the post I did on the band, Backslide, some time ago.  I've been in sporadic (very sporadic) contact with Tim, the bass player, over the last year or so.  He's got his own project (kind of a dub thing with pirate overtones) called Melodica Deathship, based in Ireland. Lightyears better than Backslide.  Imagine my surprise when he sent me a file of an old Backslide show.

The show he sent me was the first one (of two) we played.  It was, appropriately enough, at a birthday party.  Listening to it now, I must admit to a small amount of embarrassment at my occasional inability to "sing" in time with the music.  I can even pinpoint the song where I forgot some of the words and just started shouting nonsense. It was loud good fun though, and I'm glad I have this relic.  I might even post it here someday.

Sifting through more boxes recovered from my mom's garage, I finally found a box of old flyers.  It makes me wonder how many people actually bother filing away such things.  I'd say about 1 in 10 flyers actually has artistic merit.  Most of them look like they were created by lazy 10 year olds.  Not that there's anything wrong with 10 year olds, but they sure aren't good at making flyers.  Still, I always appreciate genuine, D.I.Y. effort, so I think I'll sift through the stacks and see if I can recover some interesting ones - the really good and the humorously bad. 

Here's one with some personal significance.  I found it sandwiched between the pages of a copy of Devon Morf's old Wajlemac 'zine (which, for some reason, I have a whole stack of - anybody want one?) It's the flyer for the one gig that Backslide (the band I was in, in case you missed that post) ever played, if one fails to take into account the  birthday party we did.

I can't really remember what any of the other bands sounded like, but I vaguely recall that they were more in a pop-punk vein.  I think Atomic Influence might have been the only band with an actual release.  Maybe I'll do a web search and update this if I find out anything.  Maybe.

Anyway, as far as flyers go, this one is pretty decent.  The band logos are all legible.  It even has a stop sign and a fire hydrant.  How punk is that?  Oh wait, stop signs aren't punk.  Never mind.

Nice little map though.  And four dollars?  That's what I call an admission price.  Of course, this was one of those "you get what you pay for" events.

Support local music!  Even if all of the bands are gone and mostly forgotten.  In this case, maybe it was because they didn't get the support they needed.  There's a lesson in that, isn't there?

I've read that there's this growing fad where people get up in front of audiences and read aloud from their old journals - you know, the ones that most sane people would have burned or buried.  I suppose this sort of public self-flagellation takes a certain amount of courage, as well as the ability to laugh at oneself, but when I want to listen to this kind of thing, I'll put on something recorded by Michael Gira so I know I'm getting quality stuff.

This brings me to my own attempt at resurrecting something buried in my past.  When I was 21, I "sang" for a short-lived band called Backslide.  I suppose we were the first (or among the first) crustcore bands in the San Francisco Bay Area, unless you count bands like Neurosis, who were doing music of much better quality, but maybe weren't as obviously influenced by bands like Antisect, Deviated Instinct, Amebix, Fear of God, et al. 

We practiced in our Drummer's parent's living room in Atherton, which, if I remember right, contained a pool table upon which we placed whatever recording device we used to document the proceedings.  I remember at first we used something hooked up to a microphone, but later on it degenerated to the point where we were using my brother's cheap boombox to document our attempts.

At the time, our ages ranged from 15 (our drummer, Max) to 21 (me).  The music was all written by our bassist, Tim, and Tim and I shared lyric writing duties.  We were rounded out by our guitarist, Dan.  We produced stickers, a lyric sheet, and a booklet filled with lyrics, art, and articles relevant to our lyrical stance.  I'll post excerpts from the booklet if I manage to dig up a copy.  The other visuals are here in all their (in)glory. 

So, where did all of this writing and practicing get us?  Not much of anywhere.  We did two shows, and one of those was for some punk kid's birthday party.  We played in his bedroom, I think, and since there were no stages to dive from, party-goers had to dive off of tables.  The kid's parents were there, I think, and it strikes me that they must have been pretty cool (or crazy) to let a band like us play at their house.  I wonder what the neighbors thought.  Our other show was at an actual venue, a place in East Palo Alto called Pena Moai.  It was a local punk showcase, but if I remember right, most of the bands had more of a pop punk sound, and I don't think any of them had any recorded output.  By this time, we added a second vocalist, a girl named Jimena.  We were going for that dual vocal sound so popular with a lot of the British bands, but never really mastered it.  Still, it was fun trying.  At the show, we managed tor drive a large percentage of the audience away, and that's pretty much all I remember about it.  All I have to aid that memory are a few pictures, some of which you can see here.  Soon after that, we called it a day.  I can't remember why.  I think that ultimately it was Tim's decision, since the whole thing was his idea in the first place. 

Now, nearly 20 years later, I'm not sure what happened to Dan or Jimena, I saw Jimena here and there at various protests (dealing with the first gulf war, I think) around San Jose State, and I think Dan had a job at Tower Records for awhile, but beyond that I'm not sure.  Max went on to bigger and better things, and I think still plays in a number of bands (I may edit this post if and when I gather relevant information), and Tim moved to Ireland, where he entered the hip hop world and performs as Exile Eye.

Here are a few songs from one of our last rehearsals.  This was recorded on a cheap boombox to ensure quality.

Intro/Consciencide

The Horror Lives On

Abortion