Season To Risk Mine Eyes B/W Why See Straight Columbia/Red Decibel 1993

Season To Risk Mine Eyes B/W Why See Straight Columbia/Red Decibel 1993 CAT# CS7 74888

Somewhere in the late-70's 45s became terribly boring and featured songs that were available on a full-length LP. Both tracks featured here were on Season To Risk's self-titled debut. While a 45 is cool for the completest, this isn't that necessary.

Both songs sound angry and dated today. There's that Jesus Lizard megaphone singing, which in 93' was still kind of cool, now it just sounds cliche. Letting "Why See Straight" stand by itself is kind of fun, though. There's some cool moments and ideas, the band gets a little lighter on the chorus harmony, showing they weren't always so metal about everything. "Mine Eyes" was an attempt at a single, it played around here. Sure it got love in other spots, but again, sounds dated now-a-days.

Mine Eyes

Kerry Livgren Seeds of Change Kirshner 1980

Kerry Livgren Seeds of Change Kirshner 1980 CAT# NJZ 36567

Kerry Livgren was a founder of Topeka's finest, Kansas. He was a fundamental part of the band and behind their biggest successes. So, apparently, that meant make a solo-album, in 1980, when people stopped caring about Kansas. Coincidentally, in 1980, Livgren was still an active member of the band, this LP even features the likes of Steve Walsh and Phil Ehart just to prove things were still on the up and up.

It's ambitious, but that doesn't make it good. There's all sorts of synth and prog-rock moves, but honestly, the best parts of Kansas weren't about the prog-rock. It's also got some 80's pomp-rock metal moves, but who has time for that.

It features a pretty impressive cast of fill-ins as well, Ronnie James Dio sings a couple tracks (they sound super metal, bro), there's a member of Jethro Tull, and some dudes from Ambrosia as well. So not your A-Team by any means, but for Topeka, that's pretty solid.

Apparently, there's also a book Livgren wrote surrounding the concepts found within the album. If it's about the cover, which shows a fetus being extracted from a diamond with a razor blade... it's probably the best book in the history of the world, who doesn't want to read about that, right?

Kerry Livgren with Ronnie James Dio

Season To Risk Self Titled Big Money Inc./Red Decibel/Columbia 1993

Season To Risk Self Titled Red Decibel/Columbia 1992, 1993 CAT# BMI 040

Re-listening and looking back, this LP hasn't aged well. From the ironic artwork to the trendy metal production styles, it just reeks of the early 90's. But, sometimes nostalgia is great. The memories that surround this moment in Kansas City music history for outweigh it's dated style.

The album is a bruiser, though. It's aggressive and mean. It's angry and loud. It's been stated here before, but at the end of the day, it's a shame this brand of post-hardcore with heavy metal aspects didn't beat out bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit to dominate the teenage aggression scene. Season to Risk is far more intelligent and were far better musicians. They just came on the scene a bit too early, the kids that would have been prime for this hadn't gotten to age where they would now how to handle this.

The album doesn't lack highlights. "Mine Eyes" was a solid single. The final song on the LP, "Reminder," is a great example of the band's aggressive style. "Why See Straight" is also a bruiser. The song "Scorched" has some nifty guitar work and is a fantastic take on noise rock. The rest comes in moments, there are times when they stay in places that contemporaries like Failure, Handsome and even the legendary Jesus Lizard perfected, but Season to Risk end up getting too heavy metal. They use a megaphone to sing through a lot which is a nice 90's effect, but it does wear thin. Overall, it's worth it for the memories, if you heard it as a teenager, you'll want to grab a skateboard or go jump stairs on in-line skates, whatever your extreme sport was in the early 90's.

Reminder

Coalesce Salt And Passage Second Nature 2007

Coalesce Salt And Passage Second Nature 2007 CAT# SN069

Just two brutal tracks from Kansas City's finest.  Both tracks just punch you in the face and get all math-y simultaneously.  By this time in the band's history, they were comfortable to explore things on a more sonic level.  Rather than just kick your teeth in, the band and long-time producer Ed Rose, were playing around with sounds and harmonies.  Buried vocal tracks, cleaning up the insane guitar lines that spill across the band's tracks, and getting super technical behind the drums.

For a simple 7" release, Dan Askew's Second Nature label pulled out all stops on the packaging.  Most the vinyl came in color variants.  It's sleeved in 7" size gatefold.  And the print on the sleeve is well-designed and thought out.  Amazing product.

Salt and Passage EP

Radkey Feed My Brain Little Man Records 2014

Radkey Feed My Brain Little Man Records 2014 CAT# LMR04

Radkey continues to develop and you can hear it on this super cheap 7".  I got it from the Love Garden for the basement price of $3.  That price is pretty punk rock, the music though, that's going the way of metal.

The closest the two songs featured here, "Feed My Brain" and "Digging the Grave", come to punk is a comparison to the Danzig fronted Misfits.  "Feed My Brain", is dark and bombastic, it employs all sorts of sonic metal tricks, a driving rhythm, screamed chorus, and just a killer guitar riff that drives the song.  The B-Side, "Digging the Grave" is admittedly punk rock.  It's got sweet moves and is reminiscent of the late-70's scene, when punk band had talent, but were labeled as such because they couldn't be classified elsewhere.

Kids are smart, too.  This is a well put togther 7" is on their own Little Man Records.  For one, there's no point in getting an actual label, they can keep the price down on this by doing it themselves and likely recover more.  Further the presentation is clever.  "Feed My Brain" centers around an education theme and on the inside of the sleeve is chalkboard repetition of the title.  But, favorite part is use of the old standardized testing multiple choice fill-in sheets as the label on the 7".  Nice touch.

Feed My Brain in Glasgow

Canyons, Tigon, Foreign Theaters Split Can't Have Nothin' Nice The Ghost Is Clear Records/Mayfly Records/Melotov Records

Canyons, Tigon, Foreign Theaters Split Can't Have Nothin' Nice The Ghost Is Clear Records/Mayfly Records/Melotov Records 2010 NO CAT#

Cool story, well to me anyway, about the local label that helped put this out.  For a while I had two copies of The Get Up Kids/Coalesce split 7", no big deal, but I had an extra.  I first attempted to dump one off on InstaGram for charity, no one bid or offered any money for it.  Then, I tried to sell a copy for profit on eBay.  One person bid who was from Kansas City for the bargain basement price of $1.99.  The person paid and when I went to package up, I looked at the address and saw this buyer was from Kansas City.  Being a nice guy, I quickly messaged the person and said, "Dude, if you're from Kansas City and just want to pick this up, you can have it.  Free."  The buyer emailed back and she said, "I'm not a dude, but thanks, I will pick it up."  Things went from eBay to Craigslist and we met near my place of employment.  It was a brief exchange, she was accompanied by her boyfriend (got to be safe when meeting strange record people, good move on her part) and the record and pleasantries were exchanged.  I asked about their interest in local music and if they were wanting the 7" more for Coalesce or the Get Up Kids, they said both and were just into local music.  I was like, "Sweet, my kind of people."  Which, they were probably looking me at me like, "No, you're fucking square."  But, whatever, I was in my work clothes and am kind of square, it would have been justified.  Anyway, the boyfriend introduced himself and told me about his label.  At that point I was thinking since I gave them a free 7" he'd reciprocate, he didn't.  But, he handed me a sticker for this label and told me to check it out.

It's a cool label, centered mostly around metal and it releases locals along with bands from all over the US.  The coolest thing they've done is reissue the Puig Destroyer 7".  Which, if you are not familiar with, is a reference to the Los Angeles Dodger, Yaisel Puig.  People think it's hot shit because it was released by baseball journalists who are also metal enthusiasts, admittedly, it is pretty hardcore.

This is the first thing I've picked up by the label, it was cheap and I've been enjoying abrasive hardcore metal lately.  Canyons are a Kansas City band and the reason I was drawn to it (that, and it's cheap).  They play brutal metal, not far off from Coalesce.  Dissonant and abrasive, guttural vocals, odd time signatures...it makes me want to punch kittens.  The songs are short, which is about right for this brand of metal, I don't need 5 minutes of constant shifts, they keep it focused on all four of their tracks.  Tigon is a California band, they on the other hand do take some time to complete a song.  They aren't as straight ahead as Canyons, a bit more noisecore, so it works for them.  Foreign Theaters is from Marshall, MO, which is too far away from KC to be considered local to me.  They are in interesting band, but checking out info online, doesn't seem they are still active.  Foreign Theaters is the least "metal" of the 3 bands on the LP, kind of sludge rock, like a heavy metal version of 90's grunge.

Canyons Have It Lavish
The Ghost is Clear-Buy Local

Coalesce Give Them Rope She Said v2.0 No Idea 2004 (Repress)

Coalesce Give Them Rope She Said v2.0 No Idea 2004 (Repress) CAT#153

This is a remastered and remixed edition of Coalesce's ahead of it's time 1997 release, Give Them Rope.  The mix is brought up, mainly the guitar.  It sounds good, don't know if it was needed, but it's got cool artwork and the remix highlights some things that may have been missed the first time around.

Between the years of 1997 and 2004 lots of thing happened with Coalesce.  Numerous breakups and line up changes, the scene they helped develop passed them by, and they found time to do an entire album of Led Zeppelin covers (which is fucking awesome).  The original bass player, Stacy Hilt left and was replaced by Nathan Ellis.  Ellis stayed with the band for a substantial amount of time, but became focused on his own group, The Casket Lottery to which he recruited Stacy Hilt, the same bass player he replaced in Coalesce to play in his band.  Hilt however, would return in 2001 to play bass yet again for the band.  James Dewees left after the groups album, Functioning on Impatience, to play keyboards for the Get Up Kid, later he did his own project, Reggie & the Full Effect, and even later wound up as the touring keyboardist for My Chemical Romance.  Singer Sean Ingram filled in briefly for the Dillinger Escape Plan and embarked on other projects.  Guitarist Jes Steineger remained a constant member, however, it's rumored his numerous religious conversions were reason for many of the band's numerous break ups.

So yeah, tumultuous history and all, but, brutal, hardcore metal needs that to continue, I guess.

Coalesce Give Them Rope Edison Recordings 1997

Coalesce Give Them Rope Edison Recordings 1997 CAT #006

This is hands down one of the most important albums to come out of Kansas City during it's 90's indie explosion.  This album virtually started a genre.  So much so, the album has been re-released several times in multiple formats.

There were other bands doing this throughout the indie scene in the late 90's.  But, most those bands were fighting traditional metal influences and trying to find a way to re-write old riffs.  Coalesce took their cue from hardcore punk by going straight for the jugular.  No "singing", No drum solos, No Guitar solos.  Just blistering metal.

To be musical and show they had the chops to be "metal," they focused on odd time signatures and dissonant guitars.  The guttural vocals and odd out of place keyboard riffs add to the chaos.  Upon first listen, and even more so if you were listening in 1997, it sounds as if it's coming from another planet.  But, give it a few spins and it all starts to make sense, even becomes enjoyable.

A few years later, bands like Botch and Dillinger Escape Plan would perfect this form.  Coalesce would constantly shift members and lose focus along the way, by doing so they'd never catch up to those groups despite improving their sound.  Nevertheless, they'll always be thought of as pioneers in the genre.

Have Patience
Coalesce Live is Fucking Scary

Shock Up and Coming Greenworld 1986

Shock Up and Coming Greenworld 1986 CAT #GWD90504

Oh fuck!  What a craptacular turd of a metal band these guys are.  Yet, there's so much the band Shock gives you talk about, where to start...

I'll start with the looks, clearly, that's what the band is concerned about.  My copy has a bright pink hype sticker proclaiming, "SHOCK ROCK | Debut 9-Track Album From Kansas City's Most Outrageous Psychedelic Glam Rockers!"  The hype sticker should be the first clue that this is going to suck.  But, maybe the idea of psychedelic glam-metal turnsed heads in 1986, Enuff Z' Nuff played that card, they had some success, right?  And, they are proclaimed to be the "Most Outrageous" in KC, I mean, c'mon, it's KC, that's got to be pretty outrageous.  And if the hype isn't enough, you see the photo, tough guy posing, dressed and done up like women.  No one was doing that in mid 1980's, right?

The back sleeve is pretty awesome, too.  You see the band in better light, they got make-up on and are surrounded by what I assume are "groupies."  Are these KC girls?  Did their moms approve of this?  Out of the 6 girls, I'd say only two are slutified for the photo and none of them appear all that "hot."  That should speak to the quality of the music, if you can't pull in KC's slutiest and hottest groupies, you probably aren't that good.  Oh, they did the nickname thing, too.  Because you can't have big hair and tight pants without a quasi-porn star nickname.  There's Carlos Gunn on bass, Eric Saxan on drums, Max Maddux on vocals, and Damien Shepard on guitar.  I assume the nicknames benefited them later in life in that they could always lie about being a member of this band since very few would know the band's real names.

Below the names is a "Notice" that states the following, "This album contains weird psychedelic metal currently the rage in the American headbasket.  Consider yourself warned."  Okay, again, when was psychedelic glam-metal a thing?  I'm pretty sure the band has no clue what "psychedelic" entails in relation to music.  They also give a classy copyright notice that states, "Warning from Shock:  Unauthorized duplication of this work is prohibited by law and subject to prosecution and nasty treatment of your younger sister."  That, I'm not sure I get.  Who has a younger sister?  The 18 to 21 year old chick you want to bang?  Because, that would make "younger sister" a felony in a likelihood.  Or, did they assume dressing in spandex and using lipstick and eyeliner was going to attract full grown men to their music?  Again, hair metal was cool to a lot of people, but not metal heads.  Those dudes listened to Anthrax and Metallica.  Hair metal was all the rage with middle school age boys and teenage girls.  So, again, it's either referencing girls that are going to be far too young, or, you're picking a fight with a bearded guy in a jean jacket with Maiden and Black Sabbath patches.  I don't think you want to encroach on that dude's sister, regardless of age, while you're wearing hyper-color spandex and make up.


Also, on the backside, you see an actual label invested money into this band.  What the fuck?  Someone funded this?  Someone at a record label green lighted all this nonsense.  Seriously, I've had this for about a year, I always assumed it was a private press local thing.  But after some research, I discovered Greenworld Records is an actual label out of California, with a diverse catalog.  They signed a simlar KC band called Vyper, they did some thrash metal, some hardcore punk and even some King Diamond stuff.  Why they decided to release KC hair-metal is beyond me.  No one I know in town references the glory days of the 1980's KC metal scene.

So, now the music.  Yeah, again, I stress someone funded this.  It sounds awful.  It was recorded at Kondor Recordings in KC, which after hearing the quality, I'm pretty sure is someone's basement.  In fact, that's confirmed as the recording address is the same as the Shock Fan Club address.  But, to the recording, the levels are all over place, there's unattended distortion, the drums are buried.  And the vocals, they are terrible.  I don't think Max Maddux is a bad singer, but he could have tried a litter harder, done a few more takes, especially when your voice cracks or your metal yelp is poorly timed and not in key.  It's as if they did the demo, sent it to the label and the label agreed to put it out as is.

And the self-proclaimed "psychedelic metal".  Fuck.  I'm pretty sure that means a ton of useless feedback effects, a single backward vocal effect, and bass lines that other metal bands weren't using (but plenty of funk bands were).  Because it has nothing to do with hard English psych-rock like Wimple Wench or the Pretty Things.  It has nothing to do with mid-60's American Garage.  And, it obviously has nothing to do with well known psych like Piper at the Gates of Dawn or the American San Francisco scene of the late 60's.  It doesn't even have anything to do with 70's stoner-rock.  The dudes draw 80's pop-metal like Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister.  Lots of hardcore chorus chants, guitar solos, and meaningless vocal yelps.

Admittedly, I was surprised that the band is hard-edged as they are.  When I found it in a dollar bin, I thought they'd be along the lines of Poison, Bon Jovi, that ilk of shitty chick-metal.  Instead, they came from the Motley Crue school of glam metal which isn't metal at all, but hard rock for morons.  They only do one ballad, they like charging rhythms and they sing about stuff they dealt with when they were going through puberty.   The want to touch girls' boobs, hate authority (parents included), and brag a lot about getting drunk.

The lyrics are the best part, because they are hilarious.  Listed below are some of my favorite lines:

"The night is almost gone, there is no more beer, freshen up the air up, I think the cops are here."  From the tune, Shock Rock.

"White leather stretches your every little curve, I like to look but you're getting on my nerves, I'm up on my toes you keep me so alert, I'm meat and potatoes but I always need desert."   From the title track, Up and Coming

"You always bitched about the debts I owed, and getting drunk down on Westport Road, coming home at 5 A.M., bloodshot eyes and twenty empty cans."  From the song, BFD.

"Undercover lover with your lipstick lies, I'll give you sensations you cannot deny, you said you won't sweat it, you're trembling with freight, so much misery to the sinner's delight."  From the track, Out For the Kill.  

Pretty stellar, right?  I mean, who could pass up this much absurd bullshit for the MSRP of $6.98 in 1986.  And, if you get the lyric sheet you also get some classy action shots along with a great set of liner notes.  The band gives a "SHOCK Up Yours Awards" on the thank-you's, dedicate the album to all the headbanger's (wherever they live and breed) and cites Kansas City as a "totally happening metal nest."

I can't find any suck-ass Shock songs to share, but I bet this guy on Facebook knows what I'm talking about

Season To Risk In A Perfect World Sony/Red Decibel 1995

Season To Risk In A Perfect World Sony/Red Decibel 1995 CAT#RdB95006

The more I get into this project, the more I realize just how cool KC was in the 1990's.  I've always been in love with the stuff from Lawrence, KS, but the more I look at it, KC in the 90's was where it was at.  Not Charlie Parker Jazz-era cool, but pretty incredible.

Season to Risk were among the leaders of that era.  I always kind of brushed them off as a bit too metal, a bit to jock rock.  But, after digging into them more, they're intelligent, they use odd time signatures, and the only difference between them and their more indie-friendly counterparts, Shiner, is that Season to Risk used a far more aggressive approach.  In the end, the bands shared members, played shows together, and were leading the KC scene together.  People talk about Lawrence and how it was supposed to be the next "Seattle" in the mid-90's.  But, KC trumps the college town and had a more defined sound.

Shiner, Boys Life and Giants Chair are the indie-darlings.  Their sound was a bit artsy, a bit math rock, but still, very distinct post-hardcore sounds.  Season to Risk, Molly McGuire, Clutch, those three all signed to major labels in the 90's.  By default, they tended to be more "commercial" than the others, but their post-hardcore leanings certainly never got them to the top ten.  There were countless other bands doing the same thing, angular guitars, start-stop dynamics, it was a legitimate scene,  these were all recognized touring artists.

Listening to this album, you get what attracted the majors to a band like Season to Risk.  Despite the complex song structures the band makes you raise your fist.  "Jack Frost," "Absolution," "Bloodugly," "Terrain Vague," and  "Sleepwalker" are undeniable and had metal NOT been destroyed as a genre by grunge, some of the tunes could have been hits on that side of the spectrum.  Angry, skateboarding, male teenagers, loved this band and there were a lot of those types running around in the mid 90's.  It's too bad it never caught on in a major way, this type of music, this scene, could have saved everyone from the retarded angst-rock that did catch on in 1998 with the likes of Korn and Limp Bizkit.

Jack Frost
Bloodugly

Slackjaw Drugmaze 7" Medical Records 1991

Slackjaw Drugmaze 7" Medical Records 1991 Unknown Cat #

Not really searching out Slackjaw releases, this one just came about at a reasonable price.  One problem though, my copy only has the front part of the sleeve.  Don't have any credits for this release or the catalog number if there was one.

I'm pretty happy about the price, I would've hated paying more the $3 for this thing.  Awful music.  The song "Drugmaze" is a jocktacular anti-drug song.  Really?  Sludge metal needed to enter the anti-drug realm?  The song attempts to portray a druggie that regrets the decision to use while set to a repetitive jock metal back drop.  The flipside features the songs "Traitor" and "The Question".  At 45 RPM, the songs have the advantage of ending before you realize you'd be better off listening to something else.

However, as stated in the last release I discussed; this band was way ahead of it's time.  Had they came about just a few years later their brand of jock-punk and metal influences would have got them signed and put them on tour with the likes of Limp Bizkit and Korn.  While I wouldn't consider Slackjaw "innovative" their reliance on heavy metal and hardcore punk cliches would've fit in perfect with the slam dancing, backward cap wearing, youth of the late 90's.  In fact, they would have improved the scene.

A few notes, it appears that Slackjaw's catalog is a continuous string of "sides."  The sides on this release are 3 and 4.  The 1994 release I tracked down and discussed previously has sides 7 and 8.  Despite the fact that I'm not a fan of the band, I'm now motivated to collect all sides.  Another interesting tidbit, there are like 5 bands in Discogs that go by the name of Slackjaw.  None of which are Lawrence Kansas' own.

Season To Risk Biter B/W Oil 7" Red Decibel 1992

 Season To Risk Biter B/W Oil Red Decibel 1992 CAT # CS7 4908

Season to Risk was an aggressive rock band from KC.  I've heard them called hardcore rock and that suits them well.  Hardcore in the sense that it's a heavy crushing sound.  Too punk to be metal, too metal to be punk.  My brother recalls them as a band he used to throw on the tape deck before heading out to skateboard.

They had a revolving cast, but singer Steve Tulipana and guitarist Duane Trower were the core members.  This release features Paul Malinowski who also gigged with Shiner.  Malinowski was also credited as a songwriter while in the band and added the post-hardcore feel of the group.

In their day, they were one of the more successful KC bands.  They signed to a major label, did music video shoots, and were even seen performing in the Hollywood movie Strange Days.  This 7" outside of the slick John Wayne Gacy artwork is typical of their sound.  'Biter' is a scorcher, bunch of guitars and a pounding rhythm section.  Tulipana runs a ton of vocal effects that make the song and band sound polished and professional.  The song was featured on their self titled debut album, as 'Bitter'.  'Oil' is aggressive sludge rock.  It's nothing spectacular, but enjoyable.