Shiner Molly McGuire Split Crush B/W Exhaust HitIt! 1994

Shiner Molly McGuire Split Crush B/W Exhaust HitIt! 1994 CAT# HIT-03

Pretty great local 7", featuring two of the finest from KC's post-hardcore scene, Shiner and Molly McGuire. It was pressed on virgin vinyl and serves as an early example of both groups.

Shiner's "Crush" is slow-moving, but has tons of crunchy guitar. It's a bit repetitive in the beginning considering their later work, but it's still got plenty of math-rock charm and takes you all over the place soon enough. Molly McGuire's "Exhaust" opens incredibly with guitars coming in from everywhere. It was early in the band's output and is lot more straightforward than later work, it doesn't try so hard. Just solid in-your-face guitar rock, a bit alterno, but it's cool.

The release was also early-on for the short-lived Chicago HitIt! Records. The sleeve has a great DIY aesthetic as it's just a silk screened onto a cardboard fold-over.

Molly McGuire Heart 7" Hitit! Recordings 1994

Molly McGuire Heart 7" Hitit! Recordings 1994 No CAT #

Molly McGuire is another Kansas City band to grab a major label deal in the 90's.  They first gigged regionally and on tours with Kansas City bands like Season to Risk, Shiner, and Rocket Fuel is the Key.  Released a few things, including this 7" and one or two for Caulfield.  They then inked a deal with Epic and released the album Lime in 1996, but with no "hit" song were quickly dropped (members have nothing nice to say about the experience).  They did a final album with Hitit! before disbanding.

I don't currently have a copy of Lime to refer to, but, I remember it being a bit dull and not as aggressive as Season to Risk and not as mathy as Shiner.  Kind of an in between in terms of the 90's KC scene.  The songs here, "Sisters of the Sacred Heart" and "Gutter Ball", are in that realm.  A little more flair than the major label stuff, but quaint in comparison to other groups.  Not quite as challenging as Shiner, not as metal as Season to Risk.  They're just kind of there, hanging out, causing no problems.  It's a fond memory of a great scene, just not one of the major highlights.

I would like to revisit Lime, that album was produced by Failure's mastermind Ken Andrews.  Failure was not a KC band, obviously, but in terms of post-hardcore, that's the top of the list.  As stated, when I had a CD back in the day, I found it boring.  However, maybe years have treated it good and maybe I'm not as big of douche and can finally enjoy something with a bit more nuanced.  It was 1996, though, I also remember the album being a bit too derivative of the current rock scene and a few steps away from the KC thing in favor of the mainstream thing.  Nevertheless, trying to track it down, it did actually come out on vinyl and is fairly priced if you can find it.

Old link to a Kickstarter project for a new album, what's up with that?