While it's true that rock history sports no shortage of great but widely overlooked or underrated bands (the 1980s proved to be full of them), sometimes it's just impossible to decide how it could have happened – what averted the public's attention so completely – that a fantastic record passed through completely unnoticed. Like, in 2002, what was going on that The Blank Fight's only album got overlooked? That particular year – while mainstream audiences were justifiably diverted from the underground by the releases of two Tom Waits albums, two Frank Black albums, Paul Westerberg's best solo album and Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – there really wasn't a whole lot going on in punk rock; while Bad Religion made the jump from Warner back to Epitaph (which was a big deal), big names like Green Day, NOFX and Rancid occupied themselves either by releasing compilations (Green Day put out Shenanigans and NOFX put out 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough To Go On Our Other Records) or playing each other's songs (the BYO Split Series saw NOFX and Rancid teaming up), and the new bands who would be household names in a few years (like My Chemical Romance, Anti-Flag, Against Me! and Alexisonfire) were starting to build a head of steam but hadn't broken through quite yet. So what distraction did people have before them which caused Pensacola, Florida-based punks The Blank Fight and their debut LP, House Band Feud, to slip perfectly between the cracks? The truth is that no one could possibly have an answer for that but, happily, Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club has saved the album from complete obscurity, remastered it and re-released it on transparent, colorless vinyl so it might stand a chance of finally getting heard and appreciated for the awesome document it is.
From the opening squall of feedback which opens “This Bike + This Guitar,” listeners won't be able to stop their adrenaline levels from skyrocketing as, with no production value to speak of (word is that the vinyl has been remastered to sound better than the out-of-print CD version which was released on Plan-It-X in 2003), singer Skott Cowgill, guitarist Rymodee, drummer Aaron “Cometbus” Elliott and bassist Cindy Ovenrack just rip through changes and never, ever break or even slow down for anything until the song is done (about a minute and a half after it started) – it's like sitting in the driver seat of a high-speed skid. The emotionally chilly stature so prevalent in street punk (a certain eerie, unqualifiable darkness and dampness) dominates the song and brings to mind some of the better moments of Op Ivy, Inquisition and The Disasters, but the grain in the production adds just a touch of desperation and makes it that much more vivid and real, somehow; listeners will feel as though they're standing right in front of Cowgill as he fires through lines like “We were campin' in the woods/ Stealin' oranges from the trees/ This bike and this guitar – the life for me” and almost be able to smell the stench of his breath.
The words, sentiments and emotional center of “This Bike + This Guitar” are so simple and forthright that is would be easy enough to confuse them for folk-inspired (there is a certain sense of Woody Guthrie in their delivery), but they're not – not really. Rather, these are lyrics which could easily cross back and forth between the two genres because they cover a common ground (being broke but getting by), and find a liberating spirit because the writer doesn't have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it our of – so all he can do is go for broke. It might sound bleak if you're on the outside looking in, but listeners who have been there before will find it comforting to know they aren't alone, and that it can all be celebrated as the singer is doing.
The exact same kind of simple, fast and heartfelt boot boy punk powers songs like “Song For K80 Bigtoe,” “Rusted Freedom,” “John Henry” and “Todd X + Others” beautifully before listeners have to flip the record over, but it's shocking how fast it goes; here, The Blank Fight strip their song structures down to the absolute bare essentials (verses and choruses – no bridges, solos or other nonsense like that) and fly through each song at a rate which makes boredom impossible; the eight songs on Side One of House Band Feud run out within eleven and a half minutes.
After the obligatory record flip, the trend continues over from Side One into Side Two, but it is possible to hear that the band is growing by the minute as each song gets stronger. On Side Two, some of the songs flaunt a slightly more refined stature as the band nails a sort of midpoint between street/gunk punk and hardcore that is perfectly infectious in songs like “Hutterites In North America,” “Old Trick,” “19 Years And 40 Years” and “Jack Johnson” which is contrasted nicely by the darker tones in the songs between. It might seem foolish to try and contrast the two sides of House Band Feud against each other, but it really is possible to trace the band's growth from the album's beginning through its end; so much so that, by the time “Old Trick” starts playing around with lead guitar riffs and then both “Cry For Help” and “Jack Johnson” crack the two-minute mark, listeners won't be able to stop themselves from wondering how big The Blank Fight may have gotten if they'd had the right opportunity or stayed together a little longer.
With such thoughts already beginning to gel on the first play through House Band Feud's twenty-minute run-time, there's no doubt that a debt of thanks should be paid to Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club for not letting the record fall into the indie abyss and getting it out again for people to find and appreciate. For your part, dear reader, you should do yourself a favor; you know you missed House Band Feud once, don't miss it twice.
Artist:
www.silversprocket.net/blog/2012/01/the-blank-fight-house-band-feud-lp-re-issue/
Album:
The reissued edition of The Blank Fight's House Band Feud will be released on February 28, 2012 by Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club. Pre-order it here, directly from the label .
