| D e a d M i l k m e n N e w z l e t t e r # 5 8 | |
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Dead Milkmen Newzletter #58 |
| D e a d M i l k m e n N e w z l e t t e r # 5 8 | |
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CHAOS RULES! Dead Milkmen plan to break up.
The Dead Milkmen played their very last live shows Oct. 7+8 at the Trocadero in Philly. The show on the 7th sold out. The show on the 8th was added so as not to turn anyone away. The Milkmen announced to radio and live press that they will not perform "live" again, at least not in this century.
A live album which was recorded at two previous Trocadero shows will be released November 8 on Restless Records. The only editing was done for legal reasons, to remove songs controlled by Hollywood Records (those from "Soul Rotation" and "Not Richard But Dick").
Although the Milkmen won't be performing live again they do plan to record one more studio album within the next month. The album, as of yet untitled, will be released sometime in '95 on Restless Records, about 10 years after the release of "Big Lizard In My Backyard". The Milkmen plan to disband sometime in December '94 to regroup only for funerals and rare TV appearances.
Rodney Anonymous will marry his girlfriend, Vienna, on Oct. 15, 1994. The ceremony will take place at noon in Fitler Square, Philadelphia. Guests are asked to bring acoustic instruments for an outside jam at the reception in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. This will be Mr. Anonymous' first marriage. It will also be Vienna's first marriage. She currently holds the title of "Miss Woxall, Pennsylvania."
Dave Blood, aka. 11070, will move to Bloomington, Indiana early next year to attend a university where he'll study eastern European politics and economics. He hopes to someday move to Eastern Europe. Dean Clean now manages an espresso bar and drums for various projects including the Big Mess Cabaret Orchestra. Rodney works for a video distribution service and now performs with a band who are currently called Burn Witch Burn. Joe Jack (Butterfly) works at an espresso bar (not the same one Dean manages) and performs with a band called Touch Me Zoo.
The Birds are still singing the bitter songs from the barren, leafless tress downtown, where so many of the store windows are empty. And yet, still, there is some hope, if only the hope that comes with escape. Escape is a very complicated item these days, because it is so difficult to manage on all of the levels. It is best to start with the middle, the most imposing of the levels.
Once that is accomplished, then with the help that enabled escape of the middle level type it is possible to break completely free. Given time, patience and real faith. Sometimes at night, in the quiet, in the death, the pictures start to do their work to trap you, to keep you. The most recent example is the episode of the grilled food of a large centipede shape that came alive, walking on the grill because of the heat. As you watched, you realized it was the same centipede food that you were eating. The food then had to be given back, to be voided. It was then you craved escape again. You sweated the cold sweat and as you chased the pictures away, back into the quiet, you tried to escape back into the middle place, into the light.
It is not all so hopeless. Help is coming from the outside, real help this time, the kind of help that sweats with you, voids with you and holds you whispering softly that the pictures are gone for good. This will be the last time, the last time, because I KNOW.
Since this is, most likely, my last column for the DM Newzletter I'd like to get a few things off my chest:
- THE CHUCK CONSPIRACY. During the first season of Happy Days, Richie and
Joannie had an older brother named Chuck. The next season Chuck was gone. The
Cunninghams (and the whole Happy Days gang for that matter) just went on as if
Chuck had never existed. Where the hell is Chuck? I wanna know. No wonder Erin
Moran said that the whole cast was evil.
- CRACKER. David Lowery was once the guiding force behind one of the
greatest bands of all time -- Camper Van Beethoven. Now he hangs around MTV and has nice
things to say about the Spin Doctors. Dave, reform CVB and stop being such a "company man."
- SONIC YOUTH. The day after I saw a news story about a sixty-five year old
woman having a baby, I found out that Kim Gordon was pregnant. Coincidence? I
say nay. By the way, Kim's hawking a line of "alternative" clothing called
"X-GIRL." I hear that wearing this stuff'll give you a rash.
- NINE INCH NAILS, PEARL JAM, HOLE, SPIN DOCTORS, SOUNDGARDEN,
AND BOYZ II MEN. I hate these groups. How 'bout you?
- THE RAGING ASSHOLES WHO CHUCKED WATER BOTTLES AT THE TIBETAN MONKS AT LOLLAPALOOZA. I want the names of these people. I want to hurt them.
"Live Albums"
I've never been a big fan of live albums. They're usually released when a band has nothing better to release or wants to get out of a recording contract quickly. They often contain inferior versions of songs already released on studio albums. They're okay for die-hard fans but, in general, live albums suck. I'd like to be able to say our live album sucks too, but, to be honest, I think it's kind of okay.
Was it released because we had nothing better to release? Well, yeah, sort of. We're working on a new studio album but it's not ready yet -- it probably won't be out until next spring. And Christmas is just around the corner. (A live Dead Milkmen cassette would make a great gift for your favorite friend! Wouldn't it?)
Are we releasing it to get out of a recording contract? No, not at all. In fact we're getting into a NEW recording contract, this time with Restless Records. Hollywood let us go at the end of '93 after NRBD failed to go gold.
Does it contain inferior versions of songs already released? Well, yes and no. All of the songs on the live album have been released on DM studio albums, there's nothing new. But the versions are fairly true to our original arrangements. And, actually, some of the songs have more verve than the studio versions, in my opinion. David Lounsbury did an excellent job with the sound recording, and Dan Mapp did a fine job with the live mixing. It's not a multi track recording; it wasn't remixed after the show; nothing extra was added to spruce up the sound and fool the listener. It was recorded in stereo with two strategically placed microphones during two concerts in Philadelphia -- one in 1992 (the first U.S. show of our Soul Rotation tour) and one in 1994 (the last show of our Not Richard But Dick tour). It's a fairly accurate document of our live set except for the fact that, for legal reasons, it contains no songs from our two Hollywood Records albums. It's sort of like a live "best of" collection of our first five albums. What could be better? (I don't know. A punch in the face? A knee in the groin?)
Look. To put it simply, I think you should buy this disc. (It's a fine complement to the Now We Are Ten live set from about ten years earlier.) Frankly, no Dead Milkmen collection would be complete without it. (And I could sure use the money.)
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