Wacky, acronymed grindcore…

Posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 @ 11:57 am » permalink

Edit: Purchasing information for this CD has been removed, as Alan Dubin emailed me to let me know that this is in fact an unauthorized bootleg. The good news is that the band is currently in negotiations with a couple of interested labels to secure a proper CD release for this classic material!

Old Lady Drivers (usually referred to as OLD) were from New Jersey (It's just a coincidence this time, I swear!) and released their debut self-titled LP in 1988 on Earache, and at the time consisted of the trio of Alan Dubin, James Plotkin, and Ralph Pimentel (the core of the band - Dubin and Plotkin - are of course in Khanate at present). This collection, titled "Regurgitation", sees that 1988 LP on CD for the first time, along with the band's half of a split 7" with Assück (1990), and the Regurgitation (pre-Old Lady Drivers) "Bathrooms Rule" demo (1987). Now, inexplicably listed under the CD tray and tacked onto the end of the disc is a 16-track Extreme Noise Terror live set recorded in 1988 in Burladingen, Germany - which makes this entire release just scream bootleg, especially since I have no idea who sent this to me, and the only contact information listed is a Huntington Beach P.O. Box under the name of "Old Lady Drivers Records". Plus, the layout totally blows ass (though it does include lyrics and some weird "liner notes" that seem to be minimal commentary penned by the guy who pressed this up), so… I dunno. It's always cool to see rare material become available again, especially on CD, so I'm down with that, but bootlegs are definitely touchy. I don't know the story behind this release though, so fuck it.

As you'll hear in the tracks below, the initial incarnation of OLD was a raw, silly grindcore band with smartass humor just oozing from every track. The music consists largely of noisy guitar riffs and blasting percussion with cackled vocals that run the gamut from shrieked screams or snarled yells to more lighthearted fare, and some of the guitar parts have that humorous edge happening as well. On occasion there's an oddball clean break or something a little more melodic and "musical" (if not left-of-center), which indicates as a precursor to their later material that the band wasn't exactly a straightforward grindcore act by any means, but the bulk of these jams bears more in common with a snotty hardcore/punk or crossover act of the mid- to late-80's, so its age does show (which isn't a bad thing). As one might expect, the Regurgitation demo sounds like OLD with a more straightforward crossover thrash/grind sound and a barely rawer recording, but the live tracks from Extreme Noise Terror sound pretty damn weak and it was an incredibly stupid decision to include them on the CD in my opinion. Here's a handful of tracks from the real content of the disc:

OLD "Total Hag"
OLD "I Laugh as I Chew…"
OLD "Rape, Carve, Smoke"
Regurgitation "Aggravated Assault"

I had never heard of Blatant Crap Taste (commonly known as simply BCT) prior to this CD showing up, but it's actually a solo outing from Erik Burke (formerly of god damn Lethargy and Kalibas, currently in Sulaco and god damn Nuclear Assault), and "The Life and Times of Steven Character" (released by Yawn Factory Records) collects the entire recorded output of the project spanning 1997 - 2005, totaling fucking 77 songs in more than an hour. I'm assuming a good chunk of this stuff was never previously released, as the only documented BCT releases I can find mention of online are a self-titled CD-R from 1999 and a four-way split CD with Shield Your Eyes, Fledgling Death, and Drunken Orgy of Death from 2000. But despite ridiculous song titles like "Hot Dog Hoagie" and "Billy's Balls" (among many others), this material actually kicks some serious ass. I tend not to like "humorous" music very much, but few of these tracks hit the one-minute mark, and it's basically a maniacal grindcore free-for-all with loads of high-speed bursts that range from cacophonous wails of note bends and squealing pinch harmonics to raging runs of classic grind or slightly slower and more tangible breaks - often complete with a good sense of dissonance. Loads of samples are interspersed all over the place that are actually funny in most cases, and pretty much all of the recordings are damn solid despite their age (or the fact that every god damn instrument and the vocals are all handled by one dude). What can I say? I'm impressed. Here's a smattering from the four different recording sessions represented on the disc:

Blatant Crap Taste "Happy Hour"
Blatant Crap Taste "Born With a Beard"
Blatant Crap Taste "C.I.C."
Blatant Crap Taste "Shit Videos"
Blatant Crap Taste "Rite Aid"

I believe this one's only available via mailorder from the label at the moment, so contact them through MySpace or email and get your hands on one of these puppies. Blatant Crap Taste should no longer remain just some obscure little side project… this shit's got heat.

10 comments...

  1. Tyrone said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 12:57 pm

    I remember hearing BCT way back in the mp3.com days. I could never find anything of theirs, so I'll definitely have to pick this up.

    I haven't listened to OLD in a while. I'll have to get on that.

  2. mark pennington said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 1:26 pm

    Earache just needs to get on the ball and do a legit reissue of that OLD shit.

    It is weird that they included that ENT live set on there since I don't think the bands shared any members.. I guess the bootlegger just likes to keep his old UK bands together. Maybe it was the same guy that did the Bolt Thrower/Paradise Lost demos bootleg, haha.

    Speaking of old UK bands, I remember reading on Mid's website a while back that ALL of the Deviated Instinct stuff was getting reissued. I've heard talk of a recently released 2xLP, but unfortunately I can't find information on it ANYWHERE.

  3. mark pennington said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 1:31 pm

    Oops, I totally missed the part where you said they were from NJ. For some reason I've always thought they were British.

  4. Anonymous said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 2:16 pm

    dude! thanks for posting the BCT stuff, i fucking loved lethargy and kalibas and this just fucking kicks ass! definitely getting it

  5. Anonymous said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 2:29 pm

    by the way, does Sulaco have anything out yet? demos? anything?

  6. AVERSIONLINE said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 2:42 pm

    Sulaco did an EP on Relapse some time ago:

    http://shop.relapse.com/store/product.aspx?ProductID=13752

    Not sure what's going on these days, though.

    And Mark, I know for a fact that a Deviated Instinct discography was in the works not long ago, but I have no idea where it stands!? Mid emailed me after I posted about Spinewrench and was working on it at the time. I'm eagerly anticipating its release for sure…

  7. Carlzilla said:
    February 9th, 2006 @ 4:46 pm

    It's funny that you posted OLD today, as they where in my list of things to be posted this week. I haven't checked out BCT, but I've been a Kalibas and Lethargy fan for a while, so I'm sure it'll rock…hard.

    I should post up the Kalibas demos I have from their tour with Creation Is Crucifixion in place of that OLD stuff.

    I'm pretty sure that disc is a bootleg as the original vinyl was out on Earache and I can't see them pawning off the rights to repress it to someone else when they could just do it themselves, especially with Alan Dubin and James Plotkin being in the way over popular Khanate right now…

  8. Zach said:
    February 10th, 2006 @ 12:42 pm

    Yeah I also remember BCT back from the days of mp3.com. I think they had a pro printed cd as I saw in an old issue of resound back in the day. By the way "The Life and Times of Steven Character" is available at Willowtip so I suggest picking it up from there(they rule).

    Urine! Urine love!

  9. Mike said:
    February 11th, 2006 @ 3:41 am

    Wow, I haven't heard Blatant Crap Taste mentioned in years! I originally found this stuff years ago on mp3.com and ordered the CD through Spoth records, which Lon of MungBeanDemon/Sulaco ran. The stuff is insane, but total quality.

    If you are a fan of BxCxTx, check out Valpurga and MungBeanDemon. Valpurga was a bizarre project grind band that featured Erik Burke among a slew of other dudes who went on to be in Psyopus, Kalibas, Sulaco, Withered Earth, etc. They only released one record called "Ying vs. Yang" which might still be available through certain places. If you dig bizarre grindcore with all kinds of programming, tribal drums, etc. hunt it down. It's worth it. Valpurga is under-rated as Hell and hopefully someone will re-release this stuff as well.

    MungBeanDemon was one of the most bizarre bands I've ever heard. They also had amongst their ranks the prolific Erik Burke and Lon Hackett who went on to spearhead Sulaco. They are nearly impossible to describe but I'll do my best. Throw everything you know about hardcore/sludge/stoner rock/noise rock/whatever in a blender and you might have some idea of what to expect. This band even had the balls enough to throw a reggae part into a song. The vocalist Finny was all over the place, from seriously caustic high screams to weird singing and everything in between. His lyrics were completely absurd and fit the music perfectly. They released a demo, a full length and numerous promos. I think their one and only full length "Unresolved" might still be available through certain distros and Sulaco' webstore. If you can find it, do yourself a favor and buy it. As with the Valpurga record, it's totally worth it.

  10. Anonymous said:
    February 13th, 2006 @ 11:36 am

    Thank you SO much for uploading those OLD tracks!
    I could be wrong, but from what I've heard, Plotkin himself doesn't want the material from the S/T or Assück split to ever get re-issued, because he doesn't want to be associated with that sort of thing now that he's a "serious musician". Give me a break. Fuckin' tragedy, if you ask me, as the early OLD stuff was hilarious and great balls-out grind.

    And carlzilla: It would be great if you went ahead and posted some of the OLD tracks that didn't get coverage here (damn, it's been YEARS since I've heard "colostomy peashooter"!) as it looks like there's not going to be a way to buy this that will get the artists any compensation anymore…

Fuckin’ say something:

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