Cool thrash-jazz-punk trio from the SF Bay Area
(AKA: Saturn's Flea Collar; AKA:
Hellworms)
Voltage
and Violets
Things
I Hate to Admit
White
Bread Blues
White Bread
Blues / Things I Hate to Admit
The Germ
Maybe If
I... (7" ep)
Headache
Remedy
Four
Great Thrash Songs (live in Amsterdam)
as Saturn's Flea Collar:
Stretch to Activate
(7" ep)
as Saturn's Flea Collar:
Monosyllabic
as Hellworms:
Crowd Repellent
as
Hellworms: Hellworms
(7" ep)
Apocalicious
Calling
Dr. Schlessinger (7"
split single with The Fleshies)
as The Freak Accident: The Freak Accident
Victim's Family are a talented California musical trio that have been around since the mid-80s. Well, two-thirds of the band have stuck it out that long anyway (guitarist/vocalist Ralph Spight and bassist Larry Boothroyd). Many drummers have come and gone. Currently, Dave Gleza (ex of My Name) pounds the skins and hopefully he'll be doing so for some time to come.
From the outset, VF have made it obvious that they can and will do whatever they want musically. Possessing the chops and skills of multiple musical genres, Ralph, Larry and the gang have effortlessly blended their punk rock sound (and ethos) with jazz, blues, funk, garage, psychedelia and good old fashioned rock 'n' roll. Early on, they focused more on jamming and venting than on writing, but over the years their song-writing skills did catch up to their excellent technical expertise. Alternative Tentacles was smart to snatch them up in the early '90s and never let go. VF fits wonderfully into that label's catalog of the real and the weird. I recently trawled the VF (et al.) catalog in order to indentify their finest 80 minutes of music for a compilation CD and, let me tell you... the music on that disc stands up majestically against anything from the past 20 years calling itself punk, rock, or fusion. In addition, I remember counting no less than three VF (et al.) releases among the top albums of their respective years (1994's Headache Remedy; 1998's Crowd Repellent; and 2001's Apocalicious).
In the great musical petrie dish, VF reminds me of Dead Kennedys (lyrically); Minor Threat and Stäläg 13 (musically, early on); Voivod (fusion-wise going into the '90s); and Primus and NoMeansNo (funky transitionally). Do yourself a favor and explore the Victims Family continuum if you hain't already.
Voltage and Violets - Mordam. 1986
This is as strong a debut as they come especially considering the punk rock DIY nature of this album and the era it came out in (pre-grunge, pre-internet, and pre-Reagan ahlzheimers... well maybe not that last one). The lyric sheet as must-read material is as much a truism for a Victims Family release as it was for each and every Dead Kennedys album. Ralphy Spight fights his demons admirably from the get go utilizing all-out lyrical assaults on his oppressors and/or playing devil's advocate (Biafra-style) in order to make an ironic point.
Even V&V's numerous instrumentals make a point: "Hey! We know how to play these @&*^% things!" Just listen to 'Sir Onslaught' - 'George Benson' - 'Devon Drool' and 'Son of Church Card' to hear what I mean. Among the songs with words are gems such as 'File Cabinet' - 'Times Beach' - 'God, Jerry, and the P.M.R.C.' - 'Balderdash' and 'Work'. Of course there is also a small handful of songs that do nothing for me, but there's no need to dwell...
drummer watch: Devon VrMeer
Things I Hate to Admit - Mordam. 1988
No sophomore slump from this blossoming punk band! Excellent musical and stylistic transitions take place in many of the tunes but notably in 'Shit' and 'Soggy Cereal'. I enjoy the buzzsaw grinding electric slide guitar sound of 'Liars, Pigs and Thieves', the funky bass intro to 'As It Were' and the raucously crowd pleasing instrumental 'Things I Hate to Admit' (aka: the title track!). 'Stupid' must be one of VF's first songs ever... recorded in 1984 according to the liner notes. Other standouts for me are: 'World War IX' and 'NPC (Not Politically Correct)'.
As with V&V, there are classic lyrics scattered throughout the disc, including "If you blow the cobwebs off yer shelf / And make some room for something else / You might be surprised just how well it fits / Right up there next to the same old shit" from 'Soggy Cereal' and this great fundamentalist tagline from 'Church Card': "Armageddon Express–Don't leave home without it!" There are a few more tracks than on V&V that leave no impression whatsoever, however no bad impressions which is a good sign if you ask me.
drummer watch: Devon VrMeer
White Bread Blues - Mordam. 1990
The strongest of their pre-Alternative Tentacles releases by far. It's at this point that VF's songwriting abilities noticably begin to match their deft instrumentations. Have a listen to the groovy 'Naive Children' or the anthemic 'Caged Bird' to see/hear what I'm blabbering on about. The somewhat experimental 'Mousetrap' (a lyrical re-interpretation of some well-known children's games) has become a VF classic and is still a staple at their shows. The hilarious 'Anti-Satan Song for Mom' is a great example of VF's insistence on not taking themselves too seriously despite Ralf's mostly heavy politics. 'Luv Letters' gives me a Primus-like buzz which is no surprise as both bands were S.F. contemporaries I do believe (this would also explain why Larry's bass playing is becoming so phenomenal... your bass playing would also be phenom if you had to compete with some kid called Claypool on the other side of town).
I think, but am not entirely sure, that 'Bloated Housewives' ponders what would happen if housewives mingled in foreign affairs and CIA agents were forced to stay home. Producer John Wright (of NoMeansNo) handles all of this material excellently. There are no detectable weak spots other than 'Mary's New Dress' but I quibble.
drummer watch: Tim Solyan
Reader Comments
dquinn05@sbcglobal.net (Susie)
SO WHATS GOING ON WITH THEM? IS THERE A FAN CLUB? I FIRST HEARD THEM ON KPFA IN MY TEENS AND MINGLED A BIT THROUGH MUTAL FRIENDS. I'M A TOTAL DORK/RECLUSE. DO THEY PLAY OUT ANYMORE? (I SAW THEM PLAY LAST IN OUR YARD ON GEFFEN.....) ?????????? I REALLY LIKE LARRY'S BASS PLAYIN'
Things I Hate to Admit / White Bread Blues- Konkurrent. 1990
Albums two and three combined into one unit for the CD age. A great collection to own if you can find it. It's nice when a band takes our wallets into consideration when upgrading their vinyl releases for the digital age.
The Germ - Alternative Tentacles. 1992
Ouch! A mostly disappointing debut on the Alternative Tentacles label. Once again John Wright is the producer however this time he is unable to pull the sound out of the mud and give the instruments distinction. The mix is so poor in many places the transitions are lost in a wall of dirge. Though this renders most of The Germ instantly forgettable, the lyrics are great throughout and there are one or two musical gems: 'Insidious' has a very catchy groove as does 'Baklava,' one of three instrumentals. I also enjoyed the tale being told in 'I Pissed on a Tree' and the humor of 'Bogus Track' (the album's "secret" bonus track). But the rest just falls flat for me.
This mostly yawn inducing album is VF's only true career stumble. Any band around long enough to even use the word 'career' is bound to produce one clunker, I guess. It's mostly home runs for Victims Family after The Germ, so I'm glad they got these doldrums out of the way. I am told this one eventually grows on you, tho... so keep that in mind.
drummer watch: Tim Solyan
band status: VF split up for a time after this album.
Reader Comments
pshepherd.ba@rt.net. (Peter Shepherd)
The Germ may not be their best, but it is still pretty good. I even have it in my car CD player right now. "I Pissed on a Tree" IMHO is one of their best all time songs. Musically it has some of the best riffs and transitions and some of Brian's(sic) bass grooves, lyrically it is wonderful and together they congeal into one of my favorite songs.
Maybe If I... (7" ep) - Alternative Tentacles. 1993
A good sign that VF is back on track. This single builds anticipation for Victims Family's impending Headache Remedy and includes the bonus tracks 'Burly Jalisco' and 'Balderdash '93' which you can only find here.
drummer watch: Tim Solyan
Headache Remedy - Alternative Tentacles. 1994
The first ten tracks on Headache Remedy are top notch, possibly the best songs these guys had written in their (at that time) ten year existence. The remaining five songs are no slouches either. On the whole disc VF's versatile instrumentations are simply exquisite (in the punk sense of that word). Boothroyd is as skilled a bass player as anyone in the business you can name. Solyan's drumming is tight and crisp. Spight's performance on the axe is his finest work yet.
I get the sense that something big happened in Spight's life around this time. His excellent lyrics are as personal as they are political and take on serious subject matter such as: the suicidal feelings after a relationship comes to a sudden end ("White Picket Fence"); forfeiture of political power ("Powertrip"); scapegoating ("Indestructible"); happiness as goal rather than lifestyle ("Maybe If I..."); and humans as captives enslaved by money ("Zoo"). Mr. Spight's sharp wit and sense of irony are subtly evident in those somber sounding numbers but become the main attraction in "August 6th" (about Hiroshima), "Proud to Be Ignorant" and "Yeah!" which sounds like a college lecture snippet set to funky punk grooves. Here are some lyrical highlights:
"We've got money, power and hundred story towers
greedy politicians when they see us start to cower
third world sweatshop workers making fifteen cents an hour
welcome to the trickle-down economic golden shower"
(from 'Product')"I go to the zoo and stare at the animals
walk downtown and check out the cannibals
all dressed up and decorated
I wonder if the animals really love their cages"
(from 'Zoo')"I walked upstairs fell flat on my face
passed out and dreamed of a beautiful place
and when everything seemed to be going my way
I woke up in a puddle of puke where I lay."
(from 'White Picket Fence')
All-in-all, Headache Remedy is a great listen and a great read. Rates a 9 with two "!!" as in... 9!!
drummer watch: Tim Solyan
band status: Just when they get it right again... they do a tour and
break up. Well, not really. They re-surface as Saturn's Flea Collar, but you
know what I mean! How dare they toy with us?!
Four Great Thrash Songs - Alternative Tentacles. 1995
This is not an EP (as allmusic.com and other websites would have you believe)! This here "posthumous" release is a full-length live recording of Victims Family's last show before calling it quits and morphing into SFC. It's recorded live in Europe's very own city of sin known as Amsterdam (as opposed to the U.S. "city of sin" called Las Vegas which is really only Disneyland with free booze, gambling, and dying pop stars. C'mon! Where's the reefer? The hallucinogens? How about a Red Light District? A'dam's gotcha beat LV!!) FGTS has great song selection going for it drawing equally from all prior albums. Many of these tracks sounded just okay (bordering on ho-hum) in their studio incarnations... I personally wouldn't have picked some of them for a live show. But these very same songs become undeniably invigorated when infused with VF's live performance energy. 'Me vs. Everything,' 'Product' and 'Supermarket Nightmare' come to mind immediately. We're talking a Bruce Banner as opposed to Incredible Hulk level of difference here folks... It's like they doused these songs with gamma rays before going on stage! Did I mention the recording quality and overall sound mix are both excellent? Play this one loud.
Unless you have a bootleg of some kind, this is the only place you'll find VF's unflattering ode to Frank, 'Sinatra Mantra'. And, as most of the band's pre-Alternative Tentacles stuff is out-of-print in the States, this may be the only place to hear 'Song X,' 'George Benson,' 'God, Jerry and the PMRC' and nine other tunes from the first three albums.
The title, Four Great Thrash Songs, comes from an angry letter sent to the band informing them they "suck" and only have "four great thrash songs and that's it".
drummer watch: Tim Solyan
Saturn's Flea Collar: Stretch to Activate (7" ep) - Alternative Tentacles. 1996
This dramatic change in sound may actually have warranted the change in the band's name. Larry and new drummer Jason recruited Ralf this time and the three of them began venturing into effects laden territory most notably explored by the Butthole Surfers ten years earlier. SFC are a great deal more sober than the Surfers (really, who isn't?), but when compared to VF, this new stuff does seem to come from a darker more disturbing place.
Stretch to Activate is a brief three song debut with a full length to follow. 'Sequences' has something scary-sinister a brewin'. 'Boner in the Logo' is a funny number about Camel smokes I think (I don't have the lyrics for StoA). It sounds like early thrash VF. In 'The Absentee' the narrator lists off the places he's never been with an Arabian Acid Devo thing happening musically.
drummer watch: Jason Christian
Saturn's Flea Collar: Monosyllabic - Alternative Tentacles. 1996
Continued exploration (by oily torchlight, no doubt) of those dark corners of the psyche. SFC is a cross between Butthole Surfers, Victims Family (duh), and that Biafra experimental outfit, The Witch Trials. Though you'll never get the feeling that these blokes are as genuinely disturbed as they seem, there are some maddening things happening on Monsyllabic.
Lyrically, where Victims Family
were the daily newspaper or CNN, SFC are the tabloids and Jerry Springer:
"My throat is closer
than it seems." (from 'Walls Impede My Progress')
"Legless female dwarf, rubber worshiping dominatrix seeks fat overeducated
men into liquids and grease." (from 'Variations')
"Doo, Doo, Doo Doo Doo Doo." (from 'Doo')
"It's o.k. to make yourself happy as long as you don't eat the little children."
(from 'Free & Easy Wanderer')
"Where there's a will, there's a guy named Bill or William." (from
'Billy and Some Apples')
The music focuses mainly on the thrash, rock, and metal genres. However, on every cut, at least one of the instruments or the voice has a space-age, sometimes Devo-like effect on it for (at best) an appropriately otherworldly sound or (at worst) a headache producing mess. I enjoy the slide guitar and psychotic Space Invaders sound of 'Billy and Some Apples'. 'The Song that Used to be About Midgets' has a cool bass effect that makes that instrument sound big, fat and fuzzy. "Jim, Jimi, and Janis' is a song long overdue.
One click better than The Germ,
but almost everything Ralph and Larry have recorded is better than Monosyllabic.
drummer watch: Jason Christian
band status: SFC disbanded after this album.
Hellworms: Crowd Repellent - Alternative Tentacles. 1998
After the demise of SFC, Larry and Ralfy recruited a new drummer and returned to their VF sound. They didn't, however, return to their Victims Family moniker, opting instead to call themselves Hellworms after Uncle Jello told them he hated that name. This is a great album that may've received my 10 vote had Victims Family never put out Apocalicious. This here Crowd Repellent is anything but repelling. There are guitar hooks galore and excellent bass grooves. From Saturn's Flea Collar there are some residual instrumental effects of the spacey variety. Best moments:
'Zillionaire' – with its tight
guitar groove, punchy bassline and lyrical indictment of rock critics and music
industry exec types. "No matter what you do, you're always working for
the man."
'Master Manipulator' – one of the better songs about junkie geniuses you're
bound to hear... it has a lounge vein flowing through it.
'Baby Kisser' – Could this be jazz-grunge? Excellent song about the true
nature of politicians.
'Little Grass Shack by a River' – Interesting, tho slightly out of tune
guitar effect that will sink you in the muddier than muddy banks of said river.
'Sellout' could've been a Dead Kennedys song (lyrically and musically). Now
it's just about the un-Dead Kennedys.
Honorable mentions: 'Cock Rock Superstar' - 'We're From Manchester' - the lyrically
hilarious 'Rat Brains on Crack' and 'What's Your Excuse?'
Once again, great lyrics by Ralph
and award-worthy musical performances by the whole band.
drummer watch: Joaquin Spangemann
band status: Joaquin leaves the band after a year or so; Larry and Ralf
decide Victims Family should live.
Hellworms: Hellworms (7" ep)- Very Small. 1999
Three songs in just under six minutes. The elaborately designed sleeve for this vinyl-only release says the whole thing was recorded and mixed in "five measly hours." I'm betting that the artwork and sleeve design took much longer. The band members assume false identities for this short burst of fun (Nardza D'Anglin' on vocals/guitar; Grits al Dente on Bass; etc.), but we know who we're listening to. This is a great punk rock single in the traditional sense: fully DIY, fast, furious, and over way too soon. Musically, Hellworms harkens back to the very early thrash days of VF but the band is much tighter and the mix is better making the licks and transitions easier to follow.
'Microdot Stew' is a one minute
blast about putting acid in the water supply so "...you can fry as good
as this too!" 'Best Laid Plans' is a treatise on why it's bad to have expectations.
'Glamorous Drug Problem' (about wanting to be an asshole celebrity) is the best
song here. It kickstarts with the traditional Ramones "1-2-3-4" and
ends with a clever ode to the Sex Pistols.
drummer watch: Jihad Babylon
* Apocalicious - Alternative Tentacles. 2001 *
After a six year experimentation with other band names and sound concepts, Larry Boothroyd and Ralph Spight return to the name that brought them fame: Victims Family! What's new? Ralph and Larry take the whole VF–SFC–Hellworms stew and add to it the incredibly gifted percussion stylings of Dave Gleza (formerly of the excellent Tacoma, WA band My Name!). They seem to have a new confidence indicating that, in spite of all the excellent albums behind them, these kids have just now entered their prime. I liken this confidence to Alice Donut back in '91-'92 once that band accepted their unique-ness and began kicking out jams like no one else could. The new improved Victims Family has entered that realm where the searching is over and the mission is clear: Start acting like the masters of the craft that you are.
Apoc kicks off with the title track, a song with a chorus riff so Donut-like it could've been used on the Untidy Suicides album. 'Apocalicious' systematically points out all the signs of the approaching ends of the Earth and implies that the media could care less about warning/educating us as long as the apocalypse is entertaining. On 'I'm Being Followed Around by the CIA', Spight's paranoia gets to live vicariously through a narrator that is slowly losing his mind. There's a very interesting bass guitar effect that sounds like exploding buildings on 'Moron on Steroids'. Nomeansno would be proud of VF's dexteritous instrumental called 'Monstrosity'.
As excellent as the first half of the album is, it's Apocalicious' final five tracks that are most impressive. 'Worthy Adversary' has a great guitar intro and creepy-in-their-matter-of-factness double tracked lead vocals. VF utilizes some of their Saturn's Flea Collar brain cells to create a sci-fi effect for 'Automated'. Have the lyric sheet handy for that one! Lyrically, the band has always exhibited a sense of humor (and not merely in the form of irony). This album is no exception. 'Asshole with a Microphone' is a hilarious song poking fun of anyone who has taken themselves too seriously to be taken seriously by anyone else (ie: political figures, hollywood-types, Linkin Park). Finally, there are 'Fridge' and 'Son of a Bastard'. The former does for Apocalicious what 'Moon Over Marin' did for Plastic Surgery Disasters: supplies a totally accessible–dare I say it–poppy number that seems to come from out of nowhere; the latter track is a loungy over-the-top punk rocker with horns and the kitchen sink.
It was tough to pick just one 10 out the Victims Family catalog. I'm not quite sure what makes Apocalicious better than Headache Remedy or Crowd Repellent... probably the newness of it. All three of these albums are 10-worthy.
drummer watch: Dave Gleza
also worth mentioning: Best album artwork and packaging of any of their
releases (thanks to someone named Tom Fowler).
Reader Comments
aske@interport.net. (Mark Prindle)
I used to have The Germ and found it really disappointing, but at Mattro's suggestion, I picked up Apocalicious and it POUNDS! Everything is mixed WAY too loud like a Nomeansno album, it all just screams at you -- but the music is smart and really well put together. With friends like these, who needs the Hellworms?
Calling Dr. Schlessinger b/w Gonna Have To Pass - Alternative Tentacles. 2001
A trippy little pscyho-dirge taking arch-conservative radio personality "Dr. Laura" to task. The song makes use of spacy guitar, pounding bass, deranged vocals, and samples from the radio program to make its point. Released as a vinyl-only split single (probably to make a lawsuit just a tad less likely) shared with label-mates The Fleshies.
The Freak Accident: The Freak Accident - Alternative Tentacles. 2004
Technically a Ralph Spight solo project (formerly ever-present bassist Larry Boothroyd merely contributes a few parts to this one). In lieu of the heftier broad-based subjects Ralph's previous bands dealt with, the subject matter on The Freak Accident deals with personal stuff like divorce, depression, despair and loneliness.
Ralph's FA website (link at the bottom of the page) states he formed this new band to try out a more pop sound he felt didn't fit with Victims Family. He also wanted to exercise more creative control in the studio. Whether or not you agree with his pop assessment, Spight is certainly trying new things with mood here and there are hooks aplenty. Sonically, the main differences between The Freak Accident and the other projects reviewed on this page are the absence of tons of musical transitions in each song and the addition of acoustic piano. The former paves the way for the aforementioned "hooks aplenty" and the latter gives this release a very Lennonesque feel in parts.
The self-explanatory 'Ex-Wife' starts off the album on a bitter note but you wouldn't guess this without reading the lyric sheet. It is a quite happy sounding hook driven riff-fest. There's a fun latin thing with horns and congas going on in the anthemic 'Free to Be Freaks'. 'You're the Reason' is a lovely countrified piano tear-jerker that Coldplay probably wishes he wrote. 'The Vulture's Breakfast' sounds alternately Ridgway-like and Cramps-ish in parts. 'Bye Bye' is another bouncy piano rocker with a bitter edge... it plays as a nice sequel to 'Ex-Wife'.
There are a lot of other great tracks on here too. 'Anthem for the Depressed' is a haunting tune with echoey and moody effects on the guitar, synthesizer and vocals. The interlude/solo thing in 'Sacred Cow' would have sounded right at home on the Saturn's Flea Collar album. On the rest of that track, Spights sounds like he's channeling an angry John Lennon as he bangs the keys (with punk band support ripping behind him). An electrified version of 'You're the Reason' closes this party out.
If you've been wondering about The Freak Accident... wonder no more. You can now officially check this album out!
Related Links (Yeah!):
The
Official Victims Family site
Alternative
Tentacles. Sir Jello Biafra's awesome little punk rock label!
Official site of The Freak Accident. It appears this will be the place to go to find out what's up with Ralph Spight, yo!