A tale of record shopping and a brush with fame.
I jumped at the chance when I found out that my good friend, Hisashi, would be in Nashville for a couple of days for work. I have only had the chance to see him once since he moved back to Japan in 2002. On February 28th, I hopped in the car alone (Amanda couldn't make it because she had a shit-load of school work dumped on her the week before finals) for a 7 hour trek to see my old friend. I should add, that I was driving a black PT Cruiser (imagine that, will you?), because I had to rent a car, since Amanda and I share only one vehicle. I wished that I brought some 80s ZZ Top CDs with me. Alas, a 7 hour barrage of crust-punk and speed metal MP3s would have to suffice.
Of course it was amazing to see him, things quickly felt like he never left. We didn't waste much time, after exchanging some records that we had brought for each other, he quickly pulled out his list of Nashville area record shops that he found on the internet and we headed out of his hotel.
Not knowing anyone that still lived in Nashville (most of them teleported to the punk retirement community known as Portland), it was pretty much going to be a crap-shoot on what kinds of record stores we would be able to find. As expected, most of them had a lot of rock and roll and indie rock. Of the 8 or so record stores that we went to, the first one was probably the best (I think it was called 'Great Escape?'). Sprinkled among the typical dollar-bin caliber rock LPs were remnants of the Nashville 80s and 90s hardcore punk scene. Sash (Hisashi) found a couple boxes of old zines from the mid to late 80s. They were $1 each, all different kinds of zines, from metal fanzines to straight edge to skate rock. It looked like most of them were unloaded by SST at one point because they all had letters in them addressing SST staff. Pretty cool...if I didn't already have a ton of shit in my house, I may have bought a bunch of them. I bought just one of the Ink Disease (#9) fanzines, mostly for the Metallica interview. It was kind of amusing browsing through one of the straight edge zines that had an interview with Field Day era Dag Nasty in which they were talking about how much cooler it was, now that they lived in Los Angeles...OOOOF. No wonder half of Field Day feels like you are sitting out on the back patio in white pants, in front of your in-ground pool (I do like a couple songs on this album). It was at this record store that I scored Warcollpse: Divine Intoxication and a Deuce LP.
Now, I have lived for a while thinking that Warcollapse were another one of those boring 90s style crust punk bands until someone opened my eyes to the 1997 Divine Intoxication 12". FUCKING RAGING Swedish käng album, the drummer is kicking serious ass on this. I guess I had heard the wrong records? I was pumped to find this for $7.99.
I picked up the Deuce LP, released by O.P.M. Records, on a whim because the liner notes list this as fretboard ripper, Marty Friedman's (of Megadeth/Cacophony fame) first band, as a 15 year old with punk and NWOBHM influences. His first recording, to boot. Plus the liner notes also state, "This album you hold in your hands captures a moment in time. A moment when the Michelob was flowing, bongs were bubbling and Barbital was brewing." How could I go wrong?! Apparently, there were 500 pressed of this LP in 1995. The songs were recorded somewhere around 1980. For some reason, the one I picked up is numbered 4/10. Not sure why, it's not a test pressing...although there is a Marty Friedman autograph on the front (haha). The cover is a blank, white pocket sleeve with the art glued on the front and back. I need to listen to the record more, but upon my first listen, this actually sounds pretty good. Sash tells me that Marty Friedman lives in Japan now, and enjoys celebrity status. Good for him. He no longer has to look at Dave Mustaine's hot dog lips and he gets to chill in Japan.
The only other record score that either of us had that weekend, was that I found a copy of the Infezione: Oppressione Quotidiana 12" at an indie rock record store. Not sure why it was there. Released by Agipunk, I missed this one when it came out, somehow and holy shit, it rules. Ultra raw Italian hardcore demo from '86 put to vinyl. The drums sound INSANE. There is a nice article on the demo
here.Before I had to leave on Sunday, we took a stroll in the tourist area of Nashville, saw Kelly Pickler walk by us on the street, and took some of these fine pictures:
It was great seeing you, Sash, I hope the next time doesn't take as long!
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