So as many of you know, Sunn O))) is coming to Atlanta and Athens next week for their first time ever in our fair state.

Our pal Farzad at WRAS interviewed Greg Anderson for his show and here’s a recording of wha’ppened.

Tickets are still available for the show at Legends Special Events Center in Atlanta here.

Tickets are rapidly selling for the two shows at the Seney-Stovall Chapel in Athens. Those tickets are exclusively available at Wuxtry and Schoolkids in Athens and Criminal Records in Atlanta.

Come out and support unique music at two unique venues.

EDITOR NOTE: So sometime late last year, I became friendly with Volcano Suns’ Jeff Weigand who was telling me that the band would not be doing press for the fantastic reissues that Merge put out. However, due to his and the band’s love of Chunklet, they were going to make an exception and grant us an interview. Also, seeing as how Chunklet has its fair share of Volcano Suns die hard fans, I thought it best to allow Mr. Curt Wells to do the interview. Now, I love Curt, but he’s also a very busy guy. He’s the front of house soundman for the EARL here in Atlanta and that puts a severe cramp on his schedule. All of these months later, Curt has finally finished the piece I’ve been hounding him for. Thank Jesus!

Anyway, the Volcano Suns are deciding whether Chunklet will be offering an exclusive live show of the band as a premium with orders (the Suns live at the Electric Banana in the 80’s. Choice!). However, in the meantime, I offer up Mr. Wells’ feature about one of the most criminally underrated bands from the last 30 years – The Volcano Suns!

I was someone who had never heard the Mission of Burma when I first heard the Volcano Suns.  There probably was a small window in time for that to happen, and I was in it- an un-hip late ‘80s college DJ with more concern for listening to records in the back corner of the radio station than actually studying. Popular music was going through a real bullshit phase, with MIDI making it possible for one man to precisely play soul-less myopic riffs born of electric devices with no natural musical foundation. A drum machine or synthesizer doesn’t naturally radiate with melody- it spits out its sounds from tiny chips dealing with electrons. Although the waveforms could be proven to be perfect in a sense, the sounds didn’t give you the impression that someone had put them there with purpose or emotion. It was all created by some “maximized placement” algorithm.

That wasn’t what I got from “White Elephant”, the Suns contribution to the essential Homestead Records Compilation CD “The Wailing Ultimate”. I didn’t even have a CD player in 1987, but WSBF did, and I was dying to try it out. That purchase is one of those magical times where you plunk down a measly seven bucks on something without expectation, but it ends up smacking you in the face like a frying pan and changes your life. I picked it up for the Big Dipper, Naked Raygun, and Big Black cuts but fell much harder for Dinosaur, Death of Samantha, and the greatest surprise of them all, The Volcano Suns. “White Elephant” opens with a wail, a shriek, a squeal, and then a sputtering eighth-note riff that demands attention. The song chugs about for a few minutes, a rollicking beer-hall sing-along with some great hoots and hollers. It wasn’t precise, it wasn’t measured, but it sure was powerful. They were so sure of what they were doing, and that blew me away.

The radio station had the two existing Volcano Suns records, and I loved them so much I actually bought my own copies, instead of just taping them. I loved the clanging, open chords- I loved the relentless drive of the bass and then drums, but it was the scream that tied it all together. Peter Prescott has one of the great Rock n’ Roll screams. It’s a real guttural Howitzer-blast of a yell that I’ll bet really tested the electronics of a studio. It has the kind of force that you expect from the meanest drill sergeant as he’s making you do another forty push-ups in the mud and rain. Somehow, he managed to find the perfect setting for his voice: a three-piece power trio. Chunklet needing a glorification piece is a nice excuse to bug the early members and ask about the formative period.

read more here…..

The goombahs from Manowar don their fur lined codpieces, perform "Gloves of Metal" and then do a Q&A with 13 year olds and their parents?!

Wait, are you fucking kidding me?!

Nope. This was the same show that had R.E.M. do a similar dog and pony show the same year so maybe their talent buyer was out of his/her mind.

I was admittedly indoctrinated into the Black Randy cult in a pretty awesome fashion. In 1991, I was stuck for an afternoon at a friend’s house in Chicago. "Pass The Dust" was quickly pulled out and, well, the rest is history.

Hearing of Black Randy’s exploits in 2009 seems like you’re hearing about a crazed, drugged out pirate on the high seas. Sort of like knowing that Bluto from Animal House was real and crawling around LA in the late 70’s.

Part comic. Part musician. Part jackass. Part sociopath. Part druggie. And another part comic.

Yep. That was Black Randy.

Black Randy and the Metrosquad put out a handful of singles and a masterful LP in the late 70’s and then that was it. All of them were affiliated with the absolutely flawless label Dangerhouse which, not surprisingly, Black Randy was part of. The only video that exists of Black Randy and the Metrosquad is from the horrible movie "The Fabulous Stains" in which they have a brief cameo.

As is often the case, not much documentation of Black Randy’s exploits exist other than the records and a few anecdotes that are easily Googled. (Try it.) However, recently the masterful More Than A Witness blog uncovered a couple hysterical phone calls that Black Randy recorded in the late 70’s.

Firstly, there’s a call with (now legendary) photographer (and then drug dealer) Jenny Lens. You can read about the provenance of the call at MTAW. They deserve the credit. Not me.

Secondly is a call between Black Randy and a San Francisco promoter discussing their upcoming show where BR insists that the Mentors get on the bill and the Go-Go’s are bumped off. Again, read about it here.

I’ve tacked on a few live tracks from the "Live At The Masque" 3-CD series that came out (with little to no fanfare) about ten years ago. The more I can find out about him, I’ll be happy to listen.

Black Randy died from AIDS related symptoms in 1988 due to years of hardcore drug use. In a just world, Black Randy will get a biopic about him, but in the meantime, we’ll just have the legend and lore of this completely drugged out nutball that was roaming the Sunset Strip in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Black Randy vs. Jenny Lens
Black Randy vs. Paul Rat
Black Randy/Metrosquad-Idi Amin (live)
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Black Randy/Metrosquad-Loner With A Boner (live)
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Black Randy/Metrosquad-Trouble At The Cup (live)
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Thanks to Jon Wurster for the photo and the title. Wow. Just WOW.

Being raised in Cincinnati, OH. during the 1970’s I have no choice: I love baseball. Would you blame a native of New Orleans for digging gumbo? But over the years a major source of laughs has been the gawd awful songs some of these lunk-headed bumpkins choose to use as they walk up to bat. You can count on three dependable categories of tunes – Bad Rap, Really Bad “Country” and typical FM classic rock staples.

Today’s Chunklet survey: What would be thee most inappropriate song to be played over the stadium P.A. as a player comes to the plate? I always thought “Heroin” by the VU would be a hoot – ya know, just having a guy slowly dragging his way to the box, head down, bat scraping along the ground. Some filth ridden GG song would be too easy, get creative. I leave you with Corey Hart (his real name) of the Brewers employing some bullshit, workin’-man, country garbage to help him “get in the zone”. The comment section awaits. Get your funny on.   

I can’t believe I’ve been dragging so much ass at posting stuff on this site. So I apologize for that. However, I’ve been sitting on recordings I made of Sleep at ATP for going on four months and it’s finally dawned on me that I should put something up from it.

So there’s no question that Sleep are awesome. But like so many bands that ATP gets to reunite, they weren’t that widely appreciated while they were around. So, as ATP is wont to do, they got them to reconvene for two shows over a weekend back in May.

So I think it might’ve been that I was just overly amped to see The Jesus Lizard (who played directly before Sleep) but I wasn’t overwhelmed with Sleep. Just "whelmed" I guess. For both nights.

However, judging by the swarthy stoner rock dudes that dominated the front of the stage, I was clearly in the minority. There were a ton of video cameras parked all around the ballroom of guys filming Sleep’s performance, but I am never impressed by "tape trader" mentality that keeps things like this in the hands of the few. So, I’m offering up the first night of Sleep. Live.

However! I’m also offering up a recording of my dear buddy Pete performing an acapella rendition of Sleep’s "Dragonaut" which, I believe, might be one of the most memorable things of that weekend at Minehead (outside of The Jesus Lizard).

Note: I’m offering this for a limited time so get on it now. And, if anybody from Sleep or ATP would like to get high quality copies of either night, please contact me directly.

So I’ve delved into my collection of Pennsylvania ephemera to dig up another moldy oldie. This time? It’s State College’s T4.

I can promise you that I’ll be doing non-Pennsylvania releases soon enough for BJ. It’s funny though, I only lived up there for a little over five years and I still reach back to them there folks routinely. Enjoy!

One of our all time favorite bands ever from the 90’s. And a documentary? Sign us up!

Okay, we’re mildly obsessed with this band from Sacramento and it’s these types of anti-videos that endear them to us that much more. Try to buy their new 12" while yer at it. Or rather, good luck finding the 12"!