The Days of Lore

Gunge, not grunge

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010 | musiX | 4 Comments

Chico is a northern California college town nestled among almond orchards and Red Staters. It gets most of its notoriety from being the place where Sierra Nevada is made, and where people (particularly students) party like it’s 1999 while drinking Sierra Nevada (and dollar Kamikaze shots served in beakers).

But it should be pointed out that some damn fine bands have come out of this cozy little Gomorrah with a farmers’ market. Most notable was 28th Day, the jangle-pop four-piece that featured a young Barbara Manning on bass and vocals. Around the same time Vomit Launch was also making pop songs that were much prettier than the band’s name may have indicated. Harvester and The Mother Hips also got their starts in Chico in the early-’90s. Not to mention the lesser-known bands that have popped up over the past couple of decades: Deathstar, The Makai, Cowboy and Severance Package to name a few.

For some reason most documentation of Chico’s musical history only goes back as far as 1976 with the eternal, better-late-than-never Flower Power of Spark ‘n’ Cinder. But the crate-diggers at Frantic Records spent 12 years searching for long-lost musical relics from northern California, and Chico in particular. Last year the label (also responsible for the great 2002 reissue from Sacramento proto-punks Public Nuisance) released Up From the Grave, a collection of 30 unreleased songs from northern California bands that lurked beneath the purple haze in the mid-to-late ’60s, including The Boy Blues, Psycho and Drusalee & the Dead, whose lead singer emerged from a coffin during shows.

Along with Up From the Grave Frantic also released albums by two more Chico bands—Colours‘ Voluptuous Doom, Christian’s Good Vs. Evil, and Feel It! by a noisy five-piece called Gunge. While most bands of the time clung to British Invasion, Gunge was feeling the doom and blues of Blue Cheer and Cream. In 1968 the band rolled their gear over to Chico State and recorded seven songs with engineer Wayne Leathers. Feel It! leads off with “One of These Days,” a stoner-riffed monster with the cheery opening line: “One of these days I’m gonna shoot everybody.” Of course, this was back before kids actually acted on it. Damn video games.

Gunge only lasted a year. And the Feel It! tapes were lost (probably in the drummer’s underwear drawer) for 40 years, collecting dust, mold, grime … which, of course, adds to the experience. The fidelity is low. But isn’t that all the rage with the kids these days? Stick around for “Chico Chicks,” a funny little tape-recorded interview with fans at a Gunge show in 1968 where one groovy concert-goer accidentally refers to the band as “Grunge.” Sorry, Mr. Arm, we now know where the term really started.

“One of These Days” - Gunge

“Chico Chicks” - (short interview with fans)

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Tags: 28th Day, Chico, Chico State, Christian, Colours, Drusalee & the Dead, Feel It!, Frantic Records, Gunge, Psycho, Up From the Grave, Vomit Launch

Rock in the sticks

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 | musiX | No Comments

I used to live in Chico, Calif. Yes, that Chico, Calif. The Chico, Calif., where parents send their kids for cheap education and where the kids spend their parents’ money on cheap drink specials. It’s an interesting place.

A fair share of notable bands have come out of Chico. Portland’s own Kelly Bauman fronted noise-pop outfit Deathstar in the ’90s. There’s Barbara Manning and 28th Day. Vomit Launch (which featured Tape Op’s Larry Crane on drums and Exiled Records‘ Lindsey Thrasher on the guitar). The Mother Hips. The Downsiders. And there are still some rockers and rollers there who keep it real like The Shankers, The Secret Stolen, Aubrey Debauchery and The Makai.

“Up the hill,” as Chicoans like to say, is the town of Paradise, a small bedroom community whose main street is lined with antique shops, where retirees go to escape the bustle of the Bay Area and L.A. Needless to say there’s not much going on there, although I think the town is getting a Wal-Mart soon.

About a year ago I heard about The Kevin Reid Project, five teenagers barely out of high school who were recording some spiffy pop songs in the pine-needled speck of Paradise. It started quietly in 2006 as the solo project of the band’s namesake guitarist, who soon recruited his brother Jacob and a few friends. Over the last couple of years The Kevin Reid Project has recorded about a dozen songs, played shows in Paradise and Chico and have taken more than a few hiatus (hiatuses? hiatii?).

The band just recorded a couple of new songs, which should find their way to a new EP soon, including an eerie little number called “Death”—clocking in at 1:21, no lyrics—easily my favorite. The production alone gets me on “Leave Me Alone” (recorded more than a year ago) … oh, and the hand claps. I promise you this: You might find yourself singing the song at inopportune times throughout the day. Trust me. You don’t want to scream “leave me alone” to the person handing you your coffee in the morning.

“Death” -The Kevin Reid Project

“Leave Me Alone” - The Kevin Reid Project

Tags: 28th Day, Aubrey Debauchery, Barbara Manning, Bear Hunter, Chico, Deathstar, Kelly Bauman, Larry Crane, Lindsey Thrasher, Paradise, Tape Op, The Downsiders, The Kevin Reid Project, The Makai, The Mother Hips, The Secret Stolen, The Shankers, Vomit Launch