We Never Learn by Eric Davidson

Author:Eric Davidson [Davidson, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781617133893
Publisher: Backbeat
Published: 2013-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

Montreal, 1999. (Art by Dirty Donny)

The Supersuckers are far down the highway from that adobe house in Tucson and have become the trash-rock world’s equivalent of the ol’ ever-touring blues cats; while on days off, they teach their kids the devil-horn salute. “The devil-horn thing kind of started as a joke,” says Spaghetti. “Only dorky heavy metal bands do that, right? Now everyone does it—even fucking emo bands do it!”

WHILE THE SUPERSUGKERS brought some scraggle-rock tendencies to a wider audience, Estrus Records was the Northwest’s record label face of ’90s neo-garage and surf, and the first garage label to fully embrace the soon-to-be-de-rigueur practice of wrapping recontexualized vintage-girlie-mag/hot-rod/tiki/B-horror-movie iconography around Sonics-centered sounds. Compared to the Crypt/Sympathy/In the Red axis of sleaze, though, Estrus was a bit more Beach Blanket Bingo than Teenage Gang Debs.

Dave Crider, Estrus label head and Mono Men singer/guitarist, was the only person I asked to interview for this book who graciously declined:

From: Dare Crider

Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 5:43 P.M.

To: Eric Davidson

Subject: Eric Davidson here, New Bomb Turks ...

Hey eric — ah the rumor mill — am still here have just been enjoying not releasing any new shit for the past while — book sounds cool but i think i am gonna pass — have been approached for several such projects this past year and while i am sure yours is gonna be pretty on the mark and a cut above the others i just aint all that interested in rehashing the “good ol days” for the kids — nothing personal and I do appreciate your asking regardless — best of luck with the book and if your ever in the nw we should hook up for a drink — dkc

The Mono Men were the stud horse of the Estrus stable. Like Black Flag on SST, Minor Threat on Dischord, and Halo of Flies on Amphetamine Reptile, the Mono Men were the best band on their own label at first. Their debut single, “Burning Bush”/“Rat Fink,” dropped in 1989 and was ahead of the retro-garage curve. Heard then, it sounded slightly out of time, fuzzed-out, though not as “lo-fi” as might be assumed. They were surely digging up old seeds (their past-peering moniker nicked from DMZ/Lyres leader Jeff Connolly’s nickname, Mono Man), but sounded like their shovels hit some heavier Rock on the way down.

Being on Estrus was a Good Housekeeping seal for a large portion of garage punkers, and the label let ‘em have it. Aside from discs from the flagships (Mono Men, Mummies, Makers) were boss slabs from the Night Kings, the Fall-Outs, the Drags, Quadrajets, Thee Headcoats, the Fells, Jack O’Fire, and Supersnazz. Estrus also ballooned the collector curio pile with numerous limited-edition 10” records and 7” box sets chock full of drink coasters, key chains, comic books, and other nutty nonmusic loot.

But soon enough, you couldn’t tell your Phantom Surfers from your Satan’s Pilgrims. Estrus soon found itself out-fuzzed by new imprints like Empty, Bag of Hammers, Rip Off, and others whose

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