issue 52 Fall/Winter 1994 Two Dollars The Figgs. jeancuy BOUNCING SOULS Ss ‘\ MADBALL ~ EX-VEGAS NG adv The Grip Weeds ‘house of Vibes 12 song cop “Mighty trunks of rhythm, lofty lyrical leaves into gleaming orange sunshine... The Grip Weeds ROCK and this is freaking incredible. k#***” - Music PAPER, NYC. “The mighty Grip Weeds have returned, remodeled and retooled for long lasting rock and roll goodness. The Grip Weeds have acquired guitar-mistress extra- ordinaire Kristin Pinell, and toughened their sound somewhat...Recorded at the famed House of Vibes...as rock solid (if not more) than anything in the previous Grip Weeds catalog... # AAA” - THE EVIL EYE, NJ “Poised for bigger things. They've gone from being a solid genre band in the Flamin’ Groovies mold to being...well, not that much different, actually. But there's more variety, more muscle, more personality this time around. If the Goo Goo Dolls can do it, so can they.” - SOUND VIEWS, NYC BV ACE A BSE NO Ww With two seven-inch records under their belts, the Grip Weeds (New Brunswick, NJ) have now released their first full-length record. Songs full of mindblow- ing riffs, head spinning harmonies, ripping guitar ioe plas full color artwork. At a eae store near you, or send $12 plus $3 postage & handling ($5 overseas) to Ground Up Records. Major credit card holders may order by phone: g800.641.8995 TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: Download the song “Salad Days” from the [UMA (Internet Underground Music Archive). Reach IUMA via the World Wide Web at: “heep:\\sunsite.unc.edu\ianc\index. html” or by file transfer protocol or gopher to sunsite.unc.edu in the pub/electronic publi- cations/IUMA directory. If Internet access is not available, then hear “Salad Days” by calling Sonic Synopsis at 202.363.3131 and entering code #8936. THE GRIP WEEDS LE Wve 9/10 - Court Tavern/New Brunswick, NJ 9/16 - Maxwell’s/Hoboken NJ 9/24 - NJ Transit Festival/Hoboken NJ 10/4 thru 10/17 - Germany Tour im Ground UP Records PO Box 1721 NEW BRUNSWICK NJ 08903 USA DISTRIBUTORS, CALL: 201.714.9370 FAX: 201.798.8542 DISTRIBUTION: LOCAL MuSIc STORE DISTRIBUTION (703.641.8995) TWANG! (BERLIN, GERMANY; +49-30-771 97 32) LOSI ANT SES “gy a STAFF Jim Testa Editor & Publisher "My friends are getting famous CONTRIBUTORS They’‘re all on MTV, Interviews in Rolling Stone And I’m in Jersey Beat..." Hayley Greif - Metal; Mick Hale -Techno; - Screeching Weasel Matt Sonzala - Hip Hop; Rodney Leighton, Greg Matherly, Dave Sapp Jr., Dave Urbano, Tom Brebric, Suzanne Thompson, Mat Gard, Thank you’s to the following swell folks: Brandon Stoysuy, Alex Saville, Rei Mark at I’m Yr Type, Regina Joskow, Jeff Nishimoto Abarta, Rob Lawi, CMJ, Mary Marcus, Tony Lee, Wheezer, Joel Menter - Artwork all our advertisers, everybody on the staff, Shawn Scallen, Suzanne Thompson, Deanna and all the fans who bought all those copies Bailey, Chris Henderson - Photography of #51, making it our most successful issue ever. See you next year. - Jim Testa REVIEWERS Matt Berland, Bob Byrne, Sam Buon- augurio, George Chen, Jonathan Clark, Danny Eldridge Jr., Mat Gard, Jason Parrish, Frank Phobia, Johnny Puke, Jeff Scavone, Jodi Shapiro, Paul Silver, James Turri, Jamie Turner, Pat Waara Issue 52 Fall/Winter 1994 418 Gregory Avenue, Weehawken NJ 07087 (201) 864-9054 Email J/M/[email protected] Sometines the struggle to wim Great Honors in Life can bea Jonely one l@ading to WUch Pain and personal Sv ffering. And You Know Sometimes You just Want to Sit down and have A Gog cry! You Can't help it! Lat us take a moment te Witgess the terri- ble emotional costs te our 2 peykh rock princesses as they Fight on To see just Exactly Who Will be Queen of the Scene! Uellita * Baboon Knock a couple | tts + nsP Gao Jas Shes, id & We re Pack ot FePelr Sco Bar. Frais pet uaireakaples leu waa qe noe ; |ttelling lies about peallS | (l&s on purpose sos over town! Did You har) Every bog4 Would feel What that Sailr slut Said (Gosh, Telliva Teglly Seems) | [AC At he Maxi_kad torn up about oll thin itis a #, peter : Qll 2 diFcon cording! Zin) | lOnred about ox - 2 ~ | Pwhat's going onl : vetween You 2, y, G yee se ee vy ETA % “ 7 “thee From The Editor’s Desk This is where | get to talk a little about what's been of the Jersey Beat compilation cassettes and our Video going on here at the zine and make whatever comments Fanzine are still in print. Send a SASE if you'd like to get | want about the state of the world. That's the whole a catalog. point of publishing your own fanzine, of course. There's That covers art and commerce, so there's isn't much no one to tell you to shut up. Things couldn't have turned out better with our last issue, which went to press a few weeks after Green Day's Dookie had NEW &e RECOMMENDED been released. At the time the issue came out, it was really too early to tell what was going to happen with Green Day, let along predict the amazing success of the Offspring's new album. So while we talked : : ; 4 about the possibility of punk rock becoming These are records that came too Jate to include in the regular reviews section but part of the mainstream, we had no idea it] ‘8’ £00 good to leave out. would actually happen. But the proof SINT Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction (Atlantic) the pudding, or in this case the Billboard | For some reason, I've never been much of a Bad Religion fan, but this album is incredible - all the more so because, even Soundscan charts. As | write this, Green though it's the band's major label debut and theoretically their big "breakout" Ip, the Day has been the second best selling album | lyrics are dark, challenging, and most of all, fiercely intelligent. Compared to most of in the country for several weeks, with the | the pop punk drivel around nowadays, in fact, these songs read more like someone's Offspring - on the utterly independent] doctoral thesis than a "pop" album. Lyrics don't matter though if the music doesn't do Epitaph Records - close behind at number it, and the songs here rock with BR's usual unpredictable tempo and chord changes, 6. And it wasn't that long ago that people rampaging melodies, and singalong choruses. Brett Gurewitz' savage ode to self- : : mf v7 loathing, “Incomplete,” could be the anthem for the Green Day generation that "Smells were marveling at Fugazi's ability to break Like Teen Spirit" was for Generation X: "Mother/father/look at your little monster/ I'ma into the Top 200! hero/ I'm a Zero/ "I'm the butt of the worst joke in history..." The whole punk vs. mainstream debate has stirred up a lot of passion - besides the} Crocodile Shop - Celebrate The Enemy (Tinman, PO Box 1114, New Brunswick NJ letters and e-mail I've received on the topic, | 08901) This is that industrial techno stuff, with computer-generated beats and riffs practically everyone I've met over the last] grinding behind Michael Hale's oddly distorted vocals and political lyrics. Mick writes few months has had something to say on] the Danse Assembly column for this zine and is an old friend of mine, so I'm far from the matter. It was very gratifying to read an objective reviewer, but | find this imaginative, persuasive, and quite danceable ‘hose ie reviews - including Maximum (assuming | was the type to get up and dance to techno.) Rock N Roll's - which actually understood} girs Against Boys - Cruise Yourself (Touch & Go) While every previous GvsB release that what we tried to do in that issue was not | has had its moments, they've all been inconsistent: finally, they've got it right. Scott take a stand one way or the other, but} McCloud's nicotine-stained yowl - ugly yet sexy, suggestively sinister and kinky - simply present a forum where a lot of] starklycontrasts Eli Janney’s eerie keyboards and ethereal background vocals, as the different opinions could be heard. ae solid ooo ae Gas an Sota beat Cc shifting siphh, 8 of eae issonance and melody. all comes together to create a sonic groove that's as do a r — ek ee te : ae a ed z seductive and inescapable as a nasty undertow on a deserted beach. So what if you present a bunch of new bands who we think} ; drown? What a way to eee go. are kinda cool, and worth checking out. The} Kevin Salem - Soma City (Roadrunner) As singer-songwriters go, Kevin Salem brings original idea was to make this an all-local | fairly typical Dylanesque vocals (pinched, nasal, and a little affected) coupled with bands issue, but when the opportunity to] clever, intelligent lyrics about coupling and surviving in New York City and a corrosive interview Pete Stahl (formerly of Scream, | guitar attack reminiscent of Neil Young as his most searing. He's got a terrific band now in Wool) presented itself, it was too} behind him too, with David Dunton's honky tonk keyboards adding a nice Rolling good to resist. So this is the mostly-local, | Stones/Exile On Main Street touch. mosily-new bands:iagupe dmean, whats the} 5. sincere - suck & Bloat (Stiff Pole PO Box 20721, St Pete FL 33742) The Pink point of having rules if you're not going to} | incoins were punk before Ben Weasel bought his first 7 inch, and they're still the bend them now and then? nastiest, snottiest motherfuckers on the block.