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62. Blue Meanies (w/ PWRUP)
189 Plays1 month ago
Checkered Past heads to Illinois to talk about the TV Smashers themselves: Blue Meanies! For the discussion they bring along return guests Aaron, Eric and Justin of Western Mass genre band: PWRUP! They talk about local shows in Edmonton, Eric's Checkered Past and the angular Chicago music scene before diving into the meanies from their stoner, jam band roots to their million-mile-an-hour heyday in the 90s to their strange major label finale in the 00s. Its all capped off with an equally high speed game of Get Thrashed!
Hosts: Celine, Rob and Joey
Engineer: Joey
Editor: Cutman
Skassociate Producer: Chris Reeves of Ska Punk International
Merch: www.checkeredpast.ca/merch
Patreon: www.patreon.com/checkeredpast
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Transcript
Episode Introduction with Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
on this episode it's not the third wave or the post third wave it's the post wave kiss your fucking ass goodbye because this one goes full fucking throttle you fucking pigs it's blue fucking meanies on checkered past the scodcast
00:00:35
Speaker
What up, Checkerheads? Welcome to Checker Pass, this podcast with Selin and Rob. but The show where us Sabu, Sabu, Sabu, Sabu, hey, hey, hey, and it, Mick Foley adieu, explore the history and impact of a different band-aid episode. Hope to bring in new fans along the way. I'm Rob, and this is my sister and co-host, Selin. What? What was that? So Mick Foley and Foley adieu?
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, it make it make Foley because it Mac is a Scott song. Okay, so that's where it was. That's where you were missing. Yeah, it was Desmond Decker. Okay. And then he's only famous thing. That was a Mephistopheles joke. Okay. Yeah.
00:01:10
Speaker
Break it down. With Sabu, who's a wrestler. Oh, instead of Saba. Instead of Saba. Right. Which is our friend, Banana Man. Most recently brought onto the pod, I believe. Hey, look who's talking. It's our co-host with the most toast engineer, Joey. I'm a baby or a dog. Look who's talking. That's why I said it. Good reference to something that happened on the pod. And not with our guests either, off pod.
00:01:37
Speaker
That was an extra deep cut. To the four people in our lives yeah ah over there. Two of them don't listen to the pod. Yeah, of course. only the other The only reason the other one listens is because he makes music for us. Should we pick it up where we left off? Yeah, let's do it.
Bond Breaker's Visit and Performance in Edmonton
00:02:01
Speaker
We had friends in town. We had friends in town yesterday. ah Our friends Bond Breaker of Austin, Texas, who are at SPI Fest. and We're here in Edmonton, Alberta. They performed at our psychedelic rock festival, Purple City, yeah which was quite wild. With a math rock band and a noise yeah duo. That noise duo was wild. yeah that whole whole situation, it makes sense. ah But they were here for a long time. They came in on Thursday and they're staying until Monday, yeah they said? Yeah, they're like having a full on vacation in Edmonton. oy yeah hell yeah They got like a sick Airbnb downtown. Yeah. And they've just been like, it's been like the nicest weekend in Edmonton in ever.
00:02:48
Speaker
So yeah, they're just here enjoying and our festival is very cool and like shit's like blocked off and there's like outdoor stage and like art and a mascot. Yeah, I enjoy it. So we met up with them yesterday before the show and I also enjoyed because the venue that they're playing at is a it's an after hours club. So everybody only knows about it because of it's the amount of rolling that happens. It's like DJs play there after the bar closes. And it normally doesn't serve water. Yeah, it doesn't serve liquor. You buy drugs outside and then you drink water. And you pay cover to get it. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like a sketchy, terrible place and usually people have bad memories there. And then every time, and then when we talked to them, they were like, they're like, they're like the seventh people to tell us what a shitty thing you're doing. They're like, everyone reacts like that. When I say where we're playing, like they're just like, we're at the wine. Everyone's like, oh.
00:03:39
Speaker
Oh, why? I guess when the first band rolled their drum set in, they were like, oh, this is the first time a drum kit has ever come into the club. But it's right next to our probably one of our nicest venues. Our midsize venues. It's literally next door to our midsize venue.
00:03:59
Speaker
So i'm like if they do make that because it's really like shitty in there it would be a good punk venue it's not it was actually it was actually really pretty good it was pretty good for the the basement was horrifying and i never want to go back there and it dark me out and i still feel it in my body the panic that it gave me there's a weird dj downstairs people were being gross the paint was awful it's the smell is like I don't even know what that smell is. It was like a, it was not good. The vibes were bad downstairs. Unsettling as somebody said it and I was like, yes, it's unsettling down there. So as long as you stay on the main floor and never, ever, ever go into the basement, you'll be fine. and
00:04:38
Speaker
But Bomb Breaker did incredible. Yeah. It was maybe more magical because when we saw them at SPI, they were fucking awesome. But when they were seeing them here in Edmonton, made it even extra special. It was cool to see because people didn't know who they were. Watching them win over the crowd was very cool. Yeah, they won over the crowd. They kind of just started playing and people were like, all right. And then G got up and started doing her thing and people were just like, holy shit.
00:05:07
Speaker
Yeah, this is insane and like super good. And they like just they crushed it. Yeah, they had a really really good good, really good reception. for I remember when Chris was talking about touring with Hans Gruber and about how every time they'd go to a place that no one knew who they were, they would just see the whole crowd turn over over the course of a night. I felt like that's kind of what we saw with with Bondraker. Yeah, totally, totally. It was very cool. but Yeah. And they're going to try to come here again.
00:05:31
Speaker
which I'm like, again, they must've come, not everybody who comes to Edmonton thinks this is like a magical place, but they definitely came. They came at the perfect time. The right time. Some people come and they're like, what the fuck is this shit? Get me the fuck out of here. Like if it's like minus 40 and it's like, yeah, you can have a bad time here, but you can have a really great time. Or they can put, I find that when people get put up at Airbnbs and like birds, they have a real bad time. Yeah, because then it's like half an hour of taking Ubers back and forth. And they've gone to all the good spots. Like, yeah, they're doing Edmonton right.
00:06:01
Speaker
Yeah, they're hitting up our microbrews, they're eating poutine, they're doing it all. Yeah, literally the right things to do. The right bar. Choosing the right activities. For sure. Good for them. Enjoying cheap weed. Enjoying cheap weed. Enjoying the cheap weed. Cheap good weed. Yep. Yep, they're happy. If you smoke weed and like poutine and like beer, you'll have a fantastic time here. And our music scene's pretty cool.
00:06:25
Speaker
Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah, people are hungry. I was thinking like Edmonton's fucking like hungry for live music right now. I think so. Yeah, I feel yeah, every show that but I think that's happening everywhere. and But I think it it's I think I post COVID, there's a hunger for live music.
00:06:41
Speaker
And maybe our guests would have something to say about that.
Introduction to Ska Guests and Bond Breaker's Success
00:06:45
Speaker
That sounds like a segue if I ever heard one. We're thrilled to introduce our guests. I think they're pretty quiet segues. This is ah not 80% of the band, but still a big part of the band. They're the Western Mass, I put genre band because that's what my shirt says.
00:07:02
Speaker
ah Whose latest album, Just Devils, is still streaming. Everywhere in Skopo International, we have Eric, Dustin, and Aaron here. Power up. Hey, welcome back. Will they say genre band? just Genre a band. Yeah, genre band made me laugh. Music band. Yes.
00:07:20
Speaker
to genre bands way the fuck funnier though you're taking no genres no pants oh that's the other shirt I own yeah yeah i'm mixing my genres no fans yeah next shirts gonna say genre band that's too good hard but i just really proud of Uh, so welcome back folks. Eric, this is your first time on pod, which is to me finally because we've been move foes as the kids say for a while. Um, but, uh, I guess we, we got to open with the question. We always open with, with new guests. We need to hear about your checkered past, your history with ska music. Me.
00:08:01
Speaker
yeah that was the that was the best to edit don't edit and roll yeah dead air stays the dead around me So like right around right around it all started like right around middle school I got like a tape from a dude who was like hey you want to play in a ska band we need horns and I was like what's that and he gave me a cassette with a bunch of I can't remember the bands on it. But I do remember after that he let me know about the bank Murray. Yeah, this is like 97. So like right when they first started and then I was like, Holy shit, I could do this with my nerdy saxophone. This is crazy. I don't have to just play like classical jazz. I could do cool stuff like this. And so it all just
00:08:51
Speaker
They'd all just took off from there. And then I grew up in Denver, which had a great ska scene. Like a lot of the bands always used to come right to Denver. So I used to get, I went to a lot of shows, so it was awesome. But that's how it all started was pretty much Kamuri was the one that set it it off, followed by the band we're talking about today. Blue meetings, which, you know, the really set off that like, Oh, you could do this too. Like even harder version of.
00:09:20
Speaker
What I've been listening to, this is even better. So that's, that's where it all began. I was like, do you remember which Camry record that would have been? Was that, uh, 77 days or no like got around that time? and play law yeah their Very first one. And then, um, that's on kills. Oh yeah. The, uh, the, the first track on that record still like the hits.
00:09:43
Speaker
so hard for me like even to this day and I every year on my birthday from 77 days I play the I played birthday song for myself like it's just my true it's like you know almost over 25 years of doing that because that was when about when they were recording 77 days at the blasting room in Boulder so like I got played a little playmate and then almost immediately after getting into Scott that came out and then I was I've been hooked ever since And so then that was your first band. So you have, how many like Scott projects have you been a part of and what got you to where you are today? Oh God. I've put it like a part of two or three really terrible like Denver Scott projects, as I'm sure every Scott musician and their teens had at one some point where it's like, you listen to that and you're like, there's a lot of embarrassing stuff there. So like, kind I can't believe you would say that about five iron frenzy.
00:10:39
Speaker
I was never in 500 friends. I was 100% a joke. no i know i um But yeah, i've I've been in tons of bands. And then, I mean, obviously I joined Voodoo in like 06, Voodoo Glow Skulls. And then I've been with them on and off for since like almost 20 years with them. And then um just that mainly power ups, like my my second project and then Mutiny is like, we just started that. So.
00:11:10
Speaker
um But i've been and I started a bunch of just embarrassing stuff in the beginning that we don't need to go over. or actually started one Eric actually started Power Up in 2018. We just recently joined. The rest of us did. I wasn't going to say it, but yeah.
00:11:29
Speaker
ah So, okay, so the last time power-up was on was last septemberber September of last year, right? And so since then there's been a lot going on. You're at SPI and it's been like, you know, lots of shows and tours and stuff, plus the record has been killing it. So how has the last, ah you know, 12 months of the, of the band been going and what to have you guys been feeling about the future?
00:11:54
Speaker
Honestly, like it's been really unreal. like we None of us had any idea that it was going to take off the way it did. We've just been playing a ton of really incredibly sick shows that we never thought that we would ever be invited to play. and like i don't know it's just It's been very, very cool. It's been very humbling, actually.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, cap Camp Punks into Buffalo Sky. um Obviously, SBI Fest was phenomenal and very close to my house. I like that. god yeah We got to play with Big D, like really close to home. Like we've never, none of us had ever played with Big D in the kids table. We've lived in Massachusetts our entire lives. So what do you owe the success to? do you Like obviously you hustled in the record rules, but like that can only go so far. But like, why do you think it popped off as the way it did?
00:12:42
Speaker
I think it was because we were on that episode of, uh, checkered past this God cast, like mean that's i' was having yeah why did, why did pop offs is why, why don't pop off like crazy. And then everyone else was like, Oh shit.
00:12:57
Speaker
actually Well, that was the review of the album. post like great yeah No, but, but, but seriously, if, if we were going to contribute it to like one major factor, probably Mishi.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yeah, she hustled their ass off like just hell yeah. ah Shout out direct support ah PR. Definitely. They found their Nishi. Nice. Nice. It had. Why? That was really good actually. Nishi, Nishi, Nishi, Nishi. Stare it into the void and it stared back at you.
00:13:38
Speaker
That's Nietzsche. um i got
00:13:43
Speaker
oh god Don't give that to me. you got him that oh ah so what's i hated that said yeah hate you know ah So what's the future look like? What's what's going to happen in the world of power up? What's ah what's going on in the future?
00:14:05
Speaker
but Let's see, we got we're playing the Supernova pre-show next Thursday. ah We got our big ah our annual Halloween show in October with K-Moy, Knockover City, Pink Slip, and Ghost Tones. oh um Let's see, we got a big Thrashmas show happening in December, which we haven't announced yet. but but None of those people are going to listen to us anyway, but. um Fair. ah And the the calendar for 2025 is actually filling up very quickly as of this past like week. So we we got a lot of we got a lot of cool stuff coming up. So Power Up's going to be out there. Oh, yeah.
Blue Meanies' Influence on the Ska Scene
00:14:47
Speaker
Oh, yeah. no Nonstop. They're working. I love that. like We really should stop and like actually write a second album, but we're just not going to do that instead.
00:14:57
Speaker
So instead of doing the thing, we'll just not do the thing. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah it's good keep listening i'll listen for another year yeah Uh, the, uh, since also since you were last on no effects is officially broken up. Um, so I blame you. Uh, but have you, I'll take that blame. That's yeah fine. yeah or Thank you nausea you for the shit, but have you ah watched them on the farewell tour? Have you seen them on this? Like, uh, this last 12 months? No, I don't know about you guys. I could not be bothered.
00:15:33
Speaker
no i haven't seen name oh we we went we oh we went um was a good it was yeah yeah like mini woods dog ninety nine yeah was really good many traveling what It was just like where it was in our city it was like hot And the truck line up for like an hour, an hour and a half. There's no shade. There was like nowhere to get away. Yeah. The show was good. The actual experience was trash. But the band, the band that played were great. The adolescents were awesome. real No effects played the best that I've ever seen them play. Honestly, it was like a very emotional performance.
00:16:13
Speaker
Yeah, it was fucking cool. Yeah, no effects like hands down. That was the best effects. Yeah, I've seen them like five, six times. That was the best. I've seen them so. And then when they it was just really funny because it's like our city's downtown core. So when it was like time to leave, they just started playing. What were they playing? It was just it was just Melbourne. It was just Melbourne playing the like the keyboard, the accordion. And he just kept playing like bum, bum, bum, bum. Yeah, just the same riff for It was like echoing into like our downtown core, like Melvin playing. And just talking to people as they leave. and being like I don't know where you're going, but you can't stay here, like doing little bits. They also gave us shit about not having nighttime because it was like still blazing sun at like fucking nine thirty or ten at night. It's what happens when you're in our God damn latitude or whatever you call it. Oh, are you like in that circle where you like don't get nighttime pretty much?
00:17:06
Speaker
Uh, we're not quite there, but we're pretty close. Like, like mid-summer, like it's like light out into 11 hours. Yeah. 11 30 12. Yeah. Awesome. It's kind of, it's kind of sweet. It gets old. The flip side is there's like two or three weeks of winter where you literally get up and it's darkness until you get to work and then you work and then you come home and it's already dark. That sucks.
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah, when you got like five hours of daylight, that's brutal. Yeah, we're very far north. Yeah. um But so let's talk about the band that we're going to talk about today. What is your history with Blue Meanies? So I guess I'll start with Aaron and I'll rotate through the squares. um So with Blue Meanies, so in 2010, 2009, I saw a billion earnings for the first time. And their sax player and sax and trumpet player were both very, very into Blue Meanies.
00:18:00
Speaker
And one of them programmed smother me into my phone as like a ringtone. so nice And that became my ringtone for like the next five years. hu um So I like i listen i started to listen to them. And honestly, for the longest time, I thought Full Throttle was their only record. Yeah, me too. yeah um I actually just fairly recently, like this summer, went back and listen and realized that they had other stuff like Kiss Your Ass Goodbye. I was like,
00:18:29
Speaker
Holy shit, this is just like full throttle and ah also awesome. Yeah, I listened to Post Wave the other day and it was like... Oh, I will say that. yeah But yeah, I don't know. and Blue meanies were always sick. um I also have this knockoff blue meanies t-shirt chemicals, which is on. Yep, yep, yep. Yeah. ah When I worked at the record store in St. Paul, you could like look at ah like what what they could order for special orders. And when you typed in blue meanies, Rob is miming a lot of im miming my typing. yeah on is it stupid but I actually have a computer. So I could actually type.
00:19:07
Speaker
ah So if ah you you type in blue meanies, full throttle was the only thing that came up. So I also thought that was the only record for several years. Yeah. That's incredible record. It's really good. Yeah. If that's the one that you're going to be like, that's the only one you know about. Yeah, it's pretty good. but Yeah. Also, also like growing up with like the community records bands like Stuck Lucky and Fat of the Nalbert and like hearing that crazy Blue Minis influence in a lot of those bands. That was also like a huge thing. ah Justin, how about you? I honestly haven't listened to a ton of the Blue Minis. Whoa. Yeah, no, i'm I'm coming in and I'm going to have like a fresh look at a lot of this stuff. i You saw them with me, right? I don't think so, no.
00:19:51
Speaker
ah cause Because when they played that year at Raya Fest, you were there. I don't know if you came to watch them with me. I probably didn't know if I did. I didn't. I don't remember it. Like Aaron showed me the blue meanies and I'm like, yeah, this sounds like this other band I listened to. i You're sounding like a real saloon right now. yeah Like this is like i mean hearing myself. So Jimmy, they they the horn lines are like very, very similar. It's all that like ah Chicago. Post rock are like post hardcore influence.
00:20:22
Speaker
It's um yeah. Yeah, you're you're nailing it. You're nailing it. Thank you. Yeah. ah Eric, how about you? ah So I'm a little bit older than ah Justin and Aaron. So my first exposure was in the Misfits of Scott CD from like 97. They I've got acceleration 5000 is like track one on that. And I remember that breakdown like When it gets to the breakdown and the and like in the middle of the song, I was like, oh, this is this is it. This is what I want to do. like This is the type of ska music that I want to play. And then I just became like a rabid fan of theirs. like they're ah full I went out and got full throttle. I remember when their live record came out, it like blew my mind because the live record is like,
00:21:15
Speaker
three times faster than the other stuff. And the other stuff's already fast. And I was like, whoa, this is crazy. So it was like, they really shaped a lot of like my influence in like the ska core area and where I wanted to like go with it. Their sax player, especially the horn section is like as a horn player is like insane. But that's how I was first introduced is the Misfits of Ska, the Asian man comp, but it's like track one on that.
00:21:43
Speaker
That's a crazy track one. I mean, that's already a track one on the record. But like a track one on a compilation, like that's bananas. Right. It was insane. and I was like, well, this is it. Was that like an influence for you writing um like voodoo sax parts? ah Well, I came in voodoo. I joined voodoo as a fan. I mean, I'd been listening to them since I was like 14. So like, or maybe a little bit older than that. But I came in as a fan. So I already like.
00:22:13
Speaker
kind of just absorb the style of like, oh, this is what it's supposed to sound like. i just And I play the horn parts, so I just made sure like to try and capture the essence of Joey, the original sax player. So when I do that, I try and get into his brain and figure out how he did hit how he wrote ah the horn parts and just try and do that when it comes to like doing voodoo stuff. You talked about the Misfits of Scott comp. Did you ever listen to the American Scothic comps?
00:22:42
Speaker
Yeah, i have I have a couple of those. I don't I didn't get too many of them. But I mean, I'm obviously like familiar with Hot Stove Jimmy and like Docker Manet and all those types. But I think how many are there's like three of those. I think I only have maybe one. I have it pulled up. There's four. There's four. Four of them. Yeah. um Because I remember listening to a couple of those um because that's where I first heard. Yeah. Hot Stove Jimmy. Johnny Sacco.
00:23:07
Speaker
yeah yeah Um, uh, the park of Kings gangster fun, which is maybe one of my favorite, uh, ska bands like of all time. i love Underrated ska band for sure. Gangster fun. They're, and they're so good.
00:23:19
Speaker
I think like pure amphetamines is like ah pretty much a perfect record front to back. I love how it starts with like some of the best like weirdo dark ska music and then it ends with some of the just the dumbest like just jammy shit like they just decide the like fuck it at the very end we're just gonna do stupid stuff and it's genius like good for them for being like and they release that in like ninety six ninety seven. Like good for them to just middle finger up to ska music like we we're here first fuckers. Yeah that it's so good.
00:23:57
Speaker
Uh, that's, that's an episode for like, if I have it my way, we're doing gangster. Gangster fun was a band that I had on my initial list of bands. We were going to cover on this podcast. Like I had them really because i talked about that album at some point, didn't we? Yeah. Just like bits and pieces, but we've never done like a deep dive on gangster fun. It's, it's coming up. So let's do it. Let's get in the time. Scoshy. That's a song. You don't have Joey. Joey.
00:24:24
Speaker
I'm just looking here and really ruining the flow. Now yeah now I have to. Oh yeah. but Sorry, where are we going? We're going into the time, Scoshine, Engineer Joey.
00:24:53
Speaker
So the time scotching takes us back to 1989, to one of the two states that Sufjan Stevens got around to. Illinois, specifically to Carbondale, a small city in the south in an area colloquial known as Little Egypt, because it looks like the Nile Basin. Here are attendees of the research origins.
00:25:11
Speaker
I'm full of fun facts, Joey. yeah but I don't need your commentary. I just, but okay. Yeah. That's what he's got to say. yeah Okay. I'm okay to the people who were were there and were like, wow, this looks like the Nile Basin. Cool.
00:25:25
Speaker
yeah yeah Here, attendees of the research-oriented Southern Illinois University began to coalesce together to form a new kind of band and name themselves after weird little guys from the yellow submarine. Built in the crucible of the decidedly off the- No, the boom. meaning ams
00:25:45
Speaker
like I'm sure the minions have been on a submarine. and They definitely have been. And it's for sure yellow. And it was yellow. And that's what blue meanies are named after. yeah that Because they're overalls. They're blue.
00:26:03
Speaker
Justin, I feel like you need a little bit more heat on your microphone. I feel like that joke really should have landed. yeah Oh my God. What about now? Oh, you sound amazing. Change nothing. You're welcome. Okay, there we go. ah Built in the crucible of the decidedly offbeat Midwest Gaussian that also birthed gangster fun. Johnny Sacco in MU 330.
00:26:23
Speaker
and perhaps more commercially the Suicide Machines and Mustard plug, though Minnie's influences ranged from Oingo Boingo, Mr. Bungle, the Dead Kennedys, Gang of Four, Fishbones, Skank and Pickle, Two-Tone, Big Band, Swing, Polka, and almost anything they could think of. They were elevated due to the huge college party circuit that allowed them to play both locally and regionally at a reliable clip.
00:26:44
Speaker
Even early on, their membership was scattered with lineup changes being the norm more than the exception. Their first release was a self-titled single that had Grandma shampoo on side A and Dickery Dock on side B in 1991, followed by the live recording, Peace Love Groove in 92, and the more proper... Peace Love and Groove? Groove. Groove? Groove. Yeah, it's all coming together!
00:27:08
Speaker
Welcome back to Maine, guys. Very nice. I appreciated that a lot, actually. Oh, God. And the more proper EP titled Pave the World in 1993, all self-released and recorded local in Carbondale. The band's early sound owed a lot to funk, stoner rock, and jam band aesthetics with only glimpses of their social commentary on display. But more of a focus guess on sophomoric humor that would have been typical of the time in the scene. I did not cue up anything from these records.
00:27:37
Speaker
um they're not available on streaming but you can go on youtube and type in like pave the world blue meanies and listen to it i recommend it it is weird and it's weird by blue meanies standards and they sound weird they sound a little bit like early cherry pop and daddies ah where it's like real stonery and like lots of like jams and funky, lots of slap bass, is bananas. I recommend it, listening. um I didn't write this down, but I did read a story that they had they had ah a single or an EP called You're in Trouble, where they all peed in a jar and took a stopper and you stained the records with it. Ew, I hate that. Oh, God.
00:28:25
Speaker
You don't need to bring pee into anything. The cover is even more wild. Is it? I don't think I'll like it. I don't know if you have that pulled up, pulled up. Not right now, but you know, yeah, it's something. It's something for sure. But you know, they're having fun, I guess. They're trying to be a bunch of weirdos. Mission accomplished.
00:28:50
Speaker
After six years of squirreling away in the Midwest, getting buzz and local fervor as well as spots on the popular American scothic compilations, the band scientists' small local label fused for their first true full length. By this time, something of a stable lineup was established with Billy on the vocals, Reverend Jim Cooley on the guitar, Jay Vance on bass, who would later join Skank and Pickle, that he liked to slap the bass.
00:29:14
Speaker
ah Tony on drums the great Chaz on Oregon underrated ah Jimmy flame on the trumpet slash trombone and John Paul camp on the saxophones The record was titled kiss your ass. Goodbye Issued in 1995 and pared down the stoner funk influences in favor of a more Scott Corp Ford sound with a huge dose of black humor and No shortage of surprises. Let's open it up with it doesn't matter.
00:29:43
Speaker
I Probably the most scoffing you're gonna hear all day today. Okay, this is it Because after this it's just not so high energy like just everything they do is so high energy. It's so sick Even the sun is not like crazy or weird or whatever. It's just Yeah, there's like there's an or you also have like a very distinct ska guitar sound too. like I don't even i don't know how to explain it, but it's like very, ah just very blue meetings, like how they're how their ska guitar sounds. It's awesome. And the guitar was not a consistent a member like throughout their career. They changed their guitars pretty frequently.
00:30:27
Speaker
Yeah, the organ is just so good. Yeah. Fast is the word. Fast is strong. Fast is strong. Strong is weak. Power up likes fast. We all like fast. Everyone likes fast here. Gotta go fast like Sonic says. I love that they all have nicknames. I wish we had nicknames. We should get some nicknames.
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it was Aaron Powerup. I call you. power Is that my nickname? I call you. power We call you Powerup, Aaron, to differentiate you from IDOS, Aaron, because sometimes you get confused. We are the Ramones. We're very similar. Yeah, exactly like Ramones. I love it. So let's talk about it. Kiss your ass goodbye. How do we feel? For a record that I did not like grow up with and that I only found like fairly relatively recently, it's so good.
00:31:16
Speaker
Like I like it's it's like it's just like full throttle and like on the same definitely on the same par I i Felt I to am new to this band I know Aaron has mentioned them to me a few times been like oh you'd like that man But I've been kind of like saving it because I figured there'd be an episode at some point so listening through the discography this was my first go-through and my initial impression of this record is was that I was like, this was 95. I was like, holy shit, I can see where we get from here to the shape of punk to come three years later.
00:31:56
Speaker
I like I felt that it shared her meanings are responsible for well not not not responsible but but like a lot of the same stuff is happening on the record like a lot of just that wild songwriting and there's parts that change so dramatically to completely different genres but not in like a genre mashing kind of way in like ah the song is shifting kind of yeah this part is this part of the song and this is the integral to the second Yeah, totally. it It was very like, as I was listening to it, I really had to be like, wow, like shape of punk to come like sounded ahead of its time in 98. And for this to come out in 95. It also sounded well, well ahead of its time. Yeah, I can't believe this came out in 95. Like you can definitely hear the bungle influence for also like, I'm listening through it like fairly recently. And I'm thinking, I'm thinking, wow, like I hear like system of a down in this, but like system of a down didn't start dropping shit until like
00:32:55
Speaker
five, six years later, like. Totally. Yeah, it's it's a very, but ah it blew my mind that it was 95, for sure. They're kind of a genre band. They definitely are. I have nothing to say, honestly. like ah ah but yeah related booking I listened to that song and it was like i it's fast and I'm like, that's um there's one particular song that I associate with the Blue Meanies and we haven't listened to it yet, but I'm sure that we will. So I will ah react when we when we listen to that. Sounds good. oh yeah Eric, it's Kazini as it says here. It's Kazini.
00:33:42
Speaker
Uh, I mean, it's a great introduction to the band. I mean, I obviously found them after this had come out and then circled back to it, but even circling back to it, I was like, yeah. Like it definitely makes sense of their beginnings. You know, you could definitely hear like where it was going or circling back, it's like, oh, that's where they, this is where they started. That makes sense that where they transitioned to is a lot. Totally. Or where they ended up being. So yeah, I like it. It's a great introduction for the band in terms of, you know, just who they are from the, from the start, you know?
00:34:16
Speaker
they and I think because they were pulling in a lot of like older songs and I can feel also like the ska is more elevated. like It's more of a ska forward sound yeah on this one than the later records for sure. like Rather than ska being part of the framework, you can which is weird to say in 95 because they have a record in 97 that it doesn't have this much ska in it. ah It's almost like they were like two two years early to have this kind of a sound, which is very interesting. ah We should play ah Grandma Shampoo because that's like a pretty, pretty big song of theirs. That's a great one.
00:34:58
Speaker
I love like the polka core aspect of the stuff. Totally. It's incredible.
00:35:10
Speaker
And I'm just a sucker for those bass lines. Yeah. Because it's in the European scot stuff, too. This is very Mad Caddies-esque. Yeah. We just saw um Los Malablados a few nights ago, and a lot ah several of their songs sounded very similar to this. It was so sick. Yeah. Sweet. Where are they from? ah Portland. Oh, cool. Oregon? Yeah. I know this sounds like Portland. As opposed to Portland, Maine. Right, right, right.
00:35:43
Speaker
A little klezmer. Yep. It's such a wild vocal delivery. I feel like it's kind of giving Eugene Hudson this. Oh, of the voca it gets crazy.
00:36:00
Speaker
I like how the song just gets faster and faster and faster and faster and faster until it's done. but Yeah, that's all songs should. whole yeah yeah I'm not opposed to that.
00:36:20
Speaker
So fun. yeah Got to love that song. It just makes me want to move, makes me want to dance. Yeah, this is not real sit-down music. No. but This is ah musical cocaine gets you like, I am dumped for a few hours. um ah Speaking of Pocacore, that was the other song I pulled from Kiss Your Ass Goodbye. Let's ah listen to Poc in the Eye. I'm going to admit I was a little disappointed this wasn't a weird outcome. Yeah, I was going to say.
00:36:50
Speaker
I was going to think they're weird elf fans. I'm sure. Yeah, that organ tone right there is so good. So wild.
00:37:02
Speaker
It's so atonal and sick. but That whole Midwest scene was like they just didn't give a shit about like the thing being harmonyed. Like it's like we're going to be off the harmony for sure.
00:37:15
Speaker
Yeah, just like love it like like that that Chicago scene is so like I'm not familiar with a lot of the bands from the Chicago scene But I know like they all had like that kind of same vibe like that band tusker Yeah, I did like a similar thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love this shit. I love this fucking sound. Yeah me too
00:37:34
Speaker
just hardcore for like 10 seconds. the The way that they switched between this like head like a heavy hardcore break and then just like right back into like, we're still a stop and this is yeah they' but like, it's just badass. And I also think like, I mean, um I know as a horn player, I'm a little biased, like my favorite combination of horns, if you can't have all three like the sax trombone and trumpet, is sax trombone is my favorite combination. But there's two bands that really pull off like they're like the, what's the, they're like the exception to the rule. And it's, and we did 30 with two trombones. It's amazing. Like you can't, yeah you can't even fight that. wild gu that hor yeah And then Blue Meanies with tenor, with a tenor sax and trumpet, which is like,
00:38:25
Speaker
For me, it's a hard combination because they're both in the same like, they're they're both in the same range. So it's really hard to make them sound good together. And I think they're one of the few bands that like, can pull it like it's like flawless. And it's like, holy yeah, this makes sense. It's it's awesome. They just do it so well.
00:38:43
Speaker
It might have something to do with because they're, the two horns are kind of in the same range, but a lot of the time the tour, the horns are doing stuff where rather than harmonizing together, they're like discordant or whatever. rock and like So, so like it kind of works that way. Like when you're playing two guitar strings that are close together, but you're playing it in a discordant way, it kind of that cuts out, you know, like it's, I feel like that's what they're doing a lot of the time with the horns. Yeah, exactly. like that Well, a lot lot of skyab bands like the trump like the trumpet players are not like top tier. So like if a trumpet player is absolutely insane, that like that, that that's what it has to be like for me personally, if I'm listening to a band with a trumpet player, they have to be like the best trumpet player I've ever heard. And this band, like both of the horn players are so absolutely S tier. Yeah, it just makes it work so perfectly. Yeah, for sure.
00:39:40
Speaker
I definitely love the, like, Attack by Bumblebee's ah style of horn, where it's just, like, 40 million notes just, like, coming at you all at once. So good. Yeah. Take that all day. yeah And I think on the next record, that's even more pronounced than on this one. sure yeah and ah But yeah, i I think my favorite song on this record is Johnny Mortgage at the end, just cause it's like a super, super catchy. I didn't queue it up cause it's not that popular, but it's a fun song. Where is it? It's on the record on Spotify dot.com. ah
00:40:10
Speaker
you into spotify yeah And now let's go for a break for our new um ad for Spotify.
00:40:23
Speaker
Boom, we're back. It's checkered past with power up and we're talking blue meanies. The album's timing couldn't have been better with Ska just on the verge of a breakthrough and its release, along with the band's appearance on Misfits of Ska catapulted them to the national stage. After a lot more touring, the band had choices to make in terms of how to capitalize on their success and which direction to go. They opted to assign to another predominantly Midwest label known for their roster post-hardcore post-rock and noise bands, thick records where the meanies freak out sound would fit right in.
00:40:56
Speaker
The follow-up record released in the summer in 1997 was the cult classic Full Throttle that was everything the title implied. Surprisingly, it toned down the band's overt Ska influences from the previous album in favor of high-speed hardcore with wildly inventive horn lines and piercing organ.
00:41:15
Speaker
It was unlike anything at the time and went completely against the grain of what constituted Popscov 1997.
Analysis of Blue Meanies' Music and Albums
00:41:21
Speaker
The lineup rotated again with Bob Thronson on the drums, Dave Lump on bass, and Mike Pearson on guitar. Let's start with Smash the Magnavox. This is it.
00:41:38
Speaker
Peak Scottcore. This is peak Scottcore. It is it.
00:41:48
Speaker
Nobody sounded like this before and nobody would ever sound like this again. It's just so good. Yeah, it's crazy. My harmonies are so weird and awesome, too. Seeing them do this live, which... I'm gonna take it from you. I'm... those bananas. Take it from Questafani. And the minion. And the minion. And the minion. It's Tony the Chat. Yeah, that was me. As you. Oh, okay. This band is Banana. Yeah.
00:42:21
Speaker
Like, you're probably not going to get to the bridge of this, but like the bridge of this when it's when it breaks down to like just the horns doing the hard line over and over and over again. and and and Yeah. Unreal. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. That song was like when I was first getting into Scott, like one of the big ones for me, like I just had it on loop. Like I could not wrap my head around it for years. I'd say it was just so good.
00:42:44
Speaker
But then I would show it to people and they'd be like, this is too loud. but
00:42:49
Speaker
If I had this in 2004 when I started playing music, like yeah i think I think that would have changed a lot, actually. ah Yeah, how about the whole the record as a whole, Full Throttle. This is the one that most people know about. 10 out of 10. Yeah, 10 out of 10. 11 out of 10. So what are your what are the songs? What are the songs that stand out for you? I like this one. I like smother me. i like um 4th 4th of July sick. I Don't remember all the names of the songs off top of my head because I usually just listen to it in a row but the whole The whole album is non-stop insane. It's uh, yeah smother me was a song that I didn't queue up But I kind of should have because I know that it's like it's one of the big ones But man, it's so good full throttle is just such a crazy record ah So Justin you said this was the song that you wanted to wait for What are your thoughts the grand reveal?
00:43:43
Speaker
peak blue meanie like this is that when i when i think of the blue meanies i think of that song i think of this record it's just like uh the horns are so many notes so fast all of them are so good like the horn the horn section it's so fucking good like i pretend to be a horn player and these guys are like Yeah, we we just do it. we We do the thing and we do it so well. they They're too good to be in a Scott band. yeah Too good good to exist. we don't i don't deserve I don't deserve it. I don't deserve to hear this in my ears. Don't even deserve to be on this earth with these dudes. I was gonna say your ears are real undeserving. Oh my God. No, God no. God no. How about you, Eric?
00:44:33
Speaker
but this I mean, I think it's, I love all the stuff that they've done, but this is definitely like the best thing for me that they've done. Like the first, the first five record or the first five tracks on this, it's like, it's just like nonstop. Holy shit. Like the whole, I mean, to whole right great so that's how that's on the record Oh, that was the next one. oh dan guess on I to them all really quickly. But what did you think engineer Joey full throttle? Uh,
00:45:03
Speaker
obviously I listened to this one, and the one would do the type belt back to back, and both of them were very good. Type belt was fucking sick. Yeah. ah Smash the Magnavox stuck out the most. I think just because it kind of has the most, ah for lack of a better word, poppy hook. like I don't even know if that's what you'd really even call it on that song, but that one's stuck in my head the most. but yeah just like The Blitz, the horn blasting Blitz, and this one took the, ah like I said before, genre mashing isn't even really the right word, but like the genre shifting during songs, this record elevated it way further than the that first genre band. Yeah, the genre bandiness.
00:45:52
Speaker
ah We should play actually before we play that one band go number six. Let's play double in the came to the night reward. That's a good one. I Also just enjoy how much megaphone he does. Yeah tone is awesome
00:46:16
Speaker
Like where does this even come from? like where Yeah, how do you get here? The timing is wild. Yeah, right? The timing is like crazy. Truly Chicago.
00:46:28
Speaker
I feel like it'd be so hard to memorize a song to play it like that with such weird timing. yeah Like how do you remember that many notes? Like I hear Bungle in this for sure. Yeah.
00:46:45
Speaker
Mr. Bungle? No, Dr. Bungle. Miss Bungle if you're nasty. but Miss Bungle if you're nasty. Please, Mr. Bungle is my father. So good.
00:47:05
Speaker
um I think it's time. I am accidentally blind listening to this because I truly just didn't have time. But I have them over the years. ah But this is wild. Yeah. Rob's played a lot of blue meetings over the years. Yes. Yes. This but this is this is wild. Yeah. This is wild. This is wild. I didn't know how jazzy they were. Super jazzy. Yeah, I didn't. So I'm surprised about the jazziness. I thought they were like cut a lot more punk rock.
00:47:32
Speaker
I mean, they are. yeah Yeah. But they're like way more academicy, musiciany about it than I gave them credit for on like really casual listening. Yeah. We we need more post hardcore bands with jazz chops. Yeah. world The world would be a better place, I think.
00:47:46
Speaker
Yeah. And it was like, oh, they're actually like legit ass musicians who just decided to do like a punk ska band, not like being like, yeah, like they could probably play whatever genre music they wanted, but they chose this one. They are. Yeah. have there Fair. They are playing every genre they want. Let's play the infidelity song. Let's close it up. Oh, it's a great one, too. So good.
00:48:16
Speaker
What's the bass player because it's in throat? Nope. Oh, because the bass player, everything think is bananas as well. Funk guy was still in the last one. Okay. Yeah. What's those drums? Bananas, you say? Yeah, I did. Take a shot. Bananas.
00:48:39
Speaker
This one's very instant K, but DK vibe for sure. You think so? Oh yeah. yeah his His voice is just so... His voice is just so unorthodox for like like any genre of music. Yeah. But it's so sick for this. I really found it was like a... Like a... Devo meets... meets Jed Kennedy's kind of vocal delay. No vibrato though, and Jello had vibrato.
00:49:07
Speaker
we just did i just did he just did it okay you're right
00:49:12
Speaker
but you want music like any other time
00:49:23
Speaker
love that song. Yeah, the way the vocals were, we're very jello-y. Yeah, the ja the jello influence is huge with ah with how he does his vocal delivery. um But it's great. We still don't have a lot of the the like social commentary is kind of a little bit more buried.
00:49:38
Speaker
There's a few ones like the noise of democracy and stuff like that. Or it's more vague maybe. A little bit more vague than what comes up kinda next. But yeah man, full throttle. I like, would we say that this is the record, like if you've never heard the meanies before, this is the one you should start with.
00:49:54
Speaker
Oh yes, for sure. Start here and then if you're like, I need a little bit more Ska, you go back one. But if you're like, I want to see if they get weirder and then you go forward one. Yeah, totally. I love it. It's kind of like the focal point of their whole career career kind of a thing. Yeah. We said the same thing about ah about Flaming Tsunamis. Like you could go back one and get a little bit more of the Ska stuff and go forward one and get more of the weird stuff. Totally. why I mean, both bands had like a similar number of records, you know, like it was kind of similar career arcs. yeah There's definitely a real parallel parallel between ah Blue Meanies and Flaming Tsunamis. Flaming Tsunamis were actually going to cover Smash the Magnavox at one point, but then they
00:50:33
Speaker
couldn't do it definitely it harder what what record were you talking about when you were saying go back one go forward one for the flaming tsunamis from waser everything I'm assuming yeah for fear everything's the focal point go forward one and you got that oh I can't remember it was I like that now these yeah yeah um because it's way more like hardcore and it's kind of a more ethereal But then you go back to the the zombie robot one and it's a little bit more like fun and like go yeah like you can get kind of like that yeah.
00:51:04
Speaker
This is a regional bias, but like that's the the zombie robots one is is where I That's my start. That's my focus for interesting flaming tsunamis and going back one from there would be they're like shitty focus the furious But like shitty and like recording quality not shitty as in like it's not fun to listen to and shitty in a good way. I think we played good versus emo. Good versus emo. What a name for a song. The pogo cover. Up with Mohawk's down with the government was a song on that. That's very good. Wild. Good for them. Good for being in the 2000s. Good for them to be in the 2000s. For existing at that time.
00:51:54
Speaker
um All right, moving along. The band continued to tour feverishly, which culminated in another live album, the aforementioned a sonic documentation of exhibition in banter. What a great name. In 1998, as well as the Sky Against Racism tour with Mike Park, that live album is awesome. It is so good.
00:52:12
Speaker
It wasn't in the list, but i I think I'm going to go back and listen to it. It's insanity. Their live album is... I ah highly recommend it to everybody. its It's insane how good the album is. They're so clean and like...
00:52:25
Speaker
It's so much faster, but it's, uh, it's their banter is ridiculous. Like, all it is great so yeah, I'll check it out for sure. Yeah, it's great. They now it would have been them at their peak. Like at 99 1998, I was like, oh, full throttle. When they were doing big tours, like you thought you probably would have gotten the best version of them. The same one we talked about the Boston's live record that came out like right when they were at their probably best. Right. Right. So this is another really great one. Um,
00:52:56
Speaker
Where should I go from here? With Scott at its peak and potentially waning the band pen to deal with major label MCA after their booking agent became an n A and r an a and&R scout for them. It was a move that shocked its core fan group that saw the band as purposefully counterculture. They got busy in 1999 in their last year independent. First they got their new friend Mike Park to reissue their Kiss Your Ass Goodbye album on Asian Man.
00:53:22
Speaker
Then, before leaving Thick for Good, they issued an album that acted essentially as a single for their song, I Fits Nick, along with a collection of covers showcasing the band's obscure and buried influences, along with their fearlessness in arranging these songs into directions wholly unlike their original sound. The album was entitled Pigs and was released just before Y2K. Let's listen to I Fits Nick from Pigs. This one is also very Scott. If I Fits, I Nick. I love this. This song is so good. Like a cat. If I Fits, I sit.
00:53:52
Speaker
Oh, I get it. Oh, I get it. Fits like Nick, I fits like Sid. That's like when you're British and and you want to steal something small. If it fits in your pocket, you steal it. If it fits you, Nick. Like ah like a can like a can of beans. Yes, exactly.
00:54:09
Speaker
Just Trabska, you know? Just doing like an old Ska song. like Is it going to stay this way the whole song? Yeah. So so this album's not on Spotify. You get this on YouTube? No, it is on Spotify. Oh, it is? Yeah. Oh, I didn't see it on there.
00:54:22
Speaker
I listened to it. Yeah. I try to only put the songs that are available on Spotify on there to make it easy for y'all. This is getting me ready for Supernova. Oh, yeah. Oh, hell, yeah. This sounds so much like a Mephistopheles song. Yeah, definitely. Right down to his vocal delivery. It's got a groove. I think the last song on the first album that you showcased also really reminded me of Mep.
00:54:50
Speaker
like've I've been getting that, i what do you call it, influence throughout. like and They would have been contemporaries. like They probably started right around the same time and probably were touring in kind of the same places, although Meff would have been in New York. These guys would have been in the Midwest. right so Yeah, it's cool. Real Meff heads call them Meff. That's great. i'm I'm literally looking at Spotify right now and it's not on here. Maybe it's a Canada thing.
00:55:23
Speaker
as a certain as gen se qua you know yeah Oh. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada. Canada.
00:55:35
Speaker
i yeah i i practice genee quaff for like a week before this I'm gonna say something French and then I'm gonna blow their fucking mind. oh Oh, my mind. It's blown. ah What do they do covers of on here? I'm just pulling it it up again. They did a bunch of stuff. Yeah, it was crazy. Well, we'll we'll play one in a second. But they're very ACAB cover. They did Queen. Yeah, that Queen covers. The Queen covers cool. They do a black flag song. They do the Grinch. That's fun. Yeah, that was good. I liked it.
00:56:08
Speaker
they do a cover of the vindictive song dummy room um i posted on didn't know what i was a good song though i posted on twitter recently what's your favorite romones core band and the correct answer is the vindictives they are yeah awesome give them a listen they are so good and that's where that song came from and that's what that yeah that's dummy room by the vindictives they're really really good and uh yeah the other big cover on here is yelling in my ear which is real weird It's sticking in my eye and yelling in my ear. This is the Op Ivy song. Yeah, he was really going for it with that phaser or whatever he's using on this song. It's pretty bananas. It's unapologetic. Yeah. And like different every time it stops, it's like in time and then it stops and then it's out of time and it stops and then it's out of time differently. And it does that all the way through the song.
00:57:03
Speaker
This is the first shoegaze song. He just, every time it stops, he goes down and messes with his pedals a little bit. Yeah, totally.
00:57:17
Speaker
It's it so jibberish. Jello weird. Yeah. Like solo jello. Hard brado. Hard brado. He's really getting his voice big. Yeah, he's growing it. it Just the confidence you gotta have to be a band that sounds like this in the 90s. Oh, totally. Have you played this on the podcast before? We did, we played it on the Operation Ivy podcast. Okay, yeah, we did. Okay, I was like, why have I heard this? Yeah, yeah, because we did a little bit about the OP-IV cover record. I never remember any song I've ever heard or any show I've ever been to. To be fair, that was three years ago when we first started it. That was a minute. Yeah, it's been a month. Yeah, that'll stick with you though. Yeah. Yep.
00:58:00
Speaker
ah So how do we all feel about pigs? I liked it. Like cough. Did you like it? Just how do we all feel about police? Yeah. No, no. No animals. No. I love the animals. Animals 10 out of 10. The whole yeah album is called Pigs, the Bacon and Other Cured Rarities. I like that. Yeah. yeah I like the subtitle. And that it's a cop with clown makeup. Yeah, they seem like they're fans. Yeah, they love them. They love them. How about Power Up? What do you feel about pigs?
00:58:30
Speaker
I didn't listen to this one, so i okay all I've heard was what you just played. Sounds good. Nice. It's weird. cut It's not like only the dummy room in Stone Cold Crazy are like fast. The rest are pretty slow. like they They slow it down, which I think is fun. The Grinch. ah I think I really liked the Grinch because it's relatively true to the song, but it except for they at the very beginning, I think during the count in there's like sleigh bells.
00:59:00
Speaker
And then and it goes into the song and they and then they do it kind of almost more like jazzy than the original and they get canie pull all of the Christmas out of it. And then right at the end, it ends with like like four or five stabs from like a Christmas song. I can't remember which one off the top of my head, but it's like jingle bell. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo or like something like that. It's a very cheeky. I liked it. I'm gonna have to find this album. think it's It's pretty good. i I think that I like,
00:59:30
Speaker
I heard all the songs, because if I remember right, this record is just like a smash up of all of the songs they did for compilations. And then they just put it in one place. So I kind of had it like- Yeah, the first two songs were new songs and then the rest were all just, yeah, were all just covers from other stuff. Yeah. So I remember when it came out, I was like, oh, I've heard all of these before. So I was like, man, give me the new things. I don't want just two new things. I want all the new Shinies. It's still good though.
01:00:00
Speaker
I didn't read this anywhere, but that's because of the timing. I really feel like this was a label obligation thing because immediately after they were on a major. So if they had like one more thing that they had to put out, they're like, here's the covers. Put it all in one thing. That would make sense. But yeah, it's i is it necessary for the canon of blue meanies? No. But if you can track it down, it's it's part of their whole history. So eight to twelve times at the revolution.
01:00:31
Speaker
ah this ah so Okay, therere they joined MCA and it resulted in only one album and they were only with MCA for one year.
Post-Wave Album Discussion and Fan Reactions
01:00:42
Speaker
ah The new wave inspired post-wave was released in 2000 and saw a near complete abandonment of the band Skokkor sound in favor of one more influenced by Devo, indie rock, pop music.
01:00:55
Speaker
The MCA money was used to rope in the Butcher Brothers on production, who were known for producing John Lennon, Cypress Hill, Anthrax, Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, et cetera, et cetera. shit okay Lyrically, it doubled down more on the social commentary. And despite its major label and sound change was still in Angular Listen, the only major change was the addition of Sean Dolan on guitar, who is still active in the SCA scene today. Let's listen to... ah Let's listen to Lose Your Mind to start with, because that's pretty poppy. your mind
01:01:36
Speaker
It sounds like MU330. This doesn't sound like the same band, yeah. No.
01:01:44
Speaker
until he starts Until he starts singing. that Yeah, he still does the weird vocal thing, which is good for him.
01:01:53
Speaker
I listened to this album for the first time like very recently. like I was on Drive to Work and I was like, cool, let me just put this on. I'll listen straight through. I was just confused, really? It's considerably slower. Considerably slower. Considerably weaker.
01:02:10
Speaker
This almost has like a five hundred friends in the chorus, like how big it gets. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The production is so. And it's so clean. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, they got their they got their money's worth. So overall, how do you feel? Joey, we'll start with you. Joey, you listen to everything on this album. I really liked. I love to do the type belt so much. And I also liked creepy, creepy or creeping, creepy, I think it was because that one starts with a super weird either horn or keyboard line and then it builds with the other one of those and the lines don't meet up like they're two different melodies and then like the guitar bass that part of the band comes in doing something totally different and the whole song just builds on these three sections of the band doing like a different thing the whole time and it's very cool what a weird very cool song
01:03:09
Speaker
It's, uh, it's interesting that this is almost the entire same band that did full throttle. Yeah. There was almost no lineup change except for the guitar. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody else is the same. Yeah. It's very different. Like, to like, i like to go from one album to the next, like you expect there to be like some level of like. Similarity. Growth or a maturity or even like watering down from one to the next, like.
01:03:36
Speaker
I just don't even know what to do with this. like terrible
01:03:41
Speaker
believe this is not this is like it's it's just It's almost all the same members, but it's a different band entirely. I agree with that. Eric, how about you? What do you feel about post-wave? I remember because like the Blue Minions used to come to Denver a lot, so I used to see them all the time, and they would blow my mind. And then I remember when this record came out, I felt almost betrayed.
01:04:03
Speaker
but Because I was like, what the fuck is this? This isn't the blue meaty. This is so but It was just bad at the time. I thought it was terrible Wow, and then this came out after Scott died, right? Yeah, 2000 Yeah, but but then I I've revisited it like a couple years later. And honestly, it's probably one of my, like, there's my second favorite album of theirs. Like, I don't know what happened or what what was going on at the time, in my brain at the time, but like, I just revisited it a few years after it came out. And I was like, Oh, this
01:04:40
Speaker
Fantastic. What the fuck was I thinking? So yeah sometimes that happens yeah I had the same reaction that Aaron did. Like when I listened to it, I was like trash. Like this isn't like this isn't blue. You can't go listen to full throttle and then listen to that. You'd be like, what the no. You're like, maybe if I was a raccoon, I'd like it because it's trash.
01:05:01
Speaker
yeah then wevis but good but the the first time ever were you visititing it it was its i think it's fantastic i think the recording is great are you Did you look up all the,
01:05:19
Speaker
the read the reasoning behind me these tracks that they picked. And like, also, did you like read the letter that they wrote to MCA? Yeah. So the letter is coming up after. Yeah. letter i I just won i stole the fucking thunder. I didn't want to leave. Well, we could edit it up in post, Justin. Not anymore. Not anymore. Let's do a couple more tracks we have queued up. We've got chemicals. Let's do some of that one this one's because of the shirt.
01:05:48
Speaker
ta
01:05:53
Speaker
That synth! Yeah, that synth is really fun. well Like I feel like this album could grow on me. It grew on me. It took like yeah three or four listens before I was really locked in with it.
01:06:08
Speaker
I just wasn't ready for it, you know? that's that' I think that's what it is. you cause you You're just not ready for it and you're good for it later um at a at a separate timeline. they were They were so fucking far ahead of the curve that they would have further ahead than their listeners were. This is the first time I've heard this song and my immediate listen is like, I feel like this could be a start to the Skag song.
01:06:34
Speaker
like ah for sure. Yeah. like i buy and found That very like I get a very Sergeant scag feel from this. Totally. I can see that.
01:06:48
Speaker
I love that song. I feel like it makes a lot less use of the horns in this album. For sure. Yeah, definitely. It's more Horn Rock, this album. The use of the horns is in a more Horn Rock fashion than jazz or ska, for sure. Do you think that Rocket from a Crypt had anything to do with that direction that they took?
01:07:10
Speaker
that last song that last song I don't know the album though one with the scorpion on it the scorpion on it Yeah, that's yeah that's the one that's when you listen rocke from the crib Yeah, so like I I'm like ah my first my initial reaction was oh this reminds me of sergeant scag But as it went on I was like oh wait Rocket from the Crypt is a Chicago band, like I'm sure that they were active. That's also true. I didn't make that connection, but this album in particular is very I got so much. deepvo But Rocket from the Crypt is really like a big one now, I'm thinking. Yeah, because that would have been contemporary. That would have been just before the Scorpion one would have been, what, late 90s? Yeah, 97, 98, something like that, probably. Yeah.
01:07:54
Speaker
OK. The record was a coped out corporate show with a suit on version of what Scott would be. Chicago. Yeah. yeah Chicago. Yeah, of like baby. just Some some corporate men's team were in a suit. I know what I know what the scene needs. This will be perfect. Go deep dish pizza and corporate. scars see I was going to say putting tomatoes on their hot dogs or whatever. Yeah. And corporate. guys ah It's sport peppers and the Chicago dog. we're We're not we're not we're not talking shit on the Chicago dog. All right Okay
01:08:41
Speaker
Didn't realize, are you you know what, Rob didn't ask. He usually did. You ask if there was any off topic things to discuss on the pause. That was my fault. And that's his fault. And that's on Rob. you You ask if there's any controversial that we should bring up. And it clearly was Chicago. um see If you had asked you would have said ahead of time. Absolutely. Hopefully the Chicago dogs are too busy on tour to like um would get a message on us about it. Yeah. The up down.
01:09:10
Speaker
Let's listen to When We Were Queens. I love this song. Yeah, it's pretty fun. It's really fun. This could be like a drag race song on the show. It is. Yeah. We are the comedy. And you we were the comedy queens. I'm fairly certain it's about drag queens. Yeah.
01:09:37
Speaker
Like how we rolled that R there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were talking about R-rolling. Yeah, because there's a lot of R-rolling on this record, on all of these records. Hey, R-rolling better than our bombs. R-rolling, rolling, rolling.
01:09:51
Speaker
This song is definitely more tame, but this song sounds a little bit more like the old the older blue meanies to me like this this is like, hey, we're still we're still the same band. You know what I mean? Yeah, I just i just want the horns. I just want the horns to do more. True. Yeah.
01:10:14
Speaker
Like that, the horns could have been right here in the wound. Instead of the vocals. Oh no, with them. Oh with them, yeah. That would have been fun. Doing like a crazy like 30 second no triplet runs like over it. yeah This was their first major release you guys said, right?
01:10:30
Speaker
Yeah. First and only. First and only. So I feel like that has a lot to do with it. Even if they wanted to be busier to have a more popular record, you want it to be digestible. Simple. And that immediately means less and less busy.
Blue Meanies' Major Label Journey and Legacy
01:10:48
Speaker
From what I read, this was like the universal, in particular, hated signing ska bands because they hated horns. They thought that was a good way to kill a pop record. Yeah, I was going to say that.
01:11:00
Speaker
Yeah. And so MCAs are by Universal. Yeah. That was the era of all the a lot of ska bands get just getting rid of their horns and then fans being like, well, this is the same band and then opting out of listening to them. And then that's the dark ages of ska, so to speak. Yeah. that Totally. And this this is is as much a product of that time that birthed like the Slogerkin record and if I can cheer up by real big fish and all all the stuff that is in that same kind of thing. But oddly, they were ah they got signed to a major after the ska boom, which was a very interesting part of their timeline as well.
01:11:38
Speaker
so yeah The one song i didn't queue up that is one of my favorites is mama's getting high on shardin a song on the record that's so it's really really good it's super awesome yes it wouldn't be it wouldn't be a checker past episode if rob didn't put one of the guests favorite song yeah if rob didn't not put one of the guests cut that off before your best your favorite part of the song yeah yeah that's that's the other half All right. Let's close up, uh, the blue meanies discussion. So in 2001, the band reacquired the rights to the post wave and reissued it on their full throttle mates, thick records for disbanding completely. The band has sometimes come back to play riot fest in Chicago. And, but for all intents and purposes, they have hung up their trombone and saxophone for good for fun. Here's the letter blue meanies sent MCA on their way out the door. Here's just the last half read the whole thing. It's incredible, but here's just part of it.
01:12:32
Speaker
Sorry, this is gonna be a ah ah little bit. yeah But just a few weeks before MCA released Post Wave, Rick Bond and the president of our label had a falling out and Rick decided he didn't want to work for MCA any longer. Rick had been the only real reason that a bunch of punks like us felt comfortable putting music on the label.
01:12:48
Speaker
We knew that without Rick in our corner, we would become a tax write-off for your company. You proved us right when you assigned us a product manager to be our liaison. After Rick left MCA, it became apparent that you had no clue what to do with us and preferred to ignore us until we went away. Blue Meanies decided that we would go away, but we wanted you to give us back our master tapes, the artwork, and especially all of the cd all of the CDs you had pressed.
01:13:11
Speaker
We figured that from the time we signed our contract until we squeezed the last tour support check out of you, MCA spent about $500,000 for Blue Minis to make the post wave. In other words, we stole a lot of money from you. It's as if we walked into the jaws of the dragon's lair, extracted its golden tooth, and walked away unscathed. Now we're right we where we were two years ago, only we have a record that we produced for free a video, a home studio, a few new computers, a pimp and ride, fancy new equipment, plus various assorted toys. Anyway, we just thought we ought to say thanks for giving us half a million dollars that we don't want to pay back. That's a nice feeling, as you can imagine, suckers.
01:13:51
Speaker
That is incredible. that's awesome That is their sign off. The blue meanie is folded short after, but yeah not before giving a big middle fingered MCA. Fuck yeah. ah Sweet.
01:14:03
Speaker
Any last minute thoughts on Blue Meanies before we play a quick game? Yeah, good for them. Love that shit. That's awesome. Yeah, that's so good. I think in the current, like current Scott scene, I think they're kind of underrated. Like a lot of people don't know who they are. um So I'm glad this episode is getting out to a lot more of a younger audience and be like, Oh, what's this band about? And then, you know, get them out there because they're one of my favorite bands growing up. So hopefully we can keep them going.
01:14:33
Speaker
ah ah Yeah, I feel like they're the current scossing is like probably more receptive to this Yeah, so then then maybe even ten years ago or or whatever, right? So like yeah, that's it'd be cool if more people got into kiss your ass Goodbye crazy. Yeah, CPSC bump I Did ever come back if they ever want to come back I think they could just talk to Chris at SPI and I think we could work something out like that ji if you're if youre the boiling needs and camp's number i i'll see what he has to say
01:15:07
Speaker
maybe i'll hook him and chris up see what yeah yeah yeah As far as their influence not being felt today I feel like Direct it's it's it's it's not as direct as it should be like Oh, yo, I listened to this blue meanies track and it's fucking sick and it blew my mind But the in the Blue Meanies influenced enough bands to where that trickle down has definitely happened. I, yeah myself, am not like huge into the Blue Meanies, but like I 100% realize and recognize and appreciate that they influenced this band and that influenced that band and that influenced me. and like
01:15:51
Speaker
It's, they were very important and i'm I'm really glad that this is happening.
Ska Influence and 'Get Thrashed' Game
01:15:56
Speaker
You know what I mean? I'm i'm really glad that we are talking about them right now in the year of our Lord 2024. You just have to look as far as like Stuck Lucky to see their immediate influence in our current scene. like For sure, yeah. Totally.
01:16:11
Speaker
It goes in the same, like we've mentioned this about a couple other records like Alone in the Crowd by Catch-22 or Progress by the RX Bandits that are maybe like underrated in terms of like how they have influence on a go-forward basis ah more indirectly. All right, this game is a fun one. Oh yeah, you're very excited. I'm very excited for it. It's called Get Thrashed.
01:16:33
Speaker
um And so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna name, um it's a one letter name of something, and you have to determine whether or not it is a thrash metal band, a professional wrestler, or both.
01:16:48
Speaker
oh Sick. Okay. So it's a buzz in thing. Is there a lot of both? I'm not gonna know any of this. So you have to say, buzz in with your name.
01:17:00
Speaker
and or or buzz or scar whatever get it right get a point get it wrong get the gong as i say uh but for example the first one is slayer band salin band right salin band right that's how you would do that you didn't buzz though you're just like yeah salin band that's not what i said right you keep score there joey oh yeah right salin band Hey, everybody, Salin Band. She said, say, say your name, the buzz or with Scott or Scott. You could say Scott. No one ever says Scott. Genre Band, Salin Band. Scott Core, creator. Oh, Salin. Yes. Band. Yes. OK.
01:17:47
Speaker
Okay. Annihilator. but Oh, i I went mad. I should have gone, but i feel I feel like, I feel like man. So we always go to you. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Nice. Warrior. so yeah okay Yes. That is a wrestler. Yeah. oh see that too Vector.
01:18:11
Speaker
Joey. Yes. Uh, both. No. Ah. Celine. Yes. Wrestler. No. Damn it. Nah. Band. Okay, Justin. Oh. ah
01:18:23
Speaker
Violator. Ma. Okay. Band? Yes. Bruiser. Scott. Yeah, go, Justin. Uh, wrestler, I hope? Yes. Yes.
01:18:40
Speaker
Vader, man. Yeah, both. Correct. there Yeah, it is. Oh, I knew that. I got that one wrong. yeah Too slow. I know that one from Boy Meets World. Exumer. Ska. Yes. Thresh. Yes, that's a band. Yeah.
01:19:00
Speaker
Destroyer. but Yeah. Band. um No, yeah yeah you more both. Yeah, I would say both. Eric, you got this. Just go like Eric, both. To be fair, Destroyer the is is one of the guys in the new pornographers. I don't know if I'd call him a thrash band, but I'll give it just but give it. I'll give it as well. So that's a point? Yeah, I'll give it to Celine. Okay. Wait, does it sound like it should be named Destroyer, though? No, no, not at all. He's from Canada. Then I yeah feel like the the point and the point's a move.
01:19:34
Speaker
oh so point I'll make the other points bigger so that that one point is smaller than the other one. All right, here we go. We're halfway there. Animal. Oh, i but little little a ah fuck. Justin. i'm going to Well, you know what? I'm going to say wrestler. I think it's both, but I'm going to say wrestler. That's yeah nice. They were the the tag team, right? It was warrior and animal. it where the What were they?
01:20:01
Speaker
And they they had the the road warriors. Road warriors. Yeah. Yeah. Now those sweet like the the like football gear with spikes and shit. yeah The face paint really got got me. like Yeah, they were. They really wanted to be kiss.
01:20:19
Speaker
Hawk. Stan. Yeah. So in this time. Wrestler. Yes. Whoa. OK. Raven. Crap. Holy crap. Wrestler. Nope. No, Raven. that Raven the wrestler is a wrestler.
01:20:37
Speaker
but Oh, yeah. yeah but Got one. Wait, wait, wait. great It's not that it's not a wrestler. Do you guys say both with an L like both? I say both. I say it with a bit of an L. Oh, yeah. I say I didn't know if it was a Massachusetts thing or if it was like I think both. OK. All right. I used to be a band from I think it was Indiana called both. They were like a soccer band. That's funny. that's I actually do approve of that sting.
01:21:04
Speaker
Joey. Yeah. Both. Yeah, I'll give it. i' seen great and No, but and i yeah know no, no. Really small. You get a really small. You get that. That's a small one. That's like so small. It doesn't even count. Almost. It's like it's like it's like a rose. It's not like a warlord. Sorry. Warlord.
01:21:33
Speaker
Sky. OK, Justin. Band. Nope. So where? So in. Wrestler. Yes. Well, OK. There is not a thrash band called Warlord. That's it. Yeah, I know. Low white. I'm doing this right now. You get you keep going. I'm I i thought it was really funny. The patrons get to see the light of your computer flash. I mean, last fire. but like Fire. You were like became like. It's like band camp dot com.
01:22:03
Speaker
I'm sure if you pop on metal archives, there'll be like 50 bands called warlord and they're all local to whatever random city they're in but yeah yeah what Local to the random LA scene in the 1980s. Yeah. Okay, whatever. Sure. Sure He could get a little point Hercules. Oh Man Man case land and no, I mean, I'm sure but yeah, Aaron no to <unk>stler
01:22:34
Speaker
Yes, there's a wrestler. Good job, Justin. Yeah. Barbarian. but Yeah. Movie. Both? No. Diablo.
01:22:46
Speaker
yeah D and&D crap. Eric, come on. Do this. I'm going like i'm going to buzz into Eric. No, I'm more of a watcher of these kinds of games, though. I have more fun. Just save wrestler. I'm a game voyeur. Save wrestler. Eric, save the word wrestler.
01:23:04
Speaker
the word wrestler. Nice. He said the word wrestler. Everyone's got at least a point, or a little point, a part of a point. We're almost there. Crowbar. Jesus. A band. No. Me. Yes, Aaron. Both. Correct. Got it, both. Correct. It's Crowbar from New York, though.
01:23:27
Speaker
Crowbar just real mad about crowbar. Yeah. No, I want to I want to know I feel like that's very New York Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure they're from New York hit him with a crowbar Overkill man. Yeah, BAM. Yes, they're great. I love overkill I said the question mark is who know destruction Me Aaron ah Band. Yes. Sick. Smash. ah Joey. Yes. Wrestler. Yes. Oh, yeah. That's a funny name. eller Yeah, it should have been even. Man. Sure. Both. No. Oh, and yeah. Yeah. yeah i Band. Yes. Yes. And finally, Blitzkrieg.
01:24:23
Speaker
Okay, so in the hand nope both just Justin was going for it. Well not yeah, and you you said something though. You I'll give it to Joey. I will defer to Joey Oh, I didn't say anything. No, no he didn't say anything. All right. Well, I'm gonna say both then correct. Oh, yeah Crowbars fucking crowbars from New Orleans. I would have never guessed that all new all of the above Yeah, there you go. It's not a crowbar. It's ah a That's from New Orleans. Cajun crowbar. Well, congrats. It's a fog horn leg horn. Justin crushed it.
01:25:02
Speaker
Congratulations, Justin. You're the winner. You're doing pretty good. It was eight to six. Yeah. I don't know if he crushed it. We're proud of him. All the same. michael Thank you. You're proud of him. Power up. Thank you so much for coming. Can you please plug? What would you like to plug? Supernova. Thank you so much for having us. We're going to Supernova, playing there. um Well, for the pre-show, not the real show, but Um, one of us is playing the real show. Oh, yeah. Eric is. Oh, yeah oh actually, wait, and actually, uh, that's still a secret, but, uh, maybe more than one of us are playing the real show.
01:25:49
Speaker
This isn't going to be released before next week anyway, so it doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I was going to hope there was like an a Ska exclusive song you guys could play. on that's chris Chris said we could ah plug the Stuck Lucky album coming out. Hell yeah. oh yeah my god yeah listen to that It's so good. We got a little sneakily peekily. It's really really good. You take a shot every time I see sneakily peekily. It's not a shot, it's just a sip of margarita.
01:26:23
Speaker
but I'll do it. like please please thankly we all don't really have much else supply right now but feel like there's an album just devil car did it It's pretty good. Everyone should listen to that. Oh yeah. We dropped that several months ago. lot oh we got a lot of scenes sort left um if We actually were just on a comp um New York new tone too. Um, we're also on,
01:26:50
Speaker
I don't know. There was a few cops. Oh yeah. facecon Fuck all the transphobes. Yeah. Yup. Yeah. And also if you're, if you are a patron and you're watching this on video and you for some reason want a mutiny hat.
01:27:08
Speaker
That's another thing that you can purchase. yeah yeah Just plug in other bands. Or a checkered past hat or a power up beanie. yeah wait how how How long is this going to be until it gets released? ah The second week of October.
01:27:23
Speaker
All right. Well, talking about really big fish in September. All right. Nice.
Episode Conclusion and Upcoming Releases
01:27:27
Speaker
Come see us on either Friday, either this Friday or next Friday, whichever week it gets released at our show. Also, check out our Eichler's remix that I'm making us. I'm forcing us to drop now. Oh, wow. Because because now I yeah. So we have to I'm we we we must drop that now. I guess we have to drop the top along with the common sense kid remix.
01:27:53
Speaker
Oh my god, we're dropping all sorts of shit. Whoa. Whoa. This is crazy. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm on this. Those are two of my favorite people who remix. and that Well, thanks for listening to Checkered Past. Hit us up on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok at checkeredpastpod, or send us an email at checkeredpastpod at gmail.com. To support the pod and get bonus content, including a full length and unedited video of this episode, sign up for the Checkered Past Patreon at patreon.com.
01:28:22
Speaker
We also have merch available at checkeredpass.ca. Tell me about the merch, Joey. <unk> ah We got all kinds of merch, but we also have a new shirt that has a friend Johnny on it, and it says, I'm here for the bits and to be upset, which is why he should be here too. We love Johnny, everyone loves Johnny. Checkered Pass is edited by Arianne and engineered by Elhoey over here, and until next time, I'm Rob. Selene. Joey. In the mortal words of Blue Meanies, you want to be a rude boy, but you ain't got no clothes, take my advice, you'll just grow old.