There must be thousands of barely unearthed regionally active bands from the '80s who never committed their tracks to wax and will likely languish in the memories of the punks who were there and the lucky few who manage to snag well worn demo tapes. In the case of Chico, California's DOG KILLER, I find myself in the second category. Superb guitars that swerve between ADOLESCENTS and DEAD KENNEDYS, snarky vocals and classic California attitude...all of the ingredients are here, and aside from a couple of duds ("Man's Best Friend" and "Up To You" are just unnecessary musically, even though the latter is excellent lyrically) the result is stellar. "Superpowers" is the standout (either because of or in spite of the meandering guitar led breakdown that makes up the last third of the track) and tracks like "No Reason To Live" are certified creamers. And yeah, I know the band name is stupid, no need to mention it other than to shrug and say: "well...it was 1986?"
1 comment:
"...shrug and say: 'well...it was 1986?'"
Is that a question? Does posing it as a question make the name more reasonable or less stupid? Is Dog Killer really any more stupid a name than, say, Bad Religion or Circle Jerks or Black Flag?
Taken out of context it's hard to not find the entire "punk" ethic pretty fucking stupid.
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