12 February 2013

BIBLE LAUNCHER


As I have probably mentioned before, in the late '90s I worked in a bagel shop in downtown San Francisco. I stole whatever I could (ask anyone who bought FUCKFACE shirts on our 1996 tour) and gave as much free food as possible to elderly Russian women and bike messengers and punks. There were a lot of positives and very few negatives, it was a good gig and I met a lot of nice people, many of whom I am still friends with today. One of my regular free food takers was talking about music one day, and mentioned that he was in a band that was about to have a release on Tzadik. Naturally I assumed he was full of shit, because I held Zorn and his label in high regard and had a hard time imagining that some schmuck delivering packages downtown could possibly be involved in a project that had warranted the interest of John Zorn...actually, he was a pretty nice dude and I was probably jealous of the potential, but nonetheless I was suspicious. Well, he brought me a tape and of course it never came out on Tzadik so I was kinda vindicated - but there was obviously a LOT of effort spent on this project...manic dirges, sax drenched bursts of avant insanity, gratuitous samples from adult films and preachers. Total weirdness in an extremely (but indescribably '90s) way, perfectly suited for Tzadik - even if Zorn never gave the record a proper release (apparently it was the samples that caused the roadblock, and San Francisco's Radical House eventually distributed this recording, as well as BIBLE LAUNCHER's 1998 follow up). Sometimes you give away a few bagels and you get something in return that has some serious staying power.



For the brave Terminal Escape follower, there was this DAVE DAVE recording on the flip side of the BIBLE LAUNCHER tape and I might as well share it today since without context it would be quite a nonsensical post. Primarily just drum and bass, and while it appears to be just a jam session cassette (and the first four tracks are the same riffs played over and over and over again), there are some weird bits worth checking out: tracks 05 & 06 are just treated drums but they stand well as minimal pieces of avant sound, track 08 introduces vocals and innocence before the side descends into astronomical weirdness for a few tracks and then closes with several tracks of treated drums that are bizarre and mesmerizing. This is certainly not for everyone, and perhaps it is little more than an unearthed cassette oddity, but those who find themselves interested might have a good time over the next 45 minutes.


ALSO: From the same family of free food takers was a bike messenger named Anthony who would lounge in the general vicinity of my shop for what seemed like hours, wandering in when it there was a lull and we would chat and he would eat. He played in GAY BARBARIANS... AND OR JAURWAURS (whose "Bohemian Special" CD is a near masterpiece) and an exercise in amplifier abuse called NAPPYTIME JUNCTION. 17 years later, his drummer is the master tenant in my studio and their 2001 live set from Mission Records is available on Escape Is Terminal. I don't know...it's a good band and the connection seemed at least vaguely relevant.



8 comments:

Erick Bradshaw H said...

You were in Fuckface? As in I LIKE FUCKFACE AND I'M HIGH AS FUCK? Saw you in a basement in Richmond VA (on I assume that tour) w/ Hickey and Alabama Thunderpussy and Buzz*oven. I think. It was a long time ago, but that was a great show.

the wizard said...

No BUZZOVEN at that show, but I believe it was the only show that ATP played with Adrienne from Spitboy on vocals.
Either way - yes it was a great show, and yes it was a long time ago.

Erick Bradshaw H said...

Oh yeah, good call. Adrienne was living there at the time. Hickey playing "Freebird" is one of my all-time great show memories. I was 19 or maybe just turned 20. RVA Punk Nation! Love yr blog btw, one of the only good ones left it seems. Keep on keepin on....

Anonymous said...

ah, the bagel shop years. never in my life has the amount of food ive received differed so greatly from the amount of food i ordered! i marvel that you were able to get away with how much you gave out. anthony still continues to put out challenging bursts of noise. i think that guy can play any instrument you hand him. trying to put a face to the guy that was in bible launcher, and failing at it.

-joel

Unknown said...

Bible Launcher is an all out classic. Original Pressings released only in Japan are worth $$$. They show up on Ebay once in a while. Some of the freakiest shit I ever heard. Zorn outdid himself on this one. Naked City and Painkiller got noting on Bible Launcher!

Unknown said...

Bible Launcher = Holy Shit! Some demented stuff there for sure. John Zorn has done some whacky shit, But Bible launcher takes the cake. Painkiller and Naked City got nothing on Bible launcher.

Anonymous said...

This rad post just got your shit bookmarked son!

nice stuff!

shawn from KC

twentyfourtracks said...

I worked at Radical house studios in the early 2000's, Ron K, the owner has been a part of some very cool avant jazz noise projects. He told me that he was signed to Zorn's label, even had dinner with the man and Mike Patton- bit alas, it was the samples that killed the project being released by Zorn.