For years, the only thing that I knew about STILL LIFE was that they weren't punk. Maximum Rocknroll (in)famously determined that their record on Ebullition didn't meet whatever threshold there was for determining punk vs. unpunk and refused to review the record, prompting the birth of HeartattaCk 'zine from the folks at Ebullition. Considering the musical climate at the time - MRR leaning more towards raucous garage punk and a head spinning proliferation of emotional hardcore bands playing slower, longer songs (and let's be honest, the last track on this demo opens with acoustic guitar strumming for 70 seconds and then the vocals kick in with "This is a song about Love! Love! Love! For life!" - it isn't really surprising, even though I think that with older ears (in this case, mine) there's little doubt that these sounds fall under the punk umbrella. I never listened to STILL LIFE at the time, not because some Authority had deemed the band not punk, but because what little I heard didn't really appeal to me. I wanted fast and I wanted in your face, and if I wanted emotional and introspective then I would crank some MOHINDER, you know? But for whatever reason, these sounds made by suburban Southern California teenagers appeal to me now, in my mid-40s. Go figure.
1 comment:
Saw them in a few living room/garage gigs. Always impressed me how friendly they were.
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