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The French Irish Coalition “Ten of Swords”

sfilzen — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:00:43 +0000

The French Irish Coalition “Ten of Swords” 2022 (self-released) on CD because it only exists on that format (and streaming). We picked up their second album (the other: Pistols and Daggers 2010) this past weekend up at Mile of Music from the band. One of the many great things about Mile of Music is that every year we stumble upon a band we’ve never heard of for some random reason: this year it was The French Irish Coalition because they were playing a stage right before a band we wanted to see (Gloom Girl MFG, rockers from Nashville who are amazing but didn’t have any music to purchase). The description of FIC on the MoM app sounded like they’d be up our alley: “Howling slide guitar, booming drums and a live performance that won’t disappoint, this Green Bay based duo aims to make you question how two people can create this much sound.” Accurate!! Punk blues is exactly what The French Irish Coalition delivers: crashing drums via Travis Pashek – he’s the Irish and also does some vocals, snotty vocals and Delta blues guitar (in the style of R.L. Burnside, plus Charley Patton who they credit as an inspiration in the liner notes of Ten of Swords. They also credit cheap whiskey) via Julian Routheaux – the French, obviously. Since we had literally never heard of The French Irish Coalition before seeing them this past Saturday, I cannot accurately say what tracks they performed from Ten of Swords but I’m guessing they played a couple of my top picks: the album opener “Might Be the Devil,” “Change” and the title track “Ten of Swords” which has a great punk-reggae beat with a Kurt Cobain/Nirvana-like delivery.

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Hole “Live Through This”

sfilzen — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 19:36:22 +0000

Hole “Live Through This” released 30 years ago today, April 12th, 1994. A rare CD pull today because in 1994 I was pretty much only buying CD’s. Hole’s second album went to #52 in the US and to #13 in the UK; both Rolling Stone and Spin ranked it as the best album of the year. I listened to it a lot in ’94, so much so that I got thoroughly sick of it and haven’t really touched it in the past 30 years. Thematically it’s a challenging record, with lyrics that discuss the objectification of and violence against women, being a mom, depression, and drug use (Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain’s daughter was taken away from them for a bit as an infant because of their alleged heroin use). Parts of the record were even recorded while some of the band members were high on crystal meth (specifically drummer Patty Schemel and bassist Kristen Pfaff).

Because this album is so imprinted in my consciousness it’s really hard to highlight my top tracks but if pushed, I’d choose the rocker “Plump” which I’m fairly certain is about drugs and motherhood. The singles are also all great. “Miss World” was the first to be released; it hit #13 in the US and #64 in the UK. It is, partially, also about drugs. “Doll Parts” went all the way to #4 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart (to #58 on the regular chart and to #16 UK); it’s about Kurt Cobain. “Violet” was the third single, going to #29 on the Modern Rock chart (#17 UK) and supposedly is about Love’s relationship with Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan. “Softer, Softest” was the final single from Live Through This and went to #32 on the Alternative Airplay chart in the US. Cobain provided backing vocals for the track (same for “Asking for It” which is another great song). As the title implies, “Softer, Softest” is one of the most mellow tracks on the record but the lyrics are…not (“Burn the witch/Just bring me back her head”).

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Toadies “Rubberneck”

sfilzen — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:22:06 +0000

Toadies “Rubberneck” 1994. Interscope Records. On CD because that’s the only format it was available on back then. We saw Toadies play Rubberneck, their debut LP, in its entirety this past Saturday night at the Rave in Milwaukee. Opening for them was Nashville Pussy (who we’ve seen play a lot in the past) and Reverend Horton Heat (same). We last saw Toadies play on July 16th, 1996 – also at the Rave but in the upstairs Eagles Ballroom – with the Rev and Butthole Surfers. I almost fell over when I saw how long ago that was because I remember the show vividly: it was hotter than hell and one of the loudest shows I’ve ever attended; we had to leave during the Buttholes because we couldn’t take it anymore. Anyway, this past weekend’s performance was amazing.

I had to dodge and weave the very young, very drunk girl who was next to me at the security railing (her head gets in the way a few times in the videos linked below and my dodging her made my phone shaky), but other than that it was a great night. Rubberneck was one of my most listened to albums in the mid-90’s and I still love it in its entirety. “Backslider” is brutal, as is “Quitter” and “I Come From the Water.” “Tyler” is a perfect example of a 90’s grunge ballad: head-banging, anthemic and seriously creepy. But for me the highlights of the record — and their show — are the epic tracks “Possum Kingdom” (#4 on the US Alternative chart) and the album closer “I Burn.” At the Rave show, the drummers from Nashville Pussy and the Rev’s band joined the Toadies on stage, plus another young drummer (who I think is from Milwaukee as he was doing some stage running and I swear I’ve seen him doing stage work at other recent concerts at other venues). Definitely the highlight of the night.

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