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The Lost Rock Band Collection: Songs (require Windows Media Player):
Curator's Note Dirt Cousin always had the nastiest guitar sounds and best licks in our generation (the late '80s) of Wash. U. campus bands, and I'd also say in our phase (the early-to-mid '90s) of the St. Louis music scene -- which included Uncle Tupelo and Chicken Truck, the band that became The Bottlerockets. Joe Armin has a keen ear for biting guitar, and I know that his licks come from endless hours of practicing because I lived with him through Dirt Cousin's best years. (He can also sing beautifully, though chooses not to, going instead for his best roar.) His perfectionism found a perfect foil in David Gendelman, whose record collection and guitar chops are frozen in the golden, grimiest era of garage rock. If Joe holds down the mad scientist side of Dirt Cousin, the careful invention of licks and sequencing of songs, David is the eternal adolescent heart of rock and roll, the raucous and sloppy guy with a low-slung guitar and some burn-out observations ready to shout as he bangs out a few ragged (but perfect) chords. For more information or to get Dirt Cousin on cassette or CDr, e-mail joez@skuntry.com. Ask him about his current project, The Aerosols, too -- another great rock band (let's hope they don't get lost). ***
A Brief History of Dirt Cousin David Gendelman and I started writing and recording music together back in early 1987 after figuring we could multitrack record on his dual cassette tape deck. Stuff we were listening to at the time: Chocolate Watch Band, Aerosmith, Dream Syndicate's first album, early Meat Puppets. We formed our first "proper band" together (with Dave Melson on bass and Dave's friend Steve on drums) our senior year of undergrad at Washington University, playing gigs on campus and at St. Louis clubs. This Dirt Cousin only recorded a couple of rough-sounding demo cassettes; the demo "We Don't Want You to Work" is taken from one of those, and the live take from a gig at Off Broadway in February 1989.
Before the band dissolved in spring of '96, Dave, Steve, Mitch and I played a couple of live Dirt Cousin shows, one at San Fran's The Kilowatt and one during a Sunday afternoon at Berkeley's legendary People's Park, playing for some friends, some basketball-shooting kids and a handful of genuine, incredibly burnt-out Berkeley hippies.
 Last Modified: Mar 11, 2003 at 9:10PM (EST) |
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In September '93 I was living in St. Louis again after spending a couple of years in San Francisco. That month Dave, who was still living in San Francisco, drove through town on his way across the country and we started jamming on drums and guitar in my room at 2115 Marconi on the Hill, the old Italian neighborhood (site of many St. Louis music scene after-hours parties). Our impromptu playing formed the basic tracks for the 18 songs that became Dirt Cousin's cassette album JUNIOR COLLEGE (represented here by "Randy Beard," "Going Blank at the Medicine Counter," "My Trailer Park Could Be Yours," and "French Shoes' Revenge"). We switched off on all instruments (drums, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, vocals, harmonica, casio keyboard, kazoo, glass, banjo, tyco guitar), enlisted the help of Matt Fuller, and did some field recording at the St. Louis Cineplex. JUNIOR COLLEGE got reviewed in CMJ in 1994, which prompted a handful of labels and annoying music lawyers to call me, all, of course, looking for the next Nirvana! And, of course, they fell silent after receiving this dense, rough cassette.
I moved back to San Fran in October '94 and Dave and I recorded another 4-track cassette, OAHU (including "Boeing 707," "Junior College," "Snow Leopard" and "Hidden Cameras in Indian Hill"). The 21 songs on this tape were again all collaborations and add up to some sort of concept album, with undermixed vocals and loud guitars. Dave and I played most of the music, but got help from friends on some songs -- Mitch Lamoreaux (bass), Steve Barnat (drums), Jon Felman (guitar, scissors and drink spilling) and others. (Jon now plays with me and Jefferson Parker in The Gentlekin, a harmony pop band influenced by The Go Betweens and The Soft Boys.)