Vicious Cycles, Dead Bob and, yep, FEAR again

I wonder if Lee Ving is motorcycle guy? It doesn't seem a stretch -- there he is with Willem Dafoe as one of the biker bad guys in Walter Hill's Streets of Fire; he seems entirely credible. Of course, the opening band tomorrow night, the Vicious Cycles, are motorcycle people -- their full name is the Vicious Cycles MC, with MC standing for "motorcycle club," which I confess is something I did not know most of my life, despite my longtime BOC fandom. I dug into their backstory in an interview in the basement of Neptoon Records eight years ago, and have enjoyed catching them multiple times since. The song I was riffing on in the title of that story, "You Ain't So Tuff," is still one of my favourite songs of theirs, and the story behind it one of the best stories anyone has ever told me about the inspiration for a song... didn't hurt that the inspiration was right there in the basement with us... 

Anyhow, I was told something by the band today that makes me think I need to interview them again, if I can find a good home for it -- it's super-cool news, but it may not be yet ripe for public consumption. But they definitely are going to have FEAR stories to tell at some point, since this is the second time they've opened for those guys locally (and I believe they are playing with them in Seattle -- actually Portland; oops -- as I type this!). Suddenly, I really want to know if Lee took an interest in their history with bikes (maybe I should watch Streets of Fire again? He actually rides in that, doesn't he?). 

So I have a story that I can't leak yet, which led me to want to leak a different story about Dead Bob, only I've just discovered that I'm not supposed to leak the thing I found out about them, either (I need Depends or something; I'm a leaky boy). Suffice to say that I am very, very excited by a couple of the songs on it, which I believe I have heard them do only once. One is a Nomeansno song, and one is a Dead Bob song. I hope I'm allowed to leak THAT much?

John Wright by Bob Hanham

And while I have no news at present, I am hoping to talk to Colin MacRae tomorrow about impending Pigment Vehicle reissues. I actually have become quite a fan of Pigment Vehicle, whom I wrote about here. I think, since Erika and I went up to Powell River to check out the pub John and Colin (and others) were running, I've actually listened to Pigment Vehicle more than I have Dead Bob (!), and -- though I was there to talk to John, I quite enjoyed interacting with Colin, even though I didn't know his former band so well at that point. I think I briefly owned Murder's Only Foreplay When You're Hot for Revenge, but that was it. 

By the by, where the hell did they get that title from, and if murder is only foreplay, what counts as coitus -- full on Maori-style cannibalism, turning your enemies into feces? Or were they thinking of something about more, uh, necrophilic? "I ain't done with you yet, dead man..."

Incidentally, do I have a certain American public figure on the brain or does the guy on this album cover REMIND you of anyone? I would rather turn this person into feces than fuck his corpse, I think. Maybe you gotta go on a case-by-case basis (or maybe they had some other indignities to the human body in mind with that title? Guess I have stuff to ask them, too, if and when reissues happen!).  

But the thing about Pigment Vehicle: it is still very fresh to me. Not only did it come to me at a time when I was plunging into math and prog and really getting into Don Caballero and King Crimson and such -- the student was ready, and the teacher came, then had to go change his pants -- I had not listened to a single release of theirs all the way through, ever, until 2023. I could recite you a goodly chunk of Nomeansno's lyrics; there aren't many songs of theirs that aren't deep in my DNA, at this point, such that I seldom need to hear them now -- but I don't think (speaking of motorcycles) that I'd heard "Saving My Cash for a Hog" until 2023. Hell, I knew Ford Pier's catalogue better than that, or the Invasives better. I didn't know Rong as well, and have been really, really enjoying them of late, too, but to me, the most mysterious element in Dead Bob -- the one I have seen play least often, in fact -- remains Colin. I have seen John play with Nomeansno and the Show Business Giants; Kristy-Lee with Rong; Ford with Nomeansno, D.O.A., the Show Business Giants, the Ford Pier Vengeance Trio and more; and Byron with Rong and Invasives. But Colin I have seen play three times, each time a Dead Bob gig. 

Colin MacRae by Bob Hanham

But there's lots I want to hear from Dead Bob, too -- truly a local supergroup led by Vancouver's most swingin' punk drummer. Without spoilers, the album, including songs you will here tomorrow, is discussed at some length in this interview I did with John Wright. 

Oh, and speaking of FEAR and things mathy, check out "I Am a Doctor" on the album the anniversary of which they are touring. Or check out the whole album. I remember having mixed feelings about More Beer when it first came out, but I went through it in full the other day with headphones on, just playing it off Youtube while, uh, on a break at work, and, by damn, it's quite fun. There are a couple of songs I don't much need, and there's a lot of between-song silliness (who do they think they are, NO FUN?), but there's hook after hook, and songs I'd kind of forgotten and now am delighted at the prospect of seeing, like "Waiting for the Meat."

Damn I hope they have this album on their merch table tomorrow. 

There are still tickets for FEAR, folks. I'd be there, tomorrow. I think it's gonna be fucking great.