Happy Cadavers
[I'm back again! Most people have probably given up on this blog since I keep following my pattern lately of "Post/disappear for two months/post again". Family life and particularly work life have been too busy lately. The blog is always in the back of my mind, of course, and I have a BIG queue of planned postings. I guess I could just throw up some music files and no text and have a continuous stream of postings but that's not my style. This blog is a personal labor of love that brings me personal satisfaction, so I do it when I can and how I like.]
Here is a quirky, fun teen punk record- nothing serious here and the lyrics are totally teenage. Nothing over the top, and no raging in-your-face snotty teen rawness- for that type of teen punk, see something like the Neo Punkz EP. I had never heard of this Happy Cadavers disc until Johan Kugelberg included it as #74 in his great list of the Top 100 DIY Records that ran across issues 19 and 20 of the almighty Ugly Things zine back in 2001 and 2002.
Here is what he had to say about it:
"Punk/wave slop from the Midwest? Kind of aims for the Stranglers but hits Small Wonder Records. Charming stuff. Give me a fake English accent any day."
Oh, that Mr. Kugelberg! The band members included two dudes with the last name Dzenitis- John on (and I quote the back of the picture sleeve) "Bass, Synthesized Percussion" (what a "music industry" term for a drum machine- LOL!) and Paul on drums and "Small Furry Animals". But the most notable member of the band was then 13 year old David Grubbs on guitar, who went on to 1980's college rock darlings Squirrel Bait among others. In reading some interviews with him, it sounds like he is totally embarrassed by the Happy Cadavers record and wishes it pretty much didn't exist- he calls it "a terrible record" and "Teenage new wave…It’s pretty awful".
But I guess now that he's a "serious" musician he can no longer appreciate how much FUN this record is. There are no deep statements on it, nothing earth shattering- it's just a bunch of teenagers having a good time, and this Happy Cadavers EP brings a smile to my face. Stylistically, they are all over the map (just like a teenager, eh)- the first track (my favorite), "Nothing New", is the punkest one; the second track is poppier and probably the ONLY song in punkdom with lyrics about meeting your girl in the meat section at Kroger's- this song is musically my least favorite on the EP, but lyrically the most amusing! The third track is the shortest and their stab at hardcore- I'd place this track in that realm of "Fake HC" (now that'd be an interesting post!); and the last track is a slower, bass driven track that is totally hummable and has some dreamy keyboard noodling. There is an awesome guitar growl on "Nothing New" that is interspersed with some subtle keyboards... until, out of nowhere, there is this keyboard solo near the end of the tune. How quirky is that?! Totally off-kilter and hilarious.
Equally as hilarious are the lyrics- check out my favorite line from Nothing New's chorus:
"Did you read the papers today? Did you see the news? History is being made; oh, what’s the use?"
Or, my other favorite line:
"Things are everywhere- what should I avoid? Don't ask me, you idiot; I ain't no Freud"
Great stuff. If a teenager didn't write lyrics like that, then I don't know who did! And if you write lyrics like that past your teen years, shame on you! Also adding to the charm of the vocals is the singer's dead serious, flat, spoken delivery that sounds like he's reading the lyrics instead of trying to sing them.
The minimalist layout on the sleeve has an amusing, homemade drawing of cadaver feet sticking out of a sheet, even with the foot tag drawn- funny! I love crude, homemade artwork like this.
Henry Yu, the former collector scum scribe at MRR post-Ryan Richardson, had an amusing blog called Cardboard Compulsion where he shows old record mailers he kept from years ago. One of his postings is about the Happy Cadavers EP where he states that guitarist David Grubbs and the band was comprised of "fellow preppies" from one of the day schools in Louisville. Hey, nothing like upper middle class suburban angst, eh!
Nothing New
I Saw My Baby In The Meat Section
Images
Rigourous Mortis
P.S. If you have a vinyl copy you want to give away, let me know!
Love this record Tony and it's been in my posting queue for a little while too ha ha. Can't match you though so I'll post it a couple of months or so. Welcome back Tony! I wish I comment more often on your fantastic blog but you know how it is sometimes...
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Thanks for a great post! Totally unknown band to me...
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You've done it again in my eyes, sir! Can't say I've wanted this as long as Chainsaw, but 6 years at least as a top 10 OBSESSION. Sometimes I'd get confused and try that UK Happy Refugees record, then came to my senses. (Kinda like when I was curious to hear what punk Skrewdriver might sound like so I'd put on "Screwed Up" by Menace! I don't like SQ too much, they sound more like an engineering feet to me, but I liked the idea of what they were doing and as kids they pulled it over. Are they the Beatles to the Endtables' Stones or the Devo to their Ubu? One of your presentations is worth 10 of the typical narrow-genre obsessed blogs. God my mood doesn't get better than this . . . which I'm sure is exactly what a Happy Cadaver would say. It's such a nice grisly turn on the Grateful Dead. PS: I found the "Zeven Vijftig" LP, or at least grafted together the right mp3s to make it. (Been totally taken aback by how good the early lesser known Flying Nun stuff is too. Anyway I've been doing a little booking for two of PDXs last bro-free bars (I mean one without annoying douchbags) and I've been doing me solo act (I started doing "Anything Can Happen" by the Clean) so I hope if my brain keeps working I'll be recording my songs and participating in shit. Sir allow me to take this time to honor you as one who - in this world of connect 4 monopolies - reaches out and GIVES those records I was assuming were in Apea 51 by now. Let me know if you want that Zeveb Vif. LP! And thanks a million!
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Next to the first Bastro single (which was widely panned but I kind of liked), isn't this in fact the best record on which David Grubbs ever played? On a vacation in Chicago, I saw him play an in-store at the Wicker Park Reckless Records (the bigger store) and it was really bad--though part of my impression was probably the sycophants in the audience. Later I had a pretty good time drinking myself silly at a bar a couple of blocks down Milwaukee toward the lake. The old man who ran the place locked up around 11pm. Alarmed, I asked if the bar was closing. He looked concerned and said, "No, but we had a shooting." I thought perhaps I should get out or risk trouble. "When was that?" I asked. "1969." I thought this was good humor and continued to drink.
Later in life I went into a bar at the corner of Halsted and Cornelia (which I remember thanks to google maps) trying to get laid. Some drunk told me both John Wayne Gacy and Jeffery Dahmer both hung out there. Maybe this is urban lore, but punk! Unfortunately I left alone and, maybe equally unfortunate, alive.
I never comment, but I've liked your blog for a period of time nearing years.
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Thanks for the great post...Never knew there were such band existed..Kep up the good work.
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Any chance you can post the Zeven Vijftig LP? I have been looking for that a long time with no luck.
Great site - keep up the good work!
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