Dear Friends,
We are off to see Hayden today.
We have a little over 500 miles to go as we head to Rochester. Hoping for some clear roads and an easy path across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.
*****
Last night it was windy as heck and it snowed all day. It was cold as hell, too. I mean, it was nice to see the snow and all, but sheesh. It never got much over 33 degrees yesterday.
It is certainly bittersweet to say goodbye to Rangeley. This year has been a very difficult year and the house is a connection to a certain feeling of comfort. It's even harder on Rhondi. Leaving is not easy for her.
But we will be back in June. It will go by so fast. Before we know it, we will be celebrating as a family up here.
*****
For a long time, I couldn’t listen to Fudge Tunnel outside of the occasional trip back to Hate Songs in E Minor. The main reason for this was because of a lot of personal stuff that went down. I think I wrote about this a bit in the regular part of the blog a while back. It just didn’t feel right to go back to the records that were made during the time when Alex and I were super close.
As I was compiling the long list of possible records to write about, I kept coming back to Creep Diets. I was around during the time this record was being made and heard a lot about the process from Alex when he would come back to Phoenix between sessions. It seems like there were a couple of times he had to go back and forth for recording then mixing and such.
I really liked this record a lot from the beginning. It felt like the band was really progressing and ready to take a leap. He was my friend, so I wanted him to be successful, although as I got to know him better, it became more and more clear that being a famous rock-n-roll guy was not what he wanted at all. He had married into a family, though, that was pushing that big time.
There is a focus on Creep Diets that is way more apparent to me know. The band was really coming into their own as songwriters and not so much just great riff makers. Not only was Alex on top of his game, but David Ryley (bass and Adrian Parkin (drums) were as well. The record sounds super bad ass.
The riffs are pretty huge, though. “Grey” starts things off and the bass line is fucking rad. Alex’s vocals are buried (as usual) for the singing bits, but the band roars to life in the song with aplomb. I can totally hear why some people were calling them the “British Nirvana.” This was mostly just PR types trying to create a buzz, but there are certainly similarities.
The fuzziness of the guitars definitely sounds similar to a lot of the Seattle bands that were still exploding at the time. Fudge Tunnel was never going to be mainstream like that, though. They had roots too firmly attached to what I would call ‘fuck you’ music. Heavy ‘fuck you’ music is still a good thing.
The songs are meaty, and you can totally latch onto them. Alex poked some fun at the insipid Tipper Gore who was trying to make a name for herself by lashing out at the music that was, in her eyes, destroying the youth of America. Track two, “Tipper Gore” has great energy and is a very solid second track.
One of my first favorites on the record was “Ten Percent.” This is another huge bass line and it allows Alex to get noisy while remaining heavy. It’s also not a song that was ever trying to be a radio type thing. Parkin’s drums are pretty darn good here, too. He does a really cool thing his cymbals on “Ten Percent” that keeps it a little different than you might expect.
“Face Down” is another one that, when listening with very fresh ears, came off as kind of unexpectedly great. To be honest, I didn’t really remember this one. When I listen now, I can certainly see the growth in Fudge Tunnel as song writers. It has the typically low, almost quietly talking vocals that start it out. As a listener, it makes you pay a little more attention. Subtle but effective, I suppose, as a way to suck you in so that when the big, heavy riff comes back, it feels all the more pulverizing.
It is pulverizing, too.
“Grit” is another cool song where my focus is drawn to what Ryley is doing on the bass. Dave is such an underrated player. He still kicks major ass.
‘Don’t Have Time For You” was my favorite song off this record back in 1993. I liked the fact that the band did something totally different on this one for the first part of the song. It echoed a lot of the feelings I was having as a 23-year-old guy. This song reflected the Alex I knew, too. His taste in music was probably not what most Fudge Tunnel fans thought it probably was.
What a great way to kick off the B side, too. I’m sure a lot of the die-hard fans were like, “What the fuck?” But the heaviness came right back with “Good Kicking” which was another one that I liked then and still like now. It’s a bit of a plodder, but a good kind of plodder…like a steady kick in the balls.
The rest of the B side is more of the same. “Creep Diets” is a long one, but it’s not boring in the least. ‘Stuck” is not my favorite, but it is just a little repetitive and sounds pretty Nirvana-ish. “Always” is the last song. I feel like there was a story behind this one, but I don’t remember it. The beginning is super noisy and heavy, though, and it ends the record with some balls.
There were plenty of balls on this record, though.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Creep Diets, AI.
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