2846 Chapman St. Compilation

2846 Chapman St. (a.k.a. the SPAM Warehouse) was the second place I lived after high school. I think I was only there 9 months or so, but thanks to the coterie of maniacs who inhabited that place I had a lot of memorable moments in that time (including plenty of shady shit I won't rehash here).

This compilation has tracks from a bunch of bands that lived, practiced, recorded, or just sometimes hung out at the warehouse. Included are Tommy Lasorda, Poser Posse, Bozaks, Sexy, Civil Dysentery, Scorpion Death Rock, Dismembers, Fleshies, Weak Leads, and Los Rabbis.

2846 Chapman St Compilation (.zip file)

A lot of these tracks were recorded live; some of them are also available elsewhere.

Hat tip to Dara O'Beirne (of Civil Dysentery fame) for sending me the files. As with many things, this was also already posted at Remote Outposts.

Civil Dysentery discography

In the spirit of this blog---aka a personal wankfest of self-indulgent nostalgia---here's another discography for a band I was in.

I could write about Civil Dysentery for days, though I won't subject you folks to that (at least for now). I wasn't in the band when they started, but I joined pretty shortly after we all moved in together at the Chapman St. warehouse in Jingletown. (Apparently, Jingletown is "one of the fastest growing arts districts in the San Francisco Bay area", but that sure as shit wasn't the case in 2002).

In any case, I loved this fucking band, and though (again) I was kind of a dick at the time, as 19 year olds can be, I have nothing but good memories about playing these songs. Here are the tracks:

Civil Dysentery Discography (.zip file)

• Civil Dysentery "Why don't you love me anymore?" CD
• Civil Dysentery "Live on KALX"
• Civil Dysentery "Just Burried" 7"

I played bass on the CD and on our live set on KALX, but not on the "Just Burried" 7" (I'd already moved to New York at that point). That was a huge bummer for me --- I loved the Guitar Wolf + Melvins style of the songs on the 7", and had chipped in more than usual on the songwriting, if I recall --- but so goes it. I still think the dark groove of "Cancer" (on the 7") was the best thing the band ever recorded.

Once MRR said we sounded like Black Fork and it made my fucking decade, even if they were probably wrong. I also have a reel-to-reel tape of some lost songs I'm willing to sell to the right bidder for $50 and a burrito.

Cropknox: demo tape

Punk is punk. In the 90s I was as happy with the Angelic Upstarts and GBH as I was with Black Flag and the Germs, or Dillinger 4 and Fleshies. I'm a very different person now, but that shit is still true.

Anyways, the Cropknox fell on the mohawk side of things. Good friends of mine --- mostly Davey, but also Mackey and Nathan, and also some people I couldn't get along with (though Taylor was decent, if I remember. Did I just list everyone but one person?). I have some very fond memories of hanging out with these folks in Berkeley, Brooklyn, and various other places. In fact, I shot some B&W photos that ended up on the liner notes of their LP, and took some *very* weird photos at 5am in Bushwick when they crashed with us on tour.

Here's the demo:

Cropknox demo tape (.zip file)

They put out some 7"s too, and a record on Punkcore where they stepped up their riff game. This demo, more than their other stuff, really reminds me of Davey --- it's 80% sneer and Spanish Civil War references. Love it.