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Four Fort Worth Bands to Watch
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"The next two bands I want to pull your coat to share a booking agency (Dallas Distortion Music), a ..."The next two bands I want to pull your coat to share a booking agency (Dallas Distortion Music), a label (Lo-Life Recordings), a producer (Britt Robisheaux, who plays in the Theater Fire, Drug Mountain, and Most Efficient Women when he isn't knob-twiddling), and a couple of releases (the split cassette Love At First Fight, Vol. 1 and an upcoming split 7-inch, Introducing...). Beyond that, their front guys (War Party's Cameron Smith, Doom Ghost's Lavern Marigold) share a penchant for facial hair and hats. That's where the similarities end.
War Party's a quartet whose instrumentation includes a trumpet, but thankfully they don't sound anything like Cake. Sonically speaking, they have a penchant for borrowing classic song structures ('57 doo-wop I-VI-IV-V, '64 Kinks racka-racka) and running them through a postmodernist filter so Smith can spew his brainy, jaded lyrics over the resultant racket in a Marc Bolanesque yelp."
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High Hopes for Lo-Life
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Lo-Life Recordings is thinking big. The DIY Fort Worth collective/label has already begun doing what...Lo-Life Recordings is thinking big. The DIY Fort Worth collective/label has already begun doing what any good collective does: concentrate bands’ energy (and anxiety) on projects, including shows, events, and, of course, recordings. On the heels of a recently released cassette tape by two raw upstart acts –– Doom Ghost and War Party –– Lo-Life is about to put together a compilation cassette featuring previously unreleased tracks from some of the biggest names in the underground proto-punk scene, including the two aforementioned plus Mailman, Year of the Bear, Bitch Bricks, Toy Gun, The Longshots, Sealion, UBoat, and some “very other familiar names,” said Cameron Smith, War Party frontman and Lo-Life’s associate director of communications. Some bands will contribute pre-recorded material. Others will bust out tracks at Dreamy Soundz, the studio of producer Jennifer Rux and husband Robby Rux –– Jennifer is in Bitch Bricks and, with her husband, in Year of the Bear. Located in the Near Southside’s Fairmount District, the studio has been the site of some groundbreaking work, including material by Skeleton Coast and The Longshots and Fungi Girls’ Pitchfork-approved Some Easy Magic. The comp cassette will be produced by Britt Robisheaux and the Ruxes and released via Lo-Life and Dreamy Soundz Records, the studio’s new label. Smith hopes to release three special versions of the cassette in limited number exclusively at the Second Annual Lo-Life X-Mas Party. (The date, location, and lineup will be announced soon.) Smith and his Lo-Life companions have never been as energized as they are now. “It feels as though some sort of floodgate was opened up, and now the more raw and uncompromising side of Fort Worth music is becoming active and motivated,” Smith said. “Hardworking, passionate musicians who aren’t relying on handouts or guidance in what sort of music they should be playing in order to be successful are busting ass all over the Metroplex.” Legendary big-thinking collectives, including The Factory in Manchester in the late 1970s and early ’80s and Dischord Records in the ’80s in Washington, D.C., have led to momentous music. “Some people may one day consider Lo-Life a similar institution for part of the amazing culture that is growing in Fort Worth at this time in its history,” Smith said. “We want to boost the like-minded DIY artists who are willing to work hard, the old-fashioned way, to get their work out there. We want the rest of the world to one day recognize this place, this scene, and these artists as the ones who built what we feel will and is already becoming a new era of sound and vision for Fort Worth.”
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War Party @ 35 Denton Music Festival
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Thursday ended on a high note -- literally -- as trumpeter Ricky Williford bounded off the stage, ch...Thursday ended on a high note -- literally -- as trumpeter Ricky Williford bounded off the stage, charged to the back of the room, and circled back to his bandmates, all while blaring along with the song. The kinetic, infectious style put a grin on everyone in the room (how often do you see a pizza joint completely taken over by live bands?) and cemented War Party as one of my favorite acts of the fest thus far. It was a good way to wind down this easygoing first day, and sets the stage for 35 Denton's continued surprises. The festival continues through Sunday at various venues throughout the city.
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Killer or Filler?
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"Here’s a split EP released on cassette (!) and digital download that features six tracks of raging,..."Here’s a split EP released on cassette (!) and digital download that features six tracks of raging, lo-fi punk rock thrills, with a virulence that I haven’t heard in these parts for quite awhile. Between these two bands, Doom Ghost and War Party, and The Fungi Girls, it’s almost as if some sort of sub-generational groundswell is taking place here.
I heard Doom Ghost first, when a friend sent me a link to their demos. I was knocked for a loop by their potent combination of ’60s garage grunt and melodic punk squall. I had the pleasure of witnessing them in live performance, which was even more feral than their demos had led me to expect. While my two favorite songs from those demos didn’t make this release, Love at First Fight, Vol. 1 (on War Party’s Lo-Life Recordings), the three that did make it still manage to say more in two minutes or fewer than any other music I’ve heard recently. My only gripe is that Doom Ghost sounds more minimalist in the studio than onstage, where they blow up against the back wall as if they mean to knock it down.
Producer Britt Robisheaux — who plays in The Theater Fire and Most Efficient Women and played in Drug Mountain and Nouns Group — got my attention with an advance spin of a War Party track, “Beginner’s Luck,” which reminded me of something I’d have bought as an import single back in 1973, when glam was all the rage. The track’s a winner from alpha to omega, with nifty guitar interplay, backing vocals, and a propulsive beat that just won’t quit. On reflection, the comparison that resonates is with The Replacements, based on War Party frontman Cameron Smith’s Westerbergian yelp and the band’s somewhat shambolic live presentation. In fairness, I saw ’em at The Chat Room, where I gather they’re regulars — they might have been a little more comfortable than usual on stage. The proximate sonic model there was The Velvet Underground (if Uncle Lou was actually having a good time).
What’s irresistible about both of these bands is the sheer cathartic energy and joy that they project, the distilled essence of the rawk that will never die. — Ken Shimamoto"
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War Party Throws Back
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The details of a brief November road trip to Austin are still hazy for War Party’s four members. In ...The details of a brief November road trip to Austin are still hazy for War Party’s four members. In an interview on a recent evening, months after the trip, drummer Peter Marsh could only shake his head, grin, and apologize to his three bandmates about what happened one fateful night, though he stopped short of rehashing specifics.
It was the others who shed only a sliver of light on his antics when they alluded to something about Marsh turning into a “werewolf.”
The garage-rocking Fort Worth band was scheduled to play two gigs in Austin but, after failing to find a van to get there, missed the first show. It wasn’t until later that night they borrowed a prisoner-transport-turned-touring-van and quickly packed it with a handful of friends, instruments, and enough booze to float a yacht.
From there, the guys said, the details get blurry. In the interview, they barely mentioned their second show, other than to say they made it down there in time to perform. Mostly, the four recounted snippets about a night that culminated in the wee hours of the morning with bassist Tyler Moore and guitarist/trumpeter Ricky Williford throwing quarters at pigeons.
As punk rock-ish as such stories make War Party sound, the Fort Worth band is careful to steer clear of the label, because, in the words of frontman Cameron Smith, punk music “becomes more of a cage than an outlet, because you’re just pissed — nothing else.”
Still, partying has yet to grow old.
“You’re not tired of being in a shitty van that smells like sweat and traveling across the country,” said Smith, War Party’s 23-year-old co-creator. “You don’t get tired of that, but you get tired of some of the other bullshit … like when you are always expected to be pissed off all the time. There’s really not a lot of room for any artistic expression in it.”
Smith and his bandmates spent many nights making the rounds of Fort Worth’s punk scene. His last band, Decades, also based here, toured the national punk circuit and played shows as far away as New York City from 2006 until the group disbanded in 2010.
Smith, who, like many local musicians, has experience working for Starbucks, took the breakup as an opportunity to leave the punk mold behind. He joined his boss' brother, Marsh, to create a sound carefully crafted not to fit any single style. The duo's first set of recordings, the album Year of the D-g, just came out and is available for download at http://thewarparty.bandcamp.com.
As a four-member group, War Party is working on its first official album that will be released through the band’s DIY production arm, Lo-Life Recordings. A tour also is in the works.
Smith and Marsh began jamming together in early 2011 and even recorded an early album sketch by that spring. Decades guitarist and Smith’s long-time friend Moore joined as War Party’s bassist that summer. Williford, another punk rocker who continues to play with the hardcore Fort Worth group Big Fiction, joined War Party on guitar and trumpet shortly thereafter.
How much punk still lingers in War Party’s music varies from song to song; most of the band’s tracks contain at least a hint of the sound.
First, there are Smith’s vocals, which share a hoarse rawness with Rancid vocalist Tim Armstrong’s. On the instrumental front, War Party’s sound blends fast-and-furious punk strumming and drumming with poppy, up-tempo melodies from ’60s doo-wop.
“That was the first kind of music I ever liked,” Smith said, referring to everything from Motown to Al Green. His bandmates are equally fond of the pop music from the ’60s and ’70s: Smokey Robinson, The Monkees, The Everly Brothers, and, above all, Leonard Cohen.
War Party’s much edgier, grungier, and R-rated influences range from The Stooges to The Clash to Nirvana. Mash these with the classics, and you might get a sense why the War Party guys classify their music, dryly, as “don’t-wop.”
“Having that background and then having me idolizing Dave Grohl and people like that, we have these weird backgrounds that intertwine,” Williford said. “We have these weird songs that will be really poppy and doo-woppy, and then suddenly it becomes a bit darker for a minute, then it comes back.”
The sound caught on pretty quick. War Party had barely played its first show as a four-person band in June when other venues came knocking. The project took off much faster than Smith and Marsh had anticipated during their first garage jam sessions just a few months earlier.
Smith chalks this up to his generation’s craving for throwbacks, pieces of simpler eras. “It’s almost like we’re in this age of remorse, where everybody just sort of misses the past. KitchenAid is making retro-looking blenders. Everybody is like, ‘Gosh, shit is getting so fucked up I wish it was like the ’50s or the ’60s.’ ”
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Interview – Cameron Smith from War Party
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I recently had the honor of interviewing Cameron Smith, singer from the Fort Worth area band War Par...I recently had the honor of interviewing Cameron Smith, singer from the Fort Worth area band War Party.
1.Tell us a little about the formation of War Party. How did you guys decide on the name?
War Party sort of started out as my imaginary band. For six or more years Tyler (Moore) and I were playing in a hardcore punk band called Decades. I fronted Decades as a detached singer but, embarrassingly enough, I didn’t know how to play any instruments at all. For me it was more like being a lyricists and gestural artists rather than a musician. I tried learning guitar as a young teenager but fractured my left wrist skateboarding and it took me eight more years to get back around to it. Decades began to dissipate around 2009 and I knew that, even though I waited much longer than I intended, I was determined to learn to play and write all of my own songs, words and music. There was no plan for what exactly the band would sound like, I just knew that I wanted to stop screaming, stop doing anything musically that I couldn’t easily slip out of. Originally I got the name War Party from the Warrior’s playstation video game that I would play at Tyler’s parents house between Decades rehearsal. Really I was just struck by the polarity of the two words, especially when each definition is isolated: War/Party. Peter (marsh), our drummer, was the first to start playing with me and he, maybe more so than anyone so far, really helped me progress and find the sound that has seemed to set the tone for most of the songs that I write. Tyler joined a few months later even though we were still in close proximity, I’m sure that he was (and maybe still is) waiting for me to complete, what he calls, “learning shapes and colors.” Ricky (Williford) joined shortly thereafter and then the band really started to make sense.
2.The is a great progression between your demo, “Year of the D-g”, and your songs on “Introducing” (a split with lablemates Doom Ghost). How did you get from point A to B?
YOTD is literally the sound of Peter’s and my original “jam” sessions. I’m not even sure if we initially planned on releasing it as a collection; for the most part we were recording the songs in my shed because we were two guys who wanted to hear what we could sound like as four guys. It was THAT kind of demo. Peter played almost all of the bass parts on YOTD, I played most of the leads and I definitely didn’t know how to play leads. Some of those parts are pretty funny to listen to now. We spent a lot of time in that shed just trying to figure out what we could do with a song. “Love at First Fight, vol. 1? and “Introducing…” were all recorded during our first session with Britt Robisheux. I think that the progression is definitely a testament to the amount of time we all spent playing shows, the individual talents of all the guys in W/P and the amazing work that Britt does. I suppose all progress is really just an issue of time and drive.
3.Is this progression you guys plan on continuing? BTW “Blame the Blues” is on heavy rotation on my iTouch!
I don’t think many musicians would admit to plans of regression but I know that we have none. The only concrete plan is to frantically write and record and play as much as possible and hopefully progression will continue to occur organically. I’m not sure if progression has a choice in the matter. We’ve nearly finished writing and have already begun recording songs for our debut full length album. I’m really excited about it because now everyone contributes to writing in various ways so it makes for more interesting parts. Also it will be our first release to feature songs from both Ricky and Peter, of which they are the primary writers.
4.I hear so many “bits and pieces” from different musical genres. Who are some of your influences?
The influences are all over the place, most of the musicians and songwriters I love were introduced to me through skateboarders and/or skateboarding videos. The first song I remember being hyped on is “Runaround Sue” by Dion and the Belmonts, I was in kindergarten. As far as “pop” music goes, I don’t think its ever been better than it was in the 60s with Motown, doo wop and garage rock. Actually if you can catch all the references in our song Blame the Blues, that would probably better answer this question (I caught Blind Willie Johnson, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, David Bowie among many). The amount of references in that song are somewhat ridiculous, even to me, but I rarely revise lyrics once they a song is finished. And its always fun to bait a hook.
5.One doesn’t hear about a lot of bands from Fort Worth. How is the indie scene up there? Besides War Party (grin) who is blowing up there?
The Fort Worth scene is definitely experiencing a substantial swell. Bands and venues have been popping up like mad lately and so many of them are fantastic. Interesting spots that you couldn’t find anywhere else abound. Its strange because as a child I would fantasize about just getting the fuck out of this town and now as an adult its almost as if my friends and I have helped build it into a place that really feels like a home that we can be proud of and comfortable in. Doom Ghost is getting good hype, Bitch Bricks just started and I’m already seeing quite a bit of local press about them, also there is the Longshots, Year of the Bear and Fungi Girls. Sealion is out in Dallas but they are also getting a heaping helping of well deserved hype.
6. Who are you listening to now?
All of thee above but also Leonard Cohen, Buzzcocks, Jay Reatard, Pixies, The Kinks, Billy Childish, Jonathan Richman & Modern Lovers, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, the Nomads, Nervebreakers, Velvet Underground, Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, Townes Van Zandt, Billy Bragg, The Troggs… I could go on forever, really.
7.Where’s THE place to eat up in Fort Worth?
Spiral Diner. For many reasons but particularly because its very likely that if you go there I will be one of the few cooking for you.
8.What up next for War Party?
We’re going on tour for two weeks in September and, like I said, we just started recording with Britt again for our debut LP. Hopefully that will be finished by the time the year is up and we can get three releases in before 2012, just in case there is nothing on the other side of it (only joking.)
Right now the only thing that is certain is that we are most definitely going to continue to tour and release material frequently despite the fact that the world may never know and, to quote a close friend, “the world may never care.”
Special thanks to Cameron Smith for taking the time to answer a few questions. Look for War Party here on Bandcamp.
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Fort Worth's Lo-Life Recordings Confess: "We're No Good At Sitting Still"
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Fort Worth's Lo-Life Recordings have punctuated the seasons of 2012 with splits by Doom Ghost and Wa...Fort Worth's Lo-Life Recordings have punctuated the seasons of 2012 with splits by Doom Ghost and War Party, two bands that mirror each other's three-chord mindset. Then they put out two really great videos: One in which Doom Ghost is profiled takedown-ad-style for the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards, and the other spoofing PiL's infamously awkward 1980 interview with Tom Snyder. Then last week, those aforementioned bands played a show at Lola's with the wonderfully named Bitch Bricks. Sold.
I asked Lo-Life representative/War Party guitarist Cameron Smith a little about what's cooking with the label and in the basements in Cowtown.
What are your thoughts on the Fort Worth punk scene?
I think the punk scene in Fort Worth has had a lot of really hard-working, committed and passionate people involved in it for quite some time now. 1919 Hemphill has been open for ten years; that's one place that I know has helped raise almost all of the DIY punks on this end of the metroplex. As far as LLR goes, all of the bands seemed to have come about in a domino effect from just this last year. Vern [Marigold] was in Seattle and moved back thinking maybe there was room for him to join War Party, but then wound up starting Doom Ghost, and Schuylar Stapleton moved to Fort Worth from Seattle, by way of Colorado, with the idea that she'd be on guitar in Doom Ghost, but instead wound up starting Bitch Bricks. There's definitely a great deal of solidarity involved with all the bands on Lo-Life, and that's part of what makes it possible for us to realize most of the ideas that sprout up in our skulls.
And what was the inspiration for that PiL video?
We wanted to make some kind of promotional video for our first vinyl release and we wanted to include Fort Live in it as a token of our appreciation for them setting up and promoting the release party. It was Peter Marsh's girlfriend, Tiffiny Costello, that suggested we do the PiL spoof and immediately everyone was on board. The original clip is something we've all laughed at and joked about from time to time, so it wasn't hard to adapt it into what it became. Tyler Moore didn't even start writing out a script until Peter was already gripping the set, and even though there was a script, plenty of the dialogue was improvised. I guess all I'm really saying is good times were the inspiration.
What else do you have planned, release-wise, for 2012? What catches your ear and makes you want to put it out?
There's going to be a Bitch Bricks cassette split with the Longshots; War Party is currently working on their first full-length LP, and we may try to squeeze in another single in before the year is up; Doom Ghost is also ready to start recording a full length, but their drummer, Jeremy Brown, is still recovering from a broken clavicle. They are still sitting on a few unreleased tracks though, so I'm sure there will be some other DG release before the year is up. There will also be some kind of sound offering by previously unheard songwriter, Stephanie Donaghey, under the moniker Toy Gun, and then we're working on a cassette compilation with unreleased tracks from various bands, songwriters and friends around the metroplex whom we find to make exceptional noise.
We're no good at sitting still. When we hear music that is soulful and groovy and also raw and gritty, our frowns turn upside down. When we find out that it started on the floor or in a basement or garage by some Fort Worth-a-shit dirtbags like us, then we want to help put it out. It's hard for me to get any more specific than that, because for the ten or eleven months that Lo-Life Recordings has existed, it has really just been a tight-knit collective of musicians and artists, but it is growing all the time. We all own it and we all have an opinion and a say in what gets released because they are quite literally OUR releases.
Besides the obvious ones, what are some of the local bands you'd tell people to check out?
I'd say definitely keep an ear out for Fungi Girls, Year of the Bear, Sealion, Mailman, The Longshots, Fou, Jake Paleschic & Patriot, New Science Projects, Hate Your Friends, Special Guests, Spacebeach, Square Business, Big Fiction, Great Big Belugas, Innards, Final Club, Drug Mountain, Holy Mammoth and Toy Gun.
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Assorted Splits
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This spilt put out by the small label Lo-Life Recordings features two lo-fi rock acts with sinister ...This spilt put out by the small label Lo-Life Recordings features two lo-fi rock acts with sinister names. The first three tracks are by War Party, whose sound is somewhere between shoegaze and pop-rock. Makes me think of another submitted act, Fun Guns, which is good for I've really been digging those cats still. Second three are from Doom Ghost and are more eclectic. Starts with a garage rock song, a British-esque rock number (think Follying Molly), and one's a shimmery lo-fi pop ditty that invokes the Beat Happening. Must admit both bands are impressive and a finely complimenting spilt.
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DOOM GHOST / WAR PARTY: : Split 7”
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DOOM GHOST / WAR PARTY: : Split 7” A new release from Turkey Baster Records, who I don’t remember s... DOOM GHOST / WAR PARTY: : Split 7” A new release from Turkey Baster Records, who I don’t remember seeing anything from for a while after their Texas punk output in the late ‘90s. Both bands play lo-fi garage stuff of the sort that Mortville Records used to release. –Mike Frame (Turkey Baster)
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Top Local Albums, EPs of 2011
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...Here are the honorable mentions: Secret Ghost Champion’s wonderful Psychosomatic Immortality, Con......Here are the honorable mentions: Secret Ghost Champion’s wonderful Psychosomatic Immortality, Constant Seas’ Cycles, Earthquake Country’s Diaspora, War Party’s Year of the D-g, Beauxregard’s Gryphoemia, Holy Moly’s Grasshopper Cowpunk, Triple SP’s Transmission, and Jefferson Colby’s Dinosaurs and Fireworks. And, well, I’ve got to say that I love our 2011 Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards charity compilation CD, featuring new or previously unreleased tracks from some of Fort Worth’s finest, including Telegraph Canyon, Quaker City Night Hawks, Josh Weathers & The True+Endeavors, The Hanna Barbarians, Fate Lions, and many more –– Stella Rose’s contribution, “I’m a Ghost,” finished first in my top 10 local songs. Proceeds from the $5 sale of the disc go toward our charity sponsor, American Red Cross: Chisholm Trail Chapter. To have a copy mailed to you, send $5 and your address to the Weekly offices at 3311 Hamilton Av, 76107.
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Party Crashed By Doomed War Ghosts
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I received this cassette and 7" in the mail on Tuesday from new DIY label outta Fort Worth, Texas ca...I received this cassette and 7" in the mail on Tuesday from new DIY label outta Fort Worth, Texas called Lo Life Recordings. Both are splits between War Party and Doom Ghost, and they are both great.
The cassette, entitled Love At First Fight, Vol. 1, is as scuzzy as you'd expect yet there is some quality snotty rock to be found here. Im particularly enamoured with War Party's '(A Little Hell) From My Fringe' and Doom Ghost's stomping 'There Is A Room Filled With Blood'.
War Party - (A Little Hell) From My Fringe
Doom Ghost - There Is A Room Filled With Blood
Then the Introducing... 7" kills further. Doom Ghost let rip on their side, all garage disdain and wanton abandon, none more so on the incredibly plaintive 'Road Rat'. War Party throw forth the party vibes once more, helped in no small part by the warm and tight instrumentation emanating from the cracks in between the seams.
War Party - Road Rat
Doom Ghost - Blame The Blues
You can get yourself these releases from here. I really enjoyed these, and hope that these bands (and Lo Life Records) keep bringing the hits.
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Music Review – Doom Ghost and War Party – “Introducing…” split
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There are interesting things happening up in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area in Texas.
The Fort Worth...There are interesting things happening up in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area in Texas.
The Fort Worth bands Doom Ghost and War Party recently released a split called Introducing… that is a celebration of a proto punk sound and contains my favorite aspects of punk.
The first three songs – “Chem Trails”, “These Old Shoes”, and ‘Road Rat” – shows the mettle of Doom Ghost. LaVern Marigold, Banana Boy, and Brian Beetle Bailey are interested in making music that personifies the ground floor of all things punk – the loose, raw guitars and slow, rhythmic drums that has musical similiarities to music from a time of pompadours and hot rods. Doom Ghost is a prime example of garage music that is unpolished and raw, and I appreciate the lack of pretentiousness and musical “posturing” that many bands get wrapped up in – I sometimes like my punk just plain dirty. Doom Ghost definitely delivers that.
War Party’s ( Cameron Smith, Ricky Williford, Tyler Moore, and Peter Marsh) song, “Blame the Blues”, is my favorite song on the record and is the tightest song on the record, while keeping the overall proto punk sound. The last song “Damned I Am” has a cool guitar beginning with a single bass beat before a guttural yell that is reminds me of the “Outthaway” by the Vines (there are a few things about War Party that is similar to the garage rock revival of a few years ago). While War Party is tighter musically to Doom Ghost, they don’t stray from the basic feel of the record, which is slower, garage punk without ostentatiousness.
This is the type of music one enjoys at their favorite watering hole, sucking down some beers with friends. Introducing… is a prime example of garage punk.
You can check out Introducing… by Doom Ghost and War Party here.
