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BOSSK/GYMICRAE • split 7"
The Gymicrae side is kind of nice. They manage to mix slow mellow, parts with faster poppy parts without sounding too typical or cheesy. It's got feeling. This is the ISR side and is better than other stuff I've heard from them .
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Strong Man Wins -CD // Gymicrae // Mesual - 1997
Gymicrae plays punk with a dash of surf and metal thrown in on Strong Man Wins. It is truly angry stuff, reminiscent of early 80’s hardcore bands like early Black Flag or Dead Kennedys. They don’t go for the lighter, poppier Green Day touches that many of their punk contemporaries are into nowadays, instead preferring the angry attack of the bands mentioned formerly.
Singer/guitarist Jimmy sings like a pissed-off Jello Biafra, and for anyone that’s heard the DK’s, that’s quite a feat. He spits out the angst on “Torment” and “Bitch”, while he cranks out guitar riffs that have jagged surf and metal bits thrown into the hardcore mix, much like Biafra’s old sideman, legendary East Bay Ray.
What saves them from the cookie-cutter is a primitive chemistry among the musicians, as they not only do the straight-ahead stuff with force and abandon, but also negotiate some tricky time changes on “Bitch” and “Respect”. Bassist Mike and drummer Scott work well with Jimmy in the three-piece mode, putting up some solid rhythms for Jimmy’s workman-like, occasionally lyrical guitar.
Dragging them down is sloppy production, muddy by even garage punk standards. Jimmy’s vocals often get buried in the mix, and since he is the main personality of the band, it denies the band its personality. Their influences, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, and Minor Threat, had distinct and charismatic vocalists who were capable of bringing the music to a higher level. It’s hard to tell whether there is a frontman or personality in this band a la Biafra or Ian Mackay, beause the mix is so damned muddy.
On this five-song EP, Gymicrae shows some flashes of real talent which may lead to better things. But they need to work on the production a little more next time. It may decide whether they get closer to their esteemed forefathers in the punk elite, or end up just another lost and forgotten band, jamming away in their garage.
Steven Booth
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Gymicrae “Strong Man Wins” CDEP - Mensual Records P.O.B. 294 Hudson, NH 03051.
There’s a good groove to this punk. The stuff that makes you want to slam at times and space at others. You can’t help moving to it. “Torment” and “Lowercase” are stronger than “Bitch.” “Execution of Karma” is kind of muffled but it’s got a nice riff. With its spooky feedback, “Respect” offers yet another side of the band. Sometimes a lot more conventional than the other tracks, it surprises you with unexpected melodic brakes and lots of other “parts” It’s long, yet short. - HEARTATTACK, LUMMOX, URBAN RAG
Jim McCray
"Broadcast From Hell"
4 song 7"
Giant Robot Rec.
Crazy alterno-indie shit from ex-Shlumpf singer.
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Gymicrae
Execution of Karma CD
Cold mornings. Slow moving as the mid-day sun approaches . The heated sidewalks of summer burn the bare-footed street dancers as 4/4 punk rock snottiness blares from a boombox on the sandy boardwalks of Orange County beaches. Skateboarders ollie atop fire hydrants and curbs. Bikini-clad, punk rock girls talk about the new Epitaph releases with the enthusiasm of a new religion. Propositional "like, you know"s form the platform for important conversation. The fog rolls in, temporarily blanketing the inside break with a cotton-like thickness. Visibility is nil for the 'boarders that can hear the Biafra-ish vocals still audible from the sand despite the enormity of the crashing waves around them. Punk rock is full of ironies, Gymicrae's covering "Shoplifters of the World Unite" is no exception. (Insurance Scam PO Box 145 Northville, MI 48167) - Keith York - MOD MAGAZINE, K.N.O.W. RECORDS,
Discography
"The Peachtree Singles" NOW at iTunes!!
"drunken penasquitos sunday"
"farce"
"the melanie sponselee sessions"
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Bio
I was grown in fields of punk rock and your classic pop hitmakers like Jim Croce, the Clash, the Anti-Nowhere League, and the Eurythmics. Then slowly and painfully simmered in the 90's "emotional hardcore" scene, and finally stripped down and served fresh in a steaming pile of my own guts.
Biography:
In the early nineties everything was possible. Somehow after the death of Shlumpf, the metallic hardcore band that popped my rock'n'roll cherry in high school (god I miss just being the lazy singer who got to bash his face bloody in the stage monitors), powerpop seemed like a nice change of pace. So I traded in the drummer to one day become Manuok in exchange for the future bassist of Flogging Molly.
Then over the next few years through tours and friendships we were assimilated into the asscrack of what people were calling the emo scene.
That was just fine for me when it meant that we got lumped in with bands such as Still Life and Sense Field, who were nearly idols to us and certainly were kind and inspirational as individuals. The Locust, F.Y.P., The Fixtures, J-Church, were the types that we liked to be around.
I remember the shows we played with Left Alone at short-lived venues like Club Bullocks and the P.C.H. Club in Wilmington.
Those are my influences.
The first incarnation of a band formation was with me, Nathen Maxwell (bass, Flogging Molly) on bass guitar and Kurt Barlage of the Pacific on drums.
The second was me, Mike Peralta (The Rolling Blackouts) playing bass, and Scott Souza on drums. This became "gymicrae" and was supposed to represent not a backup band for me but a creative unit.
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