Music
The best kept secret in music
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"...LOVE the new release..." "The Weapons debut with an impressive old school seattle sounding ep....not grunge really, but rock, very good rock. Be on the lookout for the Weapons" - John Richards
In the very-late 20th century, "grunge" was a dirty word around Seattle. If you went up to a band around 1997 or '98 and said, "You guys are so grunge!," you might have walked away with a fat lip. Or, at least, the protest, "No way, we're speed metal," or, "You're crazy, we're totally punk!"
Part of it might have been denial, partly that grunge was by then in its post-Cobain death throes. By the early 21st century, that low, sludgy, eerily intense sound had been almost entirely replaced by the higher-end, far brighter music that came to be generalized as indie rock.
But you know how it is in music: Like in fashion, things tend to come around again...
So now, while indie- and pop-rock approaches a saturation point, there are signs that grunge is creeping back into Seattle. Neo-grunge, it might be better called. Post Stardom Depression has a very-Soundgarden sound. The Valley, playing with the Emergency at Fremont's High Dive at 10 p.m. Saturday ($7), play garage-punk rock with a strong Mudhoney accent. (Threeimaginarygirls.com review: "It contains all the buzzy, chugging, Rainier Beer and sticky rock-club floors of Seattle Rock of the past, and I can't help but love it.")
The best of the neo-grungers just might be the Weapons. The Seattle band's new "Formula for a Fight" EP is powerful, low-end, delicious sludge. A few of the songs — "Numb" and "40 oz." — sound like they could have been Nirvana or Alice in Chains B-sides.
This is not a bad thing, mind you, as a song could do far worse than to be compared to a Nirvana B-side. Theo Prince's lyrics reinforce the Cobain/Layne Staley echoes, with the likes of "I don't care if I die" and; even more creepily:
"I'm just alone with my forty ounce
Wishing that a gun wasn't in this house"
The Weapons are not a grunge knock-off band, and they come at things from interesting angles. Like Nirvana, this band is a trio, with Prince playing guitar, writing songs and singing in a Cobain-ish voice, Dan Wrenn on bass and Erik Schultz playing some electrifying drums.
Perhaps putting my safety at risk, I walked up to these three the other night and said it: "You guys sound grunge."
They kept their hands at their sides, rather than doing me harm, and laughed.
"I love grunge, and I'm influenced by a lot of grunge bands, and I hear that enough that it must be true," said Prince, a lanky 28-year-old with shaggy dark hair and disarmingly bright eyes.
Prince split his youth between Los Angeles and the Bellingham area. Wrenn and Schultz came to Seattle from Eastern Washington.
Inside the band's rented rehearsal space in a Sodo converted warehouse, it becomes clear that the band's influences stretch back beyond grunge to what the early grunge bands were listening to -- Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, even the Beatles.
"I never write here," Prince said, after the band played "Fade to Gray" at the rehearsal. "I always write at home — always on acoustic guitar."
Like most bands, the Weapons love to play their new songs, so they let loose with a few songs that Prince wrote after the EP was recorded. "My Favorite" sounds very early-Cobain, as Prince shares that catch in the voice that suggests hesitancy as he sings:
"With my eyes closed, the end draws near next to you ... "
"Anything for You," which the unprepossessing trio plays next, frollicks in Sabbath-y sludge. Then, before playing "Sing It Again," Prince introduces it as "kind of our slower, more-different song." It turns out to be on the epic side, long with wide spaces for Schultz to fill with some virtuoso drum playing.
Added to the five songs on the band's exhilarating EP, this suggests that the Weapons have a growing body of work that deserves an audience. Indeed, though still largely unknown, this band is gaining some momentum. Prince took some time off to get married, but now things are happening for the band, which was included on KEXP's first "podcasting" compilation, along with the aforementioned the Valley, the Emergency and a dozen other young Seattle bands.
The Weapons play 10 p.m. Wednesday at Belltown's Rendezvous ($5).
- The Seattle Times, September 23, 2005
Modern garage rock meets 70s punk head-on in this EP from the Seattle-based Weapons. It's sort of a natural fit, as these guys sound like they could have sat comfortably alongside any other number of groups on Sub Pop a decade ago as Nirvana rode the waves of grungy superstardom.
The Weapons have a similar approach as Cobain & Co., as they emulate the old days of punk by updating the sound to more modern tastes. But don't let the associations I've made with Seattle and grunge scare you off, as these guys manage to shake that off quite nicely. This isn't so much a re-hash as it is a re-visit of the things that made that movement so alive, freshened up and brought back to life in the 21st Century. - Mish Mash -indie music reviews
"... certainly better than 99.9% of the stuff that's currently being played on the radio. That's much to do with solid musicianship and an ability to craft a tune." - South of Mainstream
4. The Weapons
With songs like "Numb," "Jawbreaker" and "Heartless," this Theo Prince-led trio is bringing back the grunge. Erik Schultz is a virtuoso drummer, and Prince sounds like Kurt Cobain here, Layne Staley there ... The Weapons shoot their neo-grunge sound off at Fremont's High Dive at 9 p.m. Saturday ($6; www.theweapons.com).
- The Seattle Times, December 2nd, 2005
The Weapons are kind of for the No Depression set, but don't be scared to attend this show if you are more into Fader. Their songs are rooted in straight pop, but they use different influences (hard rock, whiny country) to layer on a more complex sound. The singer/guitarist Theo Prince uses the voice that the lord gave him--a little scratchy, a little high-pitched, but the rest of the band evens it out nicely, using rawer sounding bass and drums. Be on the lookout for an album in early spring, because this band would be a really good listen on a road trip.
- The Stranger, January 20th, 2005
Taurus (April 20 - May 20)
Hot-headed, the builder, the producer: Taurus needs music this month to inspire her through the seasonal paralysis. Theo Prince's punchy, occasionally trashy-sounding gutter-pop band The Weapons has an EP called Formula For A Fight, which, while not blazingly original, is sturdy Saturday afternoon getting drunk punk ("40 oz.," "Jawbreaker"). Reminding me of seeing Love As Laughter at the Velvet Elvis in the late 90s, this Northwest-crawling neo-pub band has already hit the High Dive, The Crocodile, and venues elsewhere. This five-song debut is a good way to see if you care to spend some time out with them some night, Taurus -- as we know you're not going to want to stay home no matter how dark it gets... - Three Imaginary Girls, December 2005
Discography
Formula For a Fight- EP (2005)
Airplay: (entire EP) on KEXP, 90.3FM Seattle
(Jawbreaker, 40oz, Numb) on KNDD, 107.7FM Seattle
KEXP Podcast #1, Summer 2005 (broke into the top 50 on iTunes downloads)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
The breathlessly awaited release of the EP Formula for a Fight marks one more notch in the bazooka for Seattle pop/post-grunge/garage rockers The Weapons on their trek toward giga-stardom.
Formula hits the streets and the airwaves just a year after the minimalist trio--Theo Prince on guitar and vocals, Dan Wrenn on bass and Erik Schultz on drums--emerged from the goop of the Seattle-area music scene. Full-fledged as of May 2004, The Weapons have been splashing the Northwest with their swatches of multi-chromed pop tunes in venues from Seattle to Spokane to Portland. On stage, they opt for connection over pretension, sincerity over facade. If it's polish you're looking for, go find a shoeshine stand; for a dose of musical reality, check out The Weapons--in concert or on this disc.
The EP focuses on the group's harder-rocking material. As DJ Chilly of Seattle's KEXP 90.3 FM puts it, "This rules! A nice debut from this Seattle trio. Super catchy with all the right rough edges, I can't get it out of my car stereo." But The Weapons' palette covers a much broader spectrum. The band's mostly introspective songs, written with an ear toward honesty, purity and accessibility, are penned by Prince, who pumps out raw guitar licks and delivers sandpapery vocals in his signature tilt-lipped style (depicted in the EP's cover art and referenced in the track "Jawbreaker": "I've got a crooked smile on the left-hand side"). Wrenn lays down a sturdy yet melodic bass foundation under the full range of The Weapons' song styles; and Schultz, despite his manic contortions on stage, adheres to a less-is-more percussion creed that bangs no drum before its time.
Prince founded an earlier incarnation of the group in 2003. Wrenn came on board in early 2004, and the band was complete in its current form, and with its current name, when Schultz joined them a few months later, following stints with a number of other local groups (most recently Sole Moxie). They started recording for the EP last December, with a little help from friends in the local music scene (Ragan Crowe of Shim pitched in on the mixing; David Miller of Beehive contributes guitar on a couple of tracks). The release on June 24, 2005 was marked by a high-class release party and thunderous peals of exaltation--"YES!!! Formula for a Fight is out," exclaimed the web site www.theweapons.com. It wasn't long before people took notice; John Richards of KEXP included the track "Numb" on their first ever Podcast, and The Seattle Times named The Weapons #4 in the 2005 Top Ten New Bands. The Weapons have also received airplay on KEXP 90.3FM as well as KNDD 107.7FM in Seattle.
But the trio won't be resting on their laurels. They've kept up an active performance schedule—including The Crocodile Cafe, The Sunset Tavern and Chop Suey in Seattle, The Green Room in Portland and The Blvd. in Spokane--and they've no intention of stopping, short of guest gigs on Saturday Night Live and Letterman, simultaneous cover pieces in Rolling Stone and Spin, and maybe, just maybe, a Nobel Prize. Dreaming too big, you say? Nah. It's all just more notches on their bazooka.
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