Siltbreeze - Axemen

Axemen

Scary! Pt. III
Release Date: 07/20/09
Catalog # SB119/120

Available Formats:
Vinyl LP - Limited Edition (500)
Price: $20.00 (U.S. Postpaid) /
$33.00 (for shipping everywhere else)

The second entry in Siltbreeze's Axemen reissue series, Scary! Part III originally saw light as a cassette-only release in 1989. Most bands and fans active in the Christchurch and Dunedin scenes at this time could tell you, sans embellishment, how the prolific Axemen blazed through the '80s (new cassettes seeming to come into existence on an almost daily basis), and, in classic Rashomon style, a different story would be told by all willing to reminisce, though it's safe to say everyone would agree that Scary!'s beguiling je ne sais quoi is some of the band's most intriguing blat to date.
Unlike the hyper-punk-charged pastiche of Big Cheap Motel, Scary! operates from a gestalt concept and sensibility. While on the surface the contents might sound fragmented, ruminative, or obfuscatory, dig deeper (or listen better) and you'll see (and hear) the mystifying ooze lactating out of the four sides of Scary! not as individual, insurmountable constructs of bizarreness, but as a coherent pattern of brilliant phenomena that is-- in a word-- scary!

Novice ears that have made it though this Bunyanesque giant find themselves making comparisons to a mixture of S.Y.P.H., Royal Trux, and Ptose. All one can say, really, to such hodgepodge is "congratulations." After 20 years and counting, this release refuses to be aptly pigeonholed. Hell, even a seasoned horror chomper such as Shirley Jackson (were she still croaking) would advise giving these guys a wide berth. They mean business and their business is mean. Or as the poet (and bartender) Bing McFreud once scribed as an ode to this collection of doozies:

"Be Very Afeared
Cause This Ain't No Beard
And You Have An Aversion
To Clean."

Scary! Part III. It's for real. Again. Finally!

Also still available:

Siltbreeze joins Sleek Bott Industries for a series of vinyl-only releases from New Zealand's legendary Axemen. (Little) Stevie McCabe, Bob Brannigan and Stu Kawowski have recorded decade's worth of priceless tuneage, some of which, it only seems fair, should finally see the light on a format suited to their chutzpah.
The first one out of the gate is the trio's 1983 Big Cheap Motel, their difficult third album, their protest album (following the blistering, insane, and completely live debut Equinox and the studio / live tribute to punk-dub-beer-noise-cubism, Mick's Dancefloor (Mix)). Rarely heard outside the Southern Hemisphere, this montage of rough-and-ready live performances and Peterboro Studio recordings teeters on the precipice of chaotic genius alongside such stalwarts as Alternative TV / Hear & Now's What You See Is What You Are and 1/2 Japanese's Loud.

Says McCabe, "Bob and myself went down to check out the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, the scene of the summertime concert-in-the-park series of free outdoor events sponsored by the local council and Big M milk drinks, only to find the park plastered with billboard-sized posters of scantily clad young ladies advertising the sponsor's wares. We immediately scrapped our set list-- which extolled the joy of festivals and praised the council and Big M milk drinks as worthy town governors and milk-based food products, respectively-- and replaced them with a set of 'protest' songs about the travesty, which were performed at the event, to the mild annoyance of the council and the sponsors. Following this brutal coming of age and awakening to the influence and power of advertising, The Axemen swore to use advertising to its full extent in future, but only for good (e.g. promotion of The Axemen), never for evil (anything else)."

Not exactly a Crass concert, but, hey, be careful what you wish for. Comes with a reproduction of original insert and original cover design, in a one-time edition of 500.

Axemen on MySpace

Axemen Y2k Blog

Big Cheap Motel
Release Date: 03/03/08
Catalog # SB115

Available Formats:
Vinyl LP - Limited Edition (500)
Price: $15.00 (U.S. Postpaid) /
$25.00 (for shipping everywhere else)