TF002: Hollywood Streetwalker - Do You Like Rupaul?

Listen to the album on Myspace

Welp, Hollywood Streetwalker is the name, and irking the shit out of people is the game. Four people, two instruments, no waiting. Off the heels of the You Are Over demo, four songs, three of which were heretofore new to the world. Grindcore with a lot of nods to various bands in various styles.

I'm Not Gonna Pay Your Final Expenses, the only re-record of the EP, holds the distinction of being the first song by that name ever written by the band. Quantum Leaps In Rocket Surgery, containing beats of the d, blast, and polka variety, completed the highly-regarded Beat Trifecta; prior to that song, the last person to succeed in the attempt was Ted Williams.

Whenever people hear I Want To Shit In The Toilet Of Your Dreams, they are generally at a Hollywood Streetwalker show, or listen to the album. In either case, lucky them. As for the inimitable Stuff What In Her Mouth, I can think of but one 18th century author that best encapsulates the message this song was trying to get across, and that man is, obviously, dead.

This was the last recording before the kids went on hiatus, which is about right. A band none other than Birdflesh described it as sounding, and I quote directly here, "really great." Further, the guy working at the car wash was heard to exclaim "(jumbled profanities in Spanish)" and "(further superlatives and crude expressions)." Mission accomplished, baby.

TF001: The Runningman - No Fights, You Will Lose

Listen to 3/4 the album on Myspace

The Runningman was one of those bands that you didn't hear about until it was too late. Sure, you've had those plans for a time machine in your scrapbook for the past few months, but you're going to need to take some major steps into the prototype phase for it to make a difference.

Three guys, originally from New Jersey, playing music that was "nice" but "somber" and "somewhat depressing." Omar, Ian, and Ben were their names, and I suppose still are. None of them live in New Jersey anymore, and none of them are in this band anymore.

Omar played guitar, Ian played bass, Ben played drums. They were pretty good at it. They recorded these songs at Godcity Studios with producer, engineer, and rockstar Kurt Ballou. Mastering was done quite masterfully, pun largely intended, by Alan Douches at West West Side. I hear that lots of bands send their stuff there. It sounds pretty good.

Omar moved to Chicago, joined The Ghost on bass until they broke up, and remained extremely tall. Ian went on to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where I assume he did not study biology. Ben attended Berklee School of Music, which is famous for being confused with U of C - Berkeley. None of them have spoken to me in a few years. But that's okay.

This was the first release on Toilet Fleet Records, and really was the only one that was farmed out to an actual pressing plant, with actual artwork and packaging, and all the other trappings that make a release "official" in the eyes of people that care about such things.