A bit of the purely subjective right off of the the bat from this reporter: for a long time now it's been my intent to find contextual clues about a given place that may find me through music. Many years have been spent trying to piece together some kind of understandable narrative about locales such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Cleveland, Richmond VA, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles...many many places. The music of varied cities and the regions in which they are located have tantalized me.
Before moving to Tucson in September of 2021, Disaster Amnesiac was aware of Calexio (seen at a street fair in Oakland) and Giant Sand (seen at Great American Music Hall in 'frisco) from here, but that was kind of about all. The first live music that I had the pleasure to take in, Thanksgiving weekend 2021, featured a band playing covers of many different types of Metal; at that moment it became clear to me that music in Tucson has its very own unique characteristics, and that applies across genre. Tucson has quite a unique cultural gestalt and its music is a reflection of that.
Just about five years into my residency here and said uniqueness still shows itself to me just about any time I have the pleasure of hearing musicians that live here play and perform music. In light of all that it would likely not come as any type of surprise to a reader of this post that Disaster Amnesiac was delighted to find an affordable copy of "Yeah But It's A Dry Heat": A Tucson, Arizona Complication over in Miami back in May of this year. Some observations after listening for a while follow.
Earl's Family Bombers are featured first. Was this band a good draw in Tucson? Their two tracks are Slow Run and Green Corn. The former presents as a bit Mid-Western Hardcore and the gravelly vocals from the singer who sells it fine. The latter is bit more England 1979 or Berkeley 1990 with its gang vocals. Great guitar solo makes it for this listener.
Lonely Trojans come up next. Nothing Is Random has a lot of features from contemporary acts of the early 1990's era, the tight snare drum in particular. Treble-ey bass and wide guitar chord chuckin' move this anthem. Speedway shows a different side of the the band as it's more traditionally Punk Rock in its method. The singer hits a higher note and the song has a brevity which helps.
Did the Fells ever overcome their disdain for digital audio tape? Melodic Hardcore guitar tones and rhythms lead up to a wild, cool guitar solo on Pretend. When this song goes full meltdown it makes Disaster Amnesiac smile big. Tabouli has aspects of spoken word in the vocal areas: the music frames it thusly within the mix. The singer name drops the Fall so that's winning, as it its big, beautifully messy playing and Psych vibes.
Al Perry and the Cattle had no disdain for digital audio tape apparently. Their contribution to "Yeah But It's A Dry Heat" is Losing Hand, a piece of proper Cow Punk with crackin' drumming and a grinding, non-Metal riff. Lyrics are troubadour in nature and they sound to have bypassed the Hardcore influence in favor of a more roots-styled aesthetic. That works, always!
Perhaps the most singular group on the record is Skinnerbox, whose singer laid down sultry vocal lines, framed by keyboard lines and thick bass tones on Whisper Parade. The female energy of the singing provides a nice bit of relief from all of the male angst that lead up to its appearance at the end of side one. Gothic Lounge sounds for some kind of emotional intrigue that took place, presumably, in Tucson. Whomever this song's lyrics are about, y'all got dissed pretty fiercely it seems.
Side two features Mondo Guano, who played junk percussion and primal reverb guitar that really move. They seem to have been fascinated by mind control and societal masks, and Don't Look At Me admonishes people to avert their gaze indeed. This is some fine, primitive Psych. If you love bats, you absolutely MUST find a dusk during which you can stand near the overpass on Campbell near River and watch as the bats depart on their crepuscular journeys in search of insect blood. It's really quite the scene.
Feed Me, the lone track documented from Zero Tolerance Task Force on the album, is a somewhat shambolic performance but the singer's recounting of life's varied foibles makes it a relatable and listenable one. A ripping second half of this song gets all Hardcore for a final push into sonic oblivion.
The two songs by Fuzz are Diffused and Drill. They both have a lot of information packed within their structures: this was a tight, well rehearsed band. The drummer stomps really brightly and he must have been well regarded by the guitar and bass dudes. Fuzz hit pretty much Nu Metal zones at times, while twinned vocals on Drill evoke a bit of Fugazi influence. Disaster Amnesiac can envision scenarios in which Fuzz played with Ian's crew and maybe early tour stops by Korn. A really sharp, bombastic group they were.
Feast Upon Cactus Thorns appear next. Their contribution is Gonzo, an Avant Garage/Psych burner with Pop-ey changes that dip into some righteous jamming. It morphs into faster paced places and it's a really interesting blend of styles. UFO's are spoken of and the band jams out more than once, and tightly at that. Who has tapes of this group? Disaster Amnesiac wants more!
Arty anti-Vanilla Ice sentiments are presented by Slo-Deluxe on Vanilla Ice In Hell, a track done in solidarity with the scenes that he's been so lengthily accused of ripping off. Dunno, he seems pretty astute with his business and down to earth at that, so maybe all these years later he deserves some kind of break from all of the invective? Pounding percussion pushes yet more delicious, freaky guitar playing on the song. Tucson really spits out fine guitar players, along with drummers. Their promo blurb mentions cassettes for sale. Who has 'em?
Tight garage rockin' is called for on Shadows, by Malingus Youth, a group that sounds as if they worked on even their harmony singing. It's a unique song that ends way too soon.
"Yeah But It's A Dry Heat" concludes with Blood Spasm and their tribute to the Old Pueblo on We Got Cactus, done in pure Hardcore that breaks down at exactly the correct spot. While the song is about Tucson, it was waxed in Los Angeles with one of the Bad Religion guys.
"Yeah But It's A Dry Heat": A Tucson, Arizona Complication lists a clutch of other acts, not on the recording. They are: Doo Rag, Barely Bipedal, Head Cheese, Suicidal Drunk, and Skolliwoll. Hello to them as well.
As Disaster Amnesiac has dug into this album, the question has arisen: have I partied adjacent with any of these people at shows? Or perhaps stood in line behind them at Bashas'? It's wished that I could tell them all how happy it makes me to hear their music and how stoked I am to get to spend some time in this wonderfully complicated town, even if Grant Rd. traffic currently makes me wanna holler.
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