Trashcan School - Volume War

 

The sad recent passing of Jim Miller caused me to pull out this 12” again. Oddly, I listen to the Trashcan 45’s more often than this album due to the single comps I put together but I need to pull this out more regularly!

This Sympathy release opens with the odd “g.i.t.” which has intentional skipping “meant to cause great distress” before the band gets into their mix of Detroit styled punk rock and Beefheart-Ian noise.

“Taunt” is a high energy sing-along, “Taxidermist” highlights singer Andy Seven’s wild’n’wsilin’ sax, “Ballad of Peter Green” is a wah-wah infused tribute to the Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist with more restrained, melodic sax work against the particularly aggressive 3 man guitar team which blends into “dot’s” before they close side one with a twisted take on Wire's “I Am the Fly”.

Turning over the vinyl we get “TV Blues”, an abrasive, discordant rocker (possibly somewhat influenced by the Stooges "TV Eye" and "LA Blues"?) followed by random sliding guitar noise and odd rhythm changes on “Steel Pulse”, then bassist Kirk Canning pulls out his cello for the more mellow “Steroid Shock” which still shows some aggression but even the sax is a bit sweeter. A big surprise on the powerful and cacophonous “Powershed” is a guest spot by non other than the legendary Sun Ra on synthesizer (although it is not very prominent until the end) before the festivities end with the title cut, a fast paced noize fest with Andy’s psychotic sax wailing over pounding drums and three guitars fighting for dominance. So good!

While there are plenty of obvious influences, this combo was one of LA’s best and most original groups of the time. Man, I miss being able to see craziness like this on a regular basis!