HR012
Skoptzies — On The Edge Of Insanity — C90
Skoptzies — On The Edge Of Insanity — C90
C. Phinney: vox, synths, drum programs
J. Mallory: drums
Dave Catching: vox, bass & guitars
Kim Kruger: bass & guitars
mix & master C. Phinney at HRM
J. Mallory: drums
Dave Catching: vox, bass & guitars
Kim Kruger: bass & guitars
mix & master C. Phinney at HRM
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
The last of the Skoptzies tapes… as we make our way excitedly toward Viktimized Karcass… opens with ‘Dance Of Life’, a DEEP space funky dance tune. Chris Phinney diverges from his street poet/punk rant style for a bit of actual singing. ‘Dead Meat’ is a cool funky bass driven groove tune. ‘Pitfall’ is an industrial groove tune with a combo of industrial space rock aggression and pleasantly flowing melodic new wavey synths. ‘Dirty Demon’ is loaded with bubbling/droning/drifting fuzzed soundscapes, space-goth atmospherics and anguished howls, plus ranting spoken word vocals. It’s a CRAZY combo!! ‘Tell Me Why (DUB)’ is cool sci-fi drone/dance/funk tune. ‘A Nice Day At The Park’ is a dancey new wave instrumental that reminds me of an 80s hit I can't put my finger on (though this is far freakier). Nice catchy melody.
‘Age A Part Of Life’ is from a live performance that grabbed me by the throat with its thrashing hardcore and yelling / ranting vocals, but also contrasting high pitched keys. ‘Ode’ does a complete 180 degree turn, being a slow doomy spacey march. ‘Black, Proud, Unruly, Obnoxious & Loud’ is a funky fuzzed out space rocker. ‘Blind Man McGurtzky’ is a punky rock n roll song. We’re back in hardcore territory with ‘Uptight White Right Tonite’, though it’s more rock n roll than thrash, with static-y electronic rhythmic effects. ‘Voodoo Samba’ is one of the more aggressive of the Skoptzies SAMBAs. It's got a groove but is pretty heavy rockin'. It’s got a kinda tribal feel, and I like the contrasting swirly keys. ‘Tell Me Why’ is very similar to ‘Uptight White Right Tonite’ but with more of those high pitched swirly keys. ‘Elvis Was My Friend’ features more drugged and dirty jamming hard rock with a psychy edge and yelling punk vocals.
Things take a turn with the soundscape/symphonic ‘Cocaine’, which later goes into a punky grungy industrial groove with ranting vocals. ‘Nightly Stroll’ is a killer industrial space rocker with Chrome vibes and vocals that sounds like Jello Biafra. ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’ is a kick ass jamming spacey hard/dirty psych rock instrumental, with tasty guitar leads and a tinkly keyboard melody. Except for the vocals, the music on ‘Strangers Aren’t Sweet’ has an Alien Planetscapes vibe at times, with its jazzy space jam but also punk-jazzy grooving song. The space rock fun continues with ‘Be My Friend’ which cranks out oodles of battle-in-space electronics and oscillating efx and punk ranting vocals. I really dig the bass riff that leads the instrumental ‘God Bless You’, a spaced out new wave-ish groove tune. Ditto for the haunting/dreamy/soundscapey space rocking ‘Bill Morris Song’. I really like the contrast with the vocals. But it gets increasingly aggressive and rocking out, while maintaining an easy paced space-doomy vibe. Finally, ‘Our Father’ is all efx'd street preacher spoken word backed by swirly church organ keys, alternately bashing and jazzy drums, and wandering bass lead. Lots of thematic development on this one... tension laden and punk jazzy. A regal end to the Skoptzies reign.
Chris Phinney INTERVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
JK: Skoptzies, On The Edge Of Insanity. That was the last Skoptzies tape. How did this end up being the last one? Why did Skoptzies come to an end?
CP: It was the end of the band. Dave Catching, Dave Grave, was going to move to Los Angeles with the Modifiers. They had hooked up with John Densmore on drums, and Derf Scratch from Fear on bass. And they were all headed out to California with Milford (Thompson) from The Modifiers. And Bob Holmes. And Kim went too. She was Dave’s girlfriend. So that was pretty much the end of the band. I think On The Edge Of Insanity is the best recording, beside the live recording, I think it’s the best studio recording we ever did.
JK: There is some ass kicking rock on here. Ass kicking space rock. Some of my review descriptions. There’s so much variety here. Like ‘Dead Meat’…
CP: ‘Dead Meat’ man!! That’s just something me and Dave threw together.
JK: It’s this cool funky bass driven groove tune. And ‘Pitfall’ I described as “an industrial groove tune with a combo of industrial space rock aggression and pleasantly flowing melodic new wavey synths”.
CP: Yeah, ‘Pitfall’ and ‘Dirty Demon’ are pretty much the same. I got into those particular songs and those titles because of ‘Nightly Stroll’, if you remember ‘Nightly Stroll’. It’s from the live tape (Riders Of The White Horse). Both of these two are about monsters as well. Hell I wrote ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’ at 3:32 AM. It was raining, we had been practicing, Dave was still here. He wrote bass line then we presented to the band what we had laid down. Drums were added and Dave wrote guitar part, and Kim played the bass riff we laid down.
JK: There’s some live tracks on this tape too. Like ‘Age A Part Of Life’.
CP: Hardcore punk songs. Real quick. Real fast. I wrote that song to satisfy a bunch of our punk buddies that finally could get into shows, or couldn’t get into shows at that point in time. I wrote it for them and they loved it.
JK: Were the Skoptzies tracks on the upcoming compilations ones you already had leftover from before the band split?
CP: They were ones we had leftover. They went out to Los Angeles. Kim got hit by a car and got put in a wheelchair. Dave still played with The Modifiers. Milford died. He OD’d in his chair. Heroin OD. Bob Holmes came back here, walking down the street speaking to the sky. And Derf and John Densmore split. Dave ended up writing most of the first Queens Of The Stone Age album. He doesn’t get a lot of credit. But he wrote a lot of it. And then he ended up in Eagles of Death Metal.
JK: So Skoptzies split simply because everyone went their own way.
CP: Everybody was leaving. Except for me. I was supposed to go but that’s another story altogether.
JK: Skoptzies, On The Edge Of Insanity. That was the last Skoptzies tape. How did this end up being the last one? Why did Skoptzies come to an end?
CP: It was the end of the band. Dave Catching, Dave Grave, was going to move to Los Angeles with the Modifiers. They had hooked up with John Densmore on drums, and Derf Scratch from Fear on bass. And they were all headed out to California with Milford (Thompson) from The Modifiers. And Bob Holmes. And Kim went too. She was Dave’s girlfriend. So that was pretty much the end of the band. I think On The Edge Of Insanity is the best recording, beside the live recording, I think it’s the best studio recording we ever did.
JK: There is some ass kicking rock on here. Ass kicking space rock. Some of my review descriptions. There’s so much variety here. Like ‘Dead Meat’…
CP: ‘Dead Meat’ man!! That’s just something me and Dave threw together.
JK: It’s this cool funky bass driven groove tune. And ‘Pitfall’ I described as “an industrial groove tune with a combo of industrial space rock aggression and pleasantly flowing melodic new wavey synths”.
CP: Yeah, ‘Pitfall’ and ‘Dirty Demon’ are pretty much the same. I got into those particular songs and those titles because of ‘Nightly Stroll’, if you remember ‘Nightly Stroll’. It’s from the live tape (Riders Of The White Horse). Both of these two are about monsters as well. Hell I wrote ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’ at 3:32 AM. It was raining, we had been practicing, Dave was still here. He wrote bass line then we presented to the band what we had laid down. Drums were added and Dave wrote guitar part, and Kim played the bass riff we laid down.
JK: There’s some live tracks on this tape too. Like ‘Age A Part Of Life’.
CP: Hardcore punk songs. Real quick. Real fast. I wrote that song to satisfy a bunch of our punk buddies that finally could get into shows, or couldn’t get into shows at that point in time. I wrote it for them and they loved it.
JK: Were the Skoptzies tracks on the upcoming compilations ones you already had leftover from before the band split?
CP: They were ones we had leftover. They went out to Los Angeles. Kim got hit by a car and got put in a wheelchair. Dave still played with The Modifiers. Milford died. He OD’d in his chair. Heroin OD. Bob Holmes came back here, walking down the street speaking to the sky. And Derf and John Densmore split. Dave ended up writing most of the first Queens Of The Stone Age album. He doesn’t get a lot of credit. But he wrote a lot of it. And then he ended up in Eagles of Death Metal.
JK: So Skoptzies split simply because everyone went their own way.
CP: Everybody was leaving. Except for me. I was supposed to go but that’s another story altogether.