HR047 — Alien Karcasscapes — Victims Of The Flame — C90 — 1987
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Side A:
Neutron Eyes Towards The Surface Back On The Trail Bolt Into Time Side B: South Seas Bowdown Ain't Talkin' Bout Love Easy Street |
Recorded Live No Overdubs
July 16, 1987 Featuring: Doug Walker (Alien Planetscapes) - Synths Roger Moneymaker - Guitar Robert Henson - Bass Chris Phinney - Synth, Vocal (South Seas), Drum Programs Richard Martin - Vocals, Synth Mike Jackson - Vocal, Synth, Tapes |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
What happens when the ship commander of New York City area underground space rock band Alien Planetscapes teams up with the chairmen of the good ‘ol boys space-punk board? The late great Doug ‘Dr Synth’ Walker visited Victimized Karcass in Memphis for a recorded live with no overdubs jam session on July 16, 1987, and the result is a wild, often zany, and always fun as hell set of freeform space rock-punk-electronics jamming.
Side A opens with ‘Neutron Eyes’. It’s full on Metallic Noise-Punk rock ‘n’ roll with alien chipmunk chattering electronic effects blazing away. I love the danceable rocking core around which the synths and electronics feel like the dance party, the guitar rips off solos, and it’s all wrapped up in a noise-static casing.
Good time chaos reigns on ‘Towards The Surface’, as the synths and electronics continue their noisily freeform Forbidden Planet meets alien party jam, but in this case to a stoner doom march with punk poet vocals. It’s gloriously insane pandemonium in space.
‘Back On The Trail’ is more laid back, but only compared to the previous songs. The drifting melody and steady beat is surreally cool and strange along with the cosmically carnivalesque electronics and swirling Phantom of the Opera in space synths.
‘Bolt Into Time’ is another seemingly laid back jam, with electronics wildly freaking out to a chunky rocking pulse and pleasantly melodic keys. The electronics are like the kids on a road trip that were given too much sugar and are bouncing all over the back seat.
‘South Seas’ kicks off Side B, and is a little different as the synths seem to attempt to keep some semblance of barely restrained time with the melody and choppy rhythmic pulse. It’s like space-goth rock in a Galaga video game.
By the time we get to ‘Bow Down’, these guys are doing a good job of creating their own trademark sound that combines classic 80s synth melodies with a noisy experimental punk attitude and completely unhinged electronic chaos. And if you want to know what their cover of Van Halen’s ‘Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love’ sounds like, just read my previous descriptions. Now this is my idea of a COVER! Demolition Derby! Finally, ‘Easy Street’ is a brain scrambling space doom and electronic chaos closer to this killer set.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney by Jerry Kranitz
JK: Was Doug Walker coming to visit you the first time anyone you had networked with through the hometaper network, outside your Memphis friends, came to visit and record with you in person?
CP: Doug would be the first besides Carl Howard. Carl was the first. It was probably when we recorded War Toys, up in New York. Doug stayed a week. He was driving doing a tour, going all over the country.
JK: So if he was there for a whole week, is there a lot of recording you did that wasn’t used?
CP: No, we just did the recordings on the tapes that were released. Doug had a whole stack of tapes that he brought. They were stacked almost to the ceiling on the coffee table. We actually did a lot of tape dubbing and exchanging tapes, more than actual recording. It’s hard to get Roger and Robert when they don’t have to work. They were pharmacists, and still are. But those tapes are the only recording we actually did.
JK: What was all the tape dubbing you guys did during the week?
CP: Doug brought a whole load of Hawkwind, all kinds of bootlegs. And we went to the Catfish Cabin! Doug had never had catfish before. He ate the jalapeno hush puppies and they tore him a new asshole. He’d never had that shit.
JK: That’s funny! A lot of the punked out aspects of Viktimized Karcass had to be very different for Doug. Did he really get into it?
CP: Oh he loved it! It’s a great tape.
JK: I laughed like hell that Alien Karcasscapes did a cover of ‘Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love’. You guys did a great job demolishing it. And I have to believe that Doug would have hated Van Halen.
CP: He did a good job. He went with the flow. The main reason I think he wanted to jam with Karcass was that he always wanted a band per se, and not just synth players.
JK: Yes. Doug was very clear about that when I interviewed him 1998 for Aural Innovations. He wanted a band, and he was always auditioning musicians and losing people. And he said drummers were the biggest problem. You later when to New York and met Doug again, didn’t you?
CP: I went to New York twice. I went when he lived in Brooklyn and I went when he lived in St Albans.
What happens when the ship commander of New York City area underground space rock band Alien Planetscapes teams up with the chairmen of the good ‘ol boys space-punk board? The late great Doug ‘Dr Synth’ Walker visited Victimized Karcass in Memphis for a recorded live with no overdubs jam session on July 16, 1987, and the result is a wild, often zany, and always fun as hell set of freeform space rock-punk-electronics jamming.
Side A opens with ‘Neutron Eyes’. It’s full on Metallic Noise-Punk rock ‘n’ roll with alien chipmunk chattering electronic effects blazing away. I love the danceable rocking core around which the synths and electronics feel like the dance party, the guitar rips off solos, and it’s all wrapped up in a noise-static casing.
Good time chaos reigns on ‘Towards The Surface’, as the synths and electronics continue their noisily freeform Forbidden Planet meets alien party jam, but in this case to a stoner doom march with punk poet vocals. It’s gloriously insane pandemonium in space.
‘Back On The Trail’ is more laid back, but only compared to the previous songs. The drifting melody and steady beat is surreally cool and strange along with the cosmically carnivalesque electronics and swirling Phantom of the Opera in space synths.
‘Bolt Into Time’ is another seemingly laid back jam, with electronics wildly freaking out to a chunky rocking pulse and pleasantly melodic keys. The electronics are like the kids on a road trip that were given too much sugar and are bouncing all over the back seat.
‘South Seas’ kicks off Side B, and is a little different as the synths seem to attempt to keep some semblance of barely restrained time with the melody and choppy rhythmic pulse. It’s like space-goth rock in a Galaga video game.
By the time we get to ‘Bow Down’, these guys are doing a good job of creating their own trademark sound that combines classic 80s synth melodies with a noisy experimental punk attitude and completely unhinged electronic chaos. And if you want to know what their cover of Van Halen’s ‘Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love’ sounds like, just read my previous descriptions. Now this is my idea of a COVER! Demolition Derby! Finally, ‘Easy Street’ is a brain scrambling space doom and electronic chaos closer to this killer set.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney by Jerry Kranitz
JK: Was Doug Walker coming to visit you the first time anyone you had networked with through the hometaper network, outside your Memphis friends, came to visit and record with you in person?
CP: Doug would be the first besides Carl Howard. Carl was the first. It was probably when we recorded War Toys, up in New York. Doug stayed a week. He was driving doing a tour, going all over the country.
JK: So if he was there for a whole week, is there a lot of recording you did that wasn’t used?
CP: No, we just did the recordings on the tapes that were released. Doug had a whole stack of tapes that he brought. They were stacked almost to the ceiling on the coffee table. We actually did a lot of tape dubbing and exchanging tapes, more than actual recording. It’s hard to get Roger and Robert when they don’t have to work. They were pharmacists, and still are. But those tapes are the only recording we actually did.
JK: What was all the tape dubbing you guys did during the week?
CP: Doug brought a whole load of Hawkwind, all kinds of bootlegs. And we went to the Catfish Cabin! Doug had never had catfish before. He ate the jalapeno hush puppies and they tore him a new asshole. He’d never had that shit.
JK: That’s funny! A lot of the punked out aspects of Viktimized Karcass had to be very different for Doug. Did he really get into it?
CP: Oh he loved it! It’s a great tape.
JK: I laughed like hell that Alien Karcasscapes did a cover of ‘Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love’. You guys did a great job demolishing it. And I have to believe that Doug would have hated Van Halen.
CP: He did a good job. He went with the flow. The main reason I think he wanted to jam with Karcass was that he always wanted a band per se, and not just synth players.
JK: Yes. Doug was very clear about that when I interviewed him 1998 for Aural Innovations. He wanted a band, and he was always auditioning musicians and losing people. And he said drummers were the biggest problem. You later when to New York and met Doug again, didn’t you?
CP: I went to New York twice. I went when he lived in Brooklyn and I went when he lived in St Albans.