100 PINTS OF LAGER

Before Spinal Tap there was... BAD NEWS, a joke NWOBHM band from the minds of several of the folks from cult British TV comedy "The Young Ones." That should be enough to send most people scrambling feverishly onto Youtube searching for any scraps of footage they can cram in their eye- and earholes. There were two episodes of BBC series "Comic Strip" devoted to the band, who basically sound like Motorhead with a lobotomy (i.e., I actually kind of like their songs even though they're supposed to suck), one in 1983 and another in 1988. They recorded an album with Brian May and played a bunch of gigs during their lifetime, including a date at Donington from which footage for their second "Comic Strip" appearance was culled.

I don't know if I can say Bad News is funnier than Spinal Tap (though I guess the first Bad News show was broadcast before Tap hit theaters if that counts for anything), but there's really no way out of comparing the two "bands." I will go on record that this is some hilarious stuff that the Archers' Guild nation better get into quick.

PS: Youtube won't let me post the original "Comic Strip" show on here, but it's on the site if you wanna have a laff.

Something's Wrong With Bloggers

Remember "freak folk?" Seemed pretty cool at the time until we realized that the best the scene had to offer were Devendra Banhart and Johanna Newsom. But there was one band that seemed to slip under the radar. Vermont's Feathers pulled from not only the best vintage avant-folk (think Comus and the Incredible String Band) but psychedelic rock and raga as well, giving them a truly "freaky" and chillingly beautiful sound. Their eight member lineup included Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons who went on to form Witch. (I personally think Feathers are better than Witch) They released one self-titled album (it rules) on Gnomonsong which can easily be found at your local record store but they also self-released a tour-only CDR called "Something's Wrong With Feathers." You're only gonna find this one on the world wide web so get it here now.

POSTER DUMP

Roy G. Biv

Trevor Mast

Rob Jones

Stacie Willoughby

Admc07

BIKERS, BABES, AND A BOX

New vid from Saviours' new album, Death's Procession, which just came out last week. I haven't heard it yet but if it's anywhere near as good as this song, I'm gonna be stoked.



What's in the box? Drugs? Marcellus Wallace's soul? Discuss...

POSTER DUMP

Roy G. Biv

Stacie Willoughby

C M Ruiz

Steve-O

Cyrille Rousseau

Drew Millward

Marina Tadic

Shawn K Knight

Thomas Perrodin

PSYCHEDELIC WTF

Not exactly sure what's going on here but I like it.

Terrence McKenna's "Stoned Ape Theory"

If you're not already familiar with Terrence McKenna, you should be. McKenna was a philosopher/spiritual leader/psychedelic explorer/speaker/author/hash smuggler who experienced popularity with the counter-culture movement in the 80's and 90's. His most famous work is a book called Food of the Gods which introduced his "stoned ape theory." There's a lot of crazy-ass ideas being thrown about by "counter-culture" types, but this is one of those that sorta seems plausible, especially if you've done many psychotropic drugs.

Humans evolved from apes incredibly fast. Our brain size doubled in less than two million years. According to McKenna, this all happened because of psilocybin mushrooms. He began forming this theory when he observed wild baboons in Africa turning over cow pies looking for grubs. And ya know what else grows on cow shit? That's right, psychedelic mushrooms! It is entirely possible that apes would have unintentionally ingested these mushrooms along with their bugs.

Okay, so we've got a bunch of stoned apes but what does that have to do with evolution? First of all, very small doses of psilocybin greatly improve visual acuity. A monkey that sees better is going to be more successful with hunting and gathering. Therefore, the stoned ape is more likely to survive than his square brother. In slightly larger doses (we're still talking about very small amounts) the mushroom acts as a sexual stimulant, so the stoned ape breeds more too. The mushrooms also help to break down social boundaries so it's likely to help diversify (and thereby strengthen) the gene pool.

As the doses get even heavier (now we're cookin!) our ape begins to experience synesthesia. Sight and sound are all mixed up and linguistic thinking begins for the first time. Suddenly we've got a bunch of tripping, fucking, talking monkeys on our hands. Before you know it they've started a band:

Ah, fuck it. Let's just watch a cartoon.


Hear it (and much more cool shit) in McKenna's own words here.