Nurse the Hate: The New Record

We have a brand new record that comes out today.  I have released 19 different full length releases between the Daredevils and Cowslingers.  That’s a whole lot of records with a bunch of really talented people.  I prefer to call them “records” as opposed to “releases” as that seems more tangible to me and is probably a concession of age.  When I first started playing music, my goal was to play out on stage once.  Then it became to play out of town.  Then it was to make a record, to make one thing of permanence.  When we made that first single (Bad Booze Rodeo/Hogtied), I liked to think that we had participated in the tradition of making odd little records that years later someone would discover at a garage sale and have it become this little piece of treasure.  Some of my favorite records ever are these odd little previously ignored songs that re-emerge from the dust.  I hoped we had made our own version of Ralph Nielson and the Chancellors “Scream”, though I will admit it is impossible to make something that great.  I hope years from now someone takes one of our songs and it makes it on a Nuggets type compilation.  That’s not too crazy a goal, is it?

Each time we make a record I hope that the effort pays off and it finds an audience.  It’s an incredibly laborious process to make a full length.  The songs are written.  Many get discarded.  The arrangements are worked on.  They are played live to be test driven.  Then the elusive life of the song is attempted to be captured in the sterile environment of the studio.  Many permutations of mixes are made and debated about.  The artwork has to be conceived and put together.  Then the near impossible task of making anyone notice that it exists begins.  It’s actually rather depressing when you realize that all this effort that is expended can be completely for nothing when The Public fails to even click a mouse to give something even a cursory listen.  I know that there is a large group of people that would love what we do that have no idea that we are here, but it’s almost impossible to get their attention in this world of all of us screaming at each other across various media platforms.  I have long since decided that we will make a little announcement about each release and then welcome anyone that is interested to join our little universe.

Sometimes I can have self doubt.  What if what I think is really good is in fact awful?  For example, I bet Starship really felt great when “We Built This City” went up the charts.  That’s a song that really encapsulates the worst tendencies of popular 1980s music.  Even if you can somehow get past the absolutely terrible production, which is a feat in itself, the bare bones of the song are so flimsy that it is hard to imagine that these are some of the same people involved in “Surrealistic Pillow”.  Yet, they forged on while making that record and were rewarded by the marketplace with heavy MTV airplay and high profile tour dates.

I will admit to you that I saw Starship in 1986 at Spring Break on the Daytona Beach bandshell.  I had no real desire to see Starship, but MTV had put together free concerts on the beach as a way to lure college students to shower them with “branding opportunities” from New Coke, Trojan, and Marlboro.  Everyone from the immediate area age 18-22 were there.  There were so many free cigarettes being passed around smoky brand tents that I almost threw my hat into the ring and joined into the brotherhood of the smoker.  I was a young man full of Miller Lite standing around in my Wayfarer sunglasses trying to look happening in my Jams bathing suit.  In retrospect, I was NOT happening.

I recall what might be the worst triple bill concert I ever witnessed.  Mister Mister gave way to Mike and The Mechanics.  Both bands were terrible, but the crowd did get energized when Mister Mister played their awful hit “Broken Wings”.  It was really lame.  That gave way to the headliner Starship.  Grace Slick had morphed by this time from sultry Sixties siren to a weird Mom in a pantsuit and rhinestone jewelry.  I think she had on a billowy jumpsuit with Tommy Bahama style sunhat.  I remember being stunned and thinking “Man, she was at Woodstock…”.  I eventually drifted out of the overflow crowd to buy a foot long hot dog and 16 oz can of Miller Lite somewhere near Penrod’s.  These were dark times.

My roommate had met some girl from East Lansing Community College during the concert and ditched me.  I remember watching MTV VJ Alan Hunter host a wet t-shirt contest at the Penrod’s pool.  Some girl from Arkansas really went for it and showed full bush.  Alan Hunter appeared a bit shell shocked.  Then a guy in an Iron Maiden shirt barfed on the tile floor to my right and I called it a night.  I came back to our hotel room which we had bought on some dodgy campus package promotion and found my roommate  reclining on the bed wincing.  Two guys we had never met before but now shared this hotel room with (and I’m not making this up, it’s how it was sold) were beer bonging Busch.  I asked my roommate what was wrong besides being in a room with two strangers beer bonging cans of Busch.  “That girl from Lansing gave me a blowjob but used so much teeth it was like I put my dick in a garbage disposal.”  Good times.

When I think of that trip I don’t think of any actual fun.  I do think of that horrible set from Starship and think “Fuck, what if the Whiskey Daredevils are Starship now and I don’t know it.”.  These are the things that keep you up at night in the world of budget indie rock.  Still, I am willing to take a chance and foist these records out there to The People.  As of this moment, I think it’s a really good record and something I would want to listen to if I wasn’t involved in making it.  I’m really thankful that we get the chance to keep making these records and that enough people out there want to hear them so we can keep making more.  Thanks a lot.  I hope you like this one too.