Days of Lore

Same shirt, Different day The other morning I went through a drawer filled with several decades’ worth of rock T-shirts: KISS, RATT, Metallica, Nirvana—they’re all there … still. It’s akin to looking through an old photo album, which maybe why I’ve never had the heart to toss them out. For example: KISS=weirdo kid with blond afro striking Gene Simmons poses; RATT=zits, body odor and zero action on the girl front. Metallica=mullet, pegged pants and zero action on the girl front. Nirvana? Flannel shirt (which I had actually been wearing since I was a kid), misdirected angst and the loss of my virginity (finally).

At the bottom of the heap (and the reason I was going through that drawer to begin with) was my old Helmet shirt—thin and tattered, with a faded cartoon of a man in a suit shaking hands with an alien.

Helmet=shaved head, goatee, steel-toe boots and my triumphant return to zero action on the girl front. Hooray for memories.

Strap it on I used to love Helmet. I was so into them that I sported the aforementioned shirt almost every day and bought a couple of Band of Susans CDs (guitarist/vocalist Page Hamilton had a brief stint, playing on 1989’s Love Agenda before forming Helmet).

Despite the members’ frat-boy good looks, Helmet was one of the heaviest bands out there in the early ’90s and boasted a ridiculously solid rhythm section with bassist Henry Bogdan and drummer John Stanier (who has since gone on to play with Mike Patton in Tomahawk). And Meantime and Betty are still a couple of my favorite albums: precision riffs combined with Stanier’s trademark trash-can snap on the snare—it was metal minus the machismo.

I know what you’re thinking, “WTF is this guy doing yammering on about his ratty old T-shirts and this washed-up band?”

Well, Helmet is back … again (they came back in 2004 after a six-year hiatus and laid low following the release of the abysmal Size Matters) and will release a new record, Monochrome, July 18. The band has even landed a headlining slot on this year’s Warped Tour, which rolls through the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Marysville July 13 and has all sorts of hip bands like Saves The Day and Motion City Soundtrack along with classics like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and NOFX. You can also see local mathematician rock outfit Idle Discourse on the Hot Topic/Kevin Says Stage this year.

I may check out the Warped Tour, but I have this fear that seeing Helmet again will be like watching one of the new Star Wars films—there’s a chance that it could ruin the franchise. But I’m going to wear the shirt. ’Cause it’s cool.

A hair necessity There is a band you should check out if you like poppy, fuzzed-out garage rock … and I know you do. Olympia, Washington’s, Fierce Perm is like Sleater-Kinney-meets-early-Devo. Mmm mmm good.

The band is making a stop in Chico Aug. 10 with The Broads and Santa Cruz’s New Thrill Parade. More details later. In the meantime check out the Fierce Perm’s “Naming Names” at www.myspace.com/fierceperm.

Bank on it Local indie band Arrangement Ghost has landed on a new compilation put out by Umpqua Bank’s Discover Local Music Project, which promotes (and keeps a database on) hundreds of local bands throughout Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

Arrangement Ghost’s short-but-sweet pop gem “Often Break” is featured on Discover Local Music: Vol. 1, Sacramento to Seattle with artists like Portland trio RyeHollow (who have a bit of a Barbara Manning influence) and Portland jazz artist Hank Hirsh. It’s a decent little collection of songs if you’re in a mellow mood. You can buy the CD at any Umpqua location or buy the songs on iTunes for a buck apiece.

Say my name! But the song you really want to hear (and it won’t cost you a dime) is the latest release from Saucebag, a.k.a. one of my favorite people in Chico, a.k.a. CN&R’s Arts Diva, a.k.a. Carla Resnick. “Mark Lore,” which I’m sure is getting bumped in clubs all over the country, is chock-full of goodies like whistles, fishing reels and poignantlyrics, all over a pulsing disco bassline. I haven’t the slightest idea why someone would do such a thing. But check it out here www.myspace.com/saucebags.

Everybody’s business, part deux Last week I alluded to a new business plan. It has certainly created a buzz around town. I’m still working out all the legal kinks, like child-labor laws and what-have-you. You’ll just have to wait again.

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