Monday, January 14, 2008
Garden Variety
Taking a cue from my good friend Wrongstring over at acoatofredpaintinhell.com, I have decided to drop a little known early '90s gem on you all. Those of you that are so fucking hip, you may want to stop reading now as you already undoubtedly know of Garden Variety and their great contribution to indie music and it's ascent to the watered down, girl pants, eye-linered, fruitastic, mainstream atrocity it has become. Not their fault in the least, in fact, GV were quite possibly one of the most over looked punk bands of the 90s. By no means was this band laying new foundations, merely, building upon foundations set by the likes of the Descendants, Jawbreaker and Fugazi.
Garden Variety hailed from Long Island, NY. It's members, Anthony Roman (vocals, bass), Anthony Rizzo (guitar), and Joe Gorelick (drums, vocals), went on to contribute to such notable bands as Blue Tip, Hell No, and Radio 4. The music has been described as straight forward punk, but it is so much more than that. Today the music would easily get lost amongst a sea of the sheen and pristine bands that have aped this style. I think what always stood out to me about this band was it's guitar work. At first it might come off as a din of sloppy chording, and most likely that may be all it ever really was, but I fell in love with the noisy structuring of the guitar. The bass and drums piloted this machine and Roman's vocals were strained, painful, and true. His angst was sincere and that made what he was screaming feel all that more crucial and important.
I had the pleasure of seeing this band twice, both times with another very under-appreciated band, Into Another. This era in indie music was and is one of my favorites. Every band I was getting into seemed as though they were on the verge of breaking through to some new level of musicianship. Of course some did and others just faded away to be forgotten. Some should never be forgotten and GV are definitely one of those bands. Didn't everything feel that way back then? "I wish that I met you when I was seventeen, I would know all the answers to your mysteries, I could tell the stories about us in the past, And how the days of winter didn't last."-Winter, By Garden Variety
I urge you to look for their two albums, Self Titled;1993 (Gern Blandsten), and Knocking the Skill Level;1994(Cargo)
Garden Variety hailed from Long Island, NY. It's members, Anthony Roman (vocals, bass), Anthony Rizzo (guitar), and Joe Gorelick (drums, vocals), went on to contribute to such notable bands as Blue Tip, Hell No, and Radio 4. The music has been described as straight forward punk, but it is so much more than that. Today the music would easily get lost amongst a sea of the sheen and pristine bands that have aped this style. I think what always stood out to me about this band was it's guitar work. At first it might come off as a din of sloppy chording, and most likely that may be all it ever really was, but I fell in love with the noisy structuring of the guitar. The bass and drums piloted this machine and Roman's vocals were strained, painful, and true. His angst was sincere and that made what he was screaming feel all that more crucial and important.
I had the pleasure of seeing this band twice, both times with another very under-appreciated band, Into Another. This era in indie music was and is one of my favorites. Every band I was getting into seemed as though they were on the verge of breaking through to some new level of musicianship. Of course some did and others just faded away to be forgotten. Some should never be forgotten and GV are definitely one of those bands. Didn't everything feel that way back then? "I wish that I met you when I was seventeen, I would know all the answers to your mysteries, I could tell the stories about us in the past, And how the days of winter didn't last."-Winter, By Garden Variety
I urge you to look for their two albums, Self Titled;1993 (Gern Blandsten), and Knocking the Skill Level;1994(Cargo)
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