$15.50
(IN STORES OCTOBER 12 - mail order ships sooner)
STICKMEN WITH RAY GUNS - Property Of Jesus Christ (12XU 079-1) LP $10.00
On the heels of End Of An Ear's well received 'Grave City' compilation of studio recordings, here's the first of two live albums from Dallas' incredibly influential and fucked-before-their-time STICK MEN WITH RAY GUNS, 'Property Of Jesus Christ', recorded in 1984 at Houston's Lawndale Art Annex. . Recordings have been restored / beefed up by Jack Control of Enormous Door Mastering, lacquers cut by Matt Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service as befitting this crucial document of one of US punk's most fearless outfits at the peak of their powers. Though the material has been available on CD and digital download previously, this is the first time these performances from the foursome of Bobby Soxx, Clarke Blacker, Scott Elam and Bob Beeman have been issued on vinyl. Has any American band before or since come close to embodying antagonism as an art form? I'm sure your short list is fascinating, maybe even worth arguing over, but you absolutely need 'Property Of Jesus Christ' and the '87 finale, '1000 Lives To Die' playing on repeat from the safety of your living room.
"Great, horrible, dangerous, perfect." - David Yow
"a singularly inspired mixture of misanthropy, psychosis and an audience-baiting live show." - Mojo
"Stick Men with Ray Guns formed in 1981 in Dallas, a product of the same 275-mile long cultural petri dish that bred Big Boys, Butthole Surfers, The Dicks, and Scratch Acid. It's a testament to the influence and depravity of the first wave Texas hardcore scene that SMWRG's antagonistic antics have been largely lost to the ages. Their shows, according to local lore, verged on performance art. But scores of bands have since stolen their shtick—fighting audience members, using the mic as a public colonoscopy probe, etc.
The mythology of the Wild Frontman has masked early punk's capacity to attract people with mental illness. To be a wacko underground vocalist in the early 1980s, especially in places like Texas, meant being someone with an above-average capacity to inflict and receive punishment. Stick Men frontman Bobby Sox excelled at both." - Sam McPheeters, Vice
Come with download code - black vinyl only on this one!