The 1985 (Monoton Studio)

Source: Got it in 2001, maybe at a record release show? It's hazy, those days....

Fast-forward a few years, after the '85 have gone on a few tours, put out a few full-lengths, and had a membership change. This release, possibly their final one, is a real re-invention: there's something European about them now. I mean, Monoton is a German label, so maybe a direction change was part of the contract. New (though not so new by 2001) drummer A.E. Paterra plays the electronic drum kit, no doubt easier to travel with, and the whole process takes on a more "mature" sound. On side 1, Joe Vernet, Jr. is still yelping like his toenails are being pulled out, but it has a, I dunno, sophistication previously unheard. There's a weird guitar comedown at the end of 'The Long Weekend' which is strangely pretty. Then, side 2 - the total departure - the slow, pulsing electro-pop of '(Even) More', featuring electric piano and delicately sung vocals! Have the '85 abandoned their roots? Or just signaled at the tensions re:direction that potentially led to their disbanding? I doubt anyone actually heard this 7" so I suppose that no one was really asking.

The 1985 / Pressgang - 'Battle of the Brain Geniuses' (C.L.)

Source: Not sure - got from someone affiliated with one of the two bands in 1997 when this came out.

Attractively packaged on CL (which if my memory serves, stood for 'Cheese Log') Records, this split 7" is highly conceptual, see? It comes with a classic DIY 7" booklet containing photos and lyrics, rendered in near-unreadable fonts and handwriting, and a explanation on the back of the big concept behind this record. Because a split 7" is such a crazy, unique idea, isn't it? The '85 tracks sound a million times better than on their debut though maybe this is due to better mastering and pressing. The drums, they sound like drums, and the vocals have their proper screamy yelling quality that they deserve. The songs, well they're in the same manner as the first record: musical confection for those who snack on angry Northern white men, one foot in the post-hardcore camp and one foot still in art school. Pressgang, who we'll visit again when we get to the Ps, are somewhat more in the punker camp, though the guitar riffs (and lyrics) suggest influence from Mission of Burma, Moss Icon, etc. Growled vocals occasionally doubled by a female drive it along and cut against the occasional sunshine seen in the chord changes. The female takes lead for the last track but sounds she's struggling to stay out of high tide.

The 1985 - 'Seven Inch Record' (Pop Bus)

Source: Bought at a show, from the band or label, early 1997.

These guys used to rock my adolescent world, with their black-clad nihilism, pointy riffs and subversive attitudes. I hadn't heard Nation of Ulysses or Six Finger Satellite then, but so what if I had? It wouldn't lessen the thrill of taking a bus across town to watch these guys play in basements so I could awkwardly nod my head up and down and dream of the future. I remember the release show for this, with Chisel headlining, the '85 (as we called them), a teenage post-rock band called Spittoon and a long-lost band called Daytime TV. This 7" convienently falls at the start of the alphabetical 7" project but it's a good start -- this record was the first record in my life that I looked forward to because I felt like I was part of it. Not because I actually had anything to do with the record itself but because it was from this tiny slice of the world that I was carving out for myself. Listening now I'm mostly struck but the horrendous mastering job, probably a United in-house deal, and the preponderance of distorted, descending guitar riffs. Dan Tomko's bass farts about in a Jesus Lizard/Metal Box manner and on which Vernet and Schreckengost can hang their guitar parts. Though it sounded so angry, explosive, and haphazard to me twelve years ago, today I'm struck but how carefully constructed it all is. Bonus points for having a bonus track at the end of the first side. The top of the beautiful Third Termite packaging has faded after years of being hit but sunlight but Schreckengost's paste-on art print still looks great.