Friday, January 06, 2006

Young Losers - All Gone





Young Losers All Gone b/w Private Affair 7" (Young Losers, 1998)

The Young Losers were yet another short-lived Texas band that sprang up from the ruins of a great preceeding band: the two-piece Distractors, whose first EP will get a public airing later this year, promise. This self-released 7" came out in some ridiculously small quantity in 1998, all the more so for how good it is. The panic-driven mania that typified the Distractors 'sound' is here sharpened up into two solid dagger-thrusts of a more conventional punk attack, but dripping with a sincere 'who cares' attitude that is so purely American (take it or leave it, brother). The Saints cover on the flip captures the post-teen bleak desperation that fueled the original version, a serious achievement considering that the Saints are my favorite first-wave punk band.

It's strange thinking back on bands, like our friends the Young Losers here, that played this fast and this loud still being categorized as strictly 'garage' by the general punk public because their sound lacked 'progressive' elements ie; prog-metal riffs lifted from Metallica or Slayer records, absolutely trend-of-the-moment-driven 'hysterical shrieking,' boilerplate political lyrics that repeated the same arguments found on Conflict records more than a decade earlier, amongst other extraneous devices. Plus, wearing the wroooong band shirts ... alas, the unfortunate by-product of the genre police born of the mid-80's. The human element is all that matters. I think by 2006 we've accepted the fact that much of what was widely called 'garage' in the 1990's had ALOT more in common sonically with the class of 1981 than 1966. Or, hopefully this digi can swing greater acceptance of this stance.

These guys managed another 7" on Rip Off Records before melting away into the brutal Austin afternoon. Guitarist Trey now counts 'em off for the Hard Feelings, who put out a damn fine LP on Sympathy back in 2000. -RW

For more info, check out Terminal Boredom.


Comments:
And Chris went on to drum for awhile in Tits, who were totally friggin awesome, but I don't know that they ever recorded. Fucking great band - more in a "proto punk" vein. This is a great record.
 
think trey was in the distractors too. those dudes are criminally underrated too.
 
oops failed to read distractors connection in the piece. but yea both are great bands
 
I got a Tits tape off of Chris, and it rules. If I had brains enough to rip to mp3, I would...but I don't. This 7" was/is great. Chris also went on to drum for many Seattle bands (The Valentine Killers/MTE, The Blow Up, and a few I can't recall).


CT
 
Thanks for posting these: I liked these guys then, and I like them now.
 
chris was also in the inhalants before young losers.
 
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