The Dactyls/Bandit Teeth – Split 7”
Self Released, 2008
Acquired: Crossroads Music, Used, 2013
Price: $2
Of COURSE I found a split featuring two Lawrence bands in a
Portland record shop. Crossroads Music was an intense place. It was packed with
records. Most of it was junk. The impression I got was that it worked sort of
like an antique mall for records: Independent sellers lay out their wares and
the guy at the counter keeps track of who sells what. It was confusing until I found
one or two little rows of modern indie rock 7”s and promptly spent an hour and
a half combing through 45s from bands I’d never heard of. This is one of my
favorite fucking things on the planet. The overhead is minimal, so I’m more
likely to make an investment in something that just plain looks cool or I have
even remotely heard of on the off chance it’s something tasty. Even if I had
picked up a copy of this when it was released in 2008 (I’m pretty sure I
attended the release party for this 7” and did not purchase a copy because it
was during my “I’m about to graduate college and am currently unemployed and
have no money” period (not to be confused with my current “I graduated college
five years ago and am underemployed and the bulk of my extra money to Sallie
Mae” period). While I always liked seeing Bandit Teeth and the Dactyls play
live, I never really had any desire to listen to them outside of the Replay
Lounge. It’s funny, because I listened to Bandit Teeth auxiliary projects Blood
on the Wall and Rooftop Vigilantes at great length at home and in the car. Their
contribution to this 7”—“Pajamazon”—is bringing back some fun memories. The
nice thing about Bandit Teeth was that the Brad, Zach and Charley all seemed
like this was the band that brought them the most joy. The band that was the
most fun to be in just because they had all been buddies for forever. It’s
ramshackle indie rock with some crustier garage influences. The Dactyls’
fondness for the glory days of indie rock was always firmly apparent. The specter
of Pavement was always in the air anytime that played. They seemed so
influenced by Pavement I remember remarking that it was strange they didn’t do
a one off Pavement tribute because they would have been so good at that. They
ultimately grew out of the Pavement knock-off and into a well rounded college
rock troupe that seemed content to not set the world on fire and to exist as
one of the better openers that Lawrence had to offer to national touring acts. This
7” is stirring up a massive wave of nostalgia for what was at my absolute worst.
My most dickheaded, my most drunk,
my most destructive, and most ready to get the fuck out of Lawrence as soon as
humanly possible. It’s all kind of funny in hindsight. A period jam packed with
reality lessons that helped me grow and learn from my mistakes sound tracked by
one of the better periods in the Lawrence Music Scene.
Even though it has only been five years, almost all evidence of these songs ever existing has seemingly vanished from the internet and I'm wishing I had a USB turntable to share these tracks. Preserve them in amber as an artifact of the time when $2 cans of PBR were king.
No comments:
Post a Comment