Rocket Remnants: silverfish

Thursday, 23 April 2009

Lepisma saccharina

If Jimmy Page and John Bonham had been born twenty years later than they were, and if they'd been speed heads and not ones for the Charles and champers, then Zeppelin may well have sounded like Silverfish.

There's something very Zeppelin about Silverfish, right from the beginning of this album their sound is massive; bombastic, and brimming with energy.

In reality Fuzz plays nothing like Page; there's no blistering lengthy solos, and there's certainly no 'Dazed and Confused'. No it's the way in which the songs are arranged and structured that creates the comparison with the rock gods; and the drums, well, they're definitely dead Bonzo.

I loved this band.

They were the noisiest band around.

They always played a good show, and would rattle around in your head for a good week after you'd seen them.

Fat Axl, released between the T.F.A. and Fucking Drivin' or What? e.p.s, was Silverfish's first full length album release.

As a representation of their sound it's pretty good. It's always a problem to capture the dynamism and energy of Bands like Silverfish (who were essentially live acts) in the confines of the studio; but this is a fair attempt, and sounds just about as live as you can get on a studio album; little overdubbing and plenty of whine and fizz.

Silverfish - Fat Axl (1991)

Pink and Lovely
Fat Painted Carcass
Harry Butcher
Shit Out Of Luck
White Lines
Two Marines
Spoon
Baby Baby Baby
Ich Bin Ein-Schaften Trouser

Immaculate vinyl rip @320kbs
Hear what the speed freaks did to 'White Lines' here

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

What's in a Name

As the eighties segued effortlessly into the nineties one of my favourite noises emanating from that time came from a disparate four piece known as Silverfish.

With regular performances at various venues around North London - rarely venturing too far from their heartland Camden Town - for a while they were the hottest act on the underground metal circuit.

I often caught them at the Boston Arms in Tufnell Park during the pub's weekly 'alternative' club nights; the name of which escapes me at the moment.

Silverfish were a motley crew: Scottish girl-fronted with a mixed race guitarist who would bounce off the walls while creating layers of ear-buckling fuzz, accompanied by a bombastic rhythm section that would literally shake your very soul and hollow out your insides.

The T.F.A. e.p. was released in 1990 and captured what had always been a favourite refrain with the audience: 'You're a Total Fucking Asshole'.

And there's little more cathartic than standing in a smoky venue, eardrums bending inwards towards the brain, screaming 'You're a Total Fucking Asshole' until your cords are totally shredded...

Boy, it sure helped in getting through the week!

'Total Fucking Asshole' is an anthem and a battlecry.

It doesn't matter what your cause; they'll always be someone who stands in opposition, and this song is appropriately targeted at that 'someone'.
The energy in the music perfectly matches the attitude and the anger.

The fact that it sounds as if it was recorded in a cavern of some sort adds a kind of gothic flavour to the sound; this only assists with the song's total lacking in irony.

'Die' sounds like it could have come fresh out of J.G.Thirlwell's stable.

'Driller' returns to the more sludgy sound Silverfish did so well live; guitar switching from straight to extreme distortion adding waves of intensity to the massive wall of sound the three musicians were able to create so readily and effectively.

In 91 The Fuckin' Drivin' Or What...e.p. (yes you really can tell what you're gonna get... ) gives us the wonderful 'Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal', and the loaded lines: 'Are you afraid of me?/Hips, Tits, Lips, Power' creating a feminist shout worthy of any clued-up sister; it really helps by sounding like something Albini would have conjured up if he had been of the opposing gender.

Big Black is a suitable comparitor.

John Peel said about Silverfish: 'If they'd been from New York, we'd be mad for them of course.'

Another comparitor inspired by that quote is Sonic Youth, who I know are more 'experimental' and are a great band; but personally, I think Silverfish were better.