Dear Friends,
Today, I will hang with the dog. She has been pretty clingy since we got here on Sunday afternoon. It’s been lovely, really. She missed me. I mean, she still worships the ground Rhondi walks on (and she should), but she’s been very close to me since I got here.
Bailey has brought me a lot of joy these past two days. I can’t thank her enough for that. I think she knows that I need the love, too. She’s been giving me a lot of kisses and been helping me demolish the peanut butter pretzels we got at Costco on Sunday.
Yesterday, she took off after a deer that was trying to have a little snack in the yard. She’s fearless when it comes to the deer, which is odd because if that deer really wanted to, it could probably knock Bailey for a nice loop. I don’t think the does are aggressive, though, unless a fawn is around.
*****
Liam and I took a drive to Farmington yesterday to find him a sport coat he can wear to the funeral. He wants to look sharp. Doug had a couple of suits in his closet, but they were just a little too big for Liam. They fit me really well, though. I find that so strange. All this time he and I wore the same sizes of clothes. I had no idea.
The fall colors were so rad on the drive to Farmington. It’s spectacular. Liam has not come up here at this time of year before, so he was blown away by what he was seeing. There are a couple of points on the drive where you go through some hills and a valley spreads out in front of you. The colors you can see are amazing.
We had a good talk on the drive. I’m still so proud of him and how he is handling all this. Doug would be so proud, too. I know he was very fond of Liam and loved him greatly. Doug was Liam’s “Pranka” when he was little. We learned that “Pranka” is a Sanskrit word and means “Lap of Love.” If that doesn’t prove that every human is connected, I don’t know what does.
I mean, how in the hell does Liam know to start calling his grandpa, who he adored, “Pranka?” Liam’s first real steps were walking across a hotel room floor to Doug when he came to visit in 2008 during a trip to an H&R Block in Vegas. The two had a connection.
And now I have tears in my eyes. I should write a country song called, “Typing through the tears.” Only country lovin’ writers would understand.
*****
Victims Family played in Phoenix a couple of times when their 2001 record, Apocalicious, came out. One of those shows was with The Fleshies and Hillbilly Devilspeak, and one was with the mighty Oxbow. Both evenings were amazing, and Victims Family completely blew me away.
Like many bands that I have written about this year, I had heard of Victims Family but was largely unfamiliar with their music before playing the show with them. The majority of their set, at the time, was from Apocalicious. Man, those songs are bad ass, so I became a fan.
I also really like Ralph and Larry from the band, too. They were genuinely cool as hell to us when we played with them and the Fleshies and we forged a little bond. Ralph even came out to see Hillbilly play in San Francisco on one of our next couple trips out to the Bay Area.
It always helps when you like someone as a person, but Victims Family would have become one of my favorite Alternative Tentacles’ bands even if we hadn’t ever talked. Their music and style just floated my boat completely. Friend bias or not, they are awesome.
Victims Family brings a lot to the table on Apocalicious (and all their records, really, including the stuff Ralph and Larry did with Saturn’s Flea Collar and The Hellworms). Larry is a wonderfully creative bass player and totally fluid player, and Ralph’s guitar work and vocals are top notch, too. David Gleza did the drums and was probably their drummer on that tour, but I don’t remember, for sure. Either way, the drums are great, too.
There is the big bass groove that starts the record on the title track, “Apocalicious,” that I dig. The song unfolds like a dirty minded, heavy lifting kind of flower, but that bass line sucked me in right away. There is a funky element to Victims Family I wasn’t expecting, at first, but I was so glad to find out that these guys could really fucking play live that I have never been surprised by how much of a groove their music has.
They can also make it grungy and distorted and straight up punk rock, too. They don’t sound anything like Nomeansno, really, but they have that kind of strength in their music. Both bands are three-pieces who can really play their instruments and are not afraid to change things up from song to song if they feel like it. I love that Victims Family brings all the flavors on Apocalicious.
“I’m Being Followed Around By The CIA” is a psychedelic punk romp that feels a bit like a spiraling unit of madness. It brings you in and slaps you around a bit. It also occurs to me that while I listen to the first few tracks of the record, Victims Family are also similar in feel to their labelmates (and current bandmate) Jello Biafra in how they approach a tune. There is a lot of similarities between the songs on Apocalicious and Biafra’s work as a member of the Dead Kennedys.
While all the songs on the record are great, I do have my favorites. “Monstrosity” is another riff that kind of acts like it is eating itself. I wouldn’t call it ‘math-rock’ but it is math rock adjacent. “Monstrosity” is a muscle flexer, too. That’s not a real term, “muscle flexer” but it works for this song. Punk rock flexing is pretty much my favorite thing, most of the time.
The best song, in my opinion, is “Worthy Adversary” and that is because of the righteously huge riff it possesses. The bass line, again, just so rad, but Larry, Ralph, and David just really lock in here. It’s ridiculous to me that it has only been played about 6000 times on Spotify. It should be played every day by 6000 people in my opinion.
The real beauty here, too, is that after “Worthy Adversary,” the album finishes so strongly. “Automated” is a great riff and song and then “Asshole With A Microphone” comes on and just lays into the idea of being the guy (or the gal) with the mic and realizing that nobody really cares what you have to say.
“Fridge” is another song I truly love. Sometimes it rivals “Worthy Adversary” on my level iconic and favorite Victims Family songs as the top song. It’s another killer riff and the lyrics are great, even if they are just about the food the protagonist says he is. I love that Victims Family is/was comfortable with just having fun.
“Son of a Bastard” closes things out with some horns and a creepy vibe to start off that blooms over the first three minutes of pure, swinging radness into a pretty rockin’ ending. Just Victims Family being Victims Family, though. Kudos to the boys.
Just kudos.
*****
See you tomorrow.
AI has been there.
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