Guided by Voices/The Grifters
1994, The Now Sound
The last time we discussed Robert Pollard here at The Constant Bleeder (or Da’ Bleeder, as the kids at the mall like to call it), it was for a fake split single; now on the table this time is a real split single.
The Grifters were one of the few relatively fresh indie rock bands at the time–and by “relatively fresh”, I mean they’d been making records for five years or so–who were about the same age as Guided by Voices. 30s, pushing 40, somewhere in that neighborhood. I don’t know their exact ages, but The Grifters were older than the average pipsqueak and were in the middle of putting out their two best albums of noisy jaded wooze, One Sock Missing and Crappin’ You Negative.
So, here you’ve got two sides of late-bloomer rock from a pair of bands who were in high cotton at the time. Sign me up.
The Grifters song is called “I’m Drunk” while the Guided by Voices side IS drunk.
Under a veil of fuzz, The Grifters bring a sexy Cramps swagger on their side, even though the song appears to be about being too drunk to fuck.
Meanwhile, Guided by Voices have to be hilarious assholes and squeeze FOUR songs onto their half of the 7″. “Hey Mr. Soundman” is a ghostly little number and there’s a funny story behind it, which you can read in Jim Greer’s book about the band, Hunting Accidents. “Announcers & Umpires” herks and jerks in fine fashion, but can’t walk in a straight line or pass a breathalyzer test. “Evil Speaker B” is a brief and tender guitar instrumental from the reclusive Jim Pollard. The dark, riffing closer “Uncle Dave” is the “pop” song of the set, which just means that it lasts longer than a minute and has a repeating chorus. Also, everything about it–the guitar tones, the audio fidelity, even Pollard’s vocal–feels like 80s GBV to me. Very Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia. I have no idea when the band recorded the song, but I wouldn’t be surprised if “Uncle Dave” was something from the archives. GBV were releasing records like crazy this year.
This record is a footnote to both bands’ discographies, but, hey, some of us out here are really into footnotes. I like it.
Guided by Voices toured a lot with The Grifters back in “the day”. When The Grifters broke up and leader Dave Shouse formed other bands, GBV toured with them, too. They’re buddies, looks like. We all need buddies. I’m sure everybody can agree on that.