Song(s) of the Day: April 29, 2006
The Method Actors – Do the Method
(Armageddon Records 7”, 1980)
Way of the West – See You Shake
(Merx Records 12” single, 1981)
Pell Mell – New Saigon
(Indoor Records “Rhyming Guitars” EP, 1981)
It seems ridiculous thinking on it now, but back in 1981 when I was applying to colleges, I was genuinely concerned about what my quality of life would be like out of earshot of Boston’s FM radio spectrum. Between college stations WMBR, WERS, WMFU (when I could get it in), WZBC, WHRB, and the commercial WFNX (all still broadcasting), there were various chunks of the day when at least some underground rock was on the air. Some stations had special slants, such as WMBR, which was big on promoting local bands. WZBC out of Boston College in Newton was big on music from the UK as well as the many American bands which were heavily influenced by UK groups. Wire, Gang of Four, and anything on Factory Records seemed to be big influences. I probably heard the Method Actors, Way of the West, and Pell Mell on WZBC. These new sounds kind of shook me out of my Beatles-Who-Kinks-Buzzcocks-Psychedelic Furs-Jam-Pretenders-Devo reverie that was my interior high school soundtrack. Sure there was plenty of what I knew to be New Wave around, but tunes such as these three were not quite as accessible, as easily digestible, as my usual musical diet. More cerebral. I thought I knew cool, but apparently there was a special V.I.P. room of cool that had been kept secret from me.
And I was pretty sure that that room was the live music/bar scene, of which I was too young to be a part of, excepting the rare all-ages show. There were cool people dancing at those shows. And when I turned 20 and could get beyond the bouncer, there was indeed dancing. So I would go and dance my ass off. Really, bands would play and people would dance. Sadly, it’s a totally foreign concept nowadays. Folding your arms and nodding your head slightly just doesn’t cut it. I’m going to make the claim that these three tracks are dance tracks, only because this is the kind of stuff we danced to.
The Method Actors were a duo out of the diverse Athens, GA scene (Pylon, Love Tractor, and REM) who were into the funkier, no-wave side of post-punk. You’ve got to award them points for being way ahead of the curve on the duo thing. “Do the Method” is the only tune of theirs that I’ve ever locked onto with any enthusiasm, mainly for its Feelies speed, Mission of Burma/Tom Verlaine manic yelping vocals, and that great twanging bass (or guitar? Hard to tell) which oscillates sharp and then settles into key each time it’s played. Wish I still had the picture sleeve.
Way of the West I know nothing about. I suspect they were American, but detailed information about them on the web is non-existent, other than that they released a few singles and were apparently great live. Their debut single was “Don’t Say That’s Just for White Boys”, which is ringing some distant memory bells. “See You Shake” is a bit more emotionally flat than “Do the Method”. It has some great 1981-isms: the hi-hat heavy new wave dance beat, the minimal, vaguely pan-Asian guitar figures, the white boy funk bass, and unison vocals sung in a slightly robotic monotone, as though yearning to be the musical equivalent of a Russian Constructivist poster. Pass the clove cigarettes, comrade. This artsy affect is only amplified by one of the great lost goofy 80’s tropes, chanting. Especially chanting reminiscent of revolutionary slogans. Possibly missing from the shorter 7” version, the chanting is featured prominently on this extended mix. Add in overdubbed roto-tom fills and you’ve got yourself a hit. Well, Way of the West didn’t have a hit, but chanting and the overdubbed roto-toms would work their way into Thompson Twins hits. Remember the gal with the tall blonde hair who played those things? Even REM used overdubbed such tom fills on Murmur. So did the Bongos. They’re like carbon dating, really.
Pell Mell is hands down my favorite instrumental band. They had a long, if sporadic, run of nearly 20 years and 5-6 albums (if you count the cassette releases), most notably their three tremendous albums from the 1990’s. They had some line-up changes over the years, including the ’83 addition of future producer Steve Fisk and even later addition of guitarist extraordinaire Dave Spalding, made their way from SST to Geffen to Matador, and were known for writing by mail as the members often lived far away from one another (can anyone verify that factoid?). Hard to believe that at the height of grunge an instrumental band could make it as far as they did. Which wasn’t that far at all. But at least you’ve heard of them, right? Now you can’t turn around without a post-rock instrumental band rooting through your trash can. You should at least own the three 90’s albums Flow, Interstate, and Star City. Pell Mell were brilliant musicians, songwriters, and arrangers. I wish I was in Pell Mell.
Right. Um…now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I can tell you that “New Saigon” was from their first record, an ep, done when they were starting out in Portland, OR. It’s kind of repetitive. I think that’s the point. I didn’t really understand and appreciate stasis in my rock music back then. It just sort of keeps going. It’s completely emotionless. It’s almost like wallpaper, but with a design that refuses to meld into the background of your attention. But at the same time it’s got hooks. It really challenged my listening habits and assumptions, in the same way that say, PIL’s “Poptones” did. I don’t even mind when it lodges in my head for half a day at a time.
-Andrew Chalfen
posted by Jon Harrison at 1:10 PM
23 Comments:
Way of the West had several major hits. "Don't Say that's Just for White Boys.'' WHFS in Bethesda MD played tons of their singles. Great band.
I loves loves love Way of the West. Great memories and great post!
Great post. This is a band whose work cries out to be re-released on cd. "Dancing Underneath" is a tune that will worm it's way into your head and never leave...
Hey Andrew, nice callback with the Method Actors. Back in 1981, we (Narthex) took them as our permission that we were "allowed" to be a duo.
On the dancing, yeah, in just our little performance career from 1980 to 1983, I saw the dancing die out from an onstage view. I blame the hardcore slam dancers -- they chased everyone else off the floor.
i thought way of the west were english. isn't merx an english imprint of the mercury label? maybe not. i do remember that 'white boys' song in heavy rotation at every club with a dancefloor. got the same attention as, say, 'shoot you down' by apb.
thanks for the kind Pell Mell words! to answer your question about us writing songs through the mail--we simply traded cassettes of song ideas back and forth across the country between New Haven, San Francisco, and Seattle. Dave Spalding and I would record some rough demos, send them to Steve Fisk in Seattle, and Greg Freeman in San Francisco, and they would put parts on them, and send us their own kernels of songs. these were then re-recorded when we got into the studio. not that novel of an idea, just a geographical necessity.
your take on "New Saigon" is spot on.
thanks again for the post!
Ah, the Method Actors. Thanks for that song. It reminds me of my freshman year at K.U. in the fall of 1983. KJHK featured a lot of Method Actors and Comsat Angels that term, so whenever I hear those bands, it takes me back to the dorm room at Oliver Hall, my desktop jambox, and that fuzzy 100 watt signal from atop Mt. Oread.
Well done, Andrew. I am guessing you're probably about 40 (like me), because I too was underage when all these great records were coming out. I was reading about them in Sub Pop and Trouser Press, buying them by mail order, and imagining what was going on in the clubs where bands like these were playing.
You can get some Method Actors songs on their Myspace site, and their singer/guitarist Vic Varney is at www.vicvarney.com. I second the motion for a Method Actors cd anthology. Most of their stuff came out on the strange, belated Armageddon label.
Way of the West played great tunes. Hard times in searching on the web gives me some facts about the group. Dave Bonnefoy: drums, percussion
Peter Carney: guitar,vocals (composer)
Way of the West was a London based 80's alternative pop band. Dave Bonnefoy now lives in Australia and he plays the drums in The Towel Heads, a 'new wave' surf band.
greetings from Holland, RUUD
I'm just about to post all the WOTW singles at my blog http:witchseason.blogspot.com - come on over!
I mixed many Way of the West live shows. We toured the US in (I think) 1981, driving from Minneapolis to San Francisco non stop in freezing weather. I think I still have the speeding tickets somewhere. The tour was something of a disaster with some of the shows cancelled and we had no money. By contrast the European shows had been a blast. The band were just great and White Boys, See you Shake and Drum would take the roof off. The band and crew would go clubbing after the gigs - Gang of Four's To Hell with Poverty was a big favourite of the band at the time. Sadly I don't have any of the desk tapes but for my band archive I would like to get hold of a copy of the singles if anyone has them.
Discovered Pell Mell's New Saigon through Monks of Doom 'What's Left For Kicks' a record they released in 2006. I like Andrew's story. It seems to be many happy memories.
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Great article! Thanks.
Thanks for interesting article.
Excellent website. Good work. Very useful. I will bookmark!
Thanks to everybody for those kind words and a big hello to our long suffering sound engineer above. Hello Chris! Everything you say is true, though I don't quite remember starving for our art....
I've finally started a Way Of The West blog mercury66 so if anybody wants to lounge on the nice sofas we have there while listening to the music, you're very welcome.
Much thanks to this excellent blog too.
i had all the 12" from way of the west saw them live 2 or 3 times,all in boston 82,3 thank god i put the songs on a cassette cuz my sister had charge of the vinyl and she dumped em who knows where.also,polyrock finally on cd
i saw way of the west in long island around 81-82,i think at my fathers place or a place like that in long island. nobody showed up.
just me and a few other people.
i was like 21 and they came down afterward,and was just walking around ,and i walked up and said hi, and said i love your sound and they asked me how i heard of them and i said wlir in long island.
there was one black dude in the band,and i think he played bass,but im not sure.They seemed pretty bummed about the show and said goodbye and left.
i managed to find a zip file on the net with all there songs,there are 14 total in the file.
im the guy from long island and wlir/i finally found a you tube video.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4l6JVmxmVo
its drum and i cant belive it.
if you look to the right ,they have white boys, just the song on you tube too.
I always come back here every couple months to see if any reponceses have been made or updates.there is a 12 -14 song collection on this site or somewhere else on the net thats free and i got all of them in a zip file ,as i said in my last post. i love way of the west man! I heard them when they 1st came out on wlir new york in L.I.
and have been a fan ever since.
i just wanted to add, about the bit on carben dateing.The roto sound was knicked or stoled or borrowed from ethnic funk at the time....I.E. islay brothers winner takes all stuff like kurtis blow,theses are the breaks.
thats how the term mutant disco came about.i remember at the mudclub they would mix more bounce to the ounce by zapp with trans europe express by kraft work.
Ahhh the evelution of music.
My speciality.i am a song writer
musician and looking for people into way of the west and all the above and new influnces to colablrate with.i am very good
with computer Daws,and write on piano and guitar but my main instruments are bass and drums/have my own studio
lets do an album
i have plenty of material!
And im very serious.
and would love to colaborate on new
material!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
muzlblst@roadrunner.com
shout back and thanks for reading my blog.
Ed Basile
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