Darla (1995)
While discussing Alligator Gun with some friends last night, I remarked that the one time I got to see them play, they were opening up for 30 Amp Fuse. I've had the second 30 Amp Fuse album, Saturday Night At The Atomic Speedway, since before it had even come out. I was sent a copy of it in advance when I was writing at my college newspaper in 1997. I was immediately taken with it and sure played the heck out of it back then. For whatever reason, I wasn't able to track down (or just didn't have the money for) the first 30 Amp Fuse record, Wind Up. As a friend pruned his collection a few months ago, I took that opportunity to add this to the collection.
I've had the opening track on this album as a song on a 7" for decades. "Sorry" still holds up every bit as good today and it's probably the highlight of this album. However, this is an album full of some catchy, pop leaning punk rock songs. You can hear similarities to other crunchy guitar bands of the era like Pollen (especially with the gruff vocals) or Overwhelming Colorfast (with their mastery of a catchy hook). 30 Amp Fuse isn't afraid to put their foot on the gas and blast things off a bit faster like the sugar fueled "St. Patty's Day" which just races through with a nonstop blast of roaring guitar.
A fun little tidbit is that John Davis (bass) and Don Coffey Jr. (drums), who would later become much more renown for their next band Superdrag, got their start on this 30 Amp Fuse record. But this is really the show of guitarist and singer Mike Smithers and it's a pretty good show. While poking around the internet a bit, I realized two things about 30 Amp Fuse. The first is that it doesn't look like I have Saturday Night At The Atomic Speedway on vinyl, so I'm going to need to correct that oversight. The second is that 30 Amp Fuse had a third album in 1998 that I never even knew existed. I'm going to have to take a look for that one as well.
30 Amp Fuse - "Sorry":
30 Amp Fuse - "St. Patty's Day":
30 Amp Fuse - "Everclear":
No comments:
Post a Comment