Stumbled across another great alternative news site this week (inevitably based in the USA); Truth Dig is an informative read and well worth subscribing to. Amy Goodman’s regular column gets published there for instance. The real attraction for an audiophile like myself however is the great section of netcasts they have available for download. I’ve been trawling through them and the highlight so far has been the fantastic interview with Dr. Dahlia Wasfi (see photo), The Lose-Lose War. This one really blew me away and made me wish that we heard voices like this more frequently (at all) on the BBC.

I’ve posted a couple of political things here recently so it’s definitely time to get back on track with the music. To that end I bring you 13 tracks from the mighty Chocolate, 12 of which originally appeared on the 1995, 7″ vinyl-only, release, Slow & Low, and one unreleased song from the same session. This is definitely one of the releases that I’m proudest of and it’s possibly my fave 7″ of all the ones I’ve been involved with. This works for me every time and I’m really, really happy with it all these years later.

Sure it’s formulaic, but that’s exactly what Chocolate was about; we set out to be a punk-by-numbers-and-proud-of-it band. I was so sick of how slick mainstream ‘punk’ had become that I got Wolfie and John together with a view to being the exact opposite of Green Day, Lemonheads etc. We’d have some fun, expect to go nowhere and keep the music unpolished. The first few releases were pretty snotty and rough, but this EP is harder, shorter, faster and more intense (gotta LOVE that word!) than anything we’d done before and I was really pleased with the sound and the feel.

Chocolate on this record was:

• Simon Finbow - Vocals
• Ed Wenn - Guitar & backing vocals
• Wolfie - Bass
• John Ruscoe - Drums and backing vocals

Sugar Free-Promise - 2.3MB
Mr Peeper - 1.0MB
Bully Bars - 804KB
Missile Attack - 878KB
How & When - 1.9MB
Ain’t No Feeble Bastard - 1.1MB
Serious Loss Of Down - 858KB
46 - 1.8MB
Do I Fit? - 1.1MB
You’re Too Punk - 1.9MB
Negligible - 1.5MB
Coughing Up Blood - 734KB
That’s How It Is - 3.2MB (previously unreleased)

L-R: Wolfie, Simon, Ed & John (Photo by Claire Howe)

Notes:

1. Very few people know this, but Tommy Stupid (as was) and I actually tried to get a band together sometime in the early 90’s (I think). We had 2 or 3 rehearsals somewhere in London and wrote a bunch of songs, but eventually it fizzled out and we never picked it up again. If memory servers we were tentatively called Breaker…but that maybe wrong. Anyway, when Chocolate started up a year later I stole some riffs from a couple of the Breaker tracks for the new band. One of them crops up here in the verse section of You’re Too Punk. Breaker bassist was my man Simon Prince (formerly of Chicken Bone Choked) and he wrote the riff.
2. When John left Chocolate a year after this came out to join Mover, he played them this EP and I’m proud to say that it quite literally scared them. They weren’t big punk fans so this would have come as a real shock
3. The unreleased track, That’s How It Is, is a continuation of the funk/rap stuff that we dabbled with on the Hung, Gifted & Slack album. For my money it’s the best thing we did in that area, but much as I like it, I’d still love to be able to remix it as there’s a keyboard part buried in there somewhere. It was recorded very quickly at the end of the session and we hadn’t practised the vocals at all…despite all that I’m happy with it. The lyrics were written mainly by me, but with inclusions from Wolfie and Simon. The live stuff at the start and finish is from a Tim Buckley concert
4. The track, 46, is about Oscar Wilde, Coughing Up Blood is about poet, John Keats and Mr Peeper is my homage to Raymond Chandler (he of Big Ray fame). A very literary flavour to the record it would seem.
5. It was a major thrill covering the Discharge song Ain’t No Feeble Bastard (from their Why? mini album). I’d loved that song ever since it came out and I felt 14 again playing it. Under protest John was made to play the lead guitar part.

Lyrics:

SUGAR-FREE PROMISE

Turn on the T.V. and roll out the clowns.
Your sugar-free promise tastes like shit in my mouth.
But we sit here and take it night in, night out.
We’re passive and willing.
Right in, right out.

There’s victim culture where they treat you like shit
And there’s a culture for victims
Yeah, we’re living right in it.
So buy into an image and the act out the role.
It’s insane you don’t suss it.
You just do what you’re told.

You think you’re so happening.
I know you’ve been fooled.
Sunglasses and cigarettes are your idea of cool.
We’ve got it all twisted and back to front in our minds.
We keep hold of the packaging and throw away what’s inside.

MR PEEPER

Private Dick, nightclub slick.
He chews gum to keep him lean
He wears shades in case he’s seen.
Drinks black coffee. Packs a piece.
Thrown in the can, but he always gets released.

Mr Peeper. Super creeper.

But down these mean streets a man must go.
Where others fear to tread.
Knows when to hold his tongue, when to use a gun
And when to use his head.

BULLY BARS

They look stupid
And they kill people.

MISSILE ATTACK

Death from the skies.
No-one knows why.
Your turn to fry
In the death from the skies.

Heard it on the radio.
Long-distance death throes.
No time to look back…missile attack.

Seen it on the video.
Nothing left, time to go.
No chance to look back…missile attack.

HOW & WHEN

You’re worth a whole lot of silver
And this ain’t no teenage trauma.
When you sleep do you forget about me?
When you’re awake do you lose sight of your dreams?

So this one’s for you.
What is in store for you?
I feel helpless watching you living your life.
So give me access…let me feel what it’s like.

You’re strong, you’re weak,
You feel empty, you’re complete.
You’re here, you’re gone.
You’re with me, on your own.
We each need time alone.
You’re here, you’re gone.

You’re tough and fragile,
Is this worth your while?
You life’s suspended from a single steel thread.
Calm on the outside, but there’s a zoo in your head.

AIN’T NO FEEBLE BASTARD

Original words by the incredibly mighty Discharge.
We are too unworthy to re-print them here.

SERIOUS LOSS OF DOWN

Why do you all dress the same?
You look way less than fine.
This is more than social contact.
Why are you so fucking blind?
There’s a premium on being safe.
No points for trying to think.
Hit the shops at the weekend.
A store card ain’t cash to spend.

What you gonna to do
With your life?
When you look back you’ll see
It’s a serious loss of down.
A serious loss of down.

46

He knew he’d make it and he made it big.
He thought he could take all they threw at him.
But wit and genius won’t sway the law,
So don’t play away from home if you don’t know the score.

Dying at 46.

What he did and when he did it everybody knows,
But he waved it in their faces so he had to go.
They were waiting on the sidelines, desperate for payback
One thing the world hates to see is a fat cat.

DO I FIT?

On the 33rd floor bored out of my mind.
Feeling pathetic, I’ve been left behind.
Standing around, feeling so weird.
I tried to get high but I’m nowhere near.

I figured it out I’m not a simple machine.
I think weird shit and try to say what I mean.
And when I get bored I can’t do anything.
Stare straight ahead and dream my dream.

Is this my world?
Do you think I fit in?
Is this my world?
Do I fit in?

YOU’RE TOO PUNK

Hanging out. Talking shit.
You got a problem? Deal with it.
It’s good to know you when you’re not drunk,
But mostly always, you’re too punk.

Unconnected. Disregard.
Disconnected. Tries too hard.

I’ve had enough, this is it.
Fried food air smell makes me sick.
Don’t waste my time.
Don’t waste my life.
I want the real thing not the hype.

NEGLIGIBLE

We’re ripping ourselves off.
We’re fucking ourselves up.
It happens everytime.
We’re telling ourselves lies.
We’re turning the heat up.
We’re no longer next in line.

Days and nights through years spent wondering.
What were we going to do?
What!
The difference turned out to be negligible.
So what did you expect?
What!

We wear the same clothes
Because we’ve got no brains
And still you won’t believe it.
We’re growing up now
And losing our way.
I shouldn’t be surprised.

COUGHING UP BLOOD

You saw the beauty
In an old Greek jug.
Now we feel empty,
But you left us filled with love.

No hungry generations tread you down.
We didn’t know you were coughing up blood.
You spoke, I saw the light and now I’m found.
And all the time you were coughing up blood.

This shocked me when I saw it on Daniel from Dead Metaphor’s Flickr stream. That’s the Adolescents’ bassist in a photo taken in July 2006. Hmmm.

Guess what…it turns out that Americans aren’t stupid after all. Well, some of us knew that already, but just recently it’s become harder and harder to believe it and our own media in the UK isn’t exactly going out of its way to help matters. Anyway, I’ve been listening to a lot of material recently that contrasts the Corporate Media in the USA with the independent alternative(s). All fascinating stuff and the fact that we never hear from the indies on the BBC is possibly as revealing about our own mainstream media as it is about the shit that is served up to Joe & Josie Public in the States on a daily basis.

Amy Goodman is a name that crops up a lot and this film is a good introduction to both her and the debate about the US corporate media. It’s about 30 minutes long, but it’s well worth watching and it might be the first step towards restoring your faith in Americans. here’s the blurb:

Part scathing critique, part call to action, “Independent Media In A Time Of War” is a hard-hitting new documentary by the Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center (www.hm.indymedia.org). This film is composed of a speech given by Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! illustrated by clips of mainstream media juxtaposed with rare footage from independent reporters in Iraq. The documentary argues that dialogue is vital to a healthy democracy. “Independent media has a crucial responsibility to go to where the silence is,” says Amy Goodman, “to represent the diverse voices of people engaged in dissent.” She makes a compelling argument that the commercial news media have failed to represent the “true face of war.”

I’d never heard of the freakshow that is Bill O’Reilly until I sat, open-mouthed one evening a few months back in front of the documentary film Outfoxed about the Fox News network. Then just this evening I found out about Phil Donahue’s sacking via another YouTube clip where Amy Goodman (from Democracy Now!) has a go at some MSNBC anchor about Donahue’s sacking, over his anti-war stance etc. Old news in the States I’m sure, but I’d not picked up on it at the time being all the way over here across The Pond. ANYWAY, Donahue eventually ends up on O’Reilly’s show on Fox and gives as good as he gets. After watching Outfoxed and seeing O’Reilly bully his way through a load of interviews it’s really great to see him being given a pasting by Donahue.