CRAW / CHOKE, INC. NEWSLETTER VOL. 1 #4

Date Thu, 31 Mar 1994 21:42:34 EST

CHOKE, INC.
1376 W. GRAND AVE.
CHICAGO, IL. 60622

Have heard both the morsel recording and the milkmine recording and i must say i am VERY excited. they both sound fucking great. the milkmine stuff is totally thick. the morsel stuff is way out there. both knocked me out. Reviews coming.

I'm listening to Floyd's the final cut - scary, eh?


PRIME TIME SERIAL KILLERS
Our friend and cover artist Steve Kasner was interviewed on ABC World News with Peter Jennings on 03-08-94. The story was on serial killers making art and profiting from it. Steve and his friend Vaughn Bell put together a show of serial killer art (see CRAW0101) and got some serious press from it. Expect to see more Kasner artwork on the next craw cd, hopefully.

The new craw shirts are finished and look stunning, with artwork by our friend, Derek Hess. If anyone wants one, send check for $12 - $10 for shirt(double sided), $2 for postage - to 10806 Carnegie Ave. Cleveland, OH 44106. Make checks to Joe McTighe. Cash is cool too, if you want to risk it. Specify Large or X-Large. Make sure you include a return address (duh).

As many of you know, our bassman, Chris Apanius will be leaving us to concentrate on the rest of his life. The band needed a commitment from him to be able to go out and tour for extended periods of time and he cannot afford to do that. He will be finishing up March and April shows with us and breaking in whomever replaces him. Everything, of course, was semi-expected, but we are all very sad to lose him. The roots of this band began 6 years ago in a dormroom suite with chris, dave and myself. Good luck, man.

March is not a good month. The Choke, Inc. boys got mugged the other night. The offenders only got $40 or so dollars from our heros, but Brendan got a kick in the face and now has a metal plate in his head. Apparently they muggers have been indentified and Milkmine has been notified. So much for a long life of crime for these fucks.

QUESTIONAIRE TIME
Okay, this is because i am really curious to hear how underground attitudes about indie vs. corporate have developed. PRECURSOR : Presently we as craw have no inclination to sign with a major. There is always the question, however, of getting your art out to more and more people. So the general questions goes like this. How do you feel about bands who jump from indie to major? How do you feel about indie labels getting distribution deals through majors? If a band holds out and doesn't sign with a major until they get everything they want creatively, artistcally and business related, do you think they still have sold out? All answers will remain confidential unless David Geffen pays me to have all your names to kill you.

craw just got off of the road. we played a few of the remaining shows scheduled without a bass player. this, of course, was totally wierd. we have found a new bass player as i write this section. his name is zak (excellent rok name) and is from west virginia finishing up a psychology major at marshall. a very solid player, he seems to fit in very well with the rest of us. we are still planning to record in june. much of the material is written. this will be a nice little test of endurance for this band, breaking in a new player and recording with him in two months.

Be on the lookout for Milkmine amd Morsel in a town near you. unlike us, they are both on the road.

REVIEWS

STEAKDADDY SIX - Arkadelphia
Twelve Inch Records TIN008
Saw these guys in november and loved them. This is their debut full length which loaded full of smoking poly-rhythms thanks to two drummers. See a little Iron Maiden influence on 'Play.' Alot of the time the dos drummers play the same stuff, which is pretty impressive. Heavy and hard driving. Pick it up. On the Poster Children's label in Champaign, Il.

SURGERY, PISS FACTORY and POOHBAH
Euclid Tavern, cleveland, 03-07-94
Poohbah are a band from athens, oh with a very likable sound. You wouldn't expect the large, burly, shaven headed singer to croon the way he does. Straight up rock. Piss Factory from NYC kinda took me by surprise. Lady front person with a strong voice. I know I liked them (and their beautiful road manager) but i don't know how to describe them. Better than alot of NYC music coming out these days. Surgery, also from NYC, fucking rock so hard. A new cd will be out soon and the new material is total surgery. heavy, fast, slow, rock that puts anyone else doing similar stuff to shame. Great guys, also. Don't be fooled by the bad-boys of punk rep they have.

UNSANE, BABE THE BLUE OX and the VIVIANS
Grog Shop, cleveland, 03-03-94
The Vivs have been a mainstay in cleveland underground music for years. Although Diane's voice occasionally grates on me, musically they are quite good and should go out and tour (HINT, HINT). Babe the blue ox was pretty cool. Very original stuff, kinda poppy in a firehose-ish kinda way. The unsane were cool as shit. Although I was disappointed that there were no distortion on the vocals like on the recordings, they were really good. They were even better the next night in chicago when we played with them.

JOHNBOY and SUPREME DICKS
Grog Shop, cleveland, 03-11-94
I don't know if they were pulling my leg or not, but the supreme dicks said they lost their drummer on highway 90. Like, LOST. So their set was 50 minutes of noize and slide guitar that reminded me of Pink Floyd live at pompeii. Alright to read books to. Johnboy kicked ass. Trio from austin, tx with two of them singing/screeching. They just got out of Albini's studio and the tape sounds great. Very nice young gentlemen. Special thanks to barry for letting me borrow his head when mine blew its tubes.

JAWBOX, TRENCHMOUTH and WHATEVER
Peabody's Down Under, cleveland 03-13-94
Missed opening band, Whatever, but those who were there said that was o.k., i didn't miss much. Trenchmouth, from chicago are kinda ska-ish, minutemen-ish pop rock. cool in a college sot of way, but i got bored quickly. Jawbox was Jawbox. nothing has changed since signing with the devil. They are still as tight and harmonic as ever. New material was very nice. Indeed an enjoyable set by these D.C. post emo-punks.

BEATS THE HELL OUT OF ME, CATHOUSE and HORACE PINKER
Euclid Tavern, cleveland 03-28-94
Horace Pinker is very punk rock. great at it, too. its just not my cup of tea. good live set, though. Cathouse from Detroit really suprised me. i'd missed them the last time they were in cleveland. straight ahead, but very dynamic and rhythmic music with a woman on vocals who will leave you begging for more. her style reminds me of diamonda galas and i could not get enough of her. i hope they return soon. Now, there are very few bands of today whom i will say inspire me to write better songs. dazzling killmen are one. beats the hell out of me are the other. I could tell you about these guys for hours. excellent times, rhythms, starts, stops, dynamics (real soft/real balls out), phycho singer. excellent live personalities to watch. they're on a sub of metal blade so go and find their cd.

BEATS THE HELL OUT OF ME
Impressed so much I called every store in town and only one had a copy of the latest, used even. Unlike some bands whose recordings suck compared to live gigs, this recording is strong enough to convey much of the band's live energy through it. Nuff said.


Sorry but no tour dates this month. Craw's on temporary hiatus til the new boy is comfortable and I couldn't get ahold of Lucia for Milkmine and Morsel dates. Look in papers.

Again, feel free to send the choke inc guys demo tapes, etc. and please feel free to send me articles for this - reviews, fiction, whatever - i don't give a shit. I'd like to try and make this a little more interesting.

Back Issues at FTP 141.214.4.135 under the directory /docs/choke. WWW stuff located at http://zapruder.pds.med.umich.edu/uwi.html under the 'UWI Shopping Maul' section ... Thanks Jon.