They Called It Pigfuck Part.1

At this moment, I'm very stoned and wearing an extremely dopey grin because I've just watched a DVD rerelease which I thought would never exist. The lovely people at Atavistic have kindly put out the mighty Amphetamine Reptile Records total-fucking-stupid-genius video compilation series Dope, Guns And Fucking Up Your Video Deck. I bought all three when they were originally released in 1990, 92 and 94, and somehow, over the years, all three have vanished in mysterious circumstances...

AmRep has a very special place in my heart, a record label which seemed to stand apart from it's contemporaries and which, for a few years, put out some of the greatest fucking rock music this planet has ever heard. In may ways, Sub Pop were probably the closest to them in spirit, but AmRep bands were more eccentric, more extreme, more willing to bend rock/punk/metal/whatever into shapes no one had thought of before. Dark as fuck a lot of it too, with a genuine psychotic edge that instills a sense that something isn't quite fucking right here. They may be way heavier now, but I doubt Today Is The Day are ever going to sound quite as menacing and downright wrong as they did on their AmRep albums.

They put out Helios Creed's greatest solo records; The Last Laugh, Boxing The Clown, Lactating Purple, Kiss To The Brain and Planet-X, all of them mindfuckers of the first order, particularly Boxing The Clown, which took psychedelia to a place no one else has ever been quite able to find again. Whenever the Melvins came up with an album whoever they were signed to at the time wouldn't touch with a bargepole, they turned to AmRep. There was Helmet's first couple of albums, including their debut Strap It On, an exercise in controlled precision bludgeoning which has been much imitated but rarely equalled over the years. The dense droning webs of riff which Tar built their oddly beautiful songs out of were another favourite. The glorious stupidity of the Cows, whose album title 'Sexy Pee Story' tells you everything you need to know about them and why they deserve your support, that and the fact that their singer could go "Bllllleeeeeeaaaaaaaaarrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!" better than anyone else I've heard.

Possibly the biggest bunch of maniacs on AmRep were the God Bullies. Their lead singer, Mike Hard, is one of the most deranged frontmen I've seen. Both live and in their videos, the look on his face alone would lead most people to conclude that his mechanism has snapped. Their track on Dope Vol.1, Cemetary, is one of my favourite songs ever, I mean, how can you go wrong with a fucking great slab of psych punk that's got lyrics like "Let's rock 'n' roll and worship Satan"? Especially when they're delivered by a lunatic dressed as a vicar who wields a wheelchair like an offensive weapon and has a nice line in singing songs whilst on fire. I don't think I've seen a front row at a gig quite as worried as when this lot played the AmRep Ugly American Overkill gig at The Venue. Scared is a better word actually. Mad bastard with big sharp crucifix, petrol and no sense of balance adds a little edge to a gig...

(Note for those who know of such things - Mike Hard uncannily resembles the legendary Dr Dent. Only a much more twisted version. Now you want to see the video don't you?)

Fuck it, I'm going to have to watch it again. Right now. And I'll finish this after. Or possibly tomorrow. I don't often wallow in nostalgia, but frankly this shit rocks.