THE EAT – Hialeah 7” EP

Jeterboy Records – Hollywood (1995)

Hialeah
Shoes Shoes Shoes
M80 Ant Death
Psychotic McHale’s Navy
Dream of Yogi

Mike O’Brien – vocals, guitar
Eddy O’Brien – guitar, vocals, bass
Chris Cottie – drums
Kenny Lindahl – bass, guitar

A flawless record. I can’t consistently name a favorite or least favorite song on this record. They had 3 or 4 songs recorded in the same sessions that were equally good and a few others that weren’t bad– this should have been an LP in 1995. In my mind Hialeah is a strong contender for best FLA record ever. Previous records seem to be a 50/50 split between the talents of brothers Mike and Eddie – this one leans heavily to Mike. Great guitar work throughout – but nothing quite as amazing as some of the moments on God Punishes. Hialeah (the song) is an ode to the old racetrack – not the crappy city. Shoes Shoes Shoes was originally (I think) a Morbid Opera song named Skumbucket from when Mike was drummer for that band. Total stream of consciousness nonsense over a great riff -“I want to kill all your pets – don’t be afraid of my shoes”. M-80 Ant Death has great back and forth vocals from the O’Briens and promotes a very inefficient way of dealing with a fire ant problem. PMN is another pefect pop-punk masterpiece about god-knows what. Dream of Yogi sounds a little different – it’s written by Kenny Lindahl – and stands up with the others. In a sane world, these guys would have had real music careers – you know – the ones that involve actual money.

ELECTRIC BUNNIES – 2nd 7”EP

Florida’s Dying – Miami (2008)

Chewing Gum
Love Radiation
Super Fluorescent Hippo Flashback
The Stranger

Eldys Diaz - guitar, vocal
Victor - guitar, vocal
Thomas - drums

Excellent follow-up to their wonderful Eskimo single. Essential Florida weirdo-rock. Chewing Gum is deadpan vocals over a bubblegum riff – kind of annoying, kind of great. Love Radiation is a catchy punk rock song – the most conventional song here. SFHF is a semi-throwaway trashy noisy punk song – it’s ok. The Stranger is brilliant – slow noodley music with occasional noise bursts all about feelings of isolation and alienation and basically being the stranger. Once again, cool cover art.

EVASIVE ACTION – We Bad / Nightstalker 7”

Majestic records – Anthony (1983)

Jack Sferlazza – guitar, vocals
Spazz Sferlazza – bass, synthesizer, vocals
John Davison – vocals
Billy Pattern – guitar, vocals
Ken Genes – drums
Dawn Kozsey – Keyboards, synthesizers, vocals

I had to google Anthony to figure out where the hell it is. It’s a tiny burg outside Ocala. Yikes. I don’t remember ever hearing about this band, “back in the day”. More than likely they were a cover band that played at the Brown Derby and other sad hotspots. Certain aspects of the cover and song titles might lead one to believe this is somehow related to punk rock / new wave. It is not. “We bad” is a true statement if I ever heard one. Bouncing, fake funk, party-music – yuck. Nightstalker has female vocals and is quite a bit better – though in an early MTV type of way – sort of like a less ept Motels.

FLOOR / ED MATUS’ STRUGGLE split 7”

No Idea / Space Cadette Records – Miami (1996)

EMS – Hovering
Floor – Figure it Out

Floor – Jeff Sousa, Steve Brooks, Anthony Vialon
EMS – Juan Montoya, Scott Nixon, Carl Ferrari, Robert Lacusay

One could look at this record as a “first date” of the band Torche. Juan and Steve would start that band several years later. The packaging is over the top – you get white vinyl, several insect pictures on fancy paper, and a piece of screening (to keep the bugs away from the record???) I think I’ve seen a less elaborate version of this record too. Both bands are at their best here. “Hovering” starts out more direct than the average Ed Matus’ Struggle song and doesn’t become ponderous until the end. “Figure it Out” is one of Floor’s finest songs – which also gets ponderous at the end – but ponderous in a metal way. Kinda like Torche.

ELECTRIC BUNNIES – Eskimo 7”

Floridas Dying Records – Miami (2007)

Eskimo
Eat Worms
Counting Sheep

Eldys Diaz
Victor
Thomas

Maybe I’m a bit Florida-centric, but I think the Bunnies are way better than almost all of the new “weird” punk bands of the last couple years. “Eskimo” is the hit – a perfect punky pop song over some weird instrumentation. “Eat worms” exhorts the listener to eat worms during the short, to-the-point, punk blast. “Counting Sheep” is a slow plodding chant in the style of “We will fall”, but less spooky. Excellent debut – but it’s too bad they no longer break flowerpots and roll in the soil at shows.