For this installment of The 7-Inch Corner, These Arms Are Snakes/Russian Circles bassist Brian Cook reminiscences about discovering Steel Pole Bath Tub and their “Bozeman” 7-inch, which was released in 1992 by Boner Records. TAAS just released their new album Tail Swallower & Dove via Suicide Squeeze and you should go buy it now. Read on!

Band: Steel Pole Bath Tub
Title: Bozeman
By Brian Cook

Growing up in the little town of Kailua, Hawaii, I had very little exposure to what was going on in the world of underground music in the early ’90s. I’d caught onto some moderately cool stuff by watching videos on MTV’s 120 Minutes. They Might Be Giants, Pixies, Camper Van Beethoven, and Faith No More were my gateway drugs. But when a classmate hooked me up with a mix tape of various punkbands, my life was changed. The tape turned me on to so much new shit: Fugazi, fIREHOSE, Suicidal Tendencies, and Bad Religion, just to name a few. But the tracks that really blew my mind were by The Dead Kennedys. I became obsessed. I special ordered their records to my local music store. I spent a month’s allowance on a bootleg copy of Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. The Dead Kennedys were my springboard for discovering this whole new world of music.

I found an interview with Jello Biafra in a back issue of Thrasher and began to explore all the music he referenced. This was in the age before the Internet. There were no zines to be found in Kailua. I found new music by reading bands’ thank you lists and scouring mail-order catalogs. Vinyl wasn’t even on my radar. It wasn’t until I visited Jelly’s, a record store in Honolulu, that I realized that bands still even made records. Jelly’s was Oahu’s version of Amoeba. It obviously wasn’t nearly as well stocked, but in my teenage eyes, it had everything I could possibly want. Overwhelmed by options and short on funds, I picked up a 7-inch by a band called Steel Pole Bath Tub. All I knew about them was that they supposedly had another band with Jello Biafra called Tumor Circus. That was enough of a selling point for me.

Read more of Brian’s column after the jump.

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When I was trying to figure out which band to feature first in our Fest 7 segment, Leatherface was the obvious choice. I am insanely excited to these punk rock legends in the flesh down in Gainesville. I recently asked the band to talk about a record that meant something to them when they were growing up and guitarist Dickie Hammond sent me a story involving the Stiff Little Fingers’ classic Inflammable Material. We’ll have some more from the Leatherface crew in the next few weeks so be on the lookout for that.

Band: Stiff Little Fingers
Record: Inflammable Material
By Dickie Hammond

It was November 1978. I had just moved with my family from Morpeth, Northumberland, England to Ryhope, which is a village outside Sunderland. The school I went to was Ryhope Comprehensive [and] it had the worst record in the North East. I was twelve and my only saving grace was the Sunderland Football Club, who I supported from the age of six. They had a school disco at dinner time and punk was the music being played. That’s when I first heard “Alternative Ulster.” It was the greatest intro and song I’d ever heard.

I had a paper round and saved up two weeks money, £5 at the time, and went to HMV and there it was. “Suspect Device,” “Wasted Life,” “Barbed Wire Love,” “Alternative Ulster,” “State Of Emergency,” and “Breakout” were the first ones that stood out. I wore the grooves out on it. It still sounds as fresh today as it did thirty years ago. Pure fuckin class!

For this installment of Record (Re)Collection, we’ve got an essay from Scott McCloud, singer/guitarist for Paramount Styles and Girls Against Boys.  In his column, Scott talks about Tortoise’s 1996 full-length Millions Now Living Will Never Die.  Paramount Styles’ debut album Failure American Style is out now via Touch & Go, so be sure to pick it up.

Tortoise-Millions Now Living Will Never Die
By Scott McCloud

I was on a European “press tour” in the winter of 1996; a mission to talk a good game about my band Girls Against Boys’ upcoming House of GVSB album. When I was in Berlin, someone at our German distributor handed me an advance copy of the Tortoise album Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I tucked the thin CD into my travel bag, along with the growing pile, figuring I’d “get to it” eventually (probably never).

A couple mornings later, I was waiting for a flight out of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, an old Nazi-era airport close to the city center.  Dawn was just breaking and I was sitting in a lounge looking out the window at the blue morning light across the tarmac.  Bored, I slipped the CD into my Walkman and hit play.  I don’t know if it was something about the scene being somehow absolutely ideal but when the first few minutes of the first song “Djed” played, it struck me as so perfect to the times, even to the transient setting of the antiquated airport lounge I was sitting in.

Continue reading Scott’s column after the jump!

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For this installment of The 7-Inch Corner, we’ve got a guest column from Jason Gagovski, drummer for Suicide Note, Sweet Cobra, Stabbed By Words and co-owner of Hawthorne Street Records. Jason’s spotlight is on Unbroken‘s highly revered swansong Circa ’77. The 7-inch was released by New Age Records back in 1996. I think we’ve all experienced that incredible feeling that Jason writes about in his column. Read on and enjoy.

Artist: Unbroken
Title: Circa ’77
By Jason Gagovski

I can remember seeing this 7-inch listed in the Revelation Records distro catalog as “coming soon” and I couldn’t wait. It was 1996, I did a distro, played in bands, published a zine, and had just been accepted into a college for the upcoming fall semester. I had been lucky enough to see the band twice, once on their “Ritual” tour and once on the “Life.Love.Regret.” tour and they blew me away, as well as everyone else in the room. They were changing the face of hardcore by playing honest, emotional music that was redefining the genre. They looked like greasers and were serious about their music and lyrics. Their songs and meaning cut deep and they transcended their peers by leaps and bounds­ in subject matter and the way they approached it.

Read more of Jason’s column after the jump.
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Welcome to the latest issue of Late Night Wallflower’s newest column, Record (Re)Collection. This feature is about sharing the stories that you love, connected to the records that got you through those times. First kisses, road trips, fist fights, best friends, all that jazz. Being as into music as we all are, there’s always a soundtrack going.

We have a contribution from Tessa, a writer for movie review site Spill.com and friend of the Late Night Wallflower. She shares some thoughts on Fugazi’s last full-length The Argument. Check it out, and remember, if you’ve got an opinion or story on your favorite record and the memories it represents to you, let us know!

Check it after the jump.

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