Suffer This: A Compilation of Boston's Backwash

Suffer This: A Compilation of Boston's Backwash
Compilation album by
various artists
Released1988
Recorded1986–1988
Genrepunk rock
LabelGawdawful

Suffer This: A Compilation of Boston's Backwash was a collaboration of five Boston punk\post punk\noise rock bands in the late 1980s. The five bands include The Five, Hullabaloo, Slaughter Shack, Hectic Heyday and Feeding Frenzy.

The sixth band listed—Jerkwater—was convened for this record, and was a super-group of sorts featuring members of Hullabaloo, Feeding Frenzy, Bim Skala Bim and the Zinnias. This is the only known recording featuring both Gonson sisters (JJ and Claudia).[1]

There is also a hidden track on the album: "Highway to Hell" performed by Mimi and the Screeching Chinchillas, an earlier band that included members of Hullabaloo.

The Five originated in Pittsburgh and moved to Boston in 1984.[2] It included Reid Paley, lately known for the Reid Paley Trio and his collaborations with Black Francis;[3] Tom Moran late of the Deliberate Strangers;[4] and Brian Gillespie who went on to perform with My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (as Skip Towne)[5] and the Concussion Ensemble.[2]

Hullabaloo was from Cambridge, and had future albums on Toxic Shock Records and C/Z Records. Guitarist Sluggo, the compiler of this compilation, went on to found the bands Ain't and the Grannies in San Francisco.[6]

Slaughter Shack is most notable for winning Boston's Rock 'n' Roll Rumble in 1990. Guitarist Dana Ong went on to play with Jay Adams in T.Y.T.L.[7]

Heyday went under a number of monikers, adding a different adjective to their name at each performance—"Hectic" in this case. Over the years they performed with many influential bands, such as the Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom and The Jesus Lizard, in addition to those on this record. Drummer Chris Pee (Chris Sanborn) now performs in The Grannies with Sluggo from Hullabaloo.[8]

Feeding Frenzy was short-lived but influential in the Boston scene. Guitarist Sam McAfee went on to found the band Chloe[9] and drummer Wright Maney is known as being a member of the band Decadence featured on the seminal punk rock album This is Boston, Not L.A..[10] The lead singer of Feeding Frenzy was JJ Gonson. She went on to manage bands, and has since gained fame as a punk and independent music photographer, with notable photos of Nirvana and Elliott Smith and numerous photo credits on albums by bands such as Hullabaloo and Heatmiser.[11]

Critical reception

"For hardier tastes, or if your toilet has been backed up all month, crank up Suffer This...Jerkwater's cover of 'The Rose'...could be the soundtrack to Sid Vicious' eulogy" – Boston Phoenix[12]

"Suffer This employs six bands for the purpose of exposing the teeming, festering underworld of the Boston music scene, and rubbing all its glorious excess in your face." – CMJ New Music Report[13]

Tracks

All tracks are written by the Artist, except where noted

Side Burn
No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."The Lickyerbutt Song" Hullabaloo1:56
2."Take Me to Tomorrow" The Five2:44
3."Tug" Feeding Frenzy4:14
4."Damaged Shelter" Slaughter Shack3:43
5."Tabletop Daydream" Hectic Heyday3:02
6."The Rose"Amanda McBroomJerkwater5:01
Side Swipe
No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
7."Dreaming Ape" Slaughter Shack3:51
8."Get Off" Hectic Heyday1:25
9."Taskmaster" Hullabaloo4:01
10."Blitz Blue" Feeding Frenzy3:37
11."Breakin' the Law"Rob Halford, K. K. Downing, Glenn TiptonHullabaloo2:20
12."Open Casket"Paley/MoranThe Five4:20
13."Highway to Hell" (hidden, uncredited track)Bon Scott, Angus Young, Malcolm YoungMimi and the Screeching Chinchillas3:53

Personnel

The Five
Technical personnel
Hullabaloo
  • Textured Vegetable Protein Man
  • Dangling Love-Death Man
  • Captain America Head
  • Larvae Man
Technical personnel
Jerkwater
  • JJ - Love & Laughter
  • Claudia Gonson - Backing V.
  • TQ - Piano
  • slüggbutt - G.
  • Tricka Lye - B.
  • Jim Arhelger - D. & metal chair
Technical personnel
Slaughter Shack
  • Colin Burns - V. & G.
  • Ellen Mieczkowski - D.
  • George O'Malley - Horn & Backing V.
  • Dana Ong - G.
  • Deb Scott - B.
Technical personnel
Hectic Heyday
  • BahB Finetime - Rainbow Fork, Verbal Sentiment
  • Chris Pee - Anger & Anxiety
  • Mann Well - Tension & Comedy
Technical personnel

Sean Slade - Engineer

Feeding Frenzy
  • JJ - V.
  • Sam - G.
  • TrickaLye - B.
  • Wright - D.
Technical personnel
  • Sluggo - Photography

References

  1. ^ Sluggo; Gonson, J.J. (2014). The Rose (video).
  2. ^ a b "The Five". Copacetic Comics Company. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  3. ^ Paley, Reid. "Reid Paley". Reid Paley. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  4. ^ "The Deliberate Strangers Old Homplace". Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Biography". My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. Mindway Corporation. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  6. ^ Various Artists (1988). Suffer This, a Compilation of Boston's Backwash (Media notes). Cambridge, MA: Gawdawful Records.
  7. ^ "T.Y.T.L – Legendary Jay Adams Band". SK8EDGE. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  8. ^ Brushback (2013-09-02). "Some Days It's Not Even Worth Getting Up To Scrape The Shit Off The Walls". One Base on an Overthrow. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Punk of a different shade". tribe. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  10. ^ Various Artists (1982). This is Boston, Not L.A. (LP record). Modern Method Records.
  11. ^ Gonson, JJ. "Hi, I'm JJ, and I like to take pictures". JJ Gonson Photography. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  12. ^ Riley, Tim (January 20, 1989). "Suffer This". Boston Phoenix.
  13. ^ "Suffer This". CMJ New Music Report. September 23, 1988.