Bicycle Face and Mixmaster Mitch

(From left: Brian Huskey, Mitchell McGirt, Chris Longworth) photo by Mike Traister)

I've been enjoying a real blast from the past these last couple of days. Mitchell McGirt, singer/guitarist of the old Greensboro band Bicycle Face finally put the band's music, and some of his hilarious Mixmaster Mitch mixes, on CD. I will admit that when the band was actually active, I wasn't a huge fan, but listening to these CDs has made me really appreciate what clever songwriters Mitch and Brian Huskey are. Of course, Brian is now known for his comedy, especially his work on Comedy Central and VH1's "Best Week Ever" (not to metion his Hardee's commercials), and his comic talent is evident in these old songs. I've included link's to two of my personal favorites: Irrelevant and I Fell in Love (In the Graveyard).


Here's a picture of the band with Evan Smith, who was never in the band, so I don't really know why he's in the photo. Eric Shepard from Geezer Lake took this one.

What makes the band good is the way Brian's quirky humor plays off of Mitch's self-referential weirdness. A good example of Mitch-style wackiness is the "Mixmaster Mitch" CD. One day back in 1991, Mitch decided, for reasons known only to himself, to create a tape with a bunch of songs and samples mashed together. Mitch's great loves were '80s new wave, local music and twangy country. He also had a bunch of old tapes of himself learning to play guitar, tapes of his old high school band playing such gems as "Sweet Home Alabama" and tapes of Bicycle Face doing dumb stuff. He also had one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life: A secretly recorded telephone conversation between an older Southern man and his crying, drunk mistress. At one point duirng this conversation, the man tells her, "This is ridiculous," but he really draws it out, so it comes out as "THIS is ru-DICK-a-lus." Mitch combined this little nugget with Johnny Paycheck singing "Take the Job and Shove It," then put it over a power pop song that's either by Majosha (Ben Folds' first band), or Evan Olsen and the Straight Ahead. Or maybe it's a Snuzz song. Regardless, it was a local band. The result is classic.

After spending all day on this masterpiece, Mitch went to every party that took place in Greensboro for the next two weeks or so, and insisted on playing it. Other songs on the CD included a mix of Missing Persons' "Life is So Strange" with Rich Hall saying over and over, " ... now let me tell you about the shopping center"; a song with the opening drum beat from Foxy Lady, with a teenage Mitch struggly to play something (maybe Foxy Lady?) while either Jerry Clower or Mitch's dad says over and over, "Woo! Beautiful!"; a mix of The Shaggs and the full Eddie Murphy gay "Honeymooners" routine. Finally, there's a mix of a goofy, throw-away filler tune from R.E.M.'s "Reckoning" record, a recording of Bicycle Face getting into a mock fight on the air on WQFS (complete with Chris Longworth -- who apparently forgot he was being recorded live -- hollering out "We're leaving! Fuck this shit!"), and Brian Huskey talking about a song he had written about the pain his mother put him through. You can hear that one here.

The Greatest Hits, Dirty Johnny and the Make-Believes and Caspian Sea Monsters

Last night The Greatest Hits played with Dirty Johnny and the Make-Believes and the Caspian Sea Monsters at Kings. But since it was a school night (so to speak), I just caught the first two bands. The best part of the evening, though, was being introduced to Horniblow's (pictured above), a weird little brew pub in a warehouse in this industrial complex off of Atlantic Avenue. There's free pool and ping pong, and awesome site-brewed ales and lagers in a hidden-away place that looks like someone's rec room from the 70s. I ran into my old pal Dave Rogers who now manages away-team.com who described the bar's aura succinctly: "This place looks like the bar that someone's dad decided to put in his basement." The place was pretty empty, but I hear that it gets busy on bluegrass nights (usually Tuesdays). I will definitely be going back. Now for the videos: Caspian Sea Monsters Dirty Johnny and the Make-Believes

I finally got to see Double Negative last night at Kings -- but just barely. This is the only band I know that actually starts their shows on time. They were playing when I got there, but I ran to the back of the stage and was able to get three songs (all under 10 minutes!) on video. Got a few less-than-stellar pics. When Jodi gets hers online I will link to them. Scott (not Williams, don't know his last name) also got some professional video which he will put on Youtube. I'll link to that as well. Here's the video of them at Kings. (Video removed)

I have a new favorite band.

I have a new favorite band.
If The Needles are Wilmington's answer to The Hellacopters, then Thunderlip (Myspace)is surely that city's answer to Gluecifer -- with a little Queen and Thin Lizzy thrown in. Strangely enough, I'd never seen the band before, but as I found out last night, all my friends' ravings were correct. They are a fierce rock machine with a wild-ass frontman (who, from what I hear, wasn't as wild-ass last night as he normally is), and two phenomenal guitarists who play blistering twin leads. The highlight of the evening was when Craig Tilley of Birds of Avalon joined them onstage for a dead-on cover of "Highway Star," which is probably my favorite Deep Purple song of all time. Unfortunately I was so excited about them playing "Highway Star" that I didn't think to record it until halfway through. I've included that recording here, along with a recording of "Meet the Snake." Thunderlip performs "Meet the Snake." Thunderlip performs "Highway Star" with Craig from Birds of Avalon. Also, I got a lot of good photos from that show. Check out the Flickr set.

A link to my Hellacopters review on The Red Alert.