feedtime

feedtime
Origin Sydney, Australia
Genres Noise rock
Years active 1979–1989 & 1996
Labels Aberrant Records
Rough Trade
Associated acts 3 Toed Sloth
Members Rick (guitar, vocals)
Al (bass, vocals)
and Tom (drums).

feedtime was an Australian post-punk rock band formed in Sydney in 1979. The band's name is stylised with a lowercase 'f'. The members were credited by their first names only: Rick (guitar and vocals), Al (bass guitar and vocals), and Tom (drums).

History

feedtime made four albums in the 1980s. Initially they recorded only for Aberrant Records in Australia, but their second through fourth albums were released internationally by the legendary indie label Rough Trade and by Megadisc in the Netherlands. The second album, Shovel, received the greatest critical acclaim. The last of these four albums, Suction, was produced by Butch Vig.

feedtime's sound was loud, primitive, and brutal. The most distinctive musical element is thick, roaring electric guitar, played with a slide, over a thick, chugging rhythm section. Their loud but stripped-down, minimalist approach led them to be compared to the British postpunk band Wire (although feedtime didn't know Wire's music), but feedtime's sound also heavily referenced rural American country and blues. A large influence from classic rock is most easily heard on their covers LP Cooper S on which they covered the Rolling Stones and the Animals in addition to punk forebears like the Ramones and the Stooges.

Bruce Griffiths of Aberrant Records describes working with feedtime: "The bands that have given me the most satisfaction to work with ... Possibly the most satisfying was feedtime, because they became extremely close friends as a result of working with them, and I guess part of the satisfaction with them was the fact that they achieved recognition; they were licensed to Rough Trade in America, they're now licensed to Vinyl Solution in England and Europe, to Megadisc in the Benelux countries in Europe, so I guess that was satisfying in the way things happened, and a lot of people as a result of my involvement and us working together came to appreciate this band that I thought was really special." [1]

feedtime disbanded in 1989 just prior to their first American tour due to internal stress, with Rick stating "I got to the point where I would either kill myself or commit murder."[2] He later clarified that feedtime "broke up because I was having a breakdown, that's all. There was a lot of anger and darkness that underlaid a lot of feedtime's makeup. I had to remake myself or die. Allen felt that he might have to do some repair work as well. ... Some stuff about feedtime involves very hard stuff and needs to be left alone."[3]

Reunions

feedtime surfaced again in 1994 and 1996, with a different drummer, for a reunion album Billy (for Amphetamine Reptile).

The original lineup reunited in 2011 for a US tour in 2012, in conjunction with Sub Pop's reissue of their first four albums. On 3 April 2012, the band did their first ever in-studio live radio performance on WFMU, a prominent community radio station in New Jersey.[4]

Band name and logo

The band chose the name 'feedtime' "because it had no obvious association with tough, fast, or punk, and it had no other associations or meanings". When asked why they spell it with a lowercase 'f', they said: "Looks better."[5]

The feedtime logo is a cartoon frog, created by Al, who based the design on an ancient kanji woodcut. It has been described as deliberately meaningless and "anti-punk".[5] In the music video for "Melody Line", the band recreates the logo using motorcycle parts.

Legacy

Despite limited impact at home, feedtime exerted influence in the United States, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, and is recognised as having "presaged or even helped create grunge".[6] Many bands in Seattle discovered feedtime through the college radio station KCMU, where DJs and feedtime fans Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman joined to launch the Sub Pop record label.[7] Mark Arm and Steve Turner, assistant DJs at KCMU and founders of the pioneering Seattle grunge band Mudhoney, cite feedtime, alongside fellow Australian band The Scientists, as one of their main musical influences.[8] Describing feedtime's sound, Arm said: "I liked the reduction—the sonic reduction that was only promised with The Dead Boys, but this was the real deal".[5] feedtime's use of slide inspired Arm to use the technique on songs such as "Touch Me I'm Sick",[8] and "the delay on the vocals and maybe even the slide guitar" on "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More" was modelled on feedtime's "Curtains".[5] Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain, was also a fan of feedtime.[9] In 2012, Al stated that they were unaware of any interest overseas: "the band were a bit socially dysfunctional, not really tuned into the world. [Laughs] ... it's great to think that feedtime might have had some role to play in the work of those US musicians".[9]

The title track of the band's 1996 album Billy is featured in the 2010 book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download.[10]

Reissues

During a 2008 interview on triple j, Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman listed feedtime's Shovel among the five albums he wish he'd released.[7] This prompted Bruce Griffiths of Aberrant Records to offer Sub Pop the chance to reissue feedtime's albums.[5] In 2012, Sub Pop released The Aberrant Years, a 4-CD/LP reissue of the first four feedtime full-length records.[11]

Discography

Studio albums[12]
Singles
Compilations
Appears on

"

References

  1. ↑ Aberrant Records (Steve Gardner, Noise for Heroes No. 17, 1989)
  2. ↑ Coats, Dimitri; Maurer, Justin (2 April 2012). "feedtime: The Threats Were Real", L.A. Record. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Segal, Dave (14 March 2012). "The Hardest Hard-Luck Band Ever", The Stranger. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Brian Turner: Playlist from 3 April 2012, WFMU. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Cohan, Brad (28 March 2012). "The Resurrection of feedtime", Village Voice. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Masters, Marc (8 March 2012). "feedtime: The Aberrant Years", Pitchfork. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  7. 1 2 Rowe, Zan (26 September 2008). "Jonathan Poneman from Sub-Pop takes five with the albums he wishes he'd released...", Mornings with Zan. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  8. 1 2 Prato, Greg. Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. ISBN ECW Press, 2009. ISBN 1550228773
  9. 1 2 Curran, Aaron (15 September 2011). "Icons: feedtime", Mess+Noise. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  10. ↑ Dimery, Robert. 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download. Quintessence Editions Ltd., 2010. ISBN 0789320894, p. 900
  11. ↑ "It's Feedtime - Alissa". http://www.subpop.com. External link in |work= (help)
  12. ↑ Feedtime (discography, Grunnen Rocks)

External links

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