Gainesville, Florida has been home to many great punk and ska bands throughout the years. A few of the prominent bands and members of the scene are covered here. Notable exclusions from this week, but featured 5+ other times, Against Me! / Laura Jane Grace, and JER.
Hot Water Music “Free Radio Gainesville”
Realistically, I could have chosen any of the No Division album tracks for this one. The record begins with a sample of a Gainesville cheerleading routine about positivity before launching into a fury of energy, guitars, classic Chuck Ragan vocal stylings, and plenty of sing along parts.
The bass line for this track is the inspiration behind today’s blog. I was going to just write off another Friday on some “I worked a lot this week” bullshit. I’m smiling as I’m typing this, rocking back and forth in my office chair, jamming to an album I hadn’t spun in probably a decade.
After threatening to do for as long as we’ve lived in San Diego, I finally put up the guitar hooks on the living room wall. I’ve got my black and white SX* bass up on the wall. It took less than one week to look up some HWM bass tabs and trying to learn to play again. (How do they play so fast?)
I made it through the whole album and damn, there are some really inspiring tracks on No Division: title track, “It’s hard to know”, “At the end of a gun”, etc. Lyrics of hope and unity with earnest edge to them.
Despite one of the worst opening bands ever (Cave In, ugh), Hot Water Music and Alkaline Trio co-headlining was one of my favorite concerts Alkaline Trio. It was the tour supporting their split together, about a month into college, and I really needed a night of yelling along and rocking out. They delivered. Highlights included Alk3 playing on “Rooftops” and HWM coming out for “Radio”.
*note: pretty sure the bass was only ~$150 in 2005, but I purchased it on the strength of Philip Chavez’s recommendation. Not only the inspiration for the blog, also an esteemed bass player back in the day for Texas punk band Mulletov Cocktails.
Rumbleseat “California Burritos”
I don’t know why nowhere else is jamming a bunch of french fries in a delicious burrito. Good lord. So simple, and so good. Sure, I’ve had potato burritos or hasbrowns inside breakfast ones. I was almost there.
This is a Chuck Ragan side project, formed in 1996, with only one album released in 2004. This track sounds a bit different than the more country rest of the album. I’m not saying it is as good as french fries in a burrito, but it is a pretty slick track.
Less Than Jake “Short on Ideas / One Last Cigarette”
This is my favorite one from Pezcore, the foundational album from the quintessential Gainesville ska punk band, Less Than Jake. You might be thinking I was going to make it a whole edition without mentioning Mike Park or In Defense of Ska. Wrong. As confirmed on the podcast, LTJ Pezcore is catalog number #001 of Asian Man Records. Mike started the label with 5 albums to release. The others were pretty solid too: Misfits of Ska comp (with lots of heroes), Slapstick Lookit!, Bruce Lee Band (LTJ backing Mike Park), and Link 80 17 Reasons.
I guess this is technically two songs, but they pair up so well. I prefer the second half because it makes me want to scream the lyrics, whereas first half I do the “what’s that smell?” face while nodding my head. Which is cool too.
