Harvey Milk at WFMU/SXSW/Spiro's March 14 (MP3's)

Harvey Milk are without a doubt one band I am obsessed with, and the funny thing is that most people I meet who are fans of them are also obsessed with them; it seems that there are few casual listeners to their music. Born in Athens, GA in the early 1990's, they issued a slew of records that should have been recognized much more than they were; their non-peggability probably hurt their public/press profile, not to mention the neo-Barrett psychedelia that was emerging from their hometown overshadowing them somewhat in the scheme of collegiate radio. But what amazing records, and thanks to people like Chunklet, Relapse, tUMULT and others, the microscope once again has turned to them in the last few years and they've come back into action fully. I finally saw them for the first time a few years ago at Tonic opening for Khanate, and it remains one of my favorite live show memories. They sucked the oxygen out of the air for minutes at a time; extended passages of silence give way to crushing, Melvinsy swaths of pure majestic overload; singer/guitarist Creston issued forth gutteral vocals like he was fronting Lynard Skynard slowed down to 16 RPM. Muzzy chords would just loom ominously over the room for what seemed like an eternity and then they'd crack open into propulsive Thin Lizzy mode and change bizarre time signatures on a dime and sounded just fantastic. When asked if they could get on WFMU's SXSW bill for March, I couldn't have been more thrilled. We had a close call getting HM on my show a few years back but some crossed signals confused their show-up time with their club soundcheck; my engineer had by then gone home and I was devastated. But now, having the band show up and kick off the proceedings at Spiro's first on the bill (sorry about the club's drink ticketkeeper being AWOL, Stephen!) was a total freakin' dream come true. With Joe Preston (Melvins/Thrones) on 2nd guitar! What a way to start an evening. (Pic: BT)

Enjoy:
Crush Them All (MP3)
War (MP3)
Shame (MP3)
Old Glory (MP3)
The Anvil Will Fall (MP3)
I've Got a Love (MP3)

Entire Harvey Milk set from Spiro's, March 14 (MP3)

These recordings are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Comments

[h2o]

Thanks for having HM, Brian. Having you as one of their cheerleaders is almost as cool as having Michael Azzerad in the front row of their Red 7 set later that night, but hey, you take what you can get, right? :)

[Debbie D]

It should also be noted that bassist, Steven Tanner, also fries the best Goddamn chicken in the world at Egg in Brooklyn. http://www.pigandegg.com/

[Lokimotive]

Oh wow, a live version of The Anvil Will Fall? I love that song. I wish these guys would get around to Milwaukee but I'm guessing that's not going to happen.

[h2o]

It should be added that "The Anvil Will Fall" had only been attempted live once prior to this tour with Joe and was deemed a failure. Joe's talents with a sampler made this brilliant (yet agonizing) song a reality.

[Woody]

"The Anvil Will Fall" is the most underrated, fucking awesome-est song in all of 90s rockness.

Saw them back at a certain Chapel Hill burrito restaurant/rock venue jeez like 12 years ago. Full Marshall stack for the 100 person room. The rock was capable of bridging an in-town scene divide between "indie rocker" and plain "rocker".

[kelly]

Harvey Milk are amazing. I missed them back in the day and cant explain how happy i am that they are playing shows again- they deserve sooo much credit. they were perfect without joe preston, and now with him they are a bigger,beefier(sp?,awesome force to witness if you catch em live. bring your earplugs!

[Paul]

Each time I see the "Milk" ad on TV where Harvey says, "I am here to recruit you," I think it sounds more like, "I am here to make fruit Jews." (or, fruit juice)