So to celebrate Revelation Records 25th Anniversary Gorilla Biscuits got back together as the majority of bands do these days and trod the boards once again. The photos from the show look incredible and I would imagine it was one to file under “wish I could have been there”. How could it not have been immense? Singer CIV was wearing a vintage Elton John T-shirt after all.
Before the band split the first time around my only knowledge of them was from a threat I received from a guy who wanted to beat me up at school. I was still a metalhead and he had begun to drift into the hardcore scene. The threat was along the lines of “I had better watch my step or him and his Agnostic Front and Gorilla Biscuit skinhead buddies would kick the shit out of me”. I remember it was because I was drinking in Religious Education class or something just as ridiculous. Although I am not sure what is more pathetic though, me drinking at school or being a skinhead thug… Still, I digress…
I imagine this was the reason that I never warmed to the band, I always preferred Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and Minor Threat and still do to this day. Infact it was only a couple of years ago that I got my hands on Start Today and even now in comparison to my favourite hardcore punk albums the thing just doesn’t stand up. That’s not to say that the record is a weak lemon in anyway, it just doesn’t live up to the legendary hype that surrounds the band.
Every song but one speeds along, full throttle into the next, breaking occasionally for some lame gang vocals which can be pretty off putting but it’s hardly meat head New York yobcore. If anything after several listens the record seems somewhat light compared to what came before and after it within the scene. When they are at their best like on Things We Say the group remind me a little of Dealing With It era DRI which is no bad thing and the melody takes the song to a higher level than say First Failure which impresses me only because the verses have some really tight pacey chugs going on thanks to Walter Schreifels manic guitars. If you want to hear influential then check out the break down to Time Flies, it seems so weak to include such a clichéd break today but back in 1989 it was fresh. It’s not GB’s fault that a thousand pretenders copied their shit to death over the next twenty years.
The Buzzcocks cover, Sitting Around At Home is the stand out for me. Unlike the title track which seems a little half baked, it’s full of hooks, melody and attitude, its mid tempo to lightning speed pace is a very welcome addition to the album breaking up the rather oppressive feel of the thrash that makes up the majority of the LP.
After the band’s split, CIV went on to front um, CIV who had a semi-hit with the excellent Can’t Wait One Minute More single and Schreifels formed Quicksand who are regarded today as just as legendary as Gorilla Biscuits. Maybe that’s why I have still to listen to them, If GB are regarded as legendary then I want the standards raised. Maybe if those skinheads had knocked some sense into me I may have seen the light. I do like Start Today, but I expected myself to love it due to the bands status as scene leaders and nobody wants to leave a record as a disappointed listener. I’ll try it again in a few years.
lostinrock 