From the Ashes: The Divine Horsemen
The Divine Horsemen never had a hit record, never made much of a splash in the underground and for the most part are only remembered by fools like me that have tapped into their energy and sound. That sound, well if the No Depression scenseters weren't a bunch of yuppies they would be all over these guys along with several other cowpunk bands from the 1980's. That's exactly what the Horsemen were, cowpunks, mixing country dusty rock with the spirit of punk and making that connection between the disenfranchised of the 1930 and those of the late 1970s. People that were scraping by, and trying to live their lives in spite of their near poverty.
The music of the Horsemen was magic due to the balance of the vocals of Chris D. and Julie C. His voice is a deeper fractured tone, while she sings with a shimmer of joy that rises above the resigned tone of the music and the lyrics... and the lyrics.... hold on I have to check itunes for a Wall of Voodoo tune....... they didn't have it.... anyway the lyrics are very Wall of Voodoo, that kind of 'The Wild West isn't what it used to be' and that Americas brain trip day dream of a pioneer land has passed away, and in it's place we have a wasteland of broken people trying to find hope in the sounds of the rain and in each other.
The best moments from the Divine Horseman came in their Middle of the Night/Devil's River period, where the rock and the country seemed to merge into a blue print for Alt County, energetic tunes, songwriter poet quality lyrics with out the over production of the era. There is something magic about raw music that is haunting and amazing. I think it's fair to say at this point that people missed out on a lot by closing their hearts and their ears to this music.
Now I am going to talk about two of the songs from their back catalog, both of which are available on the Time Stands Still c.d. Reissue. Devil's River tells of a dying town and the vanishing of a place. It's the Last Picture Show of punk rock, the story of lost riches and lost people. I would have loved to hear Johnny Cash record this song, along with a brace of other cowpunk tunes from the era.* Tenderest Kiss is a love song that is about the power of a kiss. I once had a women tell me that she thought that my kisses would have been tender (we never got to try that out.... anyway) and so the song resonates with me from that connection, but there is something sweet about it that doesn't become to sugary.
anyway, that's it, I hear The Divine Horsemen and I like what they are saying. I dig their covers of the Cramps and David Allen Coe. I like the cowpunk sound and feel, and I don't hear why the No Depression scene has ignored their records, and why so many of them are out of print....
Notes:
1. I saw the Ramones: End of the Century documentary today, good stuff, I hope that the MC5 film gets released soon, and I would love to see some film makers tackle the history of a few other punk groups:
- The Damned: They don't get the respect that the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Ramones get but they are important for pioneering a lot territory for punks. They did the first album of Garage Rock covers, they pushed their sound all over the rock landscape and wrote some great tunes.
-The Misfits: really is there any other punk band that has a story that even comes close to that of the Misfits? You have so much to explore, from the growth and changes in their sound and songs, to their interpersonal conflicts and their explosive popularity that started a couple of years after they called it quits.
-The Meteors: other than the Ramones I can't think of another punk band that has been the starting point for a distinct punk sound that has attracted so many imitators. I know that most underground types in the states have ignored Psychobilly until the recent ascent of Tiger Army and the Horrorpops, but around europe (in the UK, The Netherlands and Germany mostly) psychobilly is a major sub genre of punk.
2: I have been attracted to the recordings of Wall of Voodoo recently, mostly for the same reason as I have been digging the Divine Horsemen, they paint the modern west as the dystopia that it seems to have become. I need to look further into their albums and history to see what music of theirs I should try and pick up.
3: I just got done reading Robert Kurson's book Shadow Divers, about two men who spent 6 years of their lives searching for the identify of a wrecked WWII Nazi U-Boat that they found off the coast of New Jersey. I highly recommend it to any one interested in underwater exploration or history. Next up I have Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries White Butterfly and Black Betty....
4: I am actually planning on watching something on TV tomorrow night. I haven't turned on the TV in months, as I have been watching most of my TV shows on my laptop as they come out on DVD... anyway I want to catch the first installment of the new show Lost. I have always had an interest in the whole crashed on a desert island thing.
5: speaking of TV DVDs, the new Homicide Life on the Streets set arrives in stores in the next 10 days or so and I can't wait..... but until then I have been renting the second season of Six Feet Under and the first season of American Dreams. SFU hits close to home with me because my Dad died when I was 10 and my family has never really recovered. Were dysfunctional and I see so much of what is reflected on the show in my life..... American Dreams on the other hand is a little to happy/shiny to me.. but I am glad to see that they have made sure that the issues of race, religion, and family obligations haven't been whitewashed leaving young viewers to think that there weren't really people who were un PC back in the 1960's. Oh, and I hate the whole JFK thing, mostly because when he was assassinated the government stopped trying to lock my granddad and his brother for selling pulp wood at the price that the department of the interior had set (long story that I am still trying to put together)... anyway I dig American Dreams.
I dreamed that Johnny Cash recorded that Cowpunk album.... only there isn't anything by Blood on the Saddle or from the Screamin' Sirens on it.
maybe Annette Z. and Rosie Flores would have appeared on it...
* Johnny Cash: The New Western Lands
Crimebula Records 1989
The lost record of the man in black that the record company did want you to hear in '90.
covers of great western themed songs of the 80's.
Call of the West (org. by Wall of Voodoo)
The Judas Tree (org. by Jet Black Berries)
Devil's River (org. by The Divine Horsemen)
Call of the Wild (org. by D.A.D.)
Sundown (org. by Rank'n'File)
Oh Mother (org. by Tex & the Horseheads)
Gunslinger (org. by Jet Black Berries)
Tenderest Kiss (org. by The Divine Horsemen)
Time Forgot You (org. by Legal Weapon)
The Heartbreak Kid (org. by Icehouse)
Johnny Remember Me (org. by Johnny Leyton)
Do you Believe in the Westworld? (org. by Theater of Hate)
The Divine Horsemen never had a hit record, never made much of a splash in the underground and for the most part are only remembered by fools like me that have tapped into their energy and sound. That sound, well if the No Depression scenseters weren't a bunch of yuppies they would be all over these guys along with several other cowpunk bands from the 1980's. That's exactly what the Horsemen were, cowpunks, mixing country dusty rock with the spirit of punk and making that connection between the disenfranchised of the 1930 and those of the late 1970s. People that were scraping by, and trying to live their lives in spite of their near poverty.
The music of the Horsemen was magic due to the balance of the vocals of Chris D. and Julie C. His voice is a deeper fractured tone, while she sings with a shimmer of joy that rises above the resigned tone of the music and the lyrics... and the lyrics.... hold on I have to check itunes for a Wall of Voodoo tune....... they didn't have it.... anyway the lyrics are very Wall of Voodoo, that kind of 'The Wild West isn't what it used to be' and that Americas brain trip day dream of a pioneer land has passed away, and in it's place we have a wasteland of broken people trying to find hope in the sounds of the rain and in each other.
The best moments from the Divine Horseman came in their Middle of the Night/Devil's River period, where the rock and the country seemed to merge into a blue print for Alt County, energetic tunes, songwriter poet quality lyrics with out the over production of the era. There is something magic about raw music that is haunting and amazing. I think it's fair to say at this point that people missed out on a lot by closing their hearts and their ears to this music.
Now I am going to talk about two of the songs from their back catalog, both of which are available on the Time Stands Still c.d. Reissue. Devil's River tells of a dying town and the vanishing of a place. It's the Last Picture Show of punk rock, the story of lost riches and lost people. I would have loved to hear Johnny Cash record this song, along with a brace of other cowpunk tunes from the era.* Tenderest Kiss is a love song that is about the power of a kiss. I once had a women tell me that she thought that my kisses would have been tender (we never got to try that out.... anyway) and so the song resonates with me from that connection, but there is something sweet about it that doesn't become to sugary.
anyway, that's it, I hear The Divine Horsemen and I like what they are saying. I dig their covers of the Cramps and David Allen Coe. I like the cowpunk sound and feel, and I don't hear why the No Depression scene has ignored their records, and why so many of them are out of print....
Notes:
1. I saw the Ramones: End of the Century documentary today, good stuff, I hope that the MC5 film gets released soon, and I would love to see some film makers tackle the history of a few other punk groups:
- The Damned: They don't get the respect that the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Ramones get but they are important for pioneering a lot territory for punks. They did the first album of Garage Rock covers, they pushed their sound all over the rock landscape and wrote some great tunes.
-The Misfits: really is there any other punk band that has a story that even comes close to that of the Misfits? You have so much to explore, from the growth and changes in their sound and songs, to their interpersonal conflicts and their explosive popularity that started a couple of years after they called it quits.
-The Meteors: other than the Ramones I can't think of another punk band that has been the starting point for a distinct punk sound that has attracted so many imitators. I know that most underground types in the states have ignored Psychobilly until the recent ascent of Tiger Army and the Horrorpops, but around europe (in the UK, The Netherlands and Germany mostly) psychobilly is a major sub genre of punk.
2: I have been attracted to the recordings of Wall of Voodoo recently, mostly for the same reason as I have been digging the Divine Horsemen, they paint the modern west as the dystopia that it seems to have become. I need to look further into their albums and history to see what music of theirs I should try and pick up.
3: I just got done reading Robert Kurson's book Shadow Divers, about two men who spent 6 years of their lives searching for the identify of a wrecked WWII Nazi U-Boat that they found off the coast of New Jersey. I highly recommend it to any one interested in underwater exploration or history. Next up I have Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries White Butterfly and Black Betty....
4: I am actually planning on watching something on TV tomorrow night. I haven't turned on the TV in months, as I have been watching most of my TV shows on my laptop as they come out on DVD... anyway I want to catch the first installment of the new show Lost. I have always had an interest in the whole crashed on a desert island thing.
5: speaking of TV DVDs, the new Homicide Life on the Streets set arrives in stores in the next 10 days or so and I can't wait..... but until then I have been renting the second season of Six Feet Under and the first season of American Dreams. SFU hits close to home with me because my Dad died when I was 10 and my family has never really recovered. Were dysfunctional and I see so much of what is reflected on the show in my life..... American Dreams on the other hand is a little to happy/shiny to me.. but I am glad to see that they have made sure that the issues of race, religion, and family obligations haven't been whitewashed leaving young viewers to think that there weren't really people who were un PC back in the 1960's. Oh, and I hate the whole JFK thing, mostly because when he was assassinated the government stopped trying to lock my granddad and his brother for selling pulp wood at the price that the department of the interior had set (long story that I am still trying to put together)... anyway I dig American Dreams.
I dreamed that Johnny Cash recorded that Cowpunk album.... only there isn't anything by Blood on the Saddle or from the Screamin' Sirens on it.
maybe Annette Z. and Rosie Flores would have appeared on it...
* Johnny Cash: The New Western Lands
Crimebula Records 1989
The lost record of the man in black that the record company did want you to hear in '90.
covers of great western themed songs of the 80's.
Call of the West (org. by Wall of Voodoo)
The Judas Tree (org. by Jet Black Berries)
Devil's River (org. by The Divine Horsemen)
Call of the Wild (org. by D.A.D.)
Sundown (org. by Rank'n'File)
Oh Mother (org. by Tex & the Horseheads)
Gunslinger (org. by Jet Black Berries)
Tenderest Kiss (org. by The Divine Horsemen)
Time Forgot You (org. by Legal Weapon)
The Heartbreak Kid (org. by Icehouse)
Johnny Remember Me (org. by Johnny Leyton)
Do you Believe in the Westworld? (org. by Theater of Hate)
prs2000:
i think i heard you paging someone last night at ikea. is that possible?