Artist bio
When they first started strangling their guitars in the early ‘90s, the Archers of Loaf were a direct if slightly more dissonant descendent of the prominent indie rock bands of the time, especially Pavement and their Chapel Hill, NC neighbors Superchunk. Their 1993 debut full-length Icky Mettle and the early singles collected on the 1996 compilation The Speed of Cattle reveal better-than-average songwriting skills and melodies that manage to overcome the peculiarities of Eric Bachmann’s hoarse singing and Bachmann and Eric Johnson’s demented guitar stylings, most prominently the mixtape hit “Web in Front.” The 1994 EP Archers of Loaf vs. The Greatest of All Time cut out some of the amateurism of the debut and added a whole lot of lovely guitar abuse, including the classic “Audiowhore.”
None of the early releases quite prepares listeners for the smorgasbord of sounds on the Archers’ sophomore outing, 1995’s Vee Vee. Produced by Bob Weston, the record was a vast sonic improvement from the debut and cannily employed samples and vocal effects. Mostly, though, Vee Vee just brought the goods with great songs, particularly the college radio hit “Harnessed in Slums.” Over Matt Price’s thundering toms and bassist Matt Gentling’s deranged backing screams, Bachmann makes like an indie rock Moses, speaking out for the “thugs and scum and punks and freaks” whom the band is proud to call their fans.
Then, oddly, they went for the brass ring. 1996’s All the Nations Airports, though nominally released by the Archers’ longtime label Alias, was their first to be major-distributed and was accompanied by big-budget videos and an actual promotional campaign. The album itself was a logical progression from Vee Vee, mellower and containing a few Bachmann piano ballads and even a country-western instrumental. Still, tunes like “Strangled by the Stereo Wire” and “Vocal Shrapnel” bought the choking feedback fans expected. Modern rock radio unsurprisingly did not respond to the subtle pleasures of “Scenic Pastures,” and the Archers’ major label era was over after one album. One benefit of the experiment was the limited release of the Vitus Tinnitus EP, which included thundering live versions of some of the band’s greatest compositions to that point.
White Trash Heroes, released in 1998, was a breakup record and sounds like it. Bringing over some of the ideas he’d picked up with his quasi-orchestral side project Barry Black, Bachmann layers budget keyboards over most of the songs, with the remainder being hellish screaming. The Archers had come about as far from “Web in Front” as could be imagined. Nonetheless, the album works quite well, particularly the spooky “Dead Red Eyes” and the final track which gives the album its name. Eric Johnson didn’t make many of the dates for the tour to support White Trash Heroes, and by tour’s end it was common knowledge that it was the end of the line for the Archers of Loaf. Bachmann moved on to do something completely different with his new band Crooked Fingers while Gentling toured as an extra guitarist for Superchunk. The live document Seconds Before the Accident was their last release.
Albums by this artist
White Trash Heroes (1998)
The Speed Of Cattle (1996)
All the Nations Airports (1996)
Vee Vee (1995)
Icky Mettle (1993)
Archers of Loaf
The Speed Of Cattle
» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER
|
Archers of Loaf
The Speed Of Cattle
Alias, 1996
|
An (overly) generous collection of early singles and rarities presumably assembled to cash in on the Archers Of Loaf's impending Elektra superstardom (and how'd that work out, Alias Records?),
The Speed Of Cattle does not reveal many lost gems but is an interesting look at one of the '90s most underappreciated great bands.
The best songs on
Cattle are alternate version of songs from
Icky Mettle and the
Archers Of Loaf vs. The Greatest Of All Time EP such as "Web In Front," "Wrong," and "Backwash." B-sides from
Vee Vee reveal that there were no oversights in the sequencing of that fine album. There are a few interesting curiosities, like the
5ive Style-esque instrumental "Smokin Pot In The Hot City" and the lengthy "Tatyana."
But there are a lot more tracks on
The Speed Of Cattle, and most of them date from an era when the band was still refining its sound.
Icky Mettle, although likable, won't strike many listeners with its variety, and a lot of these songs are tunes that didn't make the cut for that record. As amusingly as they are described by Eric Bachmann in the liner notes, tracks like "South Carolina," "Bathroom," and "Ethel Merman" basically sound like sub-
Icky tunes, which is in fact exactly what they are. Even the Treepeople (Doug Martsch's old band) cover "Funnelhead" just comes across as a lame old Archers Of Loaf song.
Fans will dig the "Peel Session" take of Bachmann and Eric Johnson's ear-molesting feedback duet on the intro to "Revenge" and minor
Vee Vee-era material like "Don't Believe The Good News," but by all means, if you're just getting into the Archers Of Loaf, make this album the last thing you pick up. It may seem like a good deal with so many tracks, but there's less really interesting new material on here than the five-track
Greatest Of All Time. That, and there's simply no way you're going to have any idea what Eric Bachmann is saying without experiencing the higher-fidelity records first.
MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West. 