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

White Trash Heroes

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Archers of Loaf White Trash Heroes Alias, 1998 RiYL: Pavement, Suicide, Joy Division

On White Trash Heroes, Eric Bachmann's choices of weapons are different, but his target is largely the same. There wasn't another indie rock frontman in the '90s more obsessed with the scene that spawned him and the unpredictable machinery of the underground. Why do bad bands succeed and good bands fail? Why did the Archers Of Loaf, after three of the most beloved records of indie's silver age, fall apart because there seemingly wasn't anywhere for them to go but down?

White Trash Heroes questions, but it doesn't blame. Some of the songs are the most abrasive, inaccessible material the band ever committed to tape. Others, quirkily supported by inexpensive keyboard sounds and led by downright lovely vocals, are as pretty as the Archers Of Loaf ever got.

Bachmann's move from guitar to keyboard briefly revitalizes the band, which was in the process of breaking up. The usually careening Eric Johnson develops a more concrete style and the greater spaces in the songs let bassist Matt Gentling and particularly drummer Mark Price really strut their stuff. The opener "Fashion Bleeds," held up by a snapping Price drum hook which continues for its whole length, illustrates the band's new sound nicely. Bachmann croons is his lower register about "teenaged kids with poorly tuned guitars" until all the instruments drop out save a tinny Casio which bleeps on for a few bars, then cuts out just as abruptly. This leads nicely into the mesmerizing "Dead Red Eyes," with a keyboard and bass groove Stereolab would be proud to claim as their own. Vocally Bachmann is at his best here, even if it is entirely unclear what he's talking about.

On the other end of the spectrum are "I.N.S." and "Banging On A Dead Drum," which are less songs than acts of musical violence. On the former, Bachmann screams from the bottom of a well of effects processing while Johnson wails, barely playing notes at all. That's nothing compared to the demented blues of "Banging," which features a simply inhuman vocal over a basic progression and imposing slide guitar. While heard by themselves these songs are guaranteed to scare your mother, in context on the album they word surprisingly well. What's particularly infernal is that little bits of melody, like the chorus to "Banging," stick out through all the murk like a drowning man waving for help.

Not all of the album completely abandons the Archers' established sound. "Perfect Time" and the instrumental "Smokers In Love" could pass for All The Nations Airports tracks but for the increased prominence of the rhythm section, which "Smokers" in particular approaches a Joy Division/New Order-like dark pulse.

Everything comes to a head with the final two tracks, one which summarizes everything that's come before and a final song which apocalyptically looks forward. "After The Last Laugh," despite Gentling's power-loud bass and Price's syncopation, is the most overtly old school song on the album. Until the chorus, at least, when a gang choir joins in to sing Archers Of Loaf's eulogy. Then the record concludes with "White Trash Heroes," a long, sad number that retains the choir and is mostly carried by a percussive keyboard riff. Bachmann sings of "dreaming of televisions turned up too loud," reprising his concern from Vee Vee's "Underachievers March And Fight Song" that the mantle of the music he loves so much is being passed to a generation too lazy and jaded to be appreciative of its value. Sadly, Bachmann continues to moan about "ravers in techno bars." How appropriate that the soul of the next generation has been seized by electronic and hip-hop music, genres which don't even have real "instruments" and (in Bachmann's view, likely) real musicians. The heart of even the lower classes has been seized by the Eminems and Fatboy Slims of the world. Where is rock to go?

The music of White Trash Heroes suggests the answer: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Heroes is by and large about the death of indie rock, but rather than railing against the change it borrows some of the trappings of hip-hop and IDM. It's a record that probably didn't get its fair due in its time due to the Archers' ignoble ending. That's a shame. The album's seriousness costs it, leaving it just short of the quality level of Vee Vee and All The Nations Airports, but it's still well worth hearing and perhaps even more relevant seven years on than it was in its time.

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.