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

Vee Vee

---

» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Archers of Loaf Vee Vee Alias, 1995 RiYL: Superchunk, Sebadoh, Pavement

What's good about Archers Of Loaf is that they like music. That statement's not nearly as dumb as it sounds, believe me. Unlike, say, a Pavement or a Slint, AoL don't feel the need to mask their appreciation for the healing power of rock and roll with irony or abstractions. Our collective rock history is something to be polished and placed on the mantelpiece, not hidden under a tarp in the backyard.

When we begin listening to Vee Vee, we "Step Into The Light." Tired of being in the dark, we reach out to a whole new community which appreciates us, understands us, and forgives us our need to begin our albums with fiddly love-rock instrumental nonsense. Then there's "Harnessed In Slums," a gleeful let-my-indie-rock-people-GO!" anthem, even if it's not clear whether Matt Gentling is yelling "I won't wait" or "I want waste!" in the background.

Vee Vee is an album which venerates rock history while feeling no particular need to adhere to it. "The Greatest Of All Time" is a rock epic played as if Eric Bachmann and Eric Johnson each picked a guitar string at random and detuned it exactly a half-step. "Underachievers March And Fight Song" encourages people to start rock bands while employing a truly fucked-up, non-rock toy piano sample that continues for the song's entire length, becoming increasingly annoying, until it somehow finally becomes catchy again. If "Nostalgia"'s drums were replaced by a John Bonham sample and a little more reverb were tossed on top of the guitars, it darn well could have fit right on Licensed To Ill.

Archers Of Loaf's earlier records are catchier, and their later records are more technically on-target. But none beat Vee Vee for pure rockist joy. The most important part of the record isn't where the pissed-off scenesters drown the "frontman of the world's worst rock and roll band," it's the end of "Fabricoh," where Bachmann repeatedly screams "ROCKING OUT!!!" as if when he stops no band will ever rock again. No fate could be more dire, and AoL's essential greatness is attached to their instinctual recognition of this basic fact.

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.