June 25, 1990

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The Kings of Drunken DebaucheryAre Back

The Beat Farmers
June 29 & 30
Town Pump
by Tim Crumley
Ever been to a musical brawl?
That’s what you should be expect-
ing if you head out to the Town

 

 

Pump to see the Beat Farmers July § “

29 & 30.

The San Diego based country- J

| rock booze-out quartet has been
known for its -wild Vancouver
shows since its inception in 1983.

"One of the things I like about *

Vancouver audiences is that they
are so uncontrollable," said drum-
mer/hellraiser Country Dick Mon-
tana. "They’re wild and completely
lacking in social graces."

This comes from a man who
sings warm family songs about
sticking his run-over dog’s guts in

| his drawer for a month and a half.

In contrast to most bands with
a penchant for novelty tunes, the

| Beat Farmers have an excellent

| songwriting team in the form of
Jerry Raney (guitar/vocals) and
| Joey Harris (vocals/guitar). Raney
| writes more straight ahead rock
_ tunes like "Socialite" and "God Is
Here Tonight", while Harris is falls
more into the country spectrum,
_ with little gems like "Texas",
"Rosie", and "Ridin’ to his credit.
They are touring to promote
_ their latest record, ...Loud, Plowed
| and LIVE!!!, a selection of 21
songs recorded at a New Year’s eve
_ gig at home in San Diego. The
songs range from funny (Happy
Boy, that fermented dog ode) to
some of their better work (God Is
Here Tonight, Ridin’) with some
neat covers thrown in (except for
the violent cover of Lucille that left
me wondering how angry they are
_ at women).
It’s released on their old label,
Curb Records. They had a distribu-
tion deal with MCA Records, but

   

TSEARY RANEY

company pressures made the band
get out of it. They recorded over
forty songs to make their last MCA
album, 1989’s Poor and Famous,
but the label rejected all but 10.

"They kept on searching for
something that would be a big hit,"
said Raney.

"Something that could com-
pete with Madonna and Prince on

The Grapes of Wrath

are not

"Kill Pigs"

anymore

Grapes of Wrath

July 6th, 7th, 3 shows

Commodore

by Matthew Martin

The Grapes of Wrath will be in
town at the Commodore July 6.

This four member band grew
its roots in my home town of sunny
Kelowna BC. The foursome have
been friends ever since their teens,
when they first started jamming
together in a punk rock band called
"Kill Pigs." When that band broke
up, they went their separate ways to
pursue their own musical careers,
but stayed good friends.

However, it was destined that
they should play together, and the
next time they did in the cover band
"Honda Civic", it worked so well
they decided to give it a serious try.

By 1983, they were ready to go
pro. They took over the family
garage and converted it into a mini
recording studio. That was when

 

  
  
 

ew
they got their name; Chris Hooper,
drummer and film fanatic, watched
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of
Wrath: hence the bands name
today.

In 1984 the band released a
four song album and a year later its
debut album "September Bowl of
Green" and went on their first tour.
The rest is history.

This is their latest tour and they
are calling it "Now and Again". It
spans 9 countries with over 124
shows including guest appearances
with Tom Cochrane, LLoyd Cole,
Billy Bragg and Concrete Blond.

BEAT FARMERS

SOCY HARRIS
Top 40 radio," added Montana,
“and that’s not exactly what were
set up to be."

So starting from scratch again
on an independant label, the Beat
Farmers do what they do best - play
live. Their shows are known across
North America and Europe for
being a shining example of drunken
debauchery. They’re wild. thev’re

COUNTRY DICK

bad, but they’re fun as hell.

Last time I saw them (along
with members of the Blasters and
Mojo Nixon, masquerading as the
Pleasure Barons), the roadies were
wearing referee outfits and wiping
the stage constantly trying to keep
all the expensive Commodore
Ballroom beer that got sprayed
onstage from killing anyone. And

ROLLE LOVE

Country Dick was thrown into the
crowd about 8 times, and voluntari-
ly jumped in once to fix
somebody’s wagon - but good.

I swear, it was the wildest time
I’ve ever had - literally.

 

 

 

 

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