Cupid Car Club, also known as Cupid Car Club M.P., was a short-lived American
post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...
band consisting of
Ian Svenonius
Ian Folke Svenonius is an American author, filmmaker, and musician with various Washington, D.C.–based punk rock, punk bands including Nation of Ulysses, Make-Up (American band), the Make-Up, Weird War, XYZ (2014 band), XYZ, Too Much (band), To ...
on vocals,
James Canty
James Canty is a Brooklyn, New York–based multi-instrumentalist musician from Washington, D.C.
Canty is currently known for playing guitar in the band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and guitar and keyboard with The Make-Up. Before forming The ...
on drums, Steve Gamboa on guitar (all of which were previously members of
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply Ulysses, the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner ...
and later went on to form
The Make-Up), and
Kim Thompson
Kim Thompson (September 25, 1956 – June 19, 2013) was an American comic book editor, translator, and publisher, best known as vice president and co-publisher of Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books. Along with co-publisher Gary Groth, Thompso ...
(of
The Delta 72
The Delta 72 were an United States, American alternative rock, alternative music band formed in Washington, DC in the summer of 1994, later relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They created a frenetic and honest style channeling post-punk s ...
) on bass and vocals.
They released one 7-inch EP on
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in February 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but it was orig ...
, called ''Join our Club''. Cupid Car Club also appeared on the ''
Rock Stars Kill
''Rock Stars Kill'' is a compilation of various artists released by Kill Rock Stars on September 1, 1994. The compilation was released simultaneously as a vinyl LP with accompanying 7″ single, cassette, and CD.
Track listing LP
;Side one
# T ...
'' and ''Some Songs'' compilations, also under the Kill Rock Stars label.
The band's lyrical content, album art, and promotional material tended to stray towards a morbid playfulness, containing many references to topics such as suicide, child custody, and cults.
''Join our Club''
''Join our Club'', sometimes known as ''Werewolves!'', was the only
EP from the short-lived band Cupid Car Club.
The track "Grape Juice Plus" borrows its name from the term used by Dr. Lewis Dickson to describe wine to Zira in
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
''Escape from the Planet of the Apes'' is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Don Taylor and written by Paul Dehn. The film is the sequel to '' Beneath the Planet of the Apes'' (1970) and the third installment in the original ''P ...
. Also, the lyrics "Did you have the dream now about the boy" and "Don't you got it good now so I can shoot my little girl" are direct reference to 1991's
The Rapture (film). Svenonius has a penchant for obscure film references and name-dropping (most obvious in
David Candy's ''
Play Power'').
Track listing
#"Edge of the Envelope" − 2:10
#"Vapor Rub-Out"
#"Child Custody Commandos"
#"Grape Juice Plus" − 3:49
Other appearances on compilations
:
References
External links
Entry on Southern RecordsCupid Car Club Fan site
{{Authority control
American post-hardcore musical groups
Musical groups established in 1993
Musical groups disestablished in 1993