Screeching Weasel (album)
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''Screeching Weasel'' is the debut studio album by the
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-based
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band
Screeching Weasel Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band consisting of Ben Weasel (vocals), Mike Kennerty (guitar), Mike Hunchback (guitar), Zach "Poutine" Brandner (bass) and Pierre Marche (drums) founded in 1986 by Ben Weasel and John Pierson (music ...
. It was originally released on vinyl with a limited pressing of 1,000 copies in September 1987 through local independent label Underdog Records and was the band's only album with bassist Vinnie Bovine, who was fired the next year.
Screeching Weasel Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band consisting of Ben Weasel (vocals), Mike Kennerty (guitar), Mike Hunchback (guitar), Zach "Poutine" Brandner (bass) and Pierre Marche (drums) founded in 1986 by Ben Weasel and John Pierson (music ...
- ''
Kill the Musicians ''Kill the Musicians'' is a compilation album released in 1995 which was meant to serve as a "cleaning up" of loose ends after Screeching Weasel's breakup in 1994. The compilation collects demos, B-sides, vinyl-only EPs, and other various odds ...
'' liner notes. Retrieved 2016-02-06
''Screeching Weasel'' documents the group's early years as a
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
band, with the music being heavily influenced by bands such as
Adrenalin O.D. Adrenalin O.D. was an American hardcore punk band from New Jersey that existed from 1981 to 1990. They were best known for playing fast-paced music accompanied with humorous lyrics. History Adrenalin O.D. formed in October 1981, from the demis ...
,
Angry Samoans The Angry Samoans was an American punk rock band from the first wave of American punk. Formed in August 1978 in Los Angeles, California, by early 1970s rock writer "Metal" Mike Saunders, his sibling lead guitarist Bonze BlaykBad Trip Records ...
,
Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag (band), Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetso ...
and Black Flag. The album gained the band a minor local following and its initial pressing sold out quickly. However, Underdog decided not to repress the album to save money for a release by label owner Russ Forster's own band Spongetunnel. With no other label interested in repressing it, ''Screeching Weasel'' went out of print for the next decade until VML Records re-released the album on CD in 1997. The CD version was remastered by
Mass Giorgini Massimiliano Adelmo Giorgini (born 1968) is an American bassist and record producer who rose to fame when several of the bands he produced experienced huge gains in popularity during the pop-punk boom of the mid-'90s. Among these bands was Giorg ...
and featured a full-color version of the album art as well as several previously unreleased bonus tracks.


Background

The band was formed as All-Night Garage Sale by Ben Foster (later taking the stage name "Ben Weasel") and John Pierson ("John Jughead") in
Prospect Heights, Illinois Prospect Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 16,058. Geography According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Prospect Heights has a total area of , of whi ...
in 1986, changing their name to Screeching Weasel shortly after. Weasel took singing/bass duties, Jughead became the guitarist and Steve Dubick ("Steve Cheese") was hired as the drummer. However, Weasel would find it too difficult to sing and play bass simultaneously, so the group hired Vince Vogel (rechristened "Vinnie Bovine") as their bassist in November. Weasel then began looking up studios in the phone book to record the band's first demo, settling on Solid Sound in
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as engineer Phil Bonnet "didn't laugh when I told him we were a punk band." Bonnet loaned the band $200 and booked the band to come into the studio, which was delayed two weeks because Bonnet did not show up for the first session nor the rescheduled session the next week. As an apology, Bonnet let them record on the studio's 24-track machine for the same price as the 12-track machine when he finally arrived to the third session a week later on January 10, 1987. For the demo, the group did a number of songs that would later be re-recorded for their debut album, which were reportedly written by Weasel during his stay at a drug rehabilitation center in
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when he was a teenager.Screeching Weasel - ''
How to Make Enemies and Irritate People ''How to Make Enemies and Irritate People'' is the seventh studio album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Screeching Weasel. Planned as the group's final album, it was released in September 1994 on CD, vinyl, and cassette through Lookout Recor ...
'' liner notes. Retrieved 2016-02-06
The tape was self-released shortly after and sold through
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punk-zine ''
Maximumrocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...
'' for a short period. After the band played a show at the Batteries Not Included club in Chicago, they met Russ Forster, president of local independent label Underdog Records. Forster made an offer to the band to release an album by them on his label, which they accepted.


Release and reception

''Screeching Weasel'' was released on vinyl in September 1987 with a limited pressing of 1,000 copies on Underdog Records as the label's third release. After
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DJ
John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
played the song "Murder in the Brady House" on his radio show, the group got an overseas deal with What Goes On? Records, who released the album in the UK with a pressing of 2,000 copies. In the United States, the band gained a minor local following after the album's release and its initial pressing sold out in three months. Underdog opted not to repress the album, however, as Forster wanted to save money to release a record by his own band Spongetunnel. Forster gave the band $200 along with the master tapes and all the rights to the album for their trouble and the group began looking for another label to release it, but none were interested. It remained out of print for the next decade, due to Weasel's dissatisfaction with the album and because Bovine allegedly wanted too much money for it. In 1997, the album was remastered by
Mass Giorgini Massimiliano Adelmo Giorgini (born 1968) is an American bassist and record producer who rose to fame when several of the bands he produced experienced huge gains in popularity during the pop-punk boom of the mid-'90s. Among these bands was Giorg ...
(the band's bassist at the time) and finally re-released on CD by VML Records. The reissue featured a new, fully colored version of the cover art and several bonus tracks, including songs from the band's first demo, early versions of tracks from their next album ''
Boogadaboogadaboogada! ''Boogadaboogadaboogada!'' is the second studio album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Screeching Weasel. The album was originally released on vinyl in December 1988 through Roadkill Records. It was the group's only album to feature Fish on ba ...
'', an unreleased split EP with local band The Ozzfish Experience and other outtakes from the era.


Track listing


Personnel

*
Ben Weasel Benjamin Foster (born April 8, 1968), also known as Ben Weasel, is an American musician best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the punk rock band Screeching Weasel. Early life Foster was born in 1968, and was raised in Prospect Heigh ...
 –
lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
,
rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
on tracks 36 – 39 * Johnny Jughead –
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
, vocals on "Don't Touch My Car" * Vinnie Bovine –
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
* Steve Cheese –
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
, vocals on "O.M.W." and "K-Mart Blues" Additional performers * Warren Fish – bass on tracks 35 – 39 Production * Phil Bonnet – producer,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
* Russ Forster; Screeching Weasel – mixers *
Mass Giorgini Massimiliano Adelmo Giorgini (born 1968) is an American bassist and record producer who rose to fame when several of the bands he produced experienced huge gains in popularity during the pop-punk boom of the mid-'90s. Among these bands was Giorg ...
 – remastering (reissue) Artwork * Paul Russel – cover art, additional artwork * Ben Weasel; John Jughead – layout * Billy Blastoff – design, layout (reissue)


References

{{Authority control 1987 debut albums Screeching Weasel albums