FFHH's Midweek Mutiny: Mike
Editor's Note: This post was written by Mike Garber. He is the guitarist for Baltimore's Faster Faster Harder Harder.
Okay, so saying that I love a band like Nirvana isn’t something that should come as a surprise for me or any other dood of my generation. In all seriousness, Nirvana owned the 90’s and they only needed/had four years during that decade, to cement themselves in to rock history. The rock world went crazy over Smells Like Teen Spirit and it’s heavy handed grunge riffing and explosive choruses. I, on the other hand, favored the more thoughtful single Lithium. Whether it was a song about getting high or finding God, I don’t know, but it inspired such a powerful feeling over me. It was mysterious, yet soulful at the same time. As a musician, I am intrigued by how Kurt Cobain crafted a song this profound and moving considering his fairly elementary technique on the guitar. This is one song from the 90’s that I’ll never forget. It’s my frickin’ ringtone! So if you call me, my phone sings “I’m so happy cuz today I found my friends.” Coincidence????????????????????????????
Nirvana – Lithium
Up next is one serious fuckin’ album from one serious fuckin’ band, motherfucker. If you aren’t already cool enough to be down with it, I almost don’t want to tell you about this album. Daydream Nation is often thought of as the pinnacle of Art Rock, and rightfully so. Pitchfork Media rated it the #1 greatest album of the 80’s, and I’d agree only because I couldn’t name a better album if I tried. The Library of Congress even added it to their National Recording Registry List, which is huge. That’s like the equivalent of the federal government inducting Sonic Youth into the American sound recording hall of fame. Yup, Uncle Sam thinks SY rocks. Daydream Nation combined avant-garde guitar noise, beautiful impressionistic melodies, and epic arrangements. It took rock to a new level with songs like The Spawl. When I listen to this song, I see some pretty weird images. I envision prostitutes on a boring day, lecherous scumbags on the prowl, a miasma of difficult emotion... lives changing hard. Maybe I’m just sick. I have no clue what this song is about and I am equally lost with most lyrical content of this band. I just know that it sure is fuckin’ serious!
Sonic Youth - The Sprawl
Somebody somewhere wants to punch me for bringing up this stupidly named band with its uber-sappy-wussy smash hit song. When I first heard the Goo Goo Dolls song Name, I was too young and I didn’t like it. After all, this is considered “ADULT” alternative. Now, I love it. This song is just so perfectly earnest and elegant in it’s delivery of that heartache feeling. It's like waking up in the morning after heart surgery. Actually, Goo Goo Dolls have rocked hard since day one, but they often included a soft ballad or two on most their albums. Something I really admire about them, is how their songwriting demonstrates such elegance and refined taste, yet they’re still hard rocking. They are not so much an innovative or groundbreaking band like Sonic Youth, but they are still unique and highly effective! These guys are deadly. Not in a death metal sort of way, but in the sense that they do what they mean and mean what they do.
Goo Goo Dolls - Name
Another band I like is called Faster Faster Harder Harder, and they are from Baltimore, Maryland. Hey, that’s us!!! We have been lumped into the “dance rock” category before, but I feel that description doesn’t really cover all our bases very well. If I was to describe FFHH, I’d say we are just a rock band (first and foremost) that creates unique music with roots in punk, post punk and indie styles. File us under “whatever”, I guess. Red Teeth is one of our slower songs, but it maintains a strong rock drive throughout that is punctuated by indulgent distorted guitars and big crashing drums in the chorus. Bass sets the mood. My guitar has some standout parts in this song as I play a lot of minimalistic leads, which I feel adds more depth. The music and lyrics were penned by our main man Mr. Brian Buta, but the song was not complete when the rest of the band heard samples of it, so we finished it off together, each adding our own kick… or punch. I really like the lyrics for this song. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what it’s about (Brian was just too crafty with this one.) I always thought of it as a song that dealt with issues like facing death after a life of regret and I wondered if there was an issue of being preyed upon, or being taken advantage of in the subtext. "Their teeth are all for killing/ as red as you can imagine/ and this is the ending.”
Faster Faster Harder Harder - Red Teeth
Okay, so saying that I love a band like Nirvana isn’t something that should come as a surprise for me or any other dood of my generation. In all seriousness, Nirvana owned the 90’s and they only needed/had four years during that decade, to cement themselves in to rock history. The rock world went crazy over Smells Like Teen Spirit and it’s heavy handed grunge riffing and explosive choruses. I, on the other hand, favored the more thoughtful single Lithium. Whether it was a song about getting high or finding God, I don’t know, but it inspired such a powerful feeling over me. It was mysterious, yet soulful at the same time. As a musician, I am intrigued by how Kurt Cobain crafted a song this profound and moving considering his fairly elementary technique on the guitar. This is one song from the 90’s that I’ll never forget. It’s my frickin’ ringtone! So if you call me, my phone sings “I’m so happy cuz today I found my friends.” Coincidence????????????????????????????
Nirvana – Lithium
Up next is one serious fuckin’ album from one serious fuckin’ band, motherfucker. If you aren’t already cool enough to be down with it, I almost don’t want to tell you about this album. Daydream Nation is often thought of as the pinnacle of Art Rock, and rightfully so. Pitchfork Media rated it the #1 greatest album of the 80’s, and I’d agree only because I couldn’t name a better album if I tried. The Library of Congress even added it to their National Recording Registry List, which is huge. That’s like the equivalent of the federal government inducting Sonic Youth into the American sound recording hall of fame. Yup, Uncle Sam thinks SY rocks. Daydream Nation combined avant-garde guitar noise, beautiful impressionistic melodies, and epic arrangements. It took rock to a new level with songs like The Spawl. When I listen to this song, I see some pretty weird images. I envision prostitutes on a boring day, lecherous scumbags on the prowl, a miasma of difficult emotion... lives changing hard. Maybe I’m just sick. I have no clue what this song is about and I am equally lost with most lyrical content of this band. I just know that it sure is fuckin’ serious!
Sonic Youth - The Sprawl
Somebody somewhere wants to punch me for bringing up this stupidly named band with its uber-sappy-wussy smash hit song. When I first heard the Goo Goo Dolls song Name, I was too young and I didn’t like it. After all, this is considered “ADULT” alternative. Now, I love it. This song is just so perfectly earnest and elegant in it’s delivery of that heartache feeling. It's like waking up in the morning after heart surgery. Actually, Goo Goo Dolls have rocked hard since day one, but they often included a soft ballad or two on most their albums. Something I really admire about them, is how their songwriting demonstrates such elegance and refined taste, yet they’re still hard rocking. They are not so much an innovative or groundbreaking band like Sonic Youth, but they are still unique and highly effective! These guys are deadly. Not in a death metal sort of way, but in the sense that they do what they mean and mean what they do.
Goo Goo Dolls - Name
Another band I like is called Faster Faster Harder Harder, and they are from Baltimore, Maryland. Hey, that’s us!!! We have been lumped into the “dance rock” category before, but I feel that description doesn’t really cover all our bases very well. If I was to describe FFHH, I’d say we are just a rock band (first and foremost) that creates unique music with roots in punk, post punk and indie styles. File us under “whatever”, I guess. Red Teeth is one of our slower songs, but it maintains a strong rock drive throughout that is punctuated by indulgent distorted guitars and big crashing drums in the chorus. Bass sets the mood. My guitar has some standout parts in this song as I play a lot of minimalistic leads, which I feel adds more depth. The music and lyrics were penned by our main man Mr. Brian Buta, but the song was not complete when the rest of the band heard samples of it, so we finished it off together, each adding our own kick… or punch. I really like the lyrics for this song. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what it’s about (Brian was just too crafty with this one.) I always thought of it as a song that dealt with issues like facing death after a life of regret and I wondered if there was an issue of being preyed upon, or being taken advantage of in the subtext. "Their teeth are all for killing/ as red as you can imagine/ and this is the ending.”
Faster Faster Harder Harder - Red Teeth
Editor's Note: What the hell is this? See here.
The rest of FFHH's mutiny can be found in these locations:
Intro
Brian
Sam
Matt
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Analyzed by Joe on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
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