Of the mid-1980s bands that cast aside the limitations of hardcore, Das Damen burned bright, but ultimately didn’t break big like some of their cohorts. They are far from forgotten however, as an expanded and remastered reissue of the band’s debut EP is available now digitally through Dromedary Records, with a vinyl edition scheduled for late October. 1986: Keeps Me Wild adds four reworked EP tracks with guests A Girl Called Eddy, The Screaming Trees’ Gary Lee Conner, Come’s Thalia Zedek, The Fluid’s John Robinson, and Black Flag’s Dez Cadena, plus six 2-track demos recorded with Wharton Tiers. Anyone striving to keep their ’80s rock underground collection complete will need this on their shelves.
Reissues like 1986: Keeps Me Wild are wholly necessary in the service of historical accuracy, as nearly a decade before the Grunge phenomenon, bands were tapping into hard rock and psychedelia in an attempt to break free from the stylistic rules and regs of the standard hardcore punk. Although from NYC and tight with Sonic Youth (as Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label released the EP reissued here), the band’s closest compatriots were really Boston’s Dinosaur Jr.
Like Dinosaur Jr., Das Damen had direct hardcore roots, as guitarist-vocalist Alex Totino and drummer Lyle Hysen were in The Misguided. That band released a pair of 7-inch EPs in ’82–’83 and were part of the legendary Charred Remains compilation tape from ’82 (alongside such heavyweights as Hüsker Dü, Void, Double-O, Articles of Faith, Die Kreuzen, and Violent Apathy).
1986: Keeps Me Wild comes with a fresh edition of Hysen’s ’80s fanzine Damaged Goods, which along with recollections from Moore, radio personality-podcaster-author Tom Scharpling, and the band members themselves, includes some review clippings of the EP from the ’80s music press. The one that sticks out is the late Tim Yohannan’s from Maximum Rocknroll, who acknowledges a similarity to Hüsker Dü but dismisses the record as guilty of the R&R excesses that “necessitated punk in the first place.”
Hilariously, I’m recalling a sentence in the blurb on Dinosaur (pre-Jr. suffix) from inside the gatefold of Homestead Records’ 1987 compilation The Wailing Ultimate: from memory, “Yohannan’s worst nightmare- ex-hardcores who like to jam.” It wasn’t just Yohannan. Many at the time were of the opinion that these bands (Das Damen, Dino, Green River, Meat Puppets, Screaming Trees, even post-Damaged Black Flag) were making a big stylistic mistake by exploring hard rock, psych rock, Crazy Horse, etc.
History now shines a kind light on the bands that forged a new path as hardcore mayhem turned to rigidity and ran low on inspiration. Some, including many in Washington DC, pioneered post-hardcore and first-wave non-shit emo. Others followed art-rock, noise-rock, and hard pop paths. But Das Damen was amongst the earliest to embrace the sound that burst, almost exclusively out of the Pacific Northwest, in the early ’90s.
The first EP is gets remastered here, but it doesn’t alter the thick, decidedly unpolished production—the beneficial friction between borderline muddy, non-pro heaviness and songs with honest-to-goodness pop hooks. After the short psych burst “Tsavo,” they blend a packed club-ready pounder with catchy motions and it works. “Slave Bird” reminds me a bit of The Replacements of they’d been more into hard rock scuzz than Big Star.
“House of Mirrors” has long given me more of a Pac-NW vibe, but nearer to Green River than Soundgarden or Nirvana (lots of good drum thunder in this one), while “How Do You Measure?” is another combination of hyperactive catchiness (interesting that the Undertones were cited as an influence), and big raw riffs. Closer “Behind My Eyes” is a fiesta of stomped pedals and shifting tempos.
It might be tempting to say these songs aren’t that big of a deal (Das Damen definitely got better after they signed to SST; too bad those records aren’t available for reissue), but the reality is they did register as a big deal at the time. The EP frankly holds up well, with a lack of the doofus-dunderhead moves that frequently accompany hard rock adulation (the secret is that these are legit songs, again).
The remixes feature input from guests that really drive home the band’s impact. The sound is brighter but not slick and the delivery wilder without betraying the essence of the originals. “Tick Question” benefits from Conner’s considerable guitar prowess, “How Do You Measure?” underscores that Zedek is a sturdy and expressive vocalist, and “Behind My Eyes,” with Robinson and Cadena is a scorching mauler of throaty distortion (the instrumental back half of this is the record’s strongest stretch).
The 2-track demos definitely add value, with enough differences to avoid a sense of redundancy; if you already dig Das Damen, you’ll be glad to have ‘em. If you’re a budding fan of ’80s u-ground rock, the 1986: Keeps Me Wild demos will deepen your appreciation of this underrated band.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
