VIA PRESS RELEASE | Revolutionary NYC rock quartet Das Damen have returned with a deluxe reissue of their landmark 1986 debut EP, “1986: Keeps Me Wild.” Newly remastered and augmented with an array of previously unreleased demos, reimagined tracks, and a brand-new issue of Das Damen drummer Lyle Hysen’s legendary fanzine, Damaged Goods (featuring a comprehensive timeline, show flyers, oral history, testimonials from Thurston Moore, Tom Scharpling, and more), “1986: Keeps Me Wild” will be released digitally via Dromedary Records on Friday, September 8 and on vinyl in October. Pre-orders are available now.
In addition to two never-before-heard demos, “1986: Keeps Me Wild” is highlighted by reworked versions of cuts culled from the EP’s original 1986 recording sessions featuring new contributions from such friends and fans as Dez Cadena (Black Flag), Thalia Zedek (Come), Gary Lee Conner (Screaming Trees), John Robinson (The Fluid), and A Girl Called Eddy. The first song, “Trick Question,” is available for streaming at all DSPs now. An official music video directed by Dave Rygalski is streaming now on YouTube.
“When we got the tapes baked several years ago, upon listening to them we discovered we had a few unfinished alternative takes from the original EP sessions,” says drummer Lyle Hysen. “We didn’t feel we could bring the same ‘1986 enthusiasm’ to finishing the tapes but by bringing in a few people who we respect or are pals from back then, the re-imaginings would have a new energy of their own.”
“In the Spring of 1991, we did our first U.S. tour as a major label band soon after the release of Uncle Anesthesia,” says Screaming Trees’ guitarist Conner.” As the tour began chaos ensued. A van wreck that should have been fatal led to Mark Lanegan falling off the wagon to start drinking again after nearly six years sober.
My brother Van and our drummer at the time, Dan Peters, enthusiastically joined in the alcoholic debauchery which began in Chicago and ended the tour prematurely in Pensacola, Florida a month later. Our good friends and former label mates, Das Damen, were the opening band for most of the tour. Watching them play every night kept me sane. They have some of my all-time favorite songs like ‘Grey Isn’t Black’ and ‘Bug.’ Now I even get to play on one of their songs. Pretty fucking cool!”
Das Damen will mark the new release of “1986: Keeps Me Wild” with their first live date in over 30 years. The one-time-only performance—billed as Sad Nemad—is set for Drom30 Festival, Dromedary Records’ weekend-long celebration of independent rock in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley, on Saturday, September 16. Additional shows are under consideration.
Founded in 1984 by singer/guitarist Jim Walters, guitarist Alex Totino, eight-string bassist Phil Leopold Von Trapp, and drummer Lyle Hysen, Das Damen immediately proved themselves to be the electric children of the Stooges, MC5, Cheap Trick, and The Beatles, whipping up a glorious cosmic swirl of stadium-sized proportions that flattened East Village clubs while earning them a hardcore following of devoted fans across America and around the world.
Originally released on Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace! imprint in 1986 (and later reissued by SST Records), “1986: Keeps Me Wild” remains an earth-scorching touchstone in the downtown NYC underground movement and a milestone recording in the annals of American indie rock. The six anthemic songs contained therein remain as fist-pumpingly huge and evocative as ever, dripping with the grit, grime, chaos, and sludge of the 1980s downtown scene where the band members first converged as fledgling teenage punks attending New York University.
But while Das Damen certainly shared an affinity for jacked-to-11 amps and ear-busting volume akin to peers like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., songs like “Trick Question,” “Slave Bird,” and “How Do You Measure” stand-alone with otherworldly singalong harmonies, tasty hooks, monster riffs, and miles and miles of paisley-draped, hair-exploding style.
Originally recorded with iconic noise-rock producer Wharton Tiers (Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Pussy Galore) in the narrow, concrete-lined confines of his famed Fun City Studios in NYC, the EP’s ecstatic maelstrom expertly mirrored the tension, frenzy, and white noise that earned Das Damen a reputation as a mind-blowingly epic live band, as heard on tours alongside Nirvana, Soundgarden, Black Flag, Green River, Screaming Trees, and DC3, amongst other like-minded luminaries.
Remastered from the original Ecstatic Peace! tapes by Sean Glonek at SRG Studios and overseen by Walters, Hysen, and best-selling author/producer Tom Beaujour (Guided by Voices, Juliana Hatfield Three, Nada Surf), the new mix of “1986: Keeps Me Wild” brings a fresh layer of sheen even as it retains the signature primitive din that was the band’s trademark, its Stooges-on-speed rippers rife with King Crimson-esque time signature intricacies. Almost four decades after its explosive arrival, “1986: Keeps Me Wild” remains as thrilling, explosive, and forward-looking as ever before.
