VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Don’t you kids try this solo at home—that man is a trained professional,” Joe Genaro, a.k.a. Joe Jack Talcum deadpans several tracks into the Dead Milkmen’s 1990 classic Metaphysical Graffiti. Like most jokes, this one has a kernel of truth to it.
With four albums under their belt, the Milkmen were trained professionals, at least insofar as a scrappy, satirical punk band can be described with words such as “trained” or “professional.” As the ’80s stumbled to a close, the Dead Milkmen had toured tirelessly (sometimes in a converted ambulance), recorded four albums, and landed several college radio hits, including the surfer-spoofing “Bitchin’ Camaro” and the disarmingly sweet “Punk Rock Girl.” The quartet had amassed a cult following for their subversive humor and twisted tunes about drinking bleach, smoking banana peels, and lampooning right-wingers.
Now, in time for the record’s 30th (well, OK, 32nd—thanks, COVID delays) anniversary, Philadelphia-based independent label The Giving Groove is proud to present the first vinyl reissue of Metaphysical Graffiti, a balm for fans who’ve found original pressings notoriously difficult to unearth. “It does seem like there’s a demand for it on vinyl,” says Joe, who notes that original copies sometimes sell for upwards of $100 on eBay. At the time, the band’s label, Enigma Records, was moving towards CDs and pressed just a thousand vinyl copies.
The surviving Milkmen have fond memories of recording Metaphysical Graffiti, which came at a transitional moment in the band’s career: their last album before signing with a major label and the last of three albums recorded in Austin with producer Brian Beattie. “For a while, we considered Austin our second home,” says drummer Dean Sabatino, a.k.a. Dean Clean. “Because we had been on tour, we were pretty tight in terms of knowing how the songs went. We were free to experiment a bit. And Brian likes to experiment with songs.”
Experimentation is key to Metaphysical Graffiti’s charm. When fans popped the CD in their stereo, many were confused to hear a children’s chorus. “I had to take it out and look at it, like, is this the right one?” recalls the band’s current bassist, Dan “Dandrew” Stevens. (Some rare trivia: One of the kids singing on “Beige Sunshine,” Graham Williams, grew up to be a concert promoter—the same promoter who convinced the Milkmen to reunite for Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2008.) Equally audacious are “Do the Brown Nose,” a loungey stand-out in which Rodney Anonymous harnesses the energy of an actual live-in-the-studio audience, and “Anderson, Walkman, Buttholes and How!,” a twisted collaboration with Gibby Haynes, who laid down his part in one take.
Metaphysical Graffiti exemplifies the band’s sardonic humor and propensity for mocking sacred cows. Note the Led Zeppelin-skewering title and artwork, which was inspired by the band passing around Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods on the tour bus. Or revel in the barbed social commentary of “Methodist Coloring Book,” which satirizes the Christian fundamentalist worldview and finds the Milkmen at their most subversive.
The Giving Groove operates under a unique revenue model in which it pays artists 50 percent of all after-tax profit and donates the remaining 50 percent to a music-related charity of the artist’s choice. The Milkmen have chosen to direct that revenue to Rock to the Future, a 501(c)3 organization that equips Philadelphia youth with life skills to support current and lifelong well-being through free, student-driven music programs.
