Walt Mink put on a very intense show... Live, they give more of the impression of being a very melodic hardcore band. They play stuff about twice as fast as on record, which is really amazing -- John is the greatest guitarist in the world when it comes to riffs, and the band is tighter than the pope's asshole. They did one cover which I didn't recognise, and also covered Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore." Cheap Trick covers seem to be in vogue, because when I saw the Posies last week, they did "Surrender" with Chris Xefos of King Missle on bass.
Anyway, I think this Walt Mink tour is about over (they were heading up to Seattle, and then back to Minneapolis), but they are not to be missed.
Walt Mink got screwed over by the Lemonheads' soundman, who gave them
a lousy, distorted-bass mix, with inaudible vocals and guitar. A sadly
disappointing show.
So, I got my copy Saturday and have been listening to it all weekend. Too
bad it's only 30 minutes, though... I think "Sunnymede" is very Nick Drake.
Nice tablas and stuff... I'm not sure how much of this stuff appears on
neither demo tape. I think there's still about 4 songs from Poll Riders
that haven't appeared on albums, although a couple have appeared on singles
or compilations.
I would sum up Walt Mink by saying it's the sound of being a kid in the
70's. In some ways their cover of "Free to be You and Me" sums it up.
Being a kid in that strange time when it seemed that the revolution of
the 60's had worked, before the Reagan years made it clear that it hadn't.
Going to experimental schools, everyone wearing strange clothes, listening
to KISS.
Does that make any sense?
Some thoughts after purchasing Bareback Ride:
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Last updated March 1, 1996