Bonus Tracks

(Trance Syndicate)

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

(Unclean)

THE WATERMELON SAMPLER VOL. 1

(Watermelon)

S.A. INVASION

(Reservoir)

About this time last year, the Chronicle stepped back into the Raul's era for a "Scene History" rockumentary. While there, I came across a few old 45s you couldn't find today with a forensics team: singles from The Dicks, The Huns, D-Day, the Next - Austin punk bands of yore, ancestors to the punk bands of today. If you live in Wisconsin these vinyl artifacts mean little to you. Being local, and having perhaps lived that music, however, they're part of your history. And what if you don't own those 45s? What happens if you don't know anyone who does? That music is lost to you.

Looking at samplers from Trance Syndicate and Unclean Records - local labels that are putting out records by this generations' Huns and Dicks equivalents - I can't help but wonder which of these groups are being preserved for the ages. Already, the Cherubs and johnboy are history, yet their tracks on [[exclamdown]]Cinco Años! sound like long-lost friends, and in 10 years, tracks by The Pain Teens, Furry Things, and Crust will probably provoke a similar nostalgic headrush. On the Unclean sampler, hearing Thomas Anderson's galvanizing "Uranium Road" single makes me want to send out a search party for him. Crown Roast, Flying Saucers, and the Inhalants are all hell and gone too, but their songs fit right alongside tunes by the living - bands like the Hormones and Blind Willie's Johnson.

The Watermelon sampler doesn't do much for Austin's punk scene, but where the other two samplers are probably outdating themselves as the seconds tick away, this one preserves today as well as foreshadowing tomorrow. Remember, singer-songwriters don't go down in flames quite as fast as punk rockers do; they age gracefully on their stools. Alejandro Escovedo, Vince Bell, Darden Smith, and Maryann Price will probably all be releasing good albums years from now. Meanwhile, this sampler reminds you where you live today, and how rich the songwriting history of this region is. Unfortunately, the S.A. Invasion disc (on a label that will soon move to Austin) documents a scene - San Antonio's, of course - most locals have little need for, and one that sounds like it is struggling. Those bands that frequent Austin sound best; the Dropouts, Jet Jaguar, Evil Mothers, and Evergreen.

And the best thing about samplers is that true talent leaps out at you. When Don Walser hits that yodel in "Cowpoke," from the Watermelon sampler, one tends to scramble for Walser's Archive Series. The Sons of Hercules' tune on the Unclean CD does the same thing, while the Ed Hall b-side on [[exclamdown]]Cinco Años! (a cover of "I Think I'm Going Bald") leaves me eager to listen to any of their five albums and Rush's Caress of Steel.

I'm still looking for those Dicks' singles. Invest in one of these cheapie samplers now, and save yourself the trouble later. - Raoul Hernandez "Bonus Tracks" reviews all local and Texas-based
releases commercially available. Send to: "Bonus Tracks," The Austin Chronicle, PO Box 49066, Austin, TX 78765.