The reason we recorded the track was because we all grew up listening to Kerbdog and are still huge fans, they were/are a huge influence on Ali & Steve especially. Ali was, and still is massivley influenced by Cormac Battles ability to pull out awesome vocal melodies and amazing harmonies over complex guitar riffs, they just had everything you wanted to hear in a great band.....huge riffs, great vocals and great drums.....what more do you need!
The great thing is, we still listen to Kerbdog, and it brings back memories for all of us having been in various band's when we were younger, trying to emulate their sound....we had so much fun back then and love reliving those memories in our head's, the songs still sound so current too.......LONG LIVE KERBDOG!
Melody is
for wimps. Write a song with a tune in it and the only respectable thing to
do with it is to whistle it fruitily whilst skipping to the shops in your
flowery tracksuit. Riffage is for real men. Write a fat riff and the only
polite thing to do is bellow over it like a bear being kicked in the shins
with a pointy shoe. Woebetide any band foolish enough to entertain ideas that
ever the twain shall meet…
Kerbdog, though, were one of the bands that dared to do just that. By which
I don't mean that they barked viciously over tinkly ditties (as entertaining
as that might have been), but that they understood that which is so rarely
grasped even to this day. If you have a great tune, the most exciting possible
thing that you can do with it is grab the biggest blunt instrument that you
can lay your grubby mitts on and smash it as hard and as far as you are physically
able.
‘On The Turn’ was a big part of the musical education that moulded
Left Side Brain into the band that we are today, and we're proud (though puzzled)
to be one of the few bands these days who are still forging that path - always
looking for that extra harmony, always trying to whittle ourselves a bigger
cudgel.
When we were approached to contribute a track to this record, our instant
response was "we'd be honoured - can we do Severed?" The song is
a complete definition of the whole shooting match; a ripping tune flattened
by a juggernaut of a two-chorder, then battered wide open by a glorious chorus.
Recording it was a hilarious blast and a great opportunity for us to offer
a little (non-Mexican) wave and a "cheers" to a greatly missed band.
I think everyone has a tendency to over-egg the wonderfulness of the musical era in which they came of age. When you're a teenager discovering the illicit wonders of the world of rock'n'roll for the first time, everything sounds sharper, keener, more liable to destroy your world with a simple chord change or breakdown. So given my age, I'm probably a little biased towards the music that I came across in the 1990's. That said, I genuinelybelieve that it was a pretty special time, especially for rock music. Despite all the nonsense that came with it, grunge still gave the world some incredible bands, not least Nirvana, who in turn made me aware of The Jesus Lizard. Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Counting Crows, even Pantera in the metal world, all were timelessly classic bands. In the UK the Levellers ruled the land, while on the underground you had Fugazi showing us all how it should be done. The first excellent stirrings of pop-punk and emo (when both were good - I'm talking about "Punk In Drublic"and Cap'n Jazz, you understand) were rumbling away. Outside of rock, you had Bjork and Aphex Twin making their mark. I could go on here for ages. It was, in my opinion, a pretty golden era, and so a tribute album makes a lot of sense. Personally, I decided to go with Kerbdog. They are one of the great almost-weres of rock music, and these days they have a talismanic status, mostly among musicians - if someone knows who they are and is into them, you can make a lot of other positive assumptions about their taste in music. I remember getting hold of "On The Turn" on the day it came out, and being blown away. Kerbdog sat perfectly on the continuum halfway between Nirvana and Rival Schools, and they are, in my opinion, an unjustly overlooked chapter in underground rock history. Maybe, just maybe, this cover might go some way to redressing that.
Watching
the 'Dry Riser' video at 4 a.m. on Raw Power is a moment we'll always remember.
Kerbdog had a sound and image that was fresh and intense. Their debut album
was a constant fixture in our stereos - to be emulated and dissected.
The fact that this sound came from a Kilkenny band was amazing - It gave a
much-needed kick in the groin to the Irish rock scene. It said: 'Fuck you!
Irish bands aren't all like U2 and The Hot HouseFlowers. Some of us actually
have talent!'
As an Irish
kid living in the UK in the 90's it was pretty inevitable I was going to get
to hear about Kerbdog, what I couldnt have predicted was the impact they'd
have on me. They perfectly mixture of the best elements of all my favourite
bands at the time. Huge chunky riffs, anthemic vocal melodies, power house
drumming, they really had it all. Honestly when the chance came to be a part
of this album and record a Kerbdog song I nearly lept from my seat. Its no
understatement to say they've had a profound effect me and huge influence
on Stations as a band so this is our way of saying thanks to the guys.
We went
for ""The Inseminator"" as we really felt there was a
lot that could be done with the track - It's got this really weird heavy riff
intro a great breakdown in the middle that we wanted to explore and build
upon. It also has to have (sorry Cormac!) some of the worst lyrics heard on
a Kerbdog track.
We actually completed our line-up thanks to a mutual love of Kerbdog: a last
mintue addition of "Sounds a bit like kerbdog" caught the attention
of our bass player and the rest fell into place shortly after. One of us managed
to catch them in the old days around the release of On the Turn, but we also
managed to get to one of their re-union shows in Dublin and the show they
did in London recently.
Kerbdog was originally introduced to me via my friends. At first I didn't like them, but after a while a few of their songs stuck with me. It was, without realising part of my soundtrack to growing up and realising music was something I wanted to be involved in. We recorded this track as it was and still is my favourite Kerbdog song. It makes you realise how many bands take influence from them. Hopefully we've done it justice.
Covered:
Pledge 
Covered:
Severed
Covered:
Hard To Live 
Covered:
Sally 
Covered:
Dry Riser 
Covered:
Didn't Even Try 
Covered:
Schism 
Covered:
Mexican Wave 
Covered:
Inseminator 
Covered:
Secure 
Covered:
JJ's Song 
Covered:
On The Turn 
Covered:
Dragging Through