Descendents revisit punk
By Cliff Hicks
and Emily Wray
Critics agree:
Detective novel
deserves a look
I so wanted to give Emily a
change of pace this week. Some
thing away from the science-fiction
and surrealism that we’ve been dis
cussing up to now.
My original thought was to give
her a Raymond Chandler story.
Unfortunately the only one I had
handy was the one I hadn’t read yet.
What I ended up giving her was
“Sweet Silver Blues” by Glen Cook,
the first in the series that follows a
private dick (gumshoe, investigator,
you know what I mean) by the name
of Garrett. But Garrett’s story is not
exactly a typical noir-style detective
book. ^
“I like this trash. It’s got a mur
der mystery, vampires, goblins and
other assorted creatures carrying
guns,” Emily said after finishing the
book.
Garrett s adventures take place
in a world that blends the detective
fiction of Chandler, Hammet and
others with fantasy writing. The re
sult is unique, to say the least.
“I actually pretty much read it
cover to cover,” Emily said, “which
didn’t affect the chemistry test grade
that I was supposed to be studying
for too much.”
Wow. We’re both going to like
a book. This is a first — and prob
ably a last.
“Must be the end of the semes
ter blues,” she said. “Desperation
has set in.” -
Garrett runs a private-investiga
tion agency out of Ids borne, with
occasional help from “the Dead
Man.” The reason he’s called this
is he’s of a different race that com
municates with the living after their
physical deaths.
The case sounds simple enough.
Old Man Tate, a gnome, hires
Garrett to find the inheritor of a
great deal of wealth. The reason
Tate has Garrett do it is the de
ceased, a guy named Denny, left
Garrett as executor of his will.
The trail, as in any good mys-'
tery, is convoluted, twisted and fas
cinating. I
Garrett is looking for —
wouldn’t you know it—one of his
ex-girlfriends from back when he
was a Marine in the war. Ex-girl
friends like these tend to show up
in detective fiction.
“But Garrett’s still in love with
her!” Emily said.
True, Garrett indeed is in love.
But, to paraphrase “the Dead Man,”
Garrett chases after every skirt he
sees.
However, we both enjoyed
“Sweet Silver Blues,” which is un
usual. It made writing a review more
difficult because there was little for
us to argue about.
I’m even lending Emily the rest
of the series — all of which have
some kind of metal in the title —
during Christmas vacation. Wow.
Hicks is a sophomore news
editorial and English niajor.
Wray is a junior news-editorial
major. Both are avid book lovers
and Daily Nebraskan staff report
ers.
California band
reunites for tour,
not just nostalgia
By Bret Schulte
Staff Reporter
As the name suggests, the Descen
dents hail from a long and richly fa
mous background.
Their history takes root in South
ern California old-school punk and
blended with their own quirky angst
accelerated melody.
Although they haven’t existed in
name for several years, the Los Ange
les band has reunited and is bringing
its distinctive punk-flavored speed
rock to Omaha’s Ranch Bowl this Sun
day.
The Descendants are cm tour sup
porting their first studio album since
1987, “Everything Sucks,” on the self
aware, independent altema-label, Epi
taph,
“With this new album we want
people to realize that we’re not some
nostalgia rock band,” singer Milo
Aukerman said. “This album is hard
to place, we are too fast for punk and
too melodic for hard core.”
Graduating from the L.A.-area
school of punk, the Descendants are
contemporaries of the now-dpfunct leg
endary hard-core band Black Flag, as
well as powerj^^^^r^^^e
ally started the band back in ’78,”
Aukerman said. “We have been bud
dies since high school. Bill came up
with the name because he liked the
sound of it, and we held cm to it up until
’87.” :
The band’s links to California hard
core are particularly strong. Stevenson
decided to drum for Black Bag while
lead singer Aukermafi continued his
graduate studies at the University of
California at San Diego. This opened
a revolving door for Aukerman—and
thus the split identity of the Descen
dents.
“When I am not singing for them
they are a different band, called All,
with Chad Price as vocalist,”
Aukerman said. “They’re fantastic, and
thi^ really carry the spirit of the De
safedents with them iitevery way pos
All has been touring and recording
extensively since forming from the
Descendents in 1987. Aukerman has
kept himself busy over the years by
earning his Ph.D. in biochemistry and
then doing research at the University
of Wisconsin at Madison.
Please see DESCENDENTS on 13
’ '*%•!" j- x
CoumSY PHOTO
Punk rocks Omaha
By Patrick Miner
StaffReporter
The Suicide Machines, a band
from Detroit, used to be called Jack
Kevorkian and the Suicide Ma
chines. However, when they per
formed in front of people who
thought they were going to see the
infamous doctor, the band decided
to change their name.
The Suicide Machines will bring
its mix of punk and ska to the Ranch
Bowl Sunday, opening for the punk
band the Descendants. The Suicide
Machines are supporting their Hoi
iywood record debut, Destruction
by Definition.”
The band began playing to
gether in 1992, and soon opened for
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones dur
ing the baid’s second Detroit ap
pearance.
“We were a very confused band
then,” drummer tterek Grant said.
“When we started, we didn’t clearly
understand ska and sounded more i
like polka”* •'
Grant explains that the band’s
punk and ska sound is very sepia
rated. On “Destruction,” the pxrnk
Please see SUICIDE on 13
Hangar 18 goes live
with two local bands
By Ann Stack
Senior Reporter
Richard Schultz thinks the very best
art should evoke such an emotional
response it would be like looking in the
artist’s diary.
If that’s the case, the singer/guitar
ist of the Omaha band Sawdust Devil
is laying the pages out for a public
viewing tonight at Hangar 18,1118 O
St.
Despite delays, Hangar 18 opened
Wednesday, and tonight marks the
bar’s first live show. Sawdust Devil will
play at 10, with Lincoln’s Radio King
(formerly Cowtown) following.
Sawdust Devil is comprised of
Schultz and his wife, bassist Melissa
Wood, and drummer Sven Deepe.
Schultz and Wood met at a
telemarketing firm in Omaha, where
Wood remembered him from his brief
stint at Wayne State College as a broad
casting major. (She studied the clari
net and graduated in 1990.)
The two dated, and when he told
her he was forming a band, he invited
her along for the ride.
Sawdust Devil is promoting its first
full-length release, “Affirmative” on
the Lincoln-based “-ism” label. Their
music is hard-edged and quirky, but
difficult to pinpoint—kind of Husker
«t
Du crossed with Stabbing Westward.
Schultz, whose voice is at times
reminiscent of Live’s Ed Kowalczyk,
cites such influences as the Doors,
David Sylvian and Concrete Blonde—
but you’d never hear that in his music.
“Musically, I’m Joan Jett meets AC/
DC,” he said. “Purely the post-Nirvana,
John Cougar crunchy hooks, with good
storytelling that’s heavy enough to fall
through the floor rock ‘n’ roll.”
. Tonight-will be Radio King’s de
but performance as a band, after the
breakup of Cowtown eight months ago.
But three of Cowtown’s members are
in Radio King-—drummer Rand Paul,
guitarist Tony Robertson and bassist
Marty Stienhausen. They recruited
former Cocktosens singer Mike Miller
to handle vocal chores.
Paul and Stienhausen were in the
thrash band The Demigogs together,
before forming Cowtown. Fans of
Cowtown would probably groove on
Radio King, Paul said.
“The sound’s evolved a lot,” he
said. “We’re a lot smoother. We’re
tighter as a unit now.”
Radio King is mostly a bluegrass
rockabilly outfit, with some surfer
punk reggae thrown in for good mea
sure, Paul said.
There is a $3 cover charge for
tonight’s show.
CommcsY photo