Prisonshake, “Crush Me”

I’d never heard of Prisonshake until a day or two ago when my friend Sal mentioned them in an email.  Now, however, I find myself listening to their latest album, Dirty Moons, essentially on repeat.

Who is Prisonshake, you ask?

Prisonshake began in 1986 out of the ashes of the early 80s hardcore punk scene in Cleveland. Guitarist Robert Griffin and drummer Scott Pickering had played together in Spike in Vain and shortly afterwards got together to record what would be Prisonshake’s first demo. One year later, with engineer/producer Chris Burgess filling the bass slot, the trio released the first single, “Fairfield Avenue Serenade” in May 1987 and began performing regularly throughout the region, with Doug Enkler signing on as principal vocalist just a few months later.

From 1987 to 1992 the band released a dozen singles, EPs, and several “albums” on Griffin’s Scat label, Australia’s Rubber (who are also releasing DM), and a few other labels, as well as touring the US twice. After Burgess and Pickering’s departure, the core duo of Enkler and Griffin spent the next two years assembling various lineups to record and support what they consider to be their “real” first album, The Roaring Third, though some insist it is chronologically second, third, or fourth.

Enkler and Griffin moved to St. Louis in 1995 and were joined by Steve Scariano on bass and Ann Hirschfeld on drums. Ann did not last long, but she is present on DM’s 13-minute “Scissors Suite,” even turning in a lead vocal in one section. Patrick Hawley joined on drums a few months later, and the Enkler-Griffin-Scariano-Hawley lineup has now endured for 12 years, though it has done so almost completely outside the public eye. (Via Scat Records)

So, essentially, they’re a fantastic rock band who have only put out about 3 albums in the course of two decades. Kinda like The Wrens.

Anyway, Dead Moons is out on guitarist Robert Griffin’s Scat Records, and I recommend it about as strongly as anything I’ve heard in a while. Buy it at Scat Records or at eMusic.