Jehu came along at the perfect time for me. I absorbed sounds from the likes of Nation Of Ulysses, Girls Against Boys, Cop Shoot Cop, Sonic Youth, etc. But then some friends turned me on to this band.
My first introduction to them was seeing a sticker on a friends guitar my freshman year. Then the self titled followed by the 7". I was blown away. Both vocals, the discordant chords, drawn out time signatures...it all made sense and was very uplifting to hear. Granted, a lot of music can do this to you at an early age, but most don't stand the test of time. I can safely say Jehu did that.
Many people, myself included, site them as a major influence in the 90's. They fulfilled a lot of my musical tastes and more. To this day, you can always hear filtered jehu-esque parts in some bands material. One good example was San Diego's scene shortly after their existence. A lot more Hardcore was also adapting their writing style to their music. I thought you could always hear some Reis in Swing Kids guitar parts, as well as many other bands. Bands I was in were definitely included!
Their history is long and complex and still to this day, most members continue with music and, or something that relates.
Forming in 1990 in San Diego, CA, John Reis and Rick Froberg created Drive Like Jehu after the demise of their prior group, Pitchfork. They sounded similar, but differences included Rick playing guitar as well as vocals. Also, the addition of Mark Trombino on drums and Mike Kennedy on bass rounded out the nice complexity that would come from intricate, interweaving guitars and odd time signatures. Kennedy went on to be a chemist and Trombino remained a music engineer. He is known for recording such groups in the day as Boys Life to bands such as Blink 182 & Jimmy Eat World. Froberg continued with his Visual and Graphic arts career. It should be noted that all of Pitchfork, Jehu and Hot Snakes art for their records and merchandise was created by Rick.
John always remained in Rocket From The Crypt during Jehu. The growing success of Rocket is what essentially put an end to the band. Over the years, John played once more with Froberg. That band was called Hot Snakes. You can find more about them, Jehu and several others on Swami Records, John's label.
Jehu recorded and released two full lengths, a 7" and a compilation track for a compilation CD. All of this you will find here in this posting. The compilation track is the last song on Yank Crime.
Enjoy!
Bullet Train To Vegas 7"
1. Bullet Train To Vegas - 2:40
2. Hand Over Fist - 4:24
Self Titled
1. Caress - 3:55
2. Spikes to You - 2:18
3. Step on Chameleon - 5:12
4. O Pencil Sharp - 9:44
5. Atom Jack - 2:24
6. If it Kills You - 7:12
7. Good Luck in Jail - 4:05
8. Turn it Off - 6:12
9. Future Home of Stucco Monstrosity - 3:58
Yank Crime
1. Here Come the Rome Plows - 5:44
2. Do You Compute - 7:12
3. Golden Brown - 3:14
4. Luau - 9:27
5. Super Unison - 7:24
6. New Intro - 3:32
7. New Math - 4:06
8. Human Interest - 3:24
9. Sinews - 9:12
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2 comments:
I completely agree with you. I heard 'If it Kills You' and was amazed. I had to go out and buy it immediately.
I actually just listened to that same s/t album the other day and was thinking to myself how well it has held up over all these years. Amazing stuff. Only disappointment is that they only made two albums.
I never got this 7", thanks for posting it.
I seen this play in 94 in Wales, as tight live as on record. Was funny as they didn't say a lot between songs. 2nd guitarist. very quiet. You couldn't shut him up a month or so later when Rocket rolled into town.
But Jehu, totally crazy wild riffs all over the shop and then pulled back together at the end. There was nobody else like them for years. Pitchfork was tame compared to the organized noise of Jehu.
Thanks for posting this 7". i only had a tape copy from my tape trading days.
Cheers
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