I'm Moving.

And my music's all boxed up. I'll be back soon!

These are not my records. But it would be nice if they were.

Stallion Alert at the Movies: Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2008)

I kept meaning to Netflix this movie, and managed to forget for quite some time. I finally worked it into the queue, and I'm glad I did.

I have to admit, I didn't know jack about Anvil before I saw this movie. I had heard the name in some of my various metal travels, but had never heard the band. Thankfully, knowing anything about this band isn't a prerequisite for enjoying this movie. Their backstory is told in the first segment, and it gives you all the info you need to jump right to the present day and catch up with the main players.

The movie tells the story of an 80's band who now find themselves in their early 50's, still, against all odds and common sense, trying to make it in the music biz. It's sad, hilarious, depressing, uplifting, and really well made. Like any good documentary, the end is a great payoff, but it wouldn't be so without an interesting journey to the final scene.

I won't give too much away, but if you enjoy a good rock doc (or documentaries in general), this is definitely worth checking out. Great live footage, great archive footage, and personalities that are simply engrossing to watch. And seriously: it's a really nice story.

Also includes some worthwhile deleted scenes which, given the sub-90 minute running time of the film, should have been included. Still, who cares. Everyone's telling you this movie is great. They're right.

Official Trailer

Local H - Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles? (CD, 2004)

First off, the cover and title to this album are both fantastic.

The songs are damn fine too, and this record is much more Pack Up the Cats than it is Here Comes the Zoo. It's big, involved, and features some really short songs and some really long songs. Lots of variety, and lots of rock. The production value is somewhere in between, with most of the cuts sounding raw, though there are plenty of overdubs. It's a nice mix, and the recording ends up with a live-in-the-studio vibe that suits the band well.

Tracks like "Dick Jones" get more abstract than Local H ever has before, with the band bringing in a (gasp!) mellotron player to add some spacey depth to the loose riff. Does not sound like Local H at all, and though I respect them branching out, it's not really my cup of tea. Luckily they follow it up with the nutso-ness of the two-minute "Money on the Dresser" and the guitar almost-balladry of "P.J. Soles," a song with great lyrics that occasionally get lost in the mix, which is annoying.

"Buffalo Trace" is classic rock-y and, at over ten minutes long, a patience-tester. Still, it goes along with the vibe of the rest of the record, which is the band getting out of their comfort zone. Still, the songs that remain true to their sound (like the rampaging "Heavy Metal Bakesale") end up being my favorites.

Makes me think I need to rediscover this record and give it some more time.

"Hey, Rita"

Local H - The No Fun EP (CD, 2003)

Featuring three songs that almost made it onto their previous album but didn't, along with three covers, this is a textbook EP that does the job and does it well.

The title track is a solid rocker, quickly proving that it deserves top billing. "President Forever" is ostensibly political, but it eventually gets so ambiguous that you can't really tell who's being sung about. That's fine by me. "Birth, School, Work, Death" is a cover of the classic Godfathers number. Pretty sure this was from a compilation. I'm not a huge fan of Local H doing covers, but they pull this off.

"Cooler Heads" is a Local H original, and while you can see why it may have been left of their album, it's not a bad tune. Nice b-side material. The cover of the Ramones' "I Just Want Something to Do" is fairly pointless, but whatever. The EP closes with the almost-ten-minute "Fuck Yeah, That Wide," which takes some patience but works in some sweet moves. I guess it's kind of a cover, but not really. Hard to explain, and not sure I really understand it anyway.

Overall, a nice placeholder for fans of the band.

"No Fun"

Local H - Here Comes the Zoo (CD, 2002)

Local H switched it up in the aughts. For one thing, longtime drummer Joe Daniels left the group, and was replaced by equally hard-hitting Brian St. Clair. The lineup adjustment didn't change the sound of the band much, but they do seem more focused on separating the songs and allowing them to stand alone. While Pack Up the Cats was ambitious and meticulous in every aspect, playing out as a fine-tuned rock opera-ish thing, this record is more or less just ten big tracks, each within their own space, and each markedly different from the others.

If Local H is anything, they're consistent, and this record stands up well against any of their other work. "Hands on the Bible" is maybe the most well-known of the songs here (which, admittedly, isn't saying much) and it's uncharacteristically serious. It's not a bad move, and it's of course balanced out by the cheekier numbers, like "Keep Your Girlfriend Away from Me" and "Rock & Roll Professionals." Josh Homme shows up for a guest spot on the latter, and adds some of his trademark thickness to the song.

This album is also personally notable for containing one of my all-time favorite Local H songs, "Creature Comforted." I have a soft spot for rock songs that call out people that the singer perceives to be pussies, and this is really a top-notch entry into that legendary canon. ("Hey, come on/We're all defanged and declawed" - good stuff.)

I always forget how much I like this record. I bought it at a weird time and didn't really ingest it until a few years later. Another great album from this band that will forever remain unrecognized. If you want to strap on and rock, this ain't a bad avenue to go down. I'm just sayin'.

"Creature Comforted"

Local H - Pack Up the Cats (CD, 1998)

This album will always remain Local H's crowning achievement. It's retardedly good, and yet destined to live forever in bargain bins. That must drive them nuts.

This record is such a step forward from As Good As Dead (which is pretty good, too) that it seems like Scott Lucas spent the two years in between the records holed up at a songwriting camp or some shit. The songs are bigger, smarter, and catchier. And once the thing gets started (with the awesome "All-Right (Oh, Yeah)," there's barely time for a breath. The tracks all run together, and they are all good.

Someone gave me this album, and honestly, after their debut, I didn't expect it to be great. As Good As Dead is plenty solid, but there are parts where it teeters. It seemed there was little room for things to get better, but plenty of room for stuff to either stay the same or slip a little bit. I was way off. This is one of the great underrated rock albums of the second half of the 90's. It came out at a weird time, and maybe that's why it got swept under the carpet. The poorly written Wikipedia page for this album suggests label issues, but who knows.

Man, I haven't listened to this in a while, but I forgot how consistent it is. Every song is great. There's even a track called "Deep Cut," a two-minute guitar-hammerer that (of course) is the penultimate song on the album. Nice touch.

"Fine and Good," "What Can I Tell You?," "Cool Magnet" - all the hits are here.

I'll be the first to admit that Local H ain't for everybody, but if you want to give them a shot, I'd start here. As far as a full album experience from them, it doesn't get any better.

"All-Right (Oh, Yeah)"/"'Cha!' Said the Kitty"

Local H - As Good As Dead (CD, 1996)

Go ahead and hate Local H. It only makes them rock more.

If you're comfortable with writing them off as the one-hit wonder behind "Bound for the Floor," that's fine. You're way off base and you're making a fool of yourself, but that's your right as a lazy music listener.

The funny thing is, "Bound for the Floor" was probably the first song I heard by them, and I didn't really care much for it. I don't have a problem with it, but it's neither representative of their sound nor one of their better songs. Fittingly, I cannot remember why I bought this record. I think it might have been after I caught the "Eddie Vedder" video on MTV (must have been one of the three times they played it), and just thought it was hilarious that they had a song with that title. Seemed gutsy. Seemed almost stupid. That works.

As with a lot of bands who had fleeting mainstream popularity yet still maintain an ardent fanbase, Local H is all about the deep cuts. The best songs on this record are the random ones, tracks like "Nothing Special," "I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are," and the blistering badassness of "Back in the Day." And while "High-Fiving MF" and "Fritz's Corner" are tailor-made for rock dudes to scream along with, they're also making fun of those same rock dudes. Yes, it's been done before (and yes, the Nirvana comparisons could go on for a while), but Scott Lucas has a way of making it not suck. Not sure how he does it, but though he comes dangerously close to letting his identity fade away into the murky sea of post-grunge, he somehow keeps his head above water.

It's fun to listen to, because honestly, this band could have easily been one that put out a few records and were never heard from again. Dude's a scrapper. I like that.

"Eddie Vedder"