November 10, 2008

It’s really difficult for me to put into words exactly why I love SIX FINGER SATELLITE as much as I do. How can I explain to you readers how dramatically unique and inspiring their music was? Ok, let me put it this way… You know the Cantina scene in the first STAR WARS movie? SIX FINGER SATELLITE is the band you would see playing at the Cantina Bar from STAR WARS on “punk rock” night. The few times I was lucky enough to see them play live, I was convinced they were just not of this world. To truly understand this, let’s go back to the very beginning.

If you read my previous profile on Sunny Day Real Estate, then you know how I went about discovering new bands on the Sub Pop label. It was always a safe bet to start with either a 7″ inch release or an EP. In the case of SIX FINGER, I picked up the mysterious self-titled 4 song CD EP shortly after it was first released back in 1992. From the raunchy opening guitar notes of the opening track “Weapon” to the insane guitar riffs of “Shimkus Yell”, I knew instantly that SIX FINGER SATELLITE was a band that stood out completely from what every one else on SUB POP was doing at the time. It was pretty much straight-forward, raunchy new-school punk-rock and I loved it. When J. Ryan starts screaming, “See them cloning all the children” at the end of “Shimkus Yell”, you just knew that you were listening to something new, crazy and a bit off. Something that musically and lyrically fueled the imagination of the listener. I felt like this was the very first “Sci-Fi punk rock” band that I’d discovered.

It wasn’t until the release of their first full-length album “The Pigeon Is The Most Popular Bird” (also released on vinyl as 2 separate 12” EP’s) that the band fully starting to embrace the whole “out of this world” aesthetic. The first proper track to open the album is “Home For The Holy Day”. (When I say “proper”, it’s because in between each track, there are ambient segue-way pieces.) Singing and playing synthesizer on “The Pigeon Is The Most Popular Bird” is J. Ryan. The rhythm section consisted of Rick Pellitier on drums and Kurt Neimand on bass and the 2 guitarists were John MacLean and Peter Phillips.

The best way I can describe “The Pigeon Is The Most Popular Bird” is like this – The rhythm section is always locked with Neimand’s bass and Pelliter’s drum tracks. Then, guitarists MacLean and Phillips sound as if they’re instruments are constantly fighting each other, literally they often sound like two pigeons enthralled in a pecking battle. Listen to “Home For The Holy Day” and pan your stereo balance to the right and then left. You’ll notice that one guitar is completely panned to one side, while the other to the other side, and they’re both playing totally different parts, yet somehow between the solid rhythm section and Ryan’s vocals, it pulls it all together in a way I’ve never quite heard before. Try the pan on the track “Solitary Hiro” and you’ll see (or better yet hear) another example of what I mean. Other stand out tracks include several songs that reference a mysterious guy named Larry (“Laughing Larry” and “Save The Last Dance For Larry”), “Funny Like A Clown” and “Neuro-Harmonic Conspiracy”. At the time, I felt that SIX FINGER SATELLITE were channeling elements of THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (Nick Cave’s first band) or SCRATCH ACID and JESUS LIZARD, but putting their own sci-fi twist to the sound that was created by those previous bands.

The next couple of years it became tough to keep track of 6FS. It took me a while to track down their “Pigeon” follow-up, the 10″ record release “Machine Cuisine”. Rumor had it that one of the members of the band had died of a drug overdose, another member quit. This whole era was pre-internet so I had no way of knowing for sure. But then, a re-grouped version of SIX FINGER SATELLITE featuring founding members J Ryan, John MacLean and Rick Pellitier, along with new bassist James Apt emerged with the release of a new full-length album titled “Severe Exposure”.

I’ll never forget the surreal events that led up to me seeing SIX FINGER SATELLITE live for the first time in New York City in support of the “Severe Exposure” record. It involved our usual ritual of pre-show record shopping at one of the Kim’s locations, a brief encounter with actor Alex Winter outside of a restaurant on the way to The Cooler and another quick run-in with an old college classmate who would months later become my girlfriend. As we eagerly awaited 6FS to take the stage, we truly had no idea what to expect. Also, with the shift in member line-up, what material would they be playing?

I remember overhearing 2 guys next to us saying how the last time they saw SIX FINGER play in NY, drummer Rick Pellitier supposedly threw up all over himself mid-song, and didn’t miss a beat. Before we even had time to process that image, the foursome took the stage and opened with “Bad Comrade”, the album opener on “Severe Exposure”. I was literally blown away. Live, SIX FINGER was raunchier and more intense then I could’ve ever imagined. J. Ryan (at over 6 feet tall) immediately starting punching the ceiling above him and chunks of it started to collapse all over the stage and on top of us. He was screaming and spitting all over the place, and we felt as if we were in the path of a space cruiser, coming at us at full force. (And this was only the first song in their set!)

There are so many subtle little things & brilliant moments I love on the “Severe Exposure” record. The opening of “Parlour Games” which starts with a brief laugh before J. Ryan declares he’s “ready” as the music kicks in. “Pulling A Train” starts out with a frenetic guitar riff that makes me feel as if I’m being forced on a train ride through the darker and scarier regions of space. “Simian Fever” opens with a fun little dialogue bit about “trouble in the monkey house”. “Dark Companion” is a perfect 2 minute trademark example of SIX FINGER’s version of punk rock. But my favorite track (by far) is “Rabies (Baby’s Got The)”, which starts with a noisy synth sound, followed by the bizarre random rambling notes of a piano and followed by a catchy, off-kilter drum beat with cow-bell. (Christopher Walken would be proud.) THIS is what I always imagined being played at Jaba The Hut’s palace in RETURN OF THE JEDI. “Severe Exposure” as a whole sounds like the soundtrack to a dark and crazy Sci-Fi epic.

Shortly after “Severe Exposure”, the same line-up released “Paranormalized” on Sub Pop Records. The album was a more refined progression of the new direction set forth by the band on “Severe Exposure”. There were plenty of stand-out tracks with the same manic energy of their previous work such as the record opener “30 Lashes” and (my personal favorite) “Padded Room”. But also present was less guitar, more synth which was a musical direction more fully realized on the “Paranormalized” follow-up “Law Of Ruins”. I got to see them a couple of more times live on the “Paranormalized” tour, most notably at CBGB’s in New York City. While not as bat-shit crazy as my first experience with the band at The Cooler (Hey, the ceiling can’t fall on us for every show!), SIX FINGER always delivered a rousing and eccentric set.

The last album they would put out after this would be the “Law Of Ruins” record, which came in a clear plastic jewel case, devoid of any graphics or liner notes and only sporting an odd symbol on the disc itself. This CD started to deviate from the manic and fast-paced guitar based tracks of their previous work and was geared in a slightly more ambient direction. This was honestly the point where I personally was delving a bit away from music in general to focus on films and in particular the Icons Of Fright website, so I lost track of SIX FINGER SATELLITE (and the music scene).

Thankfully, as I prepped for the IOP PROFILE piece, I was pleasantly surprised to discover (via their official My Space page) that SIX FINGER SATELLITE have recently regrouped and are planning on recording new material, their first since 1998’s final record “Law Of Ruins”. This was a band that meant so much to me while I was on my own journey to create music, so it’s only fitting that as I return my interest to this genre, they’re one of the first bands to return as well. –Robg.