The Hammer Party


Track Listing:

Steelworker
Live In A Hole
Dead Billy
I Can Be Killed
Crack
Rip
Cables
Pigeon Kill
I'm a Mess
Texas
Seth
Jump The Climb
Racer-X (CD only)
Shotgun (CD only)
The Ugly American (CD only)
Deep Six (CD only)
Sleep! (CD only)
The Big Payback (CD only)

Liner Notes:

this album is a re-issue of the first two big black eps. LUNGS, originally released in december, 1982 and BULLDOZER, released the following december. big black's lineup changed between the two records. the members were: on LUNGS, steve albini playing most everything, roland being roland and john bohnen bleating sax bleats. mark hayes yelled a little on one song, but he turned into a total dick and doesn't really warrant the mention. on BULLDOZER, steve again on vocals and guitar (ching), santiago durango on guitar (vroom), jeff pezzati on bass, pat byrne on drums, and roland being roland again. LUNGS was recorded in two different apartments in bad neighborhoods in chicago. it was mixed at studiomedia. the 4-track recorder was borrowed from sam fishkin for a case of beer. BULLDOZER was recorded at a real live studio and mixed at another one. iain burgess engineered it. much of the money for the production of BULLDOZER came from then-chicago-based fever records. their patience in waiting to see a return on their investment is appreciated by the band and those close to it. we had toyed with the idea of re-printing the original inserts from those two records, but much of what is on them now seems misguided and naive. we had faith then, i suppose, but that faith proved groundless, and to reiterate what was a mistake then seems a much greater mistake now. in there were also supplementary inserts, some of which included: dollar bills, rubber animals, locks of will tizard's hair, tiny fish hooks, crayola sketches, trini lopez albums, bloody gauze, blasting caps, firecrackers, razor blades, squirt pistols (loaded), antique shop cutlery, bazooka comics, bruce lee trading cards, scary photographs, old condoms and a bunch of other shit. BULLDOZER was much simpler. it came with an insert and a poster of some scary old people in a nursing home. there were 200 of them made in acid-etched galvanized steel jackets though. they weighed a friggin ton, too. there was something very exciting about being in a band then. there were places to play, and people would come out to see bands. in the time since then we've grown more jaded. maybe. it could be that there's less to get excited about now. the more i think about it, actually, that seems the most plausible reason for everything to have stagnated the way it has. if we were just starting out at what we do now, our enthusiasm and certainly our patience would be less. it's pretty doubtful we would have even tried, actually. the deck is pretty thoroughly stacked these days. if you want to find grounds for criticism, it's there all right. we were trying to figure it all out. we still are, actually. time puts everything into weird perspective. what sounded wild then sounds timid now thanks to the numbing effect of the myriad trends we've been subjected to since. we were proud of this shit though. it was pretty good then. honest. we still like it. just don't expect 1986. the people we owed our thanks to then, we probably still owe now. that's laziness for you. none of them have been forgotten, but the process of thanking has been. sorry about that, it's the best we could do at the time. well look, it's really pointless for me to go on any more like this. i mean, fuck, this is all old news, right? the record's there. we hope you like it and everything, but it's after midnight and i'm still at work. real big rock stars, man. we've got straight jobs that would make you slit your goddamn wrists and we're still always broke. you can write to us, and we'll read your letters and some of them are really great, and we usually make mental notes to answer them because well, shit, you did take the time to write, and that's more than any of us ever did, but shit, you know, there's bills to pay and the eight to five thing going on all the time and there's just no friggin' way we're gonna be able to. sometimes we get to two or three, and sometimes i'll get fed up and spend a whole weekend answering mail, and there's still a goddamn laundry bag full of it sitting there when i'm done. but really, honest, we're not assholes. we've just got other shit to do most of the time. the address is post office box 442 evanston, illinois 60204. we especially like getting packages of things. hint hint.