Band : Screeching Weasel
Album title : Televisioncitydream
Label : Fat Wreck Chords
Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous
Release date : 09/11/2010
Release : (Re-issue) CD (with bonus tracks)

“Wow, a new Screeching Weasel album? That's something for me,” I whispered between my teeth when I saw this album in between the to-do lot at our editor-in-chief's headquarters! It wasn't until I came home and checked the booklet's notes that a suspicion started to dawn on me about this being a re-issue...suspicion which was justified after a little search on the Internet a couple of days later! Why the initial enthousiasm? Well, I've known this band since the earliest '90s, after having heard part of one of the band's first two albums...which were really hard to get at the time!

The history of Chicago based Hardcore Punk band Screeching Weasel (SW) can be divided into several periods, and has seen a huge amount of members come and go. The band was founded in 1986 by singer Ben Foster (whom would take on the nickname of Ben Weasel) and guitarist John Pierson (John Jughead by analogy)...this duo remaining the band's mainstays throughout its history until the 2009 reformation (when Weasel went for other guitarists, following a difficult time of lawsuits). Originally a three-piece (with Weasel also playing the bass) and going under the bandname All Night Garage Sale, the band soon changed its name, and a bassist was recruited to allow Weasel to concentrate on his singing. The foursome's debut album (recorded in one night for a measly $200) was issued through Chicago label Underdog Records in 1987. In '88 the band replaced its bass player, recorded its sophomore album Boogadaboogadaboogada! (with Weasel playing part of the second guitar), made a name for themselves opening for Operation Ivy at 924 Gilman Street, replaced their drummer because of unwillingness to play outside Chicago, and released their second album late in the year through Roadkill Records. In 1989 the band undertook a tour (dubbed “disastrous” by Weasel), and replaced their bassist for Dan Schafer, to be nicknamed Danny Vapid (and become one of the band's recurring members in later incarnations). Soon after the new 4-piece recorded the EP Punkhouse (released through Limited Potential Records), and they even recorded another 4 tracks with second guitarist Doug Ward (whom joined the band on stage for a couple of shows)...but then SW disbanded when Vapid and Vermin quit, wanting to concentrate on their side project Sludgeworth.

After the first split Weasel and Jughead started the band The Gore Gore Girls, and Weasel briefly played with the original line-up of The Vindictives. In 1991 SW members re-united for a one-off gig to make money to pay off debts the band had gone into for the recording of their sophomore album...and after the show Vapid discussed the possibility of SW's reformation, something which Vermin and Ward opposed to. To replace Vermin, one Dan Sullivan (to be nicknamed Dan Panic, and to become the band's 4th longtime collaborator) was recruited. Just before recording their 1991 comeback album My Brain Hurts (which was to be the first of several releases through East Bay label Lookout! Records), Weasel decided he didn't want to play the second guitar anymore, so Vapid changed to guitar, and former The Gore Gore Girls' Dave Naked was recruited on the bass. Recordings for this album also served to make the 1991 Pervo Devo EP (issued through Shred Of Dignity and released with the final issue of Weasel's sex-themed fanzine Teen Punks In Heat). Naked was fired after the album's recordings, and replaced by Scott “Gub” Conway for touring purposes. Johnny Personality of The Vindictives became the band's permanent bassist after the tour, as Gub was committed to another band. By late '92 the band had recorded their new album Wiggle with producer Mass Giorgini, whom went on to produce most of the band's future releases (and even became their bassist in the 3rd period of the band's history). Personality eventually left that same year to concentrate on The Vindictives, and rather than recruit a new member Vapid moved back to the bass, while Weasel took up the second guitar again. Also in '92 the band was asked to record a cover of the entire first Ramones album, and Ramones was released that same year by the Selfless label (re-released as Beat On The Brat in '98 by Panic Button Records). 1993 saw the release of both Wiggle and its follow-up Anthem For A New Tomorrow. After the release of the latter Weasel announced he no longer wanted to play live anymore, and Vapid let after a falling out with the rest of the band's members. SW then enlisted the help of Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt to record what was to be the band's last album How To Make Enemies And Irritate People, and after the album's 1994 release SW broke up a second time.

[Interlude] Except for the Ramones album, I have all recordings by SW from this period in my personal collection. In fact, they're the only albums by SW in my collection to date! You see, the Lookout! period was really the best of the band as far as I'm concerned, even if it saw the band's sound grow to what it is today. Stylistically, the band started out with fast-paced melodic anthems inspired heavily by Ramones, combining their Punk Rock with a Hardcore ferocity. But during the “Mark II” period of the band, the sound went through a subtle shift with several songs going for a Melodic Punk Rock sound being added...and that's where I got off! I mean, the band's lyrics reflected Weasel's apolitical “anti-everything” orientation, with (first adolescent, then more mature) themes about girls, paranoia, and anxiety (which Weasel suffered from), and by this time in the '90s there were already enough Melodic “Punk Rock” bands around with that type of “emotional” lyrical topics! But come, let's continue with the band's (hi)story!

Following SW's second split Weasel, Vapid and Panic formed The Riverdales, a band which gained some popularity touring with Green Day, but by 1996 they had rejoined with Jughead and recorded the new SW album Bark Like A Dog (released that same year)for Fat Mike's Fat Wreck Chords label (Mike had been a fan of the band, even sang backings to a song on SW's Anthems For A New Tomorrow)...however, both Vapid and Panicleft by mutual agreement after the recordings. Enter Mass Giorini on the bass, and Dan Lumley on the drums. Also Weasel again decided not to handle the band's second guitars, so SW recruited Zac Damon to perform those duties. In 1998 Weasel and Jughead first founded the Panic Button Records label, on which they subsequently released SW's Major Label Debut EP, followed swiftly by Television City Dream. In 1999 the same line-up minus Damon (who couldn't attend recordings due to school commitments) recorded Emo, and in 2000 the band brought in Phillip Hill as second guitarist on the album Teen Punks In Heat. Following its release, SW performed a series of live performances (their first since 1993) in the form of 30-minute matinees at Chicago's House Of Blues. The band officially split for the 3rd time on July 6, 2001, allegedly due to Jughead's frustration by the lack of touring.

Members of SW went on to form several bands, including The Methadones, Even In Blackouts, and Ben Weasel released 2 solo albums. Giorgini and Lumley returned to their pre-SW band Common Rider, released a 2002 album for which they toured for two months, after which the band dissolved. The twosome then rekindled another pre-SW act named Squirtgun, recorded a 2003 album for which they toured...after which Lumley retired from professional music. He briefly returned from his retirement to rejoin with Weasel, Jughead, Vapor and Giorgini for a series of surprise SW shows at Chicago venue The Fireside Bowl in 2004. Weasel later admitted that the original intention was to do some serious touring later in the year, but the offers just weren't there! Hence, the 4th reformation fell through. Also in 2004, and in the wake of long-running financial and personal conflicts, Weasel managed to retrieve all SW and The Riverdales masters off Lookout! Records, and licenced 'em to Asian Man Records, who re-issued all re-mastered albums (as well as the band's sophomore album) in 2005. After that, silence as far a SW is concerned, except for Weasel performing a set at 2007's Insubordination Fest (in Baltimore,) with The Guts as backing band, and where he was joined on stage by Vapid on guitar for several SW and The Riverdales songs. The duo also played two shows (with a set comprising the complete My Head Hurts album as well as other songs by SW, The Riverdales, and from Weasel's solo albums) at Chicago's Reggie's Rock Club in August 2008.

In March 2009 Weasel announced that he had again reformed SW, but in a line-up which was for the first time in history nót to feature John Jughead! Vapor however, woùld be, as well as The Ritalins guitarist Simon Lamb (replaced in 2010 by Drew Frederichsen), Yesterday's Kids bassist Justin Perkins, and drummer Adam Cargin (also new The Riverdales drummer). In November 2009 Asian Man Records let it be known that Weasel had decided to stop working with the label, and that Recess Records were to carry the back catalogs of both WS, The Riverdales, and Ben Weasel's solo career. But in December 2010 that was contradicted with the announcement that not only would Fat Wreck Chords issue SW's first album in a decade, titled First World Manifesto, on March 15, 2011...but also the said back catalog!

Well, that was “eggs after Easter”, as a Dutch saying goes...meaning that by then this re-issue was apparently already on the (American) market! So, after listening to this album, I have to say that perhaps my “dropping” of the band in the mid '90s may have been somewhat premature. Many of the songs on Televisioncitydream have indeed a Ramones remeniscence (actually, during “Dummy Up” you would almost swear having to do with the original thing!). Without going back completely to the dirtier early days sound, there nevertheless seems to be a return to SW's old sound here! One question remains: why should SW fans who stayed “loyal” to the band and went on buying its albums feel the need to but this re-issue? Well, apparently the band recorded 5 more songs during those days than the 15 which eventually made it to the album, and those are now added to this re-issue (with a 6-minute elongation of the original listening time as result). Among 'em a rather the rather funny “Punk Rock Explained”, in which Weasel relates the tribulations of his band vs. its first fanbase, as the band was becoming more popular and starting to make some money to live on (oh well...I mean, it's funny in SW's context of having a frontman whom didn't want to perform, because how can a band that doesn't play gigs make any decent money to live on, after all?).

To those into Melodic Punk Rock with a Hardcore drive who've never heard about this band, or never heard any of their music (because it wasn't “around” in the last decade), I recommend to check out the songs posted at the band's pages at MySpace, Twitter, or facebook (currently (www.) screechingweasel.com is being overhauled – the new website should be available soon). As far as rating goes, this album would normally go at least in the higher 80's, but as this is a re-issue, I'm not allowed to actually post a rating, see!?

Tony.