Tag Archives: Scarce

Vinyl Junkyard

Flashlite #339: Vinyl Junkyard 12

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Mouthful of ViolenceThis is one a Vinyl Junkyard edition of our show. In Vinyl Junkyard specials I play almost entire LPs that I found dirt cheap somewhere laying in some bargain bin at a record store. Usually the stuff comes from The Blue Arrow Records in Cleveland. This time we have two albums from the nineties. Nineties were a time where LPs were being phased out on the market in favor of CDs. Still, some important record also saw vinyl versions and today we bring you Mouthful of Violence by Big Trouble House and Moontime by Anastasia Screamed. These are not just some random albums from the era, but also some of my favorite records ever. It’s a real pleasure to introduce them to you, since the bands and the records went fairly unnoticed at the time and are often missed by the critics too. Big Trouble House are from Minneapolis, lead by the guitar player Phil Harder. After the band failed to leave much mark on the scene, he moved on into making music videos. Anastasia Screamed were from Boston. They were lead by Chick Graning. This band also failed to make much fuss on the scene, so he formed Scarce which became almost famous with their single All Sideways, but Graning suffered from an aneurysm and had a bad case of amnesia. Scarce reformed recently.

Big Trouble House – Union Feed Grain Mill
Big Trouble House – Mouthful of Violence
Big Trouble House – Cut Him Down;
Big Trouble House – Gal In Black;
Big Trouble House – President Nixon’s Grandpa;
Big Trouble House – Let’s Go To Hell;
Big Trouble House – Push;
Big Trouble House – Black River;
Big Trouble House – Valley of Rin Tin Tin;
Anastasia Screamed – Out Of The Light;
Anastasia Screamed – Stand By;
Anastasia Screamed – One Deep Breath;
Anastasia Screamed – She Must;
Anastasia Screamed – Dead In The Grass;
Anastasia Screamed – 15 Seconds of 5 Days;
Anastasia Screamed – Tricked Into Feel;
Scarce – All Sideways.

Playlist

Flashlite #11

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The BellraysWelcome to a new Little Lighthouse episode, this time full with interesting new (and not so new) records. Preparing one of my previous shows, I came across the news that Austin TX band Glass Eye had a brand new record in 2006. So, I promptly got it and here it is in the brand new Flashlite Lighthouse. News comes to us that Chick Graning’s old ’90s band Scarce is back in the studio. Their new myspace page pleasantly surprised me with several brand new demos, so we check that out in this show. Our contemporary favorites Bellrays and Jay Reatard are back with new stuff: The Bellrays have a new CD out called Hard, Sweet and Sticky and Jay has a new 45. And last, but not least, we introduce a brand new band from France, Jack of Heart.

Serge Gainsbourg – Requiem Pour Un Con;
The BellRays – Coming Down;
The BellRays – Changing Colors;
Reigning Sound – You Got Me Hummin’;
Sam & Dave – You Got Me Hummin’;
Glass Eye – The Big Moment;
Glass Eye – Poison water;
Scarce – Dead Bleaux;
Scarce – All Sideways;

Jack of Heart – Tell Me Lyres;
Jay Reatard – See/Saw;
Jay Reatard – Night of Broken Glass;
Jay Reatard – In The Dark;
The Hellacopters – Gimmie Shelter;
The Hellacopters – Midnight Angels;
Dax Riggs – Dream or Be Dead;
The Mourning Reign – Satisfaction Guaranteed;
The Mourning Reign – Tales Of Brave Ulysses;
Screaming Trees – Tales of Brave Ulysses.

Bands

Chick Graning

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(Written long time ago for the old site) Chick Graning has one of those bizarre rock’n’roll biographies which make your head spin. He started in Boston and hung out there with all the great underground names in the late eighties. Then he formed his own band Anastasia Screamed that recorded a couple of singles and one lp (Laughing Down The Limehouse) in the season 1991/92. It was the time of grunge, and Anastasia Screamed was one of the best representatives of its softer, more contemplative side, the one that was coming from Boston area.

The band enjoyed a moderate success in Europe and England, but in the USA nobody paid too much attention. Nevertheless, Anastasia’s groves were some of the most interesting and most progressive tunes at the time. The sound was very emotional and the lyrics were clever. Chick Graning even made it to the pages of cheap magazines as husband of the rock’n’roll beauty Tanya Donnelly of The Throwing Muses and Belly.

The marriage was fine initially, but Chick met Joyce Rasin. He artistically got along with her much better than with Tanya so his marriage soon fell apart. He formed a new band with Joyce – Scarce.

Major distributors were very interested in Scarce. Their sound was very much nineties, complex and catchy. After a few singles, A&M signed them and they started working on their first album Deadsexy. Just before they finished it, Graning got a brain hemorrhage which not only postponed and jeopardized the release of Deadsexy, but it also caused amnesia to his memory. He had to relearn everything in life, starting with his own name to how to play guitar. Needless to mention, band stopped its existence.

Recent news are that Chick Graning is back as a solo artist. The new demos are very promising.