Exploding Heart Introduction: The Stitches

On their MySpace biography stands: "The first 16 seconds of "Sixteen" are everything you need to know about the Stitches."

So here it is:


The first time I heard them was in the transworld skatevideopart of Dustin Dollin, a real wizard of oz. Back then I didn't knew what stoked me more: teh skating or the music. This was the point where I remembered, that my bigger brother saw them years ago in Stuttgart in the Universum-Bar. I can't tell you how bright the glance in his eyes was, when I asked him about it. But to say it with lennon: imagine.



The Stitches are one of those bands you hope to come across once in your life.
Here's your chance.

Punk History 1 - Part 3: Cool article about the Hearts

THE EXPLODING HEARTS
Much much more than
power pop punk band.

The first time I heard about Portland's The Exploding Hearts I was leading a pretty mundane life in Long Island. A short mention in the Long Island Press citing their only full-length Guitar Romantic as the best a writer had heard all year got my attention. Still, I'd have to wait over a year to get a hold of that record. Was the year long wait worthy? Hell no, I wish I had headed to the record store right away. The recently released compilation Shattered once again puts this underrated power pop punk band on the spotlight. Too bad the band isn't here with us anymore. Insider Fred Landeen was close to the band, his insight and experience with The Exploding Hearts is evident in this tale about his relationship with the band. Read on.



Despite my best efforts, I nearly missed the first Exploding Hearts show.



When Adam Cox told that he was starting a Power Pop band, I told him to let me know when they were going to play. I had bumped into him on a bus going into downtown, and he told me all about his new band. He dropped a reference to Nick Lowe, and I was intrigued. Not too many folks were talking about playing Power Pop at the time, so it was exciting to hear that there was going to be a local band trying it. I made sure that he had my phone number and email address so that he could keep me posted. He never called.



I got the call from Amanda Kill, on a rainy weeknight. She was calling from the Satyricon nightclub, trying to get me to come down to see a band. “These guys look like they are gonna be good” she exhorted. When she described their look , lot’s of white denim and pink neckerchiefs, I realized just who it was that she was talking about. Twenty minutes later, I was at the club, standing up front for the debut of The Exploding Hearts.



I was a fan before the first song was over, it was impossible not to be! They had so many hooks, so much melody and still retained a rocking Punk edge to it all. This was ideal Power Pop, they had exactly what I wanted from the genre. Instantly memorable songs, with the catchiest possible hooks. There were choruses that stuck in your head as soon as you heard them and never left. Keeping it all going was a driving guitar that supplied the power to the Amphetamine pop. By the end of their set I had a new favorite local band.



Terry Six was the secret weapon of the band. He could play the sweetest melodic guitar lines, and then bust out with a lead that actually rocked, giving the tunes the punch that they needed. Terry was the most affable member of the band in person, always quick with a smile and handshake.



I knew Adam “Baby” Cox from his playing in a Pop-Punk band made up of a bunch of obnoxious high school kids from Beaverton. He had also done stints with the hilariously offensive Spider Babies and the stripper-fronted Coco Cobra and the Killers. I used to see him at Automatics shows, and we had struck up a friendship around talking music. He was always really enthusiastic about music, when he would talk about it his eyes would open up really why and he’d have the biggest smile on his face. I was surprised at how good of a singer had become, not to mention the songwriting!



Jeremy “Kid Killer” Gage played with Adam in high school and toured with the Spider Babies, but I knew him from his time with the ultra lo-fi Silver Kings and Punk geniuses The Bedpands. He was a kid that I had always seen around with his skateboard in one hand, a 40 ouncer in the other and a sly grin on his face. He was usually in the middle of saying something smart-assed.



I had seen Jeremy and Adam at shows for years. I had always thought that they were brothers because they hung out together all the time and sort of looked alike. I remember being genuinely surprised when I found out that they weren’t related. Jim “Action” Evans, who was at least a decade older than the other guys, was the bass player during this time. He had also served time in Spider Babies as well as being a veteran of the high-octane Garage Rock band Screamin’ Furys. Jim was the polite stoic who played well but said little.



This was the first line-up to play around town, the same line-up that recorded what is now referred to as the Pink Demo. They gave me a copy of their demo early in December of 2001. The CD face was spray painted pink, with Exploding Hearts stenciled across it. Mine was hand numbered, number eight of one hundred. Four stunning originals, and a pleasing rough (and very hi hat heavy) cover of the (Paul Collins) Beat song “Walking Out On Love”.



The group had a distinct aesthetic, which they unfailingly adhered to. It seems like it was Adam who decided most of this. He designed all of the band’s graphics, and owned many of the clothes that the band members wore for photos and live. Anytime you see a photon of one of the band members wearing a Boys First Time t-shirt, that was actually Adam’s. It even went so far as Adam being the person who cut Terry’s hair! The boys had a great style, though. Nobody else at the time was rocking pink and yellow together, with white denim as a recurring fashion motif. They definitely influenced people around them, as well as their fans elsewhere.



Two songs were chosen from the demo to appear on what was supposed to be the Hearts’ debut single on Pelado Records. I say supposed to because the label kept pushing back the release date, until it finally came out in January of 2003. Ultimately, their first recordings became their third record! The single was beat to the shelves by the Guitar Romantic LP on Germany’s Screaming Apple Records, and the “(Making Teenage Faces”) single on Vinyl Warning. The late released caused some confusion among fans, many thought the the 7” version of “Modern Kicks” was the newer version. I remember Adam making fun of how slow it was compared to the LP version by singing the chorus for me in mock slow motion, yet many people prefer this recording of the song. The slower speed definitely allows more of the melodic subtleties to be hear. “Busy signals” was the b-side. A real gem from the demo is the song “So Bored”, which has often mistakenly been titled “Waste of Time” by fans who have the traded the tune via the internet.



Over the course of the winter, the Hearts played some fun shows, built a following, and had some line-up changes. The first change was to add New Orleans transplant, “King Louie” Bankston on keyboards. King Louis, known for playing in savagely raw Garage bands like The Persuaders and the Royal Pendletons was a great addition to the band. He not only made it possible to have the keyboards played live, he also sang back-up vocals and lent credibility to a band of musicians that people in the rest of the country hadn’t ever heard of. The pairing of Louie and Adam proved to be quite productive, as they immediately began collaborating on songwriting. One of the band’s most memorable Pop anthems, “I’m a Pretender”, was originally brought in by Louie.



The second personnel change was more of a reinstatement. Matt “Matt Lock” Fitzgerald was actually the original bass player for the band, but had left well before the band played their first show. Another friend from their high school days in Beaverton, Matt fit back into the band perfectly. Popped collars, 80’s sunglasses, a Crime t-shirt (that he seemed to always wear) and the cool confidence to go with them. Sure Matt played really well, but almost as importantly, he looked really good doing so.



The Exploding Hearts took their time recording their LP over the course of the spring, 2002. Producer and friend of he band Pat Kearns recorded the album at his small (and now legendary) Studio 13, located in the basement of a house in Southwest Portland. They has time to try different things, and some alternate takes and versions of songs from these sessions are surface in the compilation Shattered. The LP Guitar Romantic is of course, one of the all time classic Power Pop albums. It was praised widely and wildly from the second it was released. Bomp!, Maximunrocknroll, and a variety of other press called it the best album of the year. Jessica “Jessicat” Troutman, one of the band’s closest and most loyal friends, provided vocals on the duet “Thorns in Roses”. (She is also quite likely the hottest Sunday school teacher in the world…)



Upon deciding that the relatively low humidity of the Pacific Northwest wasn’t for him, Louie left the band to return to the South. The Hearts didn’t seek out a replacement for the vacancy (if you have met Louie, you know that he is irreplaceable). There was talk of Louie continuing to contribute to the songwriting, although I don’t know if this ever had the chance to happen.



The summer of 2002 found the band back in the studio with Pat Kearns, this time at the much fancier digs of Jackpot Studios. Here they recorded four original songs and a cover of “Sniffin’ Glue” by FU2. If you’ve never seen the cover art for the Italian pressing of the FU2 LP, do yourself a favor and track it down, it’s pretty crazy! The Hearts’ version has plenty of snottiness oozing out from it. The song was one of the brightest spots on the “Dirtnap Across The Northwest” CD compilation.



I was honored when the Hearts asked me to release a single by them on my fledging record label, Vinyl Warning. I went over to talk about the 7” with Terry and Adam at their apartment, which was known as the Pink Palace. I knew that I was at the right house when I saw a tire swing out front that had been spray painted pink. Thir place was super tiny, on the second floor of a house in Southeast Portland (2021 SE 12th, if you want to make this pilgrimage.). There was always a pile of skateboards cluttering up the base of the narrow staircase. Once upstairs, there were just two small bedrooms, separated by a puny little kitchen. No living room. It was in the pink kitchen that the cover photos for Guitar Romantic were taken. When I came by, the title of the album was still spray painted on the wall behind the refrigerator! We hung out in Adam’s room, listening to the Flip-Tops albums and lots and lots of The Supremes. Adam’e beloved dog Bluto was there too, of course, staring up at us with his enormous, comically bulging eyes while frantically humping Terry’s raised arm.



For the single, I was quick to request “(Making) Teenage Faces”, a live favorite that to me is a perfect, perfect song. The hooks here are unstoppable and the chorus instantly unforgettable. The lyrics still make me laugh every time that I listen to it! I had to beg the band to record “Your Shadow”, a song that they had stopped playing. (This band threw away better songs than most bands will ever write.) They had performed when they played live on the radio show that I co-host, back in December 2001. I had listened to the recording of their set over and over, and this song stood out to me. It’s definitely the fastest, most straightforward Punk song that the band ever recorded! The original version had Terry playing all his leads through a wah-wah pedal. He didn’t use it on the studio recording because by the time they got to record it, poverty had forced him to sell the pedal.



The last two songs recorded by The Exploding Hearts from the Jackpot sessions were earmarked for a 7” on the mighty Dirtnap Records. The b-side was to be “We don’t Have to Worry Anymore”, a fantastic song that would have been perfect on the soundtrack of a summer teen exploitation movie. This was on of the Heart’s many strengths, being able to make a (really, kinda sappy) line like “forget about me in the summer…” sound poignant, and then turn around and blast into the charmingly irreverent lines like “it’s our summertime, and we’re getting WASTED!/It’s our summertime, and we’re getting sto-o-ned” without it losing any momentum.

For the A-side, the band chose what is arguably one of their best songs, the heart-wrenching “(You Left Me) Shattered”. Tasteful use of cowbell, and Jeremy’s Clash-like falsetto back-ups compliment Terry’s twangy leads. This, of all their songs, is the one where you can hear the most sincere heartbreak in Adam’s voice, for that reason, it’s the most moving to me, and often the most difficult for me to listen to. For various reasons, the release date of this 7’ kept getting bumped back, further and further. Eventually, it was set to be released in the fall of 2003, after it was remixed. Sadly, this single never got to happen.



Over the next several months the world began to take more and more notice of our homegrown taent. The buzz on the band was increasing, for sure. Several magazines and websites did interviews with the band and their records continued to receive praise from the international press. The folks at Harvard took an interest, and in May of 2003, they flew the boys out to Boston to play what would become their only East Coast dates. Several bigger labels were sniffing around at this point, including some majors. June saw them play an amazing show with The Buzzcocks at Berbati’s Pan, in Portland. It stands out as one of the best times that I saw them, they were at their height of live energy. The gig offers were getting bigger and more frequent. I was happy for their success, but I was wondering if I’d ever see them play in a basement or dive bar again.



Not everything was roses, however. Jeremy kept quitting the band, and surprisingly the search for a replacement proved to be quite difficult. Inevitably, Jeremy would rejoin, or agree to fill in for a show, coming to the rescue again and again. This drama played itself out several times over the first half of 2003. In the end, I believe that he planned on staying in the band, as he took part in a photo shoot and joined them for a set of gigs in the Bay Area.



The band was received like returning heroes in San Francisco. Their set at The Bottom of the Hill was videotaped and if you have the CD versin of this release, you can see the energy and excitement of the crowd in the footage. While in the Bay, they were courted by (then) Pop Punk heavy hitters Lookout! Records. The band decided to jump onto a bill at Thee Parkside before heading back home. The future seemed to hold very bright things for The Exploding Hearts.



There is no way to adequately describe the shock of hearing that the three of your friends have just died. I just can’t put into words how much that hurt, and continues to hurt to this day. This is the news that I awoke to with a phone call on the morning of July 20th, 2003. While driving overnight to get back home from their trip to San Francisco, the band had a horrific accident. Adam, age 23, Jeremy, barely 21, and Matt, still only 20 had all died. Theye were an hour and a half from home, and now they were gone. Terry and the Hearts’ manager, Ratch Ramos survived the accident with what the newspaper described as ‘minor injuries’. I guess the were only taking the physical injuries into account.



The loss of the band was a terrible one to the music world, but it pales in comparison to the personal loss. These boys were sons, brothers, boyfriends, and dear friends. I miss their band, but never anywhere near as much as I miss the guys themselves.

Portland hosted a packed memorial for all three of the fallen Hearts. People came up and spoke about each of the boys for several hours until we had to leave the church that was hosting the event. Benefit concerts were staged in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco to help the families with the funeral expenses. Message boards filled up with a huge outpouring of grief and sympathies for he boys and their families. The Hearts’ music had spread further than we knew, as messages came from all over the world.



During their time as a band, I referred to The Exploding Hearts as “the best band in the country”, a statement that I stand behind to this day. They remain one of my all time favorite bands. They hadn’t attained stardom in the mainstream world yet, but they made a tremendous impression on the underground scenes. They continue to win new fans the world over. Their music lives on, and we cal all be grateful for every amazing song that we have from them. The Hearts have attained a very well-deserved immortality through their music. As a fiend and a devoted fan, I will cherish their music and the memories associated wit them forever. Thank you.



by Fred Landeen

Punk History 1 - Part 2: Interviews with the Exploding Hearts

Here is an old one with the whole Band:

Maximumrocknroll Interviews Exploding Hearts


Portland just got a whole lot cooler. Meet the Exploding Hearts, your new favorite band. Power pop with heavy doses of both power and pop, they bring back the heyday of Bomp records and acts like the Zeros, Stiv Bators, and the Flamin' Groovies, but with even more attitude, hooks, and haircare products. Break out your white denim Levis and get ready.

MRR: Who are you and what brand of instrument do you play?

Terry: I'm Terry Six. I play Adam's 330 Rickenbacker.

Adam: I'm Adam, and I play a Mosrite guitar and a Marshall amp.

Matt: I'm Matt and I play a Rickenbacker bass.

Kid: I'm Kid Killer, I play drums.

MRR: How can you afford such nice equipment?

All: (confused, then shocked, then uncotrollable laughter ensues)

Kid: Well, Dirtnap sends us checks for, like, sixty fuckin' grand every two weeks. They're fucking cool.

Matt: I'm sponsored by Crate. Actually, I stole my cabinet from some guy Kid used to live with. The head I have I bought at some dude's yard sale for $35. But you guys don't have any equipment, do you?

Kid: No.

Terry: I bought my cabinet fair and square for fifty bucks.

Adam: I have a Marshall head that I bought from a hippy dude.

Matt: I was involved in a shady deal with a '68 Dodge Dart. That's how I got my bass.

Kid: I've had a drum set that belonged to Ben (Ex-Real Pills) for two years now. I finally gave him money for it a month ago.

Adam: We all met in high school, C.D. Mason - it was this school for retards and pregnant girlies. Kid and I were the first ones to start playing together. Man, we were like, 15. We've been in a bunch of bands together (Silver Kings, FU, bed pans, Coco Cobra and the Killers), and as far as making a conscious decision to "fuck this swanky garage bullshit." I had about as much "creative control" in Spider Babies as this: Do I make by bass sound like a fart or like the Ramones? I've always been into what I'm doing now, I just never found anybody else who was into it. So I said fuck it and started a band that played the kind of stuff I wanted to play. In fact, the original Hearts line-up was back in '98 and was called Teenage Faces, but then we disbanded and we all did other shit until about 2001, when Terry and I decided it was time to destroy all that crap left over from the 90s.

Terry: Well, me and Adam, we're playing future Exploding Hearts songs over the phone to each other when he was in California, and that's how I got into it. I figured I couldn't just join Eddie and the Hot Rods so I did the next best thing.

MRR: How did you guys meet King Louie?

Adam: I met Louie outside of Dino's (the lowest of all strip clubs). I was skating by and he kept yelling at me so I stopped and we just started chatting about the Persuaders and Spider Babies. Then I had a beer (or 12) with him, and the rest is history.

Terry: I met Louie when he was working the Ferris Wheel at Oaks Park. He got us free ride bracelets! It was the first and only time they told us we were to wasted to go on rides.

Adam: You know, the second time I ever hung out with Louie, he picked me up in Choo-Choo's car, this nice, white Oldsmobile. And he's like, "Hey man, you wanna come drive around in this car?" So I get in and he opens up two 24-ouncers of Pabst and gives me one. Then he goes, "Hey man, check this out. I wanna join your band. Check this out. I wrote this song for The Pendletons but that guy Matt was all garage and didn't want to play it." So he's driving, and he sets his beer on the dash, and takes his hands off the steering wheel, and starts using his hands for drums and his voice for guitar and goes, "I'm a pretender man! Hey man! I'm a pretender at the game of love! Man!"

Kid: I guarantee you that 85% of the people reading this thing right now have a Louie story that's just like that.

Adam: Except they were too stupid to turn it into a hit song.

MRR: Are you guys going to be adding another keyboard player since Louie is gone?

All: Fuck no.

Adam: Not unless they're Cajun and fuck their cousin.

Kid: I'm not totally adverse to playing another show with Louie, though.

Terry: No, not at all.

Adam: I would totally do it.

Matt: We wouldn't plug him in though.

Adam:(in Louie's voice) "Man, that was the best show I ever played! I wasn't plugged in, and I know this, but."

MRR: What's the drummer situation? Why is Kid leaving and who's replacing him?

Adam: Well, Kid just hasn't been into being in the Exploding Hearts for a long time and he's been helping us out, playing shows with us still, so that's cool, I guess. I don't know what the fuck he plans on doing now. And as far as a new drummer goes, we found one a couple weeks ago andwe've been practicing every night with him. It's starting to really come together. His name is Kid Cochino and he's full Mexican! He hits hard and has a really huge beat. We are also proud to announce that our band is now half Mexican.

Terry: Kid Killer is turning in his sticks for a chell phone and a day job. Good luck with that.

MRR: What's the deal with Portland and all the great bands we've got right now?

Terry: I have no fucking clue.

Adam: It wasn't that way three years ago.

Kid: It wasn't even that way a year and a half ago.

MRR: It's all recent.

Kid: There was this place called Billy Ray's Neighborhood Dive that had free shows forever. Everybody came out and played all the time.

Adam: A lot of bands played there. It was like the CBGB's of Portland.

Kid: For a while it was.

Adam: It was fucking rad. Free shows and at first it was free beer.

Kid: And everyone who has a side project has their band play too. Shitloads of bands.

Terry: Yeah, ours did (The Tracers).

MRR: What's up with Dirtnap? What makes them the best label around right now?

Adam: Well, the thing is, Ken is really cool. He has great taste in music, he's a really nice guy, and on top of all that he actually cares about and promotes his bands.

Kid: And he's on it, he has at least two records coming out every month. And they're all fucking killer.

Adam: He parties as much as he works, y'know?

Kid: He came in a time when there were a lot of good bands.

MRR: And no good labels.

Adam: Exactly. Dirtnap is a great label. We're totally excited to be working with them.

MRR: What is Dirtnap putting out with you guys?

Adam: On March 10th, Dirtnap will release the CD version of Guitar Romantic complete with a different insert. He is also putting out our new single "(You left me) Shattered" in April.

MRR: Then what? Aren't you trying to do a split?

Adam: Yeah, we're trying to do a split on Johnny Cat, and we're doing a split with the New Town Animals (RIP) on Dirtnap. Johnny Cat wants us to find another band to do the split with. I heard something about the FM Knives?

MRR: What about the Pelado single, did that come out?

Adam: Yeah! We got thirty copies, baby! And they look cool. 100 copies pressed or some shit. Good luck getting one.

MRR: Dirtnap has given the Briefs and Epoxies a huge fucking break. Are your expectations high?

Adam: Our expectations have been about getting high since day one. We want to go on tour and not shower really baaaadd. I think Dirtnap is a great label and has tons of great bands so we'll just have to see.

Terry: I think it all depends on if the Briefs become the next Christina Aguilera or not.

MRR: How did you guys get hooked up with Screaming Apple?

Adam: Next question.

MRR: I thought it was a good story about how you met him on tour.

Adam: We didn't meet him, we met his associate, Richie.

Kid: Richie who runs Useless Early Ripes.

Adam: It's a fucking rad magazine. I can't believe we don't have anything comparable to that in the States.

Kid: It's super expensive.

Adam: And rockin'! Yeah, we met that dude in Cologne, at the Underground. We were touring with the Spider Babies at the time.

MRR: Any idea how many copies of the Guitar Romantic LP you've sold so far?

Adam: There's like a hundred left. Out of a thousand.

MRR: Since two of you were in the Spider Babies, who were famous for being assholes, did people think the Exploding Hearts would be assholes?

Kid: We were only in the Spider Babies for like ten seconds, so I don't think a lot of people, especially in this fucking town, asscociate us with that band. Although we did play that one really cool show with the Spits.

Adam: Yeah, that was fun, but it was always Kevin's thing. I only wrote one song in the band, "Your New Boyfriend." Kid and I were in the Spider Babies for about a year. We got to record a single that never came out with Steve Baise from the Devil Dogs. Get Hip paid for it, but they never put it out, and we went on an East Coast tour and a European tour.

MRR: You guys put a lot of effort into your look and your live show. Has anyone ever accused you of being all style and no substance?

Adam: Never.

Terry: I don't think I've ever heard that in my life.

Kid: I try to ignore the people on the internet that say that. They only wish that their band's Rezillos covers were fucking half as good as our originals.

Terry: That should be hi-lighted.

MRR: How come every review of the Exploding Hearts mentions the 80s?

Terry: Not any more, they've gotten hip.

Adam: They've gotten hip to us! Now they all mention Cheap Trick, Bubblegum Hits, getting stoned and backseat loving.

MRR: What records are you guys listening to right now?

Terry: Death or Glory, the new Riffs record. It's insane.

Kid: The Spits, the Small Faces.

Adam: A lot of girl group shit and a lot of bubblegum stuff.

MRR: What about your songs, what's the deal with the lyrics? Are they sincere personal shit or are you just feeding the ladies what they wanna hear? Seriously though, you guys have some awesome lyrics. Making Teenage Faces is fucking genius in that simplistic pop song sorta way, but Guitar Romantic has some well thought out and clever lyrics. "Rumors in Town" and "Sleeping Aides and Razor Blades" specifically. What's the deal here? Is this shit straight from the heart or what?

Adam: Well, I don't want to say too much on this subject, but I will say this: "Sleeping Aides" was my personal fuck you anthem for a breakup I had with a live-in girlfriend. I was so happy to have perfectly documented my crappy existence in a motown ripoff song. Everything right down to the razorblades as a self-mutilation reference (it's not about doing coke) and the line about hanging up new posters, everything in that song is just so fucking true it hurts. On the other hand, you have songs like "Boulevard Trash" that open up with lines like "Ain't done chores now for at least a hundred days, don't do the dishes no more I just throw them away." That's my favorite line.

MRR: Who's the chick that sings back ups on "Thorns and Roses"? Is she single? Terry: Her name is Jessica, she fucking rules! And she can out-party us sometimes... and for once she actually has a boyfriend.

Adam: Yeah, his name is Jack and he used to be in the Riffs. Jessica and I met through our love of Josie Cotton and drinking, so it was just a natural progression to have her sing on our record. She is also getting the "I'm a Pretender" tattoo, like the one I got.

MRR: Every time I see Teenage Head's Frantic City I think it's Guitar Romatic. Did you do this on purpose?

Adam: I guess I kinda did rip off the whole tri-tone picture thing, huh? Oh well, fuck them.

MRR: Tell me about the New Years' show with the Makers.

Terry: I got wasted. It was awesome.

Adam: I got wasted too, it was awesome. And the Makers look like Prince and Lenny Kravitz put in a wimp blender.

Kid: I tried to hate them, but I couldn't.

Adam: Yeah, they had their moments.

Kid: I didn't think they were as bad as I thought they'd be.

Adam: They show off their nipples a lot. We have pictures of their butts, too. And their tambourine with a picture of a praying butt on it.

MRR: How did you guys end up on Art Alexakis' radio show?

Kid: Wookie, Wookie!

Adam: I got woken up by a call from this dude named Wookie one day. He asked if we wanted to be on Art's radio show.

Kid: And Adam goes, "What do we get out of it?"

Adam: Well, yeah, but then he said we'd have to play an acoustic song. And I said no. So he fucking wakes me up the very next day, and I said yeah.

MRR: Was Art a dipshit?

Adam: Yeah. He got schooled by Ted (the singer of the Diskords, and a good friend), who is 14, about who wrote Chinese Rocks. Apparently in Art's world Joey Ramone wrote it. I mean, the guy really has no concept of good music. The first thing he said when I got in there was, "So, looks like you're working on some tats, brah?" And I said, "Yeah, I see you got some Power Puff Girls tattoos on your arm, brah."

Kid: Everclear is the squarest bad from Portland, ever.

Matt: No band can be more square than the band that has a member who wears a Trailblazers jersey in their video.

Kid: And raps about Led Zeppelin!

MRR: Adam, what's the deal with the mullet? Do the ladies love the mullet?

Adam: I have two points. One: The word "mullet" was invented in the 90s (just line "Nsync" and "xtreme sports, brah") so therefore I completely absolve myself from having to answer this stupid question, and I'm offended you asked. Fuck you. Two: It's cold in Oregon! It helps keep my neck warm!

MRR: Adam, tell me the story about meeting Ike Turner.

Adam: My mom recently met the dude and became friends with him. I told her I was a fan and wanted to meet him, so she called him up, and he said, "Ahh! Shit, yeah! He can come on over! I'll teach him a thing or two! Shit!" Then I went over and fucking played guitar with him, and it was really cool!

MRR: Did he teach you a thing or two?

Adam: Fuck yeah he did. He totally did. Now that I think about it, I might have actually sold him my soul. Then he showed me the whole Keith Richards tuning thing.

Terry: Those guys at the Waterfront Blues Festival, they let us backstage. They knew us by word of mouth.

Adam: Well, I knew the name of Ike's girlfriend, and I asked for her and they let us through. He had a wig on the chick! She looked like Tina, it was rad. He's a dirty old motherfucker, too.

Terry: When he played at the Blues Fest, it was all recorded live on the radio. And he was like, "Ahh! Suck that thing!"

Adam: Yeah, he was going nuts! "Suck it down! Owww!" Then he played his own version of "Tequila." We thought it was going to be "I Want Candy."

MRR: Bobby Maniac wants me to ask how you got to kiss Roxy Epoxy.

Adam: Yeah, I think the question should be rephrased to ask how she got to kiss me.

Terry: She's short too.

MRR: Who's the best power-pop band of all time?

Kid: Us.

MRR: Good answer. Anything you guys want to add?

Adam: Don't buy anthing from Jackpot Records. They don't support local bands for shit. They're a bunch of pontsy, white-belt-wearing, expensive-brewed-beer dicks. And they won't carry our records.

Kid: The Dirtnap bands and the Vinyl Warning bands are the best bands in the country.

All: Yeah, definately.

MRR: What is the Exploding Hearts drink of choice?

Adam: Extra spicy Bloody Mary (in a pint glass) and whisky on the rocks.

Terry: Gin and Tonics in pint glasses and Pabst.

Matt: Do you guys want to get stoned?

MRR: You guys want to give shout outs or props?

Adam: No. But I do want to say hi to all the cool people and bands we've met in the last year. And hi to Louie and Choo-Choo. I hope you're having fun in Nashville!

MRR: How many times have you guys gotten laid or offered drugs strictly because you're in the Exploding Hearts?

Matt: Enough times to justify wearing pink pants.

This interview was printed in Maximumrocknroll #240


One with guitarist Terry Six after the accident, who is now leading "The Nice Boys":

Such Nice Boys: An Interview With Terry Six

By Jennifer Kelly 28 February 2007

The Nice Boys sound like good-time music. “Teenage Nights”, the opener from their self-titled debut, kicks off with a hard cowbell beat, erupts into ragged romantic guitar licks and finally crests to its power-pop peak in a wave of Cheap Trick harmonies. And that’s just for starters. “Johnny Guitar”, the single, rocks like a thousand Saturday nights, all jump-kicked power chords and bad boy charm.


So it might surprise you that the story of the Nice Boys starts in a very dark place. It begins with guitarist Terry Six living with his parents in Portland, Oregon, trying to put his life together after a van crash killed three of his best buddies and brought the Exploding Hearts, one of garage-punk’s most promising bands, to a dead stop.


Shell-shocked, confused, unsure what to do and unable to move forward, Six might have languished there at home for years, except for the care of a friend. Guitarist Gabe Lageson from the Riffs, a band that Exploding Hearts had often played with, started coming over nights and afternoons bringing a guitar. He’d check on Six regularly, at first to make sure he was okay and later to try and prod him into making music. Gradually, the two began writing songs together. Six, who didn’t know what he wanted at first, began to realize that music was a big part of who he’d been, what he was, and who he might be in the future. It was something he couldn’t give up, no matter how painful the memories might be.


Slowly the two began crafting songs, not just on the fast, abrasive punk that had been Exploding Hearts and the Riffs’ main course, but glam and 1970s power-pop as well. “Finally, we just said, ‘Why don’t we do this?’” Six recalled. They recorded a single together, Six contributing the a-side “You Don’t See Me Anymore” and Lageson the b-side “Lipstick Love”. The single drew rave reviews from punk rock bibles like Horizontal Action and Maximum Rock ‘N Roll called it “a perfectly written and perfectly executed pop masterpiece”. A little later, Colin Jarrell and Alan Mansfield, the rhythm section from the Riffs, joined up, and the Nice Boys were on their way.


The full-length confirmed what the single had hinted—that Nice Boys weren’t going to be Exploding Hearts II or Riffs the Sequel, but an entirely new enterprise. “The Hearts were more focused on making 1970s punk mixed with Nick Lowe. That was our angle,” said Six. The Riffs, by contrast, drew hard 1970s punk comparisons like Sex Pistols and Dead Boys. The new band would be harder to classify by design. “Our influences were just all of the music we could think of that we love—from any time,” said Six. “I like to think of this self-titled record as like a foundation record. So that the next record we put out, we won’t be throwing a curve ball at the listeners. They’ll be like ... oh wow, they did a little bit of that on their last record. So we did every single genre we could think of that we all loved.”


Picture Six and Lageson sitting in a living room, guitars plugged in, record covers everywhere, tossing band names and song titles back and forth. “Part of it just came out of the songs we were writing,” said Six, “but we also consciously tried to include as many genres as possible. We knew we wanted to have a later 1978 or 1979 kind of Cheap Trick sounding song. And then we wanted to have a George Harrison song, and then, of course, we wanted the glam because we’re all glam heads here.”


Six and Lageson split songwriting duties fairly equally, with Six kicking in “Johnny Guitar”, “Ain’t Been Beat”, and the very Big Star-ish “Southern Streets” (which Six says was inspired by a visit to Memphis where he was held up at gunpoint on the way home from an Oblivians show). Meanwhile Lageson penned the power-chorded “Teenage Nights” and the baroquely splendid, ELO- and Beatles-tripping “Avenue 29”. A third songwriting band member, keyboard player Brian Lelko joined this year after the album came out on Birdman Records.


Yet while songwriting is split, the singing is all down to Six, who said he gradually getting used to his new role. (He didn’t sing at all in the Exploding Hearts.) “Singing’s hard,” he admitted. “I’m still learning, but I’m more comfortable now, and I need to deal with it. I’m getting there.”


Playing guitar, by contrast “is like breathing”, not surprising when you consider Six has been playing since age 11. “My parents rented an acoustic guitar for me at first, because they were like, he’s not going to be into it. So, that way when I asked for a tennis racket…” (Thirteen years later, Six has a guitar and a tennis racket.)


Mostly self-taught, Six admitted to two lessons with a Portland-area teacher. “I told him, dude, just show me how to play ‘Judy is a Punk,’ and instead he started going on this Eric Clapton trip, I was like, “I don’t care about that stuff. So I just started picking it up. I made my own way.”


While still in his teens, Six hooked up with Adam Cox, Matt Fitzgerald and Jeremy Gage to form Exploding Hearts. The band’s Guitar Romantic, released on Dirtnap Records in 2002, was a breakout success. Pitchfork called it “simply a fucking awesome power-pop record” and gave it an 8.8 rating. The band seemed poised for major, mainstream success a la the Strokes. And then, on July 20th, 2003, Exploding Hearts’ tour van flipped over near Eugene Oregon, killing Cox and Gage instantly and Fitzgerald several hours later at the hospital. Terry Six survived with minor injuries, as did the band’s manager.


The band’s reputation has continued to grow, however, and this year Dirtnap Records put out Shattered, a collection of unreleased Exploding Hearts tracks from 2001 to 2003. Six said that he wasn’t consulted about the reissue and wasn’t happy when he found out how closely it was timed to coincide with the Nice Boys’ release. Still, lately, listening to it, he has begun to change his mind. “I saw Matt Fitzgerald’s mom over the Thanksgiving holiday, and she gave me a copy of it,” he said. “She was like, ‘You don’t have a copy?’ I listened to it. It sounded great. I thought I’d be a little bummed because it would be some competition with what I’m doing right now, but at the same time, I’m just glad that it’s out ... I’m really, really happy about that. It’s a good thing for me to have that album.”


Six says that even now it’s hard for him to listen to the old tunes. “But sometimes when I get wasted, I will play it for people, and go, ‘Listen to that shit. Wasn’t it fucking great?’” he admitted. Asked what people should remember about Exploding Hearts, he thought for a minute, then replied. “We tried to really give something to everybody that we all loved and we wanted to give it back and we did. I think we did a really good job at that. We showed that we could ... we showed them that if we could do this, they could, too ... anybody that loved that kind of music could do it.” And, if The Nice Boys debut is any signal, they can do it again and again. Maybe the best memorial for one great band is another.


http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/such-nice-boys-an-interview-with-terry-six

Punk History 1 - Part 1: The Exploding Hearts

Top 200 albums of the 2000s

On Number 60th - The Exploding Hearts
Guitar Romantic
[Dirtnap; 2003]

I can't think of many bands as aptly named as Exploding Hearts. They played something you might call power-punk-- teenage kicks, leather jackets, glue-sniffing, pop tunes so classic they might as well be "I Want to Hold Your Hand"-- and they did it with huge hooks and even huger enthusiasm, this chest-bursting ardor that makes it almost impossible not to be on their side. They sounded like teenage dirtbags in love, and they recorded Guitar Romantic with a fuzzy, needle-in-the red energy that makes it sound like they're having the time of their lives playing every single song. (And just about every single song turns out to be worth the time of your life.) But then their tour van flipped over and three of them were killed, and I guess we can just console ourselves that their contribution to the world of music was so joyful, so vital, so packed with full-throated, heart-exploding life. --Nitsuh Abebe
http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7708-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-100-51/5/

Biography

by Wade Kergan

Punkish Portland, OR, power pop quartet the Exploding Hearts had been playing together for over two years before their debut recording, Guitar Romantic, was released by Seattle-based indie Dirtnap Records in spring of 2003. Taking influence from bands like the Clash, the Undertones, and the Only Ones, the group comprised bassist Matt "Lock" Fitzgerald, drummer Jeremy "Kid Killer" Gage, vocalist/guitarist Adam "Baby" Cox, and guitarist Terry Six; early on, the band also included keyboardist "King" Louie Bankston and original bassist Jim Evans, but they both left prior to Guitar Romantic's release. The album won the guys (all in their early twenties) a well-deserved buzz among music fans, scribes, and labels, and the band was in high demand on the West Coast touring circuit. Tragically, though, just as the group was gearing up for a nationwide tour and rumored to be signing with Lookout! Records, their van veered out of control while returning home on July 20, 2003, from a San Francisco concert, killing Gage, Cox, and Fitzgerald. Six managed to escape with only minor injuries. Dirtnap released the LP Shattered in the fall of 2006, compiling singles from the band's much-too-brief career, including alternative versions and mixes, as well as their unreleased final recordings; the album also featured five songs of live footage from (what became) the Exploding Hearts' final show at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p554526/biography


Death in the Family
Portland's Music Scene Suffers Another Tragedy

by Marjorie Skinner

Early last Sunday morning, around 6 am, Adam "Baby" Cox, 23; Jeremy "Kid Killer" Gage, 21; and Matthew "Matt Lock" Fitzgerald, 20, of local band the Exploding Hearts were killed in a car accident. After playing a show at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill, the band members were returning to Portland, along with their manager, Rachelle "Ratch Aronica" Ramos, 35.

Just outside of Eugene on Interstate 5, Fitzgerald, who was driving, apparently fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the van as it veered onto the road's gravel shoulder. The van flipped twice. Of the five passengers, Ramos was the only one wearing a seatbelt. Gage and Cox were both thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene, and Fitzgerald died later in the hospital. Ramos and guitarist Terry Six, 21, both survived with minor injuries.

Well known in the Portland music scene, the Exploding Hearts were just beginning to garner a great deal of attention, showing up recently on the covers of Maximum Rock and Roll and Shredding Paper. There were rumors about a possible record deal with Lookout! and a live performance on a TV talkshow. The mutual enthusiasm between the Hearts and the music world broadens the scope of those mourning the losses to include family, friends, and fans.

The tragedy is made particularly shocking by the youth of the victims, whose dancey bubblegum punk exuded enthusiasm and energy. It also comes uncomfortably close on the heels of other recent accidents that have struck members of the Portland music scene. This summer alone, Orion Satushek from Spooky Dance Band and The Reeks & The Wrecks was killed when a drunk driver plowed through a group of bicyclists. His bandmate, Caroline Buchalter, was also injured in the accident. Last week Josh Skins from Systemwide was also critically injured in a hit and run accident (see "In Other News").

In an effort to garner some meaning from this catastrophe, benefit shows are quickly being organized to aid the families and friends of the victims with whatever help they may need. Those whose lives have been touched by the victims and by their music are invited to honor both the memories and verve of these three musicians.

Benefit Shows: The Diskords, The Spits, Meow Meow, 527 SE Pine, Wednesday, 7 pm, donations, all ages; The Minds, The Riffs, King Louis, and The Epoxies, Dante's, 1 SW 3rd, Wednesday, 10 pm.
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/death_in_the_family/Content?oid=29450

My favorite wipers song

Cobain's Top 50 albums and the Wipers

A list of Kurt Cobain’s top 50 favorite albums:

50. Raping a Slave – Swans
49. Mazzy Star – Mazzy Star
48. Over the Edge – Wipers
47. Youth of America – Wipers
46. Is This Real? – Wipers
45. The Man Who Sold the World – David Bowie
44. Beach Party – Marine Girls
43. Takes a Nation of Millions – Public Enemy
42. Flowers of Romance – Pil
41. The Record – Fear
40. Damaged – Black Flag
39. Locust Abortion Technician – Butthole Surfers
38. We are those who Ache Amorous Love – Half Japanese
37. Meet the Beatles – Beatles
36. Generic Flipper – Flipper
35. Yip Jump Music – Daniel Johnston
34. Superfuzz Bigmuff – Mudhoney
33. Last Sessions Vol 1 – Leadbelly
32. Tales of Terror – Tales of Terror
31. Jamboree – Beat Happening
30. Rites of Spring – Rites of Spring
29. Void/Faith EP – Void/Faith
28. Combat Rock – Clash
27. Typical Girls – Slits
26. Burning Farm Cassette – Shonen Knife
25. Green – R.E.M.
24. What is This? – Punk Comp California
23. Rocks – Aerosmith
22. Colossal Youth – Young Marble Giants
21. Raincoats LP – Raincoats
20. Anything by: – Kleenex
19. Know Your Product – The Saints
18. Get the Knack – The Knack
17. Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth
16. Dry – P.J. Harvey
15. It’s only Right and Natural – Frogs
14. Nevermind the Bollocks – Sex Pistols
13. Entertainment – Gang of Four
12. Rock for Light – Bad Brains
11. My War – Black Flag
10. Pee Pee the Sailor – Butthole Surfers
09. 1st EP – Saccharin Trust
08. 1st EP – Scratch Acid
07. Millions of Dead Cops – M.D.C.
06. Land Shark – Fang
05. Philosophy of the World – Shaggs
04. Sun Of A Gun – the Vaselines
03. POD – The Breeders
02. Surfer Rosa – Pixies
01. Raw Power – Iggy & The Stooges

from: http://klyam.com/2010/08/28/kurts-top-50/

"Is This Real" - A bunch of reviews

Review

by Stephen Howell

The production leaves much to be desired with its tinny-sounding drums, but, fortunately, the negatives don't outweigh the positives on this album. Guitarist/vocalist Greg Sage writes fairly simplistic songs with power chords, but each melody infects your brain like a fever. Even though Sage is from Oregon, he sings in a New York-style slur not dissimilar to Joey Ramone. Throughout the album, there is a very dark and ominous feel to the material (e.g., "D-7"), but it's made interesting on tracks like "Alien Boy," which changes from 4/4 time to 2/4 time. Sage also has a unique guitar style where he strums chords and lets them sustain into feedback, which creates rich textures in the songs (e.g., "Potential Suicide" and "Don't Know What I Am").
http://www.allmusic.com/album/r52794/review


Review

by Neoteric

The Wipers were different from punk bands of the time, they were dark and had their own unique sound. Greg's guitar didn't blast out distortion from all levels, he contained it and thus recordings sounded more like a DIY demo that a band full of teenagers would put out. However this is higher quality than what a bunch of brainless teens could put out. The mix of the album is simple and this is the sound that inspired so many punk bands out there today (including Nirvana, you can hear the Wipers influence straight through them).

The Wipers were total outcasts, they enjoyed playing fast punk but also realised that a pop song was just as good. They realised that not every song needs to be fast, there had to be some slow songs in there to balance it out. Later on in their career they learned that songs don't need to be short but they could expand on each song and make something no one else was doing at the time. The band never had any major recognition but their influence is relevant today and could be considered the beginning of early 'grunge' music. Though they are not a 'grunge' band, their sound made a superb impression on Kurt and Krist from Nirvana and the members of Mudhoney.

If this is all too much then listen to the song “D-7” and prepare yourself for the first ‘grunge’ song made. “D-7” is also the highlight of the album Is This Real?, as soon as the song starts, the mood is eerie and dark until halfway through it turns frantic and helpless. Greg uses such passion in his singing and the guitar playing is totally unique for the time. The riff is simple but lays the ground for the entire composition and is a perfect piece for any beginning band that has any passion. For an album that's so hard-hitting, there also needs to be a hard-hitting opening song. "Return of the Rat" fills this void perfectly that again uses the simpliest of riffs. It's loud, catchy and just total fun. This album probably has the best first three tracks ever (okay, that‘s an exaggeration). Along with “Return of the Rat” is “Mystery”, a catchy fun pop song that’s easy for consumption and “Up Front” which knocks your teeth out with it’s melancholy chorus. For most of the album, everything is laid down so simple. It's an album to get into as soon as you throw it on, everything is laid down at a fast pace.

Sadly, this album is fun for the first while but soon after the songs become monotonous and identical. While the interesting parts hold up on their own, it becomes apparent they take the punk riff and rip it apart piece by piece. This album would be better if Greg Sage varied with his sound. The Wipers would do this later on but for their debut, they certainly kept a similar sound throughout. These collection of songs show potential and builds a foundation for a band that will go on and do so much more.
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/13594/Wipers-Is-This-Real/


Review

by Robert Christgau


Three guys from Portland (Oregon, but it might just as well be Maine) who caught on to punk unfashionably late and for that reason sound like they're still discovering something. Which hardly makes them unique--there are similar bands in dozens if not hundreds of American cities, many of whom send me records. What distinguishes this one is Greg Sage's hard-edged vocals--detached but never silly, passionate but never overwrought--and economical one-hook construction. B+
http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1570&name=The+Wipers