RYE COALITION

Band: RYE COALITION

Genres: Punk / Rock'n'Roll / 70s Rock / Indie Rock / Garage Rock / Post-Hardcore / Screamo
Related artists: Merel and The Black Hollies.
Country: New Jersey, USA
Years Active: 1994-2006
Song: "Switchblade Sister: One Tough Nun"
Album: "On Top"
Year: 2002
Label(s): Gern Blandsten / Troubleman United / Tiger Style / Irony Recordings / Rent-A-Records / Super 8 Records / Sub Pop / 
This post's artist is from the April 2014 Mix. This is track #5.
You can download the April 2014 Mix#4 right here.
For fans of: Merel, Tricky Woo, Clouds, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Motorhead, City Of Caterpillar, Maximum R'n'R, Foo Fighters, Meth and Goats, The Plastic Day, Andrew W.K., Black Sabbath, Rusty, The Who, Jimmy Hendrix, and other bands that I would sound silly naming because I'm not overly familiar with older styled rock'n'roll.

RYE COALITION was formed from the remnants of two older bands, Merel and The Black Hollies. I was first introduced to the band during The Mars Volta's first tour for their 'Deloused In The Comatorium' LP. I had never heard of RYE COALITION and didn't check them out before the show. I love The Mars Volta, especially those first 2-3 albums, but I'd have to say that RYE COALITION put on a better show. Albeit, the sound quality for The Mars Volta was pretty shite and RYE COALITION sounded like the cd. I purchased 'On Top' and spun it incessantly over the next few months while attempting to acquire their entire back catalogue. Most of their material was amazing, especially the really old stuff that had a City Of Caterpillar vibe from time to time, in particular the last half of the band's strongest song ever written, the massive "Romancing The Italian Horn", which was released way back in 1995 - a good half-decade before the atmospheric screamo pioneers City Of Caterpillar, Welcome The Plague Year and Gospel. The other early stuff shares similarities to a lot of the Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu-inspired bands that focused on driving late 90s emo, particularly in the San Diego region. Their first split was with Maximillian Colby, so that explains a lot right there.

After the early years, which I would label as 1994-1995, they started dabbling in gritty throwback rock that hinted at bands like Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath as well as Motorhead but with more sass and a lot of songs about women and sex. The lyrics come off as pretty comical but in a way that encapsulates the satirical side of the band. This dirty sounding rock'n'roll style lasted for the band's first 2 LPs, 1996's 'Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet' and 1999's 'The Lipstick Game' and kind of came full circle with 2006's 'Curses'. These 2 albums from the late 90s don't grab me as much as their early work nor as much as what was about to follow.

I don't know what the band did from 1999-2002, but I'm guessing it involved a lot of drugs, sideburns and Jimmy Hendrix (click here for proof). When the band dropped 'On Top', they had shed almost all punk, hardcore and even a few screamo leanings and exchanged them for big, intricate 70s-sounding stadium rock with yelled/screamed/gruff vocals. This cd is the fucking tops for me. More than half of the songs are some of my favourite rock'n'roll anthems. They followed up in 2003 with 'Jersey Girls', a collection of b-sides and live stuff which is a damn fine EP. These 2 releases are my favourites, without a doubt. The riffs are insanely catchy, crunchy and complex enough that they steal the show. There's a lot of recycled rock riffs (especially 'old time' rock'n'roll) that are so generic and boring that I can't even listen to it, obviously this band is an exception, and I would probably liken their instrumentals and vocals to Tricky Woo and Clouds the most.

But then...Dave Grohl ruined RYE COALITION for me. Dave Grohl helped out with this last album, and I'm unsure if he influenced any of the change. In all honesty, probably not. Did they just ruin it themselves? There's something about 2006's 'Curses' that completely turned me off of their future material (maybe lucky for me, they didn't record anything save for an EP, which I think is just the b-sides from this). Something about the vocals rubbed me the wrong way and I expected a lot from the record and it fell seriously flat, like an aging/lazy-sounding Ozzy Osbourne...or something.

Fast forward almost 10 years and I start frequenting community sites and read the band getting ripped apart when discussing their 'On Top' years, which were my favourite. Lots of readers may only like the early material, but therein lies my point, check this out and see which RYE COALITION era you might dig. I love the first and third, but maybe you'll dig all 4.

I've included pretty much the entire discography that's listed below, save for the 'Chariots On Fire' which I'm either too lazy to find or I just assume I won't like it. Either way, if you have it and you post it here I'll add it to the disco for people to download. Here's a list of the songs I'd recommend checking out first from the releases I posted:
1994-1995: "Romancing The Italian Horn", "Baby Puts Out Old Flames", "White Jesus of 114th Street", "Dover" and "Cigarette For A Drag Queen".
1996-1999: "Iron Fist In Velvet Glove", "White Jesus of 114th Street", "Baby's Got A New Flame", "The Dirty Aristocrat", "The Lipstick Game" and "Digital Crucifix".
2002-2003: "One Daughter Hotter Than One Thousand Suns", "Hot Strikes", "Stop Eating While I'm Smoking", "Vacations", "Born A Monkey In The Year Of The Snake", "Switchblade Sister: One Tough Nun", "Honky, Please!", "Communication Breakdown", "Speed Metal Tap Dancer", "Paradise By The Marlboro Light" and "Break Wind and Fire".
2006: If I have to choose 1, I guess "Pussyfootin'".


RYE COALITION was a very important band for me, so please take a gander at a few songs embedded below and if you dig and grab the discography as I don't think I've seen one this extensive posted yet. Or I have a massive ego. Also check out this video that tripped me out when I first saw it (and every time thereafter). It's like a sweet mushroom trip with some really weird imagery and ideas - like flying unicorns and demons holding diamonds that fire lasers, so it's definitely worth checking out. It's for the song "Stop Talking While I'm Smoking" from 'On Top'.

They also did a video for "Young Yellers" off of 'Curses'. Meh. Big ole meh.

________________________________________

DISCOGRAPHY

Click )==>here <==( to download the band's complete discography in mp3 form.

1994 - Teen-Age Dance Session 7"
1994 - Maximillian Colby split 7"

1995 - New Sheriff In Town 7"
1995 - Karp split cd/12"

1996 - Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet cd/12"LP
1996 - ABCs of Punk comp (contributed "We Have Ridden")

1998 - The VSS split 2x7"

1999 - The Lipstick Game 12"cd/LP

2002 - On Top cd/12"LP
2002 - ZZ Topless / Snowjob 7"
2002 - Got This Thing On The Move / Whole Lotta Rosie 7"

2003 - Jersey Girls cdEP

2006 - Curses cd/dvdLP
2006 - Chariots On Fire EP (does someone have this?)

________________________________________

(1994) RYE COALITION - "Baby Puts Out Old Flames" (from 'Teen-Age Dance Sessions')

(1994) RYE COALITION - "Dover" (from 'Maximillan Colby' split)

(1995) RYE COALITION - "Romancing The Italian Horn" (from 'Karp' split)

(1995) RYE COALITION - "Cigarette For A Drag Queen" (from 'New Sheriff In Town')

(1996) RYE COALITION - "Iron Fist In Velvet Glove" (from 'Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet')

(1999) RYE COALITION - "The Lipstick" (from 'The Lipstick Game')

(2002) RYE COALITION - "Switchblade Sister: One Tough Nun" (from 'On Top')

(2003) RYE COALITION - "Communication Breakdown" (from 'Jersey Girls')

________________________________________

RYE COALITION out-of-print discography mp3 download

(download here)

________________________________________