Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Blushing

Anyone with more than an inkling of Knoxville's punk history surely has at least a hazy memory of the STD's, the hardcore/cockrock/wrestling-oriented band that terrorized our fair city for around a decade in the '80s. Back in the day, the band caused quite a stir by releasing a 7-inch record in 1983, followed by a national tour with DC hardcore innovators, Marginal Man, an opening slot at a Dead Kennedys show in California and umpteen local appearances. In its career, the STD's counted The Mentors' El Duce and Black Oak Arkansas' Jim Dandy among their friends. And if that's not musical success, then what is?

Well, the band has finally received its due—or at least some kind of props. The STD's, ostensibly led by Jon Wallace (a former MP copy editor as well as hard-rocker), were recently immortalized with a brief mention in Steven Blush's subcultural retrospective, America's Hardcore: A Tribal History (Feral House), which chronicles the first wave of hardcore from 1981 to 1986.

The band's coverage in the book is short, hard and fast. But what could be more fitting for a group who followed the loud fast rules/live fast, die young ethos for its entire career?

Lucky for us, It wasn't too hard for this vigilant Metro Pulse sleuth to track down former STD guitarist, Camp Childers, now living in New York City. Childers, a graduate of the highly esteemed Center of The Media Arts who has now made it big in the television industry, has worked as a freelance associate director and stage manager on the production staff of several shows and networks including NBA Basketball Coverage, women's cable channel Oxygen, NFL Football, The View and the Lifetime Live program, among others.

Don't fret—Childers hasn't lost his guitar playing chops. The graduate of Bundulee's Lounge's "Hardcore Four Summer" (1982) is now playing with East Coast mainstays, The World Famous Blue Jays.

"We never practice and we hardly ever play—so I guess you could say we get along pretty well," says Childers. "I mean, why should we waste good playing times in rehearsal when we can just get up onstage and do it? This is a great situation because I can still say I'm in a band."

Despite Childers' claims to the contrary, the Blue Jays is far from a fly-by-night project. The band has released a spate of singles and compilation tracks, as well as scoring the soundtrack for working-class philosopher Michael Moore's 1997 film, The Big One.

As to Blush's hardcore history book, Childers gives it a thumbs up. "It's a good read. It pretty much manages to cover all the bands that were happening back then. And of course I'm glad we got in there too."

Local CD Review

Matt Hebert
Control Freak

Local guitarist Matt Hebert's new CD release Control Freak, is full of fascinating musical ideas—angular guitar melodies, weird studio manipulations, and flat-out noise. The jewel box is nearly as intriguing, with liner notes for songs like "Cephlahematoma" and "Love Theme From an Imaginary Porno." Even his choice of collaborators, is, well, quirky, as on track 3, "Cat", where the vocal is attributed to, well, a cat. I think it's his, but he doesn't say.

Sometimes Hebert's ideas aren't quite strong enough to carry an entire song, as on the opening "Cephlahematoma," where the jagged, sustainy riff that pulses through it begins to wear thin with repetition. But mostly his oddness and imagination are both intriguing and compelling. At the end of Control Freak, I wanted to hear more.

Hebert is an outstanding musician first and foremost, and Control Freak is shot through with lurching, stabbing electric guitar work, reminiscent of Steve Vai or electric fusioneer Allan Holdsworth. But he's also a creator, a conceptualist, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter with a most unusual muse. He's a Control Freak, I guess you'd say. And sometimes, that's a good thing.

Go.

Thursday: Alison Krauss and Union Station at the Tennessee Theatre. The lucky ones—those who have tickets—will absolutely swoon.

Friday: Streamliners at Fairbanks. The holidays just bring out my need to swing, cha-cha, and, if the stars align, rumba.

Saturday: Superdrag at Blue Cats. They still rock. Of course they do. And now ex-V-roy Mic Harrison's in the band too.

Sunday: The Nutcracker at the Civic Auditorium. It's just time.

Monday: Buy something. Your economy needs you.

Tuesday: Einstein Simplified at Patrick Sullivan's. It's like Whose Line is it Anyway? without the guy with the crew cut.

Wednesday: Mary Beth Edelson: Rescripting the Story at Ewing Gallery. Last chance to see this thought-provoking exhibit.

—Emma "Wrestle-core?" Poptart with John Sewell and Mike Gibson