THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS’ TORTURED BOOZE ROCK

Man, the THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS were the inept bar band of my dreams circa 1991-94 or so, the sort of band that I wished I’d stumbled upon blindly in the course of my drinking adventures, maybe in a dark bar with a ballgame on in the corner and $1 draft beers. Totally brash, loud, sloppy and a little strange as well, their first few records are as good as anything coursing through the American sub-underground in the 1990s. The band was wacked-out enough to be (moderately) embraced by both the garage rock contingent and the sort of folks buying Siltbreeze Records at the time, as their strangeness and total low-fidelity, bash-it-out grind appealed mightily to both camps. The early 45s, at least the first split 45 they did with the MONSTER TRUCK 5 and their own debut 4-song EP “Career Interruption Code”, were such refreshing slabs of snot that were enhanced, not reduced, by singer Ron House’s atonal, whining, upper-register vocals. I loved ‘em, and I still do.

That first split EP arrived in my mailbox in 1991 and of course I’d never heard of them, but I had heard of GREAT PLAINS, House’s former band in the 80s. That crew never made much of an impression on me, but in subsequent years I’ve warmed to them a bit. But it was on from the first few seconds of “Bottle Island”, the first of two songs on the Slave Apartments side of the record. I’m pleased as punch to be presenting it to you today. The fact that the Monster Truck 5 side was pretty ace too only added to the allure of this thing – we’ll get to those songs another day.

Play Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments – “Bottle Island”


Download THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS – “Bottle Island” (Side A, Track 1)
Download THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS – “Unholy Trophy” (Side A, Track 2)