Disease Is Relative LP reissue
Death Drives A Cadillac LP
Scat Records, 2021

What is in the water in Cleveland? With so many fantastically iconoclastic groups rooted there (The Dead Boys, The Human Switchboard, Pere Ubu, Rocket from the Tombs, Electric Eels, X___X, The Pagans, etc etc etc) it’s not hard to recognize that something festers and fosters musical mutations there that are unlike anything else on earth. Add to that staggering list this punk calamity from the early ’80s which caught my attention when the 1983 Cleveland scene compilation The New Hope was reissued by the Smog Veil label back in 2010. Spike In Vain’s pair of tracks stood out from dozens of tedious hardcore clones with a version of punk that was so twisted and insane that it came off like a disdain for music and/or a Flipper-esque middle finger to the codified version of hardcore punk happening at the time. Blown away by these two tracks, their impossible to find 1984 album Disease Is Relative went onto my Discogs want list and stayed there, hovering at a price I couldn’t quite justify before a few clued-in MRR columnists began to name drop them and uncover more info about the genius of this band. After that, original copies of this beast became even more scarce and spendy. Fast forward to 2021 and the stalwart Scat Records label, founded by Spike In Vain guitarist Robert Griffin, not only reissues Disease Is Relative with a great, full-bodied mix that pumps up the serpentine basslines that weave a frantic pretzel-like tangle throughout the record, but also unleashes their unreleased sophomore record, Death Drives a Cadillac, which was recorded in 1985 and sat collecting dust until now.

The Disease Is Relative reissue is an essential release for anyone with a predisposition for the dissonant art-damaged punk shamble of contemporaries like Scratch Acid, opting out of the standard 1-2-1-2 beat to explore some further-reaching territories established by bands like the Big Boys and Minutemen — albeit in a much more menacing fashion. The track “E.K.G.” could be a Black Randy & The Metrosquad funk number, while the track “God on Drugs” sounds a bit like the second wave of DC hardcore, where tempos slowed down but the intensity remained high, while the lead track on side B, “Children in the Subway,” regresses into to something closer to the searing blaze of the early Dischord singles, except chopped up into chunks of varying tempo and changing directions like a slithering beast. What makes it all so compelling is the ferocity of Chris Marec’s (R.I.P.) vocals and his bouts of breathless poetry as it fades in and out of the mix with the fervor of a raving lunatic screaming at parking meters downtown, all while Robert Griffin’s 6-string assault alternates between tense hardcore jabs to ghostly death rock wails that at times feel like a precursor to the sinister minor chord mangling of The Jesus Lizard’s Duane Dennison. After years of hearing tinny MP3s of this lost gem, it’s fantastic to finally hear these elements fortified by more low-end punch.

Death Drives A Cadillac definitely strays further away from Spike in Vain’s hardcore roots and like many hardcore punk bands’ later work, this album features better production values and a desire to expand their sound with other influences. For instance, “Lady Luck is Dead” skulks out of the speakers with more pronounced goth influence that aligns with what California’s Burning Image was doing at the time, only with more aggressive riffs that fall apart and turn inside themselves while Chris Marec shouts instead of sings like a man possessed. Other influences soften the hardcore punk edges a bit, with norm-palatable touches that make their sound something more akin to The Gun Club or the punk-mangled version of the blues that Tim Kerr and Poison 13 were also doing around the same time. At its most accessible, Death Drives A Cadillac is reminiscent of the heartier strain of collegiate guitar rock of Homestead Records mid-80s roster with bands like the Volcano Suns or The Micronotz, which may lose some fans of their earlier work, but there’s still plenty of what makes Spike in Vain special documented here and it must be considered the fucking gift it is to have it see the light of day after all these years.

According to the Scat Records website, both releases have done well, so the label is currently working on a double album release that will include the band’s cassette-only album Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home, comp tracks, outtakes, radio broadcasts, and some live material. This is fantastic news. Consider yourself warned.

LINKS

Listen to “Ugly and Damaged” from The New Hope compilation on Spotify
Listen to “The Funeral” from The New Hope compilation on Spotify