The Crucifucks - Early 80s Midwestern Hardcore Punk
Growing up in the early 80s was not too bad, other than the horrible things that were happening to music. The homogenization of music that was already kow-towing to an insidious, Casio-fueled terrain was saved for a brief time for us kids in the Midwest, who caught the tail end of punk and held onto it long enough to enjoy the scene. There are some purists out there who will say that even this version of punk wasn't really punk. There are some purists out there who were created by this scene who will say that everything after it that even referenced punk could never be punk and was therefore a sell-out. Arguments exist for both. I prefer the no-argument approach. I loved this music and always hated labels, so I'm labeling only to pinpoint a time and place. The music and it's practitioners speak for themselves.
The Crucifucks were a band out of Lansing, MI. Lansing is home to Michigan St. University. In contrast to it and most other colleges in this state is the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. If you were bound to stay here after high school because of family or finances or whatever, and your grades were such that you were likely headed for four years of college instead of two years, then a job, you likely found yourself choosing between U of M and State. Ann Arbor was where you went to study and at least be bisexual for the rest of your life. State was where you went to get alcohol poisoning before the age of 20, if you hadn't already had the pleasure. Something like that.
Lots of high-schoolers would visit older friends and siblings at various colleges instead of going to high school football games and that shit, or getting wasted at home. The college settings were looser, made for some adventuresome trips, etc... When the music scene got loud and seemed angry, some of us were very attracted to that. Bands would play in frats and other types of student housing, or in blown-out halls and such places. In time, most of the good bands went through this area. Even bands that really weren't that good, but fit in easily with the surroundings, were something to go see and enjoy. Without getting into who's good and who's not, some of these bands included: Necros, Bad Brains, Scream, Negative Approach, Descendants, Meatmen, Angry Red Planet, Die Kreutzen... and "bigger" acts like Dead Kennedys, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Birthday Party, Einsturzende Neubauten, The Fall, Husker Du... there are too many to list from memory.
The Crucifucks were special, partly because they came from Lansing, partly because their music and stance were strangely infectious, and mostly because they were led by Doc Corbin Dart. I don't know if Doc had charisma; I guess he did. He scared people, taunted everyone, contradicted himself every chance he got, screamed his head off about everything from mundane things like pencils to larger political concerns, was thought-provoking, and was entertaining through it all (and a pretty nice guy). He had a lot of passion and spirit in him, more than staged charisma. And whether they'll admit to it or not, lots of bands to come, even current ones, copied, parodied, and / or paid tribute to The Crucifucks.
The Crucifucks had an ever-changing membership, always led by Doc. One of the first incarnations included Gus Varner on guitar, Scott Begerston on bass, and Steve Shelley (who went on to play with Sonic Youth) on drums. I believe that was the group as I saw them.
The first time I heard The Crucifucks, Dave Hebb was driving me and another friend or two around, probably on some journey having to do with our video production class. [While putting this together, I talked with Dave for some time and ended up going off in a bunch of tangents about people, places, stuff related on You Tube, etc... Our memories were basically in synch, and we agreed that it seemed what we did not remember was basically the same, and we didn't remember it for similar reasons. So, this is what we do recall.] Dave played a tape in the car, saying he'd gotten the demo of The Crucifucks' first record from his friend Francois Beauregard. On came this thing composed of screechy vocals and a sort of sludgy-but-fast rhythm. Short songs, interrupted by recordings of "conversations" between some guy (Doc, obviously) and the Lansing police regarding "the name of the band," which no one can "mention in good conscience," and noise complaints and the like. It was fucking brilliant. Dave made me a copy. I think I still have the thing.
These events happened around 1983-1985 to the best of recollection, so I'd have been maybe 14-16 years old. This shit smashed directly into my brain at the time.
The first time I saw The Crucifucks was in the winter time of '83 or '84. Francois lived in a student collective house in Lansing. This was like a frat, but with the punks and weirdos. He had a house party. Dave was fucking around with a few friends in a "band" called Auntie N E Thing, and that crew went to the party to "play." That and a few other things happened, and then at some point the house filled with more people than seemed possible to fit in there, and The Crucifucks played in what seemed like the dining room. It was the first of very few times in my life watching live music when I lost my body, and after a bit, my brain. It certainly did a job on my ears. It was exhilarating.
Afterwards is blurry. We ended up spending the night there because our ride broke down. I was so stoked and nervous and overwhelmed that I went into observer mode, yet I can't recall specific conversations or anything. Waking up on the floor, I know Dave just handed me a beer and said, "wake up, we're stuck!" Dave's dad came to get us later. I got into very big, short-lived trouble with my parents, who gave up on me for the better shortly thereafter.
I saw, and helped film and hung out with lots of bands via our media classes and local access cable show, Back Porch Video (I've mentioned the video stuff before a few times, so I'm not going further than this with it now; suffice to say, we have an archivist who put most salvageable video material we generated on You Tube in the last few years, and there's a lot). The Crucifucks always stood out more than most other bands for me, probably because even then, I felt a lot of affection towards them, and for and from the people I was lucky enough to have as my friends.
The other Crucifucks show I cherish the most took place at The Hungry Brain, which was a punk club that was kinda the back lot extension of the video show in many ways. The Brain was in a Southeastern-most section of Detroit called Delray, which is an extremely depressing place that has industrial pollution to the umpteenth power as its' main feature. The people who have to live there were sweeping sulphur deposits off their porches back then. It's obviously even worse now. The Brain was in an abandoned Salvation Army building that was inhabited by no one other than the Detroit HQ of the Hell's Angels (we think). In other words: Teenagers with booze and drugs, some with video equipment, punk bands and their assorted crew, and bikers. You might think this could be an unfriendly environment. For some of us, it was anything but that.
If a flyer that goes by in some video footage from the Brain is telling the truth, The Crucifucks played there on 3/1/1985. As usual, most of us were there, and I'm still a bit stymied as to why there doesn't seem to be footage from this show. There's some footage of the band opening for the Dead Kennedys a couple of years later, but that's definitely not this show. Anyway, I just remember a total blitzkrieg of a performance. Doc was so wound up he was cutting his face (he'd done that a few times, but this was the scariest so far) and vomiting frequently because he was screaming so very hard. Again, that sounds like it could have been nasty, but it was the opposite for me and a bunch of other people, including the Hell's Angels. Borderline Personality Disorder = Borderline Catharsis in best-case scenarios.
After high school, lots of us drifted off to college, and that particular punk scene hung around for awhile, but was inevitably replaced. I got a letter from a high school friend who wasn't into the scene, but remembered how much I loved The Crucifucks, and was, I think, going to college up in Lansing. The letter included an article (not the one above) from the Lansing paper that indicated that Doc was running for Mayor of Lansing. This was 1989. I was pretty surprised, but it seemed logical in some weird way. Doc came in third, but then had a role in selecting the next Mayor that was sort of nifty. This and other things are well-explained in an article from Vice magazine that I will link to at the end of this section.
News of legal troubles and assorted bummers came as no surprise, and personally, I understand Doc's choice to want to be a recluse of sorts and just get on with a more peaceful existence after all he'd been through. For me, he'll always be an honorable person, a great writer and performer, and one of the most human of us around.
It was a blessing and a curse for The Crucifucks to be signed to the Alternative Tentacles label. The first two records were given a deserved chance at popularity, and succeeded. But as wonderful as Alternative Tentacles was, there was always some sort of spectacle, legal or otherwise, and that's not what The Crucifucks were about. There were other recordings by later lineups with Doc, and some solo recordings. I'm not familiar with them, though I should be. There was some haggling over a band name change and other things, and a few reunions, then things eventually just stopped. Although some of what I described above could sound like it might be spectacle, to me and others, it really seemed that these people were not putting on an act. It was simply who they were.
Aside from the Wikipedia and other links at the end of this post, the Vice magazine article provides a fairly intimate view of Doc and the band, featuring an interview with Doc from just a few years ago. Here's the article.
THE MUSIC:
Our Will Be Done compiles The Crucifucks and Wisconsin into one release. The first album features the recorded police stuff mentioned earlier, along with the band's most recognized songs. The music is simple guitar / bass / drums + screaming madman punk. Sometimes Doc spits out a ton of words, with surprising articulation to a jackhammer track. Sometimes he rakes just a handful of words over a beat that plods either slow or fast, or both. Wisconsin is stylistically different, incorporating (or attempting to) heavy metal, psychedelia, twang, and even folksy elements. It's as vitriolic as the first in it's own right. Again, I'm not familiar with the later recorded material. An album called L.D. Eye was released containing some of that material, and the rest is spread over some self-released cassettes and vinyl.
It's not really necessary to hear exactly what Doc's screaming. Everything is pretty much conveyed in Doc's weasel-being-electrocuted (and/or w-b-e on it's 12th beer and second Quaalude) voice. But the records did come with lyric sheets, so here are a few examples. It's what you'd expect on the surface, but it's more sly than it initially seems.
Democracy Spawns Bad Taste
You make things miserable every day.
You make me sick with the things you say.
You stand for the anthem at the old ball game
And your pledge of allegiance is so fucking lame.
This kind of freedom is perfect for you
As long as you can get away with what you do,
But everything you do is in such bad taste
And it's your fault the media is such a waste.
Be a good American - fuck off!
Be a good American and go to war
Be a God fearing citizen and - kill someone OR
Kill yourself - cuz you're such a fucking bore.
You nearly drove me crazy in your asshole schools,
Grooming us all to be fucking fools,
Working for the government as zombie tools,
But we won't be satisfied till we trash your rules.
Put a gun in my back and I'll do what you say
But I'll burn down your house if I get away,
Throw me in jail and I'll spit in your face,
Cuz anarchy is gonna take your fucking place...so
Be a good American - fuck off!
Be a good American and go to war.
Be a God fearing citizen and kill someone OR
KILL YOURSELF!!!
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Are there any clean washcloths dear?
I am going to empty this ashtray,
in about half an hour.
Should this glass be sitting
On this particular corner of the table?
See that pencil.
I used to have one just like that.
See that pencil!
I did. I had one just like it!!
A clean towel is in the closet.
A clean towel is in the closet.
This is a wonderful day.
The shelf is nailed to the wall.
This is a wonderful day!
I wish my mommy would call.
(Doc manages to make the above sound really scary, and at the end he mumbles something like 'I see fashionable people at college, and I see fashionable people at the punk shows. A slam dancer stepped on my foot. I didn't happen to like it very much. They're so masculine, I tell you... huh huh huh huh.')
My favorite song by The Crucifucks has got to be Down On My Knees. There doesn't even have to be a swear word heard.
How much do I appreciate
Advantages, am I too late?
To thank you for convenience
Your wisdom and your lenience?
For us it's oh so fortunate.
A sliver of pie, that's all we get.
Ya didn't have ta give us anything,
So songs of praise for you we'll sing...
We only wanna have some fun.
We'll clean things up when we are done.
We promise not to hurt a thing.
I hear you've got a great golf swing.
I hear you've got some property.
Now don't you wish that I could say,
We'll be good children every day,
But we're not kids anymore than you.
Why can't we play? That's what you do.
We only wanna have some fun.
We'll clean things up when we are done.
We promise not to hurt a thing.
I hear you've got a great golf swing.
I hear you've got some property.
Thank you for our daily bread.
Down on my knees.
The Crucifucks didn't make any proper videos as far as I know. Included below are two fan videos: Hinkley Had A Vision is from the first record; Pig In A Blanket is from the second (though images of the L.D. Eye cover go by). The three-part live set from Akron is pretty muddy compared to the two-part set from Kalamazoo. I included it to get a few more songs on there, even though some repeat. Both live sets feature the earliest lineup (it looks) of the band, and some especially amusing audience scenery. I really wanted to include a set from a Detroit cable access show called Why Be Something You Are Not? That show was a precursor to what us video brats did toward the mid-eighties, but there are too many glitches in the footage. At first I thought it was my computer, but Dave tried watching it while we were yammering on the phone about all this, and he got glitches as well. Thanks to Dave for helping me reminisce about this great band and great time; and thanks to anyone who might be reading this who was there in any capacity.
Wikipedia for The Crucifucks
Wikipedia for Doc Corbin Dart
On Fbook as The Crucifucks
On Fbook as 26, formerly known as Doc Corbin Dart
On Myspace as The Crucifucks
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p.s. Hey. Our pal the writer, multimedia artist, d.l., and guest-host Statictick has outdone even himself today with this stellar story about the legendary, pioneering hardcore band The Crucifux and the boy who loved them. It's a total fucking treat if you haven't scoured the area north of here yet. If not, please do just that and then say something or other back to Statictick in the comments arena today. Thanks locals and other readers, and thanks a whole bunch, S. It's the day they clean the rooms here at the Recollets, so the p.s. will be moving at a trot. This is the second to last day that you can send the blog your birthday presents, and if you want the blog to be happy, please don't blow it off. I'd better get started. ** Misanthrope, Dali's rep certainly isn't helped by the people who keep organizing exhibitions labeled as real, serious surveys of his work that are really just rip-off stores selling the feeble lithographs and touristy Dali jewelry and sculpturines that he cranked out in his later years. There's a self-styled Dali Museum here in Paris that acts and advertises like it's the real deal, but its 'collection' would look tacky in a suburban mall. I feel less down today, thanks. Joy Williams, nice choice. Panda?'s present is in my mailbox. I haven't opened the actual email yet, but the gift's housing arrived safely at least. ** David Ehrenstein, That Louis Garrel clip did the trick, or certainly helped. Thank you, in other words. I think my downer is related to my novel, which is greatly wearying and frustrating me at the moment, but so it goes. ** Wolf, Oh, very nice, pal. Nailed it. Leave it to you. ** Oscar B, Hey. Yury keeps putting big piles of clothes on top of our phone, and so it rings without a peep. That's what happened yesterday. Anyway, I was bleah. Maybe we can hit the d'Orsay today. I'll call you when I finish this, so, probably before you get here. ** Jesse Hudson, Your piece on/interview with Oscar was fantastic, and no surprise it's a hit. I'd like to read/reread Angela Carter. I haven't thought about her stuff in a long time. 'Enter the Void' opens here today! Don't think I'll see it tonight, but in the new couple of days, it'll be mine all mine! ** Joseph, Seems no one around here has read Kosovel either. Either that, or they're shy or something. Seriously great about the chapbook. What's the scoop, i.e. title, publisher? Did you already say, and did I forget? Seems like they would or they will send you a pdf or something to approve or whatever, no? ** Sypha, Hey. Yeah, you did mention that you're seeing Lady Gaga. I just spaced out the first time. Well, I'll be most interested to hear how that is. I would assume it'll be a big, expensive, quasi-scenery chewing show at the very least. She's playing here too soon. I think Jonathan Capdevielle is going. He's all over her. You know, I still haven't started reading the Ligotti yet. Now I'm scheduling it in for my next train ride to Brest on the 16th. ** Steven Trull, It feels good, man. ** Kier, I'm improved today mood-wise so far. Bear hug is appreciated. Did you see that news story yesterday about the bear who got stuck in the cemetery tree? The new Autechre's really nice. Yep. Okay, I hear the cleaners clattering in the hall, so I'd better keep moving. Love, me. ** Steevee, Excellent, whew. ** Ken Baumann, Right, on the show. If it had been a snake, it would have bit me, as my mother liked to say. That Tom Bissell book sounds kind of mouthwatering. I don't think it's just a Pavlov dog thing caused by the excitement promised by the title 'Extra Lives'. That is a great title. Bare-boned, but really clever. Yeah, I think I'm going to need to read that book. Thanks, K. How's the novel going? Are you headlong into it at the moment? ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey. Ryan Trecartin is a lovely, great guy. The complete opposite of a careerist art star if there ever was one. True blue. I mentioned the Yuck n Yum thing to him, and he said two different people had mentioned it to him but that he didn't know how to see it, so I told him, and he's going to check it out either while he's in Paris or when he gets back to the States. Really hoping and crossing the old fingers and toes about The Skinny thing. ** Bollo, The H-Pop probably won't hold much surprise for you. It's kind of an intro thing. You might not have seen some of the discussion/text stuff I found. I'm more up than down if I had to choose this morning. How's your mood, etc.? ** JW Veldhoen, Quick peek at Ø just now promised tons. I'll gather my senses together there later. Everyone, JW Veldhoen's charismatic, crucial Ø has been refreshed. Please proceed through the blue Ø. ** Heliotrope, Hey, M. One man's everything is my open maw. Hooray for old Arcadians, no? Where would we be without them, I ask you? An equal amount of love is winging its way to you at present. ** L@rstonovich, Oh man, don't go for perfect. That's a killer. Think trinket. I did get your book! It's sitting to my immediate right. And I'm going to read it like a full body scanner before the big day rolls around. Can't wait. ** David, I love that term bean. I'm going to slip it into my novel. I know just the spot. Thank you. I can wait a measly 24 hours if not walk a million miles for one of your sex scenes. ** No more teenagekicks, Hey, Mark. I wrote you back slightly incoherently pre-coffee this morning. Did I make any sense at all? ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. Turns out both Ryan Trecartin and his gallerist are vegetarians too, so no problem. Mm, I think the French in general get what my work is doing more immediately and thoroughly than people do in, say, the US. Your insomnia, ugh. Man, I hate insomnia. You sound like you can live through it better than I do. Your story about Bendy made me think of that old song 'When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes', so it left a dreamy, romantic impression. Yikes, your poor crippled and hysterical sounding friend. I definitely want to see 'The Human Centipede'. Life's short, you know? My day: Well, I was feeling down, like I said, so I did a lot of moping around and cursing my novel and scrunching up my lips in self-disapproval and stuff. It eased off a little bit towards darkness when I took the metro to the Riquet station in the 19th arr. and buzzed myself into the building where the dinner for Ryan Trecartin was happening. It took place in this tiny apartment, so that was very cozy. It was Ryan, his collaborator Liz, his gallerist Elizabeth Dee, his French gallerist Marion Dana and her assistant, and the head curator at the Museum of Modern Art where Ryan is going to have his big Paris show. Ryan's just an awesome guy, funny and sweet and very excited to be in Paris for the first time. For such a total genius and rising art star, he's very unaffected, sweet, and down to earth. Everyone else was really nice too. We talked about this and that. Ryan's moving to LA in the summer, so I was recommending areas to live in and telling him about the scene there. Yeah, it was just a most pleasant evening. I guess about 10:30 pm the jetlag sufferers decided it was time to hit their hotel, so we parted ways. I came here, they went wherever, and the night turned into sleep. The End. Time for you to begin again. ** Here's where the cleaning crew threw me out for an hour. Damn, so close. ** Jeff, Hey. I found a melatonin pill under the refrigerator yesterday, but it wasn't quite as exciting as your find, obviously. I tried to read Maldoror on LSD once. It was the only time I think or thought I totally got it. ** Little foal, Hey, man. I'm so sorry to hear that anxiety's been grabbing you. If it would help at all to talk about stuff here, you know you can, you know? I'm hoping your return is a sign that the self-esteem is returning to your rightful place. Lots of love to you. ** I guess that's it. Embrace Statictick and The Crucifux with your mind and heart until tomorrow rolls around. See you then.
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