Jonathan Fire*Eater
“Tremble Under Boom Lights”
scum stats: 300 copies on yellow vinyl (Rough Trade exclusive) 500 copies on Winston Plum colored vinyl (indie exclusive), rest on black vinyl
“Tremble Under Boom Lights” is one of my favorite releases of all time and the fact that Third Man is able to reissue it still gives me pause.
No matter how much I say or write about this album, I still don’t feel like I’m done. I still feel like “there’s more work to do.”
More people need to know about this album, more need to appreciate it, more need to be influenced by it.
The opening song “The Search For Cherry Red” is burned into the enzymes of my soul. I can recite the lyrics at will. Any time I was bold enough to grab the mic in the Dirtbombs, there was a 50% chance I would sing this song.
“Give Me Daughters”, coupled with the gender and genetic make-up of the Shaggs, was the soothing salve I needed as i progressed into fatherhood of three daughters.
“The Public Hanging of a Movie Star” was included on a mixtape making the rounds in the Dirtrbombs tour van circa 2001, and EVERY time it played, I had to ask what it was as I was unaware. So primitive, so beguiling…those howls still unlike anything else I’ve heard anywhere else.
And the swan song, “In the Head” the last song the band would ever record together, just a head swirl of emotions for me. I have no idea what the lyrics “the ice cream truck goes cluck” mean, but goddamn if I don’t think about it weekly. When the instruments kick in all together like the force of a thousand volcanoes erupting at once, all joining in the breath of air, a hiccup almost, at the 2:41 mark, still, observant, vertiginous, as if the entirety of your life is presented before you and it does not feel overwhelming, just optimistically perfect.
It cannot be over-communicated…I still don’t really believe that Third Man was able to release this record. Cut primarily from the original master tapes. With the full support of the band members and estates and original label. I’ve had moments on the project where I’ve just had to stop and take stock of it all. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably continue saying it…I’m really just a fan here.
To enter to win a test pressing of “Tremble Under Boom Lights” post a comment that relates of story of something that you cannot (could not?) believe you ever got to take part in. Your high school production of “Brigadoon” or a real, true exorcism, taming the Northern Lights, a banker robbery/diamond heist or ANY caper really…let it fly.
I took underwater shark photography class, taught by Kathy Church. This was before digital age. I am happy to have spent time with a great talented person and see sharks and love them.
I still can’t believe I registered to join 3000 other people one chilly July morning 2016 in my home town of Hull at the request of artist Spencer Tunick. In a local park we were handed a pot of body paint and told to strip naked then apply our various shades of blue EVERYWHERE before being ordered around various very public locations as he took pictures. I have never felt so out of my comfort zone but at least I can say I am now hanging in the city’s art gallery. And I still insist it was extremely cold that day…
12 years ago, I had the opportunity to provide rehabilitation training to staff responsible for care taking of children with special needs at an orphanage in the center of China. My friend backed out at the last minute, so I decided to go alone (later meeting people at the orphanage). I’ve alway made decisions without overthinking or planning, so this time, I found myself in a bit of a culture-shock situation. It was the first-time I was almost completely unable to communicate with other humans even though I was surrounded by them. I was completely alone.
At the orphanage, I had to throw out all of my conventional knowledge of Western Medicine and child development. I naively asked questions like “what do you mean there is no Chinese word for seizures?” as a child was having one in my arms. I was hugely impacted by the next room which was almost filled to the brim with toys and medical devices sent by alturistic Westerners. One of the caregivers said to me (through an interpreter) something to the effect of “we don’t know what to do with these things (dolls, toy trains, etc)”. At that moment, it became clear that my super-narrow view as an American is arrogant and vastly incorrect. Those 10 days equated to the most challenging, humbling, and rewarding experience of my life. I cried a lot. I laughed a lot. The kids I met taught me far more than I taught their caregivers. I still can’t believe that I did it and I hope to do it again.
Quite a few years ago an artist friend of mine was commissioned for an installation at the soon to open Stansted airport in the uk. He asked to help him put up his project which took several days. Being a flaky kinda guy he got his dates mixed up and we ran late. He told me The Queen was due to open these airport in the next day or so and I thought nothing of it. Later that day a very stressed airport official informed us we had only a few minutes before the Queen was due to arrive! I found myself pushed into a line up as part of his ‘team’ and the next thing I knew the Queen appeared in front of us and started asking questions about the installation. surreal to say the least.
I have 4 daughters, but my second is Georgia. When they handed her to mom, I put my hand up in front of her face to shield her from the bright white hospital lights and she opened her those gorgeous blue eyes for the first time and it was miraculous, I felt it in every fiber of my being.