Shake Appeal is a column that highlights new garage and garage-adjacent releases. This week, Evan Minsker's been spending a lot of time thrashing to Zig Zags' cartoonishly menacing and awesomely heavy self-titled LP, out next week via In the Red. To mark the album's release, the band have shared a guest list via email. Also, a brief appreciation of the Dishrags reissue.
Photo by Denée Petracek
Perfect Day
Jed Maheu: Get up late, hang out with my girlfriend and my dog, play guitar, get drunk, watch Netflix.
Patrick McCarthy: Watching a "Roseanne" marathon on Logo TV.
Favorite Old Record
JM: We just got a van to tour around in and all that shit and it has a tape deck so I bought a bunch of tapes and one of them is a Diamond Head compilation and it’s like perfect “van music.”
PM: Cock Sparrer's Shock Troops. Always.
Dream Merch Table Item
JM: We already had beef jerky that we made ourselves so that was rad. I think we really wanna do sweatpants now. Nobody steal that idea.
PM: One of those coke mirrors from the local county fair. In the 90s I had a Guns N' Roses one and a weird stoner eagle one. I didn't know they were for coke back then but I picked up on some serious nefarious vibes.
Favorite 7" From the Past Year
PM: Black Bananas' "Physical Emotions"
Favorite Album From the Past Year
JM: If reissues count I say Iron Claw. If not all our buddies: the Shrine, Fuzz etc.
PM: A comp called Orange Cloud Nine that draws from these 1980s LPs by this Dutch bedroom rocker named Spike. Weird pop songs with a slight Island vibe, groove box drum machine, shredding guitar and sorta detached vocals.
Favorite Recent Band
JM: The Meatbodies fucking slayed at SXSW. I really dug OBN IIIs there too. They aren’t new but I had never seen them. They rule live. Ex-Cult was rad, J.C. Satan was rad. Fucking Protomartyr and fucking Power Trip. I don’t know how new all these dudes are I just finally saw them. Oh Satan’s Satyrs is rad too.
PM: Radkey. Best recent band name too.
Best Recent Show
JM: Meatbodies at SXSW, Slayer at the Palladium ripped. I have a friend who lives up in Hollywood hills and we climb on top of this mountain and can hear the shows at Hollywood Bowl. Bobby and I went up there and listened to Black Sabbath and then Dwyer from Thee Oh Sees and I were up there listening to Journey couple weeks back.
PM: Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois playing Wrecking Ball at the Wiltern in LA.
Favorite Drink
JM: Gin and Tonic. Beer makes me kinda sleepy and whiskey makes me really mean and gin turns me into a weird gay Southern gentleman.
PM: Vodka with ice and any sort of mixer.
Favorite Breakfast Food
JM: Bacon. I do a lot of smoked meats. Bobby and I had a short-lived BBQ team. We made our own bacon and own smoked sea salt. Ultimately it took up too much time when we shoulda been practicing and working on songs.
PM: A smoothie?
Recommended Reading
JM: Rickles Book by Don Rickles. Every chapter is just two pages long and the whole time he is setting you up for the punchline!
Nileism: The Strange Course of The Blue Nile by Allan Brown and The Disposable Skateboard Bible by Sean Cliver.
Ideal Environment for Hearing the New Zig Zags Album
JM: I think a van is cool or just driving in general. I think work is good too cause there is some funny shit on there that will help alleviate the stress and also some like smash stuff shit where when you get outta work you’re all like “fuck yea I can handle this shit just need some beer and cigarettes and turn it up!”
PM: Ideally, the album dubbed over your sister's INXS Kick tape, blasting from a boombox while you drink Schlitz and canoe on a lake in the year 1987. Either by yourself or with a group of 1-4 people.
One Record Everyone Should Own
JM: Love's Forever Changes
PM: Godley & Creme Cry 12" single.
Favorite Record Store
JM: Permanent Records!
PM: Permanent Records, Los Angeles.
Favorite Professional Wrestler
JM: I used to really like the Great Muta when I was a kid. He would spit this green mist in the other wrestlers' faces. Now most of the dudes are pretty boring. I still subscribe to WWE Network though. It’s a good deal.
PM: For weirdness alone, I.R.S.! The dude was some buff accountant who had serious beef with the Undertaker.
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The Dishrags: Three [Supreme Echo]
If you don't know already, it's time to familiarize yourself with the Dishrags. They were an all-female punk trio from Vancouver who opened for the Clash and Ramones. They never released a full-length, but this collection of unreleased recordings from 1978-1979 shows a band that deserved a lot more attention than what they initially got. In addition to the comp's 14 unreleased tracks, it comes with their first single and a few rare tracks that appeared on other compilations. If you want to learn more about the band's history, you can consult the 16-page booklet that's packaged with the LP.