Ghetto Ghouls

Ghetto Ghouls

Collisions

Monofonus Press

Following last year’s internet-ally acclaimed debut and 12XU 7” here is the second full length from these Austin treble addicts. Pitchfork, Noisey, WFMU, Adhoc, Impose, etc., etc., loved the first one and this record is better. Drummer Ian Rundell is turning into one of Austin’s best recording engineers and front man Corey Anderson is remaining one of the best song writers in town. The other two dudes are alright too.

Ghetto Ghouls

Plastic Violence

12xu

***Would it be fair to say Austin’s THESE ARE WORDS decided to lay down a gauntlet of one sort or another when they changed their name to the decidedly more malevolent GHETTO GHOULS—-culled from the old lady-stomping street gang in The Exterminator (1980, dir - James Glickenhaus). Actually, it would be a colossal reach, the sort persons like yourself make on a daily basis, I reckon. Fresh off a widely acclaimed debut LP for Austin’s Monofonus Press, Ghetto Ghouls have been likened to such regional predecessors as Bobby Soxx or The Dicks, but there’s echoes of X-Blank-X or Live At The Witch Trails-era Fall in their staggery swagger (especially if you play an old Fall record at the bottom of a well while listening to Ghetto Ghouls up above). In a town where the best gigs often straddle the line between parties and disasters, a ridiculously high percentage of those shows seem to occur with this quartet right in the middle of the action. This 7” couples a pair of songs from the s/t LP sessions that either represent 12XU getting the cream of the crop or the goddamn leftovers. Think very carefully before you decide which of those two scenarios is most likely, because I’ve got a looooooong fucking memory. RIYL : getting beer spilled on you, people not apologizing for spilling beer.

Ghetto Ghouls

S/t

Monofonus Press

The name GHETTO GHOULS comes from a street gang that steals beer and beats up old ladies in the criminally underrated Vietnam-vet vigilante film The Exterminator. While not exactly a street gang by day, they are: a handy man, a college geography assistant, a sound guy, and a student. At night they wield the torch of sloppy ‘80s noisy Texas punk like The Dicks, Stick Men with Ray Guns, and Scratch Acid. Ghetto Ghouls work with a drunken urgency best summed up by the fact that the entire self titled album was recorded in 4 hours. All the vocals are live, and there is only one overdub (a background vocal) on the whole thing. The sloppy yet tight sound comes from the fact that three of the four have played in a band together since they were 14 years old. They met fourth member GARRETT at Beerland where two of them work. Inside the cinder blocks of Beerland the Ghetto Ghouls have grown into one of the best punk bands in Austin. In an over saturated landscape of ‘70s worshipping garage bands a stripped down texas punk band like this is most definitely needed