By now, you know that I like bass, drums, and guitar – so here is a band featuring bass, drums, and guitar. The band? Volcano Suns. Are they new? No. Do you know them? Maybe. Who are Volcano Suns? They are Peter Prescott’s post Mission of Burma band, and frankly, I prefer them to their predecessor. They sound like. . . well, Volcano Suns. The music is heavy, full of energy and, at times, silly, both lyrically and musically.
Last week, I rediscovered my CD copy of Volcano Suns’ swan song album, Career in Rock (1991) on Quarterstick Records. This led me to search for a digital copy of their debut album The Bright Orange Years (1985), which has been out of print for decades. To my surprise, both The Bright Orange Years and All Night Lotus Party (1986) became available in digital format, remastered by Bob Weston just two years ago on Merge Records. I found these reissues via IndyWeek which also had a nice write up regarding the band and the reissues.
I think that Volcano Suns would be more widely known today had they managed to avoid the hardcore label. Overall, their music has too little screaming and too much structure, and melody, to fit any reasonable definition of hardcore. The equally ridiculous labels of post-hardcore and/or post-post punk, don’t really mean much either. Me, I’m going with rock.
Click here to download Volcano Suns – ”Jak” from The Bright Orange Years
Click here to download Volcano Suns – “Blue Rib” from Career in Rock
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