Miners Of Muzo "Apogee" 1985***

Believe it or not, there used to be a time before internet. For information on music, records etc. we used to depend on books, magazines, radio, and friends. Another source was the liner notes on records. It was around 1990 that I learned from the insert of Music Maniac's Gimmick compilation (more about that LP on another post) the complete discography of The Miners Of Muzo. I already had their two albums which were available locally (one by Music Maniac and one released by a Greek label) but it turned out there were two others that were impossible to locate. I remember asking about them at the back room of the 7+7 record shop in Monastiraki. The clerk, who was not just any clerk but a member of local garage heroes Sound Explosion, told me he had the albums on tape, and that the only person he knew who owned the actual records was Grigoris Vaios, a famous Athenian rock DJ who worked at the same store - much later I found out that Vaios was also co-founder of the Wipe-Out label and a big record collector (according to this article he owns 20.000 LP's and 14.000 CD's - mostly garage and psychedelia). I later acquired both these albums (Dig Deeper for... and Apogee) for a relatively steep price: Apogee cost me around 4000 drachmas, which is a mere €13 nowadays, but was at the time a big deal: half a day's wage. Both these albums can be obtained cheaper on discogs now, but as I said before... no internet back then, finding a record meant a lot of physical searching - but then, the joy of finding it...OMG!

The clerk at 7+7 was enthusiastic about Dig Deeper and less so about Apogee, although he did like the title song and the cover of "Signed D.C." Of course his band (Sound Explosion) had always been strict 60's purists, and Dig Deeper had a straight Nuggets-style garage sound which would naturally appeal to him. Apogee on the other hand caught the band during the transformation from a Birthday Party-like noise/new wave band to melodic garage rockers. By no means mere 60's revivalists, this Dutch band from Tilburg are more in sync with Californian paisley underground (Dream Syndicate, Green On Red) and Australian punk (Radio Birdman, Lime Spiders, Beasts Of Bourbon). The album opens with the electrifying hi-energy rocker "Arson Baby" and closes with a hard rockin' cover of Alex Harvey's "Midnight Moses". In between there's some noisier psychobilly ("Lil' Black Voodoo Doll", "Who Do You Love"), psycho/goth talking blues ("Lou Ann"), and an emotive cover of Love's "Signed D.C." "I'm The Gun" sounds a lot like certain mid-tempo Stooges tunes. The remaining tracks also happen to be my favorites in this LP: fast guitar-driven rockers, with nice use of organ and saxophone, and catchy choruses with vocal harmonies. I often catch myself singing along to "The Apogee Of Love" and "My Heart My Home", always a good sign. The Miners have a CD compilation called About Time which is a perfect starting point for anyone who wants to get into this band. Apogee, as well as their other albums (to be presented here in the future), is inessential but certainly recommended for fans of 80's garage/alternative sound. They haven't been very active since the mid-90's, although they've recently reappeared with a new CD and some sporadic gigs here in Holland. If I can, I'll catch them live sometime, and I'll be sure to share my impressions and a few photos of the event.

**** for Arson Baby, Over & Done, The Apogee Of Love, Come On, My Heart My Home, Signed D.C.

*** for Who Do You Love, I'm The Gun, Lil' Black Voodoo Doll, Midnight Moses

** for Lou Ann