Album Notes

Welcome to the Funhouse Comp Thing II.
Like the first one, this is a compilation of un-released tracks by bands who have played the Funhouse, the little Seattle night club that could.

This time around I tricked some of the bands who ducked out of volume 1 into being on this one. When I first started booking shows (at a joint called Gibsons) my favorite bands to do shows with were The Spits, A-Frames & The Briefs, so having those folks be a part of this comp has been pretty important to me. And while The Briefs are not on here, Steve E. Nix (the cute Brief) was nice enough to let me use a Cute Lepers track.
So ha ha, I got you guys!

Most of these bands are from Seattle. There's also bands from other Pacific NW areas like the Tri-Cities, Vancouver BC, Tacoma, one band from California, and 8 acts from Oregon - including a track recorded live at a Funhouse show by The Pierced Arrows, Fred & Toody Coles post Dead Moon Band. The Strap Straps were recorded live on my radio show Sonic Reducer (listen Saturday nights in Seattle on 90.3fm or online anytime at kexp.org). For international flair we've included Australia's Digger & the Pussycats, who played an amazing set when they toured though Seattle in 2007.

All these bands are excellent & have some interesting stories to tell, so please look them up on the interweb & see what ya been missing.

Did you know Aaiiee played their first show in 1981 w/ The U-men & The Fastbacks and they're still together today? Also, their name is an unpronounceable symbol, so Aaiiee is the closest spelling.

Ain't rock and roll a hoot?

Brian Foss

**REVIEWS****REVIEWS****REVIEWS****REVIEWS****REVIEWS**

RAZOR CAKE #45

http://www.razorcake.org/

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Funhouse Comp Thing II: 2X CD
Let me put this as plainly as possible: this collection, and its predecessor, gives me hope for the world. It’s no secret that the compilation disc, once an essential piece of the punk rock arsenal that provided a snapshot of the efforts of entire punk communities the world over, has been systematically co-opted and rendered wretched by labels who found it was a nice ’n’ cost-effective way to peddle their wares by featuring crap songs by crap bands. These days, the lion’s share of compilations is a chore, at best, to slog through. These Funhouse comps are different. Put together by someone who either remembers or rediscovered the compilation’s original intent, they feature bands that have played a little club across from Seattle’s Space Needle called, interestingly enough, The Funhouse. Due to its location in the Pacific Northwest, the bulk of bands representing are from that area (with a few nods to California, Canada, and other continents) and this time ’round you get two discs with fifty bands serving up Hurricane omelet-sized helpings of grade-A punk rock in myriad form, courtesy of the Spits, Bill Collectors, A-Frames, Cute Lepers, The Heels, TacocaT, Paper Dolls, Teenage Harlets, Reptilian Civilian, and oodles of others. One is hard-pressed to find a lousy track in here anywhere, and if punk rock ain’t a staple of your local radio station, this serves as a faboo alternate means of punishing your speakers. A hoot, this is, through and through. –Jimmy Alvarado (www.thefunhouseseattle.com)

TERMINAL BOREDOM

http://www.terminal-boredom.com/reviews20.html

V/A "The Funhouse Comp Thing II" 2XCD
The Funhouse is Seattle's longest standing punk rock club, home to more than a few killer shows I imagine, and this is their second compilation as a sampler of bands that have hit their stage, both locals and others. I bought many a comp in my younger years for the obvious reason of getting a lot of bang for my buck, and played the shit out of many a Crypt/Estrus/Bomp sampler. Somewhere along the line the comp fell out of favor it seems, the most likely reason being it's tough to do a good one these days. You end up with a lot of throwaway cuts or repeats from other releases or whatever. You just don't see a lot of good ones anymore. This massive 50 song double disc set is a welcome exception, due in most part to very good to great (mostly) unreleased tracks from critical darlings such as The Intelligence ("Partman Parthorse"), A-Frames (the minimal "Primitive Life"), The Spits, Coconut Coolouts, Artificial Limbs, Pierced Arrows (a live "The Wait"), and a pre-name change Pyramids ("Switch", maybe the best cut here). Plus a peek at unheard-to-me bands like Rob Vasquez's new outfit Nice Smile, lovely post-twee girly nonsense from The Snacks, the sub-Riot Grrl joke(?) TacocaT, a double shot of Reptilian Civilian, swell Makers/Baseball Furies/Candy Snatchers style garage rock from bands like Bill Collectors, Pist'uns, Teenage Harlets and weirdpunk from Partman Parthorse, The Leaders, Le Shat Noir, Strap Strap and others. Other notables: the legendary Johnny Vinyl's outfit Aaiiee!! contribute a good cut, our old pal Zack Static resurfaces with the Zack Static Sect and who knew the Stuck-Ups (good) and RC5 (bad) were still around. There's enough good here that you can overlook appearances by Cute Lepers, The Girls, Paper Dolls and Anxieties and the expectedly bad few tracks of Pac-NW boogie rock. 50 tracks is a shit-ton, and the first disc is far superior to the second, but at least 70% of this thing is worth hearing, and at $12 that's like a quarter a song. Not a bad deal, and good for the car or if you're lazy and do a radio show.(RK)

JERSEY BEAT

http://www.jerseybeat.com/its-time-to-party.html

This compilation is one of which that is much more than just music, it also yields a story to tell. The story in this case expressed on two compact discs is that of the Seattle, Washington punk rock n roll music scene. The Funhouse is a small venue / night club in Seattle where many of the area’s greatest acts have graced its stage. These two discs are jammed packed with unreleased tracks of some of these bands who have had the opportunity to pass through the venue and leave its inhabitants with a feeling of camaraderie and a feeling of belonging. Since this is the story of the Seattle area of course some of these punk tracks are sprinkled with grunge goodies and bring Seattle its fathering sound. However with any compilation you will of course get stuck with plenty of undesirable tracks specially when there are fifty of them to go through, however this comp is also packed with gems such as tracks from The Anxieties and The Cute Lepers, both appearing on disc number two. Buy this comp and learn about some cool bands from the area and the history surrounding it.

BLANK POINT

http://www.sicthings.com/funhouse.htm

I have a simple question for you: Do you dig the rock?

The second compilation documenting bands that have played Seattle's The Funhouse is filled to the brim with The Rock. Punk, garage(y), noise(y), crazed "stuff" (as Funhouse booker and CD curator Brian F calls it).. you know ROCK. If you have even a passing interest in said rocking you should pick up this comp.

First off, it's cheap. For $12 you get 50 (fifty) songs (all by different bands). That's like less than a quarter a song. Secondly, the packaging is great, it fits the contents and the club. It also looks good next to your copy of the first The Funhouse Comp (which you might as well pull out and listened to).

But you don't care about that, do you (ok, you probably care about the cost)? What you want to know is: HOW MAY OF THESE SONGS SUCK ASS?

None.

That's right, none. There are some songs on here that are better than others, there are those that make me jump up and say "HELL YES" and there are those that make me say "Not bad at-all", but there isn't one on here that makes me groan and press the Skip-This-Shit-Button. That's a hell of a recommendation on most comps (and I can't remember the last time I said that about one) but even more so on a big ol' double disc like this one.

True I'm likely to dig this set as the collection has some of my fav local bands on it: Le Shat Noir, Coconut Coolouts, Intelligence (doing a song called "Partman Parthorse"), Partman Parthorse (not doing a song called "Intelligence"), RC5, A-Frames, Space Cretins, Warning: Danger... but it's Reptilian Civilian who manage to have the best track on here: "Evil Basket Weaver". This is just a weird, wonderful track that makes me jump up & down on the couch squealing along. Well done.

The shear number of songs makes this a fun collection to dig through. Grab a trowel and start excavating the Funhouse...

THRASHER August 2008

The Funhouse is a Seattle punk rock institution, a long-running bar where the best local and touring bands play (and shoot baskets in the back), as well as some of the worst. A second Funhouse compilation is out with 50 songs on two CDs, and there's tons of gems: the Spits, Pierced Arrows, A-Frames, Toe Tag, Cute Lepers, the RC5, and dozens of other bands you may or may not have heard of.
Best cover: The Coconut Coolouts doing Head's "Tireshredding." Best band name: Le Shat Noir...
(Wez Lundry)