Alcohol Funnycar - singles, etc

I'm tempted to say that Seattle's sorely overlooked Alcohol Funnycar were a once-in-a-lifetime discovery, but they weren't. More accurately, they elicited a visceral reaction in me in the summer of 1993, that so rarely happens today, to me anyway. During their brief early-to-mid-90s tenure, this phenomenal trio led by guitar wielding vocalist Ben London, Alcohol Funnycar could have jockeyed for a place in the grunge limelight, but instead of wallowing in swampy demi-metal, they opted for pop-punk instead. A particularly ass-kicking stain thereof in fact, enough to grind the likes of Green Day and The Offspring into kitty litter. Residing on the respectable and relatively well-distributed Seattle imprint, C/Z Records, it was AF's debut ep, Burn, that first grabbed ahold of my eardrums and never let go. With slicing, incisive, and utterly melodic piledrivers like "Aggravation," and "Time," I had found nirvana, even though it was technically three or four years since I had found, uh, Nirvana (get it?). Tracking down the first two Alochol Funnycar singles that predated Burn was more than worth the effort. Their debut wax, "Pretense" b/w "Drive by" on Rathouse Records may not have nailed the penetrating hooks of their releases to come, it was a lovingly bruising warm up nonetheless. The single's tool-head sleeve, depicted to the side of this text, is as priceless as the tunes enshrined within.

Their second offering came courtesy of yet another another obscuro Seattle label, New Rage Records. The A-side, "All About It," is an early version of another blistering powerhouse in the Alcohol Funnycar oeuvre, which would later appear on the band's full-length debut, Time to Make the Donuts. It's backed by none other than a fervent take of Killing Joke's debut album favorite "Complications." Pure gold my friends. I'm rounding out this brief upload with Funnycar's contribution to the C/Z four-band comp 7" Four on the Floor from 1993, a well as "Fistfight With a Billygoat," a fun, riff-rocking hoedown that appeared on the Rathouse Records Power Flush compilation album of the same period.

Alcohol Funnycar dropped their second and final lp, Weasels, in 1995, a more serious effort inspired by the loss of tragically murdered Gits front-woman Mia Zapata. Ben London when onto a much mellower solo project, Sanford Arms after Funnycar disbanded.

Tracks:

01. Pretense (1st 7'')
02. Drive By (1st 7'')
03. All About It (2nd 7'')
04. Complications (2nd 7'')
05. Push (Four on the Floor comp)
06. Fistfight With a Billygoat (Power Flush comp)

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