Fleshies

The Fleshies burst out of a grimy rehearsal room in Oakland, California, during 1999. Johnny No Moniker supplied the banshee vocals while leading Vonny Bon Bons on bass, Mattowar on guitar, and Hamiltron on drums; the quartet favored onstage chaos, fueled by alcohol and massive volume, over conventional songwriting. Persistent live dates gradually sharpened their sleazy art punk without tempering the disorder, allowing coherent material to surface inside the high-octane clamor. They issued tracks on assorted compilations and split 7"s amid constant touring, yet their first proper album, Kill the Dreamer's Dream, did not appear until summer 2001 on Alternative Tentacles. A 10" picture disc on Adeline arrived soon after, each release sustained by the same relentless, unhinged performances. Early 2003 brought a return to Alternative Tentacles with The Sicilian, whose typically deadpan titles, among them "Maelstrom of Whirling Bullshit" and "This Is the City Where All the Dirty Assholes Are Safe," confirmed that little had shifted, though the record offered a denser rendering of the band's unhinged garage punk mixture. Guitarist Yvan Kawecki joined at some point during these years; in early 2004, after completing 133 shows in 131 days, the group recruited bassist Brian Plaskett to replace Bon Bons. Before turning to a new studio effort they intended to refine over months rather than rush through in a single week, the B-sides collection Gung Ho! surfaced on Life Is Abuse Records. A year and a half spent inside Hamiltron's Oakland facility yielded Scrape the Walls, which Alternative Tentacles released in June 2006.