Thin White Rope

Thin White Rope, how it all began ...

2009-02-03T10:50:00.000+01:00

I was just thinking about the very first time I had the chance to listen Thin White Rope ...

I guess it was circa 1994 when I got a cassette mix-tape (do you remember?) from my cousin, whose last "filler" track was a TWR song .... I think Hidden Lands off Sack full of Silver album. After listening to it, I immediately asked him what band was it and 2 weeks later I had the whole discography (... more or less) .

I was really impressed by SFOS, both music and lyrics, especially The Triangle Song, and I listened to it for a long period before paying more attention the other albums...and that was the beginning .
Definitely a sweet addiction.

Unfortunately I've never seen Thin White Rope live, but my copy of The Axis Calls video really helps... :)

This is how it all started for me...now what about you ?!?!

2 more bands join "Hidden Desert" tribute

2008-04-04T13:59:00.003+02:00

Italy provides two more bands to the "Hidden Desert" tribute:
SUX! cover "Clown Song" and The T.N.T. give us another version of "Down in the Desert".

These songs, as well as previous ones, are freely downloadable from the official tribute website

Go check 'em out & spread the word !!!

Hidden Desert : A Tribute to Thin White Rope

2008-04-04T08:00:00.001+02:00

Thanks to the effort of ThinWhiteRopeFanPage , the project of a Thin White Rope on-line tribute has become reality!

The tribute has a dedicated website and a myspace profile

These are the bands supporting the project:

In Una Notte di Chiaro di Luna by Graves Brothers Deluxe (USA)
Sack Full of Silver by L. Cedeño (USA)
Astronomy by The Desperate Ones (UK)
Down In The Desert by Tona (Serbia)
Down In The Desert by The T.N.T. (Italy) NEW!
On The Floe by Maekkelä's Trash Lounge (Germany)
Up To Midnight by Chris C & Swingin Danglers (Belgium)
Triangles by Musical Buzzino (Italy)
Hidden Lands by Saltflat (UK)
Red Sun by No Man's Land (Greece)
Mr. Limpet by Les Hommes Sauvages
Timing by Trent Miller & Skeleton Jive (UK)
Disney Girl by Van Cleef Continental (Italy)
Clown Song by SUX! (Italy) NEW!

You can listen & download the songs from the official tribute site.

All interested bands can still join the project by contacting the mighty George at ThinWhiteRopeFanPage on Myspace

... by the way ... the news is also featured on Frontier Records official website ;)

Thin White Rope reunion ?

2007-12-04T09:10:00.000+01:00

... I was just wondering if TWR fans would like to see the band back together...maybe for a reunion tour (or a brand new album?) or think that the "magic" and uniqueness of those years should be left untouched in memories ...

Let's see what you think about it! Use the box on top right of this blog to cast your vote!

Thin White Rope & Italy!

2007-11-12T10:40:00.000+01:00

ML Compton gives us 2 stories of TWR and their experience in Italy

Here they are:
Thin White Rope and the Dandy Italian
A Visit From The Thin White Rope Italians

Thin White Rope tribute - A Video

2007-07-02T09:10:00.000+02:00

Tona released a video of the "Down In The Desert" cover made for Hidden Desert

Thin White Rope and Germany

2007-06-25T11:50:00.000+02:00

Go check out another story by ML ;)

Thin White Rope & Covers

2007-05-21T08:46:00.000+02:00

ML Compton gives us another interesting article :)
This one's about the covers that the band used to play.

I was surprised reading that the also played a song of one of my favorite band...Black Sabbath's Paranoid...and they also considered covering Into The Void.
Wow! ;)

Thin White Rope in Italy pt.I by ML Compton

2007-04-11T08:39:00.000+02:00

Thin White Rope's first trip to Europe caught us all by surprise. We were in the midst of an American tour for "Moonhead" when I got the call from our record label. An Italian booking agent, Paulo, had called and wanted the band to come to Italy for a week's worth of dates. He said that he would pay for our flights, our hotels and all meals. All we had to do was come over there. We thought he was crazy. We were having problems getting people in our own country to come out and see the band live. Why did he think that people in another country would care?

Thin White Rope Videos

2007-03-29T10:39:00.000+02:00

Here's a listing of the videos featured on YouTube:

Official Frontier Records Videos
Red Sun Video
Hidden Lands Video
Valley of The Bones

Live, Davis, CA 1988
Mr. Limpet
Hidden Lands
Elsie Crashed The Party
Crawl, Piss, Freeze
Come Around+It's OK
Take It Home

Live, Davis, CA 1991
Some Velvet Morning
Some Velvet Morning + Mr. Limpet (part.)

Misc
Thin White Rope - weird blues (2 takes) & misc clips 1987

credits: angrylambie + SupremeLoveGod

Davis, Ca music scene on Yahoo Groups

2007-03-26T14:38:00.000+02:00

The ultra-active Robert Toren has also set up a yahoo group dedicated to the Davis music scene in the 80's.
You can check out it at launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/davis80music and contribute with all type of materials!

The group obviously features information on Thin White Rope ... and in fact one of the latest stories is about the formation of the band and is written by TWR drummer Joe Becker.
You can also find the story on Robert's myspace blog ;)

Thin White Rope and Scandinavian Short Stories by ML Compton

2007-03-20T08:44:00.000+01:00

Thin White Rope and Scandinavian Short Stories

Thin White Rope - Another TWR story by ML Compton

2007-02-27T09:36:00.000+01:00

Check out ML Compton blog to read "Thin White Rope and the Face Of Death" !

"... This week I've decided its time for another story about touring life with Thin White Rope. This is a story about looking death in the face and living through it, although we really didn't know it at the time.
There were three times I can remember that the band and I almost bit the big one while on the road... " more ...

As usual...thanks ML

Thin White Rope - Memories by ML Compton

2007-01-30T12:16:00.000+01:00

"The guys in Thin White Rope were a heavy drinking bunch. I was not as much, but I did reserve the right to tie one at least once a month or so. I have lots of stories of drinking and drunkenness, but this is possibly the worst I've ever been involved in."

This is how ML Compton starts off his long and awesome post titled "Thin White Rope and the Georgian dinner party" about the experiences with the band during the 1988 Russian Tour.

Definitely... a must-read for all TWR fans.

Thin White Rope Fans Worldwide

2007-01-16T11:41:00.000+01:00

Thin White Rope Gig Posters

2007-01-16T08:50:00.000+01:00

Davis 80s music posted three Thin White Rope gig posters, provided by ML Compton ... and there are more to come!

If you have any material regarding the Davis music scene and Thin White Rope, please contact Robert.

Thin White Rope - Best Album

2006-12-20T13:41:00.000+01:00

Thin White Rope Cover Artworks

2006-12-12T14:13:00.000+01:00

"The Ruby Sea" artwork explanation by Clay Babcock

"In The Spanish Cave" artwork by Stephen Blickenstaff

"Squatter's Rights" & "Spoor" by Joe Sacco

"Moonhead" by Greg Gavin

University of Davis, Ca.

2006-12-12T14:12:00.000+01:00

Guy's listed at Plant Sciences Dept.
TWR at daviswiki

The Axis Calls DVD Available

2006-12-12T14:09:00.000+01:00

On Frontier Records website it is possible to order the DVD-R version of the legendary Thin White Rope "The Final Tour - The Axis Calls" movie.

As reported by Frontier website, the movie was

"shot by Thin White Rope's drummer Matt Abourezk, this is the final testament to one of the great American guitar bands. Culled from the band's final two-week European tour, these performances are both awe-inspiring and depressing when you realize you'll see the band no more.

Available on NTSC DVD-R in case for $12. Please note that this is not a commercially manufactured DVD. It's a DVD-R that we made from the original VHS. It looks good, but it's not 100% pure DVD quality.
Prices include postage (yes, even to international addresses)!"

Mummydogs

2006-12-12T14:08:00.000+01:00

Mummydogs (feat. Guy Kyser)

Thin White Rope & Movies

2006-12-12T14:05:00.000+01:00

Thin White Rope were featured in Lina Wertmuller movie soundtrack "In Una Notte di Chiaro di Luna" (1989) with the closing theme song .

It actually involved Guy on the vocals and in writing the lyrics for a music made by the Italian band Avion Travel

The song was then re-recorded by Thin White Rope for "Squatter's Rights" EP (1991) as instrumental track titled "Film Theme".

ML Compton (former TWR tour manager) reports some very interesting details in this thread on the old twr-list.

He also refers to a previous movie shot in Bologna/Italy that involved Thin White Rope ...
"...I don't remember the name of the first one. It was some sort of youth comedy staring some sort of
young female star at the time. Towards the end, there is a big concert scene in Bologna and TWR plays "Red Sun" in that scene. We didn't do it live, we just mimed to the record. An Italian friend and I pretend that we're playing the trumpets..."

The Graves Brothers Deluxe

2006-12-12T13:49:00.000+01:00

Bela Lugosi and Elvis Presley both died on Stoo Odom's birthday. (This is true.)
The GRAVES BROTHERS DELUXE, disembodied musical spirits from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, thus chose Odom eagerly when looking for host bodies to express themselves. New Orleans native/ bassist/ vocalist/ recovering archaeologist Odom shares the current possessée duties with San Franciscans Willy theMailman and Marco Villalobos. Host bodies of the GRAVES BROTHERS DELUXE have put in time with THIN WHITE ROPE, the RESIDENTS, SUBARACHNOID SPACE, the STUMPGRINDERS, GRANDADDY, and the late NOEL REDDING (yeah, him).

Based in San Francisco, the GRAVES BROTHERS DELUXE have released three albums and various singles since their formation in 1998, leading them on multiple tours through Spain, Mexico, and the USA, including international radio & TV appearances.

The Graves Brothers Deluxe (myspace)
Stoo Odom
Jozef Becker
Roger Kunkel

Acme Rocket Quartet

2006-12-12T13:48:00.000+01:00

feat. Roger Kunkel

Acme Rocket Quartet formed in 1993 following the expiration of guitarist Roger Kunkel's previous band Thin White Rope. Steve Edberg played drums and provided a living room for "rehearsal". Dave Thompson played bass. Improvised jams became themes/songs that usually were loosely refered to during gigs. The music was instrumental and "wacky" drawing from diverse sources inluding Raymond Scott, 60s film soundtracks, Django Reinhardt, Miles Davis, Hiest movies and Lounge music. During the recording of their self titled debut (1995/6) John Killebrew began regular duties on trumpet. Later he would purchase a Rhodes and play that too. After recording basic tracks on Ultra-High-Frequency (1998) Steve de-acme-vated himself. Rusi Gustafson became drummer for the less frequently playing quartet from 1999 through the final recording, Sound Camera (2004).

Links:
Official site
Lather Records
AcMeRoCkeTqUArTetrEviEWs
emusic.com
www.nokilli.com/inbred/bands/acme-rocket-quartet.htm

Davis, Ca. 80's music scene

2006-12-11T14:12:00.001+01:00

If you want to know more about the prolific music scene that started in Davis,Ca. in early 80's and gave birth also to Thin White Rope, check out davis80smusic.com!

The site features a brief history of the local scene, photos, flyers and many interesting information. Its purpose is in fact to

"... organize photographs, flyers, links, and other artifacts from that scene into a coherent picture.
I'm optimistic that this site can provide a sense of the scene to those who were not there and a trove of musical and personal memories for those who were."

Robert, the webmaster has also set up a myspace page and a collection of Thin White Rope videos on youtube ;)