Tesco Vee’s Hate Police - Gonzo-Hate-Vibe Review
Posted by Jesse Coy on 02.26.2008
A punk original and master satirist in the midst of a reissue campaign... the Hate Police are out to get you, and there's nothing you can do.
Tesco Vee’s Hate Police Gonzo-Hate-Vibe
Late 2007
Meat King Records
So I’m a little slow on this one, just because I was poking around the dim corners of Central America for a couple months, getting one more trip in before I scoot on over to Korea for a couple years. Anyhow, this very much ties into one of my end-of-the-year Notes from a Padded Cell columns, which involved very expensive, difficult to obtain albums. Releases by the Meatmen and Tesco Vee (Meatmen vocalist) were always hard to come by. Researching some of these difficult to get CD’s, though, I discovered that not only had this one been re-released, but plans were/are in motion to re-release several Meatmen releases that have long since gone out of print.
So I emailed Tesco Vee, and happily, got a reply, and a press copy of Gonzo-Hate-Vibe was sent. Happily, why? Happily, because if you’re sick of dull, watered down, phoo-phoo crap, and remember a time when some music had balls, then this re-release, and the upcoming re-releases of other Meatmen CD’s are just what you're be looking for.
First of all, Tesco Vee is no late arrival on the punk scene. Forming the Meatmen in 1980 in Michigan (home of Iggy Pop and MC5), here was a punk act crass, sarcastic, and unapologetic, rumbling through a set of tunes as un-PC as you can get. But like all excellent punk acts, there’s a point. Tesco himself was also a co-founder of Touch and Go Records. That might have some relevance here. As far as I understand it, he’s taken control of some material released under the banner of both the Meatmen and Tesco Vee’s Hate Police from some record labels long since defunct, and is helming this reissue push. For more info or to order or for news… there’s www.tecovee.com.
I threw that out there, because that’s the best place where you’d get this release… direct from the source. What a great model, too! As far as I’m concerned, the music industry is entering a new and uncertain phase, and the notion of bands, be they new or established, taking control of their material is a great idea. And it’s happening here and there already (Cake, who I interviewed this past summer, is going that route) (I’m going off on a tangent, though… Cake and Tesco Vee?… maybe not a good match-up).
So if you’re unfamiliar with the Meatmen or Tesco Vee’s Hate Police, how would I best describe them? Please, Tesco, don’t grill me on an open spit here… but just by vague comparison, I’d say that maybe you’d think of a musical act in the spirit of Fear, Gwar, Iggy Pop, S.O.D., and Mojo Nixon. The Meatmen started out pure bash-in-the-mouth punk, but if you have or pick up Stud Powercock: The Touch and Go Years 1981-1984, you’ll see that in later tracks, the band evolved. If they wanted to spoof or make fun of a genre (i.e., see “Wine, Wenches, and Wheels”), they did a pretty good job of sounding like the genre they were making fun of.
Basically, they became as musically interesting as they were hilarious and overly crass. To give you an idea of extreme un-PC, what sort of band would write a track about the Beatles called “1 Down and 3 to Go” or “Crippled Children Suck”? What sort of band? The Meatmen would.
Now that I’m done with the back story, let me throw a few words out specifically about this release (and to me, the back story of this one is a better tease than actually doing some crap, track-by-track analysis). Want some new extreme un-PC tracks? Gonzo-Hate-Vibe has them. Think “Vegetarian on a Stick,” “I Club Baby Seals,” and “Die Foreign Scum” (certainly on par with and from a similar era as S.O.D.’s “Speak English or Die”). Mr. Halford might not be happy over “Judas Priest My Ass Hurts,” but it’s goddamn funny very time I hear it, to say nothing for a surreal cover of “Losing My Religion.”
I’m a huge industrial fan, but “Nothing At All” has Tesco mimicking a genre to a tee, while blasting a bazooka hole through it. “Fuckin’ the Dough”? You will never eat pizza again without at least a couple reservations. And then there’s “Mom Vs. Tesco,” sort of the perfect track of poking fun at one’s self, which Gwar is great at (and by the way, half the reason I threw Gwar in as a comparison… if you like a punk core with a wide range of experimentation… that’s what pulls me toward Tesco’s material, on top of the over-the-top satire).
Hate’s back in style… at least with Tesco Vee’s Hate Police. Oh, god... what a lame ending to a review. Goddamn, I need some more brandy in my friggin' coffee!
The 411: Skittish about some real raunch or a bath in crass? Come on... reconnect with those balls of yours. At 30 tracks, even if there are a few misses, the hits are quite plentiful. This one has a lot of bang-for-the-buck, and will have you laughing your ass off at times.
