Introducing The Mismiths ! Suffer Little Children In Heat
Manchester meets Misfits. If you love the Misfits check out this meaty tribute. https://meatsheetfanzine.com/misfits-samhain-danzig/ Additionally another intriguing band featured on Axe To Grind podcast is SoulBlind. Heavens know, if you’re miserable now, read on and get happy you silly fiends.
Mismiths are as you may have guessed a band in which the Misfits meet The Smiths. This causes many questions to pop up. These two alternative realities exist separately but what about a dimension where they collide?
What if in this reality Lodi , New Jersey was a village, town, or County in Great Britain?
Halloween everyday? Given Morrissey’s lyrical content in Smiths, merged with the horror/goth moods of Misfits, it doesn’t seem as far fetched now does it?
First let me qualify I am a moderately casual fan of the Smiths / Morrissey. I am not a super fan but I do have some favorite songs and I view them as a classic 80’s alternative band. I am a bigger Misfits fan of Glenn Danzig material only. Everything else (Graves and onward) is pale goth rocker in comparison.
Musically it sounds very much more leaning towards the Smiths overall. In fact ” The Show Has Been Cancelled” is a tongue in cheek jab at Morrissey himself in title. The music is convincingly like the Smiths. It’s smooth and the vocals are disarmingly similar to as Rollins would say “The Mo Man” Watch video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f846Tlqkrxk
Can you imagine someone sounding like The Smiths in Misfits corpse paint crooning like Morrissey?
Fans throwing flowers on the stage ? (Allegedly this happens at Morrissey shows, I wouldn’t know. He cancels so many and I stay far away from that scene although I admire some of his tunes). This song is a damn solid attempt to sound like The Smiths, it took me off guard. It made me forget they’re pokin fun at Morrissey Another video – complete with bouquet here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L94fdpVF3t8
Some of the punk material (Deathrider, Screaming Like A Banshee) feels like a blend of Michael Graves / Danzig / and Smiths. It’s catchy and amusing. The prerequisite being is that you have heard the projects that Mismiths are mocking and / or paying hormage to. At least if you have listened, you have insight to the direction Mismiths are going. Editor note: Hormage is my term of meaty homage.
In the same vein as “Highway Horror” and “Everyday Is like Halloween” , “Quaranfiend ” pays more hormage to Misfits than the Smiths in a non ironic, amusing way. They really are seemingly charming men. Mismiths know how to amuse, entertain and balance on the tightrope between both bands.
Moreover there is creative genius as they chose how to reference both bands visually and sonically. A bold move considering Glenn Danzig and Morrissey tend to be highly reactive towards anyone referencing their visuals (Danzig’s stolen skulls, specifically Samhain and Crimson Ghost) and Morrissey blasting the Simpsons for lampooning him. If you are fans of one or both you can see the irony how Danzig sends cease and desist letters to people who appropriate his stolen logo art. Likewise Morrissey takes himself so seriously that he feels the he should retaliate against the Simpsons. Where do Mismiths come in? They simply provide some good old DIY alternative parody music.
This is hands and feet above bands and people trying to do a half ass tribute. They got their shit to – gether. I mean that earnestly. Mismiths are of the quality of the band The Upper Crust . A band who deliver comedic music and go above and beyond to get the audience captivated and entertained. Imagine you are at a fest and it’s one punk band after another and then Mismith’s play. They stand out from the other bands if nothing else. It’s great fun. I can say I’d be more than happy to see them play live.
They are providing some light heartedness in a serious , heavy time. I hope that they are supported so they can continue to go further into this mash up world they create.
Support Mismiths and their label Batcave Records here https://batcaverecords.com/collections/new-releases/products/every-night-is-like-halloween-1
In conclusion “Every Night Is Like Halloween ” is a fun romp through the graveyards near Lodi NJ followed combined with the suave and depressed self loathing we all love or hate from Morrissey.
Soul Blind – Another gem discovered by listening in on Axe To Grind. A great podcast. A trio of diametrically opposed hardcore fans. Patrick and Tom have very different takes, and Bob is (as Tom or Patrick said) like the rudder. These said takes and opposing yet complimentary personalities make almost any content fun to listen to. Believe me these guys cover lots of stuff with a focus on hardcore , punk , and things that may live just outside of it.
Onward to Soul Blind. Check them out here https://soulblind.bandcamp.com/album/promo-19
This band is taking hardcore to a place it hasn’t gone before, or at least since Helmet and Stillsuit blurred the lines between metal, thrash, hardcore, and alternative.
Keep in mind I am just getting my feet wet in the pool of hardcore (again) so it is plausible there are a handful of bands like this, but I don’t think so. Soul Blind have a brooding heavy rumble to them. The melodic sensibilities remind me of “Change in the House Of Flies ” by Deftones crash colliding with the many hardcore bands of the 90’s who had departed from straightforward 3 chord riffs. Bands like Kill Holiday, (post Turning Point’s) Godspeed, and Drift Again. Soul Blind go moodier and darker than my favorite aforementioned melodic hardcore bands.
It’s like alternative college rock that doesn’t suck and the “Kyles” of the world have not discovered them yet. That is to say, there is a possibility that they could get bigger and reach a crowd that may aggravate me. However due to live music just starting to come back, I am not concerned about a room of Kyles liking the same band and yelling dumb statements at the band. If anything I’d be happy a smaller band gets some recognition they deserve.
SoulBlind is full of murky, sludgy, heaviness. Soul Blind are a good way to spruce up your playlists when you are in need of something that is not pure hardcore, or as fast tempo as most hardcore, yet still hits hard. I’ll be waiting to hear more and for a treat, listen to them when they performed live on Axe To Grind podcast. They talk for a bit and then play. They sound crisper in the podcast setting. You can hear that they grew musically as well. It is exciting to discover this and the bands that came my way over the last month or year via listening to the aforementioned podcast Axe To Grind.