Guinea Worms: Duct Tape You (LP)

Free MP3 download & GTRNR sticker

Cheap beer. Cheap rent. Indian mounds. On a muggy summer night in 2001, Guinea Worms descended into the basement of 2338 Adams Avenue with a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon, a carton of Winston Lights, and a framed photo of George Jones. A few months later they emerged, hungover but otherwise unscathed, and presented the world with Duct Tape You.

The people who made music in Columbus, Ohio at the turn of the millennium were bartenders, graduate students, record store clerks, performance artists, and gas station attendants. Practice spaces were abundant and affordable. Musical influences came from used LPs found at thrift stores and record shops along High Street. Bands played nightly in dive bars, art galleries, and backyards. Hard-core drinkers went to places like Walt’s Lounge, where the jukebox was packed with country 45’s and a $10 bill could buy a head-splitting hangover. Last call was 2 a.m., but there was always an after party.

Within this “scene,” Guinea Worms members Will Foster (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Bill Wagner (guitar), Angela Dancey (bass, vocals), and Jenny Mullin (drums) played and recorded music that defied description. Experimental country? Post-punk pop rock with (occasional) synthesizers? High lonesome heavy metal?

Twenty-two years later, Duct Tape You still refuses to be categorized. Bouncing rocker “Nothin’ to Say” suggests that you turn up the volume of your dance, but not so loud that the neighbors call the cops. The whispered vocals and fuzzed-out bass in “Till You Hear Me” recreate the feeling of staying up too late reading 1980s horror novels and drinking Royal Crown Cola. The woozy ballad “Jenny Jones” uses aching reverb and Bill’s soaring guitar solos to make a country-fried plea to heal the singer’s hangover. The interstate hit “Hello from Ohio” is a scribbled pop-punk postcard from the Heart of It All. Hello! Hello! Children of all ages love to pump their fists to “Spring Rage,” a galloping ditty which may or may not be about the aftermath of a bitchin’ frat party.

Duct tape me? Duct Tape You! - Hester Fangs