SUNDAY MORNING DOUBLE FEATURE: THE POWER OF FUCK

Thank sweet Satan for FUCKEMOS. I had previously thought this amazing Austin, Texas experimental punk/metal (maybe?) band doomed to forever lurk in the cob-webbed corners of the Cobras Cassette Cauldron, but thanks to a 2008/'09 reunion and international tour, they have emerged triumphant from the boggy marsh of total oblivion, and digital versions of their sick, sad, beautiful, and depraved tunes can now be found for retail consumption on obscure and mystical sites like Amazon.com.
Fuckemos are a conundrum enshrouded within a mystery ensconced within a quagmire. Out-of-tune trombone solos? Pitch-shifted vocals? Casio keyboard noises? Sloppily-executed riffage that alternates deftly between pop-punk and doom metal? Lyrical themes running the gamut from Hitlerian conspiracy theories to pedophilia to kleptomania to amputee sex to buttsex to incest to self-referential self-deprecation and back? How can this make sense?

Long story short, it doesn't. And that is what made (makes) Fuckemos beautiful.

It is difficult to separate "fact" from "fiction" when discussing The Fuckemos, as the lore surrounding their formation and resulting existence is clouded with equal amounts apocrypha, balderdash, hearsay, and nincompoopery. But certain facts and opinions can be ascertained. To wit: Fuckemos were named in response to a ban placed upon them by a certain Austin area nightclub called, you guessed it... "Emo's". They come from the same town as Roky Erikson, The Dicks, and The Butthole Surfers, and display the same offbeat "outsider" take on pop music as the aforementioned. The unique, challenging, and oddly emotional sounds of SF locals Bomb come to mind, for some reason, when attempting to describe Fuckemos.
Their discography is equally difficult to properly document, although it is known that the now-defunct Man's Ruin Records re-issued several albums in the late 90's and early 00's. Below you will find two such albums. Can Kill You was their debut release, and is widely considered to be their best. Originally appearing in '94, Man's Ruin disinterred this gem in '98 to give it the wider release it deserved. Their final (I think?) album is a little trickier to explain. Originally released under the title Airshow 2012 (maybe) in the late 90's or maybe even 2000 (possibly), it was also re-issued by Man's Ruin only a year or so later, under the title Airshow 2000, for some reason. Despite the touching and classic tracks on Can Kill You, I think I actually prefer the louder and slightly more rockin' jams on Airshow. Or not.
FUCKEMOS are a band that have been near and dear to my heart for many years, and I'm quite excited to share their music with the IllCon community. It might sound corny, by I think you might understand after you have a listen.


CAN KILL YOU (1994/1998)


Download HERE
Purchase HERE


AIR SHOW 2012 / AIR SHOW 2000 (2000/2001?)


Download HERE
Purchase HERE


"Hurtin"



"The Screams of the Wild Women"



Myspace / Last.FM

PS: Thanks to IC reader Chris, who attempted to share his Fuckemos collection with me via Soulseek almost a year ago. Soulseek didn't work out for me, unfortunately, but fate finally placed these precious recordings in my eager hands through other means. Your effort was (and is) appreciated.