The rumors about Vietnam are partially true, but so much of their larger than life personas has been wildly exaggerated. A common desire is to finger them as the embodiment of timeless rock and roll excess, drinking into oblivion, doing piles of the hardest core narcotics created by man and fucking shit up until the trail left behind in the wake looks like the aftermath of a dirty bomb. They’ve been written about as if they are champion hedonists, working their way through their lives without the good fortune of a set of operational brakes. It’s headlong into the black abyss of substances and altered minds. That’s what we’re thrown for an angle. It makes colorful copy and complements their scraggily, druggish beards, right? They’re bound for destruction. The only problem with that description is that if four guys are so foregone into that existence, how could the results be as they are on their self-titled debut full-length, out soon on Kemado Records and how could they be so sharp during this session, recorded Dec. 6 during an off-day while supporting Evan Dando (a man renowned for his procurement of piles)? The thoughts on this album and especially during the powerful medley version of “Priest, Poet & the Pig/Apocalypse” are ripe with indignation and gloomy takes on where everything’s heading, but the main point that’s being conveyed by lead singer Michael Gerner, guitarist Josh Grubb, bassist Ivan Berko and drummer Mike Foss is more one that argues that it’s not them combusting, it’s the world around them that’s working on its own suicide. As Foss explains in his descriptions of the session songs below, “Goodbye yellow brick road.” The happy endings are more realistically dolled up trap doors that lead to solitary confinement inside an isolation booth. The band joined us from Minneapolis, driving through a confined Midwestern snowstorm that followed them almost like a Charlie Brown-like black, rain cloud. Grubb called from the road, asking if we could have a bottle of Jack there when they arrived — ultimately six hours late because of the slow going — because he’d need a stiff drink to unwind after his extended bout of white-knuckled driving. He’d pay us back, he told us. We had orange Sunkist in lieu of the whiskey and fortunately it all worked out. He had a whole bottle of vodka to wash that soda down. They do drugs, of course. They drink alcohol like thirsty fishes, but they’re kind, gentle souls frantically trying to make their own personal sense out of the chaos of the current world. A task such as that requires stiff drinks and more. — Sean Moeller

First song
Too Tired (Vietnam) [2.86MB] [3263 downloads]


— original version appears on the upcoming full-length Vietnam
This song is either at the beginning or the end of a moment. I’m never sure… It has a calming effect on me.

Second and third song medley
Priest, Poet and the Pig/Apocalypse (Vietnam) [9.45MB] [3130 downloads]



Priest, Poet & the Pig — original version appears on the upcoming full-length Vietnam
I always think of Alice in Wonderland when I pay attention to the lyrics. We always play “Priest, Poet & the Pig” and “Apocalypse” back-to-back because when I joined I needed breaks playing drums. I didn’t know how to play drums. I need time to reflect. Then we went to Las Vegas and learned how to do medleys.
Apocalypse — original version appears on the upcoming full-length Vietnam
When I was young I thought the Russians would nuke us. Goodbye yellow brick road.
 

Fourth song
Welcome to My Room (Vietnam) [7.95MB] [2895 downloads]


— original version appears on the upcoming full-length Vietnam
There are lots of different rooms to explore in the world. I haven’t found one I’d want to call home forever.