Name: Spin Age Blasters
Brand: Electric Eels

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SCAT89X

Colour

Clear

Colour details

Clear With Black Swirls

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-07-07

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Forte

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

753417089013

Total Cap

Clear LP

SCAT89

Black

Extended format: No

753417008915

Black LP

Artist

Electric Eels

Genre GB

Punk / Hardcore

Label GB

Scat

Electric Eels is a protopunk band hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The band was founded in 1972 by bandleader John Morton and quickly gained recognition for their unique sound and rebellious attitude.
With their raw energy and experimental approach to music, Electric Eels became pioneers of the punk rock movement. Their influence can still be felt today in the punk and alternative music scenes.
Despite a short-lived career, Electric Eels left an indelible mark on the music industry with their groundbreaking performances and uncompromising artistic vision.

Scat Records is an independent record label that was founded in January 1989 by Robert Griffin, a member of the band Prisonshake. Originally based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label later moved to St. Louis, Missouri before returning to its roots in Cleveland as of November 2022. With a rich history spanning over three decades, Scat Records has established itself as a prominent player in the music industry.

Known for its diverse roster of talented artists and performers, Scat Records has consistently delivered groundbreaking music across various genres. The label's catalog boasts an impressive collection of releases that showcase the unique and innovative sounds of *Prisonshake* and other notable acts.

With each release carefully curated and meticulously produced, Scat Records continues to push boundaries and challenge conventional norms within the music scene. As an independent label with a strong DIY ethos, it remains committed to supporting emerging talent while also nurturing long-standing relationships with established artists.

Newest Listed Items

The Electric Eels were the first punk band, full stop. 

They may not have “started” the genre, but they were the first to tick all the boxes. The eels rejected every 1970s rock convention—professionalism, virtuosity, subject matter, image. Dave E.’s caustic vocals, complete with an aggressive lisp and a head full of snot, would become de rigeur a few years after the group disbanded. Meanwhile, the songs’ focus on car crashes, suicide, neuroses, and generally hating people were as far out of the mainstream as possible. The two eels tracks that do approach the subject of romance couch it in terms of not really caring that much about it (“Jaguar Ride”) or placing it in the context of a grisly murder (“Silver Daggers”). Also consider John Morton’s signature guitar sound, a nails-on-chalkboard tone with brutally free soloing inspired more by Albert Ayler than the blues or aspirations to technical facility. Ditto Dave E.’s clarinet playing and affection for lawnmowers and vacuums during live performance. They were notoriously violent not only among themselves, but towards audiences, police, and anyone unfortunate enough to be around them when things went south. Then of course there are the leather jackets, the clothing festooned with rat traps or safety pins. And no bass player, why bother. There is simply no other “proto” band to have had all these pieces in place circa 1973- 1975. 

Yet it is a mistake to consider the eels exclusively in such a context. Yes, the eels could and did shock anyone who encountered them, but they also had great songs. While both Dave and John were visionary writers, they also had rhythm guitarist Brian McMahon, a melody and riff machine who wrote many of the band’s signature songs. And they were no one-trick pony. Although much of the band’s material is appropriately high-energy, there is also the downer eels—morbid, harmonically risky, and in full existential crisis. Although it’s not a focus of this compilation, the eels also had a penchant for completely free improvisation. Over the last forty plus years, there have been several electric eels compilations. Spin Age Blasters is quite simply the best one ever assembled, every single key track is here in its best version, properly mastered by John Golden, and sequenced with an eye towards both flow between tracks as well as individation between sides. A true monster of an album

Spin Age Blasters

Music GB