The Crash and Ride Playlist for October 18th, 2019

This week’s guest is Erika Rickson, drummer for the band Motherfucker. She’s a great person; you can clearly hear that in the interview. She’s also a great drummer, and you can hear that here:

1. “I’m Fucking Dick Dale” – Motherfucker: This is the song where Erica Strout, the guitar player, hammered out her ability to play fast 16th note leads on the guitar, hence the title. However, check out Erika Rickson’s crushing Godzilla stomp groove on this song. You have to see Motherfucker live. Seriously.

2. “Confetti (In Your Fucking Face)” – Motherfucker: I get a little sweaty and nervous just hearing the bridge from this song. Erika’s chops and impeccable timing are on full display here.

3. “Wild Cherry Nightmare” – Motherfucker: This is my favorite Motherfucker song, so I saved it for last. Not only are all of players in this band diabolically talented, they write great hooks, too. This song feels to me like it’s a lost soundtrack to an early-’90s heist film.

4. “Foreign Object” – Multicult: This is the song with the beat that drives every drummer crazy. Thanks, Jake. Asshole.

5. “Brain Tarp” – Cinemechanica: The band that is the primary vehicle for Mike Albanese, another amazing drummer that drives Erika and I a little nuts. This is the man with the cyclone inside, and you can hear it here. This song feels like the Minutemen playing a Mars Volta tune. Wild.

6. “Monoliths” – Maserati: This is another band that Mike Albanese plays drums for, but the drummer on this track is the absolutely stellar Jerry Fuchs, who sadly died in a terrible accident in 2009. Jerry was one of the few drummers really worried me. It’s not an exaggeration to say that many nights I have laid awake to all hours, wondering if I’d ever be as good as he was. RIP, Jerry. You will be missed forever.

7. “This Graceless Planet” – We Versus The Shark: I interviewed Sam Paulsen from We Versus the Shark back in Episode 14 and she was great. WVTS was one of the first noise rock bands in Athens, and for a few years, they just turned everything about Athens rock on its ear. I guess I never noticed before tonight how much Minutemen influence this band and Cinemechanica share.

8. “The Day Stephen Finally Set Himself on Fire for Katie” – An Epic At Best: There are great Athens bands who pop up, write a couple of great albums, then disappear, and this is one of them. An Epic At Best shared bassist Natalie Roberts with Incindieries for a time, and I couldn’t resist the title of this song. (And I really like the song.)

9. “Learn to Street Fight” – Down With the Woo: The original bassist for Motherfucker, Mandy Branch, has had many, many cool projects, and this is one of them. Down With the Woo was the Athens party band for a minute, marrying the elemental proto-electronica of early Prince with a Breeders-level love of a melodic pop hook, this song is a slice of pure dancepop giddiness.

10. “One Million Kisses” – Thelma and the Sleaze: A band that Erika turned me on to, I am now a pretty big fan. Thelma and the Sleaze are gnarly bar rock from Nashville, TN. They do the retro rock thing without dragging a bunch of meathead sexist bullshit with it. I watched them crush the Georgia Theatre Rooftop one night and I will forever be a fan.