Stupid People Shouldn't Breed |Megaforce Records, 1992|

1. Chemical Imbalance, 2. I Got It Made, 3. Stand Tall, 4. Shit Authority, 5. Horny For Evil, 6. Poundsauce, 7. Fight Da Suckas, 8. Loudspeaker, 9. Roadkill

The Skatenigs were doing things they liked without anybody’s approval or looking at the past or the future. Their simple songs with anarchy bent, intelligent lyrics, samples from movies or politicians speeches perfectly matched to the songs and characteristic voice of Phil Owen created a general showcase of this Texas band.

The leader and vocalist in the band was unchangeable Phil "Phildo" Owen, a musician in such other projects like Snowblack, Choreboy or (the most often) Revolting Cocks, but also a producer of the first Skrew album amongst all.

Phildo has his own style of making music and performing it on the stage, maybe more spontaneous than worked out but still memorable after many years have passed by.

The Skatenigs featured also the three awesome guitar players (throughout different years of the band’s existence): Billy Jackson, Chris Chambers and Mat Mitchell (programming as well) and the drummers like Chip Fisher and Keith Daily. There was also Wendy Nelson (keyboards, sampling) who joined the band in the end of their career and who was a long time friend of theirs.
The public was always enthusiastic to the live shows of The Skatenigs what’s yet another proof for its characteristic sound mixing punk, rock, rap and metal styles with a little bit of industrial as well.

The opening song "Chemical Imbalance" (in psychiatry a symptom causing mental disorders, mostly depression, criticized and used by pharmaceutical companies) contains the lyrics of an American poet Lorii Jackson who died of heroin overdose. It's already a historical performance of that song featuring Phildo wearing a dark blue skirt and the band's bass player Lance Von Moulder performing in his pants only (watch it on Youtube).

The following track "I Got It Made" may be recognizable thanks to its characteristic and very expressive shouts of Phildo.

"Stand Tall" begins with an easy going guitar riff heard in progressive rock music most often, but it finishes heavily in a style of such bands like Godflesh or Skrew. Other than that I found "Shit Authority" anarchic and fiesty what was underlined not only in the lyrics but especially in the end of the track, during a fusion of guitars and drums so typical for punk music.

I didn't like "Horny For Evil" that much mostly due to very long and kind of boring intro with its scattered structure, though in a moment of refrains coming in, it became more interesting and that punk spirit came out again of rhythmic section and the guitar players work.

"Poundsauce" has a lot in common with Ministry and Revolting Cocks music but it doesn't surprise me as they both also come from Texas, while the album producer was Al Jourgensen himself.
"Fight Da Suckas" it's one of the most liked songs for the live shows thanks to its easy refrains and the rhythms, which almost force people to mosh pitting.

The Skatenigs seems to be famous of “Loudspeaker", a song with both metal and funk atmospheres, released also on a single. It becomes a bit boring after a few seconds to me, because it doesn't offer much more than the lyrics. Nothing changes over 5 minutes of the song play, though there's a nice guitar riff at the end if it all.

"Roadkill" finishes the album with its funky basslines, which could be also associated to guitar driven coldwave style like old songs of Ministry or Dessau.

The album was released by three labels, what's interesting in the same year of 1992, by American Megaforce Records, British Alternative Tentacles and German Steamhammer. Stupid People Shouldn't Breed was produced by Al Jourgensen, but there were also other famous names involved like Keith "Fluffy" Auerbach and Jeff "Critter" Newell, the sound engineers.

It's a great album for all fans of alternative, guitar driven rock music because of its sound variety, but also for those of you loving Phildo Owen's works an all fans of anarchic music from hot Texas.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)
What a Mangled Web We Leave |Red Light Records, 1994|

1. Passion For Destruction, 2. Regret, 3. Texas Tattoo, 4. Family Values, 5. Parasites, 6. Sign The Dotted Line, 7. Hoosegow, 8. Mt. Carmel Cookout, 9. Ranch Apocalypse, 1. Rip Off

The second and so far the last The Skatenigs album reaches deeper to metal and hardcore music in comparison to Stupid People Shouldn't Breed, filled with funk, rap and metal vibes.
What a Mangled Web We Leave was released by two labels - Red Light Records, which I'm not familiar with, and Bulletproof (a sublabel of Music For Nations, bought in 2004 r. by Sony BMG, which has put out albums of such bands like Tool, Neurosis, Paradise Lost, Poison, Metallica, Exodus, Megadeth or Candlemass, and the most aggressive of Die Krupps' releases - Odyssey of the Mind). There are many more guitar solos and heavy Ministry-like atmospheres on What a Mangled Web We Leave, though there's no drastic change to the first album released in 1992.

While Al Jourgensen was a producer of Stupid People Shouldn't Breed, there are other famous names in terms of the second album production: Tom Baker (who worked with such bands like [f.e.v.e.r.], Rabbit Junk, Nine Inch Nails, Scum Of The Earth, The Birthday Massacre, DKay.com, Real Life, Beastie Boys, Ministry, Revolting Cocks) and Mat Mitchell (Puscifer, Armageddon Dildos, Flowering Blight - Paul Barker's (Ministry) project amongst all). Finally there's also Keith “Fluffy" Auerbach, great sound engineer.
As you might have noticed, some bands have their favorite producers, who can tune up their sound to meet their needs and expectations, but their names can attract the listeners who follow not only the bands' achievements, but also works of the albums producers.

"Texas Tattoo" is definitely the most 'catchy' song of the whole album because of its dynamics, an interesting structure but not that much interesting lyrics, to me, while "Parasites" sounds like a mixture of music by RevCo and Ministry, very heavy, powerful track kept in a hard rock tune.

"Family Values" can be associated only to The Skatenigs, so you wouldn't go wrong by guessing who made it, if you have ever came across their music before. If you need a song to sing it aloud in a crowd, then choose "Regret", especially if you are one of those rebelled people. Great lyrics with punk-rock spirit.

"Sign The Dotted Line" contains better lyrics than music to me, a guitar riff was connected with psychodelic, hard-rock background, and it's the only one thing I recall about this song. Other than that "Hoosegrow" is kept in Texas style, with its pushy ego and fiery power in the foreground. A song of invaders, indeed.

"Mt. Carmel Cookout" it’s an instrumental break between those hot songs, with some weird story told by the sounds and samples. A military chopper, a kid crying... Mt. Caramel is called a holy place by the Christians, where Elijah was supposed to have a grotto at the top of the mountain and challenge Baal’s believers to determine whose deity was genuinely in control of the Kingdom of Israel.
“Ranch Apocalypse" has some heavy guitar riffs mixed with simple drums and Phildo's voices, criticizing some stories about Texas. What's interesting, there's a part of the lyrics going like: “You know this is the same F.B.I. that bombed the World Trade Centre." As a reminder, the album was released in 1994.

Finally, funny "Rip Off" with samples grabbed possibly from cartoons or comedies, with Skrew-like vocals and guitar solos.

The Skatenigs was undoubtedly a band which achieved a meaningful place in rock music history, but maybe less in industrial-metal music history, with a little use of computers and samples, but certainly all of their albums are worth of listening. Phildo's irony and his intelligent lyrics make things even more interesting.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)

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