Retail Simps

***After 3 albums, 2 7"s, a feature length documentary and a smattering of cassettes, the Simps, our perennial protagonists, have entered middle age. An unflattering era in the life of a band where the shiny novelty of youth has disintegrated, pressures to expand or leave this mortal coil have mounted and the darling status once indiscriminately slathered onto their oeuvre relegated to the shadows, a blink in the continuum of the next-big-thing economy. Many believe aging gracefully is a myth, and that may be so, but people like Joe, Chris, Obe, Zak and cohort Cole know no other way than to slog onward and upward. With the departure of keyboard magnate Tom Tom, the unequivocal straight man to the chaotic ensemble, the group was due for a proper unravelling or a long hard look in the mirror. Tantric Decapitation was recorded live at Value Sound Studios in 2 days by Renny Wilson, and after nominal mixing attempts, left bare. It was an exercise in introspection, the gritty product destined to be a looking glass into the rough hewn nature of the band’s sound. Despite the realism and immediacy of this double album, one thing was certain: every record needs a story: a platitude drilled into the heads of banal musicians and record execs alike. Doesn’t matter the fortitude of the yarn however, just the way you use it. As such, the Educated Fools were born. A fictional group from the wilds of Nantucket, primed for the newborn sheen the Simps would never touch again. Through devious ploys and high brow marketing efforts, Total Punk Records concocted a salacious and expansive tale that no grovelling blogger or egomaniacal music journalist could ignore, or so we thought. All this context may serve you dear listener, but the meat of this epic remains the same whether you choose to believe myself or the fake news strewn across the internet. This is a steadfast document of unhinged, unedited rock music unlike what you will find anywhere else. It is singular, whether it is total indulgence or just a bad idea.