Solger - S/T EP

Label: Bag Of Hammers; Year: 1995; Format: 33RMP 7" EP

After my previous review of the "We're not here to entertain" book I was in the mood to put something on that would match the contents of the book and came up with Solger from Seattle, WA. I'd probably go as far as saying that they are the soundtrack to the book as they are not a big name in terms of US hardcore punk and they came from somewhat of an outlier city away from trendier and more hip places on the West Coast, at least until Grunge hit... There isn't a ton of information on the intranet when it comes to these guys but do check out the link at the end of this review with an informative interview with Kyle of Solger. When researching Solger I was reminded as to how many great bands originally hailed from Seattle, for instance the Lewd who relocated to San Francisco or love em' or hate them The Mentors who moved to sunny California as well. Solger was a very short lived band having released an ultra rare EP back in 1981. In 1995 Seattle's Bag Of Hammers reissued the EP and a few years later Empty Records released a CD/LP with the EP and some extra tracks. Five raw hardcore punk tracks influenced by the Germs and Black Flag can be found on the EP with "Dead Soldier" being the winner in my opinion. It is not a great record by any means but as is often the case with records like this one it's the stories leading up to the release and what came after that's really fascinating. Simply put the guys in Solger were fed up with the more artsy approach to punk rock in their city and wanted to create an ugly and raw sound calling it hardcore punk. They definitely succeeded at that and don't get me wrong despite the poor sound quality the EP is enjoyable in its own way and supposedly sounding better than the original thanks to some cleaning up in a studio. It's interesting to read that at least one of the Mudhoney guys was at the Black Flag show when Solger opened up and was blown away. The same goes for Blain of Fartz/the Accused. What I am hinting at here is that Solger may not have been the most prolific band but they certainly left a mark that led to bigger things in hardcore punk and other forms of underground rock. Definitely an interesting piece of US hardcore punk history from the West Coast worth checking out. 

Interview with Kyle of Solger and band history: http://www.dementlieu.com/users/obik/arc/solger/index.html#basics