As you look around at the caca storm of today, it’s no mystery why so many of us want to live in the alluring world of the past. Within its numerous pockets, it offers warm, gooey relief and reminds us of a simpler time when a man could have an abundant amount of lubricant or ties to the Turkish government and not worry about the ramifications. Due to a collective ambivalence with the present, we now live in a culturally off-kilter world where an AI-generated version of Crispy Ambulance would headline over the original band at a hologrammed reenactment of the Hacienda in Vegas and no one would blink or lose their bowels over it.
But can you blame the hee-hawing masses for being confused? As ubiquitous shadows of the past congeal with the concrete horror of the present, it’s hard to tell the difference between it all. Due to my own bout with dimness, I can attest to needing to be smacked across the face with something to understand it. Thankfully, a band like Vancouver’s Schedule 1 knows how to make their icy, retro-fueled intentions more than apparent. From the Intellivision-style font of their logo to the grainy Sci-Fi graphics, their debut album Crucible is an obvious homage to a time where the promise of jetpacks, robot butlers and underwater televisions motivated many of us to hold out for tomorrow.
Photo: Analissa Longoria
Does vocalist Grant Minor’s voice sound a bit like Robert Smith? It sure does, but at least he doesn’t look like the Ron Jeremy-meets-The-Joker version of Smith in the present day! However, the music is not mopey nor mystical, but has a driving, heavily dynamic feel that could bring to mind the first couple Chameleons LP’s or the more subdued output from Kirk Brandon’s pre-Spear of Destiny unit, The Pack. At the risk of offending the band or the person who recorded them, it feels there was a conscious attempt at a condensed-sounding production. Maybe I will win them back by writing that it provides Crucible with a boombox-like feel that slots in perfectly with the suburban bedroom vibes of the record.
And now that I’ve heard the new Cure track where RS has re-imagined the band as present-day, retro-shoegazers, it just confirms the perpetual and confounding meshing of time and place we’re currently caught in. At least in these uncertain times, Schedule 1 can give ya an honest-to-gawd trip back to way back when. Now someone order me a clear cola cocktail! I got some mulling to do..
Photo: Bandcamp
Order Crucible from the Council Records bandcamp page here.
Schedule1 is such a great band! Have you checked out there for first 12”?