Line Out Music & the City at Night

Slog

News & Arts

@SEAshows
Twitter feed of Seattle shows on sale now

« Bill Anschell Standards Trio @ Tula… | Matt Hickey, Trent Moorman, Good Ti… »

Saturday, December 29, 2012

History Chinas Comidas "Peasant/Slave"

Posted by Derek Erdman on Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 6:56 PM

In anticipation of spending hours on air travel over the Christmas holiday, I picked up a copy of a book called Loser: the Real Seattle Music Story. The spine and cover made it look kind of simple, like it could be another of the boring books that simply cashed in on grunge-splosion. A quick look inside revealed that author Clark Humphrey is actually a mad scientist who meticulously mapped Seattle's musical origins from its very beginnings. It's now very easily my favorite book on the subject, crammed full of information and images.

I'll probably be posting some of these artifacts as I dig them up on the Interweb. I first thing I looked into was the 1978 four song EP by Chinas Comidas. This five piece genre-bending group played a compelling brand of triumphant PNW no-wave that has refreshingly original rhythms for that area. It was so easy to write songs that sounded punk back then, but to blend Pere Ubu and Nina Hagen without maybe even knowing it is so excellent.

Another Chinas Comidas 7" a year later and a CD compilation in 2006 seem to be the only releases on the Exquisite Corpse Records label. Miraculously, this excellent single can still be bought at a decent price!

FacebookShare

Comments (5) RSS

Newest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

And of course Clark Humphrey was an original Stranger staffer when the rag first started, turning his double-sided, photocopied "misc." newsletter-thingy that he dropped off at a few places such as Fallout into a Stranger column and, if I am not mistaken, writing the crossword puzzle.

Posted by carnivorous chicken on December 31, 2012 at 7:55 PM

I'm also glad someone is writing about this period of Seattle underground music. Yes, there was life before Mudhoney. Such as The Lewd, The Enemy, and Red Dress.

Posted by BallardBoy on December 30, 2012 at 5:13 PM

I saw Chinas Comidas opening for The Ramones, and Tom Petty, believe it or not, at The Paramount back in 1978. They were a last minute substitute for Mink DeVille. They got booed, people threw stuff, the drummer and bassist left the stage, leaving the singer(poet) and guitarist up there alone to face the onslaught of hate. They kept on, finishing their set. It was sad. She was strong, but really upset. Before the show, the singer went down the line of people waiting to get in, passing out copies of a chapbook of her lyrics, which I think I still have. I liked them because she reminded me of Patty Smith, who seemed like the obvious influence at the time.

Posted by BallardBoy on December 30, 2012 at 5:10 PM

Thank you to The Stranger for taking note of the bands and unsung musicians that all played a role in the rich history of Pacific NW music, Keep the lessons coming.

Posted by poptartpunk on December 30, 2012 at 2:13 PM