DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - Bear It All

Now that the demos have been posted, here it is again (with my own updated artwork) - one of the best records produced by a West Virginia band - Bear It All. Here are some of Brian Pauley's notes on the recording process:

"Bear It All was recorded in 1996. It was recorded on an 8-track ADAT. Digital recordings on SVHS tapes. Sort of done the same way as the 4-tracks. Seven tracks of drums running through a mixing board and then bounced down to one track. However, only the drums were recorded first. Andy and Billy would play bass and guitar through a scratch track. Meaning they were playing along with me, I could hear them, but it wasn't being recorded. We'd bounce the drums down to 1 track and have 7 tracks to add everything else. I think this is when we started doubling up the guitar track to make it thicker. So basically you hear two guitar tracks playing the same thing. A trick Scott learned at the Recording Workshop and something he started making every band do. And since it was digital, if anyone screwed up the guitar, bass or vocals, the fixes could be punched in and you never notice."

Whatever the process, this record is heavy, crunchy, poppy, rowdy, but above all fun. And like some of the greatest indie-punk-rock bands of the mid-90s, the era of music is recognizable but the songs are still enjoyable 15 years later. I love this fucking record, and why I am posting it for the second time.

Artist: Dirt Bear
Album: Bear It All
Year: 1996
For fans of: The Jesus Lizard, Butthole Surfers, The Flaming Lips

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - Bear It All

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - Beart With Us

Bear With Us is the last of the Dirt Bear demos that preceded the release of the Bear It All full-length. Released in 1995, Brian Pauley said of the album, "Personally, Bear With Us is my favorite, next to Bear It All. Bear With Us has 'The Centrifugal Force' and 'Dynamo,' which were my favorite songs to play up to that point." It's all quality in my opinion. Thanks again, Brian.

Artist: Dirt Bear
Album: Bear With Us
Year: 1995
For fans of: Meat Puppets, The Flaming Lips, Flipper

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - Beart With Us

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - We Hate It

Here is We Hate It, the second of the Dirt Bear demo tapes. The fourteen tracks were also recorded in 1994 following We Love It. Like all of the Dirt Bear releases, and much of the music coming out of Charleston in the '90s, it was recorded by Scott Robinson and put out by the guys' own Cave Records. According to drummer Brian Pauley (pictured above on the album cover I made):

"All three of [the] demos were recorded on an analog 4-track recorder by Scott Robinson. Drums were mic'd up thru the mixing board and then fed into one track. The guitar amp was mic'd up and became a separate track, and then the bass was done the same way on a third track. Scott then bounced those three tracks down to one track, thus opening up three more tracks. So ultimately, we had seven tracks to work with. Once the music was bounced to one, that allowed each vocal to have a separate track and then an open track for any other extra thing we wanted to add. Be it guitar solo or whatever. And the thing with the 4-track recordings was that the music was done live. If one of us screwed up, we had to completely start the song over. The fact that it was analog and the fact that we were just learning how to operate the damn 4-track... it just sucked."

We Hate It, though not quite as excellent as We Love It, picks up where the first demo left off. It is sleazy and fiery - like Killdozer playing pop punk. (Listen to Killdozer if you don't.) Again, thanks to Brian Jarrett for the photograph for the cover. Sorry, Pauley.

Artist: Dirt Bear
Album: We Hate It
Year: 1994
For fans of: The Jesus Lizard, Butthole Surfers, Killdozer

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - We Hate It

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - We Love It

Dirt Bear remains one of my favorite ever bands from West Virginia. Despite the fact that I never got to see the raucous punk trio from Charleston play live, I wore out my cassette copy of their final album Bear It All, which I posted a while back.

I recently recent a great gift from Drummer Brian Pauley who sent me fairly clean, digital files of all the Dirt Bear demos. I can't explain how happy this makes me as I never owned these tapes, and now I can make them available on here over the next few days - starting with We Love It from 1994.

Those who are familiar with Dirt Bear will appreciate this as much as I do. Those who may not be, think instrumental abrasiveness of The Jesus Lizard with the pop sensibilities of The Flaming Lips meets the rebelliousness of Butthole Surfers. Throw in some comparisons to Dinosaur Jr., Meat Puppets or Sonic Youth for fun. It is just great '90s indie punk noise-rock. And I can't quit listening to it. Thanks again, Brian. And thanks to Nitro music scene archivist Brian Jarrett for the photo for the cover I made, as we don't have any art of the old demos.

Artist: Dirt Bear
Album: We Love It
Year: 1994
For fans of: The Jesus Lizard, The Flaming Lips, Butthole Surfers

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - We Love It

READ: Soft Rock Renegade turns one year old

One year ago today, I made the first post on this blog. Running a blog that archives music from West Virginia was something I always wanted to do, but I'm a little surprised I have kept it up for a year. It wouldn't have happened without the support and encouragement of those who read SRR, submit material and send me comments. It makes me realize I'm spending time on something people enjoy. Appropriately on the day after Thanksgiving, I say, Thanks.

To celebrate the one year anniversary the best I can from my bed at home, I am reposting the Top 5 most downloaded albums posted to the blog. (And apologies for the cheesy image at the top. Thank Google.) Please take some time and go back through the last year of posts and check out some of the material that is on here. There are so many good bands, albums available for download, videos and more. I hope to be doing this for another year.

Top 5 Most Downloaded Albums on Soft Rock Renegade:

1. A Radio With Guts - Beat Heart Sweet Stereo

2. Lincoln - Discography

3. Meuwl - Soooooo Hot Right Now

4. Complete Strangers - Complete Strangers

5. Dirt Bear - Bear It All

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - Bear It All

At some point in the mid-90s, following the break-up of The Provos, bassist Billy Reynolds and drummer Brian Pauley were joined by Andy Masker (formerly of Buddhashrooms) to form Dirt Bear. Ironically starting out as a joke band, but growing into one of the most popular bands in the Charleston region, it is the sense of humor that exists in the band's songwriting and lyrics that lends to the appeal of the music. As described by blog quote contributor, Dirt Bear sounds like "The Jesus Lizard plays Pee Wee's Playhouse."

Each song on 1996's Bear It All, is a poetically unbalanced stop-and-go ride that combines the melodic sensibilities of The Flaming Lips with calculated outbursts of noise reminiscent of Butthole Surfers into punk-pop chaos. Recorded at The Cave by the era's finest producer Scott Robinson, Bear It All is like a kid with ADD whose Ritalin wears off every 15 seconds - bouncing off the walls with rambunctious guitar riffs, a lot of cymbals and snare, and half-sensed but clever lyrics from a Johnny Rotten-esque voice. "I can't sing a lick, I'm one sorry punk," chants Billy (or Andy?) in the chorus of "Sykodelic."

Not long after the release of Bear It All, Billy went to dental school, and Dirt Bear called it quits with only Brian moving on to any serious projects (Shindig, Malicious Intent - and professional wrestling). Now well over a decade old, this record has proven to be timeless and effective - even if only measure by its influence on the state's music scene. "There's my fucking teens all in one record," says Aaron Crothers of The Emergency. Beginning to end, it is still one of the best records to come from a West Virginia band. This comes highly recommended.

Artist: Dirt Bear.

Album: Beart It All.

Year: 1996.

For fans of: The Jesus Lizard, Butthole Surfers, The Flaming Lips.

DOWNLOAD: Dirt Bear - Bear It All

Photo courtesy of Brian Jarrett.