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All Tore Up 1991​-​1997

by Combine

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1.
Here we go - let’s fall apart again Here we go make a wreck of ourselves again This town is a parking lot now Let’s go out and drink till we fall down Hey – let’s go down to the King’s Head Three bands and everyone’s inbred Waiting for something that’s never gonna show up Let’s sit around and get all tore up I am I am so tore up.
2.
You always knew you were different But don’t let it stop you from paying the rent ‘Cuz there’s plenty of freaks in the world like you That got nothing to say and got nothing to do But you just wanted someone to like you So you did all the things that you thought were cool Shot some dope and dropped outta school Now your 24 and you’re still the same Such a big disappointment Big disappointment You always were such a big disappointment They’d never known better if you kept your mouth shut But everyone was listening when you opened it up With that provocative dress in that ambient noise With those Colombian girls And those Mexican boys
3.
He was a fat guy He had a glass eye He smoked cigarettes He did pirouettes He’s an alcoholic And he stole my wallet And that one eyed bastard Made his getaway In an El Camino While the radio played She was a black girl Had a string of fake pearls Thinks she’s dangerous To him – she’s dangerous They got married And had a baby A little one eyed baby That smoked cigarettes And used bad language And played the clarinet
4.
Have you figured it out Have you figured it out Have you figured it out That I’m not playing around When I say that I’m bored with myself What happened to you What happened to me What happened to all that time hanging around And now you’re just bored with your self With a sideways glance And another blown chance And that picture of us From your high school dance And now you’re just bored with your sad, sad self
5.
Catholic block party of three Your table is waiting please come follow me Your girl is so peculiar Tell me man, where did you find her? So slippery from the eyebrows down Like a greased hog out in open ground You must diffuse her like a bomb Hurry now quick while the fuse is still long Did she dig her nails into the base of your spine? Bite down like an apple to the core of your mind? Dig into your pockets and steal your good sense? Are you scarred from it now? Were you scared of it then? Mother, son and Christmas ghost Like a parasite breast feeding the host Like a suicide scarred to make the jump On which of her bones was the one that you choked? And the sparks fall down like perpetual rain When her will collided with your pain And of all your regrets Is this the one To empty me out before all of this is done? Did she break you will like an Arabian horse? Did you give her your life or did she take it by force? Do you still pound the walls at the sound of her name? Are you different now or are you still the same?
6.
I’m so tired With my life I want more From my time On the floor and in my head All jacked up and bored to death And I don’t wanna go to work Don’t waste time Don’t race time All my life How much time? In my coffin In my bed Sharp as tacks And dull as lead No one’s funny And nothing hurts Wait a little longer I guess I just want to be impressed With someone besides myself
7.
Ritalin baby Sugar pie Underage I wanna You’re right pretty when I’m drunk I said yr damn pretty when I’m drunk And I wanna Cuz you cattle my rage You rattle my cage It’s that crazy look in your eyes Or that vinegar on yr breath That makes me wanna Got those tittie pointed at me like two barrels of a gun And I wanna Cuz you cattle my rage You rattle my cage
8.
I got prehensile tail And electric eyes I got mutated friends I got a secret disguise I got utility belt But I don’t got you I got utility belt But I don’t got you I got a rage for vengeance But I don’t got you I got these nasty habits But I don’t got you
9.
I’ve been on soft ground lately I’ve been so broken lately I haven’t felt this bad in years I am the javaman I am the Piltdown man I feel so dangerous I am so dangerous I’ve been so crippled lately I’ve had some bad thoughts lately I haven’t felt this bad in years I’m tired of this stagnation So tired of this stagnation I’m tired of this stagnation So tired of this stagnation I’ve been so isolated I’ve been so medicated I haven’t felt this bad in years Listen up – this is serious Listen up – this is serious Please take me serious Please take me serious
10.
All your friends are such flakes And always hanging around All they ever do is complain On this sleepy little southern town Everyday is just like Wednesday Your life is such a wreck What are you doing up this late What happened to your self-respect As long as you think it’s OK To sit here and slowly drown In lies, allegations and mistakes You won’t have me to kick around
11.
Well the boys in the band are all tired And the waitress can’t sleep cuz she’s wired And the soundman is drunk And everyone’s on junk And no one’s gonna get any sleep tonight Face down by the cat box In a room that smells like dirty socks And outside there’s skinheads And you’re bumming cigarettes And yr never gonna get any sleep tonight Cuz no one wants to lend a hand To the world’s worst rock and roll band After another shitty set All the kids are bored to death But there aint nothing else going on tonight Except to beat a head against a brick wall In the parking lot of a shopping mall Where we drive around for hours And we soak up whiskey sours Yr never gonna get any sleep tonight Cuz no one wants to lend a hand To the world’s coolest rock and roll band Cuz they’re never on the road And the record wasn’t sold And nobody could fix the van But all the kids lined up up front To watch the alcoholic derelict punks All make a lot of noise And the singer lost his voice But man that kid could play the drums

about

COMBINE:
All Tore Up // 1991-1997 - A brief history

Arguably the most successful band to emerge from Norfolk’s golden era in the late 80s / early 90s - Caroline Records recording artist COMBINE brought the Norfolk sound to the global stage via their 2 critically acclaimed releases NORFOLK VA and THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL.

Combine’s story began like so many of Norfolk bands of that era - in a string of dilapidated storefronts along Hampton Blvd. that served home to the most innovative local bands of the era. It was there in 1991 that Xavier Darryl Lewis, Juan T. Corbett and Buck Down (né Brian Pafumi) crafted their trademark phrenetic, grinding melodic sensibilities in a crumbling windowless room after long days of working together in a small screen printing factory on the other side of the tracks. They would later move their rehearsal space out to the edge of the Dismal Swamp, in a tar paper shack alongside a chicken coop.

Combine became a local favorite almost instantly, packing shows at the legendary Kings Head Inn. Their first cassette demo MORE FRIENDLIER reached tiny Texas independent label STAPLEGUN RECORDS, who signed the band for an EP and full length record. It was also around this time that the band attracted the attention, and became the first signing of Felice Ecker’s GIRLIE ACTION MEDIA AND MANAGEMENT which would go on to represent some of the world’s most iconic and influential artists of the next two decades, including My Morning Jacket, LCD Soundystem, Elliott Smith, Pretty Lights, Morrissey, Tori Amos, They Might be Giants, Echo and the Bunnymen, Iron Maiden, Wu Tang Clan, The Misfits, The Mekons, and more.

Staplegun Records sent Combine to New York to begin recording the EP MEAT IS DINNER at Grey Area Studios somewhere around winter of 1993/1994 While the sessions were promising, the label had difficulty funding the pressing, so the release stalled. This setback proved to be only a minor one, as this began the period where Combine's first NYC plays created a huge buzz almost instantly in the city. Combine's taut, noisy interlocking sound fit perfectly in a town searching for the next evolutionary step past Sonic Youth, and thus began a love affair between the band and the city that would take Combine to the next level, and cement their place in the 90s national indie rock scene.

Indie super-label CAROLINE RECORDS became interested in the band at the period when Caroline had just finished developing what would become the breakthrough class of indie music into the first commercial alternative market. Caroline's development of bands like THE SMASHING PUMPKINS, HOLE, WHITE ZOMBIE, PRIMUS and the MISFITS provided the label with the profile and means to compete on a global stage. Shows like MTVs 120 minutes, along with the beginnings of the first commercial alternative radio stations were moving a new era of rock and roll out of the underground and into the major leagues.

Caroline was at that point presided over by former MINOR THREAT guitar player LYLE PRESLAR, who's Virgina roots possibly softened the ground for his interest in the budding Norfolk band. Preslar, along with Caroline A&R honcho Brian Long flew down to Norfolk and agreed to buy the band's Staplegun contract after a particularly incendiary show at Friar Tuck's.

In the interim period, Combine had already begun working back in Virginia on a full-length record, this time bringing down ROBERT POSS from the legendary NY art guitar outfit BAND OF SUSANS (who's alumni PAGE HAMILTON would go on to form the critically acclaimed band HELMET) to handle the production duties.

When all was said and done, these sessions became Combine's first full-length album NORFOLK VA. The final mixes were presided over by legendary producer WHARTON TEIRS who's work with bands like SONIC YOUTH and DINOSAUR JR formed the canon of that era of east coast post-punk guitar music.

NORFOLK VA released to widespread acclaim both in America and overseas, earning rave reviews in CMJ, Alternative Press and NME. Strings of sell-out shows at the world famous CBGB's led to a series of national tours. For the following 3 or 4 years - Combine would be on the road more frequently than off of it. Pausing briefly in Chapel Hill at one point to make their only music video for the single "Cattle My Rage" with director Norwood Cheek (Superchunk, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Ben Folds Five, Soul Coughing and more).

1996 - Combine returned to New York to begin work on their sophomore effort for Caroline - THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL with Wharton Tiers at the helm. Far more ambitious than its predecessor, HISTORY was recorded at the world renown BABY MONSTER studios in Manhattan (Ramones, REM, Cypress Hill, Public Enemy, etc) , and featured the band expanding its sonic palette, including strings provided by Julia Kent and Jennifer Merlis from RASPUTINA. The sprawling 18 song release was billed as a "punk rock opera" and featured material largely written on the road. Thematically - the record loosely chronicled the band's own experiences being in a touring band at a time when the major label machine was slowly eating the underground incubator that was growing its content.

The steady grind of competing in a crowded marketplace was starting to take its toll on the band. Long tours, little money and boredom in between tours created the obligatory host of problems that beleaguered so many bands of that era.

Caroline Record's parent company Virgin Records sold the label to Thorn EMI during this time. Thorn EMI wasn't another label - but rather a British company involved in consumer electronics, television broadcasting and defense contracting. Thorn would slowly start purging the label of less profitable acts (ie: touring bands) in deference to electronic acts which required less overhead. Combine was unceremoniously dropped along with many of the other acts on Caroline to make way for its new imprint Astralwerks Records - which would usher in the coming Electronica boom with acts like FAT BOY SLIM, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, DEADMAU5 and others.

Shortly after - Corbett left the band, and was replaced by Danny McGee. Combine existed for roughly a year or so longer playing almost exclusively in the Tidewater Region. They did attempt a 3rd record, working with WAXING POETICS guitarist Paul Johnson (coincidently - nephew to producer Wharton Tiers) at his new studio in Brooklyn. The album never saw the light of day, and Combine quietly disbanded in 1997 when Down moved to Los Angeles.

Through it all - Corbett, Lewis and Down were incredibly close and remained so - even after the break-up. The bond of being a small town band hoisted to the national stage, crisscrossing the country in a van going town to town in one of the most vibrant moments in the history of American rock and roll is not easily broken.

In 2019, the band will be honored with Veer Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award, and will feature the first performance of the original lineup in over 20 years.

credits

released January 11, 2019

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Combine Norfolk, Virginia

Arguably the most successful band to emerge from Norfolk’s golden era in the late 80s / early 90s - Caroline Records recording artist COMBINE brought the Norfolk sound to the global stage via their 2 critically acclaimed releases NORFOLK VA and THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN ROCK AND ROLL. ... more

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