I have a long personal history with this band, and I'm gonna use this review as an excuse to tell you a story, and bore you with some of the details. My introduction to the band came at the end of a glorious summer. It was September 1990, we were just gearing up for our second year of university when my friend and I decided to take a weekend trip across the boarder to Buffalo NY. You know, grab some hot wings, buy cheap hooch, and generally act like idiots. Two nights before we were to leave, we were kickin' back with a couple brews, and my friend mentioned how his dad had made weekend trips all the way to New York City when he was younger. That's cool I thought... then I had an epiphany. How long did it take to drive from Toronto to NYC I asked. "According to my dad, about nine hours" was the response. So I said, "you know, Buffalo is kind of lame compared to NYC". We then just looked at each other with dumb-ass smiles on our faces, and within seconds our plans had changed.

We left early Friday morning. It took us 10 hours to drive there (including one unscheduled detour to the Bronx, which by the way, I don't recommend). We paid a small fortune to park the car, and then checked into some dump of a hotel, which I believe was on 34th street. It was 9:00 PM and we were eager to start the party, so we went to the only bar/club we knew of, the legendary CBGBs. It was fun, a shit-load of bands came and went throughout the night, and we had a blast. However, it was the Saturday night that would change my world.

We had first tried hittin' some other joints, but they were all kind of boring, so it wasn't until late in the evening when we made our way back to CB's. As I walked in, I noticed it was way more packed than the night before, in fact, it was almost wall-to-wall, I was actually kind of surprised that they let us in. I asked some one next to me who was playing tonight. The dude said "Alice Donut man". I had never heard of them, but what did I care, I've always been into checking out new bands, and by the size of the crowd, this one had some followers. The crowd was very diversified. At the time, I was pretty much a Metal-head looking guy, long hair, biker jacket, etc. There were other Metal looking dudes around, but also lots of Punkers. I saw lots of mohawks, and lots of those Alternative looking kids that were always taking up space at the coffee houses around campus. All of a sudden, the lights dimmed, and out came the strangest bunch of freaks I had ever seen. The vocalist (Tomas Antona) was wearing nothing but a raincoat. Yes, you read that right, he was going "commando", and those in the front were getting more of a "show" than they had bargained for. The music was odd, but eerily enticing, the songs were hectic, frantic. The band seemed to lash out in every sonic direction possible. The small crowd was shouting and moshing, it was fuckin' brilliant! The highlight of the night was when they let an obviously devoted fan come up on stage and sing a whole song with them. The song was the bizarre ditty known as "Lisa's Father", and when the climax finally came at the end, the crowd went totally out of control.

The next day, still delirious with joy from the night before, I went out and bought their 1989 CD "Bucketfulls Of Sickness And Horror In An Otherwise Meaningless Life", which by the way, still stands as their masterpiece. Since then, I have picked up every release these guys have put out, which includes six studio discs, 3 EPs, a live disc, and a home video. The band however, after playing their 1000th show in 1996, split up, and their small, but loyal underground following went into mourning.