Dead Moon - "Echoes of the Past" (2xCD, Sub Pop - 2006)

I woke myself up today to the sad news of Andrew Loomis departure. Dead Moon for us the few rock & roll infected here in Greece were and still are something special and something different. We knew and we cared about them when nobody else gave a shit around the world and I'm fuckin' proud for it. I mean, even the fuckin' local Metal Hammer back then, gave them coverage... 

I've seen them play live always with the same set-up (all three placed together in the same row right in front of the stage), from small venues to open air festivals luckily many-many times. And Andrew was always in the middle of Fred and Toody and you knew that the show was about to begin when this old Jack Daniels bottle full of melted candle on the drum kit, was catching fire again. He used to shoot beer on the drumskins quite often too, such a show off, he-he...

Dead Moon were the last true and pure garage punk outfit. Not garage rock. Fuck it, this is punk!  Forget all the lame ass retro shit bands full of squares in paisley shirts and beatle boots. They were crude, they recorded themselves even cruder and they pressed (themselves again) their own vinyls (CD? wtf are you talkin' about man?!) on the same ancient lathe that The Kingsmen cut "Louie Louie". I have always been fascinated by this tale but it was their dark (and I mean, DARK) rock & roll approach that made me a longtime fan. And their privitism. Man, they were cavemen enough to annoy even Tim Warren, but hey no surprise we're talkin' about a Fred Cole leading gang, remember? And they reminded the whole world that you didn't have to be a straight edge hardcore punk loyal to be a "D.I.Y." pioneer as well. And they stayed that way, way too long to have any right to call themselves "indie", but never cared much about it. But there's I guess where lies the difference between a way of life and a trend...

Anyway, this one here is a perfect example of what a perfect compilation is. I still feel strange looking at the label logo though but the guys over Sub Pop let wisely Fred Cole himself to pick up the material so no further questions about the quality I suppose. 

R.I.P. Andrew. Sex Murder Art...