RANCID HELL SPAWN
Making horrible noises since 1988!
Rancid Hell Spawn have been going since 1988, making records packed with catchy, heavily distorted one-minute punk burnouts for the truly twisted, with record sleeves to match.
Rancid Hell Spawn have released five albums and four singles so far, all but one on the Wrench Records label. This includes the "Scalpel Party" CD which contains the best of Rancid Hell Spawn - 43 tracks!!
Rancid Hell Spawn are fronted by bassist/vocalist Charlie Chainsaw, former editor of Chainsaw fanzine. Charlie Chainsaw also has been in the super-obnoxious (and now defunct) band the Sexual Abominations. Anyone out there that needs a fix of new Rancid Hell Spawn material ought to check out the Sexual Abominations' debut single "Rock'n'roll Meat Hook", also released on Wrench Records!
To those that have never listened to Rancid Hell Spawn, those nice people at WFMU in the USA have put together a Rancid Hell Spawn web page with a few MP3s. Click here to go there!
News from Rancid Hell Spawn - the band recorded some new songs in 2008, and will possibly one day be releasing a new EP, which will include the previously-unreleased "Theme From Stickboy" which originally was written as the theme for Dennis Worden's "Stickboy" video in 1993. Watch this space!
Sadly, I have had to remove the guestbook because some scumbags started filling it up with adverts for Viagra and cigarettes. Fuck you, whoever you are!
The full Spawn discography is as follows:
Festering Pus (7" single 1988)
Jumpin Jack Flesh (LP 1989)
Gas Mask Love (mini-LP 1990)
Chainsaw Masochist (LP 1990)
Split single with the Fells (1991, Toxic Shock Records)
Gastro Boy (7" single 1992)
Axe Hero (CD 1993)
Soundtrack for Dennis Worden's Stickboy video (1993)
Teenage Lard (7" single 1995)
Scalpel Party (CD 2000)
Plus a few tracks on compilation albums that were previously released.
Here is a quick rundown of the Rancid Hell Spawn releases, plus a few pretty pictures of a few sleeves:
FESTERING PUS
The first Rancid Hell Spawn single and the first release on Wrench Records. This sold out six weeks after its release and was not re-pressed - and is quite hard to find now. Available from collector scum shops only. The most "garagey" RHS release of all. Tipped as a "Potential Christmas No. 1" by the NME. Yes, they were taking the piss.
JUMPIN JACK FLESH
The first LP. This must have the tinniest sound of any record ever releasd. The cutting engineer thought the tape was fucked. It was not, it was meant to be that way. And apparently everyone at Mordam stopped work and rushed over to the record player saying "What the fuck is this?" the first time it was put on the record player. MRR described it as a "Vinyl Abomination" - and then went on to recommend it. Includes "Sex In A Butcher's Shop". The sleeve shows a nude pic of the Sex Pope of Hamburg.
GAS MASK LOVE
9 tracks playing at 45rpm, released soon after Jumpin Jack Flesh- but with a slightly harder sound. Dedicated to those people that like to have sex while wearing a gas mask.
CHAINSAW MASOCHIST
This album is Rancid Hell Spawn's personal favourite. More distortion than ever before, and features a youthful Fakir Musafar on the sleeve. If you get any Rancid Hell Spawn album, get this one (or better still, get the "Scalpel Party" CD when it's out, which contains this LP in its entirety..... absolutely NONE of that lovely distortion gets lost in the pressing process on a CD!)
NOISE FROM NOWHERE #8 (SPLIT SINGLE WITH THE FELLS)
The only Rancid Hell Spawn release not on Wrench. Three tracks released nowhere else - "Rottweiler Girl", "Cholesterol Clones" and a re-recorded "Washout". Available in two different coloured sleeves. The Fells provide some good stuff on the flip side. Released on Toxic Shock records.
GASTRO BOY
Four tracks and a choice for anyone that likes hammering riffs. This record is dedicated to the virtues of obesity. I love obesity!
AXE HERO
Gasp! Shock horror! Rancid Hell Spawn on CD! If you only have a turntable, and can't play CDs, then tough! 22 tracks in 30 minutes including probably Rancid Hell Spawn's best song, the twisted hillbilly punk instrumental "A Trip To The Worm Farm". This record is hard. Compare it to 22 rounds in a boxing ring with Mike Tyson.
TEENAGE LARD
From 1995 - and for the moment the most recent release. This record has more distortion than ever before. Play it 3 times and you can work out the tune. The tune is as catchy as ever before - if you can find it. As you can guess, most people find it totally unlistenable. Others think it is the best Rancid Hell Spawn release. 4 tracks.
SCALPEL PARTY
It had to happen - the Rancid Hell Spawn retrospective. This CD contains the best of the Spawn output to date - including the whole of the Chainsaw Masochist LP, all of the tracks from the Gastro Boy EP and the split EP with the Fells, and the best stuff from all the other releases. 43 tracks in all. Released in December 2000!
AND THE FUTURE...
Rancid Hell Spawn are not dead - just resting. Rancid Hell Spawn are lazy. But..... Rancid Hell Spawn recorded some new songs in 2008! They are all ready for release. I just need to decide whether to spend time and money getting it done. In the meantime, I might do something really boring and put them on the web, if I could be bothered. Watch this space!
AND A RARE PIC OF CHARLIE CHAINSAW:
Charlie Chainsaw in Croydon, 1990.
These records are all available from Wrench Records mailorder.
Wrench Records have also released records by the Sexual Abominations, Loudmouths, Hot Rod Honeys, Henry Fiat's Open Sore, Lil Bunnies, the Steve McQueens, Savage Malignant, Crispy Nuts, Tronics, Mensen, Superhelicopter Ltd, Tokyo Knives and Fifi & The Mach III.
To contact Charlie Chainsaw / Rancid Hell Spawn or Wrench Records, send an E-mail to mail@wrench.org.
Wrench Records's address is:
PO Box 52638, London N7 8YD, England.