Formed during the early eighties, assumed weened on punk’s first wave, a clutch of Blackpool guys got together, melding aggression with oddball rhythms and warbly vocals. It’d be difficult to even draw a proper comparison – even the Contortions wouldn’t work in this equation.
Releasing a slew of low rent, hard to find discs hasn’t done well by the group. That being said, the internets, obviously, have made it a bit easier to track the stuff down even if Pulp Beating 1984 and all That was the only long player I was able to come across. But the Membranes’ scarcity again points to the noisome racket the band was engaged with. It’s hard to figure from scant listening – and its nearly impossible to decipher any of the lyrics – whether the band was interested in pissing off its audience.
Even if the Membranes weren’t interested in the aspect of music’s theater, all involved apparently enjoyed literature. “Kafka's Dad” begins with that distorted bass sound and some screaming as the rest of the band churns out a ridiculous, mutant funk tune. There’s mention of screaming in the lyrics, but not too much else is getting sussed out.
“Big Nose and the Howling Wind” might not actually be a reference to Gogol’s The Nose, but I choose to believe it is. The Membranes, on this one, work with some similar game plan, except for the vocals being delivered in a throaty Morrisey-style and some background efforts bolster verses. There’s something obscenely gothic about the track, though – something difficult to expel in prose. “Big Nose” – and this entire disc – are really worth hunting down, if for nothing else making other musics seem more palatable.
Beyond this music being cool and all, what’s impressive is that the band’s bassist, John Rob, has persisted in making music his career, while guitarist Mark Tilton works in film. Ahh, art.