With iconic garage-punk trio the Oblivians, with the Parting Gifts (his collaboration with the Ettes’ Coco Hames and Jem Cohen), with a legion of other one-offs and defunct projects, and, for the past 13 years with driving rock ‘n’ soul revue the Reigning Sound, Greg Cartwright has chased various traces of American rock and pop to arrive at something singularly his. Still, with his legacy perfectly well cemented among garage-rock aficionados and discerning vinyl-heads, Cartwright is still chasing the unexpected. The Reigning Sound’s latest album, Shattered, is the band’s sixth proper full-length, a follow-up to 2009’s Love And Curses, and its debut for Merge. Cartwright will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on him.
Cartwright: I was on tour playing drums in 1993 with Jeff Evans and 68 Comeback. A two-month tour that all but quashed my desire to travel. While in Los Angeles, we stopped by the home of Long Gone John, the lone entrepreneur behind the Sympathy For The Record Industry Record Label that had released one of 68 Comeback’s singles. I wasn’t on that single, still John showed me nothing but kindness, and our initial meeting led to several releases of my own for his label further on down the road. We still had a few weeks’worth of shows ahead of us at this point, and he sent us on our way with a pile of promo records and CDs for the drive. I particularly remember him handing me the Wreckless Eric The Donovan Of Trash CD. “Take a few, it’s great but I can’t even give’em away.” This statement ensured that I wouldn’t listen to it until I’d worked my way through all the other CDs. A couple days later, we were in Las Vegas on a bill with the Angry Samoans that I was very excited about. They didn’t show. Bummer. An early night. We stayed with one of Jeff’s friends, and I rummaged through the last couple CDs in the box and gave Donovan Of Trash a try. I think I may have listened to it three times all the way through before I went to bed. For the remainder of the tour I told anyone who’d listen about my new favorite album. Some got it, some didn’t. I didn’t care. People who didn’t usually said, “You should hear his Stiff records; they’re much better.” I already knew his Stiff material from the ’70s, but to my ears this album was delivering on the promise of “whole wide world” in a much more satisfying way. Most of the Stiff material seemed just that: slick and stiff. With a decade between the two products, I knew there must be more. Not long after, maybe a year or two later, I found the Len Bright Combo LP from 1986 while looking through a record store in Holland. Wow! Great songs and really outstanding band. Very raw. Then a friend made me a copy of his album Le Beat Group Electrique from ’89. I was beginning to see a trend here. Unlike every other artist I’d ever gotten into, his career arc seemed to be working backward. His early records were good, but with each consecutive album they were becoming great! It gave me faith as a songwriter. All of the albums I’ve mentioned have been reissued on CD by Fire Records. They’re all great.
