Maybe the reason I’m kicking myself for taking the time to listen to that Bathgate song Trizzy posted is because i don’t have pockets full of money. Or maybe because the hook sounds like it was delivered btwn bouts of sucking on helium balloons? But I digress. ANYways.. Hey young blog world, I’m back! Not sure if one previous post in the grand and dynastic Fool’s Gold blog history constitutes being here in the first place but seeing as how I have a moment to breathe (aka Alain and Nick are taking a tea break and have momentarily put down the chariots and whips) I thought i’d post up about one of my favorite bands. Namely, Pop Will Eat Itself which I will refer to as PWEI. Before I give a little history lesson, I thought you might be amused by the following anecdote..

On my 17th birthday (’94 i think?) I took a girl whom I had previously wooed from behind the counter of a fastfood joint i worked at part time (even better, her father was standing behind her and I still got the number!) to go see Nine Inch Nails, Jim Rose Sideshow Circus, and Pop Will Eat Itself at Nassau Colosseum. Needless to say the show was epic and afterwards it was raining so hard that I was forced to navigate my forlorn ’87 VW Jetta into a rest stop where to kill time this young lady took my virginity in the backseat (or as LL would say, i swung an ep). I know what you’re thinking, late bloomer and all that but you know how it goes… right time, right place for everything. The best thing about this story is that I still own and proudly wear the PWEI tour shirt I bought and wore that night as the deed was done.

Down to business –

Affectionately known as “Poppies” to their fans, PWEI was from Birmingham, England. They killed it from ’86 to ’96 with a UK only (bastards) reunion tour in ’05 and were something that musical legends are made of, mixing hip-hop, house beats, and industrial, w/ samples and influences ranging from Erik Satie to Yellow Magic Orchestra. Almost a Beastie Boys on acid if you will, but not quite.

Clint Mansell was the leader of the pack, you may have heard of him in his current incarnation as the composer for such soundtracks as PI, Requiem for a Dream, and The Fountain, with other PWEI members becoming Bentley Rhythm Ace and most recently the Vile Evils.

Another aspect of theirs that greatly appealed to me in my burgeoning design years was that all their releases (minus the first LP or so), merch, etc were designed by The Designers Republic. The collaboration btwn the two produced over 100 t-shirts which famously and somewhat ironically sold more than their albums at one point.

For me, the Poppies music still stands strong today and is in almost daily rotation on my iTunes. Check ’em out!

“Can U Dig It?”
(can’t embed this one, thanks YouTube!)