In 1994, a 7” was released by a band called Chavez, who were pretty much unknown outside New York. I picked it up because a concert promoter friend of mine advised me that A) it was right up my alley and B) the band was comprised of members of Bullet LaVolta and Live Skull, two bands that couldn’t have been less alike. Bullet LaVolta were a Boston band of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s that attempted a metal/punk hybrid which, though they were good players, really never quite connected, even in the nascent days of grunge when exactly their sound was becoming dominant in both independent and mainstream music. Live Skull were contemporaries of Swans and Sonic Youth in the 80s’ storied NYC noise rock scene. I kinda had to know what that chimera would sound like, and the price of a 7” didn’t seem too much to risk.

That record is fucking glorious. It has all the elements you expect from a ‘90s underground band—loud/quiet dynamics, sandpaper vocals, dissonance and texture often standing in for melody and harmony—but Chavez applied those familiar tropes in utterly transcendent ways. Guitarists Clay Tarver (Bullet LaVolta) and Matt Sweeney trafficked in trebly riffs that perforated eardrums like hot needles, and drummer James Lo (Live Skull) and bassist Scott Marshall possessed the power to inflict blunt force trauma, but they did so organically, without ever becoming overly stylized in Shellac/Jesus Lizardy ways. Their best tracks could absolutely soar, and they were a joy to listen to because you could practically hear the band’s members taking tremendous pleasure from the creation of their music.
 
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