KILL CREEK - St. Valentine's Garage

Artist:  Kill Creek
Album:  St. Valentine's Garage
Year:  1994
Genre:  90s Emo / Punk

Approximately 25 years ago I got a promo copy of Kill Creek's St. Valentine's Garage.  Never would I have thought that one CD out of the box of  the 15-20 I received would become one of my all-time favorite albums.  Yes, ALL-TIME.  St. Valentine's Garage is a record that takes me to an unfamiliar place every time I hear it.  Records like that are special.  Not only do you know every lyric and chord, but you find something new with every play.  Labeling Kill Creek as just punk or emo isn't fair.  In the 90s, sniveling vocals and guitars without thunder paved a new avenue for kids looking for variety from the standard punk fare.  For me, emo was about being able to create a jarring surge of feeling through musical dynamics, presentation, and lyrical content.  It's supposed to bring feelings to the surface like an old photograph of a loved one or missing a long, lost friend.  So many bands failed to fit what is probably my profusely overcritical criteria, so I never really was a big fan of the genre.  Along with very few others, Kill Creek were the exception.  Nobody, emo or not, had the heart this band put forth.   The songs on St. Valentine's Garage drip with anger, insecurity, confusion, fear, intensity and, of all the things, tenderness.  The lyrical content can be gut wrenching and takes me right back to trying times in my own life...and I have never been a big lyric guy.  This record is unique in songwriting and sound.  Huge props to producer Ed Rose for capturing the the band as if it were a live show and using harsh and bashing tones other bands in the genre were afraid to touch.  This record and band are so unfairly overlooked.  They should have been the ones leading the way in the mid 90s.  Find this CD at all costs.  As stated, lyrics aren't always my biggest selling point, but when they are as good as this, recognition is absolutely necessary.

Hold on, you say you're always giving; I don't resent receiving, it's just that the generous are always first to call the rest selfish. And now I stand accused and made to feel indebted. I guess its sometimes easy not to feel yourself draw in. If you decide to leave, well I know I'll be the worst to grieve. But if Jesus reaches out to me, I'll cut the beggars hand, 'cause love dressed as support I tend to perceive as demand. It seems to me, when I come home, and find a note on the lawn, with a suitcase and the dresser drawers, that says you'll wait for the man that can hide you away from the world, if you would have wanted less, then I could be that man right now. Listen. You finally caught me speaking. I'm not too much for sharing; I just assume that you don't need the weight of what I've been thinking. Here I am consumed. And if you feel disparaged, then you should go since I don't have the decency myself. - from "Wuss Cliff"

Listen to "Wuss Cliff" here.