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February 28, 2005
Long Time Since
The Impossibles - This Is Fucking Tragic
The fourth installment (1, 2, and 3) in my unsolicited history of Rory Phillips' and Gabe Hascall's songwriting careers. The Impossibles, from Austin TX, was the band that started it all for them: playing mostly ska at first, it slowly mutated into more of a Weezer-ish/hard punk hybrid by the end of their run.
This is one of the first Impossibles songs I ever heard, from their final studio album, 2000's "Return", and I think it perfectly illustrates the intra-song dynamic that the band had cultivated at that point, with the soft verses/explosive choruses. The Impossibles used a vocal arrangement that's similar to Black Eyes or the Blood Brothers, with Gabe handling most of the softer, more traditional 'singing' parts, and Rory taking on the screamier portions (as I mentioned before, Rory has a great rock scream). 'This is Fucking Tragic' starts with pal-muted guitar, and Gabe intoning "we've come to feel so cold", then later on transitions to one of the hair-ripping, teeth-gnashing, heart-on-sleeve choruses that they did so well.
The Impossibles were an unappreciated band in their time, working in a genre (guitar-heavy emo(!)) that's become less and less well-regarded (with good reason, given some of the current practitioners) in the past five years. It's too bad that their Live DVD has gone out-of-print, because it's an excellent record of the band's passion for their music and insane live energy (plus the commentary track is hilarious). Anyway. You can buy "Return" directly from the record label (only $10).
Posted by matt at February 28, 2005 08:00 AM
Comments
Woooooooh Fuckin Impossibles Fuckin rock man. And so do you kevin. Your tireless promotion of the perfectors of Rock and fucking Roll will not go unappreciated I promise you. To quote Gabriel Hascalion, "See you in Hell.....Mother Fuckers."
Posted by: Captain Arcade money at February 28, 2005 01:56 PM
well, i have no clue who you are (i came upon you whilst conducting a the20goto10 search on google) but i really like you for posting about impossibles/ slowreader/ 20goto10... i personally still have yet to meet anyone who knows who they are. meh. anyway, the songs you picked are ones that i particularly noticed before; they make a very strong impression, so good choice from my point of view. if you were on xanga i would give you props. if youre ever in the nyc metro area to go to shows email me, im in.
Posted by: caitlyn at March 4, 2005 11:54 PM
Hey Caitlyn,
Thanks for stopping by- it's always nice to know that there are more Rory/Gabe fans out there. Have you heard anything about Gabe's supposed new band, Record Heat?
Posted by: Kevin at March 10, 2005 05:31 PM