NEWS : THU, OCT 26, 2017 at 11:00 AM

Listen to U-Men’s Unreleased Track “Trouble Under Water” From Their Forthcoming Anthology (Premiered + Interview via Dangerous Minds)

The U-Men anthology will be available worldwide November 3, 2017 from Sub Pop.

Today Dangerous Minds premiered “Trouble Under Water,” a previously unreleased track (!!!) from the U-Men’s forthcoming self-titled anthology, out next Friday, November 3rd on Sub Pop.
 
“Bands like The U-Men don’t come along often. A Seattle band at a time when the phrase “Seattle band” carried zero cultural cachet, The U-Men kitchen-sinked Gun Club rootsiness, classic garage rock ‘verb-and-twang, punk sneer, gothic darkness, and Ubu/Beefheart artiness into a single coherent sound that galvanized a hinterlands underground scene and directly influenced the grunge explosion,” says Dangerous Minds (see interview + track premiere October 26th).



U-Men is a comprehensive and remastered collection, which compiles the entire studio-recorded output of The U-Men, plus five unreleased songs, with a 16-page book of photos, liner notes, and interviews with the band. The U-Men anthology was executive produced by Jack Endino, and is now available for preorder from Sub Pop right here and is available in the following formats:

  • 3xLP box set housed in a cardboard slipcase with printed inner sleeves + 16-page booklet
  • 2xCD digipack with custom dust sleeves + 16-page booklet
  • Digitally


 
[Photo Credit: Cam Garrett]

“Trouble Under Water” follows previously U-Men shared tracks “Dig It A Hole,” “Gila,” and “The Fumes.”
 
“Dig It A Hole” [hear here] was available as a self-released single and via the group’s sole studio album, Step on a Bug. “Gila” [hear here] was initially on the group’s first EP, released by Bruce Pavitt on Bombshelter Records. The track would reappear years later on the Sub Pop 100 compilation, and a split single with the Melvins for Amphetamine Reptile’s Sugar Daddy Live! series. Meanwhile, “The Fumes” [hear here] was found on the tracklisting for Stop Spinning, the group’s second EP originally released by Homestead Records.


Those in the Seattle area can celebrate the release of U-Men with a special event on November 1st, 2017 at Georgetown Stables. The members of the U-Men will be interviewed live on stage followed by a brief audience Q & A. U-Men will also be available (2 days ahead of official release). The event begins at 7pm event and is all ages.
 

More on the U-Men from Mudhoney’s Mark Arm: 
The U-Men are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen. They were hypnotic, frenetic, powerful and compelling. It was impossible to resist getting sucked into their weird, darkly absurd world. They effortlessly blended The Sonics, Link Wray, Pere Ubu, and Captain Beefheart. Their shows were loose-limbed, drunken dance parties and no two shows were alike. The U-Men were avant garage explorers and, most importantly, they fucking rocked. I was lucky enough to live in their hometown and I saw them every chance I could.  
 
From 1983 to 1987, the U-Men were the undisputed kings of the Seattle Underground. No one else came close. They ruled a bleak backwater landscape populated by maybe 200 people. They were the only band that could unify the disparate sub-subcultures and get all 200 of those people to fill a room. Anglophilic, dress-dark Goths; neo-psych MDA acolytes; skate punks who shit in bathtubs at parties; Mod vigilantes who tormented the homeless with pellet guns; college kids who thought college kids were lame; Industrial Artistes; some random guy with a moustache; and eccentrics who insisted that they couldn’t be pigeonholed: all coalesced around the U-Men (read more at Sub Pop).


Posted by Rachel White