Eater

All Of Eater (Creative Man)
by Austin Nash

Is it really a valid fantasy to be cooler than everyone else way before your time, or are the greatest successes better experienced in their proper context? I might ask this question to an infant pharaoh or one of the guys in Silverchair, if I ever get the chance. Or maybe I’ll ask the fellas in Eater. This band started out as a lie to get Andy Blade and Brian Chevette chicks in high school and became a reality under pressure from peers to play the songs they claimed existed. They stole guitars, learned a few chords, hooked up with 13-year-old drummer Dee Generate, hired Ian Woodard on as bassist, rented a hall, and claim to have had the Buzzcocks open for them at their first show. That must have been embarrassing.

Eater signed on with Dave Goodman’s The Label (Sex Pistols, The Clash), and acted like snotty Brit punk assholes for two years. The band is apparently dysfunctional now and All of Eater is just a bit of ego-tripping through the past. The collection encompasses Eater’s entire first full length release,The Album, as well as several rare Eater tracks and covers of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” and “Waiting for the Man,” and David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch.” For those of you not familiar with Eater, they sound a lot like Johnny Rotten in a rockabilly band. Keep in mind that all of the material flaunted is obviously immortal decadence from 1977-80. There is nothing really new here, just a re-release lest we forget.

I guess I don’t get it.