Whenever the question gets asked, what are some of my personal favorite bands or artists, Steel Pole Bathtub will always get a mention.  I was lucky enough a sense to have a pretty hip next door neighbor while I was growing up that exposed me to a lot of music I would have otherwise never have heard.  The internet wasn't available to the masses, MTV and radio didn't play that much from the underground, so being a preteen my options were rather limited to exposure.  I would spend countless hours soaking up my neighbors cassette tapes.  I was already well aware of Nirvana and Soundgarden and the like but I wanted more.  Among his collection was Ministry, Love Battery, and a band name that caught my interest immediatley, Steel Pole Bathtub.  I can still clearly remember the day I heard it.  He was washing his beat up Ranchero, while I sat in the grass and listened to whatever music he happened to be playing.  That particular day he had his boom box and a small case of cassette tapes laying when my eyes caught Steel Pole Bathtub.  I asked him who it was, and if we could listen to it so he put it in the tape player.  As soon as the tape started playing I can remember thinking that this may possibly be the coolest thing that I had ever heard to that point.  And so my love affair with Steel Pole Bathtub began.

That particular album was ''Tulip''.  An album where they were at the pinnacle of their career.  I had a very hard time tracking down any of their music at that time,  with a typical 11 year old budget of next to nothing and limited trips to the record store in the mall it would be years before I was able to quench my thrist for this elusive band.  Eventually I did manage to find a copy of ''Scars From Falling Down'' and ''Miracle of Sound in Motion'' before finally resorting to the internet to scrape up the rest of their material.  

This particular EP like all the records falling before it was put out by Boner Records.  Aside from having a pretty neat title ''Some Cocktail Suggestions..From Steel Pole Bathtub'', the track listing on the back actually lists ingredients for cocktails under each song.  If I was a connoisseur of alcohol I could probably tell you what some of these drinks are, but I'm afraid I really have no idea.  The song ''Ray'' for example is 1 part sweet Vermouth, 2 parts Scotch, Dash of Angostura bitters.  Stir with cracked ice, strain, serve with twist of lemon peel.  I can only assume that these drinks are actually known cocktails with more common names?  In the actual liner notes of the album there are about 16 other cocktail recipes from the common gin 'n tonic and margarita to the lesser known hangover remedy of eggs, tabasco, vodka and others. 

 This record is working itself as a departure from their super tv sample heavy, manic noisy unstrained grunge.  It is the stepping stone between 'The Miracle of Sound in Motion' and the more friendly 'Scars From Falling Down'.  It's just as bass heavy as their earlier work, but it retains a certain level of melody that was almost absent from the stuff on ''Butterfly Love'' or ''Lurch''.  But even the weakest album by SPBT is a good record for the fan.  Their library is pretty much flawless as far as pleasing the fans of their music.  

The tracks on this EP are all good choices.  The song ''Slip'' reminds me a lot of ''Train To Miami'' from ''Miracle in Sound...''  It has that deep driving catch with repetitive lyrics.  ''Well you've got my hand, now shake it, shake my hand'' as opposed to ''We are your friends now..we are your friends now''.  And it's nice to see them use a good little tv sample at the end of the song.  Glad to see this album isn't total void of television samples.  They're one of the few bands that always knew when, where and what snippit to include.  

It is only an EP so even six songs is rather generous considering that they're all rather lengthy.  And I think most can agree a good six song EP beats a bad 14 song LP.  Besides ''Slip'' I also really like the song ''Speakerphone''.  It all blurs together with a ringing telephone in the background.   It seems a little like each of the three band members are sort of off in their own little world meeting up occasionally throughout the song.  The album ends with ''The Wasp Jar''.  A poetic spoken word slur behind a slow, distored rain of notes and feedback.  The contains all the lyrics, so it makes for an easy reference point if you have no idea what Mike Morasky is saying.

This is the type of powerful, uninfluenced breed of rock music that could only be conjured out in the wide open spaces of Montana.  Granted, Morasky and bass player Dave Flattum moved to Seattle hiring Darren Mor-X as their drummer before relocating to California but the roots are deep in the heart of Montana.  Like some untouched stone that even the most noisy bands couldn't emulate.  

Steve Albini produced this EP so that along should tell you the raw production quality will be easily recognized and grade A.  But the actual cohesive quality of the songs don't really flow too well.  Not that their other records are exactly tight knight or heavily themed, but this particular EP it just feels as though they pulled songs from different directions and put this together.  Luckily all the songs do work on their own, which makes it just fine for listening.  Somehow after this they got a major label contract, released only one album ''Scars From Falling Down'' and then got dropped.  I'm sure it was after the executives realized exactly what kind of band they signed in their underground feeding frenzy for the next Nirvana.  They did record one album shortly after, that finally say the light in 2001 titled ''Unlistenable'' after being referred to that by record execs.  

The members of the band never really stopped working after the demise of Steel Pole Bathtub.  They had a short lived projected with Jello Biafra titled ''Tumor Circus'', an almost totally electronic noise bash called Milk Cult and other small little projects here and there.  While Steel Pole Bathtub will probably be remembered by very few, and never did get the innovative credit they deserved it's nice to know that they still maintained a solid catalog of material for a durtion of almost ten years from the mid 80's to mid 90's.  If you need a good starting point, I'd just suggest the same place that I started on that hot summer afternoon.  ''Tulip'' or ''Miracle of Sound..'' are both great first listening experiences.  And if you already are a fan, and haven't heard this particular EP, the only question is why not?  

Recommended: Yes