The long-unavailable, classic discography of beloved and iconic Seattle band, TAD – God’s Balls (1989), Salt Lick (1990), 8-Way Santa (1991), and assorted singles from the band’s 1988-1992 run – finally received the deluxe reissue treatment. Producer & engineer Jack Endino (who produced God’s Balls, TAD’s first full-length) has remastered all of the recordings from the original tapes. God’s Balls, Salt Lick and 8-Way Santa are available today from Sub Pop.
As if that weren’t life-changing enough, you can also stream all three remastered albums via YouTube: 8-Way Santa | Gods Balls | Salt Lick.
Might we also suggest you treat yourself to TAD’s deluxe unboxing video (as seen on Facebook & Instagram), and spend some quality time with Tad Doyle as he sits for an enlightening interview with Sub Pop Podcast, which you can listen to here.
The deluxe editions of God’s Balls, Salt Lick, and 8-Way Santa feature new images from celebrated photographer Charles Peterson, bonus tracks, and expansive liner notes from the band and Jack Endino. The bonus material associated with each release will be included on the CD and digital formats. And each of the gatefold vinyl LPs will include that album’s bonus material as part of its free, associated download. All of the bonus material, from all three of these monumental heavy rock/punk albums will be collected on an additional bonus LP available for free with purchase of all three (3) albums on vinyl from the Sub Pop Mega Mart and also from select independent retailers.
BUT WAIT! There’s more…
For those in the Seattle area, TAD’s original line up – Tad Doyle, Kurt Danielsen, Steve Wied, and Gary Thornstensen – have scheduled a Q&A session at Easy Street Records on November 9th at 7pm. The event is hosted by Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman.
For the rest of the world, we’ll be streaming the above referenced Q&A via Facebook Live.
Listen to the Season 2 trailer, and subscribe now!
Mere months after its unforeseeably really, pretty great first season earlier this year, and in response to largely precedented levels of demand for more, the Sub Pop Podcast will return for a 10-episode second season on Wednesday, October 12th. Season Two of the Sub Pop Podcast will run weekly from October 12th through December 14th and will be available through all finer podcast distribution points.
Produced and hosted by real-life Sub Pop employees Alissa Atkins and Arwen Nicks at the label’s Seattle headquarters, the Sub Pop Podcast, of course, is where you can hear stories from inside, outside, and adjacent to Sub Pop, Seattle’s premier medium-sized record label. We focus on conversations with our artists, people who work at/with/around Sub Pop, and anyone else willing or reckless enough to talk to us. And same goes for our sibling label Hardly Art. We will continue to include, impose on, sponge off, and otherwise implicate them, as well.
In its conspicuously excellent debut season, from January 10th of this year, through to April 1st, we managed to produce and then release 11 (which, for some reason, we called 10 ½…) episodes of Sub Pop’s very first podcast. And then, between April 1 and now, we put out an additional two, interstitial, summer episodes in an effort to sustain the arguably ravenous interest of our dozens upon dozens of regular listeners. We spoke with principal members of Band of Horses, Mass Gothic, Chastity Belt, Mudhoney, Shearwater, S, King Tuff, and a whole bunch more. And, we were recognized with an Honorable Mention in the Seattle Weekly’s 2016 Readers’ Poll for local, music-based podcasts which currently exist! This sort of intoxicating recognition has us gunning for at least second runner-up next year. The entirety of this first season, and our summer episodes remain available everywhere now.
In the upcoming second season, unrelated to any outstanding debts or lost bets, we managed to convince an impressive array of folks to talk with us. Here we are referring to such celebrated figures from the wide world of entertainment as: Alex and Victoria from Beach House, Sam Beam from Iron and Wine, Tad from TAD, Benjamin Gibbard from both Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service, Kathleen Hanna, Father John Misty, Jonah Ray, members of CSS and Clipping, our boss and benefactor Jonathan Poneman (More than once! He’s the boss!), plus, reliably, “more.” We also took the Sub Pop Podcast on the road, with trips to both Poland and Portland, and down to the Sub Pop store at Sea-Tac Airport.
In the spirit of tell and show, you can listen to a trailer for the Sub Pop Podcast, Season Two (and, again, every previous episode) at subpop.fm RIGHT NOW. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe (in iTunes or anything) right now, too. The first episode of the new season will be available Wednesday, October 12, and new episodes will be delivered weekly until December 14, 2016.
SO! Visit subpop.fm to listen to the new trailer for the second season, subscribe to the podcast, and sign up for the podcast mailing list. Send us your thoughts and feelings here: podcast@subpop.com.
The Sub Pop Podcast: Absolutely nothing sounds better.
Yes, you read it right. We finally got our collective shit together and the long-unavailable, classic discography of beloved and iconic Seattle band, TAD – God’s Balls (1989), Salt Lick (1990), 8-Way Santa (1991), and assorted singles from the band’s 1988-1992 run – will finally receive the deluxe reissue treatment.
Producer & engineer Jack Endino (who produced God’s Balls, TAD’s first full-length) has lovingly remastered all of the recordings from the original tapes. God’s Balls, Salt Lick and 8-Way Santa will be available throughout the known universe on November 4th of this very year.
These deluxe editions of God’s Balls, Salt Lick, and 8-Way Santa feature new images from celebrated photographer Charles Peterson, bonus tracks, and expansive liner notes from the band and Jack Endino. The bonus material associated with each release will be included on the CD and digital formats; each of the the gatefold vinyl LPs will include that album’s bonus material as part of its free, associated download.
PLUS all of the bonus material, from all three of these monumental heavy rock/punk albums will be collected on an additional bonus LP available for free with purchase of all three (3) albums on vinyl from the Sub Pop Mega Mart [preorder (is advised) here] and also from select independent retailers.
New to the hard-churning world of TAD? Read all about it in the words of Tad Doyle himself right here, then further your education with these O.G. TAD videos: “Stumbling Man” (from Salt Lick)[watch here]and“Wood Goblins” (from 8-Way Santa). [watch here]
God’s Balls (1989) God’s Balls, TAD’s punishing, noise-drenched debut album, was recorded with Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle in 1988 and released early the following year. In addition to their usual arsenal of guitars, bass, and drums, the band employed a variety of unusual instruments – an empty gas tank from a car, a hacksaw, a large brass tube from a microwave transmitter, CB radio mics, a cello bow used on cymbals to emulate guitar feedback – to thunderous effect, adding a Neubauten-esque clang to the band’s rock riffs. After releasing God’s Balls, TAD flew to Europe with Nirvana for both bands’ first European tour. The now-legendary, month-long tour took the bands to the UK, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy, Denmark and Sweden.
This reissue of God’s Balls features bonus tracks from TAD’s 1988 debut 7”, plus the previously unreleased “Tuna Car” from the 7” session. God’s Balls has been out of print on LP/CD for many years, and this is its first digital release.
Tracklist: 1. Behemoth 2. Pork Chop 3. Helot 4. Tuna Car 5. Sex God Missy (Lumberjack Mix) 6. Cyanide Bath 7. Boiler Room 8. Satan’s Chainsaw 9. Hollow Man 10. Nipple Belt 11. Ritual Device - (from “Daisy” 7” single) ** 12. Daisy - (from “Daisy” 7” single) ** 13. Tuna Car (Unreleased) **
** w/ CD / Digital / LP Download Card only
Salt Lick (1990) After their 1989 debut album, God’s Balls, TAD continued to write and record, releasing a string of singles and the Salt Lick EP between 1989 and 1990. Salt Lick features the single “Wood Goblins,” the video for which MTV banned because it was, to the delicate eyes of MTV programmers, “too ugly.” The sounds of Salt Lick are, indeed, wonderfully ugly, thanks in part to the involvement of noise-rock technician Steve Albini (Big Black, Shellac, Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard), who recorded the EP. The band continued to release singles and gain momentum in the press. As TAD himself puts it: “Lyrically we had a lot of subject matter that was meant to be tongue-in-cheek from the beginning but that was presented by both Sub Pop and us as true-to-life. The press took it all seriously and began to feed on and ravenously devour the mythology we created.” This reissue of Salt Lick includes tracks from the “Wood Goblins” single, a split 7” with Pussy Galore, and the “Loser” 7”. This material has been out of print on vinyl/CD for many years, and this is its first digital release.
Tracklist: 1. Axe to Grind 2. High on the Hog 3. Wood Goblins 4. Hibernation 5. Glue Machine 6. Potlatch 7. Loser (from “Loser” 7” single) ** 8. Cooking With Gas (from “Wood Goblins” 12” & “Loser” 7” single)** 9. Habit Necessity (from “Dope Guns N Fucking in the Streets” 7” single on Amphetamine Reptile) ** 10. Damaged (from Pussy Galore split 7” single) **
** w/ CD / Digital / LP Download Card only
8-Way Santa (1991) In 1991, after tens of thousands of miles on the road in support ofGod’s Balls and Salt Lick, and a run of powerful EPs/singles, TAD released their second full-length album, 8-Way Santa. Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, WI with Butch Vig, whose work with Killdozer the band admired, 8-Way Santa finds TAD pushing their sound in new directions. Not a band to rest on its laurels, TAD began to add melodic touches to their sound, as evidenced by the lead single, “Jinx.” 8-Way Santa was the last record with the original TAD lineup, and their last album for Sub Pop before jumping to a major label.
This reissue of 8-Way Santa includes tracks from the “Jinx” single, a 1990 EP, and a handful of unreleased album demos recorded by Jack Endino. This material has been out of print on vinyl/CD for many years, and this is the first digital release for the bonus content.
Tracklist: 1. Jinx 2. Giant Killer 3. Wired God 4. Delinquent 5. Hedge Hog 6. Flame Tavern 7. Trash Truck 8. Stumblin’ Man 9. Jack 10. Candi 11. 3-D Witch Hunt 12. Cranes Café 13. Plague Years 14. Pig Iron (from Jinx 7” single) ** 15. Nuts ‘N’ Bolts (Unreleased) ** 16. Delinquent (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) ** 17. Giant Killer (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) ** 18. Wired God (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) ** 19. 3D Witch Hunt (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) ** 20. Eddie Hook (from U.S. “Jack” CD & all German “Jack” releases – 7”, 12” & CD – and from 8-Way Santa Butch Vig sessions) **
** w/ CD / Digital / LP Download Card only
Bonus LP Compilation Tracklist: (Available free with purchase of all three albums on vinyl from the Sub Pop Mega Mart [preorder here] and from select independent retailers) A1. Ritual Device (from “Daisy” 7” single) A2. Daisy (from “Daisy” 7” single) A3. Tuna Car (Unreleased) A4. Loser (from “Loser” 7” single) A5. Cooking With Gas (from “Loser” 7” single) A6. Habit Necessity - (from “Dope Guns N Fucking in the Streets” 7” single on Amphetamine Reptile) A7. Damaged (from Pussy Galore split 7” single) B1. Pig Iron (from “Jinx” 7” single) B2. Nuts ‘N’ Bolts (Unreleased) B3. Delinquent (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) B4. Giant Killer (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) B5. Wired God (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) B6. 3-D Witch Hunt (8-Way Santa Jack Endino demos) B7. Eddie Hook (from U.S. “Jack” CD & all German “Jack” releases – 7”, 12” & CD – and from 8-Way Santa Butch Vig sessions)
