Punk Rock Flashback Friday: Harriet The Spy

A powerhouse in the post-hardcore arena, it took only one album for Kent, Ohio’s Harriet the Spy to send ripples across the nation’s decibel system. Unfuckwithable was noisy in a way that rattled your head. The angularity in their sound made you want to call an exorcist, if you weren’t contorting into a ritualistic dance yourself. “Girls In Bikinis” feels like being caught in tabloid porn under the haze of strange tempo currencies. This provides a fair example of how the band took punk rock and made it feel obscene, artistic, and present.

A look back years prior to their second demo, Bryce Brickman’s Faggot Laundry is a testament to what really shaped the band. After their first demo, Heather Royer left, leaving them as a four piece.

The demo starts out with a sardonic attack on jam band culture and “My Drug Taking Blast.” As cynical as they want to get, the solo meandering bridging the beginning and end together ends up being psychedelically enlightening—as if Greg Ginn played Dead covers.

I’m not sure what the band has against Scranton, but the song is obnoxiously loud. It features guitarist and vocalists Dave Neeson and Joel McAdams (though I’m not sure who is singing here—Dave or Joel). The gloves are off, and what’s left is raw and vicious emotion. I think chunks of a larynx just flew through the speakers.

“Kinko’s” feels like an awkward love letter that ends with a breakup and uncontrolled sobbing—not from the band; they are writhing in muddy punk tempos that could be contorted into a Fugazi tune.

My favorite from this demo is “Let’s Be Cool Little Pocket Toys For One Another.” This is the closest we get to the shape of what was to come. The song has a very Amphetamine Reptile feel. The guitars, bass, and drums seem to be competing against each other, yet it all falls into place. The way this song turns into methodical art is brilliant.

But before they implode, they show off conveyor-belt punk as if Kent were Dallas and the band were firing their loads into the Texas sunset. Cowboys from hell (yes, there is a Pantera reference connecting to the demo) they are not. Cocky, sarcastic Buckeyes they became, and this unrelenting, raw demo showed exactly what potential this band had.

Get ready for 16 minutes of convulsive gyration.