David Pajo’s Album of Acoustic Misfits Covers Finally Gets Reissued
Recorded on a handheld tape recorder while couch surfing in 2004, Scream With Me is returning on vinyl & glow-in-the-dark cassette
I used to work near a now-defunct Capital Hill location of Sonic Boom Records in Seattle, and would spend the majority of my lunch breaks in the shop. One day while sifting through records, I noticed that I was subconsciously singing along to a song that I’d never heard before. Slightly disoriented, it took a second for me to recognize that it was definitely a Misfits tune — either “Hybrid Moments” or “Where Eagles Dare,” if I remember correctly — only delivered with the most delicate guitar work and intimate whisper-like vocals. It turned out that the album playing was titled Scream With Me and consisted entirely of acoustic Misfits covers by David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise, Papa M, Aerial M, etc). Someone had just sold it to the shop and the employee who had put it on and I spent a moment discussing how unexpected and fascinating the whole thing was before I had to return back to work. For whatever reason, neither of us took it home that day and I always regretted it. That was almost 13 years ago and I’ve been hunting for a decently priced copy ever since. Now, thanks to some news from a UK-based label called uSuper, it looks like I can finally stop spamming Pajo‘s Instagram comments with requests for a reissue.
At first, the idea of recording a full album of solo acoustic Misfits songs by anyone may sound like little more than a novelty, but with his particular skillset and musical sensibilities, David Pajo is the perfect individual to actually pull something like this off. There are very few in the music world with a resume as diverse or exploratory as the one that he has. I’d expect that many know the multi-instrumentalist primarily for being a post-rock pioneer. David famously co-founded Slint and was a sporadic member of the post-Slint offshoot, The For Carnation; his tenure as a member of Tortoise came during the creation of what are arguably their two most seminal and enduring albums, Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT; he temporarily joined Stereolab (touring around 1995); and contributed vocals on tracks from two separate Mogwai albums. He also has an extensive catalog of more acoustic / songwriter-centric material from his solo work released under the monikers of Papa M; M; and Aerial M, along with his contributions to the work of Will Oldham, whether it was released under the pseudonyms Palace; Palace Brothers; Palace Music; Will Oldham; Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy; or as the duo, The Continental OP. Meanwhile, Billy Corgan fans may only know Pajo as a member of the short-lived Zwan, project, which imploded in on itself. Beyond being involved in Louisville-based outfits like King Kong (on drums) and Bush League, at various points, Pajo has had stints in projects that a lot of people may have never even realized. He played bass for experimental noise-rockers, Royal Trux during their 3-Song EP [1998], and Veterans Of Disorder [1999] album; contributed guitar to both an LP and a split EP for the electronic duo, Matmos; has become a touring member of both Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol; and, is currently touring as part of Gang Of Four. There really doesn’t seem to be anything that’s too far outside of his wheelhouse.
Not unlike Danzig‘s own cover project from 2020, which involved him recording an album’s worth of Elvis tunes, Pajo‘s Scream With Me is a surprisingly reverent tribute to one of his musical heroes. It makes perfect sense the more you think about it and even more sense once you actually hear it. Glenn Danzig is, arguably, somewhat of a bizarro horror punk / goth hesher version of Elvis, already, and David Pajo has been influenced directly by Danzig‘s work from an incredibly young age. One of my favorite fun facts about him is that, during the early years when Pajo and Britt Walford were in their pre-Slint project, Maurice, the band managed to impress Danzig and his group, Samhain, enough that they were brought on tour as a support act. This was in 1985 when the guys in Maurice were still young teenagers. In one 2014 interview David mentions what big Misfits fans his whole band was, while stating, “To have [Danzig] show me the right way to play some Misfits songs was a dream come true for me.” Those personal tutorials proved fruitful when an acoustic version of “Last Caress” appeared on the Papa M double-LP singles compilation, “Hole Of Burning Palms” in 2004. That year, David recorded at least 9 more Misfits covers on a handheld tape recorder while couch-surfing around Brooklyn. In 2007, his version of “Angel Fuck” wound up on a Misfits tribute compilation by Louisville artists. It would then take 2 more years for that song to resurface alongside 8 more previously unreleased tracks, after they were “discovered” and Black Tent Press convinced David to let them put out Scream With Me on a limited edition vinyl / CDR.
I never got the sense that Pajo was convinced that there was too much value in these lo-fi recordings, but I continued to hold out hope for a reissue, regardless. The original pressing was limited to 1,000 copies and featured some really cool spray-painted and silkscreened jackets, but Black Tent Press seems to be out of the music business. There’s basically nothing on their website, let alone the old product page, and Discogs doesn’t show that they have put out a single release over the last decade. Then, last year, some light appeared at the end of the tunnel when it was announced that David would be doing a one-off performance of the full album for Halloween. The show took place in Los Angeles at Brain Dead Studios, a former silent movie theater/murder site that, along with screening films and hosting events, has a streetwear retail shop and cafe in the building. Joining Pajo was his Zwan bandmate, Paz Lenchantin (The Pixies, A Perfect Circle, Entrance Band, etc.), and other “special guests.” I was never going to make it to Los Angeles for the show, but I have at least one friend who attended and told me it was amazing. I just had to take solace in the fact that interest was being shown in this project again. Now, a year later, I’m happy to report that it wasn’t just wishful thinking
uSuper has just announced they will be handling a brand new Scream With Me reissue and, to keep things spooky, preorders are scheduled to go live this Friday the 13th. The updated cover art looks great and the jackets appear to include a pink OBI strip. The album will be pressed on 140gram hot pink wax and there will also be a glow-in-the-dark cassette option. We don’t have information on pressing numbers yet, only that these will be limited. Shipping from the UK is likely to be a bit pricey, but the good news is that, based on their responses on social media, uSuper states that Mondo will be distributing their own exclusive variant starting a week later on October 20th. Mondo should also have extra copies of the glow-in-the-dark cassette. This is great news for those in the US who would rather wait and save some money. That said, I’ve yet to see any official announcement or confirmation on Mondo‘s end, let alone anything indicating what their inventory will look like, so I may still fork over the loot for international shipping just to make sure that I’m covered. I’ve simply been waiting too long to risk fucking this one up again.
I’d never heard of uSuper Records before today, so I decided to do a little research and discovered that they haven’t really dealt with “records” too often at all. Whether this Pajo release is an outlier or an indication of the direction that they’re going, uSuper seems to have quickly racked up a handful of cassette releases since they began releasing music back in April. From what I’ve gathered, some of these tape releases previously had vinyl variants on Burning Witches Records, a label co-founded by Darren Page aka Burning Tapes, who shut it down and joined forces with DJ/Producer, Damon Baxter aka Deadly Avenger to transition into this new label. Maintaining their focus on fictional soundtracks, driven by synth-wave, dusty groove, and exploitation funk, a quick perusal through their catalog already has me sold on what they’re doing. These guys have hit the ground running complete with a visual identity already flushed out. Although they vary thematically and sonically, most of the releases seem to be from Deadly Avenger. The third magic ingredient helping this vision come to life is the capable art design by Luke Insect, who combines bright, striking color palettes with grainy grindhouse horror imagery, kung-fu theater, retro computer gaming graphics, or even a radical BMX bike mixed in to create the perfect formula. Insect also appears with Baxter as the duo D.A.L.I. To pivot into dropping a Scream With Me reissue this early in the game, there’s no telling what’s next for uSuper, but from where I’m sitting, it looks VERY promising.
Scream With Me will be available through the uSuper bandcamp and their official website on Friday, October 13th at 12pm BST. According to Google, noon British Summer Time is 4am PT / 7 ET. Do with that information what you will. It’s early for us Westcoasters especially, but remember that, if you miss out, you should have another chance with MONDO on the 20th.