Quicksand, Schreifels, and so on…
I suppose it’s only fitting that the first post for this weblog should be about the band for which it is essentially named after. So yeah, welcome to Built on a Weak Spot…
I was in middle school when I first heard the band Quicksand. I remember it cause oddly enough I discovered them by watching a shortened video of “Dine Alone” on Beavis and Butthead and thinking it was such an awesome song, which it is…possibly my favorite song ever. I later went out and bought the album Slip at some crappy chain record store in the mall. Upon arriving home with it and playing it in my tiny piece of shit Aiwa mini system, I was instantly floored by the whole album. Ever since that day my obsession and fascination with music has been partly due to Quicksand and their album Slip. Formed out of the remnants of various New York hardcore acts in the late eighties, Walter Schreifels, Tom Capone, Sergio Vega, and Alan Cage emerged as Quicksand in 1990 with their self-titled EP on Revelation Records before being signed to Polygram/Island shortly thereafter. In 1993 the group would release Slip, which in my opinion is the single greatest post-hardcore release to this day. Despite having the backing of a major label, the sound on Slip is every bit as raw and energetic as you could hope, being able to make their early punk/hardcore beginnings shine through easily. Every song is backed with amazing hooks, melodies, and riffs along with some great lyrics from Schreifels. To put it simply, Slip is a post-hardcore masterpiece and entirely relevant today being quite influential to many of todays current groups.
Two years later in 1995 was when Quicksand would release their second and final album as a group, titled Manic Compression. The album didn’t stray to far from what Slip had treaded on, however…the production was sort of lackluster and the drums sounded almost as if someone were hitting the tops trash can lids. I never could get over that. Regardless, it still didn’t hide the fact Quicksand wrote great songs for this album and it’s not to be missed despite it’s botched production. A bit more “metal” at times than Slip had ever reached to be, spitting out blazing songs like “Blister” and “Divorce”, which clock in at or under 2 minutes a piece. I never realized why they didn’t include the song “Shovel” on the album, as it is probably one of their better songs. Unfortunately it was only used as a B-side for the “Thorn in My Side” single and on a compilation titled Metallurgy. In the end though, Manic Compression is a solid final release from the band. A good note to go out on if you ask me. However, in 1998 Quicksand would reunite for a small time and tour with the Deftones. During that time, they were said to be recording material for a new album, however they split up before any of that could come to light. There are plenty of demos and rough recordings of material that was recorded in 1998 by the band if you look hard enough on the Internet.
Quicksand – “Dine Alone” [MP3] (Slip)Quicksand – “Unfulfilled” [MP3] (Slip)Quicksand – “Shovel” [MP3] (B-Side “Thorn in My Side” Single)Quicksand – “Brown Gargantuan” [MP3] (Manic Compression)
After Quicksand disbanded all of the members eventually ended up in different projects. Walter Schreifels would work on a band dubbed Worlds Fastest Car, however nothing was released before the idea was scrapped in favor for the brief Quicksand reunion that took place in 1998. However, some of the material written during that time would eventually be used in a later Schriefels band called Rival Schools. They managed to release one album and a couple EP’s, one being a split with indie/emo favorites Onelinedrawing, before splitting up sometime in 2003 or so. Schreifels now plays in his band Walking Concert, featuring a softer more jangly indie rock sound than any of his past work. For more info on that visit their website here.
Tom Capone would later appear in the post-hardcore super group of sorts, called Handsome. They will eventually get their own write up on here, as they were great in their own right. Capone then played in many short lived bands like Nympho, Adharma, and Instruction. Alan Cage played drums in yet another post-hardcore favorite Seaweed off and on a few times after the split. Sergio Vega went on to release two solo EP’s, one under the moniker of Fully and the other as his actual name.
You can find their albums fairly easily through most online retailers or even used at a bunch of places…
Buy Quicksand – Slip
Buy Quicksand – Manic Compression
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