Everything Changes: Rodan’s Rusty 30th anniversary

Louisville, Kentucky was the mecca for ’90s underground music in America. Fertile ground that birthed the likes of Will Oldham and Slint, and at a time when grunge was exploding both nationally and worldwide, not only has post-hardcore stood the test of time as good as anything else, but this period will go down as the most crucial in underground music history.

From Tweez to Spiderland, you could feel the oppression seeping out of Slint’s music. Brian McMahan’s narratives untethered in self-awareness and completely representing a reality of outsider culture at youth level. Alongside Britt Walford’s disjointed percussion and David Pajo’s precocious performance on guitar, this was a band that lived on a knife’s edge without really knowing it. Underground art that produced an emotional force born out of fear and anxiety for the world ahead.

Coming up from the same Louisville scene as Oldham and Slint was another who, in their own way, juxtaposed that same emotional strength with a raw, burning aggression post-hardcore had not yet seen.

That band was called Rodan.

Early formations of the band consisted of Jeff Mueller (vocals/ guitar), the late Jason Noble (vocals/guitar), Tara Jane O’Neil (bass/vocals) and drummers, the Louisville underground veteran Jon Cook and John Weiss, before being replaced by Kevin Coultas in 1993. While each went on to form various other projects (more on that later), their youthful anger was guided through the seam of Rodan.

Active from 1992 to 1995, Rodan’s fleeting existence would result in their only full-length, Rusty (Quarterstick Records), along with a series of singles and a John Peel session which would later be included on the 15 Quiet Years compilation in 2013.

Reacquainting with Rusty having not listened to it for well over a decade, and those same feelings of freedom and wild possibilities not only remain but feel stronger. The unrestrained emotion through the sheer ferocity of their music feels as pure as it’s ever been. As we all get older and navigate through the hazardous terrains of life, it’s albums like Rusty that prove as a vital crutch.  

All Souls Day: The Burning Universe of Unwound

Produced by Bob Weston (Shellac, Mission of Burma, Polvo, The Martha Vineyard Ferries, et al), Rusty consists of six compositions that mangle the mind. Fire and brimstone, fraught with danger and exploding with soul. This is lightning caught in the bottle, and in some ways, one could argue that breaking up after producing something like Rusty only illuminates the legend. On the flipside, something as good as Rusty doesn’t need any subplot or ulterior motive. The music tells its own story.

And that story begins with Bible Silver Corner. While acts like Mogwai attribute the likes of Slint as major influences, whilst perhaps true, the meandering and meticulously crafted Bible Silver Corner could be considered the first glimpse of the melodic post-rock many acts assumed later in the decade. In Rodan’s case, placing this as the opening vignette lulls the listener into a false sense of security, such as its outlier qualities.

Which is something Shiner is not. A sweltering rush of sensory overload, Shiner is two minutes and thirty-seven seconds of chewing up grunge and spitting it out its bones. As Mueller howls the chorus, “Shoot me out the sky / Pop pop, down goes the enemy,”, a sequence of blistering chords rocket out of the speakers.

Perhaps the first epic number to be conceived from post-hardcore, not only is The Everyday World of Bodies Rusty’s focal point, but it’s a track no other band has replicated since. It really is the gateway to gold dust.

Beginning with Mueller’s shrieks, yelps and Noble’s dissonant noise ricocheting off the studio walls, O’Neil’s vocals prove a calming influence (“Close your eyes / This is my sound/ / This is your sound”). Her hushed tones, a beautiful juxtaposition to Muller’s visceral release. It ends in dramatic fashion, as O’Neil loosens the reins for Mueller to end the track just as it started (“I will be there / I will be there / I swear”). While the timeless majesty of Washer will forever be etched in underground folklore, The Everyday World of Bodies will appear next to it.

Jungle Jim follows, as O’Neil sends another burning arrow whistling through the skyline. With Coultas’ roaring percussion anchoring the song in something that rivals the unhinged moments of Bastros’ Diablo Guapo, Jungle Jim is one of Rodan’s fiercest moments caught on tape.

The same could be said for Gauge. From the beginning, listen closely and you can hear Mueller screaming blue murder from the vocal booths. And from here, the song explodes with the mind-bending origins of math-rock, as a spoken-word foray between Mueller and O’Neil ensues. With everything from kangaroos and whales to sharks and heavy weather, all of which are buried in boxes of bad dreams, it’s a story likened to an acid trip. Combining abstract poeticism with unbridled aggression, where the former is concerned, it’s the first glimpse of the environmental themes that would go on to underpin Mueller’s songwriting in June of 44.

Closing with Tooth-Fairy Retribution Manifesto, it’s a song that sees Rodan at their most atmospheric. Once again, O’Neil leads the line, unfurling dark anecdotes over a murky rhythm section and crackling chords. Those crackling chords, almost like static down the phone line, which feels like a fitting curtain call for Rodan, who would call time in 1995 shortly after the aforementioned Peel Session.

Engine Roar: In Conversation with June of 44’s Jeff Mueller

Mueller formed the equally revered June of 44 a year earlier and, at the back end of the decade, would also form Shipping News alongside Noble, who also played bass in the neo-classical ensemble Rachel’s with Coultas.

O’Neil co-founded the band, Retsin, played in The Naysayers and formed The Sonora Pine alongside Coultas, before embarking on solo career which has seen her produce eight full-length albums with a ninth in the offing later this month, The Cool Clouds of Okayness.

On August 4, 2012, Jason Noble lost a three-year battle with cancer and passed away at the age of 40. Six months later, February 9, 2013, Jon Cook also passed away.

So many modern-day bands wouldn’t exist had it not been for Rodan and their landmark album, Rusty. A crucial reference point, not just for their own generation, but the next ones, too.

Rodan occupied the space between beauty and brutality. A space few others dared to explore, and it proved to be their greatest boon. Rusty is the result of that, and 30 years on (and I’d wager 30 years from now), Rusty will remain as vital as it was on the day it was set free out into the wilderness.