Tighty Whitey by Pris

November 12, 2004 | 4 Comments

The Artist: Pris
The Song: Tighty Whitey
The Album: The Kiss Off
Released 2004

I heard Pris for the first time a few month’s back. I’m not actually sure which song it was, although I’m guessing it might have been “Amputhetic.” Anyway, I was driving home, listening to my favorite radio station, KEXP, and this incredibly cool, loud, catchy, rocking, emo-ish song came on. Not too common on KEXP. It had a bit of everything but was underlaid with this hectic energy and overlaid with crazy screaming.

My first thought was that it sounded kind of like an indie take on scremo. It was similar to the first time I heard Saves the Day. It wasn’t quite punk, not quite indie, not quite pop but a bit of each.

The radio host dubbed the band Pris and mentioned that Pris was the on again / off again side project of Vendetta Red’s Burke Thomas. Which made sense. I was intrigued instantly, but it would be months before I’d hear Pris again. Finally about 2 weeks back I found The Kiss Off in one of my local record shops.

I’m glad I found it. The Kiss Off is a great album. The Loveless Records Web site says:

The Kiss Off, is 24 songs of pure, lipsmacking goodness (get it? Kiss… Lipsmaking… er uh. yeah.) If you’ve followed Pris over the last couple of years, you’ll recognize most of these songs, but we have them reworked, remastered, rereleased all on one kick ass CD.

Kick ass? Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. It’s a long disc chock full of great songs and it’s much more diverse than I’d ever have thought, even if it’s not immediately obvious that this album was recorded over a span of years, as all the songs fit together if they don’t really flow. They’ve done a really good job of producing this one.

I’m not sure if Pris has much of a following, even hear locally, but what I am sure of is that if they keep it going, they will. This is some really great stuff. It might be a bit hard to find, by if you have trouble, try their label.

Recommended if you like: Vendetta Red, The Used, Brand New, Weezer, Saves The Day

Filed under: Song of The Week

Comments

1. Brandon said:

Ok, Keith.

Stop! I’m going broke. :)

The Smoosh album is pretty good, came in the mail Monday, after ordering Friday. One or two of the hip-hop/rap/poppy songs are ‘eh’, but the rest is awesome.

Just kidding about the stopping .. Pris looks like yet another good suggestion. This song you have up kind of reminds me a bit of some older Failure (like off the Fantastic Planet album) just a bit faster paced.

Thanks again.

Posted on November 12, 2004 06:30 PM | #

2. Keith said:

Brandon – Sorry man. Just trying to spread the word! Both Pris and Smoosh are Seattle bands so I’m glad you like them. Gotta help my locals, you know? ;)

Posted on November 12, 2004 06:54 PM | #

3. Brian said:

Hey Keith,

It took me a minuit or two but then I placed it.
At least on this track they sound like an old
Dischord band called JawBox, which in my opinion
is a very good thing :)

Thanks for the intro to Pris

Posted on November 14, 2004 10:21 AM | #