Gilligan's Wings Single - Available on eBay

When our 7" single was released last year, I received a box of approximately 50 records and I'm making some of them available on eBay. If you missed out on the original release, here's your chance to add it to your collection. These particular items are unique in that they are all at the lower end of the numbered edition of 300. I also plan to include some bonus goodies in the package that are truly unavailable anywhere else. So look up Church Police on eBay and get in on the auction.

Art for Spastics Review

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Speaking of bands that tried to out-Flipper Flipper, the first to make a serious attempt might've been the Church Police, who rose briefly in the early 1980s from perhaps the most reviled of Bay Area edge cities, Concord, California. Most of the few people who know the band are only familiar with their contribution to the definitive Bay Area hardcore document, the Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation. "The Oven Is My Friend" (later covered by Sebadoh on their Siltbreeze 7") was one of the two great weird songs to grace that LP (the other was Flipper's "Sacrifice"). Even fewer people noticed in the mid 1990s that the enigmatic Stomach Ache Records released a 7" (cooperatively with RRRecords) of rambling freer-form songs by the Church Police with minimal sleeve info. I stupidly sold that record away about six years ago, but "Robots" was a song so memorable that I can replay it in my mind whenever I think about it, and "Killing Myself to Live" might be the best song title ever.



I doubted that any other Church Police songs existed, so I was so pleased when Ry of Snake Apartment--who runs the very tasteful Skulltones imprint--delivered a copy of Gilligan's Wings in person to KDVS. These recordings from 1982 are of plenty good quality, and the songs are much more coherent than the rather rambly mysterious 7". Rumor has it that this is an appetizer for another label's full-course retrospective release.

A Negative Review

This is from the blog Fuck You, Counselor:

Call me a cynical Northerner (read: a Northerner), but Skulltones is pretty over--and I don't mean that in a carny/pro-wrestling way--right?. I mean, they're finished, washed-up & 86'ed. I generally mount up on anything Tom Lax gets his mitts on, but I guess I missed the Der TPK debutante ball. I had the directions straight, but apparently my feet thought better.
So here we are. Another Jewelled Antler-sponsored drunk-in-the-studio one-off to be consumed by 8 people who all know each other. To the credit of the whole JA crew, they's got a sense of humor their peers oughta envy. I'd much rather give 16-minutes to something that at the very least sounds like a blast to make than something that sounds like it's supposed to have been "a really intense trip, man. We totally got out there. Really stretching and reaching through some doors." That is, if it's going to suck about 5 different ways regardless. Which this mostly does. "Life is Fun" is the best delirious wastoid rumble never to be on a Footprints of God 7"--for whatever it's worth. Kind of like the Bunnybrains doing German Oak. Yeah. There's my press release quote, Skulltones. Dine and be merry, for tomorrow you're boots. For rill.

AND WITH A HEARTY MEH

FUSETRON Review

Here's what the Fusetron website has to say about the Gilligan's Wings single:

"A fantastic collection of unreleased recordings from northern California, 1982. You may recall their contribution "The Oven Is My Friend" as on of the most memorable tracks on the Not So Quiet On The Western Front compilation. This single picks up where that left off-thick downer punk with stumbling drums and a thick plodding bass wall march the songs forward in slow motion. Layered on top, the guitar lines add a sort of meandering melody, bending and detuning in wild synchronicity with the psychedelic deadpan vocals. The material holds its own against Flipper (whom CP played with), Negative Trend, and foreshadowed the mid-to-late-80s SST sound. Limited to 300 copies." - Skulltones. Highly recommended!!

New Reviews

Tim keeps googling "Gilligans Wings" and finding stuff! Here are two review blog-sites that gave our new record a spin and apparently liked it... at least that's how I'm interpreting their comments.

Still Single/Dusted Magazine

Forked Tongue/Apples and Heroin

Soaring One Note Guitar Solo Leads the Way

Here's a review of the new Church Police 7" single, Gilligan's Wings. Not likely to be available at a store near you, but maybe I can hook you up with a copy once I get my shipment in...