This is raw stuff indeed. But there are lots of good ideas that are fleshed out and mangled quite nicely, especially when you consider that it was recorded over 20 years ago by a bunch of teenagers flexing their creative muscles. And even amidst the most chaotic moments there is some damn fine guitar work. These guys did an impressive job in the cut n splice room, blending and morphing the various music, samples and live bits together to create a listening experience that is an aural roller coaster ride that deliberately hurtles from the track and crashes into the ferris wheel. (Though it may be that much of the splicing and dicing of tapes was part of the work done more recently.)

The Assholes blaze through a parade of music and themes... screaming punk rock, experimental free-improv, sound art collages, loads of crazed and efx'd voice samples, spacey ambient and experimental electronic bits, and oodles of fun. (I won't even try to describe it but I love the bunny rabbits song too much not to mention it.) Overall, a fun listen for sound art fans that fondly recall their days of punk and general musical anarchy. I also got a kick out of reading that The Assholes only played one public performance, opening for Black Flag. They were supposed to play a second gig opening for Flipper but had to cancel because the show was in San Francisco and none of the members was yet old enough to drive."
Aural Innovations #24 (July 2003) (Aural Innovations)

Inspired first by stoner rock, British punk and California hardcore, the Assholes got it in their heads that what was missing from music was "true anarchy." Why didn't people just pick up anything handy and start playing? Why was it that one person was limited to one instrument? Why did guitars always have to be tuned the same way? Why couldn't all of the many and varied strains of music be united into a single glorious mess? Technically incompetent, hopelessly adolescent, completely honest - that was the Assholes.

The band's one and only public performance, at an old ballroom across the street from the city zoo, was as opening act for Black Flag. Greg Ginn and Co. made it through the night without a hitch. The Assholes, having failed to make friends with the crowd, were escorted off the stage. ("Eat my fuck" was one of the memorable phrases that came up after the audience was invited to participate in the melee.) A later performance in San Francisco, with Flipper, was canceled because none of the Assholes was yet old enough to drive.

Johnny and the Big Prairie Fire is a swirl of sounds assembled from the original Assholes' cassette archive, their two live performances (the second was given in 2001 at a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico) and several recent collaborations. Included also is "Thrash," a response to the faster-louder ethic of the day, which, at 0.674 seconds, is surely the shortest pop song ever recorded. The whole hodgepodge is, more or less, unique, but not always easy listening.

Thank you for your kind attention.
Sincerely

E M B E R   P R O F I L E S :

Marcelo Radulovich (Dolphous Trotter)

Joel Smith (Everett E. Harton)
The only Fresno native, Joel still wields a fearsome pencil (see composite Asshole head on CD face) and is presently a curator at a New York museum.

Christopher Stephens (Measlee Beef)
Christopher has been in Japan now nearly as long as he was in America. He works as a translator and magazine editor, and performs the occasional tuneless guitar improvisation.
http://www.japanimprov.com/profiles/cstephens/index.html

Christian Sondergard
No one is quite sure what happened to the fourth Asshole. When last seen, he was an employee of the Fresno County Public Library and a devotee of dogs and magick.