J Mascis on Eater – Chronicles (2003)

Eater was always one of my favorite bands. They were one of these British punk bands- actually Anglo-Egyptian- that created a lot of noise after inventing punkrock practically overnight. Eater are from North London and released their only studio album in that crucial year of punk. It’s called The Album (1977), and has been released on the label “The Label”. They liked it simple. The musicians in Eater were all damned young and stirred up even more trouble, because they were perkier than all the others. For example, they claimed that the Sex Pistols were way too old for punk. The Pistols were indeed a few years older- the drummer of Eater was 14 back then, the singer 17.

But back to this album which I really recommend to everybody who has a heart for punk: The Eater Chronicles 1976-2003 is a compilation of all songs that Eater have ever recorded- all in all just 45 tracks, some of them very short. Of course, this also includes songs from The Album, which is probably the record I listened to most in my life. It’s from a time where I listened to music non-stop and when my taste got shaped. When we curated the ATP Festival in Camber Sands in 2006, we managed to win Eater to play there. It was great to see them on stage after all these years. The drummer had made no progress at all, he sounded exactly like he did with 14. A cool statement.

by J Mascis

(of course, that drummer became a lecturer at Oxford…)