I recently discovered the band Cardiacs. They are nothing like my current tastes, but hit a spot in a major way. Kind of took me back to the nineties. I knew of some then active bands that seemed a little similar, but was frankly shocked that Cardiacs basically had their whole sound and style together in something like -79 if not earlier, and were more or less active until the death of the frontman in 2020. (Although not under the same name right from the start.) So I was a bit late to this particular party, sadly. Really wish I knew about them decades ago.
They are one of those bands that don’t seem to be that well known, but influenced a lot of bigger acts. They felt very familiar in some way, even though their style also struck me as really really distinctive, and I have a feeling there must be a larger scene of similar acts. Or maybe there was at some point.
Any love for said act? I know they influenced Faith No More, and that was one of the first that came to mind when I tried to think of some similar bands. But are you aware of any others that would have the same type of a sound and/or style, preferrably more so than FNM?
Don’t know if this is packing too much into one thread, but is there a band you really like that you discovered really late in their life or after it, but that was active for, let’s say, while you were actively interested in music? And what happened next?
Thanks! Luckily lots of stuff on Youtube. These two are my “first favorites”, instantly hooked on both the sound and visuals:
Those two are the best reference of the kind of stuff I’d love to find more of. Well there’s plenty to consume in the Cardiacs catalog, but it does vary of course, and I’m interested to find out what similar acts there might be just in general.
I loved the Cardiacs, well, at least A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window, I always meant to buy more of their albums but kind of forgot about them at the time. Other tracks on the album remind me of Zappa without the smut.
Is this the life, used to be played down the indie disco with a bunch of other stuff in Reading in the late 80s, a place where a lot of such bands played (there was a definite division between brit indie touring and US indie tours, you rarely ever saw an overseas indie band play locally).
Which brings me to a similar band The family cat with a song which played alongside the Cardiacs in the disco: Steamroller. Similar build up noise of guitars. Though another one by Family cat, Move over I’ll drive, I find most amusing is a song of someone sitting at the steering wheel having a proper long existential whinge, while others in the car get pissed off and want to drive the car.
I’m quite surprised with the idea that Faith No More were in some way inspired by The Cardiacs, they’re pretty much of the same time period, and I was a fan of FNM before the Cardiacs.
“Is this the life” surprised me after hearing the “quirkier” stuff first – wasn’t surprised it was some manner of a hit for them. I immediately thought of FNM or similar. But that’s the side of Cardiacs (total nitpick, no “the”) that doesn’t do much for me.
I never got into Zappa either, and Mr. Bungle I keep forgetting about for some reason, but can’t seem to get into them either. What does it for me mostly is Tim Smith’s vocal style, and the sort of irreverent, consciously abrasive tone that’s clearly more of a punk/post-punk etc. influence. In the above songs I’m hooked on the “crazy toymaker” vibe. Mr. Bungle for me isn’t as interesting partly because of the heavier general style. But I really haven’t tried to listen to them much, should maybe give another chance.
*When Tim Smith died, Patton said on Facebook:
THE CARDIACS WERE A HUGE INFLUENCE ON ME AS WELL AS MY BAND MR.BUNGLE.
I guess I should start going through the list of acts that are listed there, and see what comes up. Just the names I know don’t give much indication that they would necessarily be like Cardiacs in any way.
I’ll check out Family Cat, thanks! The name seems to ring a small bell.
*) ETA: Well, it talks about members of FNM. But Wikipedia says:
They were awesome. They had one guy on guitar/vocals, bass/vocals, drums, hand-drums, and an older guy who played various percussion instruments (chimes, wood blocks, bells, etc). The wild thing was the older guy who played the various percussion instruments was the star if you paid attention.
The brewery sold Jack-fruit Tacos which were delicious.
