"Are you afraid of me?"

One of my fave bands of the early 90s was Silverfish who totally shredded my ears on the two occasions I caught them live (both of which I've written about) - once as a support act, the other as headliner. They were wonderfully nasty, committing an aural assault so vicious I left each show with bruises.

I'm still a huge fan of their debut album 'Fat Axl' and am wondering why it's not in my final '50 albums to take to my grave' list. Their first two EPs weren't too shabby either - T.F.A. has become a track that I could scream to more than 50% of people I know (a number of them being managers in the NHS...)



Then came Big Bad Baby Pig Squeal, the Riot Grrrl anthem that led the 'Fuckin' Drivin' Or What?' EP, even though Silverfish were never actually part of the Riot Grrrl scene. I once nearly bought a Hips Tits Lips Power t-shirt. In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't. Nevertheless - WHAT. A. TUNE. THIS. IS!!! (Tip: skip the first 32 seconds of the clip below to get to the actual video...)



While the next album 'Organ Fan' had its share of decent tracks, it didn't sit with me as well as 'Fat Axl'. The final two EPs disappointed me, although Vitriola from 'Silverfish With Scrambled Eggs' was a corker.



Hard to believe that after Silverfish split, the gravelly-voiced Lesley Rankine would go on to do this:




Soundtrack:

• T.F.A. - Silverfish (from 'Cockeye')
• Vitriola - Silverfish (from 'Silverfish With Scrambled Eggs' EP)
• Paraffin - Ruby (from 'Salt Peter')