The U-MEN: Playing With Fire.

In 1999, Chuckie-Boy Records was pleased to release “Solid Action’, the first collection to gather up most of The U-Men's recordings...and wrap a couple good yarns into the package as well, written by long-time and beloved Art Provocateur LARRY REID (Fantagraphics, COCA, Graven Image Gallery, among others); and noted Musician, Journalist, and Certified Contrarian JOHN LEIGHTON BEEZER (Thrown-Ups, James Bong, The Bats). Fine words, fine music, indeed. Sub-Pop Records released their U-Men collection, “U-Men”, in Fall of 2017, so once these last few remaining copies of the original “Solid Action” are gone, that’s it! Details on the ‘Shop’ page. 

Above: video for THE U-MEN “Dig It A Hole”, from SUB POP Records.

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Meantime, a brief excerpt from LARRY REID’S tale, “U-Men Stomp”, from the “Solid Action” CD Booklet: 

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“The story of The U-Men has become so shrouded in apocryphal haze that in recent years the name of the group has seemingly been changed to The “Legendary” U-Men. That preface is unfortunate, because no amount of exaggeration or pontification could possibly compare to the intoxicating reality of the band in its’ prime. Posthumously hailed as the forefathers of Grunge, their music arguably owed more to the Surrealist poetry of Alfred Jarry that inspired their name than to the sophomoric seventies arena rock that was the primary influence of the vaunted “Seattle Sound”. Their musical palette was tinted with an apocalyptic patina of industrial decay, a deconstruction of decades of rock ‘n roll convention. The U-Men's sound emerged from a storied tradition of Northwest garage bands, assuming the garage also housed a meth lab...”  

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Note: The very few remaining copies of “Solid Action” are available in the Chuckie-Boy Shop…as well as the original 1999 “Solid Action” T-Shirt!

The U-MEN:

JOHN BIGLEY—Vocals

TOM PRICE—Guitar

CHAS RYAN—Drums

JIM TILLMAN—Bass

• ROBIN BUCHAN – bass (1980–1982)

• TOM HAZELMEYER – bass (1987)

• TONY RANSOM – bass ( July 1987–1989)

Scary, in all the Best Ways.