Sockeye (punk rock band)
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Sockeye was a punk rock band from Stow, Ohio. Formed in 1987, their motto from day one was "We suck, but you suck worse". The classic lineup was Food Fortunata on vocals, Kicky Game (a.k.a Goddam Godammit) on guitar, Poopy (a.k.a. Facey Hosar) on bass guitar and Yum Yums (a.ka.a Scribblehead) on drums. As you might have guessed, the band liked to poke fun at others who took themselves too seriously, but this was not always evident as many of their lyrics were extremely harsh and incisive, yet often not reflecting their real feelings on the subject (e.g., the song "Vegetarians Are Wimps" was penned by the vocalist, who himself is a vegetarian). This created a degree of mystery surrounding the band and attracted a wide variety of listeners. Unlike others noted for their extreme antisocial stances such as GG Allin or Anal Cunt, who usually were rather blunt, Sockeye instead took on a persona involving psychological "telltale signs" that strongly hinted toward irrational beliefs (whether they held them or not) that the listener had to figure out for themselves; because of this, the force of either repulsion or attraction was generally very strong.
Sockeye's 1989 release of "The Looney Misadventures of Your Dick" solidified the band as the kings of tard-core. A rare video is known to be in circulation of the band playing a show on the beach at Fairfeld University in Connecticut where the band disrobed and burnt their pants.
In the late 1990's, Sockeye entered Spin's "Worst Band In the World" contest. They did not win but instead the entry got them feature airplay on CNN (it was part of the song "Boy With Breast Implants").
Sockeye has had two 7" records of their own, six split 7" records with other bands (one of them being the Bunnybrains, who were on Matador Records), a full-length LP (later reissued on CD), and numerous tapes and compilation tracks.
Food Fortunata started the label Wheelchair Full of Old Men in the mid-1980's and has released hundreds of tapes and records. This creative output and friendliness influenced many into starting their own bands and labels including Retard Riot founded in the early 90's by well known new media artist Noah Lyon. Lyon has produced multiple thousands of buttons influenced by the absurdism of Sockeye and their "quantity not quality" motto. The first button Lyon ever made said "SOCKEYE" above an image of a chopped up snake,Join, or Die the famous political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin. He also created artwork for a number of Wheelchair Full of Old Men projects and put the bands music into heavy rotation on the Retard Riot Radio show which was broadcast for several years on 91.3 WVKR.
Vocalist Food Fortunata has had books published by Eraserhead Press and Audio Savant that deal with transcendental absurdism. His writing and drawings have also been published in Retard Riot zines .
An early 'hit' of Sockeye's was called "Blind" and appeared on numerous mixed tapes compilations in the early 90s. Lyrics (partial):
- Well you might idolize Helen Keller
- But I got some fuckin' news for you feller
- You're fuckin' blind that means that you can't see
- And if I pushed you down you wouldn't know if it was him or if it was me.
- Because you're blind, blind, blind
- You're shoes sure are hard to find
- Because you're blind, blind, blind
- You've got no visual capability in your mind
- Christians say that it was due to sin
- But I'm just gonna kick you in the fuckin' shin
