"I'm going to miss This Flood Covers the Earth (though I hold out the hope that they'll take some time off, sleep in for a few days, remember how good Barnburner is, save up for a new van, and go on a four year farewell tour.)
Flood made me 15 again. Or at least they reconnected me with the 15 year old youthful energy that was lost somewhere in my balding domepiece. It was the kind of music that says, "if you're looking for background music, music to ignore, music for your iPod as you read the AP news wire sports section of a free newspaper, go fuck yourself."
They made music to listen to. Focus on. Play for your friends. Play in the car. Replay. They were tense, intense, unpretentious, smart, edgy, clever, hardworking. They were the perfect band to start a record label for. I'm glad we could be a part of your run."
- Jerry Sloan, History Major Records
"I think there's a rule written etched into the DNA of members of the great punk bands that they have to break up just as you're getting to know them. Some kids were lucky enough to know Wire before they threw up Document & Eyewitness. Some kids knew At the Drive-In in the days when 'fros were a thing of the future. These Arms Are Snakes are an exception, yet they've played to thousands and it's Anti-Flag that fills arenas. Did you hear about Hot Snakes? How about Million Dead? Refused? JR Ewing? City of Caterpillar? Oh right, they're all broken up.
The fundamental problem with great punk bands is that they are only equipped to pack white heat for a limited amount of time. They can't last, it dulls and eventually decimates the initial effect (See also: Bad Brains). This Flood Covers the Earth are yet another sad tale of how about 30 people in the San Diego area knew them when, while the rest of us caught Barnburner either right as the band was breaking up in August or as they were being nominated for a San Diego Music Award by the San Diego Music Academy last month (where they'll posthumously be up against acts like Cattle Decapitation and Warface).
This post has gone in a ton of directions. Originally I was going to write about Clockcleaner when I realized I was late to that party (though they haven't broken up (yet)). Then it was going to be about Wooden Shjips, but we'll get to them eventually. Then it was going to be about fairly locals Bald Eagle. But I decided to feature This Flood Covers the Earth not because I couldn't focus on anything else to write about, but because this band wouldn't let me focus on anything else to write about. The music thrashes defiantly around in your headphones and demands attention. The irony in the title of this incredibly short LP is conclusively lacking.
In fact, how they get away with calling it an LP, I'm still not quite sure. This is five songs and none of them are anywhere near Pelican-length annoying. They're just straightforwardly fierce, the best of Drive Like Jehu (which everybody likes to throw in as a reference point, but few are as relevant as this) and someone pointed out Envy at one point; though that Japanese band has gone off the deep end recently, their earlier efforts are an excellent point of reference. Basically, anything really good from San Diego that isn't Pinback that you might've heard your scenester friends talking about is an excellent point of reference.
That doesn't mean this band is a replica of the old days. One of the magical things about San Diego's punk-and-all-things-related underground is exactly that: Each band out there drinks from a special potion where they take an element - be it math-rock or tech-metal or harDCore - and flex it to their own ends. This Flood Covers the Earth takes a punk base and knifes through it with noise of the harshest variety. There are songs to be sung along to somewhere in all this, but they're making it hard as hell to follow. Just pump your first to a track like the masterful "I Used to Be a Genius But Now I'm Just a Werewolf" and pretend you're 15 again. The world is yours.
"The Tetris Chainsaw Massacre" is an arbitrary choice given that the band made the handful of songs that comprised Barnburner available right there for all to see on their MySpace page in a RAR file. So have your laugh at Radiohead fans before it sinks in that, oh right, This Flood Covers the Earth are broken up and Radiohead aren't.
Yet, this ephemeral quality is precisely what makes this group so awesome to hear. They have captured a singular moment in time that you can hear in the gritty realism of their recordings. It's splattered all over this album like the disgust of a suburban high schooler all over their geometry homework... Except much, much more interesting. And loud. Of course, everything sounds better loud (and the scant YouTube videos of the band's live performances are a testament to this), but the real greatness is that, even at low volume, This Flood Covers the Earth still resonates. Like a lot of other people, I'm sorry I didn't hear this band sooner and it's unfortunate that they took a "permanent hiatus" when they did. If they ever reform, there's a chance they'll be as good as they were before they called it quits a month ago. There are still a few songs apparently unrecorded that should be hitting their MySpace page before the end of the year. There is still a little something to look forward to. Will it feel the same as their singularly great, unreleased LP that floats around the Internet with the same ephemeral quality of the band that birthed it? Ultimately, it doesn't matter. We're all moving on and things, as Black Dice once put it, will never be the same."
- Patrick Masterson, Audiversity
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We broke up.
Trevor and Travis play in Daysleeper .
Charlie plays in Luau .
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Most of our recordings are available to download in a .rar file here .
