Mike Pride was not a fan of legendary punk band MDC – a straight-edge hardcore devotee, you could even say he had a chip on his shoulder about this more mainstream, less disciplined form of punk – when he suddenly found himself on a tour of Europe as their drummer sometime in the early ‘00s. Twenty years later, now a longtime fan and friend of the band, Pride unexpectedly turns to the band’s raucous catalogue as a source for jazz standards on his warped new album, I Hate Work.
I Hate Work draws its material exclusively from MDC’s iconic 1982 debut album, Millions of Dead Cops. Despite his long-established passion for bringing the extremes of hardcore and heavy rock into the jazz and improvised music realm (and vice versa), Pride instead does the unexpected, transforming MDC’s pummeling punk into swinging acoustic jazz.
For the occasion he enlisted pianist Jamie Saft and bassist Bradley Christopher Jones, both master re-interpreters of a wide swath of pop and rock music, as well as special guests Mick Barr (Ocrilim, Krallice), JG Thirlwell (Foetus), Sam Mickens (The Dead Science) and MDC frontman Dave Dictor.
Mike Pride – drums, percussion & keyboards
Jamie Saft – piano, mellotron
Brad Jones – double bass
w.
JG Thirlwell – vocals on 3
Sam Mickens – vocals on 6
Dave Dictor – vocals on 10
Mick Barr – electric guitar on 2, electric 12 string banjo on 6
1. Corporate Deathburger
2. Business On Parade
3. America’s So Straight
4. And So You Know
5. Dick For Brains
6. Greedy And Pathetic
7. Annie Olivia
8. Dead Cops
9. She Wants A Partner With A Lust For Life
10. I Hate Work
Music composed by Mike Pride
Music Published by RareNoisePublishing (PRS)
Songs 1,2,3,5,6,8,10 are loosely based on the mdc songs originally written by Ron Posner (1,2,3,6,8,10), Dave Dictor (2,5,10) and Al Schultz (10), used with permission.
Recommended Supplemental listening MDC – Millions of Dead Cops
Recorded and mixed by Jamie Saft at Potterville International Sound
JG Thirlwell recorded at Self Immolation Studios Brooklyn, engineered by JG Thirlwell
Dave Dictor recorded by Mike Lastra at Lastra Studios
Sam Mickens recorded by Sam Mickens
Mastered by Christian Castagno
Design by Scarecrowoven
Photography & Painting by Mike Pride
Produced by Mike Pride
Executive Producer for RareNoiseRecords: Giacomo Bruzzo
© + ℗ RareNoiseRecords 2021
