Sockeye

Sockeye is one of the lousiest live bands ever. Yet, people insist on coming to see them perform time and time again. What is the appeal? What draws the faithful few to each and every show? They come flocking like mindless zombies, hoping to take part in the patented Sockeye Mess-making. Each night, whatever the venue, the crowd and club falls prey to juvenile acts of scattering garbage to and fro. So, what keeps this idiotic band plugging away? Is it to disturb you? Yes, it may very well be. There is no way of delving into the collective mind of Sockeye, so steer clear of them, if you expect to retain your sanity.

-Ted Kennedy, Dick and Balls zine



Imagine the smelly kid who spent seventh grade with his hand down his pants, saved his boogers in a jar and told girls in a deadly serious tone that he was going to get them pregnant. Now imagine four of those kids in a band. Sockeye came farting and ejaculating out of Kent, Ohio, in 1987, releasing homemade tapes of tasteless, horribly amateurish and delightfully ridiculous music that spawned a punk subgenre called tardcore (singer Food Fortunata runs Wheelchair Full of Old Men Records, the genre's flagship label).

Many of the early cassette-only songs were re-recorded for vinyl and CD releases, and the cassettes themselves are nearly impossible to obtain, since they were mostly sold via mailorder from ads in the backs of punk fanzines. The band didn't even bother to officially duplicate or distribute Red Salmon.

Sockeye's core lineup of Fortunata, guitarist Kicky Game, drummer Yum Yums and bassist Poopy solidified before the split single with That Cheezy Sensation, which features a more instrumentally competent group. The music — which is secondary to the lyrics on any Sockeye release — is a palatable punkish rock stomp. The quartet takes sloppy aim at straightedge punks, vegetarians and, on "2000 Lawns," retarded children ("He's overpraised / His eyes are stupid and glazed"). "F*ckin' Sh*t" is a lousy-job diatribe that is the ill-tempered mental patient cousin of "Take This Job and Shove It" (the chorus is "It's all just f*ckin' f*ckin' f*ckin' f*ckin' sh*t," of course).

Toughskins is a Sockeye side project whose sole goal is to poke fun at tough-guy punks. Bloody Fuckin' Oi! Oi! , which combines Oier Than You and Sockeye's share of the 4-Band Comp tape, is essentially one joke repeated 34 times in the form of a poorly recorded cookie-cutter punk song, usually with the word "Oi" in the title. (Making that funnier, an actual tough-guy oi band called the Toughskins formed a few years later, becoming the first band to be parodied before it even existed.)

Sockeye hasn't recorded any new material since 1998, though songs continue to appear on compilations and split releases, like Self-Titled, shared with Punku Boi and available for free online. The group's last hurrah came at a 2002 reunion show, though Fortunata continues to fly the tardcore flag in bands like The Poops and Fossil Fuel, and Poopy does the same with Doktor Bitch.

-Jim Glauner



Comments posted on the Sockeye site pertaining to items to be sold are not necessarily endorsed by Sockeye. If you decide to deal with people posting items to be sold, it's on you. Buyer beware!!! The Mortville release (ad above) is as far as I know, the only official release currently available (not sold out).