Replicants

Two main guys from Failure? CHECK. Two dudes who used to be in Tool? CHECK. A bunch of awesome cover tracks? CHECK. Me using the check thing again to describe this album? CHECK. Take all of that and you've got the Replicants!

For all the Failure and Autolux love I spread around here, I thought it was time I shared this slept-on gem with you. After Failure recorded their swan song, Fantastic Planet (which is really great and you should not hesitate to purchase immediately, especially the vinyl reissue if you can find it), some tapes of Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards jamming on classic rock staples with buddies Paul D'Amour and Chris Pitman ended up in the hands of a Zoo Records A&R. It led to the offer to record an album's worth of these sludgy, slowed-down covers and put them out on Zoo. The label probably figured the synergy of having two guys who used to be in Tool doing a kind-of prog cover band with the guys from Failure was brilliant since Tool was on Zoo at the time as well. The album didn't sell well though, probably in part to Zoo sucking at promoting anyone other than Tool which was mostly left to BMG, despite featuring a cameo from Tool's Maynard James Keenan on a progged-to-death cover of Paul McCartney's Silly Love Songs. Then, in a WTF twist of fate, the album, recorded after Fantastic Planet, came out before Fantastic Planet, by which time Failure toured but had otherwise fallen apart. DAMNIT!

A lot of people I've made listen to this record hate it, which makes sense because they grew up hearing the original versions of these tracks. I grew up listening to the originals too, but I love to hear interesting reinterpretations of songs I love. For the most part, Replicants adds a layer of sludge to these songs, tuning them down a step or two and rocking harder. Cinnamon Girl is about the same tempo but it's beat sounds like a group of soldiers marching in lockstep. Silly Love Songs is slowed to a crawl with Maynard's vocals distorting just about anything left of the original. Competing for my favorite track on the album is their version of Dirty Work, which turns it into a grunge thrasher complete with the band breaking down at the end. Dead awesome, but the rest of the album is just as good, seriously!

The aftermath of Failure and the Replicants has lead to all kinds of interesting events. Ken Andrews started recording as ON and is now an in demand producer and studio guy, still performing The Nurse Who Loved Me live from time to time. Greg Edwards joined Lusk and is now a member of Autolux. Paul D'Amour and Chris Pitman formed Lusk and recorded their sole album, Free Mars, which saw release in 1997 via Zoo and it's new sister label, Volcano. Since then, Paul and Chris have worked on a number of other projects seperately, most notably Paul's solo release as Feersum Ennjin and Chris being a long-time member of the revised Guns N' Roses, which it's worth noting also featured Tool alumni Billy Howerdel and Josh Freese for a time.

Below you'll find the link for the Replicants album with the original performers listed beneath each track, just in case you didn't listen to 100.7 WMMS growing up. Enjoy!


Replicants - Replicants

01 Just What I Needed
The Cars

02 Silly Love Songs
Wings

03 Life's A Gas
T.Rex

04 Cinnamon Girl
Neil Young

05 How Do You Sleep?
John Lennon

06 Destination Unknown
Missing Persons

07 No Good Trying
Syd Barrett

08 Are 'Friends' Electric?
Tubeway Army

09 Dirty Work
Steely Dan

10 The Bewlay Brothers
David Bowie

11 Ibiza Bar
Pink Floyd


PS - The image I've used for this post in from the inner sleeve of the CD. The album's actual cover is the box the guys are in sealed up with only the word REPLICANTS appearing on it. I thought this image was better. Also, enjoy the video for Destination Unknown.