Discography

Full-length CDs: Clean Your Room Snowman Flies and Death 'n Stuff

Singles/Compilations/Miscellaneous: Drowning/Funny Car, Pelican, 1993 Germ's Choice 1994 The Bottle/20, 1994 Robots are Real, 1996 (w/American Sensei) Funny Car/Bitch, 1996 (w/Sincola) Seconal/Get Off, 1997 Live 105 Local Music Showcase, 1997 Berkeley High Band CD, 1999

The elements are all there-three sparkling-clean chords per tune, an often-pogoing pace, a San Francisco Bay-area pedigree-but Engine 88 (formerly only Engine) is not so easily tossed into the ever-growing pop-punk heap. Clean Your Room reveals a band that's looking past the pop-punk formula and doing its homework on other, relatively diverse songwriting ideas (hey, there's a song on here that's over five minutes long), an earnest ambition that pleases these pop-punk-weary ears. For every song that rips past with adolescent abandon ("Funny Car" and "Firefly" are particularly satisfying for their pumping viscerality), there's a tune that shows Engine 88 opening itself up to a wide variety of emotional moods and colors. "Des Moines" is practically a ballad, with a melancholy chorus delivered with a heart-on-sleeve sincerity that moves the band closer to the likes of Soul Asylum than some of the band's ascetic, near-hardcore peers, and that five-minute epic ("Twenty") closes out the record with reflection, instead of an obligatory knockout punch. Watch for Engine 88 to survive the craze with a knowing shrug.

Cheryl Botchick

Clean Your Room is not just another debut from another Bay Area rock band. That could be considered a cocky statement, but trying to pin this band down is kind of like trying to explain the difference in taste between colas-the answer's somewhere in subtlety and careful attention to the measuring and mixture of ingredients. While Engine 88 snags quite a bit of its sound from the current punk revitalization (snappy drums, biting guitars), the band also takes enough cues from modern progressive outfits to put a spin on its melodies and overall song constructions, keeping them Interesting, sometimes dramatic, but always accessible. There's something clearly basic about the production-it's personal, immediate and enticingly raw-but it's also incredibly rich, fully communicating the band's gutsy intensity, all the while cleanly revealing its careful arrangements. Dave Hawkins' drumming is as dynamic as it is precise, winding through the gentle, wandering verses and blindingly intense chorus of "Crackers" with equal tenacity. "Spinach" is a pure punk wonder, with its full-on chorus drowning in guitars and coolly harmonized vocals. The band's sense of humor (or absurdity) is clear throughout the verses of almost every song, with the I 7-second distorted instrumental "The Lonely Pimp" demonstrating this most directly. Go figure out: "GTO," "Baby Doll" and "Des Moines."

AARON CLOW

I discovered Engine 88's "Mangos" on some obscure compilation album, and I was hooked. I think I bought this album the next day, and they instantly became one of my favorite bands. There was something about this band's unique blend of powerful, alternative rock that I couldn't resist. Maybe it was the ripping guitar riffs, the chugging bass lines, or, quite likely, singer Tom Barnes' unique, almost yelped or squawked vocals. It could have been the half-serious, half-downright silly lyrics, or just a combination of everything.

What made this west coast band great, however, was the sheer energy of their music. Even the most standard rock songs turn into something far greater, as Barnes' vocals soar and the guitars soar right along with it. It's quite obvious this band was destined for greatness. Barnes' previous band, Sordid Humor, was a college rock staple for a while, and it included Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz. Their vocals sounded perfect together. Drummer Dave Hawkins and Guitarist Damon Wood were both in Smoking Section, one of the definitive funk/rock bands of the time. And with bassist Eric Knight, Engine 88 only suffered from a lack of exposure and appreciation.

"The Bottle" starts off this album, with Barnes' vocals at times almost crooning, as he sings, "I had dreams of the southern pacific, railroad cars falling off of bridges, and little green fish floating by." The bass here chugs along perfectly, allowing the guitars to layer in the background. "Funny Car," with its powerful bass lines and ripping guitar solo is one of the band's most rocking numbers. I sing along every time as Barnes sings, "I run up the stairs, tore of my pants, la la la la la ti da."

But it's "Mangos," the third track, that gets me every time. The lyrics don't make much sense (although I found that the line, "I don't remember Sleeping Sleeping" refers to an excellent song by an area band American Sensei), but they're damn catchy, and with a powerful, driving guitar and bass rhythm and the shouted chorus of "Man I love to fish!," you can't help but love this song.

Although Engine 88's best songs are no doubt their all-out rockers, the band would play slower songs, and here Barnes' vocals stretch a bit. I think they work, but friends feel they're out of place on the slower songs like "Pelican" and "Des Moines." But it's the faster ones, like "Spinach" (and its chorus of, "it's like spots on bugs, really little ones, and I fuck myself up. It's like spots on bugs, little dots, and I fuck myself up") that really shine. Just listen to that power bass line chugging along and wailing guitar in the background.

Two of the album's rocking tracks are close competitors to "Mangos." "Drowning" has a more moody and intense feel, while "Crackers," a close second as best track here, goes from slower to faster. It's the lyrics on these songs that make the difference. "Crackers" has a quieter yet intense feel, and Barnes' feels like he's singing his heart out as he sings, "I know I could wait for you for hours." And during the chorus, he's practically screaming. This is definitely the most intense track on the album.

"Baby Doll" is another one that goes from softer and more personal to blazing rock during the chorus. And "Firefly" has blistering guitar licks, fast-paced and a perfect rock song. It's this type of energy and enthusiasm that convinces me this band must have an incredible live show. And the album closes with "Twenty," a longer track that has a quiet intensity as well as moments of all-out rock, fast and yet tight. This one shows a definite transition to the band's next album, which is tighter and less edgy.

Engine 88 released two other albums. Snowman came out on Caroline around 1996 or 97, and the posthumous Flies & Death & Stuff came out in 1997 after the band broke up. While Snowman didn't quite have the edge and power of Clean Your Room, the songs on Flies sure did, and it's worth tracking down as well, even if it is difficult to find.

I've been searching to see what the guys are up to now, and the two Smoking Section members are working on a retrospective. Anyone with information about Barnes, please let me know. I love his voice and his ability to meld unusual and humorous lyrics and still sing with such sincerity.

DELUSIONS OF ADEQUACY

It's hard not to have at least some respect for a band that lists a comprehensive tasting guide to beef jerky on its web site. Engine 88's sense of fun shines through over the Internet and in the music on Snowman. Upon first listen, this San Francisco four-piece's new collection of pop-punk tunes is neither wholeheartedly impressive nor hackneyed. But after a little while, these songs reveal an affection for the Sonic Youth/Bob Mould approach to guitar-mixing choppy chord progressions with gritty drones and snappy riffs. Tom Barnes' bubblegum crooning recalls new wave classics by the Vapors and Tears For Fears. When necessary, he summons up the appropriate emotion to convincingly deliver these tales of romantic woe, ballerina dolls and Boutros Boutros-Ghali. David Hawkins' tom-tom-heavy drumming keeps the bottom-end booming. Recorded with Tim O'Heir at Boston's Fort Apache, the album's arrangements and sound are much more cohesive than those on the band's previous effort, Clean Your Room. Snowman isn't an incredibly inventive pop-punk album, but it is one of the catchiest in a while.

NEIL GLADSTONE

On its second record, San Francisco band Engine 88 takes its show to the Northeast - Boston's Fort Apache Studios, to be exact where producer Tim O'Heir and the group have created a rock album that is both insanely melodic and full of hard rhythmic punches. While the band's sound has been done (and done well) before, Engine 88 is confident enough to proffer its carefully thought-out and played version without apology. The disc's 13 songs (which clock in at just under 38 minutes, bringing each song to under three minutes) are blazing fiestas of spirited pop-punk, rounded out by a variety in tempo and tone that is often lacking in other bands of the same ilk. Engine 88's sound springs from the post-Nirvana well, with catchy hooks embedded in noisy riffs. Tom Barnes' zest for melody and lyric manifests itself in a triumphant explosion of pop-punk that is both sung and played well. Snowman is a surprisingly mature sounding sophomore release from this fairly young, but increasingly tough, band. Listen to: "Seconal," "Manclub" and the very Nirvana-ish "Trouble."

MEGAN FRAMPTON

Creators of songs with cryptic, one word titles that'll pound yer puny little ass like nobody's business, this San Francisco four-piece follow last year's truly outstanding Clean Your Room with 13 edgy, inspired, jagged-edged tunes that rank as some of the best agit-power-punk-pop noize to be released all year.

An exciting morph of PIL's snotty whine, Husker Du's furious pop pulse and Big Black's barely-in-control guitar chaos and sparse, elliptical sound; songs such as "Istanbul," "Manclub," "Seconal," "Butchery" and "Snowman" are a head-spinning, mid-air collision between lead vocalist Tom Barnes' navel-intensive, semi-autistic world observations and lead guitarist Damon Wood's furious, eyes-closed, over-caffeinated string mangling.

AL MUZER, CONSUMABLE ONLINE