Last Rites (from San Francisco)

At its core, Last Rites is an exercise in surrealist expression. It has also been perceived as an elaborate joke. The San Francisco MusiCalendar described it best when they wrote, " ...my number one choice for scariest band, scariest songs ever" . After all, with a name like Last Rites, you really don't expect us to do a "number for the ladies in the crowd", complete with acoustic guitar, like Foghat, do you?

The following is the partial text of an article written by "The Phantom Reviewer" for The San Francisco Club Scene (now out of print). Last Rites/John C. Lind First things first, Last Rites is John C. Lind, and John C. Lind is Last Rites without him the band does not exist. Ive been a fan of Last Rites for some time, ever since I first heard rumors about a new guitar legend playing in some of the local punk dives. Thats not to say Last Rites is a punk band, far from it, but theyve come out of that crowd. The influence is there, but its obvious his main influence is Jimi Hendrix. In fact, some of his early ads for musicians posted in Rough Trade records said Joy Division + Jimi Hendrix. It doesnt end there, however, you can hear traces of Motorhead, music of the Middle East, Iron Butterfly. Thats what makes the sound so unique. So it was in late 83 or 84 when I first heard a demo from a new band, Last Rites, called The Pillar of Fire. It was a fairly straightforward song with a wall of sound guitar and JCs trademark apocalyptic lyrics. Then a few weeks later another demo arrived, The Iron Tree. Holy s***, this is scary stuff! we all agreed. The Iron Tree, he explains, is the story of the Virgin Mary descending into Hell to see the sinners and the tortures they endure. Uh, wow! He got the idea from a class he had in Russian literature. Speaking of Russian, he's even done a version of the Hendrix song I don't live today - in Russian! Another publication called Last Rites "the scariest band ever". But what is it that makes Last Rites so scary? I finally put my finger on it: its the sound of JCs guitar, more than anything, plus his lyrics. Hes known for using all sorts of effects, and whatever it is he does, it really gets to you. The sound is vast, overwhelming, intoxicating it takes you places. You have to surrender to it. My guitar player friends say its probably a combination of the endless sustain he gets from his amps and his fuzz/distortion pedals. Then theres his echoplex, which he later replaced with a couple of digital delays. It gives a vastness thats unmatched by any other guitar player Ive heard. And Im not just talking about local bands, but any Ive heard anywhere. "It has a lot to do with my choice of guitar, which has always been a Fender Strat," he adds. Lots of guys use effects. JC is the only one, however, who seems to get an infinite range of sounds from them. The first time I heard him at the old Sound of Music in the Tenderloin. Not knowing quite what to expect, I was stunned to hear, and see, with my own eyes, a guitar player on the level of Hendrix, Van Halen, Jeff Beck, you name it. Im known for being reserved in my praise of guitar players, but Im comfortable making these comparisons. Where JC really shows his Hendrix influence is in the howls, moans and groans, and the feedback he wrenches out of the amp. This is what also reminds me of Jeff Beck, back in his early days with the Yardbirds. Then JCs fingering is very Hendrix-like, but there are also major differences. Whereas Hendrix was heavily rooted in the Blues, JC is not nearly so, if at all. I guess all rock is somewhat derived from the Blues, but when you hear JC play, the Blues is not what immediately comes to mind. Theres something off about his sound, well, not off, but almost otherworldly, almost alien. He explained it once, I use a lot of church modes. I stumbled upon them accidentally. I used to compose a lot in E minor, but so many guys use that already that I wanted to try something different. So I shifted the whole thing down two frets and liked how that sounded, plus it worked out well on the neck. Later I looked in a music book and found out it was this weird church mode called Locrian. It said it was the Devil in music. Sure, why not? He adds, I also discovered I used a lot of jazz picking techniques. Once I read in Guitar Player about something called slip picking. Hey, thats what Ive been doing for years, I thought. I also like playing octave notes instead of chords. It sounds really nice on a Strat with single coil pickups. Thats actually a jazz thing, too. Listen to Wes Montgomery or George Benson. Id never have guessed there were any similarities between those two jazz greats and JC! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tracks here are currently the only remaining examples of this legendary San Francisco band. John and his brother Patrick Osburne, who plays bass, are planning to book some studio time and record better copies of these songs. In fact, there are enough to fill 2 CD's, so keep checking back. Also, several other bands have used the name Last Rites, so there's a chance they'll have to use another name, Rex Mundi and the World Leaders. Stay tuned!

Played throughout the 80's in San Francisco. Currently on hiatus, but preparing to do some recording.

Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, Iron Butterfly, Motorhead, The Yardbirds, The Doors

"Last Rites" was active in San Francisco during the 80's. Since then, other bands have used the name, so future endeavors will be under the alternate name of "Rex Mundi and the World Leaders". Do not worry, for the music (but not the song) will remain the same. Check out our website for links to more songs!