Gas Huffer

Another band from the past that I used to listen to a long time ago, and then gave up on, was Gas Huffer. I was listening to them circa 1992 and they are one of many bands I abandoned when I got heavily into straight edge hardcore. But then last year I reacquired a copy of the Mudhoney / Gas Huffer split 7", and it reminded me of the band, and how catchy they were. I ended up downloading the old records that I used to own and I still knew a lot of the words over 30 years later. Funny how that happens huh?

Well, my recent drive to collect Sub Pop records also led me to the Gas Huffer 7" that came out in 1992. I am pretty sure that I originally bought one of these in Virgin Records on Oxford Street in London when it came out, but I sold that a long time ago. I'm also pretty sure that the copy I used to own was on blue vinyl, but the one I picked up this year is green.

This record only has two songs on it, but both are really catchy and a lot of fun. We get 'Hotcakes' on one side, and 'Beer Drinking Cavement From Mars' on the other. You can kinda tell from the cover art that this band is a lot of fun.

I was keen to buy back the albums that I used to own by this band after listening to them, but as seems to be the case with everything these days, it is practically impossible to buy the records for a fair price. I don't believe for a minute that anyone really cares too much about this band in 2024, but try telling that to fools who sell on discogs. However, but a stroke of good fortune, I popped into Celebrated Summer Records in Baltimore earlier this year, and they had two used Gas Huffer albums for $15 each. These were not records I had been previously been familiar with, but there was no way I was going to not buy them. The first, 'One Inch Masters', came out on Epitaph in 1994, which was after I had stupidly given up on the band.

Seems kinda crazy that this band was on Epitaph in 1994. That was the year that Green Day blew up, and Offspring released 'Smash', which was pretty instrumental in making Epitaph the huge success that it is today. Gas HUffer, on the other hand, managed to stay below the radar with this record.

Another fun thing about Gas Huffer was that each of their albums came with a comic book. The band apparently illustrated these themselves, and they are full of lyrics. Some copies seem to be for sale without the comics, which makes me wonder how people manage to separate things from records once they have bought them. I mean, surely you just keep the comic book inside the record sleeve, right? Fortunately the comic was included with this copy I bought.

The second album that I bought was 'The Inhuman Ordeal Of Special Agent Gas Huffer' LP. This one was also released by Epitaph in 1996. I'd also never heard this one, or even been aware it existed.

And thankfully, this one also comes complete with the comic book.

I generally don't like getting more than one album by a band at the same time. That's partly why its taken me a few months to getting around to posting this. I wanted to get around to listening to each properly first. I listened to one for a bit, and then recently started listening to the other. My conclusion is that I was mad to ever give up on this band, because their songs are super catchy and just a lot of fun. For example, one of the songs is about someone having their appendix removed at sea, and then it being thrown overboard. Another is about trying to find out what is inside someone's bag. Total nonsense, but lots of fun.

If you've never heard this band and fancy giving them a chance, I'd suggest simply starting with 'Hotcakes'. It's a pretty good representation of their sound and attitude.

There are 4 more albums that I will need to hunt down. Two that I used to own, and two I had no idea existed. I'm sure that they will come in time.