To best appreciate Bay Area guitar-pop wizard Tony Molina, one must first appreciate Ovens, the unsung band in which he laid the foundations for his solo sound. That’s about to get easier to do: Ovens’ 2009 self-titled double album, a 44-track compilation that currently stands as the band’s only full-length release, is coming to streaming and vinyl for the first time on Dec. 2 via Oakland punk and metal label TankCrimes. Two songs from the record, “Fired From The Vogue Pt. 1” and “Lame Song #224,” are streaming now.
A note included in the original, CD-only release of Ovens offers some context for the album:
These recordings were originally meant to be released individually over the years, but since we didn’t have the financial means to put out 3 LPs on our own, (or 4 if you include the album from 2005—it’s still not out yet!) we decided we were better off throwing all the tracks onto one CD for your listening pleasure.
Andee Connors, whose tUMULt Records originally put out Ovens, speaks to the band’s legacy and how she came to release their album in a lengthy statement. “These guys accomplish more in 30 seconds than most pop bands can pull off over the course of a full album. And they accomplish more in these 44 songs than most bands manage in their whole careers,” she says, recalling:
The band had been recording for years, full length after full length, and minus a super short run early on, the songs just sat there, unreleased and unheard, until the band had a backlog of 5 full-length albums. A friend of mine was always talking them up, hassling me to reach out, convinced I would love them, and when I finally did manage to get some music from these guys, well shit, I was 100% sold, onboard, obsessed and instantly the band’s #1 fan. Which is saying a lot. Cuz for a band that rarely played, and barely ever released anything, they engendered a rare kind of maniacal fandom.
“How these guys went so long without blowing up,” she adds, “still boggles the mind.”
Molina paid tribute to Ovens on his latest solo album In the Fade, reworking a couple of songs from Ovens.
Listen to “Fired From The Vogue Pt. 1” and “Lame Song #224” below, and see the details of Ovens further down.
Ovens Art:
Ovens Tracklist:
01. Fired From The Vogue Pt. 1
02. Fired From The Vogue Pt. 2
03. Same Shit, Different Day
04. PCP Song
05. Everthing’s The Same
06. Bad Scene
07. Your Ego Will Grow
08. Glazed Concept
09. Movin’ On
10. Alone
11. I Can’t Hang
12. The Legend Of Chris Gardinis Mustache
13. Punch You In The Face
14. Lame Sesh
15. Castillejo Scene
16. Drunk Shit
17. Good Idea
18. Bad Day
19. Ovens Them Pt. 1
20. Losin’ Touch
21. Song For Friends
22. Headache
23. I’m A Creep
24. Long Walk Home
25. Ovens Theme Pt. 2
26. Lame Song #224
27. Sailing Along
28. Running In Place
29. Abduction
30. We Know We Suck
31. Don’t See The Point
32. Down The Drain
33. Beau Goes To The Hospital
34. Brandon’s Bleeding Head
35. Misanthropist
36. Puke When I’m Sad
37. Wastin’
38. Waste Of Time
39. Cows
40. When I Fell Off The Roof
41. Nothing More To Say
42. Look Inside My Brain
43. St. Chominski’s Dance
44. Stuck
