From the Vaults: Deranged Diction
16 06 2010
I was doing my review of a German band called Kellerasseln and the vocals kicked in my memory of a comp that I sadly still have back in Chicago with the rest of my records. The comp I thought about is called Welcome to Montana…Come Die With Us, put out by Poisoned Candy Records in 2005, and the band I had in mind is called DERANGED DICTION. Originally from Missoula, Montana, they moved to Seattle, WA, in 1983. Deranged Diction changed singers three times, but still managed to put out some awesome tunes. I would be lying if I didn’t say that my favorite era of theirs was when Tom Kipp sang on their first batch of songs, including “Pruning,” which appeared on the We Got Power comp put out by Mystic Records in 1983, and one of my favorite punk songs ever, “Periscope.” Their guitar player, Jeff Ament, went on to form Pearl Jam, which is pretty much the antithesis of what I am into, and I guess they jumped on the reunion show bandwagon last month, but shit guys, Deranged Diction’s Montana era is rad and there is no denying…
Cool post
Deranged Diction is classic Missoula punk, the foundation laid for the glory days of Jay’s upstairs to come.
Thanks for posting this, Mariam. I’ll need to check out Montana era Deranged Diction now. As a side note – I always find it interesting how a member of a punk band ends up playing in something like Pearl Jam and Velvet Revolver years or decades later. It’s just plain weird.
Deranged Diction is playing a reunion show this summer in Missoula, MT for Totalfest. The dates are August 19-21. Check out the total fest blog for details at wantagetotalfest.blogspot.com
Unlike other bands, DD reformed not for the money (how much money can you make off two gigs a year), but for the love of the music.