📻 DJ Tirefire Reviews Wallshine (Bootleg)
Filed under Clippings & Snippings. Transcribed from NBR Late Hours, Dec. 6, 1990.
This was the first time Tirefire said the name Downvent on air.
Not shouted. Not mocked. Just said it. Twice.
The bootleg came unmarked in a brown envelope.
The tape hissed, the mix was garbage, and half the vocals were buried in blown-out guitar noise.
So naturally, he played it back-to-back.
There was no label. No permission.
But Wallshine went on air anyway — because it made sense to him.
And he made it make sense to us.
📼 NBR Late Hours Segment Transcript
Airdate: December 6, 1990 – 1:42 AM
Show: Late Hours with DJ Tirefire
(cassette hiss)
Okay, if you’re just joining us — first of all, bad timing.
Second, this is a crusty little bootleg of a band called Downvent,
recorded two weeks ago at The Spill.Not my tape.
Some poor soul dropped it in the station mailbox in a brown envelope
that smelled like bong water and Axe spray.
Which is to say: thank you.This track is called “Wallshine.”
And I’m gonna say this right now — it’s got no right to work.The mix is awful.
The vocals are buried somewhere between a guitar amp and a regret.
I think the drummer breaks a stick in the bridge.And yet?
It sticks in your head.
Dirk — or whatever pseudonym the singer goes by —
sounds like he’s arguing with a ghost only he can see.There’s this one lyric about “hanging round like the paint on a coat rack” or something?
It makes no sense and still hits harder than half the label promos
I’ve been guilt-tripped into spinning this week.Dylan’s on bass playing like his lunch money depends on it.
And the drummer — Derek, I think? — is trying to beat time into submission.This song shouldn’t exist.
It barely holds together.So naturally, I played it twice.
Bootleg or not — Wallshine is Tirefire Certified™.
If you don’t like it, that’s fine.
Just don’t be surprised when your little sister starts humming it under her breath.(match strike sound cue)
Coming up next — Bad Roof covering Neil Young with a saxophone player
who may or may not have been arrested mid-set.
Stay tuned.