Coming out of the Los Angeles area in the early to mid 1980s, Zyniker were one of the very first bands MT ever released. In fact, Mitch, guitarist and singer of Zyniker is also a gifted artist, and his art is featured on several of the early MT cassette releases. He was joined by Doug Price, also on guitar and vocals, as well as Doug's brother Steve on bass, who was also in the band Monster X. Drummers sort of came and went. As a band, Zyniker sounded sort of like the bastard son of Flipper with a healthy dose of Crass politics and graphic style.
This is a fun record. Thumper offers four "songs" on the left channel, including their hardcore-hit "Barbie Doll". Zyniker is on the right channel with three tracks, including their most famous hit "What Went Wrong?" (a different version than on their debut tape). In other words, to hear just one of the bands, you have to turn your "balance" knob on your stereo to one side or to the other. When you set it to the middle, you hear both bands at the same time! Talk about noise! Amazingly, not many music journalists figured it out, although it does say on the cover how it works. Just shows that no matter how low the musical threshhold is, music journalists always end up being even stupider! 500 pressed.
Their second release, again with a few great Zyniker classics: "What Does It Prove", the untypically upbeat"Crisis City", and an unbelievable version of John Denver's "Leaving On A Jet Plane". Mitch's brother Skip replaces Doug's brother Steve on bass on this release. Politically correct as always, with Mitch's cover art.
