Beltaine: Crowning The Caged Kid

I kept going back and forth on what band I should actually start this blog with. For the last few days I have been pouring over countless 7"s & compilation CDs as well as tons of memories that coincide with them. The majority of the bands I plan on discussing I actually still listen to on a regular basis. Really the deciding factor was how much material and information was readily available, considering that my spare time these days is rather limited, especially with my wedding being a mere 7 weeks away. Ripping vinyl to my MD player and then to my computer just seemed too time consuming, so I decided it would be best to start with a record that was already in digital format.

Rhode Island's Beltaine remained virtually unknown to anyone outside the New England area in the mid to late 90's. They released a three song 7"s on Watermark (which I never managed to find a copy of), a 2 song 7" on Atomic Action (which served as a precursor to their full length), and a full length on Atomic Action entitled "Crowning The Caged Kid." The Cd was recorded in 1996 and released in 1997, it serves as just about the best documentation of the band.

While their sound is rather hard to pin down you could describe it as something like an early Split Lip meets Fugazi, although vocalist James Quigley's voice is just about as unique as you can get. Though quite nasally, you can really hear the strain and emotion in his voice that is entirely captivating when the band slows down shortly before delivering a driving chorus (tracks like "Skinning Knees" & "And If I Fly Too High" serve as the perfect example) His voice could almost sound similar at times to Jeremy Enignk on SDRE's LP2. The band is rather moody as a whole, roughly comprised of slow drony tracks and the more faster rock songs. Few seem to integrate both styles (the closer "Burner" is one though), but overall the record is balanced by a pretty well thought out arrangement. Here are two songs from the "Crowing The Caged Kid" CD

"If I Fly Too High"
"Skinning Knees"

After I moved from Rhode Island in 1998, I basically fell out of what became of them. I recently discovered after searching for more information to write about them with, that the band I assumed was comprised of their former members was actually Beltaine now under the name Woken By Wire. The name change was apparently the result of a line up change and a way to discard the excess baggage that came along with being a band for 6 or so years. They released a 10" on the label Corleone which seemed to be a bit more rock sounding than their previous works. Drummer Sean had at one point filled in for Blue Tip and members have now gone on to bands like Vincibus Eruptum, Chinese Stars, Anton Bordman & Sidewinder.

I am not sure how available this CD is after all these years, after all I doubt there was more than 1000 pressed. Its been years since I heard of the label Atomic Action being active, however I do remember one of their last ads advertising a split between Beltaine and Kid Kilowatt which was never released.