Grapthar's Song of the Day: fIREHOSE - 'Brave Captain'

San Pedro punk band Minutemen, caused by the death of singer/guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley weren't sure if they really even wanted to continue playing music. A young guitarist, Ed Crawford had been told the two were auditioning guitarists (which was, in fact, not the case), and he called up Mike Watt. Watt was initially uninterested, but Crawford was persistent, eventually showing up in Southern California. After some time spent jamming and hanging out, Hurley and Watt became inspired by Crawfords enthusiasm, and found they were able to play music again and find real joy in it. The group's name comes from a Bob Dylan video where Dylan holds up cue-cards, one of which read 'firehose', which the members found funny. They wrote the name in all capital letters, except for the 'f' as a tribute to the Minutemen, whose name was often written all in caps. The band wound up releasing five albums between 1986 and 1993; they didn't really try to avoid the Minutemen influences and comparisons, and just played what they liked, which resulted in some great tunes. Today's song is the opening track on the band's debut album, Ragin', Full On, released in 1986. It was released on legendary LA punk label SST, owned by Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn.