Two Berries on a Twig

Background

In 1996, Abysmal Crucifix almost literally ran into the Paint Shaker on Highland to meet their fans' demands for new Abysmal material. Their debut, Star Sex, sold out in record time, and bandleader Girth McDürchstein wanted to pair a follow-up album with a new, bigger pressing of Star Sex.

Fortunately, Girth had dozens of songs left over from his years of writing songs in high school and college. One of Girth's primary objectives in Two Berries on a Twig was to attack the critical perception that Abysmal Crucifix was crude, misogynistic "sleaze metal" (as the genre had come to be known). Girth made it his mission for Two Berries... to shatter this belief by mixing genres (merging metal with soft-rock ballads, Latin hip-hop, funk, and house) and broadening the lyrical content.

"Thunderbird," a short but ballsy rocker, contains no sexual references whatsoever. In fact, it rails against many preconceived notions in the metal world, notably that violence and alcohol will solve relationship problems. In it, the first-person narrator pleads for Thunderbird (referring to the popular fortified wine) to "take [him] away ... [and] forget ... all of [life's] pain."

As "Thunderbird" offered Abysmal Crucifix their first taste of success (growing popular enough in the Southern California metal scene to warrant a limited-edition 7" single release), the band also received Thunderbird's trademark bitter aftertaste in the form of legal troubles. First, E & J Gallo Wineries sued Kelleystein Recordings (the record label Girth personally owned and managed) when the song began to impact sales of Thunderbird. On the other end of the spectrum, the Ford Motor Company leaped onto the lawsuit bandwagon by filing allegations based on a radical interpretation of the song: that "Thunderbird" referred to the Ford Thunderbird and actually advocated drunken driving.

While neither suit went to trial, the extended legal bickering forced Kelleystein to stop printing the single. In fact, certain pressings of Two Berries on a Twig (most between 1998 and the 2000 reissue) replaced "Thunderbird" with a Backseat Delightlah! outtake called "I Can't Move It It's So Swollen."

Other notable songs include "Paz, Hombre," a Spanish-language plea for immigration reform; "2 Kewl 4 Ur Pecker," a hybrid of heavy-metal and electronic dance-pop; and the title track, a sweet ballad written from the perspective of a desperate stalker.

After Girth McDürchstein's 1999 arrest and eventual conviction, Kelleystein scrambled to release some new material. In 2000, the label reissued Two Berries on a Twig with updated album art and three new songs recorded between 1996 and 1998.