Bio Link
The dapper Punk Business Manager (left) and his Personal Assistant
Being a Punk Business Manager is a lot of work as you could imagine! In between all of the business strategy meetings, power lunches and cocktail receptions I somehow find time to listen to the good ol' punk rock and post some music here. As you can see from my picture above, I try to keep up with the latest fashions so shopping for the latest threads also takes up A LOT of time-- gotta look good on the job, especially when you're about to lay off/downsize people every Friday. But having my trusty Personal Assistant really helps- he drives me to work every day in my plush Jaguar so I can listen to some p-rock and post to the blog. Enjoy!
The music posted on this site is for educational purposes only. If you were in one of the old bands fanboy'd here and want your music removed, let me know and I will do so.
Smart Alex
This record is further proof that something was in the water (or the
big snowbanks) in late 70's and early 80's Minnesota, 'cuz that area
churned out some awesome and memorable stuff that has definitely stood
the test of time 30+ years later- go Midwest! And go ahead with those
plaid, polyester Caddyshack-ish golf pants with white shore on the cover
of your single!
It has been far too long between postings but the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's were extremely busy both on the home front and work front. Being busy on the home front was fine since my kids had a blast at Christmas so all that hard work to bring it all together was totally worth it.
New Year, and I determined to get more postings up here in a shorter amount of time! I have a long queue of postings so I am not hurting for ideas of stuff to post- that's not the problem! The issue is that I'm a research nut so that's where the disconnect/log jam happens with postings since I want to make each post a novel-length dissection of each record. So fuck all that sometimes 'cuz it slows shit down! Plus, who reads my long postings anyways?! Most people probably want to get to the point and hear the music without all of my chitter chat.
Speaking of chitter chat, I have been addicted to the Smart Alex's amazing song "Chitter Chat" since blog commenter Nesho hooked me up with rips of it last Summer (thanks again!). The guitar hooks in it are totally addictive and are so perfect. The band fucking nailed it on this song, and I can listen to this tune over and over and not tire of it. I guess it kinda sorta qualifies as a power pop song but that's more than just that going on here. A review on Collector Scum said: "Great stuff that blurs power pop and art pop and poppy punk". However you want to categorize it, it's great and it's very sad to me that it is still so obscure instead of being a household classic that everyone knows. Some other more well-known songs are much less deserving, me thinks. Since I gravitate towards raw, frothing, over-the-top stuff I am usually not much into stuff in the poppy realm (maybe I am mellowing out in middle age?) so the song ALMOST loses me during the "Oooooo" parts in the chorus BUT the hooky guitar kicks in afterwards and draws me back in. Great lyrics with a leisurely theme that you can singalong to as well. The B-side is more straight ahead pop and I am not that much into it but it is not unlistenable or anything. If you're a powerpop fan you'll probably dig it.
I have learned a lot about the history of the band, which apparently existed between 1977 and 1981, and the backstory of the record (done in one take!) thanks to the great posting I found from last April on the Go Johnny Go site. Read the whole thing, and dig the streams of unreleased demos and photos of rare flyers and photos that they have posted as well!
Chitter Chat.mp3
Tonight.mp3
P.S. However obscure this disc is to most poeple, please don't think that it goes for an obscure price. A search of Popsike shows that copies have gone for hundreds, including one copy in July 2007 for $763 (!). Ouch!
X-Patriots
X-PATRIOTS "HARDCORE / MYTH OF YOUTH" ACETATE (NEW JERSEY? 1982)
Here is a picture from the November 2010 eBay auction for this ultra-rarity,
the winning bid for which was over $400. Thank god someone scribbled something
on these handwritten labels, or we wouldn't have known anything about this one!
Seller: let's talk aesthetics, though- if it were me, I would not have posed
this on top of some ugly gray carpeting.
Hearing an unknown KBD-ish obscurity in 2011 is a rare occurrence but here is one. A rare occurrence because most stones have been overturned when it comes to KBD-ish sounds. KBD collectors were good at "the hunt" long before the whole internet thing took off in the mid-to-late 90's. Between the late 90's and 2005, volumes of info about rare records were available online for discovery and the whole learning process became much faster. But then when music blogs came around 6 years ago- fuggedaboutit!! That hyper-speeded the whole process ten fold: after a few clicks that rare record or unreleased demo you always wanted to hear is yours, virtually.
With the X-Patriots I believe we have a unknown obscurity (at least to those of us who are not "elite collectors" or whatever). I never knew about the existence of this acetate until some kind gentleman surprised me with some mp3's of it 3 months ago. Thanks again! A copy of this acetate was sold in November of 2010 on eBay for the tidy sum of $428. As you can see, the handwritten labels only give the band name, song name and year. Then you have a plain white sleeve with no band member names, nothin. I am guessing the band may be from New Jersey, though, since at the :20 second mark of "Hardcore" I swear I hear the singer say "Driving hard on the Jersey Shore".
Musically, "Hardcore" has strong female vocals and is good driving punk for the most part (and does not refer to the musical type of hardcore, ya hear). I say "for the most part" because there is this long, weird break in the middle where they almost lose their momentum and slow things down a bit too much. But it picks back up again towards the end. And let's not forget that the song possesses the punk-friendly length of 2 minutes. The B-side is another story- I find it too introspective and slow and I get bored listening to it. There's some traces of the dreaded (no pun intended) white boy reggae on it which always makes me grit my teeth in a bad way. [Which is different of course than gritting my teeth in a good way which happens when I when listen to a prime cut like Snails Love Theme or something of that caliber but that's another posting].
Do you know anything about the X-Patriots? Were you in the band? Leave some comments and let me know, thanks.
Hardcore.mp3
Myth of Youth.mp3
Mystery Songs- Please Help!
MYSTERY SONG #1 SOLVED!
NO TREND "TEEN LOVE"
Is Mystery Song #1 by the Crap Detectors? You tell me
About 15 years ago, before the BTX reissue of it came out, someone taped me the then-super rare Crap Detectors Victims of The Media LP. But on that cassette, just before that LP started, was the below unlabeled song and I have never known- or taken the time to figure out- what the heck the name of this song was or who did it. It's a pretty good, post-punky, depressing track with some hypnotic guitar noise. The long tale told during the song climaxes with a car crash. Most of the lyrics lot are voiced-over and are not even sung at all. It's about 6:30 in length, which is well past the attention span of those of us who are used to and prefer songs under 2:36, but it moves along nicely. It could well be a mid-to-late 80's song by the Crap Detectors but I have not taken the time to listen to anything past their first LP from 1980 so I am not familiar with most things they did. It is "Teen Love" by No Trend- thanks for solving this mystery, Bruce!So I thought, why not post it to the blog and see if any of you sleuths out there can tell me who this is and any other details about the song (what record it's from, year, etc). The people who regularly visit the site are an intelligent and well-rounded lot of folks with a deep knowledge of KBD-ish obscurities based on the fact that you all have helped eliminate very rare stuff off of my want list over the years (and especially this past Summer- thanks again!).
Give it a listen, and post a comment and help me out if you can with any info. Thanks in advance.
Mystery Song #1 No Trend- Teen Love
MYSTERY SONG #2
This great comp is the home of Mystery Song #2
While we're on the subject of mystery tracks, in very late 2001 Chuck Warner put out a great CD-R comp called Stragglers #1 that gathered together tracks that were added on to revised editions of his H2D-related comp series (H2D, Homework, Messthetics and Teenline). As a bonus, though, were some tracks NOT on any of his other great alphabetically-arranged volumes from various series. One of these tracks was the Ducky Boys ' supremely thuggy "Mercenary"- blown away was me! It was supposed to be on a planned "Letter D" volume of HypedToDeath (#71, perhaps?) but the big lawsuit happened a year later in 2003 and that kinda put an end to the initital incarnation of Chuck's label. The Stragglers #1 comp also introduced me to Nick Pagan, as "You Are Nothing" was included, and it was another standout track. I digress; to my point- Stragglers had a mystery track from an unlabeled cassette that he unearthed in a trash can at Boston’s legendary Rat club in the early 80's. It's a great catchy, melodic-yet-driving song, and I wonder if 10 years later, now that a large amount of musical knowledge has been shared over the information superhighway, if anyone now knows who the hell it is. Again, any info would be appreciated on this song too- thanks.
Mystery Song2 ("Keep Thinking of You"??) (From Stragglers #1 comp CD-R)
And here's Chuck Warner's original liner notes about this song:
Nick Pagan
If you happen to notice problems with any other old postings, post some comments and let me know.
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MAY 31, 2011
NICK PAGAN "THIS IS NOT A TEST" 4-SONG 7"EP (COLUMBIA, SC- OUTRAGE, 1979)
Here is a very cool record from a state which is kind of a "KBD desert", if you will: South Carolina. Other Southern states like Louisiana and Florida produced many great, well-known records in the KBD era but the states which lie between and around Louisiana and Florida- namely Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and both Carolinas South and North- did not produce a lot of similar ripping sounds. Of course Atlanta had the great Kris Methe and The Mistakes EP and North Carolina had the barnstorming Village Pistols single. But beyond that, I have to refer to the Collector Scum discography to even REMEMBER what other discs came out from those Southern states in the late 70's and early 80's pre-hardcore days. Same for South Carolina- um, beyond the Nick Pagan EP I can only name a few discs, which I only know by name and have never even heard. I know some people in the state's other major city, Charleston, and I have travelled there in the past and I know of no, nadda, not ONE KBD disc from that city at all.
Nick Pagan's hometown of Columbia, South Carolina is a college town, with the most well-known school there being the University of South Carolina. College towns were/are sometimes known for producing great bands with members either being college students or the kids who live in town (aka "the townies"), who loathe condescending college kids and then channel that hate- many times with great result- into their music. Er, not Columbia in the late 70's. Or, maybe there were more great bands, but they never sat foot in the studio and committed their best stuff to vinyl (?). You tell me.
Good thing Nick Pagan DID commit his best stuff to vinyl! This is not a four-song EP with one highlight, all four songs are great! Nick and his backing band Nervous Tension (more on them later) churned out a energetic, out-of-the-box, unique-sounding mix of organ-driven punk that I really like. Nick has a great, kinda gruff singing style and pounds the keys in just the right amount. The organ is not overwhelming and doesn’t drown out the great guitar noodling (as I've found happens with a lot of other organ-infused punk!). Very catchy and very hummable (even whistle-able at times!) ditties- the first track, "Madison Avenue", is the fastest-paced tune and might be my favorite track. "You Are Nothing" is great and I have been digging it ever since it was on the Stragglers #1 comp CD about 10 years ago on the Hyped To Death label (thanks, Chuck Warner, or I may have not have otherwise ever been clued off to Nick Pagan!). Side 2 starts with "I'll Never Tell" which is a nice head-bobber and kinda funky yet still driving. They slow things down a bit for the closer and get a bit more introspective on "This Is Not A Test"- me likes the nice guitar growl and organ interplay. And Nick's voice gets a little gruffer on this track which is a perfect touch. It’s funny, for all these years I have usually never been into punk with organs but on this nifty EP I am all over it.
According to a comment Mr. Pagan left on the Collector Scum site, the EP was "recorded, mixed and mastered in 6 hours with a gospel music engineer that I picked at random from the phone book. I sold them at a record store near the University I attended and a few at shows of The Fanatics (the band I formed with different guys early in 1980.)" This reaffirms again to me that the best records are almost always done in a similar quick "let's get it done!" manner. No multiple recording sessions, no retakes, no overthinking- a few tries in the space of a few hours and it's a wrap! Let's mix it and then get it to the pressing plant!
After this EP, Nick Pagan formed a new band called the Fanatics who, in 1981, released a split EP with- oddly enough- his old backing band, Nervous Tension. I am now dying to hear this record, someone please help me out here! It is quite rare and I can't spare the $100+ this thing has sold for in the past. [As an update Nick Pagan himself provided me some rips of the 3 Fanatics songs from that record (thanks!), as well as another treat, which I will get up here soon. But I still need the Nervous Tension tracks from that split EP.]
Madison Avenue.mp3
You Are Nothing.mp3
I Will Never Tell.mp3
This Is Not A Test.mp3
ENDNOTES
In putting this post together, I found out some interesting info and some funny stuff too. On the funny side, when you throw Nick Pagan into Google, most of the search results are for this self-help named Nick Pagan who believes in- get ready- "Fundamental Insights Into Better Living". LOL! Other Google results are mostly horseshit that have nothing to do with Nick Pagan from South Carolina. But I did come across a MySpace page for the Nick Pagan from South Carolina. According to his MySpace bio, he currently lives in Vienna, Austria and between 1995 and 2002 played in The Changelings, a self-described "ethereal/neo-classical/electronica/ world music quintet". And Discogs has an artist page for Nick Pagan that lists all of his stuff since the early 90’s and has a cute little picture of him.
And there is a YouTube clip with Nick Pagan and The Fanatics circa 1980. The clip originated with local Columbia station Channel 10 doing a news report on the local "New Wave" scene (of course they didn't dare utter the dreaded, scary "P" word when referring to things). A reporter travelled to a club called Von Henmon's and we see Nick on stage with The Fanatics. He totally plays up to the camera crew while pounding away on the keys and looks to be quite a showman. At the :29 mark in the video, the band plays a song called "Dream The Impossible Dream" which, incidentally, is not on the Fanatics / Nervous Tension split EP. Then at the 2:07 mark they play a cover of the theme song from the old 1960's Spider Man cartoon. Maybe not the band's best stuff that night but TV stations usually don't. Um, my favorite part of this video though is the stiff dancing at the :30 second mark- yikes! Then at the :47 second mark we have a Nick Nolte lookalike with the classic late 70’s bushy moustache. Classic!
Johnny's
JOHNNY'S "SPY FOR YOUR LOVE" 3-SONG 7"EP (LOS ANGELES, CA- OWN LABEL, 1979)
Sorry, no image available! I could not find any
archived listings on Popsike either- has a copy
never sold on eBay??
This record totally was unknown to me until about a month ago when a kind gentleman provided some mp3's (thanks again!), and I have listened to it a lot of times since then. Well, at least the first two songs- although kinda raw, the record has an underlying pop structure but I find the last song too poppy. I am usually not a big fan of poppy stuff but the leadoff track, "Spy For Your Love", is so-damn-catchy. It's also rather quirky with the prominent DIY-ish organ playing that has me hooked and has a nice driving pace. While listening to it makes me think of the great Nick Pagan EP in some ways (but let me say I think the Nick Pagan disc is better). The second track, "Happiness Is High Speed", is just that- a less than 2 minute, in-your-face song played at a fast "race-to-the-finish line" pace for the most part- very nice! The song slows down a bit during the semi-wimpy chorus parts but then the chunky bass kicks in and puts it back on the fast track. Nice quick guitar solo too.
I couldn’t find out much about the band (you try Google-ing "Johnny’s"!) but this record is listed in the Collector Scum SoCal discography. And please know that the band name is not a typo- it is a possessive noun and not plural as you would assume. The Johnny's listing on Collector Scum reveals a scan amount about the band- apparently the disc came in a stamped sleeve that, according to reviewer Marty Rips, has a "ridiculous hype message". Anyone have a scan of it so I can see what it looks like and says? Mr. Rips also thinks it is "almost completely a pop record, with only a slight punk edge". My ears hear something different because, while I do think the record is based around pop, it has WAY more of a punk edge especially on a track like "Happiness Is High Speed". To each his own, eh. Collector Scum also briefly mentions that one of the Johnny's went on to form some 80's band called Wire Train. In quickly scanning through sites about Wire Train it looks like that dude was Kevin Hunter. When I dug a little deeper, it turns out that Mr. Turner was, before The Johnny's, in the awesome Snotpuppies whose two tracks on 1993's KBD #13 were highlights to a great comp. Er, by the way, anyone got the complete Snotpuppies demo circa 1978? It's been on my want list on this site for quite a while now.
Spy For Your Love.mp3
Happiness Is High Speed.mp3
Stuck On Her.mp3
Strychnine
STRYCHNINE "JACK THE RIPPER / CRAZY WOMEN" 7" (CLEVELAND, OH- MUSIC ADVENTURES, 1978)
(l to r): Duce Helton- bass / Crazy Joe Uherc- rhythm guitar and Afro /
Weasle Strychnine (with shades on)- vocals / Bruno Helton- lead guitar /
Spike McCormack- drums
The single was recorded at After Dark Studios in Cleveland. In analyzing
the "Special Thanks" on a picture I've seen of the back of the sleeve the
name Jeff Kinzbach caught my eye- he was a longtime DJ on big commercial
Cleveland station WMMS and used to host the "Buzzard Morning Zoo" there in
the 80's. Cle punks and WMMS had a contentious relationship that began in
the mid-to-late 70's- Rocket From The Tombs played on-air there one time and
the station looked to be somewhat open minded but then a few years later
longtime "drive time DJ" Kid Leo infamously stated "new wave has gone to the
grave" and that was that.
"Jack The Ripper" is a PERFECT mixture of hard rock and punk that rides the fence perfectly between the two genres and brings in the best of both camps. It's got that punk attitude but rock chops and is some real tough guy shit. Strychnine could really play their instruments like a more traditional rock band full of "musicians". The mean-ass guitar sound is the real highlight of the song for me and always has me reaching to crank up the volume button as loud as my middle-aged ears will allow. Lead guitarist Bruno Helton's playing grabs me by the shirt collars from its first note and doesn't let go until the very end of the song. This would fit the definition for thug punk, eh. That high-pitched guitar solo around the 1:40 mark is so good and is led up to in a nice, tense manner. But of course guitar cannot alone make a song- the deep, tough-guy vocals of Weasle Strychnine (great name!) are growled out; Spike McCormack pounds the drums; the bass player and rhythm guitarist chug along; and, lastly, some well-placed hand clapping complements the total package very well. And all of this happens in 2 minutes and 35 seconds, just squeaking under the "no songs over 2:36 rule" that Peter came up with over 5 years ago. The band looks like a bunch of tough bikers on the front of the sleeve which completes the whole attitude behind the song. On a sidenote, there was no shortage of bikers in 1970's Cleveland as I can attest to from growing up there.
I have been digging Jack The Ripper for the past 10 years and always wanted to hear the flipside. This summer I was able to, thanks to trusty blog commenter J.E- thanks again! Of course I had the usual flipside fear that I have carried around over the years- will it suck? Was the A-side a one-off fluke? Will I be let down and bummed out? Plus for me, a song title like "Crazy Women" made me suspicious 'cuz that smells of it potentially being a dud.
But Crazy Women is not a dud per se. It's more mellow and is not an over-the-top affair like Jack The Ripper (could anything they did top that?!) but is passable as a B-side. Bruno's guitar playing has that tough-guy vibe for the most part as do Weasle's vocals. Right out of gate, it's pretty catchy when he initially states "I like 'em sleazy, greezy, sloppy (and something else I can’t decipher); blue jeans, leathers- mean and rough" and the driving bass playing and guitar jabs help set the vibe in this part. But when the chorus starts, instead of riding the fence between hard rock and punk, they definitely lean over too much on the rock side for me- a tambourine (!?!?!?) rears its ugly head out of nowhere (hey, there is no tambourine credit on the front of the sleeve to warn us! It is buried in the "Special Thanks" section on the back sleeve and is credited to Producer Kirk Yano! They even call his playing "tremendous"- ?!?!?). For my ears, tambourines are for the most part the equivalent of fingernails across the chalkboard. The vocals on Crazy Women get a little too cock rock-y for me in some parts and the guitar noodling gets drawn out and meanders along a bit too much in some parts.
But I am trying to keep things in context- Strychnine were NOT a punk band. They weren'e part of the late 70's Cle punk scene, and I highly doubt they ever played a show at the Drome record store with the Pagans or someone like that. But they sure did leave us with a legendary song that people are still digging 30+ years later.
Jack The Ripper.mp3
Crazy Women.mp3
ENDNOTES
"Jack The Ripper" has been a favorite of mine since first hearing it 10 years ago when it was a standout track on the comp that was full of standouts, 2001's No One Left To Blame LP. I could go on and on about how great that comp was but that could be a whole separate posting. I even remember how the whole comp was "premiered" on Antenna Internet Radio's wonderful Gift Wrapped Crap show in late August 2001 before it was actually released on vinyl. That was a treat!
I'd love to have a vinyl copy of the record of course. I wonder if I passed it over before I was hip to it during one of many Cleveland record shopping trips during the 90's and early 2000's. The band logo on the front of the sleeve is cool and that might have grabbed my attention but I think it would have passed it over for the cheesy, fake blood-and-guts scene. Finding a copy in a dollar bin woulda saved me some coin 'cuz once it appeared on No One Left To Blame it became very sought after and sleeved copies have gone for over $500 on eBay. Oh well, can't win em all. At least I have some mp3's of it and the music is what matters, right?
Strychnine has been a total mystery band to me for these past 10 years UNTIL I started putting this post together. I randomly typed the band name and song name into Google and, voila, a YouTube user named TheSamhelton (I am guessing he is aka "Duce" Helton, the bass player) posted a video this past January for Jack The Ripper that is CHOCK full of old band photos, flyers, etc. that all helps unlock the mystery of the band. If an old member is reading this posting, please leave some comments!
The main thing that we find out from the YouTube video is that the band was around between 1976 and 1979. The single came out in 1978, and it looks like they played out a lot that year including several shows at a place with a VERY 70's name, Laid Back Records, in Massillon, Ohio (which is about 50 miles South of Cleveland and not too far from the Akron/Canton area which was the original home of the Rubber City Rebels, Hammer Damage, Clone Records, etc.). One of the Laid Back store shows on July 22nd of '78 was with the Baloney Heads who were KINDA punk and released that goofy 7" that was produced by David Thomas of Pere Ubu. The last week of October 1978 was a busy week for Strychnine- they played Cleveland shows at the famous Pirate's Cove in the Flats area of the city; the WHK Auditorium (the Pagans and Styrene Money band played there later that year); and some place called Lido's in Lakewood, Ohio (which by the way is a pretty cool "urban suburban" area right outside of the Cleveland city limits). One flyer for another show at Laid Back boldly proclaims: "No other power in the world is as hard as the sound of- STRYCHNINE!"
The band pictures on the YouTube video show that the band did not always dress like bikers as they did on the cover of the 7". They sometimes wore matching band shirts with the band name emblazoned across them with, er, iron-on letters. VERY 70's- I can't remember the number of T-shirts I had with iron-on letters at the time. But don't get me wrong- the band members still look like a bunch of tough guys even with the matching shirts on. One photo (maybe an early photo of the band circa '76?) shows singer Weasle with some MASSIVE white bell bottoms. Such were the times, eh. He wore tight, non-belled leather pants in some other shots so I guess this kind of balances things out. One picture which stood out also was of the band dressed less rough and more "cleaned up" at a live show during which rhythm guitarist Crazy Joe Uherc is playing the keyboards- what was this all about?! Perhaps it was late in the band's existence or something.
What the YouTube video also reveals is that at least three of the former band members are still rockin' out in 2011- there is a shot of lead guitarist Duce Helton playing drums; Spike McCormack hittin the skins; and, best of all, singer Weasle Strychnine still rockin' the leather pants 30+ years later.
Here is a song list for a Pirate’s Cove show they did (the same one from late October of '78 perhaps?). Note that "Jack The Ripper" is not on the song list that night- what was up with that?!
Come Play With Me
Pray
Scooter
Crazy Women
Don't Need Love
Love Pain
What Can I Say
Disco
Strychnine Lives
Wizard of Odd
She Said
Thief In The Night
Competition Plus
Love That's Real
Wish
Mr. Shuster
Fly On The Wall
The artwork on the front of the sleeve is pretty Spartan but has a nice homemade,
amateur feel to it which is always charming. The sleeve appears to be rather thin
paper that easily rumples. What's nice is the numbering on the back that they did
with a stamp- bet that took some time! I have never hand-numbered a sleeve but I
wonder if just using a marker is quicker than using the rubber stamp for which you
have to change the numbers each time you stamp a new copy. What we also see on the
back of the sleeve is that this was recorded in October of '79 so the record probably
did not hit shops until early 1980.
Here is some GREAT, very catchy DIY-tinged punk from the land of the best DIY-ish sounds: the U.K., the United Kingdom, England, Britain- here in the U.S. you will hear people use all these different country names which probably annoys the shit out of people in the U.K. For me calling this Fly On The Wall EP "DIY punk" in that word order is important since, for my ears, switching the order around and calling something "punk-y DIY" relates to different sounds with different nuances.
Whatever the hell I obsess over calling it, all three songs on this EP are winners which is always refreshing in this world full of records that have one good song and then a bunch of clunkers. The guitar player, Bunker Brazier (great name!), fucking NAILED the guitar sound on this record and it is, to use a cliché, "to die for". Did he mean it to sound this way, or was it one of those good old happy accidents? I could listen to him strumming away all day to something random like the national anthem or whatever and still not get tired of it.
The band in general plays at a mid-tempo pace which was the perfect idea- I think that if they played faster this EP would just not be as charming and memorable. What also adds to the charm for me is the singer, Tug, who sounds like he's about 14 and his voice hasn't quite finished deepening yet. Also great is the cheap-o production which makes the drums sound kinda distant and echo-y, almost hypnotic especially on the first track, "In The News Today". Speaking of hypnotism, my favorite track on the EP- "Educated"- is a dreamy track that grabs me from the first few seconds and doesn't let go. You can't help but not sing along to the chorus: "I don't want to be educated; I don't want to be a teacher's pet". These guys musta been in high school 'cuz only teenagers would craft anti-school lyrics like that, eh, and not someone in their 20's who would be far removed from the angst of being a schoolboy. The last track, "Lucky Ones", speeds things up a bit and again has that great guitar noise front and center throughout. Dig that guitar solo too! Gotta laugh too when an acoustic guitar comes out of nowhere at the end. You crazy kids! Stop that clowin' around!
In The News Today.mp3
Educated.mp3
Lucky Ones.mp3
ENDNOTES
Two out of the three songs on this EP were comped back in the days of vinyl comps in the 90's and that’s where I (and probably most people) first heard them. "Educated" was a standout track on the spotty Back To Front #6 LP that came out back in the Summer of '95. "Lucky Ones" was on a comp in late 1997 called Raw and Rare British Punk, Volume 2 the name of which was misleading because there were no raw, frothing, over-the-top sounds on it. The "rare" part was definitely correct, though. But, as I have found out too many times over the years, "rare" does not always equal "memorable sounding".
For the past 14 years I've always been curious to hear the uncomped track and finally did this summer and was not let down. That many years of waiting to hear "the missing track" leads to much speculation like "Why was it not comped? Does it sound like crap?". But then on the other hand I'd think that if the other two songs are good, then maybe the third one is too and I go back and forth between the two positions. I finally ended my internal struggle and was convinced it was going to be a clunker until I got the chance to hear it this Summer and was pleasantly surprised thanks to the generosity of Mr. Girls From Tahiti. Thanks again!
One more thing- the label that released this EP, Next Wave, had in late 1981 as their second release (NXT 2) the infamous Cult Maniax Frenzie 4-song EP which was dramatically "banned" by the Bristol High Court thus making it rather rare- read more about it and the band here. The Cult Maniax's manager at the time was Bunker Brazier, Fly On The Wall’s former guitarist and Next Wave label person.
Pentaject Corporation
Here is the band circa late 1981 half-heartedly pretending hard to be businessmen
(l to r): Bob Z, John N and Bob B is all I know of their names. What I do know is
that the wood paneled wall behind John N looks swank like they all did in the late
70's; Bob Z kinda resembles early 80's Harold Ramis and his glasses scream creative
nerd (which is of course a good thing); and Bob B looks like he's about 15.
By request, here is a obscure and rare one from the Chicago area. Thanks to blog commenter C.S. for providing the rips! I do not have a vinyl copy of this record and not many people do, as it is rumored that only 200 copies were pressed and none had sleeves. The price reflects its rarity, as copies recently on the- ahem- "open market" have been priced between $200 and $400 (!).
I know nothing about the band and information on the internet is scant. The band has a MySpace page that was created in late 2007 (wonder what the impetus for that was), but they have not logged into it for almost 3 years the last time I checked. The MySpace page has some songs you can stream, and two of these were not on the EP. Somewhere else I stumbled upon the face that one of the band members also went by the name "Sid Hussein Hartha". Pentaject Corporation turned into a band called Scopdom Scop, which you can see on their MySpace page, was some experimental weirdness.
C.S. told me that Pentaject Corporation was apparently a cassette-only band (anyone have any of these?!?) and that this 4-song EP was supposed to be a "best of" from their cassettes. The band has been listed as being from Chicago, but I don’t know if they were actually from the Chicago city limits or one of the many suburbs in the Chicagoland area, as was the case with bands from the area in the late 70's and early 80's time period.
It turns out that there actually WAS a real company in the late 70's called Pentaject Corporation that holds some manufacturing patents- ha! They were located in a ho-hum Chicagoland suburb called Algonquin that's about 40 miles Northwest of the city.
Musically, the EP is a DIY-ish affair and it has an "outsider" kind of quality to it which is nice. The first track, "Blackmail Stretch", the shortest track on the record, is a slower affair and has some keyboards and a drum machine interspersed in the mix. The next track, "Clamp Is Up", is played with real instruments and is an interesting one with some subtle guitar noise that is kinda hypnotic. The most upbeat track on the EP comes next with "What A Day" and is the closest thing to what we call "punk" (it's my favorite song on the EP too). There is some great shouting and a charming, no-talent guitar solo in the middle of it that begs for more practice- I always love guitar mastery like this. The last track, "Shock Treatment...", has some catchy bass noodling and is in the same vein as "What A Day". Nice ender. I have no clue what the singer is saying throughout most of the record and this adds to the charm and mysteriousness of it all. As does the production value.
If you know anything about the band, please leave a comment and let me know. I am curious to find out more, especially what (if any) connection they had to the Chicago area punk "scene". Or maybe they were kings of their own basement and never played many shows (?). You tell me.
Blackmail Stretch.mp3
Clamp Is Up.mp3
What A Day.mp3
Shock Treatment (Is Too Much For Me).mp3
Defectors
DEFECTORS "CASH ADVANCE / LAST NIGHT" 7" (FULTON, CA- DEPENDENT, 1981)
I know it's hard to make out from this crummy picture, but the labels say "PO Box 253, Fulton, CA, 95439". Fulton is about 60 miles Northwest of San Francisco and is actually in the central region of Sonoma wine country which makes it sounds like a nice, serene locale free of any urban strife or bad vibes. At least for the steady stream of tourists.
This Bay Area obscurity has some nice catchy keyboard-driven sounds, especially on the A-side, "Cash Advance", which is the real gem here. It's played at a very speedy and driving pace, almost like they are racing to the end of the song which is always a good thing for me. The drumming is really great, there's some nice guitar noise near the beginning but, being a keyboard-driven song, those really set the tone for this ditty and are front and center throughout. The style with which the keys are played, combined with the singer's voice, make this song sound so darn HAPPY and upbeat and there's nothing dark or menacing about it. Which is fine 'cuz things don't need to be dark and menacing all the time. When you're having a bad day, put on "Cash Advance" and it's guaranteed to put you in a better mood and make you feel like you can conquer the world or something.
Keyboard-driven punk either works for me or it doesn't and there usually isn’t any middle ground. The Xterminators’ Microwave Radiation is menacing and epic. The Gatecrashers EP from 1980 Denmark is a dark one and very good too. The Dickies' "You Drive Me Ape" is a great, fun one. But my list of bad keyboard punk is MUCH longer and I don't want to wreck my happy feeling by going into it right now.
I had never heard of the Defectors until March of this year when "Cash Advance" was included on Girls From Tahiti's great memorial posting for Behjan Mirhadi. Then about a month ago blog commenter Nesho was kind enough (thanks again!) to hook me up with the B-side, "Last Night". Which ALMOST doesn't work for me. There are several reasons why I shouldn't like it. First, it starts off sounding like it's going to be some- yikes!- white boy reggae. Secondly, it’s got ballad-y lyrics (which usually turns me off) and finally the chorus has some wimpy chanting that makes me cringe at times. But overall the song is still VERY catchy and I end up liking it because there's some kinda eerie keyboards that, thankfully, kick in after the initial reggae strumming and then again at like the 1:20 mark. They sound kinda hypnotic and reel me back in. There's also a guitar solo near the end that sounds pretty good too. Being a guitar-centric person, this is a good thing for me.
Cash Advance.mp3
Last Night.mp3
ENDNOTES
For however punky "Cash Advance" sounds I don't think The Defectors were part of the San Francisco/Bay Area punk scene. It looks like they were more in the "New Wave"/rock camp during the 80's which I'm sure was at odds with the punks. They actually existed until 1985, played in various Bay Area-cities and released a handful of other records (another 7", as well as a 12"EP and an LP) and appeared on three different comps. I haven’t heard any of their other records or comp tracks so I don’t know if they contain any punk-ish sounds. But I am guessing that "Cash Advance" was their punkest moment during their 5 year existence.
I stumbled upon a page for a San Francisco festival called Deathstock, and it turns out that The Defectors (the circa 1984 lineup) are reuniting to play a quick set this September 10th as part of the festival (as are No Alternative, among others). Their page on the Deathstock site has some surprisingly detailed info like a full discography and band member history. And I now see that the band has a Facebook page that is full of old photos and flyers (including one for a show they played early on in 1980 with, hilariously enough, Huey Lewis and The News, pre-super stardom). A YouTube user named wingchungdavid has about 20 old live videos of The Defectors posted on his page is you are so interested (but no live performances of "Cash Advance" unfortunately).
Angle
ANGLE "ROCK & ROLL DEATH CAMP" 4-SONG 7"EP (SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH- MUCUS RECORDS, 1981)
Of all places, fucking Utah is the home of the "last great" KBD unknown ultra-obscurity unearthed in recent years! The Angle EP was discovered as a happy accident in an eBay lot sale in 2005 by collector Chris Minicucci but the general public didn't find out about them until the Summer of 2009 when Ryan Richardson's Break My Face page on them was put up. More on this discovery later...
I think all four songs on the record are GREAT. It is a very solid effort from beginning to end and luckily is not one of those multi-song EP's with one great track and then a bunch of throwaway crap. No sir: all four songs are winners, so much so that I have a hard time picking my favorite track. The EP is very well-played, driving stuff that continues to grow on me with each successive listen. I hear a melodic undercurrent throughout the whole record but the nice, meaty guitars thankfully keep it from becoming melodic in the poppy sense of the word. There is also an underlying snotty, smart-ass vibe in the vocals and the lyrics which is great. "Rock & Roll Death Camp" is great- just the song name is hilarious, and I often find myself humming it during the course of the day. Angle looks like it just missed being included on the last great vinyl comp before blogs took over (2005's Staring Down The Barrel LP) but would have fit very nicely on it.
One of the main highlights for me on the Angle EP is the drumming- very rapid fire, tight, spastic playing that makes the songs jump out at you. If I have to choose, I'd say the title track and the last track are my favorites 'cuz the drumming is so great. VERY CATCHY stuff that gets stuck in your head. There is "punk ballad" of sorts (is that the proper descriptive term?) with "Neat Girl" but the rude lyrics keep it from becoming anything close to sappy. You can tell these guys had a good time recording this disc- the lyrics to "Old People Are Following Me" make me laugh every time:
She's an old woman
She's got grey hair
She's got a fur coat
And she walks with a limp!
She is following me...
This EP is so well-played I continue to wonder if these guys had some sort of "professional" music training but discovered punk and decided to switch gears from rock, metal or whatever else their ambitions were (?). Break My Face has not rolled out an updated Angle page with historical band info so I am just left to guessing. The conservative culture of a state like Utah seems ripe for rude, loud punk discs like Angle and maybe that inspired the band spit out some venom that they knew would offend others (?). This is another situation where I have to say "You tell me" cuz I don't know anything beyond the scant info on Ryan's site.
Old People Are Following Me.mp3
Neat Girl.mp3
I Wanna Live In Sun Valley.mp3
ENDNOTES
Over the past 20 years- well, let's actually put a "beginning" date of 1988 since that's when the first Killed By Death volume was released. So over the past 23 years, certain ultra-obscure punk records with pressings-so-small-you-wanna-cry (15 or less) have been excavated, presented to the world on a comp and then became household names. Or at least household names to the microcosm of KBD collectors and punk fans of the obscure. Every KBD fan(atic) knows these bands and have heard the best tracks from these mythic records. But most of us will never own a vinyl copy of any of these micro pressings in our lifetime: the Tapeworm EP (10 copies?); the Jackie Shark and The Beach Butchers 7" (5 copies?); the Rock Bottom and the Spys EP (less than 10?); the Nothing 7" (a few handfuls?); the Absentees 7" (initially not many copies in the early 90's); Body Count (acetate only!); Victims (NJ) acetate; the Venerias 7" (4 copies?); etc.
By 2000 I personally thought the well had run dry long ago and that there would be no more micro-pressing, unknown records from the KBD years to be found. Then the Staring Down The Barrel comp LP came out in the Summer of 2005 and the general public (outside of a handful of collectors who exchanged copies and knowledge amongst themselves) was introduced to Mind Games and the great "Sorry About That Chief". It brightened my day and renewed my hope for a moment but but I thought, "OK, now this REALLY must be it- there are no more stones to overturn! This has been going on for almost 20 years!"
But then there's the Angle EP. Well, little did we- meaning those of us outside of the handful of "elite" collectors- know that behind the scenes, behind closed doors, in smoke-filled rooms (LOL, I'm making this sound too dramatic!) certain people were scrambling to obtain copies of the Angle EP after Chris Minicucci accidentally found a copy in 2005. After others found out the chase was on and, according to Break My Face, only less than 10 copies total were unearthed. It was not until 2009, though, that I (and probably many others) found out about Angle since the secretive chase was over and there was no threat of a casual punk fan finding copies. Collecting can get obsessive sometimes, with people saying that the end justifies the scheming during some record hunts. But if it wasn't for obsessive punk collectors over the past 23 years pounding the pavement bands like Angle or Tapeworm or Jackie Shark would have been lost forever and the world would be a lesser place without fine records like these. So thanks Collector Scum for your ongoing efforts to enrich and enlighten us. Maybe this sounds too sappy and melodramatic but this is what's coming out of the keyboard right now...
