"BIG AND LITTLE SHANK PRODUCTION: SHIT YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE. VOL 1. 17 BANDS, 53 SONGS" - Tape - Comp - 2001

 

     This tape was put out by Big Shank (Jeremy "Big Shank the Bandit" Johnson) and Little Shank {Josh Mayfield) in 2001 and acted as the third installment of the Region Rock cassette comps (links for the first two comps and a slew of other related demo tapes are linked at the end of this post). Region Rock (a term coined by Cinque from the Spawn Sacs, as the story goes) refers to a loose geographical triangle with points in Little Rock, Chattanooga and Miami and does not dictate a certain sound, but rather is a catch-all term for a group of friends playing punk under their own terms. It has been widely defined by people outside of these loose barriers (I say loose because this line has definitely looped up around Asheville, NC from time to time) as something like "bouncy, jangly pop-punk" but I'm certain that these people have never huffed gold spraypaint out of a paper bag while sweating on a porch at 4am with less than 27 cents to their name. Region Rock bands like BRIS, QUEERWULF, SUCKERPUNCH and SPAWN SACS will have anyone throwing those definitions off of the train bridge over the toxic waters of Chattanooga Creek in less time than it takes Ed to shotgun a beer. Onto the tape. 

     The reason that this tape wasn't previously given it's place among all of these other tapes on the blog is this: Josh gave me a copy of this tape when it was released in 2001. When I got it home, I listened to the first couple of JOE SMITH songs before that abruptly ended and I discovered that the rest of the tape was a dubbed copy of the MOTORHEAD album "Rock 'N' Roll", which is a great album. I'm listening to the tape right now. I never got a replacement tape with the proper songs on it, but Orange-SLS Records out of NY was nice enough to send the mp3's over to me to share with you. Better late than never. 

     The main difference between this comp and the earlier ones is that, with the exception of LES TURDS and JOE SMITH, the scope does not venture more than 100 miles out of the city limits of Chattanooga. The tape starts off with JOE SMITH, BRIS, THE MORONS and CAPITAL SICKNESS, who have all been written about extensively on here and you can find links to them below. THE TEENY FLOPPERS were slightly before my time in Chattanooga and I don't know shit about them, but I would see their singer / drummer Carey playing in other bands in Chattanooga and it always blew my mind that he could sing so well while pounding the shit out of the drums. Within 6 songs on this tape, they go through 3 bass players.  

     You will find more info about ADD/C linked below. 

     THE SOCIAL LIES were from Huntsville and Triana, AL and played sloppy, tuneful, screamy, teen punk. They sounded like a tug-of-war between singer / guitarist Brontez's love of riot grrrrl and east bay punk and drummer / singer Tameka's more straight-ahead hardcore approach, Their shows could be intense or just fun, depending on the mood. I saw both. One where they made it through the set with all of us pogoing along with them and another where the two members started yelling at each other and stormed out in front of a stunned audience. Either way, their song "Fuck The Scene" has always stuck with me and they were an important part of this era. The Chattanooga punks basically adopted the band into their town before Brontez moved there. You can find a video of them playing in Chattanooga at Rear Entry (a punk-ran show space) right here.

     COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH was a real rock n roll nightmare fronted by Big Shank, who sadly passed away in 2013. He has so many unbelievable and maniacal stories about him that I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface here. CCS recorded these songs in Chattanooga and the band never had a proper release until 2020 when Josh Mayfield put out a discography tape on his label WereOpossum  Records. CCS was all about drugs, partying and crime, but like, in a real way. I feel like there's STILL things I can't talk about, but I can tell you that the band had to unofficially change their name on flyers to THE PARTY AIN'T EASY because the cops were looking for them. I know that our house was not the only one visited by the Chattanooga pigs...where we were forced to keep a straight face while they asked us if we knew anything about the 7 foot tall graffiti all over town that stated in big bold letters, "COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH." RIP Shank. He was one of a kind. 

     I don't know shit about THE COMPLAINTS either and that sucks. They were from North Georgia and featured wildman Allen with his truly deranged vocals. Sorry I don't know more. 

     You can and should read more about QUEERWULF and THE SHAFFERS in the links below. I think the tracks on this tape are from each of their first demos. If you've heard the lightning-fast live sets from THE SHAFFERS in the past, this slower version will throw you for a loop. 

     THE SPAWN SACS are also written about in the links below, but I don't think most of these songs appear anywhere else and, like just about every other SPAWN SACS song, they are SO. FUCKING. GOOD. Embrace the tape deterioration. 

     JACK PALANCE BAND offers up two songs from their demo (and a re-recorded demo track) as well as one of their shortest, most vicious songs of all time that doesn't appear anywhere else, "Goddamn the Holocaust". 

     There are two tracks from Dalton's most valuable asset (and I know it's the carpet capital of the world), PETER STUBB. The second track "Evil" literally stopped me in my tracks. If you're not familiar with STUBB's long-running musical career, please follow the link below and seek out the short documentary "I'm Like This Everyday", made by Mitchell Powers and Josh Mayfield. 

     LES TURDS, like COCAINE SUMMER SPLASH, were an unstoppable force of drunken depravity led by a very tall, now deceased wild man known as Brian Turd. I don't feel like I can honestly do them justice and they are one of the few bands on here who have a little more of an internet presence outside of this blog. 

     You can and should find more info and an unreleased LP by Alabama's Suckerpunch in the links below. Their two songs on this comp are from their amazing demo tape. 

     F.D.I.A. is another one of those bands from the north Georgia region that I can't remember much about, but their songs on here are awesome. I can't remember everything! Give me a break! 

  All three region demos come from a place of low standards and even lower budgets, so you will have to learn to enjoy the tape hiss and the shitty recordings. But that's why you're here, right? 

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Related links to more info and full demo tapes. 

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES FRM DAY ONE - First Region Rock Comp 

FUCK THE CURSE - Second Region Comp

JOE SMITH Discography 

BRIS Discography 

THE MORONS Discography

CAPITAL SICKNESS "Toolin'..." Tape

ADD/C Demo Tape

QUEERWULF 18 Song CDr

SPAWN SACS / DRILLER KILLERS Split Tape

THE SHAFFERS Live at Collins 

SHAFFERS - Live at WNYU

SHAFFERS Live at 20 Below

JACK PALANCE BAND - "Get This Shit Under Way" LP

JACK PALANCE BAND - First Demo

PETER STUBB - "Blueberry Masturbator" Tape

PETER STUBB - "Powdered Doughnuts"

SUCKERPUNCH Demo

SUCKERPUNCH Unreleased LP 

SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE - 1st Demo - Tape - 1994

 

 

     So, it's been a minute...or two whole years, honestly, but quarantine and isolation do weird things. Let's get to the point of this entry and then there will be extra info after that. 

    SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE is no stranger to this blog, having appeared here and here, but I thought this first demo was lost forever. Recently, it turned up on a tape that I found in the bottom of a drawer and I couldn't be happier. This first version of the band featured Joey Tacon (THE SLACKERS and JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS) on vocals, Jason Burke (565 BURNOUTS and 15E) on guitar, Robert Daniel (THE SLACKERS and THE PEEPS) on bass and Elijah Horgan (THE PEEPS and NIGHT SIEGE) on drums. As I remember, they recorded this demo in a studio (probably Smokin' Studios where almost all of the local punk bands tried to record) and did the whole thing live in one take in order to save money. [Sidenote about Smokin' Studios: the place was mostly just a room in an office park with egg crates nailed to the walls. The guys who worked there would give us good deals because we (the punks) were quick and didn't try too hard for the best sound. Being in a studio was special and just being a step up from a thrift store boombox felt like an 88 track wonderland. Still, we all should've tried just a little harder]. 

     The songs here are fast and loose in the best way. One of my personal favorites here is "Fuck the Goddamn Master Race" with the (sadly) eternal line "Fuck you, you stupid nazi fuck!" A runner up is their theme song (every band should have one) with the line "Crazy, crazy, I'm motherfuckin' crazy!" I did my best to clean up the sound, but this is a 25 year old recording that was already assy to begin with, so don't expect the Silver Jubilee digital remaster, but if you've checked in on this blog before, I'm sure you know what you're in for. 

     The download features the entire recording as one mp3, since there are few breaks and also an extra folder with the songs split up. 

DOWNLOAD IT HERE 

   

     Oh, you're still here? Yeah, I haven't updated this blog in two years and there are no plans to keep updating it with any regularity at all. I stopped doing this thing because I feel like it ran its course and I was no longer having fun doing it. I started this to share a lot of old recordings with the people who were around at those times and, just as importantly, with the people who were NOT around then and could benefit from hearing all of this rad lo-fi shit from the middle of nowhere. Part of me started to feel like a gatekeeper of sorts though and that is a bullshit feeling. There are no gates. Anyone can do this. It also felt weird and very disheartening to find that some people had parceled out some of the comps and other recordings here to only showcase performers online who went on to find fame or a larger underground notoriety, which is maybe the opposite point of this whole site. I don't feel like I should have (or would even want) any control over what happens with these recordings once they are on the internet, but finding that shit is just gross. There's so much going on in the underground at all times and people still just want to focus on the brightest star in the sky, so far out of reach. 

   I hope ya'll are safe and keeping your head above water. Fuck this fascist power structure forever. 

Fuck you, you stupid fucking nazi fuck.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - "The Fucking Rice Harvester Compilation" - Tape - 1996

   Rice Harvester was a zine I made for 20 years. A zine is a bunch of paper that someone scribbled on, photocopied for free at a chain store, and then stapled together to hand out on the street so that someone might understand their feelings. For the fourth issue, I compiled a cassette of punk bands to go with the issue. A cassette is a piece of plastic that houses quarter-inch magnetic tape that somehow magically holds music onto it. You put these cassettes into an even bigger piece of plastic or metal with big clunky buttons. These bigger pieces of plastic or metal used to be found for almost nothing at thrift stores or on the street. Anyway, you push down one of those big, clunky buttons and, if everything is right with the world, actual music comes out...or whatever it is that someone recorded onto that cassette.
   SO, like I was saying, I put together a compilation tape that was given out for free with the free zine. I stole every last cassette from chain stores, sometimes just walking right out the front door with a few boxes of tapes in my arms because fuck capitalism and What Is Anything? The tape consists of some local favorites at the time (local at that time meant Huntsville, AL), bands that I wrote to for a song and some far-flung punk bands that were culled from my friend Joey's compilation LP that he never, ever intended to release. Imagine sending off your exclusive song with the intention of having it appear on this cool LP comp, but then it comes out on a free tape with some crappy zine from Alabama. Fuck yeah life!
   THE CRUMBS, from Miami, FL start it off. They were a RAMONES-loving punk band from Miami. They were all fun and everything, but we stopped setting up shows for them once our friend stopped playing drums for them and they said some sketchy shit about women.
  THE SLOBS, from Cincinnati were a weirdly underrated band from the mid-90's and they played sloppy basement punk. They put out a slew of shit, mostly in 1996 and this song, "Politician" did not appear on any of it, as far as I can tell. It's a funny concept for a song. "I don't wanna be a politician!!" Yeah, that's pretty easily avoidable, but a great thing to sing along to.
    JABBERJAW was a Huntsville punk band who always sounded better live than on tape. I saw these three teenagers play a bunch of different shows around town. They were always great, but could never really channel their enthusiasm onto the recording. I asked them to be on this comp and remember being impressed that they knew how to dub a plane crash sound onto their song. I still am. I can't do that shit....still. I love that this song is about being a dead pilot.
   FUN GIRLS FROM MT PILOT were from Nashville, TN and featured four guys who dressed in drag at their shows. The Huntsville scene really liked them, but I was kinda over them by this point. They were really fun and a good band...super bouncy punk and always a good live show, but I just wasn't too enamored like other folks were. What IS interesting is that they broke up and their singer, Cat went on to be a wrestling manager...like total WWF showman style, but on a DIY level. He wrote some articles in zines about it and seeing the similarities to DIY punk was really interesting. This song might be exclusive, but I'm not sure.
   PROPERTY is from Huntsville. They started in 1994(?) and they're still a band. I'm not sure if they've ever left the southeast US. At that time, their shows often included members of the band running headlong into other members of the band and knocking them across the room, completely ending the song. The 5 members of the band brought a lot of styles to the table, but mostly settled into hardcore and catchy punk. They were always great and fun to watch. I bet they still are. I love this song because the teenage singer's voice (Shane) is cracking and the song is just plain great.
  THE GRUMPIES have been discussed at length here, here and here so I will spare you. The two songs on this tape are from their original demo, which I loved so much that I jumped at the chance to be their drummer when the original one quit.
 SWEATER PUNKS were another Huntsville band and their inclusion here is a mystery to me. I don't remember ever seeing them when I lived in town, but their guitarist Seth was always a solid fixture in bands so I probably trusted this new band of his to be good. My friend Jack (also from AL) did some minor detective work (meaning he asked Seth) and came up with this info: The band only recorded once when Jack went over to try out for the band on drums. So, that's him on this recording. The rest of the band was Seth on guitar and vocals and Greg (not me) on bass. This recording never got vocals put onto it, but the song on here was intended as an instrumental. Later, Joey from the 3D's heard this song and asked Seth to join the band. They re-recorded this song as "Spontaneous Human Combustion". Thanks to Jack and Seth for the info!
    THE CRIMINALS were from Oakland / Berkeley and they recorded an exclusive version of their song at Gilman. That's all I'm gonna say because why do you need to know more info about posers?
   JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS was my old band There is more info about the band here.
   WHITE TRASH SUPERMAN wrote the best punk song of the 90's and I asked if I could put it on this tape. They said yes. You can and should find more info about them here and here.
   THE RICKETS were from Olympia, WA and were maybe the only spikey drunk punk band at that point in the town's history. While everyone else was concentrating on twee pop, minimalist punk and feigning pre-teen innocence even though they were pushing 30, THE RICKETS sang about getting drunk, hating their job, destroying Olympia and getting drunk again. Here. they contribute a song about my friend Janelle because it was the 90's and that's what bands did for some dumb reason.
   CHICKENHEAD was a drunken, chaotic machine. This is the last song they ever recorded on the day they broke up. You can find more info about them here.
   That;s it. Enjoy or don't.

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DECATUR! - City Limit - EP - 1995

    Ever since receiving the excellent LP "I've Got the Bible Belt Around My Throat", I've been on a bit of a tear though music from my home state of Alabama. The record is a document of Alabama punk and it is an excellent collection of early punk and hardcore from all over the state. If you see it, definitely pick the record up. It had me going back through recordings by GNP, THE KNOCKABOUTS, THE JAWAS and so many more. One of the bands that never seemed to get any recognition at all anywhere, ever (except one other blog and now, here) was DECATUR! Decatur is a town in north Alabama that is barely a blip on the map and this band was from there, singing songs about their town and their friends. Their theme song has always been my favorite and is so bouncy and fun. I love it when bands sing about where they're from and name specific locations. With lines like "where Randy's mom runs cheap hotels, where all of my friends end up in jail, Decatur!!", you can't really lose. Once, I was listening to this at the punk house I lived at in Huntsville, AL. My roommate walked in during the line "Carl Stratman was our biggest fan, we owe him one because he let us use his guitar" and then my roommate said "Oh, hey, I bought that guitar off of Carl Stratman" and pointed out a beaten up guitar in the corner. My mind was kinda blown.
    This isn't going to mean a lot to a lot of people who download it, but I think it's definitely worth your time. It's a product of the 90's and there are some clear cut nods towards SUPERCHUNK and that era of pop-punk. Here's what Heath, their singer / guitarist had to say about the band (taken from the now-defunct blog Nostalgia Isn't What it Used to Be...
All four of us grew up in Decatur. Then, all four of us went to Auburn (not because of the band. just coincidentally.) When we formed the band, since we were all from Decatur, we thought it would be funny to name the band that. We put an exclamation mark on the name to differentiate ourselves from the town. :) But yeah, your assumptions were pretty much dead on. All of the songs were about Decatur, and more specifically, about the dynamic between the two high schools. Rob, Eric, and I went to Decatur High, and Lisa went to Austin (we had a song that most Decatur people would get called "I Don't Work at the Rockin' McDonalds and You Don't Hang Out at Morningside" talking about it). It was all supposed to be goofy, and we were definitely a part of the early Green Day, Jawbreaker, Superchunk-influenced bands. The 7" doesn't really give a good cross-section of our style or our sound really, but it is what it is. We were a band from Oct. '94 to Oct. 31,1995, when we played our last show ever at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA, opening for our friends from Auburn, Man or Astroman.

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JOKE - "Joke For USA" - Tape - 1993

    Bands like to bill themselves as "inept", but then you hear their tape (bandcamp/8 track/cloud shitter) and they seem to keep it together. It seems like they know how to play real chords. Maybe their drummer can clumsily make their way through a basic time signature for the entirety of a 45 second song. Maybe their drummer even has a drum set!! Alabama's JOKE is clearly inept. and can barely cover any of these bases and that is why I love them. They didn't even know how to play the right chords to their cover of FANG's "The Money Will Roll Right In". Hell, they didn't even know how to approach RORSHACH's "Clenching" (much less spell their name right), so they just made up their own music and sang RORSHACH's lyrics over it. Their original songs are an utter train wreck. Don't have a drum set? Take an old person's walker, duct tape some cowbells and metal to it and hit it with a stick. Don't know how to record your band? Get a cassette at K Mart or tape over your grandpa's sermon on a broken boombox. Play anywhere. Don't follow the script.
     JOKE split their time between Madison and Huntsville, AL in 1993. They consisted of Freud Reia on guitar/vocals and Joey Tampon on drums/vocals. They lasted long enough but not that long. That's about all I know. Joey went on to play in THE SLACKERS, JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS, THE 3D'S, THE RADIOACTIVES and more. Freud later played in THE PERFECT HUMAN EXAMPLE and THE CRIMINALS.

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Their very own Discogs page

Thanks to Jack Saturn for holding onto this tape, digitizing it and sending it over.

RIP Freud Reia

MIX TAPE - 1995

  Besides my old friend, Heather, who I met when I was 5 years old, I only keep in touch with one other friend from the Nascar days of my youth (that reference is so vague that I'm not explaining it...just roll with it). That friend is Angie, who mailed this tape to me at my two room apartment in Huntsville, AL in 1995. No cover, no track listing...just this tape rolled up into a letter, recorded over a battered GEORGE MICHAEL cassingle. Short and to the point. I had no clue that I'd still love every song on this tape 20 years later (20 years!). I had no clue that the Floyd who is mentioned in the first line of the first song would be the same person who now assigns me CD's to review for Maximum Rock N Roll or that that house he made his phone call from (listen to the song) would catch on fire a short distance from where I live now. I didn't know that the third song would still resonate so much harder with me now than it did back then. The last band on the tape, EVERY ALICE ON EARTH, will not be a hit with many (or any) visitors to the blog, but they were a local(ish) band where I grew up and were one the first DIY (I mean this as actual "Do It Yourself", not as an empty slogan used by hardware stores and Pottery Barn) bands I ever saw in my pre-teen years, which made a big impact. In some very, very tiny circles, they are legendary.

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RADIOACTIVES - Tape - 1997

   When I was 18, I played drums in a band called JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS with my friends Joey and Neil. We played for a couple of years, put out some recordings and went on some tours. It was fun. One day, we were practicing in my bedroom and Joey said something to the effect of "I'm bored with this and I don't feel like I have anything relevant to sing about anymore." The band broke up on the spot, but within a week, Joey and I were already practicing with a new band in my room. We asked two sisters named Rachel and Heather to join us playing surf music. I spent most of my teenage years devouring all forms of garage punk and surf but had recently turned my full attention to classic punk and hardcore. The other three members of the band lived and breathed surf music 24/7....or maybe like 23/6.
   Long story short, I wasn't having fun playing surf music and it seemed like the others were really, really into it. I stuck around long enough to play a benefit show (I forget what it was for) and record this tape, but then went on my way. My friend Ben replaced me. He was also playing in RICE HARVESTER at the time and now plays in PINE HILL HAINTS.
   I think the band had plans to record an LP, but that never materialized. Actually, I don't even think they lasted too much longer after Ben joined the band. This tape was recorded on a reel-to-reel four track in the back room of my house on the corner of Dement and Ward* in north Huntsville, AL. Most of it was the first take.

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*When we found the house at Dement and Ward near Five Points in Huntsville, my roommate Elijah and I wanted to move in just because it was on that corner. The house was a shithole. 

HIGHLANDS - "Rear Entry Recordings" - Tape - 2000

   This tape is a companion piece to the DICK VAN DYKES post from yesterday because it was recorded on the same day in the same place with most of the same people. THE HIGHLANDS was our friend, Ryan's home recording project where he played short, fast, catchy songs that rarely, if ever, lasted over 45 seconds. He would include tapes of these recordings with his zine, 5 Minutes of Your Time. We (D.V.D.) encouraged Ryan to play shows with a live band, even though his set would last 5 minutes or less. When we recorded the D.V.D. songs, we got Ryan to play some of his songs with Chrissie and I accompanying him on bass and drums, respectively. It's a little rough, but I like the songs a lot. We even got him to record his epic two-and-a-half minute super pop jam, "Changes Pt 3", which has Bob playing drums and me on bass. If I can track down the original home recordings, I will post those one day, even though you have to turn those up all the way just to hear it.

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7 songs. About 7 minutes of your time. 

DICK VAN DYKES - "Rear Entry Recordings" - Tape - 2000

   THE DICK VAN DYKES started abruptly in the north Alabama bedroom of a teenage boy who went by the name of Bob. Bob started showing up at punk shows when he was nine years old, sporting a 3 foot mohawk and a dress shirt that had the names of punk bands scrawled all over it in Sharpie. Bob was kind of a jerk then, but we all wanted to be his friend and soon, we were.
   By the time this band formed, Bob was 14 or 15. The other members were Blair Menace and myself. We were both in our 20's and being around Bob made us feel ancient. We just formed a band on the spot and wrote all the songs in about 5 minutes, with subjects ranging from receiving postcards about tackling cacti n the desert to the band BLACK DICE to the comedy duo of Don Knotts and Tim Conway. It was bad. We recorded it and went our separate ways.
  Later, I kinda lost my shit and moved away from Chattanooga and into Bob's mom's windowless basement in Huntsville, AL. Our good friend, Chrissie had also kinda lost her shit and moved home to her dad's place in Pulaski, Tennessee, 45 miles away. One night, I drank too much coffee and lost my shit a little more and decided to walk to Pulaski to hang out with Chrissie. When I got there, 8 hours later, my feet were bleeding and I didn't make any sense. Soon, we were both back in Huntsville and Chrissie was in our newly revived band. We decided to spend a little longer writing the songs this time and were happier with the results. Bob was (and still is) the fastest drummer I've ever played with, which was awesome because I only want to play hardcore if it sounds out of control. Oh yeah, we were a hardcore band once Chrissie joined us and began talking about AUS ROTTEN and DS-13. She played bass and sang, I played guitar and tried to yell.

   We never thought we'd play outside of Bob's basement, but we did eventually. We even went on a very short, ill-advised tour in a primer grey, early 80's clunker car that was bought at a police auction. At one of the shows, someone who lived at the house decided that they didn't want a show there, so they locked all the doors and left. The promoter simply broke in and had the show anyway. We recorded this tape back in Chattanooga at Rear Entry (a practice space in the Highland Park neighborhood) with our friend, Ryan. It was recorded live on 2 tracks, mostly in one take and very sloppily. Some songs are good. Some are bad. You can decide which is which. I will point out that our cover of the HIGHLANDS "Changes Pt 1" is just awful. If you don't know who the HIGHLANDS are (and I'm betting that you don't), please check back tomorrow.

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Photo above is by Brontez, live in Huntsville, AL at Stokes St Warehouse. We really were not trying to pose for this pic. It just happened. 

Top drawing by Janelle Hessig

Cellphone hatred pic by Chrissie.

REMOTE OUTPOSTS WEIRDO MIX VOL 2 - Tape - 2013

   This is the second in a collection of songs and random bullshit that doesn't really fit elsewhere. I make no excuses or apologies for sound fidelity. You can find the first installment of this collection right here..
    The intro is the beginning of one of the worst songs of all time. Unfortunately, it got stuck in the heads of Cinque and I when we were working on a farm, picking basil for a few weeks. We would scream out the lyrics to each other across the field at 7 am. One day, I went into town and was looking at the 45 at the record store when the clerk said, "Oh God, please take that record! Just get it out of the store."
  The second is a lost RICE HARVESTER song that never made it onto any releases or into a recording studio. By this time, I had moved from Huntsville back to Birmingham, AL, but was still driving back to Huntsville (around a 3 hour drive, round trip) once a week to practice. I think we intended for this song to be on a compilation of Alabama bands that never got off the ground. It's about a homeless man in Huntsville named Gene who, rather than simply sleeping under overpasses, would build a little shack / house under the bridge in plain view of everyone. I immediately felt weird about writing this song because after talking to him a few times and being only 20 years old, I really had no grasp of the complexities of homelessness and mental illness. It's written from a place of privilege that just embarrasses me now. Luckily, the recording quality is abysmal.
   It's followed up by one of my favorite EFS songs. They were the house band at a punk house that was allegedly above the Black & White Liquors by Ashby BART in the East Bay way back in the dark ages. Following that is a band containing members who have won Grammys and shit. I'm not saying their name because I want to avoid the fiasco of being linked to slobbering fan site messageboards (again). If you listen to melodic punk, you will probably recognize this song, but maybe not this version. Sound quality is total trash. CBDS is after them with a different mix of one of their great songs. Sound quality has deteriorated so badly that you will wonder if there has been a turd stuffed into the cassette.
    Quality takes a step up for the intro to the long lost Alabama rock band, BUCKET FULL OF HERESY. The intro is the best part of their tape. The rest is an endurance test of having to listen to teenagers try to write a song while the tape is rolling. I know that this hasn't stopped me in the past, but I'll spare you the gory details this time. SMEGMAGICIANS are next. They've been a band since 1993, but only played one show in 1994. They're mysterious and choose to stay that way. This song was recorded in 1999.
   Next up is a recording from a FORCED VENGEANCE show that took place on my birthday back in 2000 (?). Details are hazy, but I do know that Harry (guitarist) and I played this show nearly blacked out drunk. This show was also when the proverbial line in the sand was drawn between the towns of Bloomington and Chattanooga because a bunch of Bloomington residents came down to this show and decided that we were some of the worst people to ever exist because my friend Piper (who lived in Bloomington most of the time, mind you) decided to construct a 3 foot long, paper mache cock to hang from the ceiling. I'm sure I'm missing some details here, but instead of talking to us and figuring out that we were not the worst people ever, a lot of folks just decided to go with that story....some of the debris of this show still lingers around to this day (obviously). ANYWAY, This recording comes from the beginning of the set when Harry needed to borrow an amp because his was crapping out. Rather than just wait around for this to happen, Eric (other guitar) and I (drums) started fucking around. Harry, who is usually fairly quiet and shy, took this opportunity to bust out a ridiculous, entirely ad-libbed 80's style rap. When Chrissie (bass) joins in, the whole thing gels together in this way that none of us expected, I'm pretty sure we were all laughing so hard that we cried. I know that I did when re-listening to it. I vaguely remember the audience laughing and dancing.
   Now, we do a 180 and switch gears entirely. DOOMSDAY CAULDRON is the best thing on here. I was never a huge follower of their music, but got a few things passed on to me through mix tapes that blew my mind in different ways. Coming from the background that I do, their songs initially sounded overbearing and unnecessarily serious to me, but as they grew on me, I knew that they meant every word with every fiber of their being. Their song "Song for Sera" is one of my favorites to listen to in the middle of the night on long drives in the middle of nowhere. Coupled with their song "Darkness Is Falling" and THE BODY's "Just Wretched", you can almost perfectly picture the world in the moments just before it explodes and destroys every last bit of life on this planet.
   To close out the tape, I switched gears again and went back to ridiculous. If you grew up in the 80's, you may remember those weird answering machine greeting tape commercials....They advertised tapes that you could buy for your answering machine that sang ultra corny greetings to the tune of Beethoven's Fifth and bad 50's rock. Here's a whole tape of them (2 and a half whole minutes) so that you can confuse people who call your cell now...if anyone ever calls you anymore.

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RANDOM CONFLICT - "Defying the Megadread" - Tape - 1988

   If you've lived in Alabama (or the southeast) in the last 25 years, you've undoubtedly heard of RANDOM CONFLICT. Bill Reeves has been fronting these guys since they first stormed into the armories and shitty bars of northern Alabama, playing hardcore, crossover, and straight-up punk the whole time. They played their first show on August 12, 1988 (that's 25 years ago TODAY) at the Dance Not Destroy fest in Nashville, TN. They suffered through multiple line-up changes throughout the late 80's and early 90's before abandoning their crossover/metal roots and calling it quits.
   They reformed in the 90's with Brian on bass (and he's still with them to this day) and DJ on drums (anonymous reports say he is now in jail). I put them on a lot of shows that I set up throughout the late 90's with BLACK FORK, SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE and others. At this point, they vehemently denied that they were ever a metal/crossover band, even though you could still buy their 1991 EP for proof at the local record store. (funny/not funny side story: Sunburst, the record store in Huntsville, always had copies of their first 7" on the shelves and the owner, Jay would complain that no one was buying them. One day, the record store burned down and it sucked, obviously. Still, Jay rebuilt and re-opened. On the first day, I walked in and donated a bunch of records to the store. I said "Hey Jay, look on the bright side. At least those Random Conflict records are finally gone." It was the first time I saw him smile in a while.)
  I moved away from Alabama and RANDOM CONFLICT kept moving forward. The last time I saw them, they were playing a coffeeshop right by my house in Chattanooga in 2001 (there were no flyers. I just happened to see Bill in the parking lot.). They played an excellent set to almost no one. I told Bill I would happily set up a show for them at our all ages punk space where they could play to a room full of appreciative people. Bill said that they didn't believe in cliques or scenes. I asked if they believed in playing shows to people who wanted to see them but Bill maintained that they didn't need any help. So, I never did set up that show for them. A couple of years ago, I stumbled into a show just as Bill yelled "We're RANDOM CONFLICT! Thank you and good fuckin' night!" I turned around and walked right back out the door. They were the only reason I even showed up.
   25 years is a long fuckin time to be in a band, especially on an independent level, but RANDOM CONFLICT is still chugging along. They even put out a new LP that is, in my opinion, one of the best things they've ever put out (along with that first demo). I put the record on, expecting it to be a rehash of their earlier material, but it was all new and fresh. (You can order it from No Profit). If these guys keep moving in the direction that they're going, then I'm really looking forward to the next 25 years. Keep it up!!

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Download complete recordings 1988-1992

"Help Me, I'm Trapped in a Ford Festiva" - Compilation - Tape - 1997

    I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of Alabama and discovered punk when I was in 6th grade through a tape of the MINUTEMEN's "Double Nickels on the Dime." Over the years, I tried to start bands with people who either really didn't want to be in a punk band or just had drastically different ideas of what a punk band was. The day after I graduated high school, I moved 108 miles away to a different small town called Huntsville. I lived in my car for those first couple of months and came to discover a whole new world of punk where people were actually playing the loud, fucked up, vibrant music that I wanted to be playing at that time in my life. It was perfect for me. I met people who put out their own records and set up their own shows in houses, parking lots and thrift stores. It was inspiring, to say the least. Within just a few months, I was playing in my own band and going on tour all over the southeast, making friends that I still have to this day. At the time, I wanted to make a compilation tape to show what was going on in my town (and where it had come from) so that other people would know how awesome it was, but honestly, I don't know if this tape ever reached people outside of Alabama.
   The comp starts off with RICE HARVESTER and THE CACA WOMEN FROM URANUS. I've already written about them, so you can click those links above if you're curious. Next up is THE REFILLS, who were a short lived band from the area that consisted of Neil (from JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS and 565 BURNOUTS), Ben (from RICE HARVESTER, SUCKERPUNCH and now in PINE HILL HAINTS) and Bill Conflict (who did and still plays in RANDOM CONFLICT). They played fucking tough, straight ahead punk that was informed by THE FREEZE and D.O.A. I loved them when they were around and their song "Bleed" on this tape still holds up today.

RICE HARVESTER on the 4th of July, 1998. San Pedro, CA.

   Next on the tape is AOA, which was originally a home recording project by my friends Blair and Ramesh. They would get together and record hours of MEN'S RECOVERY PROJECT (and FAT DAY) inspired noise and weirdness at their houses. After a while, they would come over and kind of force me to play anything in their band, like a drum on a bed or some cans. They had tapes and tapes of this stuff (one of which got stuck in my car stereo for months so that it was the only thing I could ever listen to. When I finally removed it, it destroyed the tape and the stereo...a week or so later, the brakes failed at 3 am and I almost totaled a cop car, but that's a different story altogether.) On this recording, we sorta became a kinda normal punk band for a second. I think I played drums, but I also think I played guitar sometimes. Ramesh played bass and sang. Blair sang and played the keyboard maybe. I think a guy named Pube switched up instruments with me. It was a weird time, but I still like "Black Flag is Boring" and the theme song.

AOA in my room. 1996.

   SHITHEAD JONES is a fukkin punk band and you can read all about their saga here. After that is THE GRUMPIES, who weren't technically an Alabama band, but they played there so often that  one might think that they lived there. All of their songs on here (minus one) were later re-recorded for their LP on Recess Records. These early versions are pretty great and it also includes a ripping cover of "Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford.  You can find their demo and other stuff here.

THE GRUMPIES playing in a storefront in Florence, AL.

  GARY COLEMAN BAND were just Blair and Ramesh from AOA playing really minimal stuff. This song was recorded in a porn shop in N Huntsville and is honestly one of my favorite things ever put on tape. The side ends with THE SMEGMAGICIANS, which is my high school punk band that I restarted just to finish out this side of the tape. It sucks. The first song is an AOA cover. I played guitar and sang while my friend Harry played drums. I wouldn't let him hear the song or practice it before recording. The second song is just me playing guitar and drums...and actually it's not too bad.
  Side 2 kicks off with a live set from SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE, a band I have already covered here (it's the same set too). They are followed up by the always great 565 BURNOUTS, who have their own entry right here.

A later incarnation of 565 BURNOUTS playing at American Beat Records in Birmingham, AL.

   JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS are up next, playing three songs that I'm pretty sure never appeared on other recordings. Well, two of the songs were definitely on a record, but not these recordings. The first song was never released on anything and it's not that good (but I'm biased...I was in the band). I have no clue where or why we recorded these songs. It could have been recorded in my bedroom or in a "real" studio. No idea. You can find more by the band here.

JOEY TAMPON AND THE TOXIC SHOCKS playing an 8 year old's birthday party in St Mary's, GA. Note that Neil is smoking.

   Joey and Neil from the TOXIC SHOCKS were also in CHEESE ASS CHRIST. They weren't from Alabama. They were from Georgia. You can find possibly everything you ever wanted to know about them here. 

   One of Alabama's first hardcore bands (possibly the very first) was THE KNOCKABOUTS, who come up next on this tape. Their songs on here come from their demo tape-turned -EP from 1982. (well, the demo is from '82. The EP is from '95). You can find more info about them here. The only thing I want to add is that I talked to Ken (owner of Prank Records who released their EP) about them and he said that he might release an LP collection in the future. I guess there's a lot more songs laying around. He's obviously not in a big hurry, but I would be excited if that project ever saw the light of day, Fun fact: The title of this comp ("Help Me, I'm Trapped in a Ford Festiva") comes from THE KNOCKABOUTS. My band (JT and the TOXIC SHOCKS) used to go on tour in my Ford Festiva (with all of our equipment, yes), which is one of the tiniest cars you could possibly own in the 90's. We listened to THE KNOCKABOUTS a lot. When we would listen to their song "Fast Pulse" (included here), we would sing that line instead of the KNOCKABOUTS-penned line of "Help me, I'm trapped in a human body!!"

   MENACE (not really sure if they ever realized there was a classic punk band called MENACE) was a band of teenage punk kids from the burbs who could barely hold it together, but held it together just enough to belt out this rough recording on a boom box. I think I only saw them once and that was only because I drove out to one of their mom's houses in south Huntsville for a band practice. I could be wrong though because I think I have a flyer for them somewhere. One weird thing about this band is that my friend Ramesh sang for them and did not play an instrument, which is ridiculous because he was already becoming a good bass player at that point. Still, you can listen to their song "AUO994" and realize why they got him to sing. 

   THE MACK was somewhat the black sheep of the Huntsville punk family. I believe 50% of that was self-imposed and the other 50 was just punk kids not wanting to admit that they liked pop-punk at some point in their lives. Either way, THE MACK played undeniably tuneful and upbeat pop-punk that was not very popular among the local scene, but I'll bet that they would have been a hit if they had ever managed to go on a tour or two in the mid-90's. Now, you can download this and relive your secret (or not-so-secret) pop-punk past. I will admit now that these songs are good. (Fun facts: THE MACK was the only local band of this era to have an online presence at the time. They are also the only band I've ever "auditioned" for as a drummer...for which I was denied for not being good enough.)

  I'm not talking about the next band. Fuck it. They were from Florida. I was the only one who knew who they were. The first song made me want to learn to play drums. The second song sucks ass.
   15E was an insane sounding punk band that worked as a precursor to THE SLACKERS, SHITBOY FROM OUTERSPACE and most of the crop of 90's punk from Huntsville. The members were Jason (SHITBOY and later XPIA), Joey (JOEY TAMPON, THE SLACKERS, RADIOACTIVES, 3D's, many more and later a born again Baptist preacher), and Mike (SEWER PUNKS and others that flew off my radar). They named the band after the apartment number of the place they shared. This recording comes from a live set at the Tip Top in north Huntsville where the band constantly harangues the audience for being shitty people. Punk. This is all I know about them. They were before my time in that town. If anyone has their demo tape, I will gladly take it.
   The tape ends with local greats THE SLACKERS and THE JAWAS. Everything you might ever want to know about both of those bands can be found here and here. The closing sample is possibly one of the best samples ever committed to tape, in my opinion.

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Re-uploaded 2013

P.S. There's 65 tracks total in this download.
This one's for Ramesh, who was always a fan and supporter of Alabama punk bands.

Now, here's some flyers from that era.

I think this is one of the first punk flyers I ever made, with help from Jason Shitboy. We used to have illegal shows at the Jaycee's Fairgrounds, which was just a gazebo in a parking lot. Sometimes, we paid $100 to use the space. Other times, we just went in and had the show without permission. I think this was one of the illegal times. THE DUMBSHITZ was my old band from Birmingham that I had quit by this point. They didn't show up for this show. Here's a video of them playing in Birmingham after I quit.

This was my birthday show, also at the fairgrounds. PROPERTY was a mainstay of the Huntsville punk scene and I'm confused as to why they're not on the tape. THEE AUTOBOTS was a later band spearheaded by Jack THE MACK that incorporated sax into the pop-punk world.

Great show for $3. Gorin's was an ice cream shop downtown that was dumb enough to let us have punk shows. 

All local bands at Gorin's Flyer by Blair Menace. BLOODY HOLLY was mostly improv-violence. Blair, Jay Kaos and I wore bloody dress shirts and glasses while assaulting people, sonically. I can't even begin to explain the CATATONICS to you. If I can ever dig up their tape (doubtful), it will have its own thing on here.

Another local show at Gorin's. THE SHIZNICS never recorded and I don't remember much about them. THE PANIC BUTTONS should have been on the comp but never got any music to me. They will be featured on the blog one day. Those guys went on to play in THOMAS FUNCTION.

RICE HARVESTER's 1st show. One of the TOXIC SHOCKS' last. PINK COLLAR JOBS were one of the best bands from the southeast in the 90's.

Local times, minus THE GRUMPIES, who might as well have been local. Art by Marsh. Flyer by me.

SUCKERPUNCH - Unreleased LP - 2001

   Back when I posted SUCKERPUNCH's demo tape, I was under the impression that they never recorded anything else. I've always loved that tape and wished they had more music out in the world that I could listen to. Fast-forward life to spring of 2012: RAG RAGE from Chattanooga came out to the Bay Area and their bass player, Chad gave me this CD-R of a full, unreleased SUCKERPUNCH album. Apparently, SP's drummer, Ben had passed it along to Chad to give to someone else, but Chad thoughtfully made a copy for me as well.
   On this recording, the band continually sounds like they are in a tug of war between post-punk and hardcore as filtered through southern living. Hardcore usually seems to win the competition, which is fine by me. There are flashes of 7 SECONDS, REAGAN YOUTH and TEEN IDLES here and there, but for the most part, SUCKERPUNCH's sound is their own. I think this whole album is great, but around the 12th song, it becomes unstoppable. Sixteen songs in all. No song titles listed. Fuckin' do it!

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SHITHEAD JONES - Tape - 1997

SHITHEAD JONES was a teenage punk band from the bowels of Huntsville,AL who were known by very few during their brief existence. Like many teenage punk bands in Alabama, they probably started because this group of friends was bored and there were some instruments sitting around. Ramesh played the bass, Kevin sang, Jay Kaos played the guitar and Ryan (who had the unfortunate nickname "Pube") banged on the drums.  I saw them play shows at Gorin's Ice Cream in downtown Huntsville numerous times, playing to almost no one. Even though it seemed frustrating to the band that no one really wanted to watch them, they played with an energetic determination that I found inspiring. 

     I read once that BLACK FLAG showed up to a show in the middle of nowhere and hardly anyone came to see them. Henry Rollins started complaining about how he didn't want to load their equipment out to play to a handful of people. Chuck Dukowski said that they had to. They had to load out and play their hearts out whether it's 5 people or 500 because that's what they do. They give their all in every performance no matter what. SHITHEAD JONES never had the option of playing to 500 people...maybe not even 50. Still, they played their hearts out to empty rooms and I sometimes think of them to this day when my band is playing a less than stellar show on tour. 

   This download contains everything I know of by the band in all of its falling-apart, ramshackle glory. The first 5 songs are from a random tape they made at home (turn it up fukkin' loud...bad quality) and it is followed by an "interview", where their bass player, Ramesh talks to the singer, Kevin at a show in Huntsville. The last two songs are from a recording "sesh" in Harvest, AL when I asked the band to record some songs for a tape comp that I was releasing. All of the sound quality is pretty awful, but this is what happens when you get 4 broke punk kids together who want to spend absolutely nothing on their band. I love it.

   This is the hard part that I don't wanna write...because I'm sick of writing about dead friends...because it exhausts me to think about all of the things that I (and we) could have done as a community to keep an old friend on this earth a little bit longer. It's too late though. Ramesh Narayanan took his own life a little over a week ago in Chattanooga, TN and it breaks my heart. I met him at a show at the Tip-Top (a bar in Huntsville that let kids in for some reason) back in 1993 (I think) when he was hanging out with his friend, Blair, who I also met that night. I soon realized that being friends with Ramesh meant it was a package deal and I would also spend the same amount of time hanging out with Blair. It was fine with me since they were both fun to be around, usually had good ideas and had excellent musical tastes. There was absolutely nothing to do in Huntsville, so sometimes they would pick me up in Blair's car and we would just drive around town listening to RANCID. I felt like I was part of some weird, secret special pact when they invited me to be in their home recording project, A.O.A. I appreciated it when they would come over to drag me out of my house and go do anything. They were fun to be around.

   Like many teenage friendships, people tend to move away and start doing their own thing. I moved away and started touring a lot. Blair moved to Asheville and did the same. I soon ended up in Chattanooga, sharing a living room as a bedroom with Ramesh. Our relationship became complicated and difficult at times, but he still remained close and one of my oldest friends. Over the years, our paths crossed a lot. I moved a lot and he did too, but we kept in touch where we could. We even started another band together in the early '00's, but we were so scatterbrained that we couldn't even keep it together long enough to play one show. 

   I started trying to reach out a little more to him when I heard that he had moved back to his mom's house to take care of her, but I could never get much information out of him. I couldn't tell if he was embarrassed to move back home or if he was just to busy to talk about it or just thought it was a non-issue. We only corresponded through the internet for the last few years and when I ever returned to visit Chattanooga, the lack of his presence was always felt. When I heard that he was gone, I didn't want to believe it. I still don't. I didn't want to believe that he could feel so alone with such a large community of friends at his disposal, although I know that feeling as well. I don't know what was going on, Ramesh, but I do want you to know that I miss you. I love you. You made a huge impact in my life in a lot of different ways and I wish you would have known how many lives you have altered in this world. Since his passing, a lot of people have gotten in touch...people that I didn't expect and I forget that he knew so many folks: artists, freaks, parents, norms, queers, a rock star who shared the stage with The Boss, gutter punks and more. What can we do to reach out when our friends are in trouble? How can we offer a hand when we feel so far away? I know that I'm going to try harder to let my friends know that I care about them and try to be there when they need me, but what can we all do? It's impossible to always know what is going on in someone's head. I just feel so lost.

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Link updated Feb 2017

With this entry, this blog has been viewed over 100,000 times. Thanks for reading and paying attention to my ramblings as well as listening to all of these crazy recordings that I have. I appreciate it. 

THRASH - "Total Anarchy" - Tape - 1990

   Since the beginning of this blog, I've been dusting off many tapes from my shelves and digitizing piles upon piles of forgotten music from over the years. I love many of the things I've posted on here, but I understand that some of this stuff might be embarrassing for some of the people who played the music on those tapes. I can almost hear them thinking, "Thanks for digitizing that band that I was in for 5 seconds who put out that one awful tape that sounds like shit. Big contribution to the world of punk there. Where's your stupid, embarrassing bullshit tape?" Well, here I am to level the playing field.

    I grew up in a town called Pleasant Grove, which is only notable for being completely wiped out by a tornado last year (to be clear, I'm not meaning to be flippant about it. If you can offer any help or support, that would be great, As Hurricane Katrina and this tornado has proven, the US does not care too much about poor southern people). My parents and I split the cost of a drumset ($100) when I was 12 and we bought it from my cousin, who played in a DEF LEPPARD lip sync band...meaning that they were not a cover band, but were a band who dressed up like DEF LEPPARD and acted like they were playing their songs while dancing to pre-recorded music....like karaoke with too much planning. Anyhow, I got the drums and just hit them haphazardly in my basement for months on end. I did not understand how to make a beat at all. My favorite bands at the time were THE CURE, METALLICA, VIOLENT FEMMES and DREAD ZEPPELIN but I didn't know how to make a drum set sound like any of those things.
   I tried to start a band called WASTED YOUTH (I know...name was already taken) with my friends in 6th grade, but it never got further than coming up with that badass name. Later, we started D.O.P.E., which stood for DEATH OF PREPS EVERYWHERE, but I'm not sure if we ever recorded anything or learned how to play a real chord. Then, at the ripe age of 13, my friends and I decided to start a "thrash band" called THRASH. It was gonna be the raddest band ever. We were going to play at our school and fucking kill people. We were gonna have the coolest songs with lightning fast tempos...if we could only figure out what you had to do to actually write a song. It seemed really hard and confusing.
   Ward played bass and sang. Mike played guitar and also sang. I played the drums. Those two guys were a few of the only people in my school who even came close to resembling punks. We set up my boombox in the basement of my parents house and unleashed song after fucking song of unbridled teenage brutality. We were completely untouchable and at the top of our game. I pressed "play" on the boombox to listen to what we had done and....what the fuck? What was this dumb shit that we burdened the world with? Mozart was 5 years old when he composed his own music and performed it in front of European royalty. One of the guys from OLD SKULL was 9 when they put out an LP on Restless Records. We were teenagers and we couldn't even write a legible song with a chorus or even any noticeable "parts". Basically, we sucked....bad. I was embarrassed of our band before the tape was even finished.
   Opening up with the now-classic (to someone somewhere...maybe just me) "Suck My Dick You Fucking Prick" (gimme a break. we were 13), it sets the tone for the rest of the tape. It's amazing how fucked up some of this sounds. It reminds me of shit that noise artists are striving for. One perfect example of that is "Bad Taste". It's no wonder that I quit within a couple of months and started a noise band that only played on the streets. I dare you to download this and listen to it all the way through. Lucky for you, I cut out over half of the tape because I still have some shreds of self-respect buried somewhere deep within me.
   After this tape came out, I quit THRASH. They soldiered on without me. Mike moved to drums.  They got our friend, Andy to sing and found some hot-shit stoner guitarist named Josh to round out the lineup. The four of them delved into the devil's weed and actually tried (unsuccessfully) to write real songs (sell-outs). I appeared briefly on their second tape, aptly titled "Weed", but my days with the band were done. They were trying to be serious and I wanted no part of that
   Lo and behold, THRASH did play at our high school, but did not end up killing anyone...or even giving a wedgie to the principal. I think they got in trouble for saying "fuck" a lot. I'm not sure. My joke band, THE SMEGMAGICIANS opened up for them and we were too busy changing out of our bathrobes, boots and fencing masks to notice....but that's a story for another day.

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JARVIS - 2nd Demo - Tape - 1999

   Remember last October when I talked about how my favorite JARVIS tape was the one with the worst sound quality (no, I don't expect you to remember that, but here is the link to it)? Well, here is that tape. There is something buried beneath the shitty sound quality and the wild mix that makes me believe (in some crevasse of my brain) that this is the very best thing that this band ever did. Many will disagree with me and that's fine, but i have listened to this recording at least one billion times. I fucking love it.
   I'll just go ahead and tell you that I'm not gonna talk specifics about the band much at all because I already did that in the link above and here..
    This tape contains my favorite version of (well, everything) "I Wanna Go" and I think the band is totally "feelin' it" super hard on this recording. On "Changes", you may think "Hey, when did a woman join this band?", but that's just Ryan doing both vocal tracks. It kinda blows my mind still. "Self Effacement" never appeared on anything else and wasn't played live too much, but it's one of my all-time favorites. If you wanna see me get overly fuckin' nerdy about a poorly recorded demo tape that only a handful of people might care about, check this shit out: About 10 seconds into "Changes Pt 2", it sounds like Bob (the drummer) fucks up by trying to change tempos for a split second. He didn't fuck up. (Bear with me here for a moment) There is a really early POTENTIAL JOHNS song that has the exact same fuck up in it (a real one, I assume) and Bob was emulating that exact same flub but doing it intentionally in his own bands' song. What the fuck? At the time, I thought it was genius. Okay, I still do.
   Whatever....you might hate this and the sound quality. I don't care. Some people listen to Fifteen Counts of Arson. Others listen to In On The Kill Taker. I don't. I listen to this tape.

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Updated June 2015