"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? 

DOWNLOAD COMPILATION

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 

THE MORONS - Discography - Tape - 2012

   I meant to upload some old MORONS tapes ages ago, but I held off because Once Tender Records was planning on putting out a complete discography. Now, I realized it's been out for a couple of years, so here's the whole thing.
   THE MORONS were from Chatsworth and Dalton, GA: two towns in north Georgia that have bred a stunning array of truly unforgettable people in my life. THE MORONS formed (probably) out of utter boredom and a love of substance abuse. I've never really seen a band live up to their name more than THE MORONS. From huffing copious amounts of gold spraypaint to throwing themselves down flights of stairs to their special game of "Sneaky P" to many other things that I don't feel that I can share here without clearing it with them first, THE MORONS were one of the most real bands I've ever seen. I know that punk celebrates (or "should celebrate" as far as I care) the idea of "no idols" and strives to blur the lines between audience and band, but THE MORONS were truly the same on or off the stage (or "stage"). You know that dude you were just shotgunning a beer with by the dumpster? Now, he's that dude shotgunning a beer behind the drumset, for better or worse.
   Anyway, THE MORONS came from trailer parks and shitty situations and put it all in their songs. They got drunk and then wrote classic songs about being drunk. When they said "smoke some crack and go for a beer run", they had probably just done that. They didn't waste space or deal in hyperbole. If you're from a certain time and era (like me), they wrote one of the best songs of all time, which was about living with the spirit of rock n roll inside of you, which no one could ever steal. THE MORONS were utter morons, but they were also musical geniuses.
    Here's most of everything they ever recorded, culled from self-released tapes, unreleased studio recordings and their EP's. If you want a tape of your own, follow that link above and write to Chad at Once Tender.

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MORONS in Dalton, GA. Photo by me.

This one's for Big Shank.

     ADDENDUM 8/8/19: I re-uploaded this because I've been listening to THE MORONS a lot lately and I also wanted to add this note. I went to the Chattanooga punk fest known as Do Ya Hear We last year to see some very dear friends and play in some very dear bands. I had a great time. At some point in the weekend, a member of THE MORONS took me aside to talk about what I had written above. Where I saw nothing but complete praise and adulation, he saw a mockery. He saw his youth frozen in time, played out as a joke. He saw me ending the piece calling him and his bandmates morons, not geniuses...and he is right. Imagine going to read something about about your old band and the author just calls you a Moron and leaves it at that. We talked it out. We hugged and let it go, but I just wanted to add this. THE MORONS were what they were and they represented what we all were at that time and it was beautiful. The people in this band went on to grow up and become enthusiastic dads, animal-lovers, great friends, supportive husbands and even a ship captain. They still write music that is a celebration of life and love that is rooted in anything other than moronic pursuits and I salute them for that. THE MORONS made an impact to me and a whole huge scene of people because they wrote what they lived and it was real. A lot of bands try to claim that but very few actually follow through. So let's just say they were musical geniuses and leave it that, okay? 

CAPITAL SICKNESS - "Toolin' For Lucifer's Balloons" - Tape - 2000

    When I moved to Chattanooga in the late 90's, I was already friends with a bunch of punks who grew up in the nearby carpet mecca of Dalton, GA. Some of them had been playing in punk bands since the late 80's and were pretty "well-established" (whatever that means) in the local punk scene. By the time I got to town, most of them had moved to Chattanooga because it was a bigger town and there was more to do (kind of). A younger crop of punk kids had popped up in Dalton and started forming bands in their absence that made these elders (some at the extinct age of 25) look downright ancient. My favorite of these new punk bands was CAPITAL SICKNESS.
   Even though they were all teenagers, their band came up to Chattanooga to play fairly regularly at shows in bars, public parks and houses. Their singer/bass player, Josh has enough boundless energy and charisma that he probably could have screamed into a microphone solo for 20 minutes about the youth detention centers of Dalton and kept a room full of us entertained, but luckily, he didn't have to. Mason played the guitar and Mackey rounded out things on the drums. Even though their live sets and recorded output usually fell to pieces, they still maintained the enthusiasm that kept people dancing and singing the whole time. If you don't believe me, you can watch this video.

   On this tape, they play their hearts out in 8 quick songs (in about 8 minutes) and it includes their crowd favorite, "Burn The Mills", which is about destroying the carpet mills of Dalton (the town's core business). 

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Members went on to be in a tidal wave of other bands like TRICYCLE FARM, QUEERWULF, PRINCESS THUNDERSTORM and HELLSTOMPER.

 

JACK PALANCE BAND - "Heaven" - Practice Tape - 1999

   Way back before the turn of the century, I lived in a tiny little house one block away from the Georgia state line. I spent many of my days listening to the the tinny, north Georgia Christian radio broadcasts (only because it sounded exactly like what I imagined an alien transmission might sound like) and writing half assed songs to record on my tape player. I decided one day that I wanted my half assed songs to sound about 2% better so I borrowed my friend Mike Pack's 4 track recorder. When he handed it over, there was a tape inside and he said something like "I don't know what that tape is, but you can do whatever you want with it." It turned out that the tape was a JACK PALANCE BAND practice, which means I just listened to the tape over and over rather than recording my songs....come to think of it, I never did record those songs on the 4 track at all.
   Most of the tape consists of parts of new songs, crude inside jokes and stuff that appeared later on their full length LP. None of it was anything too essential until I got to the end. Until this point, I had only heard JPB play their now-classic song "Heaven" live at punk shows with shitty PA's. Even though they didn't have a proper recording of it at that point, everyone in the room still sang along with the line "If I saw the God they told me about when I was a kid, I'd punch him in the face for letting his children bleed!" I was pretty ecstatic to finally have a copy of the song to play over and over in my room. For a long time, I preferred this version over the one on their LP. I like how the band sounds excited and stoked on the song, because they're getting it down for the first time. I like how the band sounds like they're putting everything they've got into what they're doing, even though they're just playing for themselves in (most likely) the dark, grimy basement of a now-defunct soup restaurant at 7th and Cherry in Chattanooga, TN.
   I know it's only one song, but I'm not posting the other stuff out of respect for the band. Trust me, this is the best thing on there. Plus, this is my happening and it freaks me out.

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EDIT: For some reason, your metadata will list the album artist as "Bill Evans" and I have no clue why that happened. Oh well.

PETER STUBB - "Blueberry Masturbator" - Tape - 1992

 
   Peter Stubb has gone by many names in his life: Gary League, Dewayne King, Cannibalistic Retard, Gary Lee Austin, Gary Spit and many more. Peter Stubb, for whatever reason, is the one that has stuck around the longest. He began home recording his own songs on cassette sometime in the late 80's, just banging on things and making guitar noises with his mouth. The lyrics could be funny, disturbing and demented. Other times, they were crushingly depressing, especially when he delved into the topics of the reality of his everyday landscape, which included the mental wards and psychological education centers of North Georgia.
   I had heard stories of Peter Stubb throughout the south for a while and got a chance to play a show with him in Chattanooga in late 1995. To put it lightly, it was life changing. Throughout the show, the punks had been flying all over the room, singing defiantly and going nuts. As Peter started to set up to play, most of the people in the room politely sat on the floor in front of him and a hush grew through the building as if something important was about to happen. Peter sat in front of the assembled audience, struggling with some papers and a music stand, his face painted in fucked up, dripping corpse paint and his shoulders flanked by football pads. His battered acoustic guitar was covered in fading stickers and his arms were completely covered in scars from self-inflicted knife wounds. He appeared to be nervous and too anxious to be in front of all these people. All I could think as he was about to strike the first chords was "What the fuck is going on?!" He belted out a quick 40 second song devoted to the love of cunnilingus and the crowd howled. Seconds after finishing that one, he completely changed gears and destroyed the audience with one of the most honestly depressing songs I had ever heard. The punk kid next to me who earlier looked so tough and bulletproof was sobbing like a baby.

    Soon after, I was visiting Chattanooga again and I asked my friend Eric Nelson if he could copy any of Stubb's music for me. He obliged with this tape, "Blueberry Masturbator". He joked around about the less serious songs on the tape but he added, almost gravely, that Peter Stubb is the most honest songwriter that he has ever heard in his life. On the drive back to Alabama, I put it on and got a chance to really immerse myself in it. It starts off almost abruptly with "Social Phobia", which feels as if you just stumbled into an internal monologue that had been occurring long before you arrived. Stubb palm-mutes like crazy in a way that recalls the best RAMONES songs and introduces you to his world of anxious paranoia. The next couple of songs are a complete 180, telling stories of pot heads and objectifying women. While stuff like the latter may offend the ears of my more radical thinking readers (like say, me), I think this is part of the Stubb experience. His songs are uncomfortable, untamed and dark. To only listen to the ones that line up with your political outlook is cheating. "Bodies in the Tub" is about stacking up the dead bodies of his oppressors in his bathtub. "I Don't Care If You Go" is about Stubb's mom. "Crashed and Died" is about a motorcycle wreck in which Peter crashes and dies "like a motherfucker". Towards the end, Stubb launches into some odd speech that is part possessed/part childlike that permeates some of his other songs, but this is it's only appearance on this tape. Just when you thought he wasn't gonna get too serious again, he comes back with "Committed", a crushingly sad song that details his early experiences with the north Georgia mental health system, which I can only imagine is less than stellar. In the song, he sings...

    "One teacher asked me, what would I like to be. I said 'A werewolf...a demon inside of me.' She kinda flipped out. She said I needed help. She said 'How long have you felt this way?'. I said 'I don't know. I'm like this everyday.' She said 'We'l get you help..you can count on it.' Next thing I knew, I was committed."

   Later, he says that they won't let him out until the sanity is back in him, In the next song "Bu-Doing-Schwing", you're finally convinced that Stubb has lost it in this song about hyper-sexualized lust....and his dick. He makes weird sounds with his voice, which recall many of his earlier tapes and the whole thing is just kinda bizarre. Abruptly, Stubb launches into the last two songs, which take you into the lowest depression of the whole tape. "Just One More Time" is about feeling bad about the things that have happened in your life and wishing you could change them. The final song, "They Took It Away" is epic, destructive and possibly the single most depressing song I have ever heard in my life because it is 100% real and nothing but honest. I can't even do it justice by talking about it. You just have to listen to it alone and let his words pull you into the darkness. 

   Long before this release, Peter Stubb had been releasing his own self-recorded tapes and he still continues to this day. Many of his early tapes were one of a kind...he would record a couple of songs, make a cover and just give it to a friend. Others were released in a edition of ten or less and you might find a copy of it that Stubb left in the bathroom at a Dalton, GA Wal-Mart. There are countless tapes of his music all over the place. You never knew what you would find on these tapes, but it was/is always interesting. He's still releasing a few tapes a year and if you send him $4-6 cash in the mail, he will send you a new one. You can find Peter here on his FB page and he'll send you his address to order tapes. 

   I'm putting this up on this site to archive it and for all of his old friends and fans, but mostly I am sharing it in the hopes that someone in a small town in the middle of nowhere will find this and have it change their life in the way it changed mine (as well as many of the people I love).

Thanks to Eric Nelson for everything.

Thanks to Josh Mayfield for being such a dutiful archivist of Stubb's music for so many years. 

Thanks to Peter Stubb for making all of this music and for giving me permission to put this tape online. 

Download "Blueberry Masturbator"

...and here is a link to the short film "I'm Like This Everyday", made by Mitchell Powers in 2008.

CASSINGLE AND LOVIN' IT - Compilation - CD-R - Mid-to-late-90's and beyond

   Before we get into the music part, I just wanted to update you all on the Mediafire business (see here for reference). The account is still locked and my emails to customer service were fruitless. My final email mirrored the frustration I was feeling from dealing with them and I simply asked "Can you prove that you work for Mediafire? Can you prove that your names are real? Can you prove that the Earth is indeed round?" Whatever. Oddly, they never wrote back. While it is a bummer that a majority of the links on this site are dead, I am moving forward because That Is What I Do. I am re-upping some old ones and will continue to do so from time to time. Feel free to tell me what you want re-uploaded. For now, feel free to continue downloading CLEANSING WAVE, RYMODEE, HICKEY, FLEABAG, This Alabama punk comp, REMAIN INDOORS, FROZEN TEENS, TOMMY LASORDA and RICE HARVESTER. As I stated way back in the beginning, none of this stuff is copyrighted and if you don't feel comfortable having your music shared on this site, just let me know and I will take it down, no questions asked. There is no need to involve outside sources. We can exist without the Man. Onto the music....

   You may know Scott from his manic drumming in THE BANANAS or, more recently, his smooth guitar stylings in THE BRIGHT IDEAS. During the 90's, he ran a great record label called Secret Center, who put out the first BANANAS singles as well as all manner of nerdy, under-appreciated jangly punk bands from the Sacramento area. In the 90's and early 00's, he did an offshoot of the label that specifically specialized in one-off cassingles (for those of you who did not grow up in the 90's, that's a really short cassette with only 2 songs on it) comprised of bands that were usually around long enough to record their 2 songs. The cassettes could be bought through the mail for a buck or two. This download is a collection of all the songs as well as a few unreleased "gems". All bands are from Sacramento except for (US SOUTHERNERS TAKE NOTE) "Gary League". Gary is actually none other than Peter Stubb, the North Georgia wildman who has been self-releasing his own tapes consistently since the late 80's (I think the League recordings remain unreleased by this Sac label, but remained close to their hearts). Here is Scott to tell you everything you never wanted to know about this label and these bands....

   I generally consider the cassingle label to be the best idea I've ever had. The inspiration hit me some time in 1996 a few days before the BANANAS headed to Cupertino to play a show. After the show, I mentioned it to Gavin and Hutch - two Cupertino guys I'd become friends with through playing shows and doing Secret Center Records. Hutch was in a rad band called BUNCHA LOSERS, whose tape I distro-ed (now he's in THE THERMALS) and Gavin was in THE NARDS, who were one of my favorite bands to play with. He was also just one of the nicest guys ever. He played in a great band called THE FEVERS later on and is currently in an AWESOME band called THE RANTOULS, who play way too infrequently. Anyway, I told them about the label idea  at the show and they were like "we like have the perfect thing for you!", which ended up being THE CARNIES cassingle (which sadly other than one song, is lost at the moment.) A few days later, THE CARNIES master tape and artwork showed up in my mailbox, so I figured "Cassingle and Lovin' It!" had been officially born. I couldn't even believe how perfect THE CARNIES stuff was - they had just done it one bored weekend but it was the ideal cassingle music. To me, it seemed like a sign that I had to do the label. 

    The first one we did was at U Street (aka The Gentlemen's Club and basically cassingle headquarters) was THE ICE BUCKET HEADS, which is me, Tristan, Davey and Jay. We all lived there and were sitting around talking about doing a cassingle & there was this styrofoam ice bucket that had been lying around in the front room & we were sort of discussing how rad it was that a cassingle could just be any stupid idea that you could possibly think of. I think originally we were going to make a band called THE QUESADILLA MAKERS (I believe Jay was making a quesadilla at the time) & then somebody put the ice bucket on their head, so we did that instead. It's amazing how freeing it is to write songs for a fake band. I sat down and wrote "Everybody Loves The IBH" the next morning in like 10 minutes and Davey wrote "Stay Cool" which came out pretty bad because he's the worst at articulating how he thinks something should sound. But it was a great start.

   "Dude With The Shirt With The Dude On It"  was an inside joke from BANANAS / FOUR EYES  tour where some guy walked in to the house we were staying at in Chattanooga at like 3am looking for someone (the guy was wasted) and he just kept saying "I'm...looking for the dude...with the shirt....with the dude on it!!" So, we sort of wrote that one in the van & recorded it when we got back home. (Ed. note: this song blows my mind)  That was the funnest one because we had a party to provide the backing vocals & party sounds. This one is Jay, Joel, Mike and me. 

    SACTO APES is these two Japanese kids  - Kei and Naomi - that were visiting California. They had mail-ordered stuff from me a few times. My friend, Dave Smith, who lived in San Francisco, met them. When he was visiting Sac that weekend, he said "I met these two Japanese kids who knew what Secret Center was. They seemed bored in SF." So, we decided to go kidnap them and bring them to Sac. Banana Mike was moving out of his house that day so he had an empty house that we could throw a show in for those kids. LIL BUNNIES, BANANAS and ICE BUCKET HEADS played (the only cassingle band to play a show. We did the cassingle and a cover of "Never Understand") & these kids were completely sold on Sac. They stayed for a few days at U Street. One day, I came home and they had written a cassingle about liking Sacramento. Their lyrics are the sweetest. They're printed on the cassingle cover (Ed. note: included in download). Tristan plays drums and several drunk people provide the chorus singing. 

   THE ROMS was the most grueling tape ever. After it was done, I realized that it took 18 hours to finish. We found a drum machine that my friend, Jason had left over at U Street. It had a bunch of dancehall beats on it. He had gotten super into Dancehall a few years earlier (he actually started a dancehall label called "Ruff Chicken" that put out dancehall LP's and tapes). So, he had all these beats he'd programmed into it and we built the cassingle around those. There was a Rom comic lying around that provided the inspiration. We had a Moog that only worked some of the time and it kind of broke in the middle of recording. Somehow, we salvaged it. Everyone was playing something they weren't good at on equipment they were totally unfamiliar with & to this day, I can't believe it sounds as good as it does. It could never be duplicated in a million years! This one is Joel, Jay, Lisa, Davey and me. 
   FANCY LADS was written by Tristan in the middle of our house-wide obsession with the TELEVISION PERSONALITIES. No B-side was ever written, so this one is "unreleased", but it's always been one of my favorites. I rememeber being in my room when he and Jay started working on it and being totally jealous that I wasn't involved. 

   VERUCA SALT FAN CLUB is pretty self-explanatory. Based on my celeb crush on Louise Post.

   "Forever Nursing Brew" is another unreleased one thanks to no B-side. I've always loved this song and it's absurd stance that someone was trying to "stop us from drinking our brew". It's like the "legalize it" of beer! This one always reminds me of Eric Copeland because we used to quote it to each other whenever we were drinking brews on BLACK DICE tour, which was most of the time. 

   SIMILAR GUYS is Gavin and Mike, who do sort of look alike. Gavin was coming to visit and do a cassingle, so Mike wrote "We're Similar Guys" the day before, but we still needed a B-side. (Ed. note: I listened to this song exactly once and it was stuck in my head for a week straight) Before Gavin got to town, I was going to a beer fest down the street and I wrote "We're Similar" in my head on the walk there. I spent the whole fest constantly repeating it over in my head so I wouldn't forget it. That one was super fun. I was proud of the line "We've got a lot in common, just like soup and ramen."

   The HONEY I SHRUNK THE BAND cassingle was the last of the golden era of cassingles and it's one of my favorites for sure. Mike wrote "Hip To Be Small" and we sang it with the 4 track on slow speed so it would sound like munchkins. I wrote the theme song based on that annoying riff, which is something I used to play whenever I picked up a guitar for a while. I was dating the girl who talks on it and she used to live in Berkeley, so we only hung out on weekends. She already didn't like Sac that much but this particular weekend I was in a fit of cassingle fever so I was totally distracted with working on HISTB. She was super annoyed, hanging out in my room, when I was like "hey, will you do this talking part?" She immediately got all psyched and into it - the magic of the cassingle. 

    We started the label back up again for a bit in 2000 or so with the YAWNING MUSHROOM, which was the "psychedelic cassingle". My friend Marie and I were working on BRIGHT IDEAS stuff and she had some mushrooms...so, we took them and decided to write a cassingle instead. One of the weird side effects of the mushrooms was that we couldn't stop yawning, hence the name. She had this little contact mic that she put inside an acoustic and it sounded so incredible high in headphones! I had written those songs a few weeks earlier and they seemed to fit together. 

   JUNIOR QUENCH is one of my best friends, Josh, who lives in NYC. He used to live in Sac and is Sac through and through. So, when Marie called him at his apartment in NYC and said "hey, Dillon and I wrote a reggae jam. Do you want to sing over it?", he, of course, said "yes". He's way into dancehall as well and I guess there's a little-known dancehall DJ called Quench Aid who Josh loves. He was already making these funny tapes of him imitating Quench Aid over instrumental reggae tracks and calling it "JUNIOR QUENCH", so he grabbed some lyrics he had written, went outside his apartment and sang over the phone into the 4 track while they cranked the track so he could hear it. One take! 

   There are a lot more...some that even I've forgotten. Some were recorded on long lost tapes. Some were just REALLY bad. There are some good ones not on here, but these are the ones that have the classic spirit of what was going on for that glorious, heady year or so. 

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P.S. I am still figuring out the kinks of the new file-sharing service. Let me know if you have problems. 

7-11'S - Demo - Tape - 1997

   I was just reminded of this demo the other day when my friend, Chad put up a Youtube video of it. The story behind this band is a hazy one and one that I don't know too well. I imagine that it was a one day project between 3 friends when there was a four track and some instruments laying around. Carey, who also played in THE DRILLER KILLERS, took care of the guitar duties and complained about how much she hated Jerry Garcia. Eric (also from THE DRILLER KILLERS as well as JACK PALANCE BAND and now in DARK RIDES) sang, played the drums and the trumpet. Michelle, formerly of THE SHAFFERS, played bass and drank hot sauce.
    They were called the 7-11's because they liked 7-11 and sang about it. It's as simple as that. It's sort of dumb, but I've  had these songs stuck in my head since 1997. Sometimes, dumb works in the best way. Love it or hate it, it's only 3 songs and the whole thing lasts less than 4 minutes...about the same amount of time it would take you to lace up some knee-high steel toe boots and kick a skinhead in the face.
   I think this band only played two shows. One of them was at Bandito Burrito in Huntsville, AL where Michelle kicked off their three song set by downing a 4 ounce bottle of El Yucateco Salsa Picante de Chile Habanero in one gulp. The next 4 minutes were very uncomfortable. I don't want to even think about what happened to her bowels in the following 24 hours.

Download THE 7-11's
File updated May 2015

THE SHAFFERS - "Live at 20 Below" - Tape - 1993?

   Jerry, a friend of Remote Outposts and fellow audio (and video) archivist over at Blood Transmission, sent me this (almost) 20 year old tape of one of THE SHAFFERS early shows at 20 Below in East Ridge, TN. I've already written pretty extensively about the band here and here, so I 'm not sure what else I can possibly tell you about this band other than A) I love them dearly, B) it's next to impossible to find anything by this band that contains song titles, C) it's difficult to find anything other than live recordings and D) without them, there would probably not be such a vibrant punk scene in Chattanooga, TN today.
   Here is what Jerry has to say about this tape...
   "THE SHAFFERS were one of the two bands that got me into punk (the other is OPERATION IVY). I was in 8th grade, so it had to be '94. I was friends with a guy named Kelton and his brother was Nathan, the drummer of THE SHAFFERS. Long story short, he let me copy his tape of them playing live at an old East Ridge club called 20 Below. I never went there or even saw THE SHAFFERS (the one time I had the chance, they didn't play for some reason). I actually copied the tape over a live SPIN DOCTORS tape that I got screwed into owning by Colombia House. From what I gather, they had only been a band for a month and a half when this was recorded. Also, since this is a rip of an at least 2nd generation dub that was recorded over an already existing album, the sound isn't the greatest and there are a couple of flubs in quality."

Download THE SHAFFERS
Updated 2013

Thanks!

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES FROM DAY ONE - Tape - 1997

   Iggy Scam put out this tape in 1997 and it brought to life a ton of bands that I had only read about (mostly in SCAM, the zine) or heard about by word of mouth. It was a revelation to hear real, live songs by bands with names like DARVIS BROWN AND THE SMOKE ASSES, VANBUILDERASS, LES TURDZ, and KREAMY LECTRIC SANTA. It was more than that. It was fucking exciting and it changed my life. It helped to open up my life to a whole world of complete and utter badasses who mostly have remained that way through the years. This is where I first heard "Revolution Sound" by THE STUN GUNS, where I first heard THE DRILLER KILLERS (who inspired me to make my own shirt with a Sharpie), where I was introduced to the genius of "Can't Take It Away" by THE MORONS and so, so much more. "Stupid Fresh" by KLS still sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. This is also where I first heard THE FUNYONS, a band powered mostly by one man named Steve who plays his simple-yet-insanely-catchy songs only on the streets, which I've always respected immensely. You may also know Steve as the principal songwriter behind ONION FLAVORED RINGS, who have been also churning out quality pop-punk for 10 years, even though they have slowed down in recent years. The cool thing is that Steve still plays FUNYONS songs unannounced on the streets of San Francisco all the time.
   This tape proclaimed "30 bands! 51 songs from The Region!" and that term (the region) has stuck around for all these years and has evolved into "region rock". But what the fuck is "region rock" and why should you care? I can't answer the latter, but I can tell you that the term "The Region" was coined by Cinque Adams. It  is loosely defined as an area in the southeastern US that is shaped like a triangle with points in Dogtown, AR, Tom Foote;s house in Chattanooga, TN and the ruins of an old hotel called "The Mutiny" in Coconut Grove in Miami. Bands from The Region mostly shared (and continue to share) ideologies, band members and much more. I don't want to define it too much because it's not mine to define. It's ever-shifting and belongs to the punks of the southeast. Don't think about it too much. Just close your mind.
   The songs were compiled by Iggy using (I'm sure) the cheapest of equipment and the barest of essentials. The same could be said for many of the bands recording their songs. The music was dubbed onto tapes stolen from chain stores and distributed through the US by touring bands, traveling kids, punk post, and a couple of small distributors. I remember getting 10 of these in the mail from Iggy and they were all snatched up by the punks in my town within a couple of hours. I don't even have a copy of this anymore.

   I did a sequel to this comp three years later, which you can find right here. This comp was originally posted on Region Rock and More, (so you can ask him why all the songs are weirdly numbered and out of order) but is no longer available there since Megaupload was shut down by the feds. I wanted to keep it around and easy to access, in case people want to hear it. It's an important document in the history of southeastern punk rock. This is for Forrest Haye, Andrew Ross Powell, Chris Cottie, Brian Turd, Victor Wiley, Mike O'Brien and any other winners we've lost along the way.

DOWNLOAD///Updated July 2013

 





SHAFFERS - Live on WNYU - Tape - 1995

SHAFFERS playing in a backyard somewhere in the 90's. Photo by Josie.

   This is part two of yesterday's post.

   If you want to get truly technical about it, this should be part one, since the SHAFFERS actually played first on the radio broadcast that day, back in 1995. Much has been said, ballyhooed, and shouted from the mountaintops about the STUN GUN's performance, which left the SHAFFERS standing a little bit outside of the spotlight. As mentioned previously, the SHAFFERS were on tour with the STUN GUNS for about 3 months, which tightened up their performance to the finest it ever was in their existence. On this live radio broadcast, they are playing lightning fast and this ended up being one of the best recordings they ever had.

   The SHAFFERS were originally from Dalton, GA and moved to Chattanooga, TN in the mid-90's. I remember asking Eric Nelson (their guitarist) once why they moved there. Were there other punk bands in the town? A good record store? Anything? Eric just said it was simply the biggest city that was really close to them that wasn't Atlanta. It was that simple. They wanted to get out of Dalton, and Chattanooga was both close by and cheap. Since then, a ton of punks have passed through that town. Some have stuck around and dug in their heels to make that city a destination for traveling punks and touring bands. Many have made their own mark there with record labels, a record/arts store, a recording studio (run by SHAFFERS bassist, Mike Pack) and a punk-run vegan restaurant/show space. I'm not gonna get into it here, but I can definitively trace the origins of all of these things back to the SHAFFERS moving to Chattanooga. It's impressive and awe-inspiring, to say the least. If you would like to know and hear even more about the SHAFFERS, then you can look right here. For now, enjoy their ruling set on WNYU back in 1995.

Download SHAFFERS
Updated 2013

 If you're ever in Chattanooga...or even if you're not....check out these punk-run, locally owned places.

Leo Handmade Gallery - Records, zines, handmade clothes, crafts and much more.

Sluggo's North Vegetarian Cafe - Completely punk staff, great vegan food, good coffee, and punk shows in the basement...oh yeah, also lots of beer on tap and super cheap drink specials.

Do Ya Hear We - Local record label that has not put out a bad record. They also put on a yearly 4 day music festival that is one of the best events that I have ever been to.

Mauled By Tigers - Another great record label that put out the flawless HIDDEN SPOTS LP as well as the ADD/C LP and newest SHELLSHAG record.

TINY BUZZ - (no internet presence) Mike Pack's studio, which is responsible for records by SHELLSHAG, LANDLORD, BLACK RAINBOW, ADD/C and many, many more....

  There's probably more stuff I could tell you about, but my mind is fuzzy because I'm typing this in the library since the internet is out at my house....over and out.

THE SHAFFERS - "Live At Collin's" - Tape - 1994

   THE SHAFFERS were one of the first punk bands from the Chattanooga / Dalton,GA area that I ever heard. Their bass player, Mike Pack hitchhiked down to Birmingham (where I lived....or very close to there..at the time) in 1994 to see PROPAGANDHI at Tuxedo Junction and he gave one of my friends a tape of his band. They were great. They were playing a style of fucking fast DIY hardcore that was still tuneful and upbeat. I wanted to play music like this. I wanted to know these people. I wanted them to be my friends. I couldn't believe that they lived only a couple of short hours away from me. Less than a year later, I was living in Huntsville,AL and I went to see a bad horror-punk / ska band called THE INDEPENDENTS (yep, still the same band) play an insanely boring show downtown. There was a little skinny guy wearing a leather jacket at that show that I had never seen around town. He looked to be a few years older than me and  wasn't talking to anyone, but looked wholly approachable and gave off a certain unexplainable charm. I introduced myself to him and he told me his name was Eric Nelson. He had hitchhiked here from Chattanooga for this show. "THIS show?!" I asked incredulously. He explained that THE INDEPENDENTS were old friends that he hadn't seen in a while. I ended up hanging out with him all night and I picked his brain about bands from his town. He let it slip that he played guitar in THE SHAFFERS and learning that was like finding a missing piece of a puzzle that you didn't even realize that you were working on.
    After that, I kept trying to get THE SHAFFERS to come to Huntsville to play a show, since they were only 2 hours away. I learned early on that the Chattanooga punks, while playing brilliant punk rock and being some of the finest people I have ever met in my life, were highly unorganized. If you set up a show for them, there was a 50% chance they wouldn't show up, either because the vehicle broke down or someone got drunk and disappeared or they forgot. When any of their bands did show up, it was highly likely that they would have brought 2 other bands crammed into a minivan and they would insist that the other bands had to play too...which was fine since everyone's set only lasted 15 minutes or less and they all used the same equipment. Long story short: I never got THE SHAFFERS to come to Alabama, so I went to them.
    Going to Chattanooga for the first time really opened my eyes to a whole new world of punk and I really feel like I found what I had been looking for for years. I got to see THE SHAFFERS, Eric and Mike's other band THE JACK PALANCE BAND, THE DRILLER KILLERS, THE ACCIDENTAL HONKIES and many, many more. I liked it so much that I moved there a few years later and THE SHAFFERS are directly responsible for that.

SHAFFERS live...maybe in Georgia. Photo by Josie.

   This tape was recorded live at Collin's (a bar? a house? I don't know!) and shows THE SHAFFERS at their fastest and tightest. It sounds like four people who grew up on a steady diet of early DRI, COC, SCREECHING WEASEL'S "Punk House" 7" and THE MISFITS. Michelle's rapid fire vocals are completely on-point and fierce. Each song blazes by in a fury and they manage to blast out 16 songs in about the same amount of minutes. So fucking good. This is the band that cemented Eric and Mike's musical marriage and they continue to play music together today in HIDDEN SPOTS. They're like my generation's Mike Watt and D Boon. Also, let us not forget their drummer, Nathan (a.k.a. the sensual wizard) who looked like a haze of long hair, weed smoke and big smiles behind the set. His drumming inspires me to this day.

Download SHAFFERS
Updated 2013

The quality, of course, has always been sub-par on this recording, but I tried to fuck with it a little bit and I think it has improved. Just act like you're sitting around a Chattanooga punk house with dog shit on the floor and this is blasting out of the worst quality stereo that you just scored from the dumpster behind the thrift store.

Also, there are no song titles because there is no list with the tape, but just act like some of them are called "Tommy is a Weirdo" and "I Need You Now", because that is true.

FUCK THE CURSE - Compilation Tape - 2000

   FUCK THE CURSE is a compilation tape I put out in 2000 that served as a follow-up to Iggy Scam's "Technical Difficulties From Day One" tape from 1997. Both tapes chronicle punk bands that reside in a loosely defined part of the Southeastern US commonly known as "The Region". A lot of these bands shared members, tour vans, houses, romantic partners, diseases, and more. I'm happy to say that I put out this tape 11 years ago and I am still good friends with a large amount of the people who played (or still do play) in these bands.
   Most of these songs were not featured on any records and were never on anything else besides this tape. They were recorded in houses, storefronts, warehouses and in some cases, a real studio. The recording quality is all over the place, but that's punk, right?
  The title comes from a JARVIS practice tape where they were talking about how all our friends' bands could not afford to get decent recordings. It just seemed like we were all cursed to have these fucked up recordings and toil in obscurity for the rest of our lives, which is fine.
  That's all....you can read the inserts (included in the download) for more information. Here's all the bands and songs on here...

DOWNLOAD. Updated Aug 2013

SPAWN SACS / DRILLER KILLERS - Split Tape - 1996 or '97

   The SPAWN SACS were a fucking trainwreck. Hell, they were two trains colliding into each other, going backwards. They would pass out dead drunk before they played, shit their pants while playing, and give each other blurry tattoos while blacked out at 8 am. They would cover "Blow Up The Embassy" by the FEARLESS IRANIANS FROM HELL and I would get to witness a roomful of the people I love screaming "I wanna kill myself! I wanna lie dead on the floor! It's none of your fuckin' business what I live and die for!". They would try to cram 20 chords into a minute and a half punk song and make it sound mind-blowing. They would dumpster chicken from KFC on tour, reheat it on a grill at someone's house, eat it and shit their pants again. Fueled by stolen whiskey and crappy jobs, the SPAWN SACS migrated south from Michigan to Miami  and then on to Dalton and finally came to a halt in Chattanooga, leaving a trail of shotgunned beers and a lot of broken shit in their wake. Like most bands from the 90's with no money and no thoughts of self-preservation, they did not shell out the money for studio magic. The Spawn Sacs sound best on shitty stereos, playing fast as fuck and screaming their lungs out. This tape will probably not win them any new fans in 2011, but I'm sure they don't give a fuck.

    SPAWN  SACS in a basement in Dalton, GA - 1997. Photo by me.

    The DRILLER KILLERS were pissed and drunk as well, in a different way. Rather than direct their venom at society and religion, the DRILLER KILLERS seemed to have an almost singular vision of B-movie worship and destroying Hollywood. The lyrics to "Malibu is Burning" are still genius to my ears. "I wonder if Barbara Streisand's house is a burning pile of ash? I hope it was her favorite. I wish I'd lit the fucking match!!" The DRILLER KILLERS were triumphant and anthemic, writing a song about fighting rednecks at the bar (where we had punk shows) with the line "The punks will always win!". Unfortunately, they never had any money either (possibly even less than the SPAWN SACS) and never got a very good recording. We're left with these ragged tapes (mine is literally taped together) that have been passed around the southern US for years, but at least we have something to remember them by. Long live the SPAWN SACS and DRILLER KILLERS!

   DRILLER KILLERS in that same basement in Dalton. 1997. photo by me.

   SPAWN SACS at IBP in Chattanooga. 1997. Photo by Ramesh (?)

                                     Download Split Tape

PETER STUBB - Powdered Doughnuts - 1994?

  To some, PETER STUBB is a legend. To others, he  is some crazy guy with a guitar. To many people, he is both. He's been writing his own songs and putting out cassettes (an average of 2 a year) since the late 80's/early 90's. My favorite tape, "Blueberry Masturbator", has some heartbreaking songs about mental health problems followed by jams that are sort-of indescribable (the song "Ba-doing-schwing" comes to mind). Other tapes have featured Peter and his friend just making race car noises and singing. Still others have been full of drum machine death metal, odes to Christmas, songs about whiskey, and stories of sticking drumsticks up his ass. You really never know what you're gonna get with one of his tapes, but it's always memorable.
    This epic love song to powdered doughnuts was recorded live by someone somewhere in the early to mid 90's and stands as one of my favorite Stubb songs of all time. I believe it catches him at his best: both playful and brutally heartfelt at the same time with the audience hanging on every word for the full eight and a half minutes of this song.
  My friend, Mitchell Powers made a short documentary about Peter that you can find a clip from HERE. You can find a really old interview with Peter Stubb here and find some live videos of him here, here and even here

  (the recording cuts out for 5 seconds around the 7 minute mark. Every recording of this that I've ever heard does that.)

     UPDATE 2020
   This link has been reactivated because this song is great. Added to the download is "Sad Way to Go", which he played right after "Powdered Donuts", further exemplifying how Stubb can change gears in a matter of seconds from playing funny songs into a song about suicide. He fucks it up and stops quickly, but i've always loved this version. Enjoy. "Powdered Donuts" is long but the payoff stays with you for a lifetime.

DOWNLOAD

Updated 3/2020

JACK PALANCE BAND - 1st Tape - 1995? 1996?

  Jack Palance Band were (still are) the soundtrack to the lives of a lot of the people that I know and love. The songs on this tape are the formative stages of the greatness that this band evolved into. It sounds similar to the kind of people they were at the time: sort-of politically correct, sort of pop-punk kids who grew up on a steady diet of DRI, COC and any other tapes they could order from Thrasher Magazine in the 80's. If there was ever a book written on Region Rock and Chattanooga (and there should be), these guys would be in the first chapter and almost every single band mentioned in the book would name them as an influence. Eric Nelson (guitar/vocals) and Mike Pack (bass) should be given lifetime achievement awards for consistently playing completely badass punk for twenty years straight. (Buddha --their second guitarist but not on this tape--should also be given this award with a backup MVP award).Jeremy Edds (drums) was constantly pushing the envelope, playing faster and more intricate beats than most other people in the region at that time. Eric, Mike and Buddha are all still playing music together in HIDDEN SPOTS.
   This tape was, most likely, recorded on 4 track in Dalton, GA while a little drunk and high on ditch weed. This tape is warbly (although it was also like that when it was given to me by Eric in 96) and has been played in excess of 1000 times in the factory stereo of a Ford Festiva. In addition, it has been in my bag on countless tours, hitchhiking trips and played on numerous shitty tape decks all across this god-forsaken land.

Jack Palance Band at Heart Of Huntsville Mall 1996. Photo by Butch

         UPDATE 2020: I re-ripped this demo because the files were missing and now they're available again. Listening to this 25 years after it was recorded is eerie because songs like "Wrong" and "Testosterone" are still sadly relevant. JPB still rules. Racists can still eat shit. 

DOWNLOAD (Link fixed 2020)