Category: Spot

Spot – Go, Or I’ll Kill You!

April 22, 1991
Spot
Go, Or I’ll Kill You! cassette
[SDK-22] photocopied inserts, dot matrix labels


In the sense that not-so-serious groups like 7 More Seconds, Slambang Vanilla, and Kill The Man With The Ball were growing to become cartoon-esque in their parodies of hardcore and of themselves; the long-since-acquitted Spot, a genuine and original late ’80’s hardcore band, was also making gains in their mythological value. Go, Or I’ll Kill You! is most closely related to the 7 More Seconds cassette. The covers are intentionally poor Xerox copies, they’re hand numbered, limited editions of comically small quantities, and they both generally disregard the notion that some unsuspecting someone might not realize it’s a joke. More clearly, as Slamdek releases, they were both projects of small groups of friends who essentially put the tapes out because they thought it would be funny to see them in a store. Of course, those involved would all like to own a copy of the finished product, and that in itself was traditionally always reason enough to create anything under the Slamdek flag. No matter how much work it involved, nor if anyone might be interested in buying it. To settle the latter concern, Go, Or I’ll Kill You! sold in stores for 98¢. And even after the work was finished, only about 50 copies were run off, and only 34 were sold. Gee whiz.
The tape is split into two sides (duh). The first side is an August 1987 Howie Gano recording of ten of the fifteen songs from their Proud cassette.

The second side is a compilation of super lo-fi jam box recordings of Spot from practices, parties, and shows. All of the songs are dated in the liner notes, and some also include explanations. It begins with “First Practice Intro” recorded January 10, 1986. This track is about ten seconds long and amounts to Joey yelling the name of the band and some other things which are not as easy to understand. The second song, as well as four others on the tape, are from a May 1987 party at Wendy Hawkins’ parents’ house in Plainview off Hurstbourne Lane. The liner notes say of it, “The show was called Spot Rocks Seven Blocks because neighbors seven or eight blocks away were complaining about the noise.”

 


Spot, 1988: Chris Scott, Mark Ernst, Breck Pipes, Todd Cook, and Joey Mudd.


Spot show, 1987: Todd Lambert, Kip McCabe, Mark Denny, Joey Mudd.

“Live and Let Live” is third. It was recorded December 1986 in Jon Cook’s mother’s basement at the first show put on by Positive Youth For Unity (PYFU). It’s highlighted by the repeated shouting of “one two three!” in the short breaks. This was a Spot performance audience participation tradition, though it was not actually part of the song. “Spot Song” follows (from Wendy’s party) as a ditty about the formation of the band. “This is our mellow jammin’ song,” Joey introduces, “This is one you all can relax dance to.” The chorus goes, “We need a name for our band, we need it now. How ’bout Spot? We have a name for our band. Now we rule!” The next song is “Cat Penis Song,” a really bad improvised blues number from the first practice, of the kind only fifteen year old boys are capable.

The remaining three songs are from Wendy’s party. “Wally” is accentuated by the crowd encouraging Jon Cook to do “the Wally” dance, and Joey’s inharmonious harmonica playing. A special show version of “I Hate Cars” follows as “I Hate Bob,” named after Bob Kerfoot, the penny-pinching owner of Pro Quality Skates. The final song is “Colorblind,” not a 7 Seconds cover, but in fact another Spot original that didn’t
make it on Proud.

LINER NOTES:

Howie side:
Paving Your Way
Think Ahead
Open Your Eyes
Take Off Your Mask
Dressed In Black
Enough
Live and Let Live
I Hate Cars
P.Y.F.U.
Proud

Spot side:
First Practice Intro
P.Y.F.U.
Live and Let Live
Spot Song
Cat Penis Song
Wally
I Hate Bob
Colorblind

Mark Ernst, drums (’87-’88)
Brett Hosclaw, drums (’86)
Joey Mudd, vocals
Breck Pipes, guitar
Chris Scott, bass

Thanks: Duncan, Todd Cook, PYFU, Jon, SLAMDEK Fuckin’ Scramdown, and Wendy H.

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,

Christmas 1990 part 1

December 17, 1990

Christmas 1990
various artists cassette
[SDK-2590] color copied inserts (six different designs), 2 1/2″ clear acetate square overlay, photocopied liner notes, on-shell cassette labeling

Part One of two parts

By the end of 1990, a Slamdek mini-community was beginning to take shape. After the successes of Slamdek events such as the Crain/Deathwatch 7″ giveaway and the Earthquake Party on December 3, Zodiac Club owner Dave Ellenberger and his partner Dhebi Barber were interested in doing more of the same type of thing on a regular basis. While settling up the night of the Earthquake Party, Dave offered me the opportunity to book Wednesday nights with whatever kind of stuff he thought would bring people in. As a weeknight, Wednesdays would have ordinarily found the club closed. From Dave and Dhebi’s perspective, any income was better than none. Wednesdays were dubbed Slamdek Nite at the Zodiac, and while the crowds were usually 50 or fewer people, these were amazing, intimate, incredibly fun and interactive shows.

SLAMDEK/Scramdown Christmas 1990 took the basic idea of Christmas 1989 and expanded it to non-profitable, yet very gift-like, proportions. It also expanded the envelope to include bands whose past and/or future recording plans did not include Slamdek. Only one of these such groups though, had other music readily available at the time. That being King G and the J Krew, whose Snug cassette was on their own label, Hell ’N’Ready Records, and manufactured by SSDigital. Christmas 1990 was a wide open canvas that many people created, and few ultimately enjoyed. For all the effort put forth, it sold only 101 copies. Its 75 minute playing time, color packaging, and on-shell labeling, made production costs virtually equal to the retail price and served as its self defeat. Rather than reissuing its and raising its price after Christmas, other projects took precedence and it had disappeared by February 1991. With twenty-one bands involved, there’s no quick way to summarize the entire picture of Christmas 1990. Its own outrageously lengthy liner notes perhaps tell its story best. Here they are with commentary and lyrical excerpts [in brackets].

“Merry Christmas and welcome to the 1990 SLAMDEK/Scramdown Christmas tape. Where to begin? Gee. Well, first, there are a few things you should be aware of so that you’ll kinda know what to expect. One thing is that very few of these songs were intended to go together. They’re all here for different reasons. Some because they have nowhere else to go, yet they must be heard; some because they’ll be of interest to followers and friends of these bands; some because they were recorded just for this cassette; and some because members of these bands who want to try something different can use the Christmas tape as an open forum to create whatever they like, and get a response.

“So all these songs for all these reasons have been assembled here as a gift. And above all else they’re here just to be heard. Unaltered and uncensored. They get loud when they want and they say ‘fuck’ when they want, and our free country puts no labels on them to help us decide what’s right.

“These songs will mean something different to every soul whose ears they pass by. And for less than four-cents-a-minute you run the risk of looking at something in a new way, discovering something you never knew existed, or just enjoying yourself. If you work or go to school everyday, there’s a big chance that picking a tape to listen to in the car takes longer than the life-and-death decision you make at every yellow light on the way.

“Songs have no monetary value to the listener, only to the buyer. It seems really unfair to put a $7 price tag on something that costs $2.25 to make. That cheats everybody. Especially the musicians who have given their music away just so it can be heard, and the listener who can only spend so much. It’s not usually funny to charge $24 for a record. Sometimes but not usually. [A reference to a Crain/Deathwatch 7” I put in ear X-tacy for $24.99, which never sold.]

“For these reasons, and several others, the annual SLAMDEK/Scramdown Christmas Extravaganza carries a silly little price tag called ‘two ninety-eight.’ This is it.

“Starting now, you’ll go through twenty-three songs by twenty-one bands. In just over seventy-five minutes, you’ll touch on the thoughts and emotions of fifty-five musicians; fifty-four of whom are from Louisville. No one older than 25. You’ll hear music that’s just a few weeks old, and some that’s just a few years. Dig deep into Louisville, this is its youth, this is its sound, this is its progression. This is its thanks. Merry Christmas.

“The first band is one who debuted as a two-piece on last year’s Christmas tape. Sister Shannon opens side one with ‘Goreman.’ This digital recording was made December 5, 1990 through a mixing board at their practice [the same method used for Crain and Substance as described on page 16]. Now with four members, Sister Shannon is Robin Wallace singing, Dave Ernst on bass, Greta Ritcher on guitar, and drummer Kevin Coultas. Besides this song, their only other release is ‘Romp’ on the Christmas 1989 cassette. Kevin and Dave were in Crawdad who have a limited edition live cassette out called Loaded. Greta and Robin were also in Your Face whose Magenta Bent is also still available. Sister Shannon plans to record soon and have either a 7″ or 10″ out in 1991 with a matching cassette version.

[Sister Shannon broke up in February 1991, having never recorded in a studio. This track and the other two recorded 12/5/90 appeared on the Slamdek Singles two-tape compilation in 1992. “This is the place where I lie down, this is the place where I think of you. This is the place where I wander alone, this is the place where I touch your face. Take me back, take me back. This is the place, the place is small. I am the place, I am tall, without you.”]

“Second is Downpour with the only song they ever documented, ‘Defense.’ This was
recorded at Studio 2002 in Jeffersonville (that’s right; the Hoosier State! Hey what’s a
virgin in Indiana? A girl that can run faster than her brothers! a ha ha ha!) But anyway, Downpour is unfortunately no longer together, and this song remains as their only release. Playing on this song are E. Dan Patterson on bass, Andrew Kincade singing, John Weiss drumming, William Greene on guitar, and backing vocals by C. Sprano and S. Rose. John Weiss is now in Sunspring.

[“Break down the defense, tear down the stone walls. No one here is a stone’s throw from perfect, but don’t kill yourself, don’t kid yourself. Security comes apart. Self righteousness turns condemnation, but I want more than a lie. Take a look, turn it down, why? Why? I’ll tell you why. You’re the one who brings you down. You’re the one who tears you down. Who controls your destiny? Who stripped you of your dignity? Who took away your integrity? Left you naked in the city? Is it enough to set you free? When you were a child, unaware of denial, sheltered by your own youth. Now that you’re tall, you’ve built a stone wall, but it’s set up by the truth. Don’t turn away, the stage is real.”]

“Next is Crain whose tune called ‘Drain’ was recorded on 16 tracks at Mom’s [Sound On Sound] in August 1990. Crain is still together and they feature Tim Furnish on guitar, Jon Cook on bass, singer Joey Mudd, and drummer Will Chatham who sometimes sings for the Didjits [at a 1990 Didjits show at the Zodiac, Will was invited on stage to sing a song and the joke began to introduce Will as ‘the singer of the Didjits’]. Crain appeared on a split 7″ given away at the Zodiac September 7, 1990 which was limited to 300 copies (the other side was Deathwatch). Another Crain record or two will be released in 1991 in much greater numbers and larger areas on Woodpile Records. Watch for it.

[Woodpile was Jon Cook’s label that, before its first release, became Automatic Wreckords. Named after an automobile accident from which insurance money paid for the release, Automatic issued a four song Crain 7″, the Rocket EP, in 1991. It contained three more songs from the 8/90 Sound On Sound session, “Monkeywrench,” “Skinminer Pastel,” and “Painful Answer,” as well as an excerpt of a spontaneous jam from my recording at Will’s house, “Nervous Woman Nervous Man.” “You feel it build, it’s something inside you, you know it’s there, it’s all in your pocket, or in your hand. Drill a hole inside your head. Let it spill, spill to your feet. You ask yourself, what is it that is making you, taking you down. Let loose. Cut loose. Escape. Let it drain.”]

“Fourth but not least is Slambang Vanilla. They’re bringin’ it home with ‘Ricky!’ an advance cut off their upcoming 98-song, two-tape set, Sideburnin’. SBV had two songs on last year’s Christmas Fiesta as well as their own tape The Memphis Sessions & A Smokin’ Word LP. ‘Ricky!’ was recorded at 1312 Everett Avenue in September 1990. Entertaining the troops on this hit selection are: Jesus Rosebud on instruments, and Goober The Baptist on instruments.

[At this point, Joey and I had settled on our character names Jesus Rosebud and Goober The Baptist, respectively. The 98-song Sideburnin’ was never completed nor released, though we did actually record fifty songs for it. Yes, fifty songs, bringing SBV’s total works to a total of seventy songs! By now, the joke-turned-obsession was wildly out of control. “Slip me a mickey, or don’t. I get real sicky when I touch ya, you’re so sticky. Go on jump out the window, and cut my grass. Don’t take all day. Make it quickie, Ricky!”]

“Bush as in President, League as in baseball. Next is Bush League. This seven minute epic is called ‘Bain’ and was recorded in an analog fashion at Bush League practice December 6, 1990. Singing is Buzz Scumshit [Buzz Minnick], Rusty Sohm is on bass, Mike Borich is on guitar, and the drummer is Woody Delaney. This song is now their only release. They plan to go into the studio in January, though they don’t have any definite plans to put out a record any time soon. So just swallow this one for now.

[Months after the release of Christmas 1990, I learned that the track ‘Bain’ is not actually seven minutes, but rather was two songs played back to back. The second song which appeared on the cassette was ‘Close.’ They did record at Sound On Sound in early 1991 with temporary drummer David Pajo, released two seven inches on Better Days Records, and fizzled out of contention in 1993.]

“The sixth song is an earlier version of a Spot classic than the one most people are familiar with. The song is ‘Paving Your Way’ and was recorded on 8 tracks at Sound On Sound in August 1987. Playing on this song are Breck Pipes on guitar, Mark Ernst on drums, Chris Scott on bass, and vocalist Joey Mudd. There are no current plans to release the tape Go, Or I’ll Kill You! from which this song is taken. Their Proud cassette was released in April 1988 and will return to shelves this January. Jeanette Howerton, you’re first on the list!

[Jeanette Howerton was a mail order customer who had ordered the Proud cassette in the summer of 1990 when it was temporarily out of print. Her order was held for many months until it was finally filled the following year. Go, Or I’ll Kill You! contained the entire August 1987 session as well as a compilation of jam box recordings from Spot’s first practices and shows. It was finally released on cassette in April 1991 in a very limited edition and sold for 98¢. “When you pay the church, pay the priest. You’re paying for your soul to be released. Money hungry evangelists is what they are. Stealing your money so they can buy a car. Paying is paving your way. Give me some money, you’re sure to go to heaven. If not, you’ll burn in hell. Oh, well.]

“Pope Lick is a solo project by Drew Daniel who has been in Cerebellum and Crain. This song is called ‘Is That The Easter Bunny?’ and is best when your parents are home and you turn it all the way up. It was inspired by a scene in a movie where some passerby asks a gifted artist that painful question, ‘Is that the Easter Bunny?’ But as the story goes, we find that to be a big negatory. No. It’s not the Easter Bunny at all. Additional drums in some parts are played by Matthew Sussman. Except for about forty cassettes that Drew gave away, this song is only available here. It was recorded on 4-track during summer 1990 and mixed to DAT in August at Slamdek.

[Drew compiled a 90 minute cassette of a wide variety of styles of music he experimented with on his weathered and beaten 4-track. While mixing the songs at my parents’ house, he had to hold the 4-track’s power adapter cord in a certain position for it to operate. It ended up taking several days to mix all of the material. I then duplicated forty copies of it which Drew gave to friends before he went away to school in California.]

“Number eight is brand new Hopscotch Army. The song is called ‘Sundown’ and was mixed to digital from 16-track at Studio D in November 1990. It’s off an upcoming EP expected for spring. If you’re familiar with Hopscotch Army at all, you’ll notice that this is the first song they’ve ever recorded without keyboards. They had a live song called ‘Anesthesia’ on the Christmas 1989 Buffet, and a successful 12 song cassette and CD in August 1989 called Blurry. Playing bass is Scott Darrow, the guitarist is Jeff Goebel, singing and playing acoustic guitar is Mark Ritcher, and Dave Hoback is the drummer.

[Studio D is actually DSL after it moved from Juniper Hill to Jeffersontown, but before the name DSL had been officially chosen. The upcoming EP mentioned was Belief which came out in August 1991 on cassette and CD. Danny Flanigan had left the band and Jeff Goebel was brought in on guitar, making Mark the singular front man, and providing the group with a more unified sound. “Cold like morning, dark like night. Teeth are sinking, take one last bite. Wind’s a knife splitting bones. With heavy steps, stifle the moan. Rain falls hard on the dirt it pounds. Shaking air, the siren sounds. Boiling burns, like ice and fire. Reflex dull through mist and wire. I can see the sunset disappear. Somehow I know the end is near.”]

“Lettuce Prey is next with a song called ‘Undermine’. It’s a live cassette recording from the Red Barn in October 1990. Recorded off the mixing board, it’s monophonic! Lettuce Prey will be recording at the Zodiac on off days and is making plans for a release also in the spring. Playing on this song are Lionell Andrews on guitar, Mitchell Douglass singing, Richie Griley on bass guitar, and master drummer Brett Hosclaw. ‘Undermine’ is the only Lettuce Prey that you can get as of now.

[Lettuce Prey never got around to releasing anything before their demise in 1991. “I see there’s nothing new, I keep it all inside. It’s just my special way. You think you know me well, I’ve got you eating out of my hand. Before you know it’s too late to take advantage of my position. Feed you my dreams, things you can’t have. Still you never understand the mind of a selfish man. You can curse me, go on, curse me. But all stays the same, you can’t stay away.”]

“The tenth would be the Rain Chorus, recorded December 5, 1990 at Snagilwet, their second show. This one is called ‘Michael’ and is also a cassette recording off the mixing board. The Rain Chorus is shopping for a record deal, but have not recorded as of yet. They are: Dony Erwin on bass, drumming is Cary Shields, and Danny Flanigan is singing and playing guitar. Guest saxophone on this song is played by Reid Jahn.

[The Rain Chorus evolved through some member changes an eventually released a cassette and CD, Sun Over Rain, on their own label Ensemble Records in 1993. After the Rain Chorus split, Danny Flanigan’s song writing went on to be showcased in Danny Flanigan and Greathouse, who released a CD on Ensemble in early 1995. “Please don’t tell me it was all a lie. I remember you saying, one way or another, you were gonna win the fight. Now I can’t believe my ears, and won’t believe my eyes. Is it true what mamma told me? Michael, have you lost your mind? When it rains it pours, Michael.”]

“Side one ends with Endpoint’s ‘Endpoint Outro’ which is a digitally recorded practice tape from December 1990. It is one of six songs on this cassette that was recorded just for the purpose of being here. Endpoint has a seventeen song cassette from June 1989 called If The Spirits Are Willing which is still available. They recently recorded a 9-song LP in Cleveland for Conversion Records. In A Time Of Hate will be out nationwide on vinyl, cassette, and compact disc in January. Among other things, they’re sponsored by Vans and will be touring with Shelter next year. Guitars are Chad Castetter and Duncan Barlow, bass by Jason Hayden, Lee Fetzer on drums, and vocals by Rob Pennington.

[This was an instrumental track with the only vocal being Rob’s announcement at the end, ‘Merry Christmas, Louisville. From Endpoint.’ The vinyl on Conversion came out about eight months behind schedule in August 1991, the cassette several months later, and the CD didn’t make it until the following year. ‘Endpoint Outro’ was included on the Slamdek CD reissue of If The Spirits Are Willing in 1994.]

“The second side opens with a new band. Just as the Back Doors salute Jim Morrison, and Stairway to Heaven revive Led Zeppelin; let us introduce the 7 Seconds tribute band: 7 More Seconds. This song is called ‘In Your Face’ and appears here as 7 More Seconds’ debut recital. The legend is recaptured by singer/drummer Lee Fetzer, guitarist Duncan Barlow (back vocals), bassist K. Scott Ritcher (back vocals), and guitarist Chad Castetter. Since 7 Seconds broke up, the door is wide open. Anything is imaginable. It’s a digital practice tape, December 1990.

[This could be candidate #2 for the joke-turned-obsession department. To this band’s dismay, the break up of the real 7 Seconds was apparently a rumor. However, 7 More Seconds did play a January 1991 show at the Zodiac Club and recorded the same night, and possibly set a record for turn around time between recording and release. The line up changed a little and, for their cassette, the band members took on the last names of the 7 Seconds members on The Crew. “You wanna be the way I am but you can never understand. You shave your fuckin’ head and turn your back on your best friends. It’s not just in my head it’s in my heart, and if I can give a fuck, you better start. So, use your head, be aware, give a fuck!”]

“The thirteenth song is a pre-Cerebellum jam box tape of a song that’s either called ‘Ditty’ or ‘Grimace’, depending on who you ask. It’s from April 3, 1988 with Tim Furnish on guitar, and Joey Mudd on bass. As a six member band, Cerebellum’s 5-song cassette came out in September 1989 and is still available. They broke up in May 1989, and four of the remaining members now comprise Crain.

[The song was listed as ‘Grimace’ and was an instrumental with a drum machine.]

“Song number fourteen is a Joey Mudd solo project called Lunge Engage. This song is a four track recording from April 1990 by the name of ‘Ode To A Chick’. At this point there are no definite plans for studio work or a Lunge Engage record. This song is the only release to date, but there may be some live shows to go with it. As mentioned above, Joey now sings for Crain.

[Joey played two great shows as Lunge Engage on Slamdek Nites at the Zodiac, December 26, 1990 with Lettuce Prey and Sunspring; and the very moving Acoustic Slamdek Nite, January 16, 1991, (the night George Bush declared war) with Simon Furnish, Andrew Kincade, Slambang Vanilla, and a very un-acoustic Kill The Man With The Ball. Joey never released anything other than this song under the Lunge Engage name. “I bounce back with a single throw. Touching the sky is my highest achievement. My goal is to penetrate the crust that bounds my flight. Cut it. Burn it. Break it.”]

“The next one is a live tune from King G and the J Krew’s Sung double album EP release party in August 1990. Sure, it’s digital. Although they’re a rap group, this is a thrash cover of an old commercial called ‘Did I Do Something Wrong?’ Their 89-minute debut cassette is still available from Hell ’N’Ready Records. Kicking out the jam are: King G (G-Man/King Mellow-D), J Kool J (M.C.E.T., M.C.2-Ripe), J-Ax (’Lectric Lick Master Lett), Kool J Kool (M.C. Diogenes/J-Sonic), and, of course, the legendary Secret Weapon! Guest drummer is Todd Osbourne. While they’re now broken up for schoolin’, King G and the J Krew plan to return with something devastating as soon as they’re educated.

[As you’ll see it develop later in the book, King G and the J Krew could easily take the cake for the joke-turned-obsession file. King G was Greg King, Kool J Kool was Jason Noble, Secret Weapon was John Hawpe, J Kool J was Jeff Mueller, and J-Ax was Alan Lett. The group evolved into King Kid International, which later became Rodan. “Hold it down I just got home. Can’t you see that I’m on the phone? Isn’t it enough that I work all day? I should have some time to get away. Dishes, diapers, dirty rags. Bosses, bills, and nag, nag, nag. Shut up, kid, you’re in the way. I’m so mad I could slap your face.”]

“Sixteenth by a long shot is the straight edge up-your-ass gospel of Kill The Man With The Ball! They’ve quickly become the most hated and feared hardcore band that Louisville youths have ever witnessed. The song, ‘Christmas Straightedge,’ is a remarkable taste of their evil and hard stance against alcohol, drugs, sex, and unseasonable tree pruning. Kill The Man With The Ball is: XCauseyX drums, XHaydenX guitar, XFetzerX bass, XBarlowX vocal assault, and XCastetterX guitar. This digital recording is their only example.

[What was wrong with everyone in late 1990? Was the Louisville scene trying to pioneer the genre of hardcore parodies? This chapter of musical chairs begins the golden age of Endpoint side bands. This song is sung to the tune of Danzig’s ‘Twist of Cain’. The group played some intentionally annoying shows in which they demonstrated their namesake by turning the pit into a huge version of the elementary school playground game Kill The Man With The Ball. Yes, this really happened. Many times. “Christmas Straightedge in your face! You drink that drink, do that dope. Can’t you see your life is a fuckin’ joke? Do that drink in your basement. You’re the loser of this game.”]

“The seventeenth band is a two-piecer called The Inside of a Shoe. The song they do goes by the same name. The music was recorded in Silver Spring, Maryland in June 1990, and the vocals in Louisville in December. This is The Inside of a Shoe’s only recording and/or release, and they have no plans to record or not to record. Playing drums is Jay Robbins of Jawbox whose first full length album will be released nationwide early next year on Dischord Records. They have a 5-song cassette and matching 4-song 7″ from May 1990 which are both still available. Playing guitar and singing is K. Scott Ritcher who is now in Sunspring. They have a 6-song cassette out called $1.50 Demo of which there are a few left. Sunspring plans to record at Studio D in 1991 and have a release shortly after.

[This was taken from a DAT of Jay and I goofing off, to which I later added vocals. Jawbox’s first album, Grippe, was released on Dischord in June 1991. Sunspring recorded in March 1991 at Sound On Sound for our first release as an actual band, a split 7″ with Endpoint. That record came out the following month on Slamdek. “Overlooked and under cooked. I don’t want to be caught with my guard down. Hit me next time and I’ll have an answer, take a step back to learn a new way. To screw the path, I’ve got nothing to say. Take a thought and make it yours. Grab a goal because it’s there.”]

“No. 18: Deathwatch ‘Invent A Law’. This song was mistakenly listed on the
Crain/Deathwatch 7″ when the song that appeared on the record was actually ‘Ignorance Downfall’. So here it is for anyone who wondered what it sounds like. This was recorded at Artists’ Recording Service in Louisville during February 1988. Off that 7-song ARS tape, only four songs now remain unreleased. Deathwatch later became Endpoint and ‘Invent A Law’ later became ‘Shattered Justice’ which is on the cassette If The Spirits Are Willing. Playing on this are: Rusty Sohm on drums, Jason Graff on bass, Rob Pennington singing, and guitarists Greg Carmichael and Duncan Barlow.

[“Invent, invent a law. See justice in action. Politicians only wishing, put down the kids in the final reaction. Foundation of our nation, invent a law for their satisfaction.”]

continued …

Christmas 1989

December 22, 1989
Christmas 1989
various artists cassette
[SDK-2589] color copied stickers on soft shell cases, photocopied inserts, dot matrix labels

The 1989 SLAMDEK/Scramdown Christmas tape begins with those little tones, stolen right off any Capitol/EMI Records cassette. Released just three days before Christmas, it sold a total of 92 copies at $2.98 each. Forty of those at ear X-tacy (next to Great Escape) on the first day, and the other 52 spread out between Ken’s Records, Shred Threads, and Sundancer over the next year until it fizzled out of print.

The tape was compiled by Joey Mudd and I, with a contribution by Lee Fetzer. With thirteen songs at the price of a cassette single, by ten local bands, it had a variety of different styles and recording qualities. It introduced five new artists making their recording debuts, while the other five offered songs unavailable elsewhere. The tape was split into two sides, the Easy Listening Side, and the Difficult Listening Side. Starting the tradition of Slamdek Christmas tapes, this release also began the tradition of lengthy
liner notes with plenty to read.

“The 1989 SLAMDEK/Scramdown Christmas Record consists of many things that may be of interest to followers of these bands, but few things that are suitable for a high price. So as a gift, they have been assembled for your
inexpensive consumption. Not necessarily because these ten bands go well together, or because they have holiday themes, but because if you like one song out of the thirteen, or are turned on to something you’ve never heard before, we’ll consider it a successful sale. Depending on your taste, you may enjoy them all. We hope so.

“One thing this 1989 Christmas Record will not lack is an abundance of liner notes. Don’t it just put a coal in your stockin’ when you buy a tape and there’s nothing to read? Might as well have bought a bundle of switches. To better inform yourself about what you’re listening to (so you can converse knowledgeably with your friends) it would be in your best interest to continue reading.

“We will, no doubt, probably receive at least one response that this so-called Christmas ‘Record’ is a tape and should be called a Christmas tape instead. The 1987 compilation was also a tape and was called a Christmas ‘Album.’ The word ‘record’ is short for ‘recording’ and an ‘album’ is a collection of individual pieces of art; neither term necessarily implies a flat, round, vinyl object. Both can be in the form of a cassette. OK? Now that we’ve defined our terms. We should also let you know that ‘D.A.T.’ is not a word and should be pronounced ‘dee ay tee.’ If you, at any point in your life, have said ‘dat’ and expected it to mean ‘Digital Audio Tape,’ we feel that you are sorely mistaken. Merry Christmas anyway.”

The first song is Hopscotch Army’s “Anesthesia,” recorded live to DAT on Halloween night 1989 at Tewligans. A studio version of this song was recorded for their Belief album in 1991. “Fasten me in the pillow seat, bouncing off the cruelty, cushioned from a society that hates itself sincerely. Breaking down on broken knees, much to fat to beg or plead, until it eats itself in greed. Take me away. Anesthesia. We’re drenched in shame, we’re all to blame for hurting ourselves and hurting each other.”


Sister Shannon, 1989: Robin Wallace and Greta Ritcher, wearing a Slambang Vanilla shirt.

Spot is next with their acoustic version of “Skate For Fun,” recorded on Derby Day 1989 to commemorate the one year anniversary of the band’s breakup. This was then also featured as one of four bonus cuts on their Proud release. Credited in the liner notes for playing on this song were, “Breck Pipes on guitar, Joey Mudd singing with Wiffie and Hobie from Your Face, and Mark Denny and K Scott from McBand.” “Get up, get dressed, grab my board, eat my toast, goin’ out to have some fun. Skating for fun, not sitting around being a fucking bum, baby.”

Slambang Vanilla follows with two tracks. The first is a Christmas song recorded in December of 1989 called “Under Your Tree (Stuff My Stockin).” The second song is from the Memphis Sessions and a Smokin’ Word LP and is called “Have a Slice of My Sugarloaf (Lump).” Playing guitar and singing is Col. Vanilla “Truckstop” McEnos [me], doing backups, the wahwah, and a handful of sixty cents (two quarters and a dime) is Jesus Rosebud [Joey]. There’s also a track of sleigh bells played by Tishy Quesenberry of Your Face. “Under you tree I’m waiting to be ripped open, bows on my head, I’m the biggest gift under your freshly cut evergreen child. Check it mamma, I’m invisible tape, open me gently not to rip my skin. I’m at the top of your tree shining’ down on your fat cousin.”

Sister Shannon is the fourth band. This is Robin Wallace singing and Greta Ritcher on guitar. Both were at this time is Litterbug Dixiecup a short-lived band that never played out, which Robin and Greta formed after Your Face but before Sister Shannon became a four piece. It was originally called Litterbug Dicksucker, to which there is a song dedication on the Crawdad cassette. This song is called “Romp” and is a digital recording made in December 1989 at the Ritchers’ house for the Christmas tape. “Kiss the sky, the horizon bleeds and sucks its thumb. Is this the taste of blood? Perhaps it is the taste of love, they say love leaves a bitter taste. We do, we do, we do this thing. We take it in and get nothing. Bite the ground, the dirt is wet and turns to mud. It fills my mouth like food. A mouth full of mud is better than nothing to eat at all, but I am hungry for something more.”


Original soft shell version of the Christmas 1989 cassette cover. The first fifty were made in this style, and the second fifty were in normal Norelco® cassette cases.

“Close Enough To See” by Danny Flanigan of Hopscotch Army is the sixth song. This was recorded in November 1989 at DSL [which was actually still Juniper Hill by another name]. Danny was beginning to play solo acoustic performances while still in Hopscotch Army and did more of the same after leaving the group, before forming the Rain Chorus. He also self released two solo cassettes during this span. “Looking starward, outer space. Mars may as well be Africa. In our hometown daily lives most of us live well enough not to worry. And we close our eyes, look the other way, when we see grocery cart people trying to survive. Hunger isn’t far away, it’s close enough to see. Not so far away, it’s close enough to see, and we’re close enough to feed. What a job, keeping warm by keeping busy. And the meals don’t come so steady, it all depends on what you find that someone might buy. One man’s junk and aluminum cans.”

Not Just Another Dog closes side ones with “Theo.” This is a 4-track recording made in May 1989. The involved were Lee T. Fetzer of Endpoint, Jocko C.M. Penn, and Brad B. Buchanan. This song was provided at the last minute as yet another gift to those interested. “The other day just seems so far away from now, can’t even comprehend the prize of fate.”

The second side, the Difficult Listening Side, opens with Endpoint doing two songs live. The first one was a new one called “Model.” The second was “Face” and can be found in its original form on If The Spirits Are Willing. Both songs were later recorded for their In A Time Of Hate album on Conversion. This was recorded in December 1989 at St. Francis High School. At this time Endpoint was Rob Pennington singing, Jason Graff on bass, drummer Lee Fetzer, and Duncan Barlow and Chad Castetter (spelled wrong in the liner notes as “Castenater”) on guitars. “You talk a lot of shit, your life is such a lie, garbage pours from your lips, why do you even try. Try to be yourself.”

“Climb To Power” from X Able To Act X [uh, pronounced as Able To Act] is tenth. It was recorded at practice in April 1988. Spot vocalist Joey Mudd on bass, Todd Lambert on the vocal chords, Chad Talbott playing drums, and Robin Pudding [Tim Furnish] on guitar. The band never put out any records or played a show.

“Guard” and “Hurt,” are live Cerebellum songs from Karen Sheets’ basement show in March 17, 1989. They were recorded on a jam box by Karen. “You’re not impressing anyone, so put that image on the shelf. Why don’t you put your guard down? Guard!”


December 7, 1989: Slambang Vanilla’s rejection letter from Atlantic

The thirteenth and final song is “Worship” from Crawdad. This is a digitally recorded practice tape from November 1989. The liner notes plugged, “their live cassette and home video will probably be out soon, both at ridiculously low prices to encourage massive cash register turnouts.” The cassette was shyly released in May 1990, and the home video was shot but never edited nor released. “You’re on your knees, looking at the sky, watching the motions, I’m wondering why. I’ll put you out, out in the rain. I’ll give you shelter from this pain. You’re on your knees, it’s looking you in the eye. Tell me what you see, do you see a thing?”

The bottom of the back cover of the cassette read, “This cassette should cost you no more than $2.98 plus tax. If it does, please call 1-800-729-6616. All material (except *) previously unreleased. Home taping is theft. If you like these bands, please don’t steal their music. … Special thanks to Karen Sheets. Good luck Breck. Merry Christmas to all.”

The message to Breck Pipes was on the occasion of his family’s move to Jacksonville, Florida. This spelled demise for Crawdad, who had only been together seven months. At his new home, he opened a skateboard shop, Deep End, named after an earlier venture he and Joey had taken into hand screening and selling Spot shirts. A year later Breck drove to Louisville for a Crawdad reunion show at the Zodiac Club, December 3, 1990. By then, Sister Shannon, who opened the show, had become a full fledged band, as had Sunspring, who barely filled the rest of the bill by making a short, shaky debut. In February 1991, Breck closed the doors on his shop and moved back to Louisville, sharing half of my one bedroom efficiency apartment on Everett Avenue. Soon after his return to Louisville, he joined Sister Shannon as a second guitarist. This made Sister Shannon even more so into a hybrid of Your Face (Greta Ritcher and Robin Wallace) and Crawdad (David Ernst, Kevin Coultas, and Breck).

The insert to Christmas 1989 also included a reproduction of the rejection letter Slambang Vanilla received from Atlantic Records. Joey and I had typed up a phony press release about the “hot new act from Nitro, West Virginia” and sent it to several publications as a joke. CMJ actually ran a small blurb about The Smokin’ Word LP in an early December 1989 issue, thinking the band had several records out, and better yet, was a real band. Within a few days, an Atlantic A&R rep left a message on my answering machine requesting a copy of the Slambang Vanilla cassette. This took the two of us pranksters totally by surprise as we had no idea the piece was actually printed in CMJ. Hopscotch Army manager Gary Deusner recognized the prank as Slamdek handiwork while flipping through his copy of CMJ, and called the Slamdek 1-800 number to make sure we knew it was in there. This success only fueled the Slambang Vanilla joke-turned-obsession engine, and made the stupid cause all the more unstoppable. We celebrated with a trip to Pizza King (“the proof is in the taste!”) across the river in New Albany, Indiana.

Spot – Proud

April 22, 1988
Spot
Proud cassette
[HAHX-1724] color copied inserts, dot matrix labels

With such a mixed reaction to a lot of the subpar quality of material on the Christmas cassette, Jeff, who was becoming an increasingly bigger fuel for Slamdek ideas, and I, made a decision. Dorian Grey material, while there was plenty of it, would be a poor choice to release. As fun as things were, there’s only so long you can put out music that nobody is particularly interested in. Conversations went on and on, and eventually it was decided that Slamdek would not release anything else that wasn’t recorded in a studio. Furthermore, we decided it was time to act like it was a real label and actually try to sell some tapes. Our first choice for a band to really “start” Slamdek off was Spot.

Spot was a young straight edge skatecore band that had its fans but wasn’t necessarily respected by the old scene. To the old scenesters they were a bunch of little kids, but to Jeff and I they were awesome. To our surprise Spot was interested and went into Todd Smith’s 8-track home studio within the month.

Four months later, April 22, 1988, Slamdek had its second beginning with the release of its first full-length, studio produced, real-life punk rock tape with full color inserts and printed lyrics. I took a copy of the tape to Middletown’s new super Kroger where Spot singer Joey Mudd worked. He could not believe how good it looked. The old scene was shocked, too. Those little kids did this? The Proud cassette simultaneously established Slamdek and Spot as a new group of people who were serious about bettering the Louisville punk rock scene and taking it beyond the city’s limits.


Summer 1987, Spot performing at a skateboard contest at Gardiner Lane Shopping Center: Breck Pipes, Mark Ernst, Joey Mudd.

Spot had recorded ten of these same fifteen songs before. During 1987, they had visited Howie Gano’s Sound on Sound Studio under the guidance of Mike Bucayu who ran Self Destruct Records. Their song, “Proud,” was to be included on an upcoming
compilation 7″ called Louisville Sluggers, which eventually was released in May of ’88. The four-band 7″ also featured Fading Out, AYCD, and Mike’s band Solution Unknown.

Improving the quality of the scene was nothing new to them. Joey and Jon Cook had been doing shows in Jon’s mother’s basement for a while, and their organization Positive Youth For Unity (PYFU) set up shows elsewhere, too, and tried to get new people involved.

In April 1988, at age 18, I got a $3,000 small business loan to import a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder. DAT was a very new technology at the time, and as a result of its ability to make better-than-CD quality recordings, DAT was a very gray market. That is, it wasn’t quite illegal as no laws had been passed against it in the United States. But it also wasn’t accepted as a viable recording format yet since a debate was raging in Congress over it. In the pre-DAT years of Slamdek, cassettes had been copied one by one from another cassette master tape, or high-speed duplicated by Kentucky Sound. With the arrival of DAT, each cassette could be made directly from a DAT master, the equivalent of the original studio reels. The improvement in sound quality this makes is amazing. You can tell the difference even in your car with the wind blowing. And just as a little side item: the main company fighting DAT’s sale in this country was CBS Records. CBS had proposed putting a CopyCode chip in every DAT recorder to be sold in the US.


June 4, 1988: from “Pioneering Indies Have Plenty to Celebrate” in Billboard.

This chip would prevent the DAT machine from making direct digital copies. You see, if your friend bought a Miami Sound Machine CD for $17 and a blank DAT cassette is $8, why buy the CD when you can have a perfect copy of it for $8? However, in many tests it was found that the CopyCode chip actually degraded the sound quality by fractions of degrees. This made DAT recorders with the chip less than perfect and therefore not nearly as desirable. Before the chip could be redesigned, Sony, the world’s largest manufacturer of DAT recorders, bought CBS Records. During this acquisition, CBS magically forgot all about the CopyCode chip and DAT recorders are now in every recording studio in America.

Capitalizing on some of the hype about DAT, a handful of Spot Proud DAT’s were put together. This little stunt found SLAMDEK/Scramdown its way into a June 4, 1988 Billboard article about independent labels. A total of nine copies of Proud on DAT were sold. Later releases by Cerebellum, Endpoint, and Pink Aftershock were also simultaneously issued on DAT. One copy of Endpoint’s If The Spirits Are Willing was sold to a mail order customer in New Jersey. Other than that, the DAT versions were ultimately good only for their novelty. An 8-track tape version of Proud was made in 1989 just for fun. It may have been the world’s only digitally mastered 8-track tape.

In the production credits to Proud, someone named Cubby Cleaver is listed. One night Joey decided that Todd Smith should be called Cubby Cleaver. The joke went on for months with Joey constantly referring to Todd as Cubby until it eventually found its way into the credits of this and several later releases. The Spot tape also marked the first cassette to include partial artwork done on a Macintosh computer. The Kinko’s on Fourth Street near U of L was where it happened. They didn’t even have a color copier then. The Macintosh work was done on very slow, very

black and white, very small Mac II’s. The pieces of type were then cut with scissors and taped on to a paper original. The color copies were done at the Market Street Kinko’s, which was then at the corner of Seventh Street. The cutting and folding of those copies took place at my parents’ house while I was running cassettes one by one off the DAT master. The tapes were sold at shows and at Ken’s, Mother’s, and the old ear X-tacy next to Great Escape. Over the years, going in and out of print, it sold over 300 copies. Different later versions of Proud in 1989 and 1990 included extra tracks: “Proud” (Louisville Sluggers version), “Skate For Fun” (acoustic), “Falling” (live), and radio style interview cuts. The last printing of the Spot tape was a late 1994 reissue that commemorated eight years of Slamdek and benefited the second season of the Slamdek Field Hockey Rockers.

LINER NOTES:

Back up vocals by Spot, Tim, and Todd. Produced by Dave Taylor and K Scott with Spot. Recorded and engineered by Cubby Cleaver and Todd Smith at Cleaver Productions, January 1988.

Thanks to: P.Y.F.U. (RIP), Crisis, Deathwatch, Substance, Able to Act, Solution Unknown, S.F.F., Charlie’s Pizzeria (RIP), Soulside, Jon Cook, Tim Furnish, Duncan Barlow, Brett Hosclaw, Ric Hopkins, John Furse, Mike Bucayu, Dave (Ind.), Todd Lambert, Mark Denny, Tiffany Tronzo, Pat McShane, K Scott and all the fine folks at SLAMDEK/Scramdown, Louisville Brotherhood (Yo bros!), wool, the Bums!, 2 Guys + 1, Jami Lewder, Dave Ernst, Tammy, Christi Canfield, Wendy Hawkins, Doo Wop, our parents, all the Louisville bands past and present that we didn’t mention, everybody who has helped and supported us over the years. Thanks!

Todd Cook, guitar
Mark Ernst, drums
Joey Mudd, vocals
Breck Pipes, guitar
Chris Scott, bass

Plays on both sides:
Think Ahead
Take Off Your mask
Open Your Eyes
Enough
Dressed In Black
Frisian
Wake Up
I Hate Cars
Paving Your Way
P.Y.F.U.
Skate For Fun
Proud
The Past
Live and Let Live
Wally

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,