February 2, 1991
7 More Seconds
The 7 Secons Tribute Band cassette
[SDK-7.CTC-1] photocopied inserts, dot matrix labels
Sometimes when you look back on things you did years ago, it really makes you wonder who was pushing the buttons upstairs. 7 More Seconds was born as the child of long winter nights at Lee Fetzer’s. His Main Street apartment, two blocks east of the Zodiac, was a meeting place and hang out during winter months after the Parking Lot had been officially shut down by the Law. As Endpoint’s practice space, there was always a wealth of musical equipment and plenty of hands to put it all to good use. Seemingly every weekend, a new combination of the same fifteen or so people on different instruments would start a new band.
A few of these groups lasted longer than a single night and lived long enough to play shows. Kill The Man With The Ball was one, Shovel was another, and so was 7 More Seconds. The idea of the band had been a joke for several months before a practice actually materialized. From the beginning, there was no doubt that Lee would sing. And Chad Castetter was an obvious shoo-in for guitar. I was also a big 7 Seconds fan, but didn’t have the necessary guitar skill. On early 7 Seconds albums, before every song became a Steve Youth bass solo, the bass was more straight forward. So I took the bass position. Duncan Barlow walked into the room and instantly picked up another guitar. Thus, one night in November 1990, 7 More Seconds was born.
I stopped by Endpoint practice one night in December to record their “Endpoint Outro” for the 1990 Christmas tape. After practice, it was quickly decided that with the DAT recorder set up, this was 7 More Seconds’ opportunity to actually become reality. A few times through the 7 Seconds classic “In Your Face” from Walk Together Rock Together, and it was recorded for posterity. The following week, Lee and Duncan visited my apartment to add vocals to the recording. And a couple weeks after that, it appeared on the Christmas tape.
The inclusion of the 7 More Seconds song on the Christmas tape seemed to light the fuse. After that it was only a matter of time before the band would begin practicing on a regular basis, learn an entire set of classic 7 Seconds material, and play a show. Since Lee couldn’t play drums and be the front man at a live show as he could on tape, the drumming of another 7 Seconds connoisseur, Will Chatham, was enlisted. And Duncan dropped out, making it a four piece. As you might have guessed, it happened on a Slamdek Nite at the Zodiac, January 30, 1991. Crain and the God Bullies were scheduled to play, though the latter didn’t make it due to van problems. It was a typical Slamdek Nite, about forty people showed up and had a really good time. Since the God Bullies cancelled, there was a lot of time to goof off. During this time, sound men David Taylor and Cary connected my DAT recorder to the mixing board. The full sets of both bands were recorded. 7 More Seconds opened the show and it was everything it was supposed to be.
The recording is frenzied, hilarious, and nothing short of brilliant (on opposite day). One of the highlights is the very end when Will Chatham stands up, throws his drum sticks into the crowd, grabs the microphone and shouts, in a voice that implies his certainty that the audience got double their money’s worth, “Thank you very much!” Crain followed with a phenomenal set.
After the show, when the audience had dispersed, we ran through the entire 7 More Seconds set again for another DAT recording. It was mixed specifically for the recorder, rather than for the PA. A separate microphone was set up for a cast of back up singers (including Tim Furnish and Joey Mudd) who piped in all of 7 Seconds’ trademark woh-oh-oh’s. I took the DAT home, edited it, made some Xerox tape covers, and on Saturday (three days after it was recorded) the cassettes were in stores. The cover art was stolen straight off The Crew album, with the 7 More Seconds logo stuck on it. The cassette was ten songs and was limited to 52 numbered copies. It was 52 copies because, as Chad and I joked, if we could sucker somebody into buying it once a week, it would only take a year to sell them all. Four of them were on blue paper and the other forty-eight on white. They’re all hand numbered.
Christi Canfield, a friend of nearly everyone, was a huge 7 Seconds fan as well. A stock joke at the time was comparing things to Christi. As in, “Wow, that girl over there is really hot… compared to Christi!” or “That food smells really good… compared to Christi!” So, as a special tribute not only to 7 Seconds, but also to their biggest fan, the 7 More Seconds cassette was “co-released” on Compared To Christi Records. The catalog number was also a tribute, SDK-7 & CTC-1. It was actually Slamdek’s twentieth release. The band members also paid further tribute in the credits by taking the last names of the members of 7 Seconds who played on The Crew. 7 More Seconds only played this one show.
LINER NOTES:
Side one: [recorded after show]
Regress No Way
Young ’Til I Die
This Is The Angry, Part Two
New Wind
We’re Gonna Fight
Side two: [live]
You Lose
Colourblind
In Your Face
New Wind
We’re Gonna Fight
Lee Seconds (Fetzer), vocals
Chad Pozniak (Castetter), guitar
Will Mowat (Chatham), drums
K Scott Youth (Ritcher), bass
Produced by Cary Zodiac. Special thanks to the Zodiac, Compared To Christi Records, Crain, and Slamdek. Dedicated to Hardcore, the Kids, and 7 Seconds.
Compared To Christi Records, a Fuckyougoddammit Communications Company, generously dispensed to the people of the world by SLAMDEK/Scramdown.