Author: slamdek

February 2, 1991

7 More Seconds

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.

January 17, 1991

Slambang Vanilla – Video Hits Volume One

January 17, 1991
Slambang Vanilla
Video Hits Volume One videocassette
[SDK-1800] color copied inserts, Disney-size VHS boxes

Slambang Vanilla
Video Hits Volume One videocassette
January 17, 1991
[SDK-1800] color copied inserts, Disney size VHS boxes
In modern times, utilizing the advantages of ordinary common sense, whenever conversation turns to Video Hits Volume One, the word that comes to mind more quickly than any other is why. Why go through the time and effort of compiling music videos for the least popular “band” on a label whose owner can barely pay his rent. But for Joey and me, anyone who asked logical questions about our “clients” (a.k.a. alter egos) Jesus Rosebud and Goober The Baptist, quickly got glared at as if they were insane for asking. Anyone who doubted the “success” of any Slambang Vanilla venture obviously had
absolutely no fucking idea what they were talking about.
For these reasons, and because a jet pack had been attached to the joke-turned-obsession engine, and because I was working in the Chenoweth Plaza Red Giraffe Video store (with scenesters Lee Fetzer, Christi Canfield, Amy Guyton, and Michelle Tupper), Slambang Vanilla’s immanent debut into the picture tube format was the next logical step. Not Endpoint or Hopscotch Army, who had both sold bunches and bunches of units, but rather Slambang Vanilla who racked up sales of a whopping 34 copies of their debut cassette, became Slamdek’s first (and only) “act” to put out a video.

Certainly, in the numbers department, no one was surprised or let down by the way Video Hits Volume One “performed” on the sales charts. That is, sales of the “ground breaking” Slambang Vanilla video release tallied up to a mesmerizing total of 8 units (one more than 7, one less than 9). Though, just as with their Memphis Sessions cassette in 1989, more than twice that amount were given away. Perhaps as many as forty units were actually produced. And in true form, virtually no one who knew Joey or me in this era escaped being subjected to the fifteen minute “program” of masterful video editing. Unfamiliar, recent friends have continued to be tormented with it by seeing the box sitting there, simply being curious, and asking, “What’s Slambang Vanilla?” “You had to ask, didn’t you?”

Video Hits Volume One contains three “concept” videos, interspersed with video segments accompanied by portions of eight other Slambang Vanilla songs. One of the full length songs is “Pixagogo House Remix Baby” from The Memphis Sessions, while the other two, “Dragonfly Prayer” and “Birth of the Goober,” were advance tracks from the 98-song Sideburnin’, which had then been about 1/4 completed. “The Colonel’s Secret Recipe for Rock…” is the subtitle scrawled in Joey’s beautiful chickenscratch across the back cover.

I had a full size VHS camcorder with an on-board editor. Nearly all of the video was shot, edited, and compiled with this camera. The only video footage that the we didn’t shoot ourselves was a short compilation of NASA disaster films. This sequence depicts twelve rockets exploding shortly after lift-off accompanied by the track “Burnin’ Up the Sides.”

Above, title screen from the opening sequence. Jason Noble (left) getting KO’ed by the Baptist at Highlands Kroger from “Pixagogo House Remix Baby.” Below, “Dragonfly Prayer” with Middletown Bigg’s under construction in the background and “Pixagogo House Remix Baby.”

The box opened to expose an inside panel with liner notes, and a videocassette labeled with an SDK vinyl sticker. The liner notes were on the inside of the clear box and read, “TeleDEK Pictures Presents Slambang Vanilla! Video Hits Volume One.” TeleDEK was a combination of “Slamdek” and “television,” and used only on this release. “This fifteen minute preview of heaven bestowed upon you consists of the following pleasures,” followed by a program listing. The credits across the bottom read, “TeleDEK Pictures Home Video, A Fuckyougoddammit Communications Company – Dispensed generously to the people of the world by SLAMDEK/Scramdown.”

Considering the means by which they were created, the concept videos are pretty good. Most of the editing is fairly clean. Scenes generally change with the beat. And the visual portions that are directly linked to the music all match up accurately with the sound. Video Hits Volume One, was of course, created on a whim and took about two weeks to shoot and compile. Within another week the packaging was finished. ear X-tacy was then located in Tyler Park Plaza and couldn’t sell videos because of part of their lease as Blockbuster Video’s neighbor. Most of the videos were therefore sold hand to hand, and a few through the mail. Dozens were given away free or at cost, which was about $4.00.

Slambang Vanilla played a total of two “shows” while they were together. One was acoustically on a Slamdek Nite at the Zodiac, January 16, 1991. This was an all acoustic night at which Simon Furnish, Dewey Kincade, and Lunge Engage also performed acoustic sets. The performance was interrupted about halfway through as the crowd of about fifty moved into the back room of the Zodiac Club and gathered around a television set. There was already an uneasy feeling in the air and everyone had been listening to eerie news radio reports on their way to the club. President George Bush came on television and announced that our country was declaring war in the Middle East. “The liberation of Kuwait has begun,” he said. The air in the Zodiac Club that night was frightening.

A second Slambang Vanilla show was scheduled for the Slamdek Nite of March 13, 1991. A videocassette release party, two months after the release. This show was billed as the Slambang Vanilla Orchestra, and featured Jesus Rosebud and Goober The Baptist trading off on guitar, bass, and vocals. Jeremiah (Kevin Coultas) on drums, Loverbones (Breck Pipes) on trumpet, Mark Ritcher on the PolyMoog synthesizer, and Jeff Goebel on banjo. The opening act was the Magic of Will Chatham. Will had practiced magic for years and performed at parties, city events, Hawley-Cooke Booksellers, you name it. Additionally, Will was one of SBV’s biggest fans. The telephone poles were flyered like crazy for this show. An average show would have normally used about 100 flyers. The Slambang Vanilla Orchestra show used 300, many of which were huge, multi-page flyers which had to be assembled on the pole. On the day of the show, when we all arrived at the club, Dave Ellenberger and Cary, the sound man, obviously didn’t want to have a show. They made excuses on why the PA didn’t work and wasn’t able to be fixed for the show. It was cancelled.

In late March, the “band” was stripped down to three members and changed their name from Slambang Vanilla to Muffin. Muffin was Jesus Rosebud, Goober The Baptist, and the bearded Jeremiah. The only show Muffin ever played was at Will Chatham’s birthday party, April 20, 1991. For a relatively uninterested audience of about twelve people, Muffin played a collection of nine hits from Sideburnin’ and The Memphis Sessions. The amplifiers on Muffin’s stage (in front of the Chatham’s fireplace) had copies of Video Hits Volume One stacked on them. Will faithfully watched the entire show.

Muffin broke up some time during the summer of 1991. Scott and Breck moved from 1312 Everett Avenue into a house at 1919 Bonnycastle Avenue with Greta Ritcher and Robin Wallace. This became known as the Slamdek House and became a practice space for Sunspring and Rawhide, a post-Sister Shannon group of Greta and Breck on guitars, David Ernst on bass, Rodney Bell singing, and Jon Causey on drums. The house also hosted a New Year’s show on December 31, 1991 at which Crain, Sunspring, and No Comply played. Within a few months of settling, Robin moved out and Joey moved in. Then Joey moved out and Will moved in. In March 1992, while I was on tour selling shirts for Jawbox and Shudder To Think, everyone moved out. And moved my stuff back out to my parents’ house in Middletown.

LINER NOTES:

Videocassette program:
Nitro Intro
Rock’n’Roll Metal Epilogue (Television Edit)
Dragonfly Prayer•
Pixagogo House Remix Baby•
Dragonfly Prelude (Video Edit)
Naturalist Pithouse (Cable Version)
Birth Of The Goober•
Burnin’ Up The Sides
Pleasure Chest
Hot Sassafras
Fishin’ For Love Baby (Credits Edit)

•=full length concept videos

Drums on “Dragonfly Prayer” by John F. Kampschaefer. Guitar on “Rock’n’Roll Metal Epilogue” by B. Loverbones. Additional furnace cover on “Pleasure Chest” by Mark Denny. Special thanks to John F.K. and Susanne Butler for additional lyrics in “Birth Of The Goober.” 1991/Color/VHS/-Monophonic/Not Rated.

December 17, 1990

Christmas 1990 part 2

Christmas 1990

PART TWO

continued from pervious page
click here to read the first page

“The nineteenth song will become very important to many people, but unfortunately, those who should hear it probably never will. It’s another Pope Lick song and it’s called ‘Bardstown Road’. As the true story goes… for years, a private church parking lot at 1700 Bardstown Road became a meeting place for you alternate ones like ourselves. There was no violence, no vandalism, no ignorance; just a huge group of friends who would meet and hang out and talk. Depending on the night, it could be twenty people discussing life after death, forty people playing kick ball, or fifteen people having a Taco Bell picnic. In any event, it always seemed so real. No barriers or demands.

“For some reason, one night a Louisville Police Officer by the name of Reed drove into this private lot. Which in itself was not unusual. Louisville Police often visited us; sometimes to tell us to keep it down, sometimes to just see if everything was OK, other times just to assume and accuse without knowing how innocent innocence can be (even when innocence dresses funny). The side of the car always says, ‘Louisville Police Care’ and on occasion they really showed it. Genuinely. But not this time.

“Tonight this Officer Reed proceeded to tell us that we were not to be there, and that we were to leave and never return. When asked any question, like ‘why?’, he avoided them all at every opportunity. Furthermore, he told us that he didn’t need a reason to tell us to leave, because he was a police officer. It didn’t matter that he was crossing onto private property or that we weren’t breaking any laws; because, as he said, ‘I can go anywhere I want and tell you to leave… this is my parking lot.’ All the while, beyond his knowledge, he was being videotaped.

“Several months before, he had strip searched one of us (without any cause) behind K’s Food Mart at Speed Avenue. We have tried a slight few times to return to the Parking Lot since summer with no luck. The minister had offered us soft drinks and invited us to come inside the church before; but now the police tell us that it’s the church’s decision that we are to leave and never come back.

“And while this song, ‘Bardstown Road’, will bring back hundreds of great memories and meanings, it’s a shame that all it really amounts to is a victory for that one police officer and whatever the obstacle in his mind is which he overcomes by forcing people to act on his commands.

[In late July 1989, about a year prior to this incident, Danielle Dostal and I visited City Hall during Mayor’s Night In. On this monthly designated night, any Louisville resident with a concern could stop by and sign in to talk with Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson. Mayor Abramson would stay until he had spoken, individually in his office, with everyone who came. We came to him with the problem that there was no place to hold all ages punk shows. As ludicrous as this may seem as a potential concern of the Mayor, it was a valid problem because it offered young people the opportunity to create useful things other than trouble.

[At the end of the summer, Danielle went away to college. Mayor Abramson put me in touch with Catherine Ashabraner and Lynn Rippy who worked with Operation Brightside as well as people in City government who worked in Economic Development, and Housing & Urban Development, to put together a think tank. They were all to pool their resources to see if a Highlands area City-owned abandoned building could be converted (with City money and punk rock manpower) into a facility at which all ages shows and other such events could be held on a regular basis. The thinking was that if the City had a stake in it, the Police would cooperate with it rather than aggravate it, parents would feel safe letting their kids go there, and it would be a big win-win situation for everybody. It would certainly make the Mayor look good, too.

[Louisville Police, and the City in general, had suffered a big PR blow July 14, 1989, at the Cafe Dog. The small, one room cafe, 713 South First Street at Broadway, had bands play on weekends. As the packed room could only hold about 30 people, this Friday when Crain, King Kong and Slint were scheduled to play, about 150 people showed up, and the overflow stood on the sidewalk. This was truly an all ages crowd as there were many adults in the mix. Suddenly police were coming in from every direction, acting as if there was a riot going on. First Street was blocked off and thirteen squad cars squealed in to disperse the crowd. A Courier-Journal headline read, ‘3 teens arrested at cafe officials closed; some say police used undue force.’

Quoting now from the same 7/16/89 article: “The cafe, which does not serve alcohol, caters primarily to teenagers and features entertainment by groups that play punk, rap and other contemporary music styles. But police said people in the crowd were drinking beer and were disorderly. … ‘It wasn’t disorderly until the police came. They themselves were acting in a disorderly manner,’ said co-owner Michaelle Warner. … Several witnesses said police singled out black patrons in the mostly white crowd when they first arrived, provoking the confrontation. After police line up a group of people in the alley, another person – a youth who was due to go into the cafe to perform – began to question the officers, according to P.J. Medley, a patron. The performer was dragged away, thrown to the ground and struck in the hip with a night stick before being arrested, Medley said. ‘The officer’s manner was out of line,’ said Guy Furnish, who was at the cafe with his wife and three children ages 12 to 18. ‘The situation very quickly became ugly. Frankly, I think most of the ugliness was on the part of the police,’ Furnish said.” Guy Furnish is Tim, Kristen, and Simon’s father.

[A subsequent public hearing at Jefferson Community College brought members of the crowd, many of whom were respected adults of the community, together with the Police Chief Dotson. This escalated the story to more newspaper coverage and every television news broadcast in town. With this wealth of bad press, the City was anxious to bury it with the opposite.

[Lynn Rippy and I set up a series of meetings with which we hoped to devise a plan to begin attaining the goal of a permanent, City-sponsored all ages facility. Joey Mudd, Sean Garrison, Danny Maron, and his mother, were among those that attended the preliminary brainstorming sessions at Operation Brightside’s downtown offices. The project was called Positive Youth For Louisville (closely named after the organization Joey’s previous band Spot sang of, ‘Positive Youth For Unity’). And while nothing in the Highlands ever materialized, during the process of the meetings, the doors opened at the Zodiac Club on Main Street. The meetings, while still going on the following summer at the time of the Parking Lot incident, ultimately proved fruitless in achieving the final goal.

[I worked with the City in the summer of 1990 in establishing the Mayor’s Youth Outreach Line. The YO-Line was a toll free number that kids could call to find out what type of events were going on in a specified week. A television commercial was shot for the YO-Line. I wrote and programmed the music for 10- and 30-second rap songs, as the City wanted it to have an urban feel. It was an upbeat tune assembled on an Emulator drum machine that included subtle Minor Threat and Public Enemy samples. Community activist Tony Lindauer’s assistance was enlisted for the script and lyrics. The entire project was fun, and virtually a parody of itself. Members of the rap group KAOS (who had played a City-sponsored June 1990 show at the Louisville Zoo with Crain) did the vocal track. Have you got a question, or got a problem? Well I’ve got a number for you. Call 625-4321, 625-4321, 625-4321, the number’s 625-4321. Yo! The audio was recorded at Todd Smith’s parents’ house on 8-track, as Juniper Hill had already closed. And the video for the spot was shot by the folks at Videobred. The images were of active youths throwing frisbees in Cherokee Park, hanging out on the streets, skateboarding, and all that. One split second shot was a cameo of me wearing a Slamdek shirt, sitting with a bunch of little kids on a bench at the corner of Douglass Boulevard and Bardstown Road, as another kid skateboarded across the screen. The commercial ran all summer on local TV, and had a separate radio version for which
SSDigital duplicated the copies. The YO-Line itself often included info about Kinghorse and other all ages shows.]

“Next is the twentieth song which, by titles, makes this the fattest Slamdek tape ever (until Sideburnin’ comes out, that is). This is the Doodangers who have blended ’50’s roots rock’n’roll with ’90’s militant veganism in this Vegan Reich cover, ‘I, The Jury’. This is a practice cassette from August 27, 1990, and is the Doodangers’ only available song. With Tishy Quesenberry on drums and Scott Ritcher playing piano and singing, there are no plans for studio, record, or show engagements. Tishy was in Your Face and played on the Magenta Bent single. Of course, neither of them is a militant vegan, the words just seemed to fit with the song.

[Another entry for Louisville’s evolving genre of hardcore parody? Sure! Tishy and I couldn’t get things to gel for our early 1990 version of Sunspring, but we still wanted to collaborate and play together. Our music was simply piano, drums and vocals, and aspired to be a slower, tame Jerry Lee Lewis. Several practices of the Doodangers produced a lot of fun and this one unlikely cover song. “I’m through with tolerance, no more acceptance of your crimes. I don’t care about your freedom because your action restricts mine. The rights of those you step on everyday as drag down all in your way, to slowly self decay. And what of those who are killed or maimed when you drink and drive as if it’s a game? Or the third world peasants forced to make your cocaine, enslaved and impoverished by the choices you’ve made to feed your weakness, another vice. To satisfy your hunger you’ll never thing twice of the pain it causes others. You just talk about your rights as you eat the flesh of another that you denied life.”]

“Then there’s Crawdad who clocks in with two songs. Both of them were recorded on cassette through the mixing board at the Zodiac, December 3, 1990, the Earthquake Party. Crawdad hadn’t performed together fro 366 days before this show. The first song is called ‘Limbs’ and this is the first real recording of it with words. The second is called ‘Wally’ and was as spontaneous as it may sound. It’s a Louisville punk rock standard (for anyone unaware) as it is the last song on the Spot Proud cassette. This moment of Breck and Joey being reunited on stage after a year could only be so triumphant (if you like that sorta thing). Crawdad’s Loaded cassette is a limited edition of only 80 copies and a very few still remain. It came in five different colors (16 of each): white, maroon, army green, light blue, and red. Copies #41 through #80 are numbered. How’s all that for collector shit! Crawdad was: Kevin Coultas on drums, Joey Mudd singing, Breck Pipes on guitar, and Dave Ernst bassing.

[“I am a singular, an ordinary one. Unnecessary appendages for the said and done. Unnecessary. You can have them, you can take them. Take my limbs, take them, use them the best you can. Good news to the man with only two, or four. Mine are used in vein. I’ll give them to you, and more. I do not build with them. I only break with them. I do not mold with them. I only scold with them. I know you’re not an ordinary person. You take things to the extremes. I am an ordinary one, a singular one. Unnecessary appendages for the said and done.”

[The version of ‘Wally’ was very lengthy and began with Joey’s dedication, ‘This is for Jon Cook, he’s in school right now.’ The words to the song are simply the name ‘Wally’ repeated over and over. Joey improvised these additions, Well he’s a groovy dude. He goes to school in Antioch. He is so cool. He’s my friend with the beard, he’s my friend with the beard, he’s my friend with the beard. He plays bass in Crain. Wally! Before it was all over, it included a chorus from Deep Purple’s ‘My Woman From Tokyo,’ a verse from Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby,’ several wahwah parts, funky bass, a brief James Brown tribute, a ‘Bring it down, boys,’ a guitar solo in which Breck drops his pick, an audience participation segment, and more improvised lyrics.]

“Finally, the twenty-third song is ‘Angels Crawl’ from Daisybrain. It was written in late 1989 in a stairwell and recorded on 4-track in October 1990. This is their only tune in circulation so far, and the Shelby County trio plans to move towards getting more music into your ears soon. Daisybrain is: Brad Bowman on guitar and vocals, Scott Sedlaczek on guitar and harmonica, and Jeff Hinton on bass and backing vocals. The original words started out with the line, ‘lick my ass…’ before it developed into what you’re hearing now.

[As Jeff and I were headed in different directions, this became the last contribution he would make to Slamdek. Scott Sedlaczek wrote to Slamdek in 1993, inquiring about contributing to another Christmas tape, but one wasn’t being created that year. This track has a mellow, early U2 feel to it, with a lot of acoustic guitar and harmonica. “Work so hard for nothing. Work so far and go nowhere. This country’s so clean, I can’t see far in front of me. Other words, different story, bridges burn, and there’s empty air. I’m falling for you. I’m falling to you.”]

TRACK LISTING:

Side one:
SISTER SHANNON Goreman
DOWNPOUR Defense*
CRAIN Drain
SLAMBANG VANILLA Ricky!
BUSH LEAGUE Bain
SPOT Paving Your Way (1987 Version)
POPE LICK Is That The Easter Bunny?*
HOPSCOTCH ARMY Sundown
LETTUCE PREY Undermine (live)
THE RAIN CHORUS Michael (live)
ENDPOINT Endpoint Outro

Side two:
7 MORE SECONDS In Your Face
PRE-CEREBELLUM Grimace
LUNGE ENGAGE Ode To A Chick
KING G & THE J KREW Did I Do Something Wrong? (live)
KILL THE MAN WITH THE BALL Christmas Straightedge
THE INSIDE OF A SHOE The Inside Of A Shoe
DEATHWATCH Invent A Law
POPE LICK Bardstown Road*
THE DOODANGERS – I, The Jury
CRAWDAD Limbs (live)
CRAWDAD Wally (live)
DAISYBRAIN Angels Crawl

All material previously unreleased (except *). Special thanks to John Kampschaefer, John Timmons, Simon Furnish, Ken Burton, Susanne Butler, Howie Gano, Julie Purcell, Dave Ellenberger, Dennis Remsing, EJ, Kim Coletta, Russ Honican, Christi Canfield, Kendall Costich, and everyone else who has helped design, create, photograph, inspire, coordinate, and assemble records and shows this year. Merry Christmas!

December 17, 1990

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 …

September 7, 1990

Crain & Deathwatch

September 7, 1990
Crain & Deathwatch
split seven inch
[SDK-9790] photocopied covers and inserts

In one of a half dozen attempts to reunite the ever-veering musical paths childhood friendships had taken in their young adult lives, one 1990 summer afternoon found Jon Cook, Duncan Barlow, and I putting together an idea. While cleaning up the Zodiac Club, the idea began to form as a show at which Crain and Endpoint would both play. Putting both bands on the same bill would attract a large and diverse crowd by combining their two draws. To make the event even more memorable, we would make a Slamdek cassette single for the show, with a song by each band, that would only be available at the show. Soon enough, the idea grew and grew until the three of us ended up at KT’s Restaurant. With all of us becoming very excited about the whole thing, it turned into a Crain/Endpoint split 7″. And then it turned into a Crain/Endpoint split 7″ that would be included in the $6 admission price, for the first 300 kids through the door. Most shows were $4 or $5, which was relatively steep anyway, but hopefully the bonus of a free 7″ would attract an even larger crowd. The working relationship we had all developed with Zodiac Club owner David Ellenberger, would make this possible. I had recently moved out of my parents’ house in Middletown to an efficiency apartment at 1312 Everett Avenue in the Highlands. Because of this, the money Slamdek had available was limited, and no huge risks could be taken. David and I worked out a plan to pay Slamdek for the records first, with money from the door, then pay the bands. Everyone agreed in making sure the records were paid for first.

Crain had recorded eighteen songs at Sound On Sound in August. Their contribution to the seven inch could be easily taken from these recordings. Endpoint was scheduled to record their In A Time Of Hate album at Mars Studio in Cleveland for Conversion Records, also in August. They could record for this seven inch at the same time.

When Endpoint arrived in Cleveland to record, however, the circumstances were uncomfortable. Endpoint didn’t have the money to pay to record extra material for the seven inch, and Conversion’s Dennis Remsing wasn’t prepared to spend studio time and money for them to record something for another label. As a result, Endpoint returned to Louisville with nothing to offer for the Crain/Endpoint 7″. Because it would take a few weeks to get records back from the pressing plant, time was running out. The project seemed doomed.

Duncan devised a way to make it work. Endpoint’s previous incarnation as Deathwatch had recorded a demo at Artists’ Recording Service on Barrett Avenue. The lo-fi material from this session in February 1988 had been preserved for posterity on a normal bias cassette tape. Hardly master quality for a release, but it was punk. Duncan chose three songs from the cassette, which we then transferred to DAT in my apartment.

Crain’s side ended up being “The Fuse,” sung by Drew Daniel and adapted from a Cerebellum song; and “Proposed Production,” sung by Joey and later rerecorded for the Speed album on Jon’s Automatic label. The Deathwatch tracks were the original, lewd version of “Wool,” plus “Dignity” and “Ignorant Downfall” (incorrectly listed on the 7″ label as “Invent a Law”) which had both been recorded as Endpoint songs on If The Spirits Are Willing. We also added about a one second sampling of each song from the upcoming Endpoint album to the end of the 7″. This track was titled “Album Preview.”

Tim Furnish did the cover layouts, lyric sheets and label designs on the Macintosh. He put them on a floppy disk and had them printed out at Comp-Art on South First Street. I sent the master tapes and label designs off to QCA in Cincinnati. On September 5, 1990, two days before the show, word came that the records were ready. Jon accompanied me in my 1976 AMC Pacer for the 100 mile ride to the pressing plant. Since time was short, they opted not to do a test pressing. After arriving at the pressing plant, we went into a mastering reference room to hear the seven inch. Once in there, an elderly woman took the record from a stack. It was in a plain, white sleeve with ballpoint pen scrawled on it, “5) 10:54 AM. No Test. 9-5” She placed it on the turntable. After all the anticipation, Slamdek’s first vinyl sounded wonderful.

Tim had taken care of getting the covers and lyric sheets copied at the Kinko’s by U of L. When Jon and I arrived back in Louisville, we went to Everett Avenue. My apartment and Tim’s parents’ house were about a block away from each other. An assembly party soon commenced. Tim and his brother Simon brought Julie Purcell, who joined Jon, Crain drummer Will Chatham, John Kampschaefer, and myself in the assembly line. It was a simple process of folding the lyric sheets, folding the covers, coupling them with the records, adding a ten item Slamdek catalog, an ear X-tacy coupon, and sliding them into the poly sleeves. Outside of the assembly party, Joey and Duncan had each been individually hanging up several hundred flyers for the show. Sister Shannon had been added to make it a three band bill. By the following day, all 300 records were ready to go, and Bardstown Road had been flyered wall to wall.

When the show rolled around the next day, September 7, 1990, everyone involved knew it was going to be either a huge success, or a major flop. As set up and sound checks at the Zodiac went underway, a plan to efficiently and accurately distribute the seven inches to the first 300 kids was arranged. Each person would be handed an orange, numbered ticket when they paid Dave Ellenberger at the door. They would be instructed to go to a table along the left hand wall of the room, where I would take their ticket, mark it, and give them a record. After the performance, the club would pay Slamdek $2 per record, and the bands a percentage of profit, respectively. The tickets were numbered in the event that fewer than 300 people attended, the club would only pay for the exact number of records given away. Any left over records could be sold at ear X-tacy later, or through mail order. With this system in place and with Sister Shannon set up and ready to go, you could cut the anticipation with a knife. With the $6 door price, there was still that off handed chance that people wouldn’t understand the free record offer, and no one would show up.

Door time was 9:00, and it took a seeming eternity before people began pulling in. Around 8:30 it was like a bomb had gone off, and the sidewalk on Main Street in front of the Zodiac Club was suddenly packed. While minor adjustments were made inside, the steamy, humid air outside was soaking its last bits of summer into the sweaty mob. The heated crowd was getting restless, and soon got hosed down from behind the Zodiac’s iron outer gates. Everybody got into position and the doors were opened.

The ticketing system for the records worked out nicely. To my immense relief, over 500 people eventually showed up, making the pressing of 300 records quite ample. Of course, there were a few punks who tried to reuse their already marked tickets to get more than one record. They did not succeed, but you know, it only takes a few bad apples… 282 of them were distributed to the crowd and band members. Jon saved the first one out of the box, and I saved the sleeveless one marked, “No Test,” as well as nine others. As far as what happened to the other seven copies, either the pressing was short seven units, or they possibly got lost in the confusion. I don’t have ’em, that is, I thought nine extra copies was plenty to hoard. But I will admit that the copy of it in ear X-tacy for $24.99 was mine. Nobody bought it.

Both sides of the lyric sheet had short biographical introductions. The Deathwatch side read, “Death Watch formed in November of 1987 when Duncan, of Substance, got together with Kip, Jason, and Rob of Fist. The four decided to write a new style of cohesive music. This record contains three songs from the first try. This demo was recorded in February of the 88th year of the 20th century. The lineup at the time was: Jason (bass), Duncan (guitar), Rob (vocals), Greg Carmichel (guitar), and Rusty (drums). This demo was one of the many milestones we were to set. At the time this was recorded, the band was trying to produce a raw, energetic, and angry youth sound. Whether or not we accomplished this goal, it is up to you to decide. This is not only the first release from Death Watch, it is a symbol of the long lasting bond between the members of Endpoint and Crain. I think it is safe to say that both bands would like to share their whole past with you, but we are limited to a mere seven inches. We the members now proudly present a piece of our past to the Louisville scene. Enjoy.” Both bands made literary references on their lyric sheets. The bottom corner of the Deathwatch side had an Edgar Allan Poe quote, “Mere puppets they, who come and go at bidding of vast formless things that shift the scenery to and fro flapping from out their condor wings invisible woe!”

Crain’s introduction read, “Crain played its first show June Second Nineteen Eighty-Nine with Drew Daniel singing, Tim Furnish on guitar, Will Chatham on drums, and Jon Cook on bass. The band was formed as a vent for differing musical interest within Cerebellum (Cerebellum broke up the next day). Drew left the band in July and pursued collegiate studies, while Jon sang from July Two to November when Kristen Shelor was added as vocalist. She left in February and Joey Mudd replaced her. Drew Daniel sings ‘The Fuse’ and Joey Mudd sings ‘Proposed Production.’ Thank you. Special thanks to Endpoint.” At the bottom right corner of their lyric sheet, Crain’s literary reference was simply, “Read J.G. Ballard.”

The catalog number SDK-9790, was actually of some significance, for a change. SDK, of course, for Slamdek. And 9790, for the date, 9/7/90.

TRACK LISTING:

Crain side:
The Fuse
Proposed Production

Deathwatch side:
Dignity
Wool
Invent a Law (actually Ignorant Downfall)
Album Preview

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,

May 22, 1990

Crawdad – Loaded

May 22, 1990
Crawdad
Loaded cassette
[SDK-1702] color copied inserts (six different color variations), dot matrix labels

Released just one week after the Jawbox cassette, and five months after the band had broken up, Crawdad’s Loaded cassette demonstrated the personality and versatility Slamdek enjoyed by being a small label of friends. Rather than continuing to record and rerecord a live tape for their friends, Joey and I decided to issue a limited edition cassette. Crawdad had broken up when guitarist Breck Pipes moved to Jacksonville, Florida in December 1989 (the rest of the group was Joey Mudd singing, David Ernst on bass, and Kevin Coultas on drums). The band was only together a little less than seven months, and never had the opportunity to visit a recording studio. As a result, a live recording I made at the St. Francis Battle of the Bands, December 2, 1989, was unfortunately the best document of Crawdad’s work.

The recording had its pros and cons. It was a DAT, so it had a good degree of clarity. But my stereophonic microphone wasn’t functioning properly, and a single vocal microphone, placed to the side of the room, had to be used. The show was with Endpoint, Kinghorse, and Oblong Box, and a legendary stunt Kinghorse pulled prevented running a direct line from the mixing board to the DAT recorder. Before this story is told, however, it should be noted that when verified for this book, Kinghorse singer Sean Garrison reported never having known that it happened. But he also said that it wouldn’t surprise him if the story was true.

All the bands arrived at the school during the afternoon. Although it was allegedly a Battle of the Bands, it was fairly obvious to everyone involved that it was a normal show, and Kinghorse was headlining. Kinghorse set up all their equipment on stage, as they would be playing last, and proceeded to do their sound check. Everything went off without a hitch and, after a lengthy sound check, sounded great. As soon as everything was set, though, there was suddenly a mysterious problem with the mixing board. It was almost showtime, and there wasn’t much time to spare in fixing the problem or locating another mixing board. Thank heavens that Sean Garrison’s smaller mixing board was not too far away. He quickly went out and got it while Crawdad set up on stage in front of Kinghorse’s gear. With the new board, Crawdad did a quick sound check as the kids were coming in the door. The show began, Crawdad played, then Oblong Box, then Endpoint, then Kinghorse. But for some reason, the sound system sounded so much louder and clearer when Kinghorse played. When, lo and behold, a trip to the mixing board revealed that the first mixing board (the “broken” one on which Kinghorse had set all their levels) had miraculously been cured.

December 2, 1989, Crawdad at St. Francis High School:
David Ernst, Kevin Coultas, Breck Pipes.

In any event, the recording of the show ended up being monophonic. Loaded is comprised of five songs taken from their eight song performance. While the quality of the recording leaves a little to be desired, it was never intended to be released on its own. It was, however, intended to be the audio track to a video cassette. Crawdad’s performance was videotaped from three different angles, which were to be later edited into a single program. Partially as a result of the low audio quality, and partially due to some musical flubs, the raw video was never edited. At the beginning of the unedited tapes, Joey announces, “Please stay clear of the video cameras and don’t mind them. They’re for your enjoyment later.” The tapes create more of a picture of it being just Breck’s farewell show, rather than the band’s. After the sixth song, Joey says, “As some of you may know, we’re Crawdad. And, Breck Pipes,” a swell of cheers comes up from the crowd chanting “Breck! Breck! Breck!,” “Give him credit. Keep going if you want. But, my longtime friend and bandmate for four years is now moving to Florida,” the crowd boos. “So, live it up.” In the middle of “Soul,” the song breaks down to a guitar wahwah part, and the crowd goes nuts.

Crawdad was a straight ahead, formula rock band with heavy, memorable songs. The guitar, bass, drums, and vocals were each, individually the most important and characteristic part of the group. If they had stayed together another year or two, when other honest, gritty, no frills groups like Nirvana took off, they would have likely become very rich.

The Crawdad cassette was limited to 80 copies, the latter 40 of which were numbered “… of 80.”

LINER NOTES:

Kevin Coultas, drums
David Ernst, bass
Joey Mudd, vocals
Breck Pipes, guitar

Plays on both sides:
Soul
Mine
Gone
Keep Walking
Worship

May 15, 1990

Jawbox

May 15, 1990
Jawbox
cassette
[SDK-1782] color copied inserts, dot matrix labels

As As Slamdek’s fourteenth release, the debut cassette from Washington, DC’s Jawbox added a whole new slant to the label. Since the beginning, Slamdek had inadvertently been growing to become a label of bands from Louisville, most of whom were all friends. That continued as such following this release. By later in the following year, Slamdek catalogs and flyers advertised the label as one solely of Louisville bands. However, Jawbox’s non-Louisvillian stature served to add a bigger sense of credibility to the other work that Slamdek was doing at the time.

The late ’80’s were a heyday of classic releases from DC’s Dischord Records, and Louisville kids ate this stuff up. The connections that people in Louisville and DC shared, brought touring bands to town. Groups like Dag Nasty, Soul Side, King Face, and Fugazi, who played their first out of town show in Louisville, were always well received. The DC influence on the music of Louisville bands like Cerebellum is easy to recognize. Likewise, Louisville’s Solution Unknown recorded their album in DC at Inner Ear Studios, where nearly all Dischord records had been recorded. Dischord’s packaging and recordings were thought of as among the best, and the label was respected for always issuing quality goods. Mike Bucayu of Self Destruct Records, said at the time, that he thought of Slamdek as Louisville’s Dischord. As complementary as this was, I had always been terribly intimidated by Mike, and didn’t really know to take it. And in this era, it probably wouldn’t have been too hard to find a room full of kids who were intimidated by Mike Bucayu. I had the added burden of running a “competing” local label. The unspoken, imaginary walls that existed between Self Destruct people and Slamdek people had been in place for several years. Mike, who worked at ear X-tacy, listed the Endpoint cassette in his Top Five of the year in the store’s Christmas newsletter. This softened things up a bit. As did the release of the Jawbox cassette on Slamdek. It offered a middle ground by coming from a source everyone could relate to: Washington, DC. But it would still be another year and a half before people from either “side” would collaborate on a release.

Kim Coletta played bass for Jawbox and worked filling individual mail orders at Dischord. I was, of course, a big fan of DC bands and admired what Dischord had been able to accomplish independently. I often ordered stuff from Dischord and wrote my orders on scrap color copies or cassette inserts. In November 1989, the colorful graphics
caught Kim’s eye and she wrote a note on the back of a Dischord record list, “What is SLAMDEK/Scramdown? What do you do?” In my next order, I answered that it was a small record label, and that I also ran a cassette duplication service. Kim responded that she still didn’t quite understand the whole idea, but she thought the images looked great. She offered to trade some records of DC bands for some Slamdek stuff so she could get an idea of what it was all about. She also offered to throw in a demo cassette of her band, Jawbox, who had just formed in July 1989 with J. Robbins (ex-Government Issue) on guitar. The proposition that someone who worked at Dischord wanted to hear some Slamdek stuff blew me away. It was like being summoned.

We exchanged tapes through the mail. I sent her Cerebellum, Endpoint, and Slambang Vanilla (per usual, as a joke). She sent the Jawbox demo of eight songs they had recorded in their basement on a 4 track, along with some current Dischord stuff. We both enjoyed what the other had sent, and we began writing and talking on the phone. Within a month or so we had become good friends, and exchanged the stock token of punk rock friendship: mix tapes.

March 31, 1990, Jawbox at CDGraffitti’s:
Jay Robbins, Adam Wade, and Kim Coletta.

My former neighbor, Ben Godbey, who had previously moved to Western Kentucky University, had moved again to Frederick, Maryland, just outside of DC. Ben invited me to come visit him over New Year’s weekend. When Kim heard about this, she invited me to stop by the Jawbox house in Silver Spring, Maryland during the trip. The trip rolled around and I, accompanied by Joey Mudd, took off for the nation’s capitol very excited. We even brought a small cheese sampler to offer as a gift to Ian MacKaye of Dischord and Fugazi, should we meet him. Not only was he not in DC at the time, but we learned that Ian was a vegan, and vegans don’t eat cheese. Nonetheless, Ian’s code name became “The Cheese Sampler” whenever he or his bands were discussed among us. Though Ian didn’t know either one of us, many people had other names in our conversations.

When Joey and I arrived in DC, we found Ben very, uh, drunk, or something. After driving around in circles in the freezing rain for several hours, Ben split and went to a party. Back at Ben’s apartment, Joey and I called Kim. We decided to meet the following day at Smash, a record store, because Ben knew where it was. After meeting, the rest of the weekend included a visit to the legendary Dischord house (where we spied Joe Lally of Fugazi quietly filling mail orders), lots of eating, watching Jawbox practice, record shopping, and ringing in the new year. We met the other members of Jawbox; guitarist and singer Jay Robbins, drummer Adam Wade, their friend Roseanne Divito, and their house mate Sohrab Habibion, who played in the band Edsel. While at the house, it occurred to Kim that they had been paying a lot of money for duplicates of their demo. I was doing cassette duplication work, so they decided to have me make some copies of the demo. They sent their DAT home with me. About ten minutes into the new year, I backed my car into a telephone pole at Erter’s Market across the street from the Jawbox house. A great way to start the year. Other than this incident, or accident, the trip turned out to be a good time for everyone.

Back in Louisville, after running off a couple orders of demos, in February 1990, I called Kim to see if the band would be interested in having the tape released on Slamdek. This way they could get as many of the tapes as they needed at no cost. The young band was already growing, though, and the demo was quickly becoming less representative of them. They didn’t really want to keep the demo around much longer. However, right after Joey and I had left DC, Jawbox had recorded five songs at Upland Studio. Four of these were intended for a self released 7″, and the other was to appear on a Maximumrocknroll compilation LP, They Don’t Get Laid, They Don’t Get Paid, But They Sure Do Work Hard. A few days later, Kim called back to see if I would be interested in doing a five song cassette version of their upcoming 7″ plus a different mix of the song from the compilation. Of course, I thought it was a great idea. Jay prepared a DAT with the five songs, in a different sequence than the 7″ would have, and sent it to me. The package also included some copies of the 7″ artwork and lyrics so they could be adapted for the cassette version.

The following month, Jawbox did their first set of road dates. One of these nine shows was in Louisville at CDGraffitti’s on March 23, 1990. The previous night, they opened for Rollins Band in Chicago, and Joey and I drove up to see them. Joey had just joined Crain, who would be opening for Jawbox in Louisville. A great deal of the trip to and from Chicago was spent learning and working out lyrics to Crain songs. By this point, Drew Daniel had left Crain and gone away to school in Berkeley, California. And the band had developed enough material that all the songs held over from Cerebellum had been disposed of. But Joey’s addition to the group still left the chemistry at 4/6 of Cerebellum.

When Jawbox arrived in Louisville they went straight to Jon Cook’s house where his mother had prepared a traditional spaghetti dinner. A David Grubbs project band, Sholonda, started the show. They were followed by Crain who played an hour long set that ended with a frenzied “cover” of Cerebellum’s “Calm.” Jawbox then played a heavy set, from which two pictures snapped by Russ Honican ended up inside their Grippe album (pronounced “grip” once and for all).

First edition Jawbox cassette cover, before the Dischord logo and handwritten spine were replaced.

The Jawbox 7″ was co-released by Dischord and DeSoto Records. DeSoto was a label name that Edsel made up for their self released debut 7″. As house mates, Jawbox continued the name DeSoto when self co-releasing their own 7″. Kim and Jay eventually issued records by other bands, transforming DeSoto into their own independent label. Bill Barbot got in on this, too, when he joined Jawbox in early 1991 as a second guitarist. The cassette version of the Jawbox 7″ was essentially an all-on-Slamdek release. But rather than have the cassette and 7″ have no common labeling, Kim and I decided to go ahead and tag the Dischord and DeSoto logos on the cassette packaging. While this initially seemed like a good idea because it would make the cassette and 7″ more identical (I loved the idea of having the Dischord and Slamdek logos side by side), it backfired. More often than not, people who hadn’t heard of Slamdek or Jawbox thought the cassette was a bootleg or unauthorized product, because it didn’t look characteristically like a Dischord tape. Luckily, the first batch of Jawbox tapes containing all three logos was only about 150 copies. The second printing included only the Slamdek snowflake logo. Additionally, the spine of the J-card was changed to large, bold graphics. This replaced the original version which had “Jawbox” written fairly small in Kim’s handwriting. A color photo of the band playing at CDGraffitti’s was also added to the inside.

The Jawbox 7″ on DeSoto/Dischord contained all the songs on the cassette except “Bullet Park,” and was released about two weeks later. The difference between “Bullet Park” on the Slamdek tape and the Maximumrocknroll LP, is that the version on the compilation album has a tambourine track. The Jawbox cassette on Slamdek was around for a little over a year, and sold 302 copies. It came with a 2 1/2″ x 4″ Slamdek “SDK” vinyl sticker, and a miniature, illustrated Slamdek catalog of ten cassettes. Ultimately, it went out of print when the Grippe album came out on Dischord, the CD version of which included four of the five songs. The 7″ was also out of print by the end of 1991.

LINER NOTES:

Recorded by Barrett Jones at Upland Studio, Arlington, Va., Jan. 3 & 4, 1990. Produced by Alferd Packer. Photographs by Matt Welch and Bert Queiroz. Art by Jay and K Scott.

Thanks: Dischord, Edsel, Bullet Lavolta, Tom Johnston, Positive Force, Clay & Kelly at Freehand Press, Rob “Lethal Weapon” Tennant, SLAMDEK/Scramdown, all our friends & all who have taken an interest.

Dedicated, with maximum possible devotion, to Roseanne Divito.

Side one:
Twister
Ballast
Bullet Park

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,

April 2, 1990

Sunspring – $1.50 Demo

April 2, 1990

Sunspring
$1.50 Demo cassette
[SDK-3950] color copied inserts, dot matrix labels

After becoming frustrated with the progress my bands Cold Mourning and McBand were making, I again took matters into my own hands. My previous “solo” cassettes carried on the name Pink Aftershock in 1988 after the demise of that band. But this time it became more of an action of starting something new, rather than continuing something old. The aptly titled $1.50 Demo (it sold for $1.50) materialized virtually over night. The six song cassette consists mostly of songs that were recorded as demos for McBand to learn. However, getting things done with McBand was sometimes like pulling teeth. And while the quality and variety of the recordings Cold Mourning had finished far surpasses that of the recordings on the $1.50 Demo, that material was stagnant. The time just seemed right to go out on a limb and start over with new people.

Cold Mourning recorded an entire album, In The Blue Attic, on the same borrowed Akai Betamax ten track machine Slambang Vanilla had used to record The Memphis Sessions. The Cold Mourning album was a mix of big Emulator drum machine sounds with chorused and overdriven guitar grit, backed with a 1960’s hollow body electric bass, and capped with Jeff Hinton’s slightly unsure vocals. Some songs were fast, heavy, pounding rock tunes, while others were simply a piano, synthesized strings, and vocals.

The ideas Jeff and I shared were slowly drifting apart. Our practices, with John Kampschaefer on drums, at John’s parents’ St. Matthews home off Cannons Lane, were becoming fewer and farther between. One day in late March 1990, I decided put some of the subpar demos I made for McBand on a cassette and sell it for a price anyone could try. The only problem was that McBand was hardly breathing, and no one from the group played on the tapes. While trying to think of new name, torn between Sundial and Pipespring, I combined them into Sunspring. I also like the name because it had “Sun” in it, like Sun Records, and “Spring,” like Rites Of Spring. I’ve always thought it was cheesy to name bands after other bands or song titles, so I never told anyone that was part of my idea behind the name. I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, eh? Within a month, the $1.50 Demo was in stores. It was in print for about six months and sold 59 copies, nearly all at ear X-tacy.

The $1.50 Demo introduced a lot of the themes and ideas that became mainstays in Sunspring’s style for years. Full volume one second and complete silence the next, siren-esque feedback, effects build ups that escalate then suddenly stop, lyrics about relationships sung from the throat, drastic changes in the EQ as if it’s an instrument, dialog samples, and a direct guitar that sounds as if it’s overloading every device recording it. The six songs on this cassette are all fairly similar, mid-tempo, overdriven, distorted, chorused, poorly recorded, and about two minutes each. When Cary Willis played “Desert Song” on WFPL fM’s The Flip Side, he commented, “It doesn’t sound like it’s very good for you, but I like it.” The guitar and vocal sounds seem to be beginning to take form. Most of the cassette is without a bass line. A couple songs have one that comes in the form of a regular guitar with an octave pedal on it. This didn’t work so well and the notes are up and down and everywhere.

The tape opens with “Epitaph”/“Vision,” two songs with basically the same music at different rhythms. The only thing really keeping them from being a single song was the fact that I borrowed the lyrics to “Vision” from Susanne Butler. “Fade to black, never
come back. To lose all feeling, to fade to black. Always lost, never left, another step to fade to black. To give it all and have none back, to forget it all and fade to black.” A poppier tune, “Desert Song,” follows with an intro sampled from a 1967 Scholastic record, Curious George Takes A Job. “This is George. He lived in a zoo. He was a good little monkey, but he was very curious…”

“Decept” is next in line, and, again, has the same notes as “Epitaph” and “Vision,” but at a different tempo and rhythm. This time it’s slower and more dramatic, “If I could just have what I wanted, then wouldn’t tomorrow be great. Waking up alone and wasting my days, working towards an end. Looking at you and thinking then looking at you again. Begging for old friendships back, only wishing. If everything’s going for me, then what makes you go the other way? So now that it’s over, I guess I go on, looking and thinking, wondering and wishing. But always continuing, wanting.”

“Dez K. Collage,” is a seven minute array of strategically placed, split second splices from about three hundred popular, progressive, and alternative songs. One segment is all numbers, one is all vocalists introducing songs, one is drum fills, audiences, profanities, and so on.

The final song, “Implode,” is listed on the cassette label, but not on the J-card. “Implode unto myself when there’s nothing left. Imploded values, imploded hopes, explode from within to spread all over. Exploded corruption, exploded smiles. Contorted lives in the hands of a joke. Distorted visions floating off in smoke. Distance, an analysis. Ignorance is a catalyst. Move forward to move away. Move away from me. Indecency is a perspective. Contentness is an analysis. Ignorance is a catalyst to move forward, move away.” I later recorded a different version of “Implode” which was on a tape that won honorable mention in Spin Magazine’s New Sounds competition that December.

The tape ends with another Curious George sample that was intentionally recorded to be nearly inaudible. Most people who own a copy of the $1.50 Demo probably don’t even know it’s there. “‘I wonder what’s inside that big bottle.’ George was very curious. It smelled funny. Suddenly his head began to turn. Then he felt as if he were flying. Then rings and stars danced before his eyes. Then everything went dark.”

Throughout the summer of 1990, my efforts were mostly centered around trying to put a band called Sunspring together. The first version had Tishy Quesenberry (Your Face) on drums, Simon Furnish (Tim’s brother) on guitar, me singing and playing guitar, and no bass player. Other incarnations over the summer included Tim Furnish on bass, Will Chatham on drums, and Susan Leach on guitar. Each line up had a few practices then quickly fell apart. One night at a show at the Zodiac Club, I asked John Weiss of Downpour if he’d be interested in playing drums for Sunspring. John said he’d like to give it a shot, but he was in a band called Fullout, and that was his priority. But we exchanged phone numbers. Soon after, we asked our friend Chad Castetter (Endpoint) to play bass on a temporary basis until we could find a permanent bassist. Chad also accepted.

Practices were held at John’s parents’ house off Lime Kiln Lane and were initially of little substance. Chad picked up on things instantaneously, and usually became bored while John and I practiced and re-practiced the same things over and over. We also had practices without Chad, since we knew he could quickly pick up whatever we put together. We played our first show on December 3, 1990 at the Zodiac Club. It was a Monday night all ages Earthquake Party. Seismologists had predicted a major earthquake for this day in Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. Alas, there was no earthquake. The headliner was a Crawdad reunion and Sister Shannon played in the middle. John and I got to the club early, started sweating, and went through the six song set a few times on the sidewalk out front. Of course, Chad waltzed in after he got off work and soon after the sun went down, Sunspring took the stage for the first time. The shaky set included “Desert Song,” “Engage,” “4×4” (a two chord instrumental), “Silver Spring,” and a couple others. A crowd of about sixty people showed up. Not bad for a school night, when there was supposed to be an earthquake.

LINER NOTES:

Plays on both sides:
Epitaph/Vision
Desert Song
Decept
Roberts
Dez K. Collage
Implode (not listed)

K Scott Ritcher, instruments & vocals
(not listed)

Produced by Sunspring. “Vision” lyrics Susanne Butler. Thanks to Kim Coletta. Photo Jeff Hinton. Thanks Betsy Porter.

December 22, 1989

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.

November 17, 1989

Slambang Vanilla – The Memphis Sessions & A Smokin’ Word LP

November 17, 1989
Slambang Vanilla
The Memphis Sessions & A Smokin’ Word LP cassette
[HAHX-1799] color copied inserts, dot matrix labels

This could be a perfect example of the humorous side of Slamdek, but is more likely an inaugural entry for the “joke-turned-obsession” department. Slambang Vanilla’s debut cassette was merely Step One in a really bad joke. A joke that proved, time and time again, to be perceived by many and understood by few. From the very beginning, Slambang Vanilla went way too far.

It began in September 1989, when I was home recording Cold Mourning songs on an Akai Betamax ten track machine I borrowed from Todd Johnson. An old friend of my brother, Todd was then playing guitar in Domani, an easy going, classy Louisville pop band signed to MCA. Late one night Joey Mudd and I, who were virtually inseparable, began goofing off. After recording “Ground,” a serious song Joey had been working on for guitar, we began recording stupid music that couldn’t belong to a genre if it wanted to. The next couple weeks passed quickly as we worked diligently together, and occasionally with Breck Pipes, multitracking a vast collection of inane nonsense. Some songs were carefully planned with an Emulator drum machine, sequenced bass lines, samples, and layered instrumentation. Others were sporadic using cardboard boxes, pocket change, and desks as percussion, overlaid with the sixties sounds of a massive PolyMoog synthesizer. Most of the songs were about a minute and a half in length. Nearly all of them featured the Jesus Rosebud Axe. This cheap acoustic guitar with cheesy nylon strings had been rescued from a dumpster and repaired by my resourceful grandfather, Truman Cecil, years earlier.

With an in house DAT machine, mixing was a breeze. The eight songs that comprise side one were finished, were hilarious, and were a secret. Joey and I took a weekend trip to Nashville, and to visit friends Kelly Kemper and Marcy Berns in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I had met Kelly and Marcy through Ben Godbey, my neighbor, when he went away to school at Western Kentucky University. The two girls had taken an interest in Slamdek, and did their best to spread the word about it among their friends. Even after Ben left WKU and moved to Maryland, weekend excursions (“spy missions”) to Bowling Green were still frequent. Over the course of this particular trip, Joey and I were discussing what to do with the “songs” we had recorded. On the way home from Nashville, we decided that when we arrived home we would tell everyone we had been to Memphis. Furthermore, that we had visited historic Sun Studios on Union Avenue, and recorded some songs. I had some pictures of the studio from a recent vacation. With the story, the trip, the photos, and the songs, we had the making of a serious joke. All we needed was something to call it. The graphically suggestive name of an innocent flavor of Batman & Robin ice cream, “Slam! Bang! Vanilla,” filled that bill. Over four years later, friends as close as Tim Furnish and Duncan Barlow both threw fits when they found out Slambang Vanilla didn’t actually record at Sun Studios.

The eight songs on side one cover the huge, full spectrum of stupidity. The first track, “Vanilla Anthem,” is so subtly played that its sparseness and fragility provide the kind of ticklish laugh you’d get if a miniature animal walked in the palm of your hand. The vocals were telephoned in from the other end of the house and recorded from a speaker phone. The second song, “Ground,” is a serious, touching acoustic guitar song, and has no business being included on this cassette. Perhaps it thickens the joke by planting the suggestion that this tape isn’t a joke at all. Maybe the thought grows that it’s not talented people being stupid on purpose; it’s genuinely bad music with this one song being an exception. The remainder of the songs, with memorable moments such as:

“Well there’s a baby, looks like a girl, runnin’ down the street, runnin’ in the rain. Look like heaven, honeychild, sing it one more time.” [from “Pixagogo Baby”].

“Honeychild, you know what you wear, white galoshes running in the rain, baby.” [from “Have a Slice of My Sugarloaf”].

“I’m thirsty, lookin’ for somethin’ to drink… I found somethin’ called an Orange Cow, a’mooo, Orange Cow, a’moooo.” [from “Milk Me (whydon’tcha)”].

And who could forget the touching, “Slap my bottom mama, I’m a real bad boy. Microwave muffin, I’m a helltrain rollin’, yeah. Frozen lips speakin’, present the gargoyle token, honeychild. Honeychild. Honeychild. Honeychild. Present the gargoyle token.” [from “Rock n’Roll Metal Epilogue”].

Or the beautiful, “I’ve got a lot of lovin’ to do, I’m a lonesome cowboy lookin’ at you. Treat me nice, cream my ice, baby pluck my buck.” [from “Baby Pluck My Buck”].
All are instant “classics.”

The Slambang Vanilla (SBV) mystique is enhanced by the fact that the musicians listed are Slambang Rosebud (aka Joey) and Colonel Vanilla “Truckstop” McEnos (aka your “author”). The thank you list includes at least two hundred entries, dozens of which are jokes as well (Hugh Flungpoo, Phil McKrevis, Mona Lott, Rusty Bedsprings, etc.). And along with the lyrics, a complete song-by-song detailing of every piece of equipment used in the recording process is listed. The equipment liner notes are exact all the way down to the name brand and model number of the microphones, effects pedals, guitar picks (including color and thickness), specific instruments (“National Audio Company cardboard box”), and the amount of pocket change used as percussion (“sixty cents: two quarters and a dime”).

A portion of the Slambang Vanilla Memphis Sessions thanks list (left), and inside fold out “artwork” (right). Actual length 16 1/2 inches.

Side two, A Smokin’ Word LP, is an equally silly story all its own. This “inspired” nine minute piece of work was recorded in several hours direct to DAT very late one night when my parents were out of town. It consists of a collection of about ten selections of spoken, shouted, whispered, and otherwise delivered “poetry.”

The words of Slambang Vanilla’s Smokin’ Word LP perhaps speak best for themselves. While the brilliance of the inflection and delivery is not here, here is a transcript of a majority of this timeless work of art (rhymes with fart).

“I’m a raging flame. Extinguish my fury. Hot hydrant Sterno feast. Throw me on the
grille. Yeaaaahh! Slide your marshmallows onto my stick. Torch your skin baby, baby, baby, I’ll light your wick. Smokin’ fondue marshmallow ride. Hot sassafras tricklin’ down my thigh. Hot sassafras not a stick in the eye. Hot sassafras peeling the skin. Hot sassafras against my lily white ass.”

“Fishin’ for love baby, bite my bait. Wishin’ to catch your catfish, I’m your schooner mate. Castin’ my reel for ya, mama. Mercy, what a fine catch. Oh honey, hit the deck. I’ll hush your puppy. What the heck. Well, I’m diggin’ in your boat of crunchies, with a Dr. Nehi in my hand. If you wanna order up some shrimp, darlin’, you’ve come to the wrong man. Well, shake it up, catchin’ catfish, cashin’ in. Butter it up, I’m your tartar sauce lover. Break it up, hit the deck under my covers. Eat it up, child, from your pleasure smorgasbord. You think I’m a chicken plank, you don’t know what you’re seein’. Surprise in my private cabin, I’m the chicken of the semen… (but maybe I’m a Leo).”

“Navajo fantasy pow wow. Passion warrior, Geronimo showed me how. Mama. Sitting Bull, fixing do charge. Sending out smoke signals, my message is at large. Wigwam lover, Winnebago shock absorber. Iroquois mutton chop, Chickasaw cream crop. Wigwam lover, Winnebago shock absorber. Iroquois mutton chop! Chickasaw cream crop! Navajo fantasy pow wow! Passion warrior, Geronimo showed me how! Sitting Bull, fixing do charge! I’m sending out smoke signals! My message is at large! Winnebago! Iroquois mutton chop! Chickasaw cream crop! Iroquois mutton chop! Chickasaw cream crop! Iroquois mutton chop! Chickasaw cream crop! Iroquois mutton chop! Chickasaw cream crop! Iroquois mutton chop! Chickasaw cream crop! Sending out smoke signals, my message is at large. Yes, it’s going down. Teepee. Shoe. Leatherback. Pow. Reservation.”

“Hot dog constrictor at the Pleasure Chow Wagon. Your stomach is grumblin’, my pelvis is naggin. You’re the damsel in distress. Come and slay my pelvic dragon. Come and slay my pelvic dragon.”

“My heart’s flying like an aeroplane. My brain’s pouring like the rain. Oooh wee mama, your fancy tongue’s driving me insane. I would like to fluff your pillow, your pillow, your pillow, and hold you real tight, ’cuz I am a bright eyed bombing love Commanche who loves your sweet lips. Come on, you howlin’ banshee, shake them turbine hips. You make me shimmy to my knees, and make me whine, oooh weee, aauggh, yeah, yeah. Because you can lace me up, and double tie me, and fray me, knot me. Mother. Keeper. I’m trash.”

“There’s an itch that lurks in um, a body. Far, far away. But…”

…and that’s how it ends! The listener is left with the obvious question, “But what?”

While The Memphis Sessions & A Smokin’ Word LP cassette only sold a pathetic 34 copies, possibly twice that number were given away. Everyone who knew Joey and I during that era could not have escaped hearing it way too many times. And we made shirts, too. Had all of this time and energy been poured into our regular bands, it could’ve worked wonders. But that would’ve been too logical. Joey was singing in Crawdad, and I was playing guitar in McBand. Both Crawdad and McBand formed during the same week in June 1989. The other members of McBand were Richard Epley on drums, Chris Scott (Spot) on bass, and Mark Denny singing. McBand (also called the Mystery Creme Band) never recorded or played out, though three songs that ended up on the Sunspring $1.50 Demo were originally McBand tunes.

When Slambang Vanilla eventually began recording again, it became painfully clear that SBV may never die. At least friends could look forward to hearing different SBV material, instead of The Memphis Sessions & A Smokin’ Word LP again.

Another useful function of the SBV cassette was that it continued the growing tradition (for the fifth year) of releasing something on November 17th each year. It may not have been an earth shattering release, but it was something.

Memphis side:
Vanilla Anthem
Ground
Pixagogo Baby
Have a Slice of My Sugarloaf
Milk Me (whydon’tcha)
Pixagogo House Remix Baby
Baby Pluck My Buck
Rock n’Roll Metal Epilogue

Jesus side:
Smokin’ Word LP

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