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Category: Endpoint

Endpoint – If the Spirits Are Willing: Slamdek Discography 1988-1991

May 28, 1994
Endpoint
If the Spirits Are Willing: Slamdek Discography 1988-1991 compact disc
[SDK-9] press-printed one color booklet in jewel box

The eternally-anticipated compact disc issue of Endpoint’s 1989 debut, If The Spirits Are Willing, finally materialized in May of 1994. The CD, while it came over six years after some of its material was recorded, is perhaps one of the finest examples of what Slamdek aspired to be. And it was one of the label’s brightest moments.

The disc contains twenty-five songs, documenting Endpoint’s first 17 song cassette, their tracks from the first Endpoint/Sunspring 7″, their contribution to the Christmas 1990 tape, and five of the seven songs they recorded in 1988 under the name Deathwatch. What makes this CD so complete, however, is not necessarily its music. Its extensive liner notes is where the disc shines brightest. It documents, in a twelve-paragraph essay by guitarist and founder Duncan Barlow, the complete history of the band from Day One through the discography’s release. Also, a seven-paragraph column provides a documentation of the sources, history, and previous availability of every song. It even goes so far as to point out its own inadequacies… it’s two songs short of being a full discography of the band’s ’88 to ’91 work on Slamdek. Two of the Deathwatch tracks, “Wool” and “Dignity,” from the Crain/Deathwatch 7″, are missing; as is the still-unreleased Juniper Hill version of “Wool.”


August 1994, Endpoint in California: Duncan Barlow.

The front and back covers of the CD have been reversed, using the jewel box tray card as the front instead of the booklet. It only makes sense, doesn’t it? The booklet side is 4.75″x4.75″, and the plastic spine is a 0.5″x4.75″ area of unusable space. The tray card side is 5.375″x4.75″ and is all usable space. I had planned to make the artwork on all future Slamdek CD’s this way. But you know how people are when it comes to resisting change. The next compact disc release was Kinghorse’s Too Far Gone, which they wanted arranged the normal way.

The artwork included photos from all eras of the band’s existence, by Chris Higdon, John Toombs, Russ Cermy, and Aaron Wilson. Tim Furnish did the scanning at Kinko’s, and I designed the layout which took more hours than any previous release.

The first batch of Endpoint CD’s was 1,000 units manufactured by Rainbo Records in California (bad idea). 200 copies were given to the band to sell on an upcoming U.S. tour. Another set of 500 units was ordered in November 1994. Those discs arrived when I was away on a five-week Metroschifter U.S. tour. My mom and Carrie sent most of them to distributors, and the discs were all gone before Slamdek went under in February 1995.

One last note, anyone who has ever dealt with the fickle format of DAT, will undoubtedly recognize the sweet sound of the digital glitch on the Spirits CD at 0:19:36 (at 2:01 during “Final Stand”). It was on the Juniper Hill master and unfortunately could not be fixed before the CD’s were pressed. Track 18 was 13 seconds of intentionally blank space used to separate If The Spirits Are Willing from the eight other songs on the disc.

LINER NOTES:

01 Thought You Were
02 Mirrored Image
03 Dignity
04 Ignorance Downfall
05 Label Me
06 Wool
07 Final Stand
08 Way Back
09 Axis Crew
10 Face
11 Wrong
12 Stick Around
13 Wopner
14 Shattered Justice
15 Rungless Ladder
16 Religion Crisis
17 Exit
18 [blank]
19 Promise
20 Priorities
21 Endpoint Outro
22 Stick Around
23 Ignorant Downfall
24 Invent A Law
25 Label Me
26 Death Watch

Tracks 1 through 17 were originally issued June 20, 1989 as If The Spirits Are Willing on cassette. With the exception of track 6, If The Spirits Are Willing was recorded by Todd Smith in March 1989 at Juniper Hill Creative Audio. Produced by Cubby Cleaver and Endpoint. Rob Pennington vocals, Duncan Barlow guitar, Rusty Sohm drums, Jason Graff bass. Track 6: Duncan Barlow guitar, Rusty Sohm bass. “Wool” was recorded in Rusty’s apartment on digital two track by Scott Ritcher to replace another song called “Wool” from the Spirits session that the band chose to omit at the last minute. As a result, Track 6 required being a specific length to fit into its location on the digital master. The original release cassettes had “Wool” fade-in to make it shorter. This compact disc has the unfaded start-to-finish “Wool” from which the other version was made.

Tracks 19 through 21 feature a different lineup than If The Spirits Are Willing. Rob Pennington vocals, Duncan Barlow guitar, Chad Castetter guitar, Lee Fetzer drums, Jason Hayden bass.

Tracks 19 and 20, “Promise” and “Priorities,” comprised one side of the first Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″, released April 5, 1991. These two songs were recorded by Howie Gano at Sound on Sound Studios [November 1990].

“Endpoint Outro,” Track 21, appeared on Slamdek’s compilation cassette Christmas 1990, released December 22, 1990. This song was recorded on digital two track in Lee’s apartment by Scott.

Tracks 22 through 26 were recorded in February 1988 at Artists’ Recording Service before the group was called Endpoint. This lineup under the name Deathwatch was: Rob Pennington vocals, Duncan Barlow guitar, Greg Carmichael guitar, Rusty Sohm drums, Jason Graff bass. Track 23 appeared on the Crain/Deathwatch 7″ (along with A.R.S. recordings of “Dignity” and the aforementioned other song called “Wool”) which was limited to 300 copies. Those records were given away free September 7, 1990 at Louisville’s Zodiac Club during a Crain, Endpoint, Sister Shannon show. Tracks 22, and 24 through 26 have remained unreleased until now.

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,

Endpoint & Sunspring – Written in Rock: Songs of Rick Springfield

December 4, 1993
Endpoint & Sunspring
Written in Rock: Songs of Rick Springfield split seven inch
[SDK-33] photocopied covers and inserts; first 1,000 with translucent vellum overlay, next 500 with two-color photocopied covers


First pressing cover with translucent vellum overlay.

In the summer of 1993, Endpoint and Sunspring teamed up again on several occasions. One of these was a 9,000 mile journey around the United States playing our music for the kids. The other one was this unforgettable seven inch of Rick Springfield covers. Sunspring played a show at the Machine in March, during which we pulled a cover of Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf” out of the bag… along with 40 pounds of confetti (three garbage bags full of punched holes Michael Jarboe “borrowed” from Kinko’s). This inspired a conversation between Duncan and I a few weeks later at Baja Bay, a Highlands Mexican restaurant, which transformed from a discussion of great, old songs, to the idea of creating the seven inch you see documented here.

My love for Rick Springfield’s music was no secret. So, as soon as everyone in both bands agreed that the record was a good idea, Sunspring learned the song, “Love Somebody,” a Top 20 hit from the Hard To Hold soundtrack, and scheduled time at DSL. Our rendition was just under three minutes, not including the last note which was held out for two minutes and twenty seconds. Samples from Hard To Hold were layered in over the finale.

Things with Endpoint moved a little more slowly. The original plan was to have both bands record early in the summer, so the record could be pressed and finished before the Endpoint/Sunspring U.S. tour in August. Things didn’t stick to that schedule, however, and Endpoint ran out of time before the tour. By the time the tour was over, things were even farther off the mark. When the nine boys returned to Louisville for a day before the final four-day stretch, Jason Thompson quit Sunspring, prohibiting the band from finishing the remaining dates. Nonetheless, Endpoint finished the tour without us, and finally visited DSL in October to record their song for the seven inch. They tackled “Jessie’s Girl,” Rick’s first million seller and only Number One hit. Endpoint’s version was (swallow) a little grungy, yet unmistakably Endpoint.

August 1993, Endpoint and Sunspring United States Tour in Tucson, Arizona: Scott Ritcher, Kyle Crabtree, Pat McClimans, Rob Pennington, Andy Tinsley, Chad Castetter, Jason Thompson, Forrest Kuhn, Duncan Barlow.

It was a strange picture when the two bands performed their Rick Springfield covers live, almost as if the kids had never heard the songs. This might make sense as some of them were born in the early eighties when the songs were hits. Endpoint played theirs at Tewligans in November shortly before the seven inch came out, while we had played ours at the Machine in July.

Just as the first Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ demonstrated, the two bands were considerably stylistically different from each other. Endpoint had changed a lot since 1991. They had released another album, Catharsis, on Doghouse, as well as a seven inch of punk rock cover songs, Idiots.

Bassist Kyle Noltemeyer quit in late 1992. Doug Walker of Majority Of One from Toledo, Ohio, filled in on bass for Endpoint’s European tour that winter. Drummer Lee Fetzer had left the group when they returned from Europe in January 1993. He joined Enkindel on guitar. Duncan’s friend Chris Higdon of Falling Forward suggested his cousin, Kyle Crabtree, as a replacement. Kyle wasn’t into hardcore really, but was a powerful drummer. They were in a bind, though, and tried him out.

Kyle learned Endpoint’s set in a week before some north eastern shows they had lined up, and “came through like a champ.” Curtis Mead of Split Lip from Indianapolis took over temporarily in the musical chairs game that was Endpoint’s bass position. After a few months, he retired and Pat McClimans of Scab from Lafayette, Indiana, moved to Louisville to fulfill a dream playing for one of his favorite bands. Kyle and Pat stayed with Endpoint and the lineup didn’t change again between summer 1993 and their last show in December 1994. Of course, the band still included vocalist Rob Pennington, and guitarists Duncan Barlow and Chad Castetter. This lineup recorded the Aftertaste album during the summer of ’93 and The Last Record EP in December ’94. Both of those were also on Doghouse.

Cover of Rick Springfield’s 1988 album Rock Of Life that the cover of the Endpoint/Sunspring 7″ is a takeoff of. Below, second pressing seven inch cover.

Sunspring’s last stand had apparently come and gone. Jason and I got back together in September without Forrest and began writing songs and looking for a new drummer. We wanted to write all new songs and possibly change the name of the band. We began practicing, doing only the most recent Sunspring songs. We first tried Jon Smith, who was exactly the type of drummer we were looking for, but he seemed too busy with other projects. That fell apart after only two practices. A more successful series of practices with John Causey followed. That lasted about a month and a half. Ultimately, it seemed that it might be best to just let it die. Other than a one-show reunion of the Hayden/Ritcher/Weiss lineup in December 1994, Sunspring never played again. Our last show had been August 15, 1993 in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Shortly before the tour began, Chad and I were evicted from the apartment we shared above the Cherokee Animal Clinic at Eastern Parkway and Baxter Avenue. That apartment lasted us about eight months in 1993 during which Slamdek got knocked into a more organized state with the help of Chad and my girlfriend Carrie Osborne, a bright economics major at Bellarmine. Slamdek added a fax machine and beefed-up distribution, actual stock on hand, and revamped the packaging on older releases. The turnaround time on direct mail orders was the shortest it ever was. Needless to say, the loss of the apartment meant the loss of a headquarters for the label. With the upcoming Endpoint/Sunspring tour in August ’93 as an impasse for employment, it also left Chad and I homeless for about a month on either side of the tour. My mom and Carrie took care of mail orders during the tour.

While on the tour, Pat and I grew to be great friends. Afterwards, I returned to work at ear X-tacy and moved into the apartment at 2217 Grinstead with Duncan, Kyle Noltemeyer, and Matt Loeser. This lasted until December when I moved into a house at 1233 Bardstown Road with Layla Smith and Carrie. Pat moved into the Grinstead apartment and stopped by our house often on his way to and from work at Mid City Mall’s Subway. He became a major player in Slamdek. The time was right for him to come in and fill the absence left when I lost the apartment with Chad. Pat and I worked on filling mail orders, assembling records, listening to Steve Martin albums, and recording parodies of Shelter songs under the name Shitler (“In Depants of Regularity” and “The Ooze”).

The cover artwork for Written In Rock was modeled after, or rather stolen, from Rick Springfield’s last album Rock Of Life, released in 1988 on RCA. As well, the seven inch is named for a song from his 1985 masterpiece, Tao. The seven inch received a good deal of verbal questioning looks from reviewers, but one particular review stands out in retrospect. That review was praise and endorsement from a summer ’94 edition of RLS: Rick’s Loyal Supporters, the quarterly newsletter of the Rick Springfield fan club. Now that was pretty cool. The newsletter even reprinted the liner notes from the seven inch. Written In Rock’s liner notes consist of a fourteen-paragraph biography of Rick and an explanation of his importance to Endpoint and Sunspring. An additional insert to the seven inch was a lengthy story of the Endpoint/Sunspring U.S. tour, complete with photos. The record also included a CD discography listing for both bands and Rick Springfield.


August 1994, Endpoint in California: Rob Pennington.

The first pressing of Written In Rock was 1,000 units, 900 on black vinyl, and 100 on clear. The covers were solid light grey cardstock copied on the Xerox 5090. The titles were not printed on the cover itself, but rather on a square sheet of translucent vellum paper placed in front of the actual cover. This paper, in addition to being particularly expensive, had to be visually monitored as the copies were being run. Afterward, each sheet had to be individually hand-cut. Michael Jarboe and Carrie oversaw the copying at Bardstown Road’s Kinko’s at Stevens Avenue. Pat and I later enjoyed the cutting and folding process. Thommy Browne also stopped by the house to help assemble records on a few occasions. Because of the uniqueness and expense of the vellum paper, I took full advantage of it. It came in 8.5″x11″ sheets. Obviously, a seven inch cover being cut out of the sheet leaves a 4″x8.5″ piece of unused area. In this area, I had two 4″x4″ cassette covers printed. One was for The Telephone Man’s SDK-35 cassette, and the other was for an upcoming LG&E cassette. Only about fifteen of the T-Man covers were used, but all of the LG&E cassettes came from this batch of translucent vellum.

The second pressing was 500 units, some of which were still around when Slamdek went out of business. All of those were on black vinyl. The covers were slightly different. Due to the expense, the translucent vellum overlays were 86-ed for the second pressing. Instead, they were photocopied on the same light grey cardstock with the titles in black and the photo in brown. This brought the total units in circulation to 1,500. Both bands later released retrospective CD’s of their previous work on Slamdek. But to avoid dealing with calculating royalties and all that nonsense, neither band included their Rick Springfield song on their CD anthologies.
Engineered by Mike Baker. Recorded at Dave Stewart Land.

LINER NOTES:

Endpoint side:
Jessie’s Girl

Sunspring side:
Love Somebody

Special thanks to: ear X-tacy Records, John Timmons, Jeffrey Lee Puckett, Mary & Allan Ritcher, Chris Higdon, Mark Damron.

Endpoint:
Duncan Barlow, guitar
Chad Castetter, guitar
Kyle Crabtree, drums
Rob Pennington, vocals
Pat McClimans, bass

Sunspring:
Forrest Kuhn, drums
Scott Ritcher, guitar/vocals
Jason Thompson, bass

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,

Slamdek Singles

March 24, 1993

Slamdek Singles
compiled seven inches and cassette EP’s plus unreleased material, 1989-1992
various artists two-cassette set
[SDK-32] transparent color copied covers, books-on-tape long box with inserted 8-page booklet

The Slamdek Singles box set was a great idea with beautiful packaging, but also a victim of bad circumstances. Its length of 35 songs in 101 minutes, took an average of nearly a half hour of machine time to record each set. Its expensive, transparent, full color packaging increased its price even more than its two tapes did. It became a specialty item as it had to be kept on the store counter. Its small size and high price tag of around $16 made it too easy to steal.

The diversity of the material it included took several months to compile and assemble for release as a single unit. Slamdek Singles had been in the works since late 1992. Its liner notes include the lyrics to all 35 songs, as well as complete discography, personnel, and production listings for each group. And other than the convenience and novelty of putting all the songs together, the set had a purpose.

“The Slamdek Singles two tape set is the result of several years of dedication, emotion, and hard work by many people. The short 101 minutes that it plays are miniscule in comparison to the time and effort needed to reach this milestone. The songs compiled here are provided as either previously unavailable, currently out of print, or never before issued on cassette. They have all been transferred directly from the original digital masters.”

Slamdek Singles compiled all of Slamdek’s essential EP’s released between 1989 and 1992. This consisted of: the Crain/Deathwatch 7″, the first Endpoint/Sunspring 7″, the Your Face cassette, Sunspring’s Slinky 7″, Ennui’s Olive 7″, and the Jawbox cassette. Its previously unavailable material consisted of two tracks by Sister Shannon, plus one from Christmas 1990; two tracks by LG&E, plus one from Slamdek Merry Christmas Is For Rockers; and two tracks from Ennui, combined with their track from Rockers and their Olive 7″, thus presenting all seven songs they recorded. And the Ennui tracks are incidentally presented in the order in which they were recorded, rather than in the sequence of their seven inch. Are you getting all this?

A production snag occurred when the Sister Shannon DAT could not be located. The unreleased Sister Shannon tracks were one of my main interests in putting the collection together. After several days of phone calls, it turned up at DSL. Another snag came up when one of my two DAT machines was not working properly. I asked John Kampschaefer for his assistance at the last minute, and he graciously obliged. A majority of the digital sequence editing was done in John Kampschaefer’s parents’ basement.

There are some Slamdek EP’s released between ’89 and ’92 which are missing from the collection. They are, the Cerebellum cassette, which was still in print when Slamdek Singles was created, and three EP’s which were left off of the compilation because they had been released to cater to the special interests of selective audiences, Crawdad’s Loaded, the 7 More Seconds cassette, and Sunspring’s $1.50 Demo. The back outside panel of the package has a brief historical introduction, “The Slamdek Record Company began in November 1986 with the release of a cassette by Pink Aftershock. Since then, a combination of thirty-one more cassettes, seven inches, digital audio tapes, videocassettes, and compact discs have been released encompassing a wide range of sounds and ideas. This two tape set compiles most of the cassette EP’s and all the seven inches from the past four years. Also included is a valuable amount of previously unissued material, as well as photographs and the lyrics to all thirty-five songs. Slamdek Singles is the small result of the huge amount of dedication the bands in Louisville (and beyond) share. The time, effort, emotion, and memories that are part of this milestone are things on which no one could ever put a price.”

The lengthy liner notes are synopsized here. And naturally, the discographies are no longer current. Any clarifications and lyrical excerpts are [in brackets]:


The very expensive, full color, transparent books-on-tape long box packaging of Slamdek Singles helped the two tape set meet an early demise. Back cover photo is of Robin Wallace, Todd Smith, and Scott Ritcher at Juniper Hill during the Your Face session in 1988.

SIDE ONE:

Deathwatch: Ignorance Downfall, Wool, Dignity.
Rob Pennington vocals, Duncan Barlow guitar, Greg Carmichael guitar, Rusty Sohm drums, Jason Graff bass.

These songs: Recorded at ARS, Barret Avenue, February 1988. Released as one side of the Crain/Deathwatch split 7″. The record was a limited edition of 300 copies which were given away at a Crain, Endpoint, and Sister Shannon show at the Zodiac Club, September 7, 1990. Deathwatch became Endpoint later in 1988.

Deathwatch Discography:
•Deathwatch cassette, self-released, February 1988, out of print
•Crain/Deathwatch split 7″, Slamdek No. 9790, September 1990, limited edition

[“Punk rock is now a fashion show. You’ve got your boots, so black they glow. Hair stuck up with a can of spray. Punk rock, hardcore, it’s all the same. You’ve got your boots, but what’s to show?”]

Endpoint: Promise, Priorities.
Rob Pennington vocals, Duncan Barlow guitar, Chad Castetter guitar, Lee Fetzer drums, Jason Hayden bass.

These songs: Recorded at Sound On Sound, Frankfort Avenue, November 1990. Produced by Howie Gano and the EPA. Released on the Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″

Endpoint Discography:
•If The Spirits Are Willing cassette/DAT, Slamdek No. 9 (prev. 1797), June 1989
•Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″, Slamdek No. 21, March 1991
•In A Time Of Hate LP/cassette, Conversion No. 10, June 1991
•Catharsis LP/CD, Doghouse No. 10, August 1992
•EP2 live 7″, Break Even Point No. 7, November 1992
•Idiots 7″ of cover songs, Doghouse No. 15, December 1992, limited edition

[“Love is gone, locked from your heart. Lust is strong, it’s all you feel. Close your mind to all commitment, you broke her will. Relationship, a mountain we climbed, fell to an immoral world.”]

Your Face: Magenta Bent, Old Hat New Hat.
Robin Wallace vocals, Greta Ritcher guitar, Tishy Quesenberry drums, Dawn Hill bass.

These songs: Recorded at Juniper Hill Creative Audio, December 1988. Released as a cassette single, this was their only release.

Your Face Discography:
•Magenta Bent cassette single, Slamdek No. 1550, January 1989, out of print.

[“Would it make you feel good to see tears running down his face? Howling with a mad delight, you put him in his place. Revenge is something you can touch, the water in his eyes. Throw it back into his lap, all those little lies.”]

Sister Shannon: Carolina, Haint, Goreman.
Robin Wallace vocals, Greta Ritcher guitar, Kevin Coultas drums, David Ernst bass.

These songs: Recorded in Kevin’s parents’ basement live to digital two track [DAT], December 1990. Produced by K. Scott Ritcher and Dave Ernst. “Goreman” appeared on the 1990 Slamdek Christmas tape, and the band broke up in early 1991. [Sister
Shannon was named after Sacred Heart Academy’s Dean of Students, Sister Shannon Maguire.]

Sister Shannon Discography:
•none released

[“Tied on her back, down on a quilt, where fear becomes a sweat stain. That’s all I know about tacks and thumbs. It’s the same as sex or being raped. The hot metal of his weapon says go girl go girl go girl. Dig the pelvic ditch. Carolina… The fetid swamp sits there on the fact that should be fiction. This cracked man dips into his gun powder, dipping in the handfuls of sweet sweet misery, to eat like rock candy and rot her teeth. Carolina… Too close now to examine the heat from his fingers. He pouts into the metal of his misogynist weapon, no one sees his mercy. This cracked man, oh this cracked man. Gonna take me down. Carolina…”]

SIDE TWO:

Sunspring: Don’t Just Stand There, Silver Spring, Kendall, Faceless, Magnet, Christmas Morning, Street.
K. Scott Ritcher guitar/vocals, John Weiss drums, Chad Castetter bass on 1-3, Jason Hayden bass on 4-7.

These songs: Recorded at Sound On Sound. “Don’t Just Stand There,” “Silver Spring,” and “Kendall” produced by Howie Gano and K. Scott Ritcher, March 1991. Released on the Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″. The other four songs produced by Howie Gano, November 1991. Released as the Slinky 7″.

Sunspring Discography:
•$1.50 Demo cassette, Slamdek No. 3950, April 1990, out of print
•Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″, Slamdek No. 21, March 1991
•Sun cassette, Slamdek No. 24, August 1991
•Slinky 7″, Slamdek No. 26, March 1992
•Action Eleven cassette, Slamdek No. 29, October 1992, limited edition
•Poppy CD/cassette, Slamdek No. 31, April 1993 [actual release in June]
•Poppy LP, Break Even Point No. 931213, April 1993 [actual release in September]

[“I want so much to own nothing. Give me just a piece of just what I want. I’ve had it easy but I’ve made it hard. I’ve thwarted my very own efforts. You are no one, you are nothing. I always knew you hated me. You were easy but I made you hard. I made you a street that I avoided. We are everything we want to be. We never stop to think. I was sure you were the mine I thought you were, but now I’m caught with my foot on the trigger.”]

LG&E: First, Second, Third.
Duncan Barlow instruments/vocals, K. Scott Ritcher instruments/vocals.

These songs: Recorded at Slamdek, Eastern Parkway, October 1992. Produced by LG&E, except “Third” recorded March 1993 on 4 track. “First” appears on Slamdek Merry Christmas is for Rockers cassette, 1992.

LG&E Discography:
•none released

[“In the open fields, kissed by fall’s cool winds, a boy shatters the horizon. Short and somewhat stalky, his red hair blazes like fire against the charcoal gray skies that hang over the field. The rain promised a better harvest for the townsfolk, but the harvest of the boy’s soul is dry and weary. A raindrop falls on his nose, breaking his world of tranquility,
but never his realm of fascination.”]

SIDE THREE:
Ennui: Slugs, Two Headed Cow, Ennui, Gun?, Alkaline, 34 Page Book, Translucent.
Matt Ronay vocals, Lane Sparber guitar, Tim Houchin bass, Forrest Kuhn drums.

These songs: Recorded at WGNS, 13th Street (Arlington, VA), May 1992. Produced by Geoff Turner and K. Scott Ritcher. “Alkaline,” “34 Page Book,” “Ennui,” and “Translucent” comprise the Olive 7″. “Gun?” appears on Slamdek Merry Christmas is for Rockers cassette, 1992. “Two Headed Cow” and “Slugs” are previously unavailable. Ennui disbanded during summer 1992.

Ennui Discography:
•Olive 7″, Slamdek No. 27, September 1992

[“Sometimes when I wanna go, I stop and stare and reflect back to the times when I was switching body parts on G.I. Joe’s and killing birds with guns. Leah’s birthday’s brownies we rolled them up, put them on a chair. Lunch ladies’ eyes always bearing down on us. Disobedient, carefree, irresponsible, and burning slugs with Tim.”]

SIDE FOUR:
Jawbox: Twister, Ballast, Bullet Park, Tools & Chrome, Secret History.
Jay Robbins guitar/vocals, Kim Coletta bass, Adam Wade drums.

These songs: Recorded at Upland Studio (Arlington, VA), January 1990. Recorded by Barret Jones, produced by Alferd Packer. All songs except “Bullet Park” comprised the first Jawbox 7″ on DeSoto Records which was released simultaneously with the Slamdek cassette. Slamdek’s extra cut is a tambourine-less mix of its recording for a Maximumrocknroll compilation. Jawbox is, so far, the only non-Louisville band to be released on Slamdek.

Jawbox Discography:
•Jawbox cassette, Slamdek No. 1782, April 1990, out of print
•Jawbox 7″, DeSoto No. 2, May 1990, out of print
•Grippe LP/cassette/CD, Dischord No. 52, June 1991
•Ones + Zeros 7″, Dischord No. 61, March 1992
•Novelty LP/cassette/CD, Dischord No. 69, August 1992
•Tar/Jawbox Static split 7″, Touch and Go/Dischord, February 1993
•Jackpot Plus! 7″, Dischord No. 77, February 1993

[“Blood marks the road where the animal left its life behind, in a red stain that the rain will wash away. Fall of night foretold, sky colors like a bruise, and I think of ones I used to know and the paths they had to choose. For we are born and we remain forever trapped inside our heads, alone. No human chords are struck without a resonance in other lives, but the echoes we hold onto seem as arbitrary as the times.”]

Crain: The Fuse, Proposed Production.
Joey Mudd vocals on “Proposed Production,” Tim Furnish guitar, Jon Cook bass, Will Chatham drums, Drew Daniel vocals on “The Fuse”

These songs: Recorded at Sound On Sound, January 1990. Recorded by Howie Gano. Released on the Crain/Deathwatch split 7″. Three other songs from this same 17-song session were part of the Rocket 7″ released later.

Crain Discography:
•Crain/Deathwatch split 7″, Slamdek No. 9790, September 1990, limited edition
•Rocket 7″, Automatic (Liability) No. 1, April 1991, out of print
•Speed LP/cassette, Automatic (Liability) No. 3, May 1992

[“They said the newspaper, it could never lie, but they hid the truth about the way she died. Asked mother how it happened, she said she wasn’t sure. It’s a strange disease that finds its own cure. I can project my own reasons, I can speculate, how grandmother fell into such a state. Mother made me swear I wouldn’t go that way. A promise is a promise is a promise that I shouldn’t have made.”]

After the four months it took to assemble, Slamdek Singles met an early fate after about two months of release. Fewer than fifty units of it had been manufactured when Sunspring’s upcoming Poppy CD helped to do it in, in more ways than one. The first way was financially, as virtually all the money coming in from sales of all Slamdek releases was being allocated to help pay for manufacturing the very costly Poppy discs, the first CD fully funded by the label. Another way the Poppy CD cut the life of Slamdek Singles was by duplicating all seven of its Sunspring songs. Additionally, the Grippe CD on Dischord was inclusive of four of the five Jawbox songs.

Slamdek Singles was then essentially desired only for its twelve exclusive cuts. This was hardly enough to warrant its elaborate transparent, full color packaging with twenty-three other songs. Each unit cost about $6.50 each to manufacture, the wholesale price was $10.75, and the few dozen units that were made sold for about $15.00. I stole the idea for the colorful, transparent packaging from the British CD single of “True Love Will Find You In The End” and the limited CD version of Soul Kiss, both by Spectrum. The same two CD’s were later sampled on Sunspring’s Poppy and Metroschifter’s New Mexico Drum Machine Demos.

The Endpoint and Deathwatch songs eventually ended up on the CD version of If The Spirits Are Willing the following year. LG&E’s tracks resurfaced on the LG&E cassette in December 1993. The exclusive songs by Ennui, Jawbox, and Sister Shannon disappeared from print, as did the reissued tracks by Your Face and Crain.

ADDITIONAL LINER NOTES:

Back cover photo: Greg Lynch. • Special assistance: Robin Wallace, Carrie Osborne, Matthew M. Ronay, Duncan Barlow, Jon Cook, David A. Stewart, Mark Ritcher, Mike Baker, and Chad Castetter. • Compilation and packaging: K. Scott Ritcher. • Additional digital sequencing: John F. Kampschaefer. • Thanks also to DeSoto Records, Automatic Wreckords, DSL, and Cosmic Software, for their much appreciated cooperation in this release.

Slamdek Merry Christmas Is For Rockers

December 12, 1992

Slamdek Merry Christmas Is For Rockers
various artists cassette
[SDK-29] color copied covers, books-on-tape long box with inserted 6-page booklet, laser printed labels

The 1992 Christmas tape documented several notable beginnings, but was ultimately more a product of habit than inspiration. Following the previous year’s super-creative Christmas effort was a tall order. And 1991 also had the advantage of a consistent sound by having its nine songs uniformly recorded in the same studio. But with or without comparison to the Louisville covers on 1991’s Merry Christmas cassette, 1992’s Slamdek Merry Christmas is for Rockers fell short of the mark.

It had all the typically big Slamdek names, Endpoint, Crain, Sunspring; it introduced several new bands, Rodan, The Pale Blue Star, and LG&E; and continued the work of others, Hopscotch Army, Ennui, Concrete, Lather, and Telephone Man. Its books-on-tape box packaging and full color cover were handsome, but costly, and it included a candy cane. Tim Furnish, who was DTP manager at Bardstown Road Kinko’s at Stevens Avenue, did the color scanning. And Carrie Osborne, Kim Sampson, and Mike Jarboe, who were also employed there, cut me a deal on the color copies for the covers. The color images were designed blindly on the black and white Macintosh Classic at my parents’ house, and printed on the 300 dpi color Tektronix printer at Kinko’s. There was now a 300 dpi black and white printer at the house, which was used for the black and white insert.

While the packaging was fairly elaborate, my apparent lack of enthusiasm for the release was demonstrated in the liner notes. “Traditionally, this pack of liner notes is filled with long-winded, overly informative ramblings that amount to a 95-paragraph pep talk essay on how great Louisville is and how cool our bands are. Since we’re all pretty much aware by now that Louisville’s shitty bands are much better than many other cities’ good bands, we’ll skip the speech this year. One major point that should be made, though, is that there are so many different kinds of bands doing so many different types of things here that narrowing it down to eleven songs is hardly fair. A lot of bands who wanted to be on the Christmas tape this year couldn’t because of scheduling problems and space limitations. To them we apologize. You can guarantee that next year’s will be much better scheduled and will be ALL Christmas songs!” [The following year’s Christmas tape was cancelled due to a lack of response from the bands. Pulse was the only one who actually completed a Christmas song for the tape, “Good King Wencheslas.” Endpoint was going to do “Silent Night,” Sunspring “Let It Snow,” etc.]


Slamdek Merry Christmas Is For Rockers insert, unfolded to 6 1/4 by 10 1/2 inches, copied on blue-gray speckled, recycled paper. Center photo above is from Christmas 1981, as Mark, Scott, and Greta Ritcher open their new Atari 2600 Video Computer System. Left photo below, from winter 1975, is Mark and Scott on a sled.

The back cover of Slamdek Merry Christmas is for Rockers also had a brief, and slightly more enthusiastic and comprehensive introduction, “For five of the past six years, Louisville bands have come together on the annual Slamdek Christmas tape. 1992 is no different. It’s a tape of songs which are compiled just to be heard. Each song is very different from the others around it. They’re all written by different people and recorded in different places, but they all came from the hearts and minds of the angst-ridden, wound-up kids of Louisville, Kentucky. And while they’re not traditional Christmas Carols, they are Christmas songs because they’re the gifts of reassurance we give to each other every year.”
It should be noted that the title, Slamdek Merry Christmas is for Rockers, is not a reference to the Slamdek Rockers field hockey team. That formed in late 1993, nearly a year later. If anything, perhaps the name of the cassette inspired the name of the team, but neither is directly responsible for the other. And, unusual for Slamdek releases, the tape also carries a dedication, “Dedicated to the four of us who left this year for the next life. You’re never forgotten.” The four, who were not named, were Karla Millan, Ramona Lutz, Shanda Sharer, and Tim Wunderlin.

The liner notes are straight to the point, and presented in a uniform order with band members [drummer, then guitarist, then singer, then bassist], products available [“available stuff” with postpaid prices and addresses], and each group’s plans [beginning with the word “And”]:

Sunspring “Roadburn”

Produced by Howie Gano at Sound On Sound on 16 tracks. Drums by Forrest Kuhn, guitar/vocals by K. Scott Ritcher, bass guitar by Jason Thompson, and guest sample by Layla Smith. Available stuff: Slinky 7″ or Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ $3.50 each ppd, Sun cassette $6 ppd. [Slamdek’s address]. And they are working on an 11-song LP to be released on Break Even Point Records from Italy in Spring 1993.

[The LP referred to was Poppy, which became 12 songs and was recorded in January and February 1993. It came out as a Slamdek CD in June 1993, a Slamdek cassette the following month, and the European LP pressing on Break Even Point sailed in September. The guest sample is Layla saying, “I was walking down the street when I looked over at a brick wall that said Layla is fat and I laughed. Then I went home and I cried.”]

Crain “Coalmine #666”

Recorded on 4 track at the Rocket House by Jon Cook. Drums by John Causey, guitar/vocals by Jon Cook, guitar by Tim Furnish, and bass guitar by Jason Hayden. Available stuff: Speed LP $7.50 ppd. Monster 7″ $3 ppd. [Automatic Wreckords’ address]. And a CD of Speed plus lots of extra songs will also be out soon.

[The CD version of Speed never came out on Automatic. John Causey left the group
which soon signed with Restless Records. On Restless, they recorded and released a second album, Heater, named after a project band Causey, Cook, and Hayden had been in when Hayden joined Crain. The album Heater has Jon Cook playing drums, guitar, and singing, with Tim also playing guitar and singing, and Jason on bass and singing. The band Heater did two songs called “Crackhouse” and “Sleepwalker” on the 3 Little Girls cassette compilation Aftereffects of Insomnia. This same recording of “Coalmine #666” later appeared on Simple Machines Records’ Working Holiday 7″, October, with the Grifters on the other side.]

Telephone Man “Condensed”

Recorded on 8 track [cassette] by Tim Houchin at his house. Drum machine/bass by Tim Houchin, guitar/vocals by Matt Ronay. Available stuff: Telephone Man cassette $4.50 ppd [Cluewrench Tape Co. c/o Slamdek] see address under Sunspring. And they are planning a second tape for release in spring ’93.

[The second tape was never completed. Tim Houchin left to form Zugzwang with Ben Brantley. Zugzwang’s approach to recording was the same and they released a seven inch which became the only record on their own label, Sweetheart Records. Matt Ronay turned Telephone Man into a full band by changing the name to The Telephone Man, and adding Ashli State of Snakeater on bass, and Nick Hennies on drums. They recorded a self titled cassette for Slamdek in September 1993.]


Books-on-tape long box packaging. Special gift candy canes included inside Slamdek Merry Christmas Is For Rockers cassettes were purchased in bulk at Bigg’s Hypermarket in Middletown.

Lather “Sorry”

Recorded live at Tewligans. Drums by Brian Toth, guitar/vocals by Jeremy Podgursky, guitar by Sean Wolfson, and bass guitar/vocals by Brian Kaelin. Available stuff: Lather 7″ $3.50 ppd. Automatic Wreckords see address under Crain. And there is also an $8 ppd LP of Jeremy Podgursky and Brian Kaelin’s former band Dybbuk out from Self Destruct Records [address].

[Lather’s 7″ release was postponed and eventually came out on Self Destruct instead of Automatic. Between April and June of 1993, they recorded six more songs at Sound On Sound. Those tracks were compiled with their four 7″ songs as a CD on Self Destruct, A Modest Proposal, released in fall 1993. Lather broke up during the summer of 1994, having thanked Glenn Danzig on every release.]

Endpoint “Thought You Were” (alternate vocal take)

Recorded on digital 2 track by K. Scott Ritcher at Juniper Hill, an outtake from If The Spirits Are Willing, 1989, produced by Todd Smith. Drums by Rusty Sohm, guitar by Duncan Barlow, vocals by Rob Pennington, and bass guitar by Jason Graff. Available stuff:
If The Spirits Are Willing cassette $7 ppd and Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ $3.50 ppd from Slamdek. Also: Catharsis LP $8 ppd, CD $10 ppd [Doghouse Records address]. And they have a 7″ picture disk of 4 cover songs coming out from Doghouse in 1993.

[This track was recorded on DAT while Rob was recording his vocals. It’s preceded and followed by short segments of dialog between Rob and Rusty who are talking with engineer Tom Mabe, who is in the control room. Endpoint was on tour in Europe when Slamdek Merry Christmas is for Rockers was released, and were surprised to see this song on it when they returned in January. The 7″ picture disk ended up being a standard 7″ called Idiots. Issued in a limited edition by Doghouse in 1993, it contains covers of “Building” by Embrace, “Attitude” by the Misfits, “Circus Of Pain” by Louisville’s Malignant Growth, and “Persistent Vision” by Rites of Spring. Doghouse reissued it on CD in late 1995… also to the band’s surprise.]

Concrete “Meaningless”

Recorded on 8 track [cassette] by Scott Walker in his basement. Drums by Scott Walker, guitar/vocals by John Causey, and bass guitar by Ramon [Scott] Bryant. Available stuff: Concrete/Sancred split 7″ $5 ppd John Causey Records [address]. And chances are you’ll be hearing more of their new sound during the new year.

[Concrete was a group John Causey formed after leaving Undermine. Both bands initially had a similar sound even though he played drums in Undermine and in Concrete he sang and played guitar. With “Meaningless” they introduced a revamped, less direct approach. It didn’t last long, as they were only together about a year, and this was near the end of their days.]

Hopscotch Army “If I Had That”

Produced by Dave Stewart at DSL on 16 tracks. Drums by Dave Hoback, guitar/vocals by Mark Ritcher, guitar by Jeff Goebel, and bass guitar by Scott Darrow. Available stuff: Belief or Blurry cassettes $6 each ppd, These Shallow Hours CD $9 ppd from Slamdek. And they have a new drummer, Kevin Coultas, who used to rock with Crawdad and Sister Shannon.

[Even though These Shallow Hours was completed and listed here as being available, it was never released. Kevin stayed with the group for about six months before leaving to play with Crain. Hopscotch Army played their last show May 8, 1993 at Butchertown Pub.]

LG&E “First”

Produced by LG&E at Slamdek [the Schuster Building apartment I shared with Chad] on 8 tracks [cassette]. Instruments and vocals by Duncan Barlow and Scott Ritcher. Available stuff: t-shirt $10 ppd from Slamdek. The Slamdek Singles EP compilation cassette box set, available in February ’93, will include two more LG&E songs.

[Duncan and I finally teamed up musically after knowing each other for five years, and I got the opportunity to use the name LG&E which I had been saving for a while. The duo featured dance-able drum machine rhythms overlaid with smoothly distorted guitars and whispered, reverb-soaked vocals. Slamdek Singles was released in March 1993 and included all three of our cleverly titled songs, “First,” “Second,” and “Third.” December 1993 we released a cassette on Slamdek.]

Ennui “Gun?”

Produced by Geoff Turner and K. Scott Ritcher at WGNS on 16 tracks. Drums by Forrest Kuhn, guitar by Lane Sparber, vocals by Matt Ronay, and bass guitar by Tim Houchin. Available stuff: Olive 7″ $3.50 ppd from Slamdek. Ennui is no longer together, but two more songs from this session will also be available in the Slamdek Singles set.

[This is one of seven songs recorded at WGNS in May 1992. Four others were on the Olive 7″, and all seven were on Slamdek Singles. “Gun?” was one of Ennui’s most
recent songs when it was recorded.]

Rodan “Toothfairy Retribution Manifesto”

Produced by Tony French and Rodan at the Hat Factory on 8 tracks. Drums by Jon Cook, guitar by Jeff Mueller, guitar by Jason Noble, and bass guitar/vocals by Tara O’Neil. Available stuff: Rodan 7″ $3.50 ppd, Jason and Jeff are also King G & J Krew members whose CD is $10 ppd. Automatic Wreckords see address under Crain. And they are also going to be on a 7″ compilation out from Simple Machines Records in January with Tsunami, Superchunk, and Unrest.

[This track appeared as their debut since changing their name to Rodan from King Kid International in early December. In fact, I had to reprint the master sheet for the tape cover to change it to their new name. The Simple Machines 7″, Inclined Plane, followed it, as did a self-released cassette, Aviary. John Weiss joined on drums after returning from American University for the Christmas holidays. Their 7″ on Automatic was cancelled and ended up as How The Winter Was Passed on 3 Little Girls Recordings. John Weiss plays on one side, and Jon Cook on the other. King G and the J Krew’s CD also moved off Automatic, and came to Slamdek in May ’93. Rodan went on to record an album for Chicago’s Quarterstick Records. Rusty garnered an unusual wealth of critical acclaim for the band, who toured the United States and Europe extensively in support of it. In the wake of Rodan’s success, King G and the J Krew fizzled out of existence. Rodan played their last show at the Lounge Axe in Chicago on September 25, 1994.]

The Pale Blue Star “I Fell”

Recorded on 4 track. Guitar/vocals by Joe Mudd. The band also now includes Bill Heideman on drums and Josh Peterson on bass guitar, though they are not on this song. As he’s an ex-member of Crain, you can hear Joe on the Speed LP. Expect shows and more recordings in 1993, and for more information write to Ford Records [address].

[The Pale Blue Star made their performance debut at Slamdek’s Louisville Summer Weekend at the Machine, July 1993. At that point, the band included Breck Pipes on guitar, Kevin Coultas on drums, and Jason Noble on bass. That line up didn’t last. Another arrangement, a year later, had Joe flanked by drummer Mark Ernst, and bassist Cassie Marrett. The band played a handful of stunning shows and evolved through some more members. Ford Records was a label Joe formed in 1991 which never released anything. The Pale Blue Star were scheduled to record a Slamdek 7″, SDK-40, but that was lost when the label folded in early 1995. See page 158.]

LINER NOTES:

Side one:
Sunspring Roadburn
Crain Coalmine #666
Telephone Man Condensed
Lather Sorry (live)
Endpoint Thought You Were (alt. vocal)
Concrete Meaningless

Side two:
Hopscotch Army If I Had That
LG&E First
Ennui Gun?
Rodan Toothfairy Retribution Manifesto
The Pale Blue Star I Fell

Digital master and sequence editing by Howie Gano at Sound On Sound, December 1992. Color photograph scans by Timothy R. Furnish. Assembly by Carrie Osborne, Chad Castetter, and Layla Smith. Package by K. Scott Ritcher. • Special thanks to: Tim Furnish, John Timmons and everyone at ear X-tacy, Guiliano Calza at Break Even Point Records, Sancred, Dirk from Doghouse Records, Ford Records, Automatic Wreckords, Mike B. and Self Destruct Records, Better Days, Mary and Allan Ritcher, J.F. Kampschaefer, Dave Gabe, Billy and Tewligans, Three Little Girls, Tucker Yingling, Sean Fawbush and Quest, Edward Lutz, Kim Coletta and DeSoto, and John Weiss.

Endpoint & Sunspring

April 5, 1991
Endpoint & Sunspring
split seven inch
[SDK-21] photocopied covers and inserts

Originally not planned as a 7″ at all, Slamdek’s twenty-first release marked many new beginnings. As the label’s second entry into the world of vinyl, the Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ put Sunspring (the band) on the map, adjusted Slamdek’s catalog numbers to start running in numerical order, and brought Endpoint back for another release on a hometown label.

Endpoint had recorded two songs at Sound On Sound in November 1990. One of them, “Promise,” was for a 7″ compilation, A Change For The Better, on Vicious Circle Records. The other, “Priorities,” was a spare song they went ahead and recorded since they were in the studio. In time, and in so many words, I coerced Duncan and Rob into letting me do a seven inch of the songs. They seemed to have reservations about it, though. One reason was that Rob wasn’t proud of the vocal tracks on the songs. Nevertheless, the stage was set for a two song Endpoint 7″ on Slamdek.

Sunspring was also hoping to do a seven inch in the near future. And both bands were especially anxious to see themselves on vinyl. So I pushed the idea of an Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ on Duncan and Rob. Endpoint and Sunspring had very different styles, and didn’t necessarily belong on the same record together. But John and I were eager to get Sunspring rolling as a fully functioning band. As we ourselves were Endpoint fans, it perhaps made sense that while the two bands weren’t alike, perhaps their audiences would have common members.

By March 1991, Sunspring had only been together about three months. We still had Chad Castetter as a temporary bassist, had played only four small shows, and all things considered, weren’t fully prepared to go into the studio. Despite the recently smoothed compunctions of several involved parties, the Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ was released April 5, 1991. Having the record in stores just two weeks after Sunspring recorded for it, was another demonstration of the agility Slamdek enjoyed as a small label. The five song record became very successful, outselling every other Slamdek release in its first year, and being the first Slamdek title to enjoy multiple distributors; Cargo, Resonance, Caroline, Blacklist, and Dutch East. Though the printed labels on the record read, “Limited Edition of 500,” it was repressed twice more. This brought the total units in circulation to 1,500 when it was let go out of print in late 1992. Each was hand numbered on the Sunspring side of the record as “___ of 500,” even after the numbers had passed 500. And to disprove anyone claiming to have copy #1, an unknown quantity of records from the second batch were inadvertently shipped without numbers in late 1991. Susan Leach, a friend of both bands and earlier member of Sunspring, is the owner of the genuine #001 of 500. So go call out any of your show-off friends who wrote low numbers on their second pressing copies.
In March 1993, Slamdek Singles, a short lived two cassette set of compiled EP’s, included the five songs from this seven inch. Sunspring’s Poppy CD in June 1993 included their three split 7″ songs as bonus tracks. And when Endpoint’s If The Spirits Are Willing came out on CD in late 1994, it included their two songs as well. This brings the total circulation of these five songs to about 4,600 units.

Over the course of its pre-bonus track life, as an individual release, it was subject to
several cover art redesigns. Those are illustrated on these pages.

The Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″ also created an underlying bond between the two bands that lasted until both of our final shows. In the summer of 1993, the two bands did a lengthy, tiring tour of the United States together. Sunspring unknowingly played our last show on this tour. It was August 15, 1993 in Rapid City, South Dakota with Endpoint, Shelter, 108, and Hellbender. December 4, 1993, a second split 7″ by Endpoint and Sunspring was released. On that record, Written In Rock, the two bands paid tribute to Rick Springfield, an unlikely, but common, early inspiration for members of both groups. And when Endpoint played their final show, December 30, 1994, the definitive 1991-92 version of Sunspring [Hayden, Ritcher, and Weiss] reunited to open the show with a ten song set.

The two tracks on the Endpoint side are “Promise” and “Priorities.” This version of “Promise” also appeared on the 7″ compilation A Change For The Better from Vicious Circle Records in Baltimore. “Promise” was rerecorded later for their Catharsis album on Doghouse, released in fall 1992. And a hilariously uninspired version of “Priorities” was recorded for the compilation album Only The Strong MCMXCII on Victory Records, released in late 1992.

Sunspring’s three tracks are, “Don’t Just Stand There,” a reworking of a Patty Duke single from 1964 that went to #14 on the Billboard chart, “Silver Spring,” and “Kendall.” “Silver Spring” was rerecorded for Sunspring’s Sun cassette on Slamdek in August 1991. A sample that begins the Sunspring side is from the TV movie version of Call Me Anna, the autobiography of Patty Duke. The quote is from a moment right after she received one of the 1970 Emmy Awards. She had given her acceptance speech in sign language, which was out of camera range and it had appeared to viewers as if she were just were just staring off into space saying nothing. As soon as she walked off stage, reporters hounded her with questions, to which she blankly replied, “It’s meaningless. Acting is meaningless. Television is meaningless. My life is meaningless. I’m gonna start a whole
new life.” The song “Kendall” was the oldest of the three, having been carried over from Cold Mourning.

A couple weeks after the release of the record, Chad was growing tired of playing in both Endpoint and Sunspring, and working an early morning job at Paul’s Fruit Market. He retired his temporary bass playing position in Sunspring. Jason Hayden, who played bass in Endpoint, coincidentally replaced him. After about a month of practice, May 10, 1991, the two bands shared a stage for the first time. The frenzied, controversial, animated, energetic, uproarious, and (perhaps) legendary show took place in the auditorium of Louisville Collegiate School. Collegiate is a private K through 12 school in the Highlands with a notoriously effective field hockey program.

The show began with an alternative cover band, followed by Long Arm which was a short lived hardcore band. Sunspring played third as our first show with Jason Hayden on bass, and the new line up seemed to gel instantly. I announced to the crowd of hundreds at Collegiate that the following day would be ear X-tacy’s one-year anniversary in their Tyler Park Plaza location and there would be free pizza. Endpoint’s ferocious set (including a cover of Minor Threat’s “I Don’t Wanna Hear It”) threw the evening out of control by inciting the crowd to move too much. Despite the school’s mixer-esque “No Slam Dancing” signs, rebellion lurks in every young child’s heart and movement erupted. This prompted school officials to threaten to pull the plug if it didn’t stop. And, of course, it didn’t stop. The school pulled the plug, but drummer Lee Fetzer kept playing and the kids kept singing along to the beat.

Collegiate’s school newspaper, Pandemonium, ran a story about the melee. The article by Amanda Wagoner and Karla Millan tried to clear up the rumors about what had actually happened:

… Despite the rumors recently buzzing in the school hallways, no one was hurt. Neither Upper School Head Jay Selvig nor the band he unplugged blame one another for the sudden halt of the party.

This was after the audience “started getting crazy,” said Lee Fetzer, Endpoint’s drummer.
By this time the audience had already received several warnings to calm down, this was reiterated by Selvig and Endpoint. The audience obviously ignored these notices, and seemed to test their authority…

A separate editorial called “After the Battle” was also printed:

…The band threw certain objects into the crowd and did not shut down when instructed to do so by Head of Upper School, Mr. Jay Selvig. It took the actions of pre-hired police to finally shut down the band, putting an end to the slam dancing…

The fact that the event did not run as smoothly as hoped cannot be blamed entirely on Endpoint. The Upper School Senate is equally, if not more, to blame for its naivete in hiring bands that often play for slam dancing crowds… The Senate could have easily bypassed the problems by hiring bands that are followed more by Collegiate students. Certain planners of the concert obviously knew that slam dancing and objects being thrown into the crowd occur at Endpoint performances…

Endpoint was paid the $200 they were promised, and the incident ended with no hard feelings. It turned up again (in a big way) by accident in January 1992 when a young girl named Shanda Sharer was murdered after a Sunspring show at Audubon Sk8 Park. Part of a Sunspring interview as the first story on WHAS-TV’s 6:00 news program included a clip of “Sunspring” playing at Collegiate. Newscaster Chuck Olmstead had cued the video to the most menacing-looking part. In doing so he inadvertently showed part of Endpoint’s set on the air and identified them as Sunspring. The chaotic, riotous scene, however, did go nicely with his slant on the story. The 11:00 news included an apology for the mistake.

LINER NOTES:

Endpoint side:
Promise
Priorities

Endpoint:
Duncan Barlow, guitar
Chad Castetter, guitar
Lee Fetzer, drums
Jason Hayden, bass
Rob Pennington, vocals

Sunspring side:
Don’t Just Stand There
Silver Spring
Kendall

Sunspring:
Chad Castetter, bass
K. Scott Ritcher, guitar & vocals
John Weiss, drums

Recorded at Sound On Sound. Endpoint produced by Howie Gano and the EPA, November 1990. Sunspring produced by Howie Gano and K. Scott.

Endpoint thanks: Andy, Matt from New Zealand, K. Scott, EPA, Dennis, Shelter, and Vans.

Sunspring thanks: Endpoint, Kendall, Joey, Kim and Jay, Sister Shannon, Betsy, King G + J Krew, Susan, Simon, Jon, not-so-little Dave, Christi, Tishy, Mary Verna and Techno-Poppy, Tim, Will, Kelly Sue, Marcy, John and Susanne, Lettuce Prey, Don and the Wednesday group, the fellowship, Fullout, Anne and Allan Weiss (patience and tolerance), Bill, Dan, Erica, Carrie and Layla, Max, Dale, and Crawdad.

The Slamdek Record Companyslamdek.com
K Composite Media,

Christmas 1990 part 1

December 17, 1990

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

Part One of two parts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

continued …

Endpoint – If the Spirits Are Willing

June 20, 1989
Endpoint
If the Spirits Are Willing cassette
[HAHX-1797] color copied inserts, on-shell cassette labeling

Perhaps the one release that more people know Slamdek for than any other, is Endpoint’s ambitious 1989 debut If The Spirits Are Willing. Seventeen songs recorded and mixed in three days, and then played and replayed thousands of times to become what is sometimes regarded as their best recording. The four piece, fledgling Endpoint that walked into Juniper Hill in early March of 1989, amazed at how nice it looked, was light years away from the Endpoint that played its final show December 30, 1994, for over 2,000 people. In fact, after recording these songs, the band would only perform twice for the remainder of the year and remained virtually nonexistent in support of the release. For whatever reason, in the fall of ’89, Duncan Barlow, Jason Graff, Rob Pennington, and Rusty Sohm decided to give it one more “Go!” and took to the stage at Tewligans. Something clicked at that show with Kinghorse, and gave Endpoint enough spark to fuel the fire another four years.

What cannot escape this story is a seeming unspoken rivalry among friends that had
developed between Spot and Deathwatch. This unusual rivalry continued as the two bands evolved into Cerebellum and Endpoint. Both Cerebellum and Endpoint recorded for Slamdek releases during the same weeks in March 1989. And played a steamy, legendary show together at Karen Sheets’ parents’ Douglass Boulevard house following these sessions. The race was on to see whose cassette would come out first, whose would have the nicer packaging, and better still, whose would sell the most copies. While Slamdek had been gaining a reputation for handsome, color packaging, and good sounding cassettes, Endpoint drummer Rusty Sohm demanded that it wasn’t good enough. Slamdek inserts were still color copies and were not on the heavier glossy stock that major label cassettes were packaged with. Slamdek cassettes had printed paper labels, rather than titles printed on the cassette shell itself. The members of Endpoint also seemed overly preoccupied with how much money they would be receiving from the sale of the tape and how many copies they would get free. Several disputes of this nature took place between band members, but more frequently and especially between Rusty and myself. One of these conversations entailed the fact that they wanted color packaging, but had selected a black and white photo for the cover. Another involved removing the song “Wool,” located in the middle of side one, at the last minute. This would be a hassle because digital production masters cannot be spliced. To edit it, you’d have to make a copy of it leaving out the portions you want to omit; or you could record over portions of the original. The first of these procedures is costly, provided you do not own two DAT recorders. The other is very time consuming, nerve racking, and dangerous, as a slight error could ruin your master tape.


March 1989 afternoon at Juniper Hill: Todd Smith and Tom Mabe (background) listen to Endpoint tracks recorded the previous night.

When the cassette was eventually released three months later (and two months before Cerebellum’s) it came packaged as a compromise. The insert was indeed a color copy, yet when unfolded, contained two pieces and folded out eleven times including the lyrics to fifteen songs and a collage of photos of the band members going off. The cassettes were white shelled and had the Endpoint logo, titles, and all that, printed directly on the cassette in black. Additionally, Endpoint received the equivalent of $1.97 (either in cash or in the form of merchandise) from the sale of every cassette sold until Slamdek went out of business in 1995.

QCA in Cincinnati had done a rather shoddy printing job on these, and an even poorer job recording the music onto them. To fix the sound problem, the cassettes were rerecorded in pairs SSDigital-style. This was also a monumental undertaking as If The Spirits Are Willing is about 55 minutes in length, and there were 200 tapes in the initial order (about 90 hours of machine time).
As for “Wool,” Duncan and Rusty performed another song (of the exact same length) in Rusty’s bedroom and called it “Wool” which Scott recorded direct to DAT. Scott took the new song and recorded it to the master in the same location, erasing the other. This tricky maneuver, described earlier, actually worked. The inside of the cassette insert was emblazoned with several paragraphs entitled, “Wool Notes,” an explanation of some of the disputes and irregularities of the release. While trying to shed some light on the little bits of friction between Endpoint and Slamdek, its tongue-in-cheek wording read as follows…

“Wool Notes.
The sixth song on side one is called ‘Wool’ and sounds remarkably different than the rest of the album for a number of reasons. The main one is that the other 16 songs were recorded at Juniper Hill Creative Audio, while ‘Wool’ was recorded in Rusty’s bedroom
(Rusty on bass, Duncan on guitar, listen for the aquarium). There were 17 songs from Juniper Hill and one of them was called ‘Wool,’ but at the last minute the band had the song pulled for artistic reasons (they hated it). So it was replaced with this little ditty which for all practical purposes is now called ‘Wool.’ Not because it sounds like it should be, but because it’s much more enjoyable than a two minute hole in the middle of side one.

“Also, while we’re covering artistic disputes, it’s probably fair to mention that the band would have preferred a 2 panel cardboard insert with edited lyrics and smaller pictures rather than this extended paper one with all the words except ‘Axis Crew.’ But
that was more of a label decision, and for all you fans of cardboard inserts, don’t hold it against the band and please accept our sincere apologies on behalf of the entire SLAMDEK/Scramdown family. If you don’t have a fast forward button, we also apologize for the six minute gap that ends the first side.

“Finally, if you’d like more information about Endpoint, their T-shirts, their upcoming projects, their show dates, their neighbors, or the helpful people that work for their label and love them more than all the other bands, please write to Endpoint, Box 43551, Louisville, Ky 40243. Include a self addressed stamped envelope and somebody relatively important will quickly answer your quest for whatever it is you need to know. Thanks.”


March 12, 1988, Endpoint backing vocals at Juniper Hill: Rusty Sohm, Russ Honican, Rob Pennington, Jason Graff, Duncan Barlow.

If The Spirits Are Willing unleashes the speed and fury of Endpoint’s early hardcore/punk rock/heavy metal blend. Later bands like Falling Forward and Enkindel would owe it all to Endpoint before defining their own sounds. It became ridiculous to imply that a certain group of Louisville bands were of a certain genre. They simply sounded like Endpoint and there was no getting around it.

“Mirrored Image” is the second track and, in a unique move for a hardcore band, the vocalist sits out until about halfway through the tune as the music paints the melodic picture. By the time Rob joins in to sing, it has transformed into a completely different song. Endpoint did this several times on this cassette. That is, composed lengthy songs of epic proportions that could have easily been split into several songs. “Rungless Ladder” is a classic example. Rusty penned both the music and lyrics of “Way Back,” which Endpoint kept in their repertoire for years after his departure from the group. And to clear up any rumors, “Wopner,” is indeed named after Judge Wapner from television’s The People’s Court. And obviously, is spelled incorrectly.

The beginning of “Shattered Justice” a chug-chug build up that eventually bursts into the song. All the while Rob is growling, “Shattered… shattered justice,” which through the emotion comes off sounding as if he’s saying, “Shattunda.” Shattunda became an inside joke with the band for years. On the 1994 compact disc issue of If The Spirits Are Willing, the word shattunda is printed on the disc label with no explanation. Now you know why.
Joey (who was now essentially succeeding Jeff Hinton as a main Slamdek idea man) and I had several conversations at the Bardstown Road parking lot about Endpoint’s apparent lack of gratitude. As a result, If The Spirits Are Willing was almost ditched altogether no less than five times. Just as Endpoint as a band inexplicably stuck it out a little longer, so did I, and the results were eventually for the best. By 1990 they had already used their Slamdek cassettes as a stepping stone to an LP for California’s Conversion Records. As Conversion’s lack of efficiency and interest in the band’s ideas became more evident, Endpoint’s overall attitude toward Slamdek seemed to shift gears and alleviated a lot of the uneasy, unspoken friction between both. While I was never on bad terms with Endpoint, there was a considerable amount of misunderstanding and undiscussed ideas that fueled uncomfortable situations throughout the duration of our working relationship. Apart from all of it, Duncan and I went on to become good friends, share an apartment, and even play together as the 1992-93 duo Layered Guitars and Electronics (LG&E).

Within a year of its release, If The Spirits Are Willing replaced Spot’s Proud as the cornerstone of Slamdek mail orders and eventually sold more than any other Slamdek hardcore cassette. Like so many Slamdek cassette releases though, it went in and out of print constantly. Sometimes being unavailable for six or seven months at a time, it would return with completely new packaging. If The Spirits Are Willing on cassette was never carried by any national distributors like the Spot tape was. As a result, it was essentially available only in Louisville stores, by mail order, at Endpoint shows, or in out-of-town stores that bought direct from Slamdek. Its definitive and most common version is its 1994 reissue on compact disc. However, before 1994, it went through many configurations as cassette versions.

LINER NOTES:

Duncan Barlow, guitars
Jason Graff, bass
Rob Pennington, vocals
Rusty Sohm, drums

Produced by Cubby Cleaver and Endpoint. Recorded at Juniper Hill in Louisville. Digitally mixed and mastered. Engineered by Todd Smith. Digital mixdown direction by K Scott Ritcher. In studio assistance: Pizza Tom Mabe.

Side one:
Thought You Were
Mirrored Image
Dignity
Ignorance Downfall
Label Me
Wool
Final Stand
Way Back
Axis Crew

Side two:
Face
Wrong
Stick Around
Wopner
Shattered Justice
Rungless Ladder
Religion Crisis
Exit

Thanks to:
Andy and Alf (god of bums), Scott, Cubby, Tom man, Josh, Russ da rodie, Pat Alguire, Lee F., John T., Jon C., Shawn F., Kipp and Greg of Deathwatch, Tina and her parents, Mike Jarboe, Whitney, Joey, Breck, Tim, Kent Jackson, Drew R., Drew D., Dave Phillips, Stronghold, Cerebellum, Kinghorse, Necropsy, Bush League; Thanks to the Louisville crew for your endless support; Special thanks to our parents and George Frazier for financial support. Later.