Category: Hopscotch Army

December 12, 1992

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.

December 19, 1991

Merry Christmas

December 19, 1991

Merry Christmas
various artists cassette & compact disc
[SDK-25] black & white press printed J-cards with photocopied liner notes, on-shell cassette labeling

Merry Christmas, the 1990 SLAMDEK/Scramdown Christmas tape, is a gem of Louisville’s musical uniqueness, diversity, and cooperative abilities. The nine-band, nine-song cassette was not only unique from other Slamdek Christmas tapes, but was also a unique effort by nature of who was involved and the purpose its songs served. It was a compilation of Louisville bands paying tribute to other Louisville bands.

The cassette had a unified sound and timeliness as all of its songs were recorded especially for this release, and seven of the nine at the same studio with the same engineer. And it had a unifying effect on the scene itself by inviting bands from all “sides” to participate. Bands usually thought of as “Self Destruct bands” appeared on a release with bands usually thought of as “Slamdek bands,” alongside new bands; and all of them covering mostly unpredictable songs.

However rewarding it eventually became, creating the cassette was a fiasco. Any project that involves getting about fifty people together to learn and record new songs, then scheduling all of them at convenient times in the same studio, has all the complex logistics you might imagine it would. Because of scheduling, several bands that wanted to participate could not. Shut Out planned to be on it but couldn’t get it together in time, and Sean Garrison was going to do a solo acoustic song, but ran out of time. Having those two artists on the cassette would have expanded the level of total scene cooperation in even greater degrees in both directions.

Nine bands did pull it together during November and early December, and their master DAT’s were compiled into sequence in my bedroom at the Slamdek House on Bonnycastle. Because of the tight time constraints with Christmas approaching, the cassettes were manufactured in Philadelphia at Discmakers. Discmakers offered a five-day turnaround on small orders. This worked out beautifully, and the cassette was released almost a week before Christmas. One day while Undermine was practicing with their new drummer Will Chatham at the Slamdek House, Carrie Osborne and Breck Pipes helped me fold liner note sheets and assemble the cassettes.
The liner notes were, again, especially lengthy. They listed band members and information about the performers and the groups whose songs were being covered. The monologue began with a synopsis of the three previous Christmas cassettes, which is not reprinted here. But here’s a play by play of most of the liner notes, with commentary [in brackets]:

“This year, Louisville has turned in on itself. For the first time, everything that appears on this cassette was recorded especially for the purpose of being here. Furthermore, the 1991 Christmas cassette is all Louisville bands playing covers of their favorite other Louisville bands’ songs. The reason there is so much great music in Louisville is because there are so many great people making music here. Anyone who is the least bit interested in creating can’t help but to be constantly inspired by the people of Louisville and the energy that music has here. This meager cassette stands as each band’s tribute to the Louisville musicians that have made a difference for them. Virtually forgotten bands like Anti-Youth can now shine again, while die-hard rockers like David LaDuke finally get the respect they deserve. Overlooked Louisville musicians like Patty Smith and Mildred J. Hill, whose song is as far-reaching as the sun, find a new interpretation in the hands of the kids who grew up singing it. Mid-’80’s punk classics by Maurice and Solution Unknown also serve to bring our generations together. Inevitably, the Slamdek bands feed off themselves as Cerebellum, Crawdad, and Endpoint are all saluted in three very different ways. Finally, this is probably the only city in the world that could crank out both Slint and some members of Midnight Star, and then put them all together in a medley.

“Without further description, let’s let the music of our hometown speak for itself. Forget all about everywhere we’ve been told new music is at its best. Everyday we’ll discover a little bit more why we don’t have to go anywhere else to get what we need. This is the ongoing sound of Louisville- crank it up and Merry Christmas!”

Dybbuk “Dare To Feel”
Eric Schmidt vocals, Jeremy Podgursky guitar, Tim Wunderlin guitar, Brian Kaelin bass, Alex Charland drums.

Originally performed by Maurice, 1986

Dybbuk, 1991: Jeremy Podgursky, Tim Wunderlin, Brian Kaelin, Eric Schmidt, and Alex Charland.

“Dybbuk (pronounced DIB-ick) has a self-titled 7″ out on Self Destruct Records. They’ve been together since April 1990 and their record came out in 1991. Eric replaced previous their vocalist Branden Faulls in June 1991. They plan to record in early 1992 for another release.

“Maurice was together from 1983 to 1987 and never released any records. Britt Walford and David Pajo continued to play together in Slint with whom they released Tweez on Jennifer Hartman Records in 1989, and Spiderland on Touch and Go Records in 1991. Brian McMahan played in Slint and Maurice for a while. Maurice was also home for Sean Garrison and Mike Bucayu. They later formed Kinghorse whose 1989 Self Destruct/Steel Heart 7″ is now out of print. Kinghorse has an LP out on Caroline Records and another one scheduled for next year sometime.”

[Dybbuk recorded a full length album, Breakfast T., which was released posthumously as a Self Destruct 12″ and cassette in 1992. The band broke up earlier that year, shortly before guitarist Tim Wunderlin tragically died in an accidental asphyxiation. He was buried at Calvary Cemetery in the Highlands.

[After Dybbuk’s disbandment, Alex Charland joined Slo-Pok, and Eric Schmidt dropped out of the music scene for a while. Brian Kaelin and Jeremy Podgursky formed a new band, Lather, with drummer Brian Toth and guitarist Sean Wolfson. Lather recorded a Self Destruct 7″ in October 1992, and six more songs between April and June 1993. Those ten tracks were compiled on a Self Destruct CD, A Modest Proposal. Lather broke up in the summer of 1994.

[Slint’s Tweez was reissued on Touch and Go in 1993, and the band allegedly tried to get back together around that same time, to no avail.

[Kinghorse broke up in the fall of 1992. Their second album on Caroline never materialized. Mike Bucayu opened his Blue Moon record store in the Holiday Manor Walk shopping center in the fall of 1994. Around Christmas 1994, a Slamdek CD of nineteen unreleased Kinghorse tracks renewed interest in the group, and they reformed with Jerry Cunningham of Raze on bass. Mike was either not interested in the band, or more interested in his store.]

Step Down “Elders”
Duncan Barlow vocals, Lee Fetzer guitar, Kyle Noltemeyer guitar, Christian McCoy bass, Jon Smith drums.

Originally performed by Anti-Youth, 1986

Step Down, 1991: Lee Fetzer, Kyle Noltemeyer, and Duncan Barlow.

“Step Down formed in the summer of 1991. They recorded eight songs in November
and have put it out as a self-released cassette. Three members of Endpoint play in Step Down but play different instruments. Jon is also in Shut Out who were planning on joining this Christmas Fiesta but couldn’t because of scheduling problems.

“Anti-Youth was together in 1986. They never recorded, but ‘Can’t You See’ by Big Deal on the Louisville Sluggers compilation 7″ was originally one of their songs. Anti-Youth was Greg Smith, Todd Brashear, Gordon Gildersleeve, and Bryan Jackson.”

[Step Down changed their name to Guilt at the beginning of 1993. Shortly after the name change, Lee Fetzer left the group to join Enkindel, and Duncan Barlow began playing guitar while singing to replace him. Christian McCoy left Guilt in April 1993 and was replaced by Ashli State. Ashli played in both Guilt and the Telephone Man for a few months before leaving the latter. Guilt released a 7″, Empty?, and a 10″, Synesthesia, both on Initial Records which were later compiled on the Synesthesia CD, and an LP/CD/cassette, Bardstown Ugly Box, on Victory Records.]

Rawhide “Happy Birthday”
Breck Pipes guitar & bass, Greta Ritcher guitar, J.T. Zinn sit-in drummer.

Written by Patty Smith and Mildred J. Hill, 1893

Rawhide, 1991: Greta Ritcher and Breck Pipes.

“Rawhide, although you can see they don’t have a full line up yet, has been playing together since March 1991. They’re looking for a drummer and bass player, so write to them c/o Slamdek if you’re interested. Breck has played in Spot, Cerebellum, and Crawdad. Greta has played in Your Face and Sister Shannon. All of these bands have released records on Slamdek, but unfortunately the Cerebellum cassette is the only one that remains available today. Spot’s Proud cassette is scheduled to be reissued in January 1992. Things are looking up, so hopefully we’ll see them all again soon along with a new one from Rawhide.

“‘Happy Birthday’ was written by two Louisville ladies, Patty Smith and Mildred J. Hill, and is possibly the most widely recognized modern song in the world. The original lyrics were ‘Good Morning To You’ and the tune only caught on accidentally after they had been changed.”

[Their sit-in drummer J.T. Zinn, actually Kevin Coultas using his grandfather’s name as a pseudonym, was replaced by John Causey in early 1992. This happened after John left Undermine. David Ernst joined on bass, and Rodney Bell on vocals. Rawhide played a handful of shows but didn’t last until the end of 1992. David Ernst joined Big Wheel, John Causey joined Crain, Greta began playing drums and played them in Drinking Woman, and Breck moved to Lexington. The song “Happy Birthday” celebrated its 100th birthday in 1993.]

Sunspring “House”
John Weiss drums, Scott Ritcher guitar & vocals, Herr Hayden bass.

Originally performed by Cerebellum, 1989

“Sunspring formed in the summer of 1990 and has had two Slamdek releases in 1991. The Endpoint/Sunspring split 7″, and The Sun Cassette both are still available. Their second 7″, Slinky, was recorded in November and will be out in January. Media kills minds, Sunspring kills media.

“Cerebellum was a band from June 1988 through May 1989. Their self-titled cassette is still available from Slamdek. Cerebellum was Will Chatham, Tim Furnish, Joey Mudd, Jon Cook, Breck Pipes, and Drew Daniel. The first four of them went on to form Crain who have a 7″ out called The Rocket EP on Automatic Wreckords. Their 10-song LP will be released in early 1992.”

[Herr Hayden and The Herr were nicknames that John and I annoyed Jason Hayden with for several years. Sunspring had a run-in with the media in January 1992, when a young teenage girl, Shanda Sharer, was killed by two “friends” after a Sunspring show (see page 72). Slinky was released in February 1992. Crain’s first full length effort, Speed, was released by Automatic on LP and cassette in March 1992.]

Push Back “Wool”
Mark Brickey vocals, Billy Halter guitar, Andy Tinsley guitar, Corey Roederer bass, Leevanhook Seconds drums.

Originally performed by Endpoint, 1989

“Push Back has been together since the summer of 1991. This song is their first entry into the world of recorded sound.

“Endpoint has two albums, If The Spirits Are Willing (1989) on Slamdek, and In A Time Of Hate (1991) on Conversion Records. They have also appeared on numerous compilations and have a split 7″ out with Sunspring. ‘Wool’ was cut from their first album at the last minute because the lyrics are not to be taken seriously. They feared that people who weren’t in on the joke might not get it, and then doubt the sincerity of their other songs.”

[Leevanhook Seconds was actually Lee Fetzer. He was a part of the group again when they later changed their name to Enkindel. Andy appeared with them only for this recording.]

Hopscotch Army “Right From Wrong”
Jeff Goebel guitar, Scott Darrow bass, Mark Ritcher vocals, David Hoback drums.

Originally performed by David LaDuke, 1989

“Hopscotch Army has been together since early 1988. They have two albums, Blurry from 1989, and their new one Belief which was released in September. Both on Slamdek. Their third album is already being mixed and will possibly be available as early as February 1992 (but probably not).

“David LaDuke has been playing roots/metal/rock n’roll in Louisville since 1973. He and his group Sinbad have released several records, Sinbad, Have Rock Will Travel, and his current release, Ball Bustin Guitar Rock. His unique blend of ’70’s guitar rock with an Elvis Presley-style groove has gained him a reputation in magazines and on radio stations around the world.”

[The upcoming album mentioned by Hopscotch Army was never released.]

Undermine “Friends?”
Sean McLoughlin vocals, Takayuki Tsuji guitar, Chris Layton guitar, Scott Bryant bass, John Causey drums.

Originally performed by Solution Unknown, 1987

Undermine, 1991: Sean McLoughlin, Chris Layton, John Causey, Scott Bryant, and Takayuki Tsuji.

“Undermine formed in early 1989 and has released two seven inches on Self Destruct Records. The first one was self-titled (1990) and is out of print, the second is My Wire (1991) and is still available. In January they will be recording an album with their new drummer Will Chatham as a split release for Self Destruct and ear X-tacy Records.

“Solution Unknown was David Pajo, Kent Chappelle, Todd Brashear, Mike Bucayu, and Eric Schmidt (who does intro and outro vocals on the Undermine version). They were together from March 1986 through September 1987. Their first record was a Self Destruct 7″ in 1986, Taken For Granted. The Solution Unknown album was recorded at Inner Ear in Washington DC in 1987. The 7″ is no longer in print, but the LP is.”

[Undermine broke up before recording their first full-length work. Their 7″ and the Solution Unknown LP both went out of print. Sean McLoughlin joined Evergreen. Scott Bryant and John Causey formed Concrete who was together while John also played with Rawhide, then Crain. Takayuki Tsuji moved back to Japan and worked as an interpreter for touring English-speaking bands. Chris Layton was involved in several projects, such as The Auditory Clang and Zig Zag Way, and moved to Florida for a while. In fall 1995, Mike Bucayu and Eric Schmidt took all the Solution Unknown master reels to Sound On Sound and remixed them for a 38-song discography CD on Self Destruct.]

Shovel “Worship”
Dave Cook vocals, Chad Castetter guitar, Andy Tinsley bass, Duncan Barlow drums.

Originally performed by Crawdad, 1989

“Shovel formed very very recently and this piece of work is their first recorded stab at the world. Duncan and Chad are in Endpoint and Andy is Endpoint’s manager. Dave was in Scrub Monkey in 1990 who recorded an album entitled Shit in the back of a moving car, but it was never released.
“Crawdad was originally together from June 1989 to December 1989. Dave Ernst, Breck Pipes, Kevin Coultas, and Joey Mudd recorded a live EP, Loaded, which was released in May 1990 on Slamdek as a limited edition. In December 1990 they did a reunion show, and they are planning to do another this Christmas. Dave Ernst and Kevin were also in Sister Shannon.”

[Shovel played a few shows and self-released a cassette in early 1993. They were another spawn of long winter nights. Another Endpoint offshoot joke band, they were born at Endpoint practices at Kyle Noltemeyer’s parents’ house off Alta Vista. One of their shows was for the 1991 St. Francis Battle of the Bands. They performed a solid half hour song, during which the vibrations were so dense several audience members became sick and had to be escorted out of the building. At another show, in 1993 at the Machine, Josh Sachs was tied to a huge cross crucifixion-style. While on the cross he defecated and performed other visuals with his body to accompany the music. Shovel never played again after that.]

King G and the J Krew “Freakazoid/No Parking On The Dance Floor/Kent”
M.C. Crawdad vocals, P. Control vocals, A. Frisbee violin & guitar, Will “Cheeto” Chatham drums, M.C. Diogenes guitar & vocals, Amy Torstrick guest violin.

Originally performed by Midnight Star, 1983, and Slint, 1989

“King G and the J Krew have been together since 1989. Their first release was the 95-minute Snug Double Album EP (1990) on Hell N’Ready Records, which is not for sale anymore. Their second album will be Indestructible Songs of the Humpback Whale and will also be on Hell N’Ready sometime around February 1992.

“There seems to have been some dispute as to whether or not all the members of
Midnight Star were from Louisville. But this tune is so kickin’, that technicality has been ignored. The Slint segment qualifies it nonetheless. The fat catalog of Midnight Star stuff can be found on SOLAR Records. You know about Slint.”

[One of King G and the J Krew’s most recognizable assets was their propensity to take the joke-turned-obsession to inconceivable levels. M.C. Crawdad was Jason Mueller, P. Control was Heather Cantrell, A. Frisbee was Aaron Frisbee, M.C. Diogenes was Jason Noble. This six minute epic, while seemingly ridiculous in concept, totally defines the word brilliant and exceeds the boundaries of the Louisville-on-Louisville genre this release created. This song was recorded while the band was in the process of creating their masterful Indestructible Songs of the Humpback Whale CD; a process that took about two years to complete. And that’s virtually every single day for two years. After the release of the CD, they began playing shows as a rock band under the name King Kid International. That incarnation had Jon Cook on drums, Tara O’Neil on bass, and Jeff Mueller and Jason Noble singing and playing guitar. King Kid Int’l became Rodan in December 1992.]

April 24, 1992, Robyn Craxton’s Big Surprise: Sunspring and Ennui played a surprise birthday party for Robyn Craxton at her parents’ house off Herr Lane. Pictured left to right: Duncan Barlow, Natalie Sud, Amy Craft, Mindy Shapero, Dave Cook, Robyn Craxton, Matt Ronay, Katie McGee, Julie Brown, Scott Ritcher, and Lamecron “Pee Wee” Lockhearst. The two bands made up a song and played it together as Robyn came down the stairs.

Merry Christmas included a lengthy list of addresses and mail order prices for all records of all the bands who were covered and those who performed on this cassette. It was the first release tagged with the line, “A Product of Louisville, Kentucky,” and it was dedicated to the 83-year-old woman who was the senile landlady of the Slamdek House. She wrote us 3 to 4 page letters several times a week. At the top of each page she scrawled a creepy line drawing of a crucifix, along with the inverted date (such as 29th September 1991). She demanded that she would have no sinners living in her house. Among other things she was not legally able to request of her tenants, we were not fornicate in the building, consume certain beverages, open the blinds, nor were we to send our rent payments in colored envelopes. She did not have a telephone and her letters arrived virtually every other day. During the ten months in which 1919 Bonnycastle was the Slamdek House, she successively fired two real estate agents and an attorney, who had been hired to collect rent and make service calls for the property. Even when the agents were in charge of the property, she continued to write several times a week. The letters reiterated the moral limits by which residents of the house were expected to comply. The hassle of dealing with agents, attorneys, and constant mental harassment, eventually convinced Greta, Will, Breck, and I that it just wasn’t worth it anymore. In March 1992 we moved out, after which the house remained vacant for over three years. She reportedly died in 1993.

The bands on Merry Christmas paid for their own studio time. Howie Gano at Sound On Sound made a group rate deal with us so all bands involved could record for $20 an hour, a $15 discount. The SLAMDEK/Scramdown Merry Christmas cassette sold 252 units. 48 or so more were given to band members, and area stores and publications as promotional copies. Like many Slamdek releases, it did not turn a profit.

LINER NOTES:

Side one:
Dybbuk Dare To Feel
Step Down Elders
Rawhide Happy Birthday
Sunspring House
Push Back Wool

Side two:
Hopscotch Army Right From Wrong
Undermine Friends?
Shovel Worship
King G & the J Krew Freakazoid/No Parking On the Dance Floor/Kent

Special thanks to: John Timmons and everybody at ear X-tacy, Ken at Ken’s Records, Ben at Better Days, Kim at Kinko’s, Lynn at Op Brightside, and absolutely everyone in the entire world who has cut, folded, stuffed, bought, or sold Slamdek music this year. Even a little bit of thanks to those who have taped it off their friends. Merry Christmas!

Album engineered by Howie Gano at Sound On Sound. Project coordinated by Scott Ritcher and Howie Gano.

August 11, 1991

Hopscotch Army – Belief

August 11, 1991

Hopscotch Army
Belief cassette & compact disc
[SDK-23] 4-color process-printed inserts, on-shell cassette labeling

Hopscotch Army experienced a rough but rewarding new beginning after Danny Flanigan left in February 1990 to further pursue his music in solo acoustic performances and with his band, The Rain Chorus. He also “did a little time” before that actually got underway. Hopscotch Army replaced him on guitar with Jeff Goebel. The band naturally dropped Danny’s songs from their repertoire and guitarist/keyboardist Mark Ritcher took over the full-time duties of singing.
Initially the band lost a good deal of its following by losing half of its songwriting force. But continuing the band after Danny’s departure ultimately proved to provide the group with the more unified sound they had needed for a long time. Belief demonstrates the versatility of that sound within its short eight songs. Jeff, Mark, and bassist Scott Darrow all contribute as songwriters playing off each other’s styles, while drummer David Hoback holds it all solidly together. The band’s sound and attitude became much simpler, less drastic, less over-the-top, and significantly more unassuming.
And while the internal battle of trying to be two different original bands was over, they were still trying to appeal to two separate audiences, both as a cover band and as an original act. This continued to become increasingly harder to achieve, became a bigger strain on the members, and as a result, Belief took a considerably lower profile than its predecessor.

Hopscotch Army was in a comfortable position to change and they tried several things. Covering a heavy metal song by “ball bustin’ guitar rocker” David LaDuke, was one that caught their audience off guard. In another experiment they had Sunspring play right after them at a June 1991 over age Snagilwet show. We ran all our equipment directly into the PA, having no amplifiers on stage, just a drum set. Hyperactive bassist Jason Hayden wore a skateboard helmet, and within two songs the packed house had cleared out.

Hopscotch Army 1992 (clockwise from top):
Mark Ritcher, Jeff Goebel, David Hoback, Scott Darrow.

Hopscotch Army recorded another complete eleven song album, These Shallow Hours, in the time between the release of Belief and the departure of David Hoback in the summer of 1992. Kevin Coultas replaced Dave and played live shows with the group while they were mixing the album. They continued to write what was perhaps their most cohesive and inspired material while Kevin was in the band, but never had the opportunity to visit the studio to record with him.

During their last year, they ended their business relationship with manager Gary Deusner. Nat Grauman, who had been their photographer, among other things, was brought in to book and manage the band. They wanted to lean more towards the audience for their originals. This meant, in so many words, that the fewer shows they played as a cover band, the less money they would be making. This is probably one main reason the band was less active in their later days and their presence less known. The long overdue idea was finally sinking in that it was better to not play at all, than to play covers. Even if it meant getting real jobs in the normal work force, or just going broke.

Kevin quit in the spring to join Crain, which prompted the demise of Hopscotch Army. They played their last show May 8, 1993 at the Butchertown Pub. And These Shallow Hours never saw itself released.

Scott Darrow and Jeff Goebel retreated to Florida for several months after the break up of the band, before returning to Louisville. Kevin’s association with Crain ended relatively soon as well. Mark Ritcher continued writing songs on his own, and began putting a new band together in the fall of 1993. Coincidentally enough, Scott and Jeff joined the new band which was initially called Whale, then Whale USA, then Superstar USA, then Cooler.

Belief was the first Slamdek release to be fully designed on a Macintosh computer. I put it together mostly on the Macintosh Classic at my parents’ house. The Classic was a black and white Macintosh, and Belief was printed in four color process. I guessed at or estimated most of the colors, and then took it on a floppy disk to the Furnish home in the Highlands, on several occasions, to verify and fine-tune the way it looked. The Furnishes had a nicer, color Mac which they were gracious enough to let me use. Denise Furnish (the mother) recommended a business acquaintance of hers at Image Printer in Bluegrass Industrial Park to assist me.

When something is printed in full color, four color process printing is the most common method. Four color process can make millions of color combinations by using varying amounts of four basic inks: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The most important lesson learned during the production of Belief’s artwork was “superblack.” Mrs. Furnish showed me how to make process printed blacks look deeper, thicker, slicker, and blacker by adding a 20% to 40% screen of cyan into the black area. This is one little bit of valuable information that can make the difference between something that looks professional and something that looks “local.” The process of making printed materials from a Macintosh disk was all new to me.

While Belief took a much lower profile than Blurry, and sold fewer units, its value to the label and to me as a learning experience of the basics of the printing process from Macintosh, was immeasurable. Belief sold 556 cassettes and 486 compact discs.

LINER NOTES:

Side one:
Sundown
Souls
Belief
Looking For You

Side two:
The World
Anesthesia
Rain

ChurchThanks be to these people who help it all go around: Gary Deusner, Mike “Stand,” Georgeann Stewart, Dawn Hill, Maria Lindsay, Mary and Allan Ritcher, Wendy and Kenneth Hoback, Bernie Goebel, Stewart Neff, Guy and Denise Furnish, Far Out Music, Mom’s Music, and everyone else who lends us equipment and forgets about it.

Scott Darrow, bass
Jeff Goebel, guitar
David Hoback, drums
Mark Ritcher, keyboards and vocals

Produced by David Stewart and Hopscotch Army. Engineered by David Stewart. Recorded in Louisville at DSL. Mastered in Nashville by Glenn Meadows at Masterfonics. Edited for CD by Benny Quinn. Photographs by Nat Grauman. The way it all looks by K. Scott Ritcher.

December 17, 1990

Christmas 1990 part 1

December 17, 1990

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

Part One of two parts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

continued …

December 22, 1989

Christmas 1989

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 22, 1989

Hopscotch Army – Blurry

August 22, 1989
Hopscotch Army
Blurry compact disc & cassette
[HAHX-1256] four color process printed inserts, on-shell cassette labeling

Hopscotch Army’s first release presented a whole new side to Slamdek and took many people by surprise. The college/rock/alternative group found their way onto Slamdek by nature of the fact that Mark Ritcher played keyboards and sang. The remainder of the four piece line up consisted of Danny Flanigan, also singing and playing guitar, David Hoback on drums, and Tom Kaczorowski on bass (whose place in the band was preceded and succeeded by Scott Darrow).

Blurry was Hopscotch Army’s first journey into the world of recorded sound. This release also proved to be one more battle for respect in a war the group would be constantly forced to fight. Evolving from the Top 40 cover band, Nouvo, Hopscotch Army was initially a cover band as well. The transition they attempted from a cover band to an original act took years and, at the time of their breakup in 1993, was still not complete. For everyone in the band, playing cover songs in bars, frat parties, and the like, was their job. The band owned a huge PA and lighting system and employed both a sound man, Ted Subotky, and visual technician, Chuck Probus. Together, the six of them, booked by manager Gary Deusner, put on a staggering minimum of 150 shows a year and made a good living for themselves. They battled for a safe medium in which they could maintain the steady income of playing as a cover band, yet, at the same time, use their audience’s attention to pursue their own music, and play to other audiences as an all original band. Over the course of years, the prospect of making this work proved itself impossible and, in more ways than not, ultimately self defeating. A good part of the cover crowd wasn’t interested in the original material, and the general public, for whom the originals were intended, thought of them as a cover band.

Hopscotch Army, 1989:
Danny Flanigan, Scott Darrow, David Hoback, and Mark Ritcher.

Just as the life they were trying to lead appeared perhaps as two different bands, Blurry also leaves the listener with the impression that Hopscotch Army indeed could have split this album into releases by two different bands. Fronted by two singer/songwriters whose styles were recognizably different, Hopscotch Army seemed to be maybe even be fighting internal, unspoken battles in their quest for a unified sound.

Danny’s writing style on Blurry, and for the most part in his later solo work and with the Rain Chorus, is characterized by clean channel guitars led by vocal melodies. Songs that are so simple and true to form that they could stand wholly on their own with just an acoustic guitar and a voice. In contrast, Mark’s material stands out as darker, moodier, and saturated with distorted guitars and sweeping, heavy, synthesized sounds.

Hopscotch Army, however, did defy some expectations, break some barriers and enjoy success on levels Slamdek was not equipped to deal with. Radio play, CMJ charts, bulk mailings, major label interest, directly servicing regional record store chains, and things of this sort were totally foreign territory and caught both the band and myself virtually unprepared. I did a lot of traveling in front of the band making sure radio stations and record stores had ample
knowledge and stock of the band on hand. Gary Deusner did the same sort of thing over the telephone with radio stations, clubs, and local newspapers in each area. Slamdek had never experienced supporting a group that traveled, nor one of a genre that could feasibly receive airplay or possibly enter the mainstream. Gary’s Advantage 1 Management company, run from the Triangle Talent offices in Jeffersontown, had little experience dealing with bands that played original music. Everyone involved in the fight to get people to listen to Hopscotch Army, was essentially learning the ropes of their purpose as it happened. Weekly late night meetings at Danny’s Crescent Hill apartment sought to deal with these challenges in the best ways possible.

The Blurry experience grew respectably in the year following its release. The expansion of the band warranted an expansion of the label. By late 1989, I was self employed in the cassette duplication business (under the name SSDigital), while still living at home with my parents. Advertising SSDigital in the Billboard International Buyers Guide, and adding a toll free 800 number were two steps in entering Slamdek into the professional world. For nearly two years, “1-800-729-6616” was plastered on everything, until the line eventually became too costly. The tax year of 1989 was the first in which the IRS received a return from a new Louisville, Kentucky, sole proprietorship called SLAMDEK/Scramdown.

The money that officially made its way to Slamdek from the Hopscotch Army release, however, did so in an unconventional way. As well, the band’s official affiliation with the label was different than that of Spot, Endpoint, or Your Face. For Blurry, I acted as an employee of the band. Slamdek initially became involved as the band was recording an album which they anticipated shopping to labels for a record deal. Bigger labels tend to look more closely at successful small scale releases from independent labels, rather than those released by the bands themselves. It adds another element of credibility. This problem was easily solved as Mark Ritcher and I are brothers, and the SLAMDEK/Scramdown logos and addresses could simply be put on the packages as if it were an ordinary Slamdek release. The only snag in this arrangement was that Slamdek did not have the kind of money it would take to create Hopscotch Army cassettes and compact discs. That is, Slamdek had virtually no money at all. Hopscotch Army, on the other hand, did have that kind of money. As it was worked out, the band hired me to create the album cover artwork, duplicate the cassettes as SSDigital, promote, distribute, and handle a lot of the footwork involved. Since I needed money to get the Cerebellum cassette out (among other things) this turned out to be a perfect arrangement. Had the band signed to a major label, this would draw attention to the other material on Slamdek, earn points, etc. This arrange
ment also facilitated Slamdek with the ability to not only have its first compact disc release, but also its first title to be issued in more than one format. This helped it become available to more people, made it Slamdek’s best seller, and exposed the label’s name to hundreds of people who ordinarily would not have seen it. Interestingly enough, as the band’s cover and original fans were confused by the two sides of Hopscotch Army, the label’s regular fans were confused by the Hopscotch Army release, and Hopscotch Army fans were confused by the other material on Slamdek. Few seemed to make the connection that Mark’s brother ran the label. Perhaps family projects are unusual outside of country music.

Blurry was recorded at Juniper Hill, though not by Todd Smith, and not during regular business hours. David Stewart (not the guy from the Eurythmics), was the other partner in Juniper Hill, and actually owned nearly all of the equipment. Naturally, this gave him free access to the studio in which he recorded and produced Hopscotch Army during dozens of late night sessions. Since the band was constantly performing, and the studio was only available to David on certain evenings, the Blurry recording process took several months to complete.

Danny Flanigan wanted to make sure that David received full credit for the recording. Danny’s concern was to insure that it wouldn’t be confused as a Juniper Hill project, because essentially, it wasn’t. One night, Danny began calling the late night studio “Dave Stewart Land” as a joke. The term stuck, and the studio listed in Blurry’s liner notes is the fictitious “DSL.” Years later, when Juniper Hill closed its doors (as Todd to moved to New York to play with Domani) David took all the recording gear to his Jeffersontown home. He set up virtually an identical recording studio in the house, which began operating under the name DSL. An engineer named Mike Baker began sharing time at the cozy home studio and eventually took over the operation in 1993 when David moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana to pursue a career opportunity in audio selling high end professional audio equipment. Under Mike Baker’s careful hands, DSL has gone on to produce singles and full length albums for Endpoint, Falling Forward, Crain, the Rain Chorus (in which Mike played bass and Danny played guitar), Sunspring, Eleven-11, the Metroschifter, and Guilt, among others. While David still owns the house and studio, he also still lives in Fort Wayne, and Mike Baker still runs the studio. Recent overhauls of the studio have upgraded it to include automated mixing, and digital multitrack capabilities, as well as on site CD-ready mastering.

After it was all over, Blurry sold about 1,400 cassettes, and 500 compact discs.

LINER NOTES:
Produced by David A. Stewart and Hopscotch Army
Engineered by David Stewart, Recorded and mixed by David Stewart and Hopscotch Army at DSL in Louisville, Digitally mastered by Glenn Meadows at Masterfonics in Nashville

Hopscotch Army has 2 singers
Mark Ritcher sings All I Want, Pray For Tomorrow, When Colours Fade, Dead, Jealousy, and Away From You. Mark also plays keyboards.
Danny Flanigan sings Whisper, The Beach Song, Real Religion, Save Me, and Anna. Danny also plays the guitar.
Scott Darrow is the bass player.
David Amel Hoback is the drummer.

Tom Kaczorowski played bass on this recording.
David K. Hoback, Sr. played tambourine on Save Me and When Colours Fade.
Krystal Veith, Kim Veith, Melissa Coates, Rochelle Stumler, Steven Gladdish, Ashley Carter, Larry Barnett, Lee Shipper, Jennifer Shipper, and Jimmy Winn are very special guest singers on Real Religion.

Jesus Loves the Little Children written by Rev. C.G. Woolston and George F. Root. Used by permission (we asked God).

K Scott Ritcher inlay card.
The Rueben Twins:
Ted Subotky live sound.
Chuck Probus lighting direction.

Special Thanks List: David and George Ann Stewart, Gary Deusner (Management/Booking/Spiritual Leadership), K Scott, Advantage One. Those who have invited especially Maria, Halle, Bryson. Far Out Music, Music Warehouse, Mom’s Music, Proline Tire, Allan and Mary, Mike Baker, Rob Brown, and last but not least, Dawn, Jo, Andrea, Gina, Denise, and Julie; those who inspired.

Music by Hopscotch Army, lyrics by the singer.

Side one:
All I Want 3:17
Whisper 4:37
Pray For Tomorrow 4:50
The Beach Song 3:36
When Colours Fade 4:30
Dead (A Night In June) 4:22

Side two:
Save Me 4:44
Anna 4:15
Real Religion 4:28
Jealousy 3:01
Silence 1:34
Away From You 4:23