Perimeter Records - Christmas '93 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records 1993 Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. HoHoHum Christmas by My Evil Twin
2. Holiday In The Snow by My Evil Half Twin
3. Christmas On Ganymede by Thompson/Hughes/Swartz
4. Ride The Pink Pig by My Evil Twin
5. D. yule I. by Pineal Ventana
6. Solstice Lights by Thompson/Hughes
7. Not Even A Mouse by Sequence 3
8. The Twelve Days by Routerwhelm
9. Mrs. Claus Gets Religion by Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio
10. Grey Zone by Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio
11. Don't Get Too Big by Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio
12. Shallow and Lonely by Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio
13. Hairline by Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio
14. On Christmas Day Santa Screens His Calls by Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio

Here is the last of the Perimeter Records Christmas compilations, of course thanks goes out to Doug Hughes for helping to put these out and providing the history of the series. You can also download all of the Perimeter Records and Outer Loop series of compilations here. In this installment, you have quite a bit more Christmas-themed novelty music from My Evil Twin, as well as some ambient electronic soundtracks by Thompson, Hughes and Swartz and even an original number by the great Pineal Ventana. Sequence 3 and Routerwhelm get some experimental sound collages going, while Sphinctus Ignitus Pretensio takes the entire second half of the compilation with some bizarre avant rock. I'm not sure who was in that band, but there is probably a good story or two behind that one.

Here is the complete artwork (click to enlarge):

Perimeter Records - Christmas '92 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records 1992 Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. Chimney Creeper by My Evil Twin
2. Winters Journey by My Evil Twin
3. Santatron by My Evil Twin
4. Snowblind by Thompson/Hughes
5. Faraway Christmas by My Evil Twin
6. Holiday Confusion by Hughes/Swartz
7. Holiday Recession Blues by My Evil Twin
8. Smells Like Christmas Spirit by My Evil Twin
9. Sporting a Yuletide Woody by Turner Christmas Network
10. Don't Ask For Santa, Ask For The Wolfman by Sequence 3
11. Gray Aria by Thompson/Hughes
12. Bang Bang, Twenty-Five Twelve Is Over by Routerwhelm
13. Christmas Tree Lights by Rat Camera
14. Christmas For Katrina by Sun Keepers
15. Holiday Recession Blues (Rude Return) by My Evil Twin

This is the 1992 edition of the Perimeter Records Christmas compilations, started way back in 1987. Thanks again (and again and again) to Doug Hughes for sending me the music and information. This year delves deeply into novelty music territory with My Evil Twin providing the bulk of the content. Smells Like Christmas Spirit shows you just what era we were in back then, reminds me of Mr. Alternative by The Midget Farmers. There is still one more Perimeter Records compilation to post, as well as two years of Outer Loop compilations and two more Flagpole compilations, so I will do my best to plow through these for you. If you want to download all of the compilations at this time, here is the link to all the Perimeter Records/Outer Loop compilations, and all the Flagpole compilations.

Here is the complete artwork (click to enlarge):

Daughter of the Flagpole Christmas Compilation

Here is the download: Daughter of the Flagpole Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. Lotion - Must Be Christmas
2. Magneto - Ornament
3. Seersucker - Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto
4. Marlee MacLeod - No Vacancy
5. Jack O Nuts - Pig Amongst Men
6. Bill Taft and Kelly Hogan - O Magnum Mysterium
7. Kachina - Frost
8. Kevin Kinney - Thomas Tinsel's Holiday
9. Hetch Hetchy - Candles and Miracles
10. Bone Dry - Ding Dong
11. Buzz Hungry - Magnificent Car
12. Hear It Love It Dance It - Snowflakes are Falling
13. Bliss - Santa vs. Magneto
14. Big Fish Ensemble - Christmas Song
15. Follow For Now - Santa's Hard
16. Widespread Panic - Papa's Home
17. Guy Smiley - Untitled

This is the third installment of the Flagpole Christmas compilations, from way back in 1992. Several Atlanta bands have made contributions (Jack O Nuts, Seersucker, Kevin Kinney, Follow For Now), as well as some Athens classics (Buzz Hungry, Bliss, Magneto). Even Widespread Panic contributes a song. My favorite from this tape is the Seersucker cover of "Santa Claus, Go Straight to the Ghetto" by James Brown, you just can't beat it, although the Bliss song is really good as well. Enjoy.

Here is the complete artwork (click to enlarge):

Perimeter Records - Christmas '91 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records 1991 Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. Santa Claus by My Evil Twin
2. Solstice Winds by Doug Hughes and Chris Swartz
3. Santa's Coming by Robert Hollis
4. Christmas Comes But Once A Year (Thank Goodness) by Lilje and Swartz
5. Poor Old Santa by My Evil Twin
6. Merry Christmas Anyway by Swartz and Thompson
7. Bring Me A Cure by My Evil Twin
8. Just Say Noel by Doug Hughes
9. Jingle Bells by Electric Boat Division
10. Little Princess by Toast

This is the fifth annual Perimeter Records Christmas Tape, for your enjoyment. More late night Christmas themed sound collages and weird rock songs, mainly by My Evil Twin playing the part of the house band for the next few compilations. Credit is due to Doug Hughes for making it happen, and contributing the back story as well as the spookiest song on the compilation (Just Say Noel).

Here is the complete artwork (click to enlarge):

Perimeter Records - Christmas '90 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records 1990 Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. Scuzza Claus by St. Nick's Evil Moronic Twin
2. Ice Crystal Reflections by Doug Hughes
3. X-Mas Part 6.4 by King Kill 33
4. Christmas Without Presence by Gene Thompson and Doug Hughes
5. The Moods of Christmas by King Kill 33
6. March of the Elves by Chris Swartz
7. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas (90's Remix) by Todd Ploharski
8. Stranded on Drifting Ice by Doug Hughes
9. Santa Is Satan by Mitch Foy
10. Circle of Monkeys by I See The Moon
11. Northern Lights (On The Blink) by Gene Thompson
12. Keep Saying You Love Me by Mitch Foy
13. Alone On The Holidays by Gene Thompson
14. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by Sequence 3

This is the 1990 edition of the Perimeter Records Christmas Tapes. Thanks again Doug Hughes for sending me everything related to these compilations, including the history of the series. This time we have some nice ambient electronic contributions by Doug Hughes, Chris Swartz, Todd Ploharski, Mitch Foy and Gene Thompson, but also some songs from the legendary King Kill 33, and the classic Scuzza Claus by St. Nick's Evil Moronic Twin, which will get stuck in your head for quite some time if you are not careful.

Ben Davis told me yesterday about some of the methods used to create some of these songs like I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas (90's Remix) by Todd Ploharski from this compilation, which involved skipping CDs in old CD players to make loops that can be layered into sound collages. At least I believe that was how this song was composed. I love hearing anecdotes about the inventive ways experimental electronic music was made before laptops turned everything into keystrokes. I guess you could make the case of the whole circuit bending culture as the descendant of this, but I don't want to step on any toes here.

Here is the complete artwork:

Thomas Peake Memorial Show on Sunday

Update: Here is the Purkinje Shift set: Purkinje Shift 2009-12-20 at Eyedrum

The Lumens set will also be posted here soon. Great show!

I just wanted to let you all know that there will be a memorial show for Thomas Peake next Sunday at Eyedrum, with all proceeds going to the East Atlanta Kids Club. As you can see from the list above, several classic Atlanta bands will be playing, including DQE, Flap, San Agustin, Gold Sparkle Band and Shaking Ray Levis. Seventy Spacebird was the pre-Noot d' Noot improvised band from the late 90's, which I have posted music from on this blog. Fourth Ward Afro-Klezmer Ensemble are old friends doing what they do best.

Perhaps most interesting is the debut of the new band Lumens including Benjamin Lukens on bass (The hal al Shedad, Ananke, Ultivac, Cough Syrup, Astrosmash, Amverts, The Forever War), Ben Davis on guitar (Noot d' Noot, Habeas Corpses, The Purkinje Shift, Moreland Audio, Home of the Wildcats) and Gary Flom on Drums (Rebar, The Purkinje Shift, Moreland Audio, The Forever War). They go on at 4PM sharp, so be advised.

Be advised - there are also plans for The Purkinje Shift to play a few songs immediately following the Lumens set at 4PM, so you might want to arrange your schedule accordingly for this one.

Perimeter Records - Christmas '89 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records 1989 Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:

1. Angels We Have Heard On High by Hollis/Swartz

2. Santa Claus Is Dead by St. Nick and The Morons

3. 4AM Christmas Morning by Doug Hughes

4. Night Of Mass by Man's On Control and Caroline Cant

5. Christmas Solution by St. Nick and The Morons

6. Christmas Is Coming by St. Nick and The Morons

7. Midnight Sun by Gene Thompson

8. Kris Kringle's Krue by St. Nick and The Morons

9. Home For The Holidays by Klimchak

10. Is Santa Satan? by Man's On Control

Here is the third installment of the Perimeter Records Christmas tape compilations, this time from 1989. Doug Hughes (Broken Symmetry, Outer Loop Records, Tenth To The Moon) wrote a history on the compilations, which you can find here. More WREK-style experimentation with Christmas themes, and starting to get into novelty music terrain on this one. My personal favorite being "Christmas Solution" by St. Nick and The Morons, a rearranged cover of "Final Solution" by Pere Ubu.

Here is the complete tape artwork (click to enlarge):

Son of the Flagpole Christmas Compilation

Here is the download: Son of the Flagpole Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. Deacon Lunchbox - Intro
2. The Opal Foxx Quartet - On Christmas Day
3. Porn Orchard - This Holiday Season
4. Michelle Malone - Santa Baby
5. LaBrea Stompers - Do They Know It's Christmas?
6. Alex Marquez - Blue Christmas
7. Redneck Greece DeLux - Grandma Got Run Over by a Redneck
8. Go Figures - Christmas Morning
9. Allgood - Christmas with the Devil
10. Daisy - Here Comes Christmas
11. Clamp - Myrrh and Frankincense
12. Ben Reynolds and Jim McKay - Daddy, Don't Get Drunk This Christmas
13. The Woggles - Don't Believe In Christmas
14. Dreams So Real - Learn To Love Again
15. Hayride - Jesus Christ
16. Skinpops - Little Drummer Boy/Hey Fat Man
17. Vic Chesnutt - Little Christmas Fugue

Volume 2 of the amazing Flagpole Christmas tape compilations, this one from 1992. Some bands returning for a second round (The Woggles, The LaBrea Stompers, Vic Chesnutt), and some legendary artists make some great contributions (Opal Foxx Quartet, Hayride, Porn Orchard). The LaBrea Stompers version of Do They Know It's Christmas is brilliant, especially the outtros by each member of the band at the end just like Simon Le Bon et al. did in the original. The real gem of the compilation, however, is the duet between Tom Waits and Peter Murphy in "This Holiday Season" by Porn Orchard. Perhaps the finest moment in all of these compilations, it still makes me laugh. Lastly, the Deacon Lunchbox intro just reminds me once again of the void that has never been replaced in Atlanta or Athens culture since his passing.

Here is the complete artwork (click to enlarge):

Perimeter Records - Christmas '88 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records Christmas 1988 Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. X-Mass by Hollis/Swartz
2. Silent Night by Dough Hughes
3. Christmas Comes and Christmas Goes by Randy Presley
4. Christbeat by Kevin Haller
5. Sliced Clean by Tim Lane Seaton
6. Sleighbells from Hell by Doug Hughes
7. Christmas Is Here by Turner Christmas Network
8. Cancer of Capricorn by Kevin Haller
9. Christmas Spirit by Sequence 3
10. Christmas Morning/Full Court Press by Arthur Jogs Alone
11. Noel II by Dan Leithauser

This is the second Christmas tape compilation put out by Perimeter Records in 1988. Some classic experimental rock and ambient music with a Christmas theme, late night WREK stuff. Great background music to put on while decorating the tree. Thanks again to Doug Hughes (Broken Symmetry, Outer Loop Records, Tenth To The Moon) for remastering and providing all of these recordings.

Here is the complete artwork (click to enlarge):

The Flagpole Christmas Album

Here is the download: The Flagpole Christmas Album

Here is the Track Listing:
1. Vic Chesnutt - White Christmas
2. Seven Simons - Nativity
3. Cordy Lon - Greensleeves
4. Flytrap - Christmas Time Is Here
5. 28 Days - Blue Christmas
6. The Dashboard Saviors - Run, Run, Rudolph
7. Smile Rabbit - It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
8. Nerve Clinic - Chemical Christmas
9. The Woggles - Santa Claus
10. The Vigilantes of Love - Bethlehem
11. Greenhouse - Every Bell
12. The LaBrea Stompers - You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
13. Youth of Dead America - Christmas Wrapping
14. Roosevelt - There Ain't No Santa Claus
15. Five-Eight - Just Think About Christmas (And Sing What You Want)
16. Hillbilly Frankenstein with The Jackie Gleason Orchestra - White Christmas

What a lineup for this first Flagpole Christmas compilation! All the classic Athens bands of 1990 are represented (especially on Side Two) - Vic Chesnutt, Roosevelt, Five-Eight, Hillbilly Frankenstein, The Woggles, The Vigilantes of Love, The LaBrea Stompers. Every band on here except Five-Eight, Vic Chesnutt and The Woggles are long gone, but these three are still playing regularly and even released new albums this year. Local Christmas compilations can be patchy in quality, but this one is pretty solid all the way through, and all the songs seem to have been taken seriously by the artists to make a solid listen all the way through. My personal favorite on this tape is probably the LaBrea Stompers cover of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", as it is perfect material for Jim Stacy's voice and personal disposition. I know it still feels too early to get in the spirit of the season, but I have too many of these compilations to get through!

Here is the complete artwork (click on the image to enlarge):

Perimeter Records - Christmas '87 Compilation

Here is the download: Perimeter Records 1987 Christmas Compilation

Here is the track listing:
1. Merry Christmas, Dammit by Jon Kincaid, Bryan Lilje, Todd Ploharski, Melinda Spratt, Christopher Swartz and Doug Hughes
2. Chimes by Christopher Swartz
3. I'm Dreaming by Todd Ploharski
4. Arctic Christmas by Doug Hughes

I was originally approached way back in February through this blog by Steve Kilbride who writes for the Decatur Dispatch/Ponce Press paper asking about an old Atlanta record label called Perimeter Records. He remembered a set of Christmas cassettes that Perimeter produced back in the late 80's and early 90's, and wanted to know more about the label and these special cassettes that were circulated. This led me to a year long search (off and on) trying to find people who knew about the label and eventually got in touch with Doug Hughes, one of the guys who helped put together these compilations and a member of several bands including Broken Symmetry and Tenth to the Moon. He was able to provide me a complete history of the label and these releases, as well as remastered copies of all the compilations. I am posting the first here, and will post more as we get closer to Christmas Day. Additionally, Steve wrote a small article on this blog and the Christmas compilations in the Decatur Dispatch, so thanks Steve for all the extra promotion! I would also like to thank Kim Chee from Pineal Ventana for putting me in touch with Doug Hughes, and especially Doug for sending me all these great compilations, and for producing them in the first place. Here is the history lesson:

Perimeter Records Christmas Compilations
1987-1993 A brief history

The first Perimeter Records Christmas Compilation was conceived as a way to promote the new independent record label that was formed in the mid 80’s by Chris Swartz and Robert Hollis. These two gentlemen worked for the same company then and discovered they had a shared musical interest and began recording what would be their first LP Iso.

From this beginning, Perimeter Records released 3 vinyl LP’s by Hollis/Swartz, an LP compilation called Nine Underground, and several cassette only releases by many 80’s era Atlanta artists and noisemakers.

The first Christmas cassette was a 4 song, 23 minute collection featuring Chris on one track solo, and with St. Nick and the Morons on the opening track- “Merry Christmas, Dammit”. Hours prior to the session for this song, Todd Ploharski called Doug Hughes with instructions to ‘bring your guitar and amp down to WREK’, with no other details given. Doug was introduced to Chris Swartz, Brian Lilje, Jon Kincaid and Melinda Spratt who were assembled in the air studio to record the song. Lyrics were written by Jon Kincaid, sung by Brian, with Jon in the background and also a brief vocal from Doug, leaning into his amp mic; the session was engineered by Mike Mitton. It was a bit sloppy and largely improvised but it set the stage for what would come.

Chris asked Doug to contribute a song to close side two, which was quickly assembled from Doug’s existing guitar-effected multi-track tape mixes, married to a crude digital sample from a cassette recording off the radio of Santa Baby, for the rhythm track, while Chris patiently waited. He was trying to meet a deadline and had to have it that night. The track which preceded this one was contributed by Chris’ friend - Todd Ploharski, which featured a unique sound manipulation process involving massive CD destruction, played back through an early player without error correction circuitry.

The cassettes were given away free through Wax ’N Fax Records in Little 5 Points as well as Book-Nook on Clairmont; both in Atlanta. It was mailed out to ‘cool’ college stations across the country, many of whom were already listing Perimeter Records products on their play lists. No exact number of cassettes produced was ever made, but estimates of 125-150 each year are roughly accurate.

Chris continued this holiday tradition for the next 6 years, asking friends and acquaintances to contribute tracks for inclusion. The music tended be in the vein of ‘Nine Underground‘, but was also largely inspired by the weekly WREK show “Destroy All Music”. Emphasis was on creating art and less on technical sophistication.

Chris generated the cover art, and his skills as a draughtsman allowed him to neatly write the track list and credits by hand. Chris decided to include festive napkins, candy canes and most memorably, a Lego ‘build-a-Santa’ one year (that everyone commented on), enclosed in a large zip-lock bag, with additional notes and contributing musician credits.

Doug Hughes gradually offered his services in compiling the master tapes and making the cassette copies, using his growing Solar Wind studio, which initially consisted of several Nakamichi cassette decks, an old Teac ¼” 4-track reel to reel deck (w/o simul-sync), a Lexicon digital delay and other assorted effects. Solar Wind gradually became the recording arm for the label and was used by the Morons, who later became My Evil Twin, and other contributors who recorded there, into the Outer Loop daze.

By 1993, the last official year the Perimeter Christmas tape was produced, a rift developed between the founding members, and it was agreed to dissolve the business and cease operations. From 1994 through 1995, Doug resided in Dallas, Tx. but he returned to Atlanta in early 1996. He decided to resume the tradition by forming Outer Loop Productions, and was able to release two more Christmas tapes under the Outer Loop banner.

The final tape, released in 1997 - marking the 10th anniversary of the first Perimeter cassette; opens with a re-make of Merry Christmas Dammit, by Saint Nick’s Evil Moronic Twin. This track featured Jon Kincaid on words and vocals with Doug Hughes and Robert Hollis on guitars, plus drums and bass by Doug.

Of course by 1997, cassettes were already dead and Doug gradually became involved in Broken Symmetry with Chris Swartz and Gene Thompson and later with Keith Lee in Liar’s Club then Tenth to the Moon with Mitchell Foy, all of whom had contributed to the Christmas releases.

In 2005, Chris Swartz compiled a two CD retrospective of the Christmas tapes, which he again mailed out to the same college stations who had received the original tapes. These were also given out to friends, but it was very limited in production numbers and lacked modern mastering..

In 2009, Doug Hughes re-mastered the original master tapes, with tape hiss edits and a few other refinements, and is now making them available to anyone who wants them. If you are a such a person please contact:

Doug Hughes
bsymmetry@msn.com

Here is the complete artwork for the first cassette (click image to enlarge).

I will be posting all of these Perimeter Christmas compilations over the next few weeks as well as other Atlanta/Athens related Christmas comps, so keep in touch!

Re/Model - New Sounds from the Turn of the Century

Here is the download: Re/Model Discography

1-7: from "The Vampire Lovers to the Stars" EP
8-11: from the Demo CDR

After the breakup of Inkwell in 1996, everyone in the band went their separate ways to other musical projects and artistic ventures. To anyone who knew the guys in Inkwell, they were not the typical 90s hardcore-emo kids. They were into all kinds of music and ideas, and for bassplayer Marty Rioux, he started this band Re/Model with like-minded musicians Luis Arias on guitar/vocals and Thomas Wise on drums. This band embodied their love of 90's alternative rock, britpop, shoegaze, etc. that was a solid break from his past, but the main songwriter Luis had a good sensibility for writing this kind of music, so they existed as a band unto its own and not really tied to anything previous. However, it was such a drastic change from Marty's old band, and several years had elapsed between the two that not so many of the old Inkwell fanbase made the jump. Therefore they always seemed to struggle, as many of us did in the early 2000's, and just never really found their fanbase. This was a difficult period for local music in Atlanta, as there was very little popular support for local bands and the venues were in a transition period as well. I do think that they would have worked well with the new crop of Atlanta indie bands out there (e.g. Abby Go Go, NEC, etc.), but it was the wrong time and place. They recorded and self-released a demo and EP before calling it a day, sometime in 2002 I believe. Close to the end I remember Joe Myers from Inkwell joining the band on second guitar and adding more texture/heaviness to the sound, but I do not have any recordings from this period. Sometime after this Luis tragically took his own life, and everyone went their separate ways once again. I actually started playing with Marty, Joe and Gray Kiser for a little while in a band called Black Venus, but that is another story for another day.

Here is the artwork from their EP:

Bliss - Pork 'n' Cockin'

Here is the download: Bliss Recordings

Update: Henry Owings sent me a live recording of Bliss' reunion show from December 10, 1994 at the Atomic Music Hall in Athens, which you can download here.

Bliss was a band from Athens in the 1990-1993 time period, featuring the excellent recording engineer/bassplayer Andy Baker as well as Will Low and Joe Rowe on guitar/vocals and drums. They were the first Athens band in my memory that adopted the Dischord style of postpunk but brought an Athens area sound to it. As I have mentioned before, they were one of my favorites from the Fuel compilation, but like many of the artists from this era, they disbanded before I moved to Athens and could see them live. They also released two cassettes, Man Comes a Knockin' and Drive Hard, but unfortunately I don't have these in my collection. If anyone has MP3s of these releases, I would love to hear them.

I know Andy Baker went on to record amazing records at Chase Park Transduction and elsewhere, and played in several bands including Servotron. Will Low left Athens to work for IBM, and Joe Rowe played in The Glands as well as Casper and the Cookies and now does his own thing as The Goons.

Here are the lyrics/artwork from the single as well as the insert from the Fuel compilation:

You never get to say goodbye

As many of you have probably heard, Jerry Fuchs passed away yesterday. It is not my intention to use this forum to discuss the tragedy specifically, but instead put some thoughts down about Jerry and his life and talent. I really encourage all of you to do the same, in whatever way you decide to do it. He made an impact on all of us, whether it was personal or through his music. I would not have considered our friendship to be close by any means, but based on how I feel I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for his family, friends and bandmates and the grief they are experiencing. For everyone out there going through this, you have my condolences and utmost sympathy.

To put it in simple terms, Jerry was the drummer that I always wanted to be. He had an amazing natural style that you can’t acquire, and he worked hard to take that talent to an extraordinarily high level. He was the master of his trade. Along with his unbelievable musical ability, he had such a vibrant personality and an energy that was an inspiration to us all. He was living his dream as a professional drummer, which could have been perceived by most as a truly difficult road to take, but he always put it in terms that made it sound like such an adventure. He was doing exactly what he wanted to do, and we were the ones lucky enough to be his audience. We should have had a lifetime of experiences, but instead all we have are a stack of records and some video clips. It’s nothing. We will never experience his love of life, his intensity, his humor again.

That’s all I think I can say for now.

Mouse

Here is the download: Mouse 7"

In honor of The Jesus Lizard's return to Atlanta tomorrow night, I am posting the Mouse 7" from 1991, which according to the bio below does not technically include Jesus Lizard drummer, 86 drummer, Phantom 309 bass player Mac McNeilly, but he did join the band later and honestly it really sounds like him on the recording. Here is a little bio on Mouse from the interweb:

About Mouse

Mouse is:
Jenny McNeilly - Guitar, Vocals
Jackson Wilson - Guitar
Eddie Carlson - Bass
Mac McNeilly - Drums

Mouse was formed eight years ago at Cafe Express in Evanston. Jackson and Jenny were reprimanded and permanently separated from working shifts together for talking too much, but not before arranging the fateful first practice. This practice would also include their co-workers, drummer Alan Eberhardt and Swedish-American bassist Eddie Carlson, who rounded out what quickly became a writing and recording machine.

The group was dealt a serious setback when Alan moved to Alabama to fix knees, but not before they released a single, "Caesar Salad," on Worry Bird Records, and contributed to two compilation albums. Mouse then went on a two-year hiatus in order to be reborn from the ashes of themselves, but not before Jenny married Mac, who would become the next Mouse drummer, but not before they had two children. She forced Mac to quit the Jesus Lizards, and they proceeded to call Jackson and Eddie to ask if they could play. The rest is history. Rock history.

Mouse went on to write and record a vast library of as yet unreleased material with the generous help and expertise of Steve Albini, which in due time will ensure them a prestigious seat in the Rock pantheon, but not before someone decides to release some of this music.

If anyone has MP3s of these unreleased Mouse songs, pleeeaaassseee email me. This single was put out by David T. Lindsay's Worrybird label, probably the best Atlanta record label of the late eighties/early nineties. I will be posting several other Worrybird releases in the near future. Let me know if you have any requests.

Also, there have been several excellent stories on the Jesus Lizard's Atlanta show, including interviews with Mac McNeilly by Chad Radford in Creative Loafing and Jon Kincaid in Stomp and Stammer. Enjoy the reading.

Back cover:

Slumberjack - In The Studio and Live

Here is the download: Slumberjack Music

1-3: From High Heat 7"
3-5: From Slumberjack Demonstration Cassette II
6-8: From Re/Fuel Compilation

Also, Henry sent me a live show from August 8, 1994 at the Atomic Music Hall in Athens, which you can download here.

Slumberjack existed for a short period between 1992-1994 and included the rhythm section of After Words (i.e. Craig McQuiston and Kevin Coley on bass and drums, respectively). Christopher Lambert handled vocal and guitar duties, and later on they added a second guitarist named Petruska. Where After Words were influenced by the proto-emo/postpunk from the Washington D.C. area, Slumberjack took a more midwestern/Chicago noise rock slant. They fit right in with the other big bands of the area - Fiddlehead, Martians, etc. but also had a more refined sensibility that could have presumably brought them a major label deal, especially in this time period. It was not meant to be, however, as they broke up after only releasing two demo tapes, a single on Half Baked Records, and an appearance on the great Refuel compilation. I saw them live only once, opening for Gas Huffer and The LaBrea Stompers at the amazing Hoyt Street Station in the Fall of 1993, but I remember it as an impressive, loud set.

After Slumberjack met their demise, Craig McQuiston went on to play in several of Athens rock elites including The Glands, The Tom Collins, Elf Power and with David Barbe solo work. Lately he has been a tour manager for bands such as The Hold Steady. I'm not so sure of the other guys, but it's a small part of the world we are living in, I'm sure one of you knows.

Here is the artwork to their High Heat 7" and 2nd demo tape:

Cabron - Mexican Camel Tow

Here is the download: Cabron - Mexican Camel Tow

Cabron is/was the band that Mr. Bob-Rob Medina started in San Diego after leaving Atlanta and Chocolate Kiss behind in 2002. They kind of started out as some old guys playing the music of their childhood, but since have turned into quite a respectable Socal punk-hardcore band. They would regularly play with every classic punk band in the area (I believe their last show was with the Germs), and also venture south of the border to play punk shows in Tijuana and elsewhere. From what Bob tells me, playing a punk show in Tijuana is like going into a timewarp to hardcore from the early 80's. Playing bombed out spaces plugging everything into one extension cord running down the street, full circle pits, dudes with liberty spikes, etc. Sounds pretty unreal. Here is their latest recording, and you can find their earlier album/demo here.

Bob has since moved with his wife Ana to Alexandria, Egypt and continues his day job as a teacher, although I hope he can join up with some Egyptian punkers and start a band there. He keeps a great blog about his experiences called Camels and Tacos, which I would recommend checking out every so often as it gives you some perspective on being an expatriate in an Arab country, which can be quite interesting.

The Mascara Aesthetic - Shake The Golden Calf

Here is the download: Mascara Aesthetic - Shake the Golden Calf

The Mascara Aesthetic was a kind of intermediate band in the 1998 time period between the two longer running bands Wheeljack and Electrosleep International. Michael Keenan and Sean Greathead from Wheeljack teamed up with Josh Fauver from The Perpetual Sciamachy Theorem and Titus as well as Derek Beber to continue in somewhat the same vein as their previous bands, but tightening things up a bit and taking it to a higher level. This time Michael takes lead vocal duties and plays synths, while Josh is on drums, and some impressive drumming I must admit. Sean and Derek take guitar and bass, respectively. I saw Mascara Aesthetic play a few times (once at the UTC show above with Red Monkey and the first Chocolate Kiss show), and remember the angular chaos they emitted, but I am very pleased they made this "demo" before breaking up. This is a complete album of material, and honestly a shame it wasn't ever officially released on a label, as it is a great recording and shows the evolution from Wheeljack to Electrosleep.

Supposedly Sean quit the band and was replaced for a short time by Phil Ritchie from Flakscrampe Traumantra, but only played one last show (with David Ahuja from Wheeljack on drums) opening for Ink and Dagger at Under The Couch, and by 1999 they were done and Electrosleep International started, with Michael and Josh teaming up with Scott Rogers (Wheeljack, Flakscrampe Traumantra) to bring us into the 2000's. After this, of course we have Michael Keenan playing in Battlecat, Airoes and most recently Hawks, while Josh Fauver starts SIDS and later joins Deerhunter. Sean did the Ananke project with me in 2001, then moved to NYC, played in Amverts and now plays in Nights. The rest is ancient history.

Flap - Brotherload b/w Bruised Molecule (1992)

Here is the download: Flap - Brotherload/Bruised Molecule 7"

Update: Michael Koenig who plays in the band Lesbian Afternoon has posted live footage from their show on YouTube, here is a sample:

As Flap has a show coming up this Friday October 23rd at the 529 Club in Atlanta, I thought it would be appropriate to post their Half Baked single from 1992 here on the blog. Mr. Radford posted a nice blurb about them and the upcoming show, check it out here. Musically, Flap (especially this era) really treads some dangerous ground, being a quirky acoustic guitar duo with so much going on in their songs, but somehow keep it all together and make it work. It's an impressive feat, and definitely not a safe route to take for a band. I wonder if a band like this could even exist today and get to the same notoriety that Flap did in their heyday. They really won people over back then, and I remember them being one of the bigger experimental bands in town with some very devoted fans, including Amy Potter from Half Baked records. I love reading her reaction, though, to their decision to leave the label:

Well, in the spring of '94, Flap called me from Chicago wanting off the label to pursue other opportunities and better distribution. Apparently, they had found someone else in Chicago to put out their records. I just hated the way they told me. They called me collect; they had borrowed my van to make the trip (which I had bought so they could go on tour); and then they had the nerve to ask me when they were getting royalties for there record (it had not even come close to breaking even). I kept asking myself - "why can't you wait 'til you get home to tell me this shit?" I was pretty angry, but relieved, so I let them go.

You have to love the internet for keeping this stuff online for 10+ years, very entertaining if not at all applicable 15 years later. I wish them all the best for Friday's show. I would check it out myself but I will be at another show a few miles to the west of the 529 Club that night.

Here is the rest of the classic artwork by Ben Rush and the insert for the single.

Ananke - This Was It (December 2001)

Here is the download: Ananke - This Was It

I wrote the following summary for the Stickfigure Records site, but Gavin hasn't included it yet. He's a busy guy, but it's okay because I still owe him plenty of stuff myself, so we're even.

In the Fall of 2001, Benjamin Lukens made plans to leave his hometown of Atlanta to New York City to continue his college education, but wanted to form one last band with his old friends in town for the purposes of quickly writing a few songs, recording, and playing a few shows before moving away. With him on bass, he enlisted his friends Alex LaRoche (guitar), formerly of Go Back To Europe, Sean Greathead (guitar) formerly of Wheeljack and lastly James Joyce (drums), who he had played previously with in The hal al Shedad. James came up with the name Ananke, who was the Greek goddess of destiny, necessity and fate, from a Stanislaw Lem short story he read. They wrote five songs and learned one cover song ("Natural's Not In It" by Gang of Four) in about six weeks and played three shows: one at the EARL, one at the Echo Lounge, and one at the Stickfigure Headquarters' C-12 Warehouse. The original songs were recorded by Alex LaRoche at the Under The Couch studio at the end of Georgia Tech finals week, and a small run of CDRs were produced for the Stickfigure CDR label. They were not around long enough to truly develop their sound and music, and the songs themselves were never formally titled. However, the tracks on this demo have an interesting, spontaneous feel that you do not get from more established bands. Only Ben and James had played together before this point, so there is definitely a sense of learning about each other's musical attributes and abilities in these songs, and some interesting ideas result. I believe the band wrote one song at each practice, and then immediately played them live, so this was a nice challenge musically for everyone involved. After the New Year, Ben and Sean moved to New York City and formed another similar band of Atlanta transplants called Amverts, Alex moved to Austin to begin his career in the computer industry, and James joined a few more bands before moving to Amsterdam, continuing his career in the pharmaceutical industry. This recording is essentially a snapshot of a group of friends getting together on their last college days to have one last creative musical experience before moving on to the next stage of their lives.

Listening back on the recording again, it's really striking to me at how inventive and creative of a guitarist Sean Greathead is. The guy has a style all his own, and I'm kind of disappointed that he moved to NY soon after this as I would love to have kept playing with him. I also liked playing with Alex as well, he is a funny guy and has a nice laid back attitude for playing music that is so beneficial to have in a band. This was also the first band I played in after the whole DIY music paradigm shift occurred, making it possible to make decent home recordings and release a CD-R of your band immediately and with relatively no cost. We never had to book time at a real studio, and we didn't need to convince a label to put out our music. We did it ourselves, and have a decent recording and package to show for it. Not bad.

According to my notes, we actually played four shows - the first one at the EARL with Copa Vance, the second at the Echo Lounge with Astroblast and Audomobil (see flyer below), a third at Squaresville with Ocelot and The Love God Murder, and the last at C-12 with Airoes, An Albatross, The Tom Brokaw Has Anthrax (great post 9-11 name), and Ultivac - see flyer below. I thought Blame Game also played this show, but maybe my memory is faulty on this one. And I have no memory whatsoever of Ananke playing at Squaresville with Ocelot and LGM, so maybe that one fell through.

Here is the rest of the artwork from the CD-R.

Here is also a video taken from the last show: