Phantom 309 - A Sinister Alphabet and Split LP

Here is the download: Phantom 309

1-4: from the Split LP with The Sun Also Rises
5-13: from the “A Sinister Alphabet” LP

I have been looking for some Phantom 309 records ever since I started doing this blog, as writing about these bands every week really makes you get into the history and interconnectedness of a scene that existed when you were listening to Def Jam records and skating at the local Futurestore. So naturally I got all geeked up when this full length LP and split LP appeared at Full Moon Records the other day, and I snatched them up before the clerk could get them for himself. Record store employees get everything good that comes through there anyhow, sometimes I wonder if I should get a part time job at one of these places just so I could put myself in a better pecking order when people come in to sell their collections.

Phantom 309 consists of a pre-Dirt, pre-Mount Shasta John Forbes playing guitar and singing, and a post-86, pre-Jesus Lizard Mac McNeilly playing bass, which is interesting because Mac was the drummer for those other bands. The drummer was Gary Held, whose history is not known to me at the moment, but maybe some of our wiser readers can help me out. Phantom 309 puts forth noise rock of the Dirt variety, but a bit more bluesy and maybe not as demented/damaged as the later stuff, but still excellent. I believe these are their only releases, although I saw there was a release called “Duh” around 1992, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever find that one. Maybe Scott Wishart can help me get it, although I’ll probably have to drive to Charlotte to pick it up. I am not sure of the band’s complete history, but after this band was finished, John started Dirt, probably one of the five best bands to ever come from this town, and Mac McNeilly moved to Chicago and joined The Jesus Lizard, probably one of the best five bands of its kind ever.

Here is one interesting fact about Mac McNeilly and Phantom 309 that I certainly didn’t know before. The title and cover for their LP “A Sinister Alphabet” included here is taken from a book by Edward Gorey, and I was surprised that on the back of the record it states that permission was obtained by Gorey to use his artwork and title. Researching this further, I found out that Edward Gorey was actually Mac McNeilly’s uncle, which blows my mind in several different directions. Pretty amazing, I wonder what their Thanksgivings were like.

Here is the back cover of "A Sinister Alphabet" as well as the Split LP cover.