Paper Lions - Our First Peer-Rockstars

Here is the download: Paper Lions Album

I saw Josh Lott the other weekend at the Highland Inn, and he told me that after 14 years of living in Athens, he has made the move back to Atlanta and started law school. This is in a way the end of an era, as more and more old friends from Athens have left that town for good and now I know nobody there when I visit. As you probably know, Josh was the drummer for many bands including At the Price of the Union, The Walt Lariat (as bassplayer), Paper Lions, and later Teenage Methlab and Elf Power. Paper Lions was the amalgamation of two postpunk Atlanta/Athens heavyweights Some Soviet Station and At the Price of the Union, with Josh adding drums to the SSS strings of Jesse Smith, Chris McNeal and Justin Snyder (also formerly of the Kossabone Red). To me they were not so much like Some Soviet Station with a different drummer, but something else entirely. They were much more melodic and less aggressive compared to their previous bands, and with a little Jawbox in them along and some modern postpunk that would seem to fit right in with some of the edgier popular music today.

They were the first band from our immediate network that really made a run for it as a professional band. They quit their jobs, toured as much as possible, and put out a quality recording on a reputable label. They bought real equipment, had a real van, played real clubs (not DIY house shows), worked very hard on their songs and their musicianship, and generally put everything they had into their music. I remember every show I went to of theirs was packed, and they seemed to get very popular very quick, at least in Atlanta and Athens. I am not sure of the later history of the band, as I moved away while they were at their apex, but my understanding is that Kindercore Records who put out their album folded suddenly after a bad business deal and left Paper Lions with no label or records to tour under. Also the grind of heavy touring, etc. burned them out and they threw it in sometime in 2004 or so. They had all the elements of a great modern popular postpunk band, and could have taken it farther than any band before them, but somewhere along the way things went off track. Maybe that is not what they wanted in the end, or maybe the frustrations of the grind got to be too much. I know I couldn't do it myself, it's not an easy life. I wish them all the best, and success in their current endeavors.

Here is an interview they did for Performer mag back in 2003:

Here is the artwork for their album "The Symptom and the Sick":

Roosevelt - Athens Nth Golden Era

Here is the download - Roosevelt Discography

1-3: From the Fuel Compilation
4-6: From the Person Single
7-16: From the Shingle LP

When I was in 11th grade (in 1991), I played in a band called Finletter with a guy named Brian Sweeney, who is the little brother of Kevin Sweeney from Hayride, one of the pillars of the Athens rock scene over the years. Brian introduced me to all kinds of Athens bands from the time, and out of all of them I think Roosevelt was my favorite. To me they were kind of like The Meat Puppets (who I enjoy immensely), taken to a different level with their incredible instrumentation and skill. It might be a bit noodley for most people, and this sound when done by other bands can be really horrible, but it fits them perfectly. They were also one of those bands that made better music the longer they were around, as I like the last music they did far more than their earlier work. I arranged the unofficial discography in this order so the "hits" in my opinion are right up front.

One of the other great aspects of Roosevelt is that it featured Mr. Ballard Lesemann on drums. Henry Owings mentioned that Kyle Spence and Jerry Fuchs are the best drummers Athens/Atlanta ever created, but I would also have to put Ballard right up there with them. I never got to see Roosevelt in person, as I started school in Athens in the Fall of 1993, after they broke up. However, I would see Ballard around town and was way too timid to talk up drums with him. Later on he played in The Germans, and I believe Hayride for a time as well as the Rock A Teens, but then moved to Charleston where he works in the newspaper business. Roosevelt will play a show from time to time, and released a CD retrospective back in 2001, but I was not aware it even existed (or the shows for that matter) until I did a bit of research for this post. Atlanta can be a completely different world sometimes. If I get my hands on the CD, I will post it here as well for completeness sake as it has some extra stuff that is not on the main releases I have here.

Here is their page from the Athens Fuel Compilation:

Here is the artwork from the Person single:

Here is the artwork from the Shingle LP, sorry my scanner isn't big enough to fit the entire image.

For more info, check out their Myspace page.

Chapman Park - 1997.04.26 Demo Tape

Here is the download: Chapman Park - 1997.04.26 Demo Tape

Chapman Park was a short-lived group of I-Defy house resident and Portait member Scott McFarland (aka Scott MC) on guitar, Francis Jensen from The Forty-Two on drums and Scott Wilson on bass who I never really knew. They were the closest Atlanta ever had to an Ebullition-style or Gravity-style post hardcore band. I bet if they stayed around long enough they would have had some raves in HeartAttack, but who knows. They reminded me of bands like Portraits of Past, etc. but maybe more in presentation than in true musical resemblance. I remember the band playing in strange setups (I believe Francis liked to set up his drums sideways or something), and they would play random hip hop or other sounds on a boombox near the drumset for in-between song filler. But Francis provided all the filler they needed, so maybe the boom box was not necessary. I saw them a few times, and remember The hal al Shedad playing with them at Sprockets in Roswell, because that was when we played Anthrax by Gang of Four and Francis did the spoken word part of the song for us.

This demo tape truly embodies the DIY aesthetic of the time. It's great that the tape has a cover that does not fit in any normal tape case, the lyric sheet is this tiny stapled paper booklet with random pictures and quotations, and the entire release is so roughly homemade. You can picture Scott, Francis and Scott in the I-Defy living room (or more appropriately outside a show) assembling these demo tapes for sale or just give away later. Nowadays we have access to CD burners, printers, etc. so we can make a more polished, professional looking demo without any effort, but back then the more rugged and thrown together the package was, all the better.

Scott MC gave some nice background in a comment below, so I decided to add it to the body of the post:

I figured I would fill in some extra details here since a ton of people never saw us play. My memory is a little hazy so I'll do my best. We started Chapman Park when I was still living at the I DEFY house and that was our first practice space. Then Scott Wilson got a job at a place called "Toys From the Darkside" in historic Chamblee. They sold old Star Wars toys and whatnot. So we then started practicing there and wrote all the songs on the demo. We did play a few out of town shows but I don't recall all of the details. I know we played with Mineral in Gainesville and Reversal of Man in Tampa. After the Summer of 1997 we closed down the I DEFY. Gavin moved into the warehouses and Chapman Park all got a house together in Doraville that had room for a practice space. A few months later Frank got in a really bad car accident and couldn't walk for several months. That kind of killed any momentum we had as we went on a long hiatus. Once he got better, we picked back up but decided to scrap all the songs that were on the demo and write new songs. I think these newer songs were way better but of course we never recorded them so you have to take my word for it. Our first show back was at a house in East Lake (I don't remember who lived there - maybe Lewis Lovely?). I was surprised by how many people came out. The newer songs had more of a rock element to them instead of the strange time signatures of the demo. Anyway, we played a few more shows and stuck around for a few more months but I think everyone's collective interest in the band waned and we just sort of stopped played. Portrait was also going strong by this point so that is where more of my creative energy went. We continued to all be roommates even after the band was done until Summer of 1999 when I graduated. I haven't talked to Frank in a long while but I am sure there are people who read this blog that still see him when his bands come through Atlanta. Scott Wilson lives in NYC and works at DC comics and I see him every few months, but he hasn't done any bands since Chapman Park as far as I know.

Thanks to Chris van Etten for loaning me the demo - I was too dense back then to get one of my own.

Here is the lyric sheet broken out into one page (click to enlarge), and the back "cover" of the tape.

Non Atlanta Post: Drums & Tuba - Box Fetish (1996)

Here is the album for download: Drums and Tuba - Box Fetish

Occasionally I will do a non-Atlanta or Athens post, if I have some kind of personal connection to the group or otherwise think that it is interesting and difficult to find elsewhere. Drums and Tuba fit into this category for me, as they were one of my favorite bands from Austin back in 1996, are certainly interesting and this particular album is difficult to find. In fact, I had to get a friend of mine from Austin to send it to me, and I have never found it since in any record store. These are the classic Drums and Tuba songs from this era - an instrumental trio that was popular at the time (e.g. Trans Am) with drums, guitar and a tuba instead of bass. I personally gravitate towards the drums, as the dude is amazing and also played in Paul Newman, which released a few albums on Trance Syndicate back in the day. For this album, there are no effects or singing, although in later albums they started experimenting with looping tuba, guitar and drum parts in a live setting and eventually singing on their songs, which is usually a bad idea for most previously-instrumental bands. Sometime after this album or their next, they got the attention of Ani Difranco and started touring with her extensively and releasing albums under her label. I can only imagine Drums and Tuba playing these songs in stadiums opening for Ani, and what her crowd must have thought of them. They moved from Austin in the late 1990's to New York and continued recording and touring, but seemed to run out of steam a few years back. I would see them whenever they played Atlanta, either at the Echo Lounge opening for Daniel Johnston, or at the EARL as a headliner, and bought all of their albums, etc. I checked their website, and it looks like they were touring as late as Fall of last year, but there is no activity in 2008. It also states that they are currently based in New Orleans, so I hope they are finding some success there. As for their recorded output, I really like this first album the best, as well as the Flatheads and Spoonies album which was when they really started getting into the live sampling and layering of their sound. These are great musicians, and make great, interesting music. Maybe I'll get some comments from Austin on this one.

Year Zero - The Class of '96

Here is the download: Year Zero Discography

As requested, Jon Lukens sent me a video still, as he couldn't find an official glossy for the band, must have used them up on press kits for the Masquerade. When Cough Syrup and Astrosmash folded in late 1994, Ben Lukens started The hal al Shedad with Ed Rawls and eventually myself, and Jon Lukens started Year Zero with Matt Cicarelli (from Cough Syrup) and two guys named James Dunn (on guitar) and Brandon McDearis (on drums). Later, Matt Cicarelli was fired and/or moved to Cleveland for his studies and was replaced by Heather McIntosh, who I knew from my early college education at UGA. Jon wrote a little biography and descriptions of each member here, so it saves me the time of writing my own:

Depending on your temperment Year Zero could be a bit overwhelming to the listener, as Jon would sing/scream/blurt lyrics at you the entire song, and the guitar and drums would just plow through and assult you all the while, so that it was really the bass that seemed to provide the dynamics and changes within each song. Sometimes they were confusing, but sometimes they really connected and it was amazing. I recorded one of these shows, perhaps the best Year Zero show in my opinion, at the Godless Red Athens house here.

Their only official release was the split 7" with Wheeljack, but they self-released two demos during their time and played a lot of shows. They were part of the stable of Driverdome bands from the mid-90's including The Forty-Two and Wheeljack. I'm not sure if they ever officially toured, but I'm sure they played a few out of town shows from time to time. I do remember James the guitarist was really into guns, and had a permit to carry a concealed firearm, which he kept on him at all times. When hal came up to Athens to play a show once, we were supposed to go shooting with James, but it never worked out. I never really knew James or Brandon before or since, but I have played in many bands and projects with Jon Lukens over the years, and seen Matt Cicarelli from time to time as well. He is now an attorney for Dekalb County, so if you are around the Decatur courthouse during lunchtime you might see him. I see Heather from time to time as well, mainly when she is playing with the band Dark Meat from Athens, but she has been in so many bands since Year Zero, including Japancakes, Gnarles Barkley and even has a solo career. I also remember from the old days that she is a cellist and didn't own a regular electric bass, so she would borrow the Music Man stingray bass from the guy in the Maritans, and turn whatever bass amp she was using all the way and control her volume with the knob on the bass. Naturally she blew up a lot of bass amps during this time. There are a lot of other random anecdotes about this band, but I'll save them for the comments.

Dirt - Our Forebearers in Atlanta Noise-Rock

Here is the download - Dirt Discography

Track Listing:
1. Cleft on the Chin, Devil Within
2. Booger
3. Rugburn
4. Heavy Petting
5. Championship Dick
6. Grunt
7. Sad Hash
8. Negative Vibe No. 365
9. Palm Full of Pork
10. Milkbelly
11. Guilt on Ice
12. Shiny Girl Go
13. Suckah
14. Cold Fish
15. Nude Dancing in Arizona
16. Mopar
17. Skag Fight
18. Tam Po Po
19. Casa de Hee Haw
20. Peet
21. Serret
22. Gorgeous Weed
23. Dirk Flemming
24. Sinister Purpose

1-2: From 1st 7"
3-4: From 2nd 7"
5: From "Bag of Jakes" 7"
6-15: From "She Male Sugarpussy/Drill the Minx" LP
16-24: From "Sahara of the Bozart" LP

What were you doing in 1989? I can guarantee it was nothing compared to what these guys were up to. They were so ahead of their time in this town - I can't even imagine what people must have thought of this band back then, but I think they would rule this town today. I never got to see them live myself, but I had heard of their legendary status even back then when I was in high school. Actually, Stewart Voegtlin from William Carlos Williams wrote this piece on The Left Hand Path, which sums it up better than I ever could:

"It keeps you fit - the alcohol, nasty women, sweat on stage, bad food - it's all very good for you."

Some said Bonny Scott reborn, or Brian Johnson's shrieking shadow, an avatar of tres chord rock 'n' roll, stereotyped spitsink antics, Elvis zee Pelvis shake, rattle, roll. Hyperbole aside, John Forbes was very much the incarnation, google-eyed, gyrating; the gushing showman, a smile like The Young Traci Lords's gash: supple, crazed, welcoming. The rest of the [early] band was nothing close to Vomit, Lou, Deno and Gary; there was Jennifer Hensley, Runaways incarnate, smoldering in lip gloss, razorblade charm, navy blue coveralls. Dean Clyne and Georgia's answer to Phil Rudd, the late Allen Page on bass and drums respectively. Atlanta was indifferent as usual. The Royal Peacock, Clermont Lounge; well drinks for $2.50; Bud and High Life cans half the price. Poison's quick trickle had a lot to do with it. Most folks were furniture by 11 p.m. Forbes would come out, lightnin' bolt legs, Schlitz beer can hat upon his head. Plug in. Look around. Smile. Page would count off and away they went. Three hours later and Buckhead Safety cab lays down the law: Any one of you guys pukes in my ride and it's $40 flat. No if sands buts. Got it?

Before Page spilled his fluid thuds upon Hensely's maggot writhe wah, big-haired Deanna Gonzalez warmed the drum throne with junk trunk. Page musta seen 'em with DG; he basically cribbed his whole approach: heavy hands on hi-hat and snare; kicking through that gawdamned kick drum. It would have been too much; Forbes and Hensley locked-jaws with true Rodehaus Bluez. Leads written for lairs outta place even in James Dickey, in Harry Crews. The sort of sultry "please, cum onan fuck meh," schtick Gifford/Lynch tried to land with siren belle, Lula. Instead it comes off as lots of granny come-ons; rosewater perfume ain't no way to keep a man interested.

One can dance to Dirt. Perhaps that's why the name sounds sensible. Honest. Easily arrived upon. Two feet to the floor, shakin' ass, etc, etc. Keepah knockin but ya can't come in... Little Richard, James Brown, the Grady High School Marching Band; that's where the beatz; the riddims rose from. Past, present. Near, far. Forbes fashioned the take bright, belligerent. By the time the two singles and single split clipped into a full-length, the local foax had nothing left to do but corral Benjamin "Smoke" into his Sundee best and snap that shot. Nothing quite like a tranny queer drinking two fingers of Kentucky Gentleman and working on a Basic 120. And the title... She-male Sugarpussy. The band printed the song list on the spine; motherfuck a lyric sheet. Personnel was printed on the label. Whew. Lotsa print putz whined and opined; dude's voice sux; AC/DC, or worse: Rose Tattoo. Forbes really only ever sounded like Gilbert Godfrey passing a habanero hairball through his urethra. Despite the shenanigans, Dirt continued. David T. Lindsay, basically the only sensible "music writer" to ever call Coca-Cola Kingdom home, put their records out; he attended their shows; he served them the best compliment ever, setting them as the IDEAL in the midst of so many "show reviews" plundered about the pages of Creative Loafing. Cutting foax down to size was immensely easy; all Lindsay had to do was scribble this sentence on the end of every blurb: "________ is every bit the band The Black Crowes aspire to be but no where near as great as Dirt." I thought he'd do it once, twice maybe. Lindsay did it for months. It got funnier and funnier. It's still funny.

Dirt may not be the IDEAL. But then again they may be. She-male Sugarpussy isn't a great record. But it's good. The song titles are almost as good as the record's title: "Nude Dancing In Arizona;" "Palm Full of Pork;" "Sad Hash;" "Cold Fish." I understand these song titles. They are my past, present, future. They have to be. It's neither Heavy Metal, nor "Hard Rock." Despite all the groove and blues references they might just have sounded like a second-rate Zepp, circa Houses of the Holy, at precisely five fucking times the speed. "The Crunge" was Page/Plant preening groove and blues; "The Ocean" gets them even closer to Forbes and Co: "Naaaah, naah, nunnah neh nah naw, neh nah naw neh nah neh naw naw...." Ain't much difference 'tween tunes. "Sad Hash" the exception. Hensely comes on with Peter North cumshot wah. Thick, ropy, serpentine. Forbes refuses to play charmer, just screaming, shrieking, howl. Foax who ever thought they might need a vocal "approach," would never approach Forbes' thought as vocal. It's a lung thing. A heart thing. Darby Crash with Bowie's haircut. Or vice versa. And then to look over at Hensley scraping her SG, the beat goes on. And on. And on. IDEAL is forever. Every bit the band The Stones aspired to be but no where near as good as _________.

As you probably know, John Forbes and his girlfriend Jennifer (not Jennifer Hensley, who was in Dirt but then joined Seersucker) moved up to Chicago after Dirt ended in the early 90's to start Mount Shasta, who I was a huge fan of. In fact, when hal al Shedad recorded our second album with David Barbe, I was most excited because he recorded Mount Shasta's "Who's The Hottie?" album a few years before, and it is a favorite of mine. David said that John Forbes had the loudest voice of any singer he had ever worked with. He could blow out a microphone in the studio from across the room. Also, he told me that John wrote actual lyrics to all his songs, but good luck verifying that one. Dirt is just great, totally visceral, and must be acknowledged for their contribution to Atlanta music.

Above: Cover for their first album "She Male Sugarpussy - Drill the Minx", which included all the song titles and information on the record spine, which was brilliant. Interesting to note Benjamin Smoke as the cover model, from Opal Foxx Quartet and Smoke - seminal Atlanta bands. Below is the insert from the CD and the back cover. It's interesting to note the era they were coming from based on the thank you list. Even Drivin' n' Cryin' is thanked.



Here is the cover for "Sahara of the Bozart", which was graciously provided by Stewart.

One Crazy Summer - The Atlanta Band Genome has been updated!

Click on the picture to check it out.

Thanks to Chris Ware, Will Green and Ken Two Four (that's right - I have been receiving data from these dudes), I have been able to expand the Blame Game, Tornado Town, and Broken lines, respectively. The genome is getting pretty crazy, and I have been trying to make the appropriate linkages, but unfortunately there are only two dimensions to work with here. I need some kind of wormhole to link bands such as Portrait with The Power and The Glory, as you have to travel right through the Gold Sparkle Band area to connect them. Anyhow, I did my best, so please let me know what you think, and if you have some more bands and linkages that need to be made. One great accomplishment is that through Blame Game (which has more linkages than any other band on this list) I have finally been able to add Dirt to the Genome. My next post is planned to be a Dirt discography, so stay tuned.

Enjoy the BBQ.

The Answer to the Ultimate Question: The Forty-Two (aka The 42)

Here is the unofficial "discography" for download: The 42 Discography

1-2 from the "What It's Like to Be a Musician" single
3 from the Live at WREK CD (from the same session as 4-12)
4-12 from the Live at WREK session (March 5, 1996)
Craig Lee Dempsey, Francis Karl Jensen and Jeffrey Bryan Fielden, collectively known as The Forty-Two formed sometime in 1995, dissolved sometime in late 1996 or early 1997. I have no idea where they got the name from, but I know once the band had formed, the number 42 came up everywhere in their lives, like it was some kind of universal calling for them. I knew Bryan and Craig from their Stockbridge days playing in Lowboy, but then Craig told me they started playing with this guy Frank who they knew from the Somber Reptile and he was really excited about it. Francis added a whole new dynamic to their music with his non-traditional drumming, singing and great in-between song banter, and really brought the three of them together as a true postpunk power trio.

They played the discordant, poly-rhythmic, atonal postpunk that was common during that era, but the personalities in the band really made them unique in the mid-90's Atlanta DIY scene. Craig Dempsey was originally a guitar player (he played guitar in Lowboy), so his bass style was very much like a second guitar, with plenty of chords and strumming involved and I think he played a short scale bass to play even more like a guitar. I knew Bryan initially as a guitarist during this time, but after the 42 broke up later in 1996 (or early 1997), Bryan started playing in San Augustin with the guys in Barrel and switched to drums. Francis was always a drummer, but he had the "playing drums right-handed but the hi-hat and ride are played with the left hand and snare with the right hand" approach, which led to some interesting rhythms. He also hit the kick drum and toms at really interesting times in the band, which gave them a kind of swing feeling. They played some good shows, mostly at the Driverdome, and had some great times, but eventually broke up and started new projects. Bryan started playing in San Augustin as I stated above, and they have been playing intermittently over the years with huge success in the minimalist rock world. I believe they still occasionally with play shows today. Actually, Craig and Bryan stayed together for a little bit in a mathy band called Aslund Constant with Lewis Lovely and Jon Archer, but supposedly they only have one song on a rare comp recorded. Craig went on after that to start At the Price of the Union, and then played in Thoroughbred and The Good Friday Experiment. He is still probably the most amazing and proficient guitarist from a traditional sense that I know, but I don't think he picked up the bass very much after this band. Francis started playing with Scott MC in Chapman Park (more on them later) soon after this band folded, and then moved to Chicago and started playing in The Tyrades with an old high school friend of mine. He has been in several bands up in Chicago since then, but I haven't been able to see them yet.

Here is the artwork from their only 7", and some live photos taken by Andy Stivers at the Driverdome:

Andy started smearing vaseline on the lens for these shots:

Here is a special message from Scott MC on the importance of travelling:

The hal al Shedad Lost Live at WREK Session: January 9, 1996

Here is the download: Hal al Shedad Live at WREK - January 9, 1996

So Chris van Etten gave me some recordings I had been looking for to post on this blog, and with one of these recordings was the hal al Shedad Live at WREK set. Once I listened to it, however, I realized it was our first Live at WREK recording from January 9, 1996 that was believed to be long lost. In fact, I had forgotten about it completely, but when I put it on and heard Jon Lukens' introduction to Consolation Prize, it all came back. This session was done after the first single had been released, but a few months before we recorded the album for Troubleman/Buddy System. We play some of the original 7 songs that comprised our set in 1995, but also played some new songs that would eventually appear on the album. Songs like Consolation Prize, Unification and Falling Out, but we also play On Building A Timebomb, which was never released as well as 1/1/96, which was written only 8 days before. Even though the recording is a little overdriven, it is a good document of what we were like right at one of the points of transformation of the band.

Also, Jon Lukens has been transferring and posting a lot of old performances from the mid-90's Atlanta DIY scene on Youtube, including the Hal al Shedad, Year Zero, Wheeljack, Inkwell and The 42. Here is us playing Walking Blind Dancing at the Lizard and Snake in Chapel Hill, NC sometime in 1997.

Wheeljack - The Overachievers from Cobb County

Above and below: Wheeljack rocking the Driverdome in January of 1996

Here is the download: Wheeljack Discography

Out of all the Atlanta bands that played the Driverdome back in the mid-90's, Wheeljack were the real artists, and the most creative of the bunch. In a way they were kind of like the band that Max Fischer would have started in the movie Rushmore. I thought they were excellent, and always had something interesting going on with their shows and their music. They had some really technical songs, with plenty of stops/starts, tempo changes, time signature changes, they really went for it on their songs. I still can't understand some of the stuff that their drummer Dave was doing on some of those tracks.

I assembled an unofficial discography, the first two songs of which are from the split 7" with Year Zero on Ben Lukens' Terminus Records (the Burn! For Two single). It was a great 7", as it had a match glued to the front, which I can remember gluing a few nights at Apartment 13 with Ben and Phil Dwyer - one strip of glue for the stick, one dot of glue on the match head. One other funny thing about this single, I saw it for sale a few years ago at a small record store in Hilversum, which is about 30 miles to the east of Amsterdam in Holland, and it still had the match glued to it!

Wheeljack/Year Zero Split 7" (cover, insert and back)


The next batch of songs are from the LP put out by Stickfigure (aka Gay Jay Records). I'm glad they put out this album, as so many of these bands from this era never released a full-length album, and usually only have a 7" or Live at WREK session to remember them by (I'm looking at you guys in The Forty-Two). When I was transferring the songs to CD, however, I noticed that I had nine songs and only 8 song titles. I know the last song is Iscander, so I combined two songs to make The Breeze, which might be incorrect. Please let me know if I screwed up the transfer, as there is no insert, lyrics or any other information to go by here.


Wheeljack Album (front and back)

After the LP is one song from their Live At WREK session, that was on the Live at WREK CD that came out about 10 years ago. I would like to get their entire Live at WREK recording, if anyone has it on tape. Sean? Mike? Dave? How about you Josh?

Chris van Etten contacted me recently about several items on my want list, and that included the first Wheeljack demo tape. I have digitized it and added it to the end of this discography. He told me that they had a few other songs that were recorded at the time of the split 7" with Year Zero, but he didn't have them and the Wheeljack guys probably didn't want those songs to resurface anyhow. We'll just have to see about that.

So Sean Greathead (guitar) and Dave Ahuja (drums) are living in New York (surfing on Long Island and making music videos, respectively) and I will see them from time to time when I am up there. Michael Keenan plays in Battlecat and Hawks here in Atlanta, who I would like to play with someday, but haven't had the opportunity yet. Scott Rogers has been around and about, but I haven't seen him myself in a long time. He started a band with Chris van Etten called Flakscrampe Tramauntra, and then went into Electrosleep International with Michael Keenan. Mike and Sean played in a band called the Mascara Aesthetic with Josh Fauver and Derek Beber for a while, and then Electrosleep International, etc. Chocolate Kiss played with both of these bands a few times back in the day, but my knowledge of that stuff is a bit hazy right now, so sorry about the mistakes. I have not seen Kate Kraft since she was playing keyboards in Wheeljack, so I'm sure I would not recognize her today. I played in a short-lived band called Ananke with Sean before he moved to New York, and it was really great to finally play with one of these guys. He has a really interesting guitar style, that was maybe not the best match for my drumming at first, but I really liked making music with him. These are great guys, and a great band. One other piece of trivia/history: Frank Jensen from The 42 practiced with Wheeljack twice after Dave Ahuja left for New York, but then got into a car accident and broke his hip, and Wheeljack effectively disbanded after that point. Frank then played further in Chapman Park with Scott McFarland (aka Scott MC) and Scott Wilson (aka Emo-Beard), and then moved to Chicago to play in the Tyrades, etc. etc. etc.

The Start of a New Generation - The Kossabone Red

Here is the album and 7" for download - The Kossabone Red LP and 7"

Since Jesse Smith finally released a full-length album with his Gentleman Jesse and His Men incarnation (which is one of my favorite local releases in years), I thought it would be nice to post what I believe is his earliest recording here. In fact, the 7" does not even include him, as The Kossabone Red was just Justin, Chris and Nick at the time.

If you have never heard The Kossabone Red, they were part of the strange era of DIY punk/emo/whatever generated by the midwestern bands such as Cap'n Jazz/Friction/Braid/Promise Ring/Get Up Kids/etc. during the mid to late 90's. I saw them a few times during this period, and although they were pretty rough around the edges, they should be given credit for attempting what is pretty complicated stuff while they were essentially still high school kids. I know that I wasn't playing songs with such abrupt changes and structures when I was their age, I was more interested in being juvenile (which we thought was being clever). Also, it is important to note that so many bands took on this type of music during this time, and so few of them were really good at it. My favorite was of course Friction, due to the Car Vs. Driver connection, but I think Braid were the tightest at it, and probably took it as far as it could go during their time. It helped that they had a Black Flag-level of practicing/recording/touring to give them that level of tightness. Cap'n Jazz probably put out the best record of this genre, but they could be a mess live (at least when I saw them).

So these guys were around in the late 90's, and Nick played drums on the first 7" only, and their replacement drummer Jeph started Airoes and other various bands (sang in Portrait, played drums in Electrosleep International among other things from what I hear), while the trio of Justin, Chris and Jesse stayed together to play in Some Soviet Station (with Lee Corum on drums) and Paper Lions (with Josh Lott on drums) until the early to mid-00's when Chris and Justin moved to Athens and Jesse stayed behind in Atlanta to play in the Carbonas and started Gentleman Jesse and His Men. I saw Justin working at the Grit in Athens a few times, and he played with Josh Lott in a band up there called Teenage Meth Lab for a little while. Chris has been playing bass in Maserati (at least on tour), and the story goes on.

These guys have all made excellent contributions to the Atlanta/Athens local music scene, and represents another generation of kids coming up and pollenizing this group of bands, musicians, etc. as we get older and stay at home more.

Also, here is some additional information that Scott McFarland (aka Scott MC) commented on this post:

A bit more on the history of this band -Ripcord started out as a 3 piece - brothers Justin and Nick playing guitar and drums, respectively and Chris on bass. They all went to Roswell high school (but Justin might have been out of high school by then). I think it was Chris who gave a us a demo tape (or maybe their 7" (on legendary Crazy Man Records out of Roswell)). Gavin and I thought it was great so we booked them to play a show at the I DEFY (I have no idea who they played with). I think they later realized that there were a few other bands around the country called Ripcord so they changed their name to Kossabone Red. Right about the time of the name change Jesse joined the band. Jesse was in another band at the time called Pax 13 with his brother Lee on drums. I seem to recall Jeph playing with them for a minute as well.I think Nick got sick of doing the whole band thing and quit as drummer. That is when Jeph started to play with them. Nick never did another band after that but he is still around Atlanta going to the occasional show now and then. We decided to put out an LP but I had extremely limited funds so we more or less recorded it ourselves at Under the Couch for free, so I will take all the blame for the sound quality. Luckily I could scrap together enough pocket change to pay Lewis to come in later for a few hours to do the mix.One thing I do remember about that recording session is that it was the same Saturday afternoon that a bunch of local scene kids got arrested at a Yerkes. I think some of the footage from the protests made it on the local news.

So, like most punk bands, these guys broke up very shortly after the LP came out. Hell, it might have been before it came out because I don't remember ever doing a record release show. The LP got some great reviews and I think if these guys had stuck together and done just one tour more people would remember this record. The good news is that the core of the group (Justin, Chris, Jesse) stuck together for many years after that and treated us to several great bands (Some Soviet Station, Paper Lions, etc). I don't know if Alex only has a digital copy of the Ripcord 7", but I have a real copy in case you guys need the artwork. Also, the Kossabone Red LP did have an insert. PC Josh carried on the Atlanta DIY tradition of working at Kinkos so he hooked me up with 1000 full color copies. Kinkos more or less financed the majority of the Concurrent releases. I have a few copies of this LP sitting around if anyone wants one - just let me know.

Lay Down Mains/Sonn Av Krusher/Recompas - The Men Machines

This Saturday Sonn Av Krusher will be playing with our friends Lay Down Mains and Recompas at the Drunken Unicorn. This is an album release show for Lay Down Mains, so expect some loud rock n' roll raging from these guys all night long. Of course, expect a full set of power bore drone pummel from SAK, and some great atmospheric wash from Recompas to put everyone in the right frame of mind.

As mentioned in previous posts, Lay Down Mains features Rick Moore from Barrel/Rebar/Galanas Cerdd/Copa Vance/Home of the Wildcats/The Wayne Williams on guitar and Lee Corum from Chapterhall/Some Soviet Station/Copa Vance/Home of the Wildcats on drums. Recompas features Travis Thatcher and Ben Coleman from Judi Chicago, with a lot of gadgets, friends and other great gear. It is shaping up to be quite a night.

August 13 Update: The show was a great success, and not just because the bands were great and we got to see some old friends, but because Rick brought several copies of the never-released Barrel LP. I finally got my hands on one - thanks Rick!

I also recorded the set by Sonn Av Krusher, and Travis from Recompas sent me the recording of their set. Check it out here: Sonn Av Krusher Set / Recompas Set

Unfortunately, I ran out of battery before Lay Down Mains started, but rest assured they were tearing everyone a new one out there, in their totally unassuming way. They have a new album out on Moodswing Records - go get it now at your local record store, etc.

Atlanta Singles Week 32 - Bag of Jakes (1991)

Here is the recording - Bag of Jakes

The Bag of Jakes 7" is another one of those iconic local relases from my high school years. I can remember seeing the cover at Tower Records when I would go down there late in the evening to check out new music. At the time (1990-1992) Tower Records at Lenox was the main place for the suburbanite to get good music in Atlanta. They also had a local releases section, and it exposed me to the releases by Lunchbox Records like the Bag of Jakes 7", the Wrong Answer Zoo Breath 7", the View cassette tape, etc. Little did I know I would be playing in bands with some of these guys a few years later. At the time there was a whole scene of bands in Atlanta that I was completely separated from, and luckily the guys at Lunchbox and other labels took their records to Tower for consignment so people like myself could pick up on it. I never saw Dirt, Figure or Oily-O play live, as they were just too early for my time, but of course I got to see Fiddlehead around this time open for Fugazi, and probably has the biggest legacy of these four bands (although you can make a case for Dirt with Mount Shasta, Dirt as a band themselves are probably not as well known now as Fiddlehead).

As for the artwork, I don't know much about the cover photo, but I remember Kip telling me that the squirrel picture on the back was when he and some friends drove to DC to see Jawbox and made friends with this little guy in the park and snapped a picture. The thank you list is great, especially the "thanks to the US Navy for taking Steve off our hands". Steve joined the Navy for a few years before we started Car Vs. Driver, and was enrolled in their nuclear energy program, but was discharged due to severe headaches he would experience while in school. I think the experience gave him the drive and organizational skills to run Car Vs. Driver like he did and made us so productive for the 2 years we were together.

I noticed that Figure had Kyle Spence playing drums. So right now I have him playing drums in Figure, Fiddlehead, The Martians, Harvey Milk, The Tom Collins, J. Mascis and the Fog, and I remember playing a show at the Somber Reptile back in the early days and an opening band called Radio played, and he was on the drums for them as well. Are there any others I'm missing? As for the songs, I think I like the Dirt number the best. I really wish I had been able to see them, probably more than any other Atlanta band then and now. I am still looking for the "Sahara of the Bozart" album - does anyone out there have it? If so, then I will post an unofficial Dirt discography including the 2 7"s, the She-Male Sugarpussy LP, and this album. Stay tuned. Also, once I get a copy of the Maritans demo, I will post their stuff ASAP.

Inserts and back cover for the single: