Inkwell Flyers and Memorabilia

The last of Joe Myers' scrapbooks (see previous posts here and here) contains various flyers and memorabilia from the seminal Atlanta band Inkwell, which he played guitar in along with Marty Rioux (Re/Model, Black Venus) on bass, Phil Dwyer on vocals, Marcus Lowe (Seventy Spacebird, Good Friday Experiment) on drums (March 31, 1995 to April 27, 1996), and Josh Allen on drums (June 30, 1994 to December 30, 1994). I am also working on a post of their discography, which should be coming in the next few days. Above is a patch from Joe's collection of the Inkwell "hand-tree" design.


Here is the lyric sheet from the early show period - I really miss these. It was kind of a nice thing to collect from the bands, something unique from the specific show you attended.


Here is the same lyric sheet under an earlier band name incarnation Crestfallen. Some Inkwell trivia for you.

This is the complete log of shows played by Inkwell - click on the images to enlarge. I first saw them on July 12, 1994 when Car vs. Driver played with them and Spirit Assembly at the Somber Reptile, but it wasn't until I saw them play with Thumbnail and Scout at Theo Witsell's house on October 23, 1994 that they really clicked for me.

June 30, 1994: Inkwell plays with Jara and Quadiliacha at Andy Stivers' house. Their first show, I remember Jara was a bit of a letdown to those in attendance.

October 23, 1994: Inkwell with Silence Equals, Thumbnail and Scout at Theo Witsell's house in Home Park. Theo's house was diagonal to the Godless Red House, if I remember correctly. I don't remember any other shows happening at this house. I also remember that this was around the first day we moved into the Driverdome, as I had just finished unpacking and Steve Wishart and I took a field trip to this show.

November 5, 1994: Inkwell with In/Humanity, Stretch Armstrong, Unscarred, Gullah and Voice in Charleston, SC

November 12, 1994: Inkwell with Deterrent and Deus Ex at the Driverdome. This was the second show ever at the Driverdome (first was Car vs. Driver with Weston). Both Deterrent and Deus Ex had drum machines, and they were bad.

December 28, 1994: Inkwell with Spirit Assembly, Frail, True High Fidelity and Anasarca at the Beehive Collective in Washington DC. Awesome lineup. I remember Phil came back from that tour with his voice completely destroyed, and it seemed like he never really sang the same again, but maybe that's just my imagination.

March 31, 1995: Inkwell with Scout, Freemasonry and Levelhead at the Somber Reptile for the Scout/Freemasonry split LP release show. Marcus' first show with Inkwell, turning them into the powerhouse you know and love.

April 17, 1995: Inkwell with Bloodlet and The hal al Shedad at the Driverdome. Thenceforward cancelled, and I believe this was my first Atlanta show with hal. If you didn't know already, the Inkwell guys were huge Natalie Portman fans.

May 13, 1995: Inkwell with Year Zero and The hal al Shedad at the Village Apartment complex clubhouse in Athens. This show was put on by Gray Kiser (Line Drive, Regicide, Hands of an Angry God, Sonn Av Krusher), and I remember it being very sparsely attended.

May 21, 1995: Inkwell with Prevail, Outbreak and Refuse to Go at the Godless Red house in Home Park.

This is one of the funniest reviews I have ever seen - FUCK THIS RECORD TO HELL!

May 24, 1995: Inkwell with Converge, Channel, Assfactor 4 and Fragment at Senseless Beauty Cafe in Columbia. That was a great place to see/play a show back then. I miss that Columbia Assfactor 4, In/Humanity scene quite a bit.

June 17, 1995: Inkwell with Chokehold, Ashes, Despair, Contagen, Endeavor, Eleventh Hour, Stretch Armstrong, Outcome, Blindside, Prevail, Falling Down, Soulstice and Voice in Charleston, SC. Show starts at 2PM - can you even imagine being at one of these today?

June 21, 1995: Inkwell with Chokehold, Act of Faith, Regicide and Boy Sets Fire at Under the Couch. This was an early incarnation of Regicide, perhaps with Mathis Hunter on vocals? Great show, I remember the Boy Sets Fire guys coming back to the Driverdome and making us all dinner, great guests.

July 6, 1995: Inkwell with Daredevil and Benchmark at the Driverdome. Benchmark was from Ft. Smith, Arkansas and were great. Daredevil had the two brothers from Indian Summer along with the guitarist from Ordination of Aaron, and they were not great. Nothing against those guys, just not so hot based on previous efforts.

July 14, 1995: Day One of the WillJawkBilly fest at the Somber Reptile, with Hickey, One Nature, Line Drive, Copout and Grade.

July 25, 1995: Inkwell with Los Crudos, Quadiliacha, Bare Hope Essentials and Palatka at Under the Couch. Just another Summer 1995 show in Atlanta.

August 23, 1995: Inkwell with The Cleavers and Vanbuiderass at Shaft Records in Gainesville, Florida. That was a good record store, I remember it well.

December 29, 1995: Inkwell with Avail and Hose Got Cable at the Wreck Room. Another great show, this must have been one of the last Wreck Room shows for this type of music.

December 31, 1995: Inkwell with Anderson, Autumn, Broken, End of the Century Party, In/Humanity, Palatka, Prema and Regicide at the I-Defy house. This was a great show that I missed - hal was playing in Ft. Smith Arkansas with the Benchmark guys, where else would you want to be on NYE? This show was also the unveiling of the prime Regicide lineup, pictured here.

February 24, 1996: I believe Inkwell played this show with Damad, Grinch, Spliff and Regicide at the I-Defy house.

February 28, 1996: I also believe Inkwell played this show with Chokehold, Scout and Thenceforward at BLT's.

March 24, 1996: Inkwell with Damnation, Dahlia Seed, Stillsuit, Walleye, 454 Big Block, Cable, Cast Iron Hike, New Day Rising, Roswell and Madison at the New Bedford, MA YWCA. One of Inkwell's last shows.

Here are the patches from Joe's collection. I had the baby fabric one on my jacket, which was just awesome. You can't beat the 90's homemade fabric patches.

Lastly, here is the artwork from the original Inkwell demo, before Marcus took over drum duties. I remember the guys being a little disappointed with it, but I would like to include it in the discography post. Hey, I posted 6 hours of unlistenable Midget Farmers demos on this site - there's no need to feel embarrased about something recorded 15 years ago!

Joe Myers' Scrapbook - Part Two

Here is Part Two of Joe's Scrapbook, getting off to a great start with Danzig, Ghost Story and Nihilist at Center Stage in 1988, I believe (?). Usually you can determine the year if the day of the week is listed, but not in this case. This would have been on a Wednesday, if anyone remembers. FYI, Joe Myers is the guitarist behind such bands as Inkwell, Black Venus and Re/Model, and I did a previous post a few weeks ago of some other shows in his scrapbook here.


Righteous metal at the Masquerade, circa August 1990. Including F.U.C.T., O.C.B., Venosity, Nihilist, and plenty of others. I think I remember hearing a story once about Metalmorphosis, but now I forget it.


Dayton, Ohio Music Fest - June 17-18, 1994: This was a pivotal point of the decade for DIY music in the nineties. Almost every band that played this fest has achieved legendary status, at least in some circles and it seems that anyone who attended these festivals had some part in similar festivals and DIY shows across the US for years to come. The 1994 Dayton Fest hosted such greats as Policy of Three, Kurbjaw, Greyhouse, Dartswinger, Iceburn, Avail, Universal Order of Armageddon, Delta 72, Brainiac, Hoover, Ashes, Iconoclast, Current (and the unveilling of Ottawa at the end of their set), Outspoken, Campfire, Ordination of Aaron, Transcend, Split Lip. I think Hoover actually broke up before playing this show, and I'm not sure what other bands played, maybe Shotmaker? I wasn't there myself, but I remember Steve Wishart and others coming back telling me about all the amazing bands that played. Policy of Three, Current/Ottawa and Ordination of Aaron especially.


Dayton, Ohio Music Fest - June 16-17, 1995: Second year of the Dayton Fest, this time including Kepone, Pitchblende, Blue Meanies, Split Lip, Hose Got Cable, Kinghorse, Rye Coalition, Ruby Falls, Metroshifter, Smears, Paul K and the Weathermen, Ten O'Clock Scholar, Frank Booth Band, Ska Humbug, Miss May '66, Rottweilers. Some great bands on this year's lineup, and some more obscure ones as well. I'm not sure about bands like Frank Booth Band and Miss May '66, but most of the others did fairly well for themselves in the following years. You can also see the third wave ska creeping into the mix, as the midwest was quite a haven for this during this time.


Columbus Fest - July 5-7, 1996: The Dayton Fest moves to Columbus, Ohio in 1996 with probably the best lineup yet, maybe even ever, including Franklin, The Great Unravelling, One Eyed God Prophecy, Braid, Endive, Fieldtree, Anasarca, Harriet The Spy, Boy Sets Fire, Church of the Bomb, Wallside, Inquisition, The Promise Ring, Spirit Assembly, Joan of Arc, Across Five Aprils, Broken Hearts Are Blue, Resin, Avail, Young Pioneers, Jenny Piccolo, Constantine Sankathi, Compound Red, Khai, Julia, The Locust, Side Show, Three Studies For A Crucifixion, Armstrong Secret Nine, and Remington. For this type of music, you can't get any better. I believe The hal al Shedad played the festival in 1997 with The Promise Ring, Braid, Harriet the Spy, and many others, but unfortunately I don't have a flyer for that year.

August 17, 1996: Deadguy, Ink & Dagger, NineIronSpitfire and One Way at the I-Defy house.

August 1996 I-Defy Show List, including 10 Yard Fight, Acrid and Broken (maybe) on August 5, Reversal of Man with Life Among Ruin on August 8, Hot Water Music with Walleye, Swank and Quadiliacha on August 11, Bleed with Halfman and Thenceforward on August 12, Hourglass with New Day Rising on August 16, Ink & Dagger on August 17, and Converge with Jesuit and Thenceforward on August 24 as well as Seein' Red, Torches To Rome, and Palatka at the Driverdome on August 10. It's amazing to think about how the house show scene in Atlanta was so developed by this time that you could have a great show every night with national touring bands that wouldn't get shut down or otherwise fall through.

September 8, 1995: Amber Inn with Scout and The Forty-Two at the Driverdome. A classic show of the time period, with the Wishart brothers in the bathtub.

Another I-Defy show list from 1996, including Asshole Parade/Eurich/Black Marinos/Necrolust on April 20, Order of Importance/Reversal of Man on April 27, Cavity on May 2, Damad/In-Humanity on May 17, Franklin/Algebra I on May 27, Morning Again/Outbreak on May 31, Anasarca/XXY on June 3, Fat Day/End of the Century Party/In-Humanity on June 7 (at Driverdome), Assuck/Man is the Bastard on June 17 (actually at BLT's), Prevail/Reversal of Man/Piebald on July 9 and Seein' Red/Torches To Rome at The Driverdome on August 10.

April 7, 1995: Assuck with Phoopher at the Driverdome. This one is dedicated to Will Greene - Phoopher officially makes the blog.

April 22, 1995 (I believe): Wheeljack at the Somber Reptile with 3 Canadian bands. I can't remember which bands, but a cool flyer nonetheless.

Driverdome Flyer circa August 1995: Whirlybird/Quadiliacha on August 27, Breakwater/Scout on August 30, Amber Inn/Scout/Forty-Two on September 8, Boys Life/Giants Chair/Hal al Shedad on September 12. That Boys Life show was amazing, I always loved that band.

June 8, 1996 (I believe): Blood Runs Black and Outbreak at the Godless Red House. Had to get a Godless Red flyer in there.

February 23, 1996: Fragment with Outbreak, Narcolepsy and Broken at the I-Defy House. Benefit for the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, and Outbreak's fina show ever.

June 18, 1995: The Promise Ring with Scout and Outbreak at the Driverdome. This was The Promise Ring's first Atlanta show, before they became scene superstars.

This is an alternate flyer for the same show as above. I guess Wheeljack played as well, which makes sense as Driverdome shows were usually 4 bands.

August 29, 1996: The Promise Ring with Kinkaid and Levelhead at the Somber Reptile. This was a late period Somber Reptile show, as most of the shows by this time had moved to houses, and then to Under the Couch.

Driverdome shows circa 1996, including Car vs. Driver/Ice-9/Glitch on April 27, Don's Ex-Girlfriend/Clairmel/Product on May 6, Shade/Hot Water Music on May 25 (Hot Water Music's first Atlanta show, if I remember correctly), Selfish on June 1, Plow/Delta 72 on June 6. That Delta 72 show was amazing, probably the first big DC band to play our house, to be followed soon after by the Make-Up show, one of the best house shows I have ever seen. More on that show later.

CLD is back!

The Signallers, Craig Lee Dempsey's new band (Lowboy, The Forty-Two, Aslund Constant, At the Price of the Union, The Weight, Thoroughbred, The Good Friday Experiment) is playing a show this Friday at the 529 Club in East Atlanta, along with The Weight and West End Motel. I believe it is their first, so I'm making an official announcement here as we can't hang up a flyer in Tortillas anymore to promote these things. The master of technique Kelsey Wilson (The Weight, Thoroughbred, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves) also plays in the band, so I thought it would be good to post two live Thoroughbred shows for parties interested. They are unbelievable, thanks Kelsey!

Thoroughbred - Live at The Star Bar 2003-12-20

Thoroughbred - Live at The EARL 2004-05-07 (their final show)