The Divine Phantom and The Love God Murder - Live at the EARL January 31, 2002

Here is the download: The Divine Phantom and The Love God Murder

Here is a show I recorded at the EARL on my then new mini-disc player back in January 2002. The Divine Phantom was the solo project of Craig Lee Dempsey (The Forty-Two, Aslund Constant, Lowboy, Good Friday Experiment, At the Price of the Union, Thoroughbred, etc.), which was his take on the solo Americana stuff years before it became the cool thing to do. Spooky stuff, I wish he kept at it.

The Love God Murder was the original name for Joseph Plunkett’s band, The Weight. This incarnation featured Marlow Sanchez (All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Rent Boys, Swing Riot, etc.) on bass guitar, Susan Rose from Portrait on violin, Craig Dempsey on lead guitar, and I can’t remember who was on drums. Many people have played in Joseph Plunkett’s band over the years, including even Kenn Two Four if you can believe it. Soon after this, Joseph changed band names to The Weight, moved to Athens for awhile, and then relocated to Brooklyn and has enjoyed great success with his team up there. In the past few months, he came back to Atlanta to record a new album at the Living Room Studio with Ed Rawls and Justin McNeight at the controls, and got married. Congratulations Joseph, hope you enjoy this old recording I dug up.

The Lids - Something To Do

Here is the Download – The Lids Die Slaughterhaus 7”

Much has been said about the tragic passing of Bobby Ubangi earlier this year, so I thought I would post one of his first singles here. The Lids were around in the early part of this decade, consisting of Bobby Ubangi on guitar/vocals (Gaye Blades, Bobby and the Soft Spots), Dave Rahn on drums (Carbonas, Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Baby Shakes, etc.), and three female singers including Valery Lovely, Alix Brown and Sara Harper. From this band I only previously knew Valery from her days booking shows at the 485 Robinson house in Grant Park, which hosted many great shows back in the 1997-1998 era, and of course through her sibling Lewis Lovely, soundman extordinaire and bassist for Scout. She is also a great photographer and is likely sitting on an amazing collection of photos and videos from the past twenty years. Maybe someone can convince her to release a book of her photographs, I know I would be interested.

This is the single for “Fool For You”, “Too Late” and “Something To Do” released on Die Slaughterhaus records, DSH02 to be exact. I saw them play once with The Carbonas and The Tyrades at Dottie’s around 2002, or maybe it was Lenny’s by that time. It was a great show – all the bands brought it, especially the Tyrades. I was most interested in seeing them, as I was high school friends with the bass player Robert McAdams and never got to see him play in a band before. It was also great to see Francis Jensen (The Forty-Two, Chapman Park) play drums again. Enjoy the single.

Judi Chicago On Video

Judi Chicago - Fun City from Judi Chicago on Vimeo.

Yes, that is my daughter in the video, attacking Atlanta like she does my record room.

Judi Chicago will be playing with Social Studies (aka Chris Devoe and Zano) and many others on Saturday night on the roof of the Glenn Hotel to commemorate the release of the Fun City video and 7”. It should be a great evening, and it’s free, so what have you got to lose? Hope to see you there.

Here are some other videos of Judi in a live performance setting:

Judi Chicago - Mad Ape live at 529 4/25/09 from Travis Thatcher on Vimeo.

Judi Chicago - Bad Spell live at 529 on 4/25/09 from Travis Thatcher on Vimeo.

Vertex T. - This Is Not A Test

Here is the download: Vertex T. - This Is Not A Test

This is a little bit of a different post for me, as I have no idea what this single is all about and cannot give you any further information apart from the music and what was included in the packaging. I tried to look up something about Vertex T. online, but could only find someone on ebay selling this single for $15 and also no additional information listed. The seller mentions in the post that the single has never been played, which can be a good thing or a red flag depending on your perspective and the record in question.

Adam "Bomb" DeVore recommended this single from the archives of the Georgia Music Show, which he hosts on Wednesday nights from 6-8 PM on Album 88. I was able to visit their studio a few months ago and borrow several records and CDs to use for posts on this blog, which will delve into different scenes and more uncharted territory over the next few months. This is the oldest piece of music they have in their local stacks, recorded in the Summer of 1985 at the Pillowtex Warehouse in Atlanta and the Back Street Juveniles' Studio in Macon, which I have also never heard of. It definitely has that mid-80's obscure novelty music feel, maybe not the strangest music you are going to find on this blog, but certainly out there. Once again, if anyone knows anything about Vertex T., please comment.

Quadruple Felony!

Here’s the Download: Quadruple Felony

I can remember coming across this single in every record store whenever flipping through the 7”s, and it eventually took on an iconic status for me as a part of this scene that existed in Atlanta from the early to mid nineties. These bands were the local music elders from where I stood, even though they were probably only three to five years older than us at the time, but our circles rarely crossed. While we were playing all ages venues like the Somber Reptile or the Liquid Bean, they were playing more “adult” clubs like the Point and later Dottie’s, and many others that I can’t remember at the moment. There are many stories to be told, and I'm starting to get in touch with some of the people from this scene (e.g. Kim from Pineal Ventana, Rick from Whiskey Dick/Howling Fantods, etc.). Hopefully they can chime in on these releases, and maybe even do some guest posts someday.

Kim from Pineal Ventana forwarded me a link to Amy Potter's history of Half Baked Records, which includes this paragraph about the Quadruple Felony single. "Around the fall of '94, BOB, Pineal Ventana, Tweezer, and Suzybeat all approached me about doing a theme record together. I said cool! We would get together at the El Azteca Mexican Restaurant on Ponce de Leon (affectionately nicknamed the "Punk-rock ass-kicker" for their incredibly strong margaritas) and talk about the record. We were a motley crowd, infamously known by the wait staff. We would flip tortillas across the table at each other (with salsa on them). This would make a huge mess, annoying the wait staff and the customers. The first couple of meetings, we got absolutely nothing done but drunkenness. The taking of the promotional photos was quite fun. We took a ton of us in front of the El Azteca when an ambulance had just pulled up in front. We all could never agree on a theme or artwork. In fact, I think some of the bands are still pissed at one another because of the artwork. It took until March of '95 to actually get a record pressed. The theme was about four different crimes: a bank robbery (Suzybeat), serial murder (Tweezer), child molestation (Pineal Ventana), and Vietnam War crimes (BOB). The release party was held for the 4-song 7-inch entitled Quadruple Felonyat Dottie's on March 8, 1995. We then booked a 2-day tour to North Carolina with everyone except Suzybeat participating. Our first stop was Wilmington, NC at the Bourgeois Pig. Pineal Ventana had this huge bag of popcorn and threw it on BOB during their set. It was hilarious. Our next stop was the Turtle Club in Greensboro. The club did little or no publicity and plus it was spring break - no one showed. We didn't let that bring us down. We had our own show. Everyone was drunker than hell. We found a Barney doll in the parking lot, ripped its insides and voice box out, and would wear it on our heads during the show. The voice box was also found singing in many songs. Travis of Pineal Ventana also subbed in for Timmy of Tweezer during Tweezer's set and no one noticed. It was one of the funniest times that I can remember about my label. A few weeks later I went with BOB on tour to Florida, New Orleans and Texas. I loved touring with my bands; it was something I didn't get to do that much since I had a full time job."

For this single, we have another song by BOB represented, as well as some nice contributions from Suzy-Beat, Pineal Ventana and Tweezer. The Tweezer song here may be my favorite of theirs as a band, but I will be posting more from them soon. Pineal Ventana were legendary from this time, truly a very vital and exciting Atlanta band. I would like to get Kim to help me with a Pineal Ventana post someday, but I haven't had any luck yet. Until then, there is plenty of footage on Youtube to watch. Of course there will be more from Tweezer in the future, who have a lot to share and were definitely underrated from my perspective, but I would especially like to get more by The Suzy-Beat. I remember them having at least a single out back in the day, but if anyone has any recordings by them, please send them my way.

Here is back cover of the single, including the classic picture of everyone at El Azteca on Ponce. Thanks to Half Baked Records for another great release.

Gray Kiser's Flyer Collection - Part Two

August 2, 1996: Man is the Bastard, The VSS, Men's Recovery Project, The Thrones, Jenny Piccolo at the Huntington Beach Library.

Back in the late 90's/early 00's, Gray Kiser (Line Drive, Regicide, Hands of an Angry God, Black Venus, Sonn Av Krusher) lived out in San Diego and went to a bunch of great shows, mostly at the Che Cafe which was kind of like the UCSD equivalent to Under the Couch. This is the second part of his flyer collection, focusing on shows that were going on out on the left coast while we were doing our thing over here. The last installment of his flyer collection will focus on some classic North Carolina shows, so stay tuned.


June 27, 1996: Rye Coalition, Thumbnail, The Republic of Freedom Fighters, The Button Men at the Huntington Beach Library. This was a great place to see a show. The hal al Shedad played there with Long Hind Legs and the Thrones once.


June 27, 1996: Sparkmarker, Kill Holiday, Action League, Will Haven at the Impala Cafe, Los Angeles.


June 28, 1996: Eleven Thirty-Four, Spawn, Kill Holiday, The Suppression Swing, Stick Figure Carousel at the Showcase Theatre in Corona.

June 29, 1996: Eleven Thirty-Four, Blackspot, Spawn, Collateral Damage, Triceratops at the Huntington Beach Library.

August 9-11, 1996: Final Conflict, The Red Aunts, FYP, Hickey, All You Can Eat, etc. at the Showcase Theatre in Redondo Beach.

September 6, 1996: Gauze, Spazz, Assfort, Dead and Gone, El Dopa at 924 Gilman in Berkeley.

February 14, 1997: Refused, The Locust, Frodus, The Truth Movement, The Dusters at the Che Cafe. That is a classic lineup.

November 28, 1998: Unbroken, Outspoken, The Crimson Curse, The Setup, Palpatine at the Masterdome in San Bernadino.

December 3, 1999: Cattle Decapitation, Volume 11, A Possible Link to Klaus, Colostomy Bag, The Adding Machine at the Che Cafe.

December 6, 1999: Severed Head of State, Run For Your Fucking Life, Ex-Fork, and some band I can't read at the Che Cafe.

January 16, 2000: Cave In, Secret Fun Club, Durga at the Che Cafe.

January 21, 2000: The Locust, The Straight A's, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Free Stars at the Che Cafe. I never saw this documentary about US Latino/Chicano hardcore, but then again, I can't name any US Latino/Chicano hardcore bands other than Los Crudos.

Upcoming shows in January 2000 at the Che Cafe. These overviews from way back when are always cool to check out.

February 10, 2000: Bongzilla, Cattle Decapitation, God Stomper, Molehill, Slow Death (plus one more fucking band) at the Che Cafe.

February 14, 2000: The Locust, Murder City Devils, Anasazi, Catheders (Catheters?) at the Che Cafe. A lot of these shows were on Mondays and Tuesdays, quite different from the weekend life we lead today.

February 23, 2000: Two Dollar Guitar, The Get Hustle, The Straight A's at the Che Cafe.

February 29, 2000: Dillinger Escape Plan, Upsilon Acrux, Drowningman, Time In Malta at the Che Cafe. Never heard of Upsilon Acrux, but I like the name.

March 12, 2000: Special Goodness, The And/Ors, Six Foot Sloth, Moon and Sixpence at the Che Cafe. Remember when bills were this long? And when shows started at 8PM?

March 17, 2000: Built to Last, Palpatine, Run For Your Fucking Life, American Tragedy, Frontline at the Empire Club.

March 26, 2000: Botch, Harkonnen, Palpatine, Durga at the Che Cafe. I guess we were a little bit obsessed about science fiction back then.

April 10, 2000: Good Clean Fun, Taken, Built to Last, No Reply at the Che Cafe. Finally GCF makes an appearance! Another Monday night show, but I'm sure it was good.

May 2000 at the Che Cafe, including The Black Heart Procession, Pinback, Black Dice, !!!, and many others.

June 30, 2000: Bluetip, Bluebird, Dura Mater at the Mira Mesa Epicenter.

August 1, 2000: Dillinger Escape Plan, Isis, Candira, Durga at the Che Cafe.

September 24, 2000: Eyehategod, 16, Suplex at the Che Cafe.

October 8, 2000: Botch, Volume 11, Time in Malta, Under a Dying Sun, Good Day Gone Bad at the Che Cafe.

December 10, 2000: Good Clean Fun, Run For Your Fucking Life, Over My Dead Body, Fields Of Fire at the Che Cafe.

January 22, 2001: Tragedy, Bumdklaat, Sasha, Detrimental Greed at the Che Cafe.

BOB - The Complete Live at WREK Session

Here is the download - BOB Live at WREK

This is the complete recording of the Live at WREK session BOB did on November 23rd, 1993. Several of these songs appeared later on the Complex Organism Blues album. This session was recorded off The Underground Recordings show, which airs on Tuesday nights at 7:00 PM on WREK 91.1 FM and re-broadcasts some of the great Live at WREK sessions from years past. If you look at their archive, you can see what they have re-broadcast since 2003, and it is quite a list. However, you have to be diligent as they only keep the content available for one week, and I have missed several sessions because I wasn't checking the archive often enough.

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.


So Trouser Press indicated in a review of the Sinister Alphabet album that Mac McNeilly was the nephew of Edward Gorey, and this is presumably how they were able to use his artwork for the album cover. Gary Held commented recently that this was not true, and that they paid Gorey $400 to use the artwork, which was sent in its original form to them in the mail, to be returned when they were finished. Still a great story, but why did Trouser Press start the rumour?

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

A Compatibility Of Dissonance Compilation

Here is the album for download: A Compatibility Of Dissonance

Here are the tracks:

1. Bughummer - Process No. 2

2. Bughummer - Hank Champion

3. Galanas:Cerdd - Some Are Foaming At The Mouth

4. Galanas: Cerdd - OK To Forget

5. BOB - Ants

6. BOB - China Mo Nichi Sa

7. Barrel - My Sundays Are Filled With Confusion

8. Barrel - Carbon/Lake Missoula

9. Soli Deo Gloria - Degobah System

10. Hell Mach 4 - Beg

11. Estrada - Tumor Song

12. Estrada - That's How They Get You ... Sucker

13. Spackle - Blues Baby

14. Spackle - Dominoes

This is a great mid-nineties Atlanta/Athens compilation put out by Shawn Moseley under the label Lakeside Records. It is a quality release, representing some of the best bands in Atlanta around in the 1996 period. As I have said before on the Fuel and Refuel comps, it's great to have a compilation with several songs from each band included, so you get more of a picture of the band and more overall value for the comp.

So let's get started with the bands. Bughummer were technically from Savannah, but they were just as accomplished as anyone out there and really should have been more a part of the Atlanta scene. It is a 3.5 hour drive, so I guess Atlanta should have closer ties to Birmingham if you look at it that way. Keeley the bassplayer later went into Engine Down, a monumental band of the late 90's, early 00's. Galanas:Cerdd (pronounced Kaerth - it's Welsh) was composed of the non-singing members of Freemasonry (i.e. Kip, Marcus and Bruce) playing non-singing songs, and later adding Rick Moore from Barrel to make it a true supergroup. The songs on this release are pre-Rick, and the song "OK To Forget" was actually played under Freemasonry and appears on one of their Live at WREK sessions. More on Galanas:Cerdd later. BOB has appeared on this blog before, and will be more in the future, so keep checking in. These are some great songs of theirs from their prime era. Also from their prime era are these songs by Barrel. It's really a shame when a band gets better and better with each release, and then breaks up. If they were on such a great upward slope, what would their next songs have been like? Soli Deo Gloria according to Scott Wilson was Tenth Muted Capper under a different name, who were heavily in the house show scene in the mid-nineties. Travis Cartowski the guitarist recently played in Mistaken for Them, and now is starting a new band. Classic Stockbridge postpunk from these Soli Deo Gloria/Tenth Muted Capper/etc. Hell Mach Four was a really underrated band during this chapter of Atlanta music. Transplants from Richmond, VA, they worked their asses off in the trenches for years and made some great albums. Estrada features Christian who played guitar later in The Black Mollies and now in Whores. He has made noise rock better than anyone out there for years in Atlanta, and their addition to the compilation includes their hit single "Tumor Song", a classic for that place and time. Finally, Spackle was originally from Blacksburg, Virginia, but then relocated down to Athens to be part of the great scene that was happening there in 1996. I'm not sure how they ended up on this compilation, maybe they were friends with Shawn. It's quite a shock to the system to hear these songs after all the postpunk noise from the previous bands.

Here is the information on each band, along with some liner notes by Shawn.

Band Genome - August 2009

Here it is, finally, in all its glory. This image above is just a picture of the genome, it is actually an interactive tool which you can access here:

Beyond Failure Band Genome

Thanks a bunch to Mark Walters from Quadiliacha for setting this up. I programmed in 285 bands that are currently included, but there is much more work to be done, so please send me comments on new linkages and mistakes in the file, and I will be continuously updating the document. Also, we are working on different forms of displaying the data, so I will send out updates when they become available.

Enjoy, and I apologize in advance for the headache this will induce.

Car vs. Driver - Live at the Somber Reptile

Here are the downloads:

Car vs. Driver - Fall 1993 at Somber Reptile

Car vs. Driver - 1993-11-07 at Somber Reptile

Car vs. Driver - 1993-12-12 at Somber Reptile

Car vs. Driver - 1994-09-24 at Somber Reptile

Car vs. Driver - 1994-12-30 at Somber Reptile

These are all soundboard recordings transferred from cassette by Steve Wishart (Such As, Car vs. Driver, Scout, Fields Lay Fallow, To The Mean). Some of these are pretty rough, in both sound quality and performance, but we didn't have the greatest in recording technologies at our disposal, or musical ability for that matter. People seem to like our Live at WREK shows as the best representation of the live Car vs. Driver sound, but I'm posting everything for completeness' sake. For your information, I'm not sure what the lineup of the Fall 1993 show was, but the 11/7/93 show was with Freemasonry and Bite, the 12/12/93 show was with Spiney Norman and Drive Pipe, the 9/24/94 show was with Act of Faith and Levelhead, and the 12/30/94 show was with Scout, Inkwell and Lowboy.

By the way, Steve is moving to Guatemala in a few weeks with the AFLCIO, and plans on being there for several years, so I would like to wish him all the best on his new life in Central America.

Refuel - 8 More Bands from Athens and Atlanta

Here is the download: Refuel - 8 More Bands from Athens and Atlanta

I would have to say that this is the quintessential compilation of Athens and Atlanta from the 1993 time period. You have the best these towns put forth that year: Fiddlehead, Bob, The Martians, Harvey Milk, Slumberjack, all contributing several songs including what is basically a complete 7" by each band. Of course there were some more obscure bands on the comp (The Hard Ensemble, The Go Figures, Regina Strap), but overall a great compilation. I wish they put one of these out every year, as it would have been an excellent representation of the best bands around at that time, but unfortunately Self-Rising Records was finishing their run soon after this release, and this was it on the Fuel/Refuel compilation series.


Slumberjack was the rhythm section of After Words with a more midwest noise-rock slant. I will be posting their 7" and demo tape soon, so if anyone has any stories and info they want to share on these guys, please send me an email.


It doesn't get much better than Fiddlehead in this place and time. You can see my other posts on Fiddlehead here and here. As I have said before, they were as good as any band of their form, but just happened to come from what was at the time an overlooked part of the country and never got the recognition they deserved.


I don't know much about the Go-Figures, although I see that David Barbe (Mercyland, Buzz Hungry, Sugar) played bass on the recording. Of course he helped out so many of these bands over the years, and is really a key supporter of Athens music more than pretty much anyone out there.


Also don't know very much about The Hard Ensemble, but the guy in the back with the Pere Ubu shirt looks he means business.


Regina Strap is another miscellaneous band on the compilation. Some of the names look familiar to me, but I'm not sure.


Lilburn's finest. I have posted some BOB on this site before, but if anyone wants to send me copies of their albums after Complex Organism Blues, I'll gladly take them and post them here.


The Martians have also been covered extensively on this site here and here. Once again, a great band, and is long-hair Jerry wearing suspenders in this photo?


Harvey Milk have by now received more acclaim than probably any other Athens band from this era, and they absolutely deserve it. There isn't much else I can add here, but I do have one Harvey Milk story from the old days. Car vs. Driver played with them and The Holy Rollers at the Somber Reptile on April 13, 1994. Although I didn't know it at the time, I thought Harvey Milk was the Holy Rollers, and when they finished their set I left the show thinking it was over, and completely missed the Holy Rollers play. Later that night Harvey Milk stayed with some friends in Home Park, and their van was stolen including all their instruments, amps, etc. It was the first time I ever saw benefit shows held to buy a band new gear.

Here are the remaining pages of the insert, including another little story and a picture of someone's IV catheter.