Thursday, October 28, 2010

Party at the end of the world. BYOB.




     As many years as I lived there it rarely occurred to me that I lived in LAS VEGAS.  It was a rarity for me to go to the strip and I never went into casinos.  The only time I'd gamble was at Lucky's or Smith's when I'd get change from buying a twelve pack.  On a side note I later got trespassed from Smith's and I'll never shop there again.  Fuck them.   

     This video is one of the rare occasions I went to the strip and it's a trip.  Very surreal.  Vegas specializes in that shit.  It looks like a war has just taken place and now everyone was doing jello shots while the bodies were getting cleaned off the streets.  Wonder World is WOW.   

     My home town.  As far as wildly divergent shitholes go it may be the biggest.  And the best!  I won't complain about Vegas.  It's too easy a target.  Plus I don't live there and it used to piss me off when people visiting would talk shit about my city.  I can bitch all I want but you don't live here so go fuck yourself.  Since I'm now a stranger to Vegas you'll hear no more bitchin from me.    


    While it may continue to get stranger for me I have to admit I'll never be a stranger to Vegas. It will never leave my blood even if I wanted it to.  I still stay up late all the time for no reason.  That's gotta be a hold over from Vegas right?  


    I often feel like I'm part of a weird cult because I know so much about Vegas before it blew the fuck up into whatever it is this week.  I miss the Silver Slipper presents Movie of the Evening starting at 2am.  What a great show that was.  Cool theme song too.  Fact is I loved growing up there.  It was a fairly small town up until the early 90's.    Is Terina's Pizza still there on Charleston?   


    There are so many things I miss, but like Zody's most of those things are gone forever.    It'll never be what it was but some things can never change.  The mountains, the desert if you can find it, Ammonium Proclorate in the water table.  


     I wish there was more desert in Vegas.  The desert outside the valley is different.  The Las Vegas valley has it's own style of landscape that I've never seen anywhere else in the South West.  There's a specific look to the desert in the valley.  It's the most beautiful part of the South West.  Even though there's a fucked up city in the middle of it.
  
    Frenchmen Mountain I love you.  I haven't been to the East Side in years and years.  Maybe now there's a Sunrise Station across the street from the temple.  At this point I'd like to name drop Mo Mahoney.  Later on I may mention Michael Schevo.  

     I get lost when I go back to visit.  Traffic.  Garbage.  Bad smells.  Congratulations Vegas you're a big city now!  Sort of.  You've definitely got all the trappings of a big city.  Key word being trap.  Old Ladies Cave.       

     Dedicated to all those people who are currently on the party bus dancing and singing as it starts to go over the cliff.  Al;so dedicated to anyone who's ever come late to a party and bail because you just don't wanna deal with it.   Lastly I'd like to say fuck Rancho!     




Download this clip here

Friday, October 22, 2010

Part-Time Whore demo lyrics


     Here’s the lyrics for the Part-Time Whore demo I promised.  The copy shown here didn’t come with a lyric sheet although I’d hazard a guess that I gave my copy to someone who bought a demo.  I know it’s probably fruitless to ask but if anyone out there has this demo with the lyric sheet I made for it then please get in touch.  Some of these songs ended up on the LP we later released and some lyrics were changed from the versions on the demo.  To make things easier you can download each song by clicking on it's title shown here in blue. 

     I swore if I got the cushy job of singer/front man I would bring something tangible to the table.  I put a lot of time into writing these words as well as singing them and making them work within the sound that Nate developed for the band.  

     All the lyrics for every Part-Time Whore song were written by me.  All the music was a collaboration between all band members but the original embryo of the songs were all written by Nate.

     The first song we wrote which everyone in the band liked was Joe Bowls Takes A Nap.  The irony being that I didn’t write any lyrics for that song.  Unless you count the middle part where I can be heard saying “Listen to me man!” before spilling out a bunch of nonsense grunting. 

      It was a hard job sitting being a lyricist.  I think I got better over time I don’t think it ever got any easier.  Nothing you have a passion for is ever easy.  I needed to write about something I knew.  Something I honestly felt.  The first song I ever wrote and the first song we truly finished was this love song: You (Whoever That Might Be)

When I’m hungry I eat
When I’m tired I sleep
Life is pretty simple I think

But if that’s so true 
How did you get to be so important to me?
If I’m so happy why should this mean shit to me?

Not like I’m falling flat pathetic and needy
Not like I need to believe you need me

There’s a million places I’d rather be
There’s a million stories inside of me

Shit to do
I’m never bored or anything
Friends to keep me on top of everything

A good life so far away from you
Still I heard that fucking song

Then I know I am alone
Wondering which way to go
A balance there’s got to be a caring mixed with a thought of nothing
Too much and I’m a push over
Too little and I’m a cold shoulder
         
It drives me insane
It’s like a game right?
It’s just a game?

I’m trying to find a place to hide
What I need it’s got the better of me
That place is you


    Symptomatic of the dysfunctional relationships I’ve had in my life and the dysfunctional relationship that would soon become this band, this song was based on a woman I had broken up with the year before.  Her drug addiction made it impossible to see her as a real person.  Thus the parenthetical adjunct within the songs title.  Whatever the confusion I felt in that relationship and regardless of whether or not I was truly in love I must admit to having genuine feelings for her.  We broke up amidst bitterness and betrayal and I haven’t seen or spoken with her since.
    I learned a few years ago that she tried to take her own life.  I wished at the time I could fix whatever was wrong with her, although I was as much at fault for the shakiness of our relationship.   It's obvious to me now that you can't "fix" other people.   I can only hope I've been able to fix whatever is wrong with me all these years later. 

    These feelings came to flower in the guise of these lyrics.  I tried very hard to focus on real understandable expression and leave the metaphors and literary devices to the artistically annoying.  After much hand wringing I found that it was impossible to make this a simple statement and indeed used a fair amount of metaphor/allegory/whatever the fuck you want to call it.      


     Much of my motivation for these songs was spelled out in the lyric sheet of the Part-Time Whore LP.  So I don’t want to go into too much detail for these songs. 

I am the world
The world is me
Inside my imagination of where I want to be
Even tears were beautiful things as strange as that may seem

I wasn’t myself
I wasn’t anyone else
I made up everything

Building a tower so high it’s tumbling down
Even my illusion couldn’t be enough
Could I call the bluff

No guarantees left to believe
The truth unfolds robbing me
Too satisfied with the shadow of a dream
My insides can’t hide any longer

If only I couldn’t see
If only the world were only me

     I have to add that out of context this song is whiny cry baby shit.  This song was partially based on a story about a man who was born blind and later had an operation to give him sight.  When he opened his eyes for the first time he went insane because nothing was the way he imagined it.  I mention this in the LP maybe because if I didn’t say something the song seems really childish and stupid?  After some reflection I would probably say this is the worst song lyrically, and yet it's the most pop sound PTW ever had.    


Listen to me man!!! 
Growl!
When I get out of jail!

    See the previous post for the whole story on this song.

I was alone
Thinking maybe there’s no hope
In this town
It left me standing around
Watching
There is no reason to be

He walked up
Stolen wine flowed from his cup
He lost his mind and wished to lose his body

Saw his cuts
Saw him bleed
It occurred to me that everyone wants something

He was alone
I know for sure he had no hope
The town
It made him stand around
No place to go the
The cold just waiting for him
Lights on the street
A stage set for misery

There was something I wanted to say
I couldn’t read much from his face
Things sure looked differently
It was mighty Christian of me
Other people couldn’t see
All these cars kept passing

He spilled his drink
He kept saying it was cold

    I used to go out by myself a lot.  I still do.  One night I went out to the LV strip with my video camera.  Whenever I’d do that inevitably some bum, or gangsta, or crack head would come up and pester me over and over until I’d be forced to leave. 

     I met this guy Kevin Kidd one night.  He had just stolen a bottle of wine from a liquor store.  It was kind of an anomaly because he was a funny intelligent guy.  We talked a bit and he shared some of his wine with me while I filmed random episodes on the strip. 

     He was homeless and dejected but still had some drive.  As I started to make my way home he fell over and cut his hand pretty bad.  I couldn’t do shit for him.  I felt horrible.  He left pretty quickly after that.    

      Ultimately this song makes me feel powerless and maybe a bit privileged   I’m lucky for who I am and what I have.  I will never be ashamed of where I come from.   

Sometimes I think I’m going crazy
Overwhelmed by shit not how it’s supposed to be
I’m so sick of hearing how things used to be
I’m the one in command of these new things

So bored it is to laugh
Not gonna fall for that
Fuck you and fuck your crap

I’d listen to you but you don’t have a clue
It’s like this and this and this

I’ve got more than half a mind to go farther this time
And jump over your pile of shit

Who’s out to shake things up?
It don’t seem so tough
I gotta scream right now
Has everyone forgotten how?

The lyrics in this part sound significantly different from what I’m reading on the lyric sheet from the LP.  I’m stumped until we get to this part:

So transparent I can see thru the act
Running in circles you’ve beaten a path to nowhere for nothing
What else can I do but laugh?

It’s easy to bottle up inside
Thinking everything’s been tried
Respect is due to most before me but now it’s time to write a new fucking story

You’re goddamned right I don’t care
Cause I don’t have a reason to be scared
Refuse to buy this falsity
That’s the way it’s gotta be

Laugh at yourself instead
Cause when you’re dead you’re dead!


     This is the song I hope you listen to if you listen to any of them.  Really spirited and I mean every fuckin word.  Although it sounds like I'm still making up the words at the time of this recording.  I think this recording best captures of the soul of this song as opposed to what you heard on the album.  At least on my end.  Plus the album gets so pretentious with my spoken word piece.
     This song was based in large part on that awful band that inspired me to join Part-Time Whore.  Check the demo post if you really care.  In any event it’s also a call to action against mediocre music and mediocre messages and just mediocrity in general.  A declaration of seriousness about not taking things too seriously.  And so on I could go on like this forever.  It's about curing cancer and saving the lives of puppy dogs everywhere.  Laughing has always been important to me and it continues to be important.  Yeah it's all so very funny motherfucker.   


We’re led to believe  our lives are not complete
How could we have lived before without Technology?
 Progress is an uncut cord producing sterile circuitry
Convenience and laziness makes TV our community?
Boring a hole into your bored skull we’ll make a change to your body
An age of information but for who?
Electrical daydreams is all you need to know
We have to gain more or we are lost
Consume and catch up is our life’s work?
The new chains are wires we are all connected
The future’s been decided the only thing we don’t need now is you
Blue lines across a screen
It’s not a face you’re seeing
It’s your future whether you want it or not
Choices already made for you in a new zoo that hates you for not being new
What kind of world are we building?
A new church to reinvent souls?
A new god computing a more efficient control?


     Hmm.  This song was also a big hit when we played live.  Lyrically it’s a bit puzzling but I think I can understand what I meant.  And yet I’m more connected to computers now than I ever was back then and I can expect to see more of the same in my life and in the lives of others.  I'm convinced the “digital” world we live in will have a day of reckoning sometime in the future.  Mark my words!

     I have no pictures or video footage of Part-Time Whore.  If you got something like that then how about sharing fuck-o?

     Thanks for reading.  I include a download in every post so here’s the song Part-Time Whore recorded for Very Small records Twelve Ounces of Courage comp.  It might have been the best song we ever recorded but it's just my opinion.  



     Shit.  I just realized that by adding this song I'm obligated to post the lyrics to this song as well.  I probably will because they're quite funny.  The name of this song is "Speedcore Never Died It Just Got Faded."  I guess look for the lyrics here in this same post sometime in the future.

    Also... this just in:  I found the original lyric sheet.  You can view it here.









Sunday, October 10, 2010

Clown Cash video




    This post is for Micha Grainger.  I'm lucky I'm friends with him.  I think he'd say we're friends.  I don't have tons of friends so I'll just hope he thinks we're friends.

    How did I meet him and his cool sister Heidi and their extended family known as Laser Vida?  It's all a bit fuzzy in the details but I seem to remember they had an event at the Polo Towers with a bunch of out of town bands.  It must have been like 97?  
  The bar was open and half the people there were on acid.  I'm not joking.  Well maybe I'm exaggerating but I know at least three people who were "fryin" at this event.  I love how in the 80's, in Vegas, acid was known as "fri."  Or was it fry?  Does anyone else think that's quaint now?  

    I was still in a rock band at the time and I went to this show to pass out flyers to people who would never go.  I did a lot of that back then.  I always thought it would be a good way to meet chicks but I'm kind of an idiot.    

    I was told Micha was the guy in charge and asked him if I could lay out some flyers on a table, he was cool with it.  At first he seemed a little standoffish.  But I think everyone feels that way when they first meet a stranger.  Over the next few months we'd run into each other quite often.  He got to be cooler and cooler every time I met him.  He's a consistent guy because even now every time I see him he seems a little cooler and I like him a little more.    


    He's just open and honest not to mention super talented and genuine.  Blah blah blah.

    I know Laser Vida was active for years before I met those guys but I didn't hang out with them much until towards the end of the last century.  He had a great band back then named Los Trios De Nada.  Is that right?  I think that was their name?  I don't think they ever recorded anything.  I never saw a demo anyway.  It seemed like the songs changed with every show.  Which was pretty funny. 

    Laser Vida were a crew who came at things from a real arty perspective but their art was never too pretentious.  They were fairly down to earth, unless they were on acid, and they always seemed to strike a good balance between being friendly and accepting and smart ass and clever.  They never had that hippie naivete although they were quite often zonked out on drugs.  Still their events had a spin on them that made them interesting.  Laser Vida was responsible for Zinecon which gives you an idea how hip they were.    

    Laser Vida has largely dissolved over the years with everyone going in different directions and so on.  Micha went to San Fran and helped kick start the Yard Dogs Road Show.  A fantastic burlesque troup whose success comes in large part due to Micha's presence.  That is no exaggeration. I'm convinced he's involved in most of the songwriting as the bass player.  Their songs are great.  The act is great.  When it comes to your town you must go!  


    I'm posting this because I saw a recent film he made with his YDRS crew that's really good.  Turns out he's a fairly dynamic actor.  It's better than good.  It's great.  I'm hoping this will open a whole new medium for him to master.

    I think if he were to really apply himself he could be a serious actor.  The only problem being that he is so genuine I have a hard time seeing him putting on a mask like most actors do.  Since I know him it looks very much like he is just being himself on camera.  By being relaxed and open he is convincing to the nth degree.  That's certain to be his strength if he goes on to make more films as an actor.  Which I'm sure he will.  I think as long as he gets involved in good scripts and concepts he will be able to flesh out some cool shit.  I'm excited to see the results.

    He approached me in 2000 or 2001 to collaborate on a film which meant a lot to me.  He came up with the concept of Clown Cash and I came up with the shot list.  It was shot in about 3 hours at the Katherine Gianacles Park for the Arts on Boulder Highway near Trop.  I did the editing and added the corny graphics.


    I love the concept.  It's something he's developed into a way of life.  It appeals to my socialist sensibilities.  To me this piece  is basically saying that capitalism is bullshit.  Create a way to live outside of capitalism using your abilities.  Make something that is valuable outside the system and perhaps you can work outside the system.

    Micha has certainly carved out a creative life for himself.  He tours quite a bit.  He is still creating positive messages everytime I see him.  I hope he is happy.  For all his smiles I know he gets down which seems crazy to me because he's one of the most solid guys I know.      


    I've made several films on my own but I've come to understand the only good films I've made have been as a part of a collaborative effort.  I'm hoping to make more films with other people but it's like putting a band together.  Everyone involved has to want something from the experience.  I'm hoping a new collaboration will be right around the corner for me.  Hopefully we'll see more from Micha soon as well.




Download link for Clown Cash 


Thursday, October 7, 2010

Part-Time Whore demo

















     This post is for Rob Nelson, drummer from the band Part-Time Whore.  My old band and the only band I was in that did anything substantial.  PTW fits in snuggly with these other bands posted here.  There's no question it's a stupid fucking band name.  

    Part-Time Whore lasted about 2 years and it was a happy and productive time in my life.  We accomplished a lot in that 2 years and I think we were a pretty good band.  We put out a 12" vinyl LP with money we got from the Nevada Arts Council back in 1999.  I'll post that record here some other time.  It's a pretty good story in it's own right.  

    Since high school I've been in several "bands."  Most were bands in name only.  I must have been in 3 or 4 bands that never played a lick of music but had great names.  We'd get together to think up band names for hours and then go home. 

    I never got serious about a band until being inspired by the Leap Frog Society/Boba Fett Youth/Catapult scene.  Once all those bands broke up it seemed a matter of civic duty to start up a band to keep the scene from decomposing.  But it's deeper than that.

    My real inspiration came from an experience that I hate to share but it needs to be heard.  In 1997 I took to booking shows for bands from out of town because a vacuum was created when all the above bands broke up.  I took it upon myself to do something after a few months of inactivity in the underground.  This was pre-internet days so I put an ad in a magazine saying I could be a resource to possibly set up a show in Vegas but gave no guarantees.  I just wanted to do something, anything to keep something going.  It was a thankless job as you can imagine and very few of those shows were memorable.  Although it was great to be introduced to the bands Yum Yum Tree from New York and Gymicrae from California.  You have to remember that Vegas had no music venues throughout much of the 90's.  Unless you count the Huntridge which I don't count.  

    The last show I had a hand in setting up as an "independent" promotor was for a collection of bands from the east coast.  Should I mention their names?  The names aren't important.  I got demo tapes from three of the four bands that played that night and they seemed interesting enough.  How can I describe their styles?  Sorta generic late 90's, I bawk at calling it hardcore.  I suppose it could be considered hardcore.  Emo was a term I never understood then and I still don't really have a grasp of it.  I just know I'm not a big fan.  Back then bands were uptight about being labeled emo and I still don't know or care to figure out the distinction.  To my ears it was emolike so that's what I put on the flyer.  Which might have been a mistake.   

    The venue for that show ended up being the house at the bottom of the hill near Sunset blvd on the East side.  I think it was Ron Benway's old house which he sold or rented to these kids.  They had shows there on occasion so I booked it there.  

    It was a mistake from the get-go to try and help a scene I didn't much care much about.  I remember being a bit disheartened by music all together leading up to the show partially because they came across as bigger bands on nice looking record labels.  If this was the best new music happening right now then music kinda sucks.  Shit I might have to reveal who these bands are for this story to make sense.     

    Anyway if you're still following me the bands start showing up at the house.  They were nice enough guys.  The main "headlining" band still hadn't shown up yet.  There was no local band which means there wasn't much of a crowd.   It never got more than a dozen people at the show that night.  I think I had it set at $5 a head but I never turned anyone away from any show I promoted.  

    When the main band finally showed they didn't even say hi to me.  They immediately got to chatting with the other bands which I took a little personally.   I didn't make a big deal about it since they were meeting up for the first time on this tour.  So it's understandable.  Still that wasn't a good first impression.  But let's rock eh?  

    The first band was what you would expect.  The second band was more of the same.  The third band was all that with a little rock and roll attitude added to the mix.  And finally the headliners took the stage.  They were self righteous to the point of comedy.  Speeches between each song.  Dramatic.  Pretentious.  Urgent.  And yet they were so esoteric I had a hard time connecting the dots as to what they were saying so it came across less as passionate conviction and more shallow pointless poetics.  Maybe a meaning only the singer could understand?  Maybe it means nothing?  Who knows?  Who cares?  It was at that point that I realized this was probably the worst music to represent the underground at that time.    

    At one point two douchebag jocks came in to the show.  They didn't pay a dime went right to the stage and started slam dancing.  I could tell they were not the best and brightest but since they were so young I could see they were harmless.  Plus they almost doubled the size of the crowd not counting the other band members who were watching from a distance.  So I did nothing to stop them.  At least they were adding some energy to the festivities.   


    There was no one even close to them but the band felt it was disruptive to their "moment" and so they crowded the two dudes trying to "mosh."  It became obvious that they were opposed to the activity of "the pit" in regards to their music and so they made like they were sacrificing their own safety to make a statement about violence on the dance floor.  It couldn't have looked more ridiculous as it was only two dudes and they weren't even crowding the stage!  I remember being somewhat shocked that the band would be that willing to look like jackasses to make a statement that was really not worth it's breath.  The two jocks got the hint and stopped dancing but then they began heckling the headliners in between songs.  I was tempted to say something and as the promoter it was probably my responsibility but at that point this band had proved to me that they had their heads up their ass.  The less I talk with them the better.  Plus I was interested to see what kind of statement they could make to enlighten us about this issue of loud mouth teenagers at punk shows.  Unfortunately one song later that they ended the set.    

    Shows over.  Thank fucking god.  I split the money up and make the rounds to give each band it's take.  I never took any money from the door for myself since there was rarely over $40 in the take so quite often I'd end up throwing my own cash into the take.  Over the course of a half dozen shows I admit to the habit of splitting the money between the bands according to how their attitude was.  If you were a prick I'd usually give you less money from the door.  It only makes sense and touring bands would be wise to understand that's how it usually works from a promoters point of view.    

   As I'm doing this the jock dudes start provoking the headliners as they leave.  They continue to talk shit outside so the guitarist stands up runs over and slams the door on em.  I never laughed once during this whole ordeal but in retrospect it was a pretty funny spectacle.  The headliners finally said hi to me when I gave them a handful of bills for their troubles.  Yeah I shorted em.      



    God I was disillusioned.  That was it.  Last show I would ever put on to help the "scene."  It was at this moment that I was divinely inspired.  If these lame-o's could get a band and make asses of themselves I could for sure do it.  And do it a thousand times better.  It was the bogus experience of this show that I would carry with me for the first year of the band as inspiration of what not to do.  It was offensive to me that bands like that exist and strangely enough it was their crappy band that forced me to stand up and say I can do this.  Not only can I do it but I have to do it or I won't be able to listen to music again.  It was pure chance that a day later I was invited by Rob to try out for this band they were trying to get together.     

    Rob played drums, Nate played guitar, and they had played together in the last incarnation of Boba Fett Youth.  Judd played bass and he had been in a band before I think it was Lickety Split?  

    Our initial jams yielded some decent results as I tried to find my voice and learn the art of lyric/song craft.  Nate is an amazing songwriter and his riffs formed the basis of every song we ever created.  

   I recall at the time there were so many bands that literally played "lipservice" to the idea of lyrics.  Specifically I remember a 7" record by hardcore bands from SE which included a lyric sheet that was painfully pointless.  All but one band included lyrics the rest admitted there were no lyrics just gutteral barking.   That came across as half assed and so I took my role as lyricist very seriously. 


     Perhaps the great irony is that the first song we wrote which made us all feel like we were going in the right direction was Joe Bowls Takes A Nap which followed the same path those lazy bands had trod.  There were no lyrics just me puling some cookie monster vocals out of my ass.  For some reason Joe Bowls Nap didn't make it to the LP which I can't understand now.  That song is the main reason I digitized this demo because I think that song was great and if you never saw us live then you never got to hear it until now.  I should be forthcoming with the story behind that song.  

     If you hung around punk shows in Vegas in the late 80's throughout the 90's then chances are good you know of Joe Bowls.  A strange guy but I never had a problem with him.  This post is full of tangents.  
    In the 90's there was a regular sunday gathering at Sunset park where a bunch of hippie types would beat on drums and do the hippie hippie shake.  I used to go there regularly and try to meet girls but more often then not we'd just drink beer in the sun until we were exhausted.  One Sunday I go to the "drum circle" and decide to smoke some grass.  A cop was strolling through the crowd so I waited until I thought he was gone and lit up the pipe.  Joe Bowls was seated next to me so I passed it to him trying to be cool.  It was at that time I realized the cop didn't go away he was standing a few feet from me!  The sun had blinded me!  He grabs Joe Bowls and then grabs me and off to jail we went.  So yeah it's my fault I went to jail with Joe Bowls.    

    We were split up at the county courthouse and put in separate cells.  This was the one and only time I've been in jail.  In the middle of the night someone smoked a joint they had smuggled into the cell and the doors swung open and the guards stormed in frothing at the mouth.  They strip searched us all and led us out of the cell.  It was at that time I looked into the neighboring cell and saw Joe Bowls peacefully sleeping on the ground surrounded by all kinds of fucked up people.  That's where the name for that song comes from.  I think this also may have been at least partially a statement about bands that pull that not having lyrics shit.   In the middle of the song I can be heard to say "Listen to me man..." and then I am completely incoherent after that until the end of the song when you can barely decipher the words : "When I get out of jail!"   

     Maybe this was also a jab at bad death metal cookie monster vocals in general?  I was intensionally singing bad to make the point that it's bad to have a singer who sucks.  Yeah art is so easy to manipulate.          

     I still think it's a great song.  Although this version isn't as spirited as I remember it being it's the only decently recorded version of the song so it's the only version you'll ever get to hear.  I'd forgotten about the whistling part.  I'm glad it's now out there for the world to hear if the world so desires it.  I'm also glad to be able to share the a slightly more lo-fi version of the song You (Whoever that may be) which I feel achieves more justice compared to the version recorded on the LP.   

    Irony strikes again with the song Kevin Kidd.  The headlining band in the story I shared above had a song with an intro which sounded exactly like Kevin Kidd!   Since we were somewhat on the same vibe as that shitty band maybe we were among the best underground music at that time?  Or maybe we were among the worst?

     Years later that horrible band returned to Vegas but they were truly big time at that point.  They played the Hard Rock.  This was as the war in Iraq was beginning to escalate and this band mentioned in an interview for Vegas Weekly how they try to downplay or disguise their anti-war politics in the current volatile atmosphere.  God I'll always hate those phony fucking assholes.  Funny thing is they're inspiring me again even now.          


    I should mention that the tape was wrapped in a piece of paper with the song titles written on it.  It mentions that there is a lyric sheet which accompanies the demo but my demo doesn't have one.  In my next post I promise to transcribe the lyrics for this demo.  Thanks again Rob Nelson.  I hope you're happy. 



TECH NOTES:  After we recorded the demo we made about a dozen copies.  It was only after we finished making those copies that we discovered the sickening buzz that was plastered over every song.  I thought it was hilarious because I wanted the music to be an all out attack capable of inducing vomiting.  
    In trying to digitize this I found out how awful the buzz was.  Thanks to my friend Dave Heurtz for helping me EQ that buzz out of the mix.  It sounds a million times better than my Garageband EQ remastering job!