The Zarkons - Riders In The Long Black Parade (1985)

Formerly the Alleycats, this is their first LP under the moniker of The Zarkons. A fuzzy sound that is sometimes similar to X, they even cover White Rabbit from Jefferson Airplane. They released one more LP in 1988 after replacing drummer John McCarthy before disbanding.
Oddly, theis LP is titled Riders In The Long Black Parade on the cover yet the LP itself replaces Black with Dark. From Timecoast Communications and Marketed by Enigma Records.
Produced by Randy Stodola


The Band:
John McCarthy - Drums
Randy Stodola - Guitar, Vocals
Dianne Chai - Bass Guitar, Vocals




Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

The Strand - The Strand (1987)

This 1987 Cassette from Arizona's The Strand, featured local legends Bruce Connole, Damon Doiron and Alan Ross Willey. Connolle and Doiron were also part of legendary Arizona bands featured here previously (Billy Clone & The Same and The Jetzons) as well as many others. This 4 song Power Pop cassette repeated on both sides. It took two source tapes to get a decent digital transfer, thanks to Brent for loaning the cassette to me to digitize.

Videos thanks to Joel Samuel

The Strand Live





Interview with Bruce Connole of The Strand



Postscript:
Local music notes: Suicide Kings’ singer moving to Nashville
By Chris Hansen Orf, Get Out
June 11, 2008

Valley singer/songwriter moving to Nashville
Singer and songwriter Bruce Connole is leaving the Valley for Nashville, Tenn., where Oh Boy Records, the label representing Connole’s band, the Suicide Kings, is based. “I’m making the leap,” says Connole, who — save for a few years when he lived in L.A. in the ’80s — has been a permanent fixture on the Valley music scene since the mid-’70s; he has led such legendary Valley bands as Billy Clone and The Same, The Jetzons and The Strand. “After visiting out there and really getting a feel for the place, I pretty much fell in love with it. There are actually clubs that have live music that aren’t called Applebees and Fat Tuesdays.” Connole, who was once quoted as saying the only way he’d ever leave the Valley again is “in a pine box,” is a gifted country singer and songwriter, and the Valley’s loss will be Nashville’s gain. “It’ll either work out or it won’t,” says Connole. “Either way, I’ve got nothing to lose.”



Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Ten O'Clock Scholars Video

A bit of a departure for me, but sometimes things fall into your lap and this is one of them. Worthy of a post nonetheless, an extremely rare video has surfaced on youtube, featuring The Ten O'Clock Scholars, which featured founding Gin Blossoms members and Arizona music legend Doug Hopkins as well as Bill Leen.

From Lost Horizons, the definitive Doug Hopkins site:

Ten O'Clock Scholars
Members:
Doug Hopkins (Guitar), Bill Leen (Bass), David McKay (Vocals), Randy Sanders (Drums), Jim Swafford (Guitar & Vocals)
Dates:
1986
Recordings:
Unavailable Demo
The Ten O'Clock Scholars, were the next band to be formed by Hopkins, who started out in Phoenix, for fun. This time with old Psalms members Bill Leen and Jim Swafford back in the fold. However, Hopkin's suddenly said he was going to LA for a recording contract, and simply left. After weeks of partying in LA, without doing what he set out to, Doug returned to Tempe, to find the Ten O'Clock Scholars gone, with David McKay and Randy Sanders having moved to Portland. Not being able to match the line up they had back home, or Doug's song writing ability, David called home, and it wasn't long before Jim, Bill and Doug had moved up to Portland to get the band rolling again.
The newly formed Ten O'Clock Scholars held onto the Hopkins' penned tunes Angels Tonight and Dream With You from Algebra Ranch. Both songs were performed on the TV show Night Zoo in which Doug did a short interview between the songs. A local pizza store owner also put up cash for the band to go into the studio and record both Angels Tonight and Dream With You, although the demo recording was never released.
The Ten O'Clock Scholars saw the basis of what was to become the Gin Blossoms grow further from Algebra Ranch. In addition to Angels Tonight and Dream With You, they performed the same covers that the early Gin Blossoms did, as well as Hopkin's originals "And" and "Blue Eyes Bleeding". ("Blue Eyes Bleeding" was later demoed by the Gin Blossoms). Apparently it was around this time that Doug began working on "Hey Jealousy", and "Found Out About You".
The band dissolved when Doug decided to move back to Tempe.

Crown Of Thorns - Pictures 12'' and Kingdom Come 12" (1983)

These two 12" were both released in 1983. According to the IRS band site: Crown Of Thorns was one of the forerunners of the "disco/synth" influenced techno sound, albeit with a "punky" edge, that would become all the rage a decade later. They made their first album appearance on the Illegal Records collection The Defiant Pose in 1983 with "Gone Are The Days." Their debut EP followed in the US later that year. In 1984, five more songs appeared in the UK only, in various 12" and 7" combinations: "Kingdom Come", "Guns In The Name Of God", "World Radio", "Diamond Jim" and "No Man's Land". The band's output seems, abruptly, to have ended there. An anticipated debut album never materialized and the band soon faded from memory, reduced to nothing more than an entry on William Orbit's resumé...
IRS Band Page here with more info







Cactus Mouth Informer posted the Kingdom Come 2 song single here

and a different Pictures Ep here



Crown Of Thorns:
Keith Finch (keyboards)
Ty Holden (bass)
Malcolm Mehyer (guitars, vocals)
Phil Snow (drums, percussion)
Steve Soer (vocals, trumpet)


My rips:
Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Nova Boys - Death In A Dress (1984)

Arizona's Nova Boys combined Cowpunk and Rockabilly, on this fine 4 song disc. This is the only vinyl release I know of from them. Three originals and a cover of Tobacco Road.Produced by Robin Johnson (Gentlemen After Dark, The Pills). Recorded at Chaton Studios in Scottsdale and released on Positive Change Records.

The Nova Boys:

Tim C - Singer

Chris Kenan - Guitar

Danny Bones - Bass
Al Penzone - Drums

Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Baxter Robertson - Panorama View Ep (1983)

Baxter Robertson had a minor hit in Silver Strand (People In Motion) from this 1983 RCA release. He went on to release two full LP's (Vanishing Point II and Mere Mortals) but this solid 5 song ep was by far my favorite. He also had a song on the original Karate Kid Soundtrack (Feel The Night), which was co-written by Bill Conti.

Robertson later went on to be in Family Pets and Sofa Lords (among others).

Robertson's daughter plays guitar in The Donna's.

Produced by Tony Peluso

The Band:
Alan Maggini - Lead Guitar
Jay Bodean - Vocals, Bass
David Adelstein - Synthesizers
Gary Durrett - Drums
Baxter Robertson - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards


Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/


Baxter Robertson's Silver Strand received light airplay on MTV.

Spooner - Every Corner Dance (1982)

This power pop record by Spooner is notable for Doug "Duke" Erikson and Butch Vig who went on to fame in Garbage, and obviously Vig's Producing career.

Comprehensive band page here



This was released on CD in the late 80's as a twofer but has long been out-of print.

Spooner:
Dave Benton - Guitar, Vocals
Doug Erikson - Lead Vocals, Guitar, Piano on "Cruel School"
Joel Tappero - Bass
Butch Vig - Drums, Vocals
Jeff Walker - Keyboards

Produced by Gary Kiebe and Spooner


Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Bootbeast - Carnival 7" and Bootbeast 12" (1990)

By request, Bootbeast (Bootbeast Carnival as they were know on the More Coffee compilation)

Two reviews sum up their sound nicely, which is a gloomy blend of punk, metal and pre-grunge.

From fuzzlogic.com
Bootbeast
carnival 7"
noiseville. 8 / 2 tracks / 1989

feat. ex-Drunks with Guns / Mighty Sphincter members. 500 made, some on gold vinyl. + label flyer.

Experimental (post-)hardcore remotely resembling Die Kreuzen's sound. Strange guitar riffs, vocals are rather sung than screamed. Despite the experimental approach the music is powerful & compact.


The following year, after they released a self-titled cassette tape which New Times writer David Koen (April 1990) accurately describes their sound:

If Anne Rice invited Rush, Vincent Price, and Led Zeppelin over for drinks and rolled this tape to provide some instant atmosphere, no one would complain. Bootbeast is a postmodern, haunted-house cruise through the inner sanctums of art-metal.

Sometimes the Tempe band chokes on the songs' own atmosphere. But then sometimes Bootbeast emerges from the fogginess. It's this kind of well-balanced horror movie/rock 'n' roll hybrid that appeals to the doomster in us all.

they released this 4 song self titled 12".


Bootbeast:
Jim Andreas - Vocals
Mike Doskocil - Drums
Jeff O'Rourke - Guitars
Lloyd Whittaker - Bass


Lyrics- Andreas Music Andreas/Doskocil,O'Rourke, Whittaker

Produced by Greg Horn
Engineered by Andy Kern

Recorded at Cereus Recording



Download Bootbeast - Carnival 7"


Download Bootbeast 12"

The Penetrators - Discography (San Diego's The Penetrators (1979-1982)

1982's A Sweet Kiss From Mommy




"We come from San Diego, California for a good time" was a lyric (Cassanova)and a great explanation of The Penetrators. Nothing Town brings back some awesome memories for me and my days listening to 91X.
I have included their first 7" Sensitive Boy and their ep Walk The Beat and their LP A Sweet Kiss From Mommy. There are a couple of songs from some comps I will get to in the future.

This article from the the San Diego Troubadour (Penetrators)sums up their story better than I could ever do:


It’s easy enough to take much of what the local scene has to offer today for granted. Local airplay is a given, at least on the local shows, and the pop machinery is such that there are now literally dozens of local nightspots where a group can perform original music. But in the late seventies, it was a different time indeed. No cable television, no MTV, and VCRs were rare. People now crank out landfill CDs in their bedrooms while once having something immortalized on vinyl was a big deal. Original music, especially anything that wasn’t from the cookie cutter radio mold, was considered radical. The police frowned (heavily) on it at the time, but then so did some of the public. So it was against enormous odds that the Penetrators took hold of the public consciousness.

True enough, when the Penetrators first exploded on the San Diego scene in the late seventies, they were considered by many to be a punk band. Time has shown them to be much more than that. They were precursors to what eventually became known as roots rock, but their sound was actually a unique mix of many different styles. Elements of surf, new wave, sixties garage, R&B, even nascent electronica, all filtered through their music. Just as important, the band were pioneers of the do-it-yourself ethic, inspiring legions of musicians, this one included. They found locations in which to play — from small but essential stages such as those at Abbey Road and the Skeleton Club to the local Lions Club and the Glorietta Bay Recreation Center. A personal highlight was a show at La Jolla Country Day School. If they could set up a P.A. and play, they were there. And they built a huge following, becoming arguably the first stars of the modern day scene.

The core of the band originally centered around the vocals of Gary Heffern, Chris Sullivan’s bass and most important, secret weapon Dan McClain on drums. Original guitarist Scott Harrington departed just prior to the release of their first EP, Untamed Youth, in 1978. He was quickly replaced by Chris Davies, whose staccato surf-inspired guitar attack was the perfect foil for Gary’s over-the-top vocals.

Their first big break was a gig opening for the Ramones at SDSU circa 1978, but it was with their 1979 single “Sensitive Boy”/”Stimulation” that the band truly hit their stride. Adding Jim Call to the band on drone keyboards and sax gave the band a broader palette from which to create. And they were up to the challenge, although in actual time the time between their first and second 7-inch vinyls was mere months, the difference in music was light years — much more confident and driven, pointing toward today’s eclectic modern rock scene.

By the release of 1980’s certifiably classic Walk the Beat EP, the band was on the verge of big time success, even selling out Golden Hall and crucially gaining airplay on influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ. In today’s context, that’s the equivalent of RFTC selling out Qualcomm Stadium, with no radio airplay. Pieces in the local press, as well as the L.A. Times and an infamous cover story in the Reader only added to the legend. The band did receive major label attention, with Capitol among their suitors at one time. The band also shot a series of five videos at A&M studios in Los Angeles for tunes that include “Walk The Beat” and “I’m With the Guys.” The videos remain unreleased, but there is, in fact, a sizeable amount of footage available from both live shows and TV appearances, such as their 1982 two-song set on the Cox Cable TV local music show in 1982.

1982 also saw the release of the groups only full-length album, A Sweet Kiss From Mommy, which would prove to be their final release. Notably the album added the vocal charms of Joyce Rooks (ex-Dinettes and Trowsers) to the mix. Unfortunately A Sweet Kiss From Mommy didn’t receive the attention it was due, sabotaged by an album sleeve featuring 30 of their friends’ rear ends. Today maybe, but in those days the cover ensured that many people wouldn’t pay attention to the great music inside and, in the end (pun intended), the album couldn’t even be displayed in most shops. And that’s a great shame, as the disc included a wealth of should-have-been classics, from the opening “Standing in Line” to the closing “Jimmy Don’t Do It,” effectively if unintentionally closing their recording career with a song that harkened back to their early days with Scott Harrington.

Sadly, except for a few compilation album appearances and a wealth of unreleased studio material (be sure to look for the classic “5th & Bop” on the 1983 edition of KGB’s Homegrown), that was it for releases and the band dissipated.

What’s interesting to note is that the Penetrators were the eye of a storm, with all sorts of projects emanating from within. Dan McClain published incredible fanzines such as New Hippie and Hobogue as well as running one of the first independent music stores in San Diego, Monty’s Rockers. He also played with R&B legends the Crawdaddys.

Chris Davies performed with the T-Birds at teen dances, recording an unreleased single that made it to the test-pressing stages. And lots more, of course.

McClain, sadly, is no longer with us, but if there was ever a candidate for San Diego Artist of the Century, he is the obvious choice. Everybody knows that he went on to greater fame with the Beat Farmers via many side bands, including Country Dick and the Snuggle Bunnies, and eventually released records on Rhino, Curb, MCA, and Demon. Chris Sullivan formed a few bands, including the Front Four who released a fun single, “Charger Rock,” but it was his work with the Jacks that brought him back to the big stages again, eventually signing to Rounder.

Gary Heffern, currently resides in Portland, continues to write poetry, and has released a number of albums under his own name, one of which also included another local ex-patriate, Eddie Veddar. Chris Davies still gigs around town and has performed alongside Cindy Lee Berryhill and others. Jim Call still deejays around town. Of the two short-time members, Joyce Rooks went on to work for Capitol Records and has added her cello to many projects, including a stint with top L.A. powerpoppers Wednesday Week and David J, most recently seen with Bauhaus. Scott Harrington meanwhile produced the first Manual Scan EP, before brief stints in the Upbeats and a legion of short-lived bands. Even all this is just the tip of the iceberg for the world of the Penetrators.

Hopefully someone will reissue the great music of the Penetrators someday. Other than a pair of compilations, not a note has appeared on CD. Keep an eye out for Shake Some Action Vol. 4 or the 2001 San Diego Music Awards Sampler, which is the only way to find their music other than a visit to the used record store.

Fans of the Penetrators got a huge surprise last year on November 10 when the band reunited for a five-song set at the Casbah as part of a tribute show for the late Dan McCLain. With Joel Kmak ably filling in for McCLain, the band received a hero’s welcome from the sold-out house, so much that the group has decided to do one more performance at the Casbah this month on January 29. The band will do a full set this time out and anticipation is high, but perhaps in the long run even better news is the fact that the group is in the middle of an archive dig with an eye on releasing an anthology.

The San Diego music scene owes a major debt to the Penetrators. It’s safe to say that today things wouldn’t be the same without their music and pioneering shows, as well as for the help they gave to local bands throughout their career: always available with a kind word, a bit of advice, or even an opening spot on one of their shows. January 29 will be a rare opportunity for San Diego music fans. Longtime scenesters will have a chance to relive their glory days one more time while newer music fans will get a chance to see what the fuss was all about, up close and personal. It all adds up to a show that shouldn’t be missed and some terrific music that’s ripe for rediscovery.


1980's Walk The Beat Ep







1979's Stimulation/Sensitive Boy 7"






Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Cook The Books - Piggie In The Middle Eight/ Gone To Black 12" (1982)

By request, Cook The Book's debut 12" single, recorded , according to wikipedia, in response to the widespread British Riots in 1981.
Hailing from Liverpool, England, they later changed their name to Cook Da Books and released an LP in 1983.
The B-side is an instrumental with many songs combined including the theme from Hawaii Five-O, Batman and Piggie In The Middle Of Eight.

More Info

Band Members:

Owen Moran - Vocals, Bass
Peter Deary - Vocals, Guitar
Tony Prescott - Keyboards
John Legget - Drums, Percussion


Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

March - All Arizona CD's

March will feature some of my favorite out-of-print, mostly independent releases, of local Arizona artists. Most of these are from the 90's.
Enjoy!
PJ

The Stumbles - Best Of The Greatest Hits (Volume Seven) (1998)

Unfortunately, the second and final CD released by The Stumbles, which picked up where their debut left off. Larger crowds, courting by record labels and ultimately, too much nightlife led to the demise of one of Arizona's finest near miss bands.
Adding Dusty Denham on drums for the CD but utilizing Scott Hessel live, the Stumbles were all over the musical map and their album artwork, a nod to the K-Tel records of the 70's, was a perfect fit. Boy In The Bubble is as fine a pop song as there was and San Francisco was a live crowd favorite. Moffatt and Sadler continued on minus Walker and later became Big Moxie.


The Stumbles:
Mark Moffatt - Guitar and Lead and Back-Up Vocals
Ron Walker - Guitar and Lead and Back-Up Vocals
Matt Sadler - Bass
Dusty Denham - Drums


Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

The Stumbles - The Stumbles (1995)

Previously featured here, Ron Walker's band after Middletown and a solo effort was poised to make it big. This 1995 debut release was sweet and pure guitar pop and quite possibly one of my all-time favorite CD's. Walker teamed with Mark Moffatt, trading vocals and both playing guitar. Matt Sadler played bass. Walker also took drumming credits on this disc. Produced by Mark Matson & the Stumbles at Salt Mine Studios.

From New Times:

Published: November 30, 1995

The Stumbles
The Stumbles
(self-released)

After Jefferson Airplane, but before Styx, "eclectic" became a dirty word in rock. An "eclectic" young band is one that hasn't figured out what it wants to be when it grows up, while an "eclectic" older group means even the drummer thinks he can sing (and, worse, write). The Stumbles fall somewhere in between. The band boasts two strong front men/guitarists, Ron Walker and Mark Moffatt--and Walker plays all the drums on this CD.

Any group that runs as wide a spectrum of styles in a 40-minute live set as the Stumbles can is eclectic in the best sense of the word. This band can harness the power of Sugar or Live and tack on highly polished block harmonies worthy of the Plimsouls or the Rembrandts, as demonstrated here on "SSS Man" and "Undertow."

"And She" is a whisper-to-scream pop gem that starts out with chiming acoustic 12strings like The La's "There She Goes," before launching into a nasally Bob Mouldish chorus. When he sings this song live, the large-framed Moffatt resembles Ed Wood's beloved wrestler/actor, Tor Johnson, at his eye-bulging best. In the recorded version of "And She," Moffatt states that his beloved "gets on my face." Live, however, I could swear he sings "sits." In any case, "And She" is a killer song, and the band has more where that came from: The number of new tunes the Stumbles are currently playing out indicates the band didn't succumb to debut fever and shoot their wad on one album. Good thing. A recording this good deserves a quality follow-up. --Serene Dominic


The Stumbles:

Ron Walker - Guitar, Vocals, Drums
Mark Moffatt - Guitar, Vocals
Matt Sadler - Bass, Black & Decker


Download The Stumbles

The Refreshments - Wheelie (1994)

Regularly fetching over $100 on eBay, this rare debut CD was passed out at shows, I believe only 500 exist. The songs here were later reworked for the classic (and one of my all-time faves) Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy. Psychosis does not appear on that CD and B.O.B.A. was renamed Mexico for the Mercury release in 1996.
Formed in Tempe, Arizona, their first show was in January 1994 at Long Wongs in Tempe, opening for Flathead.
The Refreshments toured with the Gin Blossoms and Dead Hot Workshop and became hugely popular on the local scene as well as Nationally. They released their final CD on Mercury as well in 1997 (The Bottle And Fresh Horses). They gained fame for recording the theme to King Of The Hill.

Lead Singer Roger Clyne later formed Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers and tours regularly to this day, with a devote following. They have put out some excellent CD's and I recommend you check them out, especially if you get a chance to check them out live.

This CD was recorded at Salt Mine Studios in Mesa, Az and engineered by Mark Matson.

Lyrics


The Refreshments:

Roger Meade Clyne - Lead Vocals, Rhthmn (sp) Guitar
Brian David Blush - Lead Guitar
Dustin Coleman Denham - Drums, Backing Vocals
Arthur Eugene Edwards III - Bass

(P.H. Naffah actually received drumming credits on Fizzy Fuzzy in place of Denham)



Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

The Chimeras - Mistaken For Granted (1995)

Sadly, this is the only release that saw the light of day to my knowledge and is extremely difficult to find, often fetching from $50 to $150.


Excerpts From New Times (Laurie Notaro)January 4th 1996:

The band was born early in 1993. The Zubia brothers (Mark and Lawrence)--fresh from dismantling their former band, Live Nudes--teamed up with bassist Scott Andrews, drummer Mark Riggs and original Gin Blossoms guitarist Doug Hopkins, and quickly became known for a style that combined Hopkins' three-minute-pop brilliance with the Zubias' soulful, blues-influenced rock. According to Mark Zubia, they took the name "Chimeras" from a Greek word that described a "she-woman fire-breathing beast, with the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a serpent."

The Chimeras rocketed onto the music scene. Just a few weeks after the band materialized, it became one of the most-booked and best-recognized ensembles in Tempe. The band's first gig was before a capacity crowd at the now-defunct Edcel's Attic. In record time, rumors were bouncing off the barroom walls that the Chimeras would be the next band signed out of Tempe.

But the Chimeras seemed to fall apart as quickly as they came together. Hopkins abruptly left the band after a discouraging performance at a music festival in April 1993. Riggs quit because of personal problems. Bookings plummeted and dragged the band's morale down with them.

"We went through five months without another guitarist," remembers Mark Zubia. "We were very depressed. Pete [Milner] has told me how depressed we looked when we played."

For four months, we paid for our rehearsal shed out of our own pockets," adds Andrews. "And then we'd all just go there and sit looking at each other."

After six months of limbo, Milner filled the hole that Hopkins left. The band members collectively cajoled Gary Smith--who was playing with Swamp Cooler--into sliding behind the drums.

The reconstituted Chimeras quickly started writing new material, and within weeks the band once again was a staple ofclub listings. New Times named the Chimeras Best Alternative Band of 1993.

In December of that year, however, the bad times returned with a vengeance. After suffering through several years of alcohol abuse and severe depression, Doug Hopkins killed himself. Hopkins had remained friends with the band, even after leaving. It was Lawrence Zubia who discovered Hopkins' body in the guitarist's apartment early one Sunday afternoon.

Performing was no escape from grief. Hopkins had written a large portion of the Chimeras' material, and every set the band played brought poignant reminders of his suicide.

Then, after years of his own excessive drug and alcohol use, Lawrence finally arrived at what he terms "the crossroads." He found himself fighting the same problems that caused Hopkins to shoot himself.

"I could not go any further," Lawrence says. "It came to a decision of whether I was going to continue my life like this or not continue my life at all.

"Now I look back and think, 'How did I do all of the mathematics?' Like, it would be a Thursday; I'd think, 'I gotta play tomorrow. It's midnight. Okay, I can take 14 of these pills, and then by six o'clock tomorrow evening, I'll start feeling somewhat okay. I'll drink four beers. I can play.'"

Fortunately, Lawrence checked in rather than out. He enrolled in a 28-day program at a west Phoenix rehab center for chronic relapsers, the kind of place that requires residents to wake up at six in the morning to do laundry and other daily chores.

"It was like boot camp," Lawrence says.
Although Lawrence's bandmates were supportive of his decision to take a monthlong hiatus and get clean, his peers in rehab were not so supportive of his determination to continue as a rock musician.

Mark made it clear to his brother that he would still be part of the band.
"And this is what I was telling the people in rehab," Lawrence continues. "But they're telling me, 'You can't go back to the band. That's the worst place for you to be!'

Lawrence successfully completed the program and immediately rejoined the band, which experienced a creative catharsis on his return. And Lawrence stayed sober.
"I think the real inspiration for me to stay sober is what happened to Doug," Lawrence continues. "I felt sorry for myself for a long time because of drugs and alcohol. I really pitied myself. Now it's like: How fucking hard is it to play music with a purpose?"

But if Hopkins has remained an inspiration for the Chimeras, his pop influence has faded from the band's music. All but three of the songs Hopkins wrote for the band have been excised from the Chimeras' repertoire, and none of the late songwriter's work appears on Mistaken for Granted.
Obviously, Doug Hopkins and the Chimeras wrote a lot of good songs, and his influence is still with us," stresses Milner. "He was a great guitar player and a great musician. But if anyone thinks we're up there trying to ride on Doug's songs, they should understand that we're a new band since then."

The Zubias' songwriting style has started to accommodate more of a blues/rock format and even a twist of the traditional Mexican folk music they heard as children.

"My brother and I have been blues-based writers," says Mark. "Doug was more pop, and we went to that pop thing. Now I think we're back to somewhere in the middle. We can take what we learned from Doug and apply it to what we do now."

So far, so good. Mistaken caught the attention of Morty Wiggins, vicepresident of Bill Graham Management, the promotional entity behind the Gin Blossoms and Dead Hot Workshop. Wiggins and the band's lawyer, Fred Davis (son of Arista CEO Clive Davis), plan to shop the Chimeras around, confident they can get the band a record deal.

And so the Chimeras recently returned to the studio to record a demo tape produced by Gin Blossoms guitarist and longtime friend Jesse Valenzuela. The demo was cut at the Vintage recording studio in Phoenix, a small, white building that looks more like a VD clinic than the studio where the Gin Blossoms recorded their latest single, "Till I Hear It From You."

Despite the potential that is crackling in the air, the Chimeras have come to realize that there's more to staying together as a band than cutting record deals.






The Chimeras:
Lawrence Zubia - Vocals
Mark Zubia - Guitars & Vocals
Peter Milner - Guitars
Scott Andrews - Bass
Gary Smith - Drums

Produced by The Chimeras and Mark Mattson

Recorded at The Salt Mine Studios


Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Porno Sponges - Going Places, Eating Things 12" (1986)

Rhode Islands' Porno Sponges released this two song 12" single in 1986 on Mutha Records. Like an amped up Fleshtones, I found this garage rocker at Tracks in Wax in Phoenix, complete with a note from manager Sketch McCain to an unnamed magazine.




Porno Sponges:
Jonathan Hall
Bernard Kelley
Dave Adae
Bruce Moravec

Manager - Sketch McCain
Roadie - Chris Pierik
Photos - Cynthia Mendes

Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

The Individuals - Aquamarine E.P. (1981)

From Wikipedia.com:
The Individuals were a Hoboken, New Jersey-based band led by Glenn Morrow (guitar, vocals, sax, keyboards) and featuring Janet Wygal (bass, vocals, guitar, keyboards), Janet's brother Doug Wygal (drums, percussion), and Jon Light Klages (lead guitar, keyboards, vocals). The band played regularly at Maxwell's and were a central part of the early 1980s Hoboken music scene. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau called them "easily the best of En Why's Pop Three on stage [the other two being the Bongos and the dB's], scruffy and forceful and lithe".

Their debut EP, Aquamarine, was produced by the dB's Gene Holder. It was voted one of the best EPs of 1981 in the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. The band's one album, Fields, was also produced by Holder and engineered by Mitch Easter. While Christgau criticized their lyrics as "lack[ing] that universal touch" , critic Robert Palmer, writing in the New York Times in May 1982, called Fields "remarkably mature" and "the most impressive rock debut so far this year."
The Individuals broke up in 1983. Morrow went on to help found Bar/None Records.


From their myspace website:
The Individuals formed in 1979 in the New York City metro area through a Village Voice ad that brought guitarist Glenn Morrow and drummer John Klett together with bassist Janet Wygal and lead guitarist Jon Klages. When John Klett left the band in 1980, he was replaced by Janet’s brother Doug Wygal. With Gene Holder of the dB’s producing, this lineup recorded the EP Aquamarine, the album Fields, and one single, “Dancing with My Eighty Wives.” Fields was the first full-length album recorded at Mitch Easter’s Drive- In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (At the same time, R.E.M. were working on their first EP at Mitch’s.)



Inspired by the late-seventies CBGB bands and the early-eighties No Wave groups on the club scene (along with classic sixties rock and soul music), the Individuals made melodic pop music with an art school edge. They became associated with the music venue Maxwell’s, in Hoboken, New Jersey, where Morrow had already been performing with the band “a.” Sometimes referred to as the “a band,” the combo included all three original members of the Bongos and were the first group to play the club. Drawn by Hoboken’s cheap rents and Maxwell’s as a hub of musical activity, a number of bands gravitated to the town and became loosely indentified with what the press dubbed the “Hoboken Sound.” These groups included Human Switchboard, the Bongos, the Feelies, the dB’s, the Cucumbers, the Cyclones, Red Buckets, the Phosphenes and an early incarnation of Yo La Tengo called Georgia and Those Guys. Many more would follow.

The Individual’s first EP, Aquamarine, was released on Charles Ball’s Lust/Unlust Infidelity Records in 1980. It was named one of the ten best EPs of the year by Robert Palmer of The New York Times. The next year Fields, on Plexus Records, was similarly named one of the year’s ten best by The New York Times. Fields garnered great critical success; “Dancing with My Eighty Wives” was a much played song on WLIR on Long Island; and “Walk by Your House” was a hit at WHFS in Washington, D.C.

The Individuals melded dance beats to interlocking guitar parts, layering call-and- response vocals on top, constantly messing with the possibilities of what a pop song could be. Their lyrics often told enigmatic, fractured stories that attempted to tease out listeners’ emotions while keeping everybody dancing.
Their myspace page

Glenn Morrow was also in Rage To Live and playted with Chris DeBurgh and The Far Corporation. He has producer credits with The Embarrassment, Chris Mars and Lou Reed.
Janet Wygal played in The Wygals and worked with Chris Stamey and Tim Lee and most recently in Takka Takka. Her brother Doug has an extensive list of production credits and has played with Amy Rigby and Tim Lee.
Jon Klages went on to play with Russ Tolman.

The Individuals:

Glenn Morrow- Lead Vocals, Guitar, Amp Noise
Janet Wygal - Bass, Voice, Keyboards, Synth on "OK Chorale"
Doug Wygal - Drums, Assorted Percussion, Trumpet
Jon Klages - Lead Guitar, Voice, Keyboards, Bells

Produced By Gene Holder


Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/

Nonnie And The Onnies - I'm In Love With A Rent Boy 12" (1985)

Nonnie Thompson's Dance record form the mid-80's with Gary Pozner, Ariel Powers and Paul Sanchez. Described by CD Baby: "If you took 25% of Madonna mixed with 25% of Marilyn Monroe and added 50% Annie Lennox you would have Nonnie". Buy their other release Here.
Pozner went on to be an award winning composer in both TV and Movies after working with Tom Tom Club and Ziggy Marley. Sanchez released a solo CD and was in the 90's band Cowboy Mouth (Not the 80's group who released Cowboys and Indians). Thompson released the single "I Hate Simon Cowell" in 2006.


Released on Select Records.




Nonnie And The Onnies:
Nonnie Thompson - Lead Vocals, Background Vocals
Gary Pozner - Synthesizers, Drum Programs, Background Vocals
Ariel Powers - Bass Guitar, Background Vocals
with
Paul Sanchez - Guitar

Produced and Recorded by Gary Pozner




Downloads all available on main page : http://azlocal.blogspot.com/