DATAPANIK Records, Ubu Dance Party, A Tribute to Pere Ubu (CD, 1997)

Not all Dayton bands on this one, but there are several represented.  And the rest are still from Ohio.

I think this is our first CD offering on this blog.  It is undoubtedly the biggest so far.  I have shied away from posting CDs unless I know for a fact that it's out of print and there are no plans to revive it.  In the case of Ubu Dance Party, I can't say for sure, but every search I've done to find some distributor still selling it has turned up empty.  And even though I played on this record, I never got a copy and so bought one used for a dollar through some Amazon seller.  Now I can't even find second hand copies listed anywhere.  So I think we're safe, but if somebody comes out of the woodwork with the rights to this thing and wants it taken down, I'll comply.

That's doubtful though.  If I remember correctly, our contribution to this record was sort of a "right of first publication only" kind of license.  Assuming everybody else had a similar deal, then the rights to this one are controlled by at least 38 different people.

But enough legal speculation.  About this comp in general, I can't say much.  But Chad Van Wagner, who spent at least three years of his life putting it together, can and does have something to say in the liner notes:

Another tribute?  Yes, I know, but there's a bit more to it than that.  The problem with tributes is they too often lapse into straight covers, "maybe we can have a hit with this" remakes, and little else.  When I set out to start this thing (oh so long ago) I was determined to do what I could to do Pere Ubu, one of the few truly creative and original bands of the past couple decades, justice.  This meant, of course, altering their catalog in the most severe way imaginable: "Cloud 149," in the hands of One Riot One Ranger, goes from bubblegum meandering to a sinister dustbowl tale.  "Petrified" goes from a paranoid babble to Brainiac's nuclear meltdown.  Also, keeping in the spirit with the Ubu catalog, where the importance of studio polish ran a poor second to performance strength (as it SHOULD, dagnabbit) the tracks on this here CD go from the lushness of Cage's "Goodnight Irene" to the RC Mob's boombox-in-a-corner "My Dark Ages."  Beyond these two guidelines, I kept my hands off the creative process, letting the bands do what they will.  Ubu is about (at least to me) stealing pieces of your memory and giving them back in an almost unrecognizable package, one that blew your mind and caught your ear at the same time.  We tried to do the same with these tracks.  Hope you like 'em.

Obviously, this compilation was a labor of love for Chad, and I suspect the same was true for most of the bands.  I don't mean to say everyone who contributed to this was a big PERE UBU fan.  I, in fact, have never owned a single one of their albums (although I did see them at the Newport in the early '90s, and it was a pretty good show).  But there were certainly UBU fans involved, and the fact that Chad went out of his way to make sure only Ohio bands appeared on it made having a track on it kind of special.

I remember being pretty happy when this finally came out (three years after OXYMORONS broke up) to find that our cover of "Honeymoon" was chosen as the very first track.  I'm about 90% that song was one of three or four songs we recorded the very last time we were in the studio together.  And I remember being especially pleased with how we reworked the original song.  Everyone sort of did their part.  The processed voice saying "Honeymoon" at the beginning is Ben speaking through some kind of plastic, toy megaphone he got at the dollar store.  He, Nick, and Grog basically figured out the whole arrangement and dynamics.  I added the squealy riff at the beginning and end by tripling up the guitar part.  I remember Ben and I particularly liking that effect, and I was looking forward to using it more on other OXYMORONS stuff in the future.  But that never happened, of course.  We had gone into the studio knowing our days were numbered as a band, but I don't remember thinking of this as the last time we would ever record anything -- not at the time.

In addition to being a pretty good comp, this is also a pretty good slice of the statewide indie rawk scene in the '90s.  Not every good band is represented, but a lot of them are.  Other Dayton bands (that I recognize) on this are CAGE and BRAINIAC.  There might be others that I don't recognize.  Notable Columbus bands represented here are SCRAWL, NEW BOMB TURKS (of course!), and PET UFO (who have actually made 4 songs from their 1994 album available for listening on PET UFO's Myspace page).  You'll also find the rare, late '90s appearance of RC MOB on this one.  And then there's ASS PONYS who enjoyed some moderate (and deserved) success in the '90s representing Cincinnati.

Not much else to say.  Overall, yeah it's spotty in parts, like most compilations.  But there are some really great tracks.  It's been my pleasure to share the plastic on these discs with every one of these bands.

Track listing, Disc 1:

• 1. sample - the original songs... (0:08)
• 2. The Oxymorons - Honeymoon (2:22)
• 3. Gary Lou Pico - We Have The Technology (2:52)
• 4. Puff Tube - I Will Wait (2:06)
• 5. The Revellers - Heaven (4:39)
• 6. Blue - 30 Seconds Over Tokyo (4:37)
• 7. Cobra Verde - Chinese Radiation (3:25)
• 8. The Haynes Boys - Kathleen (3:34)
• 9. Syrup - On The Surface (3:11)
• 10. Code-X - Vivians (5:28)
• 11. Clay - George Had A Hat (3:45)
• 12. Muzzle - Bus Called Happiness (3:05)
• 13. Campfire Walkers - Modern Dance (3:02)
• 14. Steamshovel - Caligari's Mirror (4:44)
• 15. Sosumi - Humor Me (3:53)
• 16. Flaming Telepaths - Non-Alignment Pact (4:20)
• 17. Laughing - Dock Ellis (5:28)
• 18. Jones - Supie T (3:25)
• 19. Lord Burger - Final Solution (Slight Return) (0:15)

Track listing, Disc 2:

• 1. Cage - Goodnight Irene (3:56)
• 2. Wax Tadpole - Turpentine (2:36)
• 3. Scrawl - Go (3:41)
• 4. Rainy Day Saints - Heart Of Darkness (4:23)
• 5. Brainiac - Petrified (2:23)
• 6. Skullbank - Streetwaves (3:52)
• 7. Quazimodo - Non-Alignment Pact (1:48)
• 8. New Bomb Turks - Life Stinks (3:36)
• 9. G Spot Tornado - Come Home (5:01)
• 10. Kaj Mi Nuka - New Broom (3:54)
• 11. Creature - Heaven (2:33)
• 12. Satellites - Real World (4:29)
• 13. Ass Ponys - Not Happy (3:25)
• 14. RC Mob - My Dark Ages (4:37)
• 15. Pet UFO - Race The Sun (2:33)
• 16. One Riot Ranger - Cloud 149 (3:35)
• 17. Girly Machine - Misery Goats (3:20)
• 18. Honk, Wail And Moan - Thoughts Go By Steam (5:33)
• 19. Gem - Blow Daddy-O (6:05)
• 20. Gaunt - "..." (1:53)

Download it!  (205 MB)

take care,

---Jones()

Off-site: 3RAIN1AC Live Archive

An anonymous commenter on the recent post for the BRAINIAC/LAZY split-7 added a link to something called the "3RAIN1AC Live Archive." After checking it out, I thought it deserved a post of its own here.

BRAINIAC fans (or really anyone) will find a wealth of good stuff there. There's a pretty good timeline with dates running from Tim's appearance on THE WIZBANGS' demo recordings in 1991 up to some recent ENON activity in 2007. You'll also find a nice archive of live recordings from the band that can be downloaded (in MP3) directly from the site. The only hitch is that the video section doesn't seem to include any video that you can download or watch directly. But there is an e-mail link to get more information on how to obtain any of the six DVD compilations listed there.

take care

---Jones()

BRAINIAC and LAZY (split 7", vinyl, 1994)

In honor of my finally having acquired a decent turntable, I present this vinyl rip of the 1994 split single from Dayton's own BRAINIAC and Cincinnati's LAZY (exactly a year and a day since the last post -- wow, by that rate we should have everything covered by the thirty-third century at least).

Unfortunately, there isn't much I can say about BRAINIAC except what I already said when I posted about the band's entry at the AllMusic guide and when I posted the article from the July 1992 issue of Imminent zine.

I can say even less about LAZY. All I really know is they were from Cincinnati and played 'round these parts in the early '90s.

As for Simple Solutions (the imprint on which this record was released), I know only that it was operating in Dayton from maybe 1993 to about 1996 or so. A lot of bands in Dayton (including REAL LULU and THE METHOD) did records on Simple Solutions, and the label had some kind of close affiliation with Trader Vic's (a record store on Brown Street, long since disappeared).

As luck has it, I played recently with REAL LULU at the "Dayton Does Dayton" show. While I was there, I happened to win three or four seven-inch records by answering a trivia question (I was able to name every drummer who had ever played with REAL LULU). They were all old Dayton rock records. Now that I've got a good turntable (another story), I'll be ripping and uploading all of them over the next couple weeks.

Download record and cover scans (17 MB) (link re-upped 2-4-2013)


take care

---Jones()

Off-Site: Dayton bands at the AllMusic guide...

So I was dicking around over at the AllMusic site and just started typing in names of bands and people from Dayton indie rock. Most returned some kind of result, but only a few included a write-up. I've listed those that returned such a result below (along with corrections where I know AllMusic got it wrong):

TROY CAMPBELL - Troy Campbell was basically the creative force behind THE HIGHWAYMEN. I have a couple of recordings by them that I'll post at some point, but I never met or played with any of these guys. They had relocated to Austin before I really knew who they were. Still, I saw them play once at Canal Street Tavern about a year after they left -- great live show. The only thing I would venture on this article is that I always thought THE HIGHWAYMEN left Dayton in 1988, but the bio puts it in 1989.

BRAINIAC - One correction:

• Tim wasn't driving home from the studio when he was killed. He was driving home from the closing night party of 1470 West, which was both a gay club and a modern rock dance club, depending on which night of the week you went there (there tended to be a lot of crossover, and everybody knew it, so if you were straight and you got hit on by a homosexual, you just had to politely decline -- and no, Tim was not gay). The club was moving to a new location downtown. There's been a lot of unfounded speculation about what caused the accident, and although I don't usually mind reporting rumors, it seems crass to do so in this case. I really didn't know Tim that well, except to say "hello" on occasion.

THE OXYMORONS - Okay, this was the strangest result of all. Not only is there a very complimentary biography (thank you Uncle Dave Lewis), but I actually learned something about my own band that I never knew before. Apparently, we appeared on some kind of indie rock compilation on Shredder Records in 1997 (three years after we broke up). The cover of our first seven-inch record is even reproduced on the cover of the compilation, and our song ("Unearthing Your Grave," which I've always thought was the best thing we ever recorded) is the first track. I had no idea...Again, I think the bio is great (my head is expanding as I type), but I do have a couple of corrections (no offense at all to Uncle Dave):

• Although D.O.A. certainly played in Dayton and hung out with TOXIC REASONS frequently enough to convince the casual observer that they were from this town, they weren't. They were, of course, from Vancouver.
• When Ben's dad found his body (through what must be one of the cruelest coincidences of all time -- Dumb Dayton Luck strikes again...), he wasn't taking him back to Dayton for a family outing. The two of them were going to drive to New York (where Ben had lived the previous couple of years) to pick up his stuff and bring it back home.
• Dancing on Billy's Grave was a regular CD release (our third full-length if you count the first two cassettes), not a compilation of our stuff.

Anyway, other than that, the bio is spot on. Thanks again, Uncle Dave.

THE MULCHMEN - The MULCHMEN were a surf rock combo in the '90s featuring Nick Kizirnis (guitar, theremin), Gregg Spence (drums, and Brian Hogarth (bass). I've got their 7" (All the News That's Fit to Surf). No corrections on this one.

JOHN SHOUGH - Nothing to add except that John is probably the best engineer I ever recorded with.

LAB PARTNERS - Good band still currently playing around Dayton. They're great, but I won't be posting anything by them (though you can hear their stuff at the LAB PARTNERS myspace page).

REAL LULU - One correction:

• The bio seems to imply that Jim Macpherson played drums on We Love Nick, but that's only 1/7 true. Gregg Spence is listed as the official drummer. He played on 7 of the fourteen tracks. Jim and Steve Johnson each played on two tracks. Drummers on the remaining three tracks were Ben, Matt Espy, and Tim Taylor.

take care

---Jones

Dayton & BRAINIAC in Imminent zine, July 1992

Here's an article from the July 1992 issue of Imminent, a zine from Cincinnati. The second half of the article is a review of an early BRAINIAC show at Wright State's Rathskellar. The first half is probably the most accurate portrait of Dayton, Ohio and what this town is all about that I've ever read. If you click on the scans to the left, you'll see them in more readable, full-size versions, or you can read the OCR transcription that follows:

Sixty miles to our north lies an area you could practically call Cinti’s northernmost suburb. In reality, the town could be more aptly referred to as the Queen City’s illegitimate sister city. Violence, crack and prostitution run rampant in the mean streets of this community. The town leaders are not the Mayor, Sheriff or County Prosecutor as it is here. They are gangsters, outlaw bikers and organized crime thugs. Street gangs have controlled the turf up there since the 1950’s, decades before Los Angeles made the gang scene fashionable.

Unless you hail from another section of the country or you’re suffering from organic brain damage, you’ve probably figured out I’m talking about Dayton, Ohio. Unfortunately, many Cincinnatian’s are quick to unfairly judge our northern neighbor, and this judgement is generally passed on the basis of misleading, inconclusive evidence. When passing through Dayton on 1-75, Cinti. folk love to laugh at what they see of the downtown area from the highway (You call that a skyline? Ha!) They laugh even louder at Dayton television broadcasts (Hey look, another Gun and Knife show at Mara Arena! Har, har!). The sad truth is, most of these pompous, misguided fools have never spent enough time in the place to properly evaluate it. If only they would make that 60 mile journey north and get out of their cars they might get a chance to taste the Gem city’s own special blend of urban decay. (This city has Chris Collinsworth and Simon Leis. Dayton has a never ending supply of dope. You decide which place is cooler).

The chemical haze that hangs over Dayton would do Mexico city proud (and who says Dayton ain’t metropolitan?) Through the center of town runs the Miami river, which rivals the ability of Mill creek to turn your stomach in the summertime. To the west you’ll find the town's black section where the race riots in the '60s competed for national media attention along with those in Watts and Harlem. The east side is home for the equally violent Appalachian slums, where one could easily be murdered for the price of a tube of model airplane glue. The Southside is where you’ll find the University of Dayton and its fabled off campus urea known simply as "the Ghetto." Last but not least is the northside of town where the town’s legendary red light district is located and the streets are littered with hypodermic needles. Believe it or not, Dayton police do not write tickets for skateboarding and jay-walking like the cops in this burg; they're a little more concerned with dead bodies.

Dayton’s strange, violent, creative energy does not remained caged within the city limits. It climbs out of the Miami river valley, riding on clouds of industrial soot, and infects the minds and spirits of young unsuspecting children. This energy sometimes lands these kids in Woodland State Mental Hospital. This same vibe which brings death and insanity to some, inspires others to form bands. Four Dayton youths I’d like to focus on here chose the latter route. They call themselves Brainiac. Brianiac is: Tim Taylor rhythm guitar. synth., vocals, Juan Monasterio-bass, Michelle Bodine lead guitar, and Tyler Trent drums. You may be familiar with Tim and Juan, as they did reside right here in Clifton Heights for a few years. They also comprised one half of the now defunct metal band, Pink Lady. You may also have seen them doing a stint in the Wizbongs (also defunct) [NOTE: the band is actually the Wizbangs, but when the OCR software rendered it as WizBONGS, it just seemed too perfect!]. juan and Tim hail from Kettering. Drummer Tyler Trent, from Beaveraeek, once pounded skins for punk band called Sunken Giraffe. Guitarist Michelle Bodine, a Trotwood resident, has never been in a band before (you couldn’t tell it from her playing, though).

As far as I know, the newly formed Brainiac has yet to grace Cincinnati with their presence. This being the case, it was decided to make the 60 mile pilgrimage north to see these folks live. Imminent’s editor, staff photographer and myself took the quest in our never ending journey to inform you of the latest unknown talent. (Where would you be without us?).

The trip began on an ominous note. Scott Haggerty was pounding on my door, screaming "Hey Kevin, oops! I mean, hey Mario! We’re going to Dayton to see Brainiac. Be at my house in one hour!” Inside my pad, I was on my knees, dry- heaving up the remains of a three day holiday weekend. I finished vomiting (in a manner that Charles Bukowski would applaud) hopped in the shower, and showed up promptly at the editor’s house.

We smoked some pot on the way up to Dayton, but it did little to curb my hungover nausea. The carbon monoxide leaking into the car from the broken tailpipe sure didn’t help matters much either. Also, it was raining and we were sailing down the highway on bald tires without windshield wipers. At that point in time, a safe warm bed in the Betty Ford Clinic held much more appeal than watching problem children make noise on instruments. But I had a job to do, so I knew my obligation to the public outweighed my selfish concerns.

We arrived safe and sound at Wright State University (a few miles to the east of Dayton, actually). Brainiac was to perform in the student center. As we walked into the building, I felt horribly out of place among the wholesome college kids. We entered a room with a commisary to the back, a stage to the front, and a video arcade outside. Watching well scrubbed youths wasting quarters on the video games, I noted that the place was so lame it made the Rhine Room look like CBGB’s. Juan and Tim graciously greeted us at the door, which made me feel a bit more welcomed.

The band set up and I looked about the place waiting for Marcia Brady to appear. Luckily she didn’t, but as it grew time for the music to begin, longhairs, punks, and a few assorted weirdos wandered into the room.

In my shaky, poisoned sickness, I had decided, before the band even hit its first note, that I wasn’t going to like it, Brainiac took the stage and violently slapped me out of my negative mindset. My attitude did a 360 degree turn and I found myself having fun in spite of my discouraged disposition.

Brainiac was kicking real wild with a psychotic tribal energy that seemed to be falling on dead ears. The crowd remained seated and silent (I later learned that dancing was not permitted in the room). Michelle Bodine had guitars set on alternate tunings which she would switch to from time to time. The chaos of the sound was firmly held together by Juan and Tyler, the band's rhythm section. In the center of this audio turmoil stood Tim, offering deranged, flanged vocals, choppy guitar rhythms, and occasional Moog keyboards (Realistic; made by Moog).

Tim did an admirable job as Brainac's frontman. The crowd may have been calm, but he wasn’t while executing hyper kinetic, unchoreographed movements, reminiscent of someone being electrocuted. Imminent’s editor commented on them sounding like Sonic Youth. I could hear an influence from that group, but I heard influences from various experimental late 70’s new wave bands as well.

I could almost call Brainiac the best new unknown band I’ve seen this year. Good sounds coupled with a visually exciting performance make them a happening worthy of your investigation.

This raises a good question, 'How can I, an Imminent reader, check this band out?’ Well, first of all, they have upcoming gigs in Dayton, and like I’ve said, Brainiac is worth the drive. Also though nothing’s yet scheduled, they do have an eye on Porkopolis for future shows. You could also send away for the four song demo cassette they have out. The cost is unknown, try writing Brainiac at P0 Box 703 WWB Dayton, OH 45409-0703.

So, anyway, next time you find your pseudo-intellectual, neo-metropolitan selves looking for joke fodder, leave Dayton out of it. After all, the Gem City has brought us such greats as Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Jonathan Winters, Brainiac, and yours truly. Think not of Dayton as the violent, industrial armpit city it can be; think of it as an overlooked mecca of underground wealth that it is.

[editor's note] I couldn’t get in touch with the band to find out when their next appearance will be, they have played down here before, Mario was just unaware of it. Don’t you make that mistake, catch ‘em if you can.

from Imminent zine, July 1992