THE BARNHILLS, s-t 7'' (vinyl, 1996)

Before we get to today's record, I wanted to ask about the makeover I gave the blog earlier tonight.  Is it too busy?  Does it make the site harder to read?  If you've got an opinion, let me know.

I also want to mention that my original intention for this post was to put something up from Jonathan Drexler, who we lost yesterday.  I have a CD that he gave me years ago from his then-current band MY SECRET SERVICE, and it's a great disc that I would love to post.  But there's a story that goes along with the night Jonathan gave me that CD, which also happens to be the last night I saw him.  It's a good story that should be told at some point.  But it's not a story with a happy ending, and my attempts to write it up haven't been good.  Truth be told, Jonathan's passing is something I'm having a lot of trouble dealing with right now (and I'm sure a lot of other people are having similar troubles).  I've been thinking about it all night.  So although I will post that CD and tell that story soon, I just can't right now.  For a few minutes, I really just want to think about something else.

THE BARNHILLS just might be my favorite Dayton band of all time.  I saw them play many times and was never disappointed.  The band got together around 1995.  Their first show was at the old Sub-Galley on Brown Street.  I was living in Yellow Springs at the time and drove into town to see them.  They had a contest that night to guess how long they would play.  I don't remember what the prize was, but I definitely didn't win it because I guessed 27 minutes -- and they ended up playing for less than five.

Short songs and short sets were sort of their thing.  THE BARNHILLS wrote straight-up indie-emo-punk tunes -- fast, loud, and brief.  But even if they were playing a song that lasted less than thirty seconds, you were humming along within the first three.

I'll be posting their CD at some point, along with an interview I did with them for MAXIMUMROCKNROLL.  And when I do, I'll give you more of their story.  For now I'll just say that every single second of this record is badass -- a true Dayton pop classic.  Enjoy!

THE BARNHILLS were...

• David Graeter - drums, vocals
• Joel "Lucky" Lensch - bass, vocals
• Jeremy "Bruiser" Apland - guitar, vocals

Track List:

1. Side 1 (I Helped Save the Lady, Buy Me A Drink, Superbreaker), 4:52
2. Side 2 (Amy's Pissed Off, Toyota Club, Schroeder), 5:46

Ordinarily, I break out individual songs into individual files, but that just seemed wrong here.  These tunes sort of bleed into each other (just like they did when they were played live -- THE BARNHILLS abhorred silence and between-song banter), and each side here is really sort of a mini rock opera.  They should be listened to in the order the band intended.

Download It!  (16 MB)

take care,

---Jones()

Off-Site: COLAVISION at YouTube

I took my last exam yesterday, and I did not realize until it was done just how much this one was weighing on my mind. It was Business Associations 2, the second half of a two-semester class. This section covered close and public corporations, proxy fraud, shareholder voting agreements, fiduciary duties of corporate directors, various sections of the Securities & Exchange Act of 1934, accompanying administrative regulations, shareholder derivative suits, Special Litigation Committees...

At which item in that list did you nod off? For me it was proxy fraud (must've typed the rest in my sleep).

Anyway it's done now, which means I can finally get back to the important things in life: obscure Dayton indie rock bands that no one remembers! Even better: obscure indie rock bands that I played in!

So once again, from Mite's YouTube site, I Remember Dayton is proud to serve up some never before seen video. Here's a pair from my band COLAVISION.

Both of these were shot at the now infamous punk rock wedding reception celebrating the unholy union of Greg "Grog" Simerlink (OXYMORONS bass player and mastermind behind Mutant-Renegade Records & Zine, as well as The Chickenfish Speaks) and Jen Cook (COLAVISION bass player).

The marriage didn't last (no offense, Grog or Jen -- mine didn't either), but the wedding was awesome. They had the ceremony at the Page Manor Twin Cinemas, where Jen was working at the time. That theater itself was quite the indie rock hangout in 1994 (probably because so many indie rockers worked there) and no doubt deserves a blog entry of its own. But I was living in Columbus at this time, so I'm not really the one to write that entry (Jen, I'm looking in your direction). Still, I do remember that one of the employees actually owned an original print of the first Star Wars movie that they would sometimes screen privately after midnight. Because it was a private screening, they'd let you smoke in the theater, so I may be one of the very few people on this earth who can say he saw Star Wars in a theater while smoking -- a dubious distinction, to be sure, but a rare one at least.

The Page closed its doors some time in the mid-'90s. Someone reopened it in 2004, and at Christmas that year I dragged Val out to see Surviving Christmas (with that delightful Ben Affleck). But by 2006 it was closed again. As far as I know, there are no plans to reopen it.

The reception was held at Canal Street Tavern. I remember that OXYMORONS, CANDYASS, HEIKE, and COLAVISION all played -- and perhaps one or two others (did THE WILL play? Grog?). In between the bands they did all the usual wedding stuff: garter, cake, bouquet (didn't Gail catch the bouquet? or was it Andrea?) Most of the wedding party played in their formal wear. You'll see Jen in her wedding dress. If memory serves (and does it ever?), this is also the night that Jen cut Grog's long hair on stage.

I would assume that Mite has more video from this night. In addition to these two COLAVISION videos, he has at least one video of THE OXYMORONS performing "Little Man Hate" (check the site). HEIKE's first cassette, Precious Underground, features a number of songs from our live set at the reception -- will post soon enough.

Okay, I've been typing for about half an hour now, and this post just isn't rolling like I want it to. Maybe I'm too distracted. Exams are over, but I've about a million things to do today (mow the grass, apply for a job, re-apply for student loans -- the list goes on), so I'm just going to do all that and maybe try to write a more fluid entry on all this some other time.

In the meantime, enjoy the videos. And don't forget to download the COLAVISION record if you like the songs presented here.

take care

---Jones()

ps. "Spasm" is the only COLAVISION song that Jen sang lead on. It's one of those songs we wrote toward the end that I'm sorry I never got a really good recording of. I have a rough mix on cassette of that (and a few others) that we did at Cro-Magnon. I will post it at some point, but the vocals are way, way down in the mix. Sadly, the masters seem to have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

COLAVISION, Joan of Arcwelding (7" vinyl, 1993)

Ever see the movie Fright Night? Roddy McDowell plays a has-been actor named Peter Vincent with an inflated view of the importance of his own career (as a b-grade vampire killer in Hammer-esque horror films). He hosts a local late night horror movie show, and every time he shows one of his own shitty movies, he heaps praise upon it. Every time I post something on this blog that I played on, I feel just like Peter Vincent. That being said, here we go again.

I can't even feign ambivalence on this one. I fuckin' love this record--and as it happens, so did Ben Weasel. Here's his review:

"Quirky, snotty punk that really hits the spot - this is the best debut record I've heard in a year. Good production, nice hand painted-on-tin-foil covers... One of the few total low-budget D.I.Y. releases that doesn't fit that category just 'cause it sucks. It ain't perfect but it is pretty original; references to other bands are pointless. The headline is: Bored Dayton Brains Crank Out Great Midwest Punk. This is fucking rad. Go ahead and spend a few bucks on it."

---Ben Weasel, (Panic Button #8, 1994)

I got into COLAVISION at about the same time that OXYMORONS was breaking up (late 1993). I had played with drummer Dave Graeter (of LIQUID DRAINO) in PLANET ED. Daphne (a.k.a. Jen Cook, then Jen Simmerlink -- Grog's girlfriend at the time, later his wife, now his ex-) had never played bass in any band -- or, for that matter, ever played bass at all. We got together in Dave's basement and wrote some tunes. Dave wrote some lyrics, and I wrote some lyrics, usually only finishing them the night before we went into the studio. We played around Dayton (including the first gig for Kattie's band REAL LULU, which was then called BOY WONDER) and once or twice out of town. Then we just drifted apart. I think it was all over by the end of 1994. Joan of Arcwelding is the only thing we ever released (though I've got some cringeworthy demos of stuff we recorded later).

A few years after this was released, Phil Seilly told me that around 1996 or so, Renaissance Records was selling what they said was the "last available copy" for $50!

In addition to the music, I also love the fact that we took the time (at Dave's prompting) to hand paint each and every record cover on tinfoil. On the first one I painted, I wrote "This is not a Fugazi t-shirt." Dave frowned and told me, "Now everyone's going to think it's a Fugazi bootleg! That one's yours!"

Unfortunately, we pressed this on a particularly lousy grade of vinyl (which we jokingly called "cola-colored" because if you held it up to the light, you could see through its brown translucence--just like a glass of cola!), so the vinyl record sounds like absolute shit. And since the master tapes seemed to have disappeared long ago, I was afraid I was going to have to post that. But last fall, Dave told me that, lo and behold, the original DAT had reappeared in his house. He went to some studio and had them transferred to CD (apparently, the studio guy who did the transfer just sort of shook his head when he heard the music -- like "I can't believe you're paying to put this shit on CD"). So here's the record straight from the original digital master. Rawk...

Dave wrote the lyrics for "Problem #11" after staying up all night studying for an economics test (that's his textbook that Daphne and I are reading from).

"Ford" is my absolute favorite Colavision song ever. I've foisted it on dozens of people through mix-tapes and CDs over the years.

Phil had been under the impression that "Johnny" had been inspired by the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers. Not true--it was inspired by Oakley Hall's novel Warlock. I liked that book so much, I named my son Oakley.

"No Damn Cat, No Damn Cradle" was, of course, inspired by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s novel Cat's Cradle.

We called the record "Joan of Arcwelding" after a poem written by Gail's (and my) good friend Laura Albrecht. I just liked the title.

I could go on, but even I'm sick of my gushing by now. I'm guessing you bowed out right after "I feel just like Peter Vincent."

Track List:

1. Problem #11
2. Ford
3. Johnny Walks on the Right
4. No Damn Cat, No Damn Cradle

Download it! (24 MB) (link re-upped 2-2-2013)

There's also an outtake from these sessions on the CD that Dave gave me, but I'll post that some other time.

In addition to the songs, the download package contains scans of the cover (my copy), insert, and the vinyl record itself.

By the way, as I mentioned above, each record cover is different. Gail lent me a copy of hers for scanning a couple of months ago. If anyone else has a copy, I'd love to borrow it for scanning some time.

take care

---Jones

PLANET ED, Listen and Understand, Earthlings! (7", 1990)

Of any band I've ever been in, PLANET ED was the most emotionally draining, mostly due to the nearly polar opposite personalities of Will and Dave. Those two guys had completely adverse approaches to music, which made for a lot of tension in this band. But all that tension also made for some great shows, great recordings, and great fun overall (at least from my perspective). Looking back on it now, I wouldn't change one thing.

Will had sort of a musical split personality. On the one hand, he liked punk rock. As I said in the DOBIE WILLIS post, he was (still is) an unabashed admirer of JELLO BIAFRA, THE DEAD KENNEDYS, DOA, and THE RAMONES. This is all true. But Will never quite got past his teenage obsession with LED ZEPPELIN, TED NUGENT, and other '70s cock rockers. To be fair, I had a similar obsession in my teenage years, and I never quite got past it either (just last summer I dug up a bunch of BLACK SABBATH tunes and obsessed on them for about a week -- and just in time for Satan Day 2006 (that's 6-6-06 in case you don't get it; and if I'm still alive in June of 2066 I'll be celebrating Satan Month with demonic fervor)).

But Will especially loved '70s-style groove jams: you know, like the 10-minute guitar solo in "Stranglehold" by TED NUGENT and shit like that. Most of the songs he wrote for PLANET ED featured a very long instrumental break, usually filled by Will going off on some Biafra-esque tirade (if you listened to Stand Your Ground you already know what I'm talking about). Will also loved to play incredibly long sets and talk to people while on stage. It didn't bother him too much if we spent a minute or two (or three or four or ten) between songs yelling at people in the crowd or making bad jokes -- like, imagine the FEAR sequence in Decline of Western Civilization (don't make me say Part 1), except less confrontational and less funny.

Dave, on the other hand, loved short fast songs with goofy, down-to-earth lyrics. His idols were SCREECHING WEASEL, CRIMPSHRINE, MR. T EXPERIENCE, GREEN DAY, THE QUEERS, CRINGER, 7 SECONDS, and hundreds (literally hundreds--Dave's record collection was of Bodleian proportions) of other bands that Will used to refer to as "low-grade punk rock" (of course, this was three years before Dookie! would come out and suddenly turn Dave's "low-grade punk rock" into big, BIG business). He couldn't stand long instrumental grooves, and he wanted a very short set and as little time as possible between songs. In Dave Graeter's happy place, the bands all play fifteen songs in ten minutes.

I guess I sort of fell somewhere in the middle--maybe. I mean, I definitely liked short songs, but I also wanted a little more substance in the music than Dave seemed content with. I was also totally obsessed with BOB MOULD and HUSKER DU, so I wanted more emo-type content in there too. So basically, each of us was going in a different direction. We argued. We argued a lot.

One way or another, things always seemed to go wrong for PLANET ED. The majority of horror stories I have about playing shows are from PLANET ED shows. At our "big show" with ROYAL CRESCENT MOB at Canal Street Tavern, the Mob turned out to be total assholes who wanted us off stage in like thirty minutes (so we played for an hour--and even Dave was okay with that). We played Oxford when the snow was 8 inches deep and I had a terrible head cold and we had to wait until 3 a.m. to collect our money (which turned out to be $15). Our planned five-day tour of the midwest fell apart completely at the last minute. I mean, every booking fell through the day we were supposed to leave--after we'd rented the van!

But we kept playing. We kept practicing. We kept making records. Somehow, for the two years we were together, it worked. We argued, but we compromised. We had some lousy shows, but we turned them into great stories. For all the tension, it was fun. And I think we made some good music.

PLANET ED's first release was a cassette entitled Bubblegum for the Masses, a live thing we recorded at Canal Street Tavern. That cassette is sort of a story in itself and best belongs with a post about Canal Street Tavern. Today, I'm sharing our first 7" record, Listen and Understand, Earthlings!

I like this one because I think it shows how each of us kind of set aside our usual preferences and learned something from the others. Although I wrote "Hollywood Erotic," it's really a joke song -- no emo-content whatsoever. "Feelings Turn Colors" is Will's offering, but it's a fairly straight arrangement with only a brief guitar solo and no political ranting. Dave's song "Tension Kid" (which is at least partly about Will) is actually the longest one, and it's even got a groovy instrumental break in the middle.

Track list:

1. Hollywood Erotic
2. Feelings Turn Colors
3. Tension Kid

Download it! (18 MB) (link re-upped on 2-4-2013)

UPDATE 2-4-2013: The download package here is a completely new rip.  The old one was done on a terrible combo-stereo system.  This one is from a much better stereo.

As usual, the download package includes hi-resolution scans of the record and the insert. I think this one came out particularly well. I love Dave's layout on the inner part of the sleeve (the pictures in this entry are details of it), and I think the label on the "Planet Side" of the vinyl is so nice, I'd put it on a t-shirt.

The sample at the beginning of "Feelings Turn Colors" is from Dead Poets' Society. The one in the middle of "Tension Kid" is from Repo Man (which I should really get on DVD some time).

Nick Kizirnis and Nick Atkinson helped with the back-up vocals on "Tension Kid."

Recorded at Cro-Magnon studios. Engineered by Joe Buben.

For the bands I played in, my ultimate wish for this blog has always been to some day dig up all the masters and post better quality recordings. Unfortunately, in PLANET ED's case, this plan will always remain a dream. For some inexplicable reason, Dave and I appointed Will the official keeper of the PLANET ED masters. In typical Dalgard fashion, he lost them years ago (probably traded them for some magic beans). Today's post is from the vinyl. However, Dave tells me he's got a cassette of this stuff that came right from the studio master tapes. When I get that tape from him, I'll post it here.

take care

---Jones

LIQUID DRAINO, oops! Another Day (cassette, 1990)

A few months after OXYMORONS got together, a couple of guys wandered into the lounge at WWSU (which was my home away from home at the time -- my actual home being Canal Street Tavern) and asked if anyone knew where a local punk band might get a show. They said they were in a band in Beavercreek called LIQUID DRAINO. I got their number, and Grog got them on the bill at OXYMORONS' next show at Canal Street Tavern. As I remember, one or two of them were still underage at the time, which meant their parents had to be in the bar when they played.

They kicked ass. They pretty much wore their influences (SCREECHING WEASEL, 7 SECONDS) on their sleeves (so did we), but they were damn good guys in a damn good band. The only complaint from that show came from the band members themselves. They didn't like the fact that three of their songs were instrumentals because no one had written lyrics for them yet. But nobody else seemed to care.

Over the next couple of years, we played with LIQUID DRAINO several times both in and out of Dayton, and we all got to be pretty good friends. We did at least one mini-tour together, maybe more (I lose track).

LIQUID DRAINO was:

Dave Graeter - drums, voice
Sheldon Mutter - guitar, voice
Eric Bagdonas - guitar, voice
Brian Bagdonas - bass, voice

All these guys played in other bands around Dayton after LIQUID DRAINO broke up. Dave was in COLAVISION, LARRY BRRRDS, THE BARNHILLS, and ART OF CHOKE. Sheldon was in CIGARHEAD and plenty of others (Dave would know specifics). Eric and Brian were in THE PURE PLASTIC TREE and KIL-KARE. Brian is currently in the FOGHORN STRING BAND. I'll be sharing from some of these bands in future posts.

I'll also be telling more about LIQUID DRAINO and the individual members. But for now here are a few random recollections:

• Sheldon earned the nickname "Sasquatch" for his tendency to be sighted enigmatically walking by the side of the road. People who knew him would usually stop and take him wherever he was headed.
• Eric and Brian's last name was often transmogrified to "Bag-O-Donuts" (usually by Ben, who loved nicknames).
• Dave Graeter has the finest private collection of obscure punk and indie rock that I've ever seen, and he has the best taste in music of anyone I've ever known. If Dave ever recommends a band to you, you should listen.
• LIQUID DRAINO was but one of at least five bands that practiced in Dave's parents' basement over the years (the others being PLANET ED, COLAVISION, THE LARRY BRRRDS, and Dave's older brother's cover band whose name escapes me right now -- UPDATE (3-2-2008 it was NOBODY'S BUSINESS).
• Dave's dad, Paul Graeter, is the coolest registered member of the Republican party I've ever met.

About the download, I ripped this from a first generation cassette dubbed straight off the original mixed reel-to-reel, so it's probably the best sound quality one could get without the reel itself. I included a scan of that cassette in the package, but I've also got a scan of the production model insert and cassette. Thanks to Gail for providing me with those.

Most of these songs were written when the band members were still in high school (I remember Ben being particularly impressed by that--me too for that matter). You'll find individual lyric and music credits on the insert.

"Dinosaurs" was intended to have lyrics but nobody ever finished them.

Notice how Dave wrote both "Save the World" and "Blow Up the World"? The boy is a mass of contradictions.

Eric's note to "just whine along" to "Radio" is a dig at Sheldon, who never wrote out the lyrics to this song and doesn't enunciate them clearly enough for anyone to tell what he's singing.

Ben Shelcker (credited as Ben Phlegm) played harmonica on "Blow Up the World."

The cover picture is of the Beavercreek McDonalds on Dayton-Xenia Rd. I believe that McDonald's was demolished and rebuilt some time in the '90s.

As a bonus, I'm throwing in a live recording of Dave's and my other band PLANET ED performing "Room 101" with Sheldon on vocals (and that's me on bass, Will Dalgard on guitar, Dave Graeter on drums -- so it's half and half -- PLANET DRAINO?). At the beginning and end you'll hear some of that classic PLANET ED time-wasting stage banter that used to drive Dave absolutely crazy (more on that when I do the PLANET ED post).

In addition to this, LIQUID DRAINO released a 2nd cassette, Ike Fell in the Water. I'll be sharing that at some point, as well as a LIQUID DRAINO live show I've got.

Track list:

1. Life Without You
2. Room 101
3. Save the World
4. Dinosaurs
5. Don't Need It
6. Grey Suit Man
7. Roller Skating
8. Whales
9. Radio
10. Blow Up the World
11. Innocence
12. Planet Ed (live)-Room 101

All songs were recorded January 6, 1990 at Cro-Magnon studios (engineered by Joe Buben), except track 12, which was recorded by me on a boombox at Canal Street Tavern, March 1, 1991.

Download it! (29 MB) (link re-upped on 2-1-2013)

Thanks again to Gail for providing me with the insert and cassette, which are only a fraction of the treasure trove of stuff she dropped off at my place yesterday. She brought me 12" records by THE PLEASURES PALE, TOOBA BLOOZE, THE OBVIOUS, and THE HIGHWAYMEN, as well as scads of cassettes from the likes of BIG BROWN HOUSE, MOM, LIMITED POTENTIAL, and others -- plus some flyers, t-shirts, photos, more 7"s than I can count, and a couple of surprise items that will remain top secret for now.

So with all that plus my and Grog's stuff, there's enough material to last at least a year, likely more. The bad news is that today the new semester starts at law school, and I'll be busy as hell with that until December or thereabouts. So it may take me quite a while to scan and rip all the stuff Gail dropped by. But I've got a good backlog of posts already written and music already ripped, so you can expect at least one or two posts a week for the foreseeable future.

take care

---Jones