It Happened...But Nobody Noticed - compilation CD

This compilation of New Haven, CT. bands was originally released in 1982 and has been reissued with extra tracks by Craig Bell. As I'm looking online, there is a companion documentary, as well, and there has been at least one related live show. Mighty impressive! There is a booklet included with photos, member info and contact info for all of the bands, as well - nice package!

This two-CD set is jam-packed with varied high-quality tunes, from the fairly silly, fun new wave of Poodle Boys' "Pop Party" and the Subdueds' "Subdued Theme" to the pop of Scout House's "Talkin' About You" and Hot Bodies' Shoes-like "In the Inside" (featuring Kerry Miller from Craig's current band, Deezen). More new-wavey quirkiness from The Furors and Craig's own Saucers and their "Muckraker" (originally done with Rocket From the Tombs - love the wacked out instro break). The Snotz' "That's Life" has more than a passing resemblance to "Sweet Jane" mixed with "Is That All There Is" (among other songs), but with their own bits thrown in to this 60's-styled pop ballad. There's a bit of Farfisa-fueled garage power in the TV Neats' "Dear Abby" and pure goofiness in International Q's glossolalia-inspired "Small Talk". Things get a little more esoteric with Troupe Di Coupe's "Funeral Row", with its soundtrack-y congas and horn section. Rawer and a little more "punk" is No Music's "Same Old Shit" while October Days' "Do the Right Thing" is more atmospheric, in kind of a Pere Ubu way. The bassist for the Bats is nicknamed "Riff", and his playing on "Living In Alaska" makes it obvious why - cool, upbeat and rockin' all the way through by every member of this three piece.

Disc 2 opens with the Stratford Survivors (featuring Mad Mike Czekaj of the Fuzztones, Headhunters and Alter Egos, among others) and their hard hittin' catchiness of "It's Not Enough". More new-wave weirdness in Disturbance's "Somebody Move" and pure power-pop in the Excerpts' "Give Me a Second". Epitome thrown a bit of everything into "Baby No More Tears" - hard hittin' guitars, pop melodies and a smattering of noise, all to good effect. Waves of feedback open Valley of Kings' drivin' "Today You're Laughing", a hip piece of psych-surf. I'm sure my bands appeared on some of the same comps as the Not Quite and their super-cool, high-energy organ-fueled retro-garage. The Sabres are definitely garage-y, as well, but with a bit more new-wave influences, and Dada Banks' "communism" is pure early new wave (with a tag-ending of "Wild Thing"), as is the Radio Reptiles' "The Man in the Chinese Puzzle", while the Cadavers' "Do Ya Wannit" is a bit of low-fi, smash'n'bash pop. Craig Bell relinquishes the bass to (his wife?) Claudia Bell and takes up with guitar in The Plan for their garage-pop "I Love NY I Hate NY". More garage-psych-pop (terrific melodies) in Happy Ending's "Planned Community" with the added plus of some sweet saxophone and the proceeding conclude with the power-pop of the Reducers' "Out of Step".

Who knew that New Haven was such a hot-bed for new music in the early 80's? Great comp of a variety of music and great time capsule.

The Gizmos World Tour 2014 hits Ohio Halloween weekend

For the 3rd trek of the Gizmos world tour, the guys and gal hit Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio for a Halloween weekend filled with plenty of tricks'n'treats. Everyone - myself, Kenne Highland, Eddie Flowers, Ted Niemiec, Davey Medlock, Craig Bell, Sam Murphy and Kelsey Simpson - came to town on Halloween night, and, in true Gizmos' style, once again the airlines conspired against us and Eddie (again) got to Columbus at the last minute - missing sound check and getting to the club as the first band was playing! The rest of us made it there with a little more time to spare - we were able to go straight to sound check and even get a nice dinner (courtesy of our patron saint, Gene Mullett, who also set up the show and much, much more) before the gig began. The venue for the evening was a cool little dive bar called Cafe Bourbon Street, run by super nice folks who were extremely hospitable and who even had the Gizmos CD (along with plenty more greatness, including Pere Ubu) on their jukebox!

Opening the night was the Sick Thrills, with two lefty guitar players (the photo is not backwards!), bass, drums, and animated singer, who blasted out a set of short, fast, chaotic punk rock songs about drugs and more drugs! Stand out for me was "I Don't Give a Fuck", which was a little less frantic and had some cool guitar licks.

Up next was the 6-piece garage/r'n'b/soul machine called the Hexers, featuring singer Eric Wrong (who we met at Gonerfest), along with John Rice, Tim O'Dell, Michael Hodgkiss, John Stickley and Mark Wyatt (at least that's the line-up listed on their FB page - I'm afraid I don't remember everyone's names as I was introduced to them). These stylish cats threw down an amazing sound with lots of energy and fantastic playing! The guitars both smoked - loved the twin leads they did - the keys (he moved out of town and had to leave the band, but came back for this show, much to our appreciation!) added lots to the sound and the rhythm section was wild and monstrous! Eric's frenetic stage presence reminded me a bit of Peter Zaremba, without being derivative, and he blew some mean harp, as well - especially dug it when he ran it through some tremelo and echo. I admit that I'm still a sucker for well-played garage rock'n'roll and these cats were definitely a highlight of the weekend for me!

Mike Rep and Last Call were up next with their two guitar/drum action, sounding like a mix of the 13th Floor Elevators and Velvet Underground, with plenty of other influences thrown in. Some psych, some garage, some country, some lo-fi punk and lots of attitude. Mike's first record was on Moxie as the Quotas, and was recorded in 1975, so the man has been around! His last song was a reminiscence about 1973 and he even mentioned Steven Tyler and the Gizmos in it!

In between bands, fab DJ Pizza the Hutt was spinning vinyl and playing very Gizmos-appropriate music, from Alice Cooper to Silverhead to Vom and countless more hep grooves. Definitely a big addition to the night - as opposed to the dance club next door whose soulless thump kept seeping through the walls!

The Gizmos squeezed onto the tiny stage and played to a relatively small but appreciative audience of merry-makers and costumed crazies and had a great time running through our set of oldies as well as several new tunes for us - a Ted Niemiec original that they crowd pogo'd along to ("Around"), an Eddie Flowers' Crawlspace tune ("The Devil Talks in Tongues") and the closer, a song co-written by bassist Craig Bell (when he was in Rocket From the Tombs), "Final Solution". Everyone was super cool and hospitable and a big thanks goes out to Gene Mullett for setting this up and being a perfect host!

The next morning we headed out and stopped at a diner for brunch, which unfortunately ended setting us back a couple of hours due to slow, slow service. Went straight to the Cleveland Public Theater for sound check for that night's WCSB Halloween Masquerade Ball that we were headlining. Quite a change of venue from the night before! Everyone here was super accommodating, as well, and treated us great and we had a fine check, despite a little technical issues here and there.

Got to meet the gentlemen from X____X, who Craig was playing with this night, as well, and they went off to an undisclosed location to practice (it had been several months since their last show) as the rest of the Gizmos headed to My Mind's Eye Record Store for an in-store and a short acoustic set. We had no idea what to expect, but owner Charles was super nice, the store was great, and people were actually there to see and talk to the Giz-men. We didn't have a lot of time so we (Kenne, Ted, Eddie, Sam and I) saddled up to the acoustic guitars and mics and ran through a few tunes as a taster for the night's events, with Kelsey providing percussion off to the side and Davey Medlock singing from the audience. The folks that arrived for us were quite appreciative and we hung out and talked a bit before having to run back to the theater.

Even when we returned, people were starting to fill out the auditorium and many were decked in amazing, elaborate costumes. There was a costume contest this night and plenty deserved to win - you can see some of the top runners-up below, though I heard that the winner was the person dressed as a life-sized tree! Have no idea how he/she even moved around!

In any case, the gig began with the Counter Intuits, with members from Great Plains, Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Times New Viking and Obnox (drummer Roseanna), who provided a kinda new-wavey, droney, no-wavey, pounding soundtrack. Kinda hard to describe, but a fine start to the evening. And yes, there was yet another lefty guitar player!

Dressed for the occasion was All Dinosaurs, although I did not get very clear pix of them. They were LOUD, fast and technically very proficient thrash punk and got the crowd slamming as if this was an 80's skinhead concert!

Right before the Gizmos was X____X, featuring bassist among men, Craig Bell, along with John Morton from the electric eels, and guitarist Andrew Klimek (founding member of X___X from 1979, I am told, and currently also in Scarcity of Tanks) and drummer Matt Harris (who drove in with John from New York for the gig!). Unfortunately, right from the start they were plagued with a couple of technical difficulties, exacerbated by Morton's temper tantrums, which was the main reason why they barely played 4 songs within their 45-60 minute set. I'm told that this is his schtick and he looks upon it as a confrontational performance piece, but for people who come to hear music, this gets a bit tiresome. Many people left for fresh air or drinks while John complained or just wandered the stage, and those who stayed just became restless. It's all too bad because the few minutes of music that they did play was quite good and noisey, and there was some cool theremin work, as well.

But, thankfully, Craig was fine for the Gizmos set, as we played for hundreds of crazed fans who were singing along, grabbing at us, slamming and generally going nutz for our entire set! This was one of the most fun and best attended gigs I have done since touring Europe a couple of decades ago. As always, the Gizmos tend to be a bit... "reckless" has been used, though some may say "sloppy", but we are energetic and try to give the crowd a show. We truly appreciate the reception that these old men impersonating teenagers have been getting! Hopefully, we will continue to have nights like this one.

After the set we reunited with DJ Lauren (Pizza the Hutt) from the night before, along with meeting tons of new people before heading out exhausted and exhilarated.

Next up for the Gizmos is Chicago for Thanksgiving weekend for the Good Vybes Fest at the Empty Bottle!

Saucers - Second Saucer

Compiled of songs that were written back in the band's original days, Saucers (Craig Bell on bass/guitar, Malcolm Doak on keys/synth and Malcolm Marsden on guitar/harmonica , along with newcomer Kerry Miller from Deezen on drums) have reformed to finally record these long-languishing tunes. This five song EP retains much of the band's original sound, which is still fresh and riveting to this day.

Citing influences like the Velvet Underground, Kinks and Eno when initially recruiting members for Saucers, these songs certainly maintain those touchstones along with the likes of Roxy Music, the Modern Lovers and more.

Propelled by Miller's insistent drum beat, Marsden's "Security" comes off like John Cale (vocal stylings and cacophonous guitar work) fronting a rawer Roxy Music - rockin'n'hypnotic with plenty of keyboard coloring. Doak's "Half Naked and Dead" is a bit more new-wavey, with a gruesome subject matter contrasted by poppy keyboard hooks that are original yet evocative of other 80's hits. In "Tossed a Coin" there are quirky/ almost garage-y rhythms that again hints at an older song, but the synthesizer flourishes add a whole 'nother dimension. "Why Say I?" is more traditionally rockin' with harmonica, B-52-ish vocals and more cool synth. For the closer, Bell's "Where Have They Gone", we get an almost Dylan-like mid-tempo piece with great bursts of Neil Young-like noise guitar  sweeping through it - really well constructed and played.

Craig Bell has been in the center of a lot of fabulous music for a number of decades now and has no intention of stopping any time soon! Check out any of his projects for off-the-beaten-track music.

The Saucers - What We Did

Another amazing event from the Gizmos weekend was the chance to play shows with one of the

members of Rocket From the Tombs, bassist Craig Bell, in his new band, Deezen. I am a huge RFTT fan (I can't believe that I haven't written about the record of theirs that I have) and, of course, their famous spin-off bands, Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys. But, Craig had his own great combo after the break-up of Rocket and his relocation to New Haven, CT.: the Saucers. To make this world even smaller, it turns out that their first gig was with the Survivors, with my old pal Mike Czekaj, from the Fuzztones and Alter Egos!

This CD is made up of songs taken from three separate recording sessions, each with slightly different line-ups as people came and went around Craig and drummer Mark Mulcahy - and there's a nice booklet with the CD that explains all of the details. All are cool and I wouldn't say that any were necessarily better than the other, but all have good songs and sharp playing.

Craig was the primary (but not only) songwriter in the band and the CD opens with a great cut of his, "Muckraker", with the original line-up consisting of keyboardist Malcolm Doak and guitarist Malcolm Marsden fleshing out Craig and Mark's rhythm section. When advertising for members for the band, Bell cited the Velvets, Kinks and Eno as influences ad they all make their mark on this tune, with its quirky, new-wave-y keyboard parts, incessant beat and angular, noisy guitar lines - not dissimilar from early Voidoids and pretty damn great. There's some obvious 60's garage influences in Marsden's "Orpheus", without being retro, while "Annie" is damn near poppy!

"Frustration" is a bass-driven instrumental, kinda reminiscent of RFTT, and has some nice synth-noise and "Slow Down" is quite Velvet-y - almost a cross between "Femme Fatale" and the organ-dominated "Ocean", with some clever twists and turns. The final cut from the first session is a new take on the fantastic epic, "Final Solution", made famous by Pere Ubu, but done justice here with a drivin' rhythm and plenty of keyboard and guitar dissonance.

When they got back to the studio a year later Doak had left and was replaced with a 2nd guitar player, Seth Tiven. "Roadmaster" is quite rockin', filled with energy and some RFTT-ish chords, catchy vocals and lots o punk-punch. There's an update on "Muckraker" with some raw, two-guitar attack, another take on "Frustration" and then the manic "I Didn't Get It". Marsden provides the title track - a new-wave-y singalong with a wacky breakdown, as well as "Take a Chance", a snappy number epitomizing late 70's punk.

From the 1980 session - with Katherine Cormack joining on keys and guitar after the departure of Marsden - we get the pure 60's pop of "A Certain Kind of Shy" and a damn great anthem "She's Alright" that throws in garage, new-wave, punk and pop elements so that there's something for everyone and still manages to make a superior tune. There's Who-like chords and catchy riffs highlighting "Mirrors" (theme song for the band?) and the bouncy bubblegum of "Quiet Boy" before the high energy garage romps of "Hypnotized" and "I Need Drugs". The proceedings close with a live cut from their practice loft, the terrific "Why Me" - powerful and memorable - making it all that much more of a shame that they split while writing such good tunes.

A very cool example of early punk/new-wave coolness that was happening in all kinds of odd parts of the country, like New Have, Connecticut! Fine, fine stuff!

The Down-Fi - America Now

At some point I'm gonna find out the chronology and history of this young man, but here is another band from Craig Bell (ex-Rocket From the Tombs), this time originating in Indianapolis, Indiana, his current town, so I take a logical stab that this was his band before Deezen. Here Craig is on guitar along with another current Deezen-ite, Sam Murphy, and Jason Bambey on bass and Mike Theodore on drums.

This opens with a clever, catchy chord progression leading into a power-pop classic (at least in a better world than this one), "Let It Go". In "Tears in Her Eyes" it sounds to me like the Velvets doing a rockin' pop tune with drivin' drum work by Theodore. Their car song, "'62 Hawk" reminds me of a punky-blues in the vein of Jayne County and then they slow things down for the melodic ballad (nice bass work from Bambey) "Don't Keep Me Waiting" that includes some strong dynamics. "You Be You" is a plain rocker and the Bell revisits his past with a RFTT number "So Cold" that later became the basis for Pere Ubu's "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" - a powerfully dark and dramatic number that builds into a cool guitar workout for Sam's excellent playing.

Back to the upbeat pop for "Today" and then, based on the movie, "Network" is a pulsating, loud, shout-along tune. Punk-rock jungle drums mix with rollickin' bass on "Shit City" and then the CD finishes with a flourish with the anthemic title cut that kinda reminds me of the heavier parts of "Heroin".

Bell always has some cool tunes, mixing garage, pop, new wave and punk and always seems to fund good players to work with and this is no exception. I'm waiting for Deezen to record, but this is pretty damn close!

(I have found out that the Down-Fi is still active and will have new recordings out soon! Stay tuned!) 

interview with Craig Bell (Rocket From the Tombs/Saucers/Down-Fi/Deezen and lots more!)

I met Craig Willis Bell a few months ago when one of his latest conglomerations, Deezen, opened up for the first phase of the Gizmos reunion in Indiana.  Being a huge Rocket From the Tombs fan, I was a little freaked out that this man was opening - opening! - for the Gizmos. But, he was (and is) completely down to earth and totally cool and even accepted our offer to play bass in the mid-west version of the Gizmos! I wanted to learn more about him and, after he responded positively to reviews of some of his discs on this blog, I asked if he would consent to an email interview and he graciously accepted! Again, I'm no writer and as this testifies, I'm no interviewer, but here's Craig and his take of the early days of punk and new wave in the mid-west.

Let’s start with the basics - where did you grow up and what first got you into music?

I was born in Elmira, NY, where my dad worked on the railroad. We moved to a number of different places in New York state and elsewhere as he was promoted on his job, finally landing in Cleveland, Ohio in 1961. I was nine. I had always been into music and especially the radio when I was young.  My brother and I built shortwave kits and listened to broadcasts from all over the world.  I made a giant wire antenna in the rafters of our attic and started keeping a log of stations I could hear as I listened to the distant static-y signals late at night.  The farthest west I ever reached was Denver. I listened to Wolfman Jack on a Texas station, long before he was talked about in Rolling Stone.  Long before Rolling Stone for that matter!  I liked listening to different kinds of music and discovered  lots of small RnB and soul stations in the NE Ohio area, as well as country and early rock.  Of course everything changed with the Beatles coming on the scene!  I don’t think people who weren’t there to experience it can ever know what a tsunami the British Invasion was. Plus, lucky me!, I lived in Cleveland where we had the normal top 40 stations blasting the newest US hits, but we had 50,000-watt monster CKLW out of Windsor, Ontario, Canada broadcasting not only the latest Motown hits, but all the British stuff that was coming over to Canada, weeks before it hit the US charts! In on the ground floor!!

What was your first band?

When living at home, I was not allowed to own a guitar.  I played the trombone (horribly) and the clarinet (see trombone) in grade school but wanted to rock! I would hang around with friends who formed bands, being the go-fer/roadie. Without the intervention of my mother in Feb of 1964 I probably would not have seen The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, but I did. Although, that did not completely seal the deal.  What did was going to the Beachcliff Theatre with my buddy Dave Davis and spending the afternoon sitting through the Gerry and the Pacemakers movie Ferry Cross The Mersey in 1965 about four times; after that, we wanted to be in a rock and roll band!!!  Since I was 13 at the time, I had to wait another five years until I graduated from High School and moved out on my own to follow that dream.  During my high school years, I met the boyfriend of a girl I knew from my church who was a guitar player and liked a lot of stuff I was into.  Jim Crook was home on leave from the Army and soon to be off to Vietnam, as were thousands of others during the 1960’s. Jim did his stint, and he and Shari married when he returned in 1970.  About a year later he invited me to come over to his house on the West Side of Cleveland to meet his friend, guitarist Jamie Klimek.  They both were very excited that I had both Syd Barrett solo albums.  I was very excited that Jamie had a cute sister. I started hanging around more until Jamie decided to put me to use by handing me a bass guitar, showing me how to tune it, what the four strings were, and told me to figure the rest out for myself.  So I did. We needed a drummer, so I asked my friend Michael Weldon, who was a guitarist in that band I used to hang around with in school (I should mention their name here, The Rivers Edge) and we were given a drum set by another friend and we became Mirrors in 1971.

 

The Mirrors

How did you hook up with Rocket From The Tombs - who did you meet first?

I knew of Peter Laughner from he, and his wife, Charlotte Pressler, being fans of Mirrors and coming around on occasion to the few shows we did. Just as we were starting to play out a bit, I got drafted into the Army and would be gone from 1972-74 keeping you all free. (You’re welcome.)
Jamie has some humorous remarks about this in the liner notes to Those Were Different Times release on Scat Records, if you can find it.  Upon my return, I rejoined Mirrors. Jim Jones was holding place for me in the band while I was away, and we resumed sporadically playing around town. Later that year Peter approached me to join RFTT, which was going through its transition from a loose, parody, fun, weirdo band, to a loose, intense, fun, weirdo band. I went to the rehearsal space downtown near the Shoreway Bridge in Cleveland where I met Cheetah [Gene O'Connor - guitar] and Johnny [Madansky/Blitz - drummer] for the first time.  I had known  David  Thomas (Crocus Behemoth) for some time as he worked at the Viking Saloon and wrote a column for the weekly entertainment papers.

RFTT

Obviously the band was big Iggy fans - what other influences were the basis for your sound?

The Stooges were up there with The MC5, Velvet Underground, The Kinks, Troggs, Beefheart, Barrett, Pink Floyd, Eric Dolphy....we can go on but you get the picture.

Were there places that you could play in town? What kind of reaction would you normally get? Any particularly memorable shows?

RFTT played about five shows in its first go around.  We got some really good gigs at the Agora, opening for the likes of Iron Butterfly and Left End. Peter was really psyched about this NYC band Television and brought them to Cleveland for two shows with us in this penthouse club. We also played with Mirrors and die electric eels at the Viking Saloon a few times.

How was it working with those guys? Were there line-up changes while you were in the band? Did everyone get along?
Were you aware and did you have interactions with the other scenes in Ohio - Akron, Cinci - or were you playing before any of these other scenes got off the ground?

We got along as well as any early twenty somethings with lots of ideas fueled by various and sundry substances who suddenly found themselves in the middle of something that took on a life of its own. So we did what any band of twenty somethings with lots of ideas fueled by various and sundry substances who suddenly find themselves in the middle of something that has taken on a life of its own – we broke up!  Stiv Bators started hanging around and for awhile it was discussed if he would join the group, but instead, we decided to implode.

As for other budding Ohio music scenes, Besides, meeting Stiv, who was from Youngstown, Mirrors had played shows with Akron’s Tin Huey and that was about it, for me, before I left Cleveland that September.  

Did you try to do any other bands in Cleveland?

When I joined RFTT I was kicked out of Mirrors, so at the end of 1975 when Rocket was no more, I was kind of  lost at sea.  I briefly worked with Cheetah, Stiv, Johnny and Jimmy Zero in an early version of Frankenstein, which later became The Dead Boys, and David asked me if I wanted to join his new project with Peter, Pere Ubu.  I also worked with Kevin McMahon for awhile in what later would become Lucky Pierre, but in the end I wanted to try and do something that was my own.  I had been writing a few songs starting in Mirrors wrote and/or co-wrote some more in RFTT, and decided to pursue that direction.

What brought you to New Haven?

When I graduated, I got a job on the railroad (the family business, as it were, I was the 6th generation to work on the railroad) When I returned from my stint in the Army, my job no longer existed.  All the Eastern railroads were being re-organized because massive bankruptcies in the late 60’s early 70’s totally messed up the business. I could not get a decent job in Cleveland in the years after I came home, and when RFTT went bust, I thought it was time to try to find work somewhere else.  I got a job in New Haven, CT on Amtrak and moved there in the fall of 1976.

The Saucers What We Did album - and a link to their song "Muckraker"

Was there a scene happening when you got there?

I didn’t know up from down when we, my then girlfriend Rene Duer and I, came to CT.  I had only been there once before while in the  Army to see Pink Floyd, and it took about a year to start meeting people and finding out what’s what. I slowly learned of goings on, and soon answered an ad for a bass player in a town close by for a recording.  After that I started meeting more musicians in the area and put my own ad in the paper to find some people to form a band.  I met Malcolm Marsden, Malcolm Doak and Mark Mulcahy and we formed Saucers in late 1977. We had a rehearsal space in an old building off downtown and one day a couple of guys walking by heard us playing and stopped in to check us out.  Tom Hearn, and his friend Legs McNeil, of  Punk Magazine fame, liked what they heard and offered us our first gig at a strip mall bar along the shore in Devon.  We were off! After awhile more bands playing original music and non-top-40 covers started either forming or coming out of their spaces and we started doing off nights in a few local clubs that would let us in. Most of the scene at the time were the Top 40 cover bands.  Then we found a bar down by the Yale University campus that became Ron’s Place and from 78-81 it was the scene of an extraordinary explosion of original music in the city and surrounding region of Southern CT that has lasted to this day.

From the comp (It Happened But Nobody Noticed) it seems like a real scene developed, if it hadn’t already been going. What did you think were the strong bands and bands that you dug playing with? How long were you there and what made you leave?

Yes, there was, and still is, a vibrant music scene there. The Poodle Boys, Disturbance, Hot Bodies, Stratford Survivors [with Mad Mike Czejka of the Fuzztones, among many others], Scout House, Subdudes, Baby Strange and many others both on the original 13-song LP I put out in 1982 and the CD re-master I made in 2006 with another 13 bands from that era, a testament to the diversity and incredible talent that exists there.  A documentary about the NH scene was made a few years ago, titled after the comp, It Happened, But Nobody Noticed and is on YouTube.

The Bell System and a link to their song "America Now"

What brought you to Indianapolis?

After 13 years and many bands (Saucers, Future Plan, The Plan, The Bell System, Rhythm Methodists) I was burned out on music, on trying to get a record out, and on bad choices, I needed a change.  I took a job transfer to Indianapolis, IN in 1989.

What was your first band there?

I pretty much was through with music when I moved here, I was beaten and broken.  I spent the first few years working my RR job and feeling sorry for myself and allowing myself to sink into the dark shadows of life.  Around 1995 things started to clear a bit and I pulled the guitar out from under the bed and my wife Claudia, who had been playing in bands with me since 1982, and I started playing a little bit every Xmas with friends in Columbus, Ohio.  Then I went to Cleveland for a show and ran into Jim Jones and Jimmy Zero. From that I was invited to speak and perform at the RnR HOF and Museum in 1997 along with Jimmy and other Cle musicians. After that, David issued the RFTT album of old recordings, The Day The Earth Met Rocket From The Tombs, in 2002 and we reformed to do a one off show in Los Angeles that has turned into a, so far, 12-year new journey.

The Down Fi and a link to a live show

And here's my review of their records, Beehunter and America Now

So I decided to give it another go.  I cleaned myself up a bit and started over with some folks here, Sam Murphy, Mike Theodore, and Jason Bambery in The Down-fi. We recorded our CD America Now in 2009. We have continued through some personnel changes, Sam and I, along with Blane Slaven now on drums, with another EP and a couple of singles. We are presently writing and recording new material for immediate release!

I also joined with Sam and our friends Mike Rippy, Kelsey Simpson, and Dan O’Connell (replaced by Kerry Miller) in Deezen for the past number of years also.

What are your plans now?

I am retiring from the railroad this December 2014 and plan to play and record music as long as I am physically able.  Besides playing and recording with TDFi, Rocket From The Tombs, and Deezen, I play with friends in various other projects at present such as The Gizmos, Teddy and the Mofos, and X_____X. Have bass will travel!

Deezen live, opening for the Gizmos

The Gizmos with Craig, Kelsey and Sam from Deezen

Gizmos World Tour 2015 - State Street Pub, Indianapolis Indiana Friday July 10, 2015

After a few months' hiatus, the Gizmos returned to the scene of the original crime, Indiana, for a couple summer shows and a recording session! Given that our rhythm section - the infamous Craig Bell (Rocket From the Tombs, X_____X, Deezen, the Down Fi and much more) on bass, Kelsey Simpson on drums and Sam Murphy on guitar - all live in Indy and perform in Deezen, we set up a "warm-up" show for the night of our arrival in town and had the terrific Deezen open up.

Most of the out-of-towners arrived late afternoon/early evening and we immediately went down to the secret Deezen practice cave to run through our set, along with the songs that we would be recording on Sunday. Everything went surprisingly (to me, at least!) well and we headed off to the State Street Pub.

Piling in our gear, we took over the bar and stage and the Deezen-Gizmos members were joined by keyboardist Rippy and singer Kerry and they jumped into their set of garage/punk rockers. Opening with the appropriately titled original "Rock'n'Roll", they sounded in top form, with some tight harmonies and plenty of energy. String popping was the theme for the night - I broke one at practice, Sam busted one during Deezen's set and Craig busted a bass string (!) as he was setting up for the Gizmos - but that didn't deter the rock. Cool garage/psych/Monks-ish number with tremelo'd guitar and Mo Tucker drums, a fast punker ("Hot Dog"), heavy reverb on a mid-tempo dynamic garage rocker "Wrong Kind of Love" and plenty more! Really superior set from this hot-shot group!

The Gizmos ran through everything in a comparatively quick set (another band, Wet Heave, who would also be playing the next night at Mutant Fest, went on after us) but we played all of our tunes, with Kerry Miller joining us on drums so that Kelsey could move to guitar for "Pumpin' to Playboy" and including a couple of new numbers that we would be recording, along with Rocket From the Tombs' classic "Final Solution". Fun time all around and off for some rest for the next day's festivities.

The Day the Earth Met The Rocket From the Tombs

Wow! This is a motherfucker of an album! A collection of demos and live cuts, this is another incendiary selection of wild rock'n'roll from 70's Cleveland. Sure, the sound quality is a bit iffy, but that really gives it an edge, and r'n'r should always have a razor-sharp edge to it. Not unlike the boot Life Stinks, which was mostly (all?) taken from a radio show, the sound seems to be from multi-generation tapes, but still has enough clarity so that you can pick out everything and you can feel the raw-power-high-energy vibe pulsating through it all!

As with the afore-mentioned Life Stinks, this opens with an instrumental take on "Raw Power" that turns into their own "So Cold", a well-written piece of unrefined, barely restrained energy with simple but extremely effective guitar lines. A dementedly frenzied "What Love Is" follows (that later became a Dead Boys song) and right from the introduction, you can tell that this will be even more primitive than the DB's version! Of course, Crocus' voice is pretty damn different from Stiv's, and there are no harmonies but the guitars blend together and create some terrific new noise while the rhythm section blasts! Another future Dead Boys' tune, "Ain't It Fun" has excellent guitar work (not sure if this is Peter Laughner or Eugene O'Connor, but it scrapes at the speakers) and manic vocals. Man, "Transfusion" is a basic, three-chord number, but is crazily good - kind of an Alice Cooper vibe (it's very similar to something that they used to do live but never recorded), with twisted lyrics and amazing playing all around. This is probably my favorite piece from the album - maybe cuz I never heard it before or just cuz it's that damn good!

Bassist Craig Bell starts out the song (and adds some fine noise to) "Life Stinks" and it's even more anarchic and chaotic (in an incredible way) than the Pere Ubu version - absolutely terrific! Craig's "Muckraker" immediately follows and is a stompin' piece with more biting guitar. Speaking of guitar, the lines that interweave in "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" are truly clever and kinda mind-blowing, when you really listen to what they're doing. This is a true classic! Of course, the rave-up is bombastic and the lead guitar is so overdriven that it sounds like it's dumped in acid - and it just gets better! This has to be the best version of this song that I've heard - it's like a physical assault! Whew! And there's even a snippet of "Satisfaction" at the very end.

A very bizarre, trippy opening to "Sonic Reducer" belies its potency, and the call'n'answer chorus and solo parts make this a very different experience. A slightly out of tune "Never Gonna Kill Myself Again" would become "Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth" in Stiv's hands, but here it is a bit haunting, considering Laughner's fate. The intro to this version of "Final Solution" is varied a bit from the one we know so that it almost reminds me of "I Need Lunch" - wonder if that was an intentional later bit of thievery. There are a number of alterations from Pere Ubu's take, but is wonderfully cacophonous and - if my ears don't deceive me - there some sax in this one, as well.

Wearing their influences on their sleeves, they pull out a frantic "Foggy Notion" (Velvet Underground) and add some fine squawk'n'squeal to this. I've never heard "Amphetamine" before, but it is appropriately Velvet-influenced, despite the heavy drums, with bits sounding like "Heroin", "The Ocean" and more, but still coming up with something reasonably original, as well. Also new to me is "Read It and Weep", which is pretty drivin' with some cool changes, and there are some obvious Who influences in "Seventeen", but ain't nothin' wrong with that! For some reason the fidelity drops on "Frustration", and the bass drum is almost annoyingly loud, but it's another hep tune with more neat guitar noodling. This moves directly into "Down in Flames" (where the Dead Boys got their name and which they recorded), with Cheetah pretty much duplicating what he would later do in the Boys, but with Laughner giving it a great counterpoint, and then the finale is "Search and Destroy", again being unafraid to show their inspiration.

I have loved Life Stinks since I first found it, but this is even wilder and more unbridled! I'd say this is essential!