Roots, Part 11: Chronic Insurgence

Here's the real star of the day.  I promised a nü-metal song featuring myself and Aidan and that is one of the high points here.  It's an odd story, for sure.

So, the week before, Aidan and I were on our own and as the Popes, created Shabazz!.  The next week was a different story as we were thrown into the "misfit band."  That got off to a real bad start as that Friday we met our drummer, a preppy redneck with no talent, knowledge, or taste.  He was named Chuck.  Just overall one of the most terrible people I ever met and a constant sore in all of our sides that on numerous occasions almost came to blows.  The four other members could all say they "almost killed him," as did nearly everyone on the staff.

Next we met our self-imposed frontman.  First, I should say that as a good citizen who got to do whatever he wanted the week before, I let this clown have his way a bit, plus he was a lot better than Chuck.  The fact that this guy, Josh had blue hair, wore all black - juggalo pants and sleeveless tees, and dog collars exclusively, was from Chicago, and was convinced he was the smartest person on Earth should show just how awful Chuck was.  Obviously he played a B.C. Rich.

Last arrived our bassist.  He was a nice guy from Rochester named Kevin and was your typical bass geek.  You know, the kind of person with a chin beard who wants to tell you how great Big Dumb Face is.  He, of course, played a 5-string, which was still the least offensive ax not owned by a McEneaney.  This left me playing a different instrument all week - usually my Explorer.

That Monday, the five of us began this miserable musical exploration.  Five days later, watergun outlet emerged and here is the evidence.

The inside, featuring all five members in front of tires surrounded by chainlink fence:
Uno (Christopher McEneaney) on guitar and bass, Gorak (Aidan McEneaney) on guitar, Qev (Kevin) on bass, Josh, who proudly announces that he is Satan on guitar and vocals, and Chuck Daddy on drums.

The back and front cover.
To the left we are in Satan's room.  We thought it would be funny, and it is.  The right is the cover designed by Satan which he loved to remind us was not the same as the Quake logo.  The scan never worked, and I don't care because this is fucking stupid.

Here's the back cover (GET IT?!?) which segues into further explanation...

Our tracklist was as odd as the membership.

We began with "Just Like Honey," which I sang, and thankfully did not play guitar on - two was bad enough.  I can't listen to this version of the song, because I can't stand my own voice, especially at 15, but I'll mention that this is my mom's favorite recording ever.  Funny story, when we practiced it, Aidan naturally turned his distortion all the way up.  Satan told him not to because "it's a soft song."  Keep in mind in addition to him knowing nothing of good music just chooses to ignore the fact that Aidan was familiar with the original song.

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" was an odd choice too, just showing what a "compromise" amongst this group means. In rehearsals we would have a fairly interesting noise breakdown that unfortunately was not recreated in the studio.  Still funny on the CD, though.

"My Atonement," as should be obvious by now, was the aforementioned nu-metal track.  It may outdo "Wait and Bleed" as the nu-metal song I find most enjoyable due to my participation and the laughter it induces.  Naturally, this song has the best use of Qev's fifth string, and on the verses the sound of the three guitars palm muted is a truly rare sound.  It's so bad though, I think this would be funny to anyone, especially as the metal vocals nowadays sound like a really horrible Louis Armstrong impression.  It includes consecutive solos by Aidan and Satan, and it is very easy to tell which is which - one is tasteful and simple, while other sound like a reject from an unrelated Dream Theater song.  It speaks for itself, so give it a listen! 

Unlisted is, "Mirror In the Bathroom."  Originally by The (English) Beat, the song was butchered by Fifi on the SLC Punk soundtrack then THAT version was re-butchered by this band.

Overall this is a horrible recording, though one that is enjoyable for being so horrible.  It seriously is worth a good laugh, but perhaps, unlike The Power of Rawk only once.  Firstly some people in this band, mostly Chuck, lack proficiency on their instruments while others, mostly Satan, want to get a showy as possible.  There are three guitarists and everyone has completely different taste in music, so coupled with belligerence, bad ears, and ego there are no dynamics at all, and it's all very busy.

If you dare, here is Chronic Insurgence - watergun outlet (2002) for your listening pleasure.

Tomorrow, or perhaps Thursday, Shooting Stars - Politically Correct

Roots, Part 10: Lost Images

I just got some things I somehow left in California.  Firstly, the great images from The Shears whose story is told at that link, so I won't dwell on it.

First there was ¡Swing Pad! named after the room Aidan and Sam shared those two weeks.  Hopefully their essence is captured as we would have hoped.

Back and front cover with images from the title location.

Inside cover - some of my favorite images from the era.

Tray image.  This is a cartoon by Sam.  the letter in my hand reads "Dear Chris, I'm in love w you. - Gerry"  Gerry was my high school nemesis, so I react "WHAT?!?"  Aidan says "Hi, I'm Aidan and i'm Gay."  The third character, says, "wait... i'm not Sam."  At the time, he clearly didn't look like him, but years later he would look EXACTLY like this.

Then there was Smokin' in the Girls Room - a much looser affair featuring Jeff Ziga.

The Shears int he actual girls' room.

The back - us at Acme.

The inside, featuring Jon Shapiro and Jeff Ziga on the see-saw.

The tray.

Roots, part 7: The Lost Bands

I started playing in bands when I was 12.  That was way too late, but it was hard to find people to play with.  I was mostly a drummer back then, you could say.  When Time Well Spent played at the William Annin Middle School talent show in 2000 it was time to stop dragging my feet.  Time Well Spent was a ska band led by Will Lulofs (aka Will Stratton) who at that time included Laura Allen (drums), Alex Jen (bass), maybe Rob Fehn (sax), Josh Felter (trombone) and I think, Greg Schefler (trumpet).  Later on they included Jeff Nazareno on guitar and Shannon Mackey on vocals.

So I hooked up with Matt Brady who just started playing guitar.  We would eventually call our band Panaphobia, but for the rest of 2000 I switched to bass and we had a revolving cast of members such as Doug Chee, Bo Liu, Alec Signorino, Tommy Holden, and probably everyone else I was friends with in 8th grade. No recordings survive to my knowledge, but Doug Chee made some on his old TalkBoy, but in addition to Metallica and AC/DC covers "The Tower Air Saga" and "Smokey Bear Plays With Matches" were in their early formation.  The former was the first song we wrote with lyrics by Tommy written after a Time Well Spent performance.  Those lyrics returned in a one-off performance from Love Athena much later.  Other names considered/used were The Electric Shoes, (Red) Convulsion, and Safety Hazard.  How embarrassing!

That band dissolved by the end of 8th grade and things settled down on Xyster which featured myself, my brother Aidan, Tommy Holden, and Adrian Rodrigues Ricelli.  That band was a lot more focused on humorous noise rock and a demo recorded with a computer microphone was made on a MiniDisc in the Autumn of 2001.  That has probably vanished, sadly, but it had some cool stuff.  Any fan of The Power of Rawk would have loved what we made.  That day (possibly others too) we recorded songs like "The Tower Air Saga," "Radio Boy," "Creep Street," "Smokey Bear Plays With Matches," and "Randy."  The last was written by guest vocalist Albert Martini who compliments the lyrics about a bratty kid with a Louis Armstrong voice assuring us, "I got the Jell-o!"  It was one of the only songs to utilize the band's dual bass capability.   Tommy was out of the band somehow and replaced with Sam Deutsch before Xyster played Charter Day in Basking Ridge, May 2002 though it was not very successful.  We played "Creep Street," "Virulent," "Love Will Tear Us Apart," and I think "Blitzkreig Bop."  It was intense, I think "Virulent" sounded best even as a broke sticks and played drums with my hands.  At the time I thought we were re-inventing noise-rock.  It mat have been true.  

In the summers of 2001-2003 I attended Summer Music Programs in Bryn Mawr, PA and recorded 6 EPs with 5 different groups, all of whom played a show at the end of the week.  In 2001 was was in the Mejettes which was a pretty sad group of misfits that covered "Brown-Eyed Girl" and began my tradition of singing the Ramones with "Blitzkreig Bop," albeit with incorrect lyrics.  I can't recall what else and I would prefer not to... oh God, one of then was "What I Got"...  The next week I joined Shooting Stars on second bass/multi-instruments.  Shooting Stars had proven themselves the most interesting band the week before, and the coolest kids int eh program with the most diverse and open taste in music and best attitude.  Before me they had written some cool dubby originals and covered A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I Kick It?"  We did an original called "Music," another jammy one which's title I cannot recall, "Now I Wanna Snip Some Glue," and something else.  The Ramones cover was altered to keep it parent-approved, though it still got me in trouble as my own mother found a tube of Liquid Nails I was using to fix an old guitar buried in my room.  It was embarrassing, though the music was still cool.

The next year Aidan joined me and the first week we met Jeff Ziga who was our drummer and goth chick who played guitar.  We called ourselves the Popes and recorded the EP Shabazz!.  We played "Creep Street" and "Virulent" which had evolved to have a few more changes.  Even the super-hip Ziga was unsure of our minimalistic krautrock and Spacemen 3- derived sound, but we did it.  Additionally we covered more Joy Division with "Transmission" and something by the Ramones, I think "Beat on the Brat."  The next week the brothers McEneaney were thrown into another misfit band.  Satisfied with our work the week before we took it easier, but it was pretty difficult.  The band's de facto leader was a blue-haired Hot Topic victim from Chicago named Josh.  He dubbed us "Chronic Insurgence" which he thought was really clever and put this symbol on the album cover that was a total rip-off of the Quake logo, though he denied it to no end.  He played guitar and vocals.  Even worse was a rich redneck from North Carolina named Chuck.  I hit my breaking point with him and threatened him.  The administration had to speak with me, but they sympathized.  Everyone did.  I hope he was murdered.  Both of them actually.  The bassist (I played guitar all week) was the best non- McEneaney int eh band, but still your typical bass nerd.  He loved to slap and was really excited about the release of By The Way, wanting to cover the title track.  Obviously, he had a chin beard.  He was credited on the EP as "Qev."  The band performed a so-bad-it's-good original by Josh - the title escapes me, "Just Like Honey" (which I sang, of course), a jam and a cover of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" which had a noise breakdown that actually was the band's greatest achievement.  "Just Like Honey" was fun too and is my mom's favorite recording, but the BC Rich just doesn't jive with it.  When we played it Aidan, of course, cranked his distortion all the way up, once to be corrected by Josh who felt the need to remind him it was "a soft song, no distortion."  What an asshole.

These four EPs still exist, unfortunately the first two are in LA.  I'll get them back and post them.  The second two I could get at my mom's place some time soon probably/hopefully.  As for 2003, that was already documented in my article on The Shears.

In Fall 2002, Adrian left and Xyster folded, making way for Hurtu, which has also been documented.  What I failed to mention, possibly intentionally was the Guilty Parties.  This was a punk band formed by André Cernasov prior to joining Pukey and the Vomets and bassist Sean Dlugos.  I played drums, Sam was the singer.  We had some original songs which sadly I can only remember one being a reggae jam with a lot of cursing.  We also did "California Über Alles."  The main original we did though was not bad and pretty funny, though.  We had a good time.  Recordings probably existed, but I know nothing of them.

After that there was The Shears, Mr. Disco, and Love Athena.  In Spring 2004, Sam and I were in pop-metal supergroup Batwolf, a band whose legend is too lengthy and will one day get their own article - hopefully right before a reunion.  I will say a little though, such as that the band included myself, Sam, Will Lulofs, Jeff Nazareno, and Albert Martini, all of whom have been mentioned in this article already.  The five of us assumed the names of five demigod brothers raised by Ganfalf on planet Lovetron named Valhalla O'Shea, Ogrim Doomhammer, Sir Elven Hellspawn, River Styx Milton, and Sabertooth Siren.  We had three songs - "Meat Factory Lovin'," "The Fall of The Wizard," the gorgeous "Love Commander," and an ELO-inspired instrumental.  Instrumental recordings were made of the songs for Albert to practice vocals and have since disappeared.  There were plans to record a record entitled Taste the Rock which would also include a title track, but after two performances that was the end of the band.  The first was at Charter Day and saw the group chauffeured by Mike Raynes in his 1990 Chrysler LeBaron nicknamed "Ron" in full costume.  We played all three fully-formed songs and welcomed Liam Carroll in character as Dr. Alphonzo Vengeance feeding microwaved (and mostly partially-frozen) taquitos to Sam.  He threw a few into the audience, hitting Eric "Big Montana Schneider" on the head with one, prompting a humorous "are you serious!?" caught on a lost video taken by Tommy Holden.  A small, mostly acoustic show was organized in Society Hill by Jeff's place later, but was cut short by power issues and awful neighbors.  It was gorgeous as we set up our instruments and fans by the pond that late spring evening.  Later, Liam made a documentary about the group further developing the band's mythology.

Batwolf illustrated:  Will, C-Mac, Albert, Jeff, Sam, and Liam

That Autumn, following the breakup of Love Athena I joined two other bands, I played bass in neither group.  I served on guitar in Down/B with Jason Paskow (also of Jesus Cookie), Tom Baumgarten, and Taylor Green.  We had some cool sounds and covered "Hey Ya," but I was too busy to keep up and I don't think much happened afterwards.  The other was The Hispanics with Tim King (aka Raphael Agudelo), Alex Talbot, and Adrian Rodriguez Ricelli.  I played drums and we had a cool dissonant, yet danceable post-punk sound in the mold of early Liars, The Ex, and of course, This Heat.  I remember a song called "She Missed The Stop Sign" being one of our best.  We played a party at Paul Niziolek's on December 10, 2004.  Birthday boy Aidan guest starred with us on sax when we played "Sex Bomb" - Flipper, not Tom Jones.  No recordings made to my knowledge.

As high school ended Will, Jeff, and I went ahead and finally formed the ultimate Basking Ridge supergroup The Tangles.  We had three songs and I think recorded at least instrumental racks to all which have all been lost.  A full song "Nightmare Town" was put on a Myspace which has somehow vanished.  It's a shame, it's perfect indie rock, circa 2005.  I tried to put a new version of the Tangles together the next summer with Sheldon Kartush on bass and myself on guitar.  We played "Love Commander" and a few other songs, but nothing else came of it.  That was about it until The Comfy Men, the Ways, Super River, and my new band featuring Jeff Nazareno and Andrea Kannes which has yet to be named.

Oh, also there was The Funkateers who was more of a performance art piece.  Sam played guitar, Ian David Played bass, I think Ryan Clark played drums while I played a silent home-made keytar and Alex Dinsmore and Brian Von Glahn were backup singers/dancers.  I think...  Either way, that was the same day I lost my virginity and Ridge high had it's 2003 Battle of the Bands featuring excellent performances from Tommy Wanish and Jeff Nazareno.  The latter, originally intended to include Will (who was sick), featured not only a cover of "Bizarre Love Triangle," but also a robot battle of Albert Martini as Killtron and Tim King as "Ghetto" Killtron.

Oh, and also I assisted Tim with some emo demos he was making with Lindsey Morelli in 2002.

That's just about everything.  More about my friends and my future later.

Roots, pt. 2: The Shears

Much as I love The Power of Rawk being at the top of the page it's time to move on.  I have a lot on my plate to write about, such as this Will Stratton benefit album.  Though I wish that likes of Super River, pow wow! and SWade had been invited to participate you should still download it and donate as much as you ca because I don't know of a better cause.

So back to other personal stuff.  The Shears.

This section began in the Summer of 2003 when the guys over at Barfbag Records such as Alex Dinsmore underlined the fact that Hurtu needed a permanent drummer.  We agreed, but for the interim would pulled in Basking Ridge multi-talented personality Alec Signorino.  He also brought a much better name with him - the Shears.  This name is derived from Billy Shears of Sgt. Pepper fame, and somehow everybody knew that immediately.

The Quartet began work on mostly new songs largely penned by Sam Deutsch and then set off Summer Music Programs in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  Only it was the core trio on this trip.  The first week they were matched with Tim Nelson whose musical endeavors I cannot recall, but whose brother Andy played bass for Philly hardcore group Paint It Black, best known for their contribution to a Tony Hawk video game.  With him they recorded ¡Swing Pad! named after the perpetually dark and messy dorm room that Sam and Aidan shared.  It was the party palace of the program for the next two weeks with the best video games, DVDs, and music around.  The next week, the band took it easy with old friend Jeff Ziga of Little Baby's Ice Cream fame on Smokin' in the Girls Room.

Sadly, I don't have uploaded album art for these inside joke-heavy works at the moment, but hopefully will get them up soon, along with Shabazz! the similar EP I recorded with Aidan and Jeff the year before.

¡Swing Pad!

Opening this EP is an update of The Power of Rawk's "Parallel Lines," now with geometry homework-inspired lyrics.  It's a lot better than the original thanks to the addition of vocals, though the lead guitar is still probably the best part.  The group also reveals their classic riff-based formula on this track.  That was something that concerned me as many expected more changes and typical verse-chorus structure, but they were not hip to real pun/folk.  

Then there is "Morning Glory" with it's similar structure.  It is one of the most legendary Shears songs that was probably the first new one after the completion of the Hurtu LP.  This was the first recorded version and naturally the weakest, though certainly the cleanest and the biggest production with the organ accompaniment.  What makes this song so legendary though was the next version with the infamous and controversial "my name's Alec and I'm gay..." line, sung naturally by Signorino later that summer.  Ridiculous psychedelic fantasy lyrics are matched with blaring leads and a powerful descending riff.

"Autograph" is another one that would go onto be re-recorded in tighter, more enjoyable versions later, but this one is still a winner, the first with more than a riff and certainly the best lyrics on the record.  I love this song and this is the one to hear first.

I finally get to take back the mic on closer "I Hate You," a track you could call the "ultimate Ramones song," despite the fact that it is an original.  It is simpler and even more concise than any song that great band recorded.  It doesn't even need vocals on the chorus.  All teenage punk should sound like this, but how many teenagers have such great taste?

Smokin' in the Girls Room

The loose and fun vibe on this album is emphasized with the opening with the Ziga-sung cover of "Sk8er Boi" capturing the zeigeist of Summer Music Programs in 2003.  If you want to know the truth about this hit song here it is.  The bridge is one of the great examples of Aidan's unique style of guitar playing, somewhat reminiscent of Daniel Ash and Alex Heerman.

This is followed by the hilarious and directionless political outrage of "Society" which shows the more inclusive aspect of this record by featuring a fantastic solo from Aidan and yours truly on background vocals.  It is a simple Pavement-style indie rocker that puts modern double-aged 90s worshippers to shame with all the humor of good ole S.M.  A must-hear for the line "I don't need your Medicare, old people gonna die anyway."

It keeps going with "Pretty In Pink," which has aged better than I would expect.  Like the movie version it has sax, played by Aidan, but in a totally different way.  The drums are a bit off because that's me, but it wasn't too bad and this could be Sam's best vocal performance of the summer.

The album closes with "Guitar Art," an instrumental envisioned by Ziga that captures all of the quartet's bombastic and ironic tendencies for old fashioned metal excess.  I believe that's Aidan on drums!

These two EPs allowed this era of the band be forever intact with a clean sound never possible before and after.  They excel in capturing both the pure idea of these wonderful songs and having the playful attitude and humor of Sam and the McEneaneys.  This is not outsider music like The Power of Rawk, it may be somewhat crude, but this is some of the best music I have ever heard by such young kids and after such a long connection to Summer Music Programs that says a thing or two.  It's no surprise the members went onto such great things.

DOWNLOAD The Shearssssh (2003)

Following the audition of a drummer Signorino departed the band and took the band and took the name with him.  That was the end of the Shears and the beginning of Love Athena, but you will have to wait for that...