Friday, May 31, 2019

LMNOP - "Camera-Sized Life" (1996)

Things really changed after the CD came around. A lot of people still had to use cassettes though, because it still wasn't that easy to record on a CD at home, but Baby Sue Records was always an innovator! This early CD by LMNOP was called "Camera-Sized Life," and contained 30 songs by Stephen Fievet, aka LMNOP, who played all the instruments, and did all the vocals! The CD says 1996, but the letter I got with it is dated 1994, so I'm not sure what the actual date is.
The CD was engineered and produced by Don W. Seven.

It was about the end of the line for Guzanos, and I had written Stephen and told him that some day maybe I would do another tape, and his response was
 "You must never quit...ever...you must go on and on...forever & ever."

That was over 20 years ago, and from the looks of the Baby Sue Website, he must have meant it, because he's still going strong!

Just in case you can't tell what a great sense of humor Steve has, here's a mock-up dirty Scrabble game card he sent me! Funny Stuff!! You never knew what you'd get in the mail back then!
Here's number 18 of the 30 songs on this CD...All you have to do is enjoy!

Thursday, May 30, 2019

NO COVER, NO PROBLEMS - Various Artists Compilation (1992)

 According to my records, we contributed to this German Various Artists compilation tape probably in 1992. The tape was called "No Cover, No Problems," and is mostly fairly harsh music. You know it's going to be pretty weird when Hermanos Guzanos is the most melodic artist on a tape!

 As you can see, it was a pretty wide variety of artists, and we were one of the few from the United States.

Here's some organ driven madness to make your day!

Monday, May 27, 2019

franky & the shadow - "RAW" (1992)

 Franky & The Shadow were also from the Bay area. Frank sent me at least three tapes over the course of a couple of years. They were some of the more FM friendly tapes I got, with a real professional, but also real alternative sound!

This four song E.P. cassette was called "RAW" and was produced in 1992, with
"Special thanks to InsideOut for co-writing and arranging!"
Here's the title song!

Saturday, May 25, 2019

CRASH~N~BURN - "HXAE~N~BTXN" (1988)

 Still undefined by any musical genres in my opinion, Crash~N~Burn were musical trendsetters of a kind of music that still hasn't been thoroughly explored today. Their music was some kind of loosetightmanicfunkjampunkfusion rock, but I don't think that even describes it very good!  John offered to come to Bakersfield to do a gig, but I didn't have any way to set that up, and too bad, because I'll bet they were a blast to see live!

 Crash~N~Burn were from San Francisco, and consisted of John Sanders - Right-Wing Guitar and Vocals, Amy Sanders - Bass and Vocals, Dean Menta - Left-Wing Guitar, and Parry Wolfe on Drums!
I don't know what happened to them, but I do know they rocked the late 80's.

These are some of the cool stickers John sent me, and here's a killer song from this demo tape!

Thursday, May 23, 2019

SLIM THE DRIFTER - "Luna Loco (Crazy Moon)" (1991)

 Our friend Slim The Drifter had many incarnations over the years before he was gone. The Rainmakers was one of his bands, and another one was called 97 Tears.

 In 1981 Slim was in a punk band in Bakersfield called Teen Suicide!

 I got these screen caps from a video he gave me of Teen Suicide performing outside at the local junior college!

 10 years later, he was performing as Slim The Drifter, a moniker he liked because the drifter was something that Hank Williams was known as! He even worked as a carnie for a while to prove it. Slim was a multi-faceted, and multi-talented guy, and I wondered why he would hang out and play music with a bunch of goofs like us, but it was because he was also a mess!

These two shots are from a 1991 video of one of his songs called "Ramblin' Man" we played on our public access TV show called "Offbeat."

 This is probably the only one in existence, a genuine Slim The Drifter bumper sticker!
And here's a cool instrumental off of that cassette release called "Here Comes A Lily" from the same year.

Friday, May 17, 2019

A MONASTERY OF PORCUPINES - Various Artists Compilation (1990)

 "A  Monastery Of Porcupines" was a1990 various artists compilation tape put out by our pal Dave and his buddies in Stow, Ohio.  

 What does any of it mean? Beats the Hell out of me!

Hermanos Guzanos had four songs on this tape, and the rest of the artists involved were Insect Fear, Humidifier, Caroliner, Eeyore Power Toy, Sockeye, Humans On Leashes, Six Feet Under, Suckdog, Volkswhale, Funeral Cookies, Big Butter, Bug, and Booger Safety Pill Barn. Here's one of the songs:
HUMIDIFIER (John King) - "Batman and Robin"

 "A Monastery Of Porcupines" also came with a full size magazine thing with full page features on all the people involved!

This was the info page from that zine about Humidifier!

Friday, May 10, 2019

GAJOOB ISSUE #7 - SAMPLER #1 (1991)

 Well IF I ever find my copy of Gajoob #7, I will put the cover of the magazine here somewhere.

 Gajoob was the hard work of Bryan Baker, who continues his musical crusade to this very day! Not only did he come out with the magazine, he then started offering sampler tapes from the artists in each issue! But since Bryan is completely insane, was he satisfied with putting out only one sampler tape with each issue of Gajoob? Heck No! I've got eight sampler tapes to go along with Gajoob # 7. That's right, I said eight!

We had one song on this tape along with 17 other different groups of people!
There were no rules, guidelines, or barriers, so there's a wide variety, and also all kinds of weird stuff on this tape! Here is one of the more normal ones!

Thursday, May 2, 2019

THE DEF-A-KATORS - "Texas Redneck With A Big Cock" (1996 - 2009)

The first time I saw this cover, I laughed like crazy, and I've looked at it 50 or 60 times since then, and it still cracks me up every time! It reminds me of one of those old 10 cent postcards tourists would send back home to their families. The picture is innocent enough, but when you add the caption, it just takes it to another level of bathroom humor, you know like Uncle Everett leaving the door open on the outhouse 'cause he thinks it's funny!
This CD is good shit from start to finish, and the Pumf catalogue says that it was originally recorded in 1997 and 1998, and then the guys decided to take a break. They got back together to finish the songs in 2008 and 2009, and this killer CD is the end result.

The Def-A-Kators are Duke Box, Count Basic, and Sgt. Panic!
There's a lot of really good rockin' stuff on this CD, and it was a difficult choice for me, but track 13 is a standout to me because any time you can add a trumpet to any song by anybody, you've probably improved it by at least 20%! Go!!