I found a lost live recording in the vault! This is a really good one! Our last gig ever ,at the Draft House ,Joel ,our defacto drummer ,had a broken arm ,so he was relegated to keys and also did vocals on a few numbers.Shane Carwile was beating the skins ,Chipmonk and I were on guitars ,and Billy Drake plays guitar on a number with Sean Burch on vocals! The last track is the very first time FUCK (the terror rock band with Mad Asshole-bass vox,Big Black Cock -guitar ,and Shaggy Dick -drums) ever played together ,with a totally improv number ,"You".They later recorded several sessions together,and toured Europe. But back to OFS! Different versions of all their set list ,all their usual covers ,and some improv instrumentals. New covers we never played before include ,Wire's "12XU" ,KISS "Rock N' Roll All Night" and Cat Machine "Queen Turd Of Shit Hill"!And the usual covers of The Fall ,The Flamin' Groovies ,The Beat Happening,Syd Barrett,Pink Floyd,the Stooges ,Misfits,and Black Flag. Chris's guitar never sounded better ,and with Shane on drums ,we were pretty tight! Plese leave comments ,and let me know what you think of this great recording! Thanks! Great cover shot of The Draft House (blue roof) with the shitty ZOO ,next door!
This is the second to last show by these guys (the next day was our final gig at Serena's ,a rock/metal club in Cape Coral ,but more on that later!) We were first to play in a line-up of over 10 bands ,our first time with a bass player ,Vance Burdge ,helping us out. The music sounds top-notch ,but we were out doors ,and the P.A. system was not loud enough to catch most of the vocals.Pictured above is beautiful, royal palm-lined McGregor Blvd. ,a side-road off of which led to the ranch.A very receptive crowd of everyone in the scene was in attendance ,and it was one of our finest moments. As previously mentioned ,the next day was our last show at Serena's ,and we had a flyer which stated it was a benefit for some dead girl ,who was not actually dead ,at the time ,and her parents were awfully pissed off ,when they learned of our advertisement.There were hair-bands and metal-heads galore ,we were the only alt-rock college music band playing ,and they sent us off to the upstairs stage ,while they ruled the main stage on the lower floor. Since we had drawn a crowd upstairs ,these fucking heshers followed us up ,as to eject us from the stage.A classic line was thrown at me and Chipmonk by one of them ,"Hey ,did you teach him to play guitar ,or did he teach you?" My reply was ,"We taught each other!" They did not like that,to say the least. Sadly the gig was not recorded,so this Corkscrew Ranch gig ,is our final recorded legacy. There is still one missing studio track ,with the core trio ,and Eric "Trig" Triglet ,on vocals (produced by Vance at his Kitty Grind Studios ,in the Cape). When I locate that ,I will surely post it ,as well as some remixes from various live offerings. Enjoy it ,and wish yourself back to the salad days of the FTM. Recorded 20 years ago,today!!!!!
It's a mystery when this show was recorded. It's listed on the cassette cover as the 7th ,but on another mix it's listed as the 14th. I put up the flyers from both shows ,one of which was not recorded ,at least I could not locate it in the vault.Black Nerd only played with us once ,and this was not the time ,despite the flyer. Pillows ,was a Michael Griffin (rip) noise project ,and I'm not sure about the Nomadz ,but I do know Boneshaker's original name was The North Cape Nomadz ,then TRV , for Tony,Ron,Vance ,the boys in the band.This is not your typical OFS live tape. It's pretty much Chipmonk's show ,as ,unbeknownst to either Joel or I ,Chipmonk had placed the microphone we were recording the show with ,right in front of his amp. It's just like him to pull some shit like that ,and after only a few more shows together (posted here soon!) the band was over. Joel said this about the tape : "Of sub-bootleg quality,actually it barely qualifies as a bootleg". The vocals ,my guitar ,and the drums ,are virtually washed out by Chipmonk's wall of jealous noise.There are some fine moments here ,including an improv instro (Magic Bowel Movement -Symphony In E Minus) , a bunch of cover songs,a lengthy and funny version of "Teach Wants Quiet" ,and a spoken word ending ,"The Ant-ectdote" ,a story of ants that is a parable of our times (the 90's). The audience was small but receptive. If you love the Chipmonk ,this is the tape for you ,wah-wah pedal,feedback ,and all. Not the most even recording ,and probably one of the worst sounding live recordings ,we ever did. Thanks ,Chipmonk!
This is a re-post of a previously posted tape.(back in 2009) This time I give you the flyer for the actual show ,with our original logo and mascot(see above,duh!),plus Billy and Shane were at the Edison Mall ,handing out flyers to the show ,and Dave from Wendy's ,was on a book signing tour ,and Billy handed him a flyer ,which he then placed on the table in front of him.It can be seen in the pic above ,which was on the front page of our local ,Ft. Myers News-Press newspaper! How's that for publicity? The following is from the original posting ,where all is explained!:
A short 5-song e.p. ,due to the recording device fucking up on us ,but then turned into our recording device for the slowest band ever ,Quaalude! This really does contain what the title implies, songs that tell of extremely desperate people ,in survival situations.Shane Carwile plays trumpet(!!?!!) on much of this ,and Billy Drake and Sean Sommers also play and sing on thease tracks.Ed ,Joel ,and Chipmonk ,just keep the music flowing ,and spewing lyrics about characters we know ,like, Pukeboy & Subhuman ,Jimmy Cochran ,and riders of the Special Olympics Bus ,amongst others. There is only one more studio recording before the tapes go to live gig recordings. Cover painting by John Wilford. Recorded 1/14/1992 ,20 years ago today!!
The title has to do with a girl that had a claw hand.Ed,Joel,and Chipmonk were once again graced with Billy Drake's prescence ,as well as Shane Carwile ,Sean Sommers,Dave (antelope leaps?) ,and it sounds as if Katie Ball stops by ,and possibly Kristy and Zolan. Recorded in Joel's room at Cat Machine House 1/11/1992 ,straight to boombox! At some point near the end of this recording ,our recording device began going south. You can actually hear the tape slowing down and making sense of the closing number "I Have Lost All Of My Motor Skills". I think we recorded the band Quaalude(slowest band in history! found on this blog!) on the same recorder ,that day or the next ,after it was acting up.Also of note that day ,some workers were beating on Gramp's roof,and you can hear it on the tracks ,"Beat On The Roof" , "Arty Party" ,and "Crazy Ass White Boys" . The first half of this tape is 6 songs ,all college rock and indie-punk alt-rock stuff.I also must have had the mohawk up on this day as I act and sound like a barnyard bird on ,"Rooster" ,an act I would pull out from time to time ,when the fin was up! This is a really good and strange one. Dig it . And Suzy ,if you're out there ,I don't know you ,but sorry 'bout that album title!
The underground sensation's 30th album!! As on the last release ,Billy Drake is back to fill in the empty spots in these recordings ,with his magical axe.As for the album title? Well ,that's what we were doing ,the day we recorded this fine piece of musical jerky.Some real mess we got ,here! I gotta say ,the keyboard /guitar interaction on the instrumental ,"Drug Island" ,is positively ear-piercing! Nine tracks of alt-rock,indie-punk ,college music ,that will twist your melon ,gramps! Recorded Jan.9 ,1992 , 20 years ago ,today!! At the world-famous Cat Machine house ,in Ft. Myers,Florida. Art by Richard Diran ,slightly modified by me! Alternate front covers in zip.
Ed, Joel ,and Chipmonk were joined by guitarist Billy Drake ,the pefect match to spar with Chipmonk's guitar wizardry.And spar they do! Some fine songs are enhanced by Billy's guest appearance ,harkening back to the glory days of the Cat Machine!There is a blow-out Stooges cover (Not Right) ,and it ends with a 12 second hardcore blast ,"Epcot Police State" In between all that though ,you have ace alt-rock ,indie -punk songs ,that the band was always known for. "Minturn ,We Hardly Knew Ye" ,pokes joking fun at Minty ,an older guy musician we knew ,who was arrested for some crap. Maybe a carry-over from Cat Machine's ,"I Hate Vacuums" , the song ,"Ukeleles Suck" is a one-minute blistering blast of anger at the stringed instrument. A few that Joel sings on ,"Lips Of Gods" and "Move Up" ,are true underground alt-pop gems."Born Again Maniac" ,has a tune that will stick in your brain sideways ,like a rotting fish lodged in a dead bear's craw,and will stay with you for days. Don't remind me!
A 5 song release. The first(Our Normal Level) and 3rd(Thinning The Blood) tracks are instrumentals that will twist your melon! The second and 4th songs have vocals and are about "Flat Cops" and "Carsick". The 5th track,"Phonesick" is a 19 part movement ,focusing on 19 seperate crank calls ,with hilarious keyboard pre-sets,and added percussion and guitars!Some calls are hilarious ,one is with an uncooperative(at least because of knowing she was being taped,usually she was extremely easy to get talking!) stripper,and a lousy attempt at phone sex! Must be heard to be believed.A fucking riot shall ensue.
The greatest unknown,underground ,diy ,indie-punk ,alt-rock ,experimental band ever! Don't know where the album title came from ,but there is a short piece ,"Namesake" ,which toys with the album title.There is a positively insane cover of the Beatles ,"Revolution #9" with a brief interpolation of Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Maker" ,which will drive you mad! "Slum Sermon" ,is exactly that ,a preaching on the horrors of poverty.There are more songs ,too ,that only OFS could have written! Special guest (a throwback to the Cat Machine days!) was Sean Sommers,who sings on some numbers ,and may even have played some instruments!Good shit as usual from the power-core trio ,from Ft. Myers ,Florida.
the 25th (!!?!!) album by the underground's greatest unknown band! There are some fun ,short songs ,strewn throughout ,"Spam-Bo-Ree" is 45 seconds long ,"Theme From Snail Man" , 15 seconds ,"Barbed Wire Guitars" ,18 seconds and there's even "Lunch With The Centurions" ,a 27 second piece of coversation. "I'm Not A Schmuck" ,another song that landed on the band's live set list ,appears here in it's original form. "This Is A New Experience" ,features answering machine messages ,set to cacaphonous music.And there's lot's more! This is an experimental album ,with alt-rock/indie-punk songs ,stringing it together.Ft. Myers ,Fl ,recorded at the Cat Machine House on 12/7/1991. The original session for these tracks was on 12/5/1991 ,but that recording was lost or destroyed ,forcing a full re-recording of the entire album!
A baker's dozen (that's 13 ,for all you non-bakers) ,of hits ,verging on being the most downtrodden sounding bunch of blues songs ,you may ever hear. Right off the top ,Gramps is bitchin' ,as we go into ,"The Shithead I've Got To Be" ,my life story.Another one that ended up on the live set list ,"Pain In My Dreams" ,is here in it's original version.Some of my personal favorites are here,once again , written by listening on the other side of the house ,thru several walls ,trying to dechiper guys like ,John Lee Hooker,Lightnin' Hopkins,Leadbelly,Blind Lemon Jefferson ,and what they were saying."Wait On Bolos" , "I Treated You Wrong" , and "Mean Spider Evil" (the last few seconds of which ,gave us the album title!) ,are some of the finest blues-rock ,alt punk songs ever written! Chipmonk went totally bonkers on here ,on all his songs ,he is funny as hell! "Fo' What Munchin' " ,"Bristly Bag O' Yogurt Bones" , "Crowded Tower Toppled Boat" , and a cover of Gary Numan's hit ,"Cars" ,all get the Chipmonk treatment ,and it is great! The final track is one of my all-time favorite OFS songs , "Pretty Shaggy Laundry" ,it's comedy/blues/punk ,which I could barely sing ,as I was in a riotous (and righteous) laughing fit!
With a Chipmonk lookalike on the cover,and more of the downtrodden ,blues sound ,that they were playing at the time,this is another winner! One from the set-list is here ,Chipmonks
This is the 1000th post on this blog! Sluggisha Tapes started as an afterthought ,in 1990. There were local Ft. Myers ,FL bands in the mid to late 80's ,that started the Sluggisha asthetic.When Cat Machine ,and before them ,Myopia ,began their reign of underground terror ,the decision was made to start a mail order cassette label. We ("we" being myself,Joel and Tony Rizzo,Billy Drake,Shane Carwile ,Chipmonk,and others from our contingent) ,were recording so much ,and had so many spin-off bands going on all the time ,that we knew people had to hear it!The orders slowly trickled in (I met Food Fortunata around this point(a friend to this day) ,(who was doing the same thing as us),thru mail ordering cassettes from his vast catalog,and then I realized there were others like us,many,many,others!) ,I ran ads in Maximum Rock 'N Roll and Flipside ,and we flyered the town ,each time we had a gig.Cat Machine only played out live twice ,neither time were we recorded.Myopia played a whole mess of gigs ,and later One Fell Swoop had a residency as the house band (we broke open downtown ,for all the bands that followed) ,at The Draft House ,on Dean St. Even further down the road ,Sexboy took up residence there,and brought lots of out of town bands in to play with them.We had Salad Days (later to become reborn as The Indigo Room) ,and The Main St. Coffee House ,and Samskull moved his store ,Offbeat Records ,to the Patio DeLeon! We had local zines ,Rodent Cake ,Psychotic Episode ,Mad Asshole Digest ,and tons more ,many of which are ,or will eventually be ,posted at my other blog , Mediachrist.blogspot.com .We were young ,and drunk ,and having fun.Eventually in the late 90's ,I had to move away ,and the scene crumbled away.A few years ago ,I started the blog ,because I knew all my bandmates would wanna hear the old stuff ,and I was the only one who had the tapes ,so I began to chronicle our days as the kings of the underground scene ,in our small ,shitty ,town.This compilation has many unreleased tracks,live tracks,demos,unreleased ,and soon to be released ,and/or posted. There are 122 bands/songs ,almost 6 hours of fun! I unfortunately could not include every single band or artist on the label ,but I did a good job I think ,along with suggestions from friends and followers. This goes out to Gary and Rick at the Draft House , Cindy at The Coffee House ,Ralph at the Record Trader ,and all the fans and friends and bands ,and all the people we lost to death,jail,marriage,and long distance moves. We started out in the old days ,now everything is on the web ,these kids today got it easy ! Three zips in one file ,spans rock n roll ,punk , diy,alt-rock,indie,tardcore ,noise ,and just good 'ol music .The first pic above was the original logo ,as drawn by Steve Reed (I added the Sluggisha Presents ,and #1000). The one below it is the latest ,and it's on a t-shirt! Get yours today for $10 postage paid!!
Another swell session ,recorded 11/7/1991. Covers of Husker Du and the New York Dolls ,weird experimentals on ,"Odyssey Of The Mind" ,and "Chemical Flux" , proto-rap on ,"Deadly La Marr ,Yo!" ,and more of their fab college rock sounds! Almost more than you will be able to stand ,this stuff is fire!
