Jim Santo's Demo Universe

PERSONNEL: Paul Nero: Lead vocals, tambourine, harmonica John Battaglia: Lead guitar, background vocals Joe “Killer” Kowalski: Bass, background vocals, suds Bill “Wee Willy” Smallcombe: Rhythm guitar Glen Roan: Drums Recorded “live” at the Bachelor Pad May 7, 1988 Photographs by Chris Gillen TRACK LISTING Side A Lies Lies Forward Chatter Artificial She’s Changed Some Somnabulist Burning Barn Lovers But Not Friends Cry In The Night Bloodhound .38 Caliber Kiss Nervous Breakdown Side B Never Again Roses Are Red I’m Goin’…

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PERSONNEL: Mike Pain: Vocals Jay Wasco: Swiss Army Bass, vocals Rev. Peter Führy: Pyrotechnics/A.C. repair/more vocals Karen Carpenter: Drums Overproduced by Jay Wasco TRACK LIST: Side A Hair Colour And Witchcraft Spaghetti Western Absolution Row Last Stop Side B: Treadmill For Two Black And Green Fat Of The Land Necrowphest One Heartbeat Away Jay Wasco is among the more memorable characters I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Musical wizard, inventor of instruments bizarre, post-punk circus master, manic-expressive nutzoid — heck,…

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PERSONNEL: Mike “Sport” Murphy: Vocals Bill Hafener: Guitar, vocals Will Liguori: Guitar, vocals John Boghardt: Bass John Phillips: Bass Jimmy Colford: Drums TRACK LISTING: Side A: Mary’s Grave *^ Green Eyes I Call It Home Train Song # Pterydactyl Mighty Sun *^ John Leslie ^ Cheryl *# Knucklehead * Side B: You’re Too Cool Jutt Butt I’ll Read You Stories [instrumental interlude] John Leslie [whip it good mix] Mary’s Grave [dig it mix] Side A of Be With That: You…

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PERSONNEL: Tom Kelley: Drums, bells John Tanzer: Guitars, bass, vocals John Neilson: Guitars, synth Joe Arcidiacono: Guitars, bass, vocals TRACK LISTING Steady Goes No.2 Talking About Talking 10,000 Days Here we have a rare, possibly one-off, cassette double-single from New York’s Airlines. Not listed in the band’s official discography, this tape brings together the band’s first two singles for Quixotic: “Steady Goes” b/w “No.2” and “Talking About Talking” b/w “10,000 Days”, with colorful, surrealist-orientalist artwork on the j-card by Liisa…

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Gerard “Jerry” Smith is Carole’s first cousin. I’ve known him since he was a fucked up teenface and I was a fucked up twentyjerk. We’ve grown to be great friends. He is a superb bass player, as you will hear in tapes to come. I’ve been a fan of the great Dave Rick since the first of many times I caught the Tollbooth live. I have not seen Jon Coats in person in many years, but his precise, punishing drumming…

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PERSONNEL: Tony Faske: Vocals Alec Cumming: Bass, backing vocals, teeth Paul Rose: Guitars Cynthia Harden: Keyboards Mike Bowman: Drums Produced by The Hungry Dutchmen Engineer: John Rosenberg Recorded & mixed at Water Music, Hoboken TRACK LISTING: Fancy Songbird Quiet Times Goin’ Crazee Give It To Me! Caught Unprepared Whenever We Reminisce The Hungry Dutchmen was the first band I ever reviewed; I need to check to see if this is the first tape. Let’s assume that’s true. What a great…

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PERSONNEL: Perry Serpa: Vocals, all instruments For someone who’s been in The Sharp Things from the beginning, and indeed for any fan of the band, this recording is nothing short of extraordinary. Perry may not remember when this collection of home (and elsewhere?) recorded demos was assembled, but judging from the songs, I’m going to take a wild guess and say 1998. I’m basing this on the presence of “Mrs. Mesch,” which was a very early part of our repertoire,…

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PERSONNEL: Tony Taylor: Guitar Perry Serpa: Vocals Ron Rossnick: Bass Steve Gonzalez: Drums Produced by Jim Sabella at Sabella Recording Studios Engineered by Chris Albert TRACK LISTING: Tempered And Tortured Goodbye, Superman Trevor Long before The Sharp Things strings and glockenspiels, Perry Serpa was a long-haired, leaping gnome, fronting a Queens-based melodic hard-rock band named Lifehouse. (The name was taken from an unfinished Pete Townshend rock opera; many years later another band would do much better with it.) Serpa’s powerful…

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