Eddie and the Subtitles – Fuck You Eddie 7″ (1980 No Label Records)
Eddie and the Subtitles were a band that got their start in the late 70s in Southern California. They would last a few years and play lots of shows around CA but as far as I know, never ventured out past there. I first heard of them by seeing their name on show flyers playing with bands like Black Flag and I’d eventually come across their records, but that in itself was not an easy thing to do since they didn’t seem to make a whole lot of them.
There is very little information available about the band, doing Google searches only provided me with people either looking for, or trading, their records. Aside from that I only found a show review that was a reprint from an old Flipside fanzine. Even the book I bought at the Forming exhibit years ago only briefly mentions when their single was released and nothing else, not even a picture. The band recorded this one single, then they did two albums. The first album is about half good punk tunes and half bad rock songs. The second album, which is a lot easier to find and was released on the 13th Story Records label, was actually not very good at all but had some nice cover art.
Sadly not every one of these Vault entries are going to be as chock full of good stories as I’d like, but at least you’ll get to check out some cool bands.
As to where they are now, I have no clue. I beleive lead singer Eddie died a number of years ago. As always if you were in the band or have any additional information, please get in touch.
Do you have the Baby Astronauts album? They were this great punk band from Minneapolis, they would make a good entry.
Hey Boy! The link isn’t working. 404…
Nevermind… It’s with my machine and Internet Explodeder…
I totally remember Eddie & the Subtitles. I had the above album (If I recall, it was more of an EP). I remember seeing them back around 1980 a couple times. American Society is a classic (at least for me) and they did perhaps the best louie louie I have ever heard. If anyone has a copy of their louie louie, I would love to have it again!
Just a footnote: There are also some copies of this single that have picture sleeves without the Shawn Kerry artwork.
I actually am looking for a copy without the artwork sleeve. it just has a band logo on the front. if anyone has one for sale/trade please get in touch.
A guy from Eddie and the Subtitles was in the US Bombs for an album or two. I think his name is Steve Reynolds…but I’m not totally sure.
Eddie’s name was Eddie Egan, and Chas Chandler(producer for 13th Story records). The only pic i’ve ever seen of them was in the book Hardcore California, which, if my scanner was working, i’d provide you with. Maybe later.
goddamn, i meant chas ramirez, not chas chandler. i knew that sounded funny.
I saw Eddie and co. at the Starwood with the Castration Squad and some other folks many moons ago. I was friends with their guitar player-Max Ferguson, If anybody knows his whereabouts, I’d be happy. He did a cool vs. of some Western show/movie theme in their shows. Oh yeah, I also saw them at the old Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA.,
They also have an LP called “Dead Drunks Don’t Dance”, (of which I found a 2nd copy for 25 cents that I gave my ‘lil bro.) plus a later one that’s not as good called “Skeletons in the Closet” the definition of “scum-punks-on drugs”. Eddie has kinda a Bowie thing going vocally, (like he can actually carry a tune) which adds a melodic element at times w/ out being really gay. Musically, tight,well-executed pre hc socal punk.
Eddie is actually still alive but if you listen to their 2nd album the first song being “shoot up and dance” the whole album(give or take a few songs) is about heroin addiciton. I actually know someone who knows where Eddie is but he won’t tell me, so as far as I know he is alive. My source(who actually was around for everything years ago and who I meet up with and talk to on a weekly basis) says that Eddie wants absolutely nothing to do with music anymore and refuses to even be asked about his band. I’m pretty sure he is still an addict. I’m sorry if any of this information ends this entry on a sour note, but it’s the facts and unless Eddie drastically changes his mind his music will never see the light of day.
I have a copy of “skeletons in the closet” and am currently working on restoring the album to CD for myself, I do not know of anybody putting any of those recordings to CD and releasing them.It’s a bitch since the album seems to have been recorded in stereo/mono.One of the few bands that had a great mix of punk and rockabilly rock&roll!The second album(the name I don’t recall)was terrible-A perfect example of how dope screwed up a lot of really great bands and destroyed a lot of wonderfully cool and interesting people.I grew up in the scene back then btwn L.A. and Riverside and saw a lot bands/shows-ED & the Subtitles among them.
I m looking for Eddie and the subtitles s album in MP3 cause i ve neverd found any of their album to buy, Even on Emule.
Some of you can help me?
g_kill14@caramail.com
for memory , you may ask ADOLESCENTS members , Eddie was the manager of the ADOLESCENTS in the early day . No more to say exept “American society” is a great track
Thanks for your answer.
But how can i take contact with Adolescents Members? (Adolescent are a great band too :D)
Thanks a lot, Jeremy. ( g_kill14@caramail.com )
Eddie and the subtitles also did 2 great covers of La Bamba and Louie Louie . Does anyone know how Ican get a hold of these ? Or a site can access ?
The band consisted of Eddie Joseph, Mike Patton (middle class) and Matt Simon (middle class, pontiac bros)during the time of the single. Mike Patton sang on the single. The first album (produced by Geza X consisted of some songs from that line up and other stuff done later.
After hearing all the plain wrongheaded stories about “Eddie and the Subtitles” bandied about, I thought I would at least help to set
the record straight. It’s good to hear from Mike Patton -not the “faith
no more”guy- who was one of the original members. Mike Patton also belonged to an extraordinary band called “Middle Class” and was a member
of “Cathedral of Tears with
TSOL frontman Jack Grisham.
To set things straight:
Eddie Subtitle aka Edwin Joesph,
Mike Patton, and Mike Simon were the
first line-up. American Society was
the Subtitles first record. Eddie was
a seminal member of the L.A. and Orange County punk scenes. He was the
first manager of the Adolescents, and
also managed the Germs. The Subtitles 1st album was “Skeletons in the closet”. It was produced by Geza X.
One of the highlights of the album was
the disarmingly moving song Dave Dacron, about the late singer of the late great band Rhino 39. No Eddie Egan was and is not Eddie Subtitle.
Eddie Egan was a good friend of the band, but was more closely associated with “Social Distortion”, whos’leader Mike Ness was a neighbor of Eddie Joesph’s in Fullerton during the early ’80s.
The bands’ second album was “Dead Drunks Don’t Dance”. It was simultaneously released, on 13th floor
records, with Social D’s “mommy’s little monster”. Dead drunks don’t
dance is an amazingly misunderstood but wonderful album that parodied the drug addled southern California music scene with enviable and merciless accuracy. The cool, and very haunting cover art was
done by “Art by Art” Arthur Morales who incidentally did the cover art for
“mommy’s little monster.
If you have a copy of it, consider yourself very lucky. It was
richly produced by Chas Rameriz at Casbah in Fullerton, which he owned at the time. He was also their bass player during this period. Max Ferguson, one of the great and sadly
underrated guitar players in California at that time was also on this album.
Later members of the band included
Derek O’brian from Social D.on drums,
and Kevin Hellon on bass.
Write J. Kirchenbauer if you have any
questions.
kirchenbauer23@msn.com
Thanks for the great synopsis… Only one piece of info missing, Frontier Records will release a “best of” Eddie and the Subtitles by summer of 2007. It’s in the mastering stage now, next artwork, then an actual release date.
Thought you might like to know.
All hail MXV!
Max Ferguson, previously of “Big Wow”
Rumor had it Eddie was once a professor of music at Cal State Fullerton.
They were a cool band…last saw them at the place in Fullerton that got demo’d for a Burger King? Anyone remember the name of the place? I think it was on the NE corner of St. College and Chapman?
The drummer during the “Dead Drunks” era was Brent North. He was an amazing drummer of several styles of music. He was my drum teacher at the time and I got to jam with the band one day during a rehearsal at Casbah. They were a great band and great musicians. Brent died in 1985 or so from a cocaine OD and Chaz died fixing something at the studio. (That is what I heard)
Looks like J. Kirchenbauer has the best info here as far as I know.
Man i wish i was around back then..and in CA to…from the one song i’ve herd (american society) this is a awsome band and it woulda been awsome to find out more about em’, and hear more to…and also are they for shure making a eddie and the subtitles CD?. cause if they are that is now my top priority CD to get..and if anyone has any info on where to get any of their stuff give me a shout at Franco_un_american3@hotmail.com
Eddie had this big van that he would pile Inland Empire (San Bernardino to Covina basically) kids into and take them to shows in L.A. Chaz Ramirez was the owner and chief engineer of Casbah Recording studios. Chaz recorded the early OC sounding bands like Social Distortion, D.I., etc. He was friends with all of them and I believe that he helped Monk to start 13th Floor Records which put out Eddie and the Subtitles and Social Distortion material. On my first record label, I swore to only have my bands record at his studio and I’m proud to say that the first two bands on our label did record there until he passed away suddlenly. I only met Chaz a few times, but he seemed like a nice guy. Social Distortion held many of their practices and even recorded early takes of their songs at Casbah in Fullerton. If you are looking for Eddie and the Subtitles stuff…There is one video of Eddie and the Subtitles on one of the old Flipside Video zines…#3 or 6 I think. For those of you that know what I’m talking about…Groove Time in San Bernardino no longer carries vinyl so those huge stacks of sealed, mint, unplayed copies of the LP are all gone now. Hope you got one there while you had the chance.
Albuquerque band the Hellcats has been doing a great cover of ‘American Society’ for years… Royer and the DI boys were pounding the stage with glee at a show a few years back. Subtitles were a great band that should have their music out there for people to hear. Good luck.
Hey – just wondering if anyone can help with identifying the writing credits of ‘American Society’ I have the L7 CD which lists (James/Patton) as writers – so from this page I now know Patton=Mike Patton (not FNM guy, but Adolescents related guy) but I don’t know who the ‘James’ person is… can anyone help with a full name and maybe who that person is. – thanks!
The first line up was not the one mentioned above Eddie And the Subtitles ‘ original lineup was Eddie Joseph, Dan Jackson, Ray Huskey, drums Ron Barnhill ,bass this was the original members of this band . I was the original bass player and I’m very much alive and playing in AVALON highway I have all the original flyers from the gig and publicity photos Our first release was a 7″ of American Society,fast version and Louie Louie
Hi Ron,
It was nice to see accurate info on the original band. I am Ray Huskey’s sister. Sadly, he died of cancer in 2001, leaving 5 kids. His kids are getting interested in their dad’s music, so I’ve been trying to give them information and play some of his music for them. I just ordered the CD of the re-released Eddie and the Subtitles music and I’m hoping Ray played on it. I know he played on the recording of “Ayatola” from I think 1979 but haven’t seen that around. He didn’t have much of his old music or memorabilia when he died, since he moved around a lot and stuff got lost. If you have anything with him on it and would be willing to make a copy, I know his kids (and I) would really appreciate it! Glad to hear you are doing well and still playing! I wish it was true for the rest of the band.
Take care!
I just found this site, it is great. I have the original 7″ with the cover art, It came in a Ziplock Baggie, I picked it up over at PooBah records. Great Memories of the old LA Punk Scene.
Does anybody has the lyrics for skeleton in the closet?
I agree that eddie, dan, ron & ray were the original subtitles (out of Reno, I believe), but the 7 inch of american society and louie louie on no label records is most definitely myself on drums, with Mike Patton of Middle Class on lead vocals & Eddie on guitar. check the paper insert.
By the way, Ray the drummer sold me my first car, a ’63 red Ford Falcon station wagon with a broken tailgate window for 25 bucks. I junked it after it stalled at the intersection of Harbor and Commonwealth while making a left turn. What an idiot I was!
regarding gunkldunk’s question.. L7 got it wrong. Eddie Joseph wrote “American Society” all by his lonesome. Mike Patton deserves the credit for the slow “heavy” arrangement featured on the single. The “James” character is Jon St. James(could that be a fake name?), who produced the thing. James, along with Chaz Ramirez, owned and operated Casbah studios in an industrial park off Commonwealth ave. near Brookhurst in Fullerton. James was involved with (amongst others) the early Berlin recordings, as well as Stryper and the unforgettable Stacy Q (“two of Hearts).
A faster version of A. society appears on the “skeltons” Lp which contains tracks produced by Geza X, Chaz, and James. …A real mishmash of styles.
By the way, it was Eddie’s brother who was a professor (of anthropology) at CSUF. The only job I ever heard Eddie talk about was as a nurse, along with his friend Dan Jackson. Oh yeah , he also claimed to be an acid “tester” for Owsley back in the Haight-Ashbury days, but I don’t know if that really qualifies as work.
the Burger King at Chapman and State College used to be Ichabods Nightclub.
A a juvenile, I used to live around the corner from Eddie. I would go over to his house, (which always had music coming from it. It was a single story flat built in the fifties, and had no a/c. the windows were open, and there was always something going on. I sat in on a few writing sessions, I belive with Jon st james for Cathedral of tears. They had a matching gibson firebird, and firebird bass. I thought that they were the coolest. Matt lived there(or was it next door?) to Eddie. Eddie had a detached garage in the back in which he recorded the single that came in the ziplock bag on an 8-track. Many other bands rehearsed there as well. One of the Agnew bro’s (The adolescents)would steal a car, then dye his hair the same color of the car. They were always loading gear in and out of Eddie’s place. I would go to Eddie’s place to talk gear and hound him for the single. (I still got a few) He would come to the door with some mixed drink in his hand, his teeth stained cranberry red, and complain how he wished he hadn’t sold off his gear. Later, I bugged Matt a lot. After the scene had faded, and Matt was more worried about things like paying the rent, He once told me while on his way to some security guard job somewhere that “being a punk, and sayin fuck you to everybody was cool, but he had to go to work”. A friend of mine used to run the Casbah with Chas, Alex (Paez) He also ran strings and things music shop attached to Vic Paul’s (who shot his wife)Pawn shop there at the corner of Harbor and (commonwealth?)
gssaudio@earthlink.net
Thanks for the comments JT. I think I remember you. You lived on Norby st. right? I imagine that most of the people in that neighborhood really hated us. Thank god for our landlords Gordon and Edna Kenward. They lived next door, never complained, and up to the time they died and I was forced to move in 2000, I paid only $250 a month for a 2 room house. A slackers dream! By the way, not that it matters, I was never a rent-a-cop, but I WAS a parking lot attendant at the Anaheim Convention Center for a year or so in the mid-’90’s. I don’t know which is worse.
Yup, Norby lane, that was me. Great memories,what a great time and place to grow up. The scene in my opinion was never equaled. Thanx fer lettin a young punk kid hang about. That scene, time and place will always be a part of who I am today. Sooo much great music!
I have the “Skeletons in the closet” and “Dead drunx don’t dance” albums, and I think they fucking rip. Classic albums in my opinion, and yeah, some of the songs are a little trippy, but I don’t know how you could listen to “dead drunx..” and not dig the shit out of that album.
Hey somedude.
Do you think you could rip your CDs to MP3 and post a copy here?
I would be very curious to listen to that albums and i ve never seen them in stores.
Regards.
Bateman,
Go here. http://punknotprofit.blogspot.com/2008/01/eddie-subtitles-dead-drunks-dont-dance.html
Thank you very much Mark!
There are so many amazing albums!
Hey. I remember Eddie Joseph and Max Ferguson from back in the day. If there is anyone from back in the old Fullerton days who sees this email me. Love to hear from you. Cheryl, Donna, Vickie, Kevin, Art, etc, drop me a line.
Sean
Just stumbled across this thread. Great memories. I was close friends of Big Wow (Max Ferguson, Steve Chase, Alan Lawson and Matt Roberts; the late David Baze, manager). Became a de facto roadie because I had a pickup truck. They did a lot together with Eddie and the Subtitles, and I remember the amazing gigs and Eddie’s intensity about his work.
FUCK YOU EDDIE was re-released on Frontier Records in 2008.